THE LONG WAY HOME

August 30, 1995

1 Day, 22 Hours

LEONARDO:

She sipped the tea slowly, her eyes darting around the room as if she wasn't totally sure that she was comfortable. Hours had passed, and Raphael had left. I could tell that Donatello wanted to leave, but he didn't have the nerve to walk out on company. Raph didn't care one way or another. "Will you be able to look into where we might go?" Anna asked.

April smiled. "Already done," she informed. "The city owns an apartment complex that was abandoned almost ten years ago. They were gonna turn it into a hotel, but they could never get the money up. It hasn't been officially announced, but word is that they're going to donate it with the hope that you guys can use fundraisers and donations to fix it up."

Anna frowned. "How much do they expect us to be able to raise?"

"I don't think you realize just how many donations the Red Cross has taken in your name," April chuckled. "This whole city is up in arms about what happened. Everyone's got a theory on who blew up that building and why."

"What kind of theories?" I questioned.

"International terrorists," she shrugged, "angry children. One group is even blaming it on pro-choice advocates."

"I know it was Shredder," I mumbled, shifting my eyes to the floor. "Or at least someone working for him. I just don't know why."

"Well, whatever the reason," April replied, "it's gonna make for one hell of a story when it all comes out."

"If it all comes out," Donny corrected her.

"Even if I can't name him, I'm not about to let this one slip through my fingers!"

"As long as you leave us out of it," I reinforced.

"Of course," she smiled. "That's a given."

Anna was watching April closely. "Is it hard to... do what you do?" she questioned. "To report on... death and destruction and to have to do it so enthusiastically?"

April thought about that for a minute. "Not really," she finally answered. "You learn to shut it off, to treat everything like a piece of news and not like a life. You have to, in order to keep from getting beat down by every child that gets killed and every mother that has to find out about it."

"You can shut that off?" she questioned.

April smiled sympathetically. "It's not quite that easy. It took me a long time to get used to the excitement in the newsroom when we'd hear over the scanners that somebody got shot. But you just get... callused. And you have to."

"But that doesn't mean you have to forget that you're talking about real people," Michaelangelo mumbled under his breath.

"No," April agreed. "It doesn't. Because the viewers aren't callused like I am."

Anna smiled faintly. "I guess it kinda comes with the territory then, huh?" she assumed.

April sighed. "And speaking of viewers, I need to get to work," she sighed. "I did my package earlier, but I gotta anchor the ten tonight."

"I should get back, too," Anna mumbled.

I stood. "I'll take you up," I offered.

ANNA:

"I can get back from here," April informed.

Leo shot her a pathetic look. "April, it's the middle of the night."

"So?" she smiled. "I'll be fine."

She turned and Leo crossed his arms over his plastron. "April, it's more work to tail you and stay hidden than it is to walk you home."

She stopped and looked back. "What do you mean, tail me?"

He smiled. "I've seen too many horror stories come to life to let you walk around the city streets in the middle of the night. But if you're absolutely determined to go alone, I can make it look like you're alone."

I couldn't help but laugh. She looked as if someone had just told her that Santa Claus wasn't real. "You follow me?" she demanded.

"April, how do you think it is that every time you seem to get in trouble, one of us is always there?"

I could tell the thought had never occurred to her before. "You should feel flattered," I smiled. "You have your own guardian angels."

Leo turned to me. "So do you," he grinned.

"I'll keep it in mind if I ever decide to rob a bank," I smiled back.

April laughed. "Fine. But I'm not going home. I gotta get to work."

"That's fine," Leo mumbled. "The station is right by the hospital."

We walked in silence. I could tell Leo was tired, but he didn't complain. April and I made small talk, and we finally came up to the street in an alley near the hospital. On the corner was Channel 6. "I'd better hurry," April sighed. "I'm already cutting it kinda close. I should've been up here almost an hour ago and my boss is gonna have my head if I don't get my package voiced before the show."

Leo smiled faintly. "G'night April," he said, hugging her briefly. "Have a good show."

"Yeah, I'll have to watch it tonight," I grinned.

She laughed quietly. "Thanks. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye."

I watched her cross the street and enter the front doors of the building. "You know where you are?" Leo asked.

"Yeah," I answered. The hospital was across the street, a few buildings down.

"Think you'll be okay from here? I can't exactly walk out into the street."

I turned to look at him and smiled faintly. He sighed and leaned against the wall, looking out at the people who passed the alley opening. We were standing behind the dumpster, and they probably wouldn't see us even if they looked down the alleyway.

"Thank you," I mumbled after a moment of silence.

"For what?"

I stared at him for a moment. "For... walking me here. For caring enought to... For everything, Leo, you know?"

He smiled. "It's not a problem, Anna," he informed me.

I dropped my eyes, smiling knowingly. Of course it wasn't. He would never admit it if it was. I hardly knew him, and yet I somehow knew that he would go to the ends of the earth to make sure I was safe. "You guys are... really great friends, you know that?" I looked up again and our eyes met. "I mean... you know you don't really have to do all this, don't you?"

He sighed deeply. "If you want the truth, Anna," he mumbled, "I kinda feel a little bit responsible for all this."

I stared at him, shocked. "What? Why?"

He watched the ground. "Well, just because... if I'd just remembered sooner. I think I was just trying too hard." He shook his head slightly. "I got a habit of doing that and when I do I... And I know better, but I keep doing it."

I couldn't speak for a few seconds. Was he seriously blaming himself for all this? I placed a hand against the side of his face. "Leo."

He looked up at me. "Leo, I and everybody I care about owe our lives to you." We stared at each other for a moment, saying nothing. "What happened was not your fault," I finally whispered.

He closed his eyes and his head dropped slightly. He breathed deep. "I know," he sighed after a long silence. "Somewhere inside of me, I know that. It's just... hard to convince the rest of me."

I stepped closer to him and put my arms around his neck. He hesitated for a moment before hugging me back. "I owe you my life, Leo," I whispered.

"You don't owe me anything," he assured me.

"Well, you saved my life, at any rate." I pulled away and stared at him. "When this first happened," I breathed, "all I could think about was the children that didn't make it out. But somebody told me something. She said not to think about the thirty-eight little girls who died, but to think of the three-hundred-twenty-six who did."

He watched me for a moment, then hung his head. "I know," he mumbled. "I'm sorry."

I smiled sympathetically. "S'okay."

He took a step back, but didn't speak. I glanced up at the building beside me. "Don't take this the wrong way but, uh... you wanna come up?"

LEONARDO:

"Is your skin always this dry?" she asked, running her hand over my arm.

I glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

She smiled and stood up. I watched her walk to a black bag near the window. She returned with a tube of milky, pink lotion. "This stuff'll smell kinda funny," she warned, smiling. "But it'll feel good. I promise."

She sat down next to me again and took my arm. I wasn't sure I was daring enough to let her rub perfume-scented lotion all over my arms. "Will I be able to wash it off?" I questioned, cautious.

She pulled my wristband over my hand. "Sure," she answered. "And it's not that bad anyway. It won't make you gag."

"What's it smell like?"

She glanced up at me and smiled as she slid my elbow pad down my arm. "Tropical Paradise."

I nodded slightly. I had no idea what Tropical Paradise smelled like. "Just trust me," she whispered, grabbing the tube.

"As long as I can wash it off," I grinned back at her.

She laughed and squeezed a thin line of pink cream onto my forearm. It was cold against my skin. But her hands were warm. She spread the lotion over my arm, massaging gently. I watched her, noting how it soaked into my skin. It wasn't going to wash off as easily as I'd hoped. But she was trying to be nice, and I wasn't about to tell her to stop.

She rubbed harder, her hands moving up my arm. She reached my bicep, and muscles that suddenly seemed sore, and I felt myself relax slightly. "See?" she grinned. "This isn't so bad."

I watched her hands as she went back down to my wrists. She massaged the lotion into my palms and the backs of my hands. "You're pretty good at this," I mumbled.

She laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's encouraging," she smiled. "Because I've never done it before."

"Really?"

She didn't answer. After a few more seconds, she stood and moved to my other arm, stripping it quickly and smothering it in pink goo. The smell was not something I was going to cherish, but it wasn't that bad. At any rate, it was definately worth it. She massaged hard, relaxing tense muscles. I closed my eyes. "That feels good," I whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

She pressed hard on my upper arm. "You must work out a lot," she observed.

"Mmm hmm. We all do. All part of the lifestyle."

"What lifestyle?"

"Being ninja. Life revolves around training. I take that very seriously."

"You enjoy it then?"

"I love it."

The bed shifted and I felt her move behind me. A moment later, warm hands covered in lotion came to rest on my shoulders. I almost melted to the floor. She massaged hard over my shoulders and the sides of my neck. I bowed my head, eyes closed, and breathed deep. "You like that?" she asked.

I moaned incoherently in reply and she laughed. "You can do it harder, Anna," I encouraged her. "It feels really good."

She dug her fingers deeper into sore muscles. I breathed in slow and felt my body relax under her touch. "Hey Leo?"

"Mmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

Her fingers ran lightly over my skin, searching for tension. "Do you have... parents?"

I considered that for a moment. "No," I finally answered.

"No?" she challenged.

"Well, I mean, Splinter raised us. But as for actual, biological parents? My mother was an experimental mutagen meant to kill Master Splinter. And I guess my father's the man who spilled it all over our lair."

"Do you know who did that?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Who?"

"Shredder."

She laughed. "You're kidding!"
"No," I grinned. "He was trying to kill Master Splinter. And in the mean time, he created us."

"That's funny," she whispered, massaging deeply into hard muscles. I breathed deep. God, that felt good. "So he did it to himself. He created his worst enemies."

"Mmm," I acknowledged.

"That's poetic justice for you."

I smiled and it was quiet for a minute. "What about you?" I asked.

"What about me?"

"Do you remember your parents?"

She sighed. "I don't remember much of my childhood," she whispered. "I don't remember anything really clearly from before I was six. That's when my mother died. Doctors say it's some kind of stress-induced amnesia."

"You ever tried... therapy or something? To try and get your memory back?"

"No, I couldn't afford that."

I considered that for a minute. "But doesn't it bother you that you can't remember your childhood?"

She moved her hands over my shoulders to my arms again. My skin soaked up the moisture. "How far back do you remember, Leo?"

I thought about that. "I remember... being a child. Maybe three or four. I got a couplea scattered memories from earlier than that."

"And how do you measure your age? From your transformation? Because you could've been existing as a regular turtle years before that."

That thought left me dumbstruck for a moment. "Yeah, we measure our age from when we were mutated."

"And you don't remember anything before that, do you?" I stared blankly at the tile floor. "How long do turtles live, Leo? You could've been alive for ten years and not remember any of it."

I shook his head as I considered that. "No, we were small when Splinter found us."

"Well, my point is that we all have a point before which we don't remember. And it doesn't bother me any more than it bothers you."

I thought about that for a moment. Her hands pulled away, running down over my arms one last time. I glanced up at the clock. "I should really get back," I mumbled. I turned to Anna. "But thanks."

She smiled. "Don't mention it."