A/N: I didn't realize I'd waited nearly a week to update this fic. Sorry about that. This ones got a little more Mikey/Kala gooeyness.

"Calm yourself child. You are in no condition to go anywhere." Splinter moved to stand at the front of the group.

Mikey stepped around to help Kala back onto the cot and once again she shied away. Sarah touched his arm and shook her head. He stepped back as she knelt down in front of the other woman. "Let me help you." There was a long quiet pause before Kala gave a small nod. Sarah cautiously lifted her back onto the edge of the cot. Tears were streaming the Neutrino's face.

Leo came to the foot of the cot. "What do you mean it was a mistake to come here?"

Her eyes once again fixed on Mira. "I didn't know you had families of your own now. I'm sorry. I may have put you all in danger. If Kassic finds me here, he may..." She broke off as sobs racked her slender form.

Sarah gingerly touched the girl's shoulder. She looked up at Donnie and he nodded. "Um, guys why don't we give the women a few minutes alone." He moved past his wife to put a hand on Mikey's shoulder. "Come on, bro."

Mikey nodded with a downcast expression and allowed his brother to usher him out. Cat was about to leave with Mira when Sarah called her back. "Stay Cat, we might need you."

"Can I stay too, Mommy?" Mira asked.

Kala looked up at the tiny voice. Sarah hesitated. On one hand Mira was not quite three and still rather young to be exposed to such violence. But on the other hand, it would show her the dangers of the world outside the safety of their home. It was a lesson she didn't want to teach, but one that needed to be taught. Besides, with all the emotions filling the lair at the moment, it would only do to stress the child to leave her out of what was going on. "Okay, but you must be very quiet."

"She's your child?" Kala asked softly. Sarah nodded. "But how?"

Sarah understood her confusion. If she'd been in her shoes, she'd have been confused as well. She picked up the small turtle. "Mirakuru is one of Donnie's little miracles. He found a way to combine our DNA and used it to fertilize a turtle egg." Sarah hugged her daughter tightly and Mira giggled.

"Mirakuru?"

"Yes, we call her Mira. She is nearly three now." Sarah smiled as Kala's eyes seemed to light up a bit.

Mira grinned broadly. "My birthday is in two weeks. Daddy says he's going to take me to the pond."

Kala finally smiled, which came out more like a grimace due to the damage done to her face. "She's very smart."

Cat chuckled. "Look who her parents are. The kid didn't have a chance but to come out a nerd."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "You make that sound like a bad thing."

Kala's eyes danced momentarily at the light banter. Then she frowned, rubbing an idle hand over the cast. Mira touched her hand with her smaller one. "Why are you so sad?"

Kala blinked and the other two women held their breath. Slowly the answer came with tears that slid down her pale cheeks. "Someone I thought cared about me hurt me very bad."

Cat frowned. "Then he really didn't care about you."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sarah asked quietly.

Kala took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I...I can't." More tears leaked from the corner of her eyes.

Cat put a hand on her shoulder. "You came here for a reason, right?"

Kala looked past her at the open doorway. "The last time I was truly happy, I was here with them."

"They are still your friends." Sarah reminded her. "And they are very worried about you, especially Mikey."

Kala choked on a sob. "I know, I didn't mean to hurt him." Irrational fear was causing her to draw away from him. After such a long time under Kassic's heavy hand she'd become shy to the touch of other men.

Sarah set Mira on her feet and moved to sit beside the distraught woman. "You came here for help, because you knew you'd be safe here. So, let us help."

Cat folded her arms in a very Raphael-style pose. "Yeah, or my hotheaded husband might run off all half cocked and get himself in trouble."

"And then the rest of us will have to get him out of it." Sarah gave her a small smile. "So, you see, it's best if you tell us what's going on."

"I don't want to get you all involved. I just wanted to get away and this was the first place I thought of." Kala looked at her hands with shame.

Cat dropped her hands. "It's too late for that now, we are involved."

"Um, could I talk with Kala alone?" The girls turned to look at Mikey standing in the doorway. They turned back to Kala, who seemed to have calmed a bit. Kala nodded, meeting Mikey's eyes for the first time.

Mikey approached Kala slowly as the others left. He wasn't sure where to begin. He wanted to tell her so much. He was angry that anyone would ever lay a hand on her in such a way. He was hurt to think she'd stay with such a person. But most of all, he regretted not being there to protect her from this person. He wanted to know why. Why had she stayed? Why did she allow it to go on so long? Why hadn't she come to him sooner?

"I thought he loved me." Mike looked up at her soft voice. Kala watched her fingers as she twitched them. "We grew up together. I thought he was a good guy. We even went out a few times. He was very kind at first. And when my parents died in an attack, he took care of me. I never thought..." She buried her face in her hands as tears began to fall once more.

Acting on instinct, he stepped forward and wrapped her in a tight embrace. For a split second she stiffened and then she melted against him, gripping his plastron. The flood gates broke wide and she sobbed for what seemed like hours, while he gently rocked her, running a hand through her short hair. At last the sobs subsided into sniffles, though her grip on him never lessened. He spoke softly. "It's okay. You're safe now. I won't let anything happened to you."

"I'm sorry." She whispered into his chest.

His grip on her tightened slightly. "No, don't you get it! You've done nothing wrong."

She took several deep breaths and lifted her head to look at him. "Thank you."

He smiled warmly. "Do you feel like talking now?" She slowly nodded and he led her into the living room to join the others. They were seated around the three couches speaking quietly while Mira lay on the floor coloring. Everyone looked up when the pair entered.

Kala quietly took a seat beside Splinter and Mikey sat on her other side. Leo finally broke the awkward silence that followed. "So, who is Kassic?"

Kala absently rubbed the cast. "He's a captain in the Neutrino army. He's my boyfriend." She sighed. "I mean he was my boyfriend. You see, about a year ago there was a battle between the rock soldier's and the Neutrinos in which my parents were killed. I was away from home at the time and when I returned I found Kassic there. He and I had gone out a few times before that and so he said I should go stay with him."

Mikey frowned beside her, obviously not happy about her moving in with a guy she'd only seen a few times. Kala continued. "At first things were good. I'm not sure exactly when things changed. But over time I became isolated from everyone. And then one day he hit me. He begged my forgiveness and promised it would never happen again."

"But it did, didn't it?" Donnie wrapped an arm around Sarah, who trembled slightly.

Raph growled. "That scum bag."

Kala nodded. "Yes, it did. Over time it got worse and worse. And then last night he hit me 'cause...'cause..." Her eyes filled with tears again. "I don't know why...He just started hitting me and so I ran..." She buried her face in her hands again and Mikey put an arm around her. "If he finds me..."

"We won't let that happen." Leo reassured her, anger tinging his voice.

Raph stood up, spinning his sai. "I say let him come. I'll rip his arms off and feed 'em to him."

"Where were Dask and Zak all this time?" Donnie asked.

Kala wiped her eyes. "I haven't seen them in a few years. They both joined the army when they were old enough."

Leo frowned. "So, your people are still at war with the stone warriors?"

She nodded. Mikey sat back a little to look at her. "But we got rid of Shredder and Krang."

"We sent them into Dimension X, Mikey. They aren't dead." Donnie reminded his brother. "Krang is probably still running around causing trouble there."

"General Tragg caused enough problems without Krang but after he returned he started enslaving more of our people." Kala explained.

"Well, you're safe now. No one should find you. Mikey said your hover-car exploded, and even if they are able to follow your inter-dimensional signal to Earth, they can't follow you here." Donnie reassured her.

Kala relaxed into Mikey with a heavy sigh. "I hope you're right, but Kassic isn't the type to give up easily."

Dask pulled the military hover-craft to a stop outside the Neutrino capitol city. "Captain, we have arrived at the last known coordinates for the vehicle you had us track."

"And what have you found, Lieutenant?" A voice responded through the onboard radio.

"There are trace particles of an inter-dimensional shift." Dask responded. "I believe a portal was opened and the vehicle passed through it. Do you wish us to pursue?"

"Remain where you are, Lieutenant. I want to handle the thief myself. I will be there shortly." The radio went silent.

Zak frowned. "Why would the Captain send us on such a bogus mission, when there are lot more important things to do?"

"Dude, I don't know. All I was told was it was his personal vehicle that was stolen and that he was pretty mad when he found out." Dask shut off the engine and prepared to wait on Captain Kassic.

"Well, I've heard some awful things about him." Zak said.

"It doesn't matter, man. We got to follow orders." Dask settled back into the driver's seat. He was just relieved not to be on the battlefront for a while. And if that meant following some lame lead about a car thief, then that was what he'd do.

Kala sat at the long rectangular table with a bowl of untouched soup in front of her. The turtles were just as kind as she remembered and the newest members of their clan seemed genuinely concerned for her as well. Donnie's petite wife, Sarah, had prepared her the soup and ushered everyone else from the kitchen so she could be alone. In the distance she could hear the guys sparring. Raph's wife, Cat, had said she was going upstairs to open the shop. Kala wasn't entirely certain what that meant but everyone seemed to think it was normal.

In the next room, she could hear Sarah teaching Mira to read. Kala sighed and tears wanted to spring to her eyes again at the thought of the tiny turtle. There was something she hadn't told them. Something that would haunt her the rest of her life. She cringed at the idea of Michelangelo knowing what had happened, what she'd done. She had been so weak, so inept. Her hands trembled as they wrapped around the bowl of soup.

How could anyone want her after that? She was worthless, used, and broken. Shame and guilt filled her heart and the tears tumbled free. She buried her face in her arms and wept uncontrollably. She knew the tears would never fix what had happened and she didn't want them too. The pain was all that was left and she needed it. It reminded her she was still alive and made her remember.

Suddenly, a small cool hand landed on her knee and she looked down into big brown eyes. "Don't be sad."

Kala wiped her face. "I can't help it. I've lost everything - all my family, my home, my things."

Mira frowned. "I lost all my things before, my room too." Then she smiled. "But now I've got a new room and Daddy made me lots of new toys and Uncle Raphie brings me things from up top, so I guess it's okay now. But I was real sad when it happened."

"How did you lose your room?" Kala was grateful for the distraction.

"There was this really big storm and it washed it all away. It washed everyone's things away."

Kala lifted an eyebrow. "Everyone's?"

"Yeah, but it's okay. Sofu said home is where we are all together as a family and that you can always start over." Mira smiled a little. "You can start over too."

Kala sighed. "I don't know if I can. I made a pretty bad mistake."

Mira blinked in confusion. "Mommy says that if you make a mistake it's alright, as long as you learn from it."

"Mira, sweetie, you shouldn't be disturbing Kala." Sarah appeared in the doorway. She smiled apologetically at Kala. "I'm sorry. I went to do the laundry."

Kala shook her head, the pain lifting from her heart a bit. "No, it's fine. Mira was just teaching me something."

Sarah blinked. "Oh?"

"Yes, she said you can always start over as long as you learn from your mistakes."

Sarah smiled. "And she's right." She moved to sit beside Kala and take one of the girl's hands between both of hers. "We've all made mistakes and lost loved ones along the way. And I have learned that it is necessary to live in the present rather than the past. In other words, if you're ready to start over we will help you." She gave a hallow laugh. "I've had to start over so many times, that I'm nearly an expert at it."

Mira looked up at her mother and Sarah patted her head. The tot had sensed her mother's distress at the memories. "It's okay, sweetie. All of that happened a very long time ago." Kala watched the interaction with confusion and Sarah explained. "Mira is empathic, that is she can sense our emotions."

"Really?"

"Yes, she can sense strong emotions from others, but her connection with me and Donnie is particularly strong." When Kala looked even more confused, Sarah sighed. "It's a long story."

Kala looked down into the now cold soup with a little frown. "He loves you a lot, doesn't he?"

Sarah's face softened. "Yes, as I love him."

"I thought..." Kala sighed. "It doesn't matter what I thought, but what's clear is I never had that kind of love."

Sarah smiled knowingly. "But you can." Kala looked less than convinced.

Mira giggled. "Yeah, Uncle Mikey loves you." The two women blushed for different reasons.

Sarah rose from the table. "Let me warm this back up for you. Once you're done, we'll talk about what all you'll need to start over." She took up the bowl and moved to the microwave.

Mira turned to the doorway and grinned. "Daddy!"

Kala glanced over her shoulder to see Don and Mikey step into the room. Donnie picked up Mira while Mikey slipped into the chair abandoned by Sarah. "How are you feeling?" His eyes were soft and kind.

"A little better, I think." She gave him a weak smile.

Donnie moved to stand beside Sarah and pressed a kiss into her hair. She smiled and squeezed his arm, before pulling the bowl from the microwave. "We were just discussing getting Kala what she needs to start over." She sat down across from the couple.

Donnie sat beside her, settling Mira in his lap. "I hope you'll consider staying with us, Kala. Master Splinter has already said he thought it would be a good idea."

Kala glanced at Mikey out of the corner of her eye. "You mean you want me to stay?"

Mikey squeezed her shoulder. "Yeah, we do. I think it would be a great idea."

She lifted her eyes to look at him. "Really?"

He smiled. "Really."

Sarah clapped her hands. "Good. Now that that's decided, let's get you settled in."

"There's a spare room next to mine." Mikey blushed a little. "I've been keeping my comic books in it."

"Thanks." She smiled slightly before taking a sip of her soup.

"We'll still need to get you a mattress, but you can use one of the cots temporarily." Donnie suggested.

Sarah grinned. "And if you want Cat and I can take you clothes shopping." She glanced at the clock on the microwave. "She'll be closing up in an hour or so."

Donnie frowned. "Sarah..."

She patted his arm. "It'll be fine. We'll be together and we'll have our cells with us."

Kala touched her face. "I don't know. I'm sure I look awful."

Mikey growled beside her and she took his hand. He looked up at her with a frown. "I'm sorry." He nearly whispered.

She sighed. "There isn't anything you could have done."

Mikey's growl increased. "Yes, there was!" His tone softened when she flinched. "I just wish you would have came to me...um, us sooner. We could have helped you."

Kala lowered her eyes to the half eaten bowl before her. "You're right. I should have. Things would have been a lot different if I had."

Sarah reached across the table and touched her shoulder. "Shh, you only did what you thought was right. No one can blame you for that."

Mikey's head dropped. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blame you. None of this is your fault." He made a fist. Michelangelo suddenly knew how his hot headed brother felt most of the time. "I'm just so angry that anyone would do that to you."

"Me too, Mike." Raph stepped into the doorway. "That guy's lucky he's in Dimension X, otherwise I would have gutted him by now."

Mikey frowned. "Yeah, for once I agree with you, bro."

"Raph, doesn't Cat have some makeup?" Sarah asked.

Raph frowned. "Yeah, but I don't know where she keeps it. What do you need it for?"

"We'll get you covered up, Kala. And then we'll go get you some clothes and supplies." Sarah stood and left the kitchen. Donnie frowned after her.

Raph snorted. "Man, you got to chill. They're just going clothes shopping. What could happen? Just be grateful we don't have to go."

A/N: You know I'm a girl and I just hate clothes shopping for the most part. I'm done after an hour. I'm ready to sit back and watch some TV or write or read or just about anything to not endure looking a clothes I don't really care for any more. I'm so like Sarah, give ma a tee and jeans and I'm good. LOL