April sat in Hollys' kitchen watching the little television on the counter top. Holly was busy rummaging through the fridge looking for something easy she could quickly cook up for the both of them.
"Remind me, you're not allergic to anything right?" Holly peeked out behind the door.
"Not that I'm aware of, no." April took a swig of her water. "Why, what are you thinking of?"
"Pad-Thai noodles, although I really can't be bothered cooking." She closed the refrigerator and turned to April. "I'm just going to use some of the money mom left me to order something. Do you like Asian food? I know a great place that delivers."
"Yeah! Do you have a menu?" April jumped up as Holly went to the draw where her mother kept all the take-out menus for every restaurant in the area. They leaned on the counter-top shoulder to shoulder deciding what to order.
Holly popped up when she thought she heard a tapping. "Did you hear that?" She spun around and walked through the archway that led to the living room. She nearly fell over backwards when she saw who was rapping on the French doors that led to the balcony.
"Are you going to let us in or what?" Raph was crouching down slightly, trying to hide behind the stone pillar that surrounded the door. If one of Holly's neighbors were to walk out onto their balcony it would be a difficult situation to try and explain.
She rushed to the door and opened it quietly. She grabbed his arm and tugged him inside roughly, closing the door behind him.
"What are you doing here?" She hissed at him. Hands on her hips.
"We haven't seen you in four days. Is it so bad that we missed you and wanted to make sure you were OK?" Raph snapped back, not really thinking what he was saying.
Holly's expression softened, and she sighed. "Wait, are the others here too?" She walked back over to the door and peeked out, not seeing them.
"They're on the roof, we didn't think it would be wise to all be waiting on the balcony." He pointed up to emphasize his point.
"So, how'd you get to be so lucky as to be the one to jump down?" She smirked over her shoulder at him as she opened the doors. He blanched as he realized he didn't want to give her an answer. He had volunteered.
She stepped out into the cold night air in her baggy flannel pajamas and turned her gaze skyward. The night wind whipped her hair around her face and tugged at the hems of her pant legs. She saw the other turtle teens up on the roof, peeking over the lip down at her. She checked to make sure none of her neighbors were near their doors and beckoned them down. Three green figures hurled themselves over the wall and alighted soundlessly on the concrete next to her, they then dashed inside out of the sight of any curious eyes. Holly checked the other balconies once more and ran in to meet them. Closing the blinds, just to be sure that no one could possibly discover the turtles.
"Well, this is a nice surprise!" Holly said to the now full room. April had walked calmly out of the kitchen with a smug grin plastered across her face.
"Any you guys were worried she wouldn't want to see you?" April threw one arm around Donnie and the other over Leo, gave them a quick squeeze, and then continued through to stand next to Holly. Donnie's face had a pink tinge to it.
Holly beamed at the little group now standing in her home, she had never really had this many friends. It was a nice feeling, knowing that there was someone out there who wanted to make her smile. "You guys." Was all she could say.
April put an arm around her shoulders and squished her gently. "I had a feeling you may want some additional company."
Mikey stood on Hollys other side and rested a hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't want to go more than a day without me either." Holly laughed, but gave him a playful shove.
"OK, well I'm still hungry so let's get some food on the way, and then we can all get back to socializing." April said, waving the menu back and forth.
They ordered six different entrees, three containers of fried rice and a couple of orders of won-tons for good measure. The group then wandered into the kitchen and all sat around the center island waiting for the food to get there.
"I have to ask, where did your mom go that was so important that she had to leave you alone for almost a week?" Leo asked.
"She works in fashion, and this week is the London fashion week, she goes every year." Holly shrugged, "Usually she gets a neighbor to stay with me, but this year she figured I was old enough to stay by myself."
"And she trusts you not to have wild parties or anything?" Raph asked, "I know I would."
"Yeah!" Mikey chimed in.
"Our building has a doormen that are here 24 hours a day, she would know if I had company over." Holly said.
"Is she alright with me being here?" April asked warily.
"Oh yeah, I asked her if you could come over. She likes you, and knows you won't be a bad influence on me." April snorted. Holly couldn't help but chuckle along with her. If her mother only knew.
A little while later the doorman called up on the intercom to let her know the delivery man was there. Holly told him to let the guy up and hastily told the boys to hide in her bedroom for just a moment.
"Why? It's not like the guy can see us from here." Raph argued.
"I don't even want to risk it." Holly hissed back.
He still didn't budge. So, she stalked straight at him and grabbed him by the arm again. She spun him on his heel and started shoving him with all her strength. Mikey chuckled as he too was ushered into the other room. Holly marched him into her room, spun him back around to face her, and poked him right in the plastron.
"Stay here, or suffer the consequences." She gave him one last shove to make her point and glared at him as she backed out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"Do you have to be difficult all the time?" Leo asked exasperatedly.
"I kinda' like getting under her skin, she fights back unlike the rest of you." He admitted to them with a shrug.
Out in the hallway, Holly shook her head at April who just grinned back at her. She knew how Raph could get, but he seemed to enjoy rattling Holly more than everyone else. Well, except maybe Mikey.
Holly opened the front door to her apartment, to find a skinny college-age kid standing with a big brown bag in his hands. "Here's your food, that will be $74.13 please."
Holly pulled out $85 from her pocket and handed it to the greasy kid. "Keep the change, thank you."
"This seems like a lot of food for two chicks." He looked at them suspiciously.
"Well, I like leftovers." Holly smiled sweetly at him, and promptly closed the door on him. "Moron" she muttered to herself.
She walked back to the kitchen and placed the large bag on the counter. She almost wanted to start eating without letting the turtles out yet, but she would then be punishing Leo, Donnie, and Mikey when it was Raph who really needed the lesson. She would have to think of something that would get him back for this.
April looked up and could almost see the cogs turning in Hollys' head. "You want to get him back, don't you?"
"Oh yeah." Holly glanced at the hallway that led to her room.
"I think you and I can come up with something." April nodded encouragingly and started unloading the containers of food.
Holly walked back to her room and pushed open the door slowly. She noticed that Donnie and Leo looked a little uncomfortable.
"What's wrong?" She asked them.
The two turtles looked at each other, "We've never been in a girls room before. It just feels kind of invasive." Leo answered.
"You're fine, I have nothing embarrassing in here." She motioned for them to follow her back to the kitchen. Mikey who was sprawled on her bed, jumped up and rushed out to get his food. "Where's Raph?"
"I think he went exploring in your closet." Leo said and pointed at the only other door in the room.
Holly rushed past him and stopped just outside her walk-in closet. "Raph?" She called gently.
"Raphael?" She sang his name like a mother would to a child who was hiding.
Leo and Donnie watched her take a step in reaching for the hanging string that would turn on the light.
"You really have a ton of clothes." Raph popped out from between some of the dresses her mother had brought home from somewhere fancy, that she had never worn. Holly jumped and fell over backward back out of the closet, landing on her butt. She sprang back up and tried to grab him, but he jumped just out of reach. He chuckled to himself and she shoved him out into her room.
"I'm seriously going to get you for this." She stomped after him. From where he was, he couldn't see the smile on her face, but he could certainly hear it.
Leo and Donnie both gave their trouble-making brother a look, but let out a sigh of relief seeing that Holly wasn't really mad at him, or them.
They all shared the food between the group, everyone trying some of everything until everyone was full. There was a little left-over, so Holly boxed it up and put it in the fridge for later.
"So? What do you guys think? Pretty good, right?" Holly flopped down onto the couch between April and Leo, grabbing the remote on the way down. She clicked through the channels as they all gave their approval. They decided to watch the new episode of Leo's favorite show since it was only an hour long, and the turtles would have to go out on patrol soon anyway. Raph did grumble a little but a death glare from Holly shut him up pretty quickly. He was pushing his luck today. They settled down on the huge squishy couch and put their feet up.
During the show, April kept sneaking a peek over at Raph, she couldn't help but notice that he was spending an awful lot of time looking over at Holly. She wondered what he was thinking, he always kept his feelings bottled up so tight that most of the time she had no idea what was going on inside his head. Of all the turtle boys, he was by far the hardest to get close to. He dealt with everything with sarcasm and aloofness, but underneath she knew he was much more sensitive than he let on.
By the time it was time for the turtles to go, it was just about midnight. Holly really didn't want them to leave but April's aunt was already on her way over to take her home, and it would only take her ten minutes to get here. The turtles had to be gone before then just in case she wanted to chat for a moment.
"Alright guys, it's time to go." Leo got up and started toward the balcony doors. He opened the curtain just a tiny bit to make sure there was no one around to see them leave.
Donnie and Mikey were standing right behind him waiting for their orders to move. Raph, however, was standing by the girls.
"Shouldn't you be leaving?" Holly asked, blinking at Raph innocently.
"Yeah, but I just wanted to, you know." He scratched his head nervously. As soon as he realized he was doing this, his hand snapped down to his side.
"No I don't have a clue." She crossed her arms and kept an amused, but confused, look on her face.
"I wanted to," he paused and hurriedly muttered "apologize, for going through your stuff."
"Oh, that's what this is. I'm actually kind of surprised that you know what one of those is." She uncrossed her arms and put them on her hips.
He pulled a sarcastic face at her, and she cracked. She laughed at him and he couldn't help but smile back.
"You're lucky I like you, or I may not be so forgiving." She took a step towards him and gently shoved him towards the doors. "Come on, we have to get you guys out of here."
She moved right next to Leo, and slid through the curtains and onward out the doors. A moment later, she poked her head in and whispered that the coast was clear. The boys darted out of the door and hopped onto the railing of the balcony and sprang up to the roof. She watched them disappear over the roof-top. For the briefest second, she could have sworn she saw a smile on Raphs face, but he was gone before she could even get in another glimpse.
She walked back inside and let out a huge sigh that made her hair flap over her eyes. April laughed as she knew exactly what she was feeling. "I'm starting to wonder if this is more trouble than it's worth." Holly noted. She knew it was, but she liked to be a little dramatic every once in a while.
April was hoping that they would get a moment alone. There was something she wanted to ask Holly that would classify as "girl talk". "What do you think of the guys?" she started, keeping it light.
"They are awesome." Holly said with a smile.
"Uh-huh, uh-huh, and what about Raph?" April just had to know.
Holly looked at her friend, she knew what she was asking. She wasn't stupid after all. "You want to know if I am crushing on him, don't you?" She asked bluntly.
April just shrugged.
Holly shook her head with a smile. "I think he's not as tough as he thinks he is." She answered honestly.
"Meaning?" Pressed April.
"Meaning, that I think he has a softer side that no one really gets to see." She strategically avoided answering but knew it wouldn't work for long.
"Yeah, I got that. But you're not giving me an answer." April stated simply.
"Alright, I like him." There was no point in lying. "I think that we have similar personalities, he's funny and makes me laugh." Holly shrugged, she didn't think it was a big deal. "But will you grant me the same courtesy? What's going on with you and Donnie?"
April had a feeling that this may come up again. She wasn't sure what was going on between her and the tallest of the turtle brothers. She did like him, but she didn't know how deep it went. "I don't know." she finally gave in.
"Looks like we're in the same boat." Holly said as the intercom buzzed. Holly pushed the talk button, "Yeah?"
"Ms. O'Neil is here to pick up her niece." the doorman's voice sounded through the tiny speaker.
"Does she want to come up?" There was a pause.
"No, ma'am. She said she needs to get home."
"Alright, I'll send April down." she let go of the button, but clicked it back on for a second, "and stop calling me that!"
The girls went down to the lobby and Holly exchanged pleasantries with Aprils' aunt. After a quick conversation the two teens hugged goodbye and Holly watched as her friend drove away.
"It's nice to see you smiling for a change ma'am." The older gentleman commented.
"Thanks Bud, but call me Holly, please?" Holly replied.
"Maybe just this once, Holly." he winked at her as the elevator doors closed.
Holly returned to her apartment feeling significantly better than she had in days. She cleaned up the kitchen, grabbed a glass of water, brushed her teeth, and climbed into bed. She watched some late-night chat show until her eyelids grew heavy and she finally drifted off to sleep.
April kept quiet most of the way home, she couldn't stop thing about what she and Holly had talked about. She had known for a while that Donnie had a little crush on her, but she never really considered if she reciprocated those feelings. Yes, she thought about him quite a bit, but she thought about all the turtles all of the time.
April changed into her pajamas and turned on the radio on her night stand, it played music softly and she sat cross-legged on her bed, breathing deeply to clear her mind. After a few moments, she groaned and mushed a pillow into her face. This was hopeless, she just couldn't concentrate right now.
There was a tapping on her window and sure enough, there was Donnie, smile plastered on his face, the gap between his teeth ever-present. She smiled back at him and walked over to open the window.
"I thought you guys were going on patrol?" She asked.
"We are, we just wanted to stop by and make sure you got home OK." Donnie replied lightly.
"I didn't even walk today, you know I got a ride." She smiled at him.
"I know, but you never know." He smiled back at her, a little sheepishly.
"Well, thank you. I appreciate the concern." She reached out and placed her hand on his forearm. He blushed red, and she found that she felt her cheeks burn slightly. She withdrew her hand and reached out for the handle on the window. "Good night Donnie, night guys." she said to the roof.
"Night." He waved at her and sprang back up to the roof. She watched him go before she shut the window quietly.
April sighed, no use trying to meditate now.
The next few weeks flew by, and April and Holly spent most of their free time together or with the turtles. They walked home from school together and usually stayed at each other's houses on the weekends. The girls had become close friends and knew most everything about each other, Holly had even let April raid her closet full of unworn clothes and given her half of the stuff her mother kept bringing home.
The end of the school year was fast approaching and the days were hot and humid in the city. All the people on the streets were being particularly horrible to one another as they tried to continue with their lives through the sweltering heat. April and Holly were walking toward the lair, the sun was starting to go down and the whole city was bathed in a soft orange glow.
"I love summer." Said April with a sigh. "It makes everything so pretty."
Holly nodded, she liked summer too, but her glasses made it hard to appreciate it sometimes. She took them off her face and wiped the sweat off her nose, then ran her hand through her hair, trying to get some relief from the heat. Holly placed her glasses back onto her face and immediately walked into April who had stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.
"Hey," she said, grabbing at her glasses so they didn't fall off her face." Why'd you stop?"
April didn't answer, she just pressed a finger to her lips then pointed around the corner into the alley-way they were just about to walk past. Holly looked at her, then poked her head around Aprils'. Being five inches taller than your friend had its benefits.
There in the alley, was a group of guys all dressed in black and purple. They were standing with their backs to a closed door in a little semi-circle, and although their eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses, even Holly could tell that they were keeping a lookout for cops.
Both girls withdrew their heads and looked at each other for a moment.
"I'm assuming you know those guys." Holly said with an overly cheery tone in her voice.
"They're Purple Dragon, and for some reason, they're connected to whatever happened to the turtles."
"Whoa whoa whoa, what?" Holly waved her hands in the air trying to sort things out in her head.
"They've been around a few times when the turtles have been doing some investigating into their past." April rushed through her sentence and instantly had her eyes peeking out around the corner again.
"So what? You're going to stalk them now?" Holly was still confused, she should talk to Donnie about this.
"Yeah, pretty much. I need you to go get the boys while I follow them and find out where they're going." April said nonchalantly.
Holly was staring at the back of her friends' head in utter disbelief. "Oh yeah, that sounds just great."
"I'm serious, get going!" April shoved Holly in the general direction of the lair, then started to creep down the alley to hide behind a dumpster.
Holly stood dumbfounded. She knew the turtles were trained to deal with this kind of situation, she had watched them practice a few times. But April was a different story, they were sixteen for heavens sake. However, without wasting another minute, Holly turned and ran as fast as her feet could carry her.
Leo was pissed. Raph was not doing his drills properly and he was becoming agitated since he wanted to goof off and read comics.
"If you just do it right the first time we wouldn't have to keep doing them." Leo snapped.
"We've been doing them for two hours! I did them right for the first hour and a half, the last half an hour has been pointless!" Raph yelled back.
"No, the last half an hour has been you intentionally being an ass!" Leo stood up and glared at his immediate younger brother. Who in turn, jumped up and stared right back.
"Would you guys cut that out? The sooner we get done the sooner we can hang out with April and Holly." Donnie stepped between them and pushed them apart.
Their little argument was interrupted by a loud crashing sound coming from the vicinity of the lair's entrance. The turtle boys all looked at each other and rushed out to see what was going on. They saw Holly, doubled over breathing quite heavily, clutching onto turn-style for dear life. Her backpack had ripped open and its contents were sprawled across the floor.
"Holy cow, what happened to you?" Mikey asked and grasped her by the elbow so she could regain her balance.
"Thanks... Nearly fell... On my face." Holly managed between breaths.
"Hey, where's April?" asked Donnie growing more concerned by the second.
"She saw some Purple Something guys standing by a door and told me to come to get you." Holly said extremely quickly.
"Where is she?" Asked Raph.
"She decided to follow them, hence why I sprinted through the sewers to get here."
Leo instantly went into leadership mode. "OK guys, we need to get to her as soon as possible. Where were you when you saw them?"
"We were walking past the alley that's right next to the pizza shop on 173rd." She looked them over quickly, they all looked so serious. She had to admit, she was worried about April.
"Let's go." Leo shouted, and all four of the turtles started for the entryway.
"What can I do?" Holly shouted after them.
Raph stopped for a moment and turned to her. "Just stay here, you could do some cleaning while you wait though."
Hollys mouth fell open at the gall of him. "Bastard!" She shouted after him as his footsteps faded into the distance.
Raph caught up with the others just outside of the lair. Once they reached the surface, they climbed onto the roof of the nearest building and set off in the direction Holly had told them to go. Donnie was beside himself with worry, he didn't know what state they would find April in but he kept envisioning terrible things. They all leapt from building to building as quickly as they could, until finally, they reached the roof-top of the pizza joint. Donatello held his breath and peeked over the side of the building.
"I don't see her." He whispered to the others. He started to panic.
"She can't have gone far, everyone take a direction and fan out." Leo said.
The boys split up keeping an eye out for their friend. Donnie hopped over to the next building and scanned the street and alleys for any sign of her. He stepped around a roof access and looked over the ledge. He saw her crouching on the fire escape watching a group of purple dragons making their way through the scuzzy back streets of the city. He let out a sigh and motioned for his brothers that he had found her.
He silently lowered himself down to the escape and noiselessly climbed lower to sit next to her.
"You guys got here quick." April whispered.
"Apparently Holly sprinted." He replied, "Are you OK?"
"Yeah, I saw them guarding a door in the other ally and figured they were up to something, so I followed them." She looked up into his concerned brown eyes. "I'm fine, they haven't seen me." she reassured him.
"Alright. Have they done anything else since then?"
"Not really, one of them came out of the door with a box, and now he's in there," She pointed at the goons guarding another door, "But I don't know why."
"You and Donnie stay here. Mikey take the building to the left. Raph and I will try getting inside for a closer look." Leonardo and the rest or the turtles had scrambled down to listen to April without making a sound, but now there was work to do. Donnie and April climbed back up to the roof-top, so that if one of the goons were to look around, they wouldn't be out in the open. Mikey had leaped over to another building for additional coverage while Leo and Raph launched themselves across the alley to the building the purple dragons were now occupying.
The two eldest turtle brothers opened one of the sky-lights and dropped down onto one of the metal beams.
"Just put it over there!"
"Alright, gees!"
Leo and Raph looked at each other, they could just see the shapes of a few purple dragon members walking around the warehouse below. There was a crashing sound as one of the muscle heads dropped a stack of boxes. A wave of computer chips skidded across every inch of the warehouse floor.
"You moron! Pick that up!" A tall, skinny Asian guy yelled. "Stockman is going to be pissed if those get broken."
Leo mouthed "Stockman?" at Raph, who just shrugged.
"I know already, it was an accident." A big stocky guy said.
"Yeah? We'll we don't get paid if this shit's broken!" The skinny guy yelled again.
Leo had heard enough, he motioned for Raph to go back up and out. They needed to get some info on this Stockman guy if they were going to find out why he had hired the purple dragons.
They crept back outside and motioned for the others to meet them on the roof of the building they had started on. Once they were gathered together again, Leo quickly briefed them on what they had heard and seen.
"Stockman, as in Baxter Stockman?" Donnie asked.
"I don't know, they never said the first name." Leo said.
"Well if he's after computer chips I wouldn't be surprised if it was him, he is a computer genius." Donnie swooned.
"Yeah, but if he's working with the purple dragons then he's bad news." Mikey reminded him.
"Anyway, let's get back to the lair. I'm sure Hollys really steaming by now." Raph smirked.
"Oh god, what did you do?" Leo asked.
"Nothing much, I just told her to tidy up while she was waiting." Raph chuckled.
"Dude, that's not cool." Mikey said.
Holly was fuming, how dare he say a thing like that when April may be in trouble. She already felt useless compared to everyone else, like he needed to pour salt into the wound. She wanted to throw something, preferable at Raph's face, but a wall might just work too.
She cried out in frustration and angrily stuffed her possesions back into her ruined backpack.
"You seem agitated, tell me what's wrong." Master Splinter had calmly walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I feel so useless, and Raphael is being a real jerk." She looked up into the old rats' eyes, "Sorry."
"It's OK, he enjoys winding you up, but he can be a little insensitive at times." The rat stroked his beard thoughtfully.
"I just..." She started, but really couldn't put it into words.
"It's alright, I understand. Come with me, I seem to recall you saying you were good with a bow."
Holly followed Splinter into the training room, she looked at him and back into the room. Everything looked as it always did, the red floor mats were clean, and the weapon rack was fully stocked with the usual assortment of goodies.
Splinter pulled a wooden bow off the rack and a quiver of arrows. "I always find doing damage to inanimate objects cures pent-up anger." Splinter handed her the bow.
Holly smiled slightly as she remembered the last time she was with her dad, they had gone hunting and she had shot her first deer. Her dad had field-dressed it, and when they got home they had a huge meal and invited all the other families to come over and share their venison. They never wasted any of the deer in their town. It was the only way Holly could hunt, knowing that the animal had not died in vain.
Master Splinter handed her some targets and instructed her to stand them at one end of the room, he then settled himself on the floor to watch.
Holly took a deep breath calming herself. She drew back an arrow to her cheek, took a breath in, took aim, released the breath, and let the arrow fly.
April and the turtles walked into the lair after dark. April felt kind of bad leaving Holly here but she didn't want to see her friend hurt. They all looked around the living room but didn't see Holly anywhere.
"Do you guys hear that? Or am I imagining things again?" Mikey said. They all stopped and stood perfectly still for a moment, they heard a soft thudding sound coming from the training room. They all looked at each other with confused looks and then hurried off to see what was going on.
They saw Holly standing with her back to them, she had a bow and arrow in her hands. They heard her take a deep inhale as she raised the bow up and drew back the string. Then she exhaled slowly and sudden let the arrow go. It whizzed through the air with a slight whistle and then thunked into one of the four targets set up at the other end of the room.
"Wow, you're a good shot." Leo commented and walked into the room. He saw master splinter sitting peacefully on the other side of the room, watching Holly let off some steam.
"There's no real challenge in here though, there's no wind to account for, and its a stationary target." She didn't even look back at them, just loaded another arrow and took another breath. Whoosh, thunk. They all looked at Raph.
"Don't worry, I'm not mad." Holly said, "Anymore." She added to herself and let another arrow go.
Holly had run out of arrows, so she walked to the far side of the room to retrieve them from the targets. Raph stepped towards her, but turned back and motioned to the others that he wanted them to leave.
Leo and Mikey just shook their heads smirking. It had been a while since anyone had put Raph in his place. Unfortunately for them April grabbed them by the elbow and marched them out of the room. Master Splinter also got up to leave, he hoped that his son had the sense to stay calm. He was a young man once, he knew that there was nothing scarier than an angry woman.
Raph didn't say anything for a moment, he hadn't thought his comment would get her this mad. He just watched her pull back on the bow, take a breath, and then let the arrow go. "I didn't mean anything by that you know."
"I know." She didn't look at him.
Raph felt so awkward, he had never really had to apologize for running his mouth before. He actually felt bad that he may have hurt this girl's feelings. He liked her, she had the same sense of humor that he did, and she was smart. But maybe he had gone too far?
"Do you think I'm useless?" Holly asked suddenly.
"What? No, not at all. Why do you ask?" Raph was frowning at the back of Hollys head, not really sure where she was going with this.
"We have cell phones, we could have called you about those guys in the ally." Holly said simply.
"Oh." So that's what was up. "You do know that April doesn't think you're useless?"
"I do, I'm intelligent enough to realize that she was more interested in my safety. Plus she's my friend, we don't need to compete to prove anything to each other."
"Then what's the big deal?" Raph asked.
Holly sighed, "I just feel like I'm in the way." She turned to face him for the first time. She looked so sad.
"You're totally crazy, you know that?" She frowned at him but didn't interrupt. "It doesn't matter what you can't do, we care about you because of the things you can do. You're smart and funny and one of the best friends we could ask for." He was staring so intensely at her, and he sounded so honest. She couldn't help but smile. "Besides," he added, "I don't even think that Leo is that good of a shot." He pointed at the targets.
She chuckled lightly and gave him a playful shove. "Well, I have been using one of these for the last 10 years. Although, mine is a little more sophisticated." She turned to take another shot but felt his hand grip her arm lightly. He pulled gently until she was facing him completely.
"Are you really alright?" He looked concerned but determined.
"Yeah, I'm alright." She stepped towards him and put her arms around his neck. He jumped slightly, but did awkwardly pat her on the back as she hugged him. "Thanks Raph." She stepped back away from him and moved back into position to continue shooting the targets. "Oh, but you're not off the hook for the "you should tidy up" comment. I almost took you comics and used them for target practice."