I was gonna dive straight into the rising action, but I felt like the clan has been through so much that they just need a little bit of fluffy time to get themselves back on the right track before they can really start chasing down Knight. So Fluff it is! Yay!

P.S. I expect this to be about forty chapters or so in total, so we're getting close! I promise I will try my best to get all of the chapters out in a timely fashion. Sorry I haven't been more constant with updates over the last couple months. I really hope you still enjoy this story.

P.P.S. I've been having a lot more trouble with this story since they introduced Mona Lisa into the series because now I constantly compare that version of her to the version I created for this and it throws me off. But I'm sticking to my original plot plan, which I inadvertently stumbled upon recently! (I'd written down how it ended and everything!) So, yeah...

That's enough P.S.-s on with the story!

—————————

There was movement in the dojo and the lights were on. Raphael rolled his eyes. Sure, he was supposed to be asleep already, but he had a different sleep schedule than his brothers. Besides, he'd been on house arrest for more than a week and he was restless. So he'd decided to watch a little TV to pass the time. But unfortunately, that hadn't worked out quite as he'd planned because someone was in the dojo. And it was most certainly one of his brothers. In which case he needed to go in there, confront said brother and kick their shell back to bed where it belonged. Seriously, was the only one capable of doing that job around here?! Raph sighed and trudged over to the dojo, sliding the door open quietly so that he could peek in and see who was there. His jaw dropped and he stared. He was wrong. It wasn't one of his brothers. It was Mona Lisa.

She was...training. She was actually practicing katas. He blinked, closing his jaw with a quiet click. Sure, he knew that his Sensei had been training with Mona since before he'd gotten injured but...he himself had not been present for any of their more recent sessions. He had no idea that she had progressed so far. Yeah, they were just simple katas, but her form was...impressive. He cleared his throat to signal his presence.

Mona's head snapped up in shock, her footing faltered and she face-planted. She looked up and sent him a very dirty glare.

He smirked, confident that she hadn't hurt herself. Mona was tough. A little impact with the floor wouldn't hurt her much. And even if it did, she wouldn't blubber about it. He snickered. "Clumsy, much?"

She growled at him and signed. 'Am not! And it was your fault!'

The turtle threw up his hands. "Of course," he said sarcastically, "it's always my fault." Though to others he might have sounded rude or defensive, Mona took it as it was intended: a playful tease.

'See anyone else around here whose fault it could be?'

Raphael stared intently at her and raised an eye-ridge. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Mona Lisa groaned and put her hands on her hips. 'You are so smug.'

"I can afford to be." He smirked, preening.

She crossed the room and leaned in really close to him, a small smile on her face. He leaned forward, mesmerized, but she pulled away at the last second and swatted his head playfully, tugging at his bandana-tails. 'You wish!'

The hothead growled playfully, his eyes lit up as he took her behavior as a challenge. With a hushed battle cry he charged and bowled her over, the two of them hitting the floor in a flurry of giggles. Mona shoved him off and jumped to her feet getting into a ready position. He smiled and dropped into one himself, preparing to go easy on her. What he wasn't expecting was that her punches would be quite so powerful. It wasn't until after she dealt him a rather well aimed uppercut that he really started to take her seriously. He stepped back and wiped his mouth, feeling the ache in his jaw. Deciding that enough was enough, he jumped out of reach of her kick, minding her tail as it swept beneath him, trying to throw him off balance. He caught her next punch in his hand and their eyes met. "Easy there, killer. Sparring's fun and all, but I'd really like my head to stay attached to my shoulders."

The lizard mutant huffed and pulled her hand away, pointedly avoiding his gaze as she signed, 'Wimp.'

"I am not!"

She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at him. 'You're just afraid I'll beat you!' Mona accused, poking him in the plastron.

He scoffed, affronted. "Why you little—"

Taking advantage of his moment of distraction she struck, her tail sweeping his legs out from under him, making him fall back on his carapace. He started to get up, but a soft weight pressing against him made him fall back down. She leaned down slowly, capturing his lips in a kiss. He sighed, melting into it with a goofy grin.

That was when the door slid open.

"What is going on in here?! Raphael, I—"

Mona Lisa pulled back, but remained straddling the turtle, almost as though she were pinning him down. Raph's face turned redder than a tomato. He stared at his father, stuttering like mad.

"Umm...It's not how it looks Sensei! We were just sparring!"

Splinter's eyebrows rose to the top of his forehead. "Ah, I see." It was the tone Sensei used whenever he didn't truly believe them, but would basically accept the answer as satisfactory.

"But it's true! We were just—"

"Enough, Raphael." Splinter interrupted, holding up a hand to silence his son. "It is very late and I expect both of you at training in the morning. Get some rest." He said sternly. Raph nodded. The old rat turned his back to them. "Goodnight, my students."

"Goodnight Sensei."

Splinter closed to the screen door to his room behind him. He rolled his eyes and shook his head with a small smile on his face. "Hehehe." He chuckled, thinking of the look of absolute mortification on Raphael's face. Kids.

Raph stared up at Mona and she stared down at him. Both of them were a little bit weirded out by what had just occurred. It seemed almost surreal as though it hadn't just happened. But it had. Both of their faces were red. They stared at each other for a long time, until finally, Raph started shifting.

"Hey, ya mind letting me up, here?"

Her eyes widened and she extricated herself, offering the turtle a hand up. He took it graciously, but even after they were standing he didn't let it go. As the grip on her hand lingered, Mona Lisa looked down at their adjoined hands then slowly back up to Raphael. They both pulled away at the same time and chuckled nervously.

'Sorry.' Mona signed.

Raphael smiled, though he was tense. "Don't worry about it. We should probably get to bed."

Her eyes dimmed a little and she sighed, nodding reluctantly.

"You okay?"

She stepped towards him and leaned against his plastron. 'Yeah, just not anxious to go to bed.'

Concern filled his face and took her hands in his. "Your nightmares?" He asked softly. She slowly nodded. Raphael frowned and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist. She leaned against him. "Well, ya want some company?"

Mona beamed at him and kissed his nose. 'It's sweet of you, but I'll be fine.'

"You sure?" He sent her a skeptical stare.

Rolling her eyes, she nodded. 'Yes, I'm sure. I can take care of myself ya know.' She punched him in the shoulder. He grinned wanly.

"Yeah, I know you can. I just worry, that's all."

Cupping his face in her hands, she wrapped her tail around his shell and tugged him closer. 'Right back at you.' She kissed him softly, yet with a passion that left Raphael leaning after her as she pulled away, hungry for more. 'Goodnight, Raphael.'

His cheeks flushed a little and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "G-goodnight, Mona Lisa."

—————————————

The next day started off, interestingly enough, with a bang. Raphael's emerald green eyelids flicked open at the sound of clanging metal. What the shell?!

He groaned and rolled over to face the wall, pulling his pillow down over his head. If there was one thing that he missed about the Mighty Mutanimal's lair, it was the peace and quiet. Even though there's never much peace and quiet where Mikey was concerned, at the Mighty Mutanimals' lair at least he'd had Leatherhead to keep him busy.

The clanging metal was still clanging, though as it drew closer to his room, Raph realized it was accompanied by a loud, obnoxious voice. "GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE! GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE! GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!"

He growled and leapt out of bed a lot faster than he probably should have. His legs ached a little, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He stomped over to the door of his room and flung it open just in time to catch his baby brother holding two metal trashcan lids, about to slam them together. Mikey froze. Raph glared. There was a split second of inaction before he growled, "I will POUND you, Mikey!" and raised a fist.

To Mikey's credit, he reacted quicker than Raph had expected. He slammed the two trashcan lids together making his now furious older sibling jump and cover his ears. Mikey took advantage of the opportunity. He dropped the lids and sprinted away. He could hear Raph shouting after him, "Michelangelo, you are so dead!"

He grinned and just kept running, shouting over his shoulder, "Gonna have to catch me first, bro!"

Leo's door opened and the eldest turtle stepped out, a dark frown on his face. "What is going on out here?"

"What's all the yelling?" Don mumbled, poking his head out of his room. His purple mask was lopsided and his voice was thick with sleep.

Mona Lisa wandered out of her room, her hair a tangled mess. She went over to Leo's side and tapped the oldest turtle's shoulder. "What?" She asked.

Leo realized that she was asking him what was happening. He shook his head. "I have no idea." Suddenly, he sensed an incoming. He yanked Mona out of the way just in time as an orange blur came speeding down the hall. "What the—Watch it, Mikey!"

The orange blur was followed closely by a red one. Leo's arm shot out and caught Raph before the hothead could get his hands on their little brother. "Raphael, what are you doing?"

"What's it look like, Fearless?" He growled grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest. Mikey took advantage of Raph's distraction to dart into his room and close the door. They all heard the lock click. Then all eyes were back on Raph. He blinked at them. "What?"

Donnie yawned and straightened, warily attempting to put a hand on Raph's shoulder. Raph growled, so he immediately backed off instead. "Calm down, Raph. You aren't supposed to be over-exerting yourself."

"Tell that to Mikey!" The hothead retorted.

"Don't let him get to you, Raph. Mikey's just being Mikey." Leo offered sensibly.

Raph seemed to accept that and he calmed down a little. "Fine. But I'll still beat some sense into him when he comes out of there." He turned towards Mikey's room. "Ya can't hide in there forever, Mikey!"

"Can too!" Came the impudent reply.

Leo decided it was time to step in. "Oh no you can't. You're making us breakfast today. It's your turn." He remarked sternly, placing his hands on his hips. He caught Raph's eyes. There was just a little bit too much dark glee in Raph's face for his liking. He put a hand on Raph's shoulder. Then he proceeded to bargain with Mikey. "Look, you come out and make breakfast, and Raph will have to limit his beat-down to training time only, okay?"

"It ain't okay with me." Raph grumbled, but Leo's grip on his shoulder tightened and he sighed. Damn. Fearless wasn't going to give him a choice.

Standing slightly behind the two older turtle siblings, Mona got an idea. She crept up behind Raphael and threw her arms around his neck. It was done gently and in a playful fashion that wouldn't choke him. He started at first, but when he realized who it was, he grinned and leaned into the contact. "Hey you." He said softly. She smiled at him and let go. He turned around. They looked into each other's eyes. He kissed her softly.

Leo and Don rolled their eyes and looked away. Raph and Mona didn't pay any attention to them. The red-masked turtle pulled slowly out of the kiss. He frowned a little and she sent him a questioning look. "You taste like carrots." He muttered.

Mona Lisa rolled her eyes. She smirked playfully and gestured, 'It's why you love me!'

It was Raph's turn to roll his eyes. "Just one of a million reasons."

Donnie and Leo were watching the two of them now with interest. They looked at each other. Then they looked at Raph. The hothead was smirking. Mona Lisa was staring at him wide-eyed, her cheeks flushed. Leo smiled at his younger sibling. Pretty smooth. Pretty smooth. But that didn't mean he was gonna let an opportunity slip through his fingers.

"Kiss-up." He muttered, making sure that it was loud enough for Raph to hear. The hothead's face turned red with embarrassment and Leo smiled, turning to head for the kitchen. The next thing he knew, he was being yanked back and pinned to the floor.

"You were saying Lame-o-nardo?"

Leo rolled his eyes and remarked innocently, "Oh? Did I say something?"

Raph's smile could only be described as villainous and it made Leo nervous, not that he'd ever admit it out loud, of course. "You're sarcasm stinks, bro. You know what you said!"

Leo crossed his arms over his plastron and smirked playfully. "Ah, but you can't prove I said anything."

"Maybe not. But I pinned you and now you have to say it!"

The leaders dark blue eyes narrowed and he frowned. "No. Mikey is the only one who ever has to say it."

"Looks like I just changed that, doesn't it?" Raph said with a smile, his eyes gleaming eerily.

Leo pouted. "No. I won't say it, Raphael!"

"Tch-tch-tch-tch," Raph shook his head. "Leo, Leo, Leo..." he said with an air of disappointment, "So proud, so in denial that he can't even admit to the truth of the situation here."

Hearing Raph talking to him like that made Leo want to gag.

...And punch Raphael in the face. But he'd save that for later. He grit his teeth. Raphael just smiled.

"C'mon Leo. Prolonging it isn't gonna help ya. I can wait as long as you can."

"Ugh, fine. You win." He grumbled and cleared his throat. "Raphael is all wise and powerful." He stopped, hoping Raph would let it slide, but deflated as soon as he saw the devious smirk on Raph's face. He sighed. "...and he's...better than...me...in every...possible..."

"C'mon, bro. Stop dragging it out." Raph said goadingly, a big smile on his smug, emerald-green face.

Leo looked away and wiggled uncomfortably beneath his immediate younger brother's weight. "...way."

"There you go. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" Raph cooed, patting his head as though he were a pet. Leo growled. Raphael knew very well how hard it was for him to say it, and especially in front of the whole family. And...Master Splinter?! When had Master Splinter gotten here?! Oh, Raph was so going to pay!

"Don't think I won't get back at you for this, little brother!"

Raph smiled at the hint of promise in Leo's tone and met his big brother with a sharp stare that said 'bring it'.

Donnie chuckled and leaned against Mikey, who was doubled over with laughter. "I don't know, Leo. You were asking for it."

"I—I can't!" Mikey laughed, "I mean, did you see his face?! Leo, you've always had awesome facial expressions dude, but shell, that was totally wicked!"

Leo rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, pouting as his little brothers continued to laugh. Raph threw an arm across Leonardo's shoulders and began steering him towards the kitchen. "Aw, lighten up, Leo. I know you didn't really mean it."

"Then why did you force me to say it?" He asked, annoyed.

Raphael just smiled. "Because next time you'll think twice before poking fun at me and Mona."

A smirk crossed Leo's face and he shrugged. "I don't know, Raph. It's awful fun to see you get flustered." He quipped playfully.

In an oddly, amusing way, Raphael seemed happy that Leo was being impertinent. "Oh, I'll show you flustered! Because apparently you didn't learn your lesson the first time—"

"Okay, okay, cool your shells, bros! It's time for breakfast." Mikey said, shoving between them to get to the kitchen first. "Who wants a scramble?"

The other turtles and Mona all looked at each other. Mona Lisa nodded to Mikey almost immediately.

Leo and Raph shrugged and nodded. "Sure."

"Fine by me." Don added.

"I'll get the toast and juice going. Raph, can you check what we've got in the fridge? April said she'd go shopping later today, so I know we don't have much." Raphael sighed and trudged over to the fridge. He opened the door lazily. All three of his brothers tensed as he gasped and stepped back, his lip curled in disgust.

"Raph, you okay?" Leo asked slowly.

"Eugh! Carrots." He grumbled.

All of the others relaxed, relieved that nothing was wrong. Leo couldn't help but grin at Raphael from where he was sitting at the counter. He had a great vantage point of the hothead and was probably the only one of the four of them who noticed that Raph actually used the handle of his sai to push the carrots to the side. Oh, Raph. He thought, rolling his eyes, as he saw the hothead's mouth move and barely managed to catch a low rumble of:

"Carrots, carrots..." the hothead opened a drawer and his beak wrinkled with disdain. "...more carrots." Raph sifted around some more, still using his sai handle.

Sensei walked in and glanced over his sons smiling as he sensed the cheer in the surrounding atmosphere. As long as his family was happy, the old rat couldn't be more pleased. He saw a rare, open smile on Leonardo's face and followed the line of the eldest turtle's gaze to Raphael, who was shoving food around in the refrigerator with...a sai? Ah, Raphael. Splinter shook his head, a smile forming on his face as well.

Raph grunted as he found some pepperoni in the far back corner behind a forest of carrot greens. "Pepperoni." He muttered. He turned it over to check the date, just to make sure it was still safe to eat, then he chucked it at the back of his little brother's head.

Mikey caught the package behind his head without a flinch. "Alright. How do carrot pepperoni scrambles sound to you?"

Mona nodded eagerly. Raphael growled and grumbled, "Hold the carrots."

Leo smiled.

———————————

Later that day, as they concluded Mona's speaking lessons, Donnie told the lizard mutant that he had something to ask her. She stared expectantly at him.

"What is it, Don?"

"You haven't been...well..." Don rubbed the back of his head. "...tampering with anything in my lab, have you?"

"Uh..." her cheeks darkened a little. She glanced over at his physics experiments, the ones that he meant, but hadn't actually stated were the ones that had been tampered with. "Yeah. I—I just wanted to see what would happen. You had said that they weren't dangerous, so..."

Don held up his hands. "No, no, it's okay. I'm not mad at you or anything. I just wanted to know. I wanted to ask you before I directly assumed Mikey had started sneaking in here and messing with my stuff again. Besides, you didn't do any harm, so it's alright."

She smiled meekly at him. He smiled back, but his smile slowly turned into a frown. He reached out to grab her hand. "Mona, there's something I've been wanting to ask you. It seems to me like you really enjoy learning about...well, everything. If you're interested, I could introduce you to the basic math and sciences."

One her eyebrows rose and she leaned back a little. "You mean, experiments and stuff?"

"Yeah."

"Like what?"

Donatello shrugged, stull rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Um, like basic chemistry. I can show you an example, come on." He motioned her to follow him over to the long table where he kept a lot of his chemicals, blueprints and works-in-progress. She trailed after him with a bit of hesitance in her gait, but indulged him. Donnie had cleared off his worktable this morning just for this. He motioned her to come even closer. Mona Lisa finally came up to the table and stood next to him. He passed her a pair of goggles. "Now, these chemicals are harmless, but just to uphold tradition, you should always protect your eyes during a lab."

Mona put them on and blinked at the strange feeling. She fiddled with them a little and whined. "Donnie, these feel weird." She whined, sounding, in Donnie's opinion, very much like an eight-year-old child.

"Here, let me adjust them for you." He smiled, his fingers tugging on the adjusters on the side of her goggles. "There, better?"

She nodded. He smiled. "Good, now," he held up a box, "this is baking soda. And this," he pointed at the bottle on the table, "is vinegar. Take the bottle of vinegar and pour and some into that graduated cylinder."

She followed his instruction and poured some of the clear liquid, which smelled strange, into the thing he'd called a 'graduated cylinder'. He smiled and she grinned uncertainly at him. He patted her shoulder, sending her a sweet, charming little grin. Don was so kind that he was always a very difficult person to say 'no' to. She wasn't sure about the whole 'chemistry' thing, but she trusted him. He spooned some baking soda into a small cup and flashed her another smile.

"Watch this." He poured it in with the vinegar and it began to hiss.

Initially, she jumped back, clinging to his carapace. But as soon as Mona realized it was coming from the chemicals in the cylinder, she relaxed and crept hesitantly over to it in fascination. Donnie couldn't help but smile at the look of absolute wonder on her face. The cylinder was fizzing at the top, some of the bubbly foam oozing down the sides. The lizard mutant reached out to touch it, but stopped and glanced at the brainiac questioningly.

"It's completely harmless."

That was all the confirmation that she needed. Mona touched the foam, trying hold some, but it quickly just fizzled away between her fingers. Leaning directly over the top of the cylinder she stared down into the foamy mess. "Whoa." Her eyes were wide, filled with excitement and lit with awe. She took a short whiff of it and her beak wrinkled, her mouth opened and her tongue hung out as she made a disgusted face. "Ew."

Don chuckled. "Yeah, it doesn't smell so great, I know." He sputtered in shock as the air was knocked out of him.

Mona clung eagerly to his plastron. "What happened? How does it work? Why did it do that? How did it do that? Can we do it again? Can I add the white, powdery stuff? Please, please, please?!"

Taken aback by her sudden outburst, Don slowly managed to peel the lizard mutant off of him. "Uh...sure."

"Yay!" She exclaimed, her tail swishing happily behind her. Then her hands were on his shoulders and she was suddenly too close for comfort. In fact, she was practically in his face. "Why did it do that?"

"Well..." His brain struggled to come up with an explanation that she would be able to understand. "The vinegar contains acid and the baking soda contains a base. When combined, acids and bases react with one another, which can form water or gases and produce...well, bubbles."

"Cool." She said, stars in her eyes. "Now let's do it again!"

Don grinned. "Alright, but lets try something different this time." He poured some vinegar into a plastic bottle. "You can get the baking soda."

She beamed at him and nodded eagerly. Her face was very much like the one Leo had whenever he watched Space Heroes: complete fascination, adoration, and interest. Mona got the baking soda and looked at him. Donnie nodded at her. "Okay now put it in the bottle." She did. He pulled a balloon out of his belt. "I'll just snap this on..." He put it around the mouth of the bottle and as the reaction inside continued to fizz, the balloon began to expand.

"Whoa!" Mona exclaimed, grabbing Donnie's arm excitedly. He grinned and laid his hand over one of hers. She was so sweet. Maybe he didn't show it all the time...but he really did love her. In his mind, she was a little sister, someone he needed to nurture and protect and teach. And he would do just that because it was no less than she deserved.

"It's the gas being created that's pushing up into the balloon, causing it to expand."

"Cool. Can we do another one?" She asked, as eager as Michelangelo on a sugar high.

Don blinked and stroked his chin. "Well, I guess I can show you what happens when you combine hydrogen peroxide, sodium iodide, and dish soap." She was clinging to him again and he tensed at her closeness.

"Please! Please! Please! I wanna see! I wanna know what happens! Show me! Show me!"

"Okay! Okay! Just let me get the stuff!"

"I'll help!" Mona chimed cheerfully.

Once they had gathered all the materials, and cleaned up the leftovers of the baking soda/vinegar experiment, Donnie instructed her on what to do. They each had a large graduated cylinder. "Alright pour it in when I say and then step back, okay? And don't touch the cylinder, either. This reaction does yield some heat, so we have to be careful." She nodded, a little bit nervous. He smiled. "Don't worry, it's not that dangerous as long as we take the proper precautions."

She nodded.

"Ready."

She nodded again.

"Okay...Now!"

They each dumped the beaker of chemicals into the cylinder containing the rest of the reactants and stepped back. Mona watched in amazement as foam rose out the top of the cylinder and expanded until it covered a good-sized portion of the area around it. Some of it even dropped off the side of the table. It coiled out and around in a snake-like fashion, eventually slowing to a stop. She clapped her hands excitedly and leaned on Donnie's shoulder.

"Booyakasha! That was so cool! Can we do more? What else have you got in here? Ooh, what about those? Can we just add things together and see what happens?" She moved so fast he could only blink in astonishment. When he realized what she had in her hands he stiffened.

"Mona, wait!"

"What if we add these two together?" She added two of the slightly glowing liquids to each other in a beaker and the solution turned black.

"Mona stop!" Don pushed her aside and looked down at the beaker and raised an eye-ridge in confusion when nothing happened. "I don't understand it, these chemicals should have—" he was cut of mid-sentence by a loud 'POOF', smoke billowing out into his face. Mona Lisa gasped, concerned, but as soon as the smoke cleared, she giggled. Don was glaring down at the beaker, his face entirely black from whatever it had spewed at him. He grumbled irritably. "Delayed reaction. Cute. Real cute."

Mona laughed. "Your face!"

"What about it?" He asked, confused. She giggled.

"You've got black stuff all over it! Can we do it again, Donnie please?"

"No, Mona."

Her bottom lip pushed out. "Aw, please? It was so cool! And it didn't hurt anyone! Please! Can I try something else? Maybe one of these?" She held up one of the other chemicals. The next thing he knew she was over at his chemical cabinet. He let out a sound of protest, but could scarcely say a word.

"Wait, slow down!"

His face paled as he saw the container of pure potassium in her hand. "Careful! If you add that to water it could explode!"

She looked at the bottle in her hand, but instead of fear, he saw interest in her eyes. "Ooh! I wanna try it! Please, can we try it, Donnie, please! I wanna see!"

———————————

Two hours later, Donatello emerged from the lab, exhausted, drained and utterly terrified. His brothers looked up at him from where they were seated in the sunken living area. "Donnie?" Leo asked, concerned.

Raphael stood and crossed his arms, raising an eye-ridge at the brainiac. "What's wrong with you?"

"I think I made a horrible mistake."

Leo canted his head. Raph's eyes narrowed and Mikey looked worried. The eldest steered their smart brother over and made sure Don sat down. Raphael took one look at Donnie's blackend face and asked:

"Let me guess, one of your inventions blew up in your face?"

Don shook his head. "N-no. I created a monster."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, confused.

"Mona."

Concern flared in Raph's green eyes and he bounded forward. "Mona?! Where is she? Was she in there with you? Is she okay? What happened?"

"She's fine...for now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Leonardo also tensed and leaned forward with concern, his hands clenching slightly.

Don blinked still shaking lightly. "You were right, Leo. The chemistry was a bad idea."

"Huh?! Did it trigger a flashback? How could you just leave her alone in the lab? I'm gonna—" He stormed towards the lab door, but a hand caught his wrist and tugged him back.

"You better not, Raph. It's a war zone in there. I made a major mistake. I forgot to take her extreme zealousness into account."

Raph was lost and he growled at Donatello. "Either you explain right now, Don, or I'm gonna kick your shell."

"She's out of control! I can't stop her! She's so fast! And she asks so many questions but doesn't give me time to explain! She's absolutely impossible!" He cried, distressed.

Raph and Leo's faces melted into smiles. Mikey was already grinning.

"Sounds like Mona's giving Don a run for his money."

"She can't be that bad, Don." Leo said with a chuckle.

Don's face paled as he stared directly up at the blue-masked turtle. "Leo...If I had to choose between her and Mikey, I'd choose Mikey."

Their jaws dropped and the three of them stared in shock.

"You can't be serious." Leo stated, disbelievingly.

Don leveled them a stare that showed just how serious he was. But their attention was jerked away as a loud BOOM from the lab shook the ground slightly. Don shot up, his eyes frantic.

"You just left her in there with all the chemicals?!"

"She said she was done!"

Raph growled as they raced towards the door. Before they could get there, however, it swung open and a lime-green blur dashed past them to collide with the brainiac, knocking him to the floor. Her face was covered in black grime and smoke.

"Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, Donnie!! I added the bright blue one to the orangey one! And then I put in some of the other blue one and the green one! It exploded! You should have seen it! It glowed so pretty and then...BOOM! It was so AWESOME! You've got to come and see! I'll do it again! Come on!"

"Mona, we really shouldn't...Making things explode isn't exactly safe..."

"But it's really cool! I like it when they explode! That's the best part! Come on!" She tugged on his arm.

The other three stared in shock, completely floored. Leo stared at her in shock. He'd never heard her say so much in such a short span of time. But then he realized something else: Raphael hadn't either. And Raph was in the room. Whether Mona Lisa had even noticed that, Leo had no idea. He turned to his immediate younger brother with an eye-ridge raised. He smiled.

Raph's eyes were wide and bright, gleaming with awe, pride, and brimming with, what Leo could only assume to be tears of joy. As soon as the hothead realized he was being watched, he shook his head and wiped his eyes. "So you like blowing things up, then?" Raphael asked, his voice a little softer than usual, lacking its usual rough edge.

Mona answered the question without turning away from her current task, which was pulling Donnie back into the lab. "Yeah. It's really awesome! I like to see what happens when I add them all together. It's so cool! I wanna do it again! It's just so exciting seeing the—" Her voice dropped off into nothingness as the truth slowly dawned on her. She'd assumed that Leonardo had asked the question. But that wasn't Leo's voice. Haltingly, she turned. Her mouth closed.

Raph took a few steps towards her. "Your voice is beautiful."

She blushed and her arms fell away from Donnie's arms. One of her hands rubbed her neck nervously. "T-thanks."

Happiness surged up from within Raphael and he couldn't help but sweep her up into his arms. He hugged her close, not really caring that it got black soot-stuff on his face. Whispering into her ear, he had to wipe another happy tear from his right eye. "Mona Lisa, I'm so happy...you...I...I..." Mona pulled away for a second and caught the tears in his eyes. Her heart swelled and she pulled him close to squeeze him tightly.

"I speak well?"

"Are you kidding?" He asked, disbelieving. He wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I'm so proud of you."

Little tears of joy rolled down her cheeks and she laughed, kissing him loudly on the cheek and rubbing their beaks together affectionately. Then she pulled away and turned back to Donnie. "Come on Don! I wanna show you how it blows up!" She pulled at the brainiac. He took a deep breath and finally surrendered.

"Alright."

"Wait for me! I'm coming too!" Mikey yelled. Then the three of them were gone.

Leo crossed his arms and stared at his one remaining sibling. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"That my girlfriend is a pyromaniac?" Raph asked, his arms hanging down at his sides, his shoulders slumped.

Dark blue eyes shifted over to him and blinked, Leo's face remaining mostly blank. After a few seconds Leo nodded shallowly, still looking at Raph. "Well...yes. But more importantly, it means we have to help Donnie build a cabinet that we can lock his chemicals in."

Raphael rolled his eyes and his face, already extremely exasperated by the craziness that was his life, drooped even further. "Great."

Leo couldn't help but grin at the look on Raph's face, but the moment was cut short as another boom from inside the lab made them jump. Raph sighed and face-palmed. "Ugh, and the sooner the better."

Shoulders and arms drooping down at the thought that they'd probably all have to clean up the lab later, Leo reflected his brother's facial expression. "We have the strangest life."

Raph snapped out of his stupor and stared at his big brother. "You need a doctor, Leo?"

"No, why?" The eldest asked frowning as Raph's hand pressed against his forehead. Obviously it was some kind of joke, but Raph's face was all seriousness and that only confused him more.

Raph's eye-ridges rose and he crossed both arms over his plastron. "Because you're just realizing this...now." The hothead finished, sending his older brother a pointed stare. Leo's eyes rolled.

"C'mon hothead, they might need help."

"Why do we put up with them, again?" The question was obviously a rhetorical one, but Leo answered it out of habit.

"Because they're our family."

"Oh, yeah, right. I forgot."

Leo sent Raph a stare that he hoped would convey to the younger turtle that the sarcasm was not appreciated. Raph just huffed and looked away. Another, quieter boom made them pause right outside the lab door. They looked at each other. Leo shrugged and smiled. "You guys might be crazy, but I wouldn't have you any other way."

Raph grinned and punched him in the arm, hard.

"Hey!"

"That's for including me with the crazies!" He grunted as he stormed into the lab. Leo laughed and trailed in after him.

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So, how was it?