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Test of Endurance

A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie Fanfiction

By Gideon Kalve Jarvis

Commissioned by JadeStyx

Author's Note: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is owned by Mirage Studios, and the film by New Line Cinema. The author does not own this franchise, and makes no profit from this story. This story takes place in the 1990 film, after the Turtles have moved with April O'Neil and Casey Jones to April's farm in the country.

For days, Leonardo had been sitting in the same chair, waiting, watching. When the Foot had attacked, neither he nor his brothers had been ready for it. They hadn't been united, hadn't been ready to stand together. Raphael had been off on his own, ambushed and overcome. Leonardo mostly fought his own fights, while Michelangelo and Donatello were, as usual, wisecracking their way through the battles - at least they had been together through the fight.

Because they hadn't been ready, April O'Neil's apartment had been burned, and they'd been forced to flee in defeat, losing so much. All because they hadn't fought as one, hadn't been united against their common foe. Instead, they'd been fighting each other.

No, Leonardo forced himself to admit, looking up at Raphael, the red-masked Turtle lying limply in the bathtub, shell up, a position they found most comfortable: _he_had fought with his brother. He'd been too self-absorbed, too determined to be the one in charge, to be the one who took the place of Master Splinter while their sensei was gone, kidnapped by the Foot Clan.

Every now and then, April would come into the bathroom where they'd lain Raphael, letting him rest in the large tub there. She'd tenderly stroke the injured Turtle's shell, keep him moist and clean with a gently-applied sponge, and would carefully look Raphael over, making sure he wasn't getting any worse, even if she couldn't tell if he was getting any better.

"He'll be all right," said April as she left, touching Leonardo on one shoulder before leaving him to his self-appointed vigil.

With little else to do, Leonard reflected on April and her relationship with all of them. Sure, she liked him, Michelangelo, and Donatello, but Leo understood quietly that April liked Raphael best of all. It had been Raphael that had first saved her from the Foot Clan when they'd tried to silence her reporting on their criminal activities. Raphael was the one April almost always addressed first when she was among the Turtles. There was something between them, something special. Leonardo almost smiled as he thought about it, since all the Turtles had a crush of the beautiful reporter. How strange that the one of them that had never expressed his own interest in her would be the one to attract her attention. But then, Raphael always kept his feelings close, never sharing them with anyone, except sometimes Master Splinter.

Could Leonardo blame Raphael, though, for keeping his feelings bottled inside? The last talk he'd had with Raphael suddenly burned in his memory, searing him, making him close his eyes against the tears that threatened to come.

"We don't need you!" he'd yelled as his brother had stormed out of April's apartment. Of course, he'd just assumed that Raphael would head off, like he always did, and burn off some steam. At the same time, Leonardo would stay there in the apartment, and cool himself down through meditation. Then they'd meet up again, and carry on like nothing had ever happened. Assumptions, that was how they both worked with each other, how they both dealt with each other, how they both always came back together when crises loomed.

Now, though.... Leonardo lifted his eyes slightly, then lowered them once more as he saw the scarred-up shell sticking out of the bathtub. Now there might never be another chance for assumptions. Now, his brother had been critically injured, and he hadn't been there to help him when Raphael needed him most.

"Hey," came a soft, plaintive moan from the bathtub. Instantly, Leonardo's eyes snapped up.

"What?" he questioned, slowly coming out of the deep funk into which he'd fallen as realization dawned upon him. His eyes fixed on his red-masked brother as the injured Turtle slowly lifted himself to a sitting position. Immediately, he rose, rushing to kneel at the other Turtle's side. "Raph! You're awake! How do you feel?"

"What a guy gotta do to get some food around here?" Raphael growled. It was pretty obvious he wasn't feeling too good, but then, considering that if he hadn't had a reptile's ability to heal from most wounds that didn't kill him outright, he'd be dead, that was a massive leap in the right direction.

"Hey!" Leonardo yelled in excitement, leaping to his feet and rushing to the door. "Hey! He's awake! He wants some food! Bring some food!" Rushing back to Raphael's side, Leonardo took the other Turtle's face in his hands, looking him in the eyes, his whole body almost trembling with his relief. "You're gonna be okay, Raph. You're gonna be okay."

"Yeah, yeah, all right, Leo," Raph groused, pushing his brother's hands down, though without the force he might have used in earlier times. "Get a grip, will ya?"

"Listen Raph," Leonardo continued, wrapping his arms around one of Raphael's, helping the other Turtle to his feet. "About what I said before...you know...," he let Raphael lean heavily on him, their bodies close together, almost embracing. "About not needing you and all."

"Leo," Raphael said, looking Leonardo in the eyes, his expression slightly surly, but with cracks of his true emotions running through it all, "don't..."

Leonardo wrapped his arms around his brother.

"Boy we missed ya," he said, his voice soft, sincere. Raphael didn't resist; instead, he hugged Leonardo back, at least as well as he was able in his weakened condition.

"It's a Kodak moment," said Donatello with a slightly mocking sniffle, standing by the door to the bathroom with April next to him, resting her hands in those of the purple-masked Turtle.

Leonardo and Raphael immediately separated. At least, they tried to, but Raphael still needed Leonardo's help to stand up on his own, and Leonardo, as the older brother, didn't pull away when he felt Raphael's weakness, his need for Leonardo's supporting arms. At the door, April and Donatello laughed, Donatello's loud and sincere with relief as well as humor, April's tinged with tears of relief.

*

Of course April didn't like to play favorites. She wasn't the sort of person to do that kind of thing. With the four Turtles, she was sort of their mother figure, especially after Splinter had been kidnapped, someone they could trust, someone older than the four teenagers and more experienced in the ways of surviving outside of the world in which they'd grown up, underneath the streets of New York City. As much as the Turtles knew about fighting and the other arts of ninjutsu, as much as they put on a brave front, they didn't know much about anything else, their entire practical knowledge about the world above confined to what they'd learned from watching television. Ultimately, they depended on her to help them through this time of need. Knowing how much the Turtles needed her, April couldn't afford to play favorites, any more than a mother should ever play favorites with her children.

All the same, she had to admit, she liked Raphael best. She guessed it had something to do with the "bad boy" image the sai-using Turtle did his best to constantly maintain, too cool to let on how much he was really feeling inside, always holding back, always playing the loner, the outsider. Honestly, that was a big part of why she liked Casey Jones, though Casey also had a certain rough-hewn charm about him that made him fun to be around...well, when he wasn't being so pig-headed, that is. Which was often.

Vacillating between annoyance and attraction toward Casey, and with the Turtles busy with their own activities a great deal of the time, April often found herself spending a lot of her time at the farmhouse alone, drawing or tending to the many little chores that kept the old farmhouse in the woods of rural New York state running. She also frequently acted as nurse for the Turtles, who quite regularly got themselves into various minor scuffles as part of their training. All of them, that is, except Raphael, who had initially tried to get out of his bathtub in the same day he'd woken up. Naturally, April put her foot down right away, and in the tub Raph stayed until she decided he was ready to be up and about again. Fortunately, for a turtle, even a teenage mutant ninja one, a bathtub was actually about as comfortable as a bed, and sometimes more comfortable, especially when the Turtle in question was still recovering from his many and sundry injuries sustained from his solo fight with the Foot Clan.

Most of the time, it was still Leonardo who took care of Raphael. Most of the time. However, the duties of taking care of the shelled invalid gradually shifted over to April as Raphael grew steadily stronger, and with that strength, steadily more able to resist being coddled by his older brother. April, though...well, Raphael never did object when it was April doing the coddling.

Then, one day, April walked into the bathroom where Raphael had taken up residence, and found the brooding young Turtle standing by the window, looking out. He half-turned as April approached, but didn't quite look at her - the movement was just enough to let her know that he was aware of her being in the room with him. Looking over Raphael's shoulder, April saw the other three Turtles out in the yard, sparring. They were so fast! Even when she was watching as close as she could, April still couldn't follow all the movements of the three boys, couldn't even keep track of where each of them happened to be a good part of the time. The sight was something April hadn't ever really spent the time to watch before, thinking the Turtles deserved their privacy while training, but watching it now, she felt her heart flutter with a light rush of adrenaline and excitement.

"You should really get back to bed, Raphael," April said after a while, turning away from the window. "You're still healing."

Raphael's face twisted at April's words, and he turned to look at her sullenly.

"I'm healthy enough," he declared firmly. "I've been cooped up in this room and in that tub way too long. I need to get out, get myself back in shape, get back with the guys. They need me." Then he looked back toward the window, his expression growing wistful. "And I need them."

Speechless, April knew just how much that admission must have meant to Raphael. From what she'd heard from the others, especially Donatello, Raphael had always been the outsider, the lone wolf of the group, the one who'd been their scout, rushing ahead into danger while the other three Turtles stuck together to tackle problems as a team.

"But I'm too weak right now to be any good to 'em," Raphael continued. "I need to get out there, need to get my strength back. Stuck in here, there's no way I'm gonna be able to help 'em out, not until I've kicked this tub and started to kick butts instead."

Starting to open her mouth, April paused a moment, then shut it again. Right now, she was looking at Raphael in a strange new light. It was normally Leonardo who was the mature one, the one who came up with plans, who acted as the guide for the others. But Raphael...he'd grown, matured, and she could feel it just from the way he held himself, from the way he spoke, and the way he looked at his brothers, wanting so badly to be with them, to be a part of the team once more, this time in a way he'd never been before.

It was an attractive look for him. Raphael had grown up.

"Maybe you're right," April said, arching an eyebrow as she reached out, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you're ready to go out. But there's no way to find out without doing a little...testing."

"I can handle anything you throw at me," Raphael scoffed, turning to look at April once more. "Name your test, and I'll beat it."

"All right," April replied with a light smirk, one tinged with a little bit of nervousness, and a significantly larger portion of naughtiness, "get back in the bathtub, and I'll see if you've got the stamina it takes to get out of here."

"Stamina test in a bathtub?" Raphael questioned, scowling at April. After a moment, though, he shrugged, then did as she asked, sliding himself back into the tub on his back. "Sure, whatever."

Working as hard as she did at the studio, putting her all into uncovering all the juicy details of the crime wave that had swept New York in the wake of the Foot Clan's rise, April hadn't been on a date in...it had to have been at least a year. She certainly hadn't had time to wind up in bed with anyone. Casey...well, he was cute, sure, and April could feel the attraction between them, but somehow, they kept missing each other, kept bothering each other at those moments that were most important. Their failed interactions, coupled with her job-enforced celibacy, had left April feeling needy and neglected. Now she had the one Turtle who she liked best, one she'd actually felt some attraction to from the very beginning, completely at her mercy, completely willing to do whatever it took to satisfy her.

Was she taking advantage of Raphael? Perhaps. He was still a teenager, after all, and considering his chances with the opposite sex of his own kind (which is to say, none at all), probably still a virgin. Then again, April had heard it said that you couldn't really take advantage of a horny teenage boy, and somehow she felt that this was the right thing to do at this time. The impression came to her quite strongly that, if she wanted to do this, and didn't talk herself out of it with a case of nerves, it would have to be here and now - no other opportunity would arise.

Blinking, Raphael watched as April walked toward the bathtub, posing in front of him, hands on hips. The look she was giving him wasn't the one he'd always associated with April. After all, she was sort of the Turtles' "mom" figure in the absence of Splinter, and moms didn't look at their kids the way April was looking at him. It was the sort of look he'd always associated with the kissing scenes in movies, or the way Marilyn Monroe always looked whenever she stepped onto the screen in the old movies the late show sometimes ran.

Then April reached up to the buttons of her floral print blouse, and started to undo them. Eyes widening, Raphael was utterly speechless as April started to strip down right there in front of him, peeling open the blouse, letting it fall almost casually onto the chair by the now-closed door. Her black bra followed, and Raphael felt his mouth go dry as he couldn't make himself tear his gaze away from April's full, perfect breasts, each one a generous handful capped with a dark pink nipple, each about the size of a quarter, each perked and erect.

Not even able to react, all his ninja-trained reflexes gone in that moment of total surprise and rapidly-rising pubescent lust, Raphael could only continue to stare as April bent forward, pushing her black skirt and panties down her long, shapely legs, kicking off her pumps as she straightened, tossing the removed clothes on the chair with the discarded blouse and brassier. Eyes zeroing in on her mons, Raphael gulped as he saw that April kept herself trimmed neatly down there, shaving her pubes down to a light triangle that seemed to point straight toward the snug indentation of her quim.

"April," Raphael finally managed to get out as the beautiful redhead started toward the bathtub, the sway of her hips mesmerizing, hypnotic. "April, you don't gotta do this."

She cut off the Turtle's further words with a gentle kiss, a kiss that soon turned passionate, her tongue entering his mouth, leaving Raphael, normally so in control, so self-confident and assured, trembling with need and nervousness.

"It's all right," April whispered in his ear, stepping into the tub, straddling his chest. "I want to do this. But only if you do." She smiled down at him, and he lifted his eyes to meet her face. "Do you?"

Raphael swallowed, his nervousness showing through despite all his efforts to keep acting like the tough loner.

"Yeah," he said finally, his voice husky and rough with pent-up desire. "Yeah, I really do. But what'll the others say? What'll Casey say?"

Casey was, after all, Raphael's friend, and someone April wanted to take to the next level, if only she could learn to accept him as he was. April paused a moment, one foot resting on the edge of the tub. Then she smiled and leaned in close to whisper in the Turtle's ear.

"Can you keep a secret?"

Swallowing again, Raphael nodded, and they both immediately knew what that meant: this was probably going to be a one-time fling, and they'd never speak of it again. It was something they both needed, something powerful, something right. It was also something that others probably wouldn't understand. Best to just let this happen, to enjoy it, savor it, and then let it live in memory forever afterward. That was a lot better than letting the opportunity pass them both by.

Stepping into the tub, April let her lithe, naked body settle on Raphael's lower chest, her firm, smooth bottom rubbing against his plastron scute-plates. Most people who'd never handled a turtle before might think that they'd feel like a rock. The reality, as in Raphael's case, was that they felt something like especially stiff leather, or maybe a very pliable metal overlaid with a fine layer of supple skin. Raphael's plastron was warm under April's touch, and as she leaned her head down, resting her cheek against his chest, she could feel his heartbeat, trembling like a caged bird.

"Ah," gasped Raphael as April kissed his shell, showing just how sensitive he could be, even through that natural armor. "April!"

His cries died as April leaned upward, then undid his red mask, gently tugging it off, leaving him really and truly naked now. Raphael could feel it, feel that sense of total vulnerability, of total exposure, and it just seemed to make him even more excited. He was moaning as April started to kiss the exposed scaly skin of his neck and chin, his body trembling in eager anticipation.

Feeling something poke her butt, April glanced back, then grinned at what she saw: Raphael's penis.

Like most people, April didn't know a great deal about what the cocks of different species looked like. In the case of the Turtle beneath her, she was perhaps highly fortunate that Raphael's willy was somewhat different from that of an unmutated turtle. A normal turtle's penis could easily be half its body length, the length of it a very dark purplish-gray with a fleshy, bloated head that would probably have made even the open-minded April O'Neil fairly disturbed. As it was, Raphael's cock was somewhat more humanlike than that of his reptilian ancestors'. Its length was still amazingly significant, easily reaching all the way to the bottom of his chest-scutes, and its girth was enough that Raphael, with his rather larger-than-human hand, couldn't quite wrap his fingers around it. Its flesh, however, was the same deep green color as the rest of his body, and while the head was still far thicker than would be expected on a human, it was still more-or-less shaped like the full, swollen glans of an especially well-endowed human male, although the tip was slightly indented, the meatus more circular than a human's. Of course, he didn't have any external testicles - those were tucked away inside his pelvic region, where they'd be safe.

"Be a little patient with me," said April with a shy smile, before she slid down until she was kneeling at the base of the tub, and Raph scooted up a little to accommodate her. "It's been a while since I last did this."

Raphael's legs twitched, the powerful muscles of his thighs tensing as April kissed the tender inner spaces of his body, just within the confines of his shell, where his sac would have been, if he'd been human. Turned out he was even more sensitive there than any human man April had been with, his hips lifting, hands gripping the sides of the tub tightly, until the green of his knuckles started to turn white. Now nibbling her way along his ultra-sensitive flesh, April began to make her way up that towering shaft, holding it at the base to keep it straight while she worked her way up and down, suckling and slurping on that slick green organ. Reaching the top, April opened her mouth as wide as she could - Raph was big! Bigger than any other guy she'd ever gone down on - wrapped her lips around the teen's swollen cockhead.

"April!" Raphael hissed with urgency, helpless to do anything except watch as April bobbed her head down and then up, then swirled her tongue around the heavily-leaking tip of his erection, dipping it twice into the circular opening of his meatus. "April, I can't..."

"This is a stamina test, Raphael," April reminded the teen teasingly, her hand still stroking up and down his rigid staff, thoroughly coating it with his precum until it glistened. "You've got to last longer than that if you want to pass."

Wincing, Raphael clenched his teeth tightly, fighting with all his might to control his breathing, to keep the rest of him under control as well. Remembering his training in meditation, the Turtle reaching inside, finding his heart, slowing its beat, shifting his consciousness from outward pleasures to inward contemplation. He could take it! He could take anything! He could...

Plunging her head down, April suddenly took Raphael almost all the way to the root of his cock. At the same time, she slipped her fingers beneath his shell, digging their tips into the supple flesh of his shell-covered buttocks.

"Gah!" Raph cried out, his whole body arching upward, unable to hold himself back any longer, all his concentration shattered in that single instant.

Her eyes opening wide for a moment, her cheeks deeply flushed, April pulled back slightly so as not to choke herself when Raphael's cocktip suddenly flared, then began to pulse thick, copious gouts of potent turtlecum. Swallowing as fast as she could April was able to get down most of it, but there was just so much! Gasping for breath at last, she pulled back, and was able to watch, still stroking Raphael's shaft hard and fast, as that circular meatus pulsed and quivered, the head bulging and throbbing visibly. Some might have found the sight disturbing, but April thought it was fascinating, though her thoughts were somewhat distracted with a thick streamer of cum painted a line of white over her face.

"You've got a lot of volume, Raph," April said teasingly, grabbing a towel from a nearby wall rack and wiping off her face before draping it over the side of the bathtub. "Not a bad taste, either - salty, really thick." She smirked. "Like mock-turtle soup. I'd say that would clear you as healthy. Still, I'm not convinced about your stamina."

"Sorry, April," Raphael apologized, looking down, before April's fingers tilted his chin up, her eyes meeting his.

"That was just your first time," she reminded him with a tender smile, before kissing him on the lips once more. "You'll do even better the next time."

Just the mention of a next time made Raphael's whole body tense with excitement. With April's hand still stroking his shaft, it wasn't hard at all for the young, healthy Turtle to keep his erection, to stay thick and throbbing and ready for more action. Whatever his species, April mused with amusement, he was still a teenager, and that meant he was ready to go for quite a while longer. How much longer, well, she'd just have to find out through experience.

Reaching beneath herself, holding Raph's cock upright, April straddled the younger male, looking down in excitement as she felt the thick tip of his shaft start to nudge her lower lips apart. Glancing up, she saw that Raphael was looking at the same place she was, his eyes filled with all the anticipation she felt.

Giving a long, drawn-out moan, April slowly, so slowly, sank down, feeling that thick, throbbing length of Turtle-meat filling her up right up to her innermost depths. It had been a long time, and it didn't help that Raphael was a lot bigger than any human guy she'd ever taken.

"You okay, April?" asked Raph, seeing the look of tension on April's face.

"Yeah," she got out, breathing hard, slowly working her smooth, toned tush in a circle, grinding herself up against the teenage Turtle, stretching herself open in the process. "Just...need to adjust a little." She gave him a slightly wan smile. "You're pretty big, Raphael."

Of course, Raphael's smug look just confirmed that he was a man, whatever his species. Grinning at that realization, April started to lift herself up, taking it slow at first as she got her legs under her, squatting over Raphael to better move herself up and down on his cock, feeling her juices running down his hard length every time she pulled up, her inner walls clinging to his thickness until she finally let herself sink back down on top of him.

"Ngh, Raph," April moaned as she started to speed up, putting her hands on his shoulders. Her breasts bouncing and jiggling right before his eyes. He stared at them, fascinated, and April realized his interest made a lot of sense, even more than in the guys she'd known in the past: after all, Raphael was a reptile, a set of species that didn't have breasts, and yet he'd been raised with human values, including sexual values. Including a very mammalian interest in a beautiful set of breasts.

She was gratified when he reached up, cupping her breasts in his strong, thick-fingered hands, catching her nipples between finger and thumb, squeezing them until they stood out like hard little thumbtacks. His eyes were fixed on her breasts, totally enthralled with them, his palms curling around, cupping and then caressing the undersides, lifting them then letting them drop down, bouncing a bit more than they already were with the steady pace of April's bouncing on his hips. Then, squeezing them both tightly, feeling how warm and how soft they were under his touch, the Turtle slowly moved his face toward them, his eyes growing heavy-lidded, his lips starting to part, making it quite clear to April what he intended to do next. Raph spared a look up at April, got her approving nod, then wrapped his mouth around first one, then the other, suckling on them, slurping on them, getting them slick and wet, while at the same time driving April crazy. His mouth was larger than a human's, its force of suction quite a lot stronger, his tongue as it teased and tormented her perked nipples, one by one, rough and slightly rasping, making her whole body feel tingly, the sensation spreading out from her breasts like ripples on a pond, making her whole body tremble. April had always had sensitive breasts, especially her nipples, with their light orange-strawberry tint, and with the way Raphael was paying attention to them, exploring them, memorizing every part of them, it was enough to make April cum, even if she wasn't going out of her mind with that thick, wonderful turtlecock rubbing right up against the gates of her womb on every long stroke all the way down.

"Yeah, suck on me, Raph...do it hard..."

Sweat dripping down her face, wetting the chest plates of Raphael's plastron, April was in a flushed daze by this point, too far gone in pleasure to really be aware of what she was saying, what she was doing. It just felt so good being stuffed so full of turtlecock like this, her whole inner walls clenching and rippling around Raphael's meaty girth, letting her feel every last wonderful inch as her bottom slapped against his thighs with each hard downthrust, her breasts bobbing every time he let them escape his greedy hands and mouth.

Then, suddenly, Raphael decided he wasn't going to be a passive participant anymore. Giving a startled cry, April nearly fell back as Raphael rose up to his knees, his strong hands grabbing April's bottom tightly, holding her close. Now it was April who was the one whose world was being rocked. Wrapping both arms and legs around Raphael, the redheaded human woman cried out loudly as she felt his shaft tickle spots inside of her that she'd never felt touched before, not even by some of the biggest toys she had around her old apartment. Her breasts squeezed tightly against Raphael's chest, nipples rubbing hard against the solid expanse of his plastron, April kissed the Turtle wildly to keep from screaming as she came in a messy gush, soaking both their groins.

Fingers digging into April's smooth-toned buns, Raphael sucked in a breath between bouts of frenzied kissing, then kissed her back with just as much passion. He could feel April's whole body quivering against his, all her strength going into spasmodic jerks as she seemed about to explode or something. Keeping the initiative, Raphael just leaned over April, pressing her down into the bathtub, putting her beneath him as he started to arch his hips forward and back, hard and fast, the plastron covering his pubis slapping her pussy, its smooth, blunt bottom rubbing almost constantly against her clitoris, giving April just that extra layer of stimulation. Not that she needed it!

If the two had been seen from the door by casual passersby, they might have thought that Raphael was doing some high-speed pushups, the way his shell and hips kept pounding down into the bathtub at a frantic pace. That impression would probably have stayed right up until the passerby happened to notice the smooth human legs wrapped around Raphael's waist, their toes curling upward, or the tense human fingers with their painted nails trying their best to dig into his armored shell back. A little closer, and that same casual observer (likely no longer so casual) would have heard April's high-pitched squeals of orgasmic pleasure as she was almost savagely jackhammered by this young, healthy, virile male, pounded until she was past the point of all endurance.

Soon, Raphael reached that point as well, and sped on past.

"April!" he cried out warningly, his head snapping up for air. "I'm gonna..."

Catching the back of his head, April pulled Raphael down into another powerful kiss, squeezing her bouncing breasts against his chest once more before he moved his hands to cover them, squeezing them with almost brutal tightness, her smooth, supple legs kicking upward and out, her loud squeals and Raphael's rough basso moans muffled against each others' lips as Raphael started to cum, his seed splashing against April's inner walls, that final contact all it took to send April into another even more powerful round of orgasms. Rutting down into April like a savage, possessed beast, Raphael held nothing back, the sounds of hard shell slapping soft flesh, mixed with the wet slurping of their cum-soaked bodies moving against each other, filling their ears, only barely held in check by the ceramic of the tub beneath them.

Slowly, the torrent slowed to a stream, and then to a trickle, and finally came to a stop. Spent, Raphael let his weight start to settle down on top of April, before he heard her give a muffled sound of protest, and instead rolled onto his side, the two of them clutched close together in the tub, resting in each others' arms, the sweat of pleasure cooling on April's smooth, afterglow-flushed skin.

"So," Raphael started, his mouth spreading in a cocky grin, "do I pass my physical?"

"Hmm," April considered, her smile teasing. "I'm not really sure. That wasn't the best performance I've ever seen. You could do better."

"Better, huh?" Raphael countered with a chuckle, rolling back on top of April. "I'll show you better!"

As the sounds of passionate lovemaking filled the bathroom, neither of the two entwined lovers noticed that the door of the room had indeed opened just a crack. Had either of them looked - which they never did - they'd have seen a familiar orange-masked face watching as Raphael arched his hips, entering April once more. Watching, and smiling.

"Way to go, bro," said Michelangelo, before quietly shutting the door once more.

*

April glanced out the window in the kitchen door in the early hours of the morning, smiling as she watched the four Turtles sparring. Raphael was in the middle, surrounded on all sides by his brothers, all of them testing him, pushing him to his limits. Again and again, he pushed them right back, a flurry of kicks and lashing sais and acrobatic rolls and tumbles keeping them at bay.

It was obvious that he'd recovered completely.

Turning back to the kitchen itself, April noticed Casey Jones at the table, chopping up vegetables for dinner using one of Leonardo's spare katanas. Since dinner had to be made, she did her best to ignore the scruffy-looking tough guy, and walk right past him to the shelves and drawers against one wall. As she reached up to open one of the drawer for the ingredients she'd need, though, April couldn't hold back a soft moan of discomfort. Though she hadn't mentioned it to anyone, that romp with Raphael had left her sore...in quite a number of places, actually.

Not saying anything, Casey Jones rose to his feet and walked past her, their bodies just barely brushing against each other as they traded places, Casey going to stand by the wall, April moving to the table. Wincing a little at the soreness in her shoulder, April reached up to try and work out the kink, only to feel strong, masculine hands move her own out of the way moments later, Casey Jones taking over the work. At first, April resisted - he was a pigheaded jerk sometimes, after all - but then he grew rough with her, forceful, pushing her down into the chair. Instead of resisting or getting mad, as she would have only yesterday, before her encounter with Raphael, April worked to unclench her emotions, letting herself let go of her resistances, her prejudices. Casey Jones wasn't a bad guy. Like Raphael, he was a tough guy with a soft center. Realizing that he was really just trying to help her out, that he was interested in her, if only she'd give him a chance, April let herself relax, let him start to really work his hands nice and deep into her aching shoulders. Mmm...he had good hands.

The door creaked, and both April and Casey looked up, both a little guiltily, though both were also just a little bit smug. It was only Michelangelo, though, rolling one of his shoulders, obviously having pulled something while out sparring with the others. April reached over to a tube resting on the table, something she'd laid out beforehand, knowing it might be needed.

"Ointment?"

"Nuh-uh," Mikey replied, a smile spreading on his face, before he turned to the cupboard by the kitchen door, and pulled out a plastic container. Turning it toward the pair, he pointed, laughing - it was a tube of Turtle Wax.

"Hey guys," Raphael said, walking in behind his brother, then noticing the grins and soft laughter from the other three in the kitchen, before figuring out what Michelangelo was doing. For just a moment, Raphael seemed slightly disappointed, seeing April getting a massage from Casey. But only for a moment. The next moment, he smiled again, an honest, genuine smile, the expression of someone who has had a great burden lifted from his soul, and reached over to give his brother a noogie. "Morning Mikey!"

April wasn't his to own, and Raphael knew it. Knew it, and didn't resent her for it, or Casey, or anyone. He still had a job to do, after all, and that meant he'd need to work with his brothers, need to fight and defeat the Foot Clan once and for all, and save their father, no matter what the cost.

For a moment, April felt guilt. But then the two teenagers gathered their breakfasts and headed out to handle the various tasks of the day, leaving April alone with Casey. Casey, for his part, had decided that he rather liked having April so close, and so responsive to his touch. For once, she wasn't fighting him, wasn't saying anything hurtful, wasn't treating him like he was just some two-bit thug or well-armed man-child. She just sat there, and moaned softly in pleasure as he worked his hands over her body, putting his martial arts training to work at one of the little-known skills every warrior should know: deep massage.

On the receiving end of Casey's skilled hands, April just let herself melt, leaning into his touch with steadily-increasing acceptance. Why not? He was cute, after all, and for all his many rough edges, he was a good guy. After all, what guy didn't have flaws? Still enjoying the lingering effects of an evening of really good sex, even if it had been with someone who wasn't even human, April's mind and heart were open and accepting now in ways that they hadn't been in...well, ever, actually. If she could find it in her heart to love someone that wasn't even her species, then why shouldn't she love Casey Jones?

"So what's with the hockey mask and baseball bats?" she asked, glancing back over her shoulder. For a moment Casey tensed, worried that April was going to make fun of him, was about to poke at something that was obviously a tender spot in his past. Then he saw the soft, accepting smile on her face, and an answering smile spread on his.

"I'll tell you if you tell me what got you into reporting," he answered.

"Deal."

*

"So you actually played professionally?"

Side-by-side, their hips just barely touching, April smiled at Casey as she asked the question. It was the dawning of a bright new day, and she felt good. The Turtles had been out all night, and thanks to that absence, she and Casey had been given plenty of time to get to know each other better. It hadn't gone so far as sex, at least not yet - they were both still getting to know each other, to trust each other, to accept each other - but there was a level of intimacy that ran deeper than sex, and of which sex, the very best sort of sex, was just an outward expression. They could feel a connection to each other, something that hadn't been there before, not until April had let her walls come down, and had made room for Casey in her heart.

She had Raphael to thank for that willingness to love. Of course, she didn't let Casey know the real reason. No, let him keep guessing for now. Maybe, after they'd had a little more time, and had actually had sex, then she'd tell him about it. Then again, maybe not. After all, she didn't want to drive a wedge between the two friends, human and Turtle.

"Uh, before I got hurt," answered Casey after a brief moment of hesitation, letting himself open up, sharing more of himself, just like they'd been doing into the wee hours of the morning, until they'd finally fallen asleep, leaning against each other on the living room couch. "Yeah. Less than a year."

"Sorry," April said, her smile slightly sympathetic as she brought a fist gently down on Casey's inner thigh, the action lending her support through her body language.

"So was I," Casey agreed, his smile a little rueful, the subject obviously difficult for him, but...there was a sense of relief in sharing the hard parts of his past as well. With each shared secret, each moment of gentle intimacy, the two grew just a little bit closer together, came to trust each other just a little bit more.

Actually, April realized with a knowing smirk, she'd probably have gone all the way with Casey last night. It wasn't her that had the hang-ups now, not any more. No, it was Casey who was the vulnerable one, the one who needed to learn to trust her. And he would, and they both knew it, given enough time and patience. Even as they sat together, their bodies steadily leaning nearer and nearer together, they could both feel that, well, maybe it would be all right to try things out right now. After all, what better way to see if they were compatible? And right now was probably the best time of all, since they were both finally alone...

"A-hem," came the sound of a clearing throat, and immediately the two budding lovers were broken out of their personal space and time, starting slightly apart, expressions slightly guilty. Casey Jones rose to his feet from the swing seat he'd repaired for April, and stormed over to the edge of the porch, pointing an accusing finger toward the Turtles as they stepped out of the mist, backlit by the morning sun.

"Guys, I've told you, I hate it when you do that, all right?" he declared, the irritation obvious in his voice. April came up next to him, her expression serious as she saw the looks on the four brothers' faces.

"What is it?" she asked, sensing that something was about to change.

"It's time to go back," said Leonardo.