A/N:Omigoodnessgracioussakesalive! This chapter is humongous! I swear it's the mother of all chapters! It's monster-sized! Ahh! Run for your lives! or be forced to read it!

Thanks to Virtual Wenrog who took the time to beta this whopper for me! Muchas gracias chico!

(bangs head on computer desk) But why did this chapter have to be so embarrassing? (bang) why? (bang) why? (bang) WHY!

Ok, let's make this clear. I'm about as red as a mad tomato after being dunked in a can of Raph's bandana-colored paint because I had to write semi-sappily and quite mushily for Leo and Aaron. I'm especially fretting over having to get into Leo's head for his reaction to certain things (him being male and all). Don't get me wrong I love sap, but posting it is another story entirely.

(Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.) Ow...

So, I'd love opinions on whether Leo sounds realistic or not in his thoughts and actions. And you're encouraged to shout out any OOC-ness and Marysueness. I'm beginning to think I've got my head way to far up in the clouds that an orbiting satellite might hit it.

;-D

---

Aaron plodded painfully down the stairs, taking each step one at a time.

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow owowowowowow."

Not a moment too soon she reached the bottom, hung a right, and entered the kitchen. Her brother gave her a disinterested glance from the couch as she walked through the doorway into the room. He quickly turned back to h is channel flipping.

"Sunday morning television sucks," he announced in a bored tone, settling on Animal Planet's The Planet's Funniest Animals.

"No saying 'sucks'," their mom reprimanded him from her place in front of the stove, all the while flipping a pancake in one pan and frying bacon in another.

"Good morning," she smiled at Aaron. She was a small woman compared to most, but she had the over-ruling authority and power granted to mothers. Rich brown hair, Aaron wished she'd inherited, graced her mother's shoulders. But she'd gotten her mother's eyes, which were a mixture of brown and green which was good enough to be content with. "Sleep well?"

Aaron shrugged, suddenly fully mindful of her cut hand. She lightly clenched it, keeping it out of sight.

"Yeah, fair enough."

"How was last night?" her mom questioned further.

Aaron stiffened.

"Was it fun having the house to yourself?"

Did she know? Aaron thought, panicking. Had she noticed the bottle missing from the fridge? Aaron had thought it'd never be noticed. Had she thought wrong?

"Uhh," Aaron stammered, her eyes darting around the room. She nodded towards her brother with her head, changing the subject and evading the question, "Hey, wasn't he at a sleepover?"

Her mom nodded.

"He was. The Maddens walked him back down the street about an hour ago."

"An hour!" Aaron exclaimed, looking over at the clock. "What possesses these people to be such early birds?"

"Maybe, not having bird brains," her brother sniggered at her from the couch.

"Ha. Ha. Ha," Aaron mouthed mockingly, making a face in his 'general' direction. "At least I have a brain and not a case of empty space." She smiled smugly to herself at her small bit of creativity in making the turtles nickname for Casey available for use on any victim of her choosing.

Her brother glared at her from under his mat of the shade of light brown hair they both shade, a near blond, "Well, look who's talking-"

"Guys!" Their mom interrupted threateningly, "knock it off and be nice."

She flopped the pancake from the stove onto a plate with a piece or two of bacon and set it down across the kitchen on another counter. "Order's up."

Aaron's bro kicked off the throw blanket he had snuggled around him and walked up to the counter, taking a seat at one of the stools. His focus was glued to the TV.

Aaron rolled her eyes at his riveted expression come from watching a dog trying to eat carpet and a string of cats opening various door knobs. She remembered fifth grade containing a little more maturity. But her brother was tall for his age, not that that accounted much for the lack of attention span or the ways to apply what little there was of it.

"Want a pancake, Sweetie?" Aaron's mom asked her, holding the spatula and measuring beaker full of batter ready.

"Nah," Aaron shook her head, " I've- uh- got alot of homework. I think I'm just going to go up to my room." She walked gingerly around to the fridge and pulled out the jug of apple juice and a glass from the cupboard beside it, "to uh, you know, to work, on homework and stuff."

"Are you all right, Aaron?" her mother asked, looking a little concerned.

"Yeah! No, I'm fine!" Aaron replied a little too quickly.

Her mom raised an eyebrow. Aaron felt her insides tighten anxiously.

"Did something happen last night?" Her mom asked.

"Oh no, nothing happened. Kinda boring, really," Aaron said shrugging, trying to act as casual as possibly.

"Alright," her mom said in a tone that Aaron knew meant she didn't totally believe her but was willing to let the subject drop for the moment. Aaron breathed out a sigh in relief; she was out of hot water for now.

Aaron filled the glass and stuck the juice back in the fridge. Making sure to place the glass in her left hand to hide the cut without looking conspicuous. Lastly she retrieved the box of Honey Nut Cheerios.

"So, yeah," she muttered, "I'll be upstairs if you need me."

"Ok," her mother nodded.

Aaron turned and scampered out of the kitchen as quickly as her complaining legs would allow and as fast as she could without looking suspicious.

"Don't forget, Church at 11:00!" her mom called from the other room.

"I won't!" Aaron shouted back, starting back up the stairs. Mumbling to herself as the stairs came one by one. "Ow.Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow ow ow ow owowowowow."

She huffed and puffed her way to the top, after having taken a small break halfway up.

Her room was dark from closed shutters, but Aaron didn't bother with them just yet. She rather liked the gloomy feel at the moment. She set her glass down on the bedside table and opened the cheerios box. Grabbing a handful and stuffing it into her mouth. Several fell to the floor. Straining she bent down to retrieve them. Finding the trashcan too far of a walk, she popped the contaminated cheerios into her mouth wit a shrug, 20 second rule.

She drug her shoulder-bag backpack from it's exile in her closet and flung it on top of her bed, flipped open the flap and tossed a large spiral notebook out onto the rumpled bedcovers. She pulled out a binder and opened it to a random page and threw a pencil on top of that. finally she took our her school planner, worn and torn from life at the bottom of her bag. The page containing that past Friday's homework dangled dangerously, clinging to the plastic spirals by only a few unbroken paper holes. It threatened to rip off entirely at any moment, it- Aaron tossed it indifferently on the bed along with her other things.

Not that she actually intended to do her homework! As completely insane as she'd recently become, she hadn't fallen completely off her rocker. There was still plenty of procrastinating time left to fill, but for the moment Aaron just wanted to be alone. And studying was the perfect excuse to be left in seclusion. Having finished setting up a convincing background for pretend studying, she crawled up onto her bed among her things and lay back against her pillows.

She thought over last night, again. But this time, seemingly, with new eyes. She was calmer, not so exhausted. And rational instead of raging through a wall of pent up emotion.

She felt like an idiot for even touching that bottle, and even stupider for her verbal attack on Leo. Being unable and unwilling to actually do it physically, she kicked herself mentally for two, count 'em, two meltdowns within a 24 hour time frame.

But she couldn't help pondering his actions as well.

She'd been hurt and vulnerable, how could he have left her like that. What kind of a friend does that? Granted she hadn't reacted very well to everything herself, but still...

Her hands began itching for something to do so she reached for the box of cheerios and began to feed herself one by one.

The worst part was the fact she'd let him down. He had license to look down on her as a disturbed little girl in desperate need of mental help for the rest of their lives.

Her hands were unsatisfied with their petty task and begged for something else to occupy them with while she thought.

Aaron finally gave in to oblige them. Closing the box and setting it aside, she leaned over the side of the bed, much to the dismay of the rest of her sore body, and drew out a sketchbook from underneath the bed.

It took her a minute to push her upper half back onto the bed.

She nestled back against her pillows and peeled back the used pages, images of her fancy, until a blank page appeared.

Aaron moved her pencil above the paper in small sweeps, preparing to draw as a golfer takes a practice swing before actually hitting the ball.

She stared down at the blank, empty void and pondered what to fill it with.

A mental image of Leo hit her. Just him, standing slightly angled, idly looking towards her out in the real world.

She shook her head as if to shake off the image and tried to draw something else.

The beginnings of a flower grew on her paper, but having never been good at drawing flowers, she quickly stopped her sketch. It looked sloppy and forced, which is what it essentially was.

She sighed and flipped the page to a new clean sheet and began to draw a dolphin, but quickly grew bored. She took a minute to look down at her work and assess it. The nose was too small, it's dorsal fin looked too sharp, like a shark's, and the eyeball looked like it belonged on a cute and cuddly Care Bear than an attempt at a realistic looking aquatic mammal.

She growled in frustration and pulled the paper over to another new page. After another misshapen object come out, she yanked the paper to another blank page and relented to follow her inspiration.

Her hand slowly began to sketch Leo's oddly shaped head, somehow managing to find the curves of it perfectly, then his broad shoulders, and next the plates of his plastron. She stopped when she reached his midsection to look over her work. Not bad if she didn't say so herself. Although his left side was looking a little weird. She couldn't place what she had done, or how it differed from the other side, but it just seemed wrong. Something was missing.

She decided to ignore it for the moment and come back. She struggled with his thighs for a while, first making them too tiny, then much too huge. She couldn't help smiling a bit at her mistake as she erased with the end of her pencil, thinking how funny he'd look with real log-sized legs. Finally finishing off what she considered passable feet, she looked over her picture again.

The right side (his left) still looked floopy. She still couldn't put her finger on what was missing and it was beginning to bother her. She pushed her drooping glasses back up her nose and began to erase steadily up the right side to his shoulder but, once again, left the redraw for later.

She huffed a sigh and went back to his face, drawing the lines of his mask and sending the tails to flying back behind his head, as if dancing in a small breeze.

Next she drew his eyes, making sure to draw the darkened ridges around them that acted as eyebrows. Once more she assessed her paper. Biting her lip she realized her looked a little too much like Raphael. Carefully dabbing with her eraser, she softened his hard expression. Much better.

She started on the mouth. Intending to show him smiling she drew the top part of his lips, a slightly curved line, almost a smile in itself. She stopped, squinting down at the paper, then around the room. It was way too dark to be drawing such detailed features. From a few months of practice she'd learned that a simple millimeter of pencil line gone wrong could completely change a picture.

Tossing the book aside and the pencil somewhere near it, Aaron slowly pushed herself up off the bed and walked over to her line of windows.

She had four of them, each equipped with big white wooden shutters. Her room was on the second floor of her house, way over on the left side, if you were looking straight at it from the street. Only one of the windows actually could be seen from the street. the other three windows ran above the side-yard with a stunning view of a pine tree, some five feet from the window and the side of the house next door.

Aaron opened the first shutter, pressing her face up against it to get a glimpse of the sky. Clouds covered the sky with a gloomy haze, rain looked likely. She half-smiled to herself, finding it amusing that the weather wanted to copycat her mood.

She moved on to the next window.

&&&&&&&&

Leo crouched low on the roof above Aaron's windows. It felt weird to be out in the open during broad daylight, but he'd opted for a quicker trip through that sewers and such, undetected than shuffling along in a trench coat and fedora.

His stomach tightened. He did not want to go down there. He'd realized along the way through the sewers, that he'd forgotten his morning meditation and had nearly turned back at the first sign of an excuse, but figuring that April had probably locked down and barred the door to the Lair, he had continued on.

He was beginning to feel what he'd pegged as the effects of missing his daily routine, though. He felt jumpy and unfocused, he often felt that way around Aaron. Just seeing her set something off in him, a feeling he hated and loved at the same time; but now it mingled with a sense of uneasiness and dread.

The residential street was quiet. A strange change of pace from the normal New York hustle and bustle. But then, Leo looked up, the lack of activity could be explained by the nasty looking storm clouds gathered above his head. It was slightly disturbing how well the weather could reflect a mood.

The cold wind made him stiffen, wishing for the bulky trench coat.

He took a deep breath, checked the empty street for life one last time, and launched himself off the roof, down to a lower outcropping of roof tiling a story below, just under Aaron's window that faced the street.

&&&&&&&&

Aaron leaned over the top of her old dollhouse and flipped open the last of her shutters. An enormous flash of green rained down from nowhere. Startled she let out a small shriek and jumped back from the window, losing her balance and falling heavily on her butt.

"Is everything ok up there?" her mom called from the downstairs.

Aaron stared dumbly at Leo.

"Aaron?" her mother yelled again, "Are you alright?"

Aaron snapped out of her confusion to turn her head and yell back, "Everything's fine, Mom!" Then added sarcastically, "I'm just working on becoming the wonderful klutz I was born to be!"

She turned back to Leo and stared uncertainly.

Leo saw her shocked face staring back at him through the large spaces between the white wooden shutters and glass. He tilted his head, seeing her for the first time in glasses. It was- He snapped out of his assessment with a jerk, realizing with embarrassment he'd been just sitting there on the roof staring through the window.

"Hi," he mouthed timidly, raising his hand.

"Hi," Aaron whispered in disbelief, mindful most of her family was downstairs.

He rapped one of his knuckles lightly against the window.

"Can I come in?"

Aaron nodded silently, picking herself, gingerly off the floor. He noticed her wince slightly.

She hurriedly came back to the window. Her dollhouse was in the way so she wrapped her arms around the plastic brown Victorian and quickly deposited it on her bed.

Dust flew up in the air, tingling her nose. She wiped her grimy hands on her pajama bottoms and swung open the entire door of shutters away from the wall.

Why was she hurrying so fast? Aaron wondered to herself. She was surprised and even shocked to see Leo back at her house again, especially after last night. Though, she couldn't decide if she wanted to see him or if she wished he'd go away. She still wasn't sure she if she was even mentally stable enough to see him without an instant replay of the night before.

The night before. Guilt sunk over her, giving her trouble looking him in the eyes as she unlatched the lock on the window. She felt jumpy and jittery, too, as she pushed up the bottom half of the window to the top as far as it would go.

Why was she so excited? She continued to wonder at her hurry. Was it for his safety? To get him out of the open and into her room, away from prying eyes.

Yeah, that must be it. It was only natural that concern for his safety would be the cause of this sudden drive to see him, she decided. Nothing more. Nothing less.

---------------

Leo watched her go through the whole procedure of opening the window.

He didn't understand; if one had the freedom of such a commodity as a window, to view the world, why one would make it so hard to get to, but then again, he smiled lopsidedly with a tinge of embarrassment, it gave him an excuse to watch her.

He studied Aaron up and down, letting the male instincts and his ninja alertness mingle. Taking note of her mismatched t-shirt sporting a Kim Possible logo and light blue flannel pajama bottoms covered in Paul Franc monkey faces. Then the male instincts took over. He let his eyes wander up her figure hidden beneath her baggy clothing. She reached up to unlock the window and he caught sight of the skin across her midriff. Just the sight of it triggered a rush of blood, making him flush with warmth. As a turtle living down in the sewers he didn't get a lot of exposure to women, and even the slightest amount of skin could set an alarm off in his brain. He swallowed nervously. Then the honorable ninja returned to him, suppressing the male instincts fun. He averted his eyes to her face which was just looking up to meet his as she pushed the window up as far as it would go.

"Help me with the screen," she told him.

He tried to read her mood off the tone of her voice or the expression on her face, but both seemed empty and at most, confused. A few rain drops began to sprinkle around him. One or two dropping on his head and the rest of his body.

Aaron unlatched the black screen from its small locks along the bottom of the window, pushing it out for Leo to hold while she undid the top. Coming free, it popped out into his hands. He turned the screen sideways and slid it back through the window to her. The clouds spewed out larger droplet of water, faster and faster as each second ticked by.

Leonardo stuck his head through the window. The silence that had fallen to familiarly between Aaron and himself bothered him. The need to say something, anything, nagged at him as he felt her stare soundlessly at him come through the window.

"Uhh, cute glasses." he stammered, slowly pulling himself over the large dresser the dollhouse had stood on.

Aaron's hand flew up to her face.

"Oh!" Realizing the pair of frames was indeed resting on her nose. She gasped, "I'll be right back!" and turned to dash to her bathroom.

"Wait," Leo called, "I didn't mean-"

She turned around and Leo thought she'd heard him, until he realized she'd only stopped to pull some kind of cloth, that she tried her best to hide from his view, out of a drawer and dash back into the bathroom.

He rolled his eyes and huffed, sticking uncomfortably halfway in and halfway out of the room.

"Next time, we do this feet first," he mumbled to himself. Rain drops were dotting his legs outside.

He finished and finished scrambling through the window and dusted himself off, remembering to shut the window. Turning around to face the bed. He wrinkled his beak, it was a mess, books everywhere. How could she possibly study like that? Then a certain page on the bed caught his eye. He leaned closer, it was a picture. Of him! or one of his brothers, at least. He looked compellingly at it, quickly trying to figure who it was and even more importantly why she'd been drawing him -erm- them in the first place!

He heard the bathroom door unclick and jumped back, pretending to re-dust himself off.

Aaron came back, blinking hard and wiping some liquid form her eyes; glasses and evasive cloth no where in sight.

"Ok, I'm good, now." she said, climbing up onto her bed, around the dollhouse, catching sight of the sketch book and quickly flipping her work over, praying Leo hadn't seen it.

Leo stood next to the bed in the small bit of space it didn't take up in the cozy little bedroom, unsure what to do with himself, now that he was actually here.

"So, how're you," he began uncertainly.

"Good," she nodded, attempting to look convincing of her statement, "You?"

"Good."

Aaron felt like shrinking under his gaze. Was he thinking about last night. Was he here to condemn her? To pity her? What? She felt a small wave of anger wash over her defensively.

Yes, something like that must be why he'd come back. She couldn't think of any reason plausible enough besides these ones she didn't want to hear.

"How's your hand?" Leo asked, knowing he was quickly running out of conversation topics.

"Good." She flaunted it in front of her. So, he was thinking about last night! Her chest tightened. Perfect. Just Perfect.

She reached over to her bedside table, picked up her glass of juice.

An nervous reflex in Leo made him jerk at the color of the drink.

Aaron watched Leo eye her and the amber liquid warily.

"Relax, it's apple juice," she reassured him before taking a sip. Her suspicions practically confirmed. "You can check it if you like."

Leo nodded his head slightly, reaching out his own hand and to take the glass, raise it to his beak and sniff. The sweet, sugary aroma of apples rose to meet him. He felt himself relax in relief. He then glanced away and absently nodded his head as he handed the drink back. Meanwhile her chest tightened angrily.

"Glad to see you still trust me," Aaron commented sarcastically, catching his eye again as she replaced the glass on her bedside table.

"Aaron," he sighed apologetically. He could have smacked himself. He'd just made a big mistake.

"No, it's alright, I get it." Aaron interrupted quickly and irritably, "After last night, why wouldn't you be suspicious? You've got every right to question. In fact," her voiced turned sour, "Why don't you even get Don to install some video cameras? Then you can keep an eye on me 24/7. And you'd never have to worry about me messing up ever again." She glared at him.

"Aaron," Leo sighed again. He was obviously in dangerous territory if her emotions could go from calm and mild to an exploding volcano in five seconds flat.

"No, don't sigh like that," she growled, trying to keep her voice down so as not to be heard from the downstairs but angry all the same. "I'm not some kid you've got to explain the importance of right choices to, Leo. I know I messed up last night, I can't stop thinking about it! I was stupid, I was weak and pitiful and rash and- and- ugh! there's not even a word for what I was! At least not one I'm allowed to use. But I don't need you to tell me what I already know!" She glared daggers at him.

"Aaron," Leo sighed again.

"Quit doing that!" she hissed at him, "You got something to say, say it. If you don't then-"

"Look, last night I got-" he paused, searching for the right word, "overwhelmed."

Aaron stayed silent, listening, but still scowling.

"But I ended up talking to April last night-"

"The gal who's toilet erupted?"

Leo nodded his head, "She managed-"

"She knows?" Aaron exclaimed.

"Well, yeah," Leo admitted, shrugging, "But she talked some sense into me-"

"Man, Leo, who else did you tell?" Aaron exploded. "Your brothers must think I'm an absolute nut case! And Splinter," she groaned, burying her face into the pillows behind her, "I don't even want to know what he must think!"

"No," Leo tried to reason, "I didn't- Look, I only told April. She talked with me; she got me to understand-"

"What? That I'm insane?"

"No!" He sighed in frustration, "Stop, Aaron. Just stop!"

Aaron clamped her mouth shut.

"Aaron?" her mother's voice trailed up from the downstairs. "Is everything alright? What's going on up there."

Aaron's head snapped up.

"Uhh, everything's fine Mom!" she shouted. "It's just my radio!"

"Alright," the I'm-not-sure-you're-telling-the truth-but-I'll-let-it-slide tone yelled back.

"Ok!" Aaron yelled, breathing a sigh of relief. Then she turned back to Leo who had brought a hand up to his head and was presently rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

"I didn't come here to point my finger at you," Leo said, slightly muffled by his hand.

Then what are you here for? she wanted to shout, but literally bit her tongue and waited.

"Look, can we start this over?" he asked, bringing his hand down to his side. "I'll walk in there," he pointed to her bathroom, "And when I come back, we pretend that this whole conversation never happened. That way we can start from scratch., ok?"

Aaron looked at him skeptically, "Somebody's been watching way too many movies..."

"Aaron, please," Leo pleaded, "Let's just try it."

Aaron rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she relented.

Leo nodded solemnly, acknowledging her agreement to surrender their fight and slipped quickly through the door at the end of the room, shutting it softly behind him. He counted to three in his head and cracked it open.

"You do realize you entered through the window originally, right?" Aaron pointed out before he had even finished opening the door.

"Aaron," Leo said flatly, "It's raining."

"But that's the way you came in," she protested stubbornly.

He sighed, getting annoyed, "Could you use your imagination, please?"

Aaron shrugged, "Well, as long as we're already pretending, I might as well."

"Thank you."

Leo slipped back through the door and re-reentered.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"How're you?"

"Good, you?"

"Good."

"How's your hand?"

Aaron wiggled her hand in front of him again, "S'fine."

There was a long pause. Leo gestured toward the glass of apple juice waiting for Aaron to pick it up.

Aaron gave him a look, "You're kidding, right?"

Leo shook his head and gestured again.

She sighed, picked it up, took a sip, and held it out.

"Would you like to sniff my juice?"

She fought hard not to smile at the oddness of the sentence, stubbornly continuing her glare. Leo waved it away with his hand while shaking his head.

"No, I trust you."

Aaron glanced up at him skeptically, unsure if he really meant what he'd just said or if he was just trying to appease her.

"You do, do you?"

Leo nodded solemnly.

"I'm sorry, Aaron." he whispered softly, out of the blue. He saw Aaron jerk slightly and caught her eyes flash angrily. He wondered what he'd done wrong.

"You're sorry?" she snapped and then scoffed, "You're sorry." She seemed to ponder this thought for a few seconds then growled, "What do you have to be sorry for? What did you do? You're not the one I hear arguing at night. You're not the one driving me to insanity. You're not the one who tried to get yourself drunk last night and you're not the one who exploded into an uncontrollable firework show!"

"No, Aaron, listen to me!" He pleaded, staring hard at her, "I am sorry. I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. I'm sorry you're parents are fighting and your brother's driving you up the wall, I'm sorry you're struggling and I'm sorry I walked out on you last night."

Leo sighed softly, desperately hoping he sounded as sincere as he felt.

"Look, Aaron, we both messed up yesterday, alright? You shouldn't have been trying to get drunk, but I shouldn't have just left you like I did. I'm sorry."

He finished his apology with the umpteenth 'sorry' and waited anxiously for Aaron's reaction, watching her closely.

Her eyes softened and searched his face for a moment in guarded disbelief. They continued to dart uncertainly before moving on to glance about empty space. Her face had shifted into a thoughtful brooding expression. She shifted her weight uncomfortably. Glancing around, focusing on his face for a moment, then quickly glancing away again.

She wasn't sure what to do. This was all too much too fast. His apology had jumped out at her unexpectedly and it confused her. The balloon of hot air inside her, heating her anger and livid words had deflated, leaving her with nothing to defend herself with or against. And there Leo was, staring at her, waiting, for what? What could she possibly say now? What was there to do? She had no ideas for dealing with this situation. Her mind was drawing a blank. Without a blaze of righteous fury behind it she had nothing.

He was supposed to accuse her! Not apologize! He was supposed to be judgmental and look down on her! Then she could do her part by defending herself, yelling, screaming, and lashing out at the injustice of his views. He was supposed to be wrong, but in truth, she knew she was.

He wanted peace...He apologized...

Nothing was making sense anymore, nothing seemed clear. She shook her head. This was all going to take alot of sorting out.

But she didn't WANT to sort it out! She wanted it to go away!

Everything was a mess, but at the same time it looked as though maybe it wasn't. She was exhausted, but strangely enough, she thought that perhaps she wasn't that either. She was angry, but also not. She was overwhelmed, but she wasn't. It was all so confusing, but it wasn't.

She released her confused frustration in an audible sigh, bowed her face away from his view, and stared down trying to penetrate the white bedspread with her glare. She could feel her body trembling involuntarily. Her vision blurred from the tears that were beginning to stream down her cheeks.

It wasn't until she put hands to her face did Leo realize...

She was crying, again.

---

Leo glanced around uncertainly. Females confused him, they made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

What had he done? Why was she crying?

He inched closer and stiffened as he heard her taking short, hiccupping breaths.

"Aaron?" he said softly and timidly.

She didn't respond. A minute ticked by. Leo shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"Aaron?" He tried again.

Still no answer.

Leo bit his lip nervously. What was he supposed to do? Escaping was obviously out and standing there wasn't helping either.

He took a deep breath, plucked up his courage and prayed he was making the right choice.

Stepping further towards the bed, he quietly moved the dollhouse to the floor, turned and sat down in the empty space, and moved himself closer to Aaron. He could see her shaking ever so slightly.

He reached his arm out and placed it on her back in a comforting gesture. Aaron stiffened beneath it and he quickly drew back.

A couple minutes passed as he stared helplessly at her, not knowing how to help.

Slowly and cautiously he tried again, reaching his arm out and this time wrapping it around her. He held his breath anxiously. She didn't rebuke it this time. Pleased with his success, Leo dared go a step further and gently used the arm around her shoulders to pull her to him. She, almost willing, sank into his arms. Her face buried itself in his shoulder. Leo stiffened in surprise at the touch of her skin pressing itself to his as she huddled against him. He stared stunned at the head of hair below his. The realization of what had just happened in that moment hit him. Being unable to help it, he smiled slightly, releasing his tension in one slow breath while bending his head down and letting it lean on hers. He held her to protectively to his plastron, feeling her holding on to him instinctively as well. One green hand stayed around her backside while the other reached up to stroke her hair until, all to soon for Leo, Aaron's tears died down and she broke away from him, returning to her former self.

"Ugh! I've got to stop doing this!" She said fiercely wiping the tears from her face. "I'm worse than a bloody soap opera!"

Her glance flicked nervously back at Leo who was looking sadly back at her.

"What?" she asked defensively.

"Aaron," he looked troubledly at her, "when are you going to see this tough girl act isn't getting you anywhere?"

Her eyes narrowed guarded and questioning.

"You're obviously not ok," Leo explained softly, "You can't keep going around with all this emotional baggage."

Aaron's eyes flicked downward, another grim frown on her face.

"It's not baggage," She mumbled defensively.

Leo shook his head, "It is too. Whether you admit it or not. But you've got to get it all out; talk to someone about it." He shrugged, "Cry even."

Aaron's eyes snapped up fiercely. Leo held up his hands in defense.

"Crying isn't bad, you know."

"Yes, it is." Aaron shut her eyes a moment, pausing, "Crying shows you're weak." She paused again. "You cry when you can't handle stuff." She turned back to him, "I can handle stuff!"

Leo raised his eye-ridges. Aaron would have loved nothing more than to have slapped that look off his face.

"I'm fine!" She insisted fiercely.

"Aaron? What is going on up there?" Her mother yelled.

Aaron stiffened, "Uh, I'm uhh...working on a monologue for my acting class!"

Her mother sighed, "O-kay." Still, she didn't sound completely convinced.

Leo sighed, "All I'm saying is that you need to stop keeping your emotions so pent up because you don't want people to see them. Crying is ok, it isn't for the weak. I mean, even Raph cries...sometimes." He added. "And-" Leo hesitated slightly, "If you ever want someone to talk to, I want you to know, I'll always be here," he shrugged, "you know," he stopped again. "If you need me I'm your turtle." He smiled slightly glancing back in her direction.

Aaron looked out across her room through her line of windows, sighed, then remarked, trying to sound serious, "This keeps sounding more and more like a season finale to some soap." She turned her head to him. "I'm telling you we could make some money offa this if we sent in this as a screenplay. I swear all we need is an evil twin, a doctor to announce some one of us has a fatal disease and someone to cheat with their sister's in-law's son's cousin. Would you care to audition for Days of Our Lives?"

Leo looked at her sternly, not amused by her diversion of the subject.

She smiled, pleadingly, "Passions?"

Leo rolled his eyes.

"Ok, that's a no. How do feel about drama shows? They're close enough. Beautiful People? Wild Fire? The OC? Gilmore Girls? Any of 'em?"

She tried grinning larger.

"Be serious, Aaron," Leo said flatly.

She sighed and glanced away.

"Alright." She glared into space. Her shoulders fell and she slumped in defeat. "I hate to admit it...but you're right."

Silence fell again. Neither of them knew what to do with it and sat thinking to themselves until Leo spoke softly,

"Anything you want to talk about?"

Aaron shook her head.

"Anything I shouted, yelled, screamed and/or shrieked at you in the past twenty-four hours pretty much covers it."

She glanced over at him and blushed a little, a small genuine smile on her face.

"So we're good?" Leo asked.

She nodded, "We're good."

"Wait-" she stopped, remembering something, "Raph cries?"

Leo nodded, "Titanic gets him every time." He glanced worriedly at her. "But, uh, don't tell him I told you."

Aaron giggled.

"Hey, look." She turned to stare out the window, "it stopped raining." She laughed again, "It's even sunny."

Leo gazed out the window.

"We are having really creepy weather," he remarked, wrinkling his nose at the sudden change in conditions.

"Not really," Aaron smiled, getting off the bed, "Just this week."

Leo shook his head at her, "That doesn't make any sense."

Aaron shrugged, "No. But it is true."

Leo rolled his eyes.

"Aar-on!" Her mother's voice yelled from downstairs once more. "It's time to get ready for Church!"

"Ok-aay!" Aaron shouted back.

"I guess I'd better get going then." Leo stood up from the bed, finding Aaron in his way to the window. There was a moment of blushing and confusion as their bodies were forced close together in the tight space between the bed and the wall when he slid past her.

"Bye," he said quickly slipping through the open window.

"Bye." she repeated, following behind him to shut it.

He turned to scout the neighborhood for any more signs of activity before he slunk down to the nearest manhole.

"Leo?" He heard Aaron say his name softly behind him.

"Yeah?" he asked turning around, seeing her with her head poking out the window.

Aaron bit her lip a moment then said softly, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." he nodded back.

"So," she continued, "Does that mean I can come back for ninja lessons?" She smiled.

Leo nodded, "On one conditioned."

Aaron frowned, "What's that?"

"Don't call them ninja lessons."

Aaron smirked to herself and shrugged, "Maybe."

Before he had a chance to retort, she ducked back into her room and shut the window. She couldn't help the big, loopy grin on her face. Something in her felt goofy, like she'd sucked in too much helium from a balloon and was a tad lightheaded.

Peering back through the glass she watched Leo leap off the roof, landing somewhere below she couldn't see and somehow manage to slip away in the shadows of broad daylight.

He's good. Aaron thought to herself. The goofy smile grew bigger.

------------

"Yo, Leo!" Raph called as soon as the blue banded terrapin stepped into the lair. "Where ya been?"

"Uh... no where." Leo mumbled.

"Well, get you green butt in the battle shell, we're going to April's." Raph growled, uninterested in Leo's lack of detail.

"Why?" Leo asked.

"Remember Casey?" Raph snapped.

"Unfortunately yes" Leo nodded smiling, wondering what the big bonehead had done to tick Raph off so bad.

"Well, you can wipe that grin off'a your face cuz the shell fer' brains volunteered us to clean April's apartment again!" Raph threw his hands in the air, storming off.

"Raphie's in a bit of a bad mood," Mike grinned as he and Don walked up to Leo.

Don nodded chuckling, "And yet he doesn't seem to grasp the fact that he doesn't have to come."

"Hey, what could be better than watching Raph chase Rocky around a April's apartment?" Mike asked jokingly.

Don and Leo turned to him confused.

"You know, the squirrel, Rocky? From Rocky and Bullwinkle?"

Don and Leo shrugged helplessly.

"Well how about Scrat, then?"

More confused looks.

Mike sighed, melo-dramatically putting a hand to his forehead, "I have failed as your brother." Don and Leo rolled their eyes, chuckling.

"So," Mike said, perking up, "Where'd you go this morning, Leo?"

Leo's eyes widened a little, "Uhhh, No where really."

"Dude!" Mike exclaimed, "You missed morning meditation, that never happens! We all thought you'd died or fallen into a sand pit or been eaten by giant sewer alligators or been abducted by more aliens-"

"You thought that, Mikey" Don interrupted, setting the record straight. "That was all you."

"But still!" Mike whined, "What was so important Mr. Ninjitsu -pants missed his passion of life?"

"Mr. Ninjitsu-pants?" Don raised an eye-ridge, "That was clever."

"Oh, come on, Donnie!" Mike rolled his eyes, "There are more important things to concentrate on here! Like what was sooooo important that Leo disappeared this morning?" Mike turned back to Leo.

"Well, I uh.."he stammered.

"Wait a sec," Mike tilted his head slightly to the side, as an idea dawned on him, "You were at Aaron's, weren't you?"

Leo didn't answer.

"You were, weren't you?" Mike asked excitedly. A knowing grin formed on Don's face.

"So anything you wanna tell us, Leo?"

Mike jabbed the blue turtle in the plastron with his elbow, "Come on, dude, we want details! Like when you finally confessed to her; or when she confessed to you; and how long you made out and-"

"Mike!" Leo stopped his 'younger' brother's babbling. "We didn't...make out." he said the last two words with a small bit of discomfort.

Mike's eyes widened and his grin got bigger.

"And we didn't do anything else along those lines either," he quickly finished.

"But you just admitted you were there..." Mike smirked.

"Well," Leo glanced around nervously, and finding no way out, replied, "Yeah."

"Then did you finally tell her ya like her? Are you together now? Are you-"

"No." Leo stopped his brother again, "Nothing happened. She doesn't like me and she doesn't know I-" he dropped his voice self-consciously, "like her."

Mike stared at Leo puzzled, glancing back at Don who shrugged, "Well if you didn't go there for any a' that, then what did you do?"

Before Leo could answer Raph had stormed back and yanked Mike away by the back of the shell.

"Let's get this over with," he growled, pushing them all towards the elevator to the garage,"Everybody out!"

He shook his head to himself, "When we get there, I'm gonna-" Raph lowered his voice threateningly muttering curses and threats under his breath, stepping into the mystic elevator.

Mikey, Don and Leo filed in behind him. Smiling and smirking as brothers do.

----------

Aaron bounced back into her room, eager to change out of her church clothes, a.k.a. a skirt, and into jeans. The funny feeling from earlier that morning still hanging onto her, she couldn't seem to shake it, but she barely minded.

The sight of her messy bed did rain a bit on her little parade, however.

Half-heartedly grumbling to herself, she crawled back onto her bed, gathering up her things and stuffing them back into her backpack. The last item she picked up was her sketch book, the last page still unfinished. Unable to refuse the sight of an incomplete picture, she folded her legs and fished around for another pencil.

However, she found her picture just as stubborn as before. That right side just would not allow itself to be drawn!

She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a long while. Then finally set to work, newly inspired.

Whatever had possessed her in that moment caused her to draw a female figure on that right side she couldn't seem to get correct.

She pursed her lips, finishing off the girl's face. Knowing full-well it looked like and was meant to be herself; but reluctant, embarrassed and too stubborn to admit it, even to herself.

Lastly, and for the life of her she'd never admit why, she penciled in Leo's hand around 'the girl's' waist, holding her to him in such a way as to signify a couple. The half finished smile she'd started before on Leo's face had s look of satisfaction, like he finally had what he wanted. A tingling, prickly sensation crawled up her spine and into her head as she looked down at the finished product.

She smiled and bit her lip anxiously at the same time.

She'd found a new problem. One she couldn't talk about. Especially not to Leo.

Unable to hide from it any longer, she knew she'd realized, she had indeed fallen in love with Leonardo.

End...

---

Overflow

You try to keep it bottled up and hidden inside.
No one can know how badly you've cried.
At the end of the day, something else in you's died.
There's no getting off. You're along for the ride.
You gotta stay strong to battle your foe.
Mustn't let it go.
Mustn't let it all go.
Mustn't let it,
overflow.

A turbulent current of feelings and emotions.
Tumbling and turning like the waves of the ocean.
Crashing and churning. You don't want the commotion,
But the rush won't stop once it's set in motion.
And to avoid getting dragged down by the undertow
Sometimes you've just got to let it go.
Let it all go.
Let it,
overflow.

Could it be possible, that maybe all along,
These assumptions you've made are actually wrong.
Masking yourself doesn't prove that you're strong.
The price will be back to bite you before long.
Take my advice. Trust me. I know.
Sometimes you just gotta let it go.
Let it all go.
Let it,
overflow.

You can try all you want to hold your own
Struggling to breathe behind your walls of stone.
Life won't be put on hold, won't let you postpone.
It's time to give it up and let your troubles be known
You spent you're life trying to lay low,
But now it's time to let it go.
Let it all go.
Let it,
overflow.

You tried to stay bottled up with your feelings inside.
No one knew how badly you'd cried.
By the end of the day, something else in you'd died.
You kept yourself completely denied.
The inside and out diff'rent as Jekyll and Hyde
All that trouble just because of your pride.
But you learned your lesson, and you did it in stride.
Now you know to buckle up 'cause you're along for the ride.
And it's ok to let it go.
Let it all go.
Let it,
overflow.

---

A/N: Omigosh I can't believe I finally finished this thing! If you can call it finishing...
Well, Whaddaya think? Satisfied? Hah, not likely. I'm hoping I can string you all along for the next installment. I'm gonna try to bring you all over to my other Aaron story "I Heart NY".Yes, I'm evil. But I have a plan! You do not know the plan, so you do not know how cool the plan is. So follow the plan. The plan likes you; you will (eventually) like the plan. At least, that is my great hope. So onto the sequel (which wasn't the original sequel but will be the sequel nonetheless!)

Thanks to everyone for reading this far! and for all your wonderful reviews. (Warm fuzzies!)

Now don't forget: Read and Review! Flames will be laughed at and used to light the torch I'll whack you with it you flame me, however honest constructive critism is appreciated.