Father's Day

Summary: Karai now knows that Shredder had been lying to her for 16 years, now she has to find away to make it up to Splinter...

Splinter was spending the day before Father's Day with his sons, his 15 year olds decided to make him a nice dinner, and they all spent some time together. Leonardo had a plan though, he knew there was one more person that needed to be apart of Father's Day. Early the next morning Leonardo got up before Splinter and he went to his brothers' rooms. "Raph, wake up." Raphael grumbled and rolled over, Leo who was undeterred said "wake up dang it." Raph rolled over and gave his brother an annoyed look "what fearless?" "Raph I know you don't like her but we need to have Karai here for Father's Day too." "why? She hasn't been around for the last 15 years so why should it matter now?" "because, now all of his children can be together." Raph sat up in his hammock and said sourly "so you wake me up before the crack of dawn to tell me this?" "no I need for you to cover me while I go get her." Raph stood up and told him "you owe me big bro... if I get into trouble for lying to Splinter then its gonna be your head that I beat in." Leo, happy with the answer went to his other two brothers as well, peaking into Donnie's room he saw the boy genius was not in there, so he headed for the lab. He found his brother still awake and working on his computer, "hey Donnie." Donnie jumped at the sound of his brother's voice and said "oh... sorry Leo... I didn't mean to be up all night again..." "i don't care about that now, I gotta tell you something, since now Karai is no longer with Shredder I am going out to get her and bring her back here. Its a Father's Day surprise for Splinter, he has wanted Miwa to be apart of the family since the fire 15 years ago." Donnie smiled and said "yea, that's a great idea!what about Raph though? You have to get passed him... he hates Karai." just then Raph came into the lab and said "i don't like Karai but Leo here has a good point, if our father's happy that's all that matters. Now get going bro before Splinter wake up." "what about Mikey?" Raph smiled a crooked smile at him and said "i will wake Mikey, and we will have a surprise breakfast ready by the time you get back." Leo ran for the tunnels and took off for the surface.

Once up at the surface he stuck to the early morning shadows and headed for the apartments that Karai now lived at. He tapped on the window and saw a light come on, Karai opened it hesitantly and said "Leonardo? What are you doing here?" Leo climbed into the apartment and said "Karai, Splinter has been sad for the past couple of days, today is one of his favorite holidays. And I know he would love to spend it with you, my brothers are making breakfast right now as a surprise. Its gonna be special cause how the family is whole." "what about Raphael? He hates me?" Leo grinned at her and said quickly "he agreed to get along with you for today, he knows how important you are to Splinter and he just like the rest of us only want to see him happy." Karai smiled at him and said "OK, just let me change and I will follow you home." she went to her closet which now had more cloths then she had ever known to own in her life and selected a nice tee shirt and jeans to wear. After changing she followed Leonardo down to the streets, they neared the manhole and she stopped "wait, Leonardo, has he ever gotten a Father's Day card before?" "not store bought just hand made from us." she smiled at him and said "follow me, don't worry I wont let you be seen." they headed up the street and found a little mini mart that had just opened, she instructed for him to hide in the shadows and wait for her. She looked through the selection of Father's Day cards that were there, she selected two one from her and one from the turtles. After selecting a pen she paid for the cards and pen and found Leonardo, "here this one is for you boys to give to him, this one is from me. don't read it now wait until we get to the lair." the pair didn't speak the entire way back. They entered through the garage and he saw Donnie in there making his self busy "hey Don, come here."

Donnie looked up and said "hey, your just in time Splinter is still sleeping, what's that?" he saw the multi colored card in his brothers hand, "Karai got this for us four to give Splinter." Leonardo handed it over to his younger brother could read it, tears welled up in his eyes "Splinter will no doubt love it." they both signed the card and went to find their remaining brothers. Raphael signed and then Michelangelo, they decided to have Karai wait in the garage. Michelangelo finished breakfast just as Splinter came out of his room, Splinter smiled at his sons and said "well good morning, you are all up bright and early." "good morning Splinter! Happy Father's Day!" in saying they revealed the kitchen with the table set, and breakfast served, Splinter noticed a white card on the table. But first Raphael told him "Master Splinter... um we have a surprise for you before we have breakfast." raising his brow he asked "really what?" Donnie piped up next "go to the garage, you will find your surprise in there." with a questioning look Splinter made his way to the garage with his sons in toe. Opening the door he saw his daughter standing there, he felt tears in his eyes as he said "Miwa..." she smiled at him and said "father, I have something for you." she passed him a purple envelope and said "Leonardo came and got me this morning... I. Didn't know if you, even wanted me here this morning until he said it would make you happy." Splinter looked over at his eldest son then back to the envelope. He opened it and read what it said:

Father's day is a day to remember

our fathers, to honor them, cherish them. To show

a father how much they are loved by their children.

He saw a note on the other side that read:

Father Splinter,

I may have been gone for the last 15 years, I have always been

in your heart. I think that is why I could never actually hurt Leonardo

or the other turtles when I was fighting them. I think deep down

I knew the truth, you showed me something that Shredder never

could... a father's love. I have never known what a 'hug' was

I never knew what 'I love you' really sounded like. Not until

I learned the truth from you and the turtles, I accept them

as my brothers, just as I now accept you as my father. I love you

and I hope you have a very wonderful Father's Day.

The room was silent as Splinter read the last part of the letter, he had silent tears forming in his dark brown eyes, he looked up at Karai and said "Miwa, thank you so much... I love you too." she had tears running down her face as she walked forward and wrapped her arms around her father. She held him for the longest time and said "i love you daddy..." he smiled and told her "i love you too." Michelangelo softly said "breakfast is getting cold..." they both turned to look at the four turtles who were standing there, Splinter walked up to them and gathered them all in his arms and said "I love you all as well my sons, thank you for bringing her down here, now lets go eat. Miwa please join us." Karai had been slowly getting used to being called Miwa, but she did as she was asked. Splinter sat down at the head of the table and saw the second card sitting there, he opened it and inside was a picture of his sons and Miwa, looking over at his family he asked "when? How?" Karai answered "a few weeks ago we had April take a picture of us, Donatello learned how to develop film so he did. I have a bigger copy in my apartment, and we made one the size of a card for you. I stuck it in there, before handing it to Leonardo to proof read that it was good enough for you from them. don't worry when I took him to the store I made sure he wasn't seen." Splinter nodded to her and said "thank you very much, this is a great picture." he turned to his next to youngest son and asked "is there a way you can make the picture bigger?" Donnie thought about it and said "sure I can, but after breakfast all five of us have one more surprise for you." Splinter set the picture down and read the card:

Master Splinter,

we love you very much and we want nothing more

then for you to be happy... so this is why I snuck

out of the lair before you woke up and

went to go get Karai and bring

her for us all to be together

For father's day. We all love you!

Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo

Splinter felt tears in his eyes once again as he looked at his family, "thank you my sons." they all smiled proudly, and finished eating in silence.

After eating and cleaning up they all went to the surface, Splinter was a bit nervous about where they were going but his sons and daughter assured him that it was safe. They got to the far end of central park and saw April standing there waiting. "its about time you guys showed up, are you all ready?" Splinter frowned and asked "ready for what?" she winked at Donnie and then said "Please stand over there by that tree, Splinter stand in the middle, Leo, Raph please stand on the right Don, and Mike stand on the left. And Karai stand in front of Splinter." Splinter got the idea after a few moments, he placed his hands on Karai's shoulders and smiled proudly as April took a picture of them."

The picture hung in a large frame in the dojo, it was of their first Father's Day with Karai, and they all knew it wouldn't be their last Father's Day. Karai gave up her apartment and Donatello along with his brothers built Miwa her own room. She let go of the name Shredder had given her and readopted the name her parents had given her the day she was born; she had decided this that first Father's Day she spent with her real family...

A/N: I had gotten this idea thinking about the latest episode of turtles... and since tomorrows Father's Day I figured what the hey, write one. Please review.