Hey everyone. Hope you had an awesome weekend. I'll try and find time to work on the next chapter this week so I can get it posted this weekend. Thanks as always for your patience and for sticking with me. Appreciate those who take the time to review. Have an awesome week.

Chapter 20

"LEO!"

Leo growled, and turned just in time. He kicked the ninja that had been sneaking up behind him in the ribs with bone shattering force. He'd taken a lucky hit to the elbow with a bo staff and it was starting to hinder him badly now. It was slightly tingly but had gone numb for the most part, that didn't reassure the blue banded turtle, knowing all too well that it meant he probably had some nerve damage. But they could worry about that later when they got home. Right now he had to get his other two brothers out of here.

Raphael had already taken a few good hits as well and Donatello's breathing was hard and erratic from exertion.

Leonardo heard Don's bo thwack as it connected with another staff, and Raphael's roar of rage telling him that at least both his brothers were still up and fighting. But he knew Raphael was bleeding.

Leonardo's single katana clanged as it met the metal of another Foot member's swords. He growled and pushed forward, making the man take a step back and giving Leonardo the advantage. Adjusting his weight and bringing his sword down then up his opponent's sword was ripped from his hand and with a quick knock to the temple the Foot soldier was down.

"GUYS! FALL BACK!" Leo shouted as two more Foot advanced on him, sensing weakness. He ground his jaw, teeth clenched, a growl ripping up his throat.

He heard a growl, an angry cry and the Foot ninja Raph had been fighting fell. But three more were moving in to take his place. Leo took down one of the Foot that was approaching him with a well placed snap kick but had to bring up his katana to block the blow that had been aiming for his neck.

"Leo! Come on!"

Leonardo moved quickly to the side, throwing the Foot ninja, who had been leaning heavily on his sword, off balance. As the ninja passed him Leonardo took him down, then slipped his katana back into the sheath on his shell and ran after his brothers. He could hear the Foot running after them. He knew they had to lose them before heading back to the sewers and possibly leading them back to their home. He knew that Raphael and Don knew that too and automatically they headed for central park where they could lose the Foot amongst the trees.

Leonardo forced his burning legs to run faster, to stay ahead of the enemy and close to his brothers. Seeing a shadow from the corner of his eye, he drew out a shuriken and with the ease from years of practice, hit his target, which let out a startled yelp and fell back. Leonardo didn't pause to pat himself on the shell. He pushed himself faster. He saw Raphael and Donatello disappear into the trees and quickly followed suit. He could hear the Foot talking in Japanese. They were splitting up, sensing victory they were closing in. But Leonardo knew that he and his brothers were far from defeated. As he raced along the branch he saw a branch tremble slightly in the next tree and caught a slight flash of red. He hurried to catch up with his brothers. It was his job to get them home. To keep them safe. He wasn't going to let his family down.

"How's Akemi?"

Elizabeth smiled as she sat down on the edge of the bed she and Raphael shared, Running her fingers through her hair to push it away from her face. "She's good, dad. Growing like a weed. Full of energy. She's always running around. I need to buy her some new movies. She's wearing The Lion King out."

The soft warm inviting sound of her father's laugh made Elizabeth laugh a little herself.

"Sounds like you with Peter Pan, you watched that so many times that the VCR ate the tape and we had to buy a new copy."

"Did I do that?" Elizabeth asked, amused.

"Sure did, kiddo." Even through the phone she could hear the smile in his voice. "Eventually we had to hide it so that you couldn't watch it anymore" He laughed again. "You then wore out 101 Dalmatians."

"I remember that. Didn't I get three copies of that for Christmas that year? One from you and mom and one from both sets of grandparents?"

"Should we get Akemi a copy of The Lion King for Christmas?"

"No!" Elizabeth was firm. She rolled her eyes when her father laughed again.

"So when are you going to come visit?"

Elizabeth sighed, the inevitable question had finally popped up. She'd been waiting for it but that didn't make it any easier. "Right now isn't a good time… "

"You've been saying that for six months, Elizabeth. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, everything's ok, dad. "

"Then why can't you come visit?"

"I think I hear Akemi crying. I'll call you later, dad."

"Elizabeth… "

"I love you."

She heard him sigh. "Love you too, honey. Always will."

Elizabeth pulled the phone away from her ear and hit the end button before closing the phone.

She missed her family. She hadn't seen them since Graham had put her and Akemi in the hospital. After she had been released she and Akemi had moved into the lair with Raphael and his brothers. She loved it down here with Raphael. She couldn't imagine anyone else she could ever be this happy with. She hoped that one day she would be able to introduce Raphael to her family. She knew that though he wasn't what her parents would expect that once they saw just how happy she was, and how incredible he was that they would be happy for her. That they would see past his green skin and shell to the amazing man he was.

Hearing voices downstairs she knew that they had returned. Standing up she went to greet them.

"Leo, where are you going?" Donatello's voice was sharp. "I need to check out that arm! I saw you take that hit!"

Hit? Elizabeth frowned. And hurried out of the room and down the stairs. From the sounds of it they had been in a fight.

The voices, still slightly heated, but tired were in the infirmary now.

"Raph, keep pressure on that arm, we need to slow down the bleeding."

"Raph?!" Elizabeth hurried to the infirmary.

Leonardo was sitting on one infirmary bed, Donatello gently maneuvering his arm, frowning in concentration. Leo's face had taken on the eerily calm expression it always took when he was in pain and trying not to let on just how badly he was hurt. Raphael had a towel pressed to his arm, his fingers bloody. Elizabeth didn't rush to him, despite her instincts to do so. She knew Raphael hated it when she hovered over him.

"What happened?"

"Da foot were hangin' 'round 'er apartment." Raph growled. "Definitely aint' safe fer 'er ta go back, dey are jus' waitin' fer 'er ta come back so dey can grab 'er again."

Elizabeth had figured as much. The bag of Melinda's belongings on the floor next to Raphael told her why the turtles had gone back there in the first place.

"You get all her things?"

"Jus' 'er clothes. Da Foot moved into fast for me ta grab more stuff."

Elizabeth just nodded.

"Raph, change the towel when it gets soaked," Donatello instructed, not turning to look at them as he focused on bending Leonardo's arm first one way then another.

Elizabeth handed Raphael a fresh towel and he lay the bloody one aside. Elizabeth frowned at the deep gash on his arm. "It's getting worse out there isn't it? All this gang activity… "

"It's nuttin' we can't handle, 'Lizabeth."

"Raph, you can't go out with that arm – and Leo can't fight either."

"She's right," Don said with a sigh. "It'll be at least a couple days before Leo's arm is up to any strenuous movement. He handed Leonardo a couple of pain killers and a glass of water. "And you are going to need stitches, Raph. I don't want you busting them open once I've stitched you up."

Raph shook his head but said nothing as Donatello turned his attention to him and pulled the towel away and began to clean the wound.

Elizabeth saw Leonardo quietly get off the opposite bed and head for Splinter's room.

Don shifted a little as injected a local into Raph's arm. And then after waiting a couple of minutes for the drugs to kick in began to stich Raphael's arm. Elizabeth watched with mild fascination as Don's large fingers began to tie the delicate stitches. Her hand was on Raph's free hand, her fingers curled into his.

"Mikey still sleepin'?"

Elizabeth looked up at Raphael's face and realized that while the shot had taken most of the edge off it wasn't dulling all of the sensation of what Donatello was doing, and Raphael was trying to distract himself from it.

"Um, yeah I think so. He hasn't left his room anyway," Elizabeth said frowning a little. Her fingers curled more tightly around Raphael's and he squeezed them back. "He'll probably be up and around in the morning, Raph. You know Mikey… "

Raph grunted a little as Don tied another stitch. "It'll be good ta 'ave da chucklehead back. Been too quiet around 'ere lately."

Elizabeth laughed. "You mean you haven't had anyone to chase because no one's pulled any pranks on you?"

Raph smirked.

Elizabeth knew that Michelangelo loved getting Raphael riled up, goading Raphael until his older brother would lose his temper and chase him. It was all a big game for Michelangelo, until he was caught and faced a very irritated and ill tempered brother. Michelangelo had told her some of the things Raphael had done to him when they were teenagers. Not that Michelangelo hadn't deserved those things. But Elizabeth knew that Raphael had been really worried about Mikey and was just anxious for things to get back to normal around the lair.

"There, Raph, that should do it," Donatello said as he wrapped a gauze bandage around Raphael's arm, protecting the delicate stitches.

"T'anks, Donny." Raphael slid off the bed. Elizabeth was still holding onto his hand. Donatello didn't seem to notice as he put away his medical supplies.

"Come on, Raph, let's go to bed," Elizabeth said gently as she led him out of the infirmary.

Raphael's hand disengaged from her own and wrapped around her waist instead, holding her close as the couple made their way upstairs.

Michelangelo could smell food. His stomach growled angrily. Rolling over in his bed he slowly sat up and rubbed at his eyes, sniffing appreciatively. Elizabeth was cooking. And from the smell of it she was making pancakes. He grinned. He loved Elizabeth's pancakes. And if he hurried, Raphael wouldn't have the chance to eat them all before he got down there.

Slipping out of his room and down the stairs Mikey headed for the kitchen, and was startled when he saw someone besides Elizabeth in the kitchen with her. This woman had long blond hair that hung in soft curls down her back. She was wearing a soft purple t-shirt and matching pajama bottoms. Both of them had their backs to them, but Akemi was sitting at the table snacking on pieces of strawberry and banana.

"Mikey!" She squealed as she climbed off the chair and ran to him with her sticky fingers. She leapt for him and he caught her, shifting her weight automatically as the women turned to look at him. Elizabeth grinned, but Michelangelo saw that the blond woman was looking hesitant and rather awkward.

"Michelangelo… " Elizabeth, put the pancake turner down and hurried over to him, giving him a warm, but rather awkward hug seeing as how he was already holding Akemi. "How do you feel?"

"Fine. Hungry."

Elizabeth couldn't help the small laugh that bubbled up her throat. "Breakfast will be ready soon."

Michelangelo nodded and glanced at Melinda again. She was biting her lip, her bright blue eyes looking at him with hesitation. Michelangelo looked back at Elizabeth expectantly.

"Mikey, this is Melinda. She's going to be staying here for a while."

Michelangelo was surprised. They normally didn't let strangers come into the lair. Leo in particular was really adamant about that rule. Elizabeth knew that all too well from experience when Raphael had irst brought her down here, so why was Melinda down here?

"Leo know about this?"

"Yeah, he does Mikey. Everyone does it's ok. She came down here when you still couldn't remember anything… "

"Oh," Michelangelo said frowning. That would explain things, at least a little.

"Um, Elizabeth, is it supposed to be smoking? I'm not much of a cook… "

At once Elizabeth rushed back over to the pan that Melinda was cooking on. Mikey couldn't help but grin. Elizabeth was frowning as she turned over the now blackened section of egg. "This is no good… we'll have to make a new one."

"I can help, dudettes," Mikey offered as he put Akemi back in her chair. She whimpered a little in protest but quickly occupied herself with her fruit, squishing it in her fingers and making juice and berry pulp run all over her hands and the table.

"If you want to help, Mikey, that'd be great," Elizabeth said gratefully.

Michelangelo walked over to where Melinda stood next to the stove, looking rather embarrassed as she began to crack more eggs into the pan. She was biting her lip, and Michelangelo was surprised to see a couple beads of sweat on her forehead. She was obviously uncomfortable in the kitchen.

"Relax, eggs are easy," Mikey reassured her, making her eyes snap up to his face. Up close he was more surprised by just how bright and rich the color of her eyes were. He blinked and forced himself to look away.

Whoa. Where had that come from? He shook himself as he picked up the wooden spoon Melinda had been using and began to stir the eggs around in the pan, the yolks broke and the whites and yolks began to blend together perfectly as Mikey stirred them together. "Trick is not to let them get too dry… "

Melinda watched him work in silence, but it was obvious she was taking it all in. Within a few minutes Michelangelo had made a batch of perfectly cooked scrambled eggs. He turned off the burner and dumped the eggs into a large bowl, adding a couple spoons to it and placed it on the table just as Leonardo and Raphael joined them in the kitchen.

He was startled to see Leonardo holding his right arm a bit stiffly and a white gauze bandage on Raphael's bicep. He frowned a little and opened his mouth to ask what had happened when Donatello stumbled into the kitchen still looking half asleep.

"Is there coffee?"

"Sit down genius, 'fore ya fall down," Raph said tugging on Donatello's arm making him sit. "'Lizabeth's got yer coffee for ya."

And she did, she set a hot cup down in front of the purple banded turtle and he wrapped his fingers around the cup, as if warming them before taking a sip.

The gentle scritch tap, scritch tap told Michelangelo that Master Splinter was joining them as well. He sat down at his usual place next to Donatello, opposite of Leonardo and Akemi. Splinter joined them less than a minute later and Elizabeth set a cup of tea down in front of him and one in front of Leonardo. Melinda put some milk and orange juice on the table and then Elizabeth brought over the large stack of pancakes before sitting down next to Raphael, leaving only one chair open, the empty chair next to Michelangelo.

After a moment's hesitation she sat down next to him, hands folded in her lap awkwardly.

"Pancakes?" Mikey asked her as he reached for the plate of pancakes. He didn't wait for her to answer but put a couple on her plate. "Elizabeth makes the best pancakes… you'll love them." After serving her he took a whole stack for himself, easily seven pancakes, he poured syrup over the top and added a generous amount of eggs and several slices of the crisp bacon. He began to eat without noticing the stunned looks everyone was giving him.

Elizabeth smiled as she looked at Raphael, he shook his head and rolled his eyes. If Mikey's appetite was back, then it was safe to say that things were relatively back to normal. Mikey would be just fine.