"Hello?"

The sound of her voice made his heart skip a beat, even though it'd been less than a week than the last time they'd spoken to each other. Raph just couldn't help it, the only person to ever have that effect on him was her and her alone. The teenager cleared his throat nervously and shakily got to his feet. As he spoke, the ninja began to pace back and forth across the roof top, the city lights igniting the busy night streets below as taxis, cars, and limos zoomed past.

"H-hey, Madi," Raph started with a nervous, uptight stutter. "How're you doing? You okay over there?" It wasn't exactly as smooth as the intro he'd written earlier, but at least this was more authentic.

"Yeah, I'm doing alright," He could tell from the tone of her voice that she was exhausted, how her words were a little forced, like she was trying to catch her breath. "I'm about half way to the mutagen deposit, so I've made some good progress today. But you probably knew that already since Donnie's tracking my t-phone."

"He is?" Raph asked as he paced. He had no idea his brother had micro-chipped her phone. He wanted to be angry at his geeky brother for keeping that piece of information away from him, but he'd deal with that later. This time now was about Raph and Madi, so he wasn't going to waste it ranting about Donatello. Slowly, gradually, Raph was beginning to loosen up a little more and his tense muscles began to relax.

"Yeah, I think he can check it on his laptop, y'know, to..." She paused for a moment, as if she was building up the strength to say what she needed to. "...to find me, in case I end up needing backup." She was nervous, that much was obvious, maybe a little scared as well, though she was trying her best not to show it. But regardless of her attempts, he knew she was feeling insecure and jumped at the opportunity.

"I can catch a plane and be to Japan in a day," The desperation and excitement in his voice was something he probably should've tried to control, but he didn't care at this point. She needed him, they both knew it. The mutant stopped pacing and leaned against the edge of the brick railing. "I could watch your back, and-"

"Raph..."

She was smiling on the other end of the line, and he couldn't help but let a sad smirk appear on his lips. She would never ask him to leave New York for this mission, she didn't roll like that. To her, this was her fight and only her fight, despite the other people involved. And she would die before asking anyone else to put themselves in possible danger for her sake. Her selflessness was both a blessing and a curse, especially at Raphael's expense.

"Yeah, Madi?"

"You know you mean everything to me, right?"

He felt his heart constrict in his chest and he sat back down on the paved rooftop. Before he could say anything, his mind drew a complete blank as to how to respond to that bit of information. It wasn't that he didn't like what she'd said or that he didn't know about her feelings for him, it was that he was the one who was supposed to be professing his love, not the other way around. 

"I just wanted to tell you that, in case-"

"Stop," He cut her off and closed his eyes. "Stop right there. Don't start down that 'in case I die' road, because you're not. I'm not going to let it happen; I'll be six feet under before I let anything happen to you." He'd made up his mind, and now he was on a roll. "I hate being this far away from you, especially when you're in a dangerous, unknown part of the world over ten thousand miles away from any sort of rescue."

"Raph, I can-"

"I know you're a force to be reckoned with, and I know you can take care of yourself. But if you care about me at all, you'll tell me to come to Japan. Because being away from you is so painful, Madi, so damn painful. I've woken up every morning since you left, thinking that I'll be able to manage your absence. But by the end of the day, my chest hurts from how bad my heart's been aching. I know I don't usually say things like this, but its the truth."

He took a deep breath.

"I'm letting it all out now. As much as we think taking what we have further is a bad idea, to me not taking it further is an even worse idea because I can't stand the thought of being without you. I know when we met we didn't exactly get off on the right foot, but we've come so far since then, and I just..."

This was the part he'd written out, the part he was so scared of screwing up. This was the part that would make or break the connection they shared, that would either win her over completely or scare her away. He could feel himself shaking from nerves and the fear of being rejected, but this was it. Now or never.

"I love you, Madi. I love everything about you. I love how friendly you are with my brothers and how you respect Splinter. I love that you're different from everyone else we've ever met, and that you're the most selfless person I've ever known. You know what you believe in, what you stand for, what you will or won't put up with. And you're so strong, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Ninety-nine percent of the Earth's population couldn't go through what you've been through and got out alive. And the fact that..." He could feel himself getting a little choked up, but he sighed as he tried to keep his emotions in check.

"...the fact that you care about me as much as you do, regardless of what I am, regardless of the baggage I have and the issues I deal with, I just... I love you. I love you, Madi."

He was silent then, waiting for her to reply. But not a single sound came from the other end of the line. The mutant couldn't even hear her breathe. It was then that he started to panic.

"Madi? You there?"

He looked down at his phone and saw something that made his heart drop.

The call had ended two minutes ago.

~End of Part 2~