You guys are seriously the best! *Hug*

"This is my room" Cassie announces proudly, grinning like the Cheshire cat. I can't help but copy her smile, it was just so contagious. I glance around the room with wonder. It wasn't a very big room, but it was filled with paintings, notes, sentences, pictures. Too many to count really.

"These are amazing" I say with a smirk, walking to one wall of her room, and inspecting the painting. Unlike my drawings and paintings, hers were filled with bright colours, happy scenery and still so beautiful, and a rare vulnerability to them. My little sister painted these, all of them.

"They're not that good, but I'm really proud of them" Cassie explained with the same infectious smile as she sat down on her bed.

"Are you kidding? These are amazing Cas" I shake my head, turning around. Cassie looks at me with an uncertain gaze in her eyes, but she eventually smiles nevertheless.

"Thanks" She whispers, rubbing her hands together. "I painted most of them back in New Hampshire, but I took a few with me." Just a few. Which meant that she had so much more back home.

"And the others?" I can't help but asking, luckily she doesn't seem to mind the question, shrugging slightly.

"Gave them away to care facilities in the area, figured they could use them still" She says, standing up herself and walking over to one side of the wall. "These pictures are from Dover, they remind me of that place when I'm here."

She glances at me for a moment, a flicker of doubt flashing through her eyes. "I know I didn't, but to me Dover is my hometown, where I grew up" She states softly, and I can feel my heart jump ever so slightly. Of course it wasn't exactly her hometown, and she didn't exactly grow up in Dover either.

She has only lived there for a few years of her life, she grew up in Queens for the first 6 and a half years, but I couldn't blame her for not considering that her hometown. She was rarely allowed outside, she had no concept what New York or Queens really meant, so there were no emotional ties to Queens.

And she certainly didn't have a pleasant time when she was still with our parents.

Zoe and Peter gave her a loving home, a town she would feel safe in, and a place where she could be herself. I smile slightly despite myself, glancing at the art again. They truly did allow her to be herself judging by all the art that was in her room. I turn towards her again, and she looked right back.

"I'm glad your parents could give you that" A hometown, a place you felt safe. It was still weird addressing them as such, as parents that is. Because I was talking about the 'parents' of my own little sister here. Not adopted sister, not half-sister or any other loophole that can be found.

I was talking about the parents of my biological sister, parents that weren't mine.

"They gave me a lot, but not everything" Cassie eyes at me again, and I can hear the underlying message in her statement. Not everything, they didn't give me her biological family, or at least the knowledge of her biological family. I left, and her parents could never replace her brother.

Not like I wanted them to.

"I'm sorry Cassie" My little sister sighs at the statement, turning towards the window gracefully.

"I'm sorry too… I know why you did it, and I don't blame you" She whispers, before turning around again to face me. "I guess I just need time to process that I can't be angry at you anymore."

"And the fact that you now know who your biological family is?" I ask, and Cassie snorts at the sentence, a smile appearing on her face again.

"That too" She mutters, the smile not faltering until she sat down on her bed. She looks down at her hands, picking at them for a while. She doesn't look up. "Is it… is it weird to call me Cassandra?" I blink a couple of times at the question, and for a moment I had no idea what she meant with that question.

But then it dawned down on me, I hadn't known her as Cassandra when she was born, I gave her that name when I gave her away.

"You're been Cassandra to me for 7 years now, so no." I tell her honesty. "And truth be told, Amaya never suited you" Cass smiles at the statement, shaking her head in confirmation.

"Thank you for not giving me a shitty name" She laughs, before her face turns serious again. There's a short moment of silence that nobody dared to break. "And thank you for giving me an opportunity at a happy life. I hate knowing what you went through to me, but I don't know what I would do knowing who my parents were when I was younger, before coming to terms with who I am"

"What do you mean?" I frown, taking an almost hesitant step towards her. Cassie takes a shuddering breath.

"I mean, it now makes sense knowing how our parents treated us, but I wasn't always like this. I started doubting myself, despite having my parents with me, I wasn't happy for a long time. I was really shy at first, and I had these nightmares, flashes of our life together I guess that really bothered me." I look down in shame, but I don't say anything.

Because I now realised, how alike Cassie and I were in some aspects. Our love for art being one thing, but the low self-esteem… I was horrified to admit that I could understand her feelings, because I had felt them too.

"My parents got me to talk to someone. I know she wrote my memories down somewhere, but the more I started to forget about our parents, the more open I got, the more bubbly and more sure of myself I got. I started painting, drawing and taking these photographs and I loved it. I'm happy right now, even though there was always something missing"

"That's a good thing right?" I ask.

"It is… I just don't know if I would be the same person if I had known this when I wasn't happy with myself. As much as I am angry at you for leaving me, or doing that stupid sacrificing thing… -" She looks at me, bright blue eyes piercing mine. "I'm afraid I wouldn't be the same if you had told me before"

TMNT

"Are you okay?" Leo asks softly, his voice filled with genuine concern. I swallow thickly.

"I guess… it was just hard saying goodbye to her.. again" I whisper, glancing at my oldest brother. "I'm sorry for ditching you the moment she showed up"

"Don't worry about that little bro" Leo smiles slightly, glancing at me for a quick moment before he dragged his gaze back to the road again. "I would've done the same thing, and I didn't mind being alone with her parents" I nod numbly at the statement, allowing my eyes to focus on the road again as well.

We had stayed for dinner at Cassie's house, but dad had said he wanted us home before 10. He didn't want Leo still driving on slippery roads so late, afraid that exhaustion would negatively affect his driving or something. I wasn't about to go against dad's wishes, after all he has done for me.

I smirk silently, leaning back with a soft sigh. I had a dad… I had a mom, and my little sister had her own parents that she loved, and that loved her. And yet, our real, biological parents were gone, dead. It was a messed up situation for sure, but I didn't care at the moment, I was just glad Cassie accepted me so quickly.

I snap my head towards Leo against when he puts his hand on mine. He was still focused on the road, but he glances towards me for a moment.

"What's wrong?" He asks, and I frown at the question. It was only then did I realise the tears streaming down my face. I sniffle, rubbing the tears away with my free hand.

"Nothing.. I just.." I stop for a moment, thinking for a few seconds. "Just everything I guess… meeting her again, seeing her so upset about our family. Her admitting I did the right thing by dropping her off-"

"How come?" He asks, squeezing my hand for a moment before putting it on the steering wheel again. I look down slowly, ignoring the sign that said we were almost home, just a few more minutes.

"We were both messed up because of our parents. They were rarely around, and I remember them acting as if they didn't love us when we were around, especially Cassie"

"Because you were a boy, and could follow his legacy" I nod at Leo's statement, taking a shuddering breath. It was why they made me kill Cassie, because they thought I was too afraid to go against them, but also because they didn't see the potential in Cassie because she was a woman.

My biological mom lured those children in, but my biological dad did the rest, the heavy lifting so to speak. He thought I would become like him in the future. I scowl at the thought, too bad, you didn't mess me up enough.

"I don't know, they were just bad parents" Understatement of the century. "They would hit us sometimes. I mean, I usually protected Cas but she still saw it y'know? And even if you don't remember something, it can still haunt you" At least, that's what my therapist told me, both of them did.

The one I had in prison, and the one I had right now, but admittedly, I liked the latter more because I choose her myself. The one in prison got assigned to me, and I just had to accept it or be put into solitary for not going to her meetings. I didn't mind going, I just wasn't as open and comfortable.

Might also be because that woman didn't know the truth, wasn't allowed the truth.

"When I gave her away… she was still traumatised, and still had nightmares and stuff." I continue with a soft voice. "But the more she forgot about our past, the better she got. She got more open, more sure about herself."

"And because she has grown past your past, she can handle it better" Leo deducts softly, and I nod absently.

"I guess so." I mutter. "She's better off with her adoptive parents, and I mean… I think I did the right thing to give her away to make her life better. If I hadn't.. she would've been more like me" Leo glances at me at the statement, a frown on his face, a frown I had come to know all too well.

It was a frown that read disappointment, but that particular emotion wasn't necessarily meant for me. It was disappointed in the sense that he pitied me, that he didn't want me thinking of myself, or something in my life, like that. It was a frown that I had seen so many times in the last 11 months now.

"There's nothing wrong with that little bro" Leo utters without a hinge of hesitation. I fall silent at the statement, staring at him in wonder. Did he truly mean that? I knew he loved me, I knew my whole family loved me regardless of not sharing biological ties, or being officially adopted in the first place.

They all did they have for a very long time. And I know that I've changed a lot, The nightmares I have aren't as frequent anymore, aren't as disturbing and disruptive for my sleeping pattern. I've been more open, both to my family and people outside of my family, I've been calmer.

I'm slowly starting to found peace I guess.

"Cass is so much like you Mikey, you don't see it maybe, but I did" Leo continues when I don't answer him. "She has the same humour as you do, and her smile is so alike to yours" You know, when I actually did smile. More nowadays than I had been smiling in the past, that's for sure.

It was actually kind of unsettling at first, when I realised how easy it was for me to smile nowadays. I was getting there.

"It might sound weird, but I think that's who you really are Mikey. If you hadn't been mistreated your whole life, you would've been like her." Joyful, loved, expressive, outgoing, and yet sympathetic. Independent, yet dependent at the same time. A bundle of joy, but someone who needs time for himself nonetheless?

Because that's what Cassie is, that's what Amaya was at rare occasions. That was who I would be if I had been raised by Shen and Yoshi my whole life?

"I guess so" I eventually mutter, not really sure how to react. I shuffle on the spot slightly, watching familiar buildings shoot past us. Almost there, almost off the highway. "Thanks for coming with me Leo"

At the sentence, Leo chuckles. "You've already said that" He says with a smile plastered on his face. "You're family now, little brother. Of course I would go with you, of course I would drop you off. At least until you have your own license" I grin at the remark, rolling my eyes.

"Do you feel relieved you told her?" Leo eventually asks, and I know exactly what he was asking for. Do I regret telling Cassie about me, about who our real parents were? Do I regret showing up on her doorstep? Do I regret meeting her, knowing that now I could never not see her again.

Right now, I opened a door that couldn't be closed. I knew I wouldn't be able to not see her anymore, she wouldn't let me, and I wouldn't be able to stay away now. Did I regret bringing her into my life basically.

And I guess, did I regret any of my actions 7 years ago? Did I regret dropping her off?

No. I knew the answer to that last question. No, I did not. Prison wasn't fun, being on the run wasn't fun either. But I would never change it, because it meant I had given Cass a normal life, a good life with happy parents, and without the knowledge of her biological parents so she could figure out who she was on her own.

Without limitations.

But I didn't know exactly how to feel right now, I felt relieved that she knew, I felt delighted that she wanted to know me. But I was still worried how this knowledge would affect her. She acted brave, but I could see that what I told her had affected her. Though, I never got the chance to answer Leo's question.

Without any warnings, something collided with the back of our car. I could hear Leo shout in surprise and fear at the collision, and I immediately froze the moment the car swayed dangerously. Screeching of the tires, the car swirling to the side with dangerous speeds. Noises all around me, but it happened too fast.

And then I noticed the car coming straight towards my side of the car.