Renée woke as they were putting up the tree, probably because of Casey crashing it into everything. She darted from her room, Her two kamas held tightly in her hands, and screeched to a halt as she saw the large tree that they had gotten. Raph, in hope of keeping the lair on one piece, was helping Casey place the massive tree into its base. Renée's hands dropped to her sides and her eyes widened in awe as she gazed at the large tree that was now being trimmed by Raph. She stood there for a moment, then let out a exited squeal and darted over to her red masked brother.

"Raphie! Raphie! Where did this come from? It's sooooo big! Why did we get it? Is it going to stay here forever? It smells good!" She stopped speaking to take a long, appreciative sniff that ended in a happy sigh. She dragged her blue eyes away from the tree and to her brother. "What is it?" The turtle laughed, suddenly realizing that, other than the tree in the dojo, Renèe had never seen a tree before. He turned his attention back to trimming as he answered her questions.

"It's a Christmas tree. We got it from a tree lot up top. It's for Christmas. No, it's not going to stay here forever. And yes, it does smell good." He plucked a small branch off of the ground that he had trimmed off and held it out to her. "Here. You can keep this until the needles turn brown. That way you can have your own tree in your room." She snatched the small 'tree' in her arms and, with a wide grin and a quick thank you, darted into her room to find a place to put it.

Once she had it placed near her bed(and a handful of needles in her pillow case), she returned to the main room. Raph was finished trimming and had taken the trimmings up to put them in a dumpster, Leo had finished writing the notes and was delivering the ones that could be delivered to the post office(Daimyo, his son, Usagi, and Leo's other friends would be contacted through different methods), and Mikey had gone with April to dig out some extra decorations from her house.

Renée toddled over to Casey- the only one still there other than Splinter- to see what he was doing. She watched, fascinated, as he folded and cut a price of paper, then unfolded it to reveal a snowflake. He looped a piece of string through one of the top holes and dropped it onto a small pile of already made ones. Renèe snatched the paper snowflake up and twisted it in her hands for a moment, then turned to Casey.

"You made it into a star! It's like magic!" Casey chuckled slightly and shook his head. "It's a snowflake, not a star, and its not magic. Do you want to help me make one?" He asked, holding out a new piece of paper and scissors. She nodded eagerly and pulled herself into a chair next to him, then grabbed the two offered crafting supplies. She turned her questioning gaze to him and the next ten minutes was spent guiding her through folding and cutting the paper into a snowflake.

By the time Raphael returned(silly humans made him have to wait until they finished talking), she was putting the last snips into it and started carefully unfolding it, her tongue pressed tightly between her lips as she focused on not ripping it. Once she finally had it open, her eyes widened and a happy grin instantly appeared. She whipped around to face Raph as he leaned against the back of her chair.

"Raphie! Raphie, looky what I made! Casey helped my cut it up and it became a snowflake! I want to see a real snowflake. Look, Casey made all kinds." She reached over to the pile of homemade snowflakes and pulled a few out. "This one looks like a star, and this one looks like a flower, this one is really pretty. Which one is your favorite?"

She turned her gaze away from the snowflakes that were now spread in front of her and let it settled on her brother. He scanned then for a moment before pointing to one. Renée let out a happy squeal as he pointed to her's, which was obviously the reaction he was hoping for. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into a seat next to her.

"You make one, I bet it will be really pretty." She handed a piece of paper and the scissors to him, then watched his hands intently as she waited for them to start creating. Raph sighed softly and folded the paper. A few quick snips later, he let Renée unfold it and tie a piece of string around the top. She held it up and inspected it got a moment, then snatched her own snowflake into her hand and darted off.

Raph watched her go with a questioning look, then leaned back in his chair, quite relaxed, until Casey broke the silence. "I didn't know you knew how to make paper snowflakes." Casey said, a slightly chuckle creeping into his voice. Raph rolled his eyes and pushed himself out of the chair.

"I'd prefer to keep it that way. It's a pointless skill anyway. "

"Unless you want to make Renée happy, that is."

"Unless you want to make Renée happy." Raph agreed as he turned and scanned to room for the young lizard. "Where'd she run off to?" He muttered to himself as he searched for a sign of his sister. His gaze finally landed on the dojo door, which was open slightly. A moment later, Renée's happy giggle and Splinter's deep laugh.

He peeked through the door and smiled slightly as he saw the two. Renée had obviously interrupted Splinter's meditation, something none of the turtles would ever dare do, and was now sitting on his lap, showing off the two snowflakes. "He folded it like orginami and barely cut it at all, but it's really pretty, don't you think?" Splinter nodded and gestured to the snowflake that sat on Renée's lap.

"What about that one? Who made it?" Renée's happy grin instantly grew wider as she dropped Raph's snowflake and picked up her own. "I made it! Casey showed me how! Do you like it?" Her eager face turned from the snowflake to her fathers face, awaiting his answer. "It is a beautiful snowflake, Renée." He said, running his finger delicately along the edges of the paper.

His answer obviously pleased her. She grabbed his paw in her small hand and gently laid the snowflake in his palm. "I want you to have it, Daddy. That way, I'll never really be away from you." She'd said, a innocent smile gracing her face. Raph smiled and silently shut the dojo door, then returned to Casey. Splinter smiled back at the young lizard and rose to his feet, resting her on his hip and walking over to the small shelf that held keepsakes from his life.

A picture of him, his wife, and his young daughter, Mewa. Was amongst the posessions, but a picture of him and his sons had joined it a few years back, shortly after they had returned from their separate dimensions when Ultimate Drako separated them and sent them to different parts of space.

Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo had all been more than willing to give detailed stories of where they were sent, but Donatello had been scarce with details and had seemed reluctant to even speak of it with the others. The purple masked turtle had become slightly withdrawn after that, but he had recovered over time. Though, it was well known knowledge that he often woke from nightmares of where he had been sent, but still refused to talk about it.

The snowflake was set next to the pictures and Splinter ran a finger gently across both of them. His sons had told Karai that she wasn't Shedders son, but she had refused to listen, believing that they simply were trying to get her to spare their master's life.

Renée dragged him from his thoughts as she reached out a hand and gently stroked a finger across the face of his wife and child, as gently as if touching them with any pressure could break them. "Do you miss then, Daddy?"

The question caught him off guard and he glanced at the picture. Miss them? Of course he missed them. He missed everything about his old life, but he had been given so many blessings that overwhelmed the losses. Even though he had lost a daughter and wife, he had gained four sons shortly after, then learned that his daughter had never died, then had gained another young daughter.

To every loss he had suffered, he had gained as much, if not more. So he shook his head. "I do miss them, but I have my family here now, and I cannot dwell on my lost life. Not when I have others here with me." The young lizard seemed content with that answer and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Never go away, okay, Daddy?" She murmured as she let her hand drop from the picture. Splinter pressed a gently kiss to her scaly head. "Everyone goes away at some point, but I will stay with you for as long as I can." Renèe wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and returned the kiss with one to his cheek. "Now, let us go and make some of those lovely snowflakes, okay." Renèe nodded happily at the rats words and they both went over to where Raph and Casey were now having a competition to see who could make more snowflakes in a couple minutes.

I'm not dead! I am really, really sorry for the long wait. There is absolutely no excuse for me taking that long to get this thing typed and posted. Anyway, I felt like Renèe and Splinter have barely interacted so, have some fluff between a father and daughter. Should have the next update soon. I will certainly not take as long as I took to get this one up. Thanks to all you followers. I've gotten quite a few new onessince my last upload and that's what inspired my to get this chapter finished up and posted.