The group of teens headed back to the turtles' lair, except for the twins. They had to get back home before their Uncle discovered their absence. "That was so cool!" Mikey cheered, as he flipped into the lair. "I'm borrowing your laptop, Donnie! Kitkat said she might try to get online before bed."
"Were you successful, my sons?" Splinter asked them as he entered the room.
"We were, sensei," Leo told him with a bow.
"And we made some new friends!" Mikey added excitedly.
"You did what?" The disappointment was evident in their Master's voice. They knew he didn't approve of them revealing themselves to humans, even if they were trying to help, like they had with April.
"It's okay, sensei. They're mutants, like April," Mikey told him.
"Even so, Michelangelo, you allowed yourselves to be seen," Master Splinter said.
"We were kind of preoccupied with the Monster Hunter," Leo explained. "And they got mixed up in the middle of it."
Master Splinter stroked his beard, "And who exactly are these new friends."
"Kaitlyn and Kris Grimm," Donnie answered.
"Hm. From the news months ago."
"And apparently you and Raph saved Kaitlyn ten years ago," April spoke up.
Master Splinter's eyes grew wide as he instantly stopped stroking his beard, "How…?"
"She remembered…," Raph said, finally finding his voice since Kaitlyn's hug. "She remembered my eyes." He still seemed shocked at the reaction she had given him, which was the exact opposite to what they normally received, and he looked a little lost in his thoughts.
"She was just a child then, as were you," Splinter told them. "I did not think she would remember."
"Well, you did save her life. That's a pretty big thing to forget," April mentioned.
"True," Master Splinter agreed, placing his hands behind him. "But you still need to be more careful. If the wrong people were to see you, my sons, it would be disastrous."
"Hai, Sensei," the turtle brothers said in unison.
"Casey and I better head back home," April told them.
"Yeah," Casey added. "Our folks'll be wondering where we are."
"See you tomorrow?" Don asked, hopeful.
"Sure thing, Don," April agreed.
"Later, Raph," Casey said, giving a wave. The red banded turtle returned the wave, but remained quiet.
"You okay, Raph?" Leo asked after April and Casey had left, noticing his brother's unusual silence.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Raph said, shrugging off his brother's concern. "Just … tired." He headed towards his room to retire for the night. Don shared a worried glance with Leo, for he, too, noticed his brother's strange behaviour. They silently agreed to wait until morning to see if Raph's original attitude returned.

The next morning arrived, and Leo and Don all but held their breath as they waited for Raph to come out of his room. Mikey was preparing breakfast, still seemingly oblivious to the situation. When he turned to set the food on the table, however, he noticed his brothers intently staring at where Raph would come in. "What are you guys staring at?" he asked, setting down breakfast.
"We're waiting for Raph. Want to make sure he's okay," Leo explained, not looking away.
"Why wouldn't he be okay?"
"You didn't notice him acting out of sorts yesterday?" Don said, returning Mikey's question with another.
"You mean him being spacey and quiet?" Mikey began eating the scrambled eggs he'd made. Don and Leo shared a look; a little surprised Mikey had noticed, but more so puzzled at why he didn't say anything.
"Yeah," Don confirmed Mikey's statement. "We didn't think you actually noticed."
"Course I noticed, bro. I just don't see the big deal," Mikey told them. "I mean, you got all spacey and quiet when we first made friends with April, Don."
"Yeah, but that's because he has a crush on her," Leo reminded them.
"Exactly," Mikey said. Don's and Leo's expressions dropped in sudden shock and realization at what Mikey was trying to tell them.
"Are you saying … you think Raph has a crush on Kitkat?" Don asked, jaw remaining open. Leo continued to look just as stunned.
"Yup," Mikey replied, finishing off his breakfast. Don and Leo continued to stare at Mikey, confused at how he had come to that conclusion when they hadn't.
"T-that can't be it. Raph wouldn't … I mean he … would he?" Leo tried, and failed, to find the right words for his question.
"I don't know. Maybe," Don replied, placing a thoughtful hand on his chin and seemingly understanding of Leo's babbling.
Mikey continued to explain his reasoning, "She hugged him, told him she remembered his eyes, and she's a mutant who didn't freak out when she first saw us." Don and Leo paused to think about Mikey's points.
"It does make a little sense with how Raph's acting," Don agreed.
"But this is Raph. He's always on your shell about liking April because he doesn't think it will happen," Leo reminded them. "He probably thinks the same thing about himself and Kitkat."
"That just means he won't try anything and he'll hide it from everyone. We can't help who we develop crushes on," Don explained. The three brothers then went quiet as Raph entered the room. At first look he seemed to be back to his normal mood.
"What's for breakfast?" he asked gruffly, approaching the table.
"Scrambled eggs, toast and orange juice," Mikey answered in his usual cheerful tone. Raph got a plate and began to eat, as Don and Leo began eating what they had in front of them as well, all while subtly keeping an eye on Raph.
"So, today's the first day Kitkat gets to come over and see our lair," Mikey announced. Raph flinched ever so slightly and noticeably tried to keep his head down, acting as though the news had no effect on him. "Looking forward to it, Raph?" Mikey asked.
Raph paused from eating his breakfast to glare at Mikey suspiciously. "Whatever," he finally said. "Just another human in the lair."
"But Kitkat's not human," Mikey corrected.
"She looks like a human and was raised as a human. Close enough," Raph grumbled, continuing to eat. A sad look fell over Don's features as he realized Raph was doing the same thing to himself that he had tried to do to him; taking away all hope of being with his crush.

...

Dr. Abigail Finn and her assistant had been driving for nearly 24 hours straight. Night fall had arrived not too long ago, but Abigail refused to stop.
"C'mon, boss," Parker said with a yawn from the passenger seat. "You can't keep driving without sleep."
"You mean you can't," she shot back. "I am perfectly adept at functioning with minimal rest. We need to keep tracking that monster. I won't lose him."
"We probably already did. The monster went through the water while we have to go around it. We've already lost time."
"All the more reason to keep going!"
"Oy," Parker sighed.
"Make yourself useful, Parker, and check the usual sites for monster sightings. Let's see if it's made it to land."
Parker took out the laptop and began looking for anything that matched what they were after and where it was estimated to show up. After an hour of searching, Parker broke the news. "Nothing, boss. Like it just disappeared."
"Impossible!" Abigail bellowed. "Based on the foot prints and claws marks, it was huge! Too huge to just vanish."
"I did see there was another creature sighting in New York earlier tonight," Parker said, trying to lift her mood.
"What?" Confusion played on her face as she kept driving. "Perhaps there's more than one creature living in New York. Maybe an entire clan."
Parker noticed the fur Dr. Abigail had collected from the night before and picked it up to examine it. "Uh, boss?" Parker began, coming to an interesting conclusion. "This fur is fake."
Abigail slammed on the brakes.
Parker jerked forward, dropping the fake fur and nearly the laptop with it.
"Careful!" he bellowed. "You're lucky no one else is driving in this area."
"What do you mean the fur is fake?" Abigail asked, anger seeping through her question.
"Just that," he answered. "It's not real. Made from that plastic-like stuff they use in costumes."
"Those blasted kids!" Abigail screamed. "They set me up! Played me like a fool! Created a fake monster to run me out of town and keep the real hunt for themselves!" She paused, putting her head on the steering wheel. Parker debated about saying something to try cheering her up, until she sat back up again and continued talking. "Though, I have to say it was a brilliant strategy; using their smarts to get rid of the greater competition. And obviously, it was executed to their success, in the beginning at least."
"I'm just surprised you didn't notice when you picked it up," Parker mumbled, referring to the fake fur.
"Shut it, Parker!" she barked back. She started driving again and took the van into an immediate U-turn, heading back towards the city as fast as she could.
"You're letting yourself get blinded again. Going into tunnel vision mode," Parker told her. "It's the Ben Grimm situation all over again."
"This is nothing like that, Parker!"
Parker frowned and turned to face the road ahead of them. He was worried, but not for his boss. He was worried about them getting in trouble again. But it seemed that he wouldn't be able to convince her of her problem tonight. Instead, he would have to keep a closer eye on her actions and be the voice of reason if she tries to go off blindly hunting again. Parker sighed as he decided to get some sleep to prepare for when he would have to take the wheel, since he guessed they would be driving non-stop again and he knew Abigail couldn't go that long without sleep, despite her claims.

...

Kris, Kaitlyn, Casey and April had arrived at the turtles' lair several hours ago. The Grimm twins were introduced to Master Splinter and he was slightly confused, yet pleased, by their lack of surprise at his appearance. He offered to give them ninja lessons, like he did with April, nut they respectively declined, telling him they already had training sessions with friends of their Uncle. Mikey was most excited when they arrived and couldn't wait to give them a tour. He showed them the living room, the kitchen the Dojo, Donnie's lab, with his permission and the promise to touch nothing, and all bedrooms but Raph's. The tour only took about fifteen minutes and afterwards the group sat down in the living room to watch TV and talk. They told the twins about Shredder and the Foot clan, as well as other enemies of theirs. Kris and Kaitlyn did the same, telling the others about the villains who battle the Fantastic Four and always attempt to kidnap the teens for leverage. It never worked, since the villains always underestimate them.
"Um, how exactly did you two become mutants?" Don asked, after finally building up the courage to do so. "If you don't mind me asking."
The twins paused and shared a look before Kaitlyn began their story, "When our mother was pregnant, she was kidnapped by some mental patient who used to be a scientist. He did experiments on her, but we don't really know exactly what happened. We just know that Kris and I developed powers a couple years ago, and the experiments are most likely the cause."
"What happened to your parents?" Mikey asked. Leo elbowed his arm and he let out a cry.
"It's okay, Leo. Our mother died before we turned four when her health deteriorated because of the experiments. And our father became really depressed after …" Kaitlyn trailed off, becoming very solemn and biting her lip to prevent any tears that dared stain her cheeks.
"Our father killed himself one month after we turned four," Kris finished for his sister.
The group remained silent, drinking in the sadness of the tale that was revealed to them. Don turned the story over in his mind, contemplating which consoling words would be best for the situation.
"We're really sorry to hear that," Don said, finally agreeing on something and speaking on his and the others' behalf.
"Yeah. We were lucky enough to have Master Splinter as a dad," Mikey added, as Leo elbowed him again. "Quit it!"
Kaitlyn giggled at the youngest turtle. He was definitely an interesting character, but Kaitlyn could tell he would be a good friend.
"Thanks, guys," she said. "I'm glad we met."