April came around every week or so to take Jack out. She liked the younger woman and didn't think it was right that she was trapped under ground all the time. So after a month or so Jack had a decent wardrobe and a new human friend to confide in, a convenience she had taken for granted before she had lived with the boys.

It had been about seven months since Jack had moved in with the turtles and started training. She was like family now. Well, they saw her that way.

Shadow ducked between a few clothing racks and jumped out to scare her father who had decided to tag along this time. Casey feigned a heart attack and almost fell over. The toddler at his feet poked him curiously until Casey laughed and ruffled his dark hair.

Jack smiled and looked up at April. "So… I have been meaning to ask you something."

The older woman quirked a brow, tucking her red hair behind her ear. "Oh? What's that?"

"I wanted to pay the guys back for all they have done for me… but I don't have any money. I kind of feel like a free loader. I wanted to get a job. Just something small, part time." Jack explained in a rush, trying not to sound too desperate.

Casey looked down at his kids. "Shadow, watch CJ for a second, don't let go of him."

The girl rolled her eyes but took her baby brother to play hide and seek in the clothes.

"Why would you want to do that?" He asked on approach. "They don't expect anything from you, you aren't a free loader trust me."

Jacquelyn sighed. "I know. I just… I wanted to be able to get them something." She scratched her head. "I just am having some trouble…"

April crossed her arms, the bags of thing she had bought swings a bit from under her elbow. "Trouble with what?"

"I don't know where to get a job that's close enough I could make it back and forth home by myself and not freak Raph out…. And I don't know where I could find new weapons for him." She smiled sheepishly. "I just want like a waitressing job, or something…"

Casey scratched his head. "There's that-"

April held up her hand and silenced her husband. "I'm sure there are plenty of secretary jobs that would gladly hire you." She stated. "Why just a waitressing job?"

"I'm pretty dumb." She hurried to continue when she saw the disapproving look on April's face. "I barely finished high school and I don't have a college degree. I can't get a good job. Besides, I'm good at waitressing, It's all I've ever done really."

April leaned in close to her. "You are not dumb sweetie. Don't let anyone tell you any differently, even yourself. You could have any job you wanted, but if you want something simple… so be it." She smiled.

"There's a café that's only about a block away from the sewer." Casey piped in. "It shouldn't be too bad to get from there and back on your own. Pretty sure I saw a help wanted sign the other day."

"Mom! C.J. won't get out of the clothes!" Shadow frowned as she pointed to the particular rack of clothing.

April frowned and went to fetch her children leaving Casey standing there with the younger woman. He looked down at her and tugged on a loose strand of her hair. "Stop frowning." He smiled at her. "So what exactly were you planning on getting the meat head anyway?"

Jack rubbed her arm and shifted her weight to her other foot a bit nervously. "I wanted to get him a new pair of sai. His are so old and beat up… I just think it would be nice to get him some new ones. The problem is I don't know where to get him a decent pair he'd actually be able to fight with."

Casey scratched his head and then tapped a rough finger against the stubble on his chin. "You know… I think I know someone who can help, but it won't be all that easy to get a hold of him."

The woman looked up at him. "Who? Who is it?"

"Well, his name is Usagi. He's not exactly from around here… but he'd be the dude that could get you properly made weapons."

"How do I find this guy?" Jack asked him, the excitement clear in her eyes as she bounced up on her feet.

He frowned. "We need to talk to Donnie."

Later that night Donnie met them at the Jones's apartment. He crawled through the window and tossed his staff to Jack as he cracked his neck. It had been a while since he made a stealthy trip like that. Not that he was bad at it, he just was a little out of practice.

"So what is this super-secret meeting for? Why did you call me and not Raph?" His gaze held on Jacquelyn for a moment before moving on to Casey, the one who had called him.

Casey was leaning into the fridge, scanning the shelves looking for a drink as he spoke. "Your gal pal over here needs some help with something." He said.

Donnie quirked and eyebrow. "Oh really now?" He looked over at the woman he had been living with for a while now. "What exactly do you need my help with?"

Casey grabbed a beer and popped it open as he leaned against the fridge. He too looked at her, waiting for her too explain.

Chewing on her lip Jack tried to figure out what to say. "Casey helped my get a job this afternoon. It's just something part time, I want to save up some money so I can get Raphael some new sai. He said this guy…Usagi knows where to get a good pair but you'd be the one to get in contact with him."

The turtle blinked a few times as she finished explaining. "I see… so why do you want to do this?" He asked her calmly.

"I don't know… Raph has just done so much for me. He rescued me from a pretty pathetic life. He gave me a great home and family." He smiled. "Taught me how to fight and stand up for myself…" Her mind drifted to other thoughts as her features turned red. She didn't mention those thoughts. "I just want to do something nice to pay him back."

"You know you don't have to."

She nodded. "But I want to."

Donnie nodded. "Well Usagi would be the one to get you quality weapons. He knows all the masters. It's just finding him, and hoping he's in our world." Donnie scratched his head.

Jack's brow creased. "Excuse me?"

Donnie looked up from the floor, his thought's pausing. "Hmm?"

"What do you mean, 'our world'?"

Donnie frowned. "How much of our past has Raph told you about?"

"Not much honestly…" She admitted, her shoulders sagging.

Shaking his head, Donatello took Jack over to the sofa and sat down with her. The next few hours he spent explaining the odd details of their lives. Everything from how they came to be, to fighting the shredder and the utroms, the inter-dimensional device and Usagi, the battle nexus… Donnie tried to talk slow and let it all sink in but he knew it was a lot to absorb all at once. "So… How are you doing with all of this?" He finally asked her.

She was silent. For a long moment. "I… wow. So… You guys have really done a lot." She laughed a bit nervously. "To be accepted by guys like you, I guess I am really lucky."

Donnie frowned. This wasn't exactly the response he was looking for, either way though, if she wanted a new weapon for Raph, they didn't really have time to sit and talk forever. He shook his head. "Usagi is from another dimension but he frequently comes here. I maintain a stable line of communication with him. It's mostly for Leo's sake, they were close. Anyway… I will try to contact him for you, I'll let you know what he says." He reached out and put his green hand over her shoulder. "I'd talk to Raph about all this stuff if it worries you."

"It doesn't worry me." Jack said quickly, shifting in her seat.

"Sure it doesn't." Donnie rose to his feet. "You've given me a big job. I should go get started." He excused himself and climbed back out the window.

Casey was leaning against the wall beside the couch, he looked down at the younger woman. "So, how ya doin'?"

Jack stared down at her hands as they fiddled with the end of her shirt. She didn't say anything for a while so Casey sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulder. "Look, I know it's a lot. If I wasn't around for most of it I probably wouldn't believe it either."

"It's not that… I just…" She looked over at him. "I mean yeah, some of those things are pretty out there… but last year I probably wouldn't have even thought a giant talking turtle was possible." She sighed. "I'm just disappointed that Raph didn't tell me all these things."

Casey set his beer down and looked her in the eye. "You can't think like that. Raph doesn't say much about anything to anyone. It's nothing personal, believe me, he just… He isn't one to talk about the past. Or his feelings."

She nodded. "I should probably get home." She said softly as she got to her feet. "I've got to train tomorrow before heading into work." Casey walked her to the window. She had taken to using the same exit the turtles had, she moved just like them.

Raph was sitting at the dining room table when she finally came through the door. His eye slowly slid up to meet her face as she unstrapped her shobo from her thighs and set them on the table before she sat down. "Where the hell have you been?"

She looked startled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He frowned. "You have been out all frickin' day. I thought you'd be home hours ago."

"I was at April's. We were talking…" She sighed, looking away, unsure of whether or not to bring up the things Donnie had revealed.

Snorting Raph got to his feet. "Yeah well, don't make me worry next time." He turned his back and headed towards his room. "I'm going to bed."

Sitting there she watched him start to walk away, but she couldn't just let him be mad at her when she had just as every right to be mad at him. She jumped to her feet, the chair behind her screeching on the floor. "Raph why didn't you tell me you've fought aliens? Or been to another dimension? Or fought in some galactic tournament?" She blurted out.

The sounds from the living room died down as Mikey paused his game and he and Ant turned around on the sofa to witness the exchange taking place behind them.

The woman's question stopped Raphael dead in his tracks. He turned around to face her, his eye wide as his mouth moved but no sound came out. He was fumbling for words. "I just… It didn't seem important."

"Not important?" She asked him, closing the distance between them. "You have fought with things I didn't know existed, been to places most people wouldn't even believe possible, hell, I didn't even think you were possible a year ago." The frustration in her voice faded as her shoulders slumped. "Do you not trust me?"

Raph ran a hand over his face as he let out a frustrated grunt into his palm. "Of course I trust you. With everything. I just…" He took the last few steps towards her and rested his hands on her shoulders as he looked down at her. "All that stuff happened years ago. It has nothing to do with now. I just… We did that. It's done and over. So I've moved on. If you wanted to know something about my past all you had to do is ask. I'd tell you anything."

She didn't say anything just wrapped her arms as far as she could around him in a hug as she held tight to him. It surprised the turtle but only for a moment before he wrapped his strong arms around her. Raph glanced up at his brother and Ant who were still spying on them, Mikey and Ant were making kissy faces at him. Turning with the woman in his arms Raph loosened his grip and led her towards his room. "So why don't you tell me about your day with April."

"I got a job." She said as she set her weapons down on his night stand.

Raph stiffened for a moment before pulling his sai from his belt. "A job? What would make you do that?" He shoved his rack of weights aside and kicked a dirty towel over to the corner of the room.

Jack looked at him and wrinkled her nose. She picked up the stinky towel he had used to wipe sweat off and balled it up before throwing it out the door towards the laundry room. "I just wanted to find some way to pull my weight around here. If I earned a little bit of money I thought it would be a good way to do that."

Raph turned her around. "You don't need to do anything to repay us. You do enough already."

"Says you." She stuck her tongue out at him before she reached up and started to pull her hair back into a pony tail. She watched the male pull of his mask and lay it on the table beside their weapons. "So when is Ant going to earn a mask?"

He smirked. Reaching into the drawer he pulled out the yellow mask and ran his rough hands over it. "I think the kid has earned it. He's stopped acting scared of me and he's more like another little brother." He reached in the drawer and this time pulled out a strip of green cloth. It matched his skin as he ran his thumbs over it. Turning around Raphael grabbed one of Jack's hands. "Normally we'd make a big thing of this, and for the kid, I'm going to but… This is a little different. You have become an important part of this family, not just to me, but to all of us. I'm not really sure what we would do if you weren't here. You have become a great fighter in the few months that we have been training, and an even better friend. I would be privileged to have you at my side in a fight." He held the band of cloth out before her, smirking. "This is for you. The only human we've ever agreed to give one to."

Jack's smile grew as she listened to him talk, but when she was presented with the mask it faded. Eyes wide she looked at the mask and then up at him. It was like a rite of passage, a sacred honor that she was being given. Tentatively she reached out and ran her hand over the fabric until her hand landed in his. "Raph… I…"

"Look, you don't have to wear it all the time like we do but, it… They mean a lot to us. So, it'd mean a lot if you kept it with you." He looked down at her.

Her small hand took the fabric from him and brought it up to her face. Situating it over her eyes she tied it behind her head and grinned up at him.

He couldn't hide the smile on his face. "You look just like one of us." There was that sting in his chest again. That longing to just bring her closer and run his hands down her skin. He forced his eye closed and took a deep breath. "It's late we should get to bed." He shouldn't be thinking such things. The thoughts should not even cross his mind when there was no way she would ever reciprocate. It was better to just ignore them.

Jack pushed the mask up on her head like a head band, her bangs falling out over her forehead. "Yeah, okay." She moved to follow him towards the hammock but stopped. "I'm going to go grab some shorts, these jeans aren't all that comfy. I'll be right back." She smiled.

Raph simply nodded as he flipped himself up into his hammock to wait for her.

Crossing the house, she was surprised to find it silent. The television was off, Mikey was gone, so was Ant. They must have been in bed. The woman made sure she was extra quiet as she made her way to her room, but silence seemed to come easy to her movements now after so many months of practice. Once in her room she stripped down and donned a tank top and shorts to sleep in. She went to remove her newly won mask but smiled and decided to leave it atop her head.

As she stepped back into the living area she saw a dark figure moving around. She didn't recognize the way he was movie. She had gotten so used to seeing Donnie, Ant, Mikey and Raph moving around in the dark house, she could pick out their shadows no problem. Taking a step forward she almost smiled.

"Leo? Leo is that you?"