DISCLAIMER : Turtles ain't mine, and will continue not to be unless I win the lottery and buy them. (Starts frantically buying lottery tickets)

I am tremendously sorry about the long wait for this chapter-I mean, a little less then a month is too long to wait. But between my internet going kaput and thw whole writer's block thing... it's been a long three weeks. lol!

And here's an explanation of Casey's behavior last chapter-

He views the turtles as being the equivalent of particularly intelligent dogs. He's fond of them, of course, but he doesn't see them as his equals.(Except in fighting, of course, and even then he's rather bigheaded about it.) He's disturbed at the thought that April being THAT close (His imagination was running away with him just a tad) to one or more of them.

Finally, I wanna thank Dierdre for giving me some much needed advice about ending this story! She rocks!

And now, on to the chapter!

Dawn…

Karai awoke to the faint whisper of steel. She sat up and watched as Leonardo carefully inspected, then re-sheathed his katanas.

"Must you leave so soon?" Her words echoed in silence of the early dawn.

He finished tying the swords to his shell and took a deep breath. "I have things that I have to do."

She gracefully emerged from the bedcovers and grabbed a sheer bathrobe before she walked the short distance to Leonardo's side. She put her arms around his neck and touched her forehead to his.

"I do not know of this trial that you are going though, and I think that we both know that I could not and cannot help you." She whispered quietly. "I wish you luck, Leonardo-san. I can only hope that will be enough."

Leonardo looked searchingly into her eyes, then kissed her tenderly. "Thank you, Karai. Someday…"

She put a finger on his lips. "Here and now is not the time to be discussing someday, Leonardo-san. If you wait any longer, the sun will reveal what the moon hides, and even you will have trouble leaving here undetected."

Leo kissed her again, then strode to the window and jumped out of it, swiftly making his way down the outside of the building. Karai made her way onto her balcony, watching as the sun slowly illuminated the city, turning the once dull towers of glass and concrete into a brilliant world of light.

Dusk…

Raph grumbled and moved in his sleep.Suddenly he felt an arm on his shoulder. He grabbed the hand by sheer reflex, but was unable to remember exactly how to leverage it away from him through a skull-spitting headache. He moaned in pain, clutching his head.

"Hey, Raph, it's 'bout time you woke up. You were snorin' t' raise the dead…"

Raph blearily opened his eyes and grimaced at the light that seared his eyeballs. He threw an arm up to shield his eyes and groaned. "Wha… Where th' hell am I…"

Casey spoke again. "Yore at my pad. Drink this." He thrust a tall glass into Raph's hand.

Raph struggled into an upright position. He squinted around the room again. "Jesus, kin y' turn off the light?"

Casey gave him a puzzled look. "What are you talkin' about? The only light in here is the damn lava lamp in the corner."

"It's still too damn bright…" Mumbled Raph stubbornly, closing his eyes and trying to ignore his pounding head. He then sniffed at the drink of an indescribable color that he held in his hand. "What th' fuck is this supposed to be?"

Casey swelled with pride. "That, my little green friend, is one serving of Casey Jones's Deluxe Hangover Cure. For the most severe hangovers only. I figured that you'd need it, after last night."

Raph continued to eye the concoction suspiciously. "You sure this is gonna work? Looks kinda bad t' me."

"Yeah. It works. Just don't ask what's in it."

Raph screwed his face up, then chugged the entire glass. "BLEAUGH!" Raph's eyes buldged, and he ran for the kitchen sink, where he stuck his head under the stream of water and gulped for all he was worth. He finished by washing his mouth out with half a bottle of beer. Then he turned, fire and rage in his eyes to confront Casey. "WHAT THE HELL WAS IN THAT!"

Casey leaned in the doorway, watching Raph with amusement painted on his face, and started counting off the ingredients on his fingers. "Tabasco sauce, jalapeno pepper juice, an egg, tomato juice, pepper, salt, ketchup, orange juice, cumin powder, carrot juice, a splash of lemon, and some onion juice."

Raph stared at him, his face a mask of horror and disgust. "And you let me DRINK THAT!"

Casey shrugged. "I told ya not t' ask. But think of it as payback for breakin' my new TV." He moved out of the doorway so that Raph could see the large-screen television, complete with a sai sticking out of the middle of it. "An' besides, you're not hung-over anymore, are you?"

Raph paused. His headache was gone. Hallelujah. "…No. Guess not. Ah, sorry about that…" He gestured at the thoroughly dead television set.

Casey grinned evilly. "Well, let's just say that you're gonna owe me till the end o' time. 'Tween th' TV an' that cure you just chugged down..." He shrugged. "It's guaranteed, a heavily guarded and secret recipe, y' see. Don't just make it fer anyone."

"You are one lucky bastard, Jones. If I was still hungover…" Said Raph.

"Yeah, yeah, my ass would be grass, I know, I know…" Casey walked back into the living room and flopped onto a couch. "So, y' gonna tell me why you were so tanked last night?" He called. "I mean, I've seen people drunk bad b'fore, but th' state you were in last night… I swear y' made it into an art form."

Raph followed Casey's example and flopped across the aged Lazyboy in front of the remnants of the television. "No, I'm not gonna tell you. An' I wasn't that drunk."

Casey propped his head up on one hand. "Dude, if you weren't that drunk, then why did y' sleep for 15 hours straight?"

"What!" Raph jumped up. "No way did I sleep for that long!"

Casey looked up at him. "Yeah. Y'did. Y' showed up here at 7 this mornin', an' it's ten at night now."

"You're shittin' me." Raph said, disbelievingly.

"Nope."

"Aw, hell…" Raph sank down into the chair again. "That's not cool…"

Casey sat up and leaned toward Raphael. "Listen, Raph, what's goin' on? It's not like you to get tanked…"

"Yeah it is." Grunted Raph.

"Okay, yeah, but I've never seen y' THAT tanked before. What set y' off?"

Raph sighed. "I… I don't wanna talk about it. Not right now…"

Casey eyed him suspiciously. "C'mon Raph, it can't be THAT bad, can it? Leo get on your case again?"

"I said I don't wanna talk about it! Alright?" Raph said angrily.

Casey held his hands up. "Alright, alright, I surrender. Jesh. Ya ask a guy a question… Don't know why I put up with it…"

A knock came at the window.

"Who th' hell izzat?" Casey said.

Raph gave Casey an exasperated look. "Case, who d'ya know that'd knock on your winda' instead'a knockin' at ten at night?"

Casey rolled off of the sofa with a grunt and approached the window. He opened it to find Michaelangelo and Donatello standing on the fire escape, stone faced.

"Hey, what are youse guys doin' here?" He asked.

"Checking on Raph." Said Donatello, one hand resting on the strap of a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

"Get bored stayin' at Ape's?" Casey said, leering at them.

"Look, Casey, we don't want any trouble. We're just here to get Raph." Said Donatello calmly.

Raph had gotten up from the couch and was standing behind Casey, a slightly confused expression on his face.

"Guys… what's goin' on?"

"Raph, c'mon, we need your help to go and find that thing." Mikey said emphatically, speaking over Casey's shoulder. "You know, that thing that isn't here… that has seemed to have disappeared… that we haven't seen since yesterday… "

Raph's eyes widened. Aw shit, Leo hasn't showed up yet? "Yeah… yeah. Okay, I'll just get my other sai, gimme a sec." He walked back into the living room to pull the metal weapon from the remnants of the television set. Casey stood like a stone pillar, a muscle pulsating furiously in his jaw.

"Thanks fer the save, Case. I'll talk t' ya later." He was half out of the window when Casey caught a hold of his arm.

"Raph, what's goin' on? I can't believe that you're keepin' me in the dark like this!"

Raph met the off-duty vigilante's gaze. "Casey, I told ya'- I don't wanna get into it right now. Back off."

"If youse guys can tell April, y' kin tell me!" Casey snarled. Raph raised an eyebrow questioningly at his brothers, and Mikey pointed to Don.

"He did it."

Raph rolled his eyes. "Great. More people to get involved in this melodrama." He crawled out of the window, ignoring Casey's sputtered indignation and joining his brothers on the fire escape. "C'mon, we need t' figure out how to find… I mean, uh… aw, fuck this damn code language…"

Mikey grinned and leaped onto the metal railing of the fire escape, then climbed like a monkey up and out of sight, Raphael only a moment behind.

Don waited a moment, then turned to a red-faced Casey, who was shaking with anger at being ignored and pushed aside so flippantly.

"Hey Casey," He called.

"What!" Casey replied, angrily.

Don stalked closer to Casey and the open window. "If you ever talk to April in a tone like the one you used this morning again…" He spun his bo threateningly.

Casey bared his teeth in an almost feral grin. "Are you threatenin' me, Donny-boy?"

Donatello gave him a dark, chilling look. "It's amazing what us animals will do when you threaten something they care about, Casey." With that parting shot, he turned around and scaled the fire escape, leaving a thoroughly stunned Casey Jones behind him.

A moment passed before Casey was able to shake himself out of his stupor, and he slammed the window shut. "Didn't wanna know that bad anyway…"
Fifteen minutes later…

"Come on, Leo, pick up…" The shell cell beeped once, then an automated voice recording intoned, "...We're sorry, your call was not able to go through. Please hang up and try agai-"

"Dangit!" Michaelangelo closed the phone and stuffed it into his belt. "He's not answering." The turtles had come to rest on a roof top about 3 miles from Casey's apartment and were not having any luck reaching their MIA brother.

"What did you say to him, anyway?" Asked Donatello. Raph sighed in frustration.

"I told you, I just told him the truth,'s all. He needed someone t' give him a reality check, and so I gave it to him."

Don rolled his eyes, as Michaelangelo dialed Leo's number again. "Then what would make him run off like this?"

"I don't think that he was really prepared for the fact that Splinter wasn't always five-by-five wit us." Raph said.

"I don't think that any of us were." Donatello said quietly.

In the background, Michaelangelo swore and savagely clicked the shell cell shut. "He's STILL not answering, guys."

"Great." Raph paused for a moment, thinking. "Well, I left 'im near Central Park last night, maybe we should go back and try 'track him from there."

"Wait," Interjected Donatello. "I think I can find him with my GPS locator."

"You have a GPS locator?" Said Mike in wonder.

Donatello nodded. "I made it a while ago. And I, uh, put a locator chip in each of our shell cells. As long as he's still in the NYC, and he still has the phone with him, I think I can find him."

"We'll try that, then." Said Raph authoritatively.

Donatello then commenced with digging though his duffel bag, every once in a while grabbing a small piece of machinery and setting it on the ground in front of him. When he had 10 or so of these metal objects set in front of him, he put the bag aside, cracked his knuckles, and started assembling the pieces.

Raphael and Michaelangelo looked at their brother in bewilderment.

"Do y' have any idea what he's doin', Mikey?"

"Nope."

"Me neither."

"It's a lot easier to carry something like a GPS scanner in small parts, rather then lugging around a big hunk of plastic everywhere." Don said over his shoulder. "Just give me five minutes."

An awkward moment passed. Mickey fidgeted, twirling a 'chuck distractedly. Raph started pacing like a caged animal.

"Y' know, what if he doesn't have it on him?" Mike asked.

Raph stopped pacing and looked at Donatello. Don shrugged. "We'll just have to cross that bridge if we come to it."

Raph grunted and started to pace once more.

"Right. I think that this… should… be… it!" With a sharp metallic clink, Don finished assembling the GPS and switched it on. He pressed another switch, and a small projector light switched on, illuminating a small portion of the roof they were standing on. A map of the city appeared, along with four small red dots.

"See, the three of us are right here," Don pointed with a blunt digit at the three red dots clustered around each other. "And Leo… is right… here!" He pointed at another red dot.

Raph leaned over Donatello's shoulder. "Great job Donny! But where's 'here'?"

"That way." Don said with conviction, sitting up and pointing towards the northeast.

"Well, we should get goin' then. If he really does try t' bolt, I wanna be in a position where we ken stop him."

Five minutes and much roof-hopping later, the three brothers arrived at their destination. Leonardo was sitting on the edge of a rooftop overlooking Central Park, his feet hanging idly over the side of the building.

When Leonardo didn't say anything, Michaelangelo broke the silence. "Hey Leo. Long time no see!"

Leo didn't turn around.

Mikey plopped down next to his elder brother. "So… where'd you go to get your head back on straight? If it's back on straight, I mean."

Silence.

Mikey ploughed forward anyway. "Well, Me and Don went t' April's and had a movie marathon! Mondo fun dude, you should been there! Uh, anyways, while we were doin' that, Raph was sleepin' off what I guess was a major hangover at Casey's, and then we went to get him cause Casey was shootin' his mouth off an-"

"One of these days that mouth o' yours is gonna get you in trouble, Mikey-boy." Raph growled, putting his little brother in a headlock and effectively stopping the seemingly unending stream of words coming out of the bubbly turtle's mouth.

He let the orange-masked turtle out of the headlock when Leonardo suddenly took a deep breath and stood up.

"Leo?" Raph asked tentatively.

Leonardo took a deep breath and looked around at his brothers for a moment before giving them a small smile. "You guys gonna stand there all night, or are we gonna go home?"

Well! I've made myself into a liar- this isn't the last chapter. (Hears various fans cheering) But the real last chapter (Jesh, this is what, the fourth, fifth time I've said that?) will be posted by my sheer will by Saturday at the latest, because I'm going away and it would be cruel to leave y'all hanging like that. :-P

Shoutouts!

Jigsaws231- Well, you were right… I didn't wrap it all up in one chapter. :-P Glad you liked it so much! Loved the compliments!

Buslady of SoCal- Yeah, I got a lot of anti-Casey comments this time around… Hmm… can't imagine why… lol! But seriously, I do like Casey. At least, I think I do…

Misterfooch- Yeah, like I always say... life gets in the way of everything far too often… Still, thanks for taking the time review!

Sunel- Thanks for the compliment!

Pacphys- Well, I caught the season finale of the new tv show this summer, and I saw this whole sexual tension thing goingon between Leo and Karai, and so when I needed SOMETHING for Leo to do… I just said, 'what the heck, Why not?' lol

Reinbeauchaser- I think that I'm gonna take a little break from this little universe for a while… but there are lots and lots of delectable plotbunnies that I could explore… So who knows? Thanks for reviewing!

Lioness-Goddess- Well, I doubt very much that we go to the same school, GATTACA is used kinda universally throughout the biology teacher population. And the paralyzed guy dies for sure, but as for the 'hero' of the story… I think they left the end open for a reason…. But yes, I agree with the 'weird' statement. Lol!

Lil Kimi- Thanks for much for the compliments! I loved writing those little moments too… (Melts into sentimental pile of mush)

Lunar Ninja- Death by chainsaw, huh? I think you're the first one to threaten Casey with that…

Entropy- Ooh! I wanna copy of that picture once you're done! Lol, thanks for reviewing!

Chibi Rose Angel- I think that everyone wants a turtle as cute as Donny… sigh… And I keep hearing about these new episodes where it's obvious that there's something between April and Donny… But I keep missing the darn things! Grr.. Though I think I've seen every one about Mikey and his superhero friends… And I think across the board almost everyone was outraged by Casey. :-P

Dierdre- Again, I cannot say thank you enough! I'm glad you liked the Karai scene, and I was giggling throughout your entire review… as always… And thanks for the herpetology lesson:-P

The REAL Cheese Monkey- I'm glad that scene made you laugh! I had fun writing it… Oh Donny, how I love to put you in awkward situations…

Vampy- Well, it's less of a purr then a really contented rumbling… lol... And yes, your wish is granted… one more chapter!

Sasamil- Flattery! (Glomp!) Thanks for reviewing!