A/N: Many thanks to Canadian Pirate Queen and The REAL Cheese Monkey (I'd be lost if I didn't hear from you! And I'm still waiting on a 'Once Human' update…) for reviewing the last chapter. artykidd, hope you're still along for the ride. Guess you're just too busy writing up the next chapter of 'M'. Cool, don't let me distract you, get back to it! All of ya!

Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT, or any related characters (much to their relief, I'm sure!) If there is anything else in this story you recognise from somewhere else, then I don't own that either.

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Tausha's first glance in the mirror was horrifying! She'd always been a bit of a tomboy, more comfortable in jeans and muck than skirts and make-up. But, with her face half a mask of blotchy purple, a nose that seemed a size too big and hair a Muppet would have been proud of she looked like some kind of crazed yobbo! They may not be high, but even she had her standards and was no where near meeting 'em at the moment. At least it was a relief when she decided Mike must have just been joking with his come on at breakfast.

Next, she had proceeded to make a complete fool of herself turning the bathroom upside down. Going through the cupboards she'd muttered to herself,
"What kind of idiot hides the damn shampoo?" Realization dawning she'd stopped to softly head butt the open door she was crouched next too.
"Augh, dipstick!" At least she'd managed to find some clean towels, although the prospect of just heading back to bed for a while to start the day afresh was certainly starting to appeal.

This was definitely a boys' bathroom. It almost felt like she'd stumbled into the blokes' locker room at the footy. Down the left hand side ran a long cabinet with two mismatched sinks, both liberally coated in dried toothpaste. The mirror on the wall above it was missing a ragged strip of its silver backing along the top, the edges of the glass badly chipped and cracked. The cabinet terminated in a large, metal laundry trough, a thick line of corrosion marched from the base of the tap to the drain. The other side of the room was dominated by a series of 'pre-fabed' cubicles. The first two stalls contained toilets, the next two showers.

There was a solitary, frayed towel hung neatly over a railing on the end wall. The floor, bench top, and the top of the cubicle walls all sported impressive collections of crumpled material. There were even a few shirts and a long coat tossed in for good measure. Mildew was making a determined attempt to seize control of the ceiling above the showers, and somewhere indeterminable there was a slow but steady echoing drip. All that was missing was the obligatory 'Macca woz 'ere!' etched into the melamine of the cubicle doors.

Armed with her clean, if somewhat threadbare towels, and the freshest looking bar of soap she could find, Tausha chose the shower stall that still had an in tact catch. The other had a ragged chunk missing from the door where its lock had once been. She managed to clear most of the snarls out of her hair using the soap and a small comb she had, thankfully, found in her bag. She gave it a rest once her fingers started to ache, deciding she'd wasted enough water anyway. At least it hadn't gone cold, and the strong pressure had been lovely.

Feeling almost normal again once she slipped into the jeans and grey T-shirt she'd grabbed before braving the bathroom, she headed back to her room to finish the tedious task of brushing out her hair. Not for the first time she wondered why she didn't just lop the damn stuff off.

Not quite ready to head back downstairs she decided to up-end her bag onto the bed to do a stock-take of what she'd packed. The past couple of days were a bit of a blur in her mind, all she could remember of leaving the apartment was shoving what she could from her room into the bag and bolting before her father came back. But, what exactly had she grabbed? Not a lot really.

A few changes of clothes, two pairs of shoes (why the heck had she taken her only pair of heels?), a photo album, her small utilitarian handbag, a collection of hair bands, and the ornate jewellery case her father had given her. The glass in the tiny doors had been smashed, most of the shards held in place by the elaborate flowers worked in filigree sprawling across the surface. With an indifferent shrug she tossed the box in the bag, along with most of the hair ties, using one to capture her hair, and dumped it back on the floor at the end of the bed.

Sorting through her clothes she folded and stacked them neatly under the edge of the bed, along with the shoes. The handbag and album got tucked under the bedside table. Lastly, she straightened out the blankets and stood back, hands on hips to appraise her handiwork, such as it was. Darn it, now she had to think of something else to kill some time with…

Finally curiosity, and a growing dread she'd be caught out hiding in her room twiddling her thumbs, drove Tausha back downstairs. She was a little surprised to find the training session still in progress. Only Mike paused to acknowledge her with a quick smile before ducking Leo's kick. A glance at the VCR informed her it was well past 11am. The session had started around six, how long did they train for each day? Raph had mentioned it was a pretty big part of their routine, but they did stop for lunch… didn't they?

She took up residence in the armchair, sitting a little skewed so she could covertly observe the action over the top of the TV guide. For her, watching people spar was just as much fun as joining in, a secret gamble with herself on wether she would be able to read their next move. Usually however, she had the security of being part of a crowd, her stare going un-noticed. She also figured these guys didn't regularly have spectators and didn't want to distract them. Limiting the opportunities for more dirty looks definitely seemed like a plan.

Her ploy was wrecked by a white and orange paw swatting the paperback into her lap, its owner immediately taking control of the captured territory, atop the book. Noticing the sparring was coming to an end, degenerating into katas and stretches, Tausha gave the cat the attention he demanded; rewarded with an appreciative purr and a trickle of drool soaking her shoulder.

"Whoa! Keep that up an' ya gonna spoil 'im!" Tausha managed to hide her start well, wondering how on earth Mike had managed to sneak up beside her, in an open chamber, where she'd been trying to keep an eye on 'em anyway! She gave him a huge cheeky grin, building on the smile she'd already had plastered on her face.
"Heh! Ya can't spoil cats, they're born brats anyway!" Mike giggled as he joined in to scratch the animal on the back of the neck, Tausha concentrating behind his ears.
"Hey, ya wanna help me make lunch?" Mike invited.
"Sure." Tausha accepted, with a shrug. Helping to liberate her from her feline captor Mike grabbed the cat by the scruff,
"C'mon Klunk, let the poor girl go will ya!"

Lunch was a pretty simple affair, tuna and pasta salad. Mikes' easy banter quickly relieved Taushas' fears he would be annoyed with her after what happened at breakfast. She found herself bugging him with all sorts of questions.
"Do you guys train this long everyday?"
"Normally, yeah." a dramatic roll of his eyes "If not longer! Leo an' Raph usually keep goin' with katas an' weights an' stuff. They need to find a hobby, or… somethin'! Plus we head topside for a run at night, whenever we can."
"I knew you guys were good, but gees!"
"Heh! Good? We are the best babe!"
"Yeah, right!" she gently teased; stirring the pot as Mike chopped a heap of veges.
"You better believe it!" he beamed back, launching into an animated account of his feats at the Battle Nexus.

"How did the other guys go, then?"
"Nyeh, all right. It is an honour just gettin' there! And Leo did get poisoned part way through, so I guess that dinted his chances a bit. But that just goes to show how fierce the competition is! And after all, only the winner gets to bring home the trophy!" Mike trailed over his shoulder as he carried the first two plates out of the kitchen, leaving Tausha to finish serving up.

"So how the heck did you end up with all this cool gear?" she asked as he returned.
"Like what?"
"Like, the pile of TV's out there, trucks and bikes and goodness knows what else?"
"Well, that's a little complicated. It's about 30 percent luck, 50 percent Donnie and 60 percent elbow grease!" Tausha couldn't help laughing at that.
"What?" Mike asked in seemingly genuine confusion.
"Oh. It's just that… never mind." Shaking her head she picked up the last couple of plates to follow him out.

"Not during lunch." Splinter gently reprimanded as he turned off the TV set Raph had just turned on.
"Wha…? But… grrr!" Raph threw himself down in his chair, fist to his temple to block his view of the rest of the table as he stabbed a chunk of pasta with his fork, the 'chink' as it hit the plate clearly audible.

Leo suspiciously eyed the plate Mike placed before him as Tausha served Don, to his shy "Thanks.", and herself.
"Did Tausha help you cook this?" Leo asked.
"Yeah. Hey, she even added this little packet of 'special spice' she brought along, so it should taste really interesting bro!" Mike confirmed sarcastically. Despite realizing his brother wasn't serious Leo couldn't help giving him a disbelieving stare, annoyed he would joke about this. With a small huff Tausha grabbed Leos' plate, swapping it with her own before she made a dramatic show of munching on a large fork-full of the meal. She graced Leo with a brief, sardonic 'happy now?' look before returning her attention to her plate, her lips set in a grim line.

They ate in quiet for a minute, hoping to win the smile back on his new friends' face Mikey broke the silence.
"You know, funnily enough most of us don't really know squat about ya…" Tausha gave him a blank look.
"Well, um, what d'ya wanna know?" she asked a little uncertainly.
"Oh, I dunno. What's your favourite colour?" Mike asked with a grin.
"Um, blue, I suppose." Mikes' face fell slightly.
"Why doesn't anyone ever say orange, huh?" His grin quickly returned, trying to coax her apologetic smile into something more.
"OK. So… what kinda bands d'ya like?" Despite quirking an eyebrow at his line of questioning, her bemused smile remained.
"If I had to pick a favourite I'd probably say 'Hunters and Collectors', just 'cos I had the biggest crush on Mark Seymour last year. But I'll happily listen to just about anything really." she admitted with a shrug.

It was Mikes' turn for the blank look.
"Who…?"
"Oh sorry, guess you probably haven't heard of those guys, huh?"
"Nah…, so this 'Mark' dude's some kinda young pretty boy?" Tausha gave a little chuckle.
"Not really, he's definitely not what you'd call 'classically handsome', he's just got an awesome voice… and when your Mum's suffering the same crush, and she points out that she's got the better chance since he's pretty much her age, it kinda ruins the whole buzz anyway." Mike joined in her cheeky grin, though he noticed a definite sadness in her eyes. Curious, he tried to guess the cause with a query he'd been wanting the answer to anyway.
"Sooo, have ya got a boyfriend, then?" his roguish expression immediately wilted under the four intense gazes directed at him. He shuffled slightly to the right to evade the clearest threat of physical harm apparent in the look from his red clad brother.

Tausha busied herself with a thorough study of the remnants on her plate, her cheeks taking on a slight rosy hue.
"No."
"No?" Raph questioned derisively. Despite trying to keep her out of his mind as much as possible he'd still spent a good portion of time since her arrival here mulling over just what else she may not have told him the whole truth about. One possibility he'd thought of was;
"What about Dragon-face, huh? You seemed damn chummy with him at times." Tausha closed her eyes, giving her head a quick shake before she returned Raphs' glower.
"You have got to be kidding me. There's no way I'd ever touch that sycophantic little snot with a ten foot pole!" Neither wanting to bow to the unspoken challenge, they locked in a fierce stare, oblivious to the others.

"Sicko-what?" Mike asked in a whisper.
"It means 'suck up'." murmured Don, cringing as low in his chair as he could to escape the palpable tension building across the table.
"Oh…" Mike followed his smart brothers' example, noticing Raph's fork bending slightly in his hand.

Starting to feel a little self-conscious, and strangely nervous, Raph decided to end the impasse on his own terms.
"Yeah, right." he sneered in obvious disbelief, dismissing her with a curt flick of his hand to return his attention to finishing his meal. Tausha took a moment to gather her jaw back under control before thumping her fist lightly on the table in frustration.
"Why the friggin' hell did you ask if you're not gonna believe me anyway!" she demanded, exasperated. Raph slammed his fist hard enough to rattle the dishes, his snarled response cut short by Splinters' paw firmly gripping his arm.
"This is not the time, nor the place, my son." Though his voice was calm, the warning in his fathers' eyes was enough to give Raph pause. With a loud growl, and a filthy look for the girl, Raph hastily grabbed his plate and cutlery, shoving back with enough force to almost topple his chair as he stood and swiftly stalked into the kitchen. The 'thunk' as he slammed his plate on the counter causing most at the table to flinch.

Mike couldn't help feeling just a little responsible as he watched Tausha dejectedly push a lone piece of pasta back and forwards in the silence that followed. As much as she was obviously trying to hide it she couldn't quite suppress the quiver in her shoulders.
"I…, I'm sorry babe. I didn't think…"
"Didn't think? Mike, you don't have any right to ask something like that anyway. It's not our business." Leo scolded.
"Yes it is!" defended Mike.
"How?"
"Well, um…, well…, we need to know 'cos…, 'cos if there are other people out there that can help Tau out we need to know! Right?" he desperately begged for support from Don and Splinter.
"I suppose that is a valid point, sort of…" mumbled Don.
"Yes," Splinter added resignedly "although reason would suggest that if there were other people Tausha could turn to for support, she would have done so already."
"Is there anyone else you can turn to? Family or friends?" Don queried gently, leaning forward to try to see her face since she hadn't responded to them at all.

Before she looked up Tausha took a deep breath and set her face in a stoic mask. "No. I got sent to live with my Dad 'cos he's the only real family I have left. He made sure I didn't make too many friends besides his 'business associates', and I wouldn't trust any of them as far as I could throw 'em. Everyone else I know, or can rely on are at home. So I'm afraid they aren't gonna be much help here." She ducked her head again, biting down on the slight crack in her voice.
"Where is home?" enquired Splinter empathetically.
"Melbourne." she stated simply, to her lunch.
"As in Australia?" Don asked in astonishment "I was wondering what your accent was, but I never would have guessed Australian. English maybe, or... " he petered out, realizing he was thinking out loud.
"That is kinda cool! So d'ya know how to surf?" Mikes' grin faltered under Leos' stern look, Tausha shaking her head.

"How does Hun end up with a daughter from half-way round the world?" Tausha gave a small shrug before meeting Leos' eyes, her mask firmly back in place.
"I was born here. My parents divorced when I was four, I think. Mum got custody, and we moved back to live with my grandad, her dad. She lived there originally; she met my father when she came over to go back-packing round the states before doing uni. I… wasn't exactly planned…"
"What happened to your mother and grandfather?" Leo probed again.
"They… died, in a car crash last January."
"I'm sorry…" Leo apologised.
"It's OK. It wasn't your fault." she tried a brave smile.
"And you have no other family?" Splinter queried.
"I think I have a… great uncle or something in Jersey. I'm not even sure of his name, and he's on Dads' side of the family anyway. Other than that, I have a few distant rellies in England. Only really know them from Christmas cards and stories though. Like you said; if I had anyone I could've turned to, I would have. I didn't plan on ending up here."

Leo quickly wiped his face clear of the sheepish look that had crept there before he asked,
"Where did you plan on ending up?" Tausha shrugged.
"Anywhere away from my Dad. Guess I hadn't really thought out the details too much, just figured if I could get out of the city it would be harder for him to track me down. Give me a chance to get my head together then."
"What would have happened to you, if you hadn't left?" Don asked, almost as if he didn't really want to know the answer. She gave a humourless laugh.
"You're probably gonna think I'm stupid, 'cos it's not like he'd beat me senseless everyday or anything. He only hits me when he's angry with me, and he usually apologises once he's cooled down. Goes and buys me a dress or something pointless. And he hasn't always been this bad. He never hit me when I was a kid, and when I first came over he was actually really nice, seemed to want to make an effort at being a family. But then something happened, well a few things actually. But the main thing seemed to be this party he went to that got trashed. I had no real idea what had happened, 'till Raph filled me in on some of it. All I was told was that Oroku Saki had been put away. Dad just kinda went to pieces after that." She gave another small sardonic laugh.

"Gees you'd think that in my Dad's line of work losing the odd 'business partner' here and there would be a given, huh? But it was like he'd just lost control or something, and he tried to get it back with me. He yanked me out of school to do home tutoring instead, gave Dragon-face the job of watching over me 24/7. I wasn't meant to go anywhere without Dad's permission, had to wear what he told me and everything. That was when he made me get this." She gripped her shoulder, the tattoo hidden under the fabric of her shirt.

"I should be thankful really; Dragon-face wasn't much of a baby-sitter. Once Dad had finished with me he went off to find him, and that gave me the chance to get out of there. Suppose I should feel sorry for the guy, he's probably in a lot worse state than me. But the last thing Dad said to me before he left was that I wasn't ever gonna leave that apartment again, not without him anyway." she swallowed thickly, fighting to keep her control.

"I couldn't do that. All I could see out the windows of that place was concrete and glass. Nothing natural, nothing green, everything straight and sharp. I've been spoilt I guess, too used to just being able to ride through the bush whenever I wanted. Here all the grass and trees seem to have been put in their place, nothing's just growing wild and the streets are just… bare. I felt I was trapped in a steel box, and the walls just kept getting closer. I just couldn't stand it anymore…" She hid her face in her hands, drawing a shuddering breath. Don laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. In response she roughly knuckled her eyes, wincing as her bruises protested the treatment.

"Sorry. Think I've cried more the past week than I have in the past year! I'm not usually this soppy, honest. It's just that sometimes I feel so…" Don squeezed her shoulder gently, guessing what the rest of her sentence was.
"You're not alone." he told her earnestly. She looked at him in mock-horror for a moment before knuckling her eyes again.
"Oh, damn it!" sniff "Don't say that," sniff "now you've really set me off." She reached a hand over her shoulder to grip his briefly, giving him as brave a smile as she could.
"Thank you." Don left his hand where it was as she buried her face again.

Leo glanced up from the girl to notice Raph stood in the kitchen doorway, watching her. Despite the grimace on his face, he seemed pale, the anger Leo expected to see in his eyes was mingled with, something else. Leo's heart sunk. He'd never seen that emotion on his brothers' face before, but was afraid he recognised it all too well. Becoming aware of Leos' concerned look Raph shot him an evil glare before retreating out of sight.

With a last sniffle Tausha managed to raise her head again.
"You gonna be alright?" Don asked, dropping his hand.
"Yep!" she nodded vigorously, plastering a smile on her face that didn't quite want to be there.
"I think it wise to allow Tausha a little time to recuperate." Splinter suggested and then addressed the girl.
"Are you still amenable to discussing your plans further at dinner?"
"Yes."
"Good."

At that Leo and Don gathered the dishes, Don giving Tausha a reassuring smile as they left for the kitchen. Splinter gave her a smile of his own before he made his way over to the couch, turning on the TVs to the beginning of 'Days of our Lives'. Mike stood to meet her, hands tucked behind his back with a puppy-dog look, as she rounded the end of the table.
"Um, I really am sorry… I didn't mean to make you cry or nothin'." Tausha gripped the top of his arm for a moment.
"Don't sweat it. I'm just being a wuss, that's all." she smiled.
"Heh!" Mike grinned "So what d'ya wanna do now?"
"I dunno."
"You wanna come up to my room?" Tausha gave him a critical look.
"Why?"
"Well, it would annoy Leo. Plus, I have the best comic collection in the world, and Raph's gonna be cleanin' up the main room today. When he's in a mood like this there's only two ways of dealin' with it. First, and my personal favourite, is to keep pokin' him to see just how many different colours he'll go before he explodes. Though I only recommend that if ya can run really fast!"
"Pass. What's the other option?"
"Hide."

Tausha rubbed her cheek in consideration for a moment.
"Well annoying Leo probably isn't the smartest thing to do …, but I can't really argue with two to one stats!" Beaming Mike lightly wrapped an arm round her shoulders to usher the way.
"So, you like comics huh?"
"Sure."

In silence Don and Leo helped Raph with cleaning the dishes. Three's a crowd and in a soundless exchange Leo dismissed Don, allowing his brother to escape to the sanctuary of his lab for the afternoon. As they placed the last of the dishes away Leo broke the uneasy quiet.
"I tried to stop this. I could see you were gonna get hurt, one way or another. If you hadn't pushed it, and just dropped it before it all came undone, at least you would have been able to keep a few good memories. Instead of letting them get tainted by…"
"Leo?" Raph braced his arms against the bench top, hanging his head a little. Leo put down the cutlery he held to give his brother his full attention. His tone hadn't been angry, so maybe he actually wanted to talk, for once. Turning his head to look Leo in the eye Raph ordered in a calm, firm tone "Fuck off." With a brisk nod Leo left.

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A/N2: Sorry for the 'dejavu', kinda similar ending to the last chapter, huh? Just couldn't think of another way to end it, without making this chapter even longer! Anyway, not too much more of this boring dialogue stuff to come… well, maybe a little more. Be sure to flash me a red light if it's getting too tedious!