Disclaimer: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles belong to Mirage Studios, Peter A. Laird, and Kevin B. Eastman. I use them without permission, and without monetary profit.

Author's Notes: I know that was rather anti-climactic. If I pissed anyone off about how they handled the Foot, let me explain. Ninjas are the exact opposite to the samurai. The samurai considered honor fighting someone face to face, whereas the ninjas would sneak into the enemy's home, slit their throat, and slink into the darkness, winning the battle before it ever began, saving lots of lives that would have been lost in the upcoming battle. This was considered unhonorable because it was done behind someone's back, with deceit. It's very ninja to call the cops on the Foot. Too bad the Foot never thought to call the zoo on our mutants…

Chapter Fifteen:

For the first time in weeks Donatello actually caught Raphael in his room. It was obvious that his brother was packing. It wasn't until he remembered the Canada lead that he realized that Raphael hadn't made a big issue of following it up for a reason.

He was going to follow it on his own. Screw what everyone else said.

Donatello had been a little suspicious of how easily he'd backed off, but in the excitement that was NAMR and the possibility of finding out some answers, he'd forgotten.

Raphael slowed in his packing for only a moment – most likely identifying which mutant was behind him and judging him not a threat.

Donatello's body started to thrum at the knowledge of what he was about to do. What he needed to do. He was trembling in anticipation.

"Take me with you."

Raphael paused in his packing again. Then continued as if he hadn't heard him. Don waited, knowing Raph had heard.

"No." He said finally.

"If you don't take me, I'll tell Splinter. If you take me, then I won't be able to tell. I want to go. I need to go. I won't take no for an answer."

Raphael turned to his brother with one eye ridge raised. Donatello was blackmailing him! He was impressed.

"Well then, what choice do I have? Pack your stuff. If you're not ready by the time I'm finished, I'm leaving without you."

"I'm ready now."

Raphael glanced pointedly at his empty hands. Don shook his head. "If I take anything they'll know. If everything is in it's place it'll take longer for them to realize I'm not coming back until we chase this lead down even if it dead ends."

The red masked turtle blinked hard. He didn't even bother to mask his surprise. Then, without a word he put his stuff back where it belonged and got dressed in a gray jacket with a hood and a black denim trench coat on top.

Don nodded and retrieved his own topside disguise.

Mikey was shifting from foot to foot as Chassidy descended the ladder to the sewers. He was staring pointedly at her face, trying to determine her mood from it. As she jumped the last rung he twirled her around so he could get a square look at her face.

A wide, happy smile blossomed, and her eyes twinkled. "I got the job. Jobs! The secretary job is part time so I went to the grocers for the extra money. When I can go full time with the secretary job, I'll quit the grocery store." She jumped up and down a little in her excitement. Mikey couldn't help grinning along with her. Her joy was infectious.

Bouncing up and down a little with her, Mikey tried not to let the fact that his heart was sinking in his chest show on his face.

"I'm so happy for you!" He said and let her shoulders go. She cleared her throat and the smile died from her face, as if she was embarrassed she'd been so elated.

"Well, it's a start. And the money is good enough. Enough so I can pay my share of the rent at Stephanie's place."

"How soon until you'll move in?"

"I want to move in today"

Something flashed behind Mikey's eyes. It was only momentarily and it didn't dim his grin. "I'll help. It'll give me something to do."

Chassidy nodded. Then she shook her head.

"No. Stephanie and Lizzie don't know about you. They'd freak. They can't know about you." A look of fear crept into her expression and Mikey's heart flopped once, and then died.

"I could stick to the shadows." He offered lamely. She shook her head again.

"I don't want to chance it. And I don't have that much to move. Just my trash bag full of stuff."

"What if Stone finds you?"

Chassidy blinked in surprise as if she'd forgotten about the threat Stone posed.

"I don't know." She finally said in a small voice. "But I'll deal with that when or if it happens."

"Call me. Come to me. Let me know if he does find you." Michaelangelo scooped up one of her hands and clasped it between his. He looked her in the face, and her glance shied away from his.

"I don't know. I don't want to trouble you more than I already have."

"No! No trouble at all. Promise me you'll call me. Promise me you'll come to me if he shows up again."

Chassidy turned her face away. Mikey's dead heart made a slow slide down into his stomach. His stomach then acted like it was trying to digest his heart. It hurt. She was going to cut all ties with him and he'd never see her again. All of that talk about being friends was a lie. Just something she was saying to make him feel better or leave her alone. Most likely leave her alone.

Mikey gently let go of her hand and she quietly returned it to her side.

"Come on." He said, trying for jovial and missing. "Lets get your stuff ready."

Chassidy shuffled behind him as they made their way back to the lair. She felt bad since her obvious reluctance to keep in touch was effect him so much, but it was better this way. She wasn't worth his time. Not right now.

It didn't take long before Chassidy was standing in the shadows of the apartment complex she was going to move into. Michealangelo was shuffling his feet nervously, glancing up at the door Stephanie had claimed to be their apartment, and back down at Chassidy.

It was such a short distance but once she crossed it and closed that door their fledgling relationship would wither and die. It wasn't that it was impossible. It's just that she wasn't willing to nurture it and see what it could turn into. It frustrated him, but mostly it made him want to cry.

"Would you believe me if I said I loved you?"

The pain and tears in his voice had Chassidy cringing. One last bid for a future in each other's lives. Quietly she shook her head. A muted sob shuddered from his lips, as he nodded his head. He'd known. He just needed her to say it herself.

Without another word Mikey turned on his heel and retreated to the sewers. Her heart clenching in sympathy, Chassidy walked up the stairs and knocked on the door to her new apartment.

"So, Mister Genius Whose Mind Thinks Of Everything," Raphael teased, his voice thick with sarcasm, "How are we getting to Canada? Walking?"

Donatello nodded. They'd stopped by a gas station's quickie mart to get a few supplies and had gotten an atlas as well. It was bulky, but after buying it, Donny had ripped out pages that showed New York and Canda and stuffed them in his pocket.

"There's danger in hitch hiking, and we're in shape: we can handle roughing it. And we don't have enough money to spare for a taxi. It'll take longer, but the others will have to travel the same way."

Raph nodded and walked beside his brother, trusting him to lead the way.

"We could do a bounty job for extra cash, then it'll take less time."

"But doing a job takes time. And the others will be able to track us."

"If we use our alias. If we just turn in a bounty under a new alias, they won't know."

Don nodded. Perhaps.

"If we really need the money. Let's just walk first."

It was a week before the others finally realized Raphael and Donatello weren't coming back any time soon. At first they supposed Raph was being tempermental and Donny was pouting because of the outcome of their investigation. When Donatello didn't come back after five days, they knew something was up. They expected this kind of behaviour out of Raphael, but not Don.

It was Splinter who hypothesized their trip to Canada. And it was Splinter who convinced Leonardo to not go chasing after them. For starters, they had a very large head start. And for another, they knew how to take care of themselves.

In the end, Raphael and Donatello would return. It was their jobs to be there to come home too. If his sons needed rescuing, they would call for help, Splinter had no doubt. They needed their family to trust them enough to let them go.

Leonardo did not chase after them like he wanted to. But only because Splinter told him not to, and unlike his brothers he knew how to follow orders.

And, in the end, Raphael and Donatello did return…

The End of Part One

Author's Post-Story Notes: This series has really taken on a mind of it's own. Every chapter I wrote came up with a different bend than I originally had thought it to be, and all of those bends created a web I hadn't expected. I'm happy about it because it makes the story more interesting and fun to write, but it's very surprising. This series was supposed to be cut and dried. Mikey ends up with a girl, the end, Raph ends up with a girl, the end, so on and so forth until they all got paired up. However at the rate it's going no one romance is staying the part that it's introduced in. Even though this part is over, Mikey and Chassidy aren't together. They've started down that road, but it's proving to be rockier than I expected. Since Mikey's so sweet and Chassidy's in desperate need of his sweetness, I thought they'd just fall in together and be cute and sweet together. Hah. Hahaha.

Raphael's next. And there's a lot I have planned for him. Lets hope that the story continues to bend in a good web-like way. And as a hint: everything Chassidy and Mikey were intended to be Raphael and his girl isn't. And no, it's not Jackie that he ends up with.