The two, Master and student, walked towards the dojo and the peace and tranquility that it emanated. Cross-legged, they sat on separate tatami mats as Splinter spoke of the most basic forms for meditation. Kaylee, though she had attempted meditating before, was not aware of the steps involved in the craft. She took the advice the her new-found Master gave her, closing her eyes, back straight but comfortable, and letting her hands hang loose on her knees. Soon all that was left at least for her was sound, the feeling of the mat beneath her, and the blackness of the insides of her eye lids. She listened for further instruction.

"In order to achieve complete peace, you must clear your mind. Feel at one with, not yourself, but the feelings that surround you. Listen deeply, breathe deeply, forget all sound, all true being, and let your spirit go as it pleases." Splinter spoke gently, as he began to meditate as well. There was a sense of desire to know more that came off of Splinter that no one noticed, not even Kaylee who felt quite the opposite of Splinter. Where he wanted to know more, she wanted to know less, but the choice was not up to them but their inner spirits on what they felt needed to be revealed.

Eventually, after sitting in silence with only the sound of their breathing, the two fell into the spiritual plane. No sooner had the two arrived, with Kaylee enjoying the few seconds of true peace she was given, before she was yanked out into a stream of memories she really wished to never be unearthed. Memories flashed rapidly; a metal face with glaring red eyes, a symbol liked that of a foot print, blaring white lights, a stabbing pain in the elbow joint of her arm, teary sounding words in a dark, damp setting, and blood, lots of blood. The memories kept going but she could not take it as her eyes snapped open. Her breathing was going a mile a minute and her thoughts were all going around one question... WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT? It all felt so familiar, but it was all too nightmarish to be real. Right? Maybe only parts of it were real and the rest of it was just some nightmare. Kaylee thought trying to spit off answers in her brain. She was not even sure of herself as the images whirled round and round. Splinter had snapped open his eyes almost as soon as she did but what he saw were not her memories but the female next to him having a near panic attack. He rested his hand gently on her shouldered and she jumped slightly under his grasp but not enough to get out of it.

"My child, what did you see?" Splinter asked. Kaylee was quick to comply and hoped against hope that he some how had the answer to her dilemma. He had quickly removed his hand as she explained. As she listened to Splinter's answer, she wished she had just said nothing at all. "What you saw may have seemed nightmarish but, by your descriptions, I would say they are memories that have been pushed to the farthest reaches of your mind and, if that is true, then, I am sad to say, one thing is certain. You have seen the Shredder, face to face, before. The symbol could be only that of the Foot clan." Kaylee shook her head in disbelief.

"No, Sensei. I never saw him. I have never seen him." She rambled on.

"I am afraid that you have, child." Splinter shook, his head sadly. They all knew that the Foot wanted Kaylee for some reason, but it added another layer of tension to discover that she had already seen the face that wished to steal from the world she knew.

"Splinter, I swear I didn't know anything about it. I swear that I would have told you and the guys. Sensei, please believe me." She began rambling again. A traitor was something she was not and, therefore, she did not want to be known as one.

"There is no need to fret. I believe you as will my sons, but we must discover how or why you saw him." Splinter spoke as Kaylee shook her head again.

"I beg you not to make me see that again. True, I want to know what that was, but no more, at least for tonight."

"Of course, child. I will not force your hand, but it is important for you to understand your past so that you can learn in the future."

"I know. I know, Sensei, it is just that..." Kaylee hissed in pain as her head began to pound, no doubt from the stress of the returning memories.

"I understand. Come, you need rest. Reliving instances of life through the ways of the metaphysical plane is very draining. I'll lead you to your room." Splinter spoke as he stood, offering a furry hand to the teenage girl who gratefully took it still a little shakey but nowhere near as much as she had been when she orginally came back. Rubbing the bridge of her nose as she walked. The two walked out in the same way they walked in, Splinter gliding across the floor in front of her, cane in hand but it not making a single sound.

"My room?" Kaylee questioned, more than ready to fight off using Leo's room to sleep a second time. She easily witnessed how he was rather exhausted from his night on the couch.

"Yes, after training today, I saw to it that some sort of room would be made up for you. It is not much but we shall fix it more to your liking as time goes on, but it should make due as a place to sleep for the night." Splinter said, as they reached a door a little from Leo's that Kaylee had never noticed before. He opened it and it revealed a lamp that had been attached to a long extension cord, a pile of books that were used as a makeshift table, a mattress with a few blankets and pillows on it, April's bag, and Kaylee's jacket. The room was rather small, but had a comfortable feeling to it. "This room was left empty. We had no ideas on what it should be. I hope that it works though as your bedroom." Kaylee was speechless, the pain in her head was forgotten. This was her space, not a borrowed room or a shared one, but hers. It had been a very long time since she had HER OWN room. She slowly gathered her words.

"This is perfect. Thank you. Thank you very much." She said, smirking at the mattress. It was obvious none of the turtles had found out about her space yet because, if they had, there would be much more of them in it. They were all so defined in their personalities that they would have each found a way to add their own flare to the mix, but Kaylee was happy with the simplicity, at least for the night. Splinter was happy to see that she enjoyed the space.

"It is my pleasure." He smiled at her. "Now I believe it is time for you to rest. If you require, anything I will be in the dojo."

"Thank you, Sensei." Kaylee did not feel right hugging her teacher so she resorted to bowing before him which he reciprocated. "Good night." She spoke as she returned to standing.

"Good night." Splinter responded with a smile as he gently shut the door behind him. Kaylee looked around the room one last time before lying down on the bed and staring at the ceiling. She knew that sleep would not come easily tonight, but she was at least surrounded by the comfort of HER room. Leaving her lamp on, she drifted slowly into a sleep filled with memories. The ones she just saw and new ones, mostly familial shadows that meant something to her but she could not register, raced through her mind. Memories, had she not been sleeping she could of died from laughter, more like nightmares.

Splinter had gone to his bedroom to meditate and wait for his sons return which was only an hour or so later at around eleven. When his sons returned back at midnight or earlier, Splinter was glad because that meant that there was no fighting or bizarre findings which was always a pleasure for him, but tonight it meant explaining what Kaylee saw. They would easily wonder where their guest had gone and when the turtles wanted they got answers. Splinter could keep secrets very well but this one was not one he wished to keep to himself. Upon hearing the elevator door closed Splinter waked out, seeing his sons jumping on each other backs, laughing, goofing around as they liked to do. Splinter truly did miss the times when all they had to worry about was who could out goof who, but alas that phase could never have stayed for very long. Leo was first to notice his father approaching and he smiled.

"My sons, how was your patrol?" Splinter asked, smiling as one by one they began to realize that there Master was present.

"Nothing interesting." Raph spoke, in a laid back tone.

"How is Kaylee?" Leo asked. Leo could not put his finger on it but he felt protective of Kaylee. Not even a full day truly had gone by yet and he already felt this need to make sure she was okay.

"She is sleeping and I believe that there is something important that I need tell you." Splinter spoke, gently.

"What is it, Sensei?" Mikey asked, curiously, and Splinter smirked before returning to a serious gaze.

"Kaylee..." Splinter breathed, deeply. "has seen the Shredder, face to face." To say the turtles were shocked would have been an understatement.

"So she lied to us?" Raph said, fists clenching.

"No. I do not believe that." Splinter said, turning to Raph.

"Then why would she know what he looks like. We mentioned him but we didn't talk about what he looked like. So how would she know if she didn't lie?" Don said, intuitively.

"She was fearful. It was not a lie. I believe it to be a repressed memory." Splinter explained, defending the girl who lay sleeping in her room.

"But when did she see him?" Spoke the, uncharacteristically, serious Michelangelo.

"I am afraid that I cannot say, but, since she has seen his face, we might be able to discover why the Foot want her." Splinter spoke. "We discovered that memory through meditation perhaps we can find out more."

"Are we sure that's such a good idea, Sensei?" Raph spoke, the anger he had held at believing he had been lied to was long forgotten. Raph was in the same boat as Leo on protecting her. He felt towards her like he did towards Mikey which was strange considering that feelings like that were hard to come by for him. Truly only felt that way for those he considered family but that was over much longer time spans than a day.

"I have to agree with Raph here, Sensei. We don't want to scare her away." Don spoke. Ironic that the practically polar opposite turtles agreed on something.

"I understand, my sons, and I do not plan to push her but we must figure out why, but let us not discuss this anymore tonight. Let us talk more of this in the morning when Ms. Kaylee is present. It is late and it has been quite the day." Splinter spoke, not wishing to speak of this anymore at least for the evening. "Goodnight, my sons." Splinter turned to walk away but Mikey grabbed his arm.

"Wait, Sensei. Where is Kaylee staying?" Mikey asked, caring about the lack of sleep his eldest brother had received but, also, caring about where the teenage girl was sleeping.

"Her room." Splinter responded.

"Her room?" Leo asked.

"Yes. That spare room we had set next to Leonardo's room has been shifted to be her accommodations." Splinter spoke.

"May we go see her, Sensei? Please." Don spoke. He still felt a strange intrigue about this girl.

"She may be sleeping my sons but I believe it would be alright to check up on her." Splinter spoke as he led his sons to the girl's room and opened the door slowly so as not to wake her. The light illuminated much of the room and the girl slept facing it. Splinter stood in the center of the doorway and the turtles peeked in through either side. Studying her face, they noticed how fearful it looked and how she looked more frightened then they had ever seen her. Her breathing rapid. In comparison to the strong girl that had almost taken Raph down and the girl who was smart enough to understand Donnie lingo but yet goofy enough to understand Mikey, this was rather frightening to them and made them all feel more than a little sad for the girl they considered a friend.

Mikey was not happy with this by any means. He left the doorway and grabbed a blanket and pillow from the couch. Walking through his brothers and Sensei, he laid the blanket down on the floor and the pillow as well right next to the mattress that the girl slept on.

"What the shell are you doing, Mike?" Raph whispered, trying not to wake the girl.

"She's scared, Raph, and I want be here for her." Mikey whispered back. In all honesty, Mikey had no clue why he felt the need to do this when his bed was right on the next floor but he really did not want to leave his new comic book reenactment friend alone when she looked so scared and he did not care if it embarrassed him or her in anyway.

Leo was the next one to leave the doorway and grab his pillow and blanket from his room. He came and put it on the other side of Kaylee. His body practically on the mattress.

"Mike's right." Leo whispered to the door but his attention was on the girl on the bed. "She needs somebody there and she has no one else."

Don came in next grabbing his stuff from his room and laying next to Mikey on the other side.

"Well if everyone's doing it. I might as well too." Raph said, pretending to sound annoyed but actually kind of glad that he could be there. Grabbing his stuff and laying it down next, Splinter stood alone in the doorway. The room meant for one became much more packed. The orange masked turtle looked around the room and smiled at the fact his brothers all joined in on his anti-nightmare crusade. This same fact made Splinter smile as well.

"I guess lights out." Don said, leaning over and turning the light off. They all said their good nights to one another, still in whispers, as Splinter looked at them.

"Goodnight, my sons." Splinter whispered as he closed the door until it was open just a crack. Through the crack, he saw Raph throw his arm around Donnie, his hand rubbing Mikey's shell, and his finger tips being inches away from Kaylee's face. Don faced up towards the ceiling his arm surrounding Mikey's head and just reaching Kaylee's hair which was sprawled around her face. Mike was leaning towards Kaylee his arm around her and his fingers reaching Leo. Kaylee was balled up, her face towards Mikey, which was much more relaxed, fear gone at the presence of the turtles. Leo had his arm wrapped around her, his stomach touching her back, his fingers reaching as far as they could for all of his brothers and his other hand petting her head gently. Their breathing was very even and relaxed, peaceful.

That was when Splinter remembered. This scene was so familiar to him that it was like walking back in time. Walking back through the lit lair and turning off lights as he went to his room, Splinter thought back with his head tilted down. How could he not have recognized her, but then again it had been so long since he had seen her and she looked much different now? He remembered every thing that he had known about her, little as it was. Many thoughts ran through his mind enough to give him a headache, but one stood out. He would not tell his sons or the teenage girl until they were ready to hear the truth about it all, about the largest regret of his entire life.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Sorry it's kind of short but I plan to write more real soon. Thank you so much for reading! TONS OF TURTLE HUGS! Please Review, Question, Comment, etc. Love to from y'all! Bye for now. :) 3