Huge shout-out to RelaxedReady for being an awesome beta and late-night turtle chat buddy! She's quite the talented writer - be sure to go check out her stuff!

"Chill, Raph, cool your temper!" Leo shouted at his brother, a scowl etched across his face.

"Not until Mikey quits wiping his greasy mitts all over my barbells!" Raph growled back, one hand around his younger brother's throat and the other drawn back in a fist, suspended in mid-air and ready to thrust forward, aimed at the smaller turtle's wincing face.

"Put him down. Now." Leo commanded menacingly.

Raphael rolled his eyes and tossed Mikey unceremoniously onto the floor. "I don't know why you don't give him a hard time, he's the one always making a mess of everything!" Raph rumbled as he skulked back to clean the pizza residue from his weight equipment.

"You're the one who can't control yourself!" Leo shouted back.

"Leo."

That voice. It made his breath hitch in his throat. It had been having that effect on him more and more lately - a terrifying fact that he chose to tuck back into the far recesses of his mind, hoping it would fade away into nothingness if he continued to ignore it.

He whirled on the brunette standing behind him. The source of the voice. Her face held a look of stern authority, and her arms were folded tightly across her chest. He glowered at her. "What." He was in no mood to be told off.

She softened. Reaching up, she took his face between her palms, her warm hands burning into the flesh of his cheeks. His face remained set, though she was stealing all the oxygen from the air. Or at least that's how he felt as her blue eyes locked onto his and his chest constricted in his shell.

"You have to relax, let them handle their issues," she said in a soft voice, attempting to calm him. It had the exact opposite effect.

He reached up to clasp her hands on either side of his face, and slowly brought them down to place them safely back at her sides. "I am the leader of this team," he said in a controlled, low voice, his brows furrowed behind his tattered blue mask. "I have the authority to put a stop to their little issues." His voice was unexpectedly harsh. Her eyes widened slightly, as though taken aback at his tone. But rather than feel hurt by his attitude towards her, she narrowed her eyes as anger began its slow simmer inside her. "You don't need to tell me how to run this team," he added.

April's eyes narrowed as her anger came to a boil.

How dare you… she wanted to say. But instead, she flashed him a glare that burned as hot as her boiling anger, turned on her heel, and left the lair.

A week had gone by and nobody had heard anything from April. Tensions were high in the lair - Leo's power trip had become worse than ever before, and the brothers were becoming testy and irritable, both from being micromanaged by their older brother as well as missing their human friend, who always offered a ray of sunshine in their dark world. Everyone knew the only way things would change would be if Leo swallowed his pride and just went and apologized to her already, but nobody had the courage to say it to his face. It was a blow-up waiting to happen. Leo was already a ticking time bomb.

Night was falling in the city, and everyone had silently tucked themselves into their own corners of the lair, afraid to speak and thus trip the bomb. Donatello was in his lab, plucking away at his latest software update for their phones, Raphael under his barbell attempting to beat his last PR of 715lbs, Michelangelo immersed in a comic book, a classic he'd read at least a hundred times, and Leonardo was in and out of an unfocused meditation with Master Splinter. A lot was preoccupying his mind. He wouldn't admit it, though.

Finally, a brave whisper came from Mikey that carried across the lair. "I miss April…"

Leo blew out a slow, steady breath. April… Even the sound of her name struck him to his very core, melting him like warm honey while simultaneously jolting him alive like the crack of a whip. He felt he'd been starved for the past week, but only just realized it upon hearing her name. His heart churned painfully against its emptiness. He bowed his head, contemplating. The attempt at meditation had calmed him somewhat. Enough to have a clear head and a controlled temper. Enough to extinguish some of his pride, to bring a glimmer of enlightenment on the fact that only he could fix this. It was he who turned her away, and he who would have to suck it up and make amends. The team was affected by her absence, and as their leader, it was up to him to try to restore balance, and that would be by bringing April back. He sighed. Without speaking a word, he unfolded from his lotus position and stood, and silently made his way out of the lair.

His heart hammered rapidly behind his plastron as he stood poised on the rooftop of the building adjacent to April's apartment. A warm glow shone from inside, indicating she was home, and only making his heart beat faster. He took a steadying breath, and silently leaped from the building, landing softly on her fire escape platform with a barely audible clang of feet against metal. Before he could talk himself out of it, he brought his three-fingered fist up to rap gently against her window.

Time stood still as soon as his eyes fell on her, watching as she lifted the window, not smiling, not showing any emotion, really, and stood back with her arms folded across her chest and a mildly annoyed look that said 'What do you want?'. Baggy blue pajama bottoms rode low on the curve of her hips, accentuating her toned waist, which was covered by a tight black camisole. She was clearly not wearing a bra, the smooth curve of her breasts behind her folded arms causing his eyes to linger longer than they should have, and he quickly averted them. He swallowed hard as he stepped inside, urging himself to keep his eyes locked on hers. He stood there, staring, frozen on the spot, until finally she narrowed her eyes, tilting her head slightly, and asked, "Can I help you?"

He huffed out a sigh. "I came to say I'm sorry," he spoke, his voice level, but his gaze fell to the floor.

April simply nodded thoughtfully in response. A painful silence hung in the air, and he wondered if she was going to say anything at all. He lifted his blue eyes to meet hers, and she softened at the look of desperation they held within them. She nodded again, more affirmatively this time, and stepped closer to him.

He inhaled sharply, catching the scent of lilacs in springtime. He was immediately transported to one of his favorite places in Central Park, a comfortable spring breeze blowing softly in the quiet night, the lights of the cityscape twinkling majestically in the background.

"Me too," she said softly, her voice tethering him back into the present, into her kitchen, where he still stood paralyzed in front of her.

He lowered his brows slightly. "For what?"

"For not talking to any of you for a week. Your brothers didn't deserve that."

He watched her with tight lips. She didn't specify that she wasn't angry anymore, or that he didn't deserve her absence. He swallowed a lump in his throat.

"But I didn't appreciate that tone you took with me, Leonardo," she said authoritatively, a look in her eye that bored into him threateningly, and his heart did a flip. Nobody talked to him that way… But he found himself reacting to it with an unexpected arousal. He couldn't find the words to respond.

Her eyes were still flashing. "I don't expect you to bow at my presence, but I am the reason you all are even alive, and I am the only direct contact you have to the human world, so a little more respect would be appreciated."

He felt shame wash over him as he hung his head. She was right. He was such an asshole. He met her eyes once more, and was relieved to see her face had relaxed, having a sense of release after saying her piece. Maybe he'd be able to get out of the doghouse after all. "You're right, you didn't deserve that," he said softly, genuinely. He sighed. "I feel a lot of pressure leading this team. I guess I get carried away. I'm sorry I took it out on you."

She nodded, accepting his apology, and he visibly relaxed. "They're also your brothers, Leo," she said, her voice almost a whisper that sent chills tingling down his spine. "And your relationship as brothers should be as equals. You can lead them on missions, in combat, when you need to act as a team. But when you're just being a family, you're no better or higher than any of them." She offered him a gentle smile that constricted his heart. "I just don't want to see your position as leader go to your head, and throw off the delicate balance you all are hanging in." She reached up to touch his arm, trying to offer him a sense of comfort, but he tensed as an electricity jolted through him from her touch.

She must have felt it too, as they locked eyes and the energy noticeably shifted in the room. She didn't move her hand; it remained suspended against the taut muscles of his forearm, and as though guided by some unseen force, against his will, he lifted his own arm, bringing the fingertips of his hand to brush against her elbow. He felt her body stiffen, saw her throat contract against a hard swallow, watched her pink tongue dart out to lick her lips, her eyes never leaving his. What's happening… he thought in terrified wonder. All this time, he didn't want to face his undeniable feelings, and kept them buried in the certainty that she'd never feel the same. How could she? But now… Now something was happening that gave him a glimmer of courage to let a few of those feelings out of those dark recesses of his mind.

She let out a slow breath and stepped closer, their arms still connected, practically humming with electricity. He remained frozen to the spot, his heart resuming its rapid tempo, and was transported once again to those lilac bushes in the dark of Central Park, as her aroma flooded his senses. But this time, there was a headiness mixed in that scent that shocked him like a live wire, igniting a flood of emotions both terrifying and exciting, that battled in him for dominance.

"Leo…" she whispered, her voice smooth and wanting.

It was too much. Sense finally came crashing into him and he quickly released her arm, breaking the electric current and bringing them both back to the stifling awareness of the present. What the hell was that? he thought frantically as his brain reeled with trying to make sense of everything. She looked shocked, and borderline hurt.

Shaking his head, fear laced in his eyes, he said, "I have to go. I have have a team to lead." It was almost as though he said it not as his reason to leave, but as his reason to put a stop to whatever that was that just happened between them. What did just happen between them?

He gave her a quick nod, trying not to allow himself to be affected by the obvious hurt in her eyes, and turned so that his shell faced her. In one swift movement he leapt out the window and onto the fire escape.

"Leo, wait!" she shouted, finally getting her bearings about her. She rushed forward and leaned against the window frame, her eyes pleading. He took a steadying breath as he turned to face her, waiting to hear what she needed to say. She looked panicked for a moment, frozen, until finally she found her voice. "Are we okay?"

He sighed and offered her a soft smile. "Yeah," he said in a quiet voice, giving her small nod. "We're okay."

She returned his smile, a mixture of relief and confusion in her eyes, and before anything else could happen, he leapt off the fire escape and into the shadows.