Disclaimer: TMNT is not mine. I own nothing.

At approximately 3:45am in the morning, April awoke to the sound of a loud knocking at her door. Banging actually. She silently cursed to herself and moaned into her pillow. "Casey get the door." She slurred as she hugged her pillow tighter. not wanting to get up. All she got in response was a loud snore. Rather than get up and get the door, Casey rolled over and took the portion of the spread April had draped over her body with him.

"April, it's us! Open up!"

"Leo?" She mumbled to herself groggily.

This time, April bolted upright in her bed. She leaned over to Casey and rapidly shook his shoulder. "Casey wake up it's the guys!" She said frantically. She got out of bed and pulled on the sweat pants she tossed of during the night due the heat she was too lazy to get up and turn off.

"Wha?" Casey mumbled. He rolled over and fell off the bed hitting the wooden floor with a thud. He did not make any attempt to get up. He grabbed the alarm clock from the bedside table and held it in front of his face. He whined when he saw the time on the clock. "Babe, it's almost 4 o' clock in the morning. Who the hell is at the door?"

"It's the guys. Now get up! Hurry, you big slow poke!" She ordered. She tossed his sweatpants over the bed and he grabbed them. He stood up and hopped into the living room as he tried to walk and pull on his pants at the same time. Despite how hard he tried to do the task at the same time, and he really did try, he still tumbled to the floor.

April was already at the door and did not bother to look back and check on him. She opened the door, scared of what she would find on the other end. She was both confused and relieved when she saw that her reptilian companions as well as their father were all unharmed.

"What is it?! What's...wrong..."

April's voice faded as she looked at what appeared to be a young woman in Leonardo's arms. She wore g black jumpsuit that had a large tear in her mid-section, which oozed blood. Her face is covered with bruises and dirt and she was obviously out cold. Her chin length, jet-black hair was tangled and dirty. April recognized her immediately. Casey finally made it over to her side, his sweatpants on backwards and his hair disheveled. He noticed the look of appall on her face, and followed her gaze to the woman Leonardo held, and his eyes grew wide. After a few seconds of silence, April was the first to speak.

"Karai? W-what's she doing here? Is she-"

"No we got her out in time." Leo said in a reassuring tone. April raised an eyebrow.

"Got her out in time? You mean," April gapped at Leo and her eyes winded in shock. "You rescued her?" She asked crossing her arms over her chest. "Why?!"

"Look, I know this is weird but I promise I'll explain everything later. Right now we really need to get some help for her, or she isn't gonna make it." Don said. He had the same worried as the others did. She saw his hands were covered with blood. She realized that they must had been trying to save her on the way over and that they were serious right now.

April opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out. Her jade orbs scanned the faces of the worried green faces that stared back at her. They all looked worried and shaken. They all had the same worried expression on their face when they looked at Karai.

It was simply unexpected and strange, and given the life April now leads, that was saying a lot. April sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger.

"That explanation of yours better be very persuasive." She said, looking at Leo. "Take her to the couch. " She stepped aside to let them in. With a nod of thanks, Leo and his brothers rushed past her and towards the living room.

Casey followed April into the kitchen where she grabbed the medical kit. She grabbed a bowl from a cabinet and thrust it at Casey. "Casey, go to the bathroom closet and get me some clean towels and warm soapy water." She ordered as she washed and sanitized her shaking hands. She hated doing this. Even though she had treated injuries many times before, it did not change the fact that she hated having to do it. The heavy bleeding; the broken, awkward disfigured limbs were too much at times and it would take all the strength she had to not run away and vomit. Had it not been for either Casey or one the guys coming by her apartment injured every other night of the month, she would have never bothered with learning how to treat such gruesome injuries.

Casey re-entered the kitchen with a clean towel in his one hand and a bowl of warm soapy water tucked under his arm. The two hurried to April's living room.

Karai looked worse than ever from where she lay on the couch. She trembled despite the beads of sweat of that fell down her bruised, cut up face. She was covered in cuts that oozed blood, but what caught April's attention was the jagged line that ran across her mid-section. Blood gushed from the wound at an alarming rate and filled April's living room with its metallic scent. April swallowed bile that rose in her throat and exhaled.

"Is this the worst of it?" April asked no one in particular as she began to clean the wound with the towel damp towel. She had to send Casey to get another, the one she had was drenched with blood within minutes. He came back with a much larger bath towel and more soapy water. April thanked him with a nod as she continued to clean the gash.

"Yeah, the only other bad part is the concussion. She took quite a beating from the Tengu Shredder." Don said he rubbed the back of his neck. He gently applied a bandage to Karai's head.

"Bad is an understatement. Shredder beat the shit outta her. Maybe next time she'll listen to us when we tell her not to face him." Raph paused and chuckled bitterly. "If she survives this time that is." Raph said as he leaned against the wall.

"Do not talk like that Raphael, she is going to survive." Master Splinter said as he placed a hand on Raph's shoulder. "We all know from personal experience how resilient Karai is. She will not let herself lose a battle this easily."

"So, do I get to hear the reasoning behind why you rescued your arch nemesis and bought her to my apartment at 3:45 in the morning so I can give her medical treatment and why you "need" her to live, or is this one of those, "it's better if you don't know" situations?" April cut in from her spot on the bed. She did not look up from her work as she spoke. She dabbed the gash on Karai's stomach with alcohol, still confused as to why she was trying to save her.

"We better get to know!" Casey said in a sudden outburst from where had collapsed in an easy chair far away from them. He was never any help in situations like these, so he just sat around until someone told him to do something. He would occasionally look up and see what was going on, but spent most of his time the chair slouched and relaxed. "I got up at 3:45am for this." He continued with a yawn.

Leo chuckled lightly. "In a way, yes to both. You two do indeed deserve to know, but I doubt you'll like the reasoning behind it."

April froze. Her eyes grew wide and she her eyes darted between Leo and Karai several times. "Are telling me that you guys are-

"What? No! Nothing like that." Leo retorted, his dark green cheeks flushing. He turned away to hide

"Wouldn't be a surprise though." Mikey said with a snort of amusement as he twirled the ends if his orange bandanna tails around his finger. Casey snickered from the recliner.

Leo shot Mikey a dirty look and was about open his mouth and say a retort that would start a full on war between the two, which April, was currently not in the mood for.

"Why don't you guys head to the basement and get some rest? I got new mattresses, pillows and blankets so you should be more comfortable tonight. I can handle this on my own." April said with a kind smile.

Leo looked reluctant but April spoke again before he could argue. "Look, if you guys are expecting to give me a good enough explanation as to why I'm trying to save Karai's life, you're gonna need energy to answer all the questions I'm gonna dump on you." She said placing a hand on her hip. "Besides, you look exhausted, and I can't say I blame you. It appears as if you had a long night." April motioned to Karai with her head, and turned back to Leo, who was trying his best to suppress a yawn.

He sighed. "If anything and I mean anything happens, wake us up." He said in his authoritative leader voice. Though he did not sound very authoritative due to the once suppressed yawn that managed to escape him as he spoke.

"Yes, mother." April said as she rolled her eyes.

"April..."

"Okay, okay sorry. If anything happens, I'll wake you up. I swear. Scouts honor." April said. She made a cross over her hear to prove she was serious. Leo lingered in the room for a moment before he felt a light tap on his should and looked up to see Casey ."Relax, I'll make sure nothing happens. You go get some shut –eye, I'll keep an eye on things up here." He said with a wink.

Leo nodded and got to his feet, "Thanks, Case." He said as he pat the older man on the shoulder.

Mikey let out an over-dramatic yawn and stretched. "Sounds good to me," He said as he rubbed his eyes. "I'd sleep in a bed of nails, right about now. Using your inner chi to turn into dragon and battle a demon sure does take a lot out of you."

Casey gave Mikey a questioning look an April furrowed her brow in confusion. She looked over to Master Splinter. "Do I even want to know?" She asked him.

Master Splinter looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Perhaps that is a story for a later time, April." He said putting a comforting hand over hers.

April smiled and shook her head. "It is simply amazing how even now you guys still manage to surprise me." April said in amusement. "Bravo." She said clapping her hands slowly.

Donny laughed. "It's a ninja thing." He says with a shrug. He finishes wrapping Karai's head and stands up, with a stretch and yawn of his own.

Raphael stretched and yawned loudly. He then turned to leave the room, on his way out he ruffled April hair as a way of saying thank you and good night. She laughed and shoved his hand away as she stood up.

"Alright. Basement. All of you. Now." April said as she shooed them out of the room.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Raph said releasing yet another loud yawn.

They all leave and head to the door that leads to her large basement where she has cots, blankets, and pillows set up them for when they visit. It was like a second home for them when they came over, and needed some place to sleep where they were less likely to be seen by anyone. There was even a mini fridge down there as well as a half bathroom. Although she insisted it was nothing, they always told that had done too much for them.

They were just about to head down to the basement when, Leo turned and said, "Thanks April...I can't stress enough how much we appreciate this." Leo said genuinely. He placed a hand on her arm and patted it.

"Hey what about me! I got towels and hot, soapy water!" Casey protested in mock anger. He slung an arm around April and pulled her close to him. "We make a pretty good team."

Leo laughed and held his hands up surrender. "Sorry Casey, you were a big help too. Couldn't have done it without you." He said in a serious tone. Casey smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

April rolled her eyes and wiggled out of Casey's grasp before she slapped him in the chest. "No problem, Leo. I'll just add this to the list of all the other things you owe big time for. Now hurry up and get to bed." She said as she pointed down the stairs.

Leo gave her a small smile. "Will do. Night April." He walked past her and disappeared into the basement.

"Good night guys." She called down the dark stairwell.

There is a chorus of good nights from them before they head downstairs. She heard four thuds on the mattresses followed by instant snoring. She smiled to herself and closed the door and heads back to the living room where Karai is and her smile faded instantly. Casey placed a hand shoulder in attempt to cheer her up, but she just looked up at him and sighed. "Will you change the sheets in out room? I'm putting her in there instead of the guest room. Since she's injured it's best that she's comfortable." She told him.

Casey frowned and groaned. "Comfortable? She's a psycho-bitch ninja who's always trying to kill the guys. Let her stay-

April looked up and Casey snarled. He stopped talking and gulped. "I'll go change the sheets." He said in a small voice. He backed of the room slowly until he was no longer in view.

She glanced over the unconscious, Japanese woman; a scowl appears on her face. She kneeled down next to Karai and begins to remove all of her clothing with the exception of her under clothes.

When she saw the newly exposed skin, April notices dark purple, bruises and small cuts covering Karai's body. "Guess I should start getting to work." She said to herself as she began to clean the other cuts and place bandages on them. With each bandage she places, she finds herself despising the thought of having to help Karai even more sickening.

April was wrapped a bandage around the last of Karai's injuries on her calf. She glanced at the woman who was still unconscious in her bed. The same woman who had invaded the home of and nearly killed her newfound little brothers and father, prior to showing up at her Antique Shop and threatening her. The woman who set up a surveillance van up across from her apartment building that watched her every move and forced her to shut out all of her concerned friends and family members.

To make a long story short, April O'Neil is not very fond of Karai. Had Karai had been like any of the other villains they fought, she probably would not mind so much. But Karai was different to April. Of course like all the other villains, Karai would go out of her way and do everything in her power to kill the Hamato clan. No different from the other villains. But what made April hate her so much was the fact that she claimed to do it all in the name of honor. Just the thought of Karai's name and honor in the same sentence makes her want to laugh. But despite all these things, despite how much she didn't trust Karai and how badly she wished that Leo had gotten rid of her when he had the chance to that night when he returned from Japan, it did not change the fact that she was now having to nurse her back to health.

April had never wanted anything more than get rid of Karai for good. But it is not like she had ever had chance. Not like…now.

The realization clicked in April's head and began to wonder; what as stopping her now? Here is Karai, defenseless and vulnerable. It would so be easy for April to get rid of her for good. Now is the perfect opportunity. The thought is tempting, very tempting…too tempting. Part of her it almost does it. But the other part of her, the part of her that had spent the past five years learning the code of honor forbids her from it.

She abandon the idea. She cursed herself for ever even thinking that way. She stood up and went over to her drawer to get clothes for Karai.

She dressed Karai in a pair of exercise shorts and a tank top. As she dressed her, the thoughts of killing Karai while she was asleep and helpless resurfaced when she saw that her pajama bottoms were loose around her slender waist.

Casey entered the room and lightly knocked on a wall in the living room to get April's attention. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. It's her way of asking "what?" whenever she is not in the mood to talk.

"Got the sheets changed." Casey said quietly. He kneeled down next to April and began to rub her back. "You okay, April?"

April did not respond immediately. She swallowed and clenched her jaw tightly. "I don't want to see her hurt them again, Casey. Not again." She whispered. She leaned closer to Casey wrapped his other arm around her.

"I know April. Believe me, when they said they actually wanted you to help her I wasn't too thrilled about it either." Casey said. He spoke with steel in his voice but wrapped his arms tighter around April in embrace.

"But…." April said warily, not wanting to hear what had to say next.

"But…they're big boys now. Not the teenagers you met five years ago. I'm pretty sure they're no happier about it than you are. None of us are. Hell, even Karai hates it. But we're all dealing with it because we don't have much of a choice from what I've been told." Casey said. He kissed April lightly on her forehead. "Everything will be fine April. The guys know what they're doing."

April looked up at Casey, she rested her chin on his chest and smiled. "Wow, Jones. I'm impressed. When did you get so smart?" She asked as she poked him in the chest.

"I'd say around the time I started dating you." He said as if it's obvious.

"That was so cheesy." April said with laugh and a playful slap to his chest.

"Never said I got any deeper or anything. I actually ripped that a lot of that from a TV show I saw if it's honesty you want." Casey said as he held his hands up in surrender.

"Well then what has being around me done for you Casey Jones." April asked with a corked an eye brow. She leaned away from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"It's made me happy." Casey said as he ran his hand through her hair. "Perhaps the happiest I've ever been in my entire life." Casey tapped his chin in thought. "But then again there was that time when I got my hockey stick signed by Gretzky. Okay, you're a close second, but you're still on a pretty high pedestal."

April's jaw dropped and she gave Casey a mock glare. "You are so dead." She said. April lunged at Casey, and he let her knock him the floor and she landed on top of him. He leaned in and was about to kiss April tenderly on her lips. But they were interrupted hen Raph entered. He gave the two a disgusted look and shook his head.

"Keep it down up here! You wanna complain about us being an injured woman by here in the middle of the night, but you two can sit here and get busy when we're trying to sleep?" Raph stormed over to the couple he grabbed April around her waist and tossed her off of Casey and into the easy chair across the room where she began to giggle uncontrollably.

"Get your horny asses to bed right now and go to sleep! I'm tired; I ain't listning to this shit all night!" He said. He stormed out and kicked Casey on his side on the way out before he disappeared into the basement.

April and Casey exchanged looks and laughed. They stood up and tip-toed over to each other. Once they were close enough, Casey grabbed around her waist and pulled her closer to him before he wrapped his arms around her middle. He leaned down and kissed her lips tenderly. When they finally pulled away they smiled at each other and Casey took April's chin in a light grip, and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"Don't worry okay?" He said in a soft, caring tone that he only used when he was around April.

April just sighed and wrapped her arms around Casey's waist before resting her head on his chest. "If only it were that easy." She said quietly. And when came down to Karai, after all the trouble she'd put the turtles through, just "not worrying" and trusting, was anything but just that easy.

April pulled away from him and stood up. "Let's get her to my room." She said with a glance to Karai. Casey stood up and gently lifted Karai off the couch. They second they touched, April felt jealously ignite inside of her. She felt rather foolish, but did not care. She was a woman, she had every right to feel this way.

Casey looked back at her and grinned. "Green isn't a very good color on you, sweetheart." He said teasingly.

April stuck her tongue out at him and pointed to her bedroom. He snickered as he turned away and disappeared into April's bedroom. April stood in the doorway and watched as he tucked her under the covers. Just to annoy April, he leaned down kissed Karai on the fore head. "You sleep tight now." He cooed quietly.

April gasped and growled. She went over to him and slapped in the arm before storming off. "Oh come on babe! It was a joke! You know I only have eyes for you!" Casey said as he followed her. She disappeared in the guest room and slammed the door in his face before he could enter.

"Come on, snookems! Open the door!" He begged banging on the door with his fist.

"Don't make me come up there again! Shut up!" Raph's voice bellowed from the basement again. Casey sighed in defeat and made his way over to the couch with had bloodstains on it. He rolled his eyes and plopped down in the recliner.

"Women." He muttered to himself. He shifted around in the recliner before he was finally comfortable. He looked over at April's bedroom where Karai was. He looked out at New York and sighed, he could only hope that he was speaking the truth to April earlier and that the guys knew exactly what they were doing by trusting Karai.

The body beneath her was almost unrecognizable. Almost. Although she wished that she had not been able to see past the layers of blood and grime that covered the body's familiar face.

The face.

The face was the worst part. It was frozen in a look of terror. The eye's wide and wild and fear. The mouth was open, prepared to release a scream that would never escape from his mouth. The face, once young and cream colored; was now shriveled and ashen.

She stretched her hand out and her fingertips to touch him. Her fingers lightly brushed the cold, leathery skin. Suddenly, felt him tense.

A her hand was seized in an iron grip. It was squeezed until she felt and heard the bones in it shatter. She looked back at the face. The eyes were now longer distant. They were feral and wild like a wolves'. She struggled and tried to escape the grip but soon found herself pinned on the ground underneath him.

When she tried to sit up, he dug his claws into her shoulders. She screamed when they touched her. They burned as they broke through her the skin on her shoulder. He forced his claws deeper and deeper into her body until he felt them digging into the blood soaked earth beneath him. He leaned closer to her face and growled.

His breath was rancid. It caused bile to rise in her throat. She turned her head and released it. It formed a foul smelling pool beside her. The acid burned her raw throat. She looked back up at him, her breathing was heavy.

He had a grin on his face, he looked different. The teeth, were now fangs. Rows and rows of yellow fangs that never seemed to end. The eyes were no longer eyes. Just glowing red orbs in empty sockets. Inside of the small, red orbs. She looked into them they began to grow brighter. They grew brighter until they were all she could see.

And then, they were gone.

She was somewhere else now, but she was not sure where. Everywhere she looked she only saw black. Then she saw him. She saw him the way he was before this. Young, smooth skin, a bright smile. Spikey, cherry hair and green eyes.

She smiled and walked over to him. He smiled back and offered her his hand and she took it.

That is when things changed.

His hand was back to the way it was before. Cold, gray and leathery with crooked, yellow claws extruding from his fingers. He had never changed, he was like this all along.

She felt weak.

She looked down at her hand and was horrified at what she saw. Her skin shriveled. It withered until it turned to dust, leaving behind a bleached bone. Her skin continued to wither. It slowly began to fall from her arms and legs. Her hair became thin, wiry and gray. It fell onto the floor, where it joined the ring of dead skin around her feet.

She looked at him again and he grinned. He was doing the same thing as her. He withered. Half of him was already a skeleton. He smiled. Half of his face covered with ashen skin, the other half a ghoulish skull. He leaned into her face shriveled face.

"Why worry for him," He whispered in a voice that was not his own, but the Tengu Shredder's. "When you can simply join him."

The two crumpled, and became a pile of bones of the floor.

Karai bolted upright in bed. Or at least she tried to. The moment she tried to sit it, several things happened. Her head began swimming and her entire mid-section ignited in pain. She let her head drop back onto the damp pillow. She realized she was sweating excessively. She closed her eyes and slowed her rapid breathing into calm breaths. "It was only a dream." She whispered to herself. As she lay there, Karai realized three things.

One, she was not dead.

Two, she had no idea where she is.

Three, someone had treated all of her injuries.

She tried to make sense of these things when the door to her bedroom opened and someone entered. The door closed behind them and the light turned on to reveal a woman Karai recognized immediately. In the doorway stood a tired looking April holding a glass of ice cold water in her hands.

"You." She managed to croak out in a weak voice. "What am I doing here? Am I your prisoner?"

April rolled her eyes and moved over the bed. "To answer both questions, the guys bought you by here so I could get you help. I wasn't expecting you to wake up this soon." She said. She grabbed the chair from her desk and sat down by the bed. "Wasn't expecting you to wake up at all actually." She took a small sip off her water and nodded toward Karai. "How are you feeling?"

Karai eyed April cautiously but nodded. "I am fine." She said bluntly.

"Didn't seem that way to me. I heard you whimpering in you sleep." April said. She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. Karai narrowed her eyes.

"I was having a nightmare." She said without looking at April. "Not that it is any business of yours."

April bit her tongue to hold back a retort. She looked at Karai and noticed that she trembled and that beads of sweat were rolled down her face. April stood up and moved over to Karai's bedside. Karai flinched away from her when she sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'm not gonna do anything." April said in annoyance. She grabbed her glass of water and waved it in front of Karai's face. "Just thought you could use some refreshment." She said. Karai did not say anything else but allowed April to lift her head up slightly and help her drink the water. She drank greedily, ignoring the water that did not make it into her mouth and instead fell on to her chest. She did not care, it felt good anyway. Within a minute, the glass was empty.

There is a moment of silence between the two for a moment before Karai said, "This has changed nothing between us. You are a close friend of my worst enemy. That's you my enemy as well."

April scoffed. "Your enemy? You mean the same enemy who just risked their lives to save you because you were too stupid and arrogant to listen to them? Yeah, some enemies they are."

"I never asked for their help. If anything I was hoping that they wouldn't interfere." Karai shot back with the most intimidating glare she could manage.

"Ha! And please tell me, how would it have turned out if they didn't get involved?" April looked Karai up and down and snorted. "Not very well from where I'm standing."

"How dare you-

"I wasn't finished!" April snapped. She had cut Karai off, who grimaced but kept silent. "Now you listen to me. This enemy you're talking has gone out of their way to save you more times than I can count and you always stab them in the back, and quite frankly that's been pissing me off for quite some time now. So let me explain something to you." April said. "If you. Try. Anything. Or if you give me a reason to think we can't trust you, I'm gonna beat your ass so badly, that you're gonna wish that the guys had left you behind when they chance." April stood without another word and left the room, to go down to the basement and tell Leo that Karai had woken up just, as she promised she would, slamming the door behind her, leaving Karai trembling in anger. Karai cursed herself for not getting the last word.

She wanted to be upset about April's words but could only think of her nightmare about Chaplin. It had all seemed so real. She felt her eyelids become heavy forced them to stay open, afraid of what she would see, if she closed them again.