Madi had never tasted anything so delicious in her whole life. The breakfast pizza that April and Jacob brought back from the 'Casey's' gas station a few miles away was soft and juicy and covered in layers of thick cooking-grease. The food practically screamed 'CALORIES'! But that only made it even better. Madi didn't know she missed her old life until she realized what she had been living without. She had missed April and Jacob and her mom and Sam. She missed eating pizza with Mikey, doing school work with Donnie, fawning over Space Heroes with Leo, and training with Raph.

She was happy to be home.

"So," Jacob started after he swallowed the last bite of his third and final piece of breakfast pizza. Everyone was finishing up on their breakfast, too. "You're back, Madness. What do you want to do first?" He asked her from across the kitchen table. Madi took a second to think, but Mikey was already screaming out suggestions from the top of his lungs at a thousand miles an hour.

"We could go skate-boarding! Or play video-games! Or just a game in general like hide-and-seek! Or we could train! You could teach us some of your cool moves! Or we could have a dance-party! You used to love those! I'm sure you still do! Or we could-"

"MIKEY!" Leo, Donnie, April, Jacob, and Raph all shouted at once in an attempt to get him to shut up. Mikey immediately stopped talking, but a hurt look appeared on his face and he folded his arms. 

"I was just giving out ideas..." He murmured under his breath, glaring at his breakfast plate. Madi put her hand on his shoulder since they were sitting right next to each other and flashed him a happy grin. She hated seeing him down in the dumps, so her smile was the key to getting his 'happy' back.

"They're great ideas, Mikey." She told him in a supportive manner. His sad look evaporated into thin air, like it had never even been there in the first place, and he wrapped his green arms around her in a tight hug. 

"This is why she's my pizza buddy!" He yelled happily. "She thinks my ideas are great!" Madi laughed and hugged him back.

"I always have and always will." She said as he settled down a bit. Madi draped her arm over his shoulders and he kept his around her back, holding onto each other like best friends would. "And I think skateboarding sounds fun. I haven't done that in a really long time, so I might be a little bit rusty. Then we can play video games, and regular games like hide-and-seek, followed by some training where I teach you how to kick your brothers' shells, and finally a big dance party for the finale to my first full day back."

Mikey looked like he was going to explode from excitement.

"Of course, the only way I'm going to do any of that is if Em participates as well." She added, noticing the fact that the girl she rescued was doing her best not to be noticed by anyone. It was hard not to notice her, though, when she was the only thing Leo had looked at since they got home from patrol that morning. Em suddenly looked up from her plate at the sound of someone saying her name and wished she hadn't.

"Oh...uh..." She stuttered. "I wish I could, but I don't know how to skate board."

"Of course you do, Em!" Mikey hollered with his innocent smirk. "We taught you the last time you were here, remember?"

"I'm afraid I don't, Mikey." She told him. "But that's okay, I can stay here with April and Jacob and the others. You guys go ahead. I have my shift at work in an hour, anyway. I don't want to be late." They all knew that she was only trying to get out of hanging out with them, but none of them wanted to be mean about it. Instead, they just went along with her story. There was an awkward silence after that.

"Well," Donnie said and stood up. "I'm up for some skate-boarding. I still have your board in my lab, Madi, if you want to come get it."

"Sure." She replied and got to her feet. "We'll all meet up back here in five minutes, then we can head out. Sound good?" There was a chorus of whoops and hollers of excitement as everyone else stood up and went to get ready for some serious boarding in the sewers. Well, everyone except Leo and Raph. 

As Madi was walking towards Donnie's lab, Raph quickly took her hand and led her to his room, where they stood the day before. Where he had his first kiss. He was surprised she didn't put up a fight, she must've known what was coming and decided to go with it rather than battling against it. Em left the table and started walking over to the living room area, where Master Splinter and Madi's mother were having a conversation, but Leo stopped her before she could get too far. 

"Uh, no, you're not going anywhere." The blue-masked turtle said and placed his hand on her arm. Em spun around to look at him. "We still need to sort things out."

"What are you talking about?" She asked him.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." He snapped at her. "You can't just jump out of someone's life, stay away for over a year, then magically appear alive and in one piece and think that you can just leave again. We need to sort this out."

"There isn't anything to sort out, Leo." She snapped back at him and pulled her arm out of his grasp. The kitchen was empty except for them, and Lisa and Master Splinter looked like they were too busy talking to notice what was happening behind them at the moment. So she was free to express herself as much as she wanted without getting weird stares. "You were better off without me. You didn't need to worry about my safety or where I was because-"

"What are you talking about?" Leo interrupted and took her hands. "I was never better off without you. Em, I was miserable without you. Just ask the guys. I couldn't eat, drink, or sleep for weeks when you...when you were gone. It broke me, Em."

"Which is exactly why I should stay away." She told him sadly. "You have Shredder to worry about. Until he's gone, you can't have any distractions...any weaknesses that he could use against you. When Shredder fixed me up and threw me out, we both know he believed I wouldn't be of use to him anymore. He knew that I'd stay away for my safety and for yours. I wasn't a weapon he could use to bring you to your knees anymore. And I want to keep it that way."

"Em-"

"Leonardo," She growled lowly. Her tone wasn't mean or angry, it was serious. Her eyes were empty of any emotion except for determination. "I am going to leave, and I am never going to come back. We are going to live our lives separately. By doing that, we'll keep each other out of harm. I love you, and that's why I never want to see you again."

His heart shattered.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Hey, guys! Chapter twenty-five finally! Yay!! I just want to let you guys know something.

A few days ago, one of my readers messaged me and asked if I wanted to see the fan-art they made based on my fan-fiction. Of course, I said yes. And the art was beautiful. I'm not sure if I'm really that popular that a lot of people have been making fan-art of Raph and Madi or Donnie and Madi, but I just want you guys to know that if you have, I really want to see it. It's such an honor to have someone enjoy my work so much that they'd spend time making masterpieces based off of it.  Don't be scared to show me your work. Just message me if you have anything you want to show me because I really really want to see it. Luv you all! Thanks again for reading!!!

~Madness