Casey paced the length of the kitchen table, muttering angrily to himself as he chewed on his thumbnail.

"I can't believe you guys!" He finally burst out, rounding on the occupants sitting at the table. "I cannot believe you guys!" He looked to his girlfriend who ducked her head to hide behind her hair. "I mean, come on babe, spying on my cousin? Why?!"

Leo answered for her. "It was our idea, Casey." The detective's eyes narrowed on him. "April just got dragged into it."

"I'm gonna ask again," Casey growled. "Why?"

"Watch yer tone!" Raph warned in a low voice.

The human turned to the gargantuan turtle with a snarl. "Watch my tone?! You watch it!"

"Enough!" Leo told them. "We're sorry, Casey." He held up a hand in a placating gesture. "We wanted to get an impression of who your cousin was, especially considering you've never mentioned her before." The tension in the room increased with the weight of his statement.

"So you decided to spy on her?!"

Leo's expression remained stoic. "We have to ensure our safety and continued secrecy. I wanted to know what kind of a risk your cousin might pose to be."

Casey snorted. "And you couldn't have just asked?"

"It's not like yeh were all that forthcomin' 'bout her in the first place," Raph told him.

Casey made a face but April agreed with Raph. "They're right, babe," she mumbled. "It's not like you mentioned a cousin in the entire time you've known us. I mean, why didn't you tell me?" Her voice wavered.

This had Casey backtracking. His shoulders dropped and his face fell. "Oh, babe," he murmured. "I'm sorry." He walked to her and crouched down in front of her, taking her hands in his. "Look. Sammy…" Casey sighed and shook his head. "Sammy and I were very close. Thick as thieves. Attached at the hip. All that shit." He chuckled but the sound was a little sad. "But the career she chose kind of...ended all of that."

"Ended it how?" April asked softly.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Casey told them, "Well, I couldn't...talk to her. And she couldn't talk to me. It wasn't allowed. I mean, I wasn't even supposed to mention her to anyone else! So… I got used to not talking about her by the time I met all of you." He motioned to everyone at the table with a sweeping gesture of his hand. "It was just second nature at that point, I guess."

"What kind of job makes people cut off contact with family?" April asked, disgusted.

Donnie was the one to answer when Casey wouldn't. "Any number of high ranking Government or Military jobs." April glanced between the purple-banded turtle and her boyfriend in surprise. "Or something not so...legal as those."

Casey shot him a hard look but Leo backed him up. "Donnie's right. It could be any number of things." He was watching Casey expectantly, waiting for him to assuage their fears; to tell them there was nothing to be worried about.

But Casey simply shook his head. "My cousin's a great person. She's nothing to be afraid of."

Raph snorted while Leo said, "We're not afraid. Just being cautious."

"Well stop. Sammy doesn't deserve your paranoia."

Leo considered their human friend for a moment, weighing the risks and possibilities of this newcomer. Finally, he sighed, "We'll leave it alone. For now." Casey didn't seem to like his answer but said nothing, accepting of it for the time being.

"So…" Mikey began, speaking up for the first time since the human couple had arrived. "Does this mean I get ta meet her?"

The blue-banded brother gave the youngest a stern look. "No Mikey."

"What?! Why not?!"

"We're supposed to be a secret, yeh idiot!" Raph said, smacking him upside the head.

"Ow!" Mikey retaliated with a punch to his brother's arm.

"Knock it off!" Leo barked. "Raph's right," he directed the words at Mikey. "Our presence is to remain a secret."

"But-!"

"Even to the family of our friends."

Mikey flopped back dramatically in his chair and crossed his arms, grumbling under his breath. Their purple-banded brother patted him on the arm, his expression sympathetic.

"Now that all the fuss is over," Master Splinter's voice easily carried through the Lair. "Let us eat."

The wise old rat shuffled forward, pizza boxes in his arms. He set them on the table and sat beside his youngest son, taking a slice of the cheese pizza for himself. The others dug in slowly without another word; even Mikey ate with a little less gusto than he normally did.

This matter of Casey's cousin wasn't anywhere near resolved, just tabled for now. Leo would not let it be until he was certain that the woman Sammy was not a threat to his family.

She stared unblinkingly at the pill bottle.

The clock on the wall ticked away; the sound loud in the silence. It pulsed in time with the migraine that was pounding away behind her eyes.

She was just so...tired.

Exhaustion had settled deep in her bones, and all she wanted to do was sleep. Just sleep. Was that so much to ask?

The pills would help, she knew they would. But then she'd be trapped. Trapped with no way out.

Sammy sighed and picked up the bottle, the pills rattling against the plastic as she did so. She hated feeling so cornered. On the one hand, if she took the pills, she'd be able to sleep through the night without disturbing anyone in the apartment but be stuck within her nightmares. On the other, if she didn't take the pills, she'd not get a wink of sleep for the third night in a row.

Decisions, decisions.

Shaking her head, Sammy twisted off the cap and shook a pill into her palm. Sleep it is… She switched out the pill bottle for the water bottle on the nightstand and took a swig before popping the pill into her mouth. She grimaced as she choked it down.

"Ugh." She took another drink.

Pill swallowed, Sammy slid herself under the covers and settled onto her back. She laid there, staring up at the ceiling, and watched as the fan blades spun around in slow circles. The clock continued to tick, tick, tick somewhere near the door as a car horn blared from the street below her window.

It felt both strange and somewhat nostalgic to be here in her cousin's apartment, listening to the sounds of the city she grew up in. Sounds she'd nearly forgotten. How many years had it been since she'd left? Seven? Eight? She couldn't remember exactly but it certainly felt like a lifetime ago.

Hell, it had been a different life ago.

When she'd looked Casey up, she'd expected him to have moved on from the big city. Pursued his dream elsewhere. But she'd still found him here, in this crime-infested shithole, making a name for himself as a New York City Detective.

Sammy cracked a tired smile. She was proud of him. Proud that, despite the odds, he'd achieved exactly as he'd set out to do.

The edges of her vision were beginning to darken and she tried to blink the shadows away. Her heart would be racing double-time if the meds allowed for it. Sleep was close and she was afraid. Afraid to close her eyes and be back there.

Sammy drew up the memory of her cousin's smile when he'd met her at the gate as she'd disembarked from the plane and clung to it. If she thought hard enough she could still feel the warmth and strength of his hug. Hear the creak of his leather jacket as it tightened over his shoulders. Smell the sharp scent of the icerink and aftershave on his skin. It reminded her of who she used to be… Reminded her of who she wished to be again.

Her eyelids drooped. She couldn't fight it any longer. Sleep began to claim her, swallow her, and she fought desperately to hold onto the memory of Casey as she inevitably lost herself to the darkness.