Chapter Four

Raph thought seriously about listening to April and not following her to see what she was up to, but his non-thinking, dumbass side got the best of him. He picked up his cell and dialed.

"What's up, Raph?" Donnie said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"I need you to check the cameras and tell me if you see any Foot Clan activity tonight." Raph stated.

"Ummm, why? Are you already not listening to April?" He questioned.

"Shut up and look, Donnie. I wanna know what these people have her doin'." Raph growled.

"Alright, alright."Donnie did some click clacking on his keyboard, "She's going to be SO pissed at you." Raph rolled his eyes, "Ok, looks like there's some heavy movement at Pier 53. It's one of the Hudson docks. Don't do anything stupid."

"Guess you guys better come stop me." Raph smirked and ran in April's direction.

April was strategically hidden between some shipping containers holding a pair of night vision binoculars as the drizzle began to soak her. The Foot was unloading and loading different crates.

"I have eyes on them now." She whispered into the microphone attached to her wrist.

"How many crates are they moving?" A man's voice asked.

"There's about twenty-five to thirty. I'll need backup if we want to attack tonight." She replied.

"I think we need to do some more surveillance."

April sighed in annoyance, "We may not get another shot anytime soon." Then she heard the sound of running in the distance. She put her binoculars back to her face, but the Foot was still moving at their pace. The running was becoming louder, suddenly the shipping container she was huddled against began to shake. Her face turned upward slowly and she saw the sight of large green figures leaping over her head to the other shipping container, "Shit." She whispered.

All four of the brothers, ran full force at the Foot clan members. They didn't even realize they were being attacked until it was too late. The turtles jumped on them taking down one after another. April stood there in shock and rage for a moment and then her instincts kicked in when she saw Mikey get knocked back a few feet, "I'm in so much trouble." She mumbled and ran from her hiding spot towards the guys.

She focused her senses on her surroundings and went into fighting mode. Her hand reached for the guy attacking Mikey. His body jerked back with her force. April clothes lined in him the throat and threw him on the ground.

Mikey's eyes grew wide with surprise, "Woah, Angelcakes."

Another clan member grabbed April from behind and before Mikey could make a move, she threw her head back and broke the guys nose and her fist made a swift hit to his groin. She knew she had to get the guys out of there before her people showed up to the scene. She turned to see the other members had been taken down and were tied up and tied down and all four of the brothers were gone. Black vehicles with tinted windows came screeching up to the scene and she had no idea how she was going to explain this one, but she knew one man would already know exactly what happened. First, she had to get to the guys and make sure they were okay and give them the tongue lashing of a lifetime. As the group of no names quickly cleaned up everything, April quietly snuck away and found the closet entrance to the tunnels she could.

April walked quickly through the watery ground. She was drenched at this point from fighting in the rain. She couldn't get to that lair door fast enough. It had been a year and a half since she had been there, but she still remembered the way like the back of her hand. Part of her had a hard time staying mad due to the excitement of going back to her home she hadn't been to, but she had to stay focused. There it was standing in front of her. She took a deep breath and came through that door like a bat out of hell.

"Raphael!" She shouted as she walked in and she looked to the kitchen and there were all four of them, plus Casey Jones. They all froze when they saw her standing there drenched and her eyes cold as ice, "What fucking part of 'I mean it, don't follow me' don't you understand? You don't have any idea what you're toying with, Raph!" She caught a towel that was tossed at her from the side by Mikey.

"Woah, she did see it." Mikey excitedly whispered to Donnie.

"How about a thanks for the help, babe?" Raph smarted off.

"I didn't need your help. We weren't attacking tonight. My boss had just told me to stand down when you guys came swooping in like unwelcomed superheroes." She retorted a she dried her wet hair, "I am trying to keep you guys off the grid and how am I supposed to do that when you don't listen? And what, now you've got the three stooges following in your footsteps."

Leo raised his hand sort of timidly, "We only followed him because there was no stopping him and we knew he'd do something stupid and we didn't know about the former part of this conversation."

"Well, at least one of you gives a shit about fucking up what I'm doing. And what are you doing here, Jones? Are you an accessory to all of this?"

Casey was chewing on his cereal, "I can honestly say, I'm just here for the food. I had no clue what was going on."

April shook her head and leaned over the table to try and steady her anger, "I can't see you guys if you don't listen to me. This is serious."

"Why don't you just tell me?" Raph popped off.

"Why don't you respect anything I say to you?!" She snapped.

Raph eyed April angrily and abruptly stood up from the table knocking his chair to the floor and walking out of the kitchen. She threw the towel down in disgust and followed him down the hall, "Don't walk away from me, Raph. You have to understand this is important."

"Shut up, April!" He snapped, "Just shut up about it."

April cut her eyes at him and pushed him before she knew what she was doing but he barely moved, "Don't tell me to shut up! I'm doing-" Raph pushed April against the wall and kissed her deeply and full of anger and want, nipping at her bottom lip when he pulled away. April took a deep shaky breath, "You think kissing like that the way you used to is going to win you the argument?" She squeaked in a very hoarse voice.

Raph put his forehead to hers, "I hoped some things were still the same." He breathed into her mouth.

April's heart ached, "Everything can't just revert back to the way things were before, Raph. No matter how badly we want it that way again."

"I just want you, April." His voice was begging her and the sound of his voice pulled at her heart until she thought it would break all over again.

"What if I can't be that girl you want anymore?" She looked cautiously up at him and he furrowed his brow in confusion, "I think no matter how much you say you understand things are different, you still feel like it will just go back to the old days. I'm not your fragile news reporter anymore. Back when we started, it was all about how we had to do things to work around the secret of your existence, and I was completely fine with that because I loved you. But now things are different and it's my existence that has to be hidden and it's my way or the highway. That's because I have no choice in the matter." She cleared her throat, "You have to understand that or this is over again right this second."

He stayed silent for a moment, "I will never not protect you. Even if you hate me, I will never leave you harm's way."

"That's exactly what I'm saying, you want me to be the April you have to protect and that's what's going to destroy us." April argued and she could feel her heart sinking, "If that's how you want it, then I have to leave you."

"So, that's it? No explanation. You're just gone. Again." Raph said in a stern voice. She could feel him building up a wall and shutting her out.

"You said you could handle a piece at a time. If you want it all laid on the table now, then no I can't give you that. Do you realize what it took for me to let you see that video? I knew what it would do to you and I trusted you to keep it together, but now that's not enough anymore. What about everything I did for you and Leo and Mikey and Donny because I loved you and I accepted the situation the way it was. You were worth it to me, Raph and you still are. But you're going to stand here in front of me and tell me that you're going to continue to do things the way you want regardless of what it will do to our relationship? Did you ever love me or was it convenient because I didn't run away screaming?"

Raph jerked his eyes to hers and she didn't even recognize him, they were so dark and full of anger and before either of them knew it, his fist went into the wall next to her head. April flinched and looked away for a moment, she knew she had crossed a line, but it was too late, "You know what, you're right. This will never be what it was before and you aren't the person I was in love with. Looks like I been chasin' a ghost for a year and a half because I lost you the day the Foot drove away with you."

April tried to recover herself quickly, "Our relationship is-"

He leaned down to her face, "What relationship?"

April breathed in deeply, "I was wrong about you. You couldn't handle the truth if your life depended on it. Stay out of my way, Raphael."