Yup, I just wrote almost 5000 words for this chapter. I was planning on cutting it off somewhere and make it into two chapters but I wasn't sure where. So I just decided to leave it long to give you guys a nice gift or something idfk. next chapter will probably be shorter okay LOL.

Hope I kept the turtles in character in this chapter. If you feel like they should be acting a bit more different, let me know. I think I need to try walking around in their shoes for a bit and pretend to be them to get a good understanding of their personalities. Other than that, enjoy.

& Thank you all so much for the reviews! They all mean so much to me.

phoenix's tale, umm .. sorry for leaving cliffhangers? ):

I awoke to a loud, girlish scream coming from the door way. Bewildered, I sat up quickly, perhaps too quickly, and felt my head collide with a bar located above my head. I realized that I was sleeping in a bunk bed, and more specifically, I was sleeping on the bottom bunk. A scream escaped through my lips as I felt myself fall back into the soft bed. I groaned in pain, clutching my head closer to my chest.

"Oh shi- I mean um, oh shell. Uh... Sorry... dudette?" An unfamiliar voice. I quickly assumed it was one of the four turtles, so I mentally prepared myself for what he would look like. I opened my eyes again.

His appearance was just the same as his brothers, green, but a darker shade of green, he had an orange colored bandana covering his eyes and he carried nun chucks in his belt. I stared at his belt, then back at his face. He was already beside me, his hands in the air on either side of this head. His eyes were wide with surprise.

His gaze slowly caught mine, and he smiled.

"Whoa... you okay? Sorry... I seriously didn't see you there on the bottom bunk."

I raised an eyebrow, my head still spinning. "You were sleeping on the top bunk the entire night?"

"And YOU were sleeping on the bottom bunk?! What the shell are... why?! What. Who. When. Where-" someone smacked the back of his head. "Ow dude, not cool."

Raph slowly came into view from behind, his arms crossed. He smirked. "You sure were surprised, weren't ya' mikey?"

Mikey rubbed the back of his head and faced Raph. "What the – you knew about this, Raph!? Why is she here?"

Raph ignored him. "Hey Leanne, you alright? Should I get Do-"

"DID YOU GUYS WAKE THE PATIENT?" Don dashed in, breathing heavily. He pushed Mikey and Raph out of the way, and sat down on the bed next to me, looking down at the odd position I was in. I was on my side in fetal position, holding my head. "What happened? Are you okay? Are you feeling light-headed? Did you have trouble sleeping? How are your ar-"

"Mikey screamed and woke me up and I hit my head on the bar up here." I pointed to it, noticing a small dent in it. "I feel fine. My head is spinning. I slept fine. And my arms? They- they feel alright." I smiled up at him, hoping I had satisfied his questions.

His face was still hard, and serious. "You hit your HEAD?" He turned around to glare at Mikey. Mikey put his arms up, and backed away slowly.

"I... said sorry," Mikey spoke weakly, guilt spreading across his face.

"It's alright Mikey, I'll be fine. I've had worse."

"You sure have!" Don snapped, then sighed letting his expression become more relaxed. "I'll get you some ice in a second. We should get you something to eat. Is there anything you want to eat?"

"I don't eat breakfast," I replied casually.

He stared at me harder. "You... don't eat breakfast?" He sat there and stared into space for a minute, then continued on. "When do you usually eat?"

I saw Mikey and Raph standing a few meters behind Don. Raph occasionally leaned in closer to Mikey to say something, and then leaned away. I think he was breaking the news to Mikey slowly. I saw them glance over at me every once in a while. My gaze moved back to Don, who was still waiting for an answer.

"Well, usually I have a tiny snack at around 10am, and I have another tiny snack at around 2pm. Whenever I feel hungry, I chew on some gum or distract myself from eating. The only meal I usually eat is around 6pm, and it's probably a salad or just something small. Then later on I'll have a snack before I go to bed," I finished it up quickly, realizing that I don't actually eat that much throughout the day. I was sitting up now in the bed, my head hunched down a bit since I couldn't full extend it without it hitting the top bunk.

"That's ALL?" Donnie asked concerned.

I shrugged. "I don't like eating much anymore. It's sort of become a habit. Just like..." I quickly glanced down at my arms, then back up at Don. He nodded, understanding what I meant.

"When did this eating habit start?"

"Hmm. Maybe a year or two ago. Why?"

"Right... just wondering." I was a bit unsure with his response, but I let it go.

"Okay Leanne. I'm going to have to get you something to eat."

I looked up at him in surprise. Did he not hear what had I just said? "I'm not hungry. Remember? I eat at 10, and it's only a snack. And right now, it's..." I looked around the room, searching for a clock. There was nothing. "Where the heck are all your clocks?"

Don sighed, but ignored my question. "I'm going to get Mikey to cook you up a nice, healthy, filling meal. Okay?"

I frowned, feeling a bit irritated. "I'm not hungry."

Don twisted his body around, facing Mikey and Raph who were still discussing the events of last night. "Mikey, can you make her some of your special oatmeal? DON'T add anything unnecessary to it, like that one time you added a shot of Vodka to Raph's... " Don rolled his eyes as a smile grew onto Mikey's face. Raph smirked while he gave Mikey a quick high-five. "She's sick, okay? Remember that. And get a glass of orange juice ready. I'll stop by to inspect it in a bit."

Mikey jumped, straightening his feet and quickly raised his hand to his forehead, saluting Don. "Aye aye, Captain!" He strode over to the door, but looked back at me giving me a smile. "Sorry about earlier, Lea. Totally didn't mean to freak you out like that." I returned the friendly smile and nodded, letting him know it was okay. I noticed how he had called me 'Lea' instead of 'Leanne', which I thought was cute.

Mikey left the room, and Raph soon followed. I stared at Don, wondering what he was going to say next. He stayed silent for a bit, thinking, so I decided to break the silence.

"You share a room with Mikey?" I watched as he stood up off of the bed, and he sat down on a nearby stool.

"Yeah, temporarily though. I have another room, but the heater isn't working in it. I haven't had time to go to the junk yard and get the things I need to repair it. Mikey's room is the only one with a bunk bed, too. I'd love to sleep in my own room instead, but during the winter it gets freezing, especially underground..."

"We're underground?" I sounded more surprised than I was actually feeling. After meeting four giant turtles, there's nothing else that could surprise me more.

"Yeah, we're not exactly... treated nicely topside." I remembered what Raph had told me the night before, and I nodded understandingly. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask me, Leanne, but I need to check your food." He stood up slowly, and made his way to the door. "Stay here."

"Wait," I called out. He turned, looking back at me. "I can go to the kitchen myself and eat. I need to walk or something. I'm actually tired of not moving." I pulled off my blankets, seeing how dirty my entire outfit actually was. "And... you guys don't happen to have clothes I could change into, do you? My clothes are filthy. It feels gross."

Don rushed towards me, grabbing my arm to help me up (not my forearms though, that would've HURT.) "I don't think you should be getting out of bed right now..."

I looked up at him, and gave him the best puppy eyes I could. "Please? I promise I'll eat if you let me get out of this room." I mostly wanted to leave so I could see more of their place, but I didn't want to say that.

He looked at my eyes and sighed. He gave in so easily. "Fine, but right after you eat, you NEED to rest. Rest is an essential part o-"

"Yes Donatello, I am very much aware that rest is an essential part of the healing process." I smiled up at him, and he let out a small laugh.

"By the way," he said, "I think we have some left over clothes left here from when our friend April used to live with us."

"Is she human? Do you know other humans?" I asked again, but realized that I'd be able to ask all my questions later. "Actually, answer that later. Just get me some clothes, I feel gross in these."

"Okay, but stay here for a minute. I'm going to run down to the storage and grab them." I nodded as he swiftly made his way out the door.

I sat there on the edge of the bed, pulling off my first hoodie. After some struggle, I pulled it off successfully but soon realized that I had yanked off both my other hoodie and my shirt along with it. I was now sitting there in just my bra and leggings. I panicked, and quickly tried to pull out my shirt that was tangled with my hoodies, but it was stuck on. Ew... I think the three of them are stuck together because of the blood... ew. I cringed at the thought. I looked up slowly to see Donnie standing awkwardly at the doorway holding sweatpants, a tank top, and a sweater. I felt my face go warm as I looked up at him.

"Um... here." He tossed the clothes over to me, and turned away, closing the door a little. "You have two minutes, and be careful of your stitches."

I felt so embarrassed. Of course he just had to walk in at the same time I took it off... of course! I pulled off my leggings, and slipped on the soft sweatpants. I quickly tugged on the tank top that fit my figure perfectly, and decided not to put on the sweater until later, since I was feeling a little warm from... well, you know. I pulled a hair elastic out from one of my hoodie's pockets, and folded the rest of my clothes nicely on the bed. I pulled my hair up roughly into a pony tail. I stood up and walked towards the door, leaving the sweater Don had offered me behind.

"Okay, I'm done," I announced, pulling open the door. Don was leaning against the wall across from the door, waiting for me.

We made our way down the hallway in silence, and entered a large area. There was the huge television and the couch I was on located on the level I was on. I followed Don down a larger staircase, and took note of how empty the space was. He led me towards the Kitchen, which had a small table with chairs in the middle. I took a seat, and watched as Mikey got the oatmeal ready. I was wondering what sort of special oatmeal he could be preparing for me, but I waited patiently in my seat. Don went up to Mikey, and stared him down.

I looked back over towards the large area, and saw Raph beating up a huge punching bag. He was spinning, jumping, kicking, and moved around the punching bag swiftly while punching it. He reminded me of a ninja from a movie.

I was disrupted by the sound of a bowl being placed in front of me. I looked down and saw a bowl full of oatmeal, and saw little chopped up pieces of fruit in it. Beside the bowl was my glass of orange juice. I grabbed it right away, gulping it all down fast. I never realized how thirsty I actually was. As I placed the empty glass back down onto the table, I felt something cold being gently placed onto my forehead. I glanced up to see Don holding an ice pack there for me.

I moved my hand up towards the ice pack, replacing his hold on it. I thanked him quietly, and turned back towards the food in front of me. I gazed up, only to see that Mikey had sat in the chair across from me and was munching on the pizza he just re-heated. In his other hand, he was holding a comic. I couldn't quite see the name of the comic he was reading since his fingers were covering the front, but he looked like he was enjoying it. Most of his attention was on the comic, but every now and then he'd quickly glance up over his comic book to look at me. Don left the kitchen for a moment, though I had no idea why. Finally, I took a bite of my oatmeal.

I had to admit, it was a lot tastier than I thought it would be. The little chopped up fruits he added to it made it much more delicious. I finished it all easily, and felt a bit disappointed when I saw my bowl was empty. I continued to hold the ice pack to my head and sat there for a bit, waiting for Don to come back.

I watched as Mikey finished his comic, and as he gulped down his last slice of pizza before swiftly throwing his plate towards the sink. He felt my stare and gazed back at me, giving me a curious look.

"So, Lea..." He started off coolly and he leaned in towards me, "Do you... play video games?"

I giggled a bit at the randomness of his question. "Yeah, I used to play with my brother a lot. Sometimes I play with my friends, too. Why?"

He nodded in approval. "You into that older stuff? Like... Nintendo 64?"

I looked up, feeling nostalgic at the mention of the game console. I could remember when I had owned one and played Super Mario 64 and the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on it. I was practically obsessed with those games when I was 7 or 8. It disappointed me however when I learned that my parents had given it away after buying us the new GameCube at the time. I nodded happily and replied, "Oh my gosh, yes. Do you have one?! Please tell me you have one!"

He shot up from his seat and marched around the table, grabbing my hand. "Finally. Someone to play with! My bro's are always too busy doin' boring stuff. Let's go play!" I placed my ice pack down on the table as he pulled me up and dragged me towards the staircase. He suddenly stopped, and turned to me. "It'll be quicker if we climb."

I looked at him uncertain. "If we climb? Wher-"

Suddenly, he – literally – swept me off my feet, jumped up, kicked off the side wall, and grabbed the railing on the second floor. He pulled us up with his arm around my waist, and set me back down on my feet. My eyes were wide with surprise and confusion.

"You... what? Huh?" I gazed at him as he walked over to the television I saw the night before, and started setting up his Nintendo 64. "What the hell was that?"

"What?" he looked up at me, realizing something before responding. "Oh, you afraid of heights? Sorry, I didn't think it was THAT high up..."

"No... I mean," I looked over the railing and back towards him, "Did you actually just jump up from the first floor onto the second floor?"

"Um... yeah? Do you not know or something?" he looked at me questionably as he continued to connect the cords to the back of the Nintendo without struggle.

I started to walk slowly towards him. "Know what?"

"Me and my brothers are ninjas," He replied simply.

I snorted and smiled at him. "Really? Ninjas?"

His face looked offended for a moment as he put down the Nintendo. "No, seriously. Watch this."

Mikey started to run towards me. I felt the urge to close my eyes, but I kept them on him. He jumped over me as I gawked at him. My gaze followed him as he jumped back over the railing.

"Mikey!" I exclaimed as I ran towards the railing, looking down towards the first floor. There, I saw him roll up back onto his feet. He grinned as he ran around for a bit, twirling around while jumping off of walls and swinging around on random poles he grabbed on to. I could see Raph in the background, still beating up his punching back. Mikey looked so graceful. He did it so silently, too. It surprised me.

Finally, Mikey ran back and kicked up off of the side wall and onto the second floor again, landing perfectly on both his feet.

"Wow, Mikey. Are you guys actually ninjas?" I thought about what I said for a moment, and remembered they all had weapons that a 'ninja' could use. I realized it was silly of me to still doubt it, when evidence was clearly in front of me. "Actually. Nevermind. I believe you."

"Awesome," he beamed at me. "Now let's play some Mario Kart!"

I have to admit, playing Mario Kart with Mikey was hilarious. He got really into it and was super competitive. I don't think I had laughed that hard in weeks. It was weird hearing the sound of my laughter, but soon I couldn't hear it over the sound of Mikey's yelling and laughing as we played. During our second race, a figure walked in front of the screen. His arms were crossed and he looked down at us. I looked over at Mikey, but instead of looking at the figure, he moved his head around trying to get a better look at the screen.

"Bro, come on. We're in the middle of an important race here!" Mikey was still playing and looking at the screen. It took me a second to realize it was Don standing there. He was looking directly at me.

"Leanne! You should be resting! And you almost gave me a heart attack when I came back and you weren't in the kitch-" Don stopped himself, realizing that that wasn't what he wanted to say. "I um... I'd like to speak to you for a bit." He held out his hand. At this point, Mikey had paused the game and was staring at us. I took his hand, and he helped me up carefully.

"Awww c'mon Donnie!" Mikey whined, "We were having so much fun!"

Don rolled his eyes, "You can play again some other time. This is important."

"But Donnnnnnn, so is Mario Kart! She's the only person who'll actually play with me!" Mikey pouted, and stuck his tongue out at Don. Donnie sighed in response.

We left Mikey behind, and he led me back downstairs to another living room area, except without a television. Don sat me down on the couch, and walked around a bit, waiting. Finally, someone joined us. It was Leo.

"Hey Leo," I gave him a small smile while fidgeting around with my thumbs in my lap.

"Hi Leanne. How are you feeling?" he walked over to the couch opposite from mine and sat down, staring at me. Don sat on the arm of the couch Leo was on and stared at me as well.

"I'm feeling pretty good. Pretty full from the breakfast. Thank you for that." I was starting to mentally prepare myself. I knew they wanted the straight truth from me, and I was going to give it to them. I owed them at least that much, considering how much they had already done for me.

"Good." Leo smiled.

"Yeah... so, Leanne." Don started off. I shifted a little, feeling a bit awkward. He noticed this but continued on. "We were thinking about bringing you up to an actual hospital. My skills are just too... amateur for this sort of thing. You'd be much better off getting professional help."

I looked up at him, misunderstanding what he just said. "I need help? But you already patched me up, remember?" I held up my arms, slightly waving them around.

Don sighed. "No... I mean. There's much more to this... you do know that right? Your eating habits, your depression..." I sat there, listening carefully. "No wait, actually. Tell me: how do honestly you feel about yourself?"

I kept my gaze at the floor, my stomach felt like it was twisting. What does this have to do with anything?

"Well. I'm not a very great person. I'm a waste of space. Not worth anyone's time. I'm disgusting. Pretty pathetic, really." I listed them off effortlessly, and gazed up slowly towards their faces.

"Do you have any problems with how you look?" he continued on.

I nodded, giving him a look. "Don't alot of people?"

He replied to my nod, ignoring what I said. "Is that why you changed your eating habits a year or two ago?"

I thought about it for a minute. I guess that my eating habits did change a bit because of how lonely I had felt. I started to feel like the problem with me was my body, so I started to eat less and work out more. I was chubby at the time, being almost 150 pounds. But now I was at the 110 pound mark, and sometimes it didn't feel like it was enough. Of course, my height also had an effect on my weight but that was something I didn't care about. My weight was more important.

"I... guess so." I answered, still not understanding what he meant.

"See? I think it's possible that you may have an eating disorder. I'm not one to diagnose you; we should leave that to the professionals. But I've read about this online before, and many teenagers have eating disorders. They usually get help from doctors and therapists. It also comes along side depression, self harm, and other..." he stopped when he saw the look on my face.

I was in deep thought. I had never considered myself having an eating disorder. Sure, from time to time I'd grab some dessert but I'd usually immediately feel guilty. Still, it didn't seem likely for me to...

Suddenly, I remembered when I had officially decided to change my eating habits for good, and for the worst.

When high school started, I started to obsessively watch what I ate so I could lose weight fast. I was desperate to fit in. I just wanted to belong to some sort of... crowd. I remember at some point I grew a fear of eating, worried about getting fat again; but I also recalled how Marina was somehow able to convince me to eat a little more. She was the only one who noticed. The only one who cared. With her support, I was able to somehow maintain a more healthy weight. But when she left the country, I felt even more alone than ever.

Now, I could understand how me having an eating disorder made sense. Still, I didn't think that it was much of a problem up until now.

I could feel my facial expression going soft. I was realizing...

"Leanne?" Leo said softly, leaning forward trying to meet my gaze.

"I'm more fucked up that I thought," I whispered, looking back up at them. Don froze when he heard what I said. Leo twitched and moved his mouth to say something but was beat to it.

"No. Leanne, that's not what I mean. I mean- I just," Don stammered, trying to choose the right words. "I just don't think it's safe for you to be getting help from someone like me. You are sick. You need to understand that what you have is serious, and it does not make you... effed up. I just... we just want to help you. You could die from this."

I sat there, feeling hurt. "You really think doctors and nurses are going to somehow be cut out for this kind of thing?" I hissed at him, "The last thing I need is to be surrounded by people who only care for me because they're being fucking paid to do it."

"But you're sick. We care about you, and we just want to see you get better!" Don insisted, slowly getting up.

"You don't even know me," I replied harshly. "So don't act like it."

"Leanne, just calm down for a minute and we'll talk this out," Leo interrupted, he was still sitting on the couch in front of mine, leaning towards me.

"No. Maybe I should just go home. I can take care of myself. If I could do it before, I'll do it again!" I was yelling now. I wasn't mad at them. I just felt hurt. They just want to get rid of me again. No one wants me around. Hah. I started to get up, but I felt a hand come down on my shoulder. It was Don's.

"Just stop being so obstinate for a minute, and we'll talk this out," Don spoke loudly, his facial expression looked sad.

I sighed, releasing my shoulders from how tense I was a minute ago, and slumped myself back down into the couch. I raised my arms up in defeat. "Fine."

"Okay," Don spoke calmly, "So, during this, I've realized a few things."

"And what's that?" I asked, trying to calm myself down. At this point, I felt like such a burden towards them. I just wanted to go home, lock myself in my room, and just lay in my bed, thinking.

"Well, for one thing, if you were to show up there with stitches... there'd be no way of explaining who or which place gave them to you. You can't exactly say 'My giant turtle friend helped me out in the sewers'," he explained, looking a bit stumped by the situation. "We should have just brought you straight to the hospital last night instead. But I guess Raph didn't think it through well. Well actually, none of us did."

"Also," Leo added in, "your family must be worried."

I shook my head, giving Leo a sad smile. I could feel tears gathering in my eyes. I spoke softly, "Oh, believe me. They don't care."

"No, don't say that. I'm sure they- "

"They don't," I interrupted, "That night... on the roof, before I met Raph. I called them. Both of them. They were both at work, and I tried to explain to them what was happening. That I was in trouble. You know how they reacted?" I could feel my tears threatening to spill over, but I held them back trying to contain myself. "My mom didn't care. She was too busy with work, so she hung up on me. I called my dad right after, he said to simply call the police and he hung up on me too. So believe me when I say, they don't care."

Don and Leo remained still, not knowing how to reply.

"It's okay though," I continued on, feeling bad that I had made them feel uncomfortable. As I stood up from the couch, I could feel their gaze on me. I tried to breathe slowly to calm myself down. "I think I should go home now. I'm really sorry for bothering you guys like this. I'll be fine by myself. I've been doing it for years." I made my way towards the stairs before they could say anything. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew that I had to get out of here. I heard their footsteps trailing behind me.

"Raph!" I called out as I ran up the stairs. "Raph!" I turned and saw Raph lying down on the couch, trying to take a nap.

"Ugh," He didn't make any effort to look up at me. I noticed he had earphones in. I walked up to him and shook his arm, yanking out one of his earphones. He groaned in annoyance. "What do ya' want?"

"Take me home, okay? You're the only one who knows where it is from here."

He finally lifted his head to look at me. "Now?"

"Yes," I insisted urgently. "Right now."

Okay so I just thought I should mention that this story takes place THIS year but it's with the 2k3 verse characters, if that makes sense. Ummmmmm hope this chapter was ok. I dunno. Umm I changed up their house a little, idk I wasn't sure how to describe their other one but yeah I'm sure you guy will somehow come up with your own idea of what their house looks like in your mind. Haaaa i'll start writing again in a few days.

Leanne is in grade 11 by the way, just thought I'd clear that up.