hmmmmmm... so remember when I said "the next couple of days" until the next update...? Yeah, that was my plan until my boss decided that she wanted me to work and my drama director decided to give me the leads understudy part in our play AND school decided that I needed to fill out college stuff... oh woe is me! No free time!

Anyways... Enjoy.

Chapter 37: The Morning After

Raphael opened his heavy eyes bleakly as he looked up at his digital clock that read 6:59 in the morning. He grumbled to himself as he watched the fifty-nine turn into seven o'clock. He didn't even have a second of peace before his alarm blared loudly in his ear. He had to have it loud or else he would never hear it in the mornings.

Grunting, he slammed a clenched fist on top on the clock shutting it off before it could worsen his already sour mood. Mentally he thanked Donnie for making him an indestructible digital alarm clock. He could pound it as hard as he could without worrying about breaking the damn thing. He had been through hundreds of alarms in all his nineteen years by breaking them against the walls or smashing them with his fists in the mornings. A hangover morning was an especially bad time to be an alarm in Raphael's room. The blaring and annoying beep of the digital clock never lasted long when the red banded turtle was hangover. Damned be the sound that tried to wake him on those mornings.

Grumbling to no one but the walls of his room about having to wake up at the ass-crack of dawn, Raph tied his mask on then placed his sai inside his belt. He learned long ago not to leave his room without his trusty weapons. He never knew when shit would go down and he might not have time to run to his room to grab his weapons. It wasn't that he was paranoid, no that was Leo's department through and through. It was the simple fact that he wanted to be ready – Battle Ready – at any given moment. It also didn't hurt having his sai around when Mikey decided to pull a prank. His 'oversized toothpicks,' as Mike called them, were a nice little deterrent for the orange turtle.

Still a bit groggy, Raph opened his door to head to the bathroom. He passed Mikey's room on the way. Mike's door was wide open but dark inside. Then he passed Donnie's room, whose door was open just a crack. Finally, he ventured passed Leo's room, his door closed. The fact his older brother's door was closed didn't strike Raph as being out of the ordinary. It was always closed. No one was allowed inside Leo's room unless he was in there and then only if they were invited. It was the forbidden zone, even more so than Splinter's room.

Raphael continued on to the bathroom. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth with his red toothbrush before he was headed for the stairs. He got to the stairs when the thought hit him. He backed up a few steps before taking a running start off the second level. It took two complete back-flips before he landed soundlessly on the first floor, in the living room, scaring Casey who was snoozing on the couch.

"S'not meh fault, Ma!" The man slurred practically jumping to his feet. His eyes popping open mid sentence, his eyes were still glazed over with sleep. Casey's snapped his head around trying to find what had scared him awake. He looked over to Raph's smiling face and let out a long breath. He then closed his eyes again before settling down back down on the couch with a huff.

Raph couldn't keep the chuckle out of his voice, "Sleep well Case?"

Casey rubbed at his eyes with both hands trying to ward away his drowsiness. "Ya know Raph, I got no clue how ya sleep in a sewer all da time. It's weird."

With another sigh Casey heaved himself off of the family's old, beaten down, strangely comfortably couch.

"Yer scared of the sewers?" laughed the red banded turtle.

Casey looked sideways at him as they walked to the kitchen. He pursed his lips and leaned his head to the side exasperated. "Please, I ain't scared of nuthin' 'cept an angry April. But dude, there's sounds down here that're down right creepy."

Raph laughed again as they entered into the kitchen. He was slightly surprised the entire family was already awake and eating breakfast. Doing a quick head count he saw that both Leo and Anna hadn't made it down from their rooms yet.

"What was that about an angry April, Casey Jones?" April raised an eye brow looking over the laptop her and Don we're peering at intensely. Don looked back to his own laptop shaking his head and smiling at April as she chastised Casey lightheartedly.

Mikey looked up from his cereal and over to their Master who was drinking his usual morning tea peacefully.

"I wonda' why 'eo ain't awake 'et" he said, his mouth full of food. Raph reached over to swat the back of his head.

"Swallow then speak, knucklehead."

Mike chewed the remaining cereal in his mouth then swallowed his before repeating his question. "I wonder why Leo ain't awake yet. Isn't he like, always the first one up?"

"Why don't you go wake him up Mikey, he can help us with some of this," Don said not looking up from his computer.

Mikey stood up,"Should I get Anna too?"

Don still didn't look up from his computer, "No, let her sleep a little longer."

"Alrighty Donnie-Do!" Mikey called over his shoulder walking to the stairs. Reaching them, he took four leaps up before he was padding towards Leo's room.

"Heh," Raph smirked, "Donnie-Do? Tha's a new one, huh Donnie?"

Again Don refused to take his eyes away from the laptop screen. They were glued to the schematics he was looking over. "Call me that one time and I swear you will forever be Raphie Boy." He mumbled lightly.

Raph's smirk slowly faded. He held his hands up in surrender, "Fine, fine."

The kitchen was quiet as all its inhabitants casually got their makings for breakfast. Splinter's eyes were closing as he nursed his tea. Don and April's computer mouse's clicked faintly as they selected and scrolled through various firewalls and blocks. Raph and Casey leaned against the oven taking turns jabbing each other with the plastic spatula. Casey forcefully moved Raph out of the way for the stove top, Raph pushed him back. Before long they were both semi-wrestling across the kitchen.

"I'm makin' pancakes, Case! Lemme have the stove!"

"Ya had pancakes two days ago! I'm making eggs, you can use the stove when I'm done!"

"Bonehead!"

"Green Hobgoblin!"

"Green Hobgoblin, really? Is that tha best ya got? Come on you -"

"Hey guys?" Mikey's voice rang from upstairs unnaturally loud interrupting their argument.

"What Mike?" called Raph back up to the second level. April and Don cringed as Raphael's loud voice rang through the small kitchen.

"Dude, come on," Casey smiled holding his ears. Splinter shook his head mumbling something about 'boys being boys.'

The sound of running filled the Lair as Mikey made a mad-dash back down stairs. Michelangelo rushed into the kitchen with big, wild blue eyes.

"My son, what is the matter?" asked Splinter as soon as Mikey ran into the room.

Mike gulped in a hasty breath, "Leo's gone!"

"What?" Raph growled throwing down his glass of water he had just filled. The glass shattered on the kitchen counter. "What da hell do ya mean he's gone?"

Mike looked back over his shoulder then gestured to the upstairs bedrooms, "He's not in his room!"

"Do you think he went after Grace alone?" April questioned, her own heart sinking before worryingly glancing up at Raph.

"Na, he wouldn't be that stupid," Raph said lowly trying to convince himself.

At that moment the door to their Lair opened with a squeak. The small sound had the four mutants and two humans up and running to the entrance.

They reached the Lair door just in time to see Anna, sweaty and stumbling into the Lair with a small dirty child clinging to her back.

"Told you we'd find this place, Gracie. Only took four hours of walking around." Anna whispered breathlessly. Her ghostly pale face was sticky with sweat; her shirt clung to her body at odd places. It made her look almost like a skeleton.

"Donatello, she is about to fall over," warned Master Splinter quickly sensing the teenagers exhaustion. True to his word the girl stumbled again over her own feet. Don ran forward grabbing Anna before she could fall while Mikey plucked the child from her back and held her close to his plastron.

The child opened her eyes slightly and smiled. Mikey gasped as he saw the rich blue her eyes held. They were eyes of a survivor who had seen too much but was still jaded to the world, able to see the good laced into the evil. Mike had never seen eyes so old on a child so young.

The child, Grace, brought up a small skinny finger to touch his face. Mikey smiled remembering how Anna had done the same thing to him only days before.

"You look like my Daddy," Grace whispered before her eyes closed. She was back asleep before Mike could do any more than smile warmly at her. Mike looked up spotting Don place Anna's frail body on their old couch. The group had gathered around her with Don checking her pulse and body for any injuries.

Don looked at the girl quizzically, it didn't make any sense. He had just seen her the day before and she hadn't looked this bad. She had looked skinny, sure, but not like this. When Don had first seen her on the rooftop with the Elite Guard she hadn't looked as pale as she did right now. Her brow was furrowed and sweaty, she looked pale. She looked like death.

Anna whispered something incoherent, she couldn't focus. She was too tired, her tongue stuck inside her mouth making it impossible to form sentences. Her whole body ached, her muscles twitched with exertion and pain.

Mikey made his way over to Raph's chair with his older brother's adoptive child pressed protectively against his chest.

"Hey guys...? Leo told us that Grace is like, six right? Should..." Mikey paused looking down at the child, "should she be this small? This skinny?" Worry played in Mikey's eyes as he gazed down at the little girl.

Don came over to look her over gently taking her from Mikey's comforting grip.

"I don't think Leo told us everything," whispered Don more to himself than to the others.

"What do you mean, Donnie?" questioned Raph in a delicate voice he reserved only when they stumbled upon small children he didn't want to scare with his normal deep accented voice.

Don finished looking over Grace then sat back on his heels, "As turtles our bones are larger, thicker than that of humans. We also have eight plates that are hard but flexible across our chest that is known as our plastron. Our plastron is thick enough to protect us up to two and a half inches. We also have a large shell on our backs that our spinal column is connected to."

"Not that I do not enjoy the anatomy lesson Donatello but, what does this have to do with the current situation?" Splinter raised an eye brow.

Don stood to face his father, angry he hadn't thought of this before, "Anna is way too skinny and so is Grace. They're bodies are malnourished, they look like ghosts. Leo has green skin and thick bones. While he can look pale it is only when we are devistingly pale that we start to look sickly. Also, since our bones are thicker I think his body is giving off the look of still having some muscles and fat when in reality, he has none. In short, his body is hiding the damage. He told us he was beaten regularly, he told us they fed him and he told us they were aloud water on a daily basis. From the look of him and these girls... He was lying. And I'm guessing about more than one thing."

Casey held April in his arms as they stood next to Anna's small form on the couch. April had a hand on Anna forehead and was alternating from gently petting her hair to rubbing it in soothing circles. The teenager's heavy breathing calmed and the twitching in her body stilled until she only cringed slightly at April's touch. Splinter was seated in his chair to the left of the couch. Raph had his arms crossed standing in the middle of the room, biting his lip.

"What do we do now?" asked Mike pulling Grace close to him as Don stepped away to stand next to Raph. Don shrugged shaking his head while looking down to the ground.

April detached herself from Casey and lifted Anna's thin shoulders off the couch before she sat down placing the teenager's head in her lap. Again Anna mumbled something too quiet to hear.

"What was that honey?" April drew closer to her. Raph unfolded his arms and walked over to the teenager getting down on his knee to hear her better.

"Leo..." She whispered, eyes closed but darting under the lids.

"What about Leo, Annalisa?" Don asked in a comforting yet commanding voice Leonardo himself would've been proud of.

Anna forced her eyes open, forced herself to focus. "They have him... They took him away..." she mumbled eyes sliding back closed.

"Who has 'im? Who 'as Leo?" Raph needed to know where his brother was. He needed to know who to kill for taking his brother.

Anna forced herself to focus. She drew on the last amount of energy she could muster. She grabbed the scant amount of will from deep inside of herself then whispered hoarsely, "K-Karai... Karai has Leo."

Raph let out a long breath, "Oh shell."

Thoughts?

….So, is that considered a cliff hanger? I am horribly fond of those

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Have a good day fellow readers!