This chapter might lose me some readers, as Leo's memory goes into a topic that can turn into an ugly argument real quick, what the US is doing in Afghanistan. These are my views on the subject and if you don't like them, that's fine with me. Any flame comments will be deleted if there is no constructive criticism behind them. Carter is named after a real person in one of my old units, the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. He was a Warrant Officer who was killed, along with the specialist that was training with him, when the Apache that he was piloting had a mechanical malfunction and crashed in Afghanistan.

As usual, I do not own the Turtles.

Donatello was sitting at his computer, try to finish up the last bit of code for the lair's new security system when he heard his brothers come in. Deciding he needed a break anyway, he walked out into the living room where he saw Mikey half-dragging a bloodied Raph. Rushing up to them, he helped get the bigger turtle into the little room that they had designated as the infirmary.

"What happened?" the purple turtle asked as they got the injured brother up on the bed. He quickly took stock of the injuries. A long, shallow laceration on his neck, a bloody lump on the head, and a more serious looking laceration down his left calf. Looking back up at the two, he saw mild shock and confusion on their faces. Frowning, he turned to start gathering the supplies he needed to patch Raph up. Then he heard Raph speak in a small voice he had never heard before.

"It was April" Donatello almost dropped the bottle of antiseptic he was holding. He whipped around and noticed for the first time that his red-clad brother was shaking. The larger turtle open and closed his mouth a few times, like he didn't know what exactly to say. Then, swallowing hard, he continued. "She knew us, but her memories are all messed up. She thinks we killed her father, and the got Sachs arrested. She's with the foot and calls Shedder Master, and when I look at her I see nothing and I tried to get to her but she just..." Panic began to come into his voice and Don put a hand on now trembling shoulder of his larger brother. Mikey just stood next to him, his hand on Raph's other shoulder, looking just as lost as Raph did.

"Raph, easy," he said in a calm voice. "Take a deep breath and tell me what happened." Raph opened his mouth to speak, then just closed his eyes and lowered his head. Then Don heard a small sob, a small heart-wrenching noise. "Raph? Raph?" His brother just let out another one of those horrible sounds and shook his head, unable to speak. Donatello looked to Michelangelo, who looked just as shocked and his brother's breakdown as he was. "Go get Leo." The youngest turtle turned and left the room quickly to get their leader. Don watched Raph sob, heart brokenly, for a few moments and then tried to get his attention. "Raph? I need to take care of these wounds, okay?" The red bandana nodded as he choked on a sob and Don reached up to pull it off. The head wound wasn't too bad, but with Raph's uncharacteristic outburst, Donnie made a note to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn't have a concussion. The cut on his neck was thin and shallow, so all it needed was some cotton padding and a bandage. It was the gash on his leg that worried Donatello the most. The bleeding was stopped, but there could be severe damage to the muscle and tendon if it was deep enough. He looked up at his brother who had fallen silent, and sighed softly. The broken look on his face out of place, and it made Donnie kind of scared. Exactly what had happened for his brother to get like this? Getting up to receive the things he would need to sew up the gash on Raph's leg, he placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get this figured out, okay? After I get done with you, I'll see if I can find any leads to figure out what happened, okay?" Raphael looked like he was about to reply when Leonardo walked in.

"Raphael, what happened, Michelangelo was saying you got attacked by April while you were patrolling on your own? How many times do I have to tell you about that? How do you know it was her?" The oldest turtle would have continued if it wasn't for Raph's eyes filling with anger at the sight of his older brother. He launched himself at his brother, shoving him against the wall.

"You sonofabitch! This is your fuckin' fault!" He snarled, getting close into Leo's face. "If you hadn't made that gawdamn decision for all of us, she woulda' never been captured by the Foot, and this woulda' never happened!" The hot-headed turtle drew back his fist the hit Leo, but was stopped by Mikey.

"Easy, Raph I know you're upset, I am too, but you can't focus on who fault it is right now." The orange turtle gave Leo an uncharacteristically pointed, cold glare "Even if we all agree whose fault it was." Icy blue eyes bore into his brother's darker blue ones. Raph looked from his youngest brother to his oldest, and roughly pulled away from them both.

"Come on Raph, I need to fix that leg before you damage it anymore" Donatello said, finishing with the supplies he needed to stitch it up. Raph turned back to the table and laid down on it so he could stitch the gash up.

Leo sat down in a chair and rubbed his temples, while Mikey just stood in the same place he was at, his blue eyes quiet and serious. Donatello continued to work quietly on Raph's leg and the room was in a heavy silence as he finished up. Wrapping up his brother's leg, he heard Leo take a deep breath and looked over to his older brother.

"So what's this about April? Mikey was saying she attacked you guys? Are you sure it was her?" Leo looked between Michelangelo and Raphael as the latter pushed himself into a sitting position on the examination table. Gold eyes stared at the ground as he took a shaky breath. Swallowing hard, he nodded.

"Yah, I'm sure it was her." Raph told the story of what had happened, up until he and Michelangelo had gotten to the lair. He blinked back tears as he recalled the anger and hate in her voice, how her eyes conveyed none of the warmth and love that they had held for him. How the blade of her weapon felt against is neck as she was ready to cut his throat. Leo remained silent through the story, his face deep in concentration. When Raph had finished, Leo stood up and started to pace around the small room.

While his younger brothers watched him pace around, the eldest was lost in thought. Guilt weighed heavily on him as he thought over the situation they were in. Their beloved April, their savior, had been captured by the very people he had wanted to keep her from. He could only imagine what they had done to her to get to that state. To not even remember the one that had never given up hope that she would be found, who loved her more than his own life, and who she had loved right back with a passion.

He would never admit it to Raph, but he was horribly jealous at what the younger turtle had. The way April looked at him, and always was around him in the beginning. The way they would curl up together on movie night. How Raph was the one she when to when she had a bad day, or nightmares, or just someone to talk to.

Not that April didn't love them all in her own way. Helping Donnie find things he needed for his projects, or whatever medical supplies they needed or cooking in the kitchen with Mikey, figuring out all kinds of odd recipes the younger turtle wanted to try out. For Leo, April had become his sounding board for whatever was on his mind. She sat and talked with him, listening to what he had to say. One particular time came to his mind.

Leo watched the news as images of humans fighting each other in a country he had only heard about flashed across the screen. He looked over at the woman sitting beside him, who had been quiet during the report.

"Why do humans do this to each other?" he asked "I mean, I know some people are just bad people, but to fight like this? Isn't there a better way to do things?" he frowned as grainy images of an airstrike that hit its target was shown. "I understand that other members of this groups have done some terrible things, but why don't we try to talk with them? Maybe work something out that would work for everyone?" She was quiet for a moment, contemplating his question. She sighed and sat herself more comfortably on the couch.

"They won't listen to us. If they do, they don't want to compromise. They want us to give them everything they want, and even then, they will not be satisfied until everyone is ether just like them, or dead. It's what they believe their Quran, their Holy Book, tells them to do." April started to explain, her brow furrowed in concentration as she thought of the right way to put her thoughts into words.

"Does it?" the turtle watched her run her fingers through her hair, pondering his question.

"I can't tell you." She stated plainly. "I can't read Arabic, and I don't know what kind of translation to trust. It might, it might not. It goes down into a big debate that I'm not really qualified to explain, because I didn't grow up in a religious family. But they believe that it tells them to destroy all those who do not follow their religion. That's why they do it. I do know that not all of those people are bad, though."

"How's that?" Leo asked, his eyes on his friend. A hurt look came to her face.

"When I was in high school I had this guy I was really close friends with, his name was Carter. If it hadn't been for him going into the Army, we probably would have ended up dating. But, he did join up as soon as he could, and became a medic. Not long after he got out of school, he was shipped out to Afghanistan. I'd get letters and phone calls from him about what he was doing. He worked at the hospital on Baghram, an airbase out there, and he worked a lot with the locals who came there for the care that they needed. He got a bunch of people who had been injured when they stepped on a mine, or an IED that was meant for our troops. Once he had group come in because a Suicide Bomber had hit a market when it was busy. There were mostly women and children there."

"So they would hurt their own people?" He asked, shocked. April nodded.

"They thought that if they did it, they were guaranteed a place in heaven. They even sent their kids in with the vests on. But Carter loved working with the people, and some were really happy we had taken out the Taliban, the previous government. We didn't have everyone on our side, of course, but it wasn't like they all didn't want us there." She smiled softly at a memory long gone. "Carter loved working with the kids the most. He'd rotate out of the hospital to do patrols, and they would take stuff out for the kids. Just little things like toys and school supplies. His favorite memory was of a little girl who told him she was so happy to go to school like all her brothers got to. She wanted to be a midwife when she grew up." She paused, swallowing hard, eyes filling with tears.

"So what happened to Carter?" caution in Leo's voice. A tear fell down her face.

"He didn't make it back. He died saving that same little girl." She wiped away more tears, and all Leo could do was lean forward and bring her close to his chest, giving her some comfort.

Pulling himself out of thoughts, Leonardo turned to his brothers, a look of determination on his face. They all looked back at him, Mikey with worry on his face, Donnie with a dark thoughtfulness, and Raph with a look that made Leo's heart hurt to see on his face.

"Get to bed- that includes you Donatello. Tomorrow Michelangelo, Raphael, and I will go out and see if we can find answers on what happened to April. Donatello, you'll stay back and see if you can find anything online." he said, his voice leaving no room for argument. April's smiling face flashed before his eyes. "We're going to save her."

Next Chapter we focus on April