Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT.

10

The apartment building was silent as Mia climbed the stairs that led to her apartment, number 13A. She walked down three hallways, each covered with the same identically horrible floral-print wall paper from the 70s. She had absolutely no idea how she was going to explain where she had been all weekend, and she knew that was just going to make Janie angrier than she already had to be. Obviously, she couldn't tell her that she'd spent the weekend with four mutated turtles and their dad who was a mutant rat. She had, however, come up with a cover for the smell. But that story meant she had no choice, except to go along with the cover story Troy had obviously been keeping up all weekend.

Mia opened the door to her apartment and then immediately froze once she was inside. She looked around silently. There was no one around. The place seemed blessfully empty. She sighed gratefully and dropped her bag on the floor. She sat down on the arm of the couch beside her and began taking her shoes off.

"Have fun?"

"Omg!" Mia jumped when she heard Janie's voice. She looked up and saw her standing in the doorway of the kitchen, hands on her hips and frowning. Great, this was going to be fun. "You're here - why is this place so quiet?"

"Well, Clara's not here, for one thing," Janie said, walking over to the kitchen and sitting down at their tiny, scrubbed wood table. "I sent her to go spend the weekend with -"

"With our mother?" Mia gasped demandingly. "Janie, you can't do that. You know Clara can't be left alone with her - and since when is she so interested in spending time with her anyway?" Her voice filled with venom as she spoke.

"You know what, Mia," Janie said, looking up at her. "You don't get to decide any of this. You're still a child and you're not legally responsible for Clara. I am. And she wanted to spend the weekend with her mom, so I let her and it's not like I'm violating court orders or anything. So how about you just don't stand there, judging me for doing what I think is best for our sister and get on with your little job search, okay?" She smiled smugly at her.

Mia gaped at her silently. She really didn't care. She didn't care about Clara at all - she was just happy to be rid of her. How could Mia have not seen this coming?

Mia shook her head, grimacing bitterly to herself, and grabbed her bag off the floor. She started to walk out of the room.

"Oh, and Mia," Janie called to her when she got to the hall that led to their bedrooms. "Be sure to thank Troy for letting you stay with him. He'll be pretty happy to from you."

Mia looked back at her over her shoulder, and that's when it hit her: Janie knew. She knew she hadn't been with Troy all weekend. And she didn't even care enough to ask for her actual cover story.

"Whatever," Mia scoffed, and she stormed off to her room. She'd never thought Janie could ever disgust her as much as their parents had, but, somehow, she had managed it.

She closed her bedroom door behind her. Then she crossed the room to where her computer was. Sighing, she clicked the sleeping machine into life. Then she saw that she had an Email.

"Raph and Mia sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Michelangelo sang, trailing closely behind Raphael as they walked down back the stairs to the lair.

"Shut up, Mikey," Raphael spat at him. "It's not like that. She was just being nice." He had been listening to this all the way down here, and he was running on zip patience wise. He didn't know why Mia seemed to think that he was important like an actual person. But he did know that that hug - whatever she had meant by it wasn't what he wanted it to mean.

Or Mikey thought it meant.

There was no way it could. Not ever.

"Whatever you say, bro," Mikey said, grinning knowingly at him.

Raphael spun around and grabbed Mikey by his neck. "It didn't mean anything," he growled at him. "Now, drop it!" He let go of him suddenly and he fell to the floor.

"Hey!" Mikey cried out, jumping to his feet. He turned to Leo. "You just gonna let him get away with that?"

"You kind of deserved it," Leonardo told him, frowning.

Just then, Raph's T-phone sprang into life as it started trilling loudly. He looked down at it. It was Mia. He answered it. "Yeah, what is it - not that guy again, is it?" He crossed the pit and started down the hall to his room.

"No," Mia said, sounding angrier that he had ever heard her. "Janie's been doing a little job hunting for me while I was gone."

Raphael paused outside his doorway, frowning. That didn't so bad actually. "And?" he prodded.

"I just got an Email from someone I used to be friends with," Mia sighed. "He's, like, an older guy, and he's working as a manager at a Bradford Dojo. He says he can get me a job there with pay and free lessons."

"Huh." Raphael went inside his room, closing the door behind him. "Why do I get the feeling that's not his day job?" He knew Mia now. He knew she was going to leave things out - things she didn't him or probably anyone else to know about.

There was a long pause on Mia's end before she finally said, "He's a drug dealer, okay - but it's only weed."

Raph froze. He didn't need to ask to put two and two together: This guy had been her drug dealer once a upon time. "Stupid idea," he said. "Absolutely stupid idea. I mean, does the word relapse mean anything to you - there's no way you can go work for this guy." It came out harsher than he had meant it. He knew it wasn't her fault her past was so messed up, but this was exactly the worst thing for her to be doing. Karate lessons with her ex-dealer? It had disaster written all over it.

Not to mention this was a Bradford dojo. As in Chris Bradford. There was no way in hell he was gonna risk Mia getting mixed in that mess, too. It wasn't going to happen. He'd chain her to her couch if he had to.

"I wasn't planning on it, Raph," Mia said, suddenly defensive. "I just - I need someone to talk to, okay!"

"Well, I'm talking to you, aren't I?" Raphael shot back at her. "What do you want me to do - tell you to just go for it and watch what happens?"

"No!" Mia snapped. "I never said that. When did I ever say anything like that?"

Raphael dropped the phone down at his, shaking his head. "Look," he sighed into the phone. "You didn't have to, okay? Just…" His voice trailed off. He knew that he should apologize, but for what - for looking out for her? Like that was gonna happen. Besides, he was right. "Just promise me you won't take that job, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Mia said. "I won't."

"Good." Then he hung up the phone.

Mia hung up her T-phone, scowling. She couldn't believe him sometimes. Like he knew what was best for her. As if. He barely knew her.

But, she told herself as she crawled into her bed, at least he cared about her. At least someone did.

The next morning, Clara turned up on their doorstep at five AM.

"Where's your mom?" Mia asked her, letting her inside.

Clara looked up at her, frowning, and shook her head silently. Her eyes were red and puffy, and there were dark shadows beneath. There was no way she should have been left alone with her. It would never happen again. Not with Mia around.

"Alright," Mia said, forcing herself to smile at her. "Just come inside."

She spent the rest of the morning getting Clara ready for school, and dodging Janie. Then when she finally got to her own school, she paused silently.

Troy stood waiting for her at her locker. He looked up at her, smiling, as she approached. "There's a party tonight," he told her. "And you're invited."

Mia stared at him silently, knowing she didn't have a choice. She had to go.

A/N: Hey, guys. Sorry it took me a while to update. I'm actually going through the process of moving and divorcing my husband, so that's been quite time consuming as you can imagine.
Thank you to everyone who has read this and left reviews. I really appreciate each and every one of them. So, please, keep reading and keep reviewing. I'll have the next chapter up soon.
Later :)