When a young woman gets fired from her job, she sees something shocking as she leaves, and after that, her life is turned upside-down-but is that better than it had been it already?

A/N: Sooooooo I reread this and confused the hell out of myself, so I decided to simply rewrite parts of it. It is mainly 2012 with the background from the 2003.

CHAPTER ONE

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP! A hand shot out, grabbed the alarm, and threw it out of the window on sheer reflex. "Fuck." she muttered as she heard glass shatter. "There goes another window and another clock. And it's only three a.m." She sighed and stood, unsatisfied with the hour of sleep she managed in the last week. She changed her clothes and rushed to work, already knowing she was late.

~*Turtles' Lair*~

Raphael grunted as Donatello examined the large crack his shell for the seventh time that day. "Donnie, it's healing fine! It's been three days since those purple dragons caught us." Donatello rolled his eyes and Michelangelo cut in, "One, caught you, and two, Raph, it doesn't hurt to be sure! How else are you gonna get the ladies if your shell is cracked? Your devilishly good looks?" Mike wiggled his brow suggestively at the last words.

Raphael snorted and rolled his eyes. "Look who's talkin', Mike. You're uglier than me!" Mikey crinkled his "nose". "That's sayin' a lot, Raph." Donnie looked over to Leonardo, who had remained silent with his eyes narrowed, thinking and staring at nothing. "What's wrong, Leo?" Raph asked, following Donnie's gaze. Mikey cocked his head. "Yeah, you have been quiet since thing's died down."

Leonardo jerked slightly, surprised. "What? Oh, my bad, guys. Just thinking." Donatello raised a "brow". "About what? How to get Mikey to shut up or me to stop experimenting or Raph to stop being an ass? If you were thinking as hard as you looked like you were, that must be it." Leo snorted and shook his head. "No, that's not it. But, ah..." He paused before continuing.

"It's been a while since Sensei told the story, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, but didn't he mention a human who took care of him before he found us?" His brothers were silent for a moment before Mikey piped up, "Let's just ask Dad! He doesn't generally avoid direct questions!"

"Ask me what, Michelangelo?" Splinter appeared, causing his surrogate sons to jump slightly. They exchanged a glance before nodding and turning to the rat. "Leo was thinking a minute ago." Raphael started. Donnie put in, "And he made a suggestion that made us all slightly curious." Splinter beckoned for them to continue. Leo stated, "Well, I'm not sure if im remembering right, but in the story, you said you were taken care of by a human before you found us, right?"

Splinter's eyes twinkled slightly, but he did not interrupt. "Well, what wound up happening to them? Do you know?" Leo finished. Splinter didn't speak for a moment. "And here I thought you had overlooked that small detail. Yes, I did mention a human. A young girl, in fact, four or five at the time, and very mature for her age. Her mother wasn't the nicest woman in the world."

The turtles gazes were fixed on their teacher and surrogate father. They suddenly lauched questions at him.

"What happened?"

"Who is she?"

"Where is she?"

"Was she hot?" At everyone's glare, Mikey changed his question to, "Is she safe?"

"Have we seen her?"

"Would she remember you?"

"Does she know we exist?"

"Did she ever meet us?"

The barrage of questions paused and everyone turned to Mikey. "What?" The orange-clad turtle muttered. Leonardo said, "That was an unepected question." Mikey frowned. "Well, she was like five, right? And she wouldn't want to know what happened to her pet? (No offense, Sensei.) Kinda weird..." Splinter gave a small smile. "That is probably the most important question. I doubt you would have seen her, as the last time I saw her was the time she died."

"What?! This story has a sad ending?! Nooo!" Mikey whined. Splinter sighed before continuing his tale.

The first time I met her, she was four. I don't know her name, but she was kind and gentle. When she found me, my leg had been bitten by a dog. I was lucky to be alive, but I was badly injured. She found me as I scavenged for food in an alley. She captured me and took me home, and at first I feared for my life. However, she requested permission from her father to take care of me until a healed. He agreed, after some persuasion, to allow me into their home, on the condition her mother not find out.

A month later, her mother did find out. The girl was just moving to hide me away when her mother walked in. She saw me, screamed, and yelled at her daughter to get away from me. The girl tried to convince her mother that I was perfectly safe, but the woman snatched me up by my tail and moved to throw me out of the window. The next thing I knew, the girl had struck her mother and snatched me away, saving my life a second time.

The woman told her daughter to leave, and to take me with her, and that if she returned to the house, ever, that she would kill her. I was stunned. Would this human really abandon her child? She would. The girl left, me in her arms, and refused to turn back. I wondered where her father was, as he seemed the reasonable one, but he wasn't there at the moment.

She returned me to the place she found me, deeming me fit enough to survive. Then we parted ways. It was a day later that I found you four and was mutated. I was poorly equipped to raise you all on my own, yet I managed.

It was a year later that I crossed paths again with the girl for the last time. She was being chased by the Purple Dragons, who, back then, were merely a few drug dealers and hipsters. She ran into the alley I was foraging in. I had hidden, but then I recognized her. I grabbed her, covering her mouth, and hid with her until the Purple Dragons had gone.

She turned around as I released her and I tensed, ready to flee the moment she began to scream. However, she somehow recognized me. "It's you!" she said excitedly. We spoke for some time and she told me that her parents had separated and that her mother was to take care of her on weekends. However, the vile woman had made yet another attempt on the girl's life, and now she was on the run from the one who was to protect her. At merely five years old, her mother had tried to kill her four times that she could remember.

I brought her to our home, the first and only human to ever set foot there after I claimed it as our place. She met you four and was simply delighted. She believed that you were all, as she put it, "So flipping adorable!" She thought it was especially cute the way Raphael was always getting angry.

The aforementioned hothead scowled as his three brothers laughed. "Yeah, yeah, oh so humahrous. Sensei, ya said this was thah las' time ya saw her?" Splinter bowed his head. "Yes. I'm afraid so."

She stayed with us for two days, keeping an eye on you when I went to search for food, and supplying you with treats from her bag on occasion. But on the third day, we heard someone near our home. She went to investigate and came back with a horrified expression. "Purple Dragons are down here!" She told me. "And they're looking for me!"

I told her to hide, but young as she was, she had the heart of a warrior. She refused to endanger us. "Stay here and protect them." she said. "They're yours to protect, but not me. I'll lead those guys away and try to come back later." Foolishly, I agreed.

I should have made her stay. She ran away and the Purple Dragons followed. "It's the girl!" they yelled. "The one with the big reward on her!" They followed her, and I followed them. I lost sight of them for a moment, but that was all it took. I heard a bang and saw a flash. Then, when I rounded the corner, she was dead and the Dragons were turning on the man who had shot her.

"Ugh. Whatever." The leader knocked the man with the gun out cold. "We'll just tell the cops that we found this guy standin' over her with the gun." I would have taken them all down, but then I realized that I was outnumbered, badly, and I was forced to watch as they took her away.

"And the rest, you know." Splinter finished, a sad look on his face. Mikey was the first to break the silence, an upset expression on his face. "So wait, they killed her!?" Splinter nodded. "Sometimes I wonder if she could have survived. Could I have prevented her leaving? She was stubborn, so I doubt it. Could I have kept pace with her and prevented the man from shooting? Perhaps, but what if I'd been killed in the process and you four were left alone?"

Splinter shook his head. "I don't know if there was anything I could have done without losing my own life, as cowardly as it sounds." Raphael frowned. "And if you had died, we probably would have, too. Whether she survived or not." Splinter nodded. "It is more than a possibility." Raph looked at Donnie, who did a few calculations in his head, then shrugged. "I got nothing. Either way, if Splinter had died, even if the girl survived, which is doubtful, there's a very high probability that we wouldn't have. And if we had, not all of us might have made it."

There was silence as the turtles considered life without all four of them, five counting Splinter. They didn't like where their thoughts went. "I wouldn't call her death a necessity, but if she hadn't led the Purple Dragons away and I hadn't remained hidden, you four would probably not be here. I'm not going to say it wouldn't have been better for her to live, but I cannot think of a way she could have."

Leo chewed over Splinter's words before nodding. "It makes sense, though I would have liked to meet the one who saved you twice. By extension, we owe her our lives as well." Splinter chuckled. "I suppose you do." Mikey yawned and stretched. "Is it bed time?" he asked. Raphael swatted him upside the head. Splinter laughed, then nodded.

"Yes, it is. You've had your story for the day. Head off to bed. Training starts early tomorrow!" The turtles groaned in protest before heading to their respective rooms, each of them thinking different things.

Could she have survived without Splinter dying? Would I have done something differently in her place? Well, I'm a ninja now, so I suppose I would... strategized Leonardo.

Donnie thought, Hmm, she seemed smart, despite her age, even if she did kick the bucket in the end. Oh, shit, did I leave my bunsen burner on?!

She seems brave. Raph pondered. And tough. And I was her favorite. He laughed inwardly. Ha. I sound like Mikey's dumb ass.

I wonder if that chick was hot? wondered, who else, Michelangelo. Oh hey! I still have that Fantastic Fourteen comic to finish! He paused. I wonder if that girl looked anything like Miss Fantasy? Now she's hot!

...I apologize for nothing. Nothing I say. Except for not creating TMNT originally. But that's why fanfiction sites exist. so yeah. peace.