A/N: Hello, all you beautiful people! GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING FOR ANIMAL LOVERS! That's all, now get reading. XD

*)O(*

Leo had to admit, he was proud of Mikey. It wasn't the kind of pride he wished he felt in his brother, like the few times the youngest had focused on training or actually remained silent while out on patrol, but it was still pride. Becca had said she'd be back no later than midnight. It was one in the morning and Mikey waved around the phone with twenty failed calls. Mikey, besides Raph, was the quickest to jump to conclusions when it came to these things. Yet, his youngest brother was almost calmly explaining everything to them and trying to reassure everyone else there that it was probably just a lost phone and poor traffic kind of thing. It didn't slip past Leo that Mikey was trying to confirm these things to himself as well, but he would take any measure of false calm over any irrational panic any day.

Leo agreed that they should go out looking for her, too. Just because their list of old enemies was growing smaller, it didn't mean that they didn't still have them, or that new ones couldn't form. With the Food and Purple Dragons out of the way, any thing was possible for the future of their family. On top of that, Becca always had her phone on her and would always message them if she was going to be late. It didn't sit well with him and he knew that if he was uneasy, Mikey had to be a million times worse.

"Mik, the babies are asleep, do you think you could watch them while I go with them?" Sara asked. Leo's wasn't the only head in the room that snapped to Sara. Mik looked around, uncomfortable. "Sara, I don't think-"

"That's basically my sister out there." Sara protested.

"No, you'll stay here with your babies, we'll find Becca, Sara." Leo ordered in his calmest voice possible. Sara sucked in a breath and Leo registered the fiery glare she gave him. "If someone has Becca, and she's just not running late, we can't chance them getting you too, the babies need their mother still."

"They are always going to need me! I'm not just going to sit down here-"

"I said that you are." Leo glared back at her. Regardless of how unfair it was to her, or how much he would appreciate her going with them, he couldn't let her go out on a search and rescue just yet. "Donnie can come with us, if it'll make you feel better to have four instead of three, but we already discussed this. Until the babies are on solid food you are barred from going on anything too dangerous."

"Walking down the street in this town is dangerous, Leo-"

"Sara, please. We need to find Becca, stop arguing with Leo, please." Mikey nearly scolded. Another twist in the night for them. "I'm going to check the movie theatre and the restaurant they were going to. Leo, can you check Bea's house?"

"No problem, Donnie, you're with Mikey. Make sure he doesn't get carried away. Raph, you're with me. Once we've scouted the area we'll go over to the girl's place to see if she's back home then start working on solutions. Keep your shell cells on. Sara, if Becca or Bea show up here call us, Mikey first."

"Fine," Sara huffed.

Leo nodded to her, thanking her. Being the quicker of the two, Mikey and Donnie were already near the lair door when Raph stopped him with a hand on the shoulder. "Do you think she's okay, Leo?"

"I don't know, but I have to hope." Raph cracked his knuckles and neck, rolling his shoulders.

"Damn straight, I'll bust anyone's skull if she's not." Leo suppressed a smirk to his closest brother before leading them both out of the lair.

*)O(*

Tabitha laughed hard as Becca told another joke. They'd come to surprise her with ice-cream after the event had ended and they'd ended up staying to help with clean up. Sophia was running around them as they headed back to Bea's. She'd fallen asleep during the ending of the movie and had stayed that way the whole bus ride to the restaurant. She'd woken up only around midnight when Tabitha had picked her up to go home. Now she was full of energy like it was the middle of the day and wouldn't settle down so they had opted to walk instead of another bus.

She was in the mood to celebrate, but had to be in to work in the morning for another shift. She'd gone through the night without a mishap and she was thrilled. Her boss had congratulated her and told her that she was now officially part of the team. Having these two around was just as good.

Bea was a straight shooter who didn't deal with bull while Becca was a free spirit who loved to make people smile. The fact that they were friends was puzzling, but she knew that opposites attract. She actually wondered if they were a couple. Anytime the topic of boyfriends came up, the two would grow quiet and change the topics. Tabitha thought that it was cute, the two of them staying quiet about it with her around. Not that she minded in the least. Love was love, no matter who shared it with who. She just didn't want to be rude about it if they didn't want to 'come out' about it just yet.

Sophia was starting to run out of energy as they got to Bea's apartment. They'd told Tabitha about the lamp, and she wanted to make sure she helped to clean up in repayment. She was tired, and it was going to be a long day tomorrow, but she didn't want to leave Bea with a mess to clean up. Bea was probably the best babysitter ever, and Tabitha would do anything to make sure their record with her was as clean as possible.

*)O(*

A pile of blankets on the floor looked like some had struggled to get out from under them while two chairs were positioned to face each other, like two people had sat face to face. Different origami projects were half finished and scattered around the table, as if someone had left them in a hurry. A lamp, with a broken bulb, was positioned on an end table. On the broom that was leaned against the couch, was dried blood. There was a smear of it on the ground near the lamp. A child's jacket was on the ground next to the door. It looked like someone had ransacked the place. It wasn't a good sign. He signaled Raph from the window to keep lookout.

Leo pulled out his phone and called Becca. He heard a faint ringing coming from a hallway. He followed it to the bathroom. There was her phone, on the back of the toilet. He sighed. Donnie's tracker had said it was here, but that didn't mean he expected it to be left whole. If it was undamaged it probably meant that if she had been taken then it wasn't by any of their enemies. Hopeful, he prayed that she'd just left it here and just busy while out with Bea, not that Bea was answering her phone either. He ended the call and sighed. Then he heard voices from the living room and the front door close.

He held his breath, leaning close to the door to hear the speakers. There were more than two of them, but he picked up on the two he recognized. Becca and Bea, explaining that they hadn't had time to clean up the pillow fort before they left. Leo had a brief moment of feeling like he was just a glob of paranoia before he remembered that they weren't alone. There was a small child's voice saying something about the broken lamp and another female. "Hey, I left my phone in the bathroom, could you get it for me, Sophia?" Becca's voice came through as Bea talked to someone.

Sophia was one of the children Bea watched, Leo recalled. She was on her way to where he was, the bathroom door was in open view of the living room, he couldn't just make a break for it to Bea's bedroom. He was stuck here. If it had been an adult he would have just knocked them out and called for Becca and Bea, but he couldn't hurt a child. He would have to hide. He looked around. There was a clear, translucent shower curtain, and he didn't think he'd fit into the confined space anyway. There weren't any places big enough for his girth and then the phone in his hand rang again. "-got it, Sophia." The unfamiliar voice said.

Panicked, Leo threw the phone into the sink and did his best to squeeze behind the small door. Tasha, he recognized as he caught her reflection in the mirror. Her mass of curls were pulled up into a bun on the top of her head and her dark brown skin stood out against a white jacket. Her eyes were dark and focused as she checked her reflection. She froze for a moment and Leo slid back behind the door as quickly as he could.

He was a figment of her imagination, he told himself. If she saw him for a moment, she would just assume she saw a tracer, one of those dark shadows out of the corner of your eye. No need to check. Still, he wanted to look at her a bit more. It was like his first time above ground again: ignoring his ingrained training and taking risks just to get an up close look at humans.

Tasha left the room and closed the door. Leo let out a breath, but then lost his ability. He tried to sallow the bile rising in his throat. What had he done? Becca's phone was still in the sink.

*)O(*

She tried not to panic. She'd seen it. It had been there, she'd been sure. Still, it was late and she was stressed. What she saw just couldn't be. She kept her eyes on the door as she backed up the hallway. "Tabitha?" Becca's new voice startled her. "Tabitha, hey, what's wrong?"

"I-I'm going-" she tried to pull in a breath. "I'm going to sound crazy for a minute, and I need you to believe me." Tabitha grabbed her arm, trying to stable herself. The blond woman looked concerned and glanced down to the bathroom door which had remained closed tight. "There is," she said, strained. As she went to say it, she realized just how crazy it sounded. "There's a- a guy dressed as some kind of turtle… in Bea's bathroom- I know it sounds crazy, but we need to call the cops."

"Oh, god," Becca said as her face went white. Relief swept over her as it seemed that Becca believed her. "Mikey?" Becca called down the hall. Puzzled, Tabitha stood in shock.

"The hell is he doing here," Bea hissed near them, startling Tabitha again.

"What's wrong?" Sophia asked, picking up on their mutual tension.

"Um, my boyfriend is playing a bad joke on us, and he scarred your aunt. It's okay, Tabitha, I promise, it's just Mikey."

"Boyfriend?" Tabitha stuttered, feeling like she was in the twilight zone.

"Ye-yeah." Becca fumbled. "He always does stuff like this, I'm sorry he spooked you…" Tabitha looked Becca over as she tried to apologize. "He was probably just looking for me, and decided to pull a prank, I'll go talk to him. Don't worry about cleaning anymore, I'll make him help." The lie was force and evident. "You're boyfriend breaks into other people's houses and dresses like a turtle?" Tabitha tried to rationalize. "No, um, yes, well…"

"I know what I saw, he was just as scarred as I was, that wasn't your boyfriend." Tabitha pressed, knowing what she'd actually seen. There was no way that was just a human in there. It looked like a turtle/human mix, not just someone in a turtle costume. It might be late, and she might be tire, but there wasn't any way she'd not seen those giant blue eyes under that blue mask. They weren't human, they were too big, and the shape of the face was wrong.

"He's just-"

"The hell is he doing in my apartment, Becca," Bea hissed again. Becca was caught between the two of them.

Tabitha had had enough. Stomping to the door, she flung it open. It banged against something hard, but not a wall. Tabitha opened the door and looked around it. "Ow, Jesus Chri-" the turtle said as he held his stomach area before he stilled. "Aunt Tasha," Sophia called out for her. She didn't register the little foot steps approaching, or the voices of the other girls, as she stood in shocked silence before the giant, humanoid turtle in front of her. There was no way that was a costume. No way.

"Are you Becca's boyfriend," Sophia's voice asked. Tabitha's head nearly broke as she looked to Sophia who stood beside her, her little head cocked to the side like she was trying to solve a puzzle. "Miss, I can explain."

"Oh, god, it's Leo." The room swayed and she felt sick. It's mouth, it was giant, and the teeth inside were menacingly white. It lifted up hands with three large, chunky fingers. She registered hilts poking out of it's back, er, shell. There was a giant talking turtle in front of her.

"It's okay," Becca said next to her. Tabitha swayed as she stood. "This is my brother, Leo, it is okay, I promise. He's not going to hurt anyone."

"You look like a turtle," Sophia announced.

"Why in the hell did you break in here?" Bea's angry voice accused.

"HEY!" Sophia yelled, getting everyone's attention. Tabitha didn't stop starring at this 'Leo' creature, trying to piece together just how in the hell this was Becca's 'brother'. "Are you a turtle?"

"Um, yeah, I am."

"Cool! Are you a super hero? Do you have superpowers?"

"No, uh, actually, I'm a ninja."

"A nin-i-gi-ah? What's that? Is it a kind of superhero?"

The turtle laughed, it laughed… Tabitha didn't know how much more she could take. This wasn't real, no way. "'Ninja'," it corrected. "And, no, not really."

"Well, that stinks." Sophia pouted.

"Yeah, it kind of does. It's nice to meet you, I'm Leo."

Tabitha watched him lower a hand and reach out to Sophia. Before she could stop herself, her hand reached out and swatted his away with a loud slap. She retracted her hand quickly, fearing the consequences. Instead of retaliating he replaced his hands in the 'I surrender' position again. "Sorry, my dad taught me to introduce myself to new people." Was that a joke? She wrung her hands together. She was nowhere near the height of this creature, let alone mass, but he was acting like he was the one in danger. "Becca and Bea both can tell you that I'm no threat to you, or your niece."

"That depends," Bea grumbled.

" Bea… Really, it's okay, Tabitha, I swear, let's all just go sit down and talk about this. I can explain everything to you. If that's okay, Leo, I mean, Tabitha is a good person. I don't think she'll do anything once she knows." Was she really talking like she wasn't there?

"I don't think we really have a choice, but I have to call Mikey, he's with Donnie looking for you."

"And Raph?"

"Probably on the roof."

"I need to sit down." Tabitha breathed.

"Aunt Tasha?"

"Move," she commanded the turtle as she fell to her knees and reached the toilet just in time to puke.

*)O(*

Donnie walked through the lair entrance and Sara immediately put down Jordan who was still throwing a fit after waking up with a wet diaper. Donnie looked nervous but she noticed Mikey wasn't with him. "Becca is okay." Sara took in a deep breath and let out a relieved sigh. The sound of scratching nails came from the kitchen as Splinter and Mik appeared with Donald and Jillian, who were being fed with bottles. Sara felt a little guilt, like she always did when she gave her kids bottles, but she noted the concern on her mate's face. "We might not be, though. Leo got stuck in Bea's bathroom and was found by another human and her niece. It's one of the people Bea's babysitting for, her name is Tabitha-Lynn."

Splinter audibly sighed heavily. "You would think that my sons would be more careful. I expected better out of Leonardo."

"Sensei, from the layout of Bea's apartment and the situation, I can understand why it happened, even Leo couldn't have prevented it anymore than he did. They are currently talking to her." Donnie let out a small chuckle. "The niece, Sophia, is actually quite taken with Leo."

"And this Tabitha-Lynn?"

"I'm not sure yet. I was told to come back and inform you all."

Sara sat down, a feeling of numbness growing in her body. Donnie rushed over to her. She groped him, trying to find a handhold as she felt faint. "Sara, breathe, honey." Right, that was a thing her body needed to do. She took in a few breaths and tried to be rational. There wasn't much hope for them, as she saw it. They'd gotten lucky with Becca and herself, and especially lucky with Bea. The chances that this other woman would keep their secret were extremely low. "Hey, I think it'll be okay, she's got a kid who is trying to climb Leo like he's a jungle-gym. But, I called Casey on the way over, just in case. He and April and willing to say it was him dressed as Cawabunga Carl, if she says anything. Worst case worse, she'll look a little paranoid. Nothing big, now will you calm down?"

"And what if she goes somewhere else, what if she tells someone that believes her?"

"Sara, it's okay, I promise. Sensei, please, back me up here."

"There are always concerns when my sons interact with the above world, my daughter, but I do believe that they are able to take care of this. I will speak with Leonardo as soon as he is home, Donatello. Until then, would you take my grandchild? I believe he was gone to the bathroom and needs to be changed." Donnie grimaced and nodded, moving to take their child.

Paranoia played on her mind. She couldn't just believe everything was going to be okay. Her kids depended on her to keep them safe. How could Donnie just expect her to trust this stranger? Dear goddess, was this how Splinter felt whenever they guys met someone new? Had she caused this turmoil in him when she'd first met them as well? "I'll change them, can you handle feedings?" Donnie asked. He looked tired. She didn't blame him. "I want to run a background check on her before they all get home."

"Go and start, I won't be able to go to sleep until I know who we are dealing with, hand Donald here, Jordan is just being fussy again."

"I'll keep a hold of Jillian for now," Mik insisted. "But once they are all quiet, I'm going to get some sleep."

"Thank you," Sara nodded to her, taking Donald from Donnie. "Make sure you find everything, I want to know what she ate last when you get back."

"It was ice cream." Donnie replied with a grimace.

"What?"

"She kind of puked, and Leo said he wasn't going to eat ice cream for a few years. Supposedly, chocolate and strawberry ice cream puke isn't too pleasant a smell." Sara gapped for a moment then suppressed a gag herself as the scent originating from Donald's diaper hit her nostrils.

"Dear god, dude, all you eat is milk, why does your poop smell so bad?" She gasped. Next to her on the couch Jordan let out a small giggle and started to play with his feet as he farted. "Really?" She groaned.

*)O(*

She liked him. He was green all over, with weird hands and a shell, but when she had asked, he'd said his favorite color was blue. That was her favorite color, too. So, she liked him. He wasn't mean, and he let her crawl onto his shell once he took off his cool swords. She wanted to look at them, but they wouldn't let her. She knew they were sharp, and she promised she wouldn't touch them, but even after she promised, Aunt Tasha still wouldn't let her. That made her sad. She just wanted to see them.

Instead, Mikey told her to sit on the couch and showed her his nunchucks. She thought that was cool. His mask color was orange, but she still liked him too. He was nice and even let her twirl one of them around. Aunt Tasha didn't say anything, but she could tell she didn't like her playing with them. They were heavy, and Mikey told her to be careful. She didn't want to get hit with one, she knew that.

The other one, Rap, was quiet and didn't seem to want to play with her. Rap was the biggest, his arms looked like balloons. He sat down on the chair and she couldn't help herself. She went over and poked one of his big arms. She asked his if his arm had ever popped like one of the balloons it looked so much like before. Everyone had laughed, and she didn't understand why Rap seemed to get a little angry about it. She didn't want him to be angry, so she went over to the table and made him a swan, like Becca had showed her earlier. It wasn't as pretty as the ones Becca made, but it was okay. When she gave it to him, he thanked her, even if he did look embarrassed.

She still didn't understand why they didn't have superpowers. They were like superheroes, so they should have some, but she guessed that the shells were like their super powers. Bad guys would have a hard time hurting them with shells on. "Do you always wear your shell?"

Aunt Tasha had been listening to Leo and Mikey, but turned to her. "Sophia, that's not nice!"

"But I just want to know," she whined, sad she made Aunt Tasha mad.

"It's okay." Mikey smiled at her. "No, we can't take them off, they are part of us."

"Can you fit your body inside of them?"

"Sophia!"

"No, but we used to be able to when we were little, we're too big now. Especially Mr. Rap over there, can you imagine his balloon arms fitting in there?" Sophia stopped and looked at Rap. The image formed in her creative mind and she laughed while shaking her head. "It's Raph. Not Rap."

"Raft?"

"Raph, 'f,' not rap, not raft, Raph." He said with a frown. Sophia frowned right back at him and stomped her foot. "I'll just call you 'Grumpy'." She registered the silence of the room before everyone started to laugh again. Raph looked uncomfortable, turning a weird color at his cheeks. "Dudette, you're the best."

"Shut up, Mikey!" Raph grumbled.

"It's not nice to tell people to shut up." She told him.

"Whatever, kid." Raph said as he crossed his arms. She stuck her tongue out at him then made sure Aunt Tasha hadn't seen her.

Aunt Tasha had her head in her hands and was shaking her head. Meeting superheroes seemed to bother her. It was clear these were the good guys, even if they did look weird. They were nice, well, Mikey and Leo were nice. Raph was kind of mean.

*)O(*

There she was, still mildly freaking out about the fact that there wasn't just one giant, supposedly mutant, turtle thing in the same room as her, but three. Then there was Sophia who was literally crawling all over them and trying to play with their weapons. Their reactions couldn't have been farther apart on the one-ten rating scale. While she, as an adult, had long ago grown out of thoughts of superheroes, they were still fresh in Sophia's mind. It was evident in the near awe she showed the one with the orange mask when he showed her his nunchucks.

She had to admit she'd calmed down by a factor of a million when Becca had gone to the orange masked one and scolded him for being a worry wart before giving him a quick kiss. The way they acted together brought her some piece of mind. Even if these guys were giants with arms the size of her head, they were gentle around Becca and Sophia. Even Bea, who seemed not to like them, especially Leo and Raph, wasn't afraid of them. She openly complained about Leo's obvious B&E, with no backlash.

Their story was far fetched and confusing, but she tried to understand the gravity of it. She was a woman of color, she'd faced the hard hitting reality of everyday racism this world held. If she faced adversity, then surely they would too, on a much grander scale. She was with Bea on the animal rights and she knew that they would end up in some lab if anyone ever believed her enough to look into them. Even if they were weird, even if they'd said they were aliens or something, she still wouldn't have done something like that to them.

She tried to come to grips with that, and stop thinking of them as 'things' but it was hard. Hell, they were turtles, for crying out loud. Except for some human traits, she still saw all the turtle things that were there. Leo was still talking to her in what she noted was supposed to be a soothing voice, but her mind went back to her culinary school days. It had been a mandatory recipe to prepare: turtle soup. Her stomach turned and she bolted to the bathroom.

She heaved, but her stomach was already empty. The acid from her stomach seared her throat as the images of chopping into a shell flooded her mind's eye. She'd ripped it apart, filleting the meat away from the skin. Her body remembered the feeling of the knife breaking apart the joints. She'd been so proud of the fried pieces of flesh floating in the broth. It had tasted wonderfully. Now her body convulsed over and over again, making her eyes leak. Bea and Becca were there, rubbing her back, soon. It had been years ago, but it was so fresh in her mind now that she couldn't stop from vomiting. The snapping turtle in her memory was replaced with one of the guys' faces and she started to cry between the times her body tried to convulse.

Bea and Becca were talking as she finally calmed down. It was difficult to push away the disturbing images. She didn't know if they would ever go away completely. "Are you okay?" Becca asked as Bea flushed the toilet again.

"I-I think so. Cl-close the door." She begged. Becca pushed it closed then looked back to her in worry. She didn't even really know this woman, but she was so kind. "Back, when I was still in culinary school, I…" She swallowed, picturing a blood soaked chopping board before shaking her head, forcing the image away. "I had to make… turtle soup." She gasped in the words as the left her mouth, feeling like she was going to be sick again. The honesty choked her as she saw the moment of horror on Becca's face. "Ye-yeah, let's um, not tell them that, okay? They kind of joke about it, but it's some very dark humor on their part." Becca whispered to her. Tabitha nodded dully.

They sat there for a minute before Tabitha thought she could go back out into the living room. She felt weak and tired, with too many emotions trying to elbow the others for dominance. As they turned the marginal corner to the living room, Tabitha was greeted with another emotion she couldn't place. Mikey looked worriedly down at Sophia who was asleep on his chest. He was trying to wake her up. But from the slight snore that came from her niece, Tabitha knew she'd be out for at least a few hours before waking her up was even a possibility. There was some apprehension on her part as this odd creature had her niece in his lap, but there was also a bit of happiness at seeing how relaxed Sophia was in what looked to be an uncomfortable position.

"What do I tell her when she wakes up?" She asked the room in general. She didn't have the answer. She could tell Sophia it had all been a dream, but she didn't think Sophia would believe her. Then there was the fact that if she let Sophia know it wasn't a dream that she would tell other people at school. She didn't want to lie to her. Sophia had already gotten enough lies from her mom; she didn't need them from her aunt as well. How could she explain this to a seven year old when she didn't even understand it herself? "That is your choice, we don't mean to bother you, as I have said. Yet, there is the fact that you, and her, can't tell anyone. The fact that nearly no one knows about us is the only reason we are alive."

"I can't just lie to her, but she's only seven. She'll want to tell her friends."

"I've got a solution." Mikey piped up and she looked to him. It was clear Leo was the one in charge, but she needed some kind of answer. "I can give you guys some of my comics. It's about a superhero turtle. She thinks we're superheroes, so if anyone asks you about it you can just show them the comics. No lying to her, and she doesn't have to be so secretive." Tabitha pondered it. Sophia was seven after all, thinking that your favorite superheroes were real wasn't that unusual. Just like Mikey said, she wouldn't have to lie to Sophia, it could even be a bit of an inside joke between them. "Sure, but I don't want to take your comics."

"Nah, it's okay, when I say my comics, I actually mean the ones that I write, I'll even make sure she gets a signed copy." Mikey gave her a thumbs up.

"Still, let me pay you-"

"Don't even bother, he won't take your money." Raph grumbled. "He's annoying like that." The largest turtle waved his hand as he yawned. "So we've briefed her, what now? It's getting late and I'm ready for bed."

Tabitha yawned as well and looked at the clock. It was three in the morning. Mortified, she sighed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day. "I have to go home," Tabitha groaned.

"Stay here, you and Sophia can sleep on the couches. I'll let you borrow some of my clothes and I'll take Sophia to school so you can sleep in a little. Trust me, I know how stressful meeting these guys can be." Bea offered, lifting Sophia off Mikey and laying her on the love couch. "The guys will all be gone in a minute and then we can all sleep."

"Thank you, I'll take you up on your offer." Tabitha nodded to her. She blinked as she realized her eyes were sore. It felt like there were little pieces of sand behind them. All in all, she felt horrible. She didn't think any extra sleep would help her at all, but she wasn't going to pass it up.

"We'll head out." Leo affirmed.

"Thanks for getting her off me, she weighs a million pounds." Mikey joked. Raph stayed silent, but Tabitha didn't mistake that for him not having anything to say. She watched as they side-stepped through the sliding glass door on Bea's porch where Becca climbed up on Mikey's shell. Then, as if they'd never been there, they disappeared into the artificially lit New York night.