A/N: Title comes from "Get This Party Started" by P!nk. The whole Casey knows how to waltz thing comes from my experiences in an all girls school, which I hated. Also I had to come back to my apartment because more grad school starting Monday.

Whee.

I hope I did okay with Mikey. I tried really hard to capture his voice and I think he's more insightful then he is given credit for. So I hope that both of it came across well.

Also reiteration, Casey and Raph have a platonic friendship here. It's a very close friendship but it's not going into romance.

This is also, as always, unbeta'd!

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

Part Eight: Pumping Up The Volume, Breaking Down To The Beat

"COME ON JONES!" yelled Markowitz as Casey glided between two beefy players. He didn't need to yell at her, the asshole. God this was why she hated the new right wing on the team.

(Granted, she probably shouldn't call him new as she is also new herself, but still he is newer then her. And really he should be doing his damn job instead of telling her to hurry up.)

Casey skated and gathered up speed. Her eyes zeroed in on the opposing team's goalie. Her non-crime fighting hockey stick, Avalon, was steady in her hands.

The time was ticking down. They were tied. She had given their opponent's rover a nice black eye earlier that landed her in the penalty box. Skidding, she steadied Avalon and struck the puck.

It whistled through the air, the sharp sound of a well-hit puck. The goalie made a move to block it, but Casey's shot speed was too fast. He missed and the points were scored just before the buzzer buzzed.

"OH HELL YEAH JONES!" called Smith as he tore off his helmet and mouth guard. His hands were up in the victory position.

Casey pulled off her own helmet and grinned. Her hair stuck to her forehead and she pulled out her mouth guard, required by Coach so Markowitz was going to get a yelling at for forgetting to put his in.

"You guys need to stop doubting the awesomeness that is Casey Jones."

"You keep doing what you do Jones and we will call you Supreme Commander Awesome," promised Lukas, the goalie as he skated over. "Looks like we're definitely going to win this year."

Casey laughed a bit wildly as she joined the celebrations with her team. They didn't call her the best slap shot in the city for nothing.

(And she had to admit chasing down criminals was definitely improving her game.)

She lined up with the team, because they were good sports and all, to do the traditional "good game".

The thing with being a girl in hockey, which leads to emotions and tempers and a fuck ton of macho posturing, is that then she has to put up with comments like the one the center of the other team told her.

"You know, we only let you win because you're a girl."

Casey immediately felt her mood sour. She turned and looked at him with sharp eyes. Normally, she would just tackle him to the ground and punch him in the face. Since, however, her crime-fighting career had started, she was making a legitimate effort in not beating up every person who pissed her off.

"Still a girl who kicked your boy's ass. And who can kick yours any day of the week, tough guy," she whispered dangerously. She felt a vindictive sort of glee when the center jerked back sharply.

Tch. Coward.

Casey skated off the ice, in a definitively bad mood despite her team's win.

"Casey!"

"Red," said Casey with a slight grin, trying to beat her sudden bad mood.

"You were amazing! I can't…that was great!" gushed April excitedly. Her cheeks were flushed and it was actually rather adorable.

"I think I heard you cursing out the ref once or twice, Red," said Casey, feeling her bad mood lift slightly. "I was proud."

"He was an idiot."

Casey laughed, "Well let me go shower and change. Then you and me can blow this Popsicle stand and go see the boys."

"Sounds good. Are you sure?"

"Yeah. The guys usually do something after but they don't need me for it."

She and the team had a strange relationship. They liked each other well enough, but Casey hadn't made a lot of friends. It was more of a say hi to each other in the halls kind of thing. She didn't know if it was because she was a girl or something else. They watched her back on the ice and she did the same for them, but that was pretty much it.

"Alright," said April with a knowing smirk. "Raph would probably want to hear about your fight on the ice anyway."

"I do tend to weave a good story don't I?" asked Casey dusting herself off. She then noticed the smirk, "Wait…you don't think that Raph and I are…"

"Well," said April suddenly looking a bit nervous, "You two spend a lot of time together and stuff. Plus you both go off on your own and…Casey? Casey why are you laughing? There is nothing wrong with Raphael!"

Casey was bent over clutching her stomach and cracking up. Because that? That was the funniest thing she heard all day. Look Casey will admit, quite happily, that Raphael was very attractive: the muscles and those bright green eyes. She flirted with him outrageously and made him watching teen rom-coms and sports movies with her. They also tended to hang out in his room (with the door open) when she was over.

But dating him?

"Course not, Red," said Casey trying to stifle her laughter. "But it's just kind of silly. Raph and I are so much alike. We'd probably kill each other within the week. He and I are just friends. He needs like a sounding board for his thoughts and then afterwards we watch my Netflix. Actually outside of you, Raph is probably my best girlfriend."

April's eyes went wide at that. She bit her lip and tried to stifle her own laughter.

"I will pay you to tell him that."

"Easy. Money. Red," said Casey with a wink. "Now let me go get changed."

Michelangelo was SOOOOOO boooooooored.

Like, he was pretty sure that if you could die of boredom or something then he would be dead and zombified from it already. There hasn't been anything to do but train and hang out for days and days.

Plus, everyone was too busy to come and hang out with him. It really sucked.

Leo was on some meditation kick lately (or maybe he was just thinking about Karai Mikey wasn't so sure). Donnie and April were doing some kind of experiments with the retro-mutagen and after the Shellacne Incident, he wasn't allowed to help with that. Raph had been trying to learn the drums lately. Mikey could hear him practice when he walked pass the door and hey whatever kept Raph's temper down was good for them. Plus he and Casey were hanging out a lot, except this past week when Casey was in practice for a big hockey match.

Mikey sighed and considered the rather empty Lair from his headstand. Headstands were awesome and way more meditative then actual meditation. Except when the blood rushed to your head to where everything kind of swirled together. Then, they weren't that fun because he got dizzy afterwards.

Still though, when he wanted to considered the world and everything. It was better to do so from a new perspective.

What he could admit, from his headstand mediation, was that he was feeling a little bit lonely. But he didn't really want his brothers' company. It wasn't that he didn't love his brothers and everything because he did. They were his bros, but he still wanted to hang out with someone other than them.

He could see if April or Casey wanted to do something with him when either of them came down. April was a lot of fun when you could convince her to cut loose. Mikey, because of all the awkwardness between Leo and Casey, didn't know the other girl all that well but she took super great care of Leo when he was sick.

Though he didn't understand when one day, awhile after Leo was all better, Casey had come into the Lair and Leo had marched up to her with a serious expression on his face. Casey had raised her eyebrow and Leo simply said, "I'm Slytherin. Raph is Gryffindor. Mikey is Hufflepuff. Donnie is Ravenclaw. You?"

Casey shrugged but smirked, "Hufflepuff."

"Seriously?" asked Leo with a perplexed look on his face.

"I'm deeply loyal and you know how freaking hard I work to be this awesome?" teased Casey with a grin. "Do you want to borrow the second book?"

"Please."

Mikey didn't know what a Hufflepuff was, but if he and Casey both were one then clearly they could like bond over it.

He crossed his legs and steadied himself. His arms were getting tired.

"Hello?" April called as the turnstile pushed down with a click.

Mikey kept quiet. Internally though, he started counting down in his head, 'Five. Four. Three. Two…'

"April!" called Donnie bursting out of the lab. He was covered in a layer of soot, and where that came from Mikey couldn't even start to speculate. His tallest brother was practically vibrating in excitement.

"Come on! I have something I need to show you," he said cheerfully. April brightened, thinking that it had something to do with the retro-mutagen. Mikey was sure that it had or it could be something involved with engineering. It was hard to tell with Donnie sometime.

They both disappeared inside Don's lab when Mikey heard a voice call out, "Yes hello to you to you too, Doc. I'm lovely thanks for asking. No. I couldn't possibly have tea."

Casey landed quietly on the floor, using her preferred entrance of vaulting over the turnstile.

Mikey laughed from his spot against the wall. The other girl blinked and looked over with a quizzical look.

"Hey Mikey," she greeted. Mikey had stopped that 'Michelangelo' stuff after Casey and Leo were on better terms. "What are you doing?"

"Meditating," said Mikey simply. Casey tilted her head as far as it could go to the side, almost as if she could turn Mikey right side up that way.

"Really?"

"Well I find it relaxing," said Mikey as he kicked off the wall and rolled into a sitting position. He steadied himself for a moment because well the blood rush is always a bit killer.

"Whatever works, man," said Casey with a shrug. "I do yoga when I need to like zone out."

"Seriously?" It somehow seemed to be not like the girl at all.

"Seriously. I need to keep limber in between hockey seasons and it's a great way to relax. Plus it's good way to release tension and shit. Plus flexibility. Do you know how heavy hockey equipment is? Really freaking heavy. So I got bullied into doing yoga and I like it. I usually do it in the off season though when I have more free time along with strength training and shit."

"Huh," said Mikey tilting his head to the side. "And meditation?"

"Was always a bit too impatient for that," said Casey before grinning. "Or I would, y'know, fall asleep. So why were you meditating, Mikey? Or is it personal?"

"You really wanna know?"

"Wouldn't have asked if I didn't wanna know."

Mikey leaned his head back and whined, "I'm sooooo borreeeed, Caseeeey."

Casey's eyebrow went up and she looked bemused.

"My little sister used to do the same thing when she was little," said the older girl with an amused look on her face. "None of your brothers are free?"

"Leo is doing like some deep intense meditation exercise with Sensei all week. Raph has been with his drum kit a lot and I don't wanna bother him because you know he'll shellac me. Donnie and April have been working on the retro-mutagen. And I've been really, really, really good but I'm soooo boooooored."

Casey looked down into Mikey's large blue eyes and felt herself crumble.

"Okay," she said with a smile. "Then it looks like me and you will have to fix that Mikey. I'll hang out with you."

"You will?!" asked Mikey excitedly with his eyes all shiny and hopeful.

Casey felt herself smiling more, "Sure. What do you normally like doing?"

"Well I like video games and cooking and music and painting and dancing and backflips and pranks and ninjutsu. Oh! I like anime and manga, too. And comics are awesome! Whenever we good reception down here to pick up the movie channels I'll watch that. Cable is iffy if you live in a sewer. We only get a couple channels really clear consistently."

Well that answered Casey's questions about the lack of pop culture in their lives.

"What kind of movies do you like Mikey?"

"Oh! Lots of stuff. Scary movies even though they give me nightmares and I'll end up sleeping with Raph. He gets annoyed but he lets me do it anyway. And um I like stuff with explosions in it and comedies are great. But I really like those movies with the ladies in the long gowns and the guys dance them around the floor."

"Old school musicals?"

"Yeah! They're just…I don't know super glamorous and stuff. And there's something really graceful in their movements," said Mikey with a shrug. "I always wanted to learn how to dance like that but no one wanted to learn or figure it out with me. We got into breakdancing and stuff though."

"But you still want to learn ballroom," asked Casey simply. She had a feeling about what she would end up doing. "I could teach you."

"What?"

"Ballroom," said Casey, who suddenly looked embarrassed. "I went to a private all girls school before I switched over to a public high school. The Sisters of the Sacred Heart thought that every proper young lady should know how to dance. So we had like a month and a half where are gym classes were ballroom lessons from like fifth to eighth grade. I think it continues in the high school section but I was gone by then."

Casey stood, feeling a bit embarrassed. These brothers and April had a way of getting under her skin like no one else did before. She wasn't sure if she liked it or what it meant.

It could mean a lot of things. She just wasn't sure what.

"You would do that?" asked Mikey breathlessly. "Really?"

"I haven't done it in years, but for the money my parents were paying it should be like riding a bicycle," said Casey as she trudged up memories of those awkward weeks. She usually had to do the lead part, but she could probably do it the other way. It was just backwards. Or she could just lead Mikey. He probably wouldn't know the difference.

Maybe. Who knows?

"Awesome!" said Mikey as he ran and hugged her.

Casey felt herself melt a bit. Mikey's hugs were kind of amazing. She's only had one or two before, but they were nice. It felt like warmth and positivity were hugging her when he did.

They were nice hugs is what she meant here. Shit, she knew that Mikey and the brothers' situation wasn't the best. It kind of pissed her off that they couldn't go to school or have friends or stuff like that. Mikey, she could tell, was the type that thrived on people and on contact. He was a classic extrovert if she ever saw one. So it must suck to be locked away from the world for being different.

Mikey, though, was the type of person who never let anything get him down. He was just always himself, a bit hyperactive and happy go lucky. It was kind of inspiring to know someone like that, especially to Casey. It was like she could be a better person and stuff, too.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she followed Mikey to a clear space in the Lair. Drudging up the memories of dance lessons, she looked at Mikey seriously.

"Okay. Now you put this hand on my hip."

Whoa. She never knew someone that green could go that red that fast.

"Wh-What?" squeaked out Mikey.

"Hand on my hip," said Casey with a bemused twitch of her lips. She took one of his hands gently and placed it there.

Mikey swallowed thickly at that, "Um. Alright. Cool."

"Trust me this was weird when I had to learn it, too," soothed Casey in her own way. "I had to learn the lead part 'cause I was tall and shit."

"Was that the only reason?"

"Only reason the sisters gave," said Casey as she rested her hand on Mikey's shoulder. Her free hand read down and grabbed his. It took a moment for them to get a comfortable grip with each other. "I never believed them though. But then again I never liked them that much and the feeling was mutual. Okay now you step forward with that foot and I'll take a step back."

Mikey stepped forward as Casey stepped back.

"Why didn't they like you?"

"I wasn't ladylike enough for them or something stupid like that," said Casey absentmindedly as she self-corrected their posture. "I fought with the other students and was a bit disruptive in class. I could never sit still or cross my legs properly and I always had skinned knees. They never liked my lipstick either. I got out of there as soon as I could. I was never going to be their definition of a lady."

Mikey looked thoughtful at that. His tongue peeked from his mouth as he and Casey tried a couple of fumbling steps together. Internally, she was wondering how she could just spill her guts like this to them.

Maybe it's because she knew that they would never judge her, knowing what it's like to already be judged before people got to know them. Maybe some part of her just trusted them, a gut feeling like she had when she met April.

It was still strange.

"I think they're dumb," said Mikey simply. "And I like your lipstick. I don't know why humans were make-up but it's pretty."

Casey's mouth twitched upward, "Thanks. And well a lot of people are dumb like that. Thinking only a lady means a specific thing."

"You don't?"

"Ah man," said Casey with an embarrassed flush to her cheeks. "I'm not nearly smart enough to have this conversation. But the way I see it is that people should just make the definition themselves about what makes a lady or gentleman or stuff like that. I know I'm a woman and that I'm fluid. S'weird how free flowing it is sometimes, but a good weird. I make the definition and screw what society says, y'know? But they still say it."

She paused at that both in her talking and in her dance steps. Mikey also paused and looked at her.

"Just sucks is all that people use their dumb definitions to say what can or can't be done. Happens to me all the time and it's annoying as hell."

The two of them stood there in silence for a second before dancing. Mikey was already getting bored with the stodgy steps of the waltz. Casey kept forgetting what came next. So Mikey started spinning her around and they began to make up their own steps to no music.

"This is boring without tunes," said Mikey suddenly. "Hang on! I'll go get some pumping."

Mikey decided that he liked Casey a lot. It wasn't like in a romantic way. (Mikey was pretty sure that Raph and Casey were a couple. But he didn't dare tease his brother the way they would Donnie. Mainly because Mikey wanted to live to see another pizza.)

No. He liked Casey because when Casey talked to him, she talked to him like she trusted that he would get it. Not a lot of people would talk to him like that. It wasn't that Mikey was dumb. His mind just wandered a lot and sometimes, unless he was really interested or it was REALLY important, his mind would just go off on its own. It was frustrating to him when he let it be frustrating.

But he didn't have to be a brainiest like Donnie or a strategist like Leo or the muscle like Raph; he just had to be himself with whatever that entailed. Sometimes it was cause for pranks and sometimes it was staying back.

Still, Casey talked to him like he would get what she was saying. And he kind of did. People are always going to judge you based on what they think about the world. It really sucks.

Mikey grabbed the new and improved T-Pod from his desk.

At least, down here, he likes to think that everyone can be whoever they want to be.

No judgment and good vibes is what he wants to put out into the world when he can. It's with the childish hope that maybe, just maybe, the world can give it back one day.

April paused in the work that she was doing with Donnie.

"Do you hear that?" she asked suddenly.

She could swear she heard a shriek of laughter and the tinkle of piano keys.

Donnie froze over the microscope and tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah I hear it, too," he said. He walked to the door. "Maybe it's Mikey?"

"Wouldn't hurt to check out," said April, having picked up some extra caution.

"Good idea."

The two of them peered out of the door. April nearly went for the camera at the sight in front of her.

Mikey and Casey were dancing around the living room to a Matt and Kim song. It seemed to involve a lot of spinning, some horrible attempts to head banging, and occasionally going into an over the top tango. Casey dipped Mikey with a surprising amount of grace.

It was actually rather joyful. Much more joyful then Casey looked after the hockey game; April had a feeling one of those assholes said something to her. Looks like Mikey's own special brand of magic seemed to cheer her right up.

Mikey looked over into their direction and April knew they were spotted.

"Appppeee-rrrrillll, Dooooonnnnnnnieeeee," called Mikey elongating their names. He ran over excitedly and without even asking, dragged them to the makeshift dance floor.

Casey grabbed her hand in an instant and spun her. April laughed, "You are so weird, Jones."

"Awww come on, Red. Let's dance," said Casey simply. "All the stuff will be there after a few songs but at least you and Doc will be smiling more."

April had to admit that Casey may have a point. She will help get her Dad back, but for now? He would say that even the greats had a break once in awhile and dancing with friends definitely counts.

So she spun like a little girl laughing and singing along to a song with the only word she could understand being 'daylight'. She heard Donnie sigh but give in and soon they were tossing her into the air and catching her.

At some point, Raph and Leo had joined them. The noise and laughter coaxed them from their solitary activities.

It was silly to dance like so to the songs with random spins and no real moves to speak of.

But the laughter and the warmth that flooded the air made it feel like everything would work out in the end.

As she glanced over at the thrilled Mikey, who had grabbed Casey and tossed her up, she had to admit that sometimes he was pretty brilliant.

He was cheering just one person up, but had inadvertently cheered them all up. He did it without them even knowing they needed it.

That was definitely a kind of awesome all on its own.

"Come on Red! Spin!"

And April spun, feeling all of five years old and like everything may turn out just fine.

A/N: The song that they are dancing to is Daylight by Matt and Kim. Here's a link: watch?v=WgBeu3FVi60 It seemed like a song Mikey would listen to.

I asked a friend who plays hockey, not like pro-level or anything, and he said he does yoga in the off-season to keep limber along with strength training.

Also yes Leo is Slytherin and self-aware enough for it. He's a cunning guy. Raph is Gryffindor because it was that or Hufflepuff but I felt like Mikey made a better Hufflepuff. Donnie was so totally Ravenclaw that it's not even funny. Also I don't remember how to waltz but I can do dorky dancing juuuust fine, which is how it usually ends for me when I reattempt it.

Next up is the Donatello and Casey bonding time.