This was originally a gift for the fabulous Jinja-neko, and came as an extension of the askthehamato post about how they celebrate the holidays. It also helps if you read the Christmas story, but it's not essential.

Happy new year, everyone.

Home for the Holidays

April leaned her head against the window as the car moved through the streets. What should have been quiet sidewalks at this time of night – quiet for New York, anyway – were brimming with people. Couples, groups of friends, parents and children, all laughing, their faces upturned to the falling snow. The white flakes danced in the light of the passing streetlamps, and April tried to put on a happy face as she watched.

She hadn't wanted to go away. She'd wanted to stay in New York. But with Grandma getting older and travel getting harder, it just made more sense for everyone to go out to Cousin Ben's in Massachusetts for Christmas; he had the biggest house and the most space for all the young cousins to run around in. And it had meant being out of the city for the holiday. Her aunt hadn't said anything about it, but April was pretty sure that she had ulterior motives for getting April away from the city for the holidays, wanting to spare her from the memories conjured up by the lights and the laughter.

Losing the house had been hard. The landlord had given them some leeway when her father had been abducted – the man wasn't a total Scrooge – but as the months dragged on while Kirby was a prisoner of the Kraang, there'd been no way to pay the rent. Eventually, the landlord simply couldn't give April any more time, and her aunt didn't make enough to cover the rent on two properties.

She hadn't told the guys. Hadn't been able to figure out how to tell them. She'd just quietly packed up all their things one weekend and let her aunt help her move them all into storage. Coming back to find out they were homeless had been a huge shock for Kirby after his rescue, but her aunt's house was big enough, and they were together, and it was only going to be a matter of time before he found a new job and got back on his feet and they could find a place of their own again.

And then came the mutagen.

When she'd run out on the turtles that night, she hadn't gone back to her aunt's house straight away. She had spent a long time wandering the streets, weeping and bereft, trying to figure out what she was going to say. When her father had been abducted, that at least had been something that happened to people – though, granted, they weren't usually abducted by aliens, unless late night TV was to be believed – but even when it had been something within the realm of possibility, nobody had believed her story. And now…

In the end, she had gone home, and smiled at her aunt, and told her that Kirby was going to pick up some takeout and that they should set the table.

And she had sat at the table she knew her father would never come home to, watching her aunt's expression shift from impatience, to irritation, to fear when her father failed to answer his phone. April let her aunt deal with the police report this time, merely filling in the blanks when prompted. Yes, her dad had gone up to the roof with her to help her with her homework. Yes, he'd gone to pick up dinner when they'd finished. No, she hadn't seen him since.

She'd kept the claw marks on her shoulders carefully covered. They'd raise too many questions she didn't want to answer.

And so it all started again. The quiet conferences with teachers who pulled her aside in class and told her that they'd make accommodations… but only for so long. The looks from her classmates, who despite her efforts to keep it quiet, somehow knew anyway that April O'Neil's dad was missing again. The fights with her aunt, who found herself once again thrust into the role she'd never signed on for, as the primary caretaker of a smart, opinionated, wounded teenage girl.

Was it any wonder that by the time she had finally mended fences with the turtles, she had been half-mad with the need to talk to someone, anyone, who knew exactly what she was feeling? Or why the first thing she'd done when she'd gone home the night after her return to the lair was lock herself in her room and cry into her pillow for hours from the sheer overwhelming surge of emotions.

It had been Mikey who'd finally gotten the truth out of her. She wasn't even entirely sure how he'd managed it. One minute, they were talking about her collection of action figures, and she'd let the fact that they were all in storage now just sort of…slip. He hadn't missed it though. Maybe it was the words themselves, or maybe it was the small hitch in her voice, but something alerted him and she found herself the focus of his intent stare. Mikey when he was focused on himself could be scary, and a person could find herself completely swept aside in the wake of his self-indulgence. Mikey when he was focused on you was downright terrifying, and sometimes the depths of the compassion that lurked beneath his scatterbrained naiveté threatened to overwhelm her. But he'd listened as she'd broken down, moving at one point to rub her shoulders, occasionally murmuring things like "cleansing breaths, April." By the end of it, she had crawled into his lap, crying into his shoulder as he held her tightly, but he'd said no more about it. She had thought that would be the end of it. But she had underestimated the depths of both his understanding and his determination.

In the end, Michelangelo recruited his father. It had been Splinter who had suggested that April bring her Christmas things to the lair and put up a tree. She'd put one up to indulge Mikey the year before, but it had been a simple little thing with a few drugstore ornaments – she'd still been holding on to hope that she'd need her own decorations for herself and her father, and she'd set their own tree up at the empty apartment, back before she'd been evicted. Blinking at Splinter in astonishment, she'd stammered something along the lines of "but I didn't think you guys really celebrated Christmas."

To which he had just smiled and rested a hand against her shoulder. "No. But you do."

They'd held their festivities on Christmas Eve - big turkey dinner and everything. And first thing Christmas morning, April had returned to her aunt's to get carted off to the big house in the country, where she'd endured even more staring, and conversations halting abruptly when she walked into a room, and people pretending that everything was normal when in the end, all she'd wanted to do was scream and break something.

She hadn't thought she could miss the city so much, but the relief she felt as they wove their way through the familiar streets felt like a weight lifting from her chest, and she could finally breathe again. The second they arrived home, April wasted little time in running her suitcase up to her room and throwing the few necessities she needed to an overnight bag.

Her aunt was standing in the hallway when April emerged, and April had a momentary pang of guilt over the fact that she was essentially abandoning her on New Year's Eve. But her aunt had seen the struggle April had gone through out in the country, and the look she turned on April was one of understanding as she stepped forward and hugged her niece, and April was left with a fleeting, half-formed thought, wondering just which side of the family her particular gift had come from.

"Have a good time," her aunt said, and her tone was half wish, and half command.

April smiled and nodded, settling the strap of her bag more firmly over her shoulder. "I will." There was a slight pause before she added, "thank you," and there were layers of emotion in those two words that her aunt needed no help in decoding. She picked up a bottle sporting a large red bow from the side table, offering it to April with a smile. "This is for you and your friends."

April glanced at the label and grinned. "Non-alcoholic champagne. We'll be living the high life tonight."

"Don't be sassy," her aunt retorted, giving April's rear a gentle swat as she headed for the door. "See you soon?"

With another smile, April nodded, and let the door close behind her. The second she was out of sight, she was running toward the lair.

As she pushed through the turnstiles, her arms laden down with bags thanks to a quick stopover at Murakami's, she took a moment to appreciate the silent lair. The Christmas tree still stood in the corner, its coloured lights dancing off the ornaments that rotated gently in the omnipresent drafts that always blew through the sewers. As she stepped in, carefully wiping her boots on the "Happy Ho-Ho-Holidays!" mat she had chosen for the apartment when she was nine, she spied a few of her favourites on the tree: the little brass unicorn with her name on it that her mom had bought for April's first Christmas; the little head made out of a cotton-stuffed nylon with orange yarn hair and button eyes that she had made during a "Christmas in Victorian Times" museum visit in the second grade; the sparkly Dauntless ornament she had given her father two years ago.

Strings of lights dripped from the pipes overhead, highlighting the countless other decorations and ornaments that she and Kirby had accumulated over the years, which now hung from every available surface. As well as the Christmas decorations that had been up before she'd left for the country, the guys' kadomatsu now stood on either side of the turnstiles. In addition to the bamboo, pine, and straw that she'd learned was traditional, the brothers had also added their own embellishments to the new year's decorations – the one to the right of the door had action figures lurking around the base of it and paper cranes hanging from the pine boughs, and the one on the left was adorned with shuriken and a garland made of computer resistors wired together into a chain.

"Sweet, April's here!" crowed a voice over her shoulder, and April jumped with a small shriek. You'd think, after all this time, she'd be used to the ninja-ing.

Mikey reached out to steady her and plucked the bags from her hands, passing them off to the brothers who had appeared behind him. "Come on, they can get this stuff ready. You and I are going to get you ready!"

"Um… help?" April glanced over at Raph as Mikey grabbed her hands and started dragging her toward the bedrooms.

"Hey, last year we did the firework thing. Which was fun," Raph said, grinning.

"But this year, we're doing it our way," Leo finished, resting his elbow against Raph's shoulder.

"Hey, Murakami-san put kagami mochi in here!" Donnie cried happily, peering into one of the bags.

April blinked at them, completely lost and still overwhelmed by Hurricane Mikey. "What?"

"Chill, April. Trust us. You're in good hands." Mikey turned his thousand-watt grin on her, and April was pulled helplessly in his wake.

She found herself staring around the room in disbelief as Mikey's door closed behind her. "Wow. I don't think I've ever seen your room this clean before."

He shrugged as he crossed the room to his bed, the sheets in pristine order. "You hafta clean on Ōmisoka. It's, like, the law or something." Picking up a box from the bed, he held it out to her eagerly. "This is for you. Sensei says it's to make up for all the years when you were a kid that you didn't get otoshidama for shogatsu."

"What for the what now?" April took the box, eyeing it curiously.

"Presents for New Year." Mikey poked her impatiently in the ribs, making her squeak. "Apriiiiil. Open iiiiiit."

"All right, all right," she said, swatting at his hand. "Yeesh. Be patient." She set the box down on the nearest solid surface, which happened to be a large wooden crate, and pulled it open.

It took her a moment of blinking at the bright fabric before she figured out what lay inside. Her hands shaking a little, she pulled out her present and held it up to herself. It was some kind of kimono, done in yellow fabric covered in sprays of little white flowers – flowers she recognized, for she saw their image around the lair every day. The white of each flower was accented with touches of colour – pinks, purples, blues, reds, and greens. "Mikey…" she breathed. She had thought her Christmas present from Splinter and the boys was amazing, but this… this… "I don't—" her voice cracked a little, and she swallowed hard.

Coming up behind her, Mikey placed a hand on her shoulder and went up on his toes to kiss her cheek. "You had a rough year. We wanted you to have something nice for the new one."

She turned to him, her eyes shining a little. "But… I don't know how…" she gestured at the box.

"Pssh. That's why I'm here." He tugged the kimono out of her hands and pulled another robe out of the box, this one in a lighter white fabric. "Put this on and I'll help you out with the rest." With a leap, he threw himself onto his bed, and on the first bounce, she watched in astonishment as his head and limbs retracted into his shell. "I'm not looking!" came his muffled voice. "Go ahead!"

Bemused, April quickly divested herself of her coat and most of her outerwear, though she kept on the tights that she had put on beneath her jeans to ward off the chill of the lair in December. Slipping into the white garment, she pulled it closed. "Okay."

Mikey peered out of his shell and immediately started giggling. "No, no, no. Guuurl, you never wear it like that unless you're dead." He mimed swapping the closure. "Other way."

She could feel her face heating as she switched the overlapping sides, and Mikey nodded in approval. The next few moments were a confusion of fabric as Mikey tucked, tied, and adjusted things, but as he held up a cracked mirror for her perusal, she couldn't help but let out a little squeak of delight. "It's so pretty!"

Mikey snorted. "Like we'd put you in anything that wasn't."

There was a soft tapping at the door before she could snap out a comeback, and Leo entered at Mikey's shouted invitation, smiling as he saw her. "You look nice."

But April was too busy staring to respond. Leo was wearing a… what was it called? Hakama? Something like that... in shades of blue and grey, and for the first time since she'd known them, he wasn't wearing his mask in front of her. "Wow, Leo. You look… wow."

His grin widened. "Thanks April." Raising a brow at her, he folded his arms. "But let's do something about that hair, huh?"

"Aww!" Mikey had started pulling a slightly-wrinkled hakama of his own out of the wooden crate when Leo entered, but he glanced up in dismay at Leo's words. "I wanna do it!"

"Last time you did it, she ended up with a teased side-ponytail."

"That was pretty!"

"It's Ōmisoka Mikey, not an 80s dance movie." He glanced at April. "Unless that's what April wants."

Oh, you jerk. She stuck her tongue out at him in thanks for putting her on the spot before turning to face Mikey. "I've already had a Mikey-style for one special occasion," she said consolingly. "Let's let Leo try something new this time, okay?"

Mikey's face fell. "Okay," he said glumly, but then brightened again almost immediately. "But I get to do the kanzashi!"

"Uhhh…" April glanced at Leo, who gave an imperceptible nod. "…sure!"

As Mikey let out a whoop and bounded off somewhere, April let out a sigh of relief. She retrieved her brush from her overnight bag and passed it over to Leo before freeing her hair from its ponytail and pulling her hairband loose. Perching on the edge of the bed, she closed her eyes as Leo began to pull the brush through her hair. She never really understood his fascination with her hair, but there were times she had to admit, having someone else brush it felt really comforting. It reminded her a bit of when her dad had done it when she was little – well, after she'd outgrown the screaming, fighting phase.

"Leo?" she ventured, running a hand along the silk edge of one of her sleeves. "It's not that I'm not grateful or anything, but—"

"April, if anyone deserves something really nice this year, it's you." He tapped her gently on the head with the brush. "Now quit worrying and let yourself enjoy it."

"But—"

"If you keep that up, I'll make you take back the presents you got us for Christmas."

Splinter always said that a good kunoichi knew when she was beaten. Giving a quiet huff of laughter, she closed her eyes. "Fine."

Mikey chose that moment to bound back into the room with something clutched in his hands. Beaming, he passed it off to April, who stared at it in amazement. It was a hair ornament, made to look like a spray of yellow and white flowers crafted from shimmering organza, with little crystals glittering at the centre of each one. "How…?"

"The internet is a wonderful thing," said Leo.

Mikey plucked the ornament from her hands and set it carefully in her hair. "There," he said, and stood back to look her over in satisfaction. "Yeah. That'll do." He picked up the mirror and handed it to her before starting to make himself ready.

As Mikey removed his mask and began to struggle into his hakama, eventually prompting Leo to leave April's side to go and help him in a very big-brotherly, 'no this is how you're supposed to tie that!' kind of way, she couldn't take her eyes off her reflection. She was still herself, but she looked different. She looked… looked…

Her glance drifted up to where Leo was straightening something he called a haori as Mikey rolled his eyes and mimicked his brother's words in a higher pitch.

She looked like a part of this family.

As soon as Leo had deemed Mikey presentable, Michelangelo ducked out from beneath his brother's fussing hands and seized April by hers. "Come on already, let's go!"

Laughing, April let Mikey drag her out of his room and across the lair to the dojo as Leo followed at a more sedate pace. As Mikey hauled her through the door, she noted that the TV had been moved into the corner of the dojo; Raph knelt in front of it, nicely dressed in his own hakama, watching what appeared to be a team of Japanese girls singing their hearts out.

"How's the red team doing?" Mikey asked.

"They're doing awesome," Raph said, only a little annoyed at the obviousness of the question. "They're the red team."

That was met with a quiet cheer of "white teeeeam," from Leo, and a sigh from Mikey.

"I wish we could vote," Mikey said.

"It's on time delay from Japan," came Donnie's voice as he struggled across the room beneath the burden of a large straw wreath. "It actually happened hours ag-ooof!" He'd caught sight of April about halfway across the room, and walked straight into the tree. The Christmas ornaments Mikey had hung in its branches trembled at the impact, and one of them broke free with a tingling ping, heading straight for Donnie's head as he sprawled beneath it. Before it could hit, though, Leo was there, snagging the ornament from the air and reaching up to place it back in the branches.

"Smooth, Romeo," Leo said to the brother at his feet.

Donnie scowled at him. "Shut up, Leo."

"Both of you shut up," Raph snapped. "Red team is getting to the best part!"

As Leo helped Donnie up and they placed the straw wreath over one of the weapons racks, April tugged on Mikey's sleeve. "What's the show?"

Mikey blinked at her for a second before understanding dawned on his face. "Oh, right, you wouldn't know. See, every New Year's Eve, a bunch of singers get together and compete. The red team is the girls, and the white team is the guys. Then the judges and the audience vote, and they pick a winner before midnight." He gestured at the screen. "We can't call in and vote though because it's already tomorrow in Japan."

"Sensei likes to feel like we're really there," Donnie said, coming up on April's other side. His face was a little pink, and April felt an answering blush rise to her cheeks.

"You look great," she said, gesturing at his haori.

"Youhgrrahahaha," he responded, in an odd mix of fumbled compliment and giggle.

"That means 'you too,'" Leo translated for April, and he patted Donnie's shell. "Come on. We've still got to drag the kotatsu out of storage."

"It's not going to set us on fire, is it?" Mikey asked, his eyes wide with concern.

Donatello glared at him. "No," he said, his voice ringing with indignation. "Not again, anyway. I fixed the problem."

As Leo dragged Donnie off, April turned back to the screen. "So… do you guys always watch this?"

Mikey grinned. "You know that thing with the stop-motion elves you made us watch because it's not Christmas unless you watch it?"

"Yeah?"

He waved at the TV. "This is our stop-motion elves."

"Only, you know, not lame," Raph added.

April drew out the tessen she had tucked into her obi (which was a dark rose, embroidered with tiny flowers of a slightly lighter shade) and whacked him across the shell with it before she knelt down next to him. "So who are we rooting for?"

"Red team," Mikey and Raph chorused.

"Leo and Donnie like the white team," said Raph. "But they're crazy."

April tilted her head, watching curiously as the girls were replaced by a row of five impeccably dressed and incredibly attractive young Japanese men, who began to sing in a heartbreaking perfect harmony. "I dunno, I'm starting to see the appeal of the white team."

"Traitor," Raph muttered.

"No, she just has good taste," Leo quipped as he and Donnie re-entered, carrying a table between them.

For the next few moments, all four of the boys were occupied with placing the table in front of the TV, arranging the heavy blanket that trailed off all four sides, setting cushions around it, and most curiously, finding an extension cord to plug in the wire trailing from it, though she couldn't quite make out why anyone would want to plug in a table.

As April watched with bemusement, a soft hand fell upon her shoulder, and she looked up at her sensei. He, too, had changed, his robes now a formal set that matched the ones the boys wore, and he smiled down upon her. "I am very glad you decided to join us this year, April."

"Oh, Sensei," April gestured down at her kimono, suddenly flustered. "I just… I love it, thank you so much, but you didn't have to-"

"April," he admonished gently. "Your coming here has brought light into our home, and it gives-me joy to see you attired so. We did not have to. We wanted to." He patted her shoulder before dropping his hand to his side. "Will you help me with the tea while my sons are occupied?"

Smiling, April nodded, and they left the boys to their bickering.

When she and Splinter returned with the tea, the turtles had managed to sort out the table to their satisfaction and arranged themselves around it with the heavy blanket draped over their laps. April accepted a cushion next to Donnie with some trepidation, but was delighted to discover that it was warm under the table - a welcome experience given the normal draftiness of the lair.

For the next hour or so, they watched the program with an intensity April had only ever seen when Leo was watching Space Heroes, bickering with each other and cheering over song and wardrobe choices. She couldn't understand much of the singing, but it was entertaining enough that she didn't need to, and between the warmth of the tea, the table, and her adopted brothers, she was cozier than she remembered being in a long time. Her cup was never empty, either - as soon as she even came close to finishing her tea, one of the boys was refilling it before she could reach for the pot. It would have annoyed her, but she noticed they were doing it for each other, too. Apparently, no one was allowed to fill their own cups tonight. She filed that away for future reference, and settled in to enjoy the shows - both the one on the television, and the one playing out between the brothers, who were growing increasingly competitive over the singing competition.

It was different, but in the best possible way. While the family was often together, it was rarely this...domestic. But even Splinter had seated himself at the table with the rest of them, offering the occasional cutting remark about pitchiness or awkward lyrics, and it was a side of him she was enjoying getting to know. She didn't often see him this relaxed – or the dojo this festive, for that matter.

At one point, while the white team was involved in a particularly complicated song and dance routine, she noticed an addition to the altar - some kind of ornament, made up of two white blobs on a lacquered stand, with what looked like a fan stuck into an orange on the top. She prodded Donnie with her tessen and pointed at it with a raised brow.

"Oh, that's the kagami mochi Murakami-san sent," he said, keeping his voice low so that he didn't interrupt the singing.

"What are the white things?" she asked, indicating the white blobs on the bottom.

"Mochi. Ummm...rice cake things."

"We get to eat them next Sunday," Mikey whispered, sidling in on April's other side. "That's when we'll have our first real practice of the year." He beamed at her. "We get an almost-vacation until then!"

"Shhh!" Raph hissed at them. "This is the last song."

Leo had vanished while Donnie was explaining the kagami mochi to her, but he reappeared not long afterward bearing a large tray filled with carefully-balanced plates of noodles. Donnie and Mikey leaped up to help him distribute them as the red team began their last song.

"Murakami?" April guessed.

"He did all the food for us this year," Leo replied, resuming his seat at the table. "Wait till you see what we have for the next three days."

April had caught a glimpse of the elaborate feast packed into several gorgeous lacquered boxes before Mr. Murakami had packed them up and sent her off with them, locking up the shop after her so that he could attend his own festivities with his family. If the food tasted anywhere near as good as it looked, she'd probably be rolling home by the end of the three days of celebration the boys had planned. She picked up her chopsticks and prepared to dig in.

"Man, this is so much better when it's noodles instead of worms!" Mikey crowed.

April took a second glance at her noodles in consternation, but they remained reassuringly plain noodles topped with some of Murakami's homemade tempura. As the boys and Splinter tucked in around her, she reflected on the words Splinter had spoken to her as they had gotten the tea.

This is a time of letting go, he had told her. The new year is for new beginnings. This evening, you can reflect upon those burdens you wish to leave behind, and set them aside as we cross from the old year into the new.

That, she thought, was an idea she could really get behind.

About fifteen minutes before midnight, the program drew to a close - red team won, and Leo and Donnie took the loss with far more grace than Raph and Mikey likely would have. The losers cleared the plates, and as midnight drew near, the time-delayed broadcast switched from the concert venue to an outdoor view of some kind of shrine. Crowds of people had gathered in the courtyard, smiling and laughing, but they fell silent as a song began to play.

Around her, the boys drew closer, Mikey singing quietly under his breath, and she could feel the change in energy in the air around her. She found her heart speeding up in anticipation, even though she really had very little idea of what was going on. As the song ended, the crowd began to chant. She recognized the Japanese numbers as the boys began to count down - she'd had to learn one through ten in order to count off her exercises - and she added her voice to theirs, tentative at first, but growing louder as they drew closer to 'one.'. And as they finished, cheering erupted from the crowd on the TV as a man within the shrine began to beat a giant drum. April found herself suddenly in Mikey's arms, and she laughed as he kissed her cheek, earning a sound of frustration from Donnie behind her that was nearly drowned out by Raph and Leo as they added their voices to the crowd.

"Make a wish, April," Mikey whispered into her ear. "First wishes of the year are important."

The low, rolling sound of a massive bell began to ring in the shrine, and as the boys fell respectfully silent, Splinter produced the bottle April's aunt had given her, gracing her with a smile. "This is a night for your traditions as well," he said. "But first, there is one more of ours that we must observe."

Mikey gave a little squeak of excitement, and April followed his attention to the doorway. Leo had vanished again while Splinter was talking, and he stood in the doorway now, carrying a little bowl filled with rice. The bowl, in the shape of a turtle, showed signs of a long life of love and care, crazed with cracks where it had been broken and mended on more than one occasion. April straightened a little, recognizing this tradition from their stories. The first offering of the year to the altar in the dojo was a special one, and the honour of making it was given each year to the member of the family who had shown the most progress throughout the previous year. Mikey had bragged about being chosen last year for more than a month. She glanced around eagerly to see which of the brothers had earned the coveted honour this time.

It wasn't until Mikey started giggling that April became fully aware of the fact that Leo had stopped in front of her, and was holding the bowl out to her with an expression of fond exasperation.

"What? Me?" she breathed, looking to Splinter, but he merely nodded with a smile. "But…. I don't know what to do…. I…."

"Just make the offering and say what's in your heart," Leo said quietly. "It's okay."

Her eyes wide, she turned back to Splinter, and her sensei's smiling face wavered for a moment as her eyes pricked with tears. Wiping them away with the back of her hand, she bowed low toward him before rising to her feet, carefully taking the bowl from Leo and approaching the shrine.

Tang Shen's face stared down at her with gentle benevolence as April stopped in front of the photograph, her hands shaking a little. Looking down at the offering in her hands, she took strength from the cheerful face of the turtle-bowl peering over the rice, and raised her gaze again to the picture.

Say what's in your heart…

She kept her voice low, and the others kept a respectful distance. This was a conversation for the women of the family. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly. "This has been the worst year of my life," she said, her vision blurring again. "But the people in it have been the best. I don't know where I'd be without them, and I don't want to know." Mikey had told her to make a wish, and it didn't take a genius to figure out what that was, but even as she remembered it, her hands tightened a little on the bowl, and the tremor faded from her voice. "Gaining four brothers is the best thing that's ever happened to me. It doesn't make up for what I lost. But they give me the strength to get through it." Slowly, she made a deep, respectful bow toward the woman and the baby in the picture, and reached up to place the bowl atop the altar. "Thank you," she whispered, "for letting me be part of your family. I promise I'll take good care of them for you."

She turned back to be greeted by the beaming faces of her brothers, and her Sensei's silent approval. Leo opened his arms, and she raced into them, laughing as he lifted her briefly off the ground before setting her back down and letting her reclaim her spot at the table.

And so they sat, drinking the sparkling grape juice April's aunt had provided as the turtles attempted to teach April a card game that seemed to involve a suspicious amount of yelling and ninjutsu, until a combination of the late hour and the warmth of the table caused her eyes to grow heavy. Unable to help herself, she slipped quietly into sleep, her head coming to rest against Donnie's shoulder.

It was the odd juxtaposition of cold and warmth that woke her, and she blinked groggily into the darkness, completely at a loss. Then, as her eyes slowly adjusted, she became aware of the skeletal forms of trees in the darkness around her, and the crunch of snow beneath several pairs of ninja feet nearby. And the giant shape silhouetted against the lightening sky above her…

Splinter. She was wrapped in a thick padded blanket, and Splinter held her in his arms.

"Ah good," he said, before she had time to be mortified. "I was wondering if you would wake in time." He set her down on the snow, and she allowed herself a momentary pang of regret. It had been a long time since she had been carried like that, but that feeling of being cherished by a father… she missed it.

Someone had jammed her boots onto her feet, and though they were on the wrong feet and looked odd peeping out beneath the hem of her kimono, they protected her from the bite of the snow. She wrapped the blanket more tightly around herself, and it was joined a few seconds later by Mikey's arms.

"First sunrise," he told her. "Also very important."

Leo pressed something into her hand, and she looked down to see a steaming cup of... something. She sipped it carefully, her eyes widening at the taste of warm, sweetened alcohol, and she glanced at Splinter with a question in her eyes.

He chuckled softly. "A very small amount is allowed on this night." He cleared his throat. "You may not want to tell your aunt."

She giggled, but the sweet, warm sake banished the last of the chill.

Slowly, Raph and Leo drifted closer, and she reached for Donnie's hand. His massive fingers closed carefully around hers, surrounding it with strength and warmth and keeping the cold at bay. Smiling, April leaned her head against Mikey's as they turned to face the east, and as the sun broke over the horizon, painting the snow-covered trees and the waters of the pond before them with gold, she let out a long, happy sigh.

The year had been one of challenges, and sorrows, and heartbreak. But that was the old year. Her gaze drifted downward, to the sparkling bracelet wrapped several times around her wrist. It had taken a long time to get it properly clean, but the strand of crystals glittered like the snow in the light of dawn. She would leave the old year behind, and focus on the year of new beginnings. New discoveries. New ways to help her father, to stop the Kraang, to bring the shadows in her life to light. Because she was part of the greatest family in the world, and as she stood, surrounded by her four brothers, watched over by their sensei, she was certain that together, they would triumph in the end.