Okay, this is something that has been floating in my head for a few days and I need to get it out on paper. This is for TMNT Contests Second Chance contest. The theme I picked is 2014. Yeah yeah call me whatever but this is a good idea. Take it ya heathens

Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT. Enough said

~~~Homemade Surprise~~~

April smiled as she entered the home of her new family. She really needed the guys tonight for work was getting rough again. The young woman had been rehired at Channel 6, if only due to their ratings suffering from her "vacation." Today work just sucked. One of her fellow "coworkers" stole her story and was given credit, the lying sack of scum. So, April needed a new story by next Monday or would have to face the consequences. But none of that mattered now that the brunette finally saw the turtles. Or well, three out of the four.

"Sweetums!" Mikey exclaimed as he hopped over their couch, causing a laugh to escape the human.

The large mutant swept her up in a gentle hug. Donnie popped his head out his computer area to say hello before disappearing. Leo walked up from the living room area, a smile on his face. "Mikey put her down, she does need to breathe after all."

The youngest turtle pouted but did as his brother asked/ordered. April smiled at them all. "Hey guys. You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

Leo gave a chuckle, "Not as much as us. Trust me."

"Yeah, you are our sunshine! Especially now of all times." piped up Donnie from across the Lair.

Confusion appeared on April's face. "Why? What happened now? And where is Raph?"

Usually the largest out of the brothers would be there to help greet her but he had been absent the past few visits. Groans came from all the turtles, albeit various levels of it. Don was more annoyed, Mikey's was blown out of proportion and Leo's was calm.

The eldest brother spoke, gaining April's attention. "Around this time of year, Raph goes into a knitting craze."

Mikey began walking to the kitchen area to hunt for some refreshments. "Yeah, like crazy craze. He knits a lot normally but he just goes nuts."

Donnie's head popped up again, "And he gets kinda creepy too! He hunts for horrid looking stuffed animals! I saw him rip the head off of one! He needs some serious psychological help Leo! I've told Sensei that those are signs of homicidal tendencies!"

His brothers nodded, agreeing with his statement. April looked at her friends with a look of disbelief. "Okay...I am going to find him then order Chinese."

That got her cheers from the other turtles. Since she joined their little family, the woman had been slowly showing them food aside from pizza. Apparently Chinese was a big hit with them. Who knew? April smiled at them before heading over to Raph's area. Each turtle had their own little area within the Lair, giving them a semblance to their own room, what with them sleeping in the same room. Not much room down here in the sewers, especially for four large mutant ninja turtles and their rat sensei.

The human approached Raph's area, already seeing a major difference in the Lair. For one thing, the gym was over here on this side. The other turtles did use it but not as much as Raph, since it was his way to mediate. It also had more variety of posters. One that made April giggle was a hug Pacific Rim movie banner. Go Big or Go Extinct was written on it and it seemed that it was something that Raph took to heart, what with him being the largest out of the turtles. She moved more into the area, looking around for Raph. She managed to find him in an alcove, due to ironically the Pacific Rim soundtrack blaring from it.

April peeked around the corner to see what her friend was doing. Confusion clouded her green eyes as she looked around him. Decent cardboard boxes were around, some closed, some open. From what the news-reporter could see, it seemed that the boxes were filled with knitted items. Sweaters, blankets, bags, scarves, mittens, gloves, hats, hell even what looked like to be stuffed animals. April moved her foot, giving Raph a warning that someone was coming into the area.

"Raphael? Hey, just wanted to see you before I ordered food. I am getting Chinese, is that okay?" she asked calmly.

Her reply was a gruff, "Sure."

April walked over to an open box and smiled as she looked at the cute little stuffed black bear. She pulled it out and looked at it, turning it this way and that. "Aww how cute! Did you make this little guy?"

Raph looked over his shoulder to see April smiling at the stuffed toy. The big guy looked back at what he was knitting, "Yeah."

He went back to knitting, growling at the yarn ball that was growing smaller. April just smiled at her favorite turtle. She pulled out a red bandana that she always carried around and tied it around the bear's neck, flaring it out to make it look even cuter. "So, what is with the knitting craze as your brothers put it?"

"Quota." was her answer.

Again, confusion came over her face. "Quota? For what?"

Raph finished the scarf he was knitting and set it to the side before looking over at his yarn ball pile. He had about 3 colors. Only enough for maybe half a scarf, causing a low growl to escape him. "Only Sensei knows what I do with this stuff."

April saw that he was glaring at the pitiful pile of yarn. "Well, how about you tell me? Cause Donnie thinks you are going crazier with the murder of stuffed animals."

That caused a chuckle to escape the red banded ninja. He turned around to look at her, gold eyes blazing. "It started when I began knitting. Sensei used it to help me get control over my temper. Well, after a while, I had a crud ton of knitted things. Mostly scarves and blankets. So, I did something smart."

April cuddled the little black bear, waiting for Raph to continue. "And that was?"

Raph began to box up the rest of the knitted things. "I boxed them up and took them to the nearby homeless shelter. I figured we didn't need them but they might use them."

April could see a faint blush come over the big guy. He fiddled with a soft green scarf, looking everywhere but April. "And ever since then, I make things to give them."

The woman placed the bear down before going over to her friend. She placed a hand on his shoulder, making him look at her. "Well, looks like you took on a bit more than you can chew. Come on, I'll order some Chinese and help your organize everything then go get you some more yarn."

Now it was Raph's turn to be confused. "Why?"

She smiled at him, "Well I don't think you can make anything else out of what you have left and there might be some colors you want."

"No, not that. Why help me?" he asked, looking at her.

"Well," she tucked some hair behind her ear, "I don't think it is fair that you have to do it all by yourself. That and it is a good thing you are doing Raph. Now come on, food first then we can discuss what to do next."

Raph allowed her to take him out of his little alcove and to where his brothers were, still surprised that she wanted to help him...

~~~Homemade Surprise~~~

It was a few days later and Raph yawned as he made his way to the main living area. He registered that his brothers were getting ready to watch April's segment on Channel 6 but the largest turtle needed some caffeine since he dropped off all of the boxes he had of knitted things last night, or well, early this morning. Hiding another yawn, Raph walked by the TV room and glanced to see if their friend was on yet. He did a double take and froze. Oh April was on the screen alright but where she was at made him stare.

The woman smiled at the camera and continued to speak, "That's right, I am here at the God's Children Homeless Shelter with a very heart warming tale."

It cut from her to show the building and the workers sorting something out of a large box. "Late last night a very special someone dropped off over 20 boxes of what will be the shelter's most prized items."

The camera panned over to show people wearing knitted sweaters, scarves, hats and gloves. All the things Raph knitted. The large mutant's gold eyes stared as he saw the things he worked on being worn and awed over. The camera landed on a woman with a little girl holding her hand, talking to a volunteer about something. The volunteer smiled and pulled a pastel yellow turtle plushie with a bright orange shell and blue eyes out of a box. He presented it to the little girl, whose eyes were the size of plates.

Raph could hear April talking on the screen but barely registered it. "It seems that some kind soul gives all of these homemade things to the shelter every year."

It went from the little girl to April standing next to the woman in charge of the shelter, the African-American woman had a large smile on her face. "It is a most wondrous surprise. It stared with about five boxes filled with scarves and blankets. Now, we have 27 boxes filled with blankets, scarves, hats and all sorts of things. It is actually one of the most looked forward donation drops at this shelter."

The woman brushed away a stray tear that fell. April placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a smile. The camera panned around again as April voiced over but Raph didn't hear what his friend was saying. Instead his eyes took in that people were loving what he had made. He could see some boys using some blankets as capes to play. One little boy made his heart damn near stop. He was holding the black bear April had last time, nuzzling the little toy with tears streaming down his face.

The screen flashed back to April, who was crouching down by the little girl with the yellow turtle. "If the person who made your new friend is watching, what would you say to him sweetie?" April asked the child.

The little girl squeezed her new toy and smiled so big Raph thought she would hurt her face. "Thank you Mr Angel."

Now that did make Raph's heart stop. April reappeared on the screen, a huge smile on her face. "Now that is what we would like to call a Homemade Surprise. This is April O'Neil, Channel 6 News."

Raph stood dumbstruck in the doorway, staring at the male news-reporter on the screen but not really looking. Instead he was thinking about the kids he made happy this morning or the adults he brought utter joy to when they all saw that the boxes were there waiting for them.

Mikey got up from the couch, wanting to get another soda but froze when he saw Raph standing there. It wasn't the fact that Raph was there that made the orange banded turtle freeze. No, it was the stupid looking smile that was on his big brother's face. Raph laughed, like an honest to God belly laugh. Leo looked at him from where he was sitting on the couch and Donnie's head popped back out from his lab. The rest of the turtles didn't understand why Raph was laughing the way he was or why the largest male was grinning like a loon. So, Donnie did the only thing he thought appropriate.

"MASTER SPLINTER! Raph has gone off the deep end!"

~~~Homemade Surprise~~~

Well, there we go, something cute. This is actually one of my headcanons for the new movie. What does Raph do with all of his leftover knitted things? Well, throwing them out seemed stupid so I was like, he donates them! And thus, this little thing was made...Hope you enjoyed it!