A/N: So summer has started and I've abandoned my computer. I thought I should be a good author though and get a review up for you guys before I left for law enforcement camp. (A.KA. boot camp but it's boot camp by choice!) Oh and just so everyone knows I changed the farmhouse a little bit… the road isn't a black topped double yellow lined road… it's dirt… the black top just didn't jiv with me so It's dirt now.

Tbreader-You're partially blind? Sorry it's no business of mine but I didn't know so many people were reading this story with this problem so close to home…. It just makes your comments all the more meaningful to me! Unfortunately we won't be getting to see Raph become proficient in his cane use during this story (well in the epilogue maybe) but that is definitely something to put in the sequel. Thanks for reviewing!

Chibi Rose Angel- Lots of people seem to like Raph Don interactions… personally I like Mike Raph convos more but I think that is because it reminds me of my sister and me. I felt that Mike needed to show his true feelings in there somewhere… he just hasn't had a huge part in the story and I thought he needed to show how he thought Raph was acting. And Donny got to show his brilliance. Yes indeed the sun sets in the west! Thanks for the review!

Isis-Lament- Thank for the advice offer… I'll be sure to put it to good use some day! Trust me I love people to go to for advice. And just for the record yes Raph is back on his feet and he know longer wants to commit suicide…. That was a one time thing. As for foreshadowing… once again Raph is on his feet again… but just cuz he's on his feet doesn't mean I can't bop him around a bit! (Grins) Thanks for reviewing!

Lunar-Ninja- Bit, kicked… what's the difference?... I'm a runner… I don't bite! I kick! Lol thanks for the correction though!(poats) what you don't like Raph walking in the middle of the road? Well he thought it was a pretty good idea! Thanks for reviewing!

Pacphys- You bet Raph knows! He may be blind but he's not dumb…after all he's still ninja! I loved writing Leo's entrance… I had to rough up Fearless a little bit! My friend and I have an on going joke. He's from the city and he's forced to live in the country. Of course I'm a hard core redneck. I tease him none stop about being a city boy and sleeping in to late and he teases me about hunting deer at the crack of dawn with a rifle. So needless to say I had to add that Home Depot comment in there for him. Thanks for reviewing!

Three turtles entered the house just as supper was behind called.

Splinter did a quick head count as they all sat down at the table. He was please to see that Raphael had made it back for dinner.

"Where is Michaelangelo?" He inquired as he took his seat.

"Setting Kaylie traps." Mikey answered proudly as he made his way into the kitchen to wash his hands at the seat.

"What traps?"

"Kaylie traps. It's what I named the green woman. I want her to know I'm back."

"So you're going to try to catch her? That's real smart." Don commented as he took his share of chicken and passed it on.

"No I'm not gonna catch her."

"Then why the traps? Leo poured himself a glass of juice.

"I already said, so she knows I'm back. I left piles of pistachios all through the woods leading straight up to the back door."

"Great so now in the middle of the night we're all going to be eaten by Mike's new pet."

"I named the little ones Tabba and Cokey and the daddy, wherever he is, is named Bob."

"We're all doomed." Raph joked.

"How was your time in the woods Raphael?" Splinter asked, desperate to avoid a fight.

"Fine," Raph answered.

"Then you won't mind doing it again?"

"I don't think I really have a choice." Raph stated calmly despite the perturbed expression on his face.

Splinter gave a nod of approval which was lost on Raphael.

"Speaking of leaving." April spoke as she took her place at the table. "Casey and I have to leave tomorrow. I got a call from the guy that I'm renting my basement apartment to. He needs to move in tomorrow and I haven't given him the keys yet."

"So soon?" Leo asked.

"Yeah the lease for his other place is up and I promised him. I just plumb old forgot about it yesterday. If you guys are still up here I'll be back up next weekend though."

Raph reached for his glass but missed by a few centimeters, effectively knocking it over and wetting his lap in the process.

"Shit" He muttered as he instinctively stood up.

"Raphael!" Splinter barked "There is no need for such language."

Raph took the towel April handed to him and wiped himself off while she dried off the table. For the remainder of the meal Raph sat quietly in his seat.

He couldn't help but to think of what lay in store for him the next time he would try to make his way home after dinner. No doubt Mike would be the turtle that looked after him. Dear goodness, Mikey, the turtle who just put peanuts out in the woods to lead wild animals to their door step. He was doomed.

"Would you stop it!" Raph smacked his bo against Mikey's shins in an effort to keep him from babbling away like a stream. He needed to concentrate. The last two times he had made it back to the farm were just practice. This time it was for real and he had to concentrate,. The sun would by down in an hour or two and the wind hadn't picked up any. He would have nothing to help him back except for his own sense of direction.

Mikey clutched at his shins alternately hopping on one foot.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Mikey moaned.

Raph finally turned around and headed back towards the house once it became obvious Mike wasn't going to give him any kind of cue to do so.

Unlike Leo and Don, Mikey didn't go hopping off into the trees or pretend he wasn't there. He took it like any other stroll in the woods, completely oblivious to the many odd things Raph was doing.

Every once in awhile Raph would trip or run into something but most of his mishaps were caused unbeknownst by his rambunctious brother, who in his hyper state was bouncing circles around him. He would unknowingly set a branch to spring back in Raph's face when he moved or wonder into the area in front of Raph causing him to stop short.

"I think I got a new theme song made up. T-U-R-T-L-E Power! T-U-R-T-L-E Power! Mike continued to sing and prance around but he abruptly stopped and pounced on Raph.

"Ow! You know what Mike? I've had just about enough of you!" He pushed Mike off but Mike pounced right back on him, covering his mouth.

"Shhh!"

Raph finally found purchase with one of his feet on Mike's shell and kicked him off. He stayed on the ground though and listened carefully.

He heard breathing. It wasn't Mike's though. It was heavy and came in short puffs.

"Come here. It's okay." Mike coaxed to what ever it was.

"What is that? A horse?" Raph asked as he got to his feet.

"Nah, it's one of the green men. One of the babies I think. You got so big!" He cooed as he pulled pistachios from a pouch in his belt. The heavy breathing continued and was soon followed by snorting and crunching.

"Mike you're totally ridiculous." He listened to Mike calm the babe.

"Aw Raph she's friendly. Come pet her."

Raph slowly waved his hand in front of his face. He felt a hand push up against his outstretched hand. It was covered in long scruffy fur and was at about chest height. He gave the head a good scratch and the creature moved in for more. She leaned up against Raph's legs, nearly knocking him over as she silently asked to be petted more.

"Hold on I gotta go get more pistachios. I know I left a bunch of them around her somewhere."

Mike zipped off somewhere and Raph tried to start towards the farm again but the creature refused to budge from its place in front of him.

The second Mikey came back it moved towards the food source, allowing Raph to work again.

"Come on" Mike coaxed." Follow me."

"You're not really thinking about taking that thing home are you?"

"Well she's following."

"It's because you have food!"

"You can't tell me she's not cute."

As if on cue the creature nuzzled the side of Raph's leg. Raph hesitated but gave her another pat.

"I gotta find more pistachios!"

Mikey took off at a run through the woods and this time the creature followed.

Raph smiled and shook his head. Not far back in the woods he heard Mikey call for him in a slightly wavery voice.

"Raph I think you should come see this."

For once Raph let the reference to sight slip. He carefully followed the origin of Mikey's voice. As he approached where he was he listened carefully. He could hear a buzzing. What was that? Flies? The creature was mewing softly, sadly almost. A sniff confirmed something else rotting flesh.

"It's the green men." Mikey informed Raph sadly without prompting. "Two of them. It looks like they were attacked or something, all ripped up and torn apart. They're dead.

The little one continued to mew.

"There's nothing we can do if they're dead." Raph said as he turned away.

"Well it means we should take care of Cokey."

"Mike she's not a dog. She's a wild animal." Raph turned and started back towards the house. "Is it just me or did you just call her Cokey?"

"Yeah that's what I'm naming her, and we can't just leave her out here to fend for herself. She's too young. She'll die!"

Raph sighed and rubbed at his face. "Well," He started slowly. "If she follows you home there's nothing you can do about it right?"

Mikey's face broke into a grin.

"Right. Come on Cokey. You're coming home with us!"

Cobart stood before his newly hired mercenaries. Four of them sat slouching in chairs. Two more stood leaning against the wall. Cobart grinned. Every man that stood before him was an assassin, born and breed to kill, all hand picked by him.

Outside the room they were in he had no doubt Saki's foot soldiers were standing to attention. The only thing the men on either side of the door shared was that none of them were loyal to anyone for very long. Saki's soldiers liked to think they were but their petty loyalty only lasted until they got frightened, then it was gone like the fleeting wind. His men were loyal to themselves and in it only for the money. They would die for their pay, and a little bit of fun. Cobart loved men like that.

"Here's the mission. There are five targets, weird alien things, but it doesn't matter what they look like. All that matters is if they're dead, you get money." Cobart threw down a stack of pictures. "They're warriors, more so than any two of you put together, so take any shot you can get and don't play around."

He watched as they flipped through the pictures. Some were of Leo leaping to attack, his face half covered by shadows. Others were of Raph lying unconscious on a dissection table. The expression on his men's faces didn't change once. "It's a simple in out job. The only objective is to terminate the targets. Once that is done you can loot the place, taxidermy the bodies, whatever. I don't care. Those are my terms. We all clear?"

Six men nodded and Cobart grinned. He popped the clip into his M-16.

"Let's do it."

He loved mercenaries.

He yanked open the door and strutted out into the room where he knew the Foot soldiers were waiting.

"Hey look guys, I think these kiddies want to tag along!"

The men behind Cobart all gave evil chuckles at the expense of the soldiers clad in black.

"Alright boys, let's move out. Oh and it you children want to tag a long you had better stay out of the way. Oh and try not to fall on your own spears."

On the way out Cobart was met by an old man. He waited as the old man whispered into his ear. His expression fell.

"Damnit!" He yelled with a stomp of his foot. "Okay." He said once he regained his composure. "You guys are staying here until I figure this out. Our targets have moved and I don't want anyone leaking anything about this mission. I'll contact you again when I get a lock on them.

"Mike are you nuts? You can't keep a wild animal in the house!"

"But she's an endangered species." Mike protested. "I'm helping her kind survive."

Don had been waiting on the couch for Raph and Mike to return with a stopwatch. He was nearly shocked out of his shell when twenty seven minutes after they left they returned with Cokey in their midst. Now the whole family including Casey and April were congregated in the living room.

Cokey sat between Raph and Mike. Mikey was feeding her s steady stream of pistachios and Raph would give her an occasional pat. "Think of it was an experiment Don. You can find out all that scientific stuff you always want to find out about things. She's friendly I swear!"

You don't even know what she eats Mike. How can you take care of her?"

"Easy. Hold something out in front of her. If she eats it then give her more. If she doesn't then don't force it."

"Dogs love chocolate, which can kill them and kids hate vegetables which help them grow." April protested.

"Well we'll just give her lettuce and meet and things. You can't go wrong there."

Actually according to my observations the green man is an herbivore, a plant eater." Don held up a finger. "I for one think we should keep her until she can be reintroduced to the wild."

"You mean we can't take her home?"

"Mike I don't think she'll fit down a manhole once she reaches full size, besides if there really is such a limited number of their species she should go back to the wild so she can breed and reproduce."

"Alright if I promise to send her back to the wild when we leave can I keep her? Please?"

"Everyone who would like Michaelangelo to keep her raise your hand."

The vote was four to one. Splinter and Leo didn't vote.

Mike pumped a fist in the air and whooped.

"Alright! Looks like your staying with us Cokey!"

"She's not staying in our room though." Don warned. "No way is she messing with my stuff."

By nightfall Mike had cleared out the laundry room of everything hazardous and had made himself a bed, so he could be with Cokey for her first night.

Cokey was busy inspecting every inch of the room. Once her inspection was complete she moseyed over and cuddled up next to Mike.

Don said she might see Mike as her surrogate mother since her real mother died. Mike sure hoped she would.

"Night Cokey." Mike said as he reached up and gave a tug on the cord to turn out the lights. "Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

Raph knew he wouldn't have any trouble getting to sleep. Tramping through the woods all day left his injuries stinging. The second his head hit the pillow he was asleep. He didn't even need to listen to Leo's breathing patterns to lull him off to dream land.

Just before dawn he awoke again. He debated about going back to sleep but opted to stay up and think awhile.

He had done it yesterday. He had done what he never thought he'd be able to do again. He had been independent, making it home not once but three times. If it was possible to do that, to not lean on someone else, could he do other things too? Could he do topside? Could he have his life back to normal? Could he actually be ninja?

Scenes of the last few days ran through his head. Splinter telling him he had to live with his blindness in harmony with his Ninjitsu, Leo telling him to give it time and Mikey telling him to get up off his shell. The feelings he felt walking through the woods and the pride of making it home.

In that moment he made a decision. Just because he was blind didn't mean that he was done with. He wasn't hit so hard that he couldn't get back up. He wasn't going to just try to get by. He WAS going to try and be everything he once was.

Raph got out of bed as silently as possible. Grabbing his gear, he slowly made his way down the stairs and out of the house. Once outside, he took the time to strap on his gear.

He performed a few warm up katas and stretched out. A sudden yearn for his sais reached the pit of his stomach as he instinctively reached for his belt slots. They weren't there though and he knew there weren't there. Instead he picked up his bo and continued with the warm up katas.

He would have to made a new belt so he had room for his bo and his sais. Raph performed kata after kata, slowly at first, but then he began to pick up speed. His kee ya's were soft but sharp and even though his eyes couldn't see they were focused on his imaginary opponent.

He still favored his wounded leg which made some of the moves he performed rather awkward.

As he worked Raph felt the familiar pull from doing something he loved. A smile spread across his face and stayed there. He could do it. He would do it. This blindness would not hold him. He could almost imagine the sun coming over the horizon. His feet were wet from the dew. Joy coursed through him. No, this blindness didn't matter anymore. He WAS going to be the same turtle he was before, no matter what.

Mike awoke to a sharp bark of surprise from Cokey. As he awoke more fully, he was silently thankful he had taken a lot of stuff out of the laundry room. Cokey had the lid open to the washer and many random buttons were depressed. Water was running into laundry tub from the faucet she had turned on and currently she had her head in the dryer.

Mike chuckled.

"You and me are going to get along just great Cokey."

He went into the kitchen and grabbed a handful of his pistachios. He was almost out. He'd have to find some other food soon.

"Mike called Cokey's name as he entered the laundry room and held out the pistachios. It only took a few before she followed him out into the kitchen. He took a bowl from the cupboard and filled it with cool water for her.

He checked his watch to see that it was almost time for morning practice. The guys would have to wake themselves up this morning. He had to take care of Cokey.

He found his way back to the laundry room and strapped his gear on. After Cokey finished her water she galloped up behind him and mewed.

"You still hungry?" He asked as he slipped his nunchaku in his belt. "Let's see what else there is to eat."

She followed him into the kitchen. Mike pulled out a box of cheerios and offered her a bowl of them. As she ate he pulled out a head of lettuce from the fridge and tore a few leaves into the bowl. Hot dog pieces came next, then he scrounged up another small bowl and filled it with milk.

"Home made dog food!" Mike smiled to himself and sat on the counter to watch her eat. She turned her nose up at the milk and picked out the hot dog bits but other than that she licked the bowl clean.

Leo called him from the living room. He had just enough time to chuck the bowl in the sink. Opening the fridge door, he hesitated before pouring the milk back into the carton. He raced out of the kitchen with Cokey close on his heels.

"Hey Mike do you know where Raph is? He wasn't in the room when I woke up."

"I heard someone coming down the stairs when I was feeding Cokey this morning. Maybe it was him."

The two strolled out into the yard to find Raph sitting on the porch waiting for them.

"Bout time you guys showed up. I thought you weren't coming to practice or something."

"What the heck are doing out here so early Raph? It's like five thirty."

"Pretending to be Leo. Where's Don?"

Leo wondered how Raph knew that Don wasn't with them but he answered none the less. He's slow to the start line this morning. He'll be down in a sec."

Don came down and they warmed up and stretched out. Half an hour later Master Splinter made his appearance. He had watched from across the lawn during his early morning walk as Raph came out to do his own katas. Even the kata he did during warm up had more of a kick to them. Raphael was getting his zest for life back, but he wasn't out of the woods yet. As Splinter approached the four he could see Raphael was standing just as tall as his brothers. He was definitely making great progress.

"My sons, today I would like to try a new exercise in your practice. We have more open space available to us and I suggest we use it. I would like to try a predator prey scenario of sorts. You will pair off. One pair will get a head start. Five minutes later the other team will track. This will continue for two hours unless one team discovers the other and initiates a battle. Am I clear?"

The boys all snapped to attention. "Hai Sensei!" They all barked.

Raph paired up with Leo and Don with Mike. Raph couldn't help but worry. He was trying to get back on his feet but was he really ready for this? Leo called for them to check their weapons. Raph stood for a moment missing his sais. He bent down to retrieve his bo but was met half way by something else.

"I thought you might like to have these." Splinter spoke as he put Raph's sais in his hand.

Raph grinned. "Thanks Sensei."

He twirled them once and set about checking the wrappings. He was still nervous as shell about this practice but at least his sais made him feel a little bit safer. He gave his sais another flip as he slid them into his belt without hesitation. He could still do that. It made him smile.

Now they were out in the woods, hiding from Mike and Don. Raph wasn't even really sure how he got out there so quick without tripping and killing himself. He stood with his shell pressed up against a tree, concentrating for all he was worth.

"All clear Raph?" Leo whispered as quietly as possible. It made Raph wince. Normally they would use hand singles to convey that sort of thing, but Raph couldn't see the hand signals. He'd have to find a way to fix that.

"I don't know. How am I supposed to tell?" Raph whispered back.

"Listen."

"I can't tell Leo." Raph whispered harshly.

"Concentrate."

"Yeah. Yeah Leo It's all clear." Raph finally said exasperated out of pure frustration.

Leo moved out from his hiding spot and was promptly given a kick in the chest that sent him flying back with an 'uff.'

"It wasn't all clear Raph." Leo shot as he pounced towards Mike who had kicked him.

"I told you I wouldn't know if it was." Raph shot back as he tried to concentrate harder. He heard Don jump from the tree above him and prepared for his bo to strike at him. He held a hand up to catch the bo but at the last second he felt a wind to his right. His other hand shot out just in time.

A scuffle broke out. Raph whirled left and right but never touched a thing.

"Am I even close to hitting you?" Raph asked as he tried desperately for another strike.

"About three inches." Don answered as he jumped back to avoid a blow.

"Mind me using my sais?" Raph dearly wanted to use his sais.

"By all means."

Raph gave his trade mark grin as he slid his sais from his belt.

"Get ready to get your shell smacked Don."

Raph became a whirlwind of activity. He still wasn't hitting Don but he was getting closer.

A few yards away Leo and Mike were going at it. Mikey was pretending to be Tarzan and Leo was having a heck of a time keeping a lock on him. A sudden urgent mewing could be heard and all four boys quickly stopped their sparring.

Cokey came galloping into the woods crying loudly. She scampered up the tree Mike was sitting in and pressed herself against his leg almost knocking him over.

"Hey it's alright girly."

"Mike how did she even get out of the house?"

"Beats me. I shut her in the laundry room before I left."

As long as she clung to Mike's leg she was content but the second he tried to pry her off she would start to cry and whimper again.

"I guess she really did imprint you as her surrogate mother Mike. You know your real lucky. If she was just a bit older she wouldn't want to be near you and a bit younger she would still be drinking her mother's milk."

"It's alright Cokey." Mike cooed as he gently untangled the lanky arms from around his calf. Cokey let go and reattached herself around Mikey's neck. He made fake choking noises but let her stay.

After a few moments of all the turtles doing absolutely nothing she lost interest and crawled down to play. They continued to spar but it was only a few moment before Cokey could be heard growling. Mike stopped and turned just in time to be plowed in the plastron by the green fur ball. She barked and growled alternately as she jumped around on Mike's plastron and gently hit him with balled up fists.

She wasn't as small as she thought she was though and every jump was accented by a loud out take of air from Mike.

"She wants to play Mike. She must think your also her sibling."

"Enough pistachios will do that to ya.' Raph remarked from somewhere in the background.

"Come on girly. I gotta find some place to put you. I'll be right back guys."

Mike walked back to the house as quickly as he could with Cokey on his hip.

He put her in the laundry room and raced back to his brothers.

For the better part of three hours the hour hide, tracked, and sparred. Raph wasn't much help in the tracking department. He often gave away their hiding spot, and he rarely made contact while he was sparring but he was trying. He listened carefully and reacted on what he heard. Splinter was amazes at the radical difference in him. Once again his motions were fluid. He still had a way t go yet but Splinter could see the fire rekindled in his soul. Things were indeed looking up

Kevin and his sister stood before the sink washing dishes together.

Jodie was elbow deep in sudsy water and Kevin got the cushy job of drying and putting away. At the table sat Jodie's friend, Annie. She had heard Kevin was coming home and decided to come over and pay a visit.

"Hey Annie. I have this friend who's.. uh real social phobic. He just recently went blind and his family wants him to get a guide dog… um but he's afraid to go to the school with all the people around. Is there any way he can get the dog without going to the school for the training?"

Annie Laughed out right.

"Kev I worked long and hard to get Bruno after I went completely blind. The training the person goes through to learn how to use the dog is just as important as the dog needing to know how to work. Nobody would ever allow someone to take the dog without training."

Jodie flicked some dishwater at Kevin.

"Yeah Bozo." She flashed him a daring grin.

He pouted and flicked some water back.

"I was just asking."

Jodie grabbed a handful of soap suds and smeared them all over Kevin's face. Kevin retaliated by wetting his towel and gently hitting her with it. She gasped in mock shock and cocked a 'do you really want to do that?' eyebrow at him.

Apparently Kevin knew that look all too well because his eyes widened and he turned to run. She was quicker though and as he turned to make his escape she jumped on his back and wrapped her legs around his, effectively bringing him to the ground. He tried to roll over and push her off him but she continued to try to wrestle him into a pin.

"You know Jod, this is quite unbecoming of two adults such as ourselves."

"Oh your just whining cuz you know I can beat your butt."

"It's only bad because you're my younger sister."

"And that just shouldn't happen, a younger sister consistently beating up her older brother"

"Then there's also the fact that we aren't kids anymore." Kevin lay back panting as he tried to get up but couldn't. "And it's really not fair. I mean I'm the oldest."

Annie laughed somewhere in the background.

"Are you two playing nice or should I send Bruno over to break you up?"

At the sound of his name the dog's ears perked up. Jodie called him over and scratched his head for him.

"No, we're good. He's pinned and I'm victor."

Jodie placed a kiss on Kevin's cheek an released him from his position on the ground. "It's okay. Girls are allowed to be boys sometimes!"

"Hey guys! Come look at this!"

After morning practice the guys were ordered by Splinter to work on cleaning up the house. Splinter wanted a bit of spring sprucing to be done in return for Casey letting them stay at the farm. Mike and Splinter had taken the basement. Don and Leo took the middle floors and Raph volunteered to clean the attic as best as possible.

Raph figured he could do the best in the attic with nothing but boxes. He figured he couldn't go wrong. Dusting was out of the questions so he lugged the vacuum cleaner up the pull down stairs and started working away. The going was slow. He had to run a hand very slowly over a spot before vacuuming. He didn't want to suck up anything important. He also didn't want to stir up the dust so it was slow going.

His progress was slow but steady. He had Don cover his wounds so the dust wouldn't agitate them, and it was a good thing too. He was covered from head to toe I dust. His lungs would never be the same again.

When Mike called he was more than willing to get out of the crawl space for some fresh air. He left the vacuum and slowly made his way down the drop down stairs and found his bo on the floor. He found his way down to the ground floor rather easy but he had to work a little to find the basement stairs. He finally located them in the corner of the dining room, an odd place for basement stairs.

Raph was the last to make it down the stairs to where Mike was standing nest to a dust covered drop cloth over some piece of furniture.

"You'll never guess what I found!" He glowed as he patted the cloth sending up a cloud of dust.

With another wide goofy grin he yanked the sheet off. The settled dust flew up into the air making everyone cough. Under the cloth was a table. A pool table to be exact. It was clearly quite old but in good condition.

"Cool." Don and Leo exclaimed almost simultaneously.

"What is it?" Despite his new vow not to let his blindness get to him, Raph couldn't help but feel a little left out.

"It's a pool table. Balls, sticks, chalk, rack, everything."

The green felt on the table was old and worn but still quite useable.

The wood bore a few nicks and scratches but the table didn't seem warped at all.

"So what do you say Sensei? Can we take a break and play for a bit?"

"I suppose so. I will go upstairs and prepare lunch."

Mike whooped and grabbed a stick. Leo and Don did rock paper scissors. Leo won and Don would play winner in the next game. Mike set up the balls as Leo chose a stick. Don found two old bar stools for him and Raph to sit on and the game began.

The game was entertaining to watch to say the least. Mike and Leo both made completely off the wall shots.

"Two off the seven off the side wall in the corner pocket."

"There's no way you're gonna make that Mike. The eight ball is right there."

"Watch and learn my dear brother."

Mike lined up and took his shot. The two ball bounced off the seven, sending it into the side wall. It just barely missed the eight ball before it found the corner pocket.

"I'm a master." Mike stuck out his tongue.

Raph listened to the balls clack off one another and drop into the pockets. If his brothers hadn't been calling out shots he was sure he'd be lost. It wasn't exactly as fn to listen as it was to watch but he stayed none-the-less. He needed a break from the dusty attic.

"You alright bro?" Don asked as he leaned over. " You look like you're off in lala land."

"Nah I'm fine." Raph scratched absently at his stitches. "When can I get these things out anyways? They're buggin the heck out of me."

"I donno. I'll check them tonight. We might have to leave them in a few more days though with all the activity you've been doing."

Raph heard another ball plop into the pocket.

"I won I won I woooon nah nah nahnahnah! Mike pranced around the table and waved his stick about like a trophy.

Leo tossed his stick to Don.

"Beat his butt Donny."

Don stepped up to the table, an all business look on his face.

"Alright Mike, let's see what you've got."

Half way through the game Splinter called that lunch was ready and then it was back to work. Raph trudged his way back up the stairs and the drop down ladder. Despite the monotony of the work he felt something he hadn't felt since he for hurt. He felt useful.