The Friday before her parents came home, Irma found herself stuck in her apartment. Her teachers had assigned some homework along with tons of extra-credit opportunities. She had texted Raph early in the week and told him they couldn't have movie night. Raphael decided that the best way to ensure no stress was to encourage her. He grabbed the key she had given him from his nightstand and disappeared.

Raph safely slipped into Irma's bedroom and made his way to the kitchen. The living room and kitchen were connected and in the corner of the kitchen was the dinner table. It was covered in mountains of books and papers and sitting at the end of the table was Irma. She was slumped over the table writing something on the paper under her. Her light blue oxford was unbuttoned and her hair was slightly disheveled. Raph walked over to the tiny mass of stress. He moved down to her and sat down next to her. His head lowered to the back of hers. Irma had gotten used to ninja movements and slowly raised her head. She turned so that both of their heads sat close together.

"What are you doing her," she asked with a blend of relief and exhaustion.

"Checking on you."

"I told you not to come." She wasn't mad, just tired. The turtle moved a piece of hair that had fallen in her face.

"You said we couldn't have movie night. You never said I couldn't come check on you."

"I'm just doing some homework."

"You're swamped." They both looked at the pile of books scattered on the table. "You shouldn't sign yourself up for so much extra credit."

"How do you know this is extra credit?"

"No teacher in their right mind assigns this much mandatory work."

Irma smiled and let out a small laugh. "Touché."

Raph stood up and stepped behind her chair. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her up straight. He leaned down to her ear and whispered, "You need to relax." Irma felt her body go limp as his hands rubbed deep into her shoulders. She felt herself begin to relax as the massage grew deeper. As she closed her eyes, Irma let out a few soft moans which made Raph laugh. At his laugh, Irma fell back to reality and shoved Raph away. "Stop distracting me!"

"I was just trying to help."

Irma turned around and pleaded with Raph, "Please let me study. You can watch whatever you want."

Raph crouched down to meet her sitting height. "Okay." As he grabbed a few blank papers on the table and walked to the couch, he turned and replied, "But don't say you didn't like it."

"Raphael!"

"Just saying," he laughed.

Irma managed to finish her work in thirty minutes. As she pulled back from the table, she noticed Raphael on the couch writing something down. He had been quiet after their little scuffle and given her enough time to finish her work. Irma got up from the table and walked behind the couch.

"Whatcha doing?"

Raph freaked out and quickly folded up the piece of paper and held it behind his back as he stood.

"Uh, nothing!"

"What's on the paper?"

"None of your business."

"Oh, now it is." Irma made her way around the couch and up to the turtle. She reached for the piece of paper as he pulled back.

"It's nothing really."

"If it's nothing, why won't you let me see it?"

"Cause it's nothing." He held it above his head to where Irma could not reach it on her tip toe. This made her mad easier than anything. It was on now.

"You know what? You're right. It's stupid. Now if you excuse me." She made her way passed the mutant and it a quick dash grabbed the piece of paper from his side.

"Hey now!"

"You want it?"

"Yeah."

Irma had an evil look on her face. "Come and get it."

For a small thing, Irma was fast. She dodged every leap and bound Raph made. It soon became less about the paper and more about the chase itself. As she made her way down the hall and back into the living room, Raphael jumped up from behind the couch and managed to pin Irma into the wall. They were both laughing but Raph was fighting to stay serious.

"Where is it," he asked.

"Where was the last place you saw it?"

"Somewhere I'm not willing to investigate."

She laughed harder. His hands were clasped to her wrists but she has an idea of how to escape.

"Why are you uptight about a piece of paper?"

"None of your concern."

"Aw, that makes me so sad." She bowed her head as if to cry and the turtle's head followed. As she expected, his grip loosened as he watched her. She took the opportunity to bolt out from under him threw the space between his arm and torso. When she tried, Raph's quick thinking found a new grip on her wrist and pulled her into him. Irma was breathless. All this running around was tiring and the fact they were this close made her stomach hurt. In a good way. The beginning "This Magic Moment" had begun to play as soon as he grabbed her. Irma began to squirm but Raph was quicker than her. He scooped her up and swung her around. He was still laughing and she smiled. He walked over to the couch and sat her down gently. He found and seat next to her and politely asked, "May I please have it back?"

"Well since you asked so nicely?" Irma pulled the paper out of her shirt and handed it to her friend as she reclined to watch T.V.

"Why'd you put it in your shirt?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't try for it."

"Good point."

"What was so important that you had to hide it from me?" Without even trying, Irma took the paper from Raphael again and managed to start unfolding it.

"No!"

When she opened the paper, she found a very detailed drawing. The girl in the picture was leaning over to the side of a table, as if looking at the artist. Her head rested on her hand and she appeared to be thinking about something extremely hard. It took a moment before Irma realized the girl was her. Whenever she gets frustrated with homework, she turns her head in the exact same way as the girl. She was also wearing the same outfit and glasses as the picture, and her hair was lightly curled and her bangs fell into her eyes gracefully.

"You drew this?"

"Maybe."

"Raph."

He squirmed nervously in his seat. "Yes."

"It's extraordinary."

"You think?"

"Of course. I've never seen this much detail in a simple drawing."

"I needed something to do while you were studying."

"I've seen myself like this."

"Like how?"

"So beautiful."

"Tell you what." Raphael gently grabbed the paper from his friend's hands and began to fold it. When he finished, he placed it in her shirt pocket. "You keep it."

"What? No, I couldn't."

"Relax. I can draw another one. I just wanted something to have for myself."

"Why didn't you just ask?"

Irma got up from the sofa and jumped over to the shelves on either side of the T.V. There was a small old-fashioned Polaroid sitting on the second tallest shelf. The small girl had to stand on tip toe to reach it, and when she did she retreated back to the couch.

"I'm pretty sure it still has film in it."

"What are you going?"

"Giving you something you can keep and have."

She sat down on his lap suddenly and put one arm around his neck. "Here, you have longer arms."

"Alright."

He waited until she was ready and took the picture. It came out really good. Irma was, of course, in his lap and hugging his neck, and Raphael had his trademark smirk/small smile.

"Can I take one of just you?"

"Sure, just a sec."

Raph watched as Irma fixed herself and pulled all her hair to both shoulders. "How do I look?"

"Wonderful."

"Sweet. Alright I'm ready."

He pressed the button and the picture came out perfect. She was adorable. She crawled over to his side of the couch. "Now you can have that so whenever you need me, you can just talk to her."

"This doesn't mean she's your permanent replacement."

The girl hit him on the shoulder.

"Of course not."

"Good. I couldn't handle venting to just her."

They both laughed and decided to tune back into a T.V show about four girls running around getting texts from some person named "A".

Yay references to my new favorite show! Again, sorry about last week's absence. I hope this makes up for it! I'm already well into Chapter Nine and it's a biggy so Fingers Crossed! Once again, thanks for the support and reviews and I love you all!