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.

Chapter One:

"Donny, for the sake of sanity, just let us find some sucker to drive us there!"

"Raph, for the millionth time, no!

"You know what? I've been playing nice with you. I've let you tag along, I let you hold the map, I've let you even tell me what to do, because I respect your brains, but I'm done. No more mister nice turtle. You're on your own." Raph told his brother, shaking with the effort to keep his temper down. Donny didn't piss him off as much as Leo, but he'd hit him just as hard, and the weeks of long, constant jogging had taken their toll.

"A few hours! That's how long it would have taken us to get there in a car. We've just been wasting our time, exhausting ourselves and wasting money to buy water.

"You really had me going with all of that smart stuff back at the lair about not taking anything with us. But now you're just being stubborn and stupid. I say we hitchhike. Either you walk to Canada like you want to and get up there three months from now, or you come with me and we're there later on tonight."

All of the irritation that hunger and exhaustion had boiling inside of Donny dissipated while the other turtle ranted. Really traveling by foot was the most intelligent means to get them to Canada without problems. They wouldn't have to worry about discovery; they'd be able to control the direction they were going in.

However, with Raphael as a traveling companion, everything changed. Either you did what Raph said or you didn't do anything. If Leo was here, there'd be lots of yelling and wrestling, but they'd travel by foot no matter how long it took them. Donny didn't have the energy or the strength of will to battle Raph. It was simply easier to give into him.

"Fine." Don sighed and nodded his head towards the direction of the highway they'd passed an hour ago. "Lets do things your way."

"Thank you!" Raph shouted violently, throwing his hands up in the sky. "Finally some logic around here."

Street logic, maybe, Don rolled his eyes behind Raphael's back. With this change in plans came a large dose of risk and danger. There was no telling what would happen if they were to be found out. They needed to use all of their ninja skills to seem uninteresting and normal. Considering they were huge, upright turtles in human clothing that was going to take a lot of skill.

But if Don continued on his path while Raph stormed down his, they would both be in the same danger separately and that was more stupid than hitchhiking.

It was about a week before Michaelangelo gave up the pretense that he was merely patrolling in the general vicinity of Chassidy's apartments and if he just so happened to stop by her window, he was just as concerned about her welfare as the person next door to her.

He'd turned into a nervous wreck. He was constantly worrying about her getting in trouble, worried about Stone tracking her down and killing her, worrying about the Foot – under Stone's command (Stone had turned into a comic book bad guy in his imagination) – kidnapping her and selling her into the slave market.

Physically seeing that she was leading as normal a life as she could in her situation gave him only a momentary reprieve. As soon as she was out of sight again the worrying started up again.

Leo and Splinter noticed. They kept silent, but he knew they knew. After all, without Donatello or Raphael to distract them from his odd behavior he felt like he was under a microscope every time he flinched.

A month, he told himself. He'd give her a month to get used to her new life, then he'd start 'accidentally' popping up at her haunts and then they'd be friends again and then he'd be able to protect her a little better. Right now he felt scared and helpless. What if she was being attacked right now and because he was sitting down here in his lair trying for a modicum of sanity – to at least pretend he wasn't utterly obsessed and scared out of his mind – she'd come to harm.

He was losing sleep; he wasn't hungry, and all of this over a girl; a girl who, as far as he knew, wanted nothing to do with him. He started to empathize with Raph's temper tantrum over breaking up with her girlfriend. Not that he'd openly admitted that's what set him off. But they all knew.

Perhaps the scariest part of it all was he knew he was going bonkers. He knew he was getting unreasonable and psycho about it. But he couldn't stop it. He'd tried. But it'd only made his anguish worse.

"My son." Splinter spoke softly, and Mikey flinched guiltily like he'd been caught eating candy after bedtime.

"Yes Master Splinter?" Michaelangelo asked with a hint of dread tingeing his words. Slowly he turned to face the only father he'd ever known. The furry face was pinched with worry, whiskers gently twitching with sympathy. His round ears were canted slightly back with distress. Poor Master Splinter. Ever since the boys had started to recognize his body language, he could keep no secrets from them. Unless he was Ultra Ninja about it, some unthinking bodily response gave him away.

Splinter eased himself to the floor, resting a hand on his son's shell not only for something to lean on but for the creature comfort of the contact. As he curled his tail around his legs folded in the lotus position, the tip flicked restlessly again Mikey's ankle.

Mikey let the tension ooze out of him. He felt drained.

"Something's wrong with me." Mikey admitted without being prompted; he was like an open book for all to read. "I… my feelings for Chassidy aren't exactly healthy anymore, and I don't know how to let go. They've spiraled out of control."

"You must move on, my son. You must forget her. Pay attention to the things you loved before you met her and let her go. If it is fate, she will return to you. If you don't let go, she will come to fear you. Or come to hate you. And you wish for neither."

"No," Mikey whispered, hiding his face by tilting his head down. "Neither. I only want to protect her, keep her safe."

"She needs to learn that she can keep herself safe. Only then can she allow you to protect her as well. She was a wounded animal when she came to you. That is not a proper way to carry on. Love must be mutual and equal. She can not give you any part of herself as she is right now – she is missing too much of her soul."

"Is it greedy and selfish that I don't care? That I'll take whatever part of her she's willing to give, even if she's incomplete?"

"Yes. But you are young. It can be forgiven." Splinter's ears and eyes communicated humor. "You deserve more than a scrap, my son. Never doubt this."

Splinter took a deep breath and his ears dipped down slightly in sorrow. "I knew the day would come that each of you would seek out a mate, or at least someone to partner you emotionally. I've dreaded it because I knew, as mutants, we are not meant to find love. I am old. It's not such a crime for me to be alone. However all of you are so young. The lonely years stretch before you like a yawning void."

Michaelangelo let his mind drift as Splinter's speech flowed into his ears. Somewhere after the first few sentences, the old rat had switched to Japanese, which helped. He concentrated on the words until they became merely sounds.

Splinter had noticed the moment Mikey's eyes had glazed over, but he continued to speak. Hopefully, despite the fact that he wasn't listening, he was still absorbing everything to properly hear it later, in contemplation.

"I wish life was easy, my son. I wish that if one merely believed in something, it would happen, but I suspect that in romance, you and your brothers will only be disappointed. I wish I were wrong. I want to be wrong."

Splinter caressed his son's green cheek and shook his head slightly. Of them all, because of his innocence and naiveté, Michaelangelo suffered the most from being a mutant. He deserved a full normal life. Raphael hated being different, but he didn't suffer – it mostly angered him at the injustice. However, because Michaelangelo was unaware of the world's inability to accept him, he did not guard against it. And it would wound him soon enough. Wound him deeply.

"Come, let us meditate. Perhaps you shall gain enlightenment that way."

"Yes, Master Splinter."

"And don't fake it, Michaleangelo. I'll be able to tell."

Mikey gave a watery smirk. "Yes, Master Splinter."

It took longer than Raph liked to finally flag down someone willing to give them a ride. And then it took them several rides to finally get into a city close by the small town they were aiming for.

Raph agreed to walk the rest of the way only because Donny got tenser with each new person they came into contact with. He grunted and hid his face, looking more suspicious with such an obvious need to escape notice.

"My brother's a little crazy. He doesn't like large spaces, and hates going out in public." Raph explained each time the driver got a little too nosy. "Our mother died, which is the only reason why he's willingly out. And we can't afford to pay a taxi to take us to the funeral." After the past two weeks of roughing it, they didn't smell too pleasant so the driver either assumed they were street people or runaways. Either option meant they didn't pry and left them alone.

As they watched the most recent ride drive off into the sunset, Raph sent an evil glare to his brother. "That's the last ride we'll take. Happy now?"

Don let out a gusty sigh. "Oh, hell yes. I think my muscles are frozen tight. Now I know what a rabbit being stalked by a predator feels like."

Raphael rolls his eyes and began to jog in the direction of their goal town.

Donatello relished the opportunity to run the tension off.

"This is it?" Raph scoffed as they both stared down at the building that matched the address that had been so many documents they'd stolen from the NAMR building.

It was an old building, shaped like a square with a garden now overgrown and weed-ridden in the middle. The windows were boarded up and Luther Senior High School painted on the wall above the entrance.

"It's a freaking school fer crissakes!"

"An abandoned school."

"So? It's still a school!"

"What was a government DNA research facility doing sending their findings to a school?"

"Advanced science program?" Raph joked. Don rolled his eyes.

"They worked very hard to make things appear legitimate. This could even have been a private school for geniuses, but I don't believe it was going to the students. I believe it was going to a contact that was feeding the information to the guys who were funding the projects."

"C'mon. Lets got find some proof."

Donatello sighed as he followed Raphael inside the old school.

It was hard, but Michaelangelo succeeded in letting Chassidy go. It took him days of meditation, exercise, and lots of distraction, but eventually he stopped thinking about her every second of every day, though he couldn't get her out of his dreams. It was a guilty pleasure he kept to himself.

Leo was surprisingly supportive, actively trying to keep Mikey occupied. It brought them closer mainly because neither Don or Raph were there to help. Mikey had no other brother to turn to, but what surprised Mikey was that Leo was so attuned to him. He knew exactly when his thoughts strayed, and while he was very quick to snap Mikey out of it, he wasn't hard or demanding. He gently steered him to a new set of thoughts and it made Mikey greatful for the tactfulness of it.

Leo was a good guy, Mikey decided. A little too stiff, a lot demanding, but still a good guy. He'd never really had a chance to find out before then.

"You're starting to slip," he'd tease. "C'mon. Let's go spar."

It was a slow process, but it got to the point where it was bearable – the urge to be near her or see her. He'd sooth his frazzled nerves that eventually he'd go and check up on her. Just once just to make sure she was okay. He kept his ear to the ground about the Foot, but after their being run off of their last headquarters they'd had difficulty in finding a new place to congregate without arousing suspicion or ire from the local police.

For now Stone was busy too busy with work and Foot problems to bother Chassidy. One apartment he continued to monitor was Stone's. If he couldn't shadow Chassidy, he sure as hell was going to shadow the threat. At least he was allowed that.

But someday when he trusted his emotions more, he'd quietly pop by Chassidy's place. Maybe take someone with him to make sure he didn't do something stupid like go in or knock on the door or leave flowers on the doorstep.

Though that last would probably be a nice idea – let her know she was liked, that he was thinking of her, no pressure or anything. Except she might see it as a threat. Or maybe think it was Stone. Bad idea, bad idea, scratch that.

Mikey came out of his mental fog with the help of the scabbard of Leo's katana. Mikey glanced up at his brother who was smirking down at him. "C'mon, you little sap. No more wallowing."

Mikey stood and snatched the katana Leo held from his hands. Leo let him. "Okay, but this time we switch weapons." He held out a pair of his nunchucks to Leo and the smirking turtle took them.

"I'm better at nunchucks than you are at swords."

Mikey scoffed openly, "You're better at everything. But the long reach of your katanas gives me the impression that I can beat you."

Leo's smirk was starting to annoy Mikey. It just kept getting bigger and bigger. No wonder Raphael liked to punch Leo in the face so much. Mikey stuck his tongue out and dashed towards the sewer's equivalent of a dojo.

"Last one there's gotta do twenty laps!"

"That's not fair," Leo laughed good-naturedly as he tried to catch up. "You're lighter on your feet than me and you have a head start!"

"Hey, I'll take whatever handicap I can get!"