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Author's Chapter Notes:
Well, since I've gotten so many lovely reviews [thanks!], I decided to update again. Lol. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Only own Catarina, Marietta, baddies, & story idea. Mirage Studios owns everything TMNT. Thank-you!

After everyone had supposedly gone to bed, Donatello heard a gentle knock on his door. He had been reading instead of sleeping; Huckleberry Finn was an amazing novel.

"Come in, Rina," he said and the door opened to reveal a sheepish looking turtle girl.

"Hey Donnie," she said, stepping into his room. She nudged the floor with her toe and looked around at the gadgets and gizmos that lined the room. "Um, whatcha doing?" she asked.

"Well, I was reading," he said as he closed the cover. "Did you want to talk about something or where you just curious about what I was doing at 2 in the morning?"

"I'm sooorry," she said remorsefully as she sat down on the floor next to his bed. She leaned her head against his mattress and sighed, "I didn't mean to snap at you, I really didn't." She looked up at Donnie with plaintive hazel eyes, "I know you guys are worried about us. We worry about you too, a lot. We just thought we had finally gained a little trust for once."

Donatello sighed and pulled her up onto the bed beside him. "Just because we bugged your belts doesn't mean we don't trust you. It'd be nice if you made more of an effort to come back on time, though." He grinned at her, "Even if it means just running extra hard in order to make curfew."

Rina laughed and then put her forehead against his shoulder.

Donatello smiled some and rubbed her shell as they sat there on his bed together. "You know Rina, nobody except maybe Sensei is mad that you two went out of boundaries. You’re young, it's to be expected. It's mostly the curfew thing that's upset just about all of us. Like I said, all you have to do is run a bit faster, and maybe people would let up. Either that, or not go so far."

"But we like it over there," Catarina told him. "There are good people in the area we like to patrol."

"I'm not going to even ask how you know they're good," Donatello began. "But when you're late, it makes us worry because we don't know if you've run into serious trouble or if you're just goofing off."

"We're not trying to scare you guys any," Catarina replied. "We're just trying to do our part and patrol as best we can."

"I know, Honey," Donatello assured her, kissing the top of her head.

Catarina enjoyed his embrace and the circles he was rubbing on her shell for a few minutes more, before finally getting up and stretching. "Well, guess I'd best head to bed if I've got extra practice," she groaned. "Though I still say only Marie deserves that one...."

Donatello laughed softly. "You would say that," he commented. "And she'd say you deserved it for some reason or another."

Catarina nodded her agreement, kissed his cheek, then headed off to bed.

Meanwhile, Marietta was still up watching television, though she'd it turned way down in hopes of Master Splinter not catching her. She was being defiant, she knew that - but Raphael's harsh words towards her earlier, still plagued her thoughts relentlessly. She'd honestly thought he was going to strike her, after she'd realized he wasn't proud of her telling Leonardo he was a wuss. But he was, wasn't he? Okay, so what if he put his butt on the line for the rest of the clan all the time - he was still a big ole jerk! And she wasn't afraid to tell him that, nor was she going to back down when it came to him. Now, Raphael on the other hand.....She'd back down in a heartbeat, if he appeared as frightening as he had earlier. She idolized him and only really cared to make him proud, but if he wasn't proud, then she had to have failed somewhere along the line - and that just made her feel like the biggest piece of crap ever. But she would not apologize to Leonardo! Not ever! Whether it made her brother in red proud or not, she refused to do it! She sighed heavily, flicking through the channels in attempts of finding something good to watch. Her shoulder-length brown hair with natural red highlights fell into her face, as her green eyes glossed over - from tears and tiredness, though she was attempting to fight it. She was in no mood to sleep - or watch television really, but what other choice did she have? She stifled a yawn and rubbed her eyes, wondering if maybe a walk would do her some good. In the end, she decided that a walk would probably just get her in more trouble and she didn't feel like piling up any more punishment on top of extra practice, three-man teams, and being grounded. Instead, she put in Kingdom Hearts and played that until she finally fell asleep, one arm hanging over the couch with the controller still in her hand.

Leo, first to wake up as usual, found her that way in the morning. He sighed and rubbed his hand across his eyes as he turned off the game console and flipped the TV to the news. The change of sounds didn't wake Marie up; the girl could sleep like a rock. He nudged her in the foot and she cracked open one eye.

Upon seeing him, Marie let out an annoyed grumble and flipped over onto her plastron. "Marie, get up," he said.

"Suck it…" Marie muttered into the couch cushions as she flung her arms over her head.

Leo rolled his eyes; he didn't feel like dealing with her attitude anyways. He walked on into the kitchen to make his ritual morning cup of coffee.

Mikey, amazingly, was the next one to come into the living room. "Good morning world!" he exclaimed, flinging his arms out to the lair.

"You know, Mikey, the world's never going to answer you back," said Donnie as he followed Mikey.

Mikey tossed him a grin, "I know, but I can dream big, right?"

"Suuure," said Donnie, shrugging his shoulders. He noticed Marie on the couch, "Hey, Marie, wanna wake up?"

"Wanna fat lip?" snapped Marie as she grabbed a pillow and pulled it over her head.

"Touché," Donnie said with a smile as he walked into the kitchen. It'd be Cheerios and fresh strawberries for him. Mikey was already reheating a pizza from a couple nights ago. Rina, shoving her messy morning hair out of her face, walked into the kitchen after Donnie.

"Morning," she said as she dived into the freezer.

"Cookie dough is not anywhere near healthy breakfast food," Leonardo said, knowing exactly what she was getting.

She stuck her tongue out at him playfully as she pulled a rather large roll of chocolate chip cookie dough from the freezer. "Ah, but a ninja needs sugar! It gets the blood pumping."

"More like the exact opposite," put in Donnie.

"I think cookie dough is a perfectly good breakfast!" Mikey said, waving his pizza in the air.

"Yeah, see, Mikey agrees with me," Rina said as she went scrambling around in the drawers for a knife.

"If the consumption of sugar is involved, Mikey's going to agree no matter what," said Donatello, glancing over at Mikey who was arranging gummy bears on his slice of pizza.

"Heck yeah!" said Mikey, grinning broadly. "Sugar equals good, nasty bran oatmeal yucktastic cereal equals bad."

Donatello shook his head as he poured himself a bowl of Cheerios and placed some fresh strawberries on it, before pouring the milk. He grabbed a spoon and sat down to eat, enjoying his healthy breakfast. "You know," he began, "too much sugar isn't good for you."

Michaelangelo and Catarina both gasped playfully. "Nooooo! Say it isn't so!" They wailed in unison, giggling moments later after getting up off the floor they'd both fallen too during their over-dramatic act.

Leonardo rolled his eyes at the two of them. "I think that just proved Donnie's point. It's rotted your brains out."

"Eew!" Catarina shrieked jokingly, digging her spoon deeper into her beloved cookie dough. "That's gross!"

"Hey, where's Marie?" Mikey asked, having had not noticed her on the couch. "Shouldn't she be up by now?"

"She's on the couch," Leonardo replied. "And she can wake herself up."

Michaelangelo shook his head. "Now you're being just as stubborn as she is."

"I told him they were alike," Catarina piped up, spooning her tasty treat into her mouth. "But of course, they don't listen to me."

"Yeah, well, I swear she's worse than Raph!" Leonardo exclaimed, before taking a much needed sip of coffee.

"Is that even possible?" Mikey joked.

"You didn't see her with Sensei yesterday," Rina muttered softly. "I thought she was gonna start throwing shuriken at somebody."

"Well, she'd better watch her temper," Leonardo stated. "As she's teamed with me, and I won't stand for it."

"As if we didn't all ready know that, Leo," Donatello replied, drinking the leftover milk in his bowl. They continued to talk amongst themselves as they ate their breakfasts.

In the mean time, Raphael had awoken and discovered Marie asleep on the couch. He knew just by looking at her, that someone had already attempted to wake her; otherwise her pillow wouldn't have been placed over her head in protest. Raphael smirked as he walked over to the couch. Reaching down, he plucked the pillow off Marie's head and began to smack her with it. "Get up!" he shouted, pounding her on the shell and head.

Marie sat up with a yell and tried to ward off the attack, "Raph! Raph, stoooop!" She rolled off the side of the couch and landed on the floor.

Raph hauled back and flung the pillow at her before letting out a snorting laugh, "And that's how you wake 'er up."

Marietta got up and leapt at him but he had already moved away and into the kitchen.

He nodded to the others as he sat down at the table and grabbed the milk. He chugged it straight from the jug before turning to look at Mikey, "Hey, grab me a bowl, would you?"

"Yes, Master Raphael, of course," teased Michelangelo as he went over to the cupboard to get a bowl.

"Morning, Raph," Rina said as she sat down at the table across from him. He looked up at her and grunted something that sounded like a good morning. She grinned; he never was a morning person.

Marie ran into the kitchen a few seconds later, her brown hair tousled. She was gripping a pillow and looked quite frenzied. "Raph, I am going to kill you!" she shouted, waving the pillow threateningly.

"Not in the kitchen," Leo said but Marie ignored him as she swung the pillow at Raph's head.

The turtle in red reached up and caught it as it headed towards him, yanked it out of her hand and flung it back into the living room. "Breakfast," he muttered.

"Bastard," she snapped at him as she walked over to the cupboards. She got her favorite cereal and a bowl and headed back over to the table. She sat down beside Rina who flashed her a frown. "You're not still angry at me, are yah?" Marie grumbled.

Rina replied by getting up, tossing her spoon in the sink, putting her cookie dough in the freezer, and leaving the kitchen.

Marie was getting tired of this non-confrontational form of fighting.

“You know, you owe her an apology,” Leonardo stated after a moment of silence.

“An apology?” Marie repeated. “What for? How was I to know I’d get her in more trouble? That was Sensei’s doing!”

“Yes, well, you ought to know better than to mouth off to Master Splinter,” Leonardo replied.

“Well, excuse me for not being like you!” Marietta snapped. “Not everyone can kiss his feet twenty-four/seven!”

Leonardo cast her an angry glare. “This attitude of yours isn’t cute anymore, Marie,” he told her flatly. “It hasn’t been cute since you were about four-years-old!”

“Who says I’m trying to be cute, Leo?” Marietta snapped, digging her spoon into her beloved Frosted Flakes. “Ever stop to think maybe y’all can’t handle it, ‘cause I’m telling you the truth?”

Leonardo’s look darkened some. “You ever stop to think maybe you don’t get treated like the age you are, because all you do is throw fits when you don’t get your own way?”

“Screw you, Leo!” Marie growled, angrily stuffing a spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

Leonardo shook his head, as he placed his cup in the sink, then left the kitchen all together.

“He’s a point, you know,” Donatello piped up finally. “The more you mouth off, the longer you’ll be grounded and stuck on three man teams.”

Marietta just glared at her brother in purple, in no mood to be told such things. It was way too early, and already Leonardo had gotten on her last nerve.

After leaving the kitchen, Leonardo headed for the bathroom to do his business, only to glance into the girls’ room that they still shared, spotting Catarina sitting on her bed looking a little sullen. He glanced around, then decided to play good big brother – least he could be that for one of them.

“Rina?” He spoke, as he entered the room after knocking on the open door to get her attention.

Catarina glanced upwards, and heaved a sigh. “What do you want, Leo?”

“Just wanted to check on my sister,” Leonardo replied. “You okay?”

“Do I have any choice but to be, Leo?” Catarina snapped slightly. “I mean, every time Marie throws a fit, we both end up in trouble for it! If she had’ve just kept her big ole mouth shut, we could’ve still been out patrolling together once our grounding was up! But can she do that just once? No! She just has to get all in Sensei’ face about everything and make us both look like little kids!”

Leonardo sat next to her. “Rina, you don’t always get punished for Marie’s actions. It’s just, times like now, Master Splinter has to find a way to make her wake up and see the consequences of her actions more clearly, and if you have to be part of it, then he’s no choice but to do it. If Marie keeps going off like she does, without controlling it, who knows what sort of trouble she’ll get into while out on patrol.”

“So basically, I’m her keeper,” Rina grumbled. “I love her Leo, I do. But she gets on my nerves when she ends up getting me in trouble because she has problems with keeping her mouth shut!”

Leonardo draped his arm around her shoulder. “I’ve no doubt you love her, Rina. We all do. She refuses to see that some of us do, so she insists on rebelling more than necessary. In her own way, she’s still trying to get attention – but she’s getting the wrong kind of attention, so that just angers her even more.”

Catarina looked up at him, a little surprised. “If you seem to understand her so well, why do you two fight all the time?”

Leonardo chuckled. “Because she’s like Raph. We butt heads because she’s hot-headed like him, and also because, as you said yesterday, she’s stubborn like me as well.”

Catarina shook her head. “Well, it still doesn’t make it right.”

"No, it doesn't," said Leo as he stood up, "But just because it's unfair doesn't mean that anything's going to change about the punishment."

"True," Rina sighed then she looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, "Hey, Leo? You know what great revelation I remembered that I had yesterday?"

"What?" he asked, glancing down at her, expecting her to reveal some new insight about their family. She was always analyzing her siblings and the situations they got into; as much as she goofed off, it was amazing the things she noticed.

Suddenly she jumped up from the bed and took off down the hall and shouted back, "I'm faster than you!"

Leonardo shook his head before chasing after her as she raced towards the dojo. When they got there, the other four were already on the mats. Mikey and Raph were sort of sparring but neither of them was really into it at the moment. Rina dashed around their match and spun around to sit down on the mat.

"Beat yah," she said, smirking smugly at Leo.

"By cheating," he said as he crossed his arms and watched Mikey and Raph fight.

"Still beat yah," said Rina.