Author's note: It was brought to my attention that the bit with April telling Irma about the character Montgomery was a little vague. I went back and re-wrote it slightly to make it more clear: April is feeding a bunch of baloney to Irma just to get her to shut up.

Raph woke to the sharp rapping of a staff on his door.

"Raphael! Training in fifteen minutes!"

Groaning, Raph glanced at his clock. Normally, Splinter expected them to wake up on time on their own. If they didn't, he would wait until they did, then punish them accordingly. The fact that Splinter had woken Raph up was an indication that Splinter was indeed sympathetic to his son's predicament.

Raph lay on his bed for a few minutes, staring up at the dark ceiling. He'd had a dream about April, and he hadn't liked it at all. Okay, he had liked it, but he definitely didn't want to. As the object of both his best friend's and his brother's affections, April was completely off limits. Raph had no business whatsoever dreaming about kissing her. He never had before, and he wasn't supposed to now.

…the self-imposed limits of who you think you are…

Raph pushed all thoughts of April from his mind. He wasn't avoiding the issue – it wasn't something that needed to be addressed immediately – he was being practical. He probably only had ten minutes 'til training now, and he wasn't even geared up.

When Raph stood up, his leg was so stiff that he winced. He grabbed the water glass he kept beside his bed and popped two of the ibuprofen, then slowly tried to stretch. Training on this was going to be downright brutal. Raph looked at the dosing instructions on the bottle; it said to take only two at a time, but he seemed to recall that Donnie once said one could get away with four as long as it wasn't on an empty stomach. Shrugging, he took two more, strapped on his gear, and hurried to the kitchen to grab a granola bar, which he munched on as he traipsed across the lair. He lingered outside the dojo until he could swallow – Splinter had strictly prohibited any food inside.

"Ah, Raphael. Just in time," Splinter said, as Raph walked inside. "We will begin with meditation."

Raph groaned inwardly. Meditating was easily one of Raph's weakest skill sets; surprisingly, even Mikey was better at it than him. Of course, considering that they did it so early in the morning, Mikey might have been sleeping, not meditating. Trying to remember to push himself out of what he thought was his natural element, he thrust himself headlong into the task…

…and was unsuccessful.

The whole training session was probably one of the most pathetic of Raph's life. During the beginning meditation, he hadn't been able to think about anything other than his dream and the conversation he'd overheard the night before. As they launched into sparring, Raph was paired opposite Donnie, and all Raph could think about was how hurt Donnie would be if he ever found out. And, as he got him shell handed to him over and over again, even by Mikey, he started to get so angry that he could hardly think about anything except how mad he was. He re-pulled his hamstring right toward the end, when Splinter was teaching them all a new kata, and had to sit on the sidelines while his brothers finished. Sitting still and trying to stretch his leg was just as bad – it reminded him of how he'd been in so much pain right before going to ask April for a ride home. During the ending meditation, his mind refused to be still.

April really likes me?

No. That's not possible. She'll drop in after school today and tell me how she saw me sitting out there, and serves me right, and we'll laugh about it.

But, I mean, she is kind of pretty…

No. Absolutely not. She's off limits. Turtles first.

She thinks I'm hot.

What about Casey? He's my best friend…how could I go back on him?

Gaah…I'm so not cut out for this stupid stuff! I'm a fighter…

Self-imposed limits, blah, blah, blah…

When Splinter finally dismissed them, Donnie came over to Raph's side and offered to help him up. Scowling, Raph refused.

"Come on, Raph, it sounds like you wrenched your leg pretty badly. Let's get you some ice."

"I don't want your help, Donnie." Raph couldn't even look at Donnie without feeling horrifically guilty. He hadn't wanted to get involved in this April business on Casey's behalf in the first place, and now that April liked him…

They went their separate ways. Donnie went to his lab, Leo stayed in the dojo – show off – and Mikey went to his room. Shaking his head, Raph limped his way to the kitchen, where Ice Cream Kitty helpfully handed him an icepack upon opening the freezer. Then he went out to the living room, propped his foot up, and started to turn on the television.

"Raphael!"

Raph cringed at the sound of Splinter's voice. Fifty-five hours worth of TV time revoked. Right. "Sorry, I forgot." He flipped it off.

"Hmm. You seem to be preoccupied." Splinter stood behind the couch, looking down at Raph. "Is something bothering you?"

"You mean besides my leg, and the fact that I bombed training?"

"Yes, besides that."

Raph clenched his jaw. "No."

"Very well, then," Splinter said, in a tone of voice indicating that he was not convinced. Nevertheless, he walked back into the dojo.

Mikey walked into the living room and plopped down on the floor in front of the television. "Hey, Raph. I'm gonna watch some TV. It's that new show that started two weeks back. Too bad you can't stay for it."

"You are so lucky that I can't get up to pound you!" Raph snarled. "No, you're not watching TV. I'm out here putting my leg up, and I can't watch TV. As long as I'm here, the TV stays off!" Out of the corner of his eye, Raph saw Donnie carrying something from the lab to the kitchen. Raph hated that he suddenly had this sense of hyper-awareness every time he saw Donnie. Stupid April…

Mikey grinned evilly, then cupped his hands on either side his mouth. "Sensei! Raph won't let me watch TV!"

Raph started to clamber up from the couch, his anger burning more furiously than the pain. "Oh, I'm gonna – "

"Why won't you let him watch TV, Raph?" a feminine voice said.

His heart pounding, Raph whipped his head around to see April jumping over the turnstiles. "April!" His voice cracked as he spoke, and his face became so hot he felt like his cheeks must have been the color of his mask.

April grinned and shook her head. "Why so embarrassed? It's not like I've never seen you beat up on Mikey before."

"Raph can't watch TV," Mikey said, almost gloating. "He broke curfew last night. And now he's being a jerk and not letting me watch TV."

"I told you Mikey," Raph snarled, "I'm icing my leg here. I don't want to walk all the way to my room."

"Oh, no! You're hurt? What happened?" April walked over and sat down on the couch next to Raph's feet.

Raph's face got even hotter. "I – I, um…what are you even doing here, April? It's nine in the morning. Shouldn't you be at school or something?"

April frowned slightly. "It's Saturday. I do my individual training with Splinter at 9:30. You know…like I have for the last year or so?"

"Oh…right…"

"Are you okay? You seem really worked up."

"I'm not worked up!" Raph's voice cracked again; he hadn't had this problem since he was 13.

"What is going on out here?" Splinter roared, as he stepped out of the dojo. His face changed from one of anger to polite greeting. "Oh. Hello, April."

"Hey, Sensei," April said, smiling and waving. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Just Mikey and Raph being Mikey and Raph."

Mikey clasped his hands together. "But Sensei…Raph won't move and I really, really want to watch my show! It's supposed to be the best episode so far!"

Splinter sighed and rolled his eyes. "Raphael…"

"Fine, I'm moving." Raph pushed himself off the couch. As angry as he was, at least he had an excuse to get away from stupid April and her stupid crush that she wasn't supposed to stupid have.

April shot him a sympathetic look. "Raph, I know you're all tough and everything, but you really look like you're in pain. Let me help you." She got up off the couch and offered a shoulder to him for support.

Raph hesitated as his stomach did a back flip. His mind wandered back to his dream. It had started with him putting an arm around her shoulder, and then she'd kissed him on the cheek, and then their lips were pressed together…

He was seconds away from accepting when Donnie walked out of the kitchen, munching on an apple.

"No!" Raph shouted, his voice shrill. "I don't need help from anyone – least of all a girl!"

April crossed her arms. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"Yeah, Raph, what does that mean?" Donnie glared at Raph as he walked over to them. "Don't talk to my – don't talk to April like that!"

Raph started to sweat. Donnie, Mikey, April, and Splinter were all staring at him, expecting a response or apology of some kind. "Gaah! Just leave me alone!" He turned and ran to his room, slamming and locking the door behind him. He collapsed face first onto the bed, panting with pain, embarrassment, and anger.

He'd left his icepack in the den. With a moan, he pulled his pillow over his head.

Several hours later, there was a gentle knock at the door. Raph had fallen asleep, and when he picked his head up, a string of drool stuck to the bed. His pillow was on the floor. It hadn't sounded like Splinter's knock, so Raph decided it was safe to ignore it and hope that whoever it was would go away.

The knock repeated, slightly firmer. "Raph? It's Leo."

"Go away, Leo!"

"I brought you some lunch – we got Antonio's. Just let me in."

Raph opened his mouth to repeat himself, but then his stomach loudly informed him that he hadn't eaten anything but a measly granola bar all day. Wincing at the pain in his leg, he got up and opened the door.

"Hey, bro." Leo greeted Raph with a somewhat sad smile. "How's your leg?"

Raph snatched the paper plate that Leo was holding. Leo could take his sympathy and stupid face somewhere else. This was all Leo's fault. If Leo had just kept his yap shut, then Raph would never have gone by April's place. He was about to close the door, but Leo stuck his foot in.

"Hey, come on. Let me talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to you, Leo. You ratted me out to Splinter."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha. Because Splinter's a rat. Real mature, Raph. "

"Not as much of a rat as you."

"I didn't rat you out. I was climbing into the Shellraiser and he asked me where I was going."

"That sounds like you ratted me out."

"I didn't know he was going to stop me!"

"Well, you should've known!"

"How the heck was I supposed to know?"

"Oh, please. Don't you guys have some sort of stupid mental bond?" Raph searched around for the most hurtful thing he could think of so that Leo would go away – then he remembered the surest, easiest way to make Leo angry. "You're his favorite."

It had the opposite intended effect. Instead of leaving, Leo snarled and pushed against the door even harder. "I'm not his favorite!"

With only one hand free, Raph had to throw his body against the door to keep Leo from getting in. "Oh yeah? Every sensei has an uchi-deshi!"

"Did he tell you that?"

"He doesn't need to!"

"So, you're saying that I'm Sensei's favorite, and that because of that we share each other's thoughts, and I used that just to make sure that you got in trouble. Do you even hear yourself?"

Raph sighed. He did sound ridiculous. This whole thing was messing him up. He stopped blocking the door; it swung open rapidly under Leo's weight and he stumbled into the room.

"Thank you," Leo said, once he'd recovered his balance.

Raph sat down on his bed and started eating the pizza that Leo had brought him.

Leo shut the door and leaned up against it, his arms folded across his chest. "Seriously. What is with you and insisting that I'm Sensei's uchi-deshi? Do you honestly believe that?"

"Only when I'm mad." Raph immediately stuffed another bite of pizza in his mouth so that he wouldn't start yelling again.

"Great. So all the time, then." Leo put a hand on his face. "Look, I'm sorry about telling Splinter that I was picking you up, but I seriously didn't know he was going to stop me. Do you think I'd want you to miss out on TV? It's something we all do together – it's not as much fun without you."

"What do you want, Leo?"

"Well, I wanted to see if you were okay. But, I wanted to apologize. I wasn't a very good leader yesterday. You came to me for advice, and…I let you down."

I let myself down, Raph thought, as he bit off another piece of pizza. "Hmph."

"Raph…" Leo walked over and sat down on the bed next to him. "You're not acting like yourself today. You can't let that stupid Kraang get to you this much."

"It's not the Kraang."

"Well then, what is it?"

As he swallowed the last of his pizza, he debated whether he wanted to tell Leo about his predicament. Stalling, he folded up his empty paper plate. "Is there still some of that cola in the fridge?"

"I think so," Leo said, raising an eyebrow. "At least, if Mikey hasn't gotten to it first. Do you want some?"

"Yeah."

Leo had just barely stood up when a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the lair.

Raph's heart nearly stopped.

It was April.