Things settled down for a few months. Hope continued her training with Leonardo and occasionally April would join them, giving Hope more confidence in herself. April was amazing, her fighting techniques were inspiring. They became good friends, as Hope always knew they would, despite the history they shared.

Hope saw Orson regularly, but for obvious reasons they had to spend their time at his place. She opted not to tell the others about her relationship. As far as they knew she was meeting up with an old school friend, which was fairly true. No one questioned her any further about it, so she kept quiet.

One evening as they sat down to dinner, Hope in her favourite dungarees and yellow jumper, Orson questioned her.

"How come you always wear those old things?"

"What? My dungarees? They're my favourite thing to wear."

Orson snorted. "I can tell. Well they smell of sewer. And they make you look like a child. You really should start wearing proper clothes. They make you look much sexier." He said and pulled her in for a kiss.

"No, Orson, I'm not in the mood." She protested.

"You're never in the mood. Jesus. Well if you're not in the mood for that, then you might as well go get me a beer, as least you'll be useful for something."

Hope didn't know what to make of his behaviour. Since they'd settled down a bit, he'd become much more interested in what she wore and how she acted. He told her that she needed to start acting more her age and stop dressing like a teenager. This bothered Hope a lot; she wore what made her feel comfortable, but she wouldn't say anything because he went into awful moods if she said anything that annoyed her. On the other hand, when he wasn't in a bad mood he was a caring, sweet guy that she could have a laugh with.

Plus, he was a distraction from her real feelings, so she stuck with it.

Back at home, Hope spent most of her time with Leonardo and April, training. Every second evening she, Raphael and Michelangelo would venture outside to practice building climbing. As for Donatello, he spent less and less time with her until they barely hung out at all. In fact, it felt to Hope like every time she entered a room, he left.

What with things at home feeling constantly tense and things with Orson on a knife edge, Hope felt she had little time to relax. The only time she ever got to do this was her meditation sessions with April.

She'd been very wary of April in the beginning, but after a few months, she grew to realise that it wasn't April's fault that Donatello had fallen for her. She taught Hope many things about fighting and focusing her inner energy.

It was glaringly obvious that April had been sleeping in Donatello's room at night, but she hadn't been near there in months, and had no way of confirming if there was actually anything going on between them. Not that it mattered; she had Orson. But it was one of those things where she had to know one way or another. It wouldn't matter either way. She didn't care. At all.

One day, after their meditation, Hope decided to bite the bullet and ask April about him.

"Can I speak to you about something?" She asked the redhead.

"Sure, Hope, what's up?"

"Heh. This might sound weird, but is there anything going on between you and Donnie?"

April looked genuinely shocked.

"Hah no way! Why would you think that?"

"Well, you're sleeping in his room…"

"On the floor!" April laughed. "Honestly Hope, I wouldn't go there. I know how he used to feel about me, I don't want to hurt him again. We just have a lot to catch up on. All of us do."

"Okay."

"What is this about? You don't…?"

"Oh, no no! I have a boyfriend." Hope clapped her hands over her mouth.

April grinned. "I figured. It was getting a bit obvious that this 'friend' you've been hanging out with was more than that. Tell me about him."

So she did. She told April all about her wonderful boyfriend who treated her so well. Afterwards she decided it was only fair that she told the boys about Orson, too. She found them eating pizza in the lounge.

"Guys. I have something that I've been meaning to tell you." They all looked up from their food, quizzical looks on their faces. She had to make sure that her eyes did not meet Donatello's. "The friend that I've been spending a lot of time with, is actually my boyfriend. His name is Orson Conor and he is an old school friend. I met him on the plane back to Scotland and we've been dating ever since." She paused for their reaction. She figured if she just kept talking it would prolong having to look at him. She needn't have bothered. All the turtles, including Donatello, seemed genuinely happy for her. As they were all going to bed, Leonardo pulled her to the side.

"So…?"

"So?"

"Come on Hope. A few months ago you were yearning for Donnie. What changed?"

"It doesn't matter how hard I try, Leo, he'll never think of me that way. I've given up. I'm… over him."

Leonardo grimaced. He couldn't tell her that he'd broken her confidence by revealing her secret to Donatello, but this was awful. They were meant to be together. He also didn't want to steal Donatello's chance to tell her himself how he felt. He knew what a romantic his brother was, and he knew it wouldn't be appreciated if he went behind Donatello's back to tell Hope his feelings.

She stared at him, not knowing what to say.

"So you're happy with this Orson fellow?"

"Yes…"

"Hope…"

"I will never be good enough for Donnie. I will always love him, Leo, always, but I can't go on feeling like this, when I know he'll never feel the same. It breaks me."

Leonardo sighed. "Okay, okay. I'll say no more, but answer me this, your boyfriend, do you love him?"

"Leo-"

"Do you love him?"

"No. He's just a distraction."