Leonardo made his way to the dojo for morning practice and was greeted by the familiar sounds of fists and feet making contact with the heavy bag. He stopped in the doorway, however, at the sudden realization that it was Donatello- not Raphael- hard at work before his brothers.

Donny had always needed a gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) nudge to come away from his lab and work out with them. His reluctance to pick up a weapon was as much a part of him as his technical acumen, so this discovery was particularly unsettling to Leonardo.

Leo chose not to say anything, but he'd be lying to himself if he wasn't concerned to see Donatello with a thin sheen of perspiration and raw knuckles, showing no signs of letting up. As the remaining turtles made their way into the dojo, Don seemed to retreat back into his more casual fighting style, but there were still hints of the aggression Leonardo had seen earlier. For one thing, Donny rarely bettered him in a sparring match, but today, there was a certain swiftness to his movement and weight to his strikes that threw Leonardo off-balance, and he soon found himself pinned. While he expected Donny to wear the proud but shy blush of victory reserved for those rare pins, he instead found Donny's eyes to be a bit vacant, and his pin was unforgiving. Leonardo attributed all this to whatever had happened between Kate and his brother and dismissed it as a painful reminder of their distance from the human world above and the vast differences between someone like April or Casey and the average New Yorker. Though part of him had secretly hoped that Donny and Kate would find some sort of comfortable friendship, he couldn't say that this turn of events had blindsided him.

Day after day, he watched his brother work off his frustrations in the dojo and then retreat back to this room, where he'd immersed himself in some sort of new, elaborate project that involved a lot of papers and schematics and things that were well above Leonardo's comprehension. He resumed his nightly walks to get some air and do some deep thinking; this was at least the excuse that he always had given for his late-night outings, but Leonardo couldn't help but wonder if his brother had taken to dropping in on Kate or at least making sure she got home all right. It was good to see him toiling at his regular interests, but Leonardo still missed the side of his brother that had been present for those precious weeks when Kate had been a fixture.

Kate had decided that the best course of action would be to give Donny a bit of space and time for him to be able to move past whatever resentment he felt and allow the awkwardness to subside. It didn't stop her from looking up to the windows occasionally as she danced, hoping that this would be the night that he forgave or at least wanted an explanation. She knew that she owed him as much, but to be honest, she wasn't even sure that she knew how to find him, and she wasn't about to get lost in the sewers. And so she continued to wait.

There were nights when she looked up at the rooftops, glanced into alleys as she made her way out of the building, but the only person she ever saw was the occasional stranger out late, and of course, Sam, who had taken to meeting her at the bus stop.

Things were progressing well, with Sam seeming to slip very easily into the relationship he'd been so unsure of having last spring before leaving for Europe. A summer abroad had done wonders for that, and as their other two roommates returned to find the two of them a new item, things began to settle into a normalcy she hadn't felt in months, though it was a lonelier type of normalcy that she couldn't entirely welcome. The fall semester began without much fanfare, and Kate's life returned to its typical routine of lectures and observations, studying and papers.

It was a quiet night in late September when all of that changed. She and Sam had gone to a bad movie, some kind of macho action flick that Sam had relished picking on his turn, partially in retribution for the cheesy chick flick Kate had subjected him to the last time that she chose the movie. They walked back to the apartment, and she'd just slipped into her room to put away her purse and change into something more comfortable, when she nearly ran into a green face.

"Don-Raph?" she gasped. "How did you know where I-"

"Donny's not the only one who can tail you, you know," he interrupted testily.

"How has he-"

"Funny you'd ask me that. We were all under the impression he's been following you around at night, but I see that ain't the case."

"Kate?" Sam called from the hallway. She swallowed hard and lifted a finger to indicate that she'd be right back, slipping into the hall and nearly smacking into Sam. "I thought you wanted to watch Letterman."

"Oh, I… I'm just so tired, and I completely forgot that I have a private lesson tomorrow. Early," she added. "And I just thought I ought to call it a night and was just going to come and um, let you know. Raincheck?" she asked in a squeaky voice.

He smiled and gave her a little punch in the shoulder. "You're like a tornado, you know, with how busy you are and how much running around you do. I don't know how you keep it all straight. Okay, raincheck. Good night," he said, kissing her deeply before heading down the hallway.

She sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead, returning to her room. Raphael stared at the photos on her wall in silence.

"You know, it's none of my business who you share your sheets with. I couldn't care less. But my little brother has been going off at night- alone- and turning off his communicator. And that, honey, is something he used to reserve only for nights spent hanging around this place, and since I haven't seen heads or tails of you around the sewers lately, I decided just to check on him, you know, see where he's spending his time. And then I see you and Mr. Country Club Junior President gettin' on real good, no sign of my little brother."

She felt her cheeks redden and glared, angrily. "First off, nobody's 'sharing any sheets' around here, and secondly, you're right; it's none of your business." She took a breath and smoothed her hair. "He walked me home that night after I brought the paint for Michelangelo, and he saw… he saw Sam and misunderstood-"

"Oh, I don't think he did."

"No, he didn't. But it's complicated. Sam and I- We have a history. It was complicated last spring, and he told me that he needed time to get over his last relationship and left for the sum-"

Raphael threw up a hand in exasperation.

"I don't need your sad soap opera, lady, I just want to know if you knew where my little brother's been spending his nights. But he's clearly the last thing on your mind these days."

"That's not true. I don't know how to find him either." Raph spun on his heel.

"Oh of course. You wouldn't want to muddy your pretty shoes to come down to our neck of the woods."

"It's not that. I- I know he doesn't want me down there," she murmured, lowering her head. When she looked up, he was sitting on the window ledge, expectantly.

"Well, come on," he called. "If you're so worried about him, too, the least you can do is help me find him. Tonight's as good a night as any." Kate bit her lip, looking at the door for a moment and thinking of Sam, but she thought of Donatello, a homebody and near-hermit going out alone every night, and knew she owed it to him to explain. Raphael was not as forgiving of her slower pace, forcing her to nearly run up the fire escape after him. He impatiently waited for her at the ledge and put his arms out, slinging her onto his back. He didn't hold onto her as Donny had as he leapt, and it made for a terrifying and dizzying ride.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"I gotta stop and see someone," he grunted, landing on the ground in a crouch and nudging her expectantly from his back. Kate could see a figure leaning beneath a tree, light from a cigarette the only distinguishable aspect.

"You're late," called a feminine voice, and the light tumbled away as the shadow flicked it and rubbed it out on the sidewalk.

"I know. I had to deal with something."

"Your brother?" she asked, coming into the light of streetlamp. She regarded Kate with disdain, wrinkling her nose. "Got expensive taste, don't he?" she asked, looking Rachael's charge up and down. Kate shrank back, and the girl laughed. "I'm not gonna hurt ya, girl. Relax. Name's Ashley." She extended a hand with chipped black nail polish, which Kate shook reluctantly.

"Kate." Ashley jerked her arm suddenly, giving an animal growl and causing Kate to retract her hand as though she'd touched a hot stove. At this, Raphael and the girl laughed.

"You're wound up tight," she giggled. Kate straightened up impatiently and waited for Ashley to go back to ignoring her.

"Tell me you're keeping it on the straight and narrow, Ashley. You know it's not safe out there, lots of girls disappearing." The two began walking, and Kate trailed behind, unwilling to be left in the park after dark. Ashley glanced back at her over her shoulder only once, and then she and Raph resumed their conversation. They talked back and forth about Ashley working on her GED and getting a job as a waitress and making good money for once while she continued to keep things in line.

After about ten minutes, Raph turned to Kate and said, "Stay here for a minute." At Kate's nervousness, he rolled his eyes. "Relax. I'll be right here. Nobody's gonna touch ya." The two of them walked on about fifty feet and stopped below a tree where they stood close together talking. She reached over and hugged him, and he pulled her into an embrace, surprising Kate at the intimacy of the way that he held her, both of them so rough around the edges. And then Ashley leaned down and kissed him… and kissed him… Kate felt uncomfortable watching and turned her back, stunned. Raph had a girlfriend? When did that happen? She had missed a lot.

He finally trudged up next to her and walked past, calling, "Come on, Princess." They went back to the rooftops, Kate trying to pay attention to what part of the city they were in.

"Who was that?" she asked.

"She told you her name," he grunted. Kate began to protest, but he cut her off quickly. "I don't owe you details or explanations; I don't owe you squat. You're not my little sister. We're not friends. I just want Donny to be-"

"I know how you can find him," she said in sudden realization. "He built in a tracker that operates on the communicators even if they're turned off or even damaged. He showed me. Give me yours." Skeptically, he handed her the little device from his belt. She held down two buttons until a new menu came up, listing the communicators. Donny's was listed third. Scrolling to it, a map of the city popped up with a purple dot on the grid.

"How did you-"

"When I asked why he didn't get worried when you disappeared sometimes, he showed me. He never showed the others because he wanted you to be able to have your space when you needed it." They exchanged a look, knowing that Donny clearly wanted space, and that they would be invading.

"We'll just go check on him. Just to make sure."

They traveled mostly in silence, jumping for a bit onto the top of a semi for a ride for a few miles. Raphael clutched her with more care, the communicator trick having softened him ever so slightly. When they were nearly on top of the dot, Raphael could hear telltale signs of fighting, and he deposited her onto a rooftop.

He walked to the edge and looked over, and she watched his jaw drop as he stared down at the scene below. Curiosity getting the better of her, she resigned to steal only a small peek over the ledge, but what she saw rooted her to place. It was Donatello! He was spinning his bo staff furiously, beating a thug and knocking the gun from another's hand with his foot. Don picked up the guy with the gun and held him against the wall, slamming him repeatedly into the bricks before dropping him limp onto the pavement.

Raphael drew his sais and prepared to leap down.

"Don't," she breathed. He turned to her in surprise, but she shook her head. "It's over. It's done." Donatello leapt up to the fire escape on the adjacent building, and Raphael crouched down to hide, shielding Kate from sight as well. They watched the little dot on the communicator screen move off in the opposite direction and then stared at each other for a moment.

Kate turned around quickly and slid back down, clutching her knees to her chest. She'd never seen Donatello be violent like that. Raphael turned away, his back to the ledge, and buried his face in his hands.

"Is that what you did to the guys who attacked me?" she asked, weakly. He looked at her wearily and shook his head.

"We're not supposed to keep coming after they stop. And he knows he's not supposed to come to this neighborhood alone and engage groups of people with guns," he murmured.

"Why would he do that?" she asked. Raph shook his head.

"It's something I would do. Well, would have done," he corrected himself. "When I didn't think about anyone."

Raphael hung his head for a moment in silence, and Kate had to remind herself to breathe.

"I want to hate you," he continued, turning his head slowly to stare at her coldly. "But I can't because I know you're doing what's natural. And I want to hate him, but I can't because I know he's doing what's natural. More than anything, I want to hate myself for thinking that he could know that you were never going to care about him."

Kate clasped her hands and hung her head, knowing what he'd said was not entirely true, but not entirely wrong either.

"Will you still take me to him?" she asked.

"You want to see him?" he asked incredulously. She nodded with a solemn expression. Raph considered this and stood, offering a hand to her.

It turned out that he hadn't gotten far before engaging another group, but this one was larger and better armed. Raphael sped up at the sounds of gunshot and dropped her unceremoniously on the gravel rooftop. He pointed one of his sais at her. "You're gonna wait here. You're gonna be quiet. Nobody'll be the wiser, and I will come back for you. You'll be safe right here as long as you do those things." With that, he leapt out of sight.

Kate listened to the sounds of gunshots and covered her ears, curling up into a ball. A few moments later, she could hear Raph yelling, but she couldn't make out another voice or what was being said. He stopped abruptly, and there were more gunshots.

A loud crash made her jump. Curiosity getting the better of her, she peeked over the edge. A car had rammed a dumpster and pinned Donatello between it and the wall. Raphael had gone to retrieve the driver. On his way, he threw a sai at another guy and pinned him to the wall. He managed to throw the driver aside and back the car away and was running quickly back to help free his brother, not seeing another guy coming around the corner. He drew a gun from inside his jacket as Raphael tugged the dumpster away and Donatello slumped against the bricks, clutching his side.

"Look out!" she screamed down, and though Raphael had managed to deflect the shot, Donatello's head shot up to find the source of the scream, momentarily distracted from the second shot. A guy crouched next to the fire escape looked up to see Kate's face and grinned, leaping up to catch the ladder.

As far as she knew, the fire escape and the roof doors were her only means of escape. Panicked, she scrambled to the door, but found it locked. She could hear him coming up the metal awning, almost to the top. Terrified, she dialed her ICE button in her bag and pressed herself against the side of the roof door, looking for any way out. A few feet away lay a well-rusted forgotten pipe wrench next to some discarded chimney parts. Kate's hand darted out for it, and she clutched the heavy wrench, heart racing, listening for the sound of feet on the roof.

Seconds later, the sound of scraping gravel told her he'd arrived, and she held her breath, shaking and listening. She lifted onto her toes to better move without making noise and silently crept to the corner, the footsteps growing louder.

"I know you're up here," a deep voice sounded just a few feet from Kate. She bit down hard on her lip and tightened her grip, knowing she had one good shot. The shadow fell before her, and she raised the wrench, bringing it down with all her might and catching his shoulder hard. He grabbed for her with his good hand, but his gun had flown out of his grasp, and they struggled on the ground, Kate managing to kick him in the shin and drag herself up, only to get pulled back by a pant leg. She twisted around to kick him and wiggled free, grabbing for the wrench and hitting him again.

This time, he collapsed, out cold. The sobs came quickly, and her hands dropped, though she did not let go of the wrench. She backed to the fire escape, never taking her eyes off of the man lying on the ground. When she got to the gun, she picked it up between her thumb and index finger, holding it at arm's length and dropping it into her bag.

She looked over the ledge and began to crawl down the fire escape. She could see Raphael crouched behind the dumpster and moved toward him as quickly as possible, slipping down the ladder, eyes full of tears. She jumped most of the last ladder, landing next to him, and collapsing back on her heels, catching herself with her hands.

He was talking very fast and very loud, almost frantic, and when she looked over his shoulder, she could see why. Donatello was splayed out on the ground, Raph's hands pressed to his shoulder, blood squeezing up in between the fingers.

"Donny," she breathed. His eyes rolled back to look at her, and he winced, having moved slightly to try and see her. Kate stepped over him carefully and crouched at his side. "Oh my God. Oh my God."

"You're gonna be okay, Donny. He's gonna be okay," Raph repeated. She could hear sirens in the distance. "What in the hell were you thinkin', huh? I shoulda stopped you. I shoulda stopped you before." Kate had never seen Raphael scared, but he was frantic now, bearing down on the wound in Donny's shoulder and sweating.

"Raph-"

"Untie my bandana and tie it on him! We gotta get pressure on this, and I need my hands." Kate eased his mask off, and worked her fingers through the knot quickly. Raphael lifted his brother and rolled him enough for her to wind the bandana and tie it. She pulled as tightly as she could, and Donatello moaned in pain. Raphael eased his brother's mask off and reinforced the first bandage. Kate was struck by just how different they really did look from one another, even without the masks.
"I gotta call the others. Can you get my-"

"It's okay. I called my In Case of Emergency button."

"The cops?" Raph hissed, head shooting over to look at her.

"Us," Donny groaned, and his hand, fumbled for his communicator, knocking it free to show the glowing screen. "I set it up for her. They're coming." The sirens in the distance were getting louder.

"They're coming, but not before the police. Can we get him down the manhole?" she asked, gesturing to a nearby metal cover.

Raphael looked at it, knowing that he'd need to drop Donny most of the way and hoped his brother could at least partially catch himself. He began to pull his brother and was met with a pained wail. When he looked back, Kate's eyes were wide. He followed her gaze to Donny's back, where there was a substantial crack in his shell along one side, also oozing blood.

Hands trembling, she reached for her phone again. "You're going to have to trust me," she said to Raphael and scurried to the manhole, prying the cover off and using the old wrench for leverage.

"Get my sai," he growled, gathering his brother up carefully and moving him toward the manhole. Kate scurried to the unconscious men and hesitated, but Raphael was there quickly and jerked the weapon free. "Come on!"

Luckily, it wasn't too far to the bottom, and Donatello was able to slip down and collapse on his good side, Raphael following just as red and blue lights shone overhead.

In the sewer, they moved away from the manhole and ladder and crouched down to wait. Kate held Donny in her arms while Raph stood waiting, sais drawn. The water wicked quickly up her sleeves and pant legs, soaking her, but she barely noticed through the fear.

"We need to get to the NYU campus. There's a veterinary lab where my roommate's interning. I just called him and told him I found a stray dog that had gotten run over and was bringing it in. He's meeting us there."

"A dog!" Raphael spat. "I'm not taking my little brother to a vet! Are you crazy?"

"Rory's a nurse. He'll meet us there too."

"Oh wonderful. Every freakin' guy in your harem. Why don't we just ask those cops to give us a ride, too?'

"Do you have a better ide- Oh no, Donny! Stay awake," she called in an elevated tone, patting the turtle's cheeks briskly. "I know. I know it hurts and you're tired. Just stay awake with me. Just for another couple minutes. Can you do that? For me? It's all right. You're all right."

Kate sniffed hard and looked up at Raphael. In the distance, they could hear a hovercraft, and she strained to see the light in the distance. She turned her attention back to Donatello and leaned over him.

"I've missed you," she whispered down to him.

"I'm never far. I've been there every night to make sure you get home all right," he replied softly. She looked down at him in surprise. "The new guy you're working with is awful," he groaned. A teary laugh escaped her lips. He was talking about Joseph, a freshman who was trying to brush up on his ballet for fall classes. He was pretty terrible. "I told you that you'd see me when you wanted to."

She clutched him tightly, the hovercraft almost upon them. "This wasn't how I wanted to see you," she murmured.

"I'll be okay. We've cracked before. It looks worse than it is." He sucked air between his teeth. "Ooh, but it hurts."

"Raph! Donny! Kate?" Leonardo shook his head quickly. "Raph, what happened? What happened?! How could you let this happen?" Leonardo was beside himself, shoving Raphael in panic.

"We need to get him over to campus to the biology lab. My roommates can help him." Michelangelo had knelt next to Donny and braced him to be moved again.

"Okay, yeah! We're going, right?" he asked expectantly. Raphael and Leonardo glared at each other and then nodded in agreement. This was bigger than any spat.

"Mikey, you take Kate and Donny. It'll only hold you three. We'll catch up." Without wasting a second, Michelangelo had them on their way, and Kate hunkered down tightly so as not to tumble off. They flew through tunnels, light flickering as they passed under drains and manholes, but for most of the trip, they were bathed in darkness.

The hovercraft glided to a halt below a grate, and Michelangelo scrambled up to loosen it.

"Go! I'll get him up there… somehow." Kate hoisted herself up and squished in her smelly, soaked clothes around to the side door where Rory was holding the door.

"Whoa! Whoa! You smell awful! What is that all over you?"

She gasped and shook her head frantically.

"I can't- no time- he- he- trust me. Will you trust me?" she wheezed, trying to catch her breath.

"Jesus, what the hell happened?" His head snapped up, and he jumped back, tugging Kate into the door. "What the hell is that?"

She had doubled over but looked up to see Michelangelo making his way to the door, his brother in his arms. She fought Rory away and opened the door, ushering the two inside.

"I need you to trust me," she said, and pulled her friend down the hall to a lighted exam room. Terry was there in scrubs, and his eyes went wide at the sight.

"Kate, you said dog! You said dog! What- what the- what- what-"

"I'm not gonna hurt you!" Mikey interrupted, depositing Donatello on the table. "This is my brother. He's been shot, and-and-"

He gestured at the oozing wound in the turtle's side. Terry looked frantically from turtle to turtle to Kate, and his eyes returned to Donatello, clearly in agony.

"All right, Kate, I don't know what's all over you, but you're a cesspool of bacteria and disease. Go change down the hall and get cleaned up. You," he said, looking at Michelangelo, "get the wounds cleaned up, flush them out. There's pads in the drawer. Rory, I don't know what kind of anatomy we're looking at, but some of it seems human. GSW, what would you do? Kate- go!"

Kate backed out of the doorway and into the hallway, rooted in place for a minute or two before the sounds of the other two turtles' arrival snapped her back to reality.

With that, she made her way down the hall to meet them and prepare for a long night.