"Thump, Thump, Thump..."

I'm a light sleeper. It developed as a kid, after all the times that my brothers woke me up as a kid. Even though it lessened as we got older, I still have the habit to wake up at the sound of a quiet noise. So when I heard someone trip over the stairs, my eyes shot open. I didn't hear them hit the ground, so they must've just missed a step.

Being who I am, I hopped out of the cot that I slept in and left the room. Just to make sure that everything was alright. I quietly stepped down the stairs and turned the corner.

Casey sat at the kitchen table, hunched over and his head in his hands. I walked over and sat next to him. "Case?"

He jumped and shot his head up. "Oh, uh, h-hey…"

"Everything alright?" I scooted closer.

He sniffled. "Y-yeah."

"I don't believe you."

He opened his mouth, but quickly closed it. "I-I…" He clenched his teeth. He was in pain. I could tell.

I got up from my chair and reached out my hand. "C'mere."

He took my hand and stood up. I picked up my jacket and we walked through the door. Our fingers were intertwined as we walked to the barn. "Um, Em? What are you-"

I stuck my finger to his lips. "Shh." With that, I turned around and started walking again. Casey rolled his eyes. "Well okay then."

I opened the barn door and we walked in. The large figure of the Kraang car met our gaze. It was only last night were me and Casey had to race it against the mutant car and Donnie himself. I don't know if I should recognize that as a thrill or a horror. Maybe both…?

I climbed into the car and offered for him to take the passengers seat. I noticed the goosebumps on his arms. "Aren't you cold?"

"Not really…" He blushed and looked away.

I just smirked and sighed. "You're a terrible liar." I removed my jacket and handed it to him. He slipped it over his arms and flicked it over his shoulders. It fit him quite nicely, actually. It went below my waist, so the length was practically perfect, and he's thinner than I am so it fit him loosely, but nicely.

I fired up the engine and backed out of the barn, and we took off along the mountainside road.

Casey's POV

Emily had one hand on the wheel and one over the car door as we sped along. Her long hair whipped behind her as we got over 50mph. Her lip was curled into a small smirk.

I couldn't help but stare.

She looked at me and smiled, flashing one of her fangs. I nervously smiled back and looked at the mountain beside us.

Emily switched her hands on the wheel and laid the other one down onto the seat. At the same time I leaned over and accidentally pressed my hand against hers. I flinched and quickly took my hand away.

Emily looked at me, concerned. "You seem jittery. Very un-Casey-Jones like."

"Uh… I-I'll be okay." I stammered.

Emily smirked. "Alright." She put her eyes back on the road. I hesitated for a second, but eased my hand back down on hers. She smiled a little more and grasped it.

We kept on driving, the mountain side and stars rushing past us. After a while, Emily pulled the car over on the side of the road and stopped the car. She hopped out and reached her hand out. "Let's go over to the side."

I took her hand and we walked to the side of the road, where we sat down on the pavement and swung out legs over the edge, resting our arms on the guardrails. The light breeze ruffled her hair. She looked over at me and smiled. "You alright?"

"Y-yeah!" I said, a little too frantically. She looked concerned. I did my best to put on a small smile. "I'm okay."

A few minutes passed. I took my phone out and turned the camera on, and then hung it over the edge and started to film. The first thing Emily said was "If you drop that thing I'm going to laugh."

We laughed together. "Why are you videotaping me?" She asked. I just shrugged. "Good enough for me."

I just started to ask her random questions. "What's your favorite band?"

"Three Days Grace."

"Favorite color?"

"Black."

This went on for a good seven minutes. Just us randomly talking into my little phone camera. Of course, I wouldn't be able to show anyone, but that didn't matter. I was happy with just this.

After twelve minutes and fifty-five seconds, we ended the video. Emily sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. "This is fun. Quiet, but fun."

I smirked. "Yeah…"

She lifted her head off of my shoulder. "Hey, Case?" I looked over at her. "Why did I find you at the kitchen table?"

I swallowed. "Uh… i-it was just a bad dream. No big deal…" My face reddened.

She scooted a little closer. "Wanna talk about it?"

I didn't want to. Talking about it made me feel helpless, pitiful. Plus I didn't wanna fall into tears. But I looked at her, and… I felt like I could talk to her. I knew I could.

So I did.

"Yeah, I-I do. It was with my dad and m-my sister…" She put her arm around my back. "It's just that… we know what happened to April's dad, we know what happened to Splinter, but… w-we never saw what happened to them. Th-they could be hiding, or they could be mutants, or they could be…" I swallowed a lump in my throat. "...dead…"

"Case…" She started.

Tears began to cloud my vision. "In the dream… I reach out. But the second I touch them… they fade away." I covered my mouth as I started to really cry.

Emily shifted onto her knees. I buried my head into her shoulder with my arms tightly around her neck. She hugged me around the center of my back. I was softly sobbing into her. I felt helpless, pitiful, and I fell into tears. But I didn't feel embarrassed, and I didn't want to push her away. I was okay like this. I have total trust in this girl.

I remember one time I ran into Tigerclaw late at night, alone. He threw me against a pole and punched my face a few times. I had no idea what to do and nobody was home, so I just texted her. At 11:30p.m. Giving her no detail of the incident once so ever. I just told her to get there.

She was there in literally five minutes. She took me to my apartment and helped me out.

She's bled for me so many times, taken so many hits for me, it's scary.

She's my hero. No doubt about it.

"We'll find them. I promise." She assured. I knew that we couldn't prove it for sure, but I felt like we really could find them when she said that we could, dead or alive. Let's just pray it's alive.

Me and her sat like that for a while, with my head on her shoulder and her arms around my back. It felt nice, being held.

I let go. "T-thanks," I said, wiping my eyes. She smiled weakly and kissed my cheek. I looked at the ground, blushing.

Emily smirked. "I'm always there if you wanna talk." She got herself to her feet and reached out her hand. Once I was upright, I pulled her into me again, one arm around around her neck and the other around her upper back. She stiffened, like she usually does when shown sudden affection, and then tightly hugged me around my back, softly swaying from side to side. Her long, wavy hair was plastered against my cheek. I sighed and buried my nose deeper into her shoulder.

She's definitely my hero.

We got ourselves back in the car. I sat in the middle seat and Emily drove. I rested my head against her shoulder and listened to the tune of the radio. Lay Me Down by Sam Smith was playing. Emily sang along towards the end.

"Can I lay by your side?

Next to you, you

And make sure you're alright

I'll take care of you

I don't want to be here if I can't be with you tonight

"Lay me down tonight

Lay me by your side

Lay me down tonight

Lay me by your side

Can I lay by your side?

Next to you

You…."

I ended up falling asleep with the feel of the night and Emily's beautiful voice echoing through my ears.

Emily's POV

Casey was asleep on my shoulder. I smiled and softly shook his shoulder. "Case…"

He slowly lifted his head up. "Hm…"

I smiled and helped him out of the car, considering he was half asleep. I put my arm around his waist as we walked back to the house, up the stairs, and into the room that he, Raph, and Leo shared. He flopped down I put the covers over him and plopped a kiss on his cheek. He was out in a matter of seconds.

I bent down and looked at him for a bit, smiling at the fact that he breathed through the gap in his teeth.

With a final glance, I turned and walked out of the room, carefully closing the door.

What Casey told me really scared me. I wasn't surprised that he was scared for his family, but the size of the wound surprised me. I didn't really know what to say. But it turned out that he didn't want words. Just a shoulder.

I peeked into the room one last time. We would find Casey's parents, we would find April's dad, and we would find my dad.

I was sure of it.