A/N: Title comes from P!nk's "Raise Your Glass".

You know this was supposed to be a cute and fluffy piece originally. But dammit Raph wanted to be angry and Casey wanted to tell her story with Nick. So I let them.

This piece is unbeta'd.

Disclaimer: I don't own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Part 6:Wrong In All The Right Ways

Casey Jones had been planning this night for a solid week. She made sure that the guys didn't need her for patrol. She made sure that April didn't have a tutoring session planned for them. She triple checked with Coach about any practices. Madeline was sleeping over at friend's place. Her dad and Linda were going to a spa in the Catskills for some sort of architect conference thing.

This meant one thing.

Casey had the place to herself.

It was rare that Casey had time totally to herself.

Despite being a loner by nature, she was rarely alone. Classmates, teammates, family, and other New Yorkers surrounded her constantly. The stream of chatter was incessant and the sea of people surrounding her vast.

A few months back, she sought out these crowds in defiance of her nature. She surrounded herself in a crush of bodies in dance clubs and seedy bars. She sought out the sweat and blood of any underground fight clubs she discovered. People to distract her became something that she needed desperately. Faceless people for her to hurt and to dance and to use for her own purposes were needed.

Of course, a few months can change a person. Casey was definitely changed: a little older, a little sadder, and a little wiser. She also had become a hockey mask wearing vigilante to work with a bunch of mutated turtles ninjas and her friend at the center of an alien conspiracy to protect the city (possibly the world).

It was a different kind of crowd that she looked for now.

Still, Casey had always been a solitary soul at heart. She had been working with the turtles on and off for three weeks. Their alliance was still awkward. Only Raph and April talked to her. Donatello was distant. Leonardo didn't trust her (which, Raph told her, was laughable). Michelangelo seemed friendly but also uncertain.

It was fine of course. Casey knew that she wasn't the easiest person to like. She also knew that she was still a hotheaded relative unknown.

Trust was always something to be earned.

Still, it was weighing on her a bit. She needed this weekend to regroup and start fresh.

Friday night, she finished her own solo patrol for muggers and general creeps in the area. Then she made her way home and slept in until Saturday afternoon.

By the time that she got up, it was blissfully silent in her home. Casey stretched in her bed and let out a contented sigh.

Then she got up to prepare for her big night of doing nothing.

She made a special trip out to a tiny pizzeria near Coney Island, which was run by a cranky, old Italian man who didn't deliver pizza, you came to him for the pizza. She picked up a vodka pie and ran it back home. Then she went to her favorite hole in the wall bakery for cupcakes.

She followed it up to a visit to a bookstore to pick up some magazines.

Casey trekked back home, up the steps, and closed the door behind her. The silence seeped blissful and clear with only muffled street noise leaking in.

She closed her and slumped against the door. Purchases still held in her hands loosely.

She liked her life. She liked her responsibilities for the hockey team and as a new vigilante. It took her some time to get to that.

Time, and increasingly poor decisions, but still she was content enough with her current situation in life. Of course, this was only a stopgap measure. She knew that the future remained constantly breathing down her neck.

Casey shook her head and looked into her reflection. She ruffled her hair in annoyance. It was getting long and she needed to touch up her roots sometime soon.

She sighed and untied the skull bandana from her wrist. Pulling off her hoodie vest, t-shirt, and jeans, Casey walked in her long sleeved gray shirt and underwear to the bathroom.

The deep claw footed tub that her father installed several years back had never looked so good to Casey. Normally she was a shower kind of girl, but tonight she was planning on making full use of the bath.

One look at Casey Jones, and most people would think she wasn't the type of girl to love bubble baths. They would also be wrong.

Bubble baths were usually a treat for Casey. Something about them was just a special kind of magic that allowed her to just breathe. Her muscles almost seemed to relax all at once and her problems felt a million miles away.

So after weeks and weeks of her body being put through its paces from practices, to crime fighting, and just day-to-day life. Casey was just going to get in the tub with those bubbles and soak while listening to her backlog of Welcome to Night Vale episodes.

Then afterwards she was going to reheat her pizza, gorge herself on delicious vodka sauce goodness, eat her cupcakes, and watch Mean Girls and The Mighty Ducks.

Turning on the water, Casey waited until it hit the perfect temperature before pulling the tub and adding the lavender-vanilla scented bubble bath. She considered the scene and deciding to just go all in went and got some candles to light as well. In the flickering light of the candles, Casey sat on the toilet and read a hockey magazine she picked up earlier in the day.

Once the tub was done filling up, Casey set up her iPod's portable speaker and started up the first episode on her backlog for Night Vale. Stripping down and settling in the water, she sighed as immediately all her muscles loosened up and the tension seeped out of her.

Tonight was going to be wonderful.

Tonight sucked.

Raph was seriously two seconds away from tying Mikey up and shoving him a closet.

Everyone had mutually decided that a night in sounded like a good idea. The issue was that no one had really decided on what to do with their free time. Now ever since the incident with Spike…with Slash, Raph has been trying to do better with his brothers.

Exercise patience.

It wasn't going all that well tonight. Raph could feel the familiar anger creep over him as Mikey's running commentary for the movie started to get all kinds of annoying. The fact that earlier today, Leo and he had fight about their latest raid of the Kraang was just adding to the pressure valve of his temper.

The only brother he wasn't close to losing it at was Donnie. But Donnie had disappeared into his lab all day, so that was a contributing factor.

Raph sucked in a breath through his teeth. He had to let his anger flow over him like water over a river rock.

That's what Sensei kept telling him.

The only problem was that it wasn't working. He just wanted to watch a movie in peace without the color commentary. Was that so much to ask?!

He stood suddenly, making Mikey quiet instantly. Leo looked over his shoulder with an assessing expression.

Raph blew out a breath and muttered, "This movie is dumb anyway. I'm goin' out."

"Where?" asked Leo, like he had some sort of control over what Raph did outside of their various team missions.

Raphael was allowed to have his own life.

"Just out! You're not the boss of me, Leo!"

And with that he stormed out of the Lair with no real destination in mind.

Maybe he'll pay a visit to Casey. She had extended an invitation for Raph to come and hang out whenever. He could take her up on it.

That's what friends did, right?

With a destination in mind, Raph climb out of the sewer and replaced the manhole cover. In a flash, he was gone up to the tops of buildings and flying in the night.

Casey hummed as she padded back to her bedroom. The soak in the tub was just what she needed, having stayed in long enough for her fingers to prune and to have listened to three Night Vale episodes. When the water got too cold for her to stand, she pulled the plug and rinsed off any soap that clung to her body.

Blowing out the candles in the bathroom, she padded out dressed in her favorite pajamas: an old pair of flannel pants and an even older tank top that barely covered her stomach. She still kept rubbing the towel through her hair hoping it would dry it quicker.

Opening the door to her bedroom, she absentmindedly flicked on the light.

And jumped five feet in the air with a yelp at the figure on her bed.

Raph looked up with wide green eyes at the noise. "Whoa Jones! Calm down it's only me!"

Casey clutched her chest and took a deep breath, "Christ Raph! Warn a girl first!"

"You know you won't last long as vigilante if you get surprised by this," pointed out her newest friend.

She flashed him a dirty look. "I'll last plenty long. I just wasn't expecting to see you tonight is all."

Suddenly he looked a bit awkward, "Should I leave? Is your family here? I should leave."

"No don't leave Raph," said Casey waving off his concerns. "My family is all out for the weekend. I just wasn't expecting to see you. "

Raph scowled a bit, "My brothers were getting on my nerves. So I left except I didn't really have anywhere to go so…I mean you said I could stop by whenever."

That was true Casey did. She took in his face, which looked tense and a bit drawn. She recognized that expression, one of someone who felt a little frayed at keeping a temper in check.

Suddenly all of her weekend plans for alone time where thrown out the window. She smiled kindly at her friend.

"Come on, man. I was just about to reheat a pizza I got earlier today and I have cupcakes. I was just going to veg out and watch movies, but it's much more fun with someone else."

"Well," huffed Raph a bit, "If you're sure."

"Totally. You never had vodka pizza right? We need to rectify that," said Casey throwing her towel over her shoulder.

Maybe, Raph thought, he should have waited on the fire escape or the roof. When he came Casey's room was dark, but he knew that the girl was supposed to be home this weekend. Even if she did solo patrols, she usually sent a text to him about her coordinates incase he wanted to come with her.

It was strange to have a friend like Casey. He honestly just wasn't all that used to have them to begin with. Sure, there was April, but she and him tended not to hang out too much one on one.

With Casey, the girl usually stuck by him when she went on patrol with him and his brothers. It was clear that out of everyone, Raph trusted Casey the most. Unlike April, there was something about the girl that radiated danger and brutality. She was not one to be protected.

Of course, with Leo all about giving Karai second chances, Raph didn't see why he has to be so cautious in regards to Casey. Either way, the caution had spread to his younger brothers and even Mikey, who wanted more friends, was keeping his distance.

He almost wanted them to see Casey like this, in her room covered with band posters and hockey posters with clothes strewn across the floor and a couple of patched up stuffed animals in the corner. Her face was bare of make-up, and it was the first time Raph had seen her without her signature red lipstick.

She looked pretty in her own unique Casey way. Not that Raph had a yardstick to compare her too anything in that department. She was more dangerous than April and kinder than Karai, the only other two girls he has ever really known.

He got up to follow her out, but paused at her desk and stared.

"Uh Casey?"

"Yeah?"

"How many tubes of red lipstick do you own?"

Because that was a lot of lipstick in different tubes carefully lined up like they were about do battle. In the distance, he heard Casey laugh.

"A girl can never own too much lipstick," she said with a mischievous grin on her face. "No two shades are alike."

"I'm just gonna take your word for that," said Raph because he only had her word for it.

Following Casey into the kitchen, he watched the girl warm up the oven and slide a couple of slices of pizza onto a tray.

"So what were your brothers doing that annoyed you so much?" asked Casey, watching the oven preheat.

"They were just…being themselves," said Raph awkwardly. It was hard to put into words just what annoyed him so much. He loved his family but they just knew how to get under his skin in the worst possible way.

Casey nodded, seemingly unconcerned with the response. She took out two bottles from the fridge and twisted off the tops.

"Siblings can be kind of annoying like that," she said simply. "I mean I only got Mads and I love her dearly but sometimes she drives me up the wall, too. She's always trying to be so grown up all the time. And I did the whole adult situations thing. It's not all fun as it's cracked up to be."

She handed Raph a bottle of soda and gestured him to sit with her on the couch.

"The oven's old as all hell I hope you don't mind waiting awhile while it preheats."

"I got time," he said taking a swig of the soda. It fizzed and bubbled down his throat.

Casey smiled and sat back. This close, Raphael could see her tattoo: a white rose in full bloom on her shoulder.

"Where did this come from?" he asked. Casey blinked over at him and looked down at her arm.

"I got it a couple of months back," said Casey looking up at the ceiling. "Kind of my own promise to keep my feelings in check."

Casey looked over at Raph with a considering look. And seemed to have made a decision because she leaned back and closed her eyes.

"Around January of last year, my boyfriend stopped talking to me after we won the State Championships. He just stopped cold turkey, refused to answer my calls or anything. He just pretended like I didn't exist. There was an accident before he stopped. He got too close to a shot I was making and got hurt. But you know, he said that he was cool with it. So I thought we were cool."

Casey sighed and leaned back.

"Except we weren't as cool as I thought. He refused to have anything to do with me. Didn't even have the courtesy to break up with me face to face. His asshole father did it. Can you believe it? I told Nick everything. And as far I knew, he's kept my secrets to himself. But I was still mad you know? I didn't really have people other than my family before him and he just stopped. Walked away from our relationship like it was something to throw in the trash, like I was trash. Then I found out he knocked up one of the popular girls in school a couple weeks after the break-up."

Raph couldn't help but wince at that. He's lived in the sewers his whole life and even he knew that was bad.

"He sounds like an asshole."

"He was an asshole. But so am I. We were friends first too. He was my first real friend and it just kind of progressed?" Casey chewed on her lip and sighed. "We were complicated. Our relationship probably wasn't all that healthy. But it was one that became important to me. I didn't have many people. After my mom died, I had to repress everything. Dad kind of sank into a deep depression. So I had to look after Madeline and him for years. I never…really had a chance to feel things after her death. I had to repress and focus on them. Then with Nick I had someone who saw me and loved me. At least I thought he did."

She swallowed thickly.

"So for a time I went off the rails. I embraced that anger and sorrow. I was mad at Nick and my mom for leaving me. I was mad that Madeline and my Dad were moving on with their lives. I felt like everyone was moving on and I was staying still. But I couldn't…take it out on them. So I took it out on myself. It was a catalyst for a lot of stuff I repressed blowing up."

She leaned back and closed her eyes for several moments. She then opened them and looked over at Raph.

"The thing about anger is when that you let it control you, then it controls you. It consumes you utterly and brings in grief and sorrow. You drown in it until it kills you or until you are rescued. The rose is a reminder of my rescue that I should never let myself drown in those emotions. It's a reminder of…positive things in life, of beauty."

"Why are you telling me this?" asked Raphael after a moment.

He wanted to know why she was telling him these things. He wanted to go find the punk who broke her heart. He wanted to run away and hold her at the same time.

Casey leaned back and smiled at him.

"Cause you're my friend and I think you'll understand it. I haven't really shared this stuff with April. I don't think she would get it. The thing I guess I want to share is that its hard letting that anger go. But sometimes talking about it helps or just listening to music or finding something that's a release. I mean I take bubble baths and listen to the Beatles and watch movies and flirt with everyone. It makes me feel good. It's a reminder that I'm allowed to feel good."

"So I need to find something that makes me feel good? That's not fighting?"

"Pretty much."

"I…I don't even know where to start with that," admitted Raph after a moment. Fighting was all he was good at. He wasn't smart like Donnie, put together like Leo, or had that natural warmth like Mikey. Fighting though? That he could do and do it well.

He could protect people with that.

"Well you can start here with me," said Casey simply. "We're going to eat pizza and cupcakes and watch my two favorite movies. Nothing happens over night after all."

"And then?"

"Then you go home to your brothers. Try different things. I'm sure there was something you enjoyed other than fighting in your life. Remember that and follow it."

"I always liked music?" said Raph almost tentatively.

"That's a start," said Casey with a warm grin.

With that the oven beeped, Casey stood and walked over.

"Start the movie, Raph. We're watching Mean Girls."

"Why?"

"Because I dropped at least three references on patrol the other day and not even Mikey, who I know is vaguely obsessed with whatever pop culture he can get didn't pick up on it. So I'm going to fill in your cultural gaps starting with the greatest movie of the early two thousands."

Raph stared at Casey carefully. He looked uncertain on if she was joking or not.

"Alright."

"Trust me on this."

And funny enough? He did.

Casey Jones was a broken person. But so was Raph, who had always been so focused on protecting his family that he never really focused on himself. With the loss of Spike, he had lost his outlet and a way to stop those feelings from being bottled up inside.

That night he went home and to his room looking at his drum kit with interest for the first time in years. He picked up the drumsticks and spun them one before hitting the cymbal.

The sound of the stick against the metal made him smile.

Music huh? Maybe Casey had a point. Everyone needed their own release.

Three days later, after a fight with the Foot Bots, Casey counted the bodies and looked at Raph with absolute seriousness before saying, "And four for Glen Coco, you go Glen Coco."

Raph started laughing so hard that he got the hiccups, which sent Casey into her giggle fit as well. The two of them eventually had to hold each other up while Leo, Donnie, and Mikey looked on in absolute confusion.

That was okay, too.

It turned out having a friend like Casey? Someone who would make those stupid jokes at him and tell him the not so good parts and offer advice?

It may have been what Raphael needed all along, what he wanted the most out of Sp…Slash.

As he and Casey stood laughing surrounded by destroyed Foot Bots and confused brothers, he finally felt like he had found it.

A/N: Raph and Casey are awesome friends. I kind of like the idea of them just sort of getting each other and allowing for emotional vulnerability.

And yes there was a drum kit visible in "Slash and Destroy". So headcanon is that Raph wanted to learn how to play the drums and was into music, but kind of got lost in fighting. Now though without having Spike to vent to, he's needs a new outlet.

Next piece should be interesting because it's going to Casey and Leonardo focused.