At breakfast I told the others that Leo had gotten violently sick that night and wouldn't be joining us for training at all this morning. Nobody seemed to question it, though Raph threw me a quizzical look. I ignored him and ate my oatmeal intently. After breakfast the four of us went into the barn to train. Splinter and April were still not here, but none of the others seemed worried so I didn't worry about it. We trained hard, but I took special care to keep them from hitting my healing wing. By mid-afternoon we were all sore and bone-tired and we decided to take a break and go exploring in the woods. A light snow had begun falling and the ground outside was covered in a white powder. Mikey tried to make a snowball, but only succeeded in making a clump of powdery-white dirt. He threw it at me anyway and I ducked. It hit Donnie, who was a few feet behind me. Mikey laughed uncomfortably and backed away, whistling like nothing had happened. Donnie's brow furrowed and he took after him. Mikey shrieked and ran as fast as he could toward the house. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Lemmie go! Lemmie go! Stop! It wasn't me!" Mikey squealed.

"That was totally you, shell-brain. Get back here!" Donnie roared.

I rolled my eyes and walked onto the front porch of the house. I was soon joined by a sleepy Leo, who had apparently just woken up. He gave me a smile that turned into a yawn and stretched.

"What are they up to?" Leo asked, motioning to the chase between his two younger brothers.

"Mikey threw a snowball at me. I ducked, and it hit Donnie instead." I explained. Leo nodded knowingly.

"Sounds like them. Anything exciting happen while I was asleep?" he asked.

"Not really. It's been kinda boring, actually. We've trained all morning and are still waiting for Splinter and April to show up. Do you have any idea where they could be?"

"Oh, they're on their way," he said, not giving it much thought. They probably got distracted or something."

"Leo, they're over a day late. Aren't you the least bit worried for them?"

"April won't come to any harm while she's with Splinter and I would like to see something try to take him out. That's not likely to happen. Just calm down, Angel. It's not a big deal." He put a hand on my shoulder to comfort me. I sighed and shook my head.

"If you say so." I complied. He seemed happy enough and left to go train with his brothers. I left the four turtles behind and went inside the house. Since April and Splinter weren't here yet the house was still a dusty mess. I decided to tackle the living room first, since Raph had gotten the kitchen spick and span before we went to bed the night before. I found the hallway closet and pulled out an ancient-looking vacuum and a feather-duster. I spotted a broom at the last minute and grabbed that as well. The living room had oak-paneled floors with a massive carpet covering most of it. There was a huge window on the far wall with drooping red shades that looked like they could fall apart any minute. The worn grandfather clock, which had long stopped ticking, was standing like a sentry over the whole room. The fireplace looked more like a hole in the wall than anything and was filled with cobwebs instead of logs. Overall, it was a pretty sorry sight.

I decided to tackle the dusty ceiling fan and the window first so the dust and dirt would fall onto the already filthy floor, which would be cleaned later. I tried dusting the fan with the feather duster, but most of the old fake feathers promptly fell off onto the carpet below. Instead of giving up I decided to try something new. Fluffing my own feathers out, a number of old feathers floated to the ground among the fake feather-duster ones. Thank you, molting season. I thought, picking a few of my own feathers up and fitting them into the frame of the feather-duster. It worked just fine, much to my relief. After the ceiling fan and all the paintings were dusted off, I pulled down the sagging red drapes from the window. They sent up a cloud of dust and dirt that made me cough and the room was suddenly filled with light. The drapes crumbled and tore when I tried to pick them up again, so I yanked open the window and threw them out onto the grass outside. I would have Donnie take them out to the trash later. Turning back to the now-sunlit room, I set to work.

Two hours later, I had patched up a few holes in the wallpaper, put new light-bulbs in the lamps, cleared out the fireplace and scrubbed it clean, beaten the dust out of the couch-cushions, gotten new curtains hung up around the sparkling-clean window that now slid around easily in its frame, and beaten most of the dirt out of the oriental rug. I finished sweeping and scrubbing the oak floors while the rug hung over a branch on one if the huge trees out front. Finally satisfied with my work, I retired the broom and mop and set outside to get the rug.

But it was gone.

I looked frantically around the yard, looking for any sign for the old rug. No luck whatsoever.

"Leo!" I shouted. "Leo, where are you? Come quick!" A crashing sound came from the barn across the yard and next thing I knew I saw Leo sprinting across the ground, feet flying, katana drawn.

"What's the matter?' He asked frantically when he reached the house, alert for any kind of danger. I rolled my eyes.

"Where's the rug?" I demanded. Leo stopped short, confused..

"What?" he asked.

"Where is the large oriental rug I put out here a few minutes ago? It's supposed to be hanging on the tree over there and it's not. So where is it?"

A look of realization came over his face as the situation dawned on him. "Oh, that rug?" he asked, sheathing his katanas. "We've got it in the barn. We've been using it for target practice…"

"You WHAT?!" I screamed, throwing my hands up into the air. There was no way I was going to let that rug get damaged, not after I had spent half an hour cleaning it by hand. I vaulted over the railing, dashed across the yard to the barn, and threw open the large double-doors, fuming. There was the rug, hanging from the ceiling, being beaten to a pulp by Rapheal and Michaelangelo. They punched, hit, kicked, and side-swiped the hanging target, sending a billowing cloud of dust into the air with each impact. I shrieked.

"What…are…you...DOING?" I yelled at them, storming over. Mikey caught one look at me, froze in mid kick, and stared. Raph, on the other hand, continued beating my poor rug over and over. I grabbed his shoulder and spun him so he faced me.

"You have three seconds to explain this," I growled, "before I tie you up next to my poor rug and use you as a punching bag!" To my frustration, he chuckled at me.

"We're getting the dust out." He explained, obviously enjoying this moment. "You had gotten some of it out earlier, and we decided to finish the job for you. We weren't hurting it. Besides, I needed to work on my left hook a bit."

I could feel the anger drain from my face as I took in his explanation. "So, my rug is alright?" I asked warily. Raph responded in the affirmative. I sighed, letting out a huge breath. "Oh, good. Next time you want to beat the furniture to a pulp, can you at least tell me first?"

"Sure, little bird." He said, smiling. I rolled my eyes.

"Now help me get it back inside," I ordered. Mikey, who had been watching our debate silently, jumped at the opportunity to help and started yanking on the carpet. I clenched my jaw, and he stopped.

"I'll get onto the rafters and get it from there." He said meekly, motioning toward the wooden beams above us. I nodded my approval, fluffing out my wings absentmindedly. Mikey clambered up the barn wall and balanced precariously on the wooden beam spanning the huge room we were in. He walked across the beam with the grace of a cat, easily unhooking the rug. He dropped it down to Raph, who carried it into the house. I followed, making sure he set it up correctly in the living room. After he was done, we began to move the furniture back into place. I had moved it all into the hallway while I was cleaning.

"Wow, you really cleaned this place up." Raph commented.

"Thanks," I said, allowing a small glow of pride to light up my cheeks. "I had already cleaned up my room, so I figured I might as well start in here." Raph opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a shout from Leo outside.

"GUYS! GET OUT HERE! NOW!" he sounded frantic.

Raph and I sprinted outside to see what was going on, then stopped cold when we saw what was unfolding before us. Mikey was knelt over a form on the ground, shaking it gently. Leo was carrying something in his arms, running to the house. Donnie, wielding the garden hose as a fire hose, was trying in vain to extinguish the smoking green car that had apparently just pulled up. Raph gasped as he realized what had happened.

"It's Splinter and April!"