Ok, the last chapter. Finally. Took me long enough right? Not exactly a climatic ending but it gives the story some closure. If you have any questions you need answered that I haven't addressed just ask and I'll tell you. Thank you for reading and for putting up with me all this time (That is, if you've been following since the beginning). Usual disclaimer here. Enjoy.

…

Raphael was the first to wake up that day. It wasn't that surprising really, since he started sleeping on the couch he had developed the habit of waking up early. What was unusual was the thing what woke him. The sound of plates shuffling and bacon sizzling, the smell of freshly brewed coffee and orange juice. It wasn't an unfamiliar thing, back during simpler times Mikey would often get up early and make breakfast for his family. But it hadn't happened in a long time, nobody really felt like sitting through a family breakfast anymore.

"Mikey?" He called, slightly disgruntled from his lack of sleep. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. Mikey?" He called out again. No answer. Raph heaved himself up from the couch and went to investigate.

Raph stopped in his tracks when he reached the kitchen. Though still groggy from sleep, there was no mistaking the scene he saw before him.

"Hey Raph" Mona said with a small smile on her face. There she was standing at the stove with a pan of bacon and eggs in her hand. The table was set neatly, with a jug of orange juice and a plate of pancakes sitting in the centre.

"Umm… hey" he tried to say as calmly as possibly. This was the first time he had seen Mona downstairs since she had moved in.

"Would you like something to eat?" She said hesitantly.

"Uh, yeah… sure." Raph quickly took a seat at the table. Mona walked over and piled his plate high with bacon and eggs. Raphael helped himself to the plate of pancakes.

"Coffee?" She offered, already pouring some into his mug. He nodded, unable to speak with his mouthful of eggs.

An awkward silence hung in the air, neither of them sure what to say next. Mona continued with her cooking while Raphael sat and ate, staring at his plate a bit to intensely.

"So, Mona… uh… how long have you been up?" Raphael asked as casually as possible.

She cracked another egg into the frying pan. "A while."

"Has Splinter seen you yet?"

"He came in a while ago, we had a talk. I made him breakfast too." She informed him.

Raph wanted desperately to know what Splinter had told her but was too afraid to ask. Instead, he just sat silently and ate his breakfast. They were completely quiet for what seemed like an eternity, both of them wanting to speak but not having any idea what to say to the other. Finally, Raph put down his fork and decided to say something, anything. "Mona, I-"

He was cut off as two of his brothers, Leonardo and Donatello, enter the kitchen. They were chatting happily to each other, most likely discussing possible sources for the scent of food they smelt, when they stopped dead in their tracks just as their brother had.

"M-Mona" Donatello stammered, taking in the sight before him.

"Morning." She said tentatively.

"Hey guys, who's cooking? I know it can't be Leo because i-" Mikey began as he walked into the kitchen. "Guys, she's downstairs… which is not a surprise at all, Mona." He added quickly after a painful jab in the ribs from Don.

Mona just stood there for a moment as the brothers stared at her, attempting to think of something to say. It was Mona who spoke first. "Are any of you hungry?"

They all nodded and sat down as quick as possible, not wanting to offend. Mona provided them with more than enough of everything. The moment they finished a drink she was there to refill the cup, if they ran out of bacon she was piling it back up in their plate. It was like she was trying to compensate for everything she put them through with food.

Nobody asked why she was downstairs, or what inspired her to leave the room she had cooped herself up in for months now. They didn't want to jinx it. This was a good thing. She was out and she was acting like her old self again. Almost. There was still sadness in her eyes when she spoke, and her smile wasn't as bright as it used to be, but she was getting there.

After breakfast Mona went back upstairs, feeling too overwhelmed to continue socialising. No one seemed to mind though; they even offered to clean up the kitchen for her. She thanked them and returned to her room for the rest of the day.

Mona didn't come downstairs the next day, or the day after that. When she finally did return nobody made a big deal about it. They tried their best to treat her as normally as possible, knowing that if they questioned or babied her in any way it would destroy all the progress she had made. She never stayed downstairs for long. Usually just for a meal, maybe two if they were lucky. Sometimes she wouldn't even talk. I t didn't matter, it just mattered that she was there. Gradually, she ended up spending more and more time downstairs with the turtles and less time locked up in her room. It was about a month and a half before she finally spent a full day downstairs. They all remembered how proud they were of her progress and wishing they could tell her, but they kept their mouth shut.

Not too long after she started spending most of her days downstairs hanging with the guys, playing games with Mikey and assisting Donnie with his experiments. Raph had even taken it upon himself to train her, in case she ever ended up in trouble. The two of them had sparring sessions every Wednesday. She never missed a training session with Raph, even if she wasn't talking, even if she spent the entire day in her room, she would still come down to train with Raphael. No one was sure why, maybe it was out of fear that something terrible would happen again, maybe it was a good release for the anger she had bottled up over the past few months, maybe she just like spending the time with Raph, but the training helped. Sometimes she even had lessons with Splinter, he would teach her the art of the shadows and how to go about unseen when she was ready to go topside. Occasionally, he even allowed her to join the turtles training sessions. She was nowhere near as skilled as them, but she still found it great fun. After a while nearly all their worries about Mona were gone, it was clear that despite everything she had been through that Mona was going to be ok.

…

Three months had passed and Mona had given Raphael back his room, claiming she didn't need it anymore and deciding to sleep on the couch instead. The turtles trusted her more now, taking her on adventures through the sewers and, very rarely and only with express permission from Splinter, topside. Mona loved these trips; they were the best part of her week. She loved playing out on the rooftops, watching the people walk pass from way up high, gazing at the stars in the sky.

One night she snuck out to the rooftops with Raphael. He was teaching her how to go from roof to roof without being seen, a skill she had yet to master. They were just exploring the city, not really paying attention to where they were going.

"OK, this next rooftop, you think you can make it?" Raph said in a surprisingly casual manner considering the speed he was going.

"You underestimate me doll." Mona panted; she wasn't as used to the whole converse-while-running thing as Raphael was.

"Alright then, prove me wrong babe."

"Don't call me babe." She called as she picked up her pace. He laughed and watched her run at full speed, her hair flying in the breeze. However, as she reached the side of the building she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What's the matter, princess?" he joked, slowing down. "Stage fright?"

As he came to a stop next to her he realised she was staring at something. He followed her gaze and suddenly felt like an idiot for leading her down this way. "Oh."

"My apartment." She said in a small voice. "My home. At least, it was."

"Aw, shell. Mona, I'm sorry. I'm such an idiot."

"No, it's ok." She whipered. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. I can't believe I didn't realise where I was. Have I really been away that long?"

He grabbed her hand. "C'mon, let's get outta here."

She didn't move. "That place is the only thing left of my life. And I can never go there again. I have nothing. No job, no family, no home. I have nothing left. What do I do with myself now?"

"Mona…" he was unsure of what he was going to say but he wanted to comfort the girl in some way. "Mona I'm sorry for what happened to you, and I swear one day we're gonna make Baxter pay for what he did to you, but you gotta move on."

Mona gave Raphael an angry glare. "I'm sorry, that sounded bad. But it's true. There are some things you just can't change, and I think you might have to accept that. Things are different now. But I'm-we're here for you."

She squeezed his hand tightly and Raph realised that he still hadn't let go of her. "Let's go."

The pair left in silence and went straight back to the lair.

…

"Guys, where are we going?"

"We're almost there, you'll see." Donatello answered, guiding Mona Lisa down an unfamiliar sewer line.

"What's with all the mystery? Why can't I know?" she asked as she followed them through the tunnels.

"Because if ya knew, it wouldn't be a surprise now would it?" Raph quipped.

"Oh you're just so clever aren't you, Doll face?" Mona voice was dripping with sarcasm as she watched Raphael cringe at the name 'doll face'.

"Trust us, Mona. You're gonna love it." exclaimed Mikey, putting an arm around her shoulder. "You're gonna be so surprised when you see your br-"

There was a loud thump as Raph whacked Mikey over the head before he could finish his sentence. "Quiet, shell for brains, you're gonna ruin the whole thing."

Mikey just giggled. "Ooh, sorry."

"Ok, here we are." Leonardo announced.

Mona stepped around the brothers to see what they were talking about. She saw nothing. Just another sewer tunnel. Further down there was an archway that someone had boarded up. She couldn't see anything that could cause the turtles to drag her down here.

"What?" she asked.

"You don't see it?" Donnie asked excitedly.

"What? I see a tunnel, a brick wall, that that boarded up arch…" Mona stopped. Now that she was really looking at she could see that what she thought were boards was actually a door homemade door. Too anyone passing by it simply looked like a blocked off section of tunnel, most likely dilapidated and dangerous. She had a feeling whoever made this door designed it with that in mind.

"Is that a door?" she said slowly.

"Yeah!" Mikey practically yelled at her. "I mean, uh, yeah."

"Well, what's behind it?"

Raphael nudged her forward. "Why don't you go find out?"

Mona hesitantly walked towards the door, unsure what she would find behind it or why she was so nervous. She was suddenly struck with a very vivid memory of the night she was abducted. How quiet it had been, how sudden the whole thing was. What if something like that happened again? She wasn't prepared then and who's to say she was prepared now. Her heart started pounding and she had the sudden urge to turn and run the other way, back to the safety the lair and the room she had lived in for so long. She fought back though. The turtles were her friends; they weren't going to put her in danger. At least, not on purpose. April hadn't meant to put her in danger either. Mona panicked and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Mona?" Donatello approached her. "Mona, are you ok?"

"I told you this might happen." Said Leo. "It's too soon for her. She's not ready for this."

"Ready for what?" Mona tried to keep her voice steady, slightly embarrassed by the way she was acting.

"Yes she is." Mikey protested, ignoring Mona's question. "Mona's brave and independent and awesome. Besides, we're not forcing this on her; we haven't even showed her yet."

"Shown me what?" Mona spoke a little louder. "What is happening?"

"Hey," Raph put a hand on her shoulder. "Just trust us, ok? Nothing bad is gonna happen."

Mona nodded and walked towards the door, Raphael by her side all the while. As she reached out her hand to open it he stopped her.

"Are you ready?" He asked. She nodded again.

Raphael pushed the door open and Mona stepped inside. She was amazed by what she saw.

It was her apartment. Every bit of furniture, every doodad, every detail of her former residence located below the city. If it wasn't for the absence of windows and the hard sewer walls she could have sworn that this was the home she had left behind.

Mona just stood there gaping at the sight. "Wha…."

"SURPRISE!" Mikey yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "Do you like it?"

"What is this?" she said in a hushed voice as wandered through the room.

"It's your apartment." Mikey informed her. "We moved all of your things down here. Sorry it took so long, you have a lot of stuff."

"Why?" Was the only question she could think of.

"We… thought you might need a place to live." Donatello spoke up. "I mean, you couldn't sleep on the couch for the rest of your life and we didn't think you'd want to live with 4 teenage boys."

Leo stepped forward. "We realise everything you had to give up. You lost your whole life on the surface; we understand how hard that must be to give up. So we'd like to invite you to be part of our family. As you probably noticed this place isn't too far from the lair, you can come visit us whenever you want and we'll come see you."

"You can play video games with me and teach Leo how to cook and do boring science stuff with Donnie, he's even rebuilding your bike and- oops, that was meant to be a surprise too." Mikey looked bashful as Don glared at him uncharacteristically.

"My motorcycle, my baby?" Mona's eyes lit up slightly.

Don smiled. "It should be ready by the end of the week."

Mona beamed as she took everything in. "You guys really went to all this trouble just for me?"

"It was Raph's idea." Mikey stated, pointing a finger at his brother.

She turned to face the hot-headed turtle. "Raph?"

"Well, I wanted you to have some options on what to do with your life." He shrugged.

"We can't force you to stay with us; anything you choose to do is your choice. But we'd like you to." Leo smiled at her.

"Yeah, we love ya Mona. I know it won't be the same as your glamorous surface life," Raph said dramatically. "But you could start a new life down here, with us."

Mona flopped down on the couch and looked around at her new home. "A new life, I like that."

…

The End.

Thank you for reading.

xoxo