Okay, so full disclosure, I was waiting to update until my posting on AO3 was up to date with this one; I also realized I did 2 back to back 2 part dramas with nothing fun in the middle and I WANTED to try and figure out rearranging but I'm really just posting these as I think of things and write them out, so like. Will it have a ~general~ order of events? Sure. Will it always flow like a full tale? No I have too much adhd sorry.

Dana still spent most of the next day feeling slimy and smelly from the inside of the dumpster. April couldn't get the younger woman to explain why her usually bright demeanor had taken a miserable turn, as she just stomped out of the building with her dance bag dragging behind her. Dana had felt so mad she could barely follow a single step during class, which just pissed her off further. After a rough dish shift, resulting in several broken dishes and being cut early for the night, April had then proceeded to keep cornering her young house mate until she would give her the answer.

"Mikey tossed me in a fucking dumpster last night for no fucking reason! I don't know what his stupid issue was with some creep in the alley but I would've been fine." April furrowed

"Wait, he tossed you in a dumpster cause a Rando was in the alley? That makes no sense." Why Mikey would insist to be seen by a bystander was beyond the scope of logic for the Redhead.

"Yeah, exactly! He said some stupid excuse about a foot soldier or whatever, but he had no fucking right to just throw me in trash!" Dana was fuming, still unable to erase the faint smell of garbage from her nostrils; she was pretty sure there was some bad fish in that garbage. April's eyebrows almost immediately shot up as she quickly closed in on the blonde.

"You said a foot?!" She was practically whispering. "D, if they see you with the guys they'll come after you, no hesitation. It might not have been the best hiding spot, but he was just trying to protect you. You have to understand what risk we put ourselves in just by knowing who they are." Dana rolled her eyes, scoffing at the notion that she needed that much protection. Well, if April wasn't going to side with her, she might as well just stay in her room, however no matter how much she tried, she couldn't focus. Not to practice, not to read, not even to try and make herself fall asleep. After several minutes of squeezing her eyes shut in a vain attempt to fall asleep, she heard a familiar gruff voice beyond the door.

"I don't know, April. They sent me as some sort of 'peace keeper' or whatever to try and figure out what her damage is!" Dana didn't like having the blame put on her, so open the door flung as she came out, finger pointed and raging.

"My damage is that your rude little brother tossed me in garbage for the sin of existing in some hobo or whatever's space, so maybe don't get so accusatory, big guy."

"… I mean according to Mikey it seemed to be a foot soldier running around, so yeah that'd be a reason. Not the nicest hiding spot though, you got that." Raph's smirk didn't usually cause this much anger in his small companion, but tonight it was the icing on a shit cake.

"I don't know what your stupid issue is, but I'm an adult and I can take care of myself! I can't believe you're siding with him!" Raph had to remember that it wasn't his turn to get angry tonight, because the last thing he needed was to make it worse and hear Mikey's whining and blubbering any longer. Between the redhead and red turtle (mostly April filling real detail while Raphael grunted and griped), an explanation of the foot and their connection with everything that transpired before her arrival had the angry young woman slumping down on the couch in defeat.

"… shit. I'm an asshole."

"Yes, yes you are sweetie. But you're our asshole." April gave the girl a pat on her head, still just a tad greasy "also maybe wash your hair with the deep clean one more time." Dana had completely blown it on this situation, how could she show her face down in the lair? How could she apologize to Mikey that would really feel genuine? 'I'm sorry' really wasn't enough. But-

"April, I need to go to Game Stop after I get my paycheck. I think this apology is going to need to be a little material." Would that mean losing out on her savings for an apartment? Yes, but Mikey was certainly worth it. The large turtle who had been mostly quiet during this discussion smiled, nudging the blonde's shoulder.

"Glad you could be reasoned with, if I had to go back and hear Mikey go on about ruining everything, I was gonna ask to steal your couch." Dana flinched, had she really messed up that bad? She knew the answer, but before she could apologize for the stress caused to the Hamato home, April's phone rang. April crossed the room quickly to grab it.

"April O'Neil speaking. Oh, hi. Yeah, hang on." She placed a hand over the phone and looked over to Dana sheepishly.

"It's Gerry, said you haven't been answering your phone. What should I tell him?" Raphael stiffened while Dana sunk deeper into her seat, head in hands. Had he missed something?

"Just, uhh ... Just please tell him I'm sick or something. I'll try to call tomorrow, I guess." Dana felt like she was dying of embarrassment. He really called her cousin?

"Yeah, she hasn't been feeling well, if she feels better tomorrow she'll call you back. Okay, yup. I'll let her know. Good night, Gerry." April's lips pressed together as she turned toward the offending woman, one perfectly manicured eyebrow raised high.

"You know you're going to have to break it to him soon right? You can't keep avoiding him." Raphael looked surprised, he hadn't realized there was some sort of trouble in her rich boy paradise. He fought back a smile.

"Also he says he loves you." April smirked, crunching her nose as she pretended to gag.

"Oh my god, shut up please. Why does he think saying that is gonna make it better." Dana brought her knees up to her chin, hoping to implode into nothing.

"What's so bad about that?" He would've thought when she first talked about loving the suit he'd be angry, but now his interest was piqued, and he was having more than a little fun with the discomfort coming from the subject of discussion.

"Gerry… uh, said he loved me. And he tried to propose to me. So I made him take me home and didn't talk to him all week." He couldn't fully explain why, but Raphael could've gotten up and danced with how pleased he was to her reaction of those events.

"Ape's right, tho. You do need to talk to him or he won't go away." He felt 2 big green eyes poke out from behind their hiding spot in her elbows as she glared at him.

"Do the two of you really need to be ganging up on me so much?"

If Raph was confused as to why Dana had needed to go to a store in response to having wronged his little brother, now he had an answer to it. After leaving the two cousins for the night, he was met with the pleading eyes of Michelangelo as he walked into the lair and, partially because that was the information he had and partially to make his baby brother sweat, he simply told him "she'll be down tomorrow." And suddenly, that next evening she came bursting through, April in tow, with a very large box wrapped in newspapers and slathered with orange paint spelling out 'MIKEY.'

"Alright, where's my favorite blue eyed turtle?!" Dana knew to make sure she announced herself with an extra dose of happiness in order to put the uncharacteristically anxious terrapin at ease. As April turned to head to the dojo for a visit to Master Splinter the blonde came to rest by the couches as she gently beckoned said turtle from where he stood warily in the threshold of the kitchen. Dana set the box down on the couch to grab hold of his hands.

"Mikey, I am so sorry about yesterday. I let my anger get the better of me and didn't listen when all you were doing was keeping me safe. I br-" No explanation for the box was needed as Mikey grabbed the girl in an almost bone crushing hug, shrieking out forgiveness almost too high to understand.

"I'msogladIthoughtyou'dnevertalktome!" While Dana was relieved that the youngest brother forgave so willingly, it was starting to get uncomfortable to be scrunched in the turtle's large arms. Mikey seemed to pick up as he gently set down his friend before turning his attentions to the large box before him, waggling his fingers in excitement.

"Ohoho, goodies for me?" And in he dove to rip apart the crude wrapping as Dana looked on, beaming from ear to ear. Raph, overhearing the shrieks from his brother, came out from hiding to find Mikey picking up the large box of a new game console from shreds of newspaper, eyes shining with shocked tears.

"Well, I know you love your games, but the game cube is definitely a little old and outdated, so I thought you might like an update, and I got you some new games to go with it." Dana gently nudged her excited friend as he nearly shook from excitement. Without warning, Mikey gingerly places his new console on the couch and turned to grab his friend and plant the loudest, sloppiest kiss to her temple he could muster. Dana couldn't help the snort that left her as she brought a hand up to gently pat his cheek.

"I'm glad you like it, now how about you grab Don to get it all hooked up for you?" There weren't many times anyone got Mikey stunned to silence, so Dana figured she'd take advantage of her feat. The young turtle turned on his heel and went flying toward the lab. Raphael chuckled deeply as he walked up from behind the blonde, gently draping his arm around her small shoulders. Dana tried to ignore the warmth crawling to the top of her cheeks.

"Nicely done, Princess." Why was she suddenly enjoying that nickname? "But, you know he would've accepted it without the new shiny toy." She fought back a snort, shoving the large turtle in the side and having no surprise when he didn't budge in the least.

"Yeah, but he deserves it; he's just trying to do what's best, y'know?" Dana ducked from under the large, surprisingly warm arm, finding it increasingly difficult to deal with how much it made her heart start thumping, and moved the box and wrappings gently to sit on the couch in its place. Raphael quickly followed suit, taking the space at the end closest to her, and scolding himself inwardly for being obvious in his closeness. There was a comfortable silence between them as they watched Mikey practically drag his brother from the lab to get him to set up the Wii console.

"Now, Mikey, we're all square but before I let you play anything you have to promise me not to shove me in a dumpster next time there's an emergency." Dana quipped as she gently handed the terrapin the games she was hiding in her purse, watching him shake his head rapidly while his glossy eyes bored into the newest release of SuperSmash. As he practically shoved the disk into the newly installed console, Raph gently poked Dana for her attention.

"So hey, how'd it go with the whole boyfriend thing this morning?" Dana sighed deeply, leaning back on the couch and, inadvertently, the edge of Raphael's plastron. She froze for a brief second, was that a good idea? Would he feel like she was invading his space? At the same instance, said turtle fought the instinct to pull her all the way back to rest in the nook of his arm, but as she settled back farther, decided on placing his arm across the back of the couch. Not too obvious, still smooth.

"Yeah, I broke up with him, he didn't want to hear it at first but we had a good talk and are just staying friends. Honestly, I'm so relieved, he just really wasn't my type." She swore she could see the large turtle fight a smile from the corner of her eye, but didn't dwell on it as he lightly shrugged, refocusing on his brother using Kirby to annihilate Computer Players.