.

Renaissance

"April!"

The redhead stopped dead in her tracks as fear crept up her spine. She clenched her fists and willed her feet to continue moving because it could be bad news if she stayed frozen. She sighed. There was no use trying to escape. She had to face the music. Turning around slowly in the middle of the school's packed hallway, April came face to face with an angered Irma.

"Where are you going? You said you would study with me for our science final tomorrow," her best friend explained with exasperation, "We've been planning this for three weeks."

April remembered making the plans (though she forgot about them up to this point) and slapped her forehead with her palm, "Oh man…that was tonight…?"

"Duh! We just got out of science class! Didn't you hear anything Mr. Shaffer said for the last hour?"

Truthfully, the answer was no. April was way too preoccupied to worry about chemical compounds and….and whatever else they were supposed to know. All she could think about was that Mikey and Casey were currently injured and being treated down in the sewers. Well, they were getting better. Mostly bruising and slight limping at this point, but it still left April feeling out of the loop when she had to attend class.

"Yes! Of course I heard him! I just…" she trailed off. Think of an excuse, think of an excuse!

Irma rolled her eyes, "How can I buy into a lie when you can't even think of one off the top of your head? Come on, we can go to my place," Irma grabbed April's arm as she walked past her, determined to keep her best friend close by.

April had to wonder why Irma even wanted to hang out with her anymore. She was always ditching her and making up lame lies about why she does it, and yet Irma was persistent in keeping her as a close friend.

For the second time, April sighed. She figured she would suffer through a few hours of studying and then find a way to sneak down a manhole. Because it's not like that was weird or anything.

Still, she was glad when Irma let go of her arm once they were outside.

"So I see the annoying Casey Jones skipped class again today," Irma said matter of factly and pushed her glasses up with her index finger, "Looks like he'll be failing this year again."

"He's not gonna fail," April came to his defense, "I've been tutoring him…he'll be fine."

Irma side glanced over to April, "Why do you even hang out with him anyway? Aren't you embarrassed to be seen with someone like…that?"

April glared at the sidewalk in front of her. She loved Irma—she really did—but she didn't always like her attitude. She got that Irma didn't get along with Casey, but that was hardly a reason to insult him, especially when he wasn't even there to defend himself.

"I don't care what other people think, Irma. I hang out with him because I like him, not because I'm trying to impress the world."

"Deep," Irma responded dryly, but could still tell she angered April a bit, "Okay, look, I get it but he just—."

As they rounded a corner, Irma got interrupted by two teenage boys shouting in the street. They were laughing and throwing an object back and forth to each other.

"I hope that rock hits one of them in the face….or both of them," Irma commented.

But as they got closer to the boys, April squinted at the object they were throwing, "That's a weird looking rock…" She was able to catch a better glimpse when one of the boys held it over his head to toss. Her eyes widened in horror. It was a turtle!

"Stop!" She yelled, relieved when the boy didn't throw the turtle again. April stomped over to the boy and held out her hand, "Give me the turtle."

The boy looked at her in mock amusement as he held up his stance in front of his laughing friend, "It's my turtle, why should I give it to you?"

"Because you're being cruel!" Was the only explanation April needed to give. Before the boy could laugh, she punched him in the stomach. Training with the guys had made her a lot tougher and the impact her fist had with the boy's gut almost scared her. She didn't mean to hit him that hard and was surprised when he began gasping for breath and fell to his knees.

If it was under any other circumstances, she would have apologized. But she was in the middle of rescuing a turtle. She easily plucked the reptile from the fallen boy's hand, just then noticing how tiny it was. It fit nicely in the palm of her hand, though all of its limbs and head were hidden within its shell.

That's when the condition of the shell caught her eye. It was filthy with algae in the grooves. Obscene pictures were painted on the hard surface. And it even looked like they tried to etch a letter into the shell using a sharp object…a razor blade or pocket knife presumably.

"Oh, you poor little thing…" She put her other hand over it protectively as she glared daggers at the boy who was just finding the strength to get up, "How dare you hurt this baby turtle!"

He held an open hand over his stomach as he stood, "Geez, chill out. He can't feel it if it's on his shell!"

"And you're an idiot! How would you like it if I ripped all your fingernails off!?"

"Hey," Irma suddenly appeared at her side, hand on her shoulder, "Come on, let's go." It was making Irma nervous to have April yelling and threatening these boys who could be psychopaths for all they knew. She was quite impressed that April brought the boy down with one punch, but his friend was walking over and didn't need them ganging up on April.

"They're not even worth it," April turned and walked away much to Irma's relief. She didn't think it would be that easy.

"You can't just take my turtle!" The boy yelled angrily.

"I can and I can also report you for animal abuse!" April yelled without turning around. She was boiling inside, her heart pounding in her ears. She couldn't even imagine the pain this little turtle was in and she had to help it as best as she could.

"April, wait!" She heard Irma yell from far behind her and that was when she realized she was running. She had to get to the lair. The guys would know what to do. She dared to lift her top hand and look at the tiny shell in her palm. The turtle still didn't peak out.

"Assholes!" She whispered harshly, hoping that the wind would whoosh it back to those boys and punch their faces with her word.

Turning down an alley, she quickly yet carefully removed the manhole. She jumped down into the sewer, her upper body rigid with worry at hurting the turtle even more. Running through the shallow water, she kept the turtle in the dark home of her hands, and she was sure she felt his legs poking out a few times before retreating back into his shell.

Once she made it through the turnstiles, her eyes quickly scanned the lair and silently hoped that they weren't all out for some reason.

That's when she happened to hear a page being turned from the couch. Walking further in, she saw Raph lying on his side with his cheek in his palm. A comic book lay open in front of him as he lazily flipped through the pages.

She rushed in front of him, falling to her knees in front of the couch. His eyes left the pages and looked to the girl in shock.

"Raph, please help," She held out her hands to reveal the baby turtle.

Raph's eyes widened at the terrible looking shell, "What the heck happened, did it—."

"I'll explain later, but we need to get his shell clean. Do you know how or should I get Don—."

"No, he's workin' on somethin' important," Raph swung himself over the back of the couch and went to the kitchen. He got a bowl and filled it with water, "Come 'ere," he cocked his head to tell April to follow him into his room. He placed the bowl down on the table that Spike always ate his leaves on. He then went to one of his shelves, pushing a few knickknacks out of the way until he found what he was looking for. A toothbrush. He tore it out of its package before handing it to April, "Scrub him gently. I'll be right back."

April's heart was still pounding fast as she dipped the turtle in the water with the brush, biting her lip harshly when it seemed to make the algae on the shell come to life. She began scrubbing.

He still wasn't coming out of his shell and she was beginning to worry that he was hurt elsewhere. She brought him close to her face, her voice lowered, "Come on out, little guy. No one's gonna hurt you anymore."

Nothing.

She sighed and continued scrubbing, cringing when it made the shell look a bit worse as the algae rose from the shell.

Raph came back in and put another bowl on the counter. The smell immediately went to April's nose. Solvent.

"Here," Raph held his hand out and April willingly handed the baby over. Raph looked closely at the shell from different angles before flipping him over to look at his plastron. April didn't notice before, but he was also painted on his belly as well. She covered her mouth and tried to hold back tears that stung her eyes. As a lifelong animal lover, it was hard for her to see this. Even when she saw an animal in the street that looked hungry she felt awful.

But Raph quickly got to work as he seemed to know the right amount of solvent to water ratio to use when washing the turtle. After every few minutes, he would wash the shell with a rag before examining and then scrubbing.

As more time went by, April was starting to see a difference. The paint wasn't as bright and the bacteria was disappearing. She finally felt her heart rate slow and her muscles relax as she leaned against the counter to watch Raph work silently and diligently. His green eyes were narrowed in concentration under the dim light and a tight frown curved his mouth.

She caught his eyes quickly glancing over to her for a mere second, "Want to tell me what happened now?"

April narrowed her eyes, "A couple punks were tossing him like a football. They thought it was hilarious, but…" she focused on the hidden turtle, "He's obviously still afraid."

"Mm," was his only response. He turned the turtle over, "Looks like he might have an infection. I still got some cream for that from when I had…" he trailed off though it didn't seem like he noticed. He grabbed a tube of Silverdyne Cream and rubbed it on the turtle's plastron.

April studied closely, "Did you learn all this from keeping Spike as a pet?"

It could have been her imagination, but it seemed like he jumped slightly before pulling up a stool and sitting down as he worked, "Yeah, somethin' like that."

She nodded. It was suddenly strange…she was never really alone with Raph for this long and was at a loss of what to talk about. She didn't want to leave, however. She at least wanted to wait until Raph said that the baby would be okay. Eyeing another stool that was tucked under the table, she slowly pulled it out and waited to see if Raph would object. When he didn't say a thing, she sat down next to him.

"So where is everyone?" she asked.

"Sensei and Leo are in the dojo with Casey and Mikey. They're tryin' ta get them to meditate to heal faster. Don't know how well that's working." April watched as Raph set the turtle down on the cloth and looked at the side of the shell closely before getting the solvent, water, brush, then scrubbing.

"And Donnie?"

"He's workin' on some sorta tracking device to find Karai. Guess we're plannin' on rescuin' her or some crap." He sounded none too happy with this plan yet willing to go along with it.

She nodded, "How's Leo taking it?"

Raph groaned, "By becoming even broodier. Seriously, for a leader that's supposed to stay positive all the time, he sure does brood a lot."

April smiled softly, "That's what happens when feelings are involved…"

"Yeah well…he needs to get over those feelings. It's makin' him stupid," Raph dipped the toothbrush into the solvent hard enough to splash some on the table, but made sure to go easy on the turtle, "It's like I'm always tellin' Donnie…"

April kept her eyes on the baby turtle. She would rather not have him say whatever he was going to say because she didn't need to hear it.

"I can't believe he thinks he has a chance with a human anyway," he mumbled. April wasn't sure which he Raph was referring to.

"Can I try again?" she asked, holding out her hands for the turtle. Pausing, Raph raised an eyebrow at her skeptically. She rolled her eyes, "Come on, I won't hurt him. I'm the one that rescued him, remember?"

He looked back down at the baby and it was then that April realized how he was looking at it. It was hard to pinpoint, but it definitely seemed protective. Still, Raph handed the baby over to April a moment later, also giving her the brush.

He watched her hands closely.

She brushed the turtle for a few seconds before finally responding, "Feelings don't really take chances into consideration…"

"Whatever, I don't wanna talk about it," Raph dismissed, clearly feeling uncomfortable with the subject. April silently wondered if she would be able to get him to explain himself anytime soon. He was obviously bothered by it, but she couldn't tell if he was disturbed over the fact that his brothers had feelings for humans or that humans would never be able to develop feelings for them.

It was peculiar how suddenly she wanted to talk to him. About everything. But that was the problem…he wouldn't just talk about everything. He always had his guard up and it made it impossible for anyone to get close to him. She figured Leo knew him the best which was probably why they were always arguing. Raph had to put up double defenses around his older brother and Leo saw right through it

"You'd be surprised how easy it is to get over rejection," April said with a smirk and a chuckle. She was trying to lighten the mood; "I remember this one time when I was ten, I wanted to tell this one boy I liked him…I think his name was Jake. Anyway, he found out I liked him through the power of gossip and he made fun of me for it forever. Well…it was like a week or something. Either way, I got over him fairly quickly."

Raph put his elbow on the table, his fist cradling his head, "That was an awful story. And besides, that reaction wouldn't apply to everyone. You're not a hopeless romantic like Leo and Donnie are."

She raised her eyebrows, "Who says I'm not a hopeless romantic?"

Raph gave her a dull look that very easily said 'Really? You're gonna argue with me on this one?' and April had to relent, mumbling out a: "Yeah, whatever. Disney ruined it for me."

"Who's Disney?"

"Some guy who believed that a true love's kiss could bring someone back from the dead."

"Sounds like a hoax."

"Pretty much."

"So you're saying that—."

April suddenly gasped, "Raph, look! I think he's coming out of his shell!" She held her palm flat open as she felt tiny movements on her skin. Raph leaned over next to her, their cheeks grazing as they stared at the tiny turtle peeking his head and limbs out.

"Aww, he's so cute!" April exclaimed in a loud whisper so as not to scare him again.

"Looks like he's 'bout four months old," Raph stated.

Though April was highly pleased with the turtle finally making his grand appearance, she couldn't help but glance at Raph through her peripheral. The emerald seemed brighter than usual as his smile actually reached his eyes. Her vision happened to catch the crack in his plastron and, having just cared for the baby, was suddenly curious as to how it happened.

But that would be a question for another time.

The baby was finally fully out of his shell, his little legs moving up and down in a stretching motion.

"What should we name him?" April asked as she cautiously laid her pinky from her free hand down on front of the turtle. She giggled softly when he nudged it with his snout.

"Umm…Moose?" he suggested.

April rolled her eyes, "We're not naming a turtle Moose."

"Buzz?"

"He's not a bee either. He needs something that'll fit in with you guys. How about…" April thought back to her art class she took the year before. They were coincidentally studying Renaissance artists. She laughed every time one of the turtle's names were mentioned; "What about Giotto?"

Raph looked insulted, "That's a—…" he trailed off as he suddenly thought about what she said. Giotto. He looked from her to the baby. Giotto. "That's actually…not bad. It fits…"

April remembered the name from studying Italian Renaissance artists. She never thought the knowledge would actually come in handy.

"Gio for short," Raph added.

She grinned, "It's perfect." She wiggled her pinky to tickle Gio under his chin, "Hi, Gio. How are you?"

Of course, Gio didn't answer, just stared at the two of them, but April thought she saw a look in his eyes that clearly said thank you.

Gently, she placed him on the table so he could walk around if he wanted. Now that he wasn't in the palm of April's hand, there was no reason for Raph to be that close to her and he found himself quickly jumping from his seat. He left his room without saying a word.

April narrowed her eyes, wondering what just got into the mysterious turtle in red. Before she could think too hard on it, however, Raph came back in and set a couple leafs down in front of Gio. Instantly, Gio began chomping away on his dinner.

"Wow, he must have been starving," April commented, frowning a bit when she wondered when the last time he actually ate was.

"Well, he'll be able to eat whenever he wants from now on," Raph said with more conviction than April was expecting, making her focus all her attention to the teenage turtle.

She could visibly see him making a vow in his mind that he would protect this baby turtle they just named Giotto and not let it get mutated into a vicious monster like Spike became. Which meant her had to keep it away from Mikey. Gio wasn't about to get turned into ice cream either…

And she suddenly felt special that she could see this moment in Raphael. She was impressed when he instantly took action and cleaned Gio up with the right tools…Gio's shell still needed a bit more touching up, but there would be time for that. They were going to have a very happy baby Gio.

April nudged Raph with her elbow, smiling at him when he snapped out of his thoughts and looked over to her, "You look good with your defenses down," she told him delicately, "you should do it more often."

His eyes searched hers for a long moment. It was almost intimidating and her instincts wanted to look away, but she held onto her bravery and met his gaze. She wasn't sure what she was seeing. Even when he was looking right into her, it was so hard to read him.

Finally, he rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue, standing up from his stool again and going over to his shelf. He scanned through his comic book collection without actually seeing the titles.

This was normal. And she was fine with it, so she laid her head on her arm as she watched Gio eat, her finger tenderly following his patterns on his shell.

She was so proud that she was able to rescue the next Renaissance turtle.