April had no idea what happened outside, all she knew was that five minutes after they left Karai came back, followed by Casey, and Raph nowhere in sight.

"Um… What happened?" The red head asked

"You don't want to know" Karai deadpanned as she walked into the living room and picked up Justin who began cooing with joy upon seeing her awake.

"Doesn't that hurt your arms?" Casey questioned, an edge still in his voice from whatever just happened with Raph.

"It does, I don't care" Karai responded, her voice about as hostile as his.

"Right…" April drawled out, she really had no idea what had just happened outside but clearly it wasn't anything good. "Anyway I'm going to the store, we need some stuff for dinner"

"I'll go with you" Karai said

"Donnie will never let you" Casey pointed out

"I don't care. I've spent the last two months in either prison of under house arrest, I'm getting out of here" she insisted

"Maybe it's a good idea, something tells me you two could use a break from each other" April said

"It's Raph we need a break from" Casey huffed

"No kidding" Karai agreed as she walked out of the room to go find her genius brother and inform him that she was leaving with April.

The car ride to the store was awkward to say the least. The girls brought Justin with them, though April was a little wary of Karai holding him on her lap as opposed to putting him in a car seat, not that they even have a car seat.

"So that bed in my room was originally a bunk bed. I figure when we get back we can drag the top bunk out of the attic and me and you can sleep in there" April suggested

"Ok" Karai said indifferently

"We also have my old crib up there, we can bring that down for Justin and put it in either our room or the one Casey's sharing with Raph" April continued and at that Karai snorted in laughter.

"Oh yeah, I forgot those two were sharing a room" she chuckled

"Not to pry but what happened between you three?" April questioned and Karai shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"I'll tell you when you're not driving," she answered and for a moment April took her eyes off the road to glare at Karai in absolute confusion but she then turned her focus back to driving.

Meanwhile, back in New York, Angel was sitting up against a sewer wall, having flipped through her brother's journal more than enough times for one day.

"You know you're in here," she said to her unconscious companion, "Casey didn't write down your name though" she continued. For a minute she was quiet as she studied his appearance more closely, and she noticed just how beat up he was. "Did the Kraang do this to you? Any of it?" She questioned but of course she received no response. "If you used to be a man can you still talk?" She asked, "I mean obviously you can't talk now cause you're out cold but when you wake up?" Angel sighed, not really liking the quiet. "Well I hope you can, I don't really want to be the only one who talks" she said, "Oh, my name's Angel by the way" she introduced even though she doubted her company could hear her.

For another minute or two it was silent, the only sound coming from the periodic drip, drop of water dripping from a pipe.

"I guess, if we're going to trust each other I should probably tell you more about me than my name." She said it like it was a suggestion but when she, obviously, got no response she let out a sigh.

"Ok. So like I said my name's Angel and I'm nine years old. I live with my dad and my older brother Casey, but lately Casey hasn't been around much. Don't be mad at him, it's not his fault. See his girlfriend was in trouble, well I think she's his girlfriend anyway; they have a baby so I know he at least used to love her. Anyway my mom left when I was six in case you were wondering why I don't live with her. It kind of sucks, living with two boys I mean. Then my brother's baby is a boy, I mean I love him but come on, I just want one girl around, is that too much to ask?" She vented, "Don't get me wrong, I love my family, and I LOVE Casey's hand me down toys, they make all the good stuff for boys. But all the girls in my Girl Scout troop are always talking about their moms; sometimes I don't even know why I stay there." She huffed before looking over at the unconscious rat lying on the concrete beside her. "Actually I do know why I stay there, I'll never tell my dad or my brother though. It's the same reason I have long hair which by the way is dyed pink on the end; you see I'm pretty much a tomboy, and I was like that before my mom left, in fact it's one of the reasons she left. I love it but at the same time, I don't always want to be just like the boys, sometimes I just want to be a girl. I don't want to be mean or snotty like the other girls, but I don't want to be a boy. Before the Kraang invaded I was hoping that maybe Casey would bring his girlfriend over once they found her, because I thought maybe she could help me. I don't know, I guess it doesn't matter now." She sighed.

"You did what?" April snapped when she and Karai arrived at the supermarket and Karai finally answered the red head's question.

"Absolutely nothing" Karai snapped back as she placed Justin in the baby seat of the shopping cart. "Were you not listening?" She continued

"I was listening when you said you slept with Casey" April grumbled

"I said I fell asleep with Casey sitting behind me" Karai snapped "and anyway is this really something we have to discuss in the middle of the grocery store?" She demanded and April rolled her eyes.

"Well not if there's nothing to discuss" April muttered, Karai was never one to dance in circles with a stupid argument like this; but at this point she was beyond fed up and as much as she wanted it to end there was no chance in hell she was going to let her entire family lecture her on something she didn't do.

Karai was the one pushing the cart, so she stopped it right in it's tracks.

"Ok you know what? I'm sorry. There, I said it I'm sorry, you happy now? I am sorry that I got electrocuted, I am sorry that I was bleeding because my skin was burned off, and I'm sorry that your boyfriend offered to help me." The kunoichi began to rant.

"Ok Casey is NOT my boyfriend" April clarified

"Then what is your problem?!" Karai demanded before realizing that her voice was beginning to rise. "What is your problem?" She repeated in a whisper.

April didn't answer; instead she just stared at Karai, no words that made sense forming in her mind. Finally Karai growled out of frustration and lifted her son from the cart, with some minor protests coming from the baby.

"You know what? Here's the cart, you get stuff for dinner, I'll get stuff for breakfast." She decided and before April could even think about protesting Karai was walking off with her child balanced on her hip. "I think I need to be away from all of you right now" she muttered to herself.

"Sorry if I kind of made a mess of things" Mikey timidly apologized to Casey as the hockey player inspected the engine, or lack thereof, in the old truck.

"Don't worry about it Mikey, technically I shouldn't have been in there." Casey muttered.

"Technically April said not while she was doing the Band-Aids" Mikey pointed out and Casey chuckled.

"Yeah, you've got a point there Mikey" he said before shutting the hood of the trunk, which popped right back open. He then slammed it shut and when that still didn't work he just gave up and turned around to face Mikey, leaning against the rusted old truck as he stood. "But still, can't say I blame Raph for jumping to conclusions, where is he anyway?" He continued; none of them had seen Raph sense his outburst.

Mikey just waved it off, "He's out in the woods, punching a tree. At least that's what it sounded like when I walked past about five trees and then heard him." The youngest turtle answered. "So what is going on between you and my sister?" He inquired and at the question Casey nearly lost his balance. "Whoa dude, didn't mean to make you uncomfortable" Mikey said as Casey struggled to recover.

"Yeah well, you did Mikey. Anyway there isn't anything going on between Karai and me" he insisted

"Mhmm, Mhmm, interesting; so then why did you look like you wanted to murder somebody when you saw her unconscious?" He asked

"What? Mikey I thought she was dead! There may not be anything between us but I don't hate her!" Casey exclaimed

"And what about the fact that you hung around outside the girl's bedroom until April let you in?" Mikey continued to pester

"I was concerned!" Casey exclaimed

"Dude, she's my SISTER, and I wasn't sitting outside her door" the turtle pointed out.

"Look Mikey, there is nothing going on between Karai and me. The only reason there SEEMS like there is is because we're friends and we… you know have a kid. If Justin hadn't come along then there wouldn't seem like something's there." Casey explained and Mikey nodded thoughtfully.

"Uh-ha, I see. Piece of advice dude, you can spend the rest of your life saying that but you're never going to know what would or wouldn't have happened if your son never came along. He did dude, and like it or not you're falling for his mama." Mikey said with a grin before exiting the barn.

"What do you think?" Karai asked Justin as she threw a box of cereal into their new cart, of course he only stared at her in response. "Yeah well I think Auntie April needs to admit that she has a thing for your father before she starts yelling at me" she grumbled. She was trying to get over the argument, she really was. But it was pissing her off, first Raph and now April. Then on top of all that she had to worry about Leo and try not to worry about her father. Not to mention that as she walked through the grocery store she didn't miss the judgmental stares from strangers.

Those were really the least of her worries; after all they don't know that things are not what they seem. She knew that she had done the right thing by deciding to keep Justin, and since she really had nothing to feel guilty about the stares didn't bother her for the most part. However, her tolerance reached its limit when she was grabbing a carton of milk and she just faintly caught the hushed voice of a woman not too far from her.

"See? You don't want to end up like that poor girl do you?" She heard the woman ask; her blood boiled at the comment.

She discreetly looked out of the corner of her eye at the source of the voice. It had come from a woman who appeared to be in her late forties, and she looked to be pretty annoyed at the young teenage girl with her who was wearing next to nothing. It only took Karai one second to put the pieces together, and if she wasn't so pissed that this random stranger had decided to make an example out of her she would've felt sorry for the poor girl who looked to be only about thirteen or fourteen.

The girl however glanced apologetically at Karai before sending a death glare to her mother and whispering something that Karai could not hear, but she heard the mother loud and clear.

"Well honey she's asking for it" the mother said, now Karai was really mad. She wanted nothing more than to march over there and turn that woman inside out. She knew that the world was full of rude and judgmental people, but this woman was just cruel. For all she knew, Karai and Justin could be brother and sister! Obviously that's not the case, but the point still stands. At least the girl seemed to see the problem with her mother's behavior and shot Karai another apologetic look before walking away and muttering to her mother that they needed something.

Dinner that night was awkward to say the least. Raph had ventured back to the house but he was silent throughout supper. Mikey kept giving Casey these weird and strangely encouraging glances, April's face seemed to be set in a permanent scowl, much like Raph's. Donnie was absently picking at his plate, much like Karai was when she wasn't reprimanding Justin for making a mess of his food. After dinner, however, was when the awkward silence of the house grew too much for some people. Casey went up to the attic with April to help her bring down her top bunk as well as her old crib for Justin. Karai volunteered to wash the dishes while Mikey played with Justin and Raph went upstairs to watch over Leo while Donnie retreated back to the barn. When she was done Karai made her way upstairs and stood in the doorway of the bathroom with her arms folded over her chest.

"Thank you" she said and in surprise Raph turned around, "for saving my life. Jumping to conclusions however I'm still mad about" she clarified and Raph sighed.

"Look I'm sorry, I know I over reacted. It's just that every time you come home, you get ripped away from us again. This time I thought we had lost you forever. Then the way I found out we hadn't was through the method of our baby brother telling me my best friend was in bed with you." He admitted and Karai sighed as she ventured into the room and squatted down next to her hotheaded brother.

"Then it looks like I'm sorry," she said and Raph smirked before ruffling her hair playfully.

"Just be careful, I'm getting tired of constantly thinking your dead." He remarked and she laughed

"I'll do my best," she promised.

It was late at night and Angel was still far from sleep. She misses her dad and her brother too much to sleep. She mostly just lays awake, wondering what became of Casey. The simple answer was he ended up just like their father; but that journal of his made Angel believe otherwise. Why would he have that? Why, how did he even know about the Kraang?

"I don't suppose you ever met my brother? Casey Jones?" She asked her unconscious friend but of course he gave no response. "Well he at least saw you once" she said, basing this statement off Casey's drawing of the rat in his book. "I hope he's ok" She sighed before she finally drifted off into sleep.

"We need to talk" Casey said to Karai later after he and Mikey had finished setting up the top bunk.

"About what, whose room Justin sleeps in?" Karai asked but Casey shook his head

"No" he said and with that he walked past her but motioned for her to follow.

Confused, Karai followed Casey outside until he sat down on the front steps of the porch.

"Any reason you can't talk to him inside?" She questioned, sitting down besides him.

"It's about this morning" Casey began but Karai only rolled her eyes.

"Look I already talked to Raph-" she began to explained but Casey cut her off.

"Ok maybe not this morning. I don't know, I guess it's just about us in general." He said

"Ok…" Karai drawled out "What about us?" She asked

"Look, I've been thinking. Before Justin ended up with us we were sort of friends-" he started but then he was cut off.

"Right, and that was the extent of it. Anything else is only because of Justin" she insisted.

"But how do you know that?" Casey asked and to his surprise Karai didn't have an answer. "Look, we can spend the rest of our lives arguing over if it's because Justin came along or not. But that doesn't change the fact that he did. Ok we can argue this our whole lives but we will never have the answer, things are the way they are." He said and Karai sighed.

"Casey, now isn't…" she couldn't finish; these past two months she had been denying any and all attraction to Casey Jones but now that they were having this conversation, she wanted nothing more than to drop her defenses and just for once in her life and take a chance.

"Look I know, now is probably the worst time in the world. But after you gave yourself up I was thinking about you all the time. All I wanted to do was charge into that church and get you. I don't think I ever told you this but we were planning a rescue mission-" he began but she cut him off.

"Casey I wouldn't have-" she tried to remind him but he interrupted

"We were going to kill him" Karai's eyes went wide.

"Splinter was going to leave me behind, but I told him I was going. I was so crazy I talked back to Splinter" he said it like he still couldn't believe it himself.

"Remember the day I came home, and you said you didn't want your dad to hate me?" Karai finally asked once she got over the shock of what Casey had done.

"Yeah why?" He asked and she sighed

"Today in the store, there were people staring at me, like they knew I was a terrible person-" she started but tonight seemed to be a night for cutting each other off.

"You're a great person," Casey said but Karai looked as though she didn't believe him. "I mean it. All that stuff you did before, you thought you were doing right. Once you found out the truth you did everything you could to fix things. Karai you sacrificed your own freedom to save your son, and this is after spending a month in that dungeon. Karai you're the strongest, most courageous, most caring person I know. You've gotta give yourself more credit" he said and Karai rolled her eyes.

"You know you're making it really hard for me to find a reason not to like you" she said and Casey smirked.

"So what do you think?" He asked as he grabbed her hand and she smiled at him

"I think we are never going to hear the end of this," she answered before she leaned in and kissed him.