WOOHOO! TWO NEW CHAPTERS IN THE SAME DAY! I'm breaking barriers here! I've been looking forward to writing this particular chapter for a while, and I was so excited to write this particular chapter from the perspective of someone other than Irma.

So this particular chapter is written a little differently- its third-person, focusing on Mona Lisa and Raphael, so, yeah, there's going to be some fluff here.

What can I say, I'm a romantic.

I don't own Ninja Turtles or anything affiliated with it. I'm just writing a story.

And I would like to say to all my loyal readers out there, have a wonderful, Merry, Merry Christmas!

Chapter Fifteen

Four months.

Mona kicked the punching bag again.

Four months like this. As a lizard. As a mutant.

Whack! Her tail smashed against the side of the bag, feeling satisfaction that she was able to use this extra… appendage with such dexterity.

She was the only one in the training room at the moment- not surprising, considering it was almost two in the morning. Everyone else in the Lair was asleep, as she should be. But Mona was too restless, her mind working too hard for her to sleep.

It had been four months since her transformation.

Mona knew, she really did, that there was no going back. There was no known cure for what had been done to her, and it just wasn't safe for her to go back to the surface. But that didn't make it any easier. She hated that her first adjective she'd use to describe her current situation was 'trapped', because she knew that the Hamatos never wanted her to feel that way. But it was the way she felt nonetheless. It wasn't safe for her to leave the Lair to go up into the surface, she couldn't be by her child nearly as often as she wanted, and she had nothing to do to occupy her brilliant mind. Sure, Donnie invited her to do research in his lab as much as she wanted, but she was a geneticist! She was used to having state of the art technology at her fingertips that she could use to fix all of mankind's illnesses! Granted, that aspiration was a little far-fetched, but it was something to dream about at least. Down here, she couldn't even publish something on an online science forum unless Donnie first created a special "ghost" account for her.

Frustrating. She spun on her foot and kicked the bag in front of her with all her strength. There, that was the word she wanted to use. She had gone from being a scientist with a good reputation and a child to being… this. The only thing she could do now to keep herself occupied was train with the turtles, and while they told her she was making excellent progress, it still left her feeling unfulfilled.

How was she supposed to find out what happened to Paul like this? How was she supposed to be a mother? Could she even be a mother now?

With an angry grunt, Mona went to work on the bag, refusing to give herself any breaks, visualizing the Kraang as she let out all of her fury onto the poor bad.

She pulled back a fist with the intent of smashing it into the leather when a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist from behind. Startled, Mona's entire body jerked as she tried to spin around, only find herself being grabbed by the waist and pulled backwards against something hard and cool.

"Mona! Calm down, would you?"

The grip around her waist loosened and she managed to turn her body halfway to see the amused face of Raphael behind her. "So what'd the bag do to you, kill a family member?"

She huffed after being let loose from his grasp, turning around and taking a couple of steps back to look at him. Him… he was another thing she had to think about. Raphael stood there, arms crossed, leaning on one leg, watching her with his usual smirk. Mona couldn't decide how she felt about that smirk. On the one hand, she loved it when he smirked. On the other hand, it was infuriating, because it meant he felt pretty good about himself, and whenever someone bragged around her, she always wanted to show them up.

Hell, she couldn't even decide how she felt about Raphael- she liked him. She really did, and that was surprising given how short a time it had been since they had first met, and given the fact that she hadn't ever liked someone to that extent, maybe ever. That alone was confusing enough without the complications of a) both of them being mutants, and b) having a toddler. She was unsure if even approaching him about the subject was a good idea. After all, if she said anything even hinting towards how she was feeling and he didn't respond positively, then that could make everything in the Lair so awkward. The only thing worse than being stuck in the Lair without any escape, was being stuck in the Lair with tension and bad feelings.

Some of her emotions must have spread to her face because Raphael's smirk changed into a frown of concern. "Hey, you okay?"

Mona shook off some of the thoughts and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, I've just been… thinking. About a lot of things. And I couldn't sleep because of it, so I came in here to see if I could distract myself." She cocked her head curiously. "What are you doing here?"

"Came to get a glass of water and heard someone in here." His eyes turned thoughtful and calculating suddenly. "Your form is good, and so is your aim. But I think it's time you start practicing with an opponent who can actually avoid your attacks." After he spoke, he walked to the center of the training room and took a fighting stance. "Come on, give it a shot."

"Are you kidding me? I don't wanna get beat up! I'd like to go to bed without bruises, thank you very much."

"I'm not going to attack, I'm pure defense. I'm gonna move while you try to hit me. Now come on, you ain't getting any younger!"

Mona rolled her eyes and then her shoulders, heading towards him, also taking a fighting stance opposite of him. "Don't cry too hard if I hit you," she said teasingly, and he chuckled. "I'll try not to."

The next few minutes were good, if somewhat tiring. She swung quickly at his right arm, but he easily dodged it. "Good swing," he commented. "but we need to work on your speed."

"I'll show you speed," Mona grumbled, and went after him again. She swung at him several times, but couldn't seem to land a blow. Even when she feinted a hit with her right and then went with her left, he dodged it.

"That was good!" he said approvingly. "That was real good! Too bad you're just not good enough to get me." The cocky tone of his voice sparked something Mona, and she grinned impishly at him. Before he realized just what she was doing, she had launched herself at him with the intent of knocking him over from the force of full body contact. He managed to catch her just in time, but was still knocked backwards a few feet, trying not to fall. His arms had wrapped around her tightly, and her amused cackle filled the air.

"How was that for speed?" she crowed at him, but he had no response. His mind had turned to other matters, feeling her pressed up so close against him. Mona Lisa's triumphant grin made her eyes shine, and her hair was disheveled and falling out of the pony-tail she had put it in. Her face was laughing and happy. She looked gorgeous. He had half expected her to wriggle out of his arms immediately, but she stayed within his grip, just staring at him challengingly.

He wanted to tell her right then what he'd been meaning to for a while- that he thought she was wonderful, and smart, and kind, and feisty, and loyal. He wanted to tell her that he loved how even when she brushed her hair in the morning it still looked unruly, and how he loved it when her eyes squinted up when she was trying to puzzle something out in her mind. There were a lot of things he wanted to say to her at that moment, but he couldn't seem to get the words out of his mouth to say what he was feeling. But he'd always been more of a turtle of action than a talker, and so instead of saying anything, he decided to show her.

To say that Mona Lisa was surprised by the kiss would not be an exaggeration. She was utterly shocked by the sudden feeling of his lips on hers, and the way his arms tightened around her torso as he kissed her. But it would be a lie if she said she didn't like it.

It was a brief kiss, if fierce, and it lasted no longer than a second or two. When he pulled back, Raphael suddenly seemed unsure of his actions, and began to look worried. After all, he had kissed her out of the blue with no indication from her that she would be open to it. Fortunately, it turned out that she was.

Mona kissed him the next time, pressing her lips hard to his. A sound of surprise left his lips, but then he returned it, loosening his arms to let her spin around so that they were front-to-front, their arms wrapped around each other's backs. He gave another small gasp of surprise when he felt something coil gently around his left leg- he relaxed when he realized it was just Mona's tail gently sliding along his leg. But that one action stirred something else in him that he wasn't quite prepared to handle at that moment. He broke the kiss off once again and leaned back from her, though he still kept his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Well," he cleared his throat. "That was…"

"Unexpected." Mona finished his sentence for him looking amused. "So I guess this means I've moved past the rank of stranger."

He gave a chuckle. "Yeah, well, what can I say? I'm weak when it comes to your natural charm."

"Ooh, you know just what to say to a girl." She turned thoughtful and frowned softly. "Well, it goes without saying now that we both like each other."

"Yeah, I think that's safe to say."

"I have to say though, this is… fast."

"Maybe. I don't have too much expertise in this area."

Mona grinned and kissed his nose. Raphael turned bright red, but grinned like a loon. "Sometimes these things are fast though."

"Yeah…" Raphael's grin was replaced with a serious gaze as his thoughts took a more serious turn. "But hey, this is… something new for us both. I mean, you've, uh, changed a lot since you first came down here."

Mona smirked. "Oh, you mean the green skin and tail is a big change?"

The turtle with his hands resting on her hips chuckled. "You looked beautiful either way to me. But what I mean is that a lot has happened to you, and I don't wanna rush you into anything. I want this to be, y'know, comfortable."

Mona nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It would probably be better if we did take things a little slow, just in case… well…"

"It doesn't work out," Raphael finished for her.

Mona nodded. "But I definitely want to see where this takes us," she said firmly. "I just don't want something to happen that makes us antagonistic towards each other if it doesn't work. So maybe for now, we should keep this quiet- y'know, not formally announce it until we're on solid ground, so to speak."

Raphael gave a grunt of agreement. "I think Irma may already be onto us though."

Mona laughed softly. "Yeah, we were pretty obvious the other day." She glanced down at his hands and arms still wrapped around her. "Pretty obvious now, too."

Raph groaned and let his arms drop reluctantly. "Alright, alright, no PDA, I get it."

"I know, you're suffering so much." Mona gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "But I think it'll be okay. Plus, this might help you build up some patience, which couldn't hurt."

"Oh, like you're a saint in that department."

"Okay," Mona raised her hands in admission. "Fair enough. So maybe this will be good for us."

"Right. So no to PDA, yes to sneaking kisses in corners, waiting on announcing this to everyone."

The reptilian girl nodded. "There you go. And before we get caught in here, I think maybe we should head back to our rooms and get some rest." She began to turn to leave, but felt herself being snagged once more and was pressed up against her turtle's plastron again, and the cocky smirk on his mouth made her grin too.

"Don't I get a goodnight kiss before we begin our sexy, secret romance?"

Mona laughed and gave him a slow, lingering kiss again, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as he wrapped his arms around her again, and felt some shivers go up her spine when Raphael growled in approval as the kiss continued.

Later on, neither Raphael or Mona would say exactly how long the two of them stood there, holding each other close, but according to the clock on the wall, it may or may not have been about ten minutes. But really, who could blame them?

Well, my friends, there it is. THE KISS. And if I may say so, I found it really, really fun to write. And it's so easy with these two! The chemistry jumps out of my fingers and into the words! I wanted this chapter to be a growing one for the two of them. Despite both of them being pretty hot-headed, they're also both conservative when it comes to things of romance. Plus, if something did happen to make it not work between the two of them, it would really suck if things were seriously awkward between them, especially for everyone else living in the Lair. But we'll see how long their caution lasts... After all, we are talking about Raphael here. ;)

I hope you guys liked the chapter, and that it was what you were hoping for. Constructive criticism and reviews are wonderful, and I would greatly appreciate both. Thank you all once again for sticking with me this long. I love you all. And once again, have a very Merry Christmas!