Raph could feel himself cooling off as he headed home, mainly because he was refusing to let any of the things he or Leo had just said repeat in his head. He'd thought about calling Casey to see if he wanted to hang out, but something stopped him from doing that as well. He wasn't asking for details from his friend, mainly because those details would involve Raphael's nerdy brother, but Casey had been happier over the last several days than Raph had ever seen him. He didn't begrudge the happiness. He just didn't feel like being around it.

Speaking of happy, he reached the lair's turnstiles and suddenly spotted Mikey headed towards him from the opposite direction. He stopped outside the main entrance of their home and waited for the other turtle, while noting Mikey's goofy grin. Mikey always looked happy, but this was a face-splitting smile, practically skipping kind of happy, and Raph had no doubt about who Mikey had spent his evening with.

Raphael grumbled at the prospect of having two happy relationships constantly in his face. Everyone else was managing happiness and all he was managing was frustration, bitter words, and a nagging fear that his relationship was doomed. Maybe Leo thought so too. Maybe that was why he didn't want to tell sensei about them.

"Hey Raph," Mikey said, bouncing up to him and interrupting whatever thoughts had his brother glaring at the ground. Raphael met his eyes, which felt like a small victory of sorts to Mikey, but didn't say anything back. "Feel like a game?"

Raph debated. He wasn't sure how long Leo was going to take to come home and he wasn't sure he wanted to be openly sitting in the pit when Leo arrived.

"N-never mind," Mike said, side-stepping to enter their home ahead of Raphael.

The quick stuttering had Raph refocusing on Mikey and he realized what his thoughtful pause had meant to Mikey. He grabbed his little brother's shell and wrapped his arm around Mikey's neck, nearly strangling him as he dragged him over to the pit.

Mikey sputtered but smiled when he was released and quickly moved to set up a game. He tossed a controller to Raphael and plopped down next to him. They played in silence, which was fine with Mikey, especially since Raph was not only playing with him, but was also elbowing him from time to time in an effort to cheat.

After a few rounds, Mikey glanced towards the dojo where he assumed their father was. He knew Splinter had super hearing, but decided to risk it anyway. He said in a low tone, "Woody's the bomb at this game. He knows this trick where you press four of the buttons at once and it skips you over that wall without making you go through the whole course."

"That so?"

"Yeah, I can never do it right. He's tried to teach me. He's cool like that. But, uh, you may need 10 fingers to do it, which could be why it doesn't work for me. But -,"

"Mike," Raph said, cutting off Mikey's fast-paced rambling. He paused their game and turned towards his little brother. "Ya don't gotta sell Woody to me." He watched Mikey fiddle with his controller while only glancing at Raph from the corner of his eye.

"So its not that he's a human?"

Raphael shook his head.

"That he was a surprise?" Mikey asked, going with his second guess for why everyone else was angry.

"That probably wasn't yer smartest move, shellhead," Raph said, "although, we all had plenty of surprises going around that day."

Mikey pulled his mask down so it hung around his neck and turned to face Raphael. "What then? Help a turtle out!"

Raph took another deep breathe through his nose again and decided to ask about the scent that had hit him as soon as Mikey was close to him earlier. "Yer covered in a combination of pizza smell and Woody's scent. If you've been with him a year, why haven't I noticed that extra smell before?"

Mikey leaned back, as if a few inches of distance would stop his brother's ability to pick up Woody's scent, and immediately flushed before finally saying, "Uh, didja know that Mr. Murakami lives in an apartment above his shop?"

Raph frowned and shook his head.

"Yeah, and uh, I'd move some boxes around for him, and he, uh, wouldn't mind if I used his shower before I came home."

Raph thought about that for a minute before saying, "Ya never smelled like different soap."

"I may have brought some of our extra soap to Murakami's."

"Sneaky, Mike."

Mikey's eyes widened as realization finally hit him. "But, ya'd think the ultimate ninja would appreciate my super secrecy skills."

Raphael shook his own head at Mikey's remark involving Leo and turned back to the game. "Not when it involves a team member. Not when it involves his baby brother."

Raph restarted the game and they didn't say much more except to razz on each other on through the next several courses. Michelangelo actually quit before Raph and decided to actually tell Raph it was because he wanted to talk to Woody before bed.

Raphael watched him go and pulled his own T-phone out to check the time. It had been at least two hours since he'd left Leo and the other turtle still hadn't arrived home. He pulled up Leo's number and stared at the screen. His earlier thoughts that he'd rather be hidden away when Leo walked in disappeared as he suddenly had a strong urge to see him.

He realized his talk with Mikey seemed to have lifted his earlier dark mood. Maybe it was knowing that he'd help Mike see the problem they'd all been having, which would hopefully lead the youngest to begin making amends. And if Mikey did that, it would be one problem off all their shoulders. A little less tension in the lair might be good for everyone.

He began to think about some of the other things he and Leo had discussed earlier and it suddenly hit him that even though he hadn't agreed with everything Leo had said, Leo had been opening up to him tonight without Raph having to prod, poke, and pull those thoughts from his stubborn head like normal. He wished he'd realized at the time what was happening, because maybe he would've tried harder to keep his anger in check, even if Leo was getting defensive, although Leo probably had every right to be defensive. He had thrown a lot at Leo tonight. And yes, some of those things needed to be said, but Raph's lips lifted in a smirk when he realized that if he and Leo were gonna be together, he was gonna have to work on his own delivery technique, just like Fearless was gonna have to work on not twisting his words around.

He thought of the other technique he'd used on Leo earlier as well, which brought up the memory of finally being free to let his fingers grab hold of the rear end that had been teasing him for the past few years. Of how nice Leo's fingers felt wrapped around his biceps. Of how Leo's blue eyes had darkened with want. And of the sounds that came out of his favorite turtle. He was suddenly desperate to hurry Leo home so he could get his hands on him again. He stood from his seat and punched the button that would speed dial Leo. He paced a few steps in the pit as the phone rang. And rang.

"Raph!"

He was jerked from his thoughts when a frantic Casey came running out of Donnie's lab. He hadn't even known Casey was here. He lifted his eye ridges in question as he continued to listen to the phone ring.

"Get in here!" Casey said and turned back to the lab without another word.

Raph hung up on his end and quickly followed Casey into Donnie's lab. Donnie sat at his computer with an equally worried April leaning over his shoulder. His brother only glanced up at him before his attention returned to the screen while he continued to quickly type.

"Leo and Karai are in trouble," Donnie said, quickly getting to the point.

"What?" Raph said in a tone only slightly lower than a roar. Since Leo and Karai were clearly not in this room, he pushed past Casey to look at Donnie's screen. His breath caught as he was suddenly staring at Leo and Karai trapped in a small room that was quickly filling with water.