A/N I still do not own TMNT… le sigh… but I'm still forever grateful for their existence!

So yeah. This happened. Not only did I update on Tuesday, but you guys get TWO chapters today =D AND it gets better because this chapter has RAPHRIL! ;) Yeah you better be excited!

Love or Blood

Chapter 15: Here Comes the Sun?

Shrill screeches of delight swiftly shattered April's dream-filled slumber. After a moment's confusion as to why she was no longer searching the Shredder's fortress for a glue-gun, April stiffly dragged herself out of bed just in time to register the green and orange blur ricocheting through her doorway. She rubbed her eyes sluggishly before questioning the mutant turtle equivalent of a gas molecule, "What's up Mikey?"

Michelangelo pelted to her window and threw open the sash, "Look April! THE SUN IS BACK!"

The prickling sensation of the warm rays on her freckled skin was all the red-head needed to fully pull her to full consciousness. She smiled broadly, "YES! It's about time!"

"It's warm too! The weather dude on TV said it's going to hit like 22 C's (72°F my American friends)!"

"That's great Mikey," April leaned against the window frame and her eyes sparkled when she caught sight of the edge of the lake, "You know what we should do?"

Michelangelo positioned himself beside her to try and find the source of her attention, "What?"

She nodded towards the reflective surface, "Swim."

The smallest turtle's eyes widened in excitement, "Oh man April! That is the best idea! We so have to get the others in on this!"

April grinned, "I'll get Casey and Raph. You get Don and Leo?"

Blue eyes flashed quickly away from April's, "Leo's gone already."

"Oh Mikey," April reached out and placed her hand on the turtle's shoulder, "You want me to go look for him?"

Michelangelo drew steadying steel into his voice, but April did not miss his eyes blink rapidly a few times before doing so, "No. I'll look for him later. Let's just… Let's just try to have fun without him."

"You sure?"

Once again a joyful bundle of turtle materialized before her, "Fo sho gurl! If he wants to talk to trees all day and miss our bawlin' pool party it's his loss! You get Raph and I'll grab the others!"

April wasn't fooled by the departing reptile's cheerful demeanor, but she would let it slide for now. She quickly dug around in her dresser. In the rush of escaping the city, none of them had brought much with them. After they arrived, one of the first orders of business had been to go and buy some extra clothes for Casey and herself. Thankfully, April's room still held a number of her mother's old things from when she was her daughter's age so the red-head bought comparatively less than the hockey player. One of her better finds amongst her mother's possessions had been a cute yellow one piece swimsuit. April had only quickly looked at the suit back in February before pushing it aside in favour of more season-appropriate apparel, but now she was wishing she had tried it on to see if it would even fit. Hopefully it would, otherwise she would be swimming in old shorts and a T-shirt.

Finally, she found the object of her search. It was your stereotypical suit. Scoop neck with the back diving down. However, the sides did have ties running the length in a criss-crossing pattern, which was good because it meant April would be able to adjust it accordingly. After tossing her PJ's aside and several minutes of undoing and redoing laces, she presented herself to her reflection for some last minute preening. The elastic was worn in a few places and the slight sagging of fabric in the chest indicated her mother had been more endowed than April, but overall she didn't look half-bad. It wasn't quite as becoming as her other suits back in the city, but it would do. She gave herself one final once over and after deciding against her usual pony tail – her hair needed a washing anyway – she entered the hallway.

Donatello and Leonardo's room had been left ajar, and a quick glance inside indicated both its inhabitants had already departed. Casey slept in a small room off the kitchen, but Raphael and Michelangelo's room was the last before reaching the staircase. The door was still closed. April assuming Raphael had to be awake after all of his youngest brother's earlier racket, lightly rapped on the wood before calling, "Raphael?"

She heard the shuffle of feet and groaning of floorboards before the old brass knob turned revealing a somewhat dripping Raphael. He was moving a greying towel along his damp neck. When she caught glimpse of that one lone bead of perspiration oh so slowly trailing down one of his biceps deftly displaying all the bulging muscle's exercise-induced glory, April found her mouth dry while her mind drained away to fill her warming core. The turtle quirked an eye ridge as his brilliant emeralds quickly darted down to her toes and back up again before smirking, "I thought we decided not to bet on that last game of Street Fighter?"

April felt her cheeks blaze while she struggled to regain control of her mouth. Raphael's eyes flicked down again and chuckled, "Wow. Didn't realize you could blush there."

The red-head didn't need to look down to know her freckled chest had betrayed her – hell her skin was so hot she could probably roast marshmallows on it. To give her mouth some time to catch up she lightly smacked his plastron before snapping, "My eyes are up here jerk!"

He snorted before fully meeting her gaze, "Hey, it's not every day a guy gets woken up to a girl in a swimsuit. I want to enjoy it."

Raphael wrapped his wondrously hard right arm around her shoulders before she countered, "We both know you weren't sleeping."

As he glanced to briefly inspect the arm still holding his towel, April made her mistake. She couldn't help herself. Raphael rolled his free shoulder before stretching it out straight. Then he held it there and his eyes caught hers lingering on his extended limb. He smirked, "My face is up here O'Neil."

Red couldn't even describe the shade her skin took on at his remark. Of course words failed her and so she buried her face in her hands awaiting her fate. April was only like that for a moment before she felt Raphael's breath on her fingers as he nuzzled her cradled head, "Come on out April."

All she could do was produce an inarticulate moan of embarrassment before she felt three strong fingers gently probe in between her own. Despite herself, she opened her eyes allowing him to catch a glimpse of blue amidst the cracks. His mask crinkled as he gave her a beautiful smile. He murmured, "There she is."

Finally she allowed him to pull away her hands and she huffed, "I couldn't help it."

Raphael continued to smile as he nodded, "With you in that get-up, neither could I."

This time she was pleased to see his cheeks darken alongside hers. April cleared her throat, "Speaking of which… You want to go swimming?"

He tilted his head, "Just us?"

April loved how his right thumb drew circles around her arm, "Not this time tough guy. Everyone is coming! Well everyone except Leo…"

The turtle sighed, "He in the woods again?"

She nodded, "Yep," and continued at his frown, "But I think Mikey really needs some company today."

"Yeah?"

Her heart ached at the obvious worry that now perpetually lined Raphael's brow, "He didn't say anything, but he's really starting to get worried about Leo, Raph."

Green eyes flicked away, "He's not the only one."

"Maybe we should take this chance to talk to Don and Casey?"

April felt his arm tense and his thumb stilled, "Casey's game to do whatever needs to be done. With Don… I… I just don't know April." She patiently waited for him to continue, "I mean… He acts like he's ok, but I keep getting the feeling that every time I turn my back on him I get a shell full of daggers."

She leaned into his plastron. April knew the last few days had been hard on all of them. Being stuck inside had made them all a little stir-crazy. She also knew Raphael's relationship with Donatello seemed more than a little stagnant. Neither said much to one another, and when they did, April could sense the subtle cynicism in the younger's tone. April had tried to corner Donatello on several occasions, and considering their close proximity over the last few days, she initially anticipated it would be no trouble having a heart-to-heart with the turtle.

One would think that, but one would be wrong.

It quickly became apparent to the red-head that said turtle was flat out avoiding her. If Donatello sensed April's incoming he immediately latched onto the nearest housemate. He even preferred to sit in silence with Raphael than stand in a room alone with April.

Of course Raphael wanted April to talk to Donatello, but as the days passed and the brothers' relationship continued deteriorating, the red-clad turtle was becoming more and more agitated. He was obviously upset about Donatello's behaviour, and the only thing that seemed to cheer him was the hope that he hadn't completely ruined April and Donatello's friendship alongside everything else. April truly believed Raphael was innocent of blame, but said reptile apparently thought differently. So no matter how many times April tried to convince him it wasn't his fault, nothing she said made any difference.

The last thing April wanted to do was add more guilt for Raphael to carry by enlightening him on how Donatello would not even talk to her outside of another's presence, and even then their conversation was lacking. Their interactions including covering such invigorating topics as the average lifespan of a refrigerator, the annual migration patterns of snow geese, and – April's all-time-favourite – the many uses of baking soda – apparently people used it for more than science fair volcanoes. However, after three days of dealing with the brothers' constant melodrama, April was more than relieved to finally get some space, but she would be damned if Raphael's endless moping kept him from taking advantage of this glorious spring day.

She wrapped her fingers around his hand, "I know it's been tough Raph, but I think right now you both need to get outside of this house. Some sunshine, fresh air, and exercise will probably do you both wonders. Who knows, maybe a good swim is all Don needs to shake him out of his funk." She continued silently to herself, "And yours too."

He continued to sulk, "Yeah right."

April rolled her eyes, "Come on Raph, it's so nice outside! Don't ruin it."

His frown deepened further, "I'm not ruining anything April."

She pulled her hands off of his and folded her arms, "Yes you are!"

"Fine! Just add another screw-up to my tab then!"

Raphael pulled himself away and shoved the door aside to return to his room, but April wasn't giving up so easily. She slid in behind him before he could close the door on her, and returned his glare with her own. Although she had to bite her tongue to quell her own anger, she valiantly stood her ground in silence. After several moments of tension the turtle cursed under his breath and broke from her stare in favour of agitatedly pacing. April continued to wait. Finally, he slowed, and released a final frustrated breath before mumbling, "Sorry."

She had planned to throw some of her own choice words in his direction, but then he had to aim those pleading green eyes full of anguish in her direction. Naturally April unravelled, "Look," she sighed, "Can we just try and have fun today? Just pretend that everything's ok?"

"April," his eyes no longer held anger but concern, "That's not going to make this go away."

She hugged herself, "Just one day…"

"April…"

Tears welled making her eyes water. April refused to let them fall, "Fine. It doesn't have to be a whole day. Just one morning. This morning. Please Raph just give me this…"

Squeezing her eyes closed out of apprehension of what his response would be, she mentally began to curl inwards. She knew she couldn't run forever; that they couldn't run forever. Knowing that still didn't make facing reality any easier and the fear any less real.

Suddenly, April found herself in a warm embrace.

Her eyes opened to Raphael's strong form surrounding her and for that brief moment in his arms April found herself secure, shielded from the world. He murmured, "April I'd give you anything, but some things are not mine to give." Her chest squeezed in that heartbeat of silence before he continued, "But I can give you this."

Raphael then pulled away, grabbed her hand, and led her through the doorway, "Come on, if we don't hurry up Mikey will come looking for us and I ain't letting him see us like this."

April rubbed her eyes dry as they descended down the stairs, "What? Covered in sweat and scantily clad?"

He snorted, "We'd never hear the end of it. By the way, is that yellow number what you planned on getting me into?"

She grinned fiendishly, "Maybe," pulling from his grasp, April escaped to the kitchen.

A moment later, poker face firmly in place he entered the room. Purposely positioning himself to insure several seductive shivers ran down her neck from the tantalizing caress his warm breath gave her vulnerable ear, Raphael whispered, "With an imagination like that I can't wait to see what other tricks you have up your... I'd say sleeve, but that's not where I'll be looking."

In a half-hearted effort, a very reddened April impulsively pushed at his plastron. Instead of verbally disarming him she chose another tactic. Boldly she allowed her eyes to wander over as much of his body as she could before coyly returning his gaze. Darkened cheeks now accompanied that once cocky grin.

The morning was far from lost.