Raph immediately jumped up from the bed; like Leo, he automatically reached for the weapons that they didn't have – they had actually left them in the dojo. They exchanged a tense look.

April's scream was joined by Mikey's. With that, Raph and Leo burst out of the room.

"I think they're in the kitchen," Leo said, in hushed tones.

Raph nodded. As one, they started running for the kitchen.

April had stopped screaming, but Mikey still seemed to be in hysterics. "Donnie-e-e!"

Donnie poked his head out of his lab. "What is going on?"

"I don't know." Leo signaled to Donnie. "Come on." The three of them ran to the kitchen; Mikey and April stood in front of the wide open fridge door.

The minute Mikey saw them, he ran over to Donnie and punched him on the chest. "What the heck, D?"

Donnie chuckled nervously. "Oh, yeah, sorry…I was gonna put up a note, but I forgot…"

"You forgot?" April shouted, throwing her hands up into the air. "There's a Kraang in the refrigerator, and you forgot?"

Raph and Leo both leaned over so that they could see. Sure enough, the Kraang from yesterday was inside a container, sitting on the shelf next to the cola. Raph had to look away; the sight made his stomach turn.

Leo put his palm to his forehead. "Um, Donnie, would you care to explain why it's in there in the first place?"

"Well, I was going to do the autopsy once I've done some molecular analysis on the toxin, but this morning I found out that my fridge in the lab was shorted out."

"So, instead of thinking, 'Oh, maybe I should do the autopsy now,' you thought, 'Hey, I'll just stick this in the refrigerator and not tell anybody!'"

"It's not like it's hurting anything…"

"It's freaky!" Mikey said. "It was freaky yesterday, and it's freaky now!"

April folded her arms. "You can't possibly tell me that you don't think this is at least a little messed up."

Donnie scratched his head. "Well…maybe a little…"

Finally, Raph couldn't take it anymore. "Really, Donnie? If that was a human, would you feel the same way? Just because they're aliens doesn't mean the Kraang don't deserve at least a little respect!"

"Raph's right," Leo said. "I mean, the Kraang are…what's the word…"

"Sentient." Donnie slammed the fridge door shut. "But if it had been a person and I needed to do an autopsy, we'd still be in the same situation. I mean, I'd have to take out all the shelves first…"

"And maybe you wouldn't have forgotten to tell us, 'Hey, there's a dead person in the fridge!'" April said.

"I really am sorry it startled you, April," Donnie said, walking over to her and laying a hand on her shoulder.

Mikey pointed to himself. "What about me? I got startled by the Kraang and by April screaming."

April shoved Donnie's hand away. "Seriously, Donnie – just get that autopsy done as soon as possible so I can forget this ever happened."

"Um, actually, can you help me with that?" Donnie said. "The sooner I get the toxin analyzed, the sooner I can do the autopsy. I'd really appreciate it."

"Sounds like a blast." April rolled her eyes. "I'll help." As the two of them left the kitchen, Raph overheard April saying, "So what exactly is the story with that thing?"

Mikey, Raph, and Leo all stood in the kitchen exchanging uncomfortable glances.

"Well," Leo said, "I think Donnie may have topped himself in the category for weirdest thing ever done."

Despite the fact that seeing the Kraang had rattled him slightly, Raph couldn't suppress a snort of laughter.

"I don't want Ice Cream Kitty to be stuck in the same fridge as that thing," Mikey said.

"Oh, come on, Mikey, the freezer is a totally different compartment," Leo said. "Everything is going to be fine." He shook his head. "So, Raph…you still want that cola?"

"Water sounds good," Raph said hastily, taking a step toward the sink. To his surprise, Leo grabbed a glass from the cabinet and handed it to him. "Thanks." Raph turned on the water and let it run until it was nicely cold, then filled the glass.

"Can you get me a glass too, Leo?" Mikey asked.

Raph watched as Leo took another glass, filled it, and then handed it to Mikey. Leo always seemed to have that instinct for taking care of them – which was fine until he started power-tripping on his position as leader. Maybe I was a little too hard on him. He did say he didn't want me to get in trouble.

Mikey emptied his glass of water and belched noisily. "That was lame. It'd be twice as long if I'd had soda."

"Yes, we all know." Leo rolled his eyes.

"I'm gonna go watch Super Robo Mecha Force Five. You wanna come watch with me?"

"No thanks. I think I'm gonna see if I can figure out that kata Splinter was teaching us earlier."

"Whatev, dude." Mikey set his glass down on the table and left the kitchen.

Leo clicked his tongue. "He could have at least put it in the sink. Do you wanna join me in the dojo, Raph? I could use a partner."

"Not really feeling up to sparring right now," Raph said. He grabbed Mikey's glass and put it into the sink along with his own.

"I just need you to critique my form."

"What about Splinter?"

"He went out for a walk after he finished training April."

Why the heck not? Raph thought. After all, it was a free pass to criticize Leo. "Sure."

As they walked the short distance to the dojo, Leo checked his pace. Raph had always hated it when Leo picked up on those types of things – he was so good at it, and half the time, Raph didn't want any kind of consolation or help. As for the other times, he would never admit that he was thankful, but he was.

Raph sat down on the floor and gently stretched his leg while Leo warmed up. Neither of them spoke; they didn't need to. Besides the occasional kiai from Leo, the whole dojo was enveloped in comfortable silence.

Stupid April. Didn't she get that it was turtles first? This kind of thing – this perfect, harmonious connection with his brothers – was hard enough to achieve without her throwing a wrench into things. And what about Casey? Raph and Casey had worked out such a beautiful, seamless system built totally on trust. Trust that would be shattered by something like this.

Leo grabbed his swords from their hooks on the wall. "You want your sai?"

"Sure."

After Leo had tossed the sai to Raph, he started trying to master the new kata they'd learned that morning. Raph tried to find flaws in Leo's form, but he'd been so preoccupied earlier that he really didn't know what to look for. Instead, he absentmindedly practiced his wrist techniques, and found his thoughts drifting back to April.

She really was quite pretty. And she had a tough streak – a downright aggressive streak – that Raph admired. He'd never thought before about just how attractive the symmetry of her curves was. And she was smart, too – not Donnie smart, but smart. It was no wonder that Donnie liked her so much.

Donnie. If it was really turtles first, then Donnie deserved the truth. And if Donnie deserved the truth, then Casey did too.

But how could he possibly tell them?

Leo nudged Raph's foot with the flat of his katana. "You're doing a great job spotting for the floor. Has it made any mistakes yet?"

"Hmph." Raph folded his arms across his chest.

Leo sat down. A few moments of silence passed; again, it was that wonderful, comfortable silence. Nothing was complicated or difficult. Raph looked over and saw that Leo was studying him closely with an expression of concern.

"Raph, I know you don't like to talk about stuff. But I'm here if you need me."

Raph nodded and absentmindedly twirled his sai. Leo got back up from the floor and went back to practicing; once again, the noises of his exertion were the only sound in the dojo.

Leo was right. Raph didn't like to talk. He hated to talk. That wasn't who he was. He figured things out on his own.

The self imposed limits of who you are…

Raph sighed. This was certainly an opportunity for him to step out of his comfort zone. Maybe Leo would have some good advice, and even if he didn't, Raph wouldn't be alone in this anymore. Normally, he'd want to be alone.

As much as Raph didn't want to admit it, this was so far out of his element that he couldn't deal with it on his own. He drew a deep breath and took the mental step forward to admit that he needed help. "Hey, Leo? I need to bounce something off you."

"Shoot," Leo said, not stopping his practicing.

Darn you, Leo, Raph thought. Leo knew that Raph had a harder time talking about stuff when people were looking at him. It wasn't anything Raph had ever said, either. Leo just picked it up. You make it so hard for me to hate you.

Raph tilted his head as he realized something was off in Leo's stance. "I think Sensei said to pull the shoulder blades together more than that."

"Oh. Like this?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks. Yeah, that feels right now. So what's up?"

"Well, I sort of…overheard April telling her friend about this guy she likes."

Leo stopped. "Wait, you were eavesdropping on April?"

"Not really on purpose. It just sort of happened. I was going to ask her to see if Kirby could drive me home…and…yeah. She had her friend Irma over, and they were talking about boys."

Leo raised a brow. "And you felt the need to stay for that?"

"Yeah. See, Casey kind of put me up to asking April what she thought of him, and I was going to, but when I heard them talking, I thought that this way, I wouldn't have to actually ask her."

"So what's the problem? You got your answer for Casey, right?"

"Well, yeah, and the answer isn't him."

"He'll get over it." Leo returned to working on the kata.

"No, Leo, I need you to listen to me." Raph was disgusted at the note of desperation in his own voice. "I – I'm totally out of my element here."

Leo paused. "Okay. I'm listening."

"April likes" – Raph couldn't bring himself to say me – "one of us."

Leo's eyebrows shot into the air. He sheathed his katanas. "Seriously? She really likes Donnie?"

"Um, no." Raph scratched the back of his neck.

Leo's mouth fell open. "What? Who?"

"I – I don't know how to say this."

Raphael could see the impact of the words one of us sinking in. Leo's expression of awe deepened, and he started gesturing back and forth between the two of them.

Raph nodded.

"Is it me?"

"No."

Leo visibly relaxed. "Good. April's great and all, but…wait, she really likes you?"

"Well, she didn't say my name. But she described me."

"How are you sure it's you? Did she use the words 'ninja,' 'mutant,' or 'turtle'?"

"No. She said that she met the guy she liked through a martial arts class. We both know that April hasn't been taking martial arts anywhere but here."

"It's still not a lot to go on."

"Then she said he wasn't conventionally good looking – "

Leo snorted.

Raph glared. Then he chuckled a little. "Okay, so I laughed too, but I thought she was talking about Donnie at the time, not me."

"What else did she say?"

"That he was stubborn, thick headed, and had a really bad temper."

Leo started laughing. "Now that sounds like you." He caught a breath. "But still, that doesn't mean – "

"She said he had green eyes, Leo."

Leo stopped laughing. He looked genuinely surprised. "Well, that does add up." He started snickering again. "But you?"

"For your information," Raph said, his temper rising, "she said that I was 'hot' and 'seriously buff.'"

Leo doubled over, laughing even harder.

"Come on, Leo, I somehow doubt that Donnie would find this funny."

"What wouldn't I find funny?" Donnie stood in the doorway, his head tilted slightly.

Leo stood up straight and froze. "Donnie! How long have you been standing there?"

"I just walked in." Donnie folded his arms. "What wouldn't I find funny?"

"A joke," Raph said quickly. "Tell him the joke, Leo."

"Uh…" Leo put his hand on his chin. "So, this scientist…walks into a bar…and the bartender says, 'No nerds allowed'… and the scientist says, 'Why would I bring candy to a bar?'"

Donnie rolled his eyes. "You're right. I don't find that funny – and not because it's about scientists or nerds. It's a weak punch line. Now, if you want to hear a really funny joke…if two cats are sitting on the same inclined roof, which one will fall off first?"

"Um…the biggest one?"

"No! The one with the smallest…mew!" Donnie burst out laughing hysterically. "'Cause it sounds like mu – the static friction coefficient…get it?"

"What do you want, Donnie?"

"Ahhh…" Donnie wiped a tear from his eye and chuckled one more time. "Oh, yeah. I need a little extra help with the autopsy, and I can't exactly ask Mikey."

"Isn't April helping you?"

"I said extra help."

Leo shot Raph a sympathetic look. "I'll help you." He took his katanas from his back and re-hung them on the wall. "Hey, Raph – I'll tell you some more, uh, jokes later."

"If that's the best his jokes are, Raph, I'm actually doing you a favor," Donnie quipped.

"Yeah, thanks," Raph muttered.

As Leo and Donnie walked to the door, Raph shuddered at the thought that they were essentially going to be cutting up a Kraang. But part of the reason that Kraang was in there was Raph's responsibility. As much as it made his skin crawl, he knew he had to go with them. Tucking his sai into his belt out of habit, he followed them.

He had to understand the full weight of his choices.