A/N: For those of you who were wondering when my little side character was going to start being useful, this is the beginning of that. I'm so happy to see all the reviews that have been posted on this already. It's good to see that I must be doing something right for you all to keep coming back, regardless of my inability to update in a timely manner. Happy New Year, by the way.

Tabitha practically pranced out of the office of her new employer. She'd been given the job, which actually paid more than her other one, with next to no problem once she'd waited a few more days for her background check to come back. She would be on a probationary period at first, to make sure she could actually do the job, but she knew she'd do just fine here. She was going to take the secondary chef spot from a woman who was quitting to raise her own family. She'd have to switch from an afternoon type job to one that was morning based, but it would help her schedule with Sophia, at least until summer vacation finally started.

She would have just enough time with her in the morning to get her to school, as long as there weren't any delays, then to get to work. Her old babysitter had agreed to pick her up from school and keep her for a couple hours so Tabitha would have time to do any errands she needed to do. Her boss had agreed to be flexible with her on her schedule so she could go to court when she needed. There was a buss stop only a block away from both work and her babysitter, which made transport easy as well. It was honestly better than she could have possibly hopped for.

As mandated by the court order, Amy had had to take a drug test, and when she failed, Tabitha was granted temporary custody on the grounds of being the closest living relative. Sophia had went back to her mom's to grab her things, but Tabitha wasn't able to salvage anything else in the house because it wasn't her property. That meant that unless Amy gave her permission, all the other things would be on the sidewalk a month after the first round of rent was due. Tabitha didn't foresee getting any such permission once she'd stated in the court room that she was looking to get full custody of Sophia in front of her sister. Amy had been hurt and angry. Tabitha could understand it. She didn't know what she'd do if the tables had been reversed and it was her child being taken away from her, yet she hoped that she would be able to understand that it was what was best at the time. She'd tried to tell Amy that she could take Sophia back once she was better, but Amy had seemed too distraught to understand anything.

It hurt deep down, under the layer of anger she kept so close to her surface, to have to do this to Amy. She didn't want to be the villain in her sister's life. She didn't want to have to raise Sophia because Amy couldn't handle the real world. She wanted to be able to be proud of her, to be a little jealous that she'd given birth to such a wonderful little girl, and to smile when she thought of her.

Shaking off the temporary shroud over her momentary good mood, Tabitha headed to Bea's, her babysitter. Sophia loved Bea. The bright young woman was one of a kind. She worked at a pharmacy just a few blocks from her house and always carried some kind of firearm with her. Always in a legal open carry with the gun two steps from being fired at all times because of Sophia and one of the other girls she watched. It had been unsettling to find out her workplace had been the location for a gang shoot out. She'd made it through by locking herself in the security room, Tabitha had heard. Still, there was no one she would trust more than Bea, besides herself, with Sophia.

As she walked in the door, she could hear her worst enemy playing joyfully: 'Doc McStuffins'. The damn songs were so catchy she would find herself humming them on the bus and at work if she was forced to watch a marathon of it like she'd been made to do when Sophia had been younger. Luckily Bea spotted her and paused the video. 'Thank you!' Tabitha mouthed silently. Bea smiled and pointed to her kitchen nook. Tabitha couldn't actually call it a kitchen because it was only about four feet long with a fridge, stove, and one counter. It was always cluttered with used plastic butter knives that held peanut butter or jelly and at least one mandatory cup ramen container, remnants of the after school snacks she gave to the kids she watched. She would give Bea one thing, she made some of the best bread in that tiny kitchen nook.

Off to the side at a small table was Sophia, rapidly scribbling out her homework. For a moment Tabitha awed at the little girl. She'd always told her that learning was the most important thing she could do, but as seven year old, Sophia wasn't a fan of it. Once she got home she would finish her homework as quickly as possible so she could play. Tabitha had decided that as long as Sophia kept that part up, she wouldn't force any extra work on her. "So-So, are you almost done?" Sophia lit up as she lifted her little head up out of the page. "Aunt Tasha! Yes, almost. Just one, two, three, four… four more to go."

"Okay, I'll wait."

"She's been a big help today," Bea announced before turning the channel and letting something else play for the girl on the couch. "She helped me make everyone's snacks."

"Well, that's just awesome," Tabitha beamed toward Sophia who had already started to ignore them again. "Wi-fi password is still the same, I'm going to get started on some laundry while I have another adult here." Bea laughed.

"Forget laundry, remind me of the last time you actually slept, at all? Watching kids in the middle of the day, working at night, and aren't you taking some online classes?"

"Not anymore, and they were just remedial so I won't have to take them when I actually get started on college."

"You're going to work yourself to death, girl."

"Nah, I'm sure I'll have a few seconds before I meet him to lie down a bit." Bea laughed. Tabitha nodded then opened her phone, checking her mail and still keeping an eye on the kid on the couch, just in case. To remind her to be happy, there was a message from her new boss welcoming her and letting her know that everyone looked forward to working with her. Sophia finished before Bea got back, so Tabitha let her sit with the other girl. A few minutes turned into a half hour before Bea showed back up. She came in like someone had just peed in her cheerios. "Sorry, the maintenance guy was working on the pipes."

"It's okay, come on Sophia." She was determined that nothing was going to spoil her mood, and to be honest, she'd been on facebook the whole time and had barely registered the odd length of absence. In her haste to leave, she didn't even register Bea's discomfort about the maintenance man.

*)O(*

Leo waited as patiently as he could. He was on a time limit and if Bea didn't hurry up, he would lave her. She'd taken back up babysitting and the other child's mom was taking too long. She was suppose to be coming over to meet the babies and he was tired of hiding in the laundry room closet.

After what felt like an eternity, Bea showed back up. "Becca was the one who was supposed to pick me up," she huffed again. The fact that it was him had already lead to an argument earlier. He wasn't in the mood. "Yeah, well, her and Mikey got a little busy." He explained as well as he could with out being vulgar. "Ew." Bea muttered. It had been clear that Bea didn't approve of the interspecies relationships of his family, but luckily she had one redeeming factor to her personality. She wouldn't stand to see any of them in cages.

He didn't trust her, not by a long shot, yet she already knew of them and the babies and had yet gone to anyone for any reason. The fact that she'd done so much to hide what had really happened at the pharmacy was enough for the rest of his family to trust her. In turn he tried to be less paranoid. He just couldn't shake the feeling that if anyone went after her, no matter how much she claimed to be again cruelty, she would save herself before his family. Her babysitting was a actually a large threat to his family. She might not want to hurt his family, but if other people could get close to her via her side job then it was probably a good thing for him to do his own little check on them.

They were late when they finally arrived at the garage, the only entrance Bea knew about. He was supposed to be on the roof, waiting on Raph by now. He nodded to Bea then ducked into the small alley next to the garage and removed his sweltering disguise. As it got hotter out, it was starting to become uncomfortable to escort the semi-hostile woman whenever she was called over for a visit. He wasn't too happy that she'd ever been invited in the first place.

On the roof, Raph was waiting patiently. It was odd, but out of all of them, Raph had the best handle on their current situation. His skill with quieting Jordan was a handy weapon in a limited arsenal. Leo didn't think for a minute that Raph wasn't slightly irked at being made to wait, but Raph also knew what it was like to walk Bea to the lair. It wasn't easy to handle that woman. With a slight nod, they started off, V-ing out to cover more ground with their limited numbers.

None of them had went out on a full patrol since the babies had been born. Instead they went out in pairs, excluding Donnie. They couldn't just leave New York to protect itself, yet they couldn't leave the babies completely unguarded in case anything happened at the lair. Not only that, Leo didn't think he would have been able to pull Donnie away from his kids with a crowbar and Raph helping. It was still odd to think of, in a way. His brother, younger brother, was a father. Part of him was jealous. The more prevalent majority was just super excited. He'd already decided that he wouldn't be jealous of the lives of his brothers and their mates. It was their fate to live these lives. It was his to be the leader and watch them live in happiness.

He reached into his belt and pulled out Bea's phone, which he'd snatched from her on the way over. He was going to case out the houses of the people Bea worked for. If when he dug a little everything looked fine, he would back off. Later he would get Donnie to help him as well. For now, he would turn on his senses and slip through the night like the old friend it was. Raph already knew to stay close, and since Hun had died the streets had started to quiet down. In all honesty, they probably could have left New York to do it's own thing. The Foot clan destroyed, Hun gone left the PD in disorganized chaos, and a new flood of people interested in police duty meant that New York was almost as safe as any major metropolitan city could be. Still, he felt he still had to do this, just to make sure.

Thankfully, the one thing Bea didn't know how to do was shut up. She talked constantly when she was uncomfortable. She told him about everyone she babysat, so knowing just who to check out had been easy. It had lead him here, to this small apartment. The other two had turned up as a loving family and a single mom. This was one of the people that had been at Bea's place earlier.

"The hell are we doing at this place now?" Raph grumbled next to him.

"This is one of the people who have Bea as a babysitter. I just want to make sure that she's not associated with anyone before we get around to your favorite part of patrol."

"Cracking heads." Raph nearly purred as he cracked his knuckles. Truly, they were getting along so well now, Leo thought the only time they'd went this long without an argument had been back in their childhood. There was a large window which would let him get a full view of the apartment once a light was turned on. It was getting late, he thought that maybe they'd already went to bed as he hung onto a fire escape in the shadow of the building behind him.

Raph was a larger double of him, silent and still. He had to silently admire Raph for a moment. Raph had no patience so the uncharacteristic willingness to remain there made him appreciate him for a moment. Maybe it was all the constant noise at home that let his brother take this reprieve into silence, but Leo couldn't be sure. There were many sides to his slightly younger brother that were hidden under layers of repressed anger and burden.

Light bloomed in the dark apartment. "Hot damn," Raph exclaimed quietly. Silently, Leo agreed. A young woman, maybe twenty-five, appeared in the living room. 'Sophia's Aunt Tasha', as the phone had called her, was a dark-skinned beauty. She had a large mass of midnight curls held back in a ponytail. Leo wasn't good with describing weight of women, but he knew that she was a pleasing middle between Becca's slight chunk and Sara's pre-pregnancy muscled twigginess. Toned, he thought was the word he was looking for.

A small girl came in next, loaded with shopping bags. There was some dialogue between the two, but Leo wasn't close enough to read their lips. He smiled slightly as the little girl dramatically wiped her brow after setting down the bags. The woman also had a small smile that turned into a grin from what ever it was that the little girl said. It had to be Tasha and Sophia from Bea's phone. Something puzzled him, why was the aunt taking care of the girl and not the girl's mother?

He shook himself and tried to ignore the two as they started to pull out clothes obviously meant for the girl. He looked around the apartment, taking in small little details. There were some magazines and books. There was a large kitchen, one that Mikey would be envious of, off to one side that had fruits and vegetables in a bowl on a counter. Nothing seemed to be out of place, or suspicious. The girl seemed to be genuinely happy with her aunt.

Leo guiltily let his eyes rake over the woman one more time before leaving. As far as he could tell, his family was safe, and he let himself feel pride for a moment over that fact. The woman flashed in front of his eyes before he put her away in his mind. It wasn't his fate.