After work the next day I rushed home, hoping with every fiber of my being that Raphael would come back. I knew that it was silly. Things hadn't gone the way that I had wanted them to the night before, but something inside of me didn't want to let go of the hope that he would return. I couldn't explain why I felt so drawn to him, why the thought of him in my room, so magnificent and strong, made my head start to spin. I wanted nothing more than to show him that I could be trusted, and that I wouldn't betray him, so that he would tell me all about himself.

The first thing I did when I got home was leave the window in my bedroom open a crack, hoping he would get the idea if he did show up to just let himself in. I busied myself with making dinner and then cleaning most of the evening. It wasn't until I was in the middle of playing a game on my Nintendo DS when I heard the window creak as it slide up. I headed to my room quickly, stopping in the doorway as I saw him lower his large frame into my room.

"You came back." I observed, not even bothering to hold back my grin.

"What's done is done." Raphael shrugged, looking very out of place in my small bedroom. "I guess I do owe you some answers."

He followed me back into my living room, glancing around curiously at everything I owned. He was so tall that it looked like his head would touch the door frame, and he probably would have taken up my whole couch with his size, and well, width because of his shell. I was about to head over to the kitchen to offer him something to drink - did he drink? - when I saw his expression change. His eyes narrowed and he turned around quickly to face back towards my bedroom.

"Whats wro-" I began to ask, but he held one of his fingers to his lips, signaling me to be quiet.

Raphael crept towards the door to my room, not making a sound even though it felt like every time I walked across my apartment I was about to fall through the ground with how much it squeaked.

How graceful he could be was beginning to be even weirder to me than the fact that he had a shell.

I followed, attempting to mimic his silence as I listened hard, trying to pick up on whatever he was hearing. Raphael stopped at the door and crouched down slightly like he was ready to pounce. I had just come up right behind him when I heard faint whispers.

"Shhhhhhh. Dude, I can't see anything. It's too dark. Are we sure Raph came in this window?"

It was then that Raphael lunged forward and flicked on my bedroom light. I couldn't see who was in my room yet, but he obviously wasn't expecting to be caught.

"Woah! Dude, you just about gave me a heart attack. Okay, look, don't be mad at me, I can see that you're mad, but it was all Leo's idea. Really. He made us follow you. I swear."

It was obviously somebody who knew Raphael. I slowly rounded the corner, not sure what to expect, and that's when I saw the other turtle. This one was much shorter than Raphael, with an orange mask tied around wider and brighter blue eyes. He looked younger too, and his voice wasn't as deep. He had nun-chucks at his sides, and was looking at me with much more bewilderment than I probably felt upon seeing him. His mouth was literally hanging wide open.

"Mikey," Raphael growled. "Where are the others?"

"Uh..." Replied the other turtle stupidly, still staring at me.

"Mikey!"

"Right, uh, they're on the roof." Mikey finally said, seeming to snap out of it. "I'm sorry bro, I didn't know you were uh, with your, uh... girlfriend."

Without saying anything Raphael shoved past him and climbed out the window. Mikey looked after him nervously before seeming to reluctantly follow. He was half way out the window when he turned back to me.

"Nice to meet ya." He said giving me a toothy grin before vanishing.

I stood there, dumbstruck, trying to process that there was now not one, but two, giant turtles. Once I regained some clarity, I ran out of my room, grabbed my keys off of the table, and just barely took the time to lock the front door behind me. My building wasn't very big, so I only had to run up a few flights of stairs before getting to the door for the roof. It had a huge 'DO NOT ENTER - ROOF ACCESS' sign on it, but I knew that it was always left unlocked in case of an emergency. I threw open the door, and before me stood Raphael, the newly introduced Mikey, and two other turtles.

One of them was tall and lanky, with glasses and a purple mask over his eyes. He had a large bo across his back, and an assortment of other mechanical gadgets covering his body. The fourth was wearing a blue mask and had two large swords strapped across his shell. I didn't know what to do as they all turned at once and stared at me. I let go of the door and it closed loudly. The sound was incredibly awkward in the silence.

"This is the girl?" Blue asked, turning back towards Raphael, like I wasn't even there.

"Yes."

"What have you told her?"

"Nothing."

More silence.

"Guys, we're being rude." Mikey said, obviously trying to lighten the mood. He came up to me, and held out his large, green hand. "I'm Michelangelo," he said with mock formality. "Or Mikey," he added with a grin.

I took his hand, and it swallowed up mine completely. His skin was surprisingly soft. It was different than a humans, harder, perhaps thicker, but not as rough as I had expected it to be.

"I'm Lily." I replied, feeling very self-conscious under all of their watchful eyes. At least Mikey didn't seem too afraid of me. In fact, he seemed quite the opposite.

"I'm uh, Donatello." The purple masked turtle spoke up. He pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose nervously.

"Hi." I said, giving him a small, awkward wave.

The blue masked one was looking at me with the most coolness. It was a moment before he spoke. "I'm Leonardo," he finally said. "It's nice to meet you, Lily."

It was quiet again. Raphael was looking darkly at Leonardo, and even I could feel the tension between the two of them. If I had to guess, they were both probably the oldest. There was a different air about them than there was about Michelangelo and Donatello.

"Raphael is telling the truth," I finally said. "He hasn't told me anything but his name. And even that was hard to get out of him."

Mikey snickered, and so did Donatello. At least two of them had a sense of humor.

"Good," Leonardo said. "It needs to stay that way. I'm sure you can understand why, Lily. We need to keep our existence a secret."

His tone was commanding, and I saw Mikey's face fall a little bit at the other turtle's words.

"Leo," Raphael said through clenched teeth. "This isn't your call."

"I'm sure Sensei would agree with me," Leonardo replied firmly.

"If you tell him, we'll never see above ground again. You know that, don't be an asshole about it." Raphael sounded like he was getting madder by the moment.

"Guys, I bet he'll understand. I mean, I'm sure Raph didn't just like, show himself on purpose, right?" Mikey said, looking between me and the others with hopeful eyes.

"He saved my life. I was being robbed at gun point." I explained, feeling defensive over Raphael. He hadn't done anything wrong, after all.

"See!" Mikey cried happily. "He saved her life. That's a pretty good reason to show himself, if you ask me."

"Raph also said she hasn't told anyone about him since he met her." Donatello offered, shuffling his feet against the ground nervously. Leonardo shot him a look that said 'shut up'. I guessed that since he already had two against one, he didn't want to make it three.

"We need to go home and discuss this. It is not a decision for us to make." Leonardo said. "It was nice to meet you, Lily."

And then he took a running jump onto the next roof top. Donatello sighed and waved at me, then followed.

"Don't worry, Lil. I got your back." Mikey said, knocking me with his arm in a friendly manner before backing away. "See ya later."

He pulled what seemed to be some kind of tricked out skateboard off of his shell and joined the other two.

The last to go was Raphael. He was still standing in the same place. I walked up to him slowly, my head swimming with the events that had just happened.

"Were those... your brothers?" I asked. He nodded.

"And you have a Sensei? Isn't that like, for martial arts?"

Another nod.

"Is he going to be upset that I know about all of you?"

Raphael was still looking far off into the distance, his chest moving up and down at a faster pace than normal. Obviously, he was worked up over what had just happened and over his brother's attitude towards me. If I wasn't sure before, I was now: I was the first human that had ever seen them. And they were very, very scared that I was going to tell the world about them.

"I really do mean it when I say that I won't tell anyone about you." I told him for what felt like the hundredth time. "I'll tell your Sensei that too, if need be."

"I know." Raphael replied, looking down at me finally, his eyes unreadable. "I need to go deal with that."

I watched him run off after his brothers, figuring that I would never see any of them again.