A/N: Hey all. It's been a busy couple of weeks. Starting school and trying to balance it with work, is really, really difficult. I need a vacation all ready and it's not even half way through the semester. I don't know. I hope all of you are doing well. And here is the next chapter. It's in little pieces once again, but you all will see it beginning to pull together. Although, I know you will all think me evil by the end of this chapter. Mwahahaha! Enjoy.

Chapter Seven: Losses

Delaney stumbled into the living room of her apartment a little after eight in the evening. Callista wanted the girls to try out her new line of shirts and "jojo"s. Eros was complaining the whole way through the session until she actually found something that interested her. Actually, it was a whole section in the store that interested her. It took a good hour or so more then the group had planned since Eros had to stifle her shopping craze. Eventually she was satisfied and had a good three bags filled with new garments to show Donatello when she got home. That is if he didn't go back to the lair after waiting for her to get home.

Although, Delaney couldn't blame Eros for caving in to buying something from Callista's store. She too had to get a few more shirts that she saw when walking with Eros. Dropping her bags to the ground, Delaney heard the refrigerator door close and a satisfied looking Michelangelo coming out from the kitchen. He smiled when he saw her and came over to greet her with arms wide open.

"I was wondering when you were getting home," he hugged her and kissed her forehead.

"You run out of the essentials down in the lair again?" she smiled knowingly at Michelangelo and then nodded to a now empty bag of potato chips and an empty pizza box that once held her left over pizza from the night before.

"You know me too well," he chuckled and ran over to the couch and jumped over the back to lay across the full length, "When are you going to put the ornaments away?"

She took a deep sigh and looked over at the side of the room where the boxes of ornaments that were once on the tree, "I'm just happy that I put the tree away by New Years. I may just push those ornaments behind something so I won't have to lug them back into the hall closet."

"You just that tired?" he looked her over from the couch and knew that the Karten case was taking a lot out of her recently. Even more so then the Burgand case ever could. That guy was messy and left a trail for a while, but this new perpetrator had smarts.

"I'm just that lazy," she walked around the couch and collapsed next to him. He leaned his shell against the armrest of one side of the couch so she could lay with him and then began to change the channel. He changed the stations a few more times until he landed on "Ghost Hunters" and made a satisfied hum. He wrapped his arms around her and let her get comfortable against his plastron.

"You getting nervous at all?" he asked her once she laid her head his upper arm.

"About the ghost hunt?" she chuckled a bit at the question.

"About the wedding plans," he looked at her ring.

"Let's find a preacher or reverend that will do the ceremony first and then we can talk about getting nervous," she smiled.

"What about a Spring wedding?" he continued.

Delaney rolled her eyes knowing that he wasn't going to drop the subject of the wedding and began to play along, "What month were you thinking of?"

"Maybe around in May…"

"But that my birthday!"

"Not the whole month," he chuckled and rubbed th top of her head affectionately, "It will give us a good five months to get it planned."

"Right… you mean four in a half months," she looked at the new calendar on the wall, "Remember, New Years was just last week."

"And that party was a blast!" Michelangelo punched at the air above him, "I never knew that Casey could throw that kind of party."

"I never want to see Raph drunk ever again," Delaney pinched the ridge of her nose at the memory of New Years Eve, "Man did he get it from Callista. Although, she was almost just as bad off."

"It's normal for me to see him like that," he nodded, "I've seen him totally hammered and it still doesn't affect me in any way."

"See what normalization does to ya," she smiled.

"Normal-whata?" he looked down at her weird.

"Normalization," she repeated looking at him, "It's a theory proposed by a man named Moynihan that a society- or a group of individuals- will become used to an act- sometimes horrendous ones- over time. If these acts are done more often over time then it becomes normal to the society."

Michelangelo just stared at her and then shook his head, "Sometimes I think that you remember too much from your training days and bring it home."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved him off and thought for a moment, "Hey Mikey, where do you consider home?"

"What?"

"Home… you keep referring to the apartment as home," she looked around, "but you still live down at the lair. At least most of the time"

"Well, when I say it, I mean that this is your home."

"But it isn't my home…"

"What are you talking about?"

"This is just my place of residence… the lair is the only home that I feel safe and absolutely loved. This just seems so artificial up here."

"You saying that when we tie the knot, you want to come down and live with me?" he smiled.

"Why not? I usually spend the majority of my time down there with the group anyway."

"Well, don't jump at the opportunity, babe," he rolled his eyes.

"But the way," she took a breath after laughing at his sarcasm, "When are we going to tell the others about our engagement?"

"Others?"

"Yeah… Leo, Raph, Don, Amity, Eros, Callista…. You know, the people that we practically live with?"

"Oh yeah, them," he rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I told Splinter, but he actually told me to wait when it came to the guys. He said I would know when. I hate it when he does stuff like that."

"Does that?"

"Gives me that 'mystic advice', you know? It's like he knows too much or something like that. I don't know… it just seems-like…like-"

"Splinter," she whispered, "It's Splinter."

He turned to her, "You know, that's the best explanation I've heard."

She settled back into him and they got back into the show to watch the results of the last ghost hunt.


"Professor Kanin, may we have a word?"

Delaney and Carson walked up to a thin woman that looked to be around her mid to late twenties as she exited the science building toward her car. Her bushy brown hair was swept back by her lab, safety glasses. Another gentleman was walking with her to her car. Apparently the man was either another associate in the research or another professor in the building. They both turned to theto the two detectives and Kanin's eyes held a questioning glance.

"Detective Chasin and Carson," she greeted as she relised who they were, "I was hoping to meet you two soon. Thank you for getting our research and equipment back to us so quickly. You have no idea how much it means to us to continue our research."

"I know," Carson took off his sunglasses and put them into his breast pocket, "Losing your top researcher must be bad enough for all of you. A tremendous loss, I'm sure."

"Yes… Sandra," she took the glasses from the top of her head and looked down, "She was always the smartest one in the building."

"I'm guessing that you two didn't get along?" Delaney leaned to one side as she looked over the female professor.

"We were like sisters, detective," she took a chance and glared in Delaney's direction.

"Did you fight?"

"Every sister does, don't they? It comes with the partnership," she sighed and handed her glasses to the man at her side, "We had a few opposing ideas on quite a few things. Why, does that make me a suspect?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Carson titled his head to either side as if playing with the professor.

"Was there any sign that Sandra was leaving for any reason?"

"Not that I know of. She was happy with her work. Very happy on how it was coming as well," she turned to the man that was standing next to her, "Isn't that right, Victor?"

The man nodded his head in agreement. He was very impressive looking to be a scientist. He stood a good six foot and maybe another three inches by Delaney's guess. His dark eyes matched very well with his black hair that was slicked back by either oil or gel. He looked well built, even with his lab cout over his clothes. Other then that, he wasn't all that good looking. His gigantic nose stuck out toward the detectives and the huge glasses that covered his eyes only made his dark eyes even more prominent.

"Excuse me... Victor?" Delaney asked looking at the giant scientist.

"Yes, Victor Grinford," Kanin stepped foward, "He's my research assiant. I wouldn't be able to get half of my work done without his help."

"Maybe I should stop by to ask you some questions, Mr. Grinford," Delaney looked at the man. He again nodded at her. Apparently he was one of those people of few words.

"What disagreements did you have with Professor Karten concerning work?" Carson asked flipping out his small notebook.

"I never said that we argued about work," she gave a bigger glare to Carson and Victor seemed to give him something that resembled a growl.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked back with a smirk, knowing that he hit a big nerve.

"When it came to test specimens and how to proceed with the research, yes, we did have our disagreements," she nodded and let out a sigh, "Sandra wanted 'artificial' everything. We needed live specimens."

"You mean the animals?" Delaney asked.

"Yes, the living tissue is vital to test out hypothesis."

"Which is?"

"I am not able to discuss with unauthorized personnel."

"How does that not surprise me?" Carson folded his arms across his chest.

"Well, if you two detectives don't mind," Kanin headed toward her car and opened the driver's door while giving Victor a nod to get in the passanger seat, "We both have to get some sleep before tonight. Good morning to the both of you, detectives."

"Same to you," Carson said as she drove off with Victor, "So what's your impression her, partner?"

"I think that we can add her to our suspect list," she let out a breath, "Her and her associate, Victor."

"A 'jealous Co-worker' her motivation?"

"A jealous competitor…" Delaney thought to herself and turned to Carson, "I'll show you in some of the files I left back at my apartment. This may be more than a technological disagreement on the animals and equipment."

"Tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, but until then let's move on the evidence collected on the lab search. I believe that dear Professor Kanin doesn't realize how much we actually know about her experiments."

"Ooo… sounds like fun," he twirled his fingers in the air and sighed.

"Come on you," she opened the driver's side to the car and hopped in.


Splinter slowly exhaled and began to meditate once again. Something was off about this night. Something sinister lurked in the shadows, ready to injure some one in his family. He knew that Leonardo felt it too. Through their training this morning, his eldest son seemed distracted and worried. His other sons seemed the same way, but they were worried more for his declining health then of the foreboding presence.

Splinter closed his eyes and tired to reach a place of pure thought and felt himself slipping away. He opened his eyes in surprise from the feeling. He knew that it was going to be soon, but he didn't think that it would be this night. He didn't want to leave this plane yet. His family was in danger and he wanted to leave them in peace. Taking a few breaths, he knew that he cannot fight it forever, no matter how much he wants to stay. But in the least, he can warn his sons.

He slowly put his staff on the ground to push himself up and headed for the main portion of the lair where he heard his sons talking amongst themselves.


Delaney ruffled her own hair in thought as she continued to scan over the documents concerning the case. She was laying on her stomach on the floor of her bedroom with the Karten file in front of her. Her head was beginning to ache and she was getting worried about Michelangelo. He was always here by this time, unless he forgot to tell her about a midnight run. She let out another frustrated breath and looked at a smaller picture of Sandra Karten. She could swear that she now knew every line of the young woman's face.

"What the Hell happened to you?" she stared into the eyes of the picture. She looked to her left to find her warm cup of apple cider and took a sip.

A couple of names kept popping up everywhere in the documentation, but they were mostly other scientists and associates. But above all, Kanin's and the mysterious Mr. Grinford's names popped up more often through her reading. Apparently they were as dedicated to this project as Karten was.

A sound from the living room grabbed her attention and dragged her out of her deep thoughts. She shook her head and watched the bedroom door to spot the intruder before they spotted her. Hopeful that it was just Michelangelo getting back from an early run of the city she looked at her engagement ring now sitting on her right ring finger. She moved it to the opposite hand to make sure that her friends didn't find out about the engagement before Michelangelo told his brothers. They both wanted to tell all of them at one time.

The bedroom door opened a little more to show a small orange head peek from behind the door. Klunk gave a small meow of greeting and began to walk over to Delaney. She smiled and let out a breath of disappointment and relief. The noise must have been from the cat jumping to the floor from the small window he manages to climb through. Klunk walked straight up to Delaney, ignoring the fact that he was now sitting on some very important documents. A paw came up and nudged at the young detective's face.

"Yeah, I see you," she patted the cat's head and took a deep sigh, "Now if only your owner would get his shell over here to help me out."

Klunk meowed up at her and nudged his face against hers, pressing his forehead to her cheek.

Delaney laughed lightly at the cat, "Thanks for agreeing with me."

Suddenly the phone rang next to the bed surprising Delaney. She looked at her watch, amazed that any of her friends would call her at eleven o' clock at night unless it was an emergency. Pushing off the ground she could feel a slight hint of an evil presence. Something that shouldn't be there. As the phone range again, Klunk jumped on the bed to face the phone and began to hiss and growl at the phone. With her senses on high alert, Delaney made her way to the phone and saw Eros's cell number flash over the caller ID.

"It's okay, Klunk. I feel it too," Delaney patted the cat's head and picked up the phone, "Eros? What's up?"

For the first time since Delaney has known Eros, she didn't greet her back with her normal energetic 'hi' or invitation for a movie. Instead she heard silence and then she could pick up some heavy breathing from the other end.

"Eros? Are you okay?" Delaney looked down at Klunk who still had an unsettling look upon his kitty face, "Eros?"

"D…" Eros's voice was weak, and she sounded like she had been crying. Suddenly her voice hitched as if she was scared by something on the other end.

Then… there was another voice. A strong, male voice that sure as Hell was not Donatello's.

"Detective Chasin?"

"Who is this?" Delaney growled, clutching the phone tightly.

"You don't know by now?" th voice tried to sound cocky, "And here I thought you were one of the most talented detectives in your unit. So highly thought of, and can't figure out who the bad guy is?"

"Just give me some time and I promise I'll see you behind bars."

"Well, if you don't know my identity by now, maybe I shouldn't spoil the surprise."

"Cut the bullshit. What do you want?" she spate and began pacing the room with the wireless phone in hand.

"You," the voice stated simply, "I just want you."

"At the moment I'm taken," stated simply in a deadpan voice, wishing that Michelangelo really was there with her.

"Stop on the case, Miss Chasin. It's none of your buisness, and it will be over before you know it."

"Actually, you just made it my personal business, dude," she looked out her window to the street below. She thought her option over for a moment, "You have to learn that you don't miss with family."

"Would you rather your pretty little friend here get hurt?" A sharp intake of breath was taken on the other side of the conversation, "Drop the case. Or we will get very serious."

"Okay!" Delaney said hastily, "What do I have to do to get you off my back?"

"Come down to the North East Dock... alone. We will have a nice little chat. All of us will."

"All of- who are you talking about?"

"He's got Brain and Cal!" Eros's frantic voice came from the background noise.

"Let go of me, you dumb ass!" Callista's voice could be heard from what sounded like beside Eros.

"I expect you to be at the docks in one hour, detective,"

And the phone suddenly went dead. Delaney looked at Klunk who moewed and gently pawed at her side.

"I know, Klunk. It's not a very good plan, but I have to do this," she put on her long jacket and wrote a quick note on a small piece of paper, "They're missing with the wrong family here."

She turned to the orange cat and carefully attached the piece of paper tot he collar. Afterwards, she picked up her essentials and walked to the door, with the cat not too far behind her.

"Go take the note to Mikey, Klunk," she whispered to the cat, "Understand? Mikey."

The cat tilted his head to the side, but soon exited out his window he came through earlier and climbed down to the city streets below. Delaney took a deep breath and locked her apartment door behind her.


"You have known that this day was coming for many years, my sons," Splinter spoke weakly from his bed, "I have tried to prepare you for as long as I could. Now it is my time to go peacefully...and leave you to live your own lives."

The four turtles sat silently by their father's bedside, two on each side. Each were holding back their emotions as well as they could. It happened so fast. Splinter had come out tot he tell them something, and just collapsed before even reaching them. Straight to the floor, and they all knew that it was time. He was leaving, and none of them could do anything to stop it.

"Keep all the wisdom collected in your life and pay no heed to your fears. If you all stay together, and stay strong- stay a family- you all can and will overcome anything," he took a shallow breath and began to close his eyes, "I love you all, my sons. And more proud than I can ever express. Stay true to your hearts... and they will lead you through a full life."

"Yes Master Splinter," all four of them mumbled in unison.

The old rat smiled and took another breath, "I ask to go with my family by my side. Stay true... remember...yourself... remember me... remember... family..."

As of time had slowed, Splinter released his last breath and his words lingered in the air. A silent reminder of a Master, Sensei and above all else... a father.

Leonardo tried to stay immobile. If he stayed in this position for the rest of this night, he wouldn't have to break down. He wouldn't have to cry. He scanned his father's face still graced with a peaceful smile. Splinter was happy that they were there. He was happy that he got to say goodbye.

Donatello let a sob escape from his throat and leaned foward to cry into his hands. Michelangelo also began to break down, but let silent tears fall down his cheeks and beak, instead of sobbing uncontrollably into his hands, like Donatello. He leaned toward the purple wearing turtle and patted him on the shoulder. They turned to one another and hugged each other for comfort. Their tears would not recede for a while. The tears would be accepted. Raphael on the other hand looked at his father and bowed his head in respect and mourning. Looking to his side he saw that Leonardo still had made no move toward any emotion since Splinter said his last word.

Raphael put an hand lightly on his brother's shoulder, only to feel Leonardo jump at his touch, "Leo?"

"He's gone..." Leonardo mumbled and began to breath harshly "...left this plane..."

"And we're still a family, bro," Raphael nodded, letting a small tear fall down his beak.

Leonardo finally tore his gaze from Splinter to face his brother. He looked at his younger siblings all ready in a tight embrace to seek comfort. They were still brothers, they were still alive, and they were not going anywhere. Both Raphael and Leonardo tried to keep up a strong facade, but in the end, both failed miserably. Leonardo grabbed his brother in a strong hug and they both released their emotions. The trusted themselves to one another, and let the tears flow.

And in the lair... there was an air of sorrow... and peace...


Delaney paced at the edge of the dock. It was five until midnight and she felt uneasy. Not just about the meeting, but something else was wrong. Something was happening other then this and she felt an overwhelming feeling that she was needed elsewhere. Suddenly, out of no where she felt a ripping at her heart. It felt as if something had been torn from her life, and she had no idea what it was. Fear was starting to envelope her as she thought that one of her friends decided to fight and was killed just for the hell of it. She tried to close her eyes to block the images out, but she couldn't at first. She had to shake her head a few times to clear the images, but she finally did it.

She opened her eyes and began to scan the area around her. She wanted her friends back, and she wanted them back now.

"Detective?" a man still partly shroaded by shadows stepped toward her, "You come alone?"

"As promised," she nodded, "Now, let my friends go, you asshole."

"When did we make that arrangement?"

Before she could protest or even move for her gun, and hand covered her mouth and nose, blocking her breathing process. Delaney smelled the clorophorm on the rag that now covered her face. She fought the darkness as well as the strong hand that held the cloth over her face. She couldn't fight the black away, and she was scared. For the first time in quite a while, she was really scared.

'I can't go... I gotta... gotta... tell...Mi...key...'

And then there was darkness.

A/N: Told you... I'm evil, I tell you! Evil!