Author's Notes:

So yeah I sort of rushed this to get it done by the end of Apritello Week so it's not my best work but I've just had this idea floating in my head for so long. This takes place of course before TDDUP just not sure specifically where in the timeline... I'm also working on a Leo one shot of him during Donnie's final battle with Shredder and another one that talks about Stockman and Donnie's alliance which I'm excited to get done so be on the look out for those.

~Enjoy

"My, my, my, you really are the stubborn type, aren't you O'Neil?" A man dressed in a Foot uniform remarked as he took a few steps closer to her. Her head hung low in her chair having her red locks fall in front of her face. Her wrists were strapped to the arms of the chair and her feet were secured to the ground.

April made no response to the man's entrance.

"You've been trapped here for about a week now, given little food and water. All because you refuse to give us any information on Baxter Stockman's where about."

"I've already told your ignorant, empty minded soldiers that I have no idea where Stockman is!" she raised her voice.

"Bullshit O'Neil! We know Stockman's in your legion and Shredder's on a man hunt for that nut."

"Well, shredder's just going to have to send his search party somewhere else because I don't know where he is." She snarled.

"Very well then. If you're not going to give in to physical deterioration, perhaps a little persuasion is in order." He snapped his fingers, signaling two foot soldiers to walk around behind her. A device was planted on top of her head and before the questions of what did they hook her up to could enter her mind, she blacked out.

April jolted up right into a sitting position, breathing heavily. Confusion quickly washed over her face, for she was no longer in the interrogation room. Instead, she was sitting at a wooden table in a small country styled kitchen. There was a window above the sink on the other side of the room that revealed the clear blue sky and sunshine outside instead of the overcast gloominess she was used to seeing. Looking around this new room she was in she began to realize why this kitchen seemed so familiar.

She was sitting in the kitchen of her family's old farmhouse.

Looking down at herself she was wearing blue jeans and a yellow tank top, instead of her ripped black t-shirt and worn out, gray cargo pants. Her red hair was longer and tied up in a bun on top of her head.

Just then she heard the front door open and close.

"Honey, you will not believe the day I've had today." A voice laughed with a sigh in the other room. That voice made April's heart skip a beat, her eyes growing wide. She slowly got up from her chair as she listened to the voice ramble and began to walk towards it.

When she stepped around the corner to where the front for was and she couldn't believe her eyes.

Standing in the corridor hanging up his jacket was Donatello, healthy and alive.

When he caught sight of her starring at him in awe his face dropped with worry.

"Is something wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost." He asked as walked towards her.

April stumbled forward, catching herself by wrapping her arms around him. She clung to him for dear life and took in every detail of him. His scent, the way his skin felt under her fingertips, and the way his heart beat against her. He was alive.

"Is everything ok?"

"I… I just…I guess I must've just had a bad dream." She replied unsure as her hand went to her forehead.

"I'd say, you look as though you just saw a ghost. What was your dream about?" She leaned into his touch as he brushed her bangs from her eyes.

"I was in New York City, only it wasn't New York. It was dark and awful and everyone was a slave to Shredder who had taken over the world after he killed you and-"

"Whoa, that's a little dark. Maybe we should discuss this later when we're not in front of our daughter." His eyes trailed behind her.

"Our daughter…?" April followed Donnie's eyes behind her to the living room where on the floor sat a little girl not much older than 4.

Donnie walked past her to pick up the little girl and kiss her on the cheek. A big smile spread across his face as the girl placed her hands on the sides of his face.

"So, since our vegetable garden is thriving how does vegetable soup sound for dinner?" he asked.

"Vegetable soup sounds great!" April responded.

"Alright, I'll go get the main ingredients." Donnie handed off the child to April before going back outside. Taking her in her arms, the two met eyes. Her hair was a darker red than her own, tied up in a high ponytail to unveil her light blue eyes that looked wide and full of innocence. Freckles were scattered over her pale skin and she was wearing a purple sleeveless dress.

The little girl reached up and placed one of her small hands on the side of April's face.

"Mama." She babbled. A smile growing on her face.

April couldn't hold back a small laugh from escaping her lips as she reached up and wrapped her hand around the much smaller one on the side of her face, her eyes welling up with tears.

Her eyes gazed around the living room. It looked the same as it did before except there were a few new pictures sitting above the fireplace. In one of the pictures stood herself as a teenager and Donnie, both wearing caps and gowns and holding rolled up diplomas proudly. In the next one was her and Donnie again, but this time they were standing face to face in the front yard of the farmhouse surrounded by flowers. She was wearing a long, white, strapless dress and he was wearing a custom made tux. Seeing this picture made her notice the gold band around her left index finger. Was he wearing one too?

Setting the little girl back on the floor with her toy, she decided to walk around and inspect what else was different about this house.

Walking back into the foyer and towards the stairs April noticed another new picture hanging on the wall. This one had a much bigger frame than the ones above the fireplace because there were more people in it. This picture was taken back in New York City in the lair, a little worn down and old, but together in one piece, as their family was. They all were either sitting behind or sitting on the couch in the living room area of the lair. Splinter was sitting in the center of the couch, his brown fur a lighter color and his face looked older, but happy. Sitting on his left was Mikey wearing a cheesy smile and had both of his arms. She herself was sitting on Splinters right with her legs crossed and holding a red haired baby on her lap. Standing behind her was Donnie with a bright smile to show off his adorable gap between his front top teeth. On Donnie's right was Casey with his arms crossed and shit eating smirk across his face. April's heart ached at the reminder of her deceased friend, her friend that had been by her side since the start of this madness, who helped her build her resistance team, and kept her sane after Donnie died. Though he always he acted childish and immature through tough times, he was the only person who kept a level head and she will always remember him for that.

Standing to the left of Donnie was Raph was his arm around Leo. The two looked so happy next to each other which was something so rare after their defeat with Shredder. On the other side of Leo was surprising Karai, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt. She remembered when she was told that Karai was Splinter's biological daughter. At first, it was a little hard to believe that such a heartless assassin was Splinter's daughter but in this picture she looks she looks so normal and happy, like she belonged with them.

The rest of the house seemed to look the same as it did before except for the kid's bath toys and step stool in the bathroom.

In the master bedroom, which had always belonged to her parents seemed to be occupied no by Donnie and herself. It contained a queen size bed with a night stand on either side. The night stand on the left had a table top lamp, an alarm clock, and a closed book. The night stand on the right had a desk lamp on it and an empty coffee mug. Hanging on the wall behind the bed was Donnie's bo staff and her tessen for safe keeping. There was a dresser against one of the walls beside the bed that had another series of framed pictures on it. One was a candid picture of Donnie holding their daughter when she was a newborn and the other picture was of their daughter on her first birthday tearing into a cake.

Hanging on another wall was two college degrees, framed. One had her name written on it and the other had his. In the middle of the two was a framed newspaper cover, the headline reading, "Mutants and Humans to Live Together Peacefully"

The two made dinner together, talking and laughing together like nothing had changed. April had forgotten how good it felt to laugh, to feel relaxed. Every time a thought of that awful world came to her mind she quickly pushed it away. She was finally happy again, why would she want to ruin it?

After dinner, Donnie took their daughter outside to play while she finished putting their dishes in the dishwasher. When she was finished she walked out on to the porch. Their red haired daughter was stumbling through the yard, trying to run as fast as she could with her chubby toddler legs. She noticed her husband laying on the swing in their yard, watching her play. As April walked towards him his attention was brought to her as a smile grew on his face. He swung his legs off the swing, leaving room for her to sit down. Sitting next to him, he put his arm around her causing her to lean on his shoulder.

Of all the things she missed about him, this was the thing she missed the most. She missed the warmth he gave of and the sense of security and safety she felt in his arms. She hadn't felt safe sine the day he died… or at least she imagined he died.

"You never told me the rest of how your day went." She realized.

"Oh yeah, well…" April closed her eyes in bliss as she listened to him ramble on. He talked about how he was stuck in traffic this morning and was almost late for work, how stressed he was introducing his newest invention to his company's investors even though she knew they would love it just like they've loved all his other fantastic ideas, and how the elevator was broken down so he had to use the stairs all day.

It was so normal, she loved it.

She suddenly realized she couldn't remember if she turned the stove all the way off or not. "I'll be right back." She told him before going back inside to the kitchen. When she came back out, Donnie was running around the yard with their daughter, picking her up and spinning them around before collapsing on the ground in a giggling fit.

April couldn't help but smile at them as she leaned against one of the poles from the porch

"Isn't it just perfect?" A voice snarled beside her. April jumped away from the foot soldier leaning against the other side of the opening on the porch.

"I knew this was too good to be true." April narrowed her gaze towards him.

"Humanity is free, mutants and humans are living together without conflict, Shredder is gone, your love is alive and this can all be a reality. You can live every one of your days from now on just like this."

"What do you mean?" Her eyes narrowed.

"Right now your real body is wired into a simulation to create this world in your mind. If you give us the information we want, we'll keep your mind connected to this device forever."

"What?" April stepped back

"Oh don't worry, we'll make sure you're actual body is kept safe. We'll lock you up in one of our most secured cells and hook you up to an IV so your body gets its daily nutrients to stay functioning."

"So I could just live here forever? With no consequences?" She asked as he circled around her.

"Exactly. Eventually you'll have no memory of the world you left behind and would be able to live peacefully here. You'd be free from Shredder, free from the misery, heartbreak, and exhaustion. And most importantly, he'll be here." He directed her in the direction of Donnie. "Sounds like a dream." April looked at Donnie laying on the ground, holding a flower and explaining something to their beautiful daughter. "Because that's all it is, a dream. None of this is real, it's all just in my head." She turned back around but the soldier was no longer standing there.

Suddenly the world went black around her. She heard a clicking sound before she was squinting her eyes at the overwhelming bright light in front of her. As her vision was adjusting, a figure of a person appeared in front of her.

"Sorry it took so long to find you, chief." Angel apologized as she tossed away the device she had removed from April's head.

April's head pounded as her vision cleared up. Looking around she noticed the foot soldiers that were in the room with her before were laying on the ground, blood smeared on the ground beneath them.

"Come on, we're taking you back." Angel held her hand out to her.

April was hesitant as she looked at Angel's outstretched hand. She glanced back at the machine she was hooked to and then back at Angel. She was right, the world from before was all in her head, it wasn't reality. She had her moment to dream but now it was time to wake up. It was time to go back to the real world.

Taking her hand the two escaped with the rest of their team