Angel: I just wanna clarify that Elena is not Amy's sister, she's Amy's niece XD Carol is Marco's wife (Elena's mother), and Marco (Elena's father) is Amy's brother. Amy only had two siblings, not three. All family members except Amy's dad have five-letter names, though, so I understand why people would be confused, if you were. But Hot Soup: The Game pretty much confirmed that Elena is Marco's daughter, so it shouldn't be hard to figure out. AND Amy said so herself in a oneshot that Elena is her niece.

Also, we're at 14A! Technically, episode 26 is the halfway point since there's 52 of them, but you get my point. And they've released some animations on the wiki for the next episode Bullhop, so go check those out if you haven't seen them!

I would've gotten this episode out sooner if A) they uploaded it faster and B) I didn't have a bunch of homework, quizzes, and tests to get through this week. And one of them was 100 questions. For an assignment! Anyway, enjoy.

The Turtle Tank is driving down the street at 9 PM. The turtles themselves are wearing their wrestling outfits, and Amy is in her Kitty Kat outfit, with a few minor changes. She's covered up her fishnet stockings with black tights, and she's wearing a black top hat on her head, a silver feather decorating the left side of it. She's also wearing a black leather jacket to cover herself up with.

"I'm calling it now, boys and my lady," Leo winks at the girl. "This will be our easiest mission ever!"

Amy rolls her eyes silently at his bragging.

"Yes!" Raph pumps his fists as he sits in the big chair. "Dad said all we have to do is return this one Lou Jitsu DVD he rented us..."

Splinter held the DVD, Lou Jitsu: Bedtime for Bozos. "Back to the video store before midnight and I will give you all hugs and, um, I will also throw in-"

They cheered, interrupting him before he can finish. "No take-backs!" Leo called out.

"Come on, let's get Mellie to go with us," Raph looked at the girl who was sitting at the booth. "She's been like that for a full week now."

Leo followed his gaze to see Amy slumping over the booth. Her eyes looked tired and her hair was shaggy; he couldn't remember the last time he saw her sleep since she had moved into the lair. Ever since the whole 'bakery bomb,' she had been like that for about a week now. He felt bad for her, he really did, but he could tell that Amy wanted space, so he had kept his distance. After the bomb attack at her shop, she hadn't been the same, and he missed her...

"That would be a no. It's the five stages of grief. She's going through the fourth stage: Depression. I can sympathize," Donnie placed a hand to his heart, remembering when he lost his jacket...his best friend...

"Depression or not, in case we don't make it, we need her to pay off the bill."

"Is that all we keep her around for?" Leo asked defensively, hands on his hips. "Money?"

"Of course not!" Raph sweated at Leo's intense tone, holding up his hands in defense. "But either way, she needs to stop moping, so go talk to her."

"Right now?" Leo sweated a bit, glancing back at the girl. "Raph, she's been through a lot."

"True..." Mikey murmured to himself, remembering the story she told him when the two went to get the Lou Jitsu game.

"I don't think we should," The red-eared slider frowned in worry. "I don't wanna risk it."

"Risk what? It's Mellie. Watch," Raph held up a pineapple, looking at his target. He threw it before anyone could stop him, the fruit soaring towards Amy. The girl held out her arm and caught it right before it could hit her. Leo, Mikey, and Donnie dropped their mouths in shock.

"Throw something at me again, and you lose that arm," She called out, but she didn't sound sarcastic, she sounded sad.

"Told you. You know what, I'll do it," Raph jerked a thumb to himself, approaching Amy slowly. She just blinked as he leaned in, blocking her view from the ceiling. "Hey. Hey, Mellie," He said in his 'I don't want to hurt your feelings' voice like he did with his brothers. "Um, I know you're sad, but going out should help!"

"Raph," She closed her eyes, putting a hand to her face. "Please, I don't feel like going anywhere..."

"Oh come on," He coaxed further, "We'll get ice cream afterwards. How about it?"

"No thanks," She turned around so that her back was facing him.

"I'll give ya five bucks if you come with us."

Leo shook his head and pushed past Raph. The child gloves he was trying to do with her had to come off. "Bribing, Raph? This is how you get her attention." He moved to Amy's right side, bending down so that she could see his gentle eyes. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"Sulking," She hugged her knees and he reached out his hand to her, patting her bangs softly.

"Can I sulk with you?"

"That's not how sulking works," She deadpanned, the other turtles surprised that she was speaking more. And to Leo. "But...sure." With Leo, she could tell he was sincere, and not treating her like a baby like Raph was doing. She didn't want to be treated like the others, she was different than that.

The other turtles decided to give them some space, peeking behind Splinter's armchair. Splinter peeked over the top.

Leo laid down next to her, staring into her eyes. Amy scooted closer, resting her head on his plastron. He immediately knew what she wanted, wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

"I know that it was just a bomb and the place will be fixed, but..." She closed her eyes, imagining the bomb exploding. She could've died if it was heavy-duty. She could've lost her pet pig... "It's just all so...exhausting and painful that all my hard work for my mother...resulted in this."

Tears fell down her cheeks. Doubt, disgust, anger...that was all she had felt the entire week. Doubt that she couldn't do more. Disgust that the Foot did this. Anger that she couldn't prevent it...that she didn't see it coming.

"I know how much this has affected you," Leo spoke softly. "How much it still affects you. And sulking about it from time to time is fine." He rubbed his thumb across her cheeks, wiping her tears away. "So if you need to talk about it, or cry, I'll be right here for you."

Amy smiled at him softly, a happy tear about to form. "Thank you," She hugged him and he returned it, the other four shocked at the display.

"This isn't really sulking, is it?" Leo opened his eyes.

"No. Now it's just hugging on the floor. But to be honest, I don't really care."

"Neither do I," He stroked her hair gently and she hummed, grateful for the contact.

"Thanks, Leo. You really know how to cheer me up...and you guys can stop spying on us now!"

Splinter, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey all cringed that they've been caught. "So does this mean she'll come?" Mikey whispered to the others.

"It does," Amy smirked as she glanced at them, all the turtles cheering.

Raph pulled the Turtle Tank to a stop and Mikey gets out first. "I forget, what happens if we don't return the DVD before midnight?"

"Then Splinter gets charged extra. It's called a 'late fee,' " Donnie uses quotation marks, rolling his eyes at the simple term.

"Or was it zombie apocalypse?" Raph mimics a zombie, Amy huffing.

"Highly doubt it," She jumps and lands next to Mikey.

"Nah, I don't remember, but we can't afford either," Raph ignores the girl. "Now let's return this DVD so we can all go home and get hugs!" He places his mask over his face.

"Alright, hugs!" Donnie jumps down last.

"Yeah, great call on the disguises, guys," Leo looks at his wrestling costume. "It'll really help us blend in with all the people."

"Why did I have to wear mine?" Amy asks, turning to the others. "I'm already human."

"So we could match!" Mikey throws an arm around her. "Duh."

However, there seems to be no one at the video store, which is odd even for New York. There's always someone here, no exceptions.

"Wait, where is everyone?" Leo wonders and the video store behind them suddenly explodes as it turns out it's being demoed.


"That didn't go so well," Leo mutters as they're now on the ferry. "But on the upside, we get to ride the ferry to another DVD store!"

"So we didn't see all the warning: demolition signs," Raph starts off, all of them dirty. "No biggie."

"Yeah," Mikey's leaning against a pole. "And my horoscope didn't say anything about reading signs," He glances back to see a sign that says wet paint. "Oh, wet paint?!" He looks at the dark red paint on his coat, falling onto the ground. "My horoscope betrayed me. We're cursed! We'll never return our DVD before midnight!"

"There are no such things as curses," Amy waves it off, trying to reassure him.

"Relax, Michael," Donnie bends down, patting Mikey on the back. "Easy. Back in ancient times, early 2002," They all look at his wrist computer, seeing a self-service DVD returning kiosk. "There were boxes or kiosks where you could rent or return DVDs and I just plotted every one in New York to the Tank's GPS, you're welcome," He snaps his fingers, "So as soon as we dock-"

Mikey joins his side. "We can finish our mission and go get Splinter's warm and fuzzy hugs?"

"Yes!" Raph cheers, pumping a fist. "And the ferry's just about ready to dock!"

"Easiest mission ever!" Leo high threes Mikey.

"Eh, I'm not in it for the hugs," Amy puts her arms behind her back, the others gasping sharply. "What?"

"How can you not want Splinter's hugs?" Leo asks in such disbelief, he almost stopped loving her. Almost.

"You guys already know what happened to my father," Amy crosses her arms, her eyes looking sad. "They'd just...remind me of him...the way his stubble tickled my head...his hairy arms despite being gross would be comforting..."

The turtles realize that she doesn't have a father, since he was gone. They start to feel bad, bragging about how easy it was to be getting hugs when Amy can't ever get hugs from her father again...it's already bad enough that she's stuck with them. That fact they could deal with.

But not being able to hug her father...

She should be able to get a decent hug once in a while.

"Uh, folks, a movie production has the harbor, uhhh, closed," Someone announces, breaking the tense silence. The ferry suddenly comes a stop as fake planes fire lasers, heading towards a large monkey holding onto the Statue of Liberty. He grabs the plane, which crushes to pieces.

"Cut!" The director announces. "Cut, cut, cut! Find that monkey's talent and bring it to set!"

"New York," Donnie sighs slowly, Raph and Leo's mouths wide open at what just happened. "What a town."

"We're stuck!" Mikey exclaims, holding his head. "Oh! Now I'll never know if Splinter's whiskers tickle!"

"Oh we will, Mikey. New plan!" Raph points to the water. "We swim to the nearest DVD kiosk!"

"Which is approximately 1.0 nautical miles that direction," Donnie uses his goggles to pinpoint the next one.

"Still a piece of cake," Leo adds in as he jumps into the water.

"Ew," Amy sticks out her tongue in disgust at the dirty water. Something tells her that if she stayed, they'd push her in. So she didn't really have a choice, no matter how much she didn't want to admit it. She swan dives into the water, Mikey and Raph jumping after her. Donnie just flies as he did not want to touch that water at all.


They swim all the way to the next kiosk and 45 minutes later, they walk into an alley. Amy was just glad that the water washed the mud off her.

"Okay, okay, my turn," Leo asks as they've almost reached their destination. "If Lou Jitsu and Jupiter Jim made a crossover movie, then that movie is a kid with pro basketball skills, that's me, baby!" Leo throws a basketball and Raph catches it.

"Not bad, not bad," He chuckles, Donnie looking at his wrist computer. "But look," He throws the basketball at Leo. "The DVD kiosk!"

There it is...surrounded by trash.

"Who puts a DVD kiosk all the way out here?" Amy asks in disbelief.

"Ah, the sweet stink of victory," Mikey says in relief.

"Gentlemen, and Lia, we clear a path to the return slot, we're home free," Donnie grins as he gestures to the machine.

"Easiest. Mission. Ever," Leo cracks his fingers, removing a bag of trash. However, a large silverfish wakes up, as it was sleeping there. Leo, Amy, Donnie, and Mikey all scream at it and it guards the kiosk.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Raph exclaims in fear, as he did not want to go to another one. "Bad mutant silverfish."

"Save the kiosk!" Donnie yells, everyone else except Raph jumping into action. He had a feeling it would be destroyed anyway, and they only had less than 3 hours left.

The silverfish swings one of its four arms, knocking Donnie away. It spins around and grabs Mikey by the arm, spinning and kicking him. It runs up to Leo, who had his sword, and kicks him in the face before kicking him again. He rolls straight to Raph, who blocks him using his arm. Amy spins around, firing an electricity bolt with her feet, but the silverfish dodges it and thrusts its arm forward, knocking Amy into the ground.

"Remind me to never eat fish again," She mutters to Raph.

"Raph-a-roni's got a New York treat for ya," The basketball sparks with red energy from his hand. "Eat this, bug!" He throws it and it flies at high speed, going right through the silverfish's chest, splitting it into five smaller ones. Unfortunately, this also destroys the DVD kiosk in the process. The silverfish all scramble away as Raph laughs nervously. "Whoops. My bad."

"It's fine," Leo shrugs, the other turtles and Amy looking on with shock at his power. And also at what he just did. But mostly the second part. "We're fine. It's two hours before midnight and Donnie said there's tons of these DVD kiosks nearby. Right Donnie baby?" He wraps his arms around his two brothers.


The next one is near Clem's as they stand on the rooftops. "Whew, okay," Donnie prays to himself that this goes well. "There's the next kiosk. Raph, if you would please."

They slide up to the kiosk only to find that someone dressed as a wizard is already using it.

"Um," Raph stands behind him. "Cuse me? Sir?"

"You shall not pass!" He shouts, holding up tones of DVDs.

"Oh, what a town," Donnie comments, Raph groaning as he facepalms.

"We don't have time for this! Next!" He could tell that there's no reasoning with him.

They try several kiosks, but it's always something that stops them. Someone else was using it, it would get destroyed, or other things that would just prevent from returning ONE simple DVD.

"Okay, here we are, boys and lady with plenty of time to spare," Leo says as they're down in the subway. They only have one hour left before the midnight deadline. The subway train passes by.

"Raph, if you would please do the honors," Mikey gestures to the kiosk. "To return our DVD." He and Leo move out of the way as Raph reaches into his pocket, finally glad to get this over with...

But he doesn't find it.

He checks again, chuckling nervously. "Hey, have you guys seen-?"

"SERIOUSLY?!" They all shout at him, Mikey with fire in his eyes.

"Oh, yeah. I left the DVD in the Tank, where it's safe. When Donnie made us swim across the harbor!" Raph points at his younger brother accusingly.

"Gasp," Donnie turns back to him, offended that Raph would accuse him. "That was your idea!"

"Well, sometimes Raph's ideas and mistakes are the same thing, alright?" Raph crosses his arms, refusing to admit it was his fault.

"Oh ho, this was supposed to be easy!" Leo exclaims in dismay.

"Relax, I'll just summon my bike and I'll go and get it back," Amy is about to reach into her purse when Raph stops her.

"I may, uh...have left your remote in the Tank too, Mellie."

"What!" She shouts at him, furious. "Why? Why would you do that?!"

"I wanted to make sure that we could do this without your bike," Raph rubs his neck sheepishly.

"So touching my things was the solution?" She yells, looming over him.

"I did you a favor," He defends and she slams her fist on his head, glaring at him that he's trying to justify this. "Ow!"

"Don't. Touch. My. Stuff! This is exactly why I said don't do it! You had one job, Raph!"

"I don't remember that," Raph rubs his head.

"Dude, she told us that when you were scarfing down a pizza. Even we respect privacy," Leo points out, Mikey and Donnie holding up notes that specifically say to not touch Amy's things.

"Whatever. New, new plan. It's been a few hours, so I bet that ferry's back at the dock. Let's go get our tank and DVD." He didn't do his math right as it would take 2 hours to get the DVD and come back to this specific kiosk. Amy calculates it on her phone, shaking her head.

"Raph, has anyone ever told you that you're not good at math?" She raises a brow.

"The ferry's too far, and we're running out of time!" Mikey falls in front of him, clenching his fists. He puts an arm in front of his eyes. "We'll never get Splinter's hugs!"

"In that case, for speed efficiency and fun, may I suggest New York's most enjoyably, unreliable, and deliciously claustrophobic mode of transit," Donnie gestures to the track behind him and a train stops. "The subway."

"Ah," Leo and Mikey sigh in relief.


Some thugs growl in the corner, Donnie sweating a bit. Not only that, some people are dangerously close to him and he liked his personal space.

"Whose hand is that? That's a hand, right? Who is touching me?" Leo demands, but doesn't get to figure out who it is. Amy is squished between him and Mikey, all of them standing behind five people who are wearing the same colors as them.

"I feel like I can feel Dad's hugs," Mikey's hugging the wizard cosplayer from before. "And spoiler alert, they are plush." He looks up to see the wizard, who backs away.

"You have invaded the Dragon Master's personal space!"

"Yeah, yeah, Dragon Master and all that," Amy waves it off, eyes widening. Someone who was watching them turns away as Amy turns around and punches a man who was touching her back in the mouth. "Hey! Back off, perv!"

She huffs, wiping the dust off her as she turns back to Leo, who's grinning. "Nice right hook."

"Thanks," She smiles slightly at the compliment.

"Harbor Ferry. Exit now," They hear, finally glad to leave.

"New York. What a town," Donnie recites as Amy rolls her eyes. When they're walking up the stairs, they don't notice a large man jumping out from the back. Ghostbear lands on the tracks, tiptoeing up the stars stealthily.

They reach the top, and Chewbacon crawls out, holding a briefcase while wearing a suit. His eyes widen as he sees them, the others just staring. He just tips their hats to them and walks off to wherever he was going.

"...Okay, you guys saw that too, right?" Leo asks the others after a few seconds.

"Yup."

"Totally."

"Uh huh."

"I'm gonna pretend that didn't happen," Amy comments, taking the lead.


It's 30 to midnight as they land in the docks. "Okay, I'm up, I'm up. Ready? If Hailey's Comet and improvisational comedy had a kid, with a mysterious superstar's leather jacket, that is me."

"Again with the jackets," Amy rolls her eyes, Mikey seeing something on the ground. It's a free DVD rental ticket, which blows away under the Tank. He follows the ticket using his eyes to see a DVD kiosk!

"A DVD kiosk!" It's the 174th one.

"Yes!" They all cheer.

"My horoscopes said I would point out the obvious today!" Mikey grins, holding up a finger.

"Raph was parked next to this the whole time?" Donnie asks in disbelief.

"Hey, that line of questioning is my thing," Amy gestures to herself, Leo jumping onto Donnie.

"Relax. We made it!" Leo clasps his hands in relief, silently thanking the universe.

"And with a little time to spare. BRB with the DVD, bro...s...es?" Raph sinks down into the Tank to grab the DVD, but he accidentally moves the lever into reverse.

Leo, Donnie, and Mikey hug each other, jumping into the air. "Hugs! Hugs! Hugs! Hugs!" They jump out of the way as they see the Turtle Tank moving towards the kiosk!

"Brake, brake, brake!" They all shout, but it's knocked down despite their protests. All the DVDs from it are chuted out, the last one coming seconds later. The kiosk breaks down, leaving it inoperable. Donnie lets a few tears escape him.

"Noooooo!" Leo, Mikey, and Donnie yell in anguish, Amy cringing.

"What else could possibly go wrong?" Mikey asks, the girl pointing.

"No! Don't say it! Every time someone says that, something has happened." Her prediction comes true a few seconds later.

"Peekaboo, tortugas and senorita!" Ghostbear arrives on his own bike, snatching the DVD from Raph. "Swipe!" He comes to a stop. He has a few noticeable scratches from when Amy beat him up.

"Ghostbear?" They all exclaim in shock that he found them.

"Last time we met, you and your friend ruined my pro wrestling career! And she damaged my body!"

"Hurricane!" Leo, Amy, and Raph all attacked Ghostbear from each direction. It humiliated him, destroyed his image as he was caught in the ropes. "Cowabunga!" The three held up the belt.

"You did it to yourself by cheating and I'll be glad to do it again if you don't give us that DVD back!" Amy threatens, clenching her fist.

"Now I will ruin what you love. Starting with your precious disc of video. Lou Jitsu movies are estupido," He whispers that last part loud enough for them to hear.

"You take that back!" Raph points at him. "Unless estupido means brilliant! ...Does it?" He looks at Amy since she knows Spanish.

"Umm..." She scratches her cheek nervously, knowing that if she confirmed it, he still wouldn't understand. Luckily she doesn't get to explain because Ghostbear races off with his motorcycle, taking the DVD with him as he laughs.

"New, new, new plan. The tortoise gets the bear."

"Yeah!" They all cheer. They use the Turtle Tank to launch themselves out of the docks and onto the road, catching up with Ghostbear.

"You tortugas and senorita can't catch me!" He brags as he jumps over the Dragon Master who is being driven by goats.

"Why are there wizards in the middle of the street?" Leo asks as he sees a whole fleet of them once he turns the corner.

"It's WizardCon, baby!" Mikey explains as Leo adjusts the Turtle Tank to swerve past all the wizards, including a trio with two boys and one girl.

"Leo, Mikey, launch the Shellhogs," Raph presses a button. "And Mellie? Let it rip!"

Mikey and Leo are launched out of the Turtle Tank, Amy's bike dropping onto the street, moving on autopilot. Amy jumps onto her bike from the open floor and follows after Mikey in the Holland Tunnel.

"Oh, I love your little tricycles!" Ghostbear teases as the three catch up with him.

"Tricycles?" Amy grits her teeth. "That's it! I wanna kick his butt myself!" No one calls her motorcycle a tricycle. No one.

Somehow, the Dragon Master is there, standing in their way. "You shall not pass!"

Raph screams and swerves the Tank, crashing into the wall.

"I can fix this. I can fix this," Donnie's robot spider arms work as fast as they can. "I can totally fix this!"

"Hey Donnie," Raph gets down from his chair. "If you got any more secret vehicles, now's the time to be a good brother and share."

"Uh, well, there is this one thing," Donnie's spider arms go back into his robot shell. A remote appears in front of him. "But I haven't tested it yet, so..."

"Tests are easy; it's answers that are hard," Raph says, remembering how much they went through tonight.

"I love you so much, let's do it!" Donnie exclaims in excitement, pressing down on the remote. The taxi on top of the Turtle Tank is deployed, taking off at rocket speed. There's only 15 minutes left.

Ghostbear swerves past cars, Amy driving up behind him. Mikey and Leo surround him on both sides. "Give us back our DVD, Ghost-jerk!" Mikey demands, but he holds up a chain.

"Make me, voce pragas!" He bumps into Leo on purpose.

"Ow! Raph, Donnie, where are you guys?"

"Coming in fast!" Amy looks behind her to see the taxi speed past all of them.

"This is awesome!" Donnie exclaims while their faces are being stretched. They fly out of the tunnel and into the city.

"Where did everybody gooooo?" Raph shouts as he can see the moon.

"That gives me a reckless idea," Leo beams, Ghostbear swinging at him. Leo ducks, blowing a raspberry. The former wrestler then deploys oil to try and get rid of Amy, but she quickly swerves to the left. She catches up to Ghostbear's side and punches him in the eye.

"Ow! You perra!" He shouts, holding his eye.

"Takes one to know one," She calls out as Leo pulls out his sword from the sheath in the Shellhog. He spins it and drags it across the road behind him.

"Come on, portal, portal, portal!" He drives in a circle to make a giant portal, skidding to a stop. "Yeah!"

"Alright!" Amy cheers until she realizes that where he stopped.

"You're blocking the portal!" Mikey tells Leo.

"Oh no."

"Move, move, move!" Amy shouts, but it's too late as they all crash into each other, falling through the portal. They land at a town center, in front of a DVD store.

"Savage wizardry! What kind of magic was that?" He asks in shock at what he's seen. Mikey reads the sign; Ron's Rentals.

"Look, another DVD store! If we get ours back, we can still pull this off!"

The three hear shouting, only to back up as the taxi from the Turtle Tank lands in front of them all. They peek at Donnie through the passenger window as he takes a deep breath.

"Two minutes to midnight, maidens," He looks at his wrist computer, slightly out of breath, but otherwise okay.

Ghostbear laughs as he points at them. "You fell out of the sky, like waaah! You and your little toy."

"You bastardo!" Amy clenches a fist, ready to give him another black eye.

"You have no idea what we've been through tonight, and on top of it all, you steal our DVD!" Raph gets tears in his eyes. "Is that any way to treat a fan?"

"Here we go," Leo mutters as he facepalms, Raph still not gotten over what Ghostbear did.

"Again?" Amy rubs a temple.

"Na na na," Ghostbear waves the DVD. "I can tell how much you want this DVD for watching."

"Actually," Mikey gets into the backseat of the taxi, "We really need to return-" Raph rolls up the window, shutting Mikey up when the glass reaches his neck.

"Return to the first scene because, uh, we wanna watch it so badly," Given Ghostbear's attitude, he would be dense enough to do the one thing they couldn't.

"Yeah," Leo catches on. "Only the cruelest of villains would drop our DVD in that return slot over there," Leo points to it, "And then confirm that it did in fact drop all the way through."

"Ooo, foolish tortugas and senorita," Ghostbear looks at the drop off box. "Never reveal your weakness to your enemy," He grins widely as he stands in front of them, peeking inside. He glances back at the group for their reaction. They only have 5 seconds. He slowly pushes it inside the slot. They all sweat, waiting for him to do it. The suspense was killing them until he finally drops it in, just in time. "Ha, now you will never watch the movie. Admit it, I have ruined your-"

He's confused to see that they're gone, realizing it was a trick too late. "Noooooooooooo!"


Splinter is watching the scorpion commercial again when the turtles slide in front of the rat, surprising him.

"We returned your DVD, and now, you owe us..."

"Hugs, hugs, hugs!" Their eyes sparkle.

"It's happening!" Donnie cheers and Splinter holds up a finger.

"Okay. You have earned it."

The four tackle him into their long-awaited hug.

"Ah. I will never forget this feeling," Mikey says happily.

Amy chuckles at the group hug. "Get in here, Amy!" Mikey grabs her arm and pulls her forward, Raph squeezing her in.

"Fine," She rolls her eyes, closing them as she returns the hug. She smiles only a little bit, just enough so that they wouldn't see it.

"I love all my sons. All five of you."

They don't notice Dragon Master in the hug.

"New York! What a town," Donnie smiles happily.


"Amy!"

The aforementioned girl lifts her head up as she was petting Chewbacon. The pig was snorting happily, snuggling her leg. Mikey's smiling as he's hiding something behind his back. "Got something for ya!"

"Is this another recipe you need my help with?" Amy raises a brow.

"No~" He sings as the other turtles stand behind her.

"Okay, why are you guys surrounding me? I have a bubble," Amy circles her arms to draw an imaginary personal space bubble, "The least you can do is respect it."

"You know how we have our streaks?" Leo grins, gesturing to his arms and face.

"What about them?" Amy looks confused, Raph patting her back.

"Well, since you're staying with us-"

"Temporarily!" Amy reminds, pointing up at him.

"Since you're staying with us," Raph repeats sharply, grinning widely. "We thought we might give you one."

Mikey pulls out paintbrushes and paint from behind his shell. "Boom!"

"Heh," Amy chuckles nervously. That would mean she's part of the group, but did she want to get personally attached? She couldn't forget about her life in the city. That was something she can't part with. To be given a 'mark'...that was kind of a bit much, but...it wouldn't be so bad. The turtles and April were the only friends she's had in a long time. It felt...almost nice that she would belong somewhere for once in her life, with other people...granted, she never thought she'd be friends with the kind of people she hated at first, but not all mutants were bad. There's Todd, and...

Todd.

Honestly, if it wasn't just him, she'd be given the benefit of the doubt.

"...Okay. But don't go overboard," She warns Mikey.

"I'll give you as many as you want!" He winks at her, sitting down and preparing himself.

"Get a unicorn!" Leo encourages.

"No, it should be something that highlights how great I am," Donnie gestures to himself.

"No way, it should be something cool, like a dragon or Lou Jitu's face!" Raph pumps his fists.

"Ooo, pizza!" Mikey exclaims, Amy shaking her head.

"No...I want a stargazer lily."

The turtles turn to her in surprise, eyes wide. Amy sighs slowly. "Stargazer lilies...are just special to me. My grandmother would plant them with me when I was little...as crazy as she was," She chuckles at how her grandma would get into the most crazy situations. "That's why I want them. It's something that I always have in my shop..."

"...Sure," Mikey smiles at her.

"On both my arms," She takes off her jacket, revealing the straps from her tank top. Leo looks away, rubbing his neck. He's never seen her with her jacket off before...

"I'm sure it'll look great," Raph grins, Donnie shaking his head in slight disapproval.

"Well, it's not ideal, but simplistic and somewhat meaningful."

Amy rolls her eyes at him and moves so that her shoulder is facing Mikey. She pulls up a photo from her phone, showing it to Mikey.

"Whoa, pretty! I can totally do that!"


Thirty minutes later, Mikey pulls away from the girl. "Done and done! My best work yet."

"Don't let that go to your head," Amy rolls her eyes as the other turtles inspect the paint. She has a pink stargazer lily in the upper part of her arms, with the stems being black. Mikey used light pink, yellow, white and black paint overall. White bordered around the light pink petals, yellow at the center of the flower. To Amy, it looked like the real thing.

"Wow, cool! Hey Donnie, this paint is permanent, right?" Raph points to her arm.

"Of course. How could you think that I would give Amy washable paint?" Donnie crosses his arms. "That would be like not having uranium."

"Wait, this is permanent?" Amy's eyes widen.

"Well, you're one of us," Leo rubs his neck. "So..."

"It's cool," Amy smiles at them. "Thanks guys."

"You're welcome!" Mikey chirps at her. Deep down, she wished that her bakery wouldn't be fixed anytime soon, but she knew that was a lie. No matter what, she had to go back...

If not for her, then for her mother...


Leo and Amy sit together in the booth. He hadn't said much to her since they got back. Amy glances at him to see that he's looking right at her. He scoots in closer to her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I lost everything," She admits softly. "But, a bit better because I have you guys."

There's a pause as Leo looks at her in adoration and also frustration. Adoration that she's still so strong, and frustration because...well...

"I'm sorry."

Amy looks at him in confusion. "Huh?"

"It's our fault!" He sighs slowly, "If we had noticed something was off with that pizza box, then you wouldn't be so upset. Or...or if we had gone after them..."

"Leo, that's enough," She cuts him off, "This isn't your fault. We didn't know it was a bomb, and we didn't know that they'd escalate to attacking my shop. If it wasn't for you, I would've been stuck with my mother...and been hurt. You...saved me."

Leo turns away, not convinced. She places a hand on his arm, trying to get him to look up. He does eventually.

"I've...never seen you so fight villains like that. All by yourself."

She tries not to blush. "Well, what was I supposed to do? Not stand up for myself?" She shrugs with a small smile, but he doesn't smile back.

"My lady, you were amazing. You were...badass! More than usual. But...maybe we shouldn't have let you fight after your shop was attacked."

Amy shakes her head. "I couldn't just sit back and do nothing. I wanted justice for my family, for my destroyed life. Draxum is crazy. He said so himself that he was going to get rid of you..."

Leo looks at her with an intensity she never expected of him. "Amy...the Foot could kill you next time. I think Draxum is the least of our problems."

"I know."

"Do you even care?"

"I care about you more."

Leo stares at her for a moment, and she realizes what she just said. But she didn't care that it was out; she meant it.

His hand reaches over and grasps hers. "I care about you too."

Amy smiles back, squeezing his hand back...