A/N: I apologise for my slack-ness and the whole not-updating-for-ages thing, but my life suddenly decided it needed to be a lot more complicated and difficult. But now it's all sorted (well, mostly sorted) and I can turn my attention back to my stories.

Shoutouts!

LadyKatana - things do get better for her (eventually very much in the eventually)

Jessiy Landroz - plot away my friend! Plot away! I shall reveal nothing! A ha ha! A ha ha ha ha! plotting her own evil plot-like plots

Pacphys - thanks muchly for the complimentary compliments! And about the whole 'who reads book on physics' thing - that's actually a little joke about myself from getting into a conversation with a friend at school in the libraryand she complained about having to read books on physics for the subject. The amusing part was that I was actually reading a book on physics at that exact moment. So you're not that much of a minority. Go all us brainaged peoples! Whoooo!

Sugar Shell - Everyone keeps telling me I need to do something with Alice. I honestly hadn't thought about it. I may have to try and write it into the storyline. strokes chin in a thoughtfull manner while gazing dramatically into the distance

Bandaboo - well, she kind of was in hysterics. But she is taking better than most would. Thanks much for the review!

Donny's Girl - Whoo! begins dancing and singing with joy Not a Mary-Sue! Not a Mary-Sue! Oh yeah - a wicky-wicky wild wild west! stops dancing abruptly ahem. Anyway, back in the land of sanity... who am I kidding, it's common knowledge that I'm crazy, there's no point denying the obvious.

Dona Tello - Uh... Thanks?

Pi90Katana - your review certainly did help - any review does. If nothing else, they encourage me to keep on writing.

Lunar Ninja - thanks for the review, and don't worry. I would throw you into the lions' den. Those freeloading lions are striking again. They've got a better union than we do.

As usual stars around a name means it's their POV and italics are thoughts. And now, on with the story.

Amy

Hmmm, someone's knocking. Wonder what they want?

"Yeah?" I call.

The door opens just a crack and I see Don cautiously poke his head through the gap. "Uh, I was just wondering is you wanted to come out with everyone else for breakfast. I could just bring you something if you don't feel like it."

He seems so hesitant that I almost laugh. Now he's offering to bring me breakfast in bed?

Just as that thought pops up in my head, I hear Mikey shout out from the kitchen, "So, you gonna bring her breakfast in bed? What service!"

That does make me laugh. So does the expression on Don's face as he suddenly looks down to stare at his feet. Unfortunately, I'm laughing so hard that I miss the second comment. It's lower toned and not in any voice I recognize. It's also immediately followed by the sound of a walking stick hitting the back of a skull.

"Hey! What was that for!" the unknown voice calls.

"That, Raphael, was for your extremely rude comment. You should know better."

Ah, so that was Raphael then. That Splinter sure is a tower of discipline, not even letting him make jokes – second thought – from the tone of it, I don't think I really want to know what it was.

Finally I manage to stop giggling like an idiot and reply to Don's question. "I'll come out and eat with you guys."

He looks up again, snapping out of his own little world of horror and nods. I almost feel sorry for him, or at least I would if it wasn't so damn funny.

Once he's left, I throw on my sweatshirt, grateful that I had it with me when I fell down the manhole – I'd freeze without it. It's cold down here; or maybe I'm cold-blooded now or something. I wonder how I can find out?

I yawn and stretch my shoulders on account of them being kind of sore; my shell gets in the way all the time cause I'm still not used to it. Just then, I notice just how restricting my sweatshirt is all of a sudden. Blasted shell, it just keeps on giving me grief.

Just in front of the door, I pause, taking a deep, steadying breath. I've never really liked meeting new people. But fear exists only for it to be conquered. I can't remember where I got that saying from, but hey, it sounds cool. So I pull the door open and walk out.

As I walk past the couch I see Mikey watching cartoons and eating fruit loops.

"Good morning!" he calls – although, due to the enormous amounts of food in his mouth it comes out more like: "Boog Bordig," and sprays little specks off milk about.

I just wave to him – trying to talk after seeing that would probably send me into another laughing fit.

In the kitchen, Don's seated at the table, drinking coffee and reading a paper. Splinter is there too, drinking something – I don't know what, but it smells like some kind of herbal tea.

There are also the two other turtles, the ones I haven't met. One is rubbing the back of his head and looking slightly disgruntled. I guess that must be Raphael.

"Ah, miss Amy," Splinter says warmly. "May I introduce you to the other two of my sons; Leonardo," he points to the one in blue, then shifts his gaze to the red-banded, disgruntled turtle, "and Raphael."

"It's good to meet you." Leonardo says, standing up and bowing to me.

Raphael just looks up from his seat and nods, saying only, "Just call me Raph. I hate m'full name."

Man, these guys are all so different. There's a clown, a geek, a rebel and a Mr. Propriety here. And Splinter's completely unlike anyone I've ever met, he's like an old mystic guru or something.

"What would you like for breakfast?" Leonardo asks.

"Just coffee will be fine. I never have been much of a breakfast person."

I get up to grab myself a mug, but before I'm even out of my chair, Leonardo has handed me one, full to the brim with steaming java-y goodness. Ooookay. That was a little weird. Ugh, it's way to early to be taking all this in. Well actually, I have no idea what time it is, but it feels early.

"So," I say to Don while sipping my coffee in the pauses, "What do you guys generally do all day?"

He shrugs. "We just pretty much all do our own things – except when it's time for a training session or a city patrol."

Training session huh? Wouldn't mind seeing that.

"So how often do you train?" I ask, hoping to high heaven that I don't sound too interested in their habits.

"Every day. We'll be having a lesson in about an hour if you want to watch."

"That sounds cool." Cool it is! I finally get to see just what these guys can do! I do have to find something to do for an hour though.

No sooner did I think that, than Mikey called from the lounge, "And until then, you can come watch some toons with me!"

So Mikey and I spent the next hour watching the cartoon channel. Apparently, most of their stuff had been salvaged and fixed by Don, who had also found a way to rig up cable and everything.

When Splinter emerges and announces that it is time for training, I'm almost sad – it's just so much fun to hang out with Mikey and listen to all his impersonations and jokes. But still I follow them into the dojo and bow to Splinter as I was told to before settling down against the wall, out of the way.

For the next two hours that follow, I am completely entranced. It's incredible to watch them move with such amazing grace and speed. There has not been a single film in history ever produced that could do this sort of skill justice. Wish I could do stuff like that.

Ah the shower. Marvel of modern civilization. There's nothing better than the feeling of being clean. Except when you actually have some clean clothes to get into when you get out.

I wish there was some way to get my stuff, but I don't really think I want to risk going up to the surface just yet.

Since I have no other choice, I pull on my not-exactly-clean-OR-fresh clothes and wander back out to the lounge. As soon as I sit down, Mikey turns away from the tv to look at me.

"What's up?" he asks, looking slightly concerned. It's weird; these guys seem to be way more in tune with other people's feelings than anyone usually would be.

"Not much, I just miss having my stuff," I reply.

"Oh." He turns back and goes back to watching his show.

For some time the two of us just sit there watching the inanity box. Then out of nowhere, Mike asks me a question.

"Hey where did you live anyway?"

"Why do you want to know?" That's kind of an odd question to ask out of the blue.

"Oh, I was just wondering," he says, practically radiating innocence.

I'll bet there is a reason for his asking, but I trust him enough that he's not gonna do anything horrible with that info, so I decide to tell him. "In that old apartment on 59th street."

"Ah, that's not the best neighborhood in the city," he remarks with a grimace.

I just shrug, lapsing back into silence for several minutes. But the devastating truth can no longer be concealed – I must confess!

"I'm really tired so I'm gonna go crash now." Gotcha!

I push myself up off the couch and start off on my journey to the wondrous land of sleep.

"Night," Mike calls from behind me and I wave over my shoulder at him. I hear him getting up and switching off the tv as I pass through the doorway. He must be tired too or something.