I do not own the TMNT; can the story be more depressing than the disclaimer?

Chapter Three

Thirty-four and a half minutes. Kit grimaced as she ran back into the lair, her time was worse. Not that it really mattered; she had spent the entire run trying to figure out what was going on with her friends. Although normally she had a vivid, if sometimes cryptic, imagination she couldn't think of anything that would cause this strange behavior.

She ran into the dojo and stood in front of where Master Splinter waited for her to deliver the flag.

"Sensei, I have brought…the red flag." Kit tried to say it as formally as possible despite her short breath. She held out the wire with the red cloth attached to it and Master Splinter accepted it solemnly. Kit bowed, trying to control her breathing, not pant for air.

"Well done." He said, Kit's brows rose in surprise, she was at least five minutes slow. "You may rest and get a drink of water. Then we have something to discuss with you."

Kit bowed again and jogged over to the kitchen. She was relieved that they were going to talk to her now, but it peaked her interest further when she saw all four turtles plus their human friends still in the monitoring area; watching her.

Although curiosity made her want to just grab a glass of water and run back out to find out what was up, experience told Kit that if she didn't cool down properly her fur would make her overheat, that was never fun. It was nearly fifteen minutes before her breathing had completely returned to normal and she didn't feel feverish. After downing yet another glass of water Kit headed over to where her friends, teacher, and fellow students either stood or sat looking more serious than she had seen them in a while.

April put a gentle hand on Kit's shoulder and lead her to the couch before sitting next to her. Master Splinter was in another chair facing Kit but everyone else was standing or seated helter-skelter around her. In the short time before April started to speak Kit was beginning to get that 'specimen' feeling she normally only got when Agent Bishop was around.

"Kit," April began, "There's been an accident." Kit's ears perked, that line was never good. "A limousine was hit by another car…" Who did they know that went around in a limo? "a businessman and his lawyer were killed." Oroku Saki was a businessman, had he been killed? Not likely.

April frowned, this wasn't easy and the increasingly blank look on Kit's face wasn't helping. Donnie stepped around the coffee table and crouched in front of Kit. He nodded to April before trying, "Kit, does the name Laura Thompson mean anything to you?"

Kit's eyes widened slowly and her breathing increased visibly. How could he possible know that name? "Yes," Kit hesitated before answering. "She, she's my mother." This was impossible: Kit almost never spoke of her past and she never spoke about her mother. She hadn't even told anyone her own last name much less her mom's. Besides Laura Thompson was a legal councilor, not a lawyer…

April tried again, "Kit, I'm sorry, I heard something on the news that caught my attention, and when I read her information in the paper…" Kit's mind still refused to accept what was happening, her mother was safe in Wyoming…

"Show her the paper!" Raph prompted April.

April reached into her pocket and pulled out another paper, news paper. "Was this your mom?" Kit took the paper and unfolded it.

The article was mostly about the businessman, but there was a small obituary connected to it about the lawyer. Kit read slowly through the obituary as it described Ms. Thompson's work, and a little about her life. Something in Kit's chest was tightening painfully as she realized that this woman in the article really was her mother. After reading the thing through twice Kit sat back on the couch, glad that she wasn't standing.

"Kit? Are you all right?" Kit blinked at Mikey's voice; she had actually forgotten that she was surrounded by her friends.

"Uh, yeah…" Suddenly Kit's skin felt like it was too tight, her tail was itching painfully and there wasn't enough air in the room. "I, uh…" Her throat was dry and there was an all too familiar burning behind her eyes. At the same time the smooth fur on her hands started to prickle, she needed to hit something...hard.

The walls went up.

"I'm fine, really. Thanks for telling me April. It must have taken some research to be sure about this." That caught April, and everyone else, completely off guard. "Do you mind if I keep this?" Kit held the article up and April nodded. "Thanks. I, uh, I need to go out, maybe take a quick run."

The others watched as Kit quickly stood and marched from the room. April started to go after her but Casey put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Give her time, Miss. O'Neil." Master Splinter advised, "Kitrian is not one to express herself openly."

"So, what do we do now?" Mikey asked, his blue eyes were dark with worry.

"We wait, when she needs us, we will be here."