Madi and Leo were silent for most of the patrol. It was obvious to her that Leo wasn't as happy as the others at her return. She knew he was jealous of her abilities, her skills, her capability of kicking his shell so bad it hurts. But she didn't say anything about it. He wasn't a bad guy, he just didn't like being shown-up.

"Do you need a break?" He asked after a few hours straight of doing nothing but running and leaping from roof to roof. Truth be told, he had only asked her if she was tired because he was breathing heavily and knew it wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer. Sweat dripped down his arms and legs and his lungs were on fire.

Madi replied with a nod, even though she was fine. The kunoichi could tell that Leo was going to exhale a lung if they didn't stop for a second, but he was too stubborn to admit it. She sat down on the cement ledge of the rooftop and looked down at the alley, her legs pulled up to her chest. She rested her chin on her knees and wrapped her arms around her shins.

Leo watched her from a few yards away as he regained his energy. They had covered their half of the city in the past few hours, faster than his brothers because he and Madi hadn't stopped for a break once. He wasn't used to the consistency, but he wasn't going to let Madi beat him at something as simple as running.

"So....you and Em were a thing?" He suddenly heard Madi's voice. She hadn't said anything in hours, and that was what she wanted to talk about? Leo thought for a second. At least she didn't want to talk about her adventures with Master Splinter or the fact that she was better than him at everything. Deciding that it wouldn't hurt much to discuss his past with Em, he walked over to the ledge and sat next to Madi.

"How could you tell?" He asked. He couldn't recalling saying anything about him and Em's relationship in front of her, so he wasn't one-hundred percent sure on how she got that bit of information.

"The way you looked at her when she first entered the room...." Madi trailed off, her eyes on the city streets below them. "...and the way she looked at you. It was like you weren't aware of anyone else in the lair, like no one else in the world was around. It was just you and her, realizing that you two were still you."

Leo wasn't sure how to reply to that. He hadn't known Madi could have been so observant. Or maybe it was just another trick she had learned from Splinter. Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Madi spoke again. "When will you learn to look past your envy? Just because I spent some time with Splinter and learned a few things doesn't mean you have to hate me, Leo."

He was going to make a snide remark about her obtaining mind-reading abilities, but her last few words caught him off guard. Doesn't mean you have to hate me, Leo.

"You think I hate you?" He asked her, confused. She shook her head.

"I don't think, Leo. I know you do." Madi said, her chin still on her knees and her eyes still on New York. "I don't want to be enemies, Leo. We both have enough of those."

"We're not enemies-"

"Then why do you look at me like you want to strangle me? Why do you look at me like I'm Shredder? Or Karai? I may be skilled, but I'm not better than you, Leo." She told him. He was perplexed at first by her statement, but his confusion cleared up when she began to explain. "I could never be a leader like you. I could never be able to handle a group of people looking up to me, let alone my family. Your brothers love you and would do anything for you."

"They would do anything for you, too." Leo said. She just shook her head.

"But they're not my family. I wasn't born from the same parents as them, I didn't grow up with them. I don't know their deepest fears or what makes them happiest, I'm not the person they go to if they're in need of some help. You mean the world and beyond to them, and you have the nerve to be jealous of me? You have the nerve to be mad at them for their excitement that I've come home?"

"If they're not your family, then why did you just call the lair 'home'?" He countered. "Family doesn't start or end with blood, Madi. You should know that by now."

"You're missing the point, Leo." She insisted. "While I was gone, I learned a lot of things about myself... Many of things that I'm not proud of, one of them being the fact that no one in their right mind is ever going to look up to me like your brothers look up to you. No matter how easily I can kick your shell." Leo was silent for a moment, contemplating and processing what she just told him. "Face it, Leo, we both have stuff going for us. But which one would you rather have? A fighting ability or a family that looks up to you?"

The two were quiet for a long time, just watching traffic drive by on the floor of New York City and listening to the sounds of the night. Both of them had a lot of things to think about and they both knew it.

"I don't hate you, Madi." Leo spoke up and looked over at the blonde dressed in black. She looked back at him. A small smile appeared on his face and he extended his big, green hand. "Can we start over?"

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

By the time Leo and Madi got back to the rendezvous point, Mikey, Donnie, and Raph were already there, waiting for them. The two could tell that the three had started getting antsy when they didn't show up on time, but their worry vanished when they realized that Leo and Madi were fine. They were happy that their brother and best friend were okay, but.....

They were concerned about the fact that they were laughing and having a good time together.

"Sooooooo...you're not mad at Madi anymore?" Donnie asked. "Wait, let me re-phrase that. You're not jealous of Madi anymore?" Leo shook his head. Raph looked from Leo to Madi, his eye-ridge raised in suspicion.

"Nah, Leo and I are cool now." Madi told him with a grin.

"Good, because that was getting old fast." Mikey said and they started making their way back down to the sewers. Mikey jumped down the man-hole first, followed by Donnie, then Leo. Madi was about to go next when a green hand stopped her.

"Wait..." Raph said, his hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I...I need to talk to you." Madi knew what he wanted to talk about. But she wasn't sure she was ready to have that conversation yet.

"Raph..." She started and sighed. "I-"

"Come on, Madness!" Mikey called up to her from the darkness below. "April and Jacob brought back breakfast-pizza!" It was true- Mikey really was her hero when it came to getting her out of awkward conversations. Taking that as her cue, she quickly followed him down into the sewer.