We're about halfway through the series now. Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading along so far, and thanks to all of you who have left comments! I'm glad you're enjoying this! Song lyrics are from "Some Nights" by Fun.

Well, some nights I wish that this all would end
'Cause I could use some friends for a change
And some nights I'm scared you'll forget me again
Some nights I always win

Faithful

It wasn't hard to spot the surveillance van. Five years ago, she might not have noticed it, but now it was almost childishly easy. They used a different vehicle every day or so and they parked it in different places, but she could still pick it out after a minute or two. April was torn between feeling smugly amused at the Foot's failure to deceive her and achingly lonely at the futility of the surveillance. Karai was watching for the Turtles to show up but there was no guarantee they would ever be back again.

No. She refused to believe that.

That was why she was going to the lair. She made sure to run a few errands first to make sure she wasn't being followed, then turned her steps toward her friends' home. Splinter had locked up tightly when he'd left – Donatello had made sure his technology-wary Sensei knew how to set the security system – but April also knew how to get past it. She pushed the door open, set down the bags she was carrying, and stepped into the darkened room.

Two months of silence had turned the homelike den into a chilly, dusty, echoing chamber. Her nose wrinkled against the musty smell of damp concrete. Thankfully, the lights were still working. She stood in the center of the living area with her hands on her hips, looking around. Although the lair was usually fairly neat, the abrupt departure of its inhabitants had left little swirls of chaos behind.

Nintendo controllers were tangled together in front of the television, and a couple sofa cushions were still on the floor. Leo's room was spotless, but his well-read copy of A Tale of Two Cities was lying open on the bed. The blanket and pillow still held a slight indent where he had been stretched out reading on top of the covers. April made her way to where Mike slept, folding the blanket bunched at the foot of his bed and straightening the haphazard pile of sketch paper on his desk. The thick paper was covered in both in charcoal and a riot of colored marker and pencil. Raph's room wasn't exactly messy but everything felt just slightly out of place, except for his weapons. Shuriken, sai, and a few short blades were mounted in rigidly straight rows on the wall. The gleaming metal had started to look dull beneath a thin coating of dust.

She avoided Don's room, veering instead to Splinter's quarters. She wished she hadn't. Usually warm but undeniably spartan, the room had been nearly completely emptied of its scant furnishings. No sign of the wise old Rat remained. Splinter had also emptied the kitchen of all perishables and removed the garbage, but he had neglected to dispose of the empty Ben and Jerry's carton that someone (probably Raph) had left on the counter. That oversight alone told April just how distracted by worry Splinter had been. She shivered, wondering not for the first time what sinister person or power had been able to overwhelm her friends so completely.

She took a deep breath and whispered to herself, "Okay." She had to go in Donny's room sometime. The bed was neatly made but the walls were lined with shelves weighed down with mechanical components and dismantled computers. The haphazard collection was arranged in a way that made sense only to his well-ordered mind. His laptop occupied the only place on his desk that wasn't covered with notebooks and sketches of the latest transportation vehicle he was designing.

Two chairs sat in front of his desk. April had been surprised and pleased when Don had presented her with her own chair. "You're here so much I figured you could use one." April lowered herself into the taller chair – the one Don usually used – and sat back, letting her eyes wander around the too-familiar room. The foam cushion felt odd against her back, compressed by his shell into a smooth curve that didn't fit against her spine. Her eyes swam with sudden hot tears that blurred the shadows and cobwebs into a blank gray wall, and she took short, shallow breaths to ease the hollow pain of loneliness. Aside from Casey, Don was her best friend. Each of the four brothers held a unique place in her heart and she loved them all dearly, but Don was the one with whom she had felt that instant -click- of friendship.

Almost as soon as the Turtles had included her in their little family, she had realized that theirs wasn't an easy life. It wasn't a safe life. Danger and uncertainty had ever been hovering over their strong shoulders. But they'd just shrugged it off, laughed it off, fought it off...and despite all the close calls and near misses, April realized that deep down, she'd never really believed they would be beaten.

She'd never been prepared to lose them.

"Oh, snap out of it, April!" she scolded abruptly. She took a deep breath, brushed away her tears, and rose to her feet. And then she got to work. She unpacked the bags of cleaning supplies that she'd brought with her, stripped sheets from beds, threw away the Ben and Jerry's carton, and straightened the sofa cushions. She swept and dusted and scrubbed.

She came back every two weeks, waiting for her family to come home.