(BETA) This Story has not been read through thoroughly so there will be some lingering mistakes, apologies! This will be rectified once read though...when I have time... (BETA)

OTHERWISE ENJOY!

This is my second story posted so be gentle, I've not written in a long time...

xxx

...

Alice was down in Donnie's lab, sat on his table as he gently squeezed her muscles testing how much they've healed.

"Does it hurt if I squeeze here?" He gently squeezed on her upper arm; she recoiled expecting pain, but was pleasantly surprised when she didn't feel much of it.

"No, it's not as bad as it was the other day." She sounded almost surprised.

Donnie smiled. "I gave you a some medicine I perfected to increase muscular healing. It seems to be working."

"Seems to be? You mean this hadn't been tested before?!"

"Uh, no you're the first, but don't worry I wouldn't have used it if I wasn't sure of it's effects."

"Effects…?" she said slowly.

Leo and Mikey laughed. "Don't worry Alice, even if you to turn into something strange I'm sure Donnie's always got a cure."

"A cure? You're not inspiring confidence here Leo…" Alice grumbled.

"Chillax dude! We seen it all, you should have seen me last week with the shellacne!" He shivered. "That was horrifying!"

Leo stuck his tongue out in disgust. "Yes, you were pretty horrifying…"

"Briliant…" Alice sighed.

At that moment Raph came through the door of Donnie's lab rubbing his eyes. He looked up to see Alice sitting on the table with her cardigan off and Donnie's hand on her chest.

"What the shell are you doin Donnie!" He snapped before pushing him to the side.

When Donnie stumbled away he was holding a stethoscope to listen to her heart rate.

Raph just cocked an eyebrow at Alice. Why would she let him touch her…there…? He thought angrily.

"Raph! I was just checking her heart rate!" Donnie got back to doing what he was doing; Alice took a sharp breath between her teeth at the cold metal on her skin.

"Looks like your hurting her!" Raph yelled crossing his arms across his chest.

"It's just cold Raph…" Alice explained smiling softly.

"Oh…" Raph said simply.

Donnie pulled away to address Alice. "Your heart sounds healthy, how has your ankle been?"

"It's not as bad as it was, but it still hurts to walk on fully." She conformed twisting it gently, which she could bare.

"Well hopefully it should be back to normal in a few more days." Donnie confirmed.

"Few days huh? I'm sure I can handle that." She hopped off the table and pulled her cardigan back on. "So you guys still grounded huh?"

Mikey sulked. "Yeah…it sucks! It gets boring down here for that long!"

Alice just shook her head. "There's got to be something you guys to for fun around here." She leaned against the table crossing her arms around her midsection.

"Oh! I could give April a call!" Donnie said excitedly taking out his T-phone, punching in the numbers.

Alice smiled. "So, how old are you guys anyway, I'm not familiar with Turtle years…" Alice jested.

Leo uncrossed his arm to address her. "We're eighteen, going on nineteen in a couple months. What about you?" He gestured towards Alice.

"Twenty, going on twenty one." She shrugged.

"Wow! You're older, I never would have guessed!" Leo exclaimed.

Alice just shrugged again. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"April's coming round in an hour!" Donnie almost screamed happily.

Raph just rolled his eyes. "Great, more girls! Just what we need…" He grumbled.

"So April's your girlfriend, Donnie?" Alice asked innocently.

Donnie went to say something but stopped and said something else instead. "No, not, not really…" He sulked.

"Not really?" Alice smiled.

"Well…" Donnie started, rubbing the back of his neck.

"He likes her…a lot, it's a little creepy." Leo continued.

Donnie glared at him.

"What do you do for fun?" Mikey asked from behind her.

Alice just cocked an eyebrow. "You know what I do for fun, you saw it in my apartment…"

"Yeah but, what do you do to, I don't know relax?" Mikey pondered.

"Art is relaxing." She said sternly.

"Not as relaxing as playing video games or watching cartoons and reading comics!" He chuckled.

"I play video games!" Alice whined trying to convince Mikey she's cool.

"Oh yeah? What games have you played?" He called her bluff.

Alice shrunk on the spot. "Does karaoke count?"

Mikey just burst into laughter pointing at her. Leo hit him upside the head to shut him up.

"Hey! It's not biggy! Not everyone's as cool as me!" Mikey chuckled.

"Looks like someone's not getting breakfast…" Alice chirped before grabbing her crutch and heading out of the lab.

Mikey's eyes widened in horror. "Wait no! You're total as cool as me Alice! Even cooler! Please cook me breakfast! Ahhh!" He whined and cried following her out with the others.

…

Alice got to work on breakfast, a full English breakfast. When the turtles finished the meal they sat back in their chair rubbing the bloated shell over their stomachs.

"That. Was. Amazing." Raph sighed.

"If you keep this up, we're going to be the Fat ninja turtles." Leo laughed.

Alice washed up the dishes and dried her hands. "Then you'll just have to train harder to burn it all off!" She teased.

"An excellent idea…" Splinters voice came from the other side of the table. "We should get some training in whilst you are still grounded my sons."

The turtles whined. "Sensei!"

"Hajime!" Splinter snapped them to attention.

The turtles rose from their seats and stood straight at the table. Alice just watched with curiosity. She'd not seen them like this before; they looked so serious.

"Nothing helps a whole full meal down like a bit of training. To the Dojo with you all!" Master Splinter ordered.

The turtles jogged to the dojo, Master Splinter turned to Alice and winked before heading to the dojo himself closing the door.

Alice just shrugged and turned her attention of the dishes left on the table.

"Hello! Anyone home?" She heard someone call form the other side of the room.

Alice dried her hands again and moved to where it came from, seeing a red haired girl enter the lair. "You must be April?" Alice said softly.

April looked at her like she had two heads before clearing her throat. "Uh, yeah. Do, the turtle know you're here?" She pointed to Alice.

"I should hope so, I've been here a couple days. I not, then I am one amazing ninja…" She jested.

April chuckled.

"I'm Alice, Raph rescued me a couple days ago, I'm still recovering."

"You too huh? They rescued me a couple years ago, and to this day are still doing it…" April suddenly sniffed the air. "What is that smell, it's amazing?"

"Oh, I made breakfast, did you want some?"

"Sure!" April walked with Alice to the kitchen; they were there for a while after breakfast, just talking about each other. How they met the turtles, how they reacted when they saw Splinter for the first time. It wasn't until after a few hours that the turtle brother emerged from the dojo, looking pretty beat.

Donnie however perked up at the sight of April. "April!" He rushed over to her. "Were you waiting long?"

April smiled. "Don't worry about it, I've just been talking to Alice. How was training?"

Donnie's face fell. "Harsh…" He said simply.

April giggled. "Alice told me you guys were grounded. Splinter can still do that at your age?"

"It's not about age, it's about discipline." Leo said flatly.

Raph just rolled his eyes and grumbled. "You sound just like Splinter."

Mikey fell onto the couch falling straight asleep. Splinter emerged from the dojo noticing April in the kitchen. "Ah, April. It has been a while. Have you come for some training?"

"Actually, Donnie called me over to hang out but since they're pretty exhausted, I guess I could go for a training session." April moved Towards Splinter and entered the Dojo with him.

"Oh, now I just feel left out." Alice jested.

"Don't be…" Donnie grumbled before sitting at the table slamming his head down to exhausted to hold it up.

Alice just smiled and shook her head. Alice turned to the kitchen again and made a pot of tea for the turtles. She set it on the table and poured them a cup, except for Mikey who was already out of it.

"You know you don't have to keep doing stuff like this for us…" Leo said firmly before sipping the tea.

Alice sighed. "I'm finding it hard to keep myself busy here. I'm a little limited so you'll have to excuse me if dote on you a little…It's how I cope with boredom." She sighed.

"I'm almost missing running around like a headless chicken…"

"What!? Chickens run when they're headless! AHH!" Mikey suddenly exclaimed form the sofa.

Alice just slapped her hand to her face. "Figure of speech Mikey…" Alice grumbled.

"Oh…radicle…" He yawned before falling back onto the sofa.

Alice just gave short laugh in her throat.

…

Later on, everyone was relaxing in the main room on the sofas and beanbags. Master Splinter however was in the Dojo meditating. April was sat on the tire hung over the water reading a book, whilst the rest of the turtles were splayed out across the room. Mikey was on the floor closest to the TV Donnie was sat on the edge of the sofa as close as he could get to April as possible. Raph and Leo were sat either side of Alice in the center of the sofa.

Alice had taken her sketchpad and pencils down to the main room and lifted her knees for her to lean on. Whilst the others watching the mind numbing program Alice was doodling on her Sketchpad. The lights had been turned off whilst they watched making it difficult to see what she was doing.

Every so often whilst they were watching Raph would turn to take a peek at her sketchpad. He wasn't sure she noticed, but she turned the sketchpad slightly blocking his view. He scowled slightly; yawning he stretched his arm over his head and letting it land behind Alice, resting on the back of the sofa.

Alice went stiff noticing this. She continued to sketch and ignore the stupid grin on her face. In Raph new position, he could get a clearer look at what she was drawing on that sketchpad of hers, leaning in slightly to take a better look. Now he definitely wasn't being subtle. Alice smirked knowing full well what he was doing. She stopped drawing and penciled something in the corner of her sketchpad then turned it slightly to let him see.

'Quit peeking!'

Raph read. He looked up at her. But she was looking at the TV with a smug smile on her face. Raph just smirked darkly and subtly grabbed one of her pencils and doodled in the corner next to hers.

'I wanna see!'

Alice looked down to read it. She shook her head and smiled before moving the sketchpad a little more to let him see the drawing.

It was a sketch of him; she had been sketching him as he was watching the TV. He found himself looking surprised at it; he looked rather relaxed even though he hated this stupid programme.

He didn't know what to say, he picked up the pencil again and doodled in the corner under his last note.

'Is that supposed to be me?'

Alice read it and scowled, doodling next to it.

'No, the other Mutant turtle sitting on my right…Of course it's you!'

Raph could almost read her agitated tone. He scowled and scribbled again.

'Could have been Leo…'

Alice read and replied.

'He doesn't have a crack in his shell, numbnuts!'

Numbnuts? He thought. There was a silence in their notes for a little while before he wrote again.

'I like it.'

It simply read. Alice smiled and doodled again.

'So do I.'

They smiled at each other subtly before looking back at the TV. Throughout the rest of the programme, Raph kept his arm behind Alice.

…

It was starting to get late and April had to go home, Donnie walked her to the manhole and Mikey was fast asleep on the floor.

Leo stood up and stretched. "Thanks for the food Alice, I've never had Chinese before!"

"Anytime, sleep well Leo."

"Night guys." Leo hopped up to the upper floor where his room was and disappeared behind the door.

Alice looked up at Raph jolting slightly seeing he had been looking at her. "I guess we'd better get off to bed huh?" She grabbed her pencil case and sketch pad and started to lift herself off of the sofa reaching for her crutch.

But before she could object, Raph hooked his arms under her knees and around her back picking her up off the floor. Alice had a hold of her stuff and the crutch; she didn't object she just smirked at him.

"I've got a feeling you're enjoying this…" She teased.

Raph said nothing for a moment, looking a head. "Lets not give the others that impression huh?" He said simple. He didn't deny it, he didn't yell and call her princess, he seem content.

When they finally reached the room. He kicked the door open softly and kicked it back closed before laying Alice on the bed. He took her crutch and leant it against the wall close to the bed before taking her other stuff and setting it on the side. He looked at the drawing and their little notes to each other in the corner of the paper. With his back turned to her he said.

"Can I have dis?"

Alice looked up to him as she was taking off her cardigan. Knowing now what he was referring too.

"Uh, sure." She said softly watching as he carefully ripped the page out of the sketchpad and folded it up tucking it into his shell at the front.

Alice looked away when he turned back around. She got under the covers and leaned forward resting her arms on her knees.

"Is there something up? You've not been quite yourself this evening?" Her voice had pang of concern in it, which Raph caught onto.

There was another silence between them before Raph actually looked up at her. Rubbing the back of his head, he looked nervous…What for? She thought to herself.

"No, nothin'. I've just been thinkin' about what you were sayin' last night." He started slowly.

"I thin you're right, I do use my, appetence as an excuse and my temper is short circuited to put it how Donnie would." He loved towards her and sat on the edge of the mattress looking down, his arms resting on his knees.

They said nothing for a while, just sat there in each other's company. After some time Raph stood back up and headed for the door.

"Thanks for tonight, I actually enjoyed it for once. " He said softly before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

Alice wasn't sure what to think. She lay back on the bed, and for the first time she had laid in it, she knew it was his, it smelt just like him. How did she not notice this before? She rolled over and hugged the pillow to her face taking a deep breathe. Within minutes she was fast asleep.

Raph leapt over the railing to the sofa slumping down on it and flinging an arm over his eyes. He sighed heavily, taking his bandana off and resting it on the arm of the sofa. Reaching into his shell he took out the sketch Alice had done of him and unfolded it in front of him. He saw how she had seen him in the dark, lighter tones where the light of the TV his him.

His smiled and tucked it away before rolling over and closing his eyes.