Disclaimer: No ownership of the Turtles, please don't sue.

Also, another Karai-and-Leo bonding fic that couldn't actually happen in the timeline (this is set after The Fourfold Trap, when Karai's still missing). But hey, at least this one's happier! More to come soon

When Leo set out with his brothers, he assumed it was going to be an average patrol. After literally saving the world, they were all looking for some normalcy in their lives, so Leo had let them go with only a slight warning to keep an eye out for a certain someone. Said warning had been more of a formality than anything else; with how often they had lost Karai, his hope had started to wear thin too.

So the turtle was understandably shocked to see a very familiar young woman huddled behind boxes in an alleyway as he leapt to another rooftop. In fact, the sight brought him so much surprise that it threw his trajectory off-course, and he found himself crashing into the side of a building and tumbling to the alley below. Despite his ninja training, a shriek ripped free as he bounced on top of a closed dumpster, before landing face-first on the ground. He groaned at the embarrassment and the pain.

Then the young woman giggled, and none of it mattered any more.

Leo pushed himself up to a kneeling position to take a better look at her. Karai had always been slender, but now she seemed thin; her cheeks had hollowed, and the uniform she still wore seemed to sag with excess fabric. Her face looked different too, but he couldn't tell if it was the lack of make-up or the hopeless expression.

He extended a three-fingered hand to her. "Karai?"

She didn't respond. He wondered briefly if she had come to reject that name. The air felt heavier than usual, and he was sure his anxious heartbeat was the loudest sound in the alley. Though slowly, cautiously, Karai inched closer. She still didn't seem right, but at least she was shuffling out from behind the boxes. Only one remained between them, and Leo set his hand down atop it. Hers remained clasped in her lap.

Swallowing nervously, he tried again, "Are you okay? Wait, that's stupid…"

Her lips began to quirk, but the light was quickly snuffed out. Hesitantly, he moved a tiny bit closer to the box, and felt relief wash over him when she didn't react in fear.

As a last-ditch effort, he murmured softly, "I've missed you."

Karai's gaze shifted around the alley awkwardly, before she tentatively reached out. Her hand covered his own and gripped it lightly. He rubbed his thumb in circles on the back of her hand. Her bones felt sharp through her pale skin, and he felt a strong urge to kiss the appendage, which he forced himself to ignore.

Instead, he focused on how close she was allowing him to get, and smiled. "Thanks." When her face contorted in confusion, he elaborated, "For not running away."

She shook her head, a shiver rippling through her. "I did run away. That's the mistake I'm paying for."

"I meant now," he explained. "You could have taken off as soon as you saw me, but you didn't. I could be wrong, but I think that means something."

Karai was quiet for a moment, before asking, "And if I had run from you?"

His face was solemn. "I'm sorry, but I would have had no choice… I'd have had to chase you down."

"But…" Karai's grasp on his hand tightened, "I don't understand. Why?"

Leo sighed. "I'm sick of losing you," he confessed. Her eyes watered, but he wiped away the tears before they could fall. "Don't cry. I don't like it; you don't look like yourself."

Suddenly, before Leo could process what was happening, Karai was climbing over the box and nestling against his plastron. He embraced her without pause, stroking his thick fingers through her dirty and tangled hair. Her clothes were layered in so much grime that the shine of her armour was marred, and her skin was chapped from the nights spent out in the cold. In Leo's eyes, however, she was still beautiful.

He was caught off-guard when she began to cry, but he recovered quickly, rocking her in his arms and whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Judging by the ferocity of her sobs, she had been repressing these emotions for far too long, and he knew that she needed to release them. "Shh…" he crooned gently. "It's okay. I'm here for you. It's all gonna be okay."

When her weeping began to subside, he took a chance and whispered, "Seriously, I'm so happy to see you… and everyone else will be, too…"

Unfortunately, she froze. "Everyone else? Are your brothers here?"

"No, no, we split up to patrol!" Leo assured her hurriedly, before tacking on as an after-thought, "And by the way, they're our brothers."

She ignored his last statement, frowning. "They'll hate me, Leonardo."

"Leo," he corrected, "and they don't hate you. You're part of our family; there's nothing you can do that will make any of us hate you."

The girl laughed dryly. "Even Raphael?"

"… Okay, so Raph's a little different. But to be fair, he kinda hates all of us sometimes."

Karai licked her lips. "The rest of you didn't try to poison the others."

"You didn't attack us; Shredder was controlling your mind." He ran a thumb over her forehead. "Please, stop blaming yourself."

Apparently his words didn't go down well, because she shifted nervously away from him until he pulled her closer. She shivered again, and he wondered whether she had caught a chill in the alleyway.

Deciding a change of subject was needed, he asked, "How long have you been out here?"

"… In this alley? A couple of hours."

"No, out in general." When he received no response, he pressed further, "Tell me. You might be sick."

Finally, she sighed and flopped back against him tiredly. "I honestly have no idea how long it's been."

The turtle lifted her up and began to climb a fire escape.

"Leonardo?"

He felt her shiver again and squeezed her tightly. "It's okay, I'm not taking you to them. In fact, I think you'll like my plan; it involves breaking and entering."

"… I must admit, I'm intrigued."