Leo sighed as he tiredly trudged through the tunnels heading back to the lair. They hadn't been able to get what they had been after tonight. Not really anyway. Had to do another computer info swipe, then wait again for Donnie to find what they needed. Sometimes this was so freaking tedious.

Raph didn't seem to mind it too much tonight, for once. Leo quickly calmed the knowing chuckle at his brother's bewildered face. Seemed like he didn't even understand really what happened earlier. Then again...who really understands feelings like those? Leo just watched his brother out of the corner of his eye as they meandered along, his blue eyes twinkling in amusement as Raph let out a sigh.

"What's wrong with you bro?" Mikey asked him. "You been acting kinda weird all night."

"I have not!" Raph snapped at him.

"Have to."

"Have not."

"Have to."

"I have not been acting weird all night and if you open your trap again ima knock your teeth out!"

Mikey just looked at Raph out of the corner of his eye a moment. "Have to..." He quickly sprinted out of reach as Raph's roar filled the tunnels.

Leo moved in quickly to try and hold back his hotheaded brother as Donnie did Raph the favor of smacking the littlest one. "Will you just shut up, you nitwit." Donnie mumbled to him.

"Ow..." Mikey mumbled as he rubbed his head.

Leo just shook his head. On one hand he was thrilled that his brother was feeling well enough to join them again on missions, but on the other he didn't miss the racket...

"Just ignore him Raph." Leo told the large turtle as Donnie pulled Mikey along, probably to get him out of the trouble zone.

"Shit... It's like trying to ignore a toothache." Raph muttered as he rolled his eyes.

Leo chuckled at that as they walked on. He stayed with Raph, mainly to keep the irritable turtle away from Mikey's antics as they pulled even further ahead, now deep in their own conversation. Now that was an interesting thought...Mikey and Donnie having a conversation... Was almost scared to find out what they were talking about. He just shrugged not really concerned about it. He focused his attention on the brooding turtle next to him. "Not to irritate your toothache any further...but he is right."

"Watch it Leo... I'm not in the mood." Raph grumbled.

Leo just rolled his eyes. "Are you ever? All I'm saying is that you haven't seemed like yourself tonight."

"Hey! I had my head in the game!" Raph flared.

"I'm not saying you didn't." Leo calmly told him.

"Then why are we even having this conversation?"

Leo gave him a slightly amused look. "Because, you've been unusually patient tonight. Even if we didn't really find what we are looking for. Usually I have to reign you in a bit to get that temper under control. I just thought I should let you know that it was noticed, and appreciated."

Raph just grunted. More out of habit Leo thought than out of being in a bad mood. They walked on in silence, following their now out of sight brothers as they neared their home.

They just rounded the last bend in the tunnel when Mikey came bursting out of the lair entrance and looked at them with wide eyes as he ran up to them. Leo's heart dropped into his chest, he automatically knew something was wrong. The low growl Raph let out told him his brother felt it too.

Mikey's normally cheerful face was full of apprehension as he looked at Raph a moment before he turned to Leo. "Jewels is gone."

"WHAT!" came the predictable roar from Raph even as Leo just looked at Mikey like he grew another head. Then he pushed past Mikey and ran back into the lair.

Mild chaos met him inside. Donnie was already on his way to the lab as her mother sat crying on the couch holding onto her father. Sensei sat nearby watching the parents sadly as she sobbed into his chest. "What happened?" Leo snapped once he took everything in at a quick glance, not really caring about his tone at the moment.

"It appears that Susan and Jewels had a disagreement." Dave told him. "Jewels stormed out before any of us could stop her."

"How long ago?" Leo asked him as he held onto Raph's arm to keep him from charging out the door.

"A couple of hours at least."

"Leo!" Donnie called from the lab. "Come here!"

Dragging a fuming Raph along with him, Leo crossed the lair and entered Donnie's lab.

"We have a serious problem." Donnie told him quietly as he looked up from his computers screens.

"Did you find her?"

"Yes...and no." He sighed, then sighed again as he looked at Raph with the same apprehension Mikey had on his face earlier. "It seems like she got lost out in the tunnels." He pointed to the video feed from his security systems. It showed Jewels as she was running, floundering along in the tunnels. Another thing Leo quickly noticed was that she was clearly upset. Somehow this didn't sit well with him. "Where is she now?"

Donnie just closed his eyes as he played another video feed. "I put this up near the slide tunnel entrance, just because they saw us dive in there and I didn't want them to follow us." Again Jewels popped up on the screen, walking topside in the chilly night. "It seems like she couldn't figure out the tunnels so she tried her luck topside."

"She was trying to find the tunnel she first came in at." Leo noted as he watched and Donnie nodded, his face grim as he kept watching. Raph was now quiet and also watching the screen. Just when it seemed like the girl was going to make it, a few dark clad men came out of various angles into the screen and cornered her, tied her up and put her into the back of a car that had suddenly pulled up. And from the looks of it they weren't exactly nice about it either.

Raph raged out in typical Raph fashion. With a loud growl, one of Donnie's chairs was picked up and sent flying across the room where it was reduced to a wheeled pile of scrap from the impact. "What are we going to do!?" He almost roared and Leo was stunned to notice the tears in his eyes. Tears he was trying to hide behind a wall of rage.

Leo reached out and caught that fist he was about to bring down into one of Donnie's monitors. "First off, you are going to calm down!" Leo snapped at his brother, though he fully understood how he felt. "We can't do anything for her with you flying off the handle Raph." He said then in a calmer tone.

The sheer, helpless, look Raph gave him almost broke his heart. "I don't know how to do anything else, Leo." He quietly admitted, but he did calm down. "I don't know how to help her. I've...never been in this situation before..."

"And it's my fault you're in it..." Susan's broken voice came from the lab entrance. They turned to notice her standing there, her arms hugging herself as she looked at the screens with fresh tears in her eyes.

"We'll find her." Leo told the crying woman and his obviously worried brother, then focus his attention on the more volatile of the two. "I know you care fer her, a lot. But please Raph, keep a lid on it. For her... Ok?"

Raph took a couple of deep breaths to calm down, but nodded. At least it was something. During the commotion, none of them had really noticed Mikey slip in...and he was now watching the screens himself. "Guys...Is it just me, or does it look like they left some dudes there." He pointed to the now frozen screen, and off to one side you could barely make out a couple of individuals.

"It does look like it." Donnie muttered as he adjusted it to get a better view. "At least a couple."

"Maybe they are keeping a lookout hoping that Dave will come out looking for her?"

Leo didn't know why they were there, and really didn't care. All he knew was they had to move quickly. "Let's go, before they pack up and leave." Leo turned to leave with them only to stop as Susan looked at them with wet eyes, now in Dave's arm as he stood next to her. Her eyes seemed to settle on Raph and she quickly blinked the tears away, or she tried to anyway and gave up and just wiped them with her arm. "I'm sorry..."

"For what?" He asked her confused.

"This is all my fault... If I hadn't...hadn't..." Her husband tried to turn her away, probably to calm her down, but she shook his arm off. "It's my fault because I told her not to get involved with you!" She finally burst out crying again as Raph's eyes went flat.

"Why?" He growled. "Because I am what I am? I'm not a pretty human boy that you can parade around to brag about your daughter's good catch? I'm a monster that has to be hidden away?" Her silence pretty much told all of them that he hit it spot on as she couldn't meet his eyes. Surprisingly, Raph didn't blow up on her. He actually calmed down a little as he watched her torn features. "Look, I know I'm not what you expected your daughter to hook up with. It's a big thing to take in, I get that. And maybe me and her shoundta hooked up with your situation being the way it is right now. You got a lot on your mind, a lot to deal with. But I promise you right fucking now...I will bash those motherfuckers teeth in so far down their throats they are going to be shitting teeth for a week." Leo winced a little...yeah...real smooth there Raph...

Susan eyes widened a bit as he just shrugged at her, not at all apologetic for what he just said. Then she smiled. "I'd like that a lot..."

"Good." He smiled back. "I'll make sure I bash some in just for you." He walked out of the lab then and Leo followed...right after he facepalmed.

.

.

Robert was bored out of his mind. This guard duty crap over a stupid hole in the ground was freakin' stupid. Who's idea was this anyway? Did they seriously expect the guy to come popping out of it looking for his daughter? It was sheer dumb luck they caught her honestly. Those freaks were notorious for disappearing anywhere in town, just because they dropped in here didn't mean they would be coming back this way... ugh...

He leaned against the wall impatiently waiting for his shift to end. He was sick of this hole in the ground and would be thrilled if he never had to see it again. It was even worse now because most of the others took off to deal with the girl. ANd he hated Bobby, the only other guy left with him. That idiot was...well...an idiot. Fucker almost blew his foot off the other day. You would think this organization would have some kind of intelligence test or something. Some of the folks that got in...sheesh. Like one guy who-

His thought process was cut off as a chain came out of nowhere and wrapped around his torso, then yanked him hard up into the air. Startled he dropped his weapon and it hit the ground with a clatter as he was quickly hoisted up. Then with a final hard tug he landed on the rooftop with a thud and a groan. He didn't exactly land lightly.

"Robert, Robert, Robert..." A chillingly familiar voice said disappointedly. "How many times do we have to knock you out before you get the point and leave the Foot?" Leonardo came out of the shadows then, his eyes grim as he looked at his current captive. "Where is the girl?"

"I ain't tellin' you shit..." He mumbled at the turtle as he managed to wriggle his way out of his chains. Leonardo didn't look to upset about that as he causally leaned against a nearby wall.

"I'd advise you to rethink that. Really don't have the time to convince you nicely otherwise."

Robert just snorted. They all knew this one was softhearted. Didn't have the guts to finish the job. "Like you would do anything." Robert sneered. "You value your precious honor too much."

Leonardo just raised an eye ridge at him. "Two questions then. First, you haven't learned by now that we hardly ever travel alone? Second, think he has the same outlook on that subject as me?" He tilted his chin at something behind Robert and the man turned around to see the red masked one walking up to him, snarling.

Robert gulped as the largest turtle stalked in, cracking his knuckles and a dangerous glint in his eyes. Now this one had a whole 'nother reputation... and Robert's knees were trembling when that big turtle lifted him up by his shirt. "Mother..." He whimpered as that big green fist came in for his face.