"I'm really nervous" I whisper softly, not taking my eyes off the road in front of me, ignoring the look I know I was getting from my brother. From the corner of my eyes I could still see Leo move slightly on the spot, but he too kept his eyes on the road.

"I get that" He murmurs thoughtfully, and slowly I do look at him. For a moment, he glances at me as well, but he quickly focuses on the road in front of him. I sigh, leaning back against my seat. My form was trembling ever so slightly from the nerves, no matter how much I tried to calm myself down.

I was going to see Cassie today.. I was going to meet her.

And it terrified me.

"Do you think she remembers me?" I ask softly, and the car is silent for a moment. Don and Raph weren't with us today, they wanted to go, but I didn't. I didn't want three other siblings around me, when I met my only younger sibling, my biological sibling that is. Leo just felt… he felt right.

Maybe it was because his own mom left him, but then again, Don's parents had done so too. I had no clue, but I wanted Leo to go with me today.

"I don't know, I guess so" Leo murmurs. "I mean, she was 6 when you dropped her off right?"

"And five months" I correct him with a shrug.

"She's young, but not too young to forget everything. I don't know much from when I was 6, but I remember some things" Leo explains, and I nod absently. Because he had a valid point, I could do too. She was 3 when I was 6 years old. I remember watching her when my parents were away in the weekends.

I remember playing with her, acting as a human pillow when she got tired. I remember taking care of her.. as much as I could that is. But I don't remember much, I can barely recall her face when she was three years old, I can barely recall what my classmates looked like. The only thing about them I can remember was how they looked when they were older.

I barely remembered anything from the age of 6, but I did remember something.

And maybe, just maybe, that would be enough for Cassie.

"They gave her the wrong age when she got adopted, did you know that?" I ask suddenly, and I can see Leo glance at me for a quick second. But he doesn't lose his focus.

"What do you mean?" Leo asks, confusion written on his face.

"She was born in June, June 23th, 2001 to be precise" I tell him, shifting slightly in my seat as Leo passed another car. Just 10 minutes to go to The Bronx. "When they found her, they had no idea how old she was, so they estimated she was 7"

"But she was younger" Leo concluded, because he knew this already. 6 years, and 5 months I had just told him.

"They made her birthday according to that estimate. December 15th, 2000." I told him, two days ago, she turned 14 two days ago according to that wrong date.

"But she's really just 13 and a half?" Leo asks, and I hum to confirm his thoughts. 6 months between June and December exactly. "I mean, it doesn't really matter for her class" Leo adds, and I frown slightly.

"Why?"

"Well she's born in the summer, which means she would still be put in the same class"

"But she would be the youngest instead" I conclude with a whisper, and this time it's Leo who nods. It made sense. Right now she had just turned 14, so she was in the 8th grade. But if she were to be born half a year later, or rather, if they had known she was really born half a year later, she would still be in the 8th grade.

So really, in terms of years, and her friends, it didn't really matter.

I lean back in the seat again, gazing at the cars that passed us, and the cars we passed. Leo continued to drive, following the navigation system. The address I had received from Cassie's parents, following right to her house.

"We're here" Leo announces softly, but I don't react to him. I already knew that, I recognised the house from google maps, I recognised the street. Leo quickly parked the car close by, and we both got out. She lived across the Botanical Garden, so despite living in New York City, it wasn't too crowded.

Leo put a gentle hand on my shoulder, squeezing softly. I smile, nodding with a slight tremble before making my way to the door. She lived in an apartment, three stories up. We rang the bell, and the door was quickly opened. Leo and I were both silent as we made our way into the building, into the elevator.

"It will be alright Mikey, you'll see" He spoke softly, giving me a quick hug. I nod shakily, not trusting my voice enough right now. We soundlessly exited the elevator, and I could see the door already being open, Cassandra's mom standing in the opening. She smiled kindly.

"Hello Mrs. Eastman" Leo greeted politely, shaking her hand. She laughed.

"Please just call me Zoe" She said before turning to me, scanning me for a moment. "It's really good to see you again Mikey, you look a lot better"

"I feel a lot better" I admit honestly, glancing at Leo for a quick second. "Leo is my oldest brother, his parents fostered me."

"Our parents" Leo reminded me, and I can't help but roll my eyes. It was an argument we often had, but one I would probably never win. For them it didn't matter whether I was adopted or not. I was family, I was their little brother, their baby brother, and their parents were my parents as well.

"You have more brothers?"

"2 adoptive brothers. Raph is my immediate younger brother, and Donnie my second youngest" Leo explains. "Mikey's the baby of the family" He jokes, nudging me with a grin. I can't help but smile as well. I knew I was, but it was always nice to hear any of them say it out loud.

"That's lovely" Zoe smiled, stepping aside. "Come in, my husband is already in the living room" We follow her orders, stepping inside and following her to the living room. As predicted, Peter was in the living room already.

"Mikey, welcome" Peter greeted me, shaking my hand. I nod curtly. "And this is?" He asks, but Leo steps forwards instead.

"Leonardo, I'm Mikey's oldest brother" He introduces himself. The man smiles at the information, and I'm sure he was just happy that I found a family. I glance at Leo for a moment, and the tiniest smile creeps onto my face. I do too.

"Have a seat please, I will get Cassie" Zoe says with a smile on her face. It wasn't just a happy smile, it was an excited smile, yet, an anxious one. Their daughter was meeting her brother after all. I was meeting my sister.

Leo and I both sat down on the couch, a silence falling over the room. Not an awkward one, but a tense one. I knew Leo and Peter were also anxious for Cassie's reaction, but I paid no attention to them.

"... -meone who wants to meet you" I could hear Zoe say, and two pair of footsteps continuously closer.

"Mom, you're acting weird" A female voice said, and I could feel my breath hitch. Then, Zoe and Cassie walked into the living room. Zoe walked over to her husband, but Cassie stopped the moment she saw Leo and I sitting there. Her nose scrunched up slightly in confusion, and I felt myself standing up slowly.

A look of confusion on Cassie's face was quickly replaced by recognition. She recognised me.

"Kiki?" She hesitantly called out, and I nod, voice stuck in my throat. Her eyes widen, and I could see tears well up the moment tears appeared in my eyes. She slowly walked around the couch. I meet her halfway, but she suddenly recoils.

"Why are you here?" She asks, sneers almost. My eyes widen at the reaction.

"Cassie…" I whisper, but she shakes her head violently.

"No! You don't get to come here after all those years!" She screams, lunching at me and pushing me back. I stumble, but I don't fall. There was no strength behind that push. She screams again, slamming her fists against my chest. I wince, but not from the pain in my chest.

"You can't just… come here after all you've done" She hit again.

It barely hurt, or at least, I could barely feel it. The only thing I could feel was the betrayal, the agonising pain in my heart.

"You left me there! You left me alone!" She raged, but hits becoming softer, and softer. "You abandoned me! You left me alone. You... I-I …. I missed you" She sobbed, lifting her head to look at me. Her eyes were filled with tears, and she looked at me with a desperate expression.

"I'm sorry" I could barely whisper. She burst out in another round of tears.

"I missed you" She whimpered, and I wrap my arms around her tightly. She sobbed against my collarbone, holding me tightly. "Why did you leave me? I was so scared, so confused" I just stood there, unable to tell the story when tears were running down my face as well. Cassandra shook against me, sobbing openly.

Slowly the sounds subdued, and for a few moments she just stood there, completely silent.

"Why did you leave me?" She whispers again, much more composed this time. I swallow thickly, carefully untangling myself from her embrace. I look at her parents for a moment, but their looks were clear, this was up to me to explain.

I sigh, gesturing for her to sit down on the chair. Cassie never looks away, only looking at me as we both sat down.

I told her everything I knew, and everything I could think of right now. Who our parents were, what they had done. How we grew up, and how our parents treated us. I told them about the police finding out about what my parents did, that I had to get rid of her when we decided to flee.

I told her how I dropped her off, why I couldn't go with her, and why I fled with my parents instead. They would recognise me, and I wouldn't be able to give her a life away from our parents' legacy, and I fled because I'd rather flee than be in prison. But I'd also rather be in prison than expose Cassie.

Not like it mattered now, I was still telling her.

I told her how I named her, when she was actually born, and how I was on the run for all those years until I was caught now 2 years ago.

"So they're really gone?" Cassie whispers softly, and I nod painfully. Not because I loved my parents, I was glad that they were gone, I was glad they couldn't hurt Cassie, or anyone else anymore. But I was sad, I was sad for her, I was sad for what this might do to her, the knowledge who her parents were.

"I'm sorry" I try, but she slowly shakes her head.

"Don't be, they deserved it" Cassandra mumbled, standing up and walking over to the window. Her hand slowly went to her face, covering it. But still, I could see tears leak from her eyes, down her cheeks almost torturously slow.

"Cass?" Zoe softly called out, and Cassie whirled around.

"Did you know?" She hisses, tears now freely running down her cheeks. But her gaze was focused on her parents instead of me. The dad sighs, his face filling with regret almost. How long did you know that I was her brother?

"We've known for a year now" He tells softly.

"And you decided to keep that for me?" She almost shouted back, but her voice still rose significantly in volume. I wince.

"I asked them to" I whisper, almost too afraid to tell her. She looks at me with a confused expression on her face.

"I didn't want you to know me, I didn't want you to know who your parents were. I knew it would hurt you as much as hurts me every day" I try to explain. "I told the police I killed you so they wouldn't-"

"So they wouldn't know I was alive?" She finishes. But before I could confirm she was shaking her head. "Tell me you didn't… please tell me you didn't do that so I wouldn't know" I look at her with silent wonder, because I had no idea what she was referring to. She slowly walks up to me, grabbing my hands.

"Please tell me you didn't end up in jail because of me" She whispers, and now I suddenly understood. But I couldn't deny her statement. I shook my head, just barely because I was afraid to take my eyes off her. Cassandra burst out in tears again, leaning against my chest again.

She sobbed loudly, not caring about anyone hearing her. "I hated you, I hated whoever left me alone. I never thought… you did that to protect me." She whispered between the sobs. "You went to jail to protect me" She looks up at me, and I can't help but smile sadly.

"I love you so much, little sis. I was content with spending my life in prison knowing you were happy" Cassie sniffles, wiping away the tears with the palm of her hand.

"You shouldn't have to Kiki" She replies, and I can feel my heart skip a beat at the nickname. Just like I remembered her saying it when we were just little kids. And it was the best thing I had heard today.

I take a deep breath. "When the FBI found you, I begged them not to tell you, I wanted to keep our parents away from you, even the knowledge of them existing"

"Remember when that black car with those two policemen showed up last year?" Cassie's mom asks softly, and my sister nods.

"You told me to go to my room, and you said it was a misunderstanding later" Cassie recalled, and the mother nods.

"They told us they found your brother, and knew who your parents were. But we wanted to see him first before telling you, just be sure if it was true, and take time to figure out how to tell you" She explained in a soft voice.

Cassie whirls around to look at me again. "But you didn't let them" She deducted, and I nod.

"They wanted you to know me, but I didn't." I tell her, glancing at Peter and Zoe again. "They made a compromise, if I got out of prison because of you being alive, they wouldn't tell. But if I didn't, they would do anything to get me out"

"Including telling me" Cassandra added. "You should've told me…. I missed you so much" She whispered, I frown slightly, not daring to move at the moment.

"You remember me?" I ask. I knew it was a weird question, because Cass obviously recognised me, knew who I was. But I still needed to know just how much she knew about me, how much she still remembered about me, about our parents and about our whole situation.

I wanted to know more about her.

Cassie sniffles, wiping away her tears. "I was so confused when I woke up in a strange place, I remember waking up, not knowing where you were. They said I kept crying, asking about you. But I called for Kiki, and when I realised that was my nickname for you, I had forgotten your real name, or maybe I never knew your name"

She takes a deep breath, and I slowly sit down on the couch again. She follows me, sitting down as well. Our knees were touching, but it comforted me right now. It showed me that she was really here, that after all those years, that after 7 full years I could finally see my little sister again.

"I remembered you… but you never came for me" Cassie continues, glancing at Zoe and Peter. "My parents adopted me a month later, but I didn't want to go with them. I wanted to wait for you, but you never came for me"

I don't know what to say, I didn't know how to comfort her right now. So I stayed where I was, keeping my mouth shut.

"Over the years, I started to forget more about you, until I could only remember your face… I also forgot that eventually" Cassie looks down, rubbing her eyes again with her palm to wipe away the new tears, she shook her head "I didn't remember you a few moments ago, I recognised you."

I could feel my breath hitch at the implication. Of course she would forget, she was only 6 and a half when I dropped her off. Of course she would eventually forget. It was a fear that I never dared to think about before, but it was true, she forgot about me over all those years I had been gone.

"I couldn't remember what you looked like Mikey, and you… " She stopped herself, sobbing silently. I had no idea what to do right now. Was it okay to hug her? Would she want me to hug her right? I shuffled closer to her, grabbing one of her hands instead. She glared at my hand, but didn't pull hers away.

"I can't be mad at you knowing why you did what you did Kiki, but do you have any idea… do you know what it's like forgetting what your own brother looks like?" She whispers, and I take a shuddering breath at the question before shaking my head slowly. Because no, I didn't know what it was like.

But I did know what it was like forgetting your baby sister, forget how she sounded, forget what she looked like without looking at a picture of her. I knew what it was like to forget what she looked like as a kid because I had no pictures of that. I knew what it was like forgetting her laugh.

Or regretting giving her up at all.

I knew Leo and Cassie's parents were still near us, but they said nothing, and right now they didn't matter to me. The only thing I cared about was my baby sister, and making sure she knew why I did what I did, and hoping she would forgive me.

"I forgot you too" I whisper after a moment of silence, and Cassie didn't seem one bit confused. She understood what I meant with that sentence, and she understood what it was like.

"How are we going to do this? What is going to happen now?" Cassie asks after being silent for a few minutes. I glance at her, and it took me a moment to understand what she was talking about. How do we continue now we know each other?

"I don't know… I just know that I want to be a part of your life, I want to be your big brother again."

Cassie shakes her head, biting her lip. "I can't leave my parents" She says softly, glancing at said parents. My eyes widen at the implication, shaking my head as well.

"I would never ask you to" I stammer, shaking my head again. "I know when I gave you up that I wouldn't get you back completely, you don't have to choose between your parents or me. I would never" I try to explain, and her body visibly sags with relief that I wouldn't force her to choose.

Me or your parents, you can only pick one. But I would never.

"We live close by Cassie, Mikey can visit you during the weekends, or you can come to us. And you can keep in contact with Whatsapp, or skype" Leo was eventually the one to speak up, and we both glance at him.

"It's only a 20 minute drive, we could take you there" Zoe comments.

"You would do that?" Cassie asks breathlessly, and Zoe immediately nods in confirmation.

"Of course we would." She says without hesitation. A smile appears on Cassie's face, and she turns to me.

"That would work right?" She asks me, and I nod as well.

"I don't want to ruin your life, I just want to be a part of it, Cassie" I told her, and she laughs, throwing her arms around me.

"I want to be a part of your life as well Kiki"

TMNT

Aaaanndd.. they met! Told ya it was real this time xD So what did y'all think?