Disclaimer: Don't own the Turtles. I do own Devon and Austin

Misadventures of the Mentally Unstable

Chapter 1

Leo sat at the kitchen table, a cup of white tea in one hand, and a History of Eastern Religions book in the other. The book was open, but he wasn't really reading. The tea was cold, but he wasn't really drinking either. His thoughts were on the young woman passed out in the makeshift med room that took up part of Donatello's lab. It had been decided long ago, that they needed some sort of medical facility to take care of all the bumps, bruises, and concussions that happened to come their way. So, a white sheet sectioned off part of the lab, and in it was a nice, clean bed. And tonight, the nice clean bed held a bloodied drunk woman. This was not how his evening had been planned out.

He hated when things didn't go according to plan. He also hated when drunken women dropped into manholes directly above him. And he especially hated it when he was so distracted that he didn't notice the drunken woman dropping down the manhole until her knee impacted his shoulder with enough force to almost knock him from the ladder. That was what it all boiled down to. He had been distracted. And he had Raphael to thank for that. Some inane dispute over which section of town to start patrolling in had caused him to lose focus, and not be as careful as he should have been. Still, it was a good thing they were there, otherwise the lady probably wouldn't be alive right now. It had been a nasty fall. Raph got the worst of it. The poor girl landed right on top of him. And a small, guilty part of Leo's mind found mild satisfaction in that.

From where they had been, the nearest hospital was almost 26 miles away. Their home had been less than 5. Logic won out, and they brought her home for Don to look at. She probably had a concussion, but until she woke up, little could be done to help her. He had wanted to take her home before she woke up. Most likely she would sleep it off, and wake up with a very large headache in the morning, and think that he and his brothers had just been a dream. Of course, they would have left a note, telling her to get to a real doctor as soon as possible. But he was slightly uncomfortable with the idea, since they didn't know how serious the injury to her head had been. And there was the fact that he had NO idea where she lived. She hadn't been carrying a purse, so the idea was pretty much nixed before it had even begun to take on real form.

They couldn't just dump her somewhere, unconscious, but it was also a bad idea to let her wake up down here, in their home. Yah, she'd seemed ok with the idea of four humanoid turtles… but she was drunk. When she sobered up, it might not be so pleasant. They'd been lucky so far with the humans they'd met. April was a true friend and ally. She had helped them out more times than could be counted. And Casey… well… Casey was a friend also. Even after these last couple years of knowing Casey, Leo still wasn't sure if his 'help' was really help or hindrance though. But his heart was in the right place.

But this girl? How would she react? He had no way of knowing until it happened, and he didn't know what the best course of action would be. God… he wished Master Splinter was here now. He'd only been gone for three weeks, and already things were falling apart. Mikey was more annoying than ever. Don was secluding himself in his lab. Raph was… well… Raph was being Raph.

You picked a hell of a time to go on a vacation, Sensei... Leo thought to himself.

It had been the morning of their 18th birthdays. In an uncharacteristic show of early morning energy, Michelangelo was the first out of bed, running through the lair, yelling "Happy Birthday to me!" at the top of his lungs. Leonardo remembered it all too well. There had been the laughing and yelling and jumping around and an excited "PRESENTS!", and then silence. Followed shortly after by a shaky, "Leo…? I think you better see this…"

On the coffee table, sat four brightly wrapped packages. Blue, red, orange, and purple wrapping paper. And with them, a letter.

My sons,

These gifts are only small tokens of my love for you on this day. My real gift to you, though, is that I will not be here when you wake up. I have spent the last 18 years teaching you, and watching you grow into four whom I am proud to call my sons. Now, it is time for you to be on your own. Do not worry, I won't be gone forever. This is as much a gift to you as it is to me. There are many things I wished to have done, and places to have seen. Consider this a well earned vacation for a tired, old rat. I trust you all to have the maturity, and responsibility to take care of yourselves, and each other while I am gone. I love you very much, and will be home soon.

-Splinter

P.S. Try not to trash the place too badly while I'm away.

And just like that, their master was gone, and Leo was left in charge. And he had no clue as to what to do with the woman lying passed out in Don's lab. All they could do was wait until she woke up, and take it one step at a time.

"Hey Leo. Good news. I found her ID." Raph interrupted his thoughts by pulling a chair out from the table, smoothly spinning it around and straddling it. One arm rested on the chair back, the other reached out, flipping a driver's license onto the table. "It was in her back pocket."

Calmly closing his book and placing it on the table top, Leonardo picked up the ID not taking his gaze from Raphael. "Do I even want to know what your hand was doing in her back pocket?"

"Looking for her ID, of course." There wasn't an ounce of shame in his grin, and Leo sighed, finally looking down at the card. "It's out-of-state and expired. I don't think we're gonna get her home anytime soon."

The California license in his hand seemed to mock Leo. They now knew who she was, but hell if he knew how they were going to get her home. Was she visiting? Did she live here? A student, maybe? "Austin Bridger…" he muttered to himself.

"Don's already looking her up on the computer."

Leo stood and stretched, picking up the ID. He might as well go see if Donny had found anything yet. He heard Raph get up and follow, and the two of them made their way to the lab.

Except for the bright glow of the computer screen directly in front of their brother, the lights were off. The curtain was open between his work area and the med lab, and Leonardo could just make out the still form of Austin on the bed. The white bandage wrapped around her forehead seemed almost to shine in comparison to her dark clothes, and he didn't envy her one bit the headache she would have when she woke up.

"Find anything yet?" Leo asked softly. He knew his voice probably wouldn't wake the girl up, but habits die hard, and the presence of an unknown human so close made him cautious.

"Well…" Don started. "I've found something… it looks like our girl here was a runaway. She was listed as actively missing up until four years ago when she turned eighteen. Then her name was removed from the list… Oh, that's interesting…" He scrolled down the page, then clicked to another screen. His finger danced over the keys faster than Leo could follow.

"What's interesting?", asked Raph impatiently after a few moments.

"Huh?" Don asked, scrolling down through a couple more web pages.

"Hello, Earth to Donny. What's interesting?" Raph lightly rapped him on the head.

"Hey! Sorry, sorry, I was just reading." Don batted his brother's hand away, slightly annoyed. "I found a news article with her name in it archived on a page for a paper in Washington."

"D.C?" asked Leo.

"No, the state." Donny pointed at the screen. "See, right there. It looks like she has a brother who… oh…"

"Oh?"

"Well… she had a brother… but he's dead now… Oh, here's something else... Hmmm. That's interesting…"

"Donny, if you say that one more time…."

Don grunted in annoyance but continued. "It looks like she ran away from a boarding school. That's what the article talks about… I don't know. It's kind of vague. There was a fire at the school, and she left with some of the other students… the police were looking for them. That must be when she was listed as a runaway."

"Did she set the fire?" Leo asked, slightly concerned.

"No, I don't think so. The article said they were pretty sure it was another one of the students, and they were questioning his family. I haven't been able to find any record of Austin after the fire though. Give me some time. I'll be able to dig something up." He yawned and looked at the clock on his monitor screen. "Not tonight though. Despite popular belief, even I need to sleep at some point. And I'd rather do it now, while I'm sure she—" He motioned back towards the med lab "—won't wake up. She's going to be out for at least a few hours. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't wake up until late morning."

Leo nodded and gave the sleeping girl a last look. "We should all rest while we can. Tomorrow's going to be interesting, to say the least."

Author's Notes: Ok, I'm sorry this chapter is so short. This was originally intended to be Chapter 2, and Chapter 1 was going to be flashback. Then I decided to scrap Chapter 1, because it was slowing me down, and I just couldn't say what I wanted to be said. I'll re-work it and fit it into a later chapter. I have a lot of background planned out for Austin, which will also be approached in later chapters. Now. To start work on Chapter 3, where we jump back into Austin's head and find out what her waking thoughts are. And from here on out, I hope to make the chapters longer.

Updates won't be coming very often in the next two weeks though. I'm preparing for a RenFaire in the first week of May, and have yet to finish a dress for my roommate. I picked a bad time to start a new fic. Oh well. At least I'm planning it out in my head for now.

Notes to my Reviewers:

Dierdre: Thankyou very much for the wonderful review. I was a bit nervous putting my fic out there after so many years of lurking. You're going to find that Austin is just as flaky and sarcastic when she's sober as when she's drunk. Many years of having only dead people as companions will do that do you. -grins-

kaya lizzie: I'm glad my story made you laugh! I re-read it and edited it so many times I wasn't sure if all the little humorous bits I put in were still funny. It's hard being your own editor. The next chapter will feature even more of Austin's somewhat 'random' insights, so I hope you'll enjoy them as well.

reinbeauchaser: Thanks for the e-mail! It helps to know that even if people can't leave reviews, they're still enjoying my story. I hope I won't disappoint with upcoming chapters!

Sassyblondexoxo: -grins happily- I'm glad you made an exception for my fic. All these wonderful reviews are really building my confidence that yes, in fact, I can write a story the people might actually enjoy. And as for the dead brother thing. ;) He's got a whole backstory with Austin that will be explained in later chapters. It's not all pleasant, and some of it might get down right dark and angsty. But the present-time chapters will help to lighten up the more depressing flashbacks. Oh, and don't worry. I won't be leaving the TMNT fandom anytime soon. They're an obsession that's been around long before any of my other favorites. True 80's child, right here. Turtle Power!