A/N: Glad everyone liked the last chapter. Sorry that it had nothing to do with the plot. When it was written it was meant to stand by itself. We weren't intending on posting it, but we liked it so much we decided too. Thank yous go out to Icecreampopstar, BlackShuriken, redxcanary, artychick7, Wonderwomanbatmanfan for your super awesome reviews. Here's the next chapter, that is relevant to the plot. Oh and sorry if the formatting turns out weird. My computer did something funny and I wasn't able to fix it, so hopefully it's still readable.

Old Friends

"Well, how does this look?" Li stepped back and surveyed the print Piper had hung on the wall. It declared Rock & Roll the best musical genre. She nodded.

"I like. I'm not sure about that though." She gestured to the small side office, where her bed lie. This wasn't a two bedroom apartment, unfortunately. Therefore, they played rock paper scissors for the office, and Li won. Piper put her bed in a corner of the living room, with a curtain that could be drawn around it for privacy. Raph promised he would try to sound proof the place later. Piper decided to invest in noise cancelling headphones anyway.

"I could always hang my inspirational 'hang in there' kitty poster instead."

"The rock one's fine."

"I don't know, the other one's pretty damn inspirational. Maybe I'll give it to Da Vinci instead." She snorted at the thought of Leo with a inspirational kitten poster, and wondered if he would hang it in the dojo.

The girls stood back and admired their first big city apartment. The furniture was arranged, the kitchen stocked, the lights worked, and their boyfriends were just a tunnel away. Life in New York was looking like it was going to be pretty awesome.

"This is just like Laverne and Shirley only different." Li decided not to comment, though Mikey and Donny could count for their two perverted neighbors, the way things were going. Mikey had taken to trying to walk in on her naked, even going so far as to walk into the bathroom when he knew she was in the shower. He had been getting sneakier, like waiting until Raph was busy or patrolling to try and peek at her. Luckily, Leo had been 'watching' her for Raph, she belonged to him in his eyes, and thus he defended his brother's claim when he wasn't around. It was weird, but it was in their nature, so there was nothing she could do but deal with it. And when Mikey and Raph were in the same room, the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. She couldn't wait until mating season was over, then everything would go back to normal, well as normal a life with four mutant ninja turtles could get.

"Well, I have to go on my first shift now, wanna come up?" Li nodded and they headed upstairs. Piper was going to work her first shift for April, while Li and her went out and bought paint and stencils. Li had an eye for color, so it was agreed she and April would get the supplies, and Li would work the following day. They were both excited to start working, it was how they planned on spending their summer, working for April during the day and hanging out with everyone at night. April was happy to have the extra time off to prepare for the baby. She was already starting to show.

"You know what I think you should do for the nursery? " No, Li didn't want to know. "You should have a big mural of Optimus Prime."

"That's why April picked me to help her decorate, not you." Piper had odd taste when it came to decorating.

"Why not? Eighties stuff rocks."

"It's going to be yellow, and not have epic robot battles...maybe we could do that in our place." Li just happened to have a poster of Optimus Prime herself, but he was not baby mural material. April sure wouldn't think so, anyway. They met her upstairs and Li made herself a cup of green tea while April gave Piper her instructions. She finished it and met April at the door.

"Casey will be back in an hour, he can answer any other questions you might have." Piper gave her a thumbs up from behind the counter and Li and April walked out into the warm May sunshine. April took a deep breath.

"What a gorgeous day, alright, we need to go sixteen blocks." She frowned down at her belly, she had been prone to bouts of exhaustion lately. Li simply went and hailed a cab. Ah that was fun, she really felt like a New Yorker now. They hopped in and April gave the cabbie the address.

"I'm so glad the two of you can help with the decorating, really, can you imagine what Casey and the guys would come up with?" Visions of wrestling posters, stacks of comic books, beakers, and tatami mats came to mind. She shook her head.

"I think I'd rather not."

-/-

She tightened the strap holding her weapon, running a mental check of everything she needed and everything she had. It was time to take matters into her own hands, she had found out where her enemies were located and she was going to make them pay for breaking up her family. She already lost one member of her family, she would not lose another. Her husband came and stood by her side.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes." He gave her hand a squeeze and kissed her.

"Good hunting Karai." She took a slip of paper off the table and memorized it, before throwing it into the fire. It had the name and location of one Liara Currant, an associate of the turtles and former test subject of Bishop. She would start with her.

-/-

"Welcome to Second Time Around, how can I help you?"

"Just me." Casey came in hauling several bags full of material he got from a local hardware store. He was working on baby proofing the apartment. Piper sighed.

"Ah." Casey put down his bags and fixed a suit of armor near the door, then cleared his throat. Piper looked over at him.

"Yes?" She wondered what he could want, they hadn't talked much, but then again, Casey didn't talk much in general, he was more of an action guy. Her question was answered when he shuffled his feet.

"So...I was wonderin...you know...you and Leo got a thing goin, right?" Piper nodded, not following. "An Raph is with Li...so, I was curious, how do you...you know." Piper tried not to gape at the question. That's what he wanted to know? She was surprised Raph didn't give him a play-by-play. Then again, he was rather protective of Li, probably didn't want Casey to visualize her naked.

"Um, well, you see...do you really want to know?"

"Heck yeah, been bothering me for months. I mean I know how, but how?" Piper fidgeted a little, she really didn't want to be having this conversation with Casey.

"It's the same, only different, you know?"

"The different part is what I'm after."

"Um, well, kissing's kind of different, and Leo's skin isn't as soft, cause its really fine scales..." She really wished Casey would lose interest, or she was drunk. This wouldn't be near as embarrassing if she was drunk. "But its still done in the same way."

"Yeah but the guys, you know." He made a gesture to his pants. "Dey don't wear no clothes or nothing, so..."

"Ask Donny!" Piper panicked. "Donny explained it to me. He can explain it to you. Let's call Donny! Yeah, that's what we'll do, let's all call Donny!" She dialed Donny's number. "Oh it's ringing. Don't worry Casey, Donny loves explaining things...Donny! Donny it's Piper...yes, I miss you too...no I don't want to talk to Leo I want to talk to you...really...you can tell me about the neutrinos later, well actually that does sound interesting. No! Donny, I called for a reason and that reason is for you to talk about sex...Donny why did your voice suddenly get deeper? Oh hold on here's Casey. Explain sex to Casey!" She shoved the phone at Casey and pretended to organize the antiques. Maybe she should've just made Casey call him, well, too late. She watched Casey's expression change from the corner of her eye and smirked. That's what he got for snooping into their personal sex lives. Donny explanations. She began dusting the shelves as Casey had to sit down, Don's voice heard explaining the reproductive process. Good.

-/-

"What do you think of this one?" April and Li were in a store dedicated to baby clothes, looking at onesies. They were going with neutral colors like yellow, green, and white, since they didn't know the gender yet.

"I love the penguin." April was holding a yellow onesie with a picture of a penguin flapping his wings on it.

"I'm getting it." She picked up a small stack they had picked out and went to the counter to pay. Li's phone beeped and she saw Piper sent her a text. It said 'hungry, bring home pizza, lots of pizza.' She smiled, that meant six about, all of them together ate a lot. Not counting the breadsticks. April came back carrying a bag and Li nodded toward the door.

"Looks like we're in charge of bringing home dinner, should we stop at that place on Bleaker?"

"Let's, theirs is the best in town." They walked outside, the sun was just starting to set, casting a rainbow of colors over the tops of the skyscrapers. Li tried to hail a cab, but one just zoomed on by her. She sighed.

"It's alright, we'll walk a bit, I'm feeling good." She breathed in the air and Li put down her arm.

"Alright." They walked a couple blocks, looking for any more cabs, when Li heard it. It was faint, but it sounded like...footsteps? She casually looked behind them. Nothing. Maybe she was just being paranoid, yeah, that was it. But she listened hard as they walked for any other sound. They were coming up to the corner, intending to go right, when they walked past a darkened ally. At that moment a host of black clothed people leapt silently off the rooftops above them and surrounded them. Li cursed herself internally, she should have listened to her instincts. She got into the fighting stance Raph taught her and glared. There was no way she could take these guys, but she wouldn't let them know that. April had her hand over her mouth in shock as they were shepherded into the ally. It was then a Japanese woman stepped forward, and April glared.

"Karai." Li turned in surprise,that was a name she recognized. The Shredder's daughter. They were in trouble. The foot ninja parted as Karai walked over to them, and Li moved in front of April, whose hands went to her abdomen protectively. Karai glanced downward, the slight swell of April's pregnancy was clearly visible, and Li prayed they didn't use that to their advantage. She nodded to them.

"I am not interested in you." She addressed April. "You are the one we want." She spoke directly to Li, who straightened in surprise. What would the foot want with her? Karai watched the two of them like a hawk. Li, she had noticed, never went anywhere alone, so they had chosen now to confront her, while she was with April, who was obviously pregnant. Though she did not say so out loud, she would not hurt April, not when she was pregnant. It was dishonorable. She would simply be a witness, and if her ninja questioned why they did not take her too, she would tell them that someone needed to tell their prey where their friend was, and who was responsible. They would accept that.

"Why do you want Li?" April stared straight at Karai, and she was impressed with her boldness. April had a strong spirit, it was clearly visible in her gaze. Karai inclined her head.

"Because her role in the turtles' lives is more significant." She gave a small hand motion and Li's arms were pinned by two ninja.

"Hey!" She tried struggling in vain.

"Take her back." The ninjas vanished with Li leaving April and Karai alone in the ally. "Tell the turtles to meet me at the former site of the Saki Tower." She turned around and started to leave before she looked over her shoulder at April. "And Mrs. Jones, keep your child safe." With that Karai was gone. April placed a hand on her abdomen for a brief instant before calling the turtles and telling them to meet her at her apartment, something had happened. When she finally arrived back at her apartment, everyone was there, waiting anxiously. They surrounded her when she came in.

"April, are you okay?"

"What's going on?

"Where's Li?" Everyone stopped talking when Piper spoke, realizing Li wasn't behind April. She shut the door and went over to the couch. Casey darted into the kitchen to get her some tea, as she looked awful. She sighed and Raph appeared in front of her.

"What da shell-what happened ta Li?" He was trying to keep his voice even, but his eyes and clenched fists betrayed him. Casey came back from the kitchen and handed April a mug, and everyone sat down. Mikey looked anxiously at April. She took a sip and put down the steaming mug.

"We had just exited a shop, and were trying to hail a cab, when foot ninja surrounded us." There were exclamations of surprise and curses as everyone looked at each other.

"But they were gone!"

"Yeah, we haven't seen them in years, why come back now?" Raph hit the table so hard it cracked, and April didn't even have the heart to chew him out.

"Karai was there, she said to meet her at Saki Tower, I think she took Li to force you to meet with her." Raph jumped up and headed to the door, Mikey behind him. Leo leapt up to block them.

"No, we meet them when it's dark, as soon as the sun sets." He was thinking about the unwanted attention they could gain by jumping over rooftops while it was still light out. Raph didn't care, he snarled angrily.

"How can we wait? We don't know what the Foot's doing ta her!"

At Saki Tower...

Li was sitting in what could have been someone's office, except there was no desk or business equipment of any kind. Instead there was a tatami mat and the woman that kidnapped her sitting on it and drinking tea. She had been offered a glass but had yet to drink any of it.

"Why am I here?" Karai looked up from her tea.

"To ensure the turtles will come."

"Shouldn't I be in a jail cell or something? This isn't like the last time I got kidnapped." She gave an internal shudder when she remembered what Bishop had done to her. She worried about what Raph must be going through knowing that she was gone again. He wouldn't take it well, that was for sure.

"You are not here as a hostage, merely an insurance policy." Li wondered if there was a difference but decided not to voice her question. Instead she drank her tea and waited for Raph. She didn't have to wait long. A half hour later he burst in through the window, followed by Mikey. Donny and Leo suddenly kicked the door off its hinges, and for a moment, nobody moved. Karai was not surprised and calmly sipped her tea, Li waited for Raph to say something, and the turtles were wondering why the heck she was calmly drinking tea with Karai and not being held in a cell somewhere. Raph reacted first and strode over and pulled Li to her feet, maneuvering her behind him.

"What do ya tink you're doing?" He asked in a low voice. This had to be a trick, he just knew it. Karai set down her cup and stood up as well.

"I needed to get your attention, I saw my chance, and took it." Raph raised his sais's threateningly.

"And now I'll take mine." He would have lunged forward, but Li grabbed his arm and pulled with all her might. It wouldn't have stopped him in the least, but he wondered if she knew something he didn't.

"Don't! She doesn't want to fight, she was nice to me." Raph and the turtles looked at her in disbelief.

"She was nice to you? Karai is not nice, she's the Shredder's daughter!" Li bit her lip and looked down, lowering her voice.

"I think she's in trouble." She had seen anxiety swirl in Karai's eyes when she spoke to her before, but it wasn't about the turtles. It was something else. Leo looked to Karai expectantly.

"Well? Just what is all this about then?"

"The Elite wish for me to kill you."

"The last time I checked Karai, you wanted to kill us."

"Leonardo, I have wished your family no harm since our final confrontation with the Demon Shredder. The Elite do not hold this same view and have taken something very precious of mine to ensure my cooperation. I wish for your assistance in defeating them." Raph snorted and glared angrily at Karai. Leo held a similar view.

"Like the last time you told us you needed our help and you were still working for the Shredder? I think not Karai."

"It is not like that this time." His grip on his katanas tightened before relaxing and placing them in the sheaths on his back.

"Find someone else to do your dirty work for you Karai. Come on guys, we're going home." Mikey and Donny were the first to leave, exiting through the window. Raph was next carrying Li, who was looking at the carefully guarded face of Karai.

"I cannot do this on my own Leonardo." He didn't look back as he answered her.

"Well, you're going to have to." With that he was gone. The brothers leapt across buildings until they came to one of their secret entrances. Raph hadn't said a word, and his expression was hard, worrying Li. Was he angry with her? They entered the lair and everyone greeted them, but Raph ignored them and carried Li straight to his room, where he deposited her on his hammock. His expression was still stiff, so she decided to break the ice.

"Are you mad at me?" Raph looked at her in astonishment.

"Why would I be mad at ya?" Li fiddled with the rope of the hammock.

"Because I got captured and I wasn't paying enough attention to my surroundings." Raph shook his head and walked over and embraced her, resting his chin on her head.

"You didn't do nothing wrong. I'm mad at myself. This is da second time you've been kidnapped on my watch ya know. I wasn't there for ya, and we were lucky this time. What if next time we ain't so lucky?" Li stayed silent. Raph blamed himself, and she knew no matter how much she argued otherwise, there would be no dissuading him. She cleared her throat.

"Well, maybe I could start training again, then at least I might stand a chance." This time it was Raph who stayed silent. Truthfully, he'd be happier if he could just lock the door and kept her safe and sound in his room, where nothing could hurt her, but he knew that wasn't an option. He was going to have to be more careful.

"Alright. We'll start training tomorrow." She wrapped her arms around him.

"That's good, for right now I just want to spend time with you." He returned her embrace and they fell back into the hammock.

Pipe watched Li and Raph disappear into his room, so much for getting to talk to her. They'd be in there all night. She looked at Mikey.

"So what happened?" Mikey shrugged and grabbed a bag of chips.

"She was having tea."

"Wait. What?" Miked shrugged again.

"When we got there she was just sitting next to Karai drinking tea."

"Is that normal?"

"For Karai, no. She's more of a slice first ask questions later type."

"Oh. What did she want? I mean you guys obviously haven't been in a fight, so what's going on? I doubt that chick just wanted to have a tea party." Donny crept up behind Mikey and grabbed a handful of chips, before sitting next to them and picking up a game controller.

"She said she needed our help." Mikey and Donny started playing a video game, growing slightly distracted.

"Are you going to help her?"

"No. Every time we help Karai it turns into some sort of trap or double cross, and we almost always get our shells handed to us. Besides, Leo'd never help her after what she did."

"What she do?"

"She tried killing us."

"But everyone tries killing you. What made her special?"

"Leo was in love with her." Piper dropped the chips, and Donny realized he just said something really stupid.

"What? He was in love with her? But wasn't she like the daughter of your most hated enemy?" Donny put the controller down.

"It was a long time ago, forget I said anything." Piper wouldn't let it drop.

"But he was in love with her?"

"It was nothing, it was a long time ago. We were sixteen."

"Did she love him?" Piper was suddenly very insecure. She had no idea Leo had some sort of romantic history with one of their enemies. A female ninja. A female ninja, her ninja was in love with. She probably had an honor code too. She was so romantically screwed. Mikey tried calming her down.

"Uh it was kinda hard to tell. She was always trying to kill us."

"And that turned him on?"

"No. No, Piper you're overreacting. Leo loves you."

"..." She took a deep breath. Mikey was right, it was a long time ago. She had nothing to be worried about, it wasn't like she ever tried to kill his brothers. Besides, she had a romantic past too, one that royally screwed her, but still it would be hypocritical of her to get jealous of Leo's ex. "Okay no worries...I'm going to go watch him train." Okay, so she was a little worried. She went to the dojo and knocked on the wall, altering Leo to her presence. She probably didn't need to; he always seemed to know where everyone was.

"Hi."

"Hey." Leo put his katanas away and stepped closer to Piper. She bit her lip, she wanted to ask about the mission and what was going to happen next, instead she settled for asking him if he was alright.

"I'm fine." She fidgeted and chewed on her lip trying to think of what to do next.

"So..." Well, this was awkward, for the first time she was tongue tied around Leo. Suddenly he grabbed her in a quick embrace, and let her go just as fast and gave her one of his I'm-the-leader-listen-to-me looks.

"Piper I don't want you to go anywhere by yourself until this situation with the Foot is resolved."

"Oh come on. You're really worried I'll get kidnapped." It was her turn to give him a look now. "Da Vinci, Li's the one you should be keeping an eye on. People loooove kidnapping her, me, not so much."

"Still."

"Leo, seriously who in their right mind would want to kidnap me?" She sighed when she realized she wasn't making any head way, or getting Leo to stop worrying. "Okay fine, I promise I won't go anywhere by myself." He finally seemed to relax.

"Thank you." Piper hugged him and felt reassured as he wrapped his arms around her. Whatever happened, they would be together, count on it.