Hey, people! I'm back! Three weddings in ten days in three different states. I'm impressed with myself! AND I caught a bride's bouquet! Oh, boy. Now if I could just find myself a boyfriend...

True to my word, I wrote a BUNCH over the road trip, so I'll be updating again pretty soon. I'm just gonna do a couple-day break in-between, but stay tuned!

Still don't own TMNT, and still owe my beta readers my thanks. Enjoy!

Chapter Nine

"Irma, I think we should talk about something important." I was sitting at the table in the kitchen eating (yet again) a slice of pizza for lunch. The boys (when did I start thinking of them as the boys?) were training with Splinter, and Casey was working on something in the Lab. April was sitting across from me, drinking a cup of coffee.

"Yes, your eyebrows are starting to grow back," I told her, giggling as her hands flew up to feel. She scowled at me for making her do that again. "But seriously, you DO look better." We both did. Our bandages were gone, her arms were healed, and my giant head-bruise was gone. I had even had April do some workouts with me to burn off all the pizza calories. If my clothes didn't look like I had stolen them off a hobo, I would have said I didn't look too bad.

"Thanks. But we need to talk-"

"I accept your apology for kicking me out of the bed." She flushed a little at this and I grinned. "I'm just teasing you. I'm really happy that you two are getting along again."

She smiled at me, a real one, like I hadn't seen for a while. "Thanks, Irma. I appreciate it. But seriously, we DO need to talk."

"Okay. What's up?" I picked up the pizza to take a bite.

"We're going home in a couple days."

I froze, the pizza halfway to my mouth. "Home? Really?" I was at once filled with excitement and a little bit of sorrow. Excitement because I was going to go home and be in my own apartment, and sorrow because I knew that once I was home I'd probably never see the turtles again. I was a risk and I knew it. It was sad, but that was life, I guessed. But to be honest, I was pretty sure they were getting sick of me anyway. Being cooped up for so long had me on the edge all the time, like any second I was going to open up a can of verbal whoop-ass on someone. And that was exactly what I did once the one straw pushed me over the edge. And that one straw was what April said next.

She nodded at me in response to my previous query. "Yeah. We think it's safe enough to head back, and we should."

"We? Who's we?"

"Well… I guess-"

"We is everyone except me I see." I was instantly angry. She knew I despised it when people discussed important things without me, especially when it concerned me. The can of whoop-ass was officially opened. "So, everyone else can talk about me since I don't count, right? It only concerns me and my life, and I don't have an opinion now, right? I see how it is. Thanks, April. Very nice of y'all. Really. Too kind." I was so angry I didn't even care that the vernacular I tried so hard to hide was coming out. I stood up furiously.

April looked alarmed. "Irma, I didn't mean-"

"You know what, April? I really am not even surprised. I mean, you've only been lying to me for years, so why should it be any different now?" I strode from the kitchen with as much dignity as I could. My stride of dignity was a bit ruined when the doors to the training room flew open and I tripped and fell onto my face in surprise, but I pretended I had done it in a very graceful way that hadn't made me look as stupid as I knew I did.

"Yo, Irma!" I heard Mikey say concernedly. "You okay?"

"Bite me!" I said angrily, and then continued my furious pace.

"Irma! Irma, don't be that way! Please, Irma! I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking! Oh, come on!" I completely ignored April. I was going to march into the guest room with dignity and close the door with dignity and then take a nap- Wait… That was April and CASEY'S room now. I wouldn't touch that bed with a ten foot pole. So I turned my march and went straight back into Don's room (where I had been sleeping for the past few nights, thanks to Casey and April's reunion. I was tempted to slam the door behind me, but since it was half made of glass, I decided that was a bad idea. So I closed it as loudly as I could without worrying about breaking it. I then sat indignantly on the bed with my arms crossed.

Someone knocked on the door. "Irma, please come out." It was Donatello.

"No!" I shouted angrily. "Just pretend I'm not here and ignore me, since that's what you were doing when you were making plans without me!"

"Irma," I heard Casey call out, "a person would have to be deaf and blind to ignore you."

"Then you must be both, because you and April haven't said hardly more than twelve words to me for these two weeks! Especially you, Casey!" I shouted even louder. "I may be new to this whole turtle ninja thing, but that doesn't make me invisible! Jerks!"

There was some murmuring outside. "Go away!" I shouted again. "I'm fuming!"

"Irma." A strong, wise, and utterly commanding voice rang out. "Please step outside."

Crrraaaaap… I had the feeling that saying No to Splinter would be like saying Hello, Grim Reaper. Do come inside!

After a few seconds of mental debate, I stood and opened the door, looking as irritable as I could. One look at Splinter's stern face totally melted all my resolve away. I moved to stand in front of him and without him saying a word, I immediately spoke. "I apologize for saying bite me, Mikey. And I apologize for storming off. And I apologize for trying to use your room as a barricade, Don. "

Splinter patted my arm kindly. "Come have some tea with me, Irma."

It didn't strike me until he was walking away that he called me Irma instead of Miss Irma.

I sat alone with Master Splinter inside his room. It was completely Spartan in decoration, but completely Zen. I sat on the other side of him, Indian style, with a cup of hot tea in my hands. He sat in the same position with his own tea as well. We both took a deep sip and gave a sigh- his one of contentment, and mine one of frustration.

"Tell me, child, what is troubling you?" Splinter asked over the rim of his cup.

I gave an irritated sigh. "I dunno... I guess I'm tired of being stuck down here. I mean, not that you guys haven't been wonderful- you're great. I've just never been really good with having to sit in one place. With no options I mean. So..."

"So you wish to feel that you have some amount of control, and when we spoke without you, it was taken from you." I stared slack-jawed at Splinter for a moment before shutting my mouth. He was good.

"But," he continued, "that is not all, is it?" He watched me over the rip of his teacup as he brought it up to his lips. I squirmed uneasily, tempted to make something up, but I knew that he would know if I was lying in a heartbeat. So, I decided to just get it out there and save us both the time.

"It's just… Look, I know that once I'm home, I'm never going to see anyone here again, which is sad, but I guess I understand. What bothers me is that they just… they just went off and talked about people that tried to kill April, and probably me. And she's my best friend. And she didn't even want to share that with me. And Casey does the same thing. Why should I be friends with people who lie to me? It's my life too! If they were just going to pretend like this never happened and keep me in the dark again, I don't see why I should bother trying."

Splinter listened quietly while I went on my tirade. He took another sip of tea and then spoke. "You fear being rejected, first by your old friends, and now by your new."

I did the open-close-open-close mouth thing again for a while. Then I muttered darkly into my own teacup. "Yeah, I guess." I took a sip and then said "But I understand that you guys probably don't exactly want anyone else knowing about you. So, I won't tell anyone, but I- if you don't- what I mean to say is-"

"Irma." His soft voice stopped me from talking. "My sons are not going to stop talking to you simply because they have not known you as long as they have April or Casey."

For some reason, the second he said this, I felt like something that had been squeezing my chest let go, and a breath that I didn't know I had been holding for days suddenly flew out of my lips before I could stop it. Splinter's whiskers twitched and he smiled. "I thought that may please you." He took a long sip of his tea. "I admit that for many years, I did not wish my sons to have contact with the outside world. However… it seems they are not meant to be alone. I was once afraid that their differences would make others afraid of them."

I sipped my tea while he spoke, listening to him. He looked into the distance thoughtfully. "I am grateful that they have friends outside of our family now. It helps them, I believe, to have others to turn to when frustrated with each other."

"I understand why you are unhappy with the situation you have found yourself in. But you must realize that it was out of concern for my sons that April and Casey said nothing. And I do not believe they excluded you for any reason other than they have been used to acting by themselves. They are unused to including you."

I had finished off my tea at this point. "I know. I overreacted. I guess."

"It is good you recognize this." His tea also finished, he began to stand. I got up and helped him to his feet. "Thank you," he said. We walked to the doors of his room and saw the rest of the group sitting around in the den. We all waited for Splinter to speak. "Tomorrow," he began, "you will all go to the apartment of Casey and April to insure that it is safe. Then you will escort Irma to her own home, and do the same there. At all times, be cautious." He looked at me. "You are welcome here whenever you wish. Now." He moved to the TV. "I am going to watch my stories. You children play." He had a small grin on his face as he spoke.

I stood there with the boys and Casey and April in awkward silence for a moment before I spoke. "I can make burgers if someone makes brownies for dessert." And with that, all was well again.

Okay, so I lied about them heading home in this chapter. I didn't intend for this to happen! It just did. Blame the characters. Plus, I felt it was time for an Irma-Fit. She's a drama queen, and after two weeks of essentially being under house arrest and powerless, any little thing could have set her off.

This was a much shorter chapter than the other two mostly because I felt that this was a chapter in of itself and chapters are done when they're done, dangit!

Everything I do, I do for love. And reviews. Reviews too.