Hey, guys! There's been quite a request for romance recently, so that will come in the next chapter. (An interlude while I work on the next "episode.") In the meantime, I present the epilogue to Abducted! :P

Abducted Epilogue

Splinter

Splinter sighed in contentment and let himself relax. This was by far his favorite part of the day. All of his sons were in bed, and he could now, and only now, completely let go of the reigns of responsibility he held all day. Sure, he could meditate and relax to a certain extent when his pupils were awake, but there were always those worrisome whispers disrupting the peacefulness of his thoughts. What if Mikey went into Donnie's lab and set the lair on fire again? Was that crack the sound of his father's old sword breaking? How was it possible for five ninjas to make that much noise? I thought I told them NOT TO SKATEBOARD IN THE LAIR! Wait… now it was too quiet… Mikey must be sick, or something.

The list of worries and disruptions stretched on and on. On bad days, Splinter sometimes considered marching into the room, pressure pointing them all off to dreamland, and marching off again. Not that he's ever done it, of course. But now with all four—make that five—ninjas fast asleep, he could actually relax. His mind was free to wander, and so it turned to a past memory. Before long he was immersed in it, a tiny smile playing on his lips as he let himself remember.

Yoshi paced nervously up and down the room, running his fingers through his hair as he chewed on his lip in worry. What if something had gone wrong? It shouldn't take this long! He forced himself into a chair, tapping his foot wildly. A nurse pushed the waiting room door open, and his head snapped towards her, searching her face for news. She beamed at him. "Everything went perfectly. You have a beautiful baby girl."

He stared at her, processing the words, then leapt into the air. He snatched the nurse's arms, a relieved laugh bursting out of his mouth. "I'm a father!"

The nurse smiled back, not fazed in the least. She was obviously used to hysterical first-time fathers. She nodded. "Yes, you are. Congratulations!"

"And Tang Shen?"

"She's fine, just tired. But like I said, everything went perfectly. You have a healthy, rosy-cheeked little girl."

His eyes shining, Yoshi turned to the only other occupant of the delivery waiting room, a graying man in his late forties. "I have a baby girl!"

The man gave him a knowing smile and turned back to his magazine. "Congrats, kid. Wait 'til you got seven of 'em."

Yoshi turned back to the nurse. "Can I see them?"

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "It's probably best if Tang Shen has a few minutes to rest. But if you wait here, I'll see what I can do about the baby."

The nurse left the room, re-appearing a few minutes later with a blanketed bundle. She laughed as he turned to her eagerly. "Sit down first." Yoshi obeyed, and the nurse placed the soft bundle in his arms, folding a corner of the blanket back to reveal a tiny pink face.

Yoshi stared at it in joyful awe. She was so tiny and perfect. The baby slowly opened one eye, then the other, and Yoshi found himself under the steady gaze of the minutes-old baby. She looked at him with those golden brown eyes for a few moments, and then she smiled at him.

People had told him that babies didn't smile on purpose until several weeks, but Yoshi could have sworn that that was what the tiny little baby was doing. It was a 'Hi, dad. Took you long enough to get here' smile. Then she closed her eyes, her tiny little lashes fluttering for a moment before they stilled completely. A little smile graced her face as she fell asleep in his arms. In that moment, Yoshi had only one worry: that his heart might burst from all the joy welling up inside it.

Splinter's mind didn't stop there. It zoomed ahead and came to a screeching halt on a memory a few months after the last one. The smile on Splinter's face left him, but he didn't try to stop the memory. After all, he couldn't hide from it forever.

Yoshi knelt in front of the smoking ruins that had once been his home, the pain from the several treated wounds on his body just another unwanted reminder that he was alive and the two most important people in his life weren't. The shock from losing his family he'd felt this morning had left him, but he wished it hadn't. Shock numbed you, and with it gone, all that remained was a clawing, slashing hurt a million times worse than any possible physical affliction.

A breathless voice sounded behind him. "Yoshi…" He didn't turn around to face the owner of the familiar voice, but it came to him, shaking hands grasping his shoulders. "Yoshi…"

Hamato Yoshi opened his eyes and looked into his friend's concerned face before he grabbed at Nao in desperation, his next words thick with grief. "They…they're gone, Nao. Saki…he…he…"

A tear trickling down his cheek, Nao put a hand on Yoshi's mouth, shushing him. "I know, Yoshi." Nao cupped his hands under Yoshi's chin. "I'm so sorry." The tear tracing his friend's face and the tender, sorrowful comforting undid Yoshi completely. He erupted in sobs, waves of tears streaking freely down his cheeks. Nao wrapped him in a hug, rocking gently back in forth. "Shh, Shh… I know, Yoshi, I know." A drizzle of rain began to fall, matching the mood.

Yoshi hadn't cried in years. It's not that he thought that there was anything wrong with it. On the contrary, he thought it was good for some people: children and adults who weren't truly in tune with their emotions. They could cry. But he, Hamato Yoshi, the ninjutsu master? HE would not cry. He had other, more refined ways of dealing with his emotions. But this tragedy had stripped him of all that past pride, and he let himself be rocked in the familiar arms, choking out the sobs until there were none left.

Nao finally broke away and looked at him at arm's length, brushing the tears from his old friend's eyes. "Yoshi, I'm leaving for America in a week. Come with me, please. There's nothing left for you here."

Yoshi hesitated only a moment before nodding. "I'll come, Nao. I'll come."

Splinter's ear twitched to the side, and he jolted out of the memory. What was that sound? It was hard for even his huge, trained ear to pick up. A tiny whimper. There it was again. And again. Splinter rose and followed the sound. It led him to the den, where Ara was asleep on the couch. Her brow was furrowed, and she tossed and turned, whimpering and muttering things in her sleep. "No! No, don't hurt him! Dad! D…dad!"

Splinter crossed the room and shook her shoulder. "Ara! Wake up!"

Ara's eyes shot open, wide with fear. She sat up in bed with a gasp. After noticing Splinter, Ara lifted a hand to her forehead. "Oh… sorry, Master Splinter. I must have been having a nightmare."

Splinter removed the empty soup bowl from a stool beside the couch and settled down on the seat. "Yes, indeed."

Ara looked up at him with those big brown eyes of hers. "Sorry if I woke you up." Ara's eyes were exactly the same color her father's had been. They were a warm, chocolate brown color with darker and lighter slivers of brown streaked across them. When she was angry or sad, the lighter streaks almost seemed to disappear, swallowed up by the darker shades. But when she was happy, they just... sparkled.

After Ara had dropped through the ceiling on that fateful day, Splinter had had quite a shock when she sat up and opened her eyes. It was as if he had been yanked back in time and was staring into Nao's friendly eyes once more. After she had told her tale, it had been all Splinter could do to mumble out that she could stay and leave the room before he started grieving over Nao's death.

Ara fiddled with her blanket, her next words soft and hesitant. "My dad would never tell me about his old aquantinces from Japan, but Shredder told me that you used to be friends with my father. Is that true?"

Splinter nodded. "It is. Asato Nao and I were good friends. I have many fond memories of him from the days we used to train together, along with Saki. I see now that I should have told you sooner, but I couldn't seem to find the right way to approach the subject. Much has changed from the days Nao and I were companions."

Ara nodded. "I understand. Do you ever miss being human? I mean, even just a little?"

"Yes. Often more than just a little. There's a lot to miss."

Ara nodded. "Wouldn't it be nice to have five fingers again?" She ran a hand over her head. "Maybe some hair?" Ara paused. "Well, I guess you don't have that problem."

Splinter chuckled. "Indeed."

"There's… just something about the word mutant," Ara ventured, going back to fidgeting with her blanket. "It says, I dunno, deformed, unnatural. The kind of thing that makes people run away, terrified." Ara looked down at her green hands. "Am I really that scary?"

"Do you think you are?"

"I… I don't know."

Splinter decided to try another approach. "You are like my sons; do you think they are?"

Ara's eyes widened. "No, of course not! They're the most wonderful people I've ever met. They're all so…" She paused, struggling to find the right word. "Magnificent. Mikey is innocent and goofy and kind; Raph is... well, Raph's a coconut."

Splinter blinked. "A coconut?"

Ara grinned. "Sure. Tough and rough on the outside, but mostly sweet and soft on the inside. Mikey told me that once. Donnie's a genius, obviously, but he's also patient and gentle and a really great listener. And Leo is…"

Ara stopped, pink spreading across her features. Splinter smiled. He had long ago noticed that spark of special affection Ara had for Leo. She didn't know it, but Splinter sensed a similar sentiment in his son. "Leo's the best leader anyone could ask for. He's smart and caring, and you know that whatever happens, he's going to get you through it. That's what makes me so angry. They're all so wonderful, and they can't even go out in public. Donnie will never get to go to a prestigious university and become a world-renowned scientist like he deserves. I mean, the guy's fifteen and he's already building a bunch of amazing inventions out of garbage, the stuff he manages to scrounge from junkyards. Can you imagine what he could do if he only had the chance…the materials? And then the fact that Mikey will never get to ride a roller coaster or make a bunch of friends drives me absolutely crazy."

Splinter found himself nodding. Ara was voicing the thoughts he had had for years. Ara continued, "They don't know what all that stuff is like, but I do. I know that, all things considered, I'm way better off than I was at the orphanage. But whatever I do, no matter how many good things I remind myself I have, I can never forget and can never stop wishing, longing. Does it ever go away?"

Ara's eyes searched his, waiting for his words of wisdom. Splinter wished he had some to give. He gave a tired sigh. "Not completely. No matter what you do, there will always be that little itch, that whisper of what was and is no more. But you cannot just smother the bad and unpleasant things with the good. It distracts you from them, and takes away the longing for a time… but the unpleasant thoughts always come back, and stronger than ever. You have to face them, and learn to accept. That's not easy to do, but once you accept your fate, you will realize that you have found peace. And it never hurts to appreciate what you DO have, because you never know if that will be taken from you as well. Do you understand, my child?"

Ara nodded slowly. "I think so."

"Good." Ara lay back down, and Splinter pulled her blanket up to her chin. "It's been a strenuous day for all of us. Try to get some sleep."

He started to rise, but Ara stopped him. "Sensei, could you stay a while?"

Splinter nodded with a smile, sitting back down. "Of course. Just go to sleep." Ara closed her eyes with a grateful nod. Splinter settled back into his chair, absent-mindedly beginning to hum a tune that he had learned as a child and had often hummed to Mikey during thunderstorms years ago. Several minutes later, Ara was asleep, her breathing slow and peaceful.

As Splinter looked on fondly, he was suddenly reminded of Miwa… the daughter he had never gotten to raise, had never gotten to see grow up. He thought of all the things he had planned to do with her the day she was born: How he would train her, the games he would play with her, and most importantly, who he would mold her into; the type of person she would turn out to be.

All those dreams had been yanked from his hands from Shredder, not unlike the way Ara's father and sensei had been yanked from hers. And now their lives had collided. Coincidence? He thought not. Fate? Destiny? Perhaps. Or maybe… he glanced skyward. Could this be Nao's doing? The universe was a strange place, and he wasn't one to scoff at such a concept.

Splinter knew that he would never be a father to Ara. Sensei, yes; guardian, yes... but father? That role would always and forever be Nao's, even if he was no longer on this earth. That wasn't going to stop him from teaching her and training her and guiding her through those teen years, all in his own way. There would be tears and laughter, defeats and triumphs. Splinter gently brushed a stray end of Ara's green mask out of her face, and then stood up with a stretch. But all those things would come in good time. Right now, it was time to sleep.