Greetings from England! What better time to post a chapter than here? Anyways, I know it's been a long time, but I hope you like this one. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Thanks go out to the following for reviewing:
dream lighting, kaaayyytteee, TMNTluckygirl, pokemonjkl, kage kitsune 14, 16, and Taeniaea.

Chapter 13
"Confrontation"

Alex had been let out of the hospital a couple weeks after she had woken up. Her condition had drastically improved upon waking up. April had arrived as Alex was giving the description to the sketch artist. She had almost ripped out Alex's stitched and IV by hugging her. Officer Blake was the one to say that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to do such as thing yet, seeing as Alex was still rather weak that day.

A week after Alex had woken up, every single member of the Purple Dragons that had taken part in the shooting had been arrested. Officer Blake, who continued to stay with her until they were caught, had been the person to inform her of the good news. Alex noticed that he almost seemed as relieved as she was to find out they had been caught.

Even after they were caught, Joseph Blake had kept in contact with Alex and April, checking up on her. He had even gone to eat lunch with her in her room a couple days during his break while she was still in there. Perhaps they had bonded. Maybe he thought of Alex as a little sister. He did remind her of her brothers.

Alex hadn't seen the turtles for even longer after that. April didn't want them around Alex until she was a lot better. She didn't want her to injuries to get infected and seeing as they lived in the sewers...It wasn't the best thing for Alex to be around. She wouldn't even let her go to school. She had been getting her work from the school for Alex so she wouldn't fall behind. Alex was thankful for at least that.

But she had to admit, she really missed her boys. She knew that had to be worried sick about her.

When April finally let Alex out and back to school, Alex was so excited. When she got back to school, she found out that Erik had quit the Purple Dragons. His mother had gotten a lot better and they had paid off the rest of their bills. He didn't even have the tattoo so he didn't have to get it removed or anything. Alex was so happy. She also knew Emily and Kiley were excited about that.

Though Alex was excited for him , she knew that he would now be spending more time with the twins. Whenever she hung out with all three of them, she felt as if she were the third wheel, like she didn't belong. Maybe she didn't anymore. Maybe she had outgrown them, or they had outgrown her. She was happy that they were happy though. And really, that was all she ever wanted for her friends, even if it didn't include her. They all ended up distancing away from each other – Alex and the group. And they were all okay with that.

Or so Alex told herself. She would miss them, but perhaps it was for the best. She didn't want them to get hurt. She had a horrible habit of getting her friends involved in her business and her business was dangerous, just like how she always got involved with the terrapin's business, though she didn't mind. She could take care of herself.

She had even gotten back to her usual workout routine. Her injuries had healed almost all the way and the only thing that was left was scab like things. That was nothing. She was going to get back in shape before going to see the guys just in case she was dragged into something again. Which she and April both saw as a smart move.

Alex walked into her first period class the second week of school after she had been back. She sat down and started to get out her thing, but was stopped by the teacher. The teacher called her up to the front of the rather empty classroom. She had gotten their earlier than usual and seeing as she wasn't really hanging out with the twins and Erik anymore, she was even more spare time. She just went to her classroom to relax.

"Lex," Mrs. Rodger said. "This is Ludwig Rudolf. He just moved here from Germany. It seems he's been placed in all of your classes, along with Phoebe Smith, you know her, don't you? She moved here last year from England. I thought that it would be nice if you could show him around school, along with Ms. Smith, seeing as she can relate to him."

"Sure," Alex said. She turned to the new student and examined him for a moment, though it would have gone unnoticed by anybody who wasn't trained to catch it. He was a tall boy with light blonde hair, cute short, and very light and very pretty blue eyes. He was also very muscular. If she wasn't a trained ninja, she wouldn't have wanted to get on his bad side. She stuck out her hand and politely said, "Hi, it's nice to meet you. I'm Alex."

He took her hand and smiled. "Hello," he said. "I am Ludvig, but my friends call me Rudy."

"It's nice to meet you, Rudy," Alex repeated, using his nickname. Alex led him where she was sitting so they could talk a little. He sat next to her, on her left where Fred used to sit. Fred…She missed him a great deal. "So, you're from Germany. What part of Germany?"

"I am from Stuttgart," he told her. "Have you lived in Nev York City your entire life?"

"Yes," Alex said. "Born and breed."

The first bell rang and people started piling into the classroom, Phoebe Smith included. Phoebe was called to talk to Mrs. Rodgers just like Alex had, but before she went to sit down. She nodded her head and went to sit behind Alex. Phoebe was an English girl, born in Essex. She was taller than Alex by four inches and had short brown hair and warm brown eyes. Her eyes reminded her of Officer Blake's eyes.

"Hi," Phoebe said shyly. Alex and Phoebe didn't really know each other. They knew who each other were and big details that everybody else knew, but they didn't know each other personally. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ludwig. I'm Phoebe."

"Please, call me Rudy," he introduced. He put his hand out to shake. Phoebe took it, but then he brought it to his lips and kissed it. "Zee please is all mine."

Well isn't that cute, Alex thought. Alex has to keep herself from giggling once she saw Phoebe's blush. She turned her attention to the front of the room after that. Class was beginning and she had to pay attention. Just as she had said to Blake, she wanted to keep her grades where they were.

When lunchtime finally rolled around, Alex sat down at a table with Phoebe and Rudy. Alex and Rudy were smart enough to bring their lunch instead of buying it like Phoebe was. The food in the school systems in New York was horrible. The food stank and they didn't give you much of if either. Alex advised Rudy and Phoebe once she got back to always bring their lunches, unless they wanted food poisoning (okay, maybe it's not that bad, to that extent, but it still wasn't great).

"So, how do you like it here so far?" Alex asked.

"It is all right," he replied. "It is very different from my home."

"Same," Phoebe said. "It took me forever to get used to this style of schooling."

"So, uh," Rudy started to say, "Do you have any siblings, Phoebe?"

"Yes," she replied. "I have an older sister and a little brother."

"How old are they?" he asked.

"Seventeen and ten," the English girl replied.

"And you, Alex?" he asked. He didn't see the look Phoebe was giving him, warning him not to open that up with the poor girl.

Alex just nodded and said, "Yes, I have three older brothers." She left out the part about them being missing. "They're triplets. All seventeen."

"Maybe I vould be able to able to meet them?" he asked.

"Sure," Phoebe said, glancing at Alex.

Alex shrugged. I pity him if he ran into my brothers now, she thought. Instead, she just shrugged. "How about you?" Alex asked. "Do you have any siblings?"

"Nein," he replied. Alex knew that "nein" meant no. "I vish I did."

The warning bell for the next period went off. Alex grabbed her school bag and swung it over her shoulder. She looked at her new friends, though she didn't know very well, and asked, "Ready for geology?"

o0o

Alex waved off Phoebe and Rudy as she walked the opposite way down the street after school let out. Instead of heading home, the way that the others were going, she was going to go meet the turtles at the lair to surprise them. She really did miss those knuckleheads. She missed Mikey's stupid jokes that only she laughed at. She missed Donny's intellect. She missed Raph trying to hit Mikey because of said stupid jokes and she missed Leo's leadership.

Once the large stone door opened, Alex stepped out with her backpack over one of her shoulders. At first Alex didn't see anybody. She didn't really feel like looking around for anybody so she walked over to the couch and plopped down. She took out her homework and started to work on it.

Finally, Alex heard someone start to walk over. Mikey came in and plopped down on the opposite side of the couch. "Hey Alex," he said as he reached for the remote as if he had seen her yesterday. "Wait," he muttered. "Alex?" He looked back at her and then yelled, "Alex!" He nearly tackled Alex off of the couch, sending her chemistry textbook to the floor.

"It's nice to see you too, Mikey," Alex laughed. She had to force the orange masked terrapin off of her.

"Alex?" Donny asked, walking up to them.

Alex stood up, picked up her chemistry book and placed it on the couch. "Hello, Donatello," Alex said. She gave him a short hug. "It's been a while."

"We were so worried about you!" Mikey yelled.

"Yeah, April said you were shot three times," Don said.

"That is correct," Alex said.

"We were standing watch each night, making sure that nobody was coming in after you," Alex heard Leo say.

Alex turned around to see Leo standing behind the couch. "Leo," she said smiling. She walked around the couch and gave him a nice, big hug. "I've missed you guys," she said into his shoulder. He held on to her longer than Alex had hugged Mikey and Donny combined. Alex blushed, feeling his hands on her back. His head was buried into her long red hair. She could feel his breath on her neck. "It's nice to see you too, Leo."

They finally parted and Alex almost felt a little disappointed. Leo was surprisingly warm. It would have been a comfortable place to take a nap. Alex moved back to the couch and plopped down. She put her chemistry book back on her lap and started to work on her homework again. She looked up form it when she heard Leo speak.

"Well," he said. "Are you going to tell us what happened and why you were shot?"

"Shouldn't we wait until everybody's here?" Alex asked.

"This is everybody," Leo said. "Raph's being moody again and isn't coming out of his room."

"What's bothering him?" Alex asked, curious as to why her friend was upset.

"Don't know," Donny said.

"He won't talk to us," Mikey added.

"We're letting him cool off," Leo said.

Alex looked at each of them and then nodded. She could help but think, I wander what's wrong with Raph. "Okay," she said hesitantly. "Well, I was walking home and saw some Purple Dragon guys going after this house with guns. There was a little girl outside so right before they started to shoot, I ran and got in front of the little girl."

"We're glad you're okay," Donny said.

"How's the little girl?" Mikey asked.

"Uh, well," Alex didn't know how to say what happened. She hadn't really thought about the little girl. She tried not to think about her. It hurt to do so. "She didn't make it."

"Oh Alex," Leo said. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Alex told them.

"Well, I'm just glad you're okay," Don said.

"We all are," Leo said.

"Thanks guys," Alex said. Alex put her textbook into her bag and then got up. "I'm going to go check on Raph."

"I don't think you want to do that," Mikey said. "I bugged him earlier when he was sleeping. He was in an even worse mood than before."

"Even so, I need to go see him," Alex said. She moved away from the area and went to where the bedrooms were. "Raph?" she whispered as she entered the room cautiously.

"Go away, Mikey," Raph groaned. He was laying on his cot with his back turned to Alex. He didn't even move as he said what he said to "Mikey."

"Raph," she whispered once more as she approached the cot. "Raphie," she said, touching his shoulder.

Everything after that moment seemed to happen within the blink of an eye. If Alex hadn't been trained to be able to notice things like that, she wouldn't have been able to react the way she did. It was moments like those that made the girl very thankful for her ninja training. Not that there was really any moments that she ever really hated her training.

Raph swung out of the hammock and grabbed onto Alex's arm, trying to push her against the wall. However, before he got the chance to trap her, she swung around and jumped on his back. She then forced her weight backwards so he fell on the ground with Alex on top of him. He managed to turn around thought. Before he could do anything else, Alex pinned him arms above his head, pressing her chest against his so he couldn't move.

"Raph, it's okay," Alex said. "It's just me."

Raph looked up at the girl through the dark and was just able to make out her long red hair and her light green eyes. That was most definitely not a green terrapin mutant names Mikey.

"Alex?" he asked. "What are you doing in here?"

He didn't sound nearly as pleased to see her as she had thought or hoped he would have sounded. Instead of sounding shocked, he sounded annoyed. Instead of happy, he sounded angry. That was most definably not what she had wanted to hear.

"Why else would I be in here?" she retorted, sitting up a little, releasing his arms. She may have let go of his arms, but she didn't get up from her position over him. "I came in to see you!"

Raph looked to the side and moved so he was leaning back on his elbows. He didn't make the girl get off of him though. This was odd behavior for him. Why wasn't he looking at her and why was he being so cold?

"Raph?" Alex asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Is something wrong?" he snapped, finally turning his head to look at her. "Of course there is something wrong? How could you be so stupid?"

"Excuse me?" she retorted. "Where is thing coming from?"

"You almost got yourself killed!" he shouted. "What were you thinking?"

"What was I thinking?" Alex yelled back. "I was trying to save that little girl's life!"

"By getting yourself shot instead?"

"By protecting her!
"By jumping in front of a bullet?"

"By protecting her!" Alex yelled again. "You would have done the same thing, Raph! You and I both know it. What is the big deal about me doing it?"

"Because you could've gotten killed," Raph said.

"And my life is worth more than that little girl's?"

"I hope it was worth it," he spat.

"It wasn't!" she shouted back, pushing him back down so he was flat on his shell. "Are you happy know? It wasn't."

"What do you mean?" Raph asked, looking up at the girl who's facial expression turned from annoyed to furious.

"She died! Are you happy? I couldn't save her." At first her tone was loud and angry, but then it had started to die down to almost a sad whisper. "She's dead, Raph; and I couldn't save her."

By that point, tears were slipping down her cheeks and her body shook slightly. She was trying to hold in everything; her tears and her sobs, but it just seemed that those actions were making her lose her composure all together.

"Alex," Raph said, leaning back up. He hesitantly placed his hands on her back, pulling her to his chest as he shifted his weight so he was sitting up with her straddling his torso. She buried her head into his shelled chest and placed her hands there as well. "I-I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't know."

"She was just a little girl, Raph," she sobbed.

"It wasn't your fault," he responded.

"But I couldn't save her," Alex added. "I was right there."

"And you tried, but you can't save everyone," he said, rubbing circles into her back, trying to calm her down.

"But-"

"No," he said. "You can't blame yourself for this."

After a couple of minutes, Alex nodded her head. "I didn't mean to yell at you," she said. "I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," he said. "I was just…"

"What?" Alex said, moving her head to look up at him. She didn't remove her hands from his chest though.

"It's nothing," he said, looking away with a slight tint of red on his green cheeks. "Forget it."

"No," Alex said. She moved one hand to his face and turned his head to make him look at her. "What is it? I want to know."

Raph cleared his throat and his face became an even deeper shade of red. "I, uh, you know, was worried about you. What you did was reckless and dangerous. I was angry that I could be there for you."

"Raph, you guys are always here for me," Alex said. "I think about you every day when I'm not down here with you. Don't you see that? You're as much part of my life than I am yours."

"I know, but -"

"You were worried about me," Alex said.

Raph stared into her green eyes for a moment before slightly nodding and saying, "Yeah."

"I'm sorry I made you worry," she said, placing her head back on his check with a deep blush on her face. She had no idea why she was still in that position with Raph nor why she was enjoying it so much.

"And I'm sorry you had to go through all of that," he said, resting his head on hers. "Just promise me something, okay?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied. "What is it, Raphie?"

"Don't do that to me again, okay?" Raph asked.

Alex knew she couldn't be sure that nothing bad could happen to her, but she wanted to make Raph feel better. She wasn't going to stop what she was doing, but perhaps she'd be a little more careful from that point on. With that thought, Alex gently nodded her head and kissed his cheek before moving her head back down to rest where it had been.

"I'll try, Raph," she said. "For you, I'll try."

12