"Uh...hey, Lexa...do ya think I could join ya with your work today?" Raph approaches my desk, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Sure," I say, dragging a chair next to me. "I'm doing Profile Reports."

He looks at the paper on top. "What does the number mean?"

"We rate the criminal a number out of ten for their danger level. I'll show you some that are four through eight, because anything before that isn't much danger and anything after that would be too risky to show you. Not to mention, I'm not really supposed to show anything above an right to someone not trained in fighting like at the Headquarters."

Raph crosses his arms and scoffs. "Me? Not experienced? I've been fighting crime since I was a baby."

"Really?" I ask flatly.

"No," he admits. "But Master Splinter began training us when we were eight."

"Why? Did he want you guys to hurt yourselves?"

"Hey, we were fast learners!" he defends. "Even Mikey. We got our weapons when we were about thirteen."

"Well I mean I'm not supposed to show people not trained by the HUA," I say.

"Gotcha..."

"Another reason is safety. I'd hate to be the one to tell your brothers that I'm the reason you ran off to fight a six foot five dude who has been using knives for fun since he was five years old."

He snorts. "Alright, I get it."

"Now this first guy is Radcliff Tucker. He's a Purple Dragon. He's rated an eight because he's been trained in fighting since he was five years old and he always has a knife with him." I hand Raph a picture of the guy, with dark hair highlighted dark purple and red.

"Don't tell me he's six foot five..."

"Six foot one, actually. Don't go looking for him. He normally doesn't go looking for trouble, but when trouble goes looking for him, he welcomes it."

"Why is he rated an eight, then?" Raph asks, peering at the picture some more. I really hope that he isn't trying to memorize the face so that as soon as he leaves the Headquarters he can go track Radcliff down.

"He killed his mother when he was fifteen," I say quietly.

Raph looks up immediately and his eyes widen. "Are you serious?"

I nod. "Normally if they've killed someone—especially someone like their own family member—then they are automatically set to the ten rating, because we already know how capable they are of killing someone. But that was four years ago and he hasn't committed murder since."

He tilts his head curiously. "How do ya know all this stuff?" I give him a look. "Oh, right…secret undercover headquarters. I get it."

I hand him another one. "This guy isn't as dangerous, but he's very clever," I explain. The picture is of a teenager with dirty blonde hair and bright green hawk eyes.

"Griffin Forrester..." Raph reads, raising an eye ridge. "Doesn't look too dangerous."

"He's not," I respond. "He's only a five. But he's clever. Not bright, but clever when it comes to weaving his way out of things."

We go through the Profile Reports for a while, and when the mood gets heavy and too serious for me, I ask a question unrelated to the Profile Reports.

"So what's the big deal about Donnie and Noah's big invention they won't tell anyone about?" I ask. "You know anything about it?"

Raph snorts and rolls his eyes. "Nope. Nor do I care."

"You wouldn't care," I reply. "You're Raph."

He smirks and narrows his eyes mischievously at me.

"What's the deal about you and Fearless?" My face reddens. "Why haven't ya told him yet?" I whack him hard and look around. I let out a breath when I locate Leo on the other side of the room, talking to Rose.

"Why would you say that out loud?"

"How else am I supposed to say it? Is this supposed to be a telepathic discussion?" he retorts and I roll my eyes.

"Yes, that would have been nicer."

"Why haven't ya told him?"

I look at my hands and shrug. "I don't know. With the whole Noah thing, it's been kind of hard to tell him. I feel like everything I do with Leo makes Noah jealous. It's really complicated, Raph."

"That reminds me," Raph begins, curiosity stinging in his eyes. "Did ya ever find out if Noah likes ya?"

"I don't know," I say quietly. "I haven't been able to ask him."

"Ya haven't been able to or you're too scared?" Raph asks.

"I'm too scared..." I admit. "What do I do after he answers me? Am I supposed to tell him that no matter what, I like Leo and he can't do anything about it? I don't want to hurt him..."

"I know ya don't, Lexa..." Raph begins. His voice is soft and gentle, which doesn't happen often. "But maybe ya should think about it."

"Think about what exactly? Everything? Because Raph, I've been doing that and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier."

Raph stares at me for a long time. "Lexa." He says this one word hesitantly. "Have ya ever considered that maybe Leo may like ya?"

I don't answer immediately. Have I considered it? Of course-I'm hopeful that he likes me back.

"There's always that little bit of hope, Raph." I pause. "But the likeliness of Leo being in love with me...I don't know how thick that chance is. He's so amazing, Raph. But I'm his best friend. And what I've learned is that in most situations, once you enter that best friend zone, there's no turning back. There can't be romance after that." I'm surprised at my answer. But I don't disagree with what I've said.

"It happened with Noah, didn't it? Why can't it happen with Leo?" Raph asks, crossing his arms. His expression is soft but challenging, like he wants me to think about it. Does he know something I don't? Did Leo tell Raph that he likes me? Is that why Raph is trying so hard?

The excitement building up in me dies when I remember something: Raph and Leo aren't that close. He'd never tell Raph something like that. Then is Raph just giving me false hope? Something to chase after?

"Raph, that whole Noah thing was just weird. And we aren't completely sure he likes me back."

"He kissed you."

"It could've been a friendly kiss."

"A friendly kiss. Really," Raph says flatly.

I sigh and nod. "Yeah...like a best friend kiss. No romantic meaning." I'm only trying to trick myself. What am I saying? Noah has fallen for me and I just don't know how to handle it.

"A best friend kiss, eh?" Raph begins. "Then why hasn't Leo given you one of those?"

I rub my eyes. "You give me a headache..."

LEO'S POV:

Rose has been telling me about the work she does at the Headquarters. She watches clips from security cameras and takes notes on them, matching it with data they already have. I comment that it's different than what Lexi does.

"Lexi doesn't usually let us see her while she's working," Rose notes slowly. "You must be special if you've seen her working and she didn't shoo you away."

I feel my face redden, and I shrug. "I don't know. She didn't seem bothered. Why doesn't she let you guys watch?"

"She says it knocks her off her concentration," Rose explains. Then she pauses. "I don't know why she would let you of all people watch if it's based off of concentration..."

"What?"

"Nothing," she says quickly. "So how's that crush on her going?" I give her a look and she grins. "Come on, you don't have to get so defensive! I haven't talked to you about it in forever!"

I sigh. "Well..." I rub the back of my neck. "I don't know. I feel like ever since Noah came into the picture, she and I haven't been as close. I don't want to break up what they have though. So I feel like I'm just on the sidelines kind of just watching something that may turn into something big. It's like...I can't do anything about it."

"But you can do something about it," Rose disagrees, shaking her head. I laugh a little. Lexi had said the exact same thing when I'd told her I couldn't do anything about how close she gets with Noah. Despite their differences, they're definitely sisters.

"Think of it like Twilight," Rose says.

I give her a blank stare. "You are not comparing my love life to Twilight." I shake my head. "No." Rose begins laughing and she can't stop. "That's not happening."

"Calm down and let me finish," she pleads. "I promise this will be worthwhile."

"You comparing my love life to a sappy vampire love story is not worthwhile," I disagree. "I'm not letting you do this..."

She swallows down another laugh. "Just listen, you idiot."

I'm quiet after that, but I give her a challenging look.

"Okay," she begins. "You know how Bella knows Jacob before she really meets Edward?" I don't answer. "Okay, well, think of Bella like Lexi and Jacob like Noah."

I snort and roll my eyes, leaning back in the chair. "Great. So I'm the sparkly vampire."

Rose hits me. "Stop it and let me tell my tale! So yes, we'll think of you as Edward. Bella and Jacob have known each other longer than Bella and Edward. There's eventually this crazy love triangle. Jacob loves Bella, but Bella loves Edward and Edward loves Bella. In the end, Bella ends up with Edward, who she hasn't known as long as Jacob. But despite the separation it would cause in her friendship with Jacob, she still chooses Edward."

I raise my eye ridges. "So you're saying that I'm going to end up with Lexi just because Stephanie Meyer says so?"

Rose laughs. "No. I'm saying that the best friend who has known her longer doesn't always get her."

"What if I'm not Edward though? What if I'm Jacob?"

"You aren't Jacob!" she exclaims, whacking my plastron. "You're missing the point, dummy!"

"But what if I am?"

"You aren't?"

"What if?"

"You give me a headache, Leonardo..." she mutters. "My point is..."

"You had a point?" I tease.

"Shut up and let me finish! My point is that at the end of it all, guess what? Bella gets Edward and is still friends with Jacob. Because Jacob accepts the fact that they both just want Bella safe and that she loves Edward. So the friendship between Bella and Jacob may have gotten rugged on the edges throughout their difficulties, but they ended up being able to sharpen out that friendship."

I snort. "What did they use to sharpen it? Jacob's claws or Edward's fangs?" Rose groans and hits me with her notebook. "Okay, okay, I get what you're saying."

"Good," she says. "Now apply it to your life."

"You want me to turn into a vampire and-"

"Stop it, Leonardo!" she exclaims. Before she can hit me again, I duck.

"Stop hitting me!"

"Stop mocking me!" she compromises.

I roll my eyes and hold out a hand. "Deal."

She laughs, but her expression changes from joking to serious. "I'm serious, Leo. Don't wait too long. You never know-she might feel the exact same way."

A/N: Hey there! I hope you enjoyed the chapter(: We got a nice little POV comparison - did somebody say PARALLELISM because tHaT's WhAT i sEE. Raph and Lexi's convo and Rose and Leo's convo are very similar (though Rose's had a cool Twilight comparison and Leo getting hit a lot). Again, I'm sorry for any typos there might be. Just try to look past it(':

My hope is that you're at least liking Noah a little bit more. I promise you that the romance between Lexi and Leo isn't too far off! It's coming up!

Thank you so much for reading!