When Marla didn't come down to the lair for a week, Leonardo began to grow concerned. He called her phone to check on her. She didn't pick up.

"That's strange. She nearly always picks up when I call her." Leo said.

"She's obviously avoiding you." Raph stated.

"I'll go check on her tonight." Leo said.

"Just be careful, my son." Splinter advised.

…

Marla had saw Leo's id on her phone, but refused to pick up. She felt he didn't need to know what was going on. He might even feel better without her around anyway right now. She felt that maybe all of them could do without her for the next six weeks anyway. She might tell them that she was going away for awhile so they wouldn't have to see her like that.

But that night, she was surprised to hear the tapping on the window that was Leo's signature tapping. "Marla, it's me, Leo. Can I come in?" she heard him say. She had her window locked at the moment.

She went over to the window, but kept the curtains closed.

"Leo, now's not a good time for you to be here. I can't see you right now. I'm going away tomorrow for a long business trip and I need my sleep. I'm sorry. Good night." Marla said to the window.

Leo had heard her and he thought it was strange that she hadn't called him about it. Then he saw her lights go out. He was left standing there, dumbfounded.

Marla listened to the sounds on her fire escape. It didn't take long for her to hear movements and she peaked a look out and saw that her husband had left. She hated this.

The next day, she did indeed leave. But she went to her mother's while her arm would heal. She explained to her family what had happened. She later had to clarify the injury was from robbers and not one of the turtles to Carlos.

Carlos would gladly make the men pay for wanting to harm her, but they had had masks on, so they wouldn't know who they were.

….

Leonardo went to Marla's apartment for a few nights and saw her lights were out all the time. He even got into the hallway one night and used her spare key to get inside and saw she was indeed gone. A lot of her stuff was gone.

He would see her when she got back. She would have to call him when she was back.

For the next six weeks, he heard nothing from her. He didn't think a business trip was going to be that long for her. He missed her and was ready to settle the issue between them.

…..

For the long six weeks of healing, Marla was constantly thinking about Leo. Her mom took her places and they had family dinners and they went to fancy restaurants and did a lot of shopping. They even went on another vacation.

Her mom was just trying to keep her daughter happy. But she saw that what had happened had upset Marla. For feeling of what happened, she knew there wasn't much she could do for her in that department.

Marla even began seeing a therapist for her feeling down during that time.

But after all the six weeks of healing was over, she couldn't have been happier to get out of the evil cast. But now, her arm had a weaker feeling in it. It was healed, but it was still sore.

The doctor said to lift light weights and work up to some heavier ones in some many weeks.

Marla would do that. But now, she was also ready to return to her home and job.

….

She returned home and called up Mikey, saying she was back from her 'business trip.' She would be down in a few days to start training again.

Mikey told Leo she was back and he was glad to hear it. He had missed her.

His family had noticed he hadn't been too happy with her gone. He was going to see her tonight.

…..

Marla heard the tapping and she went to see her husband standing outside on her fire escape. This time, she unlocked it and let him in.

"You were on one long business trip. How was it?" Leo asked.

"It was long and boring. I wished I could have been back sooner, but couldn't." Marla replied.

"I missed seeing you down in the lair." Leo said.

"I missed you too." She said and went to sit down on her couch.

Leo saw something in her demeanor that wasn't normal. She seemed sad. He went over and sat down next to her. She didn't even look at him.

"Is everything alright? It seems like there's something wrong?" Leo asked gently.

'Why should he be caring about my feelings now?' She thought to herself. 'He hasn't bothered to care for a long time.'

"I'm fine. Just a long stressful day on the job." Marla lied.

Leo scooted himself closer to her and he put his arms around her, gently pulling her close to his body. She didn't seem to mind. She seemed to relish his touch.

He began stroking her hair and his left hand on her left arm. When he got to the sore spot, it instantly got a reaction out of her.

"OW! That hurts!" She jerked away from him, surprising him so suddenly.

"What happened? I was just gently touching you." Leo said, still in shock.

"I bruised my arm when I hit it on a wall earlier today. It'll be fine, but it still hurts."

"Okay. I'm sorry. I won't touch it. So what do you want to do?" He asked.

Marla saw the soft, sincere caring look in his eyes. "I suppose a movie is just fine." She replied and put in a DVD and sat down away from him.

Before the movie was even over, Marla was asleep. She hadn't allowed him to get so close this night.

Leo had been a bit disappointed that she hadn't wanted to be near him. But he put a blanket on over her before he left and turned her lights off.

Marla woke up the next morning on her couch. She saw the blanket on her and obviously, Leo had done that.

She got up and went to work. She was glad that he was a gentleman for last night and didn't take advantage of her.

…..

Leo explained to Don what had happened and Don said, "With the way things have been going between you two ever since that stunt she pulled after your wedding, it almost seems like you two are not meant to be married. You both keep on pulling away from each other."

"I need to get her to talk to me. I've done enough thinking and waiting. I still love her." Leo said. "I'm fully ready to forgive her if she'll forgive me."

"Good luck." Don said.