And yet another chapter. I hope ya'll are enjoying this. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. I like the feedback. I'm hoping to wrap this story up soon. I know where I want to go but I've hit a bit of a speed bump on how to get there. I should have it worked out in no time though.

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M looked at the clock. "6:45 AM. Just my luck. Even on days when I get to sleep in, I can't. I might as well get cleaned up and head over to Caitlin's lab. She's usually here by 6 anyways."

M quickly washed up, got dressed, and wrote something down before leaving his room. He walked into Caitlin's lab, quietly. She was at her desk, working on something. Probably writing down what she wants me to translate tomorrow. M eyed her carefully. She really wasn't that bad looking. By human standards, she was quite attractive. She had medium length black hair that was fairly wavy. Her skin was fair, probably due to spending all her time indoors. But, she was fit, not skinny, but healthy looking. She yawned for a moment. That girl works too hard. Wonder if Jake is ever gonna' ask her out? M thought to himself. He walked up to her and spoke softly, so as not to startle her. "Morning."

Caitlin looked up, surprised to see her young friend up so early on his own. "Wow. What on earth got you up and going this early in the morning?" His silence gave her a moment to study his face, it looked so tired. "oh." Was all she could say.

M placed a piece of paper in Caitlin's hand. "Here's that stuff you wanted me to translate."

Knowing she didn't ask him to do anything, she took the paper anyway. She would read it in a few moments. M just stared at the table, unaware she was watching him

11 years earlier…………………………………………………………………………

"Please, I want to go home," The young turtle cried. His back was covered with bandages and stitches. He had been asleep for several weeks now and had recently woken up. Caitlin was trying to get him to talk to her.

"Do you have any parents?"

"I don't know. I…I have a……… Splinter."

Caitlin sighed. This topic had come up several times in the past three days. She checked him thoroughly and couldn't find anything. She wondered where this splinter was he was talking about. "No, there's no Splinter. I told you I checked everywhere and can't find a splinter. I haven't seen one." Eventually the little turtle believed her and calmed down. She felt bad about the pain he was in so she brought him some ice cream. She knew it wouldn't fix anything, but at the very least, it would make him feel a little better.

"Alright, kid." She spoke to him. "You know the drill."

M pulled his shirt off, revealing a marred looking back. There were various shell pieces everywhere on it. Caitlin tried her best to reduce the scarring but it was still very visible. The two largest pieces were over his shoulder blades. As her eyes moved down his back, the pieces became smaller. "So," she spoke up. "What's it going to be tonight? Italian, Chinese, vegetarian?"

The last suggestion earned her a glare from the young turtle. "I don't think so. Been cravin' some sashimi lately though."

"Eeewwww. Raw fish? Gross." She inserted the IV and M rolled over on his stomach.

"Hey, it's my choice. Remember?"

"OK, I'll tell Jake." She replied, and M drifted off to a dreamless, drug induced sleep.

Jake walked into Caitlin's lab at abut 9 AM. He was surprised to see M already there, sleeping. He shuddered when he looked at M's back. It was crawling with scars. They reached out and wrapped around the back of his arms, a lighter shade of green than his normal skin tone. Jake sipped on his coffee and passed a fresh cup to Caitlin.

"Thanks," said Caitlin and she lifted the mug to her lips.

"So, how are the treatments working? Are they doing him any good?" Of course it's doing him some good, idiot. Caitlin wouldn't continue this if it wasn't. Jake was searching for something a little more intelligent to say but Caitlin handed him a thick folder.

"See for yourself, "she smiled. "I'm pretty sure this will be his last one. According to his charts, his growth spurts have tapered off considerably. I don't think he'll need this again."

"I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that," Jake responded. He went to Caitlin's desk and sat down to read the folder. Caitlin went back to check on the monitor attatched to M. About three pages into his reading, Jake saw a sheet that had his name on it and the words READ THIS written at the top as well. Caitlin had tucked a lengthy letter in the folder that told in detail what happened in the park and the most recent dream M had experienced. After he finished reading he closed the folder and stared into space, thinking. So, the kid might have a family out there and he thinks his name might be Raphael. So the big question is, how do find out if this really is his family? And if they are, how do we get him out of here and back to them without Overseer knowing.

All was quiet in the lair that morning. Even Leonardo was sleeping in. Donnatello was the only one up and he was trying as fast as he could to get out of there. Quietly, he fixed himself some toast and a cup of juice. He ate the toast and drank his juice quickly. He was almost out of there without being noticed. Almost, but not quite.

"Whachya' doin' Donnie?" It was Michelangelo.

"It's a little early for you to be up, isn't it?" Donnatello looked at the clock, hoping to avoid a certain topic.

Michelangelo's stomach made a loud growling noise. He smiled out of embarrassment as he pulled out the cereal and milk. "Any guesses?" he asked.

"Alright Mikey," Donnatello stifled a grin. "I'm off to April's to use her computer. I'll be back by lunch," he was almost out the door.

"Hey Donnie, wait," Michelangelo called out.

That was it. He knew it was coming. "Look Mikey," he turned to his little brother. "I know you and Splinter want to believe that Raph is still alive and that somehow this guy in black is him but I really have to doubt it. That guy was over 6 foot tall, much taller than any of us. Plus, he didn't have a shell. Look, I want to believe he's still out there. I really do. But when I think about this in a logical sense……… I can't." Donnatello just stared at Michelangelo, waiting to see how much he had hurt his feelings.

Michelangelo spoke as he stared into his cereal. "I was just gonna' ask you to tell Casey that I would be by in a little while."

"Oh," Donnatello felt very foolish now. He turned to head back to the door, "Okay Mikey, I'll tell…….. Wait a minute. I'm going to April's, why would I see Casey..." realization hit. "Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Hmmmmmmm. Wonder why I didn't figure that one out?" he said outloud to himself as he left.

Maybe because it wasn't logical thought Michelangelo as he stared at his cereal.

Later that evening, after practice, Leo gathered everyone together to see what had been found out. It wasn't much. Donnatello reported that the building was listed as abandoned with no records of use with the utility company. Casey and Michelangelo both came up empty handed. The van had only appeared that morning and no one in the area had seen it since. The police reports were no help either. Leonardo groaned, "We aren't any closer to finding this guy Sensei. How are we supposed to get anywhere when we haven't got any leads?"

"I suspect, Leonardo, as in this dream, he will come to us. We just need to be patient." The wise old rat smiled.

Jake and M were sitting outside enjoying the night air. M was stretched out on top of the picnic table, dropping bits of sushi into his mouth. Jake chose something a little more tame, shrimp stir fry. "I still don't' see how you can eat that stuff. You do know it's raw don't you?"

M just grinned as he balanced the large platter on his plastron. "It's good stuff. Besides, I'm a mutant turtle; turtle's eat fish, so I'd say this is pretty normal for me." M continued his dinner while staring at the night sky. For some reason, he found the stars interesting. "So, what excuse did you give Overseer to get me outside this time?" He sat up and placed the empty tray on the table top.

"He's out," came Jake's reply.

"Really? Where too?" M walked over to the back of the truck and got a bottle of water out of the cooler. He held one up and Jake nodded yes so M tossed it to him.

"Well," Jake swallowed his last bit of food. "He's meeting with some big wigs at the head office. Apparently that info you brought back last night is pretty major. So, I suspect we'll be out on another job within the next day or two." Jake paused for a moment, gulping down some of his water. "You wanna' tell me what happened last night?"

"Nope."

"Why not? That was the whole purpose for getting out, so we could talk without others listening in."

"For starters, when was the last time I ever 'talked' about anything? Secondly, I already told Caitlin, so I know she told you so why repeat what's already been said." M went back to lying on the picnic table, his left hand under his head. Jake sat next to him on the bench. "Jake? How did I end up here at the station?"

"Oh, well, let's see." Jake thought for a moment, trying to remember as much as he could from eleven years ago. "I was working for the CIA back then but they loaned me out to the DEA to help infiltrate a large drug ring. Anyway, we had busted up a huge Meth lab and as I was clearing out some of the back rooms, I found you."

M tried to recall some memory of that event but had no luck. "So what was I doing back there?"

Jake became silent, trying to choose his words carefully. "The people we arrested, they had you tied up back there. They…..beat up on you and smacked you around. When I found you, you weren't even conscious. Your shell was smashed in too. If it hadn't been for Caitlin, you wouldn't be alive."

It was quiet for a minute or two as M processed the information. Jake decided it was his turn to ask a question, "So, you think your real name might be Raphael?"

"It sounds familiar, so yeah. I think so. I just with I could remember something, anything."

"Raphael suits you." Jake nodded in agreement. "Well if this is your family then we really have only one option."

"What's that?" M raised his head up to look at Jake.

"Find a way to get you back to them without Overseer knowing. Because if he finds out you're not the only one of your kind…………" Jake didn't even finish the sentence. He didn't want to. It was too morbid. Jake stood up and walked back to the truck. M followed.

"Just one more question Jake." They stopped at the back of the truck.

"What's that?"

"Don't you think it's WAY past time you asked Caitlin out?"

"Just get in the truck," Jake growled back, raising his hand, pretending that he was going to smack M in the head.

M just ducked, laughing. "OK, OK, but I'm driving."

"You can't drive. You don't have a license. It's illegal."

M gave Jake a strange look. "Uh, I just broke into an office, hacked into a guy's computer, stole some information off of it, and left a very annoying virus on it and you wanna' start worrying about illegal?"

Giving in to his reasoning, Jake tossed M the keys, "Just watch the clutch. It's sensitive. And, stay in the speed limit, OK?"

M just gave Jake and evil grin as he started the truck up and gunned the engine, "Speed limit? We don't need no stinkin' speed limit."