When the two girls walked into the house the reaction was surprisingly better than expected. Karai had expected Raphael to be in there waiting to throw her out of the house via the nearest window. But he wasn't anywhere in sight. They walked into the living room where Mikey and Donnie were sitting on the couch watching Crognard the Barbarian, which Karai recognized thanks to living with Haleigh, however they both removed their attention from the TV to acknowledge the girls standing in the doorway.

Karai held onto one arm awkwardly as she looked at the ground, a part of her just wanted to disappear.

"So you believe us?" Donnie's question finally broke the silence. He felt a little rude being so blunt but somebody had to say something.

With a deep breath Karai looked up to meet her younger brother's gaze "I don't know, but I've realized that Shredder was wrong. If you'll accept me, I'll fight along side you" she answered.

Mikey and Donnie exchanged glances with each other and April, they hadn't been expecting her to be so willing to betray Shredder and secretly Donnie was questioning her honesty. But April had trusted her enough to bring her inside so he would trust her judgement. Apparently Mikey would too because he stood up and crossed over to the girls, eyes locking with Karai's.

"You'll see sis, we are telling the truth" he said to her and with that he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tightly.

April and Donnie looked at each other in surprise, neither one of them had been expecting Mikey to do that and saw it as even more of a surprise when Karai returned Mikey's gesture.

When the two of them pulled apart April cleared her throat

"Do you want to see Leo?" She asked, unsure of if Karai really wanted to look at the only brother to trust her from day one, unconscious and fighting for his life.

But she nodded and followed the red head up the stairs where she was led to a bathroom, where Raph was watching over Leo. Upon hearing the girls approach the doorway he turned and glanced over his shoulder at them before he stood up and without a word left the room, making sure his shoulder made contact with Karai's as a warning when he did.

"He'll come around" April said, not having missed Raph's silent message.

"Can't blame him if he doesn't" Karai replied and it was true, if she was in his shoes she wouldn't have gone quietly.

Putting Raphael's attitude out of her mind for the time being Karai walked into the bathroom with April remaining in the doorway. It broke her heart to see Leo lying unconscious in the bathtub, and it broke her heart even more when her eyes found the healing scars which decorated his plastron, it was plain for her to see that Shredder had been responsible for this. Of course there were other marks too, many of them looked like the came from Tiger Claw or Bradford.

God Leo what did you do? Take on the entire Foot Clan by yourself? Karai wondered to herself, unaware that that is exactly what Leo had done.

"He's gotten a little better since we left New York" April said although in reality he hadn't gotten much better, the biggest improvement was that some color had returned to his face.

"So what? We're gonna trust her?" Raph asked Mikey and Donnie, Casey had gone into town before Karai showed up, saying that he didn't want to be around in case this family reunion went south. But he could only hide in town for so long and would probably be back soon, at this rate it would be before Karai left.

"Leo would want us to" Donnie pointed out

"Leo also wouldn't be thinking straight" Raph pointed out

"Raph" Mikey whined but it did little good

"What? Leo has been convinced that Karai has good in her since the day they met, now I'm not saying that she doesn't but every time we trust her we end up getting stabbed in the back" the red banded turtle said, not really sure what end results he was after here.

"Technically we stabbed her in the back at the docks" Donnie reminded his brothers "but she did disappear from the city almost two months ago, at least that's the last time we saw her. Besides what do we have to lose?" The genius turtle continued.

"How about our lives" Raph scoffed

"Raph if she attacked us it would be a five on one fight, six on one when Leo wakes up, she couldn't win. Aside from that what do we have, our identities? The whole world knows about the Kraang now, four mutant turtles seriously wouldn't raise any questions, and no Mikey that does not mean you can go into town." Donnie explained, earning a groan from a rather disappointed Mikey.

Raph thought it over and had to admit that his younger brother made a good point, they really have nothing to lose by trusting her so for once he agreed to give his sister the benefit of the doubt, however he wasn't exactly happy about it.

The next couple of days came and went at an almost agonizingly slow rate. Karai came by the house just about every day, if for nothing else just to prove that she isn't going anywhere. Mikey was pretty open to having her around, one might even say he was excited by it. Donnie never really said much to her, he was usually in the barn which he had transformed into a make shift lab. Raph, if he ever left his stool in the bathroom, sort of frowned upon seeing Karai but never said anything. April and Casey were friendly towards her, according to the others her appearance had lifted Casey's spirits due to his request from Leo, she still couldn't believe that when he was in so much pain Leo had been worried about her. After the first week things seemed to settle down and the others became used to having her around, on the second day she told April that if they didn't want her there she would just stay away but the red head assured her that although Raph might need some time to adjust they all wanted her to stick around.

She made a habit of coming around close to dinner time, she learned quickly that Raph didn't eat supper until late at night because he felt the need to watch Leo and while the others didn't exactly eat together they did eat around the same general time. It was nearly an hour or so later than when Mrs. Baker usually had supper ready so Karai decided that she would eat her dinner then go to the farmhouse and considering she walked there it was getting close to when the turtles were starting to scan through the mostly bare cabinets of the house for their own supper by the time she arrived.

Raph knew she was there, that evening four days after she had starting coming over. He could feel her presence behind him, staring him down from the doorway of the bathroom.

"Thought you left four hours ago?" He questioned the girl Mikey referred to as a sister, not turning around to face her.

"Figured you could use a break" she said, stepping into the room as Raph finally glanced over his shoulder. "Go eat, I'll watch Leo" she said.

Raph understood her tone perfectly, it was not an offer but an order, however he still challenged her.

"What makes you think I'll leave you alone with my brother?" He questioned her, he saw her golden brown eyes narrow as she crossed her arms over her stomach. He was still sitting so he had to look up at her and as he did, though he couldn't quite place it, he could've sworn he saw something soft hidden within the rock solid features of her face.

"He's my brother too" she told him, her voice bordering between anger, pain, and maybe even a hint of comfort.

In that moment, though he was too stubborn to admit it, Raph understood. It wasn't exactly that she doesn't believe them, it's that she doesn't want to admit that she ever fell for Shredder's lie in the first place. With a sigh Raph got to his feet

"I'll be back in ten minutes" he told her before he left the room.

Once he was gone Karai glanced sympathetically at Leo and grabbed a washcloth hanging over the edge of the tub. Dunking it in the lukewarm water before wringing it out she gently applied it to Leo's forehead, wishing that he would just wake up. She stood for the entire time that she did this and when she finally did sit down she sat on the floor against the wall just across from the sink, she would not take Raph's stool. She didn't know if the others ever dared to when left to watch over Leo but she wouldn't. When Raph came back he simply glanced at her to inform her that she could go and she got the message but as she left the room she heard Raph's soft and barely audible voice

"Thanks" he muttered, Karai stopped for a moment and smiled to herself

"You're welcome" she said just as quietly.

"Haleigh, where's my stuff?" Karai called when she returned home one day only to find her backpack missing from the foot of the couch where she knew she had left it.

"It's in my room" Haleigh's voice called back, sounding as though she was also in her room.

"Why is my stuff in your room?" Karai called as she began to make way for the stairs

"Come see!" Was the response she got from her little sister.

Karai frowned as she made her way up the stairs, she could only imagine why Haleigh had stolen her things. Actually she really was wondering what use Haleigh had for her clothes and make-up, ok the make-up she had a pretty good idea.

"Ok I'm here, now what did you-" she began to question but didn't get any farther than that when she saw that Haleigh's princess canopy was gone and in it's place was the top bunk of the bed which had been stored away in the attic years ago. Hanging off the bed post of the top bunk was the backpack which Karai was looking for.

"Surprise!" Haleigh happily exclaimed and Karai didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed, she decided on annoyed.

"I thought I told you not to set up the spare bed?" She questioned the little girl

"You did, we stopped listening" Mrs. Baker said from behind her, Karai turned with an amused smirk overtaking her face.

"I don't have a choice do I?" She questioned and Mrs. Baker's smirk matched hers

"Oh sweetie, you should know by now that in this house you never have a choice" the old woman joked before continuing on her way.

After two weeks and a lot of begging Karai finally got the turtles to agree to letting her tell Haleigh and her grandmother about them. At first they were all dead against it, except for Mikey who loved the idea of meeting new people. Casey really didn't have any opinion on the subject and after a few days Donnie and April changed their minds, Raph however needed some persuading.

"How does she know we can trust these people?" Raph demanded when April tried talking to him on morning during breakfast.

"Maybe because they took her in?" she suggested

"The old lady took her in, it's her granddaughter that I'm worried about. Little kids have giant mouths" Raph defended his point and April had to agree with that, though sometimes if asked little kids can keep a secret.

"Raph I get where you're coming from, and it is your secret. But Karai has lived a lie her entire life and now these people have taken her in, she just doesn't want to hide anything from them" April said, trying to reason with Raph and took his response of no response as consideration. "Just think about it" she asked of him before leaving the kitchen.

The next afternoon Raph gave in, but made it very clear that if their secret got out Karai would be in big trouble.

"I mean it Haleigh, do not tell ANYONE about my brothers" Karai lectured as the two girls neared the farmhouse.

"I know, you keep telling me" Haleigh groaned while kicking a rock along the dirt road. She couldn't see what the big deal was, her friends all knew about Karai's brothers and Karai said that was fine but from here on out she wasn't to speak of them anymore, soon she would understand the reason.

As they turned onto the driveway a pit formed in Karai's stomach, a part of her was wondering if this was really a good idea or not. But she was taking a chance and she could only hope that Haleigh wouldn't make her regret it. She could see Mikey outside of the barn, no doubt searching for something to do. Unfortunately Haleigh also caught sight of the orange banded turtle and, the story not yet having been explained to her, she screamed. Her shriek of fear caught Karai way off guard and she acted on instinct when Haleigh jumped into her arms, much like she had done that day she ran out of the woods.

"It's the monster! Run!" She shouted into Karai's ear, the scream had been heard by pretty much everybody and though Mikey was cautiously approaching the others, who were watching from the house window, sort of just laughed at the scene. Whether they were laughing at the little girl's reaction or the fact that she was relying on Karai of all people to save her was unclear.

"Haleigh, Haleigh, Haleigh!" Karai tried to get the little girl's attention through her panicked sobs "Haleigh he's not a monster" she said, by now Mikey had reached them and he looked hurt. Karai looked at him apologetically as she rubbed her hand up and down Haleigh's back, trying to calm her.

Haleigh, though still afraid, did register that Karai was not running away and had just stood there while the 'monster' approached them, she also noticed that the 'monster' hadn't attacked. She tightened her grip on Karai's neck and buried her face into her shoulder

"Haleigh come on" Karai said in frustration, she tried to pull the little girl at least slightly off of her but the tightening of Haleigh's legs around her waist was a clear indicator that that was not happening. "This is my brother, Mikey" she confessed, hoping that if Haleigh knew who the turtle was she might open up, or at least get off her sister.

Haleigh did turn her head to look at Mikey, his sad and hurt frown turning into a ghost of his usual happy smile.

"Why don't you help him feed the chickens?" Karai suggested, testing her luck in trying again to put Haleigh down. Much to her surprise Haleigh allowed it this time, which only made Mikey's smile grow.

"Come on" he invited in a friendly voice, Haleigh was still hesitant but upon looking back to see Karai giving her an encouraging smile she obediently trailed after Mikey.

"So do you like pizza?" Karai could hear Mikey ask and she couldn't help but giggle to herself, Haleigh's uncertainty was not going to last long.