April didn't come downstairs the next morning and Michelangelo made them breakfast alone.

"Leo, do you think April is okay?" Mikey asked as he served up. "Should we go check on her?"

"I think we should let her sleep in if she needs to," Leonardo answered. "Plus I get the feeling she is avoiding us for some reason..."

They all looked at Raphael.

"Hey, I went to apologize yesterday but she was asleep. Cut me some slack," Raphael grumbled.

"I hope she's not mad at all of us because of your temper," moped Mikey.

"She's not mad at you guys," Casey interjected, taking a big sip of coffee. "She's only avoiding you so you don't see her hurting and start fighting again. She's fine, we hung out a little when you were out last night."

Michelangelo scarfed his food a little faster than usual and went over to the stove. He came back with a full breakfast and coffee on a tray. He snatched a flower from the vase on the kitchen table and placed it on there for good measure.

"This will cheer her up! Breakfast in bed, dudes. She'll love it!" He thrust the platter to Raphael, the coffee spilling ever so slightly with his enthusiasm. "Go for it, man."

Raphael almost dropped his fork. "Are you serious?"

"Of course! It always works in the movies. We all miss April, go kiss and make up already," Michelangelo said, pouting.

The others snickered but refrained from openly ripping on him. They didn't want to spook him out the door by pissing him off. The tension was already unbearable and they really did miss April.

"Go for it, tough guy," Casey encouraged with a wry smile. "Time to get your shit together and be a man."

Raphael sighed. "Fine, give me the damn tray. I don't wanna hear a word about this when I come back down, ya hear? Not one word."

Raphael ignored the chuckles and encouragement from his brothers as his heart thudded all the way up the stairs. He knocked on the door like some hotel waiter and felt ridiculous. He hoped she was still sleeping and he could just leave it there on the nightstand and slip back out. "Come in," he heard her call and his heart started hammering even faster.

Get a grip, Raph, he thought to himself. He entered and scooted the door closed behind him with his foot.

April was reading propped up in bed, the sunlight crowning her fiery curls around her face. She was so beautiful that he stared for a moment. She regarded him cautiously and curiously.

"Hey, uh, Mikey put a little something together for you and I thought I would bring it up for ya." Nervous, he crossed the room and placed the tray down on the bedside table. "Look, I'm not very good at this, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for acting like such a jerk. I hope you are feeling better."

"I'm fine." She took her coffee and sipped it, then went back to her book. She let him fidget for a moment before sighing and looking back over. "Anything else?"

"If you are up to it, I have some really light training we can do today."

"You're right, you aren't very good at this."

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," he said quietly.

His eyes were so sad and April was such a sucker. It wasn't fair of her to expect him to take the lead. "I wasn't really looking for an apology, Raph, even though it is nice to hear from you. I just want to know why you were being such a jerk in the first place. Why did you hurt me so badly?"

"Shit, I didn't think it was that bad..."

"No." She cut him off. "I meant my feelings, not the rough way you tossed me around. I was ready for the odd accident or hard spill. I tried really hard to be a good student. I know I'm not some giant super-strong mutant but I was doing my best."

"You are a great student. It's not that."

"Then what is it? I've lost everything for you guys, except this old place out here in the boonies." She took another sip of her coffee. Mikey always made it too sweet for her but it was still good. "You hurt me really bad, Raph. I want to know what I did to make you so angry."

"I don't know." This was new territory for him. The rush of emotions he was feeling, trying to sort them out and actually speak about them to her seemed like the hardest challenge he had ever faced. He shifted his weight and looked down, reminded of all the times he had been in deep trouble as a kid with Master Splinter. "I just, I started feeling normal with you. I couldn't handle it anymore."

She raised an eyebrow. "I treat you like a normal person and you go nuts on me?"

"I don't want to know what it feels like," he flailed. "It's not for me and never will be. When we go back we'll hardly see each other and all I will have is a memory here and there. It's painful enough as it is, it's even worse knowing what I am missing out on."

"A human friend?"

"It's becoming more than friendship though isn't it? Or am I crazy? I know what I saw and felt the other day. I was so mad that you were hurting me by giving me hope. Then you looked scared and I just couldn't deal."

She stared up at him, crushed. He had just laid it all on the line and she was speechless. Breathless. He was backing off a little, the walls were coming back up and she had no idea what to say suddenly. It wasn't what she had expected from him. "Raph, I..." She paused.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," he said angrily.

"No, don't leave. I need a moment. You're not crazy," she called finally at his turned back. He had reached out for the door knob and froze just like that.

"What?"

"I feel it too. I love spending time with you and I've missed you these last couple of days. I think you are fun, interesting and intense. I think you are a great Sensei and the most amazing fighter I've ever seen. I've not once been afraid of you since getting to know you. You were the one that froze up first the other day, and I just didn't know what to do. Thinking you hated me or were repulsed by me hurt a lot."

"You thought I was repulsed by you?" He laughed bitterly at that.

"What was I supposed to think? My body wasn't exactly subtle with what it wanted and you just changed in an instant," she said.

He crossed back over to her and sat heavily on the edge of her bed, blushing. "I had to get out of there and hit the cold water before I poked a hole through my shell." She laughed out loud at his honesty and he shared an embarrassed smirk with her for a moment. "I told you, I was pissed you made me think it was even possible that you might...want me."

April took his hand and held it. Gathering her courage, she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, heart fluttering.

It felt like an electric current going through his body. Raphael had been curious about kissing, of course. His mouth was so large, and it took a few clumsy tries, but if he pursed his lips just the right way hers fit against them perfectly.

April broke away and smiled. "You still think it's not possible?"

"I might need a bit more convincing," Raphael murmured as he leaned in to find her soft lips once more.

April melted into him and he started to let himself believe that it was real. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. She straddled his lap and let him crush her flush against his plastron. His mouth left hers, exploring down her jaw and nipping at her throat. April moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck. Raphael had never in his wildest dreams thought he would get such a response from a woman, let alone the one who had dominated this heart and mind since he had met her. He gently gave her collarbone one last taste and shifted her back onto the bed.

"Raph?" she asked breathlessly, heat flowing through her.

"If I don't stop now my brothers will send a search party," he rumbled. "Meet me in an hour?"

"I suppose," she said teasingly. "Where are you off to?"

"The pond," he groaned, grimacing at the tightness in his lower plastron.

April gave him one more quick kiss before he left, still burning from his touch. She then ate her nearly forgotten breakfast slowly and with great contemplation. What the hell had she just committed to? A relationship she would need to keep hidden from almost everyone, for one. A half-human, half-turtle mutant who was young and inexperienced. Any semblance of a normal life. Yet she would have him. She knew he would love her fiercely once he let himself. Once the fear of the unknown and the realization she wasn't going to reject him sunk in. He made her happy, he made her laugh, he made her feel good. Wasn't that all that mattered?

Meanwhile Raphael had made a B-line to the back door, trying his best to avoid his brothers in his current painfully uncomfortable state. No such luck though, they practically jumped him as soon he got down the stairs.

"Did you fix things?" Donatello asked.

"Yeah, we're good, can I go now?"

"See? It totally worked!" Mikey exclaimed happily, hugging him.

Worst timing possible, Mikey! Raphael raged in his head. "Let go of me I gotta go set something up. We're gonna train today, real light stuff." He was babbling, dragging the clueless Michelangelo a bit as he tried to escape.

"What's wrong bro?" he asked as he followed him through the house, the other two tagging along behind.

"Nothing!" he yelled. "Stop pestering me."

"You are acting weird even for you," noted Leonardo. "Are you sure things are okay? You didn't start a fight with April like you usually do when you try to apologize did you?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

Growling in frustration, Raphael turned on them. "I'm sure. We kissed and made up, okay? Now let me go get my head together before I gotta see her again, shell brains."

They all stopped and their mouths dropped. From somewhere in the kitchen Casey Jones choked on his drink and sputtered a bit.

Oh sweet freedom, was all Raphael could think as he took advantage of the moment and shut the door between them.