Michelangelo had been lying awake for half the night already. Despite the fact that he couldn't stand the sound of Jenna's muffled crying on the other end of the tent, he also couldn't stand to leave her there alone. She'd been silent for the last few minutes now, her steady even breathing indicating that she'd finally worn out.

As quietly as he could, the turtle rose painfully off the ground, and ducked out of the tent into the night air. Their fire had dwindled somewhat, but was still burning obliviously in the background while Luke and Karina had been talking. Both humans glanced up as Mike approached, shoulders slumped heavily as if he were carrying the weight of the world that night.

"Hey." Luke spoke up. "How are you feeling? Physically I mean." He quickly clarified.

"I haven't noticed." The turtle replied dully, as he dropped on one of the logs beside them.

"Did Jenna fall asleep?" Karina asked hesitantly.

"Either that, or she's pretending so that I'll go away. Have you talked to the others lately? Are they on the road yet?" Mike asked either of them.

Luke nodded. "For at least two hours. They should get here before noon. Victoria's going to stay in New York, close to her own contacts in case we think of some way she could actually help us. Marcus, April, and Tim are coming down in Marc's Avalanche."

"Is Tim sure about this?" Mike couldn't help asking. "Getting this involved is a huge step to take."

"He's already involved Mikey. He's not going to contact the authorities, not now that they have..." Luke trailed off for a moment, and then came back in. "He wants to help, he wouldn't let them leave him behind. So Donnie really thought April could make some headway?"

"That's what he said Doc, that's all I can tell you."

"April's not a closet hacker, is she?" Karina asked spontaneously, actually getting a little smile out of Luke.

"No, hardly. But she knows her way around several operating systems, Donatello's included. He must have hit something pretty huge in that office to make him that desperate." Luke replied.

"Doc, I don't think he even knows what he got." Mike told him. "He copied her hard drive right out, there's no telling what information is on there."

They lapsed into silence for a few seconds, and Mike noticed Karina fingering her cell-phone for the first time. He could tell that the woman had been crying too, but the look in her eyes at the moment was simply contemplative, as if her mind were somewhere else entirely.

She caught Mike's gaze, and held the phone up helplessly. "I've been trying to think of a way to tell Brandon about all of this, if it comes to..."

Michelangelo winced openly. "He doesn't even know she's missing, does he?" The turtle groaned.

Karina shook her head. "And there's no safe way to tell him, or to keep him from going to the police himself. It makes me wish that we'd already come clean about everything. We were never going to be able to hide it from him forever. Why oh why didn't we just tell him?!"

"You were trying to protect them, same as all of us." Luke responded. "And you have serious emotion invested."

The woman's gaze fell to the earth, an exhausted sigh flowing through her chest. She hadn't been able to bring herself to ask either of them what the others' chances actually were. She wasn't sure she could even handle the answer to it right now.

"Where's Sarah?" Michelangelo asked suddenly.

"She was out behind the house, the last time I saw her." Karina told him. "I asked her to come back, but she said she wasn't ready."

"Where is the house from here?"

"If you walk straight up, then take a right at the path, it just winds all the way around to the back gate. It isn't far." She answered.

"I think I'm gonna go check on her." Mike announced, dusting off the palms of his hands as he rose.

"I could show you where it is." Luke offered at once.

"Doc, it's okay. I think I should go alone. I'll be fine - I've got my phone in case of rabid chipmunks."

Karina jerked upright on her stump. "Do they have those here?"

The turtle almost chuckled. "It was just a figure of speech."


He padded softly through the darkness, not bothering with a flashlight. It wasn't pitch dark anyway, and the path was very obvious and easy to follow. The turtle was trotting up to the metal gate in minutes, and reached over it to let himself into the backyard.

Michelangelo found Sarah, half-lying on a chair nearby the deck. She sat upright when the turtle revealed himself under the porch light, and rubbed tired eyes.

"Hi," She greeted him softly. "Do you need something?"

"No, I just came to find you." He replied. "To make sure you were alright."

"I'm the least of your worries." She answered, slowly sinking back into the chaise lounge.

"So...what are you doing?" He asked, as he sat down on one of the steps to the deck.

"Avoiding everyone - can't you tell? This is a real mess."

"It'd be better if you just talked about it, you know?"

"Talking would help...how?"

"Sarah, I know you got freaked out big time. You don't have to be ashamed of it."

Her hazel eyes met him momentarily, before turning away again. "To think I was like some silly school girl, imagining how exciting it would be to tag alongside all of you. I had no idea what I was getting myself into."

She let out a quiet breath, and then continued. "That sound keeps replaying in my head, along with this mental image my mind conjured up to go with it. I made a decision, and people died."

"You didn't kill them." Michelangelo said firmly to her.

"Not directly. But how many could have been hurt or killed, just because I had to drag that chase onto the highway?"

"It's no good thinking about what didn't happen Sarah. The SUV was the only one involved, and you can't be blamed for it. We were running for our lives!"

"I know that," She said quietly. "But it doesn't change how it feels. You have to understand, I've never intentionally hurt anyone in my entire life. In the back of my mind, I'm not sure I really could, even if my life depended on it."

"Yes you could." The turtle said immediately without hesitation.

"How do you know?"

"Think about your niece and nephews for a second. What if someone tried to hurt them, or take them away from you?"

The tightening of her expression proved the turtle's point instantly.

"See? There it is." He stated. "You have protective instincts, you've just never been forced to access them before. It doesn't mean they're not there - you just have to have the right motivation. When you've never been physically threatened, it's hard to picture what you're capable of, until you're actually in the moment."

"I think I've come close before, but not quite." Sarah said thoughtfully. "And my reaction wasn't very reassuring."

"What happened?"

"It wasn't a big deal, but it's something I sure never forgot. When I was twelve years old, my older brother had this friend that used to hang around the house sometimes. He paid attention to me, and I liked it at first. I wasn't used to anyone noticing me. But then there was this one time that he caught me alone in the living room. He grabbed me, and he wouldn't let go. I didn't know what was going through his head, whether he was just messing with me, or he was actually serious. But I didn't like it, it scared me a lot. He was too strong for me to get away from.

Suddenly my forty pound cocka-poo (that's a half cocker spaniel-half poodle) came charging around the corner, barking and snarling like he was going to take the guy's head off. Of course he let go instantly, it ended up being hysterical to me. Boy did I love that dog."

"They're not all bad, are they?" Mike asked with a half smile.

"No, definitely not. The point is, I didn't even defend myself then. I didn't even scream."

"You didn't know how serious he was." Mike countered. "If his intentions had been clear, you would have reacted differently." He assured her.

"Maybe." Sarah allowed, a hint of concern sneaking back into her own expression. "You should be getting some sleep."

"What for?" He muttered. "It's not like it makes any difference."

The woman sat up further in the lounge. "How do you do this, over and over? The stress alone seems like it should kill you."

"No one ever said that we expected to live to be a hundred." He replied sardonically. "Truth is, I'd rather trade places with them right now. Everyone would be better off if they'd caught me, instead of Donnie."

"I'm glad they didn't get you, and I know the others agree with me." Sarah replied quickly.

"Doesn't change the fact that I'm worthless."

She shook her head vehemently at the turtle. "Don't ever say that Mikey. I think it's possible you have more of a part to play yet than you think."

"How do you know?" He repeated, ironically in her own words.

"Because once again, a lot of things that happen to us and with us, have nothing to do with chance." She replied simply. "And all of my 'author's intuition' tells me you're here for a reason."