Raphael stomped back and forth in his room. What had happened today was really bothering him. He stopped pacing for a moment and turned to spike, his pet turtle. "I don't know about her spike. She gives me a funny feeling in my gut." He returned to his pacing. Spike just chewed on the lettuce leaf that was in front of him. Raph couldn't figure out what is was that was bothering him. It wasn't that she had hit Donnie in the head, that was just funny, and it wasn't that she had freaked out as that was to be expected. So what was it?

He mulled it over as he watched his pet finish his dinner. It was probably getting early by now, and he should hit the hay, especially if they were going back to Aprils tomorrow. He wanted to be fully rejuvenated if he was going to figure out why this girl was on his mind so much. There had to be something. He didn't think she was going to tell the secret, from what little they had talked, she seemed cool, just as April had. But what was different?

Raph groaned and threw himself on his bed. He'd figure it out tomorrow. This was too much thinking for his liking, which was normally Donatello's field of expertise. With one final glance at his beloved spike, Raphael rolled over and drifted off to sleep.

The following day Donatello was up early, he was anxious to see April, as always. But he was also somewhat excited to see Holly again. See seemed nice, and uncommonly smart. She had instantly come to the conclusion that someone had manufactured the mutagen. He didn't get the opportunity to talk to others that astute very often, look at what he had for brothers for goodness sake! Regardless it would be nice to have someone else on the surface to keep an eye on things while they were stuck underground during the days.

As he made his way to the kitchen for some breakfast, Donnie was surprised to see Raph already sitting at their small table with a cup of coffee in front of him.

"You shouldn't drink that stuff, it will stunt your growth." Donnie snickered, Raph always was a bit sensitive at the fact that he was the shortest of the four of them. Even Mikey had an inch on him.

Raph just glared at him, he was too tired to really give a damn today.

"What's up? You look awful." Donnie asked.

"Didn't get much sleep. Why are you up so early?" Donnie just grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Oh, never mind."

"So, why couldn't you sleep? Something on your mind?"

Raph debated whether or not to talk to Donatello, he was the smartest guy he knew so surely he had some kind of idea what was going on. "What do you think of Holly?" He had to ask, he couldn't take it anymore.

"She seems nice. I'd like to get to know her better just to make sure we really can trust her, but I'm pretty certain everything will be fine. Why, don't you think she's trustworthy?" Donnie was a little concerned. He hadn't known Raphael to ever really worry about their safety with in the city.

"It's not that." Raph was silent, but Donatello was able to read him like a book , and he had a feeling he might know what was up. But he knew Raph would figure it out eventually, so he kept his thoughts to himself and just asked some questions to steer conversation in the right direction.

"Well, what do you think of her?"

"She seems nice enough, and she has one hell of an arm." Raph shot Donnie a smug look.

"Anything else?" Donnie urged, letting the snarky comment slide this one time.

Raph shrugged. Donatello just sighed, this was going to take a while. Donnie took a breath to continue his interrogation but was interrupted by a bleary looking Mikey shuffling into the kitchen.

"What's for breakfast? Oh, is there any pizza left?" he smiled brightly at his brothers before bolting to the fridge.

"No, because you at it all yesterday!" Yelled Donatello. "You ate my slices too, remember?"

"Not really, all I remember is you getting beat up by a girl!" Mikey laughed at his own joke, Donnie huffed but remained silent while Raph just drank his coffee.

"Urgh. Hey Donnie could you have April get us a few things, we need something to make this bearable." Raph said before standing to leave. He drained the rest of his mug and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Mikey.

"To practice, might as well do it now before we have to go." and with that, he was gone.

"Is he ok? He seems out of it." Mikey asked Donnie, voice full of concern.

"Don't worry, he's fine. He just doesn't know it yet. I'll text April quick, then we should probably train too. Master Splinter won't go easy on us just because we're having company over."

The two youngest turtle brothers sat eating breakfast talking about the girls. Donnie texted April a list of a few things they needed and asked if they wouldn't mind picking up for them. It was difficult grocery shopping when you're a five foot tall mutant turtle.

April and Holly had woken up ridiculously early that day. They were both too wound up to sleep and had spent the majority of the night going over every detail of Aprils life with the Turtles to this point. They dressed and went down stairs to eat breakfast with April's aunt, who was surprised to see them up at this time of day. The girls tried to get some homework during the day, but Holly was so nervous that she couldn't concentrate at all.

They dashed back upstairs to get their belongings and practically ran out the door when April had received a message from Donnie.

The walked the streets of New York until they reached a small convenience store, where they bought some milk, sugar, eggs, bread and some other bits and pieces their awaiting friends required. Lastly, they went to Mikey's favorite pizza place and ordered four large pizzas, all with different toppings on them.

As they walked back to Aprils home, Holly had to ask something. "Do you think they like me? I mean, I know that meeting me was unexpected, but I don't want them to think they can't trust me."

"Of course, they'll be a little reserved at first, well, except Mikey, but they'll warm up to you." April beamed at her human friend. It was so nice to have another girl around.

They snuck into the apartment and crept up to the roof as quietly as possible. It was awkward trying to get the Pizza up to the roof, but they managed to get everything they needed up the ladder before it got too dark.

April looked at her friend and have her a reassuring smile, "Everything will be fine." Holly tried to smile back, but before she could say anything, the boys were back. A blur of green and a streak of orange come flying at them from across the roof.

"APRIL!" Mikey yelled as he almost collided with the April. "What did you get us?"

April grinned and handed the a pizza box over to the drooling turtle. He beamed up at her and sat where he was to start chowing down.

"Save some for the rest of us Mikey!" Leo said as he walked towards the girls. How are you today Holly?"

"Alright, I think." She shrugged. "I still am not sure if you are real, or if I have totally lost my mind"

"Understandable" piped up Donnie, "We're not exactly inconspicuous."

"Uh, no. No you are not" Holly sat, she had a feeling this conversation was going to be a lengthy one.

Everyone was sat in a little circle around the boxes of pizza and assorted drinks. Raph was leaning against an old air conditioning unit and would occasionally offer up a comment, or ask for a slice of pie. But he didn't join in much of the conversation. Leo and Donnie were asking most of the questions. They wanted to get an idea of who Holly was, and make sure they could count on her. After an hour of light interrogation, Holly felt more at ease, and finally offered up her own questions.

"So, I am still a little confused about how you guys came to be in existence, where were you guys that you could just so casually get highly experimental mutagen spilled on you?"

"From what Master Splinter has told us, we were his pets when he moved over from Japan. He was carrying us in a terrarium when he bumped into a guy carrying the mutagen. I couldn't tell you exactly how it got on us, but that's the gist of it."

"A guy was just carrying it around the city?" Holly sounded incredulous. "Who on earth would just carry something like that around? Its a scientific marvel. It would be worth millions. Billions even!"

"Well..." Donnie trailed off, he didn't think she could cope with the 'aliens did it' theory just yet.

Holly shook her head, "I just can't grasp it I guess".

The group chatted about more traditional things for the rest of the evening. But it soon started getting late and technically speaking April and Holly were not at home. They had told Ms O'Neil that they were going to Holly's house for a while and would be back before it was too late.

"Oh, wait." April said as she reached for a small cooler that had been nearby. "Here's the stuff you guys wanted. I threw it in an ice box to keep it fresher."

"Awesome, you're the best April" Mikey rummaged through the bag in case there was something else he could eat now.

Everyone stood up and stretched, sitting on the hard roof had not been the most comfortable place to hang out, but It had worked for the purpose. The girls picked up the few things they needed to take back down to the apartment, while the guys folded the boxes up to go into the recycling.

"Can we hang out again?" asked Mikey as he slung the bag over his shoulder. "Maybe somewhere with a sofa, next time?"

"I guess so" Holly replied cheerfully, "I'm sure we can work something out."

There was a chorus of happy exchanges as April, Donnie, Leo and Mikey started offering suggestions of where they could meet next. Raph on the other hand just snorted and rolled his eyes at the whole situation.

Later that night, April and Holly were back in Aprils bedroom. They sat with their notebooks and text books all over the room open to various pages, all covered with sticky notes and scribbles highlighting the important information.

Holly tried, she really did. But her mind kept wandering back to the turtles, and one turtle in particular."Do you think that Raphael hates me?" She finally voiced the thought aloud.

"What? No, he's just stubborn, and kind of an ass." April dropped her head back to her work, she knew that wasn't going to be the end of this discussion.

"I know. But he seemed so mad about something." she bit her lip slightly. "I don't want to make life uncomfortable for him."

April sighed. "He's always mad about something, but I'll tell you what, I'll ask the others if they know what his problems is, and if its something you did, or said. I will let you know."

Holly nodded, and went back to her books. April flicked her eyes up to her friends face briefly, Holly was still concerned that she had done something wrong. But April knew Raph better than that. She did text Donnie and Leo to see if they knew anything, but neither of them we able to provide her with a solid answer as to what exactly Raphs issues were.

April and Holly spent most of their evenings together for the next few weeks. Most nights, they would climb up to the Roof of Aprils apartment, and drag up some cushions to sit on while they ate and talked with the four brothers. Holly was really warming up to them. Aside from being green, they were just normal teenagers. They liked to eat junk food, and play games. She would sometimes bring up a textbook and have Donatello help her with some of her advanced science classes. Raphael even started to loosen up and would join in certain conversations. April was ecstatic to have a friend who knew this side of her life. She knew it must be hard for the Turtles to live in the shadows, but she selfishly wanted someone to talk to about stuff when it all got to be too much.

After a dozen meetings, Leo decided it was time for Holly to come home to meet Splinter. Everyone was satisfied that Holly was going to be an ally, but she still needed to pass Splinters test. Plus, spending all this time out in the open was making him anxious. They could only ever stay for an hour or two at the most. Mikey was way too loud and was bound to get them caught. April gasped when they asked if she would bring Holly to them in a few days. That would give them time to clean up and let Splinter prepare anything he may need.

"Of course! What can we bring?" She clapped her hands delightedly.

"Nothing" Leo said.

"Pizza!" Mikey shouted over his brother.

"Shut up man" hissed Raph. "Do you want the whole city block to find us?'

"We'll find something." Holly chuckled. "Is there something special I can bring for Splinter? I don't want to let you guys down." She wrung her hands together nervously. She was starting to get attached to the turtles. It was odd, having friends that no one knew about, but they were her friends nonetheless. It must have been so hard for April to keep them to herself for so long. Especially as they were so kind and considerate. They deserved so much more than hiding in the shadows and sneaking around the city at night.

The few days passed, and April was practically skipping to the Turtles lair. She and Donatello had been texting all day during classes and finally April had had to call him to tell him that she needed to concentrate on school. They would be there soon enough, and he would just have to be patient.

"Gees, he's like' a lost puppy or something." Commented Holly once April had hung up the phone. They walked together in the warm afternoon, summer was approaching and soon they would be out of school and could spend all the time they wanted together. If all went well, they could spend their time with the turtles too.

"No, Mikey is the puppy dog. Donnie is just..." She didn't really know how to finish that sentence.

"Love sick?" Holly offered, with a smirk.

"What! You're crazy."

"OK, if you say so." Holly was still grinning stupidly.

The girls stopped off at a couple of stores to pick up some peace offerings for both the guys and their father. Holly stuffed as much of it into her backpack as she could carrying the rest in flimsy plastic bags that she was sure were going to rip open at any moment. April had mentioned that Splinter liked a very specific herbal tea, so she had gone out to find it before they went over. Holly's mother had always told her that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach, and so far that was proving true with turtles too. Hopefully it worked just as well on their father.

"Are you ready?" April asked as they approached the entrance to the sewers.

"I think so." Holly said, and they ducked off the street and dropped down through a man-hole cover.

As they walked through the winding tunnels, Holly had to ask something. "Do you think he'll like me? I mean, I don't want him to think he can't trust me."

"Don't worry, Splinter is a teddy bear. He will come in pretending to be all serious for about a second, then he'll be fine. Unless he doesn't like you, then we're in trouble."

All the color drained from Hollys' face, it was bad enough that April was taking her into the sewers but to be faced with a giant rat that would decide whether or not she would be allowed to continue hanging out with April and the turtles was almost too much to bear. She really wanted him to like her. She had so many questions and so few answers. Now that she was a part of this she couldn't just walk away, she was so fascinated that she was just dying to know everything.

Leonardo was the first one to see them come into their home. He jogged happily over and took some of the bags the girls were carrying, "Welcome to our home." he said with just an ounce of worry creeping into his voice but Holly was simply amazed. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but the spacious, clean place she was standing in was not it.

"This is amazing! How did you find this place?" She took in all the space they had converted into a home.

"No Idea, Splinter found it and we've lived here all our lives." He turned and led the way deeper into the lair. "They're here" he called out to the others.

"April!" Came Donnies voice from behind a large barn door. The lanky turtle appeared with a set of goggles fixed to his brow. He hastily snatched them off and hurled them back into his lab before grinning sheepishly and coming to greet their guests.

Raph was playing the pinball machine in the corner, being rather aggressive and loud in the process, while Mikey wore out his thumbs on an fighting game on an ancient games console.

"If you're not careful you'll break that thing, and I'm not fixing it again if you do." Donnie hissed over his shoulder.

"This thing is rigged, I swear! How come I can never beat Mikey's score?" Raph yelled rocking the machine violently. A loud buzzing rang through the cavernous room as the anti-tilt function locked up the paddles. Raph growled as his last ball rolled out of play.

"You really should relax a little, you'll bust a blood vessel if you're not careful." Holly said as she placed her belongings on a chair and looked around.

Raph scowled at her, but didn't snap back like he usually would. Instead he followed her and threw himself into a beanbag. "You know, if you keep buying food, Mikey won't let you leave."

"Oh my gosh, you're actually talking to me." Holly had an amused look on her face.

"What are you talking about? I spoke to you before." Raph muttered.

"Oh yeah I remember it so well. You said 'I'm the handsome one.' when we first met, and have said about a total of 100 words since then" Holly shot back.

"Hey, don't get sarcastic with me! I'm the sarcastic one." Raphael leaned back and closed his eyes nonchalantly.

"I couldn't tell." Holly laughed as he peeked out at her and huffed in annoyance.

"So." Came a hushed raspy voice. "This is the young lady who managed to get the better of one of my highly trained sons. Would you be so kind, could you tell me what happened?" Master Splinter had emerged from his meditation space and was standing behind the group of teens.

Holly swallowed hard, this rat looked strong and capable even if he did have gray streaks of fur. "Well, sir." she was sure to add the sir to show her respect, "I was brushing my teeth and when I came out of the bathroom I saw Donatello standing in Aprils room. I didn't know what he wanted so grabbed a floor lamp. When he stepped toward me I swung." She paused for a moment, looking for some kind of reaction. Was he angry at her? Or angry at Donnie for letting himself be caught?

"Continue, if you please."

"Alright, well he got the lamp from me when I swung and when he heard footsteps he bolted for the window. So, just for good measure I threw a stapler at his head. You know, to make sure he didn't come back." Holly grimaced slightly now that she had finished her story. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and were watching the interaction. They knew if their master was not happy, she would have to go. "Sorry." She added for good measure

Splinter stroked his chin thoughtfully, and then chuckled to himself. He looked over at his son who wore purple and smiled at him. "You're lucky she is not trained or I fear you would have been no match for her."

Mikey laughed as Donatello hung his head in shame. Leo was smirking behind him too, but was at least trying to hide the fact that he found his brothers misfortune funny. Raphael was stoic.

"Don't worry my sons, I think this young lady is not a threat to us. However I would like to learn more about you, since you now know so much about us."

Holly let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and cracked a small smile at April.

Splinter sat with his sons and asked a few innocuous questions of Holly, who answered them without any qualms. Splinter seemed to be after about the same information that Leo and the others had been on their first few meetings, how she knew April, what her interests were, and what her family were like. They asked her about her parents and Holly told them she lived with her mom in the city, but she had grown up in a rural town in the mid-west. Her dad had been an outdoors-man, teaching her how to hunt and fish. The last time they went out Holly had shot her first deer with the bow he had bought her for her eleventh birthday.

"Where is he now? Its just you and your mom here, right?" Leo asked.

"He was killed a couple of years ago in a car accident." Holly said and looked at her hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Leo said, not realizing.

"No, its OK." Holly gave a sad little shrug, "You couldn't have known."

"Is that why you moved here?" April asked.

"Oh, no. My mom and I only just moved here. She finally got her shot at being a designer and was expected to move into the city for the job." Holly shrugged again. "We've moved a few times since then, always to different cities for moms work, but the accident wouldn't have changed that. My parents got divorced when I was about nine, and I had been moving back and fourth between them for two years prior to that already."

"You must be very adaptable to change, which is probably why you were so capable at dealing with my son when you first encountered him." Splinter said trying to lighten the tone of the conversation for Hollys sake.

"Yes, I suppose that is one way at looking at it all." Holly smiled gratefully, "It will be nice to have some sort of permanency for once."

Once Splinter was happy, he left the teens to enjoy each others company for the peace of the training room.

"Dude you suck at this!" Mickey laughed as his video game killed Donnie again.

"That's because I have more important things to do than wear my thumbs out on some game!" Donnie yelled as he mashed the buttons as fast as he could. "I give up, here you play him!" He threw the controller at Raph.

"Not a chance." he said and passed the controller on to April.

"Alright, I'll give it a go." She said cheerfully.

An hour later, April and Mikey were tied in kills. They were both absolutely determined to destroy the other.

"Next kill wins?" April offered hopefully, her eyes were stinging from staring at the screen.

"Next kill wins." Agreed Mikey.

"Ready? Fight!" the television announced.

The characters on the screen rushed toward each other and as they smashed into each other, the group of teenagers in the room started yelling at the top of their lungs. Donnie was naturally cheering for April, as was Holly.

Raph and Leo were shouting for Mikey to "Get her!"

April and Mikey were yelling at each other and wincing along with their characters as their health bars dropped lower and lower.

April jumped up off the couch and yelled, "Try this on for size!" Her thumbs tapped out a combo that dealt so much damage.

"K.O.!"

Everyone stood stunned for a moment, no one had every beaten Mikey before. April broke the silence by jumping up and down whooping it up. She high fived Holly and Donnie then turned to Mikey, who was staring blankly at the screen.

"That... Was... Awesome!" He yelled. "That was the best game ever! How'd you do that?"

April shrugged. "I've played before, this game is quite old."

The girls and the turtles just talked for a while after all the excitement. They ate snacks and drank some soda until April looked at the time and announced that it was probably time to go. Since she and Holly had school the next day they had to be home early, or they we they'd both be in trouble.

"But it's only 7." Whined Mikey, "Why do you have to go so soon?" He pouted, trying to look as cute as possible.

"Well, I promised my aunt I'd be home early so we can hang out." April said "Were gonna' do some girly stuff, I'm kind of excited."

"What's your excuse?" Raph nodded at Holly.

She narrowed her eyes at him briefly, "I have a long way to go to get home. So I have to set off now or I'll never get home before my mom and I'll get in trouble."

"What do you mean?" Asked Leo.

"My mom works late most days, as long as I'm home before she is, I get to do whatever I want." She said with a shrug.

"Don't you get lonely?" Mikey asked.

"Sometimes." She was a pause as everyone looked at her.

April knew how she felt, since her father had gone missing, she had spent much more time alone. That was why was always hanging out at the lair, it made her feel less lonesome.

"Anyway, I really do have to go. I have a couple of miles to walk to get back home." Holly turned to retrieve her bag. "Ready to go?"

April nodded and they both bid their mutant friends goodbye.

Holly walked through the door to her and her mother's home, she kicked off her shoes and listened for any sign of life. "Hello? Mom?" No answer. Holly sighed and continued through to her bedroom stopping briefly in the kitchen for a glass of water.

Raph found that he was disturbed to find out that Holly lived mostly alone. Yes, on occasion he wanted some space to himself, but he really did like having his brothers around. He would never admit it to them of course. He admired Leonardo, he was so strong and sure of himself, and always seemed to know what to do when things got tough. Donatello was so smart, he was always coming up with new equipment and now he was designing those go karts and who knew what else. Mikey was so spirited, he lived life in the moment and always saw the bright side of life. Raph couldn't imagine life without his brothers, or Master Splinter. Maybe someone should have gone with the girls, to make sure they got home safe.

April showed up to the lair over the next week alone. She told the boys that Hollys' mother had gone out of town for the week and had told her to stay at home when she wasn't at school.

"Why doesn't she just go out anyway? I thought she went out all the time?" Mikey asked.

"Not when her mom is out of town, the neighbors keep an eye on her."

"That seems a little unnecessary." Donnie added

"Well, most parents don't trust their kids when they're our age. It's surprising Hollys mom leaves her completely alone for a few days." April shrugged. She knew her dad wouldn't leave her alone for more than a day.

"Why didn't she tell us?" Mikey looked up from his comic.

"She didn't want to you guys to worry." April stated simply.

"That makes no sense." Mikey said, confusion written all over his face.

April shook her head and rolled her eyes, "I was going to go over later today and keep her company for a while, I'm sure she'd be happy to see you all too."

Mikey hopped up, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go rescue Holly from the evil clutches of boredom!" Mikey waggled his fingers and did his best bad guys laugh.

Raphael threw a cushion at his head. "Hey! Why do you have to be such a kill joy?"

Raph just grinned maliciously, "You wanna' have some fun? I'll show you some fun?" He dove across the room at his little brother and they began to wrestle across the floor. April pulled her feet up onto the couch to avoid any squished toes. She chuckled as the boys roughed each other up. Typically it ended up with Raph pinning Mikey, who would tap out, but dive right back in for more punishment.

"Alright you guys, cut it out." Leo shook his head at his brothers, and grabbed Raph by the shell to pull him off Mikey.

"Where exactly does Holly live? I want to make sure that we would have access to her apartment without running the risk of getting caught." Donnie turned to ask April.

"She lives in one of those swanky apartment blocks in downtown, on the top floor." April pulled up a map on Donnie's laptop. "She has a big concrete balcony leading out of their living room, you won't have an issue with access."

"Why does she live there?" asked Raph, "I wouldn't have pegged her as one of the snobs that typically live there."

"It's not like it was her choice, her mom picked the apartment, she just lives there." April said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'm going to head over there now, you guys should probably wait until its dark." She grabbed her belongings and set off out of the lair. "See you guys in a while."

"Are you going to ask her if she wants us to come over? I would understand if she didn't want Mikey in her home." Raph shoved Mikey playfully.

"Why wouldn't she want to see me?" Mikey pouted.

All of the boys, and even April, shot him a questioning look. "Mikey, you're always breaking stuff. Why would you be any different at someone else's house?" Donnie stated blankly.

"I don't always break stuff." Mikey folded his arms across his chest and continued sulking.

"Well anyway, I'm going now before I get sucked into this. See you later guys." April walked out of the lair, cell phone ready to call and let her aunt know she was going to Hollys. If it started to get too late she would need a ride, she wasn't going to walk home after dark with the purple dragons out and about. That would just be asking for trouble.