Chapter 9

Vern drove quietly. He felt quite uncomfortable with Casey sitting in the passenger side seat of the van instead of O'Neil. Every few minutes he would glance in his rear view mirror. April was sitting against the wall fiddling with her phone. He could tell she was waiting for someone to contact her, probably this Raphael, the maybe Italian. So who was Casey, exactly? Vern was confused as he drove down the busy New York streets. How does April seem to have the most unusual people in her life.

"So." Vern cleared his throat, "O'Neil. How do you feel about the interview?"

He looked at the mirror again, she shrugged her shoulders and finally put the phone down, "I don't know. It pisses me off that Bern just threw me on TV instead of taking a statement like he said he would on the phone."

"It'll be okay, Ape." Casey said quietly. He knew she was nervous about what happened.

Vern's brow furrowed. Ape? He knows her well enough to have a nickname for her. A bad one, but a nickname nonetheless. April doesn't look like an overgrown, hairy, masculine primate, "How do you two know each other exactly? Are you an old friend? Boyfriend? Relative?"

Casey tried not to obviously roll his eyes at the questions. He knew what Vern was getting at, "I'm a friend."

April acted like she was still on her phone, but she was really listening to Vern and Casey and trying not to laugh at the awkwardness of it all, you know the flirty co-worker and the boyfriends best friend.

"Friend's are always nice to have." Vern replied uneasily, "How did you meet?"

"Through Ape's boyfriend, Raph. He and I are buddies." Casey answered.

"Oh, yeah. The boyfriend. Yes, that's precious. So, buddies with the boyfriend. Is he a cool guy?" Vern continued to pick.

Casey got a sly grin on his face, "Uh huh, he's cool. He's into karate and he likes going to the gym, you know, the body builder type."

Vern's gut started hurting, "Body builder, huh?"

"Yep, the bone crushing type. He's like over six feet tall and he's really protective of April." Casey said in a mockingly concerned tone, "In fact, I wonder how he's going to like April riding with you to the station."

Vern was beginning to look visibly nauseated.

"It's fine, Casey. He knows." April spoke up in an annoyed tone. Casey was being a little ridiculous.

Vern sighed quietly, "So, I'm not going to get crushed when I drop you off then?"

"It's completely okay, Vern." April said sincerely, "Casey likes to exaggerate a little." She said shooting him a glare.

Vern chuckled uncomfortably, "So, he's not a body builder."

April shook her head, "No, he is that big."

Vern just hung his head again. He couldn't win today. He came to a stop at a light just a couple of blocks from April's apartment building. They sat and waited for the go ahead when suddenly there was a banging on the back of the van. April jumped back. There were masked men trying to get in the door pried open.

"April!" Casey shouted and grabbed her arm. In one swift move, he jerked her to the front of the van into his lap, "Hit it, Vern!"

Vern slammed on the accelerator, honking the horn to warn the ongoing traffic. The back doors of the van flung open and few of the foot members clung to the doors, trying desperately to climb in.

"Casey!" April exclaimed and pointed at the guys successfully climbing in.

"Shit!" He swiftly stood up and slid April into his seat, "Vern, keep driving no matter what!"

"You got it!" Vern shouted, "There's a bat behind my seat!"

Casey glanced to the side and grabbed the bat and swung at the first guy that came at him. He fell back and flew out of the van, bringing another guy flying out with him, "Two down! Surprising since this is a red metal bat!" Casey joked. He carefully walked toward the doors and hit a third guy in the arm that was clinging to the door. They were flying through traffic and there was still two goons making their way into the van. Casey was trying his damndest to keep up the pace, but they were starting to overtake him. It was one against five after all.

"Vern, you got anything else in here that'll do some damage?!" April shouted over the horn honking and screaming pedestrian's.

"There's a crowbar under your seat, but you need-"

It was too late, April's hand snuck under the seat and grabbed the cold metal bar and headed to the back to help Casey. He finally got the third guy off the door when the last two masked men attacked him. April gripped the bar in her tiny hands and marched towards the fight. She brought the crowbar back as far as she could, "Hey!" She shouted and the man turned around. His face was met with a hard smack and he crumpled down to the floor and fell out of the van, "Take that, bitch." She mumbled and turned her attention to Casey who was still struggling with the last one, "Casey, duck!" She yelled. Casey hit the floor of the van quickly when he saw April about to swing. She knocked him in the rib cage and fell down in pain, "Not today!" She shouted and hit him in the head and he flew out of the van.

Casey got back to his feet, "Good job, Ape!"

"Thanks, you okay?" She asked through deep breathes.

"You know I'm hard headed and tough. I'm fine. You okay?" He asked in return.

"Yeah, they didn't touch me." She confirmed.

A few moments later Vern came to a screeching halt in a back alley when they thought they were far enough away and they all jumped out.

"You good, Vern?" April asked quickly.

Vern was bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily, "Just another day in the life of a man of action. Me and the good ole Fenwick Express."

"You need to drive quickly and get to a police station and report this. I'm taking April to hide. I don't trust the police to keep her safe." Casey said.

"But where-" Vern began.

"Just go, Vern!" Casey shouted trying to scurry April away.

April ran to him and gave him a hug, "Thank you. I'll let you know that we're alright. You were great." She turned to follow Casey.

Vern hesitated for a moment, but he hopped in his van, "She's a complicated chick." Then he drove off.

Casey and April ran to the nearest hole in the ground. They weren't even sure if this would lead to the lair, but it was better than April being above ground. Casey jumped down through the hole and then he brought April down carefully. They tried to get their bearings on their location as they walked hastily through the tunnels. Soon things were looking familiar. Every so often they would spot one of Donnie's security cameras, so they knew they were getting close.

"You should probably call Raph so he doesn't have a panic attack." Casey commented as they walked, "It's been a while since we were on the way to your apartment."

"I would except my phone is in the van. Kind of didn't think of it in the middle of all that. Do you have yours?" She asked.

"Well, I did, but then it fell out of my pocket and got smashed." He said regretfully. "I doubt a ninja attack falls under my phone's insurance policy."

"I'm sorry, Casey." April replied.

"Better my phone than my head, Ape." He said as they reached the opening to the lair, "Ta da!"

"Oh, thank God!" April exclaimed as she went through the door, "Splinter! Splinter! Where are you?" She ran throughout the lair and she found him getting out of his chair to the sound of her voice.

"April, Casey, are you okay?" The master asked in concern.

"We were attacked and we both lost our phones and the turtles are at my apartment waiting for us to come back." April explained quickly.

"Go to Donatello's desk and use his computer. Hurry!" He said ushering them out of his room to Donnie's lab.

"They should have been back by now." Raph growled as he kept checking his phone.

"I know, man. I gotta bad feeling about this." Mikey chimed in while he nervously rubbed his knees raw as he sat on the edge of the sofa.

Then one of Donnie's gadgets that was strapped to him went off. He nearly jumped out of his seat. He fumbled as he tried to find which one was beeping. It was like an oversize pager that was connected to his personal computer in the lab. The screen was blinking '911.'

"Houston, we have a problem." Donnie said urgently.

"What is it?" Leo asked.

"I don't know exactly, but we need to get back to the lair now." Donnie finished as he hopped up from his seat.

Casey and April were in the kitchen at the table. She was sipping on tea and Casey was icing his bruises. Neither of them said much as they thought about the craziness of what just happened. April's adrenaline was still pumping so hard she was shaking.

"It's okay, April. You did really good. That was some serious ass kicking." Casey complimented, "Can tell who you've been hanging out with?" He chuckled.

"That was the most surreal experience I've ever had. I don't even know how I was able to get out of that seat to hit them." She thought aloud as she kept sipping her tea.

"It's called adrenaline, toots." He smirked, "Plus, you had some pretty good fighting lines."

April smiled, "I did, didn't I?"

Slowly, the footsteps of large beings were making the walls shake as they ran through the tunnel.

"They're baaack." Casey sang and the door flew open. They were in such a hurry they didn't notice Casey and April sitting at the table. They went straight for Donnie's computer.

Donnie began typing away, until they heard a throat clear. The group made their way back toward the kitchen and saw the two of them sitting at the table.

April could see the weight lift off Raph's shoulders when he saw her there in the kitchen. He went to her and grabbed her in a tight embrace bringing her out of the chair. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He took a deep breath of her hair, thanking God she was still here from him to do that. He kissed her head.

"I thought- I just knew you'd be-" He began but he couldn't even speak the words into existence.

"I know what you thought, but they didn't get me." She said quietly into his neck, "They didn't even touch me."

Raph stood her on her feet and he took her face in his hands as if he was examining her for extra bumps and bruises. When he was satisfied he hugged her back into his arms. The others sat down at the table. Raph sat down and cradled April in his lap.

"What the hell happened?" Leo asked as he looked at Casey.

"The Foot Clan attacked the van. We were at a stop light and they came after us." Casey explained, "They pried the door open and came in after April, but as you can see we handled it. And April made sure some dudes would be eating through a straw for a while."

All four colored turtles turned to look at her. April had a look of cockiness and satisfaction on her face.

"Dayum, Angelcakes! What'd you do?" Mikey asked excitedly.

"Let's just say, she's pretty handy with a crowbar." Casey laughed and then moaned in pain, "She kept me from getting thrown out the back of the van with the other assholes. Thanks, Ape."

"Thank you, Case." She responded.

"Thanks, Casey." Raph added and Casey gave him a knowing nod.

They continued to sit at the table as they regaled the story in full detail for the guys. Mikey cooked dinner for everybody and their nerves began to settle for the moment. It seemed like life up top just stopped mattering when they were all together below the surface. After dinner, everyone helped clean up the kitchen and Donnie was turning on the DVD player.

"I think you already know it's safer to stay down here for a while." Raph said as he dried the dishes she handed him.

"Yes, I know." She agreed and gave him the look. The look that said they had unfinished business they needed to take care of.

"I'm putting the movie in, guys!" Donnie alerted as he didn't like to wait on others to start.

"I think we're going to go ahead and lay down." April replied, "You know, long day and all."

Raph grinned as she took his hand and lead him away. Once they were in Raph's room, snuggled away from the others, everything became peaceful in their little world. She laid in his arms and he laid kiss after kiss on her like he hadn't seen her in months and she loved every second of it. And Raph would be lying if he said the thought of April beating up someone with a crowbar didn't turn him on. April's mind was reeling from everything, when she remembered a conversation that had been interrupted earlier.

"Didn't you have something you wanted to tell me earlier?" She asked as she pulled away to look at him.

Raph's nerves immediately came back to the surface and he felt himself clamming up and shutting down, "Er, I don't remember."

April gave him the 'that's bullshit' look, "Oh, really? Well, that's unfortunate."

He sighed audibly and wanted to punch his self. If April, little April could take on some ninja's with only Casey Jones at her side, why couldn't he say three little words. After all, he felt confident that her feelings were the same, "Ok, maybe I do remember something about something that I was possibly thinking." He grumbled and her face immediately brightened back up and that was his dose of courage, "I just wanted to say that I felt like there was a small possibility that I'm feeling strongly for you and our new relationship and it's been on my mind for a little, tiny while. Just something I've kind of tossed around in the back of my head-" His long train of words was interrupted by her soft lips on his and she smiled sweetly at him waiting, "I'm in love with you." He whispered.

"I'm in love with you, too." She replied.

"Yeah?" He smiled that same smile that he had in the bathroom.

"Yeah." April confirmed.

This is the final chapter of Raph and April: the Beginning. The next story will continue pretty much from this point, just with a new set of chapters. I'm thinking the next set will be a tad more explicit, since it will be further along in Raphril's relationship. Thanks for reading. Be on the look out for the next series!