A/N: Hey guys! I'm back again with a new chapter, yaaaay XD. Okay but seriously though, I am so so very sorry about how long it took me to get this one out. I totally meant to have it out about a week sooner but...well family, friends, and some personal issues refused to let that happen. So again, very VERY sorry about the late update but I made sure to make this chapter a rather decent sized one so I hope that makes up for it.


"We're smiling but we're close to tears,

even after all these years.

We just now got the feeling that we're meeting,

for the first time."

~The Script:"For The First Time"

Shadow was not having a good day. Not only had school been even more of a living hell this particular day than it normally was thanks to all her core teachers surprising everyone with a stupid pop quiz, but she couldn't concentrate on a single one of them. Ever since those three boys from school started hanging out around the diner she had noticed something... oddly familiar about their behavior.

She couldn't pin it down, but it was like revisiting a distant dream, the shapes dancing distortedly just at the edge of her vision. They loomed over her, big and tall. Much taller than her. However she didn't feel afraid; in fact she felt safe with them in mind. Like nothing could get her while she sat among the distant shadows of a forgotten memory.

Needless to say that with these thoughts wracking her brain and taking up residency in her mind, Shadow could bring herself to think of little else. Still, she had managed to survive her school day and make it out with at least something like a positive attitude...then she ran into these bastards.

It wasn't like she had gone out looking for trouble...this time anyway. Honestly! Shadow had just been on her usual route home when these assholes started cat-calling her. She had done her best to ignore them, just like her mom had taught her. But then they began to follow her so she did the next sensible thing and slugged the nearest guy in the face...like her dad taught her.

The poor fool's tooth was the first thing to fly, probably a fake one with how easily it came out. Stumbling away from her the brute cradled his jaw, a dribble of blood running down the corner of his mouth while the others looked on with matching stares of shock. Oddly enough the man Shadow punched was the first to recover, glaring darkly at her.

"You're gonna pay for that, bitch," he growled lowly.

The other guys seemed to recover shortly after and slowly began advancing on her as well.

It was then that Shadow actually took the time to look her adversaries over, scaling them up. The first thing that stood out was how fit they all were. Sure they weren't wrestler, steroid muscle men but they were large enough to make her question her decision very quickly. That was when she saw the tattoo. Each man had the same tattoo of a purple dragon coiled around their left arm.

Well...fuck

Seeing how quickly her situation was worsening, Shadow made the conclusion that now was the time to make her exit. She then made another poor decision and chose the nearest alleyway to make her great escape. An alleyway which just happened to have a dead end...great job.

Looking down and around her for anything that might be of use to her, Shadow picked up a brick and took a defensive stance as her pursuers advanced on her.

Never one to sit back and wait patiently for her demise, Shadow figured her chance of escape would be better if she made the first move. Unfortunately, the boys were counting on it. As soon as she swung the brick at one, another had already caught her wrist and twisted it painfully until she dropped it.

Now they had her stuck no obvious escape route Shadow, much to her own chagrin, had to take the cheap shot and kneed her captor between the legs. Immediately two others stepped up to try grabbing her but Shadow was too agile for them and smoothly slipped between them, knocking their heads together for good measure. This however proved to be yet another addition to the girl's growing list of mistakes as two loud crunches resonated through the alley way and the two guys turned to glare at her, cradling their bleeding, broken noses.

The victory was short lived as three other boys attempted to grab her, she managed to barely spin from their grips only to teeter and trip over some trash bag. She managed to quickly scramble back on her feet but not before the boys had formed a half circle around her, cutting off any possible exit.

The fight suddenly gone from her as she looked around and for the first time realizing 6 to 1 were not very good odds in her favor so fighting like this wouldn't last her much longer. Slowly Shadow started backing up as the guys advance, now with cockier smirks as Shadow's worry started showing. Before she knew it Shadow's back had hit a wall.

"Come on baby, we won't hurt you! We'll even pay you if you do it right," one of the guys cackled. This was obviously a lie, and it didn't fool Shadow one damn bit.

"Like you could afford me even if I did shit like that! Now back off you creeps!" She snapped in retort, hoping if she kept a brave front they may still back off. Unfortunately her outburst only earned her a laugh from the descending threat. Fear finally started to grip her being as any hope of escape left her completely.

Shutting her frightened blue eyes tightly as one of them shamelessly reached out to grip her chest she silently apologized to her parents as she most likely not making it to dinner that night.

"Hey! Didn't your mother ever teach you assholes how to treat a lady?" A new voice rang through the alley, stilling the creep's hand just before it touched her.

Chancing a peek, Shadow opened her eyes to see the guys all turned to stare at none other than a fierce if not a little annoyed Leonardo, the ebony haired teen's grey eyes a swirling storm of discontent. The man who had been about to grope Shadow was the first to speak, a cocky air in his voice.

"Get outta here kid, this is adult business."

Leo's demeanor didn't change and he calmly replied, "Is that what you call it? Looks more like you were about to assault that girl over there."

The man scoffed and turns his attention back to Shadow before looking back at Leo, "Even if we really were about to do anything to her, what makes you think it's any of your business, punk?"

"I'd like to think so," the teen gave a small shrug, "Now leave her alone and we can all leave here in peace."

At this, not only did the man laugh, but the other five members of his group laughed with him. When the man recovered with a sigh he gave Leo an amused smile. "New York has no place for heroes kid. Now get out of here and we'll let you off easy with a warning."

With that the man turned his attention back to a nervous looking Shadow...only to have a shoe thrown at the back of his head. Of course it practically bounced off the big brute's head, not doing much but angering him. Turning to face the Leo, the man gave him a murderous glare. The others looked at the teenager in a mix of shock and anger. Leonardo's expression had hardened now, and he didn't seem at all intimidated by the six pairs of eyes that were glaring daggers at him.

"I said leave her alone," Leo repeated, his voice remaining calm and steady.

In a flash the man was holding the teen against the giant green dumpster by his neck.

"Just who the fuck do you think you are?" The man growled menacingly.

Leo only smirked and bashed his other shoe, which had already been lying in his hand, against the man's face. With a howl in pain the man immediately let go of Leo to cup the injured side of his face, staggering a few paces back in the process.

"I'm the one who's going to enforce the lessons in manners your moms obviously failed to instill in you."


Raph growled, tapping his fingers impatiently against the table. His right leg bouncing a million miles a minute, Where the hell was Leo? The three of them had finished their food already and he still wasn't back.

The red head's body tensed, his agitated movements stopping as Donnie laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure he's fine Raph. Like it or not we aren't Leo's only customers here," Donnie tried to joke but it was obvious that he was starting to get worried too. Even Mikey knew that if Leo had been attending to other customers they'd have seen him already.

Raph's only reply was to cross his arms, continue on his nervous leg bounce, and worriedly look out around the diner in hopes of seeing their waiter coming back with some reasonable excuse for taking so long.

Finally, after about five more minutes of anxious waiting, Raph had had enough, and stood growling lowly, "How long does it take tah get a freakin' check?!" and stormed off in the direction of the back, earning a fair share of odd looks from the surrounding customers.

Exchanging mutual looks of worry, Donnie and Mikey trailed quickly after their hot-headed friend and brother.


Okay so maybe going up against six rather tough looking gangsters had not been the best decision Leonardo had ever made but what was he supposed to do?! Lucky for him, Shadow and managed to worm her way out of the ring of guys surrounding her and joined him in the fight but even with her, 2:6 odds weren't exactly in their favor.

It started out alright. After his little spiel Leo had managed to successfully kick the first man's legs right out from under him, knocking the big guy to the ground. Sadly he had forgotten to take into account the other five guys into account and was taken by surprised when one moved to punch him, only just ducking in time thanks to a shout from Shadow. He wasn't so lucky when the guy brought his knee up, catching Leo in the gut and sending him stumbling back a few paces, trying to catch his breath.

Seeing his advantage the man then drew his arm back, ready to give the kid something he'd never forget, when suddenly Shadow barreled into him, sending him down to the ground next to the man Leo had sent to the ground.

Quickly catching his breath Leo smiled at her as he stood straight again, "Thanks Shadow, I owe you one."

The blonde returned the smile but it quickly fell away as she looked around them. "Oh don't thank me just yet."

Leo frowned as well and the two teens stood back-to-back as the remaining four men circled them, the other two soon joining them. If Shadow had thought they looked mad before they were just plain pissed off now.

"We can take them," Leo reassured her quietly with a soft smile, "three-to-one aren't nice odds but from what I can see you can handle yourself pretty well."

Shadow nodded, returning his smile before turning her full attention back to the six boys circling the two of them. Her heart sank when she saw the guy with the missing tooth pull a thick chain out from around his belt. The only one out of the six that had yet to be injured pulled out a knife with a built in pair of brass knuckles. The two men with broken noses pulled out matching pocket knives. The man Shadow had just barreled into took out a 16 oz fiberglass claw hammer, and the man Leo tripped just cracked his own knuckles.

"We're gonna enjoy this," the later jeered just as the hammer guy swung down aiming for Leo's head.

The hammer never met its mark as a flash of red came between them and a pale forearm collided with the man's. Leo's eyes widen in surprise as two golden eyes turn to meet his.

"Seriously man? We've known each other fer how long and yah don't even send me an invite? I'm hurt Leo," Raph chuckled as he kicked the guy with the hammer back.

Leonardo smiled softly in thanks and nodded, "Well you seemed content enough to crash the party anyway. Glad to have you here."

Donnie and Mikey reached the doorway soon after. Mikey giving a low whistle as he called over, "You making some new friends over there Raphie?"

Leo snickered and gave the totally not blushing red-head a questioning glance, "Raphie?"

Raphael growled and turned to the little blond boy, "Shut it or I'm comin' after you next yah little runt!"

The weaponless purple dragon looked at the three newcomers. "Who the hell are you three?"

"We're good friends with that boy your companion was getting ready to horribly disfigure," Donnie chirped up cheerfully.

Mikey nodded and looked up as if having just remembering something, "Our friend who actually works at the fine establishment, isn't that right Raphie?"

"I told you to stop callin me that yah little- oh...Yeah he actually does work in the diner, don't yah Leo?" Raph replied as he turned to smirk at Leonardo.

Both Leonardo and Shadow turned to give Raph a confused look as if to ask where he was going with this but a quick look around at the growing nervousness of the surrounding gang members was enough to help Leo catch on so he nodded.

"Yep, and I'm actually really close to my boss who has an even closer connection with the police."

The men exchanged uneasy looks with each other at the mention of the cops. None of them had a very clean record to their name. Still the guy without a weapon thought he may be able to get a handle on the slowly turning tables.

"How could you get ahold of the fuzz if we have all of you surrounded?"

"Wrong," Shadow smiled. "You have the three of us surrounded. Those two," she gesture over to Donnie and Mikey, who waved, "just need to get to a phone and you six are going for a long ride."

The look on the girl's face showed them all that it was no empty threat, and five of the six guys knew that the three they did have cornered could obviously hold their own in a fight.

The man with the brass knuckle knife was the first to bolt for it, the one with the chains following quickly behind along with the others. The man with no weapon was the last to leave, glaring daggers at the grinning faces of the five teenagers.

"Oh we're really gonna get you. We're gonna get even with all of you brats!" he promised as he turned the corner and disappeared with the rest of them.

All five grins fell, their owners sharing a quiet sight in relief. Leo turned to Shadow and looked her over with honest concern in his eyes.

"Are you alright? They didn't hurt you before I got here did they?"

Shadow smiled softly and shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Well thanks to you and your three friends over there," she giggled and waved at them again. Donnie and Mikey returned the gesture as they walked over to join the other three while Raph nodded in acknowledgment.

Raph turned to Leo, looking quite annoyed, "And what the hell did you think yah were doing? Didja honestly think you could take on six dudes by yourself!?"

Leo frowned, "What was I supposed to do? I saw someone in trouble and I went to help them."

"Yeah, and then yah got yourself into this big mess and nearly got your face beaten offa you!"

"Well what did you want me to do?! Just sit back and watch? It's not like I could have called the cops they would have come too late to stop it!"

Raph opened his mouth to retort but was stopped by Mikey's hand on his back.

"What my bro here is trying to say is, we were worried about you Leo."

Donnie nodded in agreement, "We weren't lying when we said we thought of you as a friend."

Raph looked away with a huff but nodded as well.

Shadow couldn't help but laugh at what just happened. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you guys were all related with how you get along."

Leo smiled and chuckled a little. "Yeah, sorry about that. You want us to walk you home? There's no telling how close those guys are or if they might follow you."

Shadow shook her head. "Nah, I'll just call my mom and ask her to pick me up. Mind if I use the phone?"

"Not at all, I'd be happy to take you to it."

Raph growled and added, "And don't forget about tah check this time fearless."

Both Leo and Shadow turned their attention to Raph at the sound of the new nick-name and said, "What?!"

The red-head jumped. "What do you mean "what"? The check you idiot, that was why you went to tha back in the first place."

Leo looked confused but slowly it came back to him and he blushed, scratching the back if his head. "Oh yeah… I guess I forgot about that. I'll get right on that as well. Thank you guys, by the way. For stepping in when you did. I'm not sure what we would have done without you."

Raph smiled back before coughing and turning to go back inside, the other two following him with a smile. "Yeah well just remember to call for help or something next time. We may not always be here to worry about yah."

Leo laughed and nods, "I'll try to remember that. You ready Shadow?"

He turned to see the girl staring at him in shock and confusion.

Oh god...oh god their behavior. She knew she recognized it, her parents and grandpa Splinter had told her far too many stories and she'd seen more than enough pictures not to know, but it couldn't possibly be…

Leo's grey eyes looked at her with such concern. There was only one person it the world who could look at her, a stranger, with such care and concern even if he didn't realize it.

"L-Leo?" Shadow asked softly, feeling her eyes tear up.

The teen nodded, "Yes? Shadow are you okay?"

Wait that was right...he must not have recognized her, not that he should. She was born years after they had died, but she knew. Shadow knew and believed with all her heart that this was the uncle Leonardo that she had grown up hearing about and that her uncles Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo had just walked into the diner. Splinter was right...the turtles had come back.

Shaking her head Shadow smiled. "Yeah...yeah I'm alright. I'm just uh...just a little shaken up I guess, ha ha."

Leo gave a relieved smile, "Well you're safe now. Come on, let's call your mom."

Even after they were given their check, Raph, Don, and Mikey had stayed with Leo to ensure that Shadow was in fact picked up by her mom. When April's car pulled up on the side of the road, Shadow turned to the four of them and, to their surprise, hugged them all tightly.

"Thank you," she said softly, "Thank you guys so much."

When she pulled away each of the boys had a blush on their face.

Leo was the first to recover, giving Shadow a soft smile, "Anytime kiddo, just be careful okay?"

"Always am," she giggled and with a wave good bye she walked out to her mom's car.

As soon as she shut the door she turned to April, "Mom, we really need to talk."


Once they had driven away, Leo turned to Raph. "So, 'fearless' huh? I kinda like that nick-name."

Raph smirked playfully, "You should hang around us more often so I can call yah that more."

Donnie nodded with a smile, "It would be interesting to have someone new hang out with us during lunch time, you're always welcome to hang with us if you have nothing to do."

Mikey giggled, "Yeah! You should see Don's inventions! They're really cool!"

Donnie blushed softly, "W-well I don't know about all that but…"

Leo laughed, "I'd love to. Now I gotta get back to work, I was totally lying before when I said my boss liked me but I'll see you guys at school."

The trio smiled and waved good bye as they walked out of the diner and down the street.

As soon as they diner was out of sight Mikey elbowed Raph and gave him a cheeky grin, "Look at you! Being all kinds of smooth and stuff! If you ask him out like that then there is no way he'll say no!"

Raph blush dark enough to match his hair before looking away, "I don't know what yer talkin about."

Donnie laughed, "Oh please 'You should hang around us more often so I can call yah that more.' You were totally making a pass at him!"

"Shut it you two or yah both get wedgies!" Raph growled, but they all knew the threat was an empty one. Mikey and Don continued to tease poor Raph all the way home.