New Friends and Old Enemies - Edited

by EuroAmerican

The turtle boys are saving the day once again with help from their old friend April O'Neil, but a blunder on the boy's part introduces them to a new friend. This gives the purple dragon members another target to try a figure out where the turtles' lair is. Rated for violence, mild language, and some romance. (Naturally, I don't own any of the TMNT characters)

15. Chapter 15

It took everyone a while to recover from the events in the Technodrome. Holly, who hadn't slept much prior to the excitement, did not wake up for thirty six hours, and had been moved so that the others could be in the living area without disturbing her. April had to go home to try and explain everything to Carol. As hard as she tried to understand, Carol was just not cut out for Alien invasions and mutants, but whoever April was hanging out with were obviously capably of saving her niece from the trouble she kept getting into.
Donnie had made a few spare phones, and handed one to Raph to replace the one that he they had abandoned in the fight. Mikey was completely over the events of the last few days and was engrossed in a video game, while Leo was already contemplating their next moves.
April came back to the lair to check in on everyone and to make sure Holly wasn't dead. Raph had moved her into his room once they realized she wasn't going to wake up any time soon, and had taken her spot on the couch for the last night.
"Has she woken up yet?" April asked.
"Yes, just about." Holly said emerging from the kitchen with wet hair and a fresh cup of coffee.

"Oh good, call your mom. She's worried about you." April said with narrowed eyes.
Holly saluted April and turned around to go back into the kitchen for some privacy.

April flopped down heavily on the couch and let out a long sigh.

"So, how did your Aunt take all the news?" Donnie asked tentatively.

"About as well as I expected."April admitted.

"I'm guessing you still didn't tell her about us then." Leo added with a knowing smirk.

"No," April admitted. "At least, not completely."

"That's probably for the best anyway," Leo said with a shrug.

"Yeah I know." April leaned forward and put her head in her hands.

Donnie placed a comforting hand on her shoulder when Holly returned from the kitchen with her phone in her hand. "So apparently y'all are coming on vacation with me."

"What are you talking about?" Leo asked with one hairless eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, my mom said she was going to take a vacation once all that mess with the Krang was over, and she already booked a place for this weekend." Holly said, a bemused look on her face.

"We can't just dip out for a vacation." Leo exclaimed, "We have a job to do here."

"Leonardo," Splinter had emerged from his room, "A good leader should know when it is time to take a break."

"Yeah Leo." Mikey agreed, "We've been working our butts off, and we've never had a vacation before! Where are we going?" He turned his attention to Holly.

"Apparently she decided to book a super secluded cabin up state. She said its big enough for all of us, if you wanted to go." Holly looked at Splinter.

"Of course the boys can go." Splinter said. "Your mother has proven a trustworthy ally to my sons."
"Actually, she wanted you to come too." Holly said.

"FAMILY VACATION!" Mikey yelled and started to run around the lair. He bumped into Raph who stood up at just the wrong time.

"Splinter? On a vacation?" Leo said with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"And why should I not come?" Splinter asked with a grin. Donnie and April snickered at Leo's discomfort.

"I didn't mean it like that" Leo tried to back track.

"Provided I can verify our safety, I would be honored to join you." Splinter said with a slight bow in Holly's direction.

"You catch all that?" Holly said into her phone.
"Sure did!" Stacey's voice came over the speaker. "I will rent a nice big vehicle and bring all the pizza and snacks you could want." She ended the call, and Holly shrugged when Leo shot her an annoyed look.

Stacey sent an attachment to Holly with the address of the place they were going to stay and she pulled it up on one of the rental websites. Everyone crowded around her to get a look at the place they were going to be staying. There was a collective "Whoa," Uttered as Holly navigated through the pictures.
"Oh, I want to be in that room!" Mikey yelled an jabbed the screen.

Holly shoved him back with her shoulder, "You'll get what you get and be happy." Splinter let out a bark of laughter, but he too was interested to see where they were going.

"We'll have to bring a sweeper to make sure there are no hidden cameras." Donnie said and scratched his chin. "And an audio jammer in case there's any recording devices."

"Its just a rental cabin, Donnie" April said.

"Actually, I agree. People these days are weird." Holly said.

"WHAT IS THAT!" Mikey shouted in everyone's ear as Holly swiped to the next page.

"Mikey!" Everyone yelled, and Raph gave him another shove for good measure.

"Its a lake" Holly said sarcastically.

"No, not that." He pointed at a picture of people jumping into the lake. "That!"

"It looks like an artificial rock formation, I bet we can jump off it." Holly said. "To make it look as natural as possible"

"The trees are probably already turning up state." April mused aloud. "I bet its beautiful."
"Cool. This is going to be amazing!" Mikey said and ran off to start packing

The next few days passed far too slowly for Michelangelo's liking. All the schools had closed for the week after all the 'Alien Invasion' stuff had been all over the news. The city was still cleaning up the last of the debris that had fallen into the River, and the streets were being repaved where the Technodrome had trashed them. All he could talk about was the food he wanted to try roasting over a bonfire.

"I wonder if you can roast pizza?" Mikey asked.

"Oh my god, will you stop talking. For five minutes" Raph said and dumped a bag on the ground.

"What is that?" April asked when she saw the bag, "You don't have clothes, or do you?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"No!" He shouted embarrassed, "Its my punching bag. If I have to spend the next 5 hours in a van with you guys, I'll need something to take my frustration out on."

"You are not bringing that." April said with a laugh.

Donatello had packed a huge bag full of tech that he thought they might need. While Mikey had tried to hide a bunch of stuff from the kitchen in his bag.

"You're all acting like we're leaving for a month." April said exasperatedly. She had a backpack of clothes and that was about it.

"We've never been on a vacation before, we don't know what to bring." Mikey said.

"Just pack some stuff to keep you entertained. Stacey said she would bring everything else." April reminded them.

Holly called them to let them know that she and Stacey were on their way. They had rented a passenger van with tinted windows, but she did bring some extra sheets to hang up, just in case the turtles and Splinter wanted some extra privacy.

"We're pulling up to the alley. I can come down and help you with any bags you may have." Holly said.

"We really don't have anything, We can be there in a few minutes." Donnie replied as April had handed over her phone so she could help Mikey put back all the stuff in their fridge.

"Alright, We'll wait here." Holly said and hung up the call. She blew out a deep breath.

"Are you OK?" Stacey asked.

"Yeah, I'm nervous for some reason." Holly admitted.

"What for? Are you excited to spend time with Raphael?" Stacey elbowed her daughter playfully.

"Yes," Holly admitted blushing, she cleared her throat before continuing. "I don't know, I think its the first time any of them have been out of the city. I just hope they all have a nice time."

"Oh you worry too much. They're going to have a blast." They backed into the alley way and waited for a quick message from Raph that they were ready.

Stacey hopped out of the van and opened the back door wide to block most of the view from the street. April climbed up first and threw her backpack into the back of the van. The turtles followed suit and with a quick wave to Stacey, hopped in the van. Splinter climbed up last and before he seated himself in the back of the van, he inclined his head to Stacey and Holly. "I thank you for inviting my family to join you this weekend."

"Its not a problem at all." Stacey said beaming, "They saved me, and they're my daughters friends. Its the least I can do."

Splinter hopped into the van, and everyone got themselves settled for the journey ahead of them.

The drive up state was long, but the Turtles had a blast watching the scenery change from inner city, to suburbs to countryside. Even Splinter seemed perfectly content just watching the world pass by through the heavy tint.

"Are we there yet?" Mikey started complaining after he got bored, which was much sooner than anyone expected.

"If we were there, we wouldn't still be driving." Donnie said.

"Why don't you read something to pass the time?" April offered, "Didn't you pack any of your comic books?"

"No, but Raph did." Mikey said, eyeing Raphs small bag greedily.

"No way Mikey. You're not touching my comics." Raph said and pushed his stuff further out of reach.

"Awe!" Mikey groaned.

"Why don't you guys play some car games?" Stacey said.

"Whats a car game?" Mikey asked, interest piqued.

"You know, like the alphabet game? Or the license plate game?" Stacey replied.

Holly explained the rules, and it kept Mikey happy for almost thirty minutes. But he was soon complaining again.

"I'll give you something to complain about if you don't stop." Raph threatened from behind his own comics.

"But this is boring." Mikey whined.

"Don't you have your phone?" April asked getting irritated herself.

"Oh yeah!" Mikey said and pulled out his t-phone to play games.

The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, although it was a fairly hot day and the vans measly air conditioner was not cut out for the entire vehicle. Stacey pulled off the highway and started to wind through some back roads. They saw fewer and fewer vehicles and soon they passed through the last town before they were on a lonely dirt road heading up to their rental.
April was right, the leaves were beginning to turn up north, and the forest was a patchwork of varying shades of green, red and orange. Everyone hopped out of the Van and stretched, they hadn't stopped on the way for fear that someone might see them, so everyone was restless and hot.

"Before you guys go in, let me go check for cameras." Holly said.

"I was thinking the exact same thing," Donnie said smugly, "here, take this." He tossed her a little handheld device. "This should help you find anything that's transmitting any kind of signal.

"Sweet." Holly said,

"Oh Mikey, I'm gonna call dibs on your favorite room!" April teased him and ran into the cabin after Stacey had unlocked the door.

"NO FAIR!" He shouted back and sat on the ground pouting.

Holly came back a few minutes later, with an all clear. "We should check for trail cams too before we go out into the woods." She started off into the surrounding area to make sure there was nothing to worry about, and Donnie followed her with another gadget.

Mikey was already sprinting into the place to try and find a room to claim, and Raph was right behind him.

"Sorry about them," Leo tried to say to Stacey, but she just laughed.

"Oh don't worry about it, I grew up with two brothers myself, so I am quite familiar with this behavior."
Leo and April helped Stacey bring in the bags of groceries, and as soon as Holly and Donnie were satisfied that there was nothing they could get caught by, they returned and grabbed the last couple of bags.

"This place is beautiful," Holly said, then she opened a cold bag to a dozen frozen pizzas, "Really?"
"You said it was their favorite." Stacey shrugged at her daughter, "I have plenty of other stuff too."

Once all the food was put away, everyone ran upstairs to claim any of the free beds. Raph and Mikey had chosen rooms and Leo got to the last one which left Donnie to choose who he was bunking with. Holly and April got the last room with twin beds and they closed themselves in to get changed.

Splinter came into the house after a quick meditation and seated himself at the kitchen counter.

"Tea?" Stacey asked and held up a box of his favorite.

Once April and Holly were ready, they all went outside to explore the lake front. It was just down a gentle slope to from the house and had an artificial sand beach with a volleyball net set up. As the waterfront curved around to form a bay, the owner had built up one side to create a natural looking rock wall that people could jump off into the water. April and Holly smiled at the beautiful scene. Dragon flies swooped lazily around them landing on the reeds in the shore line, and fish jumped out of the water with a splash and the ripples moved across the glassy surface.
"Its so beautiful." April said, but her admiration was immediately interrupted by Mike's loud whooping and him charging onto the beach.

"I'm gonna build the best sand castle ever!" Mikey shouted.

"You know there's still miles of trails to explore?" Holly said, but she was already kicking off her shoes and wading out into the water.

"We came all the way out here, and you want to play in the sand?" Raph said irritably.

"Would you relax," Holly said, "We're out here to have some fun."

"This is not my idea of..." Raph started, but Holly had pulled off her shirt to reveal a teal bikini top. His throat immediately dried up and he spluttered the rest of his sentence.

"Not so easy to talk when there's...ahhh" Donnie had tried to tease his brother, but April too was revealing a skimpy bathing suit. They both stood there, mouths agape, for more than a few moments.

"Go check that shed, I bet there's more stuff in there we can use." April said, and threw her towel at them to get their attention. Donnie immediately hurried off blushing, while Raph crossed his arms and looked off in any other direction. April and Holly both giggled to themselves.

Mikey raced over to the shed and started digging through the sporting supplies that were available. Donnie, April, and Leo joined in while Raph decided he was far too cool to build sand castles and went to relax in the shade of the trees.

As they rummaged, they did find a few volleyballs, some buckets and sand sculpting equipment, an inflatable with a hole in it, and a water skiing handle.
"Whats this for?" Mikey asked holding up the handle, "there's no other stuff that goes with this."

"There's a tag here, 'For Rope Swing'" Donnie read aloud.

"A rope swing?!" Mikey asked, his eyes growing wide again. "We need to find it, now!" He snatched the handle from his brother and rushed out onto the beach. "Where would a rope swing be?" He shouted Holly who was now knee deep in the water.

She blinked at him slightly, "If I had to guess? Up there." She pointed at the mad made rock wall, and Mikey sprinted as fast as he could to find it.

"Wait for me!" Holly yelled, and ran after him.
"What about the sand castle?" Leo shouted after them holding up the bucket he had found.

Donnie shrugged and they dropped the bucket and other stuff on the beach and ran after Mikey.
By the time they had caught up with him, Mikey had located the rope swing and was attaching the handle to it. He didn't even wait to hear Leo cautioning him about the depth of the water, when he yelled "COWABUNGA!" and launched himself off the rocks.

Holly, Leo, Donnie and April all watched as he splashed into the lake and came up laughing.
"Whats the temperature like?" Holly asked him.
"Perfect, come on!" He said.
They all looked at each other skeptically, for a moment. Holly shrugged first, took off her glasses and set them to the side, and grabbed the rope as it swung back towards her and followed Mikey into the water.

She resurfaced gasping, "You liar! Its freezing!" She shouted and began splashing Mikey and the two of them began roaring with laughter.

"So its cold then?" April asked backing away from the edge.

"No, its totally fine." Holly lied.

"Come on guys, its not that bad!" Mikey was already swimming back over to the rocks to climb up for another go.

"It does get better the longer you're in" Holly admitted and swam after Mikey.

The others soon followed, and eventually they were all laughing and scoring each others jumps as if they were at the Olympics.

Mikey was up top again, and he decided to strike a ninja pose as he crashed into the water.

Leo put on a terrible fake English accent "What do you say? An Eight I think."

April answered with an equally terrible accent, "Oh yes, I quite agree".

Stacey and Splinter were sat on the deck, each with a cup of tea beside them watching the kids having fun.

"Why doesn't Raphael join in?" Stacey asked splinter. He was laid back just off the beach with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed.

"He believes that he needs to be strong at all times." Splinter said. "But your daughter knows just how to push his buttons so he joins in."

As they spoke, Holly was creeping up to Raph with a bucket of water in her arms. The others were making enough noise so he wouldn't notice, then she dumped the whole thing over his torso.

He sat up and yelled at her, "What did you do that for?"

"Pay back's a bitch!" She yelled at him as she ran up the hill to the rocks. He chased her and picked her up throwing her over his shoulders. He carried her to the top of the rocks and threw her into the water. She let out a shriek as she fell. Leo, Donnie and April were all laughing, and when she resurfaced, Holly let out a laugh as she wiped the hair out of her face.

Raph smiled smugly down at them all, arms crossed triumphantly. "Now what are you gonna' do?" He said "You can't mess with me!" He struck a pose and flexed to show who was the king of the rock.

"I'm not going to do anything" Holly shouted, she began to swim out of the way as Mikey launched himself out from behind a tree to tackle Raph into the lake.

Splinter chuckled to himself, "You see?"

"She has always enjoyed getting into trouble." Stacey admitted.

"All young adults have to decide who they want to be, but its good when they have others around to remind them to not take themselves too seriously." Splinter said. Raph and Mikey resurfaced, and Raph immediately started to shove Mikey back under the water.

"Now who's king of the rock?" Mikey said and scrambled away from his big brother as fast as he could.

"It feels like they grow up so fast." Stacey sighed and watched as the group swam back to shore. "I suppose I should start fixing some food for everyone."

"Please, allow me." Splinter said, and he made his way into the kitchen.

"If you insist." Stacey said to herself, and settled back into her recliner to enjoy the last of the days sun.

Once everyone had eaten and the dishes were done, they lit the bonfire as it was the only thing Mikey would talk about.

"Jeez, we'll lite it just to shut you up." Raph said irritably, and he lit some kindling while Mikey danced around him with a giant bag of marshmallows.

"Don't stay up too late kids!" Stacey called to them as they went down to the lake side. "And no telling ghost stories, Holly doesn't like them"

"MOM!" Holly shouted absolutely mortified.

"Don't worry, we already know she's a fraidy-cat." Leo jested and elbowed Holly as they all sat down.

Holly shoved Leo back, but he just laughed and rolled over on the sand by the fire.

"Yeah, remember when we watched movies and she was all snuggled up with Raph 'cuz they were scared?" Mikey added, voice getting higher and higher with each syllable.
"MIKEY!" Raph shouted, equally mortified.

Donnie, April, and Leo burst out into further laughter while Raph shot eye daggers at his brother and Holly just held her head in her hands and smiled.

They all enjoyed roasting marshmallows and making s'mores until they couldn't eat anymore. Mikey lay on his back groaning as he had eaten far too many himself. He let out a loud belch and everyone made various exclamations of "Gross" and "Eww".

"There are ladies present." Donnie tried to say, but then April also let out a much daintier belch, and shrugged when they all looked at her.

"Being 'Lady-like' is overrated." April said with air quotes.

"Its all a social construct anyway," Holly said, but when no one except Donnie knew what she was talking about, she said, "never mind, just tell your ghost stories. I know you want to."
Mikey immediately regained his energy and launched straight into a tale. Holly let her fingers brush against Raphs and she smiled when he returned the gesture. Once Mikey was done with his story, Donnie had a go at telling a creepy story. But he was met with a series of 'boos' as he was more a details guy than an ambiance guy. Leo's story was much creepier and everyone was engrossed by it when Holly suddenly had a great idea, she casually leaned into Raph so she would whisper her plan to him.
"I'm so in." He whispered back, and they waited for Leo to finish so she could start her turn.

"One night, a father was putting his sons to bed," She started and stood up and walked to the other side of the fire to draw away attention from Raph. She continued her story, which she had read on a creepy pasta website the moment her mom had told her she was taking them to a cabin, lowing her voice so that the others had to listen harder to hear her until she got to the last line, "The father stopped at his last sons room. His boy, was sat in bed and asked, 'Daddy, will you check the closet for monsters?' The father checked in the closet, only to find his real son shivering between his clothes. The father turned around and saw..."

Just as she was about to tell them, Raph emerged from the lake covered in sea weed and sticks and was making a horrible gurgling noise. Donnie and April clung to each other and screamed. Leo and Mikey we're likewise gripping onto each others arms and were wide eyed for a moment.
Then Raph lost it and began laughing uncontrollably. "Oh, you should see your faces." He said and dropped all the weeds and stuff back into the lake.

The others were stunned for a moment, until Mikey broke the tension, "That... Was... EPIC!"

"Raph, you jerk!" April shouted, but Raph just pointed at Holly who was also doubled up.

"I nearly had a heart attack." Donnie said, less thrilled, and he disentangled himself from April.

"It was so worth it though." Holly said wiping the tears away from under her glasses.

"OK, I think that's enough scary stories for one night." April said, as Raph and Holly fist bumped and continued laughing to themselves as they sat back down on the sand.
The remainder of their evening was spent chatting around the campfire and admiring all the stars they could see as the night drew on. They all lay on the ground in a circle, heads together so that Donnie could point out some of the constellations to the group and Holly could tell them some of the ancient myths that explained them.

Soon Mikey got bored though and they decided to call it a night. They all brushed themselves off, poured a bucket of water onto the fire, then Mikey threw his arms around Leo and April as they made their way back up to the house.

The following morning, everyone woke up in a great mood. Even Raph was less cranky than usual before his coffee. Everyone sat around the island in the kitchen while April and Donnie cooked up some breakfast. When they had all eaten, Holly and Mikey agreed to do the dishes while the others hung out and relaxed.

Splinter, who had been sipping tea and watching the wildlife outside, said "I believe today would be a nice day for..."

"Some training?" Leo interrupted.

"I was going to say 'a walk', but we can train if that is what you would like." Splinter smiled over his shoulder at the group of teens who were now all groaning and complaining loudly. Mikey threw the wet wash cloth as Leonardo's face, but he caught it and set it down with a guilty grin.

"I thought you were here to relax?" Stacey asked as she poured herself a mug of coffee from the pot.

"We will, but there is always time for a little training." Splinter smiled. "I will meet you outside in fifteen minutes."

"Well, we'll just see you guys later?" Holly tried to sneak off, but Splinter caught her by the shoulder.

"You too, it will give me a chance to see how much practice you had bee doing." Splinter said.

Holly pulled a face,"C'mon then, lets get this over with." She said and dragged April off to change.

They met Splinter out by the beach area and they all knelt behind him. Stacey made her self comfortable on the deck to watch.

"Today's exercise will be a simple one." Splinter said, "All you have to do, is refill my tea cup."

"That's it, refill the cup?" Donnie asked narrowing his eyes.

"Yes. See, simple." Splinter said and revealed his cup.

"How exactly are we supposed to do that?" Holly asked.

"You're not." Splinter said with a twinkle in his eyes, "You and April will be trying to stop them."

"Excuse me?" April said shocked and she and Holly exchanged a look.

"You may all use whatever you find in the forest to aid you, but you two will have to protect me and my tea." Splinter set off without another word.

April and Holly looked at the guys, they had evil grins on their faces. "We're going to die." Holly said.

April and Holly rushed to catch up with Splinter, "How are we supposed to deal with them?" April asked, "They're much more experienced than us."

"True, but we shall all work together." Splinter assured them, "What are your strengths, and what are their weaknesses?"

The girls through about it for a moment. "Well, Raph is going to try to force his way through with as much subtlety as a rhino." Holly said.

"Leo will for sure try to 'meld into the shadows'" April added with air quotes for mocking emphasis.

"Mikey could be distracted with a rock, most likely." Holly said. Splinter gave her a frown so she shrugged and continued, "listen, I love the guy, but he has the attention span of a goldfish."

"You have told me a lot about the turtles, but what are your strengths?" Splinter reminded them.

Holly and April exchanged another worried look.

Leo held his brothers back for a few minutes to let Splinter and the ladies get ahead of them before launching into planning mode. "OK guys, lets get this done quickly."
"Whats the rush?" Mikey asked, playing in the sand already, "This will be a cake walk."

"Yeah," Donnie agreed, "I don't want to show off in front of April," and then quietly to himself, "too much."

Raph kept his thought to himself for once, he had been sparring with Holly for months now and she was getting much better than the others realized.

"Donnie and Mikey, you guys take the flank and create a distraction. Raph, you act like you're going in for the cup to get them all off their guard and I'll sneak in when the moment is right to close the deal." Leo jabbed himself with his thumb, triumphantly.

"They're going to see that coming from a mile away." Donnie said deadpanned.

"No they wont!" Leo's voice broke as he defended his plan. He cleared his throat before he spoke again, "What do you suggest then?"

April and Holly scoured the edges of the trail for anything they could use as weapons. April came up with a nice long stick that felt fairly sturdy, while Holly found one that was shorter that she could use like one of the training swords.

"Alright, what else do we got?" April asked.

"We can use the forest its self too," Holly said, "Keep an eye on the birds, if they suddenly lift off we know where one of the guys is."

Splinter smiled to himself. He had been paying attention to how much practice the girls had been doing.

Leonardo led the turtles into the forest after splinter and the girls. They were no longer visible on the path ahead, but it did wind through the woods so it was not a complete surprise. Mikey and Raph split up and headed off to the flanks. They had convinced Leo that he should be the distraction and Donnie should carry the flask. That way it was less predictable than Leo's original plan and hopefully they could get this over with and get back to relaxing.

Mikey and Raph kept each other in their sight as the moved up the path, and soon they spotted Splinter, but he was alone. He walked at a leisurely pace with his cane tapping gently on the gravel as he went. Raph frowned and signaled to Mikey. 'Where are the girls?'

Mikey just shrugged and moved closer to their master.

April heard a snap of a twig and ducked down into the roots of a nearby tree. She looked around her and spotted Mikey swinging from one of the tree limbs a few yards away. She picked up a rock that was by her feet and threw it deeper into the trees. Mikey stopped and looked in that direction, long enough for her to slip away and jump from tree root to tree root to get further ahead of him.

Holly had reappeared on the path, a little further up that Splinter was now, she held a stick in her hands and was brushing some dirt off her hands. She waited patiently for Splinter to catch up with her and then she let him pass her, watching the path behind them.

Leo and Donnie caught up to their brothers, keeping to the tree line for cover.

"Where are they?" Leo signaled to the others.
Raph responded that Holly was on the path, but April was a no show. Leo and Donnie moved in closer to Splinter for a run at the tea cup.

Holly was following Splinter, she was paying attention to any sounds that were not the sounds of her and splinters feet on the path. She had heard April a moment ago, she had seen her friend using the tree roots to avoid walking on the crunchy leaves, probably avoiding one of the turtles.

A rustle of leaves to her left drew her attention, but what caused it did not show its self. No need to panic until they saw one of the guys. There was a snap of a branch and a flash of orange off the the right. Then a rustle of leaves off to the left.

Mikey threw himself off of one of the branches when Holly turned to look for Raph, he dashed out of the trees to try to catch Holly, but April was crouched behind another tree and tripped him up with her stick. "Waah, oof" He said as he collided with the forest floor.

"Gotcha," April whispered to him before rushing out to help Holly.

Leonardo decided it was his time to make his showy entrance. He leapt from tree branch to tree branch and launched himself into the air at Holly. "Yaaah!" He cried as she spun to face him.

Holly side stepped him as he landed, but used her stick to block his way. "Oh, so you're the distraction this time?" She said and let April swing at Leo from the side.

He hopped backwards out of their reach and swung again with his own stick. "Are you sure about that?"

Holly and April took turns at swinging at Leo. April using all the tricks she had learned from Donnie and his bo staff, keeping her stick moving around her body to keep the momentum going. Striking high and low to keep Leo moving.
Holly was doing her best to pay attention to Leo and Mikey, while trying to figure out where Raph and Donnie were, and she caught a swift rap on the back of her hand when she wasn't paying 100% attention.

"Ah ah ah," Leo taunted, "you should be paying attention to me."
She glared at him, but didn't let his words get to her.

Mikey was on his feet again and moving towards splinter.

April saw him coming, "Oh no you don't." She stepped between him and Splinter and swung her makeshift bo staff at him. Raph decided this was his time to get involved and lunged at April from his hiding spot, but April casually ducked down low and threw her hip into his leg and toppled him into his brother. He and Mikey let out a yell before they collided, and wound up in a pile of leaves. April chuckled to herself. "C'mon guys, you have to be better than that."

Leo swung his 'sword' down at Holly, who blocked it with an He kept the pressure applied so she couldn't retaliate. He thought she was out of ideas when the corner of her mouth turned up. She let go of her stick with one hand and grabbed his, giving it a hearty tug towards herself, pulling him forward. At the same time she jumped at him and drove a knee into his plastron. It drove the wind out of him and he flew back onto his shell into the gravel. She stood over him, sticks slung over her shoulders.

"No hard feelings?" She said and winked at him. He just sat there stunned for a moment.

She rushed over to help April with Raph and Mikey, now dual-wielding the sticks.

Holly rushed at Raph, but he blocked her attack. Mikey then vaulted over his brother to assist in the attack.

Donatello was holding back watching the sparring. He was so thrilled to see April using all the skills he had shown her. He was shocked to see Holly get the better of Leo, he hadn't thought she was that competitive, but apparently he was wrong. As he was lost in thought, Leo hissed his name.

"Get over there!" Leo said. He was on his feet again and was going to try to keep the girls busy so that Donnie could refill Splinters cup and they could win the game.

"Right." He said and dashed out to get involved.

Holly was now fighting off Raph and Leo, and they pretty much had her pinned back from helping at all. She was blocking attacks from all sides, although she did have to back step with every kick or punch. She watched as Donnie ran out from his hiding spot and called out, "April!"

April spun to see Donnie coming and had to think fast. She looked around for anything that she could use, but there was nothing that spoke to her. She though about what weakness she could exploit, and came up with a plan.
She threw her stick at Mikey, who caught it but was taken aback by the sudden change in tactics, spun around and shouted, "Hey, Donnie!" She grabbed the bottom of her shirt and yanked it up.

Donnie looked over to April and his brain immediately shut down. His legs tried to stop moving, but his momentum carried him forwards. He fell hard and slammed into the ground. The Thermos went flying spraying its contents all over the ground, and he lay twitching on the floor at splinters feet.

Holly's face went from gritty resolution to wide eyed with shock. "Did you just..?" She then burst out laughing and dropped to her knees as she couldn't take the hilarity.

"WOAH, DUDE!" Mikey yelled and joined Holly rolling on the floor with hysterics.

"What?" Leo asked and he and Raph swung around to see what had happened. "Donnie!" He yelled irritably, but then saw April adjusting her clothes back into their proper place. "Oh, that's just cheating."

Splinter chuckled to himself, "They exploited your weakness, an therefore they win."

Raph had a wide smile on his face, but went over to Donnie to make sure he was OK. "I think you broke him." he said and placed a hand on his brothers shell. Donnie was laying face down in the dirt, slightly dazed.

"While that was not what I had in mind, you certainly used your, ah-hem, assets to your advantage." Splinter said warmly. April was pink in the cheeks, but smiling all the same.

She went to Donatello, and along with Raph helped him to his feet. "I'm sorry Donnie, that was a cheap shot."

"I can die happy" Donnie mumbled and let himself be steered out of the woods back to the house.
Leo went over to Holly and offered her his arm, "That was pretty slick, where'd you learn that?"

Holly let herself be hauled upright, she wiped a tear out from under her glasses. "Thanks! I don't really know, it just seemed like it would catch you off guard."
"It did. Nice one." Leo said and beamed, "It won't work again though."
"Not on you." She said and they both went to help Mikey off the ground.

Back at the house, Stacey was worried about Donatello who was still not walking under his own power. "What on earth happened to him?" She said and hurried to settle him one one of the couches, "I though you guys were just practicing?" She eyed the teens suspiciously as they all began to giggle and snicker in unison.
Aprils cheeks went pink again, "We were." She started, but couldn't quite bring herself to admit what she had done.

"Its fine mom, he just got a bit of a shock." Holly said, and she immediately broke out into another fit of giggles.

Stacey scowled at her daughter, then shot Splinter a look that said, 'and you're OK with this?'

"I promise all is well." Splinter said, "but perhaps a strong cup of tea will help." He busied himself in the kitchen.

Donnie did come back to them after a strong smelling cup was placed by his face. He couldn't quite look anyone in the eye for a while though, so he dug out some of his projects and set up a little workspace on the deck. Mikey and April finally got around to building a sand castle while Leo decided to actually kick back and enjoy the sun.

Holly decided she wanted to actually go and explore some of the woods. So, naturally Raph went with her. Splinter was meditating peacefully while Stacey was doing some sketches in her drawing pad. She decided she wanted to put her skills as a designer to use and see if she could come up with some clothes for the Turtles to wear that would allow them go out in public.

"What exactly are we doing out here?" Raph asked after about twenty minutes of walking. He swatted at a fly that buzzed around his head.

"Walking," Holly scoffed, "and looking at stuff."

"Like what?" Raph asked.

"Anything you like." Holly said, she watched a butterfly land gently on a flower, "See?"

"Its a bug." Raph said unimpressed.

"Yes, but its a beautiful bug that is part of a wider ecosystem." Holly said, the butterfly lifted off the flower and floated away.

"I guess." Raph shrugged.

Holly rolled her eyes at him, "Every animal and plant has a part to play, sometimes its just nice to remember that."

They continued walking, deeper along the trail. "I wonder how far this goes?" Holly mused aloud.
"Check your GPS?" Raph said and pulled out his new phone.

"No! That's cheating" Holly said and gave him a shove, but Raph held his phone at arms length and pulled up his map.

"Looks like it goes pretty far." He said, "But there's a path that leads back to the lake up there."

Holly pulled a face at him, but they took the path to the right that wound them closer to the lake.
The woods opened up to the lake front. Whoever owned the property had cleared a little grassy bank that looked out over the lake. Around the bank to the right, they could see little figures on the shore, splashing into the water and back out to the sand. The cabin they were staying at was nestled in a clearing just behind the figures.

"Whoever did the landscaping here wasn't paid enough," Holly commented. She sat down on the grass and watched the wildlife in the lake.
"So now what?" Raph asked and crouched beside her.

"You are so impatient." She said, and bumped her shoulder into his, he tipped over and chuckled. "Just watch, and listen."

He sat, not expecting much, but soon he noticed all the sounds of wildlife around him. Crickets chirped, birds sang, fish splashed in the lake. There was a family of ducks that swam along the top of the water. "It's alright, I guess." He admitted, "But I prefer the city sounds better."

Holly laughed, "The city is much livelier, that's for sure."

Raph leaned back and brought his arms up behind his head. "Its nice to be out in the sun for a change though."

Holly laid back next to him and closed her eyes. "It really is." She let her hand drift over to his plastron and ran her fingers over it.

They spent a couple of hours just laying in the clearing letting the cool breeze rustle the grass around them. They spoke softly to each other watching the clouds roll in above them and listening to the wildlife carrying on around them. They only sat up when a distant rumble indicated rain was on its way.

"C'mon, we'd better head back." Holly said and stood up. She offered Raph a hand. He took it, and gave her a sharp pull as though he were going to pull her back to the ground.

She raised her eyebrows at him, which made him chuckle before he let her pull him upright.
They started back to the house and were about half way back when the rain started. The heavens simply opened above them and fat drops of water pelted them as they hurried back. Holly's feet slipped as the trails became muddy ruts, so Raph grabbed her hand to help her along. They got to a particularly slick bit and Holly's legs went out from beneath her. She lay sprawled in the mud, and let out a bark of laughter. When she tried to stand again, she grabbed onto Raphs arm and this time she caused him to go down with her.

"We're getting nowhere fast." Holly said and wiped a stringy strand of hair out of her face. She was beaming despite being soaked through and covered in mud.

"If we walk off the trail, we can avoid some of the mud." Raph said.

"If you walk off the trail," Holly said and jumped onto his shell for piggyback, "then I can catch a ride."

"Oh, is that how this is going to work." Raph said, but he looped his arms around her legs and set off for the house.

"Onward!" Holly shouted and pointed down the trail.

The others had already headed inside when the rain started. Mikey had put a movie on the television and Stacey had started popping some popcorn for them all to eat.

"Is anyone else worried about Raph and Holly?" Leo asked when they did not return soon after the rain started.

"Not particularly," Stacey said. "Its just some rain, and Holly knows better that to go too far off into the woods."

"Where did they go anyway?" April asked the room.

"Oh, you know. I'm sure they just wanted some privacy." Stacey said.

"What for? We all know they make out already." Mikey said and threw a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Mikey!" Donnie, and April scolded him in unison.

"Please," Stacey scoffed, "I've seen they way they look at each other, and I remember being a teenager. All those hormones." She shook her head to herself remembering how tough it was to be a young adult. "It wasn't that long ago, you know."

"Yeah, but we're not exactly... Like... Other teenager." Leo said waving an arm at his brothers. He pulled a face when he looked at Mikey who was shoveling popcorn into his mouth.

"No, but you're all kind, and funny." Stacey said looking at Leonardo. "You're caring and selfless," she turned to Donatello, "and you have been wonderful friends to my daughter." She looked at Michelangelo, and let out a snort of laughter, "What else matters?"

April put a hand on Donnie's arm to show her concurrence.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Splinter added and he felt pride filling his heart.

They were all interrupted by the sound of Holly laughing and shrieking coming from outside. Leo and Mikey jumped up to peer out of the windows to see what was going on. Stacey walked more calmly over to see what was going on.

Holly and Raph emerged from the woods, soaked through, but laughing like lunatics as they slipped on the muddy trails. Holly was on Raphs back, and they all watched as Raph slid slightly and Holly toppled off him onto the ground. Raph held out a hand to help her up, and the two made their way up to the house slowly.

Holly opened the door, panting but before she even set a foot in the house Stacey blocked the doorway, "Oh no you don't, no mud in the house." She looked them up and down. "You're filthy."

"The rain came on quicker than I thought it would" Holly said, and pulled of her glasses which had fogged up anyway. "If you throw us some towels we can get cleaned up out here." Holly kicked off her shoes and stood barefoot in the rain. She pulled her shirt off and wrung it out. Raph blanched, and tried to cover up his shock with a cough."There's a hose over there, can you turn it on for me?" Holly asked Raph who had his eyes fixed firmly on the ground.
He cleared his throat again and mumbled, "Sure" before marching away as fast as he could. He turned on the water, and used it to wash away the mud that was caked on to himself. Before he turned around through Holly was there and took the hose from him.
"Hold still, I can help." She ran the hose over his shell and used her hand to wipe away the worst of the dirt. He felt his heart rate increase and a weird fluttering in his stomach caused his breath in his throat. "Turn around." She said with a chuckle, and he did as she asked. She stood in front of him in her underwear, which he tried very hard not to notice was pink. She rubbed down his arms, and over his plastron before holding the hose out to him. "Could you hold this please?" He moved automatically, and held the hose stiffly for her. She flipped her hair over and let the water wash over it pulling out dirt and leaves. She stood straight up again and scrubbed her face, then let the water run down her arms and legs. She turned around and looked at him over her shoulder. "Am I Good?"

There was still a smear of grime on her shoulder blade, so Raph aimed the hose at it hoping that would dislodge the dirt. To his dismay, it did not, so he reached up and gently brushed her goose pimpled skin with his fingers. He let his hand brush down her back, over her ribs. Unable to resist this intimate situation.

"How are you ribs healing?" He asked thickly.

"They're OK." She looked over her shoulder at him, "They only hurt if I bump into stuff wrong."

"I'm glad you're healing." He added. She placed her hand over his, and pressed his palm onto her side.

"Yeah, it could have been much worse." She turned around to face him, letting his finger wrap around her waist. "I think I'm just going to stick as close to you as possible in the future."

He swallowed, and she smiled at him. She shivered as she remembered that she was standing in her undies under a stream of cold water.

"We should go inside before you freeze to death." Raph said, but he didn't move.

Holly stepped closer and reached past him for the faucet. She kissed his jaw as she turned off the water, and she felt his arm hold onto her waist a little tighter. She pulled back and just smiled at him as she stepped out of his embrace, and chuckled as she hurried over to the door.

There were a couple of fluffy towels hung up on the coat rack. Holly patted her legs and feet dry before wrapping herself up against the chill. Raph shook off most of the water that clung to him, causing Holly to shriek and laugh, before throwing the second towel at him.

"Use this." She scolded him as fresh droplets of water rolled down her shoulders. She smiled flirtatiously at him before dashing off to take a shower. Raph went to his own room to replace his soaked bindings.

Holly reemerged dressed in sweat pants and a hoodie toweling her hair dry. She sat herself down on the couch to six sets of questioning eyes. "What?" She said and grabbed a handful of popcorn.

"Where have you two been this whole time?" Mikey asked waggling his nonexistent eyebrows at her.

"Not that its any of your business," she said and threw a pillow at him, "But we were just out enjoying nature."

"The 'birds and the bees' kind of nature?" Stacey asked her daughter, drawing a mixture of confused and shocked looks from everyone in the room.

"OK, first off...Eww." Holly said and pulled a disgusted face at her mother, "and secondly, even if that were the case, I would never announce it to the room."
Stacey shrugged, "Just asking." and she turned back to check on the food she was cooking.

"So what were you doing?" April asked, eager for as many details as possible.

"I told you, we sat by the lake and watched the fish and ducks." Holly said honestly. "We started heading back as soon as we heard the thunder."

"Yeah, OK." April said skeptically.

Holly just shook her head, she knew they wouldn't believe her anyway. "What are we watching?"

"I hooked up one of my new phones to the TV, so we can watch anything!" Donnie announced happily. "We've got every streaming service, and I can switch us between countries so we can get international shows."

"Oh cool! You integrated a VPN?" Holly asked.
"Yeah," Donnie said a little deflated, he had hoped for a little more praise than just 'cool'. He navigated through some available shows on his phone and selected a comedy.

The movie started and they all settled in for the evening. The rain had eased off, but was still coming down steadily. Eventually Raph came down to join everyone and he almost left again when Leo and Mikey started questioning him about where he and Holly had been all afternoon. Donnie didn't get involved, but April did join in the teasing much to his embarrassment. Holly stopped him though and pulled him back to the couch. Stacey had made an amazing Asian inspired meatballs and rice with roasted beans for them all to enjoy. They dished up and sat chatting and eating while the movie play in the background.
When the feature had ended, they all helped tidy up before starting another movie. Stacey dug out some blankets and extra pillows so everyone could choose a spot to get comfortable in. Mikey was on his plastron on the floor with a pile of pillows propping him up. Big Bowl of popcorn still in front of him. Everyone else had spread out around the room, taking up any comfy spot they could.

The storm persisted through the rest of the evening and eventually Splinter and Stacey departed for the peace of their own rooms. They left the teens to watch whatever they liked, which they did with gusto. Since Mikey picked the first movie, and Donnie picked the second. They all argued over who got to choose next. Eventually, they resorted to the oldest method for making decisions between friends. Rock , Paper, Scissors. Unfortunately for everyone, Leonardo won and chose to put on one of the many Space Hero movies that were made

"Can we at least watch the one with the rock monster that destroys the Space Hero ship?" Mikey asked.

"Sure!" Leo said happily.

"Can we not watch any of them?" Raph asked sarcastically.

"He won fair and square, so suck it up." Holly scolded him, and poked him in the side of his leg.

Once the movie was underway however, everyone else had pulled out their phones, or dug out a laptop to do something else. Mikey had rolled onto his shell and was playing games on his phone.

Holly frowned at the screen as she tried to watch the movie Leo had chosen. The acting was terrible and the plot made no sense, but she tried to enjoy it.

"I warned you," Raph hissed in her ear. She shoved him and stuck out her tongue at him, and he just smiled and went back to watching something on his phone.

Donnie and April were huddled together whispering to each other. Donnie had a soft smile on his face, the same one he always had whenever he and April got to be together.

"I am sorry about earlier." April said softly and bit her lip to try and stop herself from laughing.

Donnie's smile dropped slightly, he fidgeted as he admitted, "I mean... I'm not."

"That's not quite what I mean," April said and blushed again, "I am just sorry that it was more public than I had hoped."
Donnie frowned and cocked his head to the side slightly, confused.

She leaned in a little closer to make sure no one else could hear her, "I would have preferred that I could show you... those parts of myself, somewhere more private."

"Oh." Donnie said and his eyes went wide.

"Unless, you don't want to..." April started.

"NO!" Donnie yelled to cut her off. He looked around at his brothers who, along with Holly, were giving him a range of questioning looks. "Sorry" He muttered to them all, while April was trying to suppress her laughter once again.

"I get it," She assured him, and wound her arm through his.

As Leonardo's movie finally ended, everyone was feeling restless. It wasn't particularly late and no one wanted to sleep yet, but they didn't want to be too loud and disturb Splinter or Stacey.

"What are we going to do?" Mikey asked.

"We could play a game?" April said, "Or we could have a silent disco?"

"A What?" Raph asked, irritable confusion on his face.

"A silent disco?" April replied, "Everyone listens to their own music through headphones and dances around!"

"Um, I don't think so." Leo said, "Chances are Mikey will forget the 'silent' part."

"Why don't we just find stupid stuff to watch online?" Mikey asked.

"Works for me." April said and settled back into Donatello.

"Oh! Whoever can find the funniest video wins!" Mikey added.

"Wins what?" Raph asked again.

"Umm, no chores for a week?" Mikey offered.

"That's not exactly fair for April" Holly piped up, "its not like you can go to hers and clean her room."

"Oh, but we could come to you?" Leo asked.

"Well, yeah." Holly said smugly, "My mom knows you guys now, and we have a Jacuzzi tub that needs scrubbing." She added with a nasty smile.

"Gross." Raph said and jabbed Holly playfully in the ribs. She spasmmed and let out a squeak, before grabbing a nearby pillow and pummeling him with it.

"How about, if I win, I get to sleep in one of your beds anytime I stay with you for a month?" April said.

"So you mean, Donnie has to sleep on the couch for a month? Deal!" Raph said.

"Oh, no. I get to choose who's on the couch." April said. "Maybe I'll make you sleep on the couch for a month?"

"Works for me," Raph muttered to himself with a quick glance at Holly.

"You won't want Mikeys room though, it smells weird and I'm pretty sure he has year old pizza somewhere in there." Leo commented.

"I like the way my room smells, its my safe space." Mikey said.

Both April and Holly wrinkled their noses at the idea of Mikeys room.

"What all do you have in your room?" Holly asked Leo curiously. "You've seen my room, but I have no idea what you hide away in there."

"I don't 'hide' anything." Leo said defensively.

"Oh no?" Mikey said, smiling at their big brother.

"No!" Leo squeaked.

"So, then you must have told them about Mr. Cuddles?" Mikey continued.

"Mr. Cuddles?" April asked eyebrows raised.

"Its his bear." Donnie said.

"Awe!" April squealed, "I want to see him!"

"It's just an old toy, but he's not hidden away." Leo admitted.

"It's not that strange." Holly spoke up, "I still have one of my old teddies too.

"Yeah, but you're a girl." Raph said.

Holly pulled a face, "So what? Boys are allowed to be sentimental too."

"I'm not sentimental!" Leo protested.

"Someone doth protest too much." Donnie muttered under his breath.

"I'm not saying you are. But women," Holly emphasized with a glare at Raph, "are not the only beings that can have feelings. I mean, you have spike, and I know you love him."

"That's different?" Raph said.

"I disagree." Holly said with a smile and an eyebrow raise.

"Spike is alive. A bear is not." Raph argued.

"While that is true, some people find that their stuffed animals bring them as much comfort as a pet." Holly said with a shrug.

"Can we stop talking about a bear that I do not give a crap about!" Leo almost shouted at them all.

"Oh my gosh, Leo swore!" Mikey said and pointed at Leo.

"Anyway!" Donnie said loudly before Holly could get back on her soap box, "How about we just start looking for something to laugh at."

They spent the next couple of hours watching whatever popped up that looked funny online. At first, Leo and Raph were actively trying not to have a good time. Leo was mad that Holly suggested he was sentimental about a bear while Raph was offended that she dare compare Spike to Mr. Cuddles. But they eventually found themselves cracking a smile, then letting out an audible chuckle, and before too long they were belly laughing along with everyone else. They did find a video of other people who had very unique laughs, and Mikey and Holly were crying by the time that one ended.

"I don't think I can take much more!" Mikey said through his tears. "My sides hurt."

"It is getting late." Leo said. "And we only have one more day left here before we go home."

"All the more reason to stay up." Raph said. "Once we're home, it'll be back to patrol all night."

"You're saying you don't like patrol?" Leo asked skeptically, "You get to beat people up, its your favorite."

"It is, but it has been nice getting to actually relax for a change." Raph said.

"You know that someone has been up to something with all the destruction that happened." Donnie said. "Just because we haven't found it yet, doesn't mean it hasn't been happening."
"We haven't seen any movement from the Foot Clan, but you know the Purple Dragons are going to be taking full advantage if the chaos." Leo scratched his chin in through.

"Fong is an opportunistic bastard." Holly admitted. She still remembered the beating she had taken from that dirt bag.

"Let's worry about that later. This weekend is supposed to be our break from all the crazy that has happened." April said.

"Agreed," Donnie said. "One more carefree day, then we can get back to finding your dad, and dealing with everything else." April smiled at him.

"So who won the bet?" Mikey asked. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged. They hadn't been paying attention to who chose what video.
"I guess its a tie?" April offered.

"Yeah, it doesn't really matter." Leo agreed.

"Then I say that I won." Mikey claimed.

"No way!" Raph yelled, "No one wins, we weren't keeping track."

"I was," Mikey said, "and you all laughed hardest at my video... So, I win."
"Not a chance," Leo agreed, "I'm pretty sure the one with the granny falling over was the funniest, and that one was mine."
"Absolutely not." Holly joined in, just for the fun of it.

They bickered about the bet even as they were climbing the stairs for bed. The storm had lost all its force and the rain was tapping gently against the glass windows. April held Donnie back to let the others go up ahead of them.
"Wait." She whispered to him. They watched the others go ahead. Raph and Holly exiting to the left and right into their respective rooms, while Leo and Mikey carried on further along to their rooms.
"What is it?" Donnie asked concerned.

"Can we just stay here for a little while?" She asked and sat back down on the couch. "I just need some peace for a moment."
"Of course." Donnie replied gently, "What ever you want."

They sat back down, Donnie a little nervous at first, but once April leaned into his shoulder, he relaxed.

"I miss my dad, and talking about it earlier reminded me that we're no closer to finding him." April confessed to him after a few moments of silence.

"That's not true." Donnie said, "We know the Krang have him, and most likely he's at the TCRI tower somewhere or at the base."

"Your that sure?" April sat up and looked at him with her eyes wide with worry.

"Yeah! Although since he wasn't on the Techodrome, I think they kept him and all the others at the Tower." He tried to sound positive, but TCRI was a huge tower and searching every floor would be difficult.

"We have to find him, and everyone else."April said and leaned into his shoulder again.

They sat for a while in the silence, watching the rain drops roll down the outside of the windows. Every now and then a flash of lightning would illuminate the lake below them, followed by a gently rumble of thunder. They didn't know how long they sat there, but eventually April's head dipped sleepily.

"Hey," Donnie said gently, "Come on, let get some rest."

They held hands as they climbed the stairs, only letting go once they were at their respective doors. When Donnie opened his however, he found that Raph and Holly had pushed the two beds together and had fallen asleep watching a show on Holly's laptop across both bunks.

"Whats the matter?" April asked him. Donnie stepped aside and April poked her head in through the door. "Awe, that's cute." She snapped a quick picture to lord over Holly later.
"I guess I'm on the couch tonight then." Donnie said shutting the door.

"Don't be silly, you can have Holly's bed." April said.

"I don't think that's..." Donnie tried to protest, but April grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into her room.
"There is no point letting a perfectly good bed go to waste." April said. She closed the door behind him and headed over to her own bed.

Donnie stood awkwardly in the doorway and looked around the girls room. It was almost identical to the one he and Raph had been in, except there was a lot more stuff lying around. The bathing suits they had been wearing were hanging up on the bed posts, there was sweaters and shorts all over the floor, and there was make up and nail polish bottles on the bed side tables.

"I'll go change in the bathroom." April said with a chuckle, seeing at how uncomfortable Donnie was.

She padded past him to the adjoining bathroom and closed the door. He made his was tentatively over to Holly's bed and sat gingerly on the edge of it. April came back out from the bathroom and looked at him with her hands on her hips. "Would you prefer to sleep in my bed?"
"I would prefer to sleep on the couch," he said, but he did take off his arm and knee pads and setting them neatly on the ground. The last thing he took off was his bandanna. He folded it neatly before placing it on top of his other stuff.
"You know, I think this is the first time I have ever seen you take all that stuff off." April said from her bunk.

"I usually forget if I am working on something." He admitted. "I often just fall asleep at my desk."

He pulled back the covers and laid down on the bed. He turned to switch off the light and caught April watching him. "What?"

"Nothing." She said and her smile grew bigger. He narrowed his eyes at her, and shut off the light. "Good night." April said from across the dark room.

"Night." He replied, and lay back to try and sleep. It took him a while to relax enough for sleep to claim him, even when he was sharing the room with Raph he found it difficult to let go of the day. He very rarely planned when he was going to sleep like most everyone else. But eventually, he did slip out of the conscious world and he slept more soundly than he expected.

Splinter awoke at first light, he was so unused to the sunrise that he was finding it hard to sleep through the bright morning sun that crept into his room. Not that he really minded, it was not often he got to enjoy the sunrise anymore, so he made his way down to the kitchen to make tea and watch the day begin. As usual, he peeked in on his sons to see how they were. He would never tell them that he still did this, but it was a habit he had formed when they were younger that he couldn't quite let go of yet. Leonardo was sleeping peacefully in one of the bunks in his room, and Michelangelo was sprawled across the entire queen sized bed in his room snoring gently as he had been the previous night. When he opened the door to Raphael and Donatello's room however, he was only slightly surprised to find Holly in there. Holly was curled up on her side facing Raphael, she was still wearing the clothes she had changed into last night, they must have fallen asleep watching a show together. Raph had one arm under his head, while his other hand was intertwined with one of Holly's. The computer was between them, so Splinter crept into the room and carefully closed the lid and placed it on the floor. He then extracted himself from the room and gently closed the door.

He stroked his chin slightly before gently pressing open the door that led to, what should have been, April and Holly's room. Sure enough, there was Donatello in the wrong room. Splinter Chuckled to himself before closing the door again. He continued downstairs to make a pot of tea, then found a nice spot on the deck to watch the wildlife.

The others soon started to drift down from their rooms. Leonardo was usually the first of the turtles to awaken, and being in the country did not change this. He usually liked to sit and meditate with his father before his brothers woke up and ruined the peace.

Stacey came down for a mug of coffee and just before she was about to head back to her room to change, Raph and Holly came down the stairs together. Stacey gave her daughter a knowing look over the top pf her mug.

"Don't start." Holly said before Stacey could get a word in.

"I didn't say a thing." Stacey said, she looked at Raph, who was avoiding eye contact at all costs. He poured a mug of coffee with such intensity that even Holly had to laugh.

"You're not subtle, you know that." Leo said to his brother as he joined the others back inside.

"I'll make your face not subtle." Raph snapped, and stomped off before anyone else could take another jab at him.

"Oh dear," Stacey said with a head shake. "Is that common?" She asked Leo as he sat at the breakfast bar.

"That was pretty standard, yeah."

"Has a hard time dealing with his emotions." Stacey commented.

"He thinks you'll all see him as weak if he has any emotions." Holly said over her own cup of coffee.

"That's just stupid." Leo said.

"I didn't say it made sense." Holly shrugged.

"Poor lamb." Stacey said, "Hopefully he grows out of his inferiority complex."

"Who's inferior?" Leo asked looking between Stacey and Holly.

"Mom, don't." Holly said with a rather serious look on her face.

"Alright!" Stacey said, and dropped the subject. "I have some work to do today anyway. I got an email last night from the team in Paris. Hopefully it can all be resolved online, but I may need to fly out in a couple of days if it can't."

"Great," Holly said and her usual expressive face went somber.

"I know, I'm sorry." Stacey said, "There are just some things that I have to do in person."

Holly just inclined her head in acknowledgment, and Stacey walker over to give her daughter a hug.

"I can't take you with me, you have to go to school. But, if they're OK with it, you can stay with April, or the guys, rather than be alone at home." Stacey suggested.

"Yeah, Splinter wont care, and I'm sure Raph will be thrilled." Leo said and elbowed her gently.

Holly let out a little snort of amusement, "He doesn't do 'thrilled'".

"Yeah he does, he just likes to pretend he doesn't care." Leo said.

"I know I have let my career get in the way of things in the past, but you are a very capable young woman now and I'm sort of surprised you even still need me." Stacey said and Holly's head snapped around.

"You're my mom. I'll always need you."

"I know, and I am never that far away. Not really." Stacey said and she squeezed her daughter again. This time Holly hugged her mom back.

"OK, I have to go deal with this before it gets too late in Europe." She grabbed her mug and went upstairs to grab her computer.

Holly sighed unhappily.

"You know, we like having you around the lair." Leo said softly from Holly's right. " You're funny, and bright, and make Raph much more bearable."

Holly let out a choked bark of laughter, but turned to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and shoulders. "Thanks." She almost whispered. When she let go, she turned her head and wiped away a tear that she was trying to hide. "Anyway, whats up with Space Hero? I don't get it."

Leo and Holly sat in the kitchen talking over the movie they had watched. Leo was delighted to try to explain the intricacies of the series to her and she agreed that she would watch some of the original series with him so she could understand it better.

When Mikey emerged from his room, Holly started making breakfast for everyone. She started by slicing up some fruit, but Mikey kept eating it before she was ready. She slapped his hand away when he reached for more.

"Will you quit it? You can help me if you can't keep your hands to yourself." Holly said and pushed the cutting board over to him.

"Awe, I helped yesterday." He wined.

"I'll do it." Leo offered happily and he took the chopping board.

Holly began making some pancakes and soon had a stack on the counter that Mikey was trying to steal off of.
"You could go and find Raph, he disappeared a while ago and I have no idea where he went." Holly said, waving a spatula at the stairs.

"Fine, But I get the first pancake!" Mikey shouted as he bounded off to find his brother.

"Are we going to wake up April and Donnie?" Leo asked as he cored and sliced some strawberries.

"Um, only if you are prepared to see something you might not want to?" Holly said with a cheeky grin.

"Good point." Leo acknowledged, and he continued chopping up fruit.

"I'll go see what they're up to." Holly said and grinned nastily.

April had woken up earlier in the morning to find Donnie sleeping peacefully. She could hear the others talking downstairs, but was not quite ready to face everyone. She debated getting up and putzing around the room, but really wanted to stay in bed. She decided to take a leaf out of Holly's book, and snuck over to Donnie's bed. She gently lifted the covers and slid in next to Donatello.

"What are you doing?" He asked dreamily as he shifted over slightly to make more room for her.

"I wanted to cuddle." April said and nuzzled up to him.

"I'm not gonna complain then." He replied and wrapped her up in his arms as she giggled.

They lay together and listened to the others talking and laughing downstairs. Raph yelled at someone and they heard him come stomping back up stairs.

"Bets on who he yelled at?" April asked Donnie.

"Oh, Leonardo... Mikey is a late sleeper." He replied, and again April giggled. He smiled to himself and pulled her closer letting the smell of her hair fill his nose. "I love you."

April's stomach did a flip inside her, "What did you say?"

Donatello started and tried to detangle himself from her, "I didn't... I mean, I did, but I shouldn't.."

"Just, hold on." April said and grabbed his arms as he tried to pull away from her. "Would you give me a second?"

"You don't have to say anything, It just sort of slipped out." He chuckled nervously, desperate to get out of this awkward situation.

"Alright." April said, she took a breath to think. Donnie was looking at her with his big brown eyes, clearly having an internal freak out. "I am not exactly experienced with romance, and I don't think I have ever been in love before, but I know that I like you a lot too" She took another breath, but Donnie didn't look reassured. "You just caught me off guard, is all." April said finally.

"I'm sorry," he said, and again tried to leave, but April sat up next to him and put a had on his arm.
"You never have to apologize to me for how you feel."April said. She placed a hand gently on his cheek to get him to look at her, "I'm not saying I don't, I just haven't figured it out yet." He nodded, and she leaned in and kissed him gently. April felt her stomach tighten and she kissed him again, this time a little firmer. She pulled away from him slightly flushed, and smiled a little timidly. This time he leaned in and kissed her, but not his usual timid kiss. This one had some heat to it. She sucked in a breath through her nose as her navel tightened again, and a shiver trembled through her as he ran his fingers just under the hem of her shirt.

Donnie pulled April back down to the bed and ran a hand down the side of her waist, over her hip. She ran her hands down his arms and back up his shell.

Donatello let out a little moan against her mouth, which April was surprised to find made her heart rate quicken.

Their hands were exploring more urgently now. April guided his calloused hand further up her shirt, his fingers ran along the side of her breast, around her ribs and back down her spine. She let her fingers trace the muscle definition in his arms before sliding her hand down his plastron. It was firm but warm, and she could feel his heart pounding beneath it.

"Hey, are you guys decent?" Holly's voice came along with a rapid knock on the door.

They both froze, breathing heavily, their eyes locked in shock and surprise at how quickly they had given into each other.

"Guys? I can come back later if you're busy." Holly said in a mocking sing-songy tone.

April cleared her throat, "We'll be right down." She called out a little breathlessly.

"Don't hurry on our account." Holly replied and they heard her pad away from the door.

April let out a nervous little laugh, which caused Donnie to let out a bark of laughter. Before they knew it, they were both laughing, and everything felt a lot less serious again.

Donatello went down to the kitchen before April did, who needed a moment to collect herself. She washed her face and brushed her hair back into a ponytail.

As she descended the stairs, Holly shot her a knowing grin. "So. How did you two sleep?"

"In separate beds." April replied with an equally knowing look.

"What?" Leo asked oblivious.

Holly laughed, and flipped over the pancakes she was frying up. "Don't worry about it." She added the last few cakes to a huge stack on a serving plate and looked around. Just as she was about to ask where the others were, Mikey came bounding down the stairs with Raph in tow.

"Where were you two?" Holly asked. "I didn't see you when I went upstairs."

"He was hiding in the bathroom." Mikey said, and side stepped a swipe from Raph.

"I wasn't hiding." Raph protested.

"Be nice to your brother," Holly said and jabbed the spatula in his direction.

"Yeah, be nice to me." Mikey said, actually thankful that someone told Raph off for being a jerk to him for once.

"Listen to mom," Leo said wagging a scalding finger at Raph. Raphael glared at his big brother over the top of his mug.
"Don't you get involved either. You should all be nicer to each other." Holly said still brandishing the spatula.

"What did I do?" Donnie asked incredulously.

"Nothing yet," Holly said and narrowed her eyes at him jokingly.

They all ate as much as they wanted, making sure to save some for Splinter and Stacey should they decide they wanted some.

"What are we doing today?" Mikey asked once they had tidied up.
"Anything you want!" April said happily and went out onto the deck to sit in the sun.

"The rain washed away your sand castle, we could make it again?" Holly motioned to the beach where only a lump of sand was left to indicate they had made anything.

"Nah, I wanna do something different." Mikey said.

"We could play Volleyball." Holly said. "We haven't done that yet."

"Yeah!" Mikey shouted enthusiastically, "How do you play?"

Holly quickly went over the basics before Mikey ran off to dig the ball out of the shed. "Are you guys going to play? We need 4 at least."

"I'll play." Leo said, "Seems easy enough."

"I'm good, I want to keep working on my next gen T-phones." Donnie said. He set up his gear on one of the tables on the deck so he could at least watch.

"I think I'll sit this one out too, I want to catch some sun while its still warm enough to." April said.

"Alright Raph, looks like you're our fourth." Holly said.

"Don't I get to decide what I want to do?" He complained.

"Not until you start being nice to your brother." Holly smiled at him. "Come on, I'll at least wear my bikini for you again." They grabbed a Bluetooth speaker and headed down to the beach. Holly paired her phone and selected a playlist.

They let Mikey choose who he wanted to be on his team, and he picked Raph.

"Lets do this," Leo said, and he and Holly fist bumped before turning to their side of the court.

"You're going down." Raph said.

"We'll see." Leo said, and served the ball.

They played for a while before Holly realized she was at a bit of a disadvantage. The turtles vertical reach was significant compared with hers. On one volley, Mikey leapt up and kicked the ball down for a spike. Holly dove for it, but missed and lay face down in the sand. She push herself up to her knees.

"You're not supposed to use you feet, you know."

"You're just mad we're kicking your butt!" Mikey said, he and Raph high threed with a laugh.

"I'm not mad," Holly said and brushed the sand off herself as she stood back up, "I'm just realizing that maybe I have to accept that you guys can do things I can't."

"Like play volleyball?" Raph said, and Mikey burst out laughing.
Holly put on a mocking tone, "'Like play volleyball.' You're hilarious." But she was smiling obviously not that bothered.

"I thought it was pretty good." Raph said with a grin, and Mikey laughed heartily at the banter.

Holly and Leo huddled together to try and come up with an idea to at least get one more point.

"Whats the plan boss?" Holly asked.

"Hmm, they have the power, but we're sneakier. How are your acting skills?" Leo said with a nasty smile.

Leo served the ball to Raph, who popped it up to Mikey. He, in turn set the ball right by the net and Raph launched himself up to spike the ball. Holly was waiting underneath the net, and when he hit the ball, she tucked her arms in tight and high to make it look like it hit her in the face. As she saved the volley, she yelled out and crumpled to the floor clutching her face.

"Holly!" Raph and Mikey both yelled, completely abandoning the game, they ducked under the net and slid over to Holly as Leo tipped the ball onto their side of the court.

"Our point" Leo said, and Holly rolled onto her back and laughed when Raph pulled her arms away from her nose.

Raph and Mikey both looked confused for a moment, before both bursting out in protest at the deception.

"That's not funny, I thought I hurt you!" Raph said kneeling over Holly still holding her wrists.

"I'm sorry, It was Leo's idea." She was still laughing. She tried to sit up, but Raph shoved her playfully back into the sand.
"Come on, you guys were killing us." Leo said and retrieved the ball, "We knew we weren't going to win, but we needed to score one more point."

"You're such a sore looser Leo." Mikey pouted,

"Alright, we'll play nice." Holly said and stood up again. "You guys only need two more points to win anyway."

The game was over pretty quickly. Mikey and Raph lorded their victory over Leo and Holly for the rest of the morning. Eventually Mikey got bored though and wandered off to dance around to the music they had on. Raph and Holly sat on the grass and soon April wandered down to join them as Donnie was completely engrossed in his work.

"How was your game?" April asked them.

Holly rolled her eyes as Raph immediately answered, "We kicked their butts!"

"Ok, yes Leo and I lost." Holly confirmed for him. "But you guys literally have a five foot vertical!"

"That's not my problem." Raph flexed his arms to emphasize his skills.

"You're so modest." Holly said, April laughed. "Its true though, we've watched you guys jump onto a fire escape from the ground."

"We do have to scramble after you guys a lot." April agreed.

"I wonder if its part of your biology, or if its the mutagen that causes you to have incredible strength?" Holly said looking him up and down.

Raph shrugged, "For those sorts of answers, you'll need to talk to Donnie."

"Good luck, He's preoccupied at the moment." April said with a glance back at the house.
Donnie had on a pair of magnifying goggles that he used when he was working on small components, they glinted in the sun as he moved around.

"He told me he loved me this morning." April sprung with no warning.

Both Raph and Holly spluttered at this sudden piece of information. Raph actually did a spit take of the water he was drinking and began choking as he inhaled some liquid into his lungs.
"He what?!" Holly practically shrieked.

"Whats going on? Raph are you OK?" Leo asked. He had stopped in the middle of a kata to make sure his brother was alright.

Raph just nodded and waved him off before he finally caught his breath.

"What did you do?" Holly whispered at April.

"Nothing really, I tried to tell him that I care about him too but I have no idea what love is supposed to be." April admitted.

"Do I need to go?" Raph asked not wanting to intrude in any private business.

"Only if you want to." April said, but Holly waved off the question as unimportant.

"Love isn't supposed to be like anything." Holly said with a frown. "Technically, its just a chemical reaction in the brain."

"How romantic." Raph muttered sarcastically.

"I don't mean it like that," Holly scolded him, "what I mean is that if it feels like love, then it probably is. There is no right or wrong way to love someone... Unless you turn into a stalker" She added as an after thought, mostly to herself.

"I don't get it." April said looking at Holly.

"Well," Holly said turning a little pink, "Romantic love is not the same as platonic love. Like, I love you because you're my best friend. I love my mom, obviously, because she's my mom. But romantic love feels different, because there are different chemical responses going on in your body."
April looked confused. Holly winced slightly but continued. "When you're with Donnie, does it feel like there are butterflies in your stomach?"

"Yeah," April admitted.

"And when you kiss, can you feel you heart pounding in your head, enough to make you dizzy?" Holly asked, turning a little pink in the cheeks.

"Yes," April said and glanced at Raph. He was staring out at the lake trying not to look bothered by this conversation.

"And when he touches you, does it feel like your whole body is on fire?" Holly asked in a lower voice.

April nodded.

"Then at the very least, you are physically reacting to him." Holly said with a laugh, she brushed her hair out of her face, her ears were bright red, but she was trying her best to be nonchalant.

"That can't be all it is though?" April said with a skeptical look. "Isn't there a non physical component to it?"

Holly shrugged, "Look, I don't exactly have the best examples to look to, my parents did get divorced after all. But personally, its nice to have someone who I could call on to be there for me no matter what. Someone who I want to be there for too. Who doesn't care that I'm the biggest looser in school, and likes me for who I am. If that isn't love, I don't know what is."

"Maybe you're right. I might just be overthinking it." April said.

"If you wanted, you could probably go talk to my mom. I know she and my dad loved each other at some point, maybe she has another point of view that makes more sense to you." Holly said and leaned back on the grass. She was still pink in the cheeks, but didn't seem too wound up about Raph being there.

"We'll see. Its one of those conversations I would have liked to have with my own mom at some point."April hugged her knees close to her chest.

"I know," Holly said and sat back up to give April a hug. "You could always talk to Carol when we get home. At least she's family."

"You guys are my family now too." April said and squeezed Holly's arm.

"Yeah, but Its not the same." Holly said out loud for her.

They sat holding each other for a few minutes, watching Mikey do flips and spins on the sand.

"How do you guys make that look so easy?" April asked.
"Because it is easy." Raph finally spoke up. They had almost forgotten he was there. They both looked at him a little surprised and burst out laughing.
"Where you there the whole time?" Holly asked suddenly, apparently she had forgotten.

"Yeah, I asked if you wanted me to leave." Raph said, worried that he had invaded some private girl conversation he was not supposed to.

"No, don't worry about it. Its no worse than my mom asking if we had sex." Holly said.

"SHE WHAT?!" He shouted, looking mortified.

"Oh, weren't you there for that?" Holly asked with a shrug while April rolled on the grass laughing.

"No, I wasn't!" He shouted at them.

"What is going on over there? I'm trying to concentrate." Leo shouted from a short way off.
"Nothing!" Raph yelled back about a half octave higher than he usually would.

Holly and April were almost in tears laughing now. Once they caught their breath April jumped up walked over to Michelangelo. Holly stood and held out her hand to Raph, "Come on, you can show us how to do flips if its so easy."

"You're not a looser." Raph said taking her hand and letting her pull him to his feet.

She smiled, "I am, but it doesn't bother me because I know you don't think that."

His frown deepened, worried what was happening at her school. "You're not a looser." He repeated, squeezing her hand gently.

"OK, I'm not a looser." She repeated back to him leaning in and kissing his cheek. "Thank you. Now come on, teach me something!"

They spent the rest of the day, trying to teach the girls how to do back handsprings, among other things. Even Donnie abandoned his work when he saw what was going on. They all spotted for the girls so they could try to tumble with out hurting themselves. April caught on pretty quickly and was even attempting to do one with out the support of one of the boys.

"I think I'll go see if mom needs help with dinner." Holly said after dropping her glasses for the fifth time.

"But you nearly have it." Leo protested. "A few more tries and I know you can do it."

"Oh, I'll get it, but maybe when I am wearing contact lenses." Holly said and jogged off up to the house.

April was attempting another handspring solo.

"Remember, keep you chest up and open, and really reach this time." Mikey was saying. While Donnie stood behind her, just in case.

April nodded, and took a breath. She did a little hop to giver her self momentum and reached as far back as she could. Her hands sunk into the sand, and she engaged her core to pull her legs over and back underneath her. As her feet touched, she wobbled slightly and nearly lost her balance, but Donnie was there to offer a hand.
"That was awesome!" Mikey shouted and grabbed April around the middle. He swung her in a circle before depositing her back on her feet.

"Yeah you pretty much got it." Donnie agreed beaming. "A little more practice and you'll have it no problem."

April was laughing when Holly appeared on the deck calling for them all to come inside.
Stacey and Splinter were cooking up a whole bunch of pizzas for them all, but they needed something else from the teens. "I need to get back to the city no later than one o'clock for a call to Europe, so we need to be on the road by 8. Could you all please help get most of the house cleaned up tonight before bed?"
"You just tell us what to do and we'll get it done," Leo said and everyone nodded their agreement.
"Yeah, we got this." Mikey agreed.

"OK then, if we could leave it cleaner than when we got here, that would be wonderful." Stacey said clasping her hands together, "I always try to be the best guest I can when I rent someones home."

"What can we do first?" Donnie asked.

"Why don't we start with sweeping and mopping the floors, then we can start on the bathrooms." Stacey said.

"On it!" Leo said, "Raph and Mikey, you sweep, Donnie and I will follow you with the mops." Leo started shouting orders.

"What should we do?" April asked.

"I've seen your room." Stacey said lightly scolding the girls, "You should tidy up your stuff."

April and Holly shared a grin, and knew they had been slobs this weekend. They ran upstairs to tidy up before Raph and Mikey came in to sweep.

They all pitched in to clean the house before they ate and they all helped to wash, dry, and put away the dishes. They formed a sort of assembly line with the rest of the cleaning, everyone doing their part to make sure the house was clean and tidy before they departed in the morning. Raph pushed the beds back into their proper place in his own room while Donnie straightened the towels they had washed and dried so they looked perfect.

By the time they were all done, everyone was tired, but satisfied. They all flopped down on the sofas and looked around at their work.
"Nice job guys!" Stacey said, "Can I hire you to clean my apartment?"

"So long as we can come over after dark." Leo said.

"You can come over anytime you need." Stacey said with a soft smile. "But, we have an early start tomorrow, so I am going to head up. Goodnight everyone."
A cacophony of replies from everyone ushered her up the stairs, and not too long after, the rest of the group turned in too.

The morning was a rush to get out the door. Everyone was tasked with stripping their beds of sheets and loading up the van early. It was much cooler and frost crunched under their feet and they locked up the house. Stacey popped the keys into the lock box before they left.

"Bye cabin, its been real fun!" Mikey said looking out of the tinted back window as they pulled away.

"I can't wait to be back in the city." Raph said, "I miss the sounds of the subway."

"Yeah, but I bet you'll miss this more." April said and flashed him her phone. On the screen was the picture she had taken of him and Holly snuggled up asleep the night before.

"Where did you get that?!" Raph said and tried to snatch her phone from her.

"Don't worry, I won't keep it." April said, but did show it to Mikey who had clambered over the rows of seats to see what it was.

"Awe, that's adorable!" Mikey said, and showed Holly the picture who was sitting in the front seat.

"You creeper!" Holly yelled at April, "Send me that though."

"No way!" Raph protested.
"I will delete it," April said, and made sure to let Leo have a look over her shoulder as she did.

"Who knew you were such a snuggle bug?" Leo said mockingly.

Raph sat back and sulked for a good few hours as they drove, while the others laughed and spoke happily about their weekend.