As Mona Lisa and Raphael headed for the shower, the hothead's mind repeated the instructions Donatello had shouted at him as Mona had dragged him out of the lab:

"For water-based paints, simply wet the hair and apply a liberal amount of shampoo to the hair. If the paint in question has dried, then you may need to allow the shampoo to sit on the painted strands and allow it to soften. Once the paint has softened, use a fine toothcomb to gently remove the paint from the hair. When the paint is out, you can rinse the hair as normal, and use a good conditioner to smooth the strands."

As soon as they were in the bathroom, Mona Lisa immediately began to pulling insistently at Raph's arm. She really just wanted the horribly disgusting stuff out of her hair.

The lizard mutant didn't like it when people messed with her hair. She didn't really like people touching it either, so she was a little hesitant about this whole thing. But if Donnie said she would need help, then she would need help. And as long as Raph was willing to give it, she'd rather have him help her than any of the others.

The only problem at the moment was that Raph had ground to a halt, and no matter how hard she pulled he refused to budge. One thing she had learned quickly about the hotheaded turtle was that pulling him around was no picnic. He was heavy and stubborn and if he didn't want to do something it was very hard to get him to do it anyway, still...she always found a way. With a smirk Mona lifted her hand to Raph face and stroked his cheek softly to get his attention. At the turtle's bright blush and startled stammer she pointed towards the shower and began to drag him in that direction.

"Wait! Wait! I..."

Mona glanced curiously over at the turtle and Raph's blush only intensified.

"I-kinda have ta take off my wrappings and pads first..." he admitted softly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand as his face grew hot with embarrassment.

Mona Lisa raised an eyebrow, not really understanding.

Raphael just began to unwrap his hands and feet. The red masked turtle had to fight back a blush as Mona Lisa watched his every move. Desperately attempting to find something else to focus on, Raphael turned his attention to the task of removing his elbow and kneepads.

Mona watched in fascination as Raph pulled the leather pads off slowly. She was amazed. She'd never seen any of the turtles without them. In fact, up until this very point in time, it had never occurred to her that they could be removed.

Raphael finished removing his elbow and kneepads and cast them off to the side. When he turned back to Mona Lisa he tensed as he realized that she was now less than a foot away from him. Ever so slowly, she reached out and rested her hand gently on his elbow.

Neon green eyes were wide as Raphael stared a her. He couldn't bring himself to move a muscle. With another sweet smile Mona leaned upward and kissed his cheek. Then she turned around and gestured to her hair.

Raph quickly pulled out of his stupor with renewed focus. Slowly, before they got in the shower, Raph approached Mona from behind and carefully undid her braid. He paid no attention to the flecks of red that stained or chipped off on his fingers.

Mona Lisa hissed a little as he attempted to pull the hairband out. Immediately Raph brought his hand back. His eyes softened. I really don't want to hurt her. He thought sadly. Raph turned her around and stared down into her eyes. "Listen Mona, let's get started and maybe I can soften it up some in the shower and pull the hairband out, okay? I don't want it to hurt you."

The lizard mutant nodded and smiled softly. She placed her hand in Raph's, never moving her eyes from his. Raph grinned and gripped her hand softly. The hothead allowed her to lead him to the shower.

"Oh wait!" he exclaimed. Mona Lisa turned to the turtle with an exasperated roll of the eyes. All she wanted was to get this over with.

'What?' She asked.

Raphael blushed a little. "Um...I forgot to take off my mask." He reached up to untie it, but Mona pushed his hands down and leaned closer to him. Her lips were mere inches away from his as she reached behind his head to untie the mask herself. Big, brown eyes stared directly into his as she slowly loosened the red knot.

At long last, the red mask finally fell away and Mona Lisa gasped. She ran a hand along his cheek softly. She'd thought his eyes were beautiful before...

They were gorgeous now.

Raphael put his hands down and allowed Mona to untie his mask herself. When she gasped Raph stared down at her worriedly. "You okay?"

Mona pulled away just enough so that she could gesture 'Your eyes are so beautiful.'

Raph's cheeks rapidly grew red and he tried to lower his gaze, but Mona tilted his head up to prevent him from doing so.

Unable to resist temptation, Mona Lisa leaned forward and pressed her lips softly against Raphael's for a brief, chaste kiss.

Raph's cheeks only got redder. Suddenly feeling very warm, Raphael grabbed Mona's hand dragged her to the shower, eager to get this over and done with.

Once they were both inside, Raph turned on the water, which he soon learned was a great mistake. The water was freezing cold. The hothead cursed as he was suddenly bombarded by the torrent. Every drop sent a pin-prick like pain through Raph's body. Mona Lisa whimpered and clung to Raphael tightly as they were temporarily too cold to react. The green-eyed turtle wrapped his arms around her tightly as the water gradually warmed to a more tolerable temperature.

Mona's quivers slowly began to subside and she snuggled against the turtle with a grateful smile on her face. Once the water was warm enough Mona Lisa pulled away and pointed to her hair.

Raphael chuckled. Of course Mona wasn't about to forget their reason for being here.

Raph picked up the shampoo from where it stood on the shower floor. Thank goodness April had thought to get it for Mona. Obviously, shampoo wasn't really something that the turtles normally had on hand.

Carefully applying the shampoo to the tussled and painted braid, Raphael gently began to spread it around. Once the dried paint had softened the hothead delicately attempted to remove the hairband from the tangled and now wet mess of hair. After a couple of tries, he finally succeed and he threw the hairband off to the side, focusing instead on rubbing all the red paint out of her hair.

Mona sighed and leaned into his hands. But Raph was trying desperately not to think about that, because if he did, he'd also notice the way the water caressed the side of her face and the attractive way her lips were slightly parted, and the way her eyes were closed in a very relaxed fashion...Oh screw it! Raphael couldn't help but think about how beautiful she looked at this moment.

His cheeks burning, Raphael bent down and pressed a soft peck to her cheek. Mona turned her head up just enough to beam at him. 'Thank you.' She gestured.

Raph's blush intensified and he went back to work on her hair. Once all the paint had washed down the drain Mona turned around and kissed Raph full on the lips appreciatively. Neon green eyes went wide as saucers before he leaned into the kiss. The hot water had steamed up the air around them quite a bit and when they pulled away they were both breathing heavily.

Then, out of the corner of her eye, Mona Lisa spotted a scrub brush hanging from a hook in the shower. She raised an eyebrow and pointed to it questioningly.

"Um...it's for scrubbing our shells. They get kinda dirty, so sometimes we help each other scrub them."

Mona bounded giddily over, grabbed the brush, and waved it at Raph's shell. Raph blushed beet red. "No, I-er-you don't need to...I mean that would just be-"

The lizard mutant rolled her eyes and forcibly turned the turtle around. She softly began to scrub his shell and Raphael just stood there stunned.

This can't really be happening...He thought to himself. But as he looked over his shoulder, he couldn't help but admit that she was incredibly beautiful.

Mona raked the scrub brush rather hard over a very sensitive spot and Raph gasped.

"Hey, watch it! It's sensitive!" Raph grumbled and Mona actually stopped to stick her tongue out at him... And kiss the side of his face.

Raph's cheeks, already flushed from the heat of the shower, flushed further. When Mona Lisa finished cleaning his shell, she returned the brush to its place on the wall of the shower.

The turtles' bright green eyes, which at some point had closed due to the soothing feeling of his carapace being scrubbed, now snapped back open and followed Mona Lisa as she deftly put the brush back where it belonged.

Raphael smirked as he realized that Mona's tail hadn't stopped twitching. Every once in a while it flicked a bit of water off the tip. It was cute. And it was obvious that she didn't even realize she was doing it.

Raph reached over and turned the water off abruptly. Mona jumped a little at the sudden change, but quickly nodded and the two of them made their way out of the shower. Raph quickly wrapped a towel around her shoulders before proceeding to get his own and dry off to the best of his ability.

His eyes flicked over to Mona Lisa as she dried herself off. He couldn't help but admire the way her hair stuck to her face when it was wet. It was very attractive.

The lizard mutant suddenly had the feeling that she was being watched. Her eyes slowly moved upward, from where she was currently drying her legs. As she met that handsome green gaze of his, she could feel her face growing hot.

They both tore their gazes away as their blushes intensified.

--------------------------

Meanwhile, with the other turtles...

Donnie looked up as Leonardo poked his head into the lab, holding tightly to a squirming Michelangelo.

Thankfully, the eldest explained before Donnie could ask. "Don, we're looking for Mona Lisa. Michelangelo has some apologizing to do."

"Sorry Leo, she's with Raph."

"Okay, where's Raph?" Leo asked.

Don shrugged as he looked into his microscope. "They're probably still in the shower."

Mikey held up a finger. "Hold on, they're in the shower? They as in both of them? Together?!"

Leo's eyes were wide, "What?! But she's a girl!"

The brainiac raised a curious eye-ridge at his eldest sibling. "Huh. That's exactly what Raph said." Donnie rolled his eyes, sighed, and began to explain. "She needed help to wash that paint out of her hair. Thus-"

Leonardo held up a hand. "We get it."

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Well? How was it?