Hi everyone, so I know that I'm a terribel author and that it has been ages that I last updated any of this. There's not really an excuse for neglecting my story. I promise that I didn't abandon Hope. In fact, after I finish up this story there will be at least two more series featuring her.

Now, to anwer an excelent question I recieved from a reader. She asked how the turtles and Hope appeared to be the same age though I said that they were 4 when she was found. I, however, can't find where I said such a thing. To clear up any confusion though... They are about the same age, Hope is half a year younger than the boys. The turtles seemed older and more developed when she was first found because I figured that their growth had sped up considerably after first contact with the mutagen before stagnating and stabalizing. Because their remarkable growth needed time to even out, Hope had time to catch up to her brother's growth and mental capabilities. They've been following the same growth pattern since Hope turned 1. I hope I have informed you adequatly now. Enjoy the story!

Chapter 6:

Two strong hands pulled the child off the street and against a heaving chest.

'Hope! What in the world were you thinking!'

She looked up and found that she was in the arms of Jack.
His eyes were filled with anger but his body shook with residue fear and adrenaline.
He turned and took her back inside the house, depositing her on the couch before he went back outside with Drew to try and placate the driver of the car.

Inside, Hope sat in-between Jade and Missy. The pregnant woman's presence kept Hope's own adrenaline level from going down, making the child quiver with repressed fear.
Missy was bawling her eyes out and Jade was as pale as a sheet.
Both women kept the girl between them in their sights until Missy calmed down and the men returned.
Once everyone was seated four sets of eyes turned to Hope, making her squirm in discomfort.

'Whatever possessed you to do such a thing? You could've gotten hurt, or worse," started Jade.

'I didn't want to be eaten,' was the meek answer, 'She already ate a baby, why wouldn't she eat me?'

Accusing blue eyes turned to Missy, who looked surprised.

'I ate a baby? Why would you think that?'

'Because there's a baby in your tummy, how did it get there if you didn't eat it?'

The four adults suddenly seemed to choke on air and sputtered after her innocent question.

'Oh sweetheart, I didn't eat my baby. I err, can't explain how it got there, you'll learn that when you're older.
But rest assured, I didn't eat my baby.'

'And… and me?'

'No sweetie, you're adorable, but I wouldn't eat you either. I promise.'

Hope still looked sceptical but she seemed to relax slightly.
The child took in her surroundings while the adults turned their focus on each other instead of the girl and she saw that the house was tastefully decorated in light colours.

'… what do you think Hope?'

The question had been sudden and she realized that she didn't know what was asked.

'Sorry?'

'School starts on Monday; we should take you to get a haircut and some new clothes now that you're fully recovered.'

A haircut? She'd never had a haircut in all her life.
Master Splinter hadn't dared to cut the snowy locks himself.
This meant that Hope's hair reached well past her knees and was mostly kept tied in a rather messy ponytail.

The girl never got the chance to give her opinion as Jade dragged her outside and into the car.
Missy wobbled after them and climbed in, all the while giving instructions for dinner to the men.
Once they were all seated Jade started the car and drove off.

They stopped at the mall and got out of the car.
The parking lot was in the basement and practically deserted.
It wasn't until they entered the main hall that they saw other people.
Jade and Missy were used to the beehive of activity, but Hope wasn't.
She had spent her life in the sewers and even after she had ended up topside, she had been sheltered.
The hospital room had been a private one and only doctors and police officers had been allowed inside before the McAllister's received clearance.
She hadn't left the garden of the McAllister home after her discharge from the hospital and she had only travelled by car.
Oh she had seen many people through the windows, but she had never walked among them like this.
She felt overwhelmed and desperately held onto Jade's hand.

Missy led the way into a salon and Hope was taken to a chair in front of a mirror.
Jade had put the long hair into a braid that morning, and now a woman she didn't know was undoing it.

'It's such a pretty colour, but it's riddled with split ends so we'll have to cut off at least 10cm to get it all healthy again.'

'That's fine, this length is inconvenient so if you could cut it to her mid-back that would be fantastic,' answered Jade.

'Mid-back it is then. Alright sweetie, sit still for me okay?'

Hope felt intimidated by everything she'd seen today so far, so she had no trouble complying with the order and as the time passed the pile of snow on the floor kept growing.

Finally, after 45 minutes of minimal movement and a lot of fallen white hair, the hairdresser declared Hope done.
Her hair had shortened considerably; it now fell to her mid-back and had been layered to give her hair more volume.
White bangs had been cut to chin-length, framing her face perfectly.
Hope stared into the mirror, not daring to believe that she was the girl reflected back at her.
Jade smiled and Missy clapped her hands in appreciation.

'You look wonderful darling. Now, let's get you some new clothes!'

Missy was practically bouncing in anticipation… for as much as the pregnant woman was able to at least.
Jade hastily paid for the haircut before Missy grabbed her and Hope to drag them along.
The adults had a blast while shoving their charge into outfit after outfit, making the poor child's head spin with the amount of clothes she had to put on.
She had lost her interest after the third set of clothes and she barely listened to the woman as they dragged her from shop to shop. Suddenly felt her tummy rumble in a familiar call for food.
Blue eyes glanced up at the two women next to her and she decided to speak up.

'I'm hungry' she said in a small voice.

The adults heard her quiet remark and they realized that it was already past lunch time.

'Oh of course you're hungry sweetie!'

'Sorry we didn't realize that sooner.'

'N-no, it's okay…'

But no amount of protesting on Hope's part would stop the women from feeling guilty.

Jade looked down at the girl and asked, 'what would you like to eat sweetheart?'

Hope glanced around and she spotted a pizzeria.
Her blue eyes filled with longing and she fought against the tears that were threatening to fall.
What she wouldn't give to have her brothers here with her! Her adult companions misinterpreted the look in her eyes with the overwhelming love for a favourite food children could have.
They smiled at each other before guiding their charge over to the pizzeria.
The pizzas they chose turned out to be delicious and Hope started crying, wishing she could shove some slices into a bag to take home to her pizza-loving family.
Jade gathered the little girl into her arms and carried her out of the pizzeria, leaving Missy to pay for the pizzas.

'Shhhh, Hope it's alright… shhh.'

But she didn't stop bawling for at least another five minutes, she felt homesick and she didn't know how long she could hold on until her dad found her.
Eventually Jade managed to calm Hope down though the girl kept softly hiccupping.

'I'm –hic- sorry.'

'It's okay Hope. You know what, we're just going to find you a jacket to wear with your skirt and then we'll get some ice-cream, okay?'

Hope had never tasted ice-cream before but she decided to just nod meekly.
Her guardians put her back on her feet and they all just wandered around.
When they passed a jewellery-shop, Hope glanced into the window and gasped.
There, on a white satin display pillow laid a gorgeous silver necklace with a sodalite charm.
What made the necklace special was because the stone was cut into the shape of a sea-turtle.
Not the same as her brothers but to her, a turtle was a turtle and reminded her of them.
The women noticed that Hope stopped walking and doubled back to see what she was looking at.
Jade and Missy glanced at each other, the necklace was a little on the expensive side but the girl seemed positively entranced with it. Jade signed Missy to go on without her and to take Hope; she'd catch up with them at the ice-cream parlour.
Later Jade was sitting with Missy, eating hazelnut ice-cream and congratulating each other with a successful shopping spree and watching Hope get absorbed in her ice-cream cone.

Days passed in a rush for little Hope.
Before she knew it, she woke up on the last day of summer vacation.
Jack and Jade took her out after breakfast but she didn't know where they were going. After a five minute walk they arrived at a playground.
Now, Hope knew what a playground was because master Splinter had taken her and her brothers to playgrounds before.
But that was only when the playgrounds were dark and deserted.
So Hope wasn't prepared for the noise and the sheer amount of children running around.
She ducked behind Jack with a frightened squeak before peeking out from behind his legs.
The couple laughed at her antics.

'Go on Hope, we'll be right here. Go and have some fun.'

She slid out from behind his leg and cautiously moved towards the jungle gym.
There were a few girls hanging upside down on the tumbling bar and a group of older boys were kicking a soccer ball around.
Hope debated on what to do, but she decided to abandon the jungle gym and join the group of boys.

'Hi, can I play with you?'

'Eeew, of course not! You're a girl!'

'So?'

'Everybody knows that girls can't play soccer!'

'They cry when they're hurt and they're afraid of getting dirty.'

She stared at him, girls were afraid of getting dirty?
Maybe girls that didn't grown up in the sewers did.
But she couldn't let his remarks slide so without warning she shot forward and took the ball from him.
He cried in outrage and went to take back his ball from the little girl.
Hope, however, had no intention of giving it back just like that.
She expertly manoeuvred the ball between the boys while avoiding their attempts to stop her.
She ran, and ran before kicking the ball in the net and scoring.
Hope turned around with triumph written all over her face.
The boys looked stumped for a second… and then started cheering.
Just like that, she was accepted into their fold and she played with them for the rest of the day.

Hope was exhausted when her guardians called her to go home.
Jack noticed this and he lifted the little girl onto his neck.
She fell asleep with her head on top of his head and he smiled at his wife.
They had been debating on adopting Hope if her family didn't turn up soon.
Rather than let her get lost in the system, they knew that they had a lot of love to give the girl.
Both of them felt content and happy to have Hope in their lives.
She certainly lived up to her name.

They arrived home and Jack went to put his precious cargo to bed.
He and his brother had cleaned out the guest room two days after Hope arrived home with them and it had been her room ever since. Jade went ahead and she took out the clothes Hope would be wearing to school tomorrow and laid them out for the sleeping girl. Silently, Jade removed a small jewellery box out of her pocket and she put it on top of the pile of clothes.
The couple each pressed a goodnight kiss to Hope's forehead before sneaking out of the bedroom and going downstairs.
Leaving the door cracked open to let in light from the hallway.

The slumbering girl in the bed dreamt of her family.
She dreamt of laughing with Mikey, sparring with Leo or Raph and watching Donny tinker with stuff.
A silent tear filled with longing escaped from between closed lids as soft-furred dream arms took her home.

Master Splinter landed on a building next to a hospital.
He had been here before without any luck and he didn't really know why he had returned.
Something seemed to pull him here tonight though he was slowly losing faith that he'd be able to find his daughter.
Every turn he made seemed to be a dead-end.
He had trouble dividing his attention between searching the city and spending time with his sons.
His heart ached every night he had to return back home empty handed.
The rat knew that his sons blamed themselves and each other for the loss of their sister and the tension was high in the small lair.

He was about ready give up and call it a night when a conversation managed to find itself to his sensitive ears.

'… girl.'

'Yeah, and so young. I still wonder where she came from.'

'No word from her parents?'

'None at all.'

Splinter leaned over the edge of the building and he spotted two nurses smoking on a balcony.
The conversation grew fainter when the wind picked up and he silently made his way to a balcony below the two nurses.

'… have that hair!'

'Hmmhmm, I've never seen hair that white before, and those dark blue eyes…'

'Maybe her mom's a supermodel?'

The nurses laughed at that before putting out their cigarettes and going back inside.
Splinter sat frozen on his balcony below.
He couldn't believe his ears.
Hope!
His little Hope had been here… maybe.
It was a long shot but it was the only lead he's had ever since he found the tire-tracks carrying off her scent.
Still, the odds that it was Hope that they were talking about were high enough for Splinter to decide to check out the hospital once more.
And this time he wouldn't leave a stone unturned. He would find his daughter!

There you have it, Hope's first real outings topside where she gets to mingle with other people :P Next chapter will show her first day at school. So please stay tuned. I'll start on it next week because I have to finish some papers and tests for school first this week. Please leave a review... even if it is just to bite my head off for my long absence ^.^' ~Ciao