Sammy hadn't realized just who, or more like what, she'd attacked until the morning after. She'd sat on the edge of her bed and stared at her feet as she replayed the scene over and over again in her head.

A turtle. She'd attacked an honest to god man-sized turtle! She'd swept his (because it had certainly been male judging by the voice) feet right out from under him and shoved her knee in his throat while brandishing a pair of nunchucks. Nunchucks which she had gotten from his belt. A large man turtle with a pair of nunchucks. A large man turtle who also talked like some wannabe surfer that had never even dipped a toe into the ocean in his entire life.

Sammy had herself convinced she'd hallucinated it all. It was the only logical explanation after all because she was positive there had been three other bipedal turtles in the room with her as well. So, like all other problems in her life, she'd shoved it down into the recesses of her mind, locking it away in the dark and throwing away the key. She had enough to deal with as it is.

And then Casey had gone and fucked up her precariously constructed calm.

Turns out she hadn't been hallucinating! There really had been giant man-sized turtles in the apartment that night. In fact, they were all brothers and very close friends of her cousin's and his girlfriend. And she'd attacked the youngest one in a nightmare-induced rage.

That had been three days ago. Now, she sat beside Casey at the island nursing a mug of tea and honey while her leg throbbed and vibrated uncontrollably as they waited. She had hoped the warm drink would calm her somewhat but it was useless. This was all useless. Why did she have to do this? Couldn't they have just ignored this like she had planned to do?

Her leg gave a particularly painful jerk and Sammy turned to tell her cousin that this wasn't a good idea when a heavy thud on the fire escape stopped her.

Sammy glanced at the knife block beside the stove from the corner of her eye. She felt exposed. Defenseless. Her heart did an odd little flutter in her chest as her stomach twisted up into knots. She loathed feeling this way. Her leg seized up then, sending her toes straight into the island with a loud thwack.

"Jesus, Sammy!" Casey yelled, startled. "You okay?" He turned her stool so that she sat parallel to the island and took hold of her spasming calf in one hand while placing the other at the top of her knee. "This is one of the worst ones I've seen you have," he muttered as he began to massage the muscles exactly how Winston had shown him to a few months prior.

Sammy clutched the edge of the island with a white-knuckled grip. "Y-Yeah," she gasped. "Stress does that."

He looked up from her leg with a frown. "Sammy, I-." The clearing of a throat cut him off, startling Casey so much that he nearly shoved her from her stool as he shot to his feet.

"Fuck, Casey!" She snapped, barely managing to catch the corner of the island to keep herself in her seat.

Her cousin reached out to help her but she swatted his hands away. "Sorry! Sorry!" Casey apologized, his hands still hovering uselessly in front of her.

"It's fine," she grumbled. "I'm fine," she stressed when he still wouldn't sit back down.

Casey dropped his hands. "Right," he said, plopping back down on the island stool. "Sorry." Sammy rolled her eyes.

"Casey?" Sammy stiffened. That voice was…commanding. Powerful. But also purposefully emotionless. It set her on edge.

"Oh! Right." Casey placed a careful hand on her shoulder. "Guys. This is my cousin, Sammy. Sammy these are my friends." Sammy peeked across the island as Casey introduced his…friends. "Donatello in the purple. Raphael in the red. Leonardo in the blue. And Mikey, or Michaelangelo in the orange who you already know. Sort of." Each one nodded or gave a little wave when their name was said. Sammy hesitantly nodded back as she tried to get a good look at them in a not-so-obvious manner.

Leonardo was the one who had spoken, that was easy to see. He held himself stiffly, arms crossed over his chest, with a carefully neutral expression, but within his cobalt blue eyes, she could see the distrust he had for her. Standing next to him was Raphael with a scowl upon his face that reminded her of an angry pitbull. The man, or turtle, was an absolute tank; muscle stacked upon muscle. An errant thought of how he could snap her neck with one hand sent a painful jolt through her leg and up the right side of her spine. Sammy moved on from him quickly. Next to him was a curious character. Donatello stood taller than all of them, which was a feat in and of itself, and was considerably less broad but still leanly muscled. He was strapped to the ears with some kind of tech gear and wore a pair of thick glasses that he had to keep pushing back up his nose. It was kind of…adorable actually. And then there was Michaelangelo who was practically vibrating in place. He was the shortest out of the four and certainly looked the youngest with the random accessories he wore on his person; namely, a pair of sunglasses hung from a gold chain around his neck. And was that a skateboard strapped to his back - er - shell?

And of course, the most striking thing about them was that they were actually turtles. Bipedal man-sized turtles. Green skin, shells, and all. Sammy idly wondered whose lab they had come out of. She hadn't met a scientist yet that could successfully mutate animals or humans let alone splice the two together.

"It's, um, nice to meet you all," Sammy told them slowly. "And I'm sorry for," she gestured between herself and Mikey with a hand, "you know… The other night."

Mikey shrugged off her apology. "No worries, girl." He gave her a rather cute, crooked smile. "Ya didn't hurt me none."

Sammy nodded. "Good." She wouldn't have been able to forgive herself if she had.

The orange-banded turtle then sauntered over to lean on the counter with his elbows, resting his chin in the palm of his hands. "So. Where'd ya learn a move like that?"

"Um…A friend," she answered quietly as she stared at Mikey. His eyes were so…innocent. Soft. Welcoming. Like a joyful blue sky on a sunny day.

And then Leonardo appeared over his brother's shoulder. "You learned that from a friend?"

Sammy felt her expression hardened as she met the older turtle's eyes. "Yes." It was a half-truth but still the truth. She had been taught by a friend, they just weren't a friend when she'd been taught.

"And why would a friend need to teach you something like that?" he pried.

Sammy frowned. What was his problem? "Self-defense."

"That seemed quite advanced for self-defense." His tone had her bristling.

"If you have something to say, say it," she told him, her voice low and dripping with venom.

Mikey stood up and put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Come on, bro. Don't do this."

"Yeah," Casey agreed. "Leave it alone, Leo."

Leonardo shrugged off Mikey's hand and narrowed his eyes on Casey. "I told you, Casey." He slammed a fist onto the island. "I will not put my family at risk for anything."

"Sammy isn't a risk!" Casey snapped, smacking his own fist onto the counter top.

The turtle scoffed. "She took out a highly skilled mutant the other night with ease. Distracted or not, Mikey isn't an easy target." His gaze cut to her for a brief moment before looking back at Casey. "I need to know who we're getting involved with, Casey. For the sake of our safety."

"My cousin would never reveal your existence," Casey defended her. Just like she'd always defended him when they were younger… By no means had he been weak but she'd always had the stronger stomach, and now, here he was, defending her against some of his closest friends when they had every right to be suspicious of her.

She should have never come back home; should have never disrupted Casey's life in such a way.

"Casey's right," Sammy muttered, halting the argument with her softly spoken words. She glanced up at Leonardo with tired eyes. "I would never reveal your existence to anyone if that's what you're worried about. But I also know that you have no grounds to trust me or my word. And that's okay, I understand." Sammy slowly got to her feet, carefully testing her weight on her left leg before fully standing on it. "Best we just forget we ever saw each other, yeah?"

And that would suit Sammy just fine. She was good at forgetting things.

The blue-banded turtle eyed her for a moment, obviously judging her words and finding them lacking. "I think that is best. For now."

Sammy huffed as she stepped away from the island to go to her room. She wished he would just leave this alone, leave her alone, but she could tell it was a battle she was going to lose. This turtle wouldn't give up until he knew for sure she wasn't a threat to his family, and he seemed inclined on digging up her sordid past one way or another to make sure of that. Sammy found she could admire him on that front, begrudgingly at least. She'd do the same for Casey.