"You have got to be kidding me!" Raph snapped as he came out of the house early the next morning. Cris and Casey had just pulled up with the vehicles. Cris parked my Jeep and Casey hopped out of the vehicle they got. "A U-Haul? You go and get a fucking U-Haul?"

"It's not like I could go and get an RV!" She snapped back. "Just be lucky it's big enough to hold your big ass, almost ended up getting a pull behind trailer!"

He stomped back into the house, mumbling under his breath.

Donnie watched in amusement as his older brother seemed less that pleased with their current mode of transportation. "If this keeps up, I might have to build a turtle van for over here."

"It's fine." Leo told an exasperated Cris as she still glared at the door. "Let's get loaded up."

We all loaded up clothes in my Jeep and the more, shall I say warlike?, belongings in the back of the U-Haul. Then I went back inside and gathered all the blankets I could get my hands on, not to mention the pillows.

"What are you doing?" Leo came in as I got done dropping the last few pillows on the living room floor.

"No need to make it uncomfortable for you guys." I told him quietly, still not over the shock of what happened. "At least you'll have something soft to sit on." I leaned over and grabbed a big pile of the stuff and made my way to the door with it, but stopped when Leo wrapped an arm around me. "It'll be ok." He told me softly again before kissing my hair. I just nodded as he went to get another pile.

We stepped out side to see Donnie rigging up one of my Dad's old window unit ACs. He caught my questioning look. "Gonna get hot back there. Won't do much good if we all die of heat stroke before we even get there."

I just nodded again and placed the items I was carrying into the back of the U-haul. Then quietly watched as Donnie carefully removed a section of the side, secured the AC into that hole he made and rigged up some kind of battery pack to plug it into, then rigged up a solar panel to the top to keep it charged. I had to admit, Donnie was definitely the right turtle to bring along for unexpected crap. He'd find a way to make it bearable.

Leo didn't mind this delay, but when Mikey came out with a TV and videogames he put his foot down. "No."

"But Leo, Ima get so booored!"

"No!" Leo snapped back. "We've wasted too much time already!"

This time it was Mikey who went stomping back into the house mumbling under his breath.

Once everything had been loaded up, we loaded up. Casey pulled the door down to the back of the moving van before he jogged around and hopped into the driver's seat and Marina pulled herself into the passenger one. Cris and I took my Jeep, but I let her drive. I was still a little numb over it all.

We rode in silence, with the radio quietly playing as we led the van over the roads, then finally to the interstate. I just let the scenery slip by unseen as I thought, and worried. Cris was worried herself, but giving me the space I needed to come to terms with it all.

I looked over the familiar landscape as we went. How many times had they cried out "Mommy! Look it! I see cow!" when they were little? The slug bug contests, the "Mom! He is on my side of the seat!" and endless games of I spy all took their turns in my memories. "She's touching me!" "He keeps staring at me!" "Am not!" "Are too!" "Nuh uh!" "Uh huh!" all replayed in my head. There were times when they drove me nuts on road trips, now I'd give anything to hear it again. I wanted them back... Please, God, let them be ok...

I took in a deep shuddering breath and looked away from the window as Cris drove on. She kinda gave me a concerned look out of the corner of her eye for a moment. "Which exit do I need to take to start heading south?" She asked then. I couldn't remember myself, so I pulled out the map Marina and Mikey had worked on. She was the one who traced it out, Mikey's job was to hold the map, otherwise he would have draw stick figures on it or something.

"Still have a bit to go." I told her as I looked it over.

Suddenly she grinned. "I wonder if Raph is ready to kill Mikey yet."

I checked the bond, and felt annoyance come back at me and I chuckled a little. "I don't know, but Leo is starting to get a little annoyed."

"Maybe we should have had Donnie tranq those two."

I laughed. "I bet by the time we get there he'll wish that he did."

She kept me talking, kept my mind off of what happened, and kept me from worrying to much. I still did, but I didn't fall into that shocked, depression like, silence again.

We had covered quite a distance when we pulled over for gas and I stepped inside while Cris and Casey filled up. Bought sandwiches, some drinks and a few other things, enough to where I put a huge dent in what they had in stock, and carried it all back out, in numerous bags, before walking to the back of the U-Haul. Quickly looking around to make sure no one was paying me too much attention, I opened the back just a bit, and slipped the bags in.

"Finally!" Mikey hooped as one of the bags was snatched, almost taking my hand with it, then got smacked with a "Shh!" "Ow, jeez, sorry..." He mumbled. "I was just hungry is all."

"Thank you, dear one." Leo murmured as the rest were taken more gently from me before giving my hand a gentle squeeze. I returned it real quick before I pulled my arm out and closed the door back.

We loaded back up again and drove on, each turn of the tire bringing us nearer to our destination, each mile marker that zipped by was one less we had to pass. The farther we got from home, the more I let the confused worry state behind and a cam determination began to take over. The closer we got, the more I refocused my thoughts from how much I missed them and was scared for them, to we are going to have so much fun beating the crap out of these guys together once I did finally find them.

The sun made it's way slowly across the sky as the drive continued and when it had fully set we stopped one more time in a small, quiet rest stop where we were the only ones there. Again I walked to the back and opened the door, more wider this time. Mikey shot out of the damn thing before I had even finished opening it. "Bathroom!" Was the only explanation I got as he zipped by.

I smiled at his retreating back before I faced the other three as they came out, after more cautiously looking around. "Sorry guys, I would have let you out earlier to stretch your legs a bit, but it's hard to find rest stops where no one is there, especially in the daytime."

"Don't worry about it." Leo calmly told me. "This is your world, you know it better than we do, we'll follow your lead on how to travel here."

"But you might want to consider stocking up on diapers for the trip home if it's going to be the same way." Donnie mumbled as he passed us as he went towards the bathroom where Mikey had already disappeared.

"God damn it Casey!" Raph complained as he stretched. "Do you have to hit every fucking pothole?"

"Yup." Came the answering grin.

Once the potty breaks had been taken care of, under the watchful eyes of the humans as we kept a look out for incoming travellers, we ate a quick supper in the back of the van with the guys, once again gas station food. They didn't complain, they knew we were trying to get there in a hurry and didn't want to waste the time to go buy stuff at the grocery store, then make our own food. This was where the convenience part came in real handy in convenience store.

"How much farther?" Mikey almost whined as we got ready to go again.

"Still a ways." I told him. "It's about an fourteen hour drive straight through, but we have to stop every so often for gas," I grinned at him "and bathroom breaks."

He just groaned and rolled his eyes.

This time I drove. I knew the area better because I actually lived down here for a short time after my ex and I got married. I shook my head at that thought. We had been so happy together once, now his ongoing stupidity was making me want to kill him.

The trip was quiet, even more so after Cris dropped off to sleep next to me and the calm quiet in my mind told me the turtles were all either sleeping or settled down. Nothing was going on besides the occasional headlights lighting up the opposite lanes. I led the van along in the late evening and into the early morning hours, each area we drove by becoming more and more familiar to me as I confidently led the way. Each town we drove by bringing me closer to where we needed to go. Closer to getting the answers to questions that had plagued me the entire trip.

Finally I found the exit I needed and guided the Jeep off of the freeway and onto the town roads, the van following me as I navigated through the town. Memories came flooding back to me as I passed certain areas. I used to work there, that place had good shrimp, that Wal-mart really sucked, kids loved that movie theatre...

My in-law's sub division came up then and I turned again, driving down neighborhood streets I've driven through many times before, that tired feeling starting to hit me that usually happens at the tail end of a long drive. With a last left turn their house came into view, and their porch light was already on, waiting for me, calling to me as if it wanted to tell me what had gone on in here the night before.

I pulled into the driveway as Casey gently guided the van to a halt along the curb and I slowly got out, pausing a moment with my hand on the car door as I carefully looked around. No one was out, but that didn't mean no one was watching. Cris was just waking up and I leaned in to look at her. "Make sure they stay out of sight until I get back." I told her quietly and she nodded sleepily.

That simple walk up their path to their front door was the hardest walk I ever had to take. Expecting my kids to be on the other side of that door, but knowing they weren't. I swallowed hard as I fought the urge to break out in tears again. The door had been damaged I noticed as I raised my hand to knock, and Peter had obviously repaired it enough to where it would close but he was going to need a new door. Something else I was going to cover the cost of by taking it out of David's hide.

My knock was a quiet one, but I knew it would be heard, knew they would be up. After a few moments Ellen carefully opened the door, with Peter standing behind her with a baseball bat just incase, and I looked at the woman in front of me who had obviously been crying. "Oh Vicky!" She wailed as she threw herself into my arms.

"I'm here, Ellen." I told her as I tried to keep from losing it myself, returning her hug that we both needed right then. "I'm here and I will deal with it now."