It went like this for the week that she was allotted by Master Splinter. Tally would meet Leonardo on the same street corner at 4:30am. She would be blindfolded, and Leo would lead her back to the Lair. Then, they would have morning training, Tally would shower and wash her clothes, and then they would play video games until it was time for Tally to leave, before dinner.

Tally was quite proud of herself, if she said so. She had gotten considerably better over the past week. She could keep up with almost the entire first round of training, could at least start the second round, although she still was too beat to spar. Though, she still lacked precision.

But she was improving, and that was something.

So, that Friday, it was well after training and she and the boys were well into their videogame marathon when Mikey posed the question she was dreading.

"Hey Tal," He said, as he killed her character on the screen.

"Hmm?" She said, chewing on a Twizler.

"Why do you always wear the same clothes?" He asked innocently.

"Mikey!" Donny objected. "That's really rude man."

"What?" Mikey defended with a shrug. "I figured she'd have more clothes."

"Guys," Tally interrupted. "It's okay," She laughed, though she was mildly freaking out of the inside. She didn't want to reveal too much, and she was a good liar, so this should be easy to explain.

Right?

She shrugged and adjusted her seat on the floor before addressing the orange-clad turtle. "Well Mikey," she started, choosing her words carefully, but not hesitating. "I'm a foster kid," she said. "I don't have that many clothes."

"But you would at least have something other right?" he asked curiously.

Leo looked at her steadily, and she shifted. She felt bad for lying to these guys. But…it wasn't a full lie right? She was technically a foster kid. Or she would be, if she had stayed in the system. It was just a half-lie. She could live with herself.

She bit her lip. She had been half-lying to these guys from the get go. And two half-lies made a full lie, and that made her feel not half bad, but full bad. She sighed heavily and feel back onto the floor, looking at the ceiling so she didn't have to look at them.

"Alright." She said finally. "I'm not technically a foster kid, okay?" she said. "I left the system about a year ago."

"So when you said you didn't want us lurking around your foster home…" Leo said slowly, piecing it together.

"Where have you been living!?" Raph finished in surprise. Tally shrugged.

"Here and there," she replied. She sat up and looked at them, shrugging again. "It's really not that big of a deal."

"Yes it is Tally," Raphael said, leaning forward. "So when we ran into you last week when you were on the roof,"

"I was actually sleeping there." Tally finished. "Yes." She paused. "Guys, it's really no biggie. I've been taking care of myself for a year now. I'm good."

The turtles sat back uncomfortably. "You can't stay on the streets, okay?" Leo said.

"Why'd you leave the system?" Mikey asked.

Tally let out a laugh. "Well I can't exactly check into a hotel." She said, before turning to Mikey. "I left because I wanted to find Hun." She said thoughtfully. "I tracked him down to that warehouse the night we met, and well," She said with a shrug. "The rest is history, I guess." She paused. "Please don't tell Master Splinter okay guys?" she asked. "I don't want him to know, okay?"

Leo frowned. "Tally, you can't stay-"

"Please?" she said, looking at them expectantly.

"We promise," they said together.

"My sons, Tally," Splinter said. Speak of the devil, Tally said idly, standing up. The old rat came and smiled at all of them. "It is that time."

Tally smiled, and pulled out her yellow headband, she stopped, looking at Splinter with an expectant look. "Master," She began. "It's the end of the trial period and I was wondering…"

"If you have passed," Splinter agreed, with a nod. "I will take the weekend to think about it," he said. Tally nodded. That was fair, she could live with that.

"Master Splinter," Leo started, and Tally shot him a look. He coughed and shook his head.

"I think Tally would benefit from a Shell-Cell." Donny supplied, Leo gave him a thankful glance. "That way she could get in contact with us if she needed."

"Or invite us over for pizza and videogames." Mikey grinned, slinging his arm around her shoulder. Tally laughed and nodded.

Splinter nodded, waving Donatello away. "Very well." He said. Don nodded and disappeared into his lab. A minute later he returned and held out a phone to Tally. She took it and looked at it.

It was literally a Shell-Cell. It had the look of a smart phone, but it was green, and the phone case was an actual shell. She laughed.

"This is great," She said sincerely. "Thank you."

"It's already got all of our phone numbers programmed into it." Don supplied.

"Excellent."

"Okay," Leo said, "Now that that's squared away," Leo said. Tally nodded and handed him her blindfold. He nodded and secured it around her eyes. "Let's get you…home." He said, struggling with the last word. Tally rolled her eyes under the bandanna. Leonardo was a horrible liar.

"See you guys later!" Tally said with a wave as the wall went up.

"See you on the flip side Tal." Raph called.

The two walked in an extended silence for a while. Tally knew Leo wanted to talk about it. But the truth was, Tally didn't. She like the turtles, and she liked the Lair. Hell, she loved being able to shower every day. And if they offered to let her stay there indefinitely, she would jump on that opportunity. But she couldn't put them out like that. And besides, she was fine on her own. She stole when she needed to, she showered when she really needed to, and she got by. She didn't want to go back into the system. She didn't want to disappear.

To be honest, Tally was impressed he'd kept quiet until they reached topside. Leo removed her blindfold and stuck it in his belt before addressing her seriously.

"Tally-"

"Leo," she interrupted. "I'm okay." She assured. "I've got places all over the town,"

"It's not okay Tally," He insisted. "You can't live on the streets."

"That's easy for you to say," She replied, trying not to get defensive. She knew he didn't get it, and that it was hard to understand. But at the same time, it was none of his business. "I can't just walk into a house and be like 'hey I live here now,'"

"Why can't you go back to your foster family?" Leo asked as they climbed up to the roof via a fire escape. Well, Tally started to climb, literally trying to remove herself from the conversation, and Leo followed.

"Because I don't want to." Tally said, swinging over the side.

"Why not?"

"Because the system treats foster kids like, I dunno, shoes. They put us on display in these foster families until someone, if anyone wants to come adopt us. And then we go and live with prospective families for a while. And if they don't like us, they return us." She said. "Like shoes that don't fit." She looked at him. "I don't want to be a pair of shoes, Leo." She shrugged. "And besides. I'm too old to get adopted anyhow. Couples go for kids, not teenagers."

"Well," Leo said after a short time. "If you can't find a safe place to stay," he paused. "Call us." He said sincerely, looking at her. "We'll come get you, and you can crash at our place."

"Thanks, Leo." Tally said earnestly. "I really appreciate it."

"Seriously, call." He said again. She nodded, her grip tightening on the Shell-Cell in her jacket pocket.

"I will."

Leo nodded, satisfied with her answer. "Well," he said, looking over the city. " I guess I'd better go. Hopefully Master Splinter says you can still train with us." He said, then grinned. "I think Mikey likes having someone to beat."

Tally laughed, punching him in the shoulder. "That's a cheap shot." She said. "I've seen him beat you before. On Wednesday."

"That was a fluke." Leo laughed. "A lucky shot."

"Sure it was." She grinned, giving a wave. "I'll see you later Leo."

"Bye Tally." He said, swinging over the edge of the roof. "Be careful, okay?"

"Always am." She replied. And just like that, he was gone, disappearing into the shadows.

After a moment, Tally turned away from the edge of the roof and zipped up her jacket. She glanced up at the sky, it gradually turning pink and orange from the sunset. She rubbed her hand through her hair and walked along the roof. She supposed she should scrounge up something for dinner, and then find a place to crash for the night. She walked to the edge of the roof and squatted looking down at the city. She could go pickpocketing, and then actually by food. Or she could just snag from the street venders, or she could go dumpster diving. Her nose wrinkled at the third option. She was being spoiled by these turtles; left over pizza and candy. After a week of that, the thought of going back to the dumpster sounded awful.

She stood up and dusted off herself off. "Hotdog vender it is."

Tally climbed down the building and landed softly in the ally on the side. She pushed her hands into her pockets and strolled out into the street. The good thing about New York is that it was always full of tourists. And the better thing about New York; it was easy to blend in. Tally was no ninja, but she was small and light on her feet, and she could avoid being seen if she wanted to.

And boy did she want to.

Tally strolled passed her target. The guy was overweight, greasy, and determined. He was practically hounding passersby for their money. Luckily, the vender, and his cart, were near a trash can. Tally strolled up and leaned on the trashcan before taking out the Shell-Cell. She pretended she was texting on it, occasionally glancing around. The vender took notice of her, but quickly dismissed her as he went back to harassing people. Tally examined the phone, and it looked pretty durable. Heck, if Donny made it, it was sure to be like a tank.

Let's hope so, anyway. Tally thought, before idly chucking the phone on the street side of the cart.

"Oops." She said quietly, then went to go fetch it. She bent down to pick it up, and while doing so slipped two prewrapped hotdogs into her pockets before grabbing the phone and standing up.

"Hey!" The vendor said, whipping around and looking at her. "What're you doing huh?" Tally's eyes got wide and she held up the phone.

"I dropped my phone," She said innocently, dusting off the phone. Luckily, her hunch had been right, and the phone was completely unharmed. "Sorry."

"Get away from my cart alright? People'll think you're up to something."

Tally nodded, backing away. "Okay, don't have a cow." She said, walking down the side walk. Once she was a good distance away she pulled out a hotdog and unwrapped it, smile on her face. "Sucker." She said, taking a bite. As she did so, she got one of those weird shivers you get when something's not right. She finished the first hotdog and glanced around out of habit, and saw someone duck into an ally. She blinked.

Was someone following her? Who would be following her?

Tally narrowed her eyes and kept walking, keeping the same speed. No reason to let whoever was following her that she knew they were following her. Then again, she reasoned, it could be her imagination, but she doubted it. But really, who would be following her?

She glanced up at the sky and noticed that the sunset was in full bloom, and that it was going to get dark very, very soon. Tally risked another glance behind her-and there it was again! The same figure melted into the crowd again. Tally took a shaky breath; she was defiantly being followed.

Time to disappear. She told herself. She chucked the second hotdog in the garbage, made sure she had her Shell-Cell tightly in her grasp, and quickened her pace. Where was she going to go? There wasn't exactly a safe place for a street urchin to go. She could try and get back to the Lair, but she had absolutely no idea how to get there. She could call them, but would they think it was a joke? Why would she call them? If it turned out to be nothing, they'd think she was taking advantage of them. That she was just an over-imaginative weirdo. Tally shook her head, she'd have to figure this one out on her own.

She figured her best bet was the roof tops, so she ducked into an ally and scaled up the fire escape quickly, she landed on the roof and glanced down. No one was in the ally climbing up after her, so that was a good sign. Tally let out a nervous laugh and shook her head. She was just making things up, there was no one following her. She ran her hand through her hair and turned around, toward the roof and away from the ally.

And she froze.

On the other side, there were three figures. Said figures were standing ridged. One of the figures was clothed in black suit. There was no other way to put it; it was a ninja suit. The three pronged flame on his bicep was familiar. He was part of that gang that ambushed the turtles and her that night on the roof. A Foot. The other two, Tally already knew who they were, it was evident by their swirling tattoos on their arms. They were Purple Dragons.

Time to call the guys. She thought in panic. She fumbled with the phone inside her pocket. She obviously couldn't just take it out and make a call, that would be dumb. She pressed her thumb to what she thought was the screen side and hit a number. Hopefully it was a speed dial, and hopefully it worked. Otherwise…Tally didn't want to think about it.

She cleared her throat and let out a nervous laugh. "Can I…help you guys?" she said, taking a cautious step back. The three walked forward.

"Yes, you can actually." The Foot ninja said. It was really disconcerting to hear him talk but not see his mouth moving.

"Oh yeah?" Tally asked with a sinking feeling. "With what?"

"With the location of four certain amphibians."

"Amphibians?" Tally asked, spreading her feet. From the way this was going, it looked like she was going to have to fight.

"The turtles, idiot." One of the Purple Dragons sneered.

"Who you calling an idiot?" Tally snapped. "Turtles are reptiles, moron." She said. "Anyway, if you're looking for some pets, I know the pet shop down the street sells them."

"You know what turtles we're talking about," The Foot continued, obviously in no mood for jokes.

"What makes you think I know anything about anything?" Tally asked.

"Because we've seen you." The Foot said. "You were on the roof that night. And throughout the week our scouts have seen you with them. You know where they live."

"No," Tally said. "I don't." Well, she wasn't lying. She had been blindfolded the entire time. She knew they lived in the sewers, but she had no idea where.

"We'll see about that." The other Dragon said as the three circled her. She widened her stance again, balling her fists. She prayed that her Shell-Cell had called somebody. There was a beat, and then Tally swung first.

She nailed one of the Purple Dragons square in the face, and sent him sprawling.

The other Purple Dragon swung at her with a baseball bat, and she ducked and nailed him in the stomach. There wasn't any makeshift weapons she could find, so she had to rely on her still fairly limited skill set. And these guys-well, at least one of these guys-was a trained professional, there was no way she could win. She felt her stitches tug and she grunted. If those tore because of some stupid fight, she was going to slap herself.

The Foot came and clipped her in the jaw, sending her stumbling back. "Just tell us where they are, and you won't get hurt."

"And what would you call that then?" Tally said, clutching her jaw. "A love tap?" She took another wild swing and the ninja dodged easily, taking her and kneeing her stomach. Tally gasped harshly and fell to her knees, trying to catch the breath that was pulled from her. She rolled and missed the swing of the bat that came down on the roof, and swept the Dragon's feet from under him. She scrambled to her feet and dodged a kick the Foot ninja sent her way.

What she wouldn't give for some of that precision she had been lacking.

"You're making this harder than it needs to be." The Foot argued, coming at her again. Tally ducked and nailed him in the stomach before being kicked from behind. She let out an 'Agh!' and fell forward.

"I don't know where they are!" Tally yelled at them.

"You're going to tell us, even if we have to beat it out of you!" The Foot shouted, shoving her back. A Purple Dragon caught her and put her in a sleeper hold, his tattooed arm cutting off the air to her lungs.

"Is that a threat?" She spit through ragged breaths.

"It's a promise."

Tally had time to yelp as she saw the bat come over head, before the ground rushed up to meet her.