HI EVERYBODY! It's me again, Smiley! Here is the next chapter in my story. I hope you enjoy it. P.S. I do not own TMNT, but maybe if I keep on believing my dreams will come true.

Warning: swearing due to Cade

Cade's P.O.V.

It was a cold February evening as I walked down the streets of New York. It was about 5 o'clock on a Friday evening as I headed to the lair. Why was I out later than usual you may ask? Well, I had just gotten out of detention. Let's just say that Missy has been giving Lizzy a hard time all week, but Lizzy has kept her promise to Leo and hasn't reacted to any of it. But just because Lizzy hasn't, doesn't mean I haven't. And that's how I got detention. I was standing up for my friend and threatened to punch Missy if she kept it up. Sure it wasn't the best thing to do, but it got Missy to back off. Only that backfired when I was called down to office. Turns out Missy told the principal that I punched her! So there went my day.

Anyway, I stuck my gloved hands into my pockets and moved my gaze to the sky before closing my eyes just as a cool breeze came through the air. I use to love this time of day, especially when I was young and my family was whole…

*Flashback*

Seven year old Cade sat on the couch in her favorite pink t-shirt and light blue capris watching her favorite afterschool cartoon, Arthur, when her big brother of fourteen with sandy brown hair and deep blue eyes walked up, grabbed the remote and changed the channel to MTV.

"Hey!" she cried jerking her head towards her brother, her ponytail lashing behind her head.

"Your times up little sister," her brother told her flopping onto the couch.

"No it's not! I have 'till five o'clock. Now give me back the remote!" Cade demanded holding out her pale, little hand.

"And what if I don't?" he asked with a smirk, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement.

"This!" she shouted launching herself onto her older brother, reaching for the remote. Her brother reacted quickly bringing it out of her reach while holding her back. The two began to struggle: one trying to keep the remote while the other tried to get it.

"Give it back to me Kenny!" Cade squealed.

"Make me!" her brother, Kenny, taunted back. The two began to struggle once more. They were so busy arguing that they didn't notice the beautiful, slim figure appear behind Kenny, and snatch the remote from his grasp. The bickering siblings stopped fighting immediately and turned to stare at the figure.

"What are you two fighting over now?" she asked her emerald eyes narrowed with slight anger while her sandy brown askew within a messy bun.

"Kenny took the remote and changed to channel in the middle of Arthur Mama," Cade spat before Kenny could say anything.

"Kenneth, is this true?" their mother asked, using his full name.

"Yes mom BUT you said that I could watch after I finished my homework," he debated with his mom crossing his arms.

"That gives you no right to change the channel on me asshole!" little Cade yelled towards her brother, her little temper growing while her fists balled into little fists.

"CADENCE!" her mother yelled in shock at such foul language from her young daughter.

"Well it doesn't matter now because it's five o'clock and your shows over," Kenny pointed out. The two females looked towards the clock on the VCR and he was right. The show was over and it was Kenny's TV time. Cade felt her mouth frown and her bottom lip begin to quiver as little tears came down her face. Her mother sighed, before coming up with a solution.

"Well Kenny, since it's time you can have the TV, but since you changed the channel on your sister you can wash the dishes tonight instead of your sister, got it," she commanded. Her son began to object before she held up a hand indicating that she did not want to hear any more, which made him stop. She then left her son and made her way over to the stairs, where her daughter sat rubbing her eyes. Cade had moved away from her brother and Mom while they were talking. Her mom sat down next to her and rubbed her back.

"Why is Kenny so mean sometimes mama?" seven year old Cade whimpered moving over and hugging her mom.

"I don't really know, maybe he just likes picking on ya." her mom laughed while hugging her back, then giving her a small tickle in her side, getting her to giggle. They sat there in silence embraced in their hug before Cade spoke up.

"Does he love me mama?" she asked looking up towards her mom.

"Don't be silly Cade, of course he does and he always will. Just because he picks on you doesn't mean he doesn't love you. If anything it means he cares about you," her mom smiled.

"Really?" Cade perked with big, emerald eyes.

"Really. Now I have to go make dinner, would you like to help?" she asked standing up.

"No thanks mama, I'ma gonna wait for daddy to get home," Cade told her. Her mother nodded, heading into the kitchen. Little Cade then turned her focus onto the door directly across from the stairs. She began to watch the door intently. This lasted a good ten minutes before she slowly began to lose interest. About twenty minutes later Cade was upside down on the stairs staring at the door. She was about to give up leave when the door began to creep open.

"Daddy!" Cade yelled getting upright and rushing over to the entering raven haired, deep blue eyed man.

"Hey squirt," her father replied dropping his bag and picking up his daughter, not caring that his pale skin, so similar to Cades, was covered in grease. She hugged his neck, not caring either.

"How was your day?" he asked.

"It was good. I even got really high on the swings during recess today. But after school Kenny changed the channel on me, but mama is making him do the dished after dinner," Cade told him with a smile.

"Is that so?" he questioned.

"Hmm," she nodded.

"Well speaking of dinner, let's go see if it's ready," he said putting Cade down. She smiled showing a missing tooth before grabbing his hand and dragging him into the kitchen.

*End of Flashback*

Yeah, those were the days, until that one night that changed our lives forever. After that my dad started drinking, and when I was ten my dad starting getting abusive. It was hard and at times I wish things were still the same, but if my wish had come true, I wouldn't have gone to Central Park that day, I wouldn't have met Lizzy, which means I wouldn't have run away, and I wouldn't have met the turtles. I wouldn't have met Raph. I felt my face flush at the mention of his name. All week my feelings for Raph had grown. The more we hung out, the stronger I felt. Even though we have only known each other for almost two weeks, I had fallen hard for him. He we strong, brave, and cared so much for his family, especially of Mikey and Lizzy (even if he does pick on them). It kinda reminds me of my brother…

"Oh how I miss you Kenny, and you too mama," I said as if they could hear me. I let out a deep breath and watch the cold air make it visible before it disappeared. I look to where I was at and decided that I should hurry back. Quickly finding the manhole that leads to the lair, I turn into he ally and head towards it. I was about to open it when a hand clasped over my mouth and someone slammed my head into the nearby brick wall. My defensive mode kicked in and I began to kick, punch, anything to try and get away, but due to my now injured head getting slammed into the wall, I became weak. Soon my vision became blurred and I fell to my knees. I would have fallen to the ground too if a pair of pale, man hands hadn't grabbed me. The last thing I saw was deep blue eyes before the darkness consumed me.

Raph's P.O.V.

I sat on the couch waiting for Cade to get home. It had been three hours since their school got out and she still wasn't home. Actually, Lizzy wasn't home either, but at least I knew where she was. Last night the twin's parents had called and wanted her to babysit the two until like 8 o'clock. Mikey was pretty bummed, but we were going to stop by during patrol and see the twins again. April had gotten here about an hour ago from hanging out with their friend, Katie, and was now with Donnie in his Lab. Anyway, there I sat on the couch with spike on my shoulder watching some show with Mikey. I wasn't really paying attention, nor did I care. All I could think was Cade. Ever since what happened on Saturday my feelings for Cade have grown a lot. I can't stop thinking about her. Her big emerald green eyes, her smile, her laugh, everything about her make me crazy about her. I may sound mushy when I say thing but I think I'm in love. I was pulled out of my thoughts when I heard April and Donnie coming out of the lab.

"Hey April, when did you say Cade was supposed to get home?" I asked draping my arm on the back of the couch while turning my attention towards the couple.

"Well, detention got out around 4:30 and it takes about 10 maybe 15 minutes to get to the lair from school…" she began pausing a minute and looking at her phone and then continuing, "… and it's 6 o'clock now. Cade should have been home by now," she finished before putting her phone away. As soon as the works escaped from her mouth a bad feeling washed over me. I then whipped out my Tphone.

"Maybe I should call her," I said keeping my tough guy act in tact around the others while I turned back towards the TV.

"Awe, Raphie's worried," Mikey cooed from the seat next to my while lacing his fingers together and leaning his cheek on them, his eyes growing big. I gave him a menacing glare before replying.

"And you're not?" I asked angrily.

"No," everyone chorused, including Leo who had just entered the conversation coming over from the pinball machine and standing near the couch.

"Raph she can handle herself, she has been for years. Cade'll be alright," the smart turtle noted from beside April, his hand laced together with April's.

"I know that!" I yelled defensively crossing my arms, Tphone still in hand.

"Then why are you so worried," Leo asked with a smug look on his face.

"It's because he loves her Leo," Mikey answered before I could even come up with a reply. My head whipped to the side towards Mikey. All I could do was stare at him as my face flushed and a small blush crept up on my face. I was sure everyone was staring.

'Did he actually just say that,' I thought. I continued to stare at him, my face twisting into the most menacing glair I could muster and he just kept that goofy grin on his.

"I do not! It's just… Spike really likes her is all," I finally replied petting Spike with my free hand.

"He's not the only turtle who really likes her," Mikey giggled scooting closer to me while facing my direction on his knees.

"I don't like her, O.K.!" I yelled standing up off the couch and facing everybody with a scowl on my face.

"Yes you do Raph, and it's okay to admit it," Leo noted from his spot.

"No I Don't! Now get off my shell about it!" I continued to yell turning away from everyone re-crossing my arms once more.

"Raphael…" I wise voice began. Everyone, except Raph, turned towards the dojo doors as Master Splinter exited. Raph glance over his shoulder as his sensei began to speak.

"It is okay to have feelings for another. You do not have to keep your walls up around us about this. Love is a beautiful thing. Do not hide it Raphael, embrace it," he told me with wisdom, coming over and placing a paw on my shoulder. I knew he was right, even though I didn't want to admit it. I did love Cade, but question is does she love me? I gave out a heavy sigh before drooping my shoulders in defeat.

"Okay… maybe I like her… a little," I admit ducking my head as a blush crept upon my face. I couldn't help but cringe at the chorus of 'Awes' coming from my brothers and friend.

"That's adorable," Mikey cooed as I turned around to face then group, the blush still on my face.

"See Raph, now don't you feel better?" Leo asked with a grin on his face.

"If by being complete embarrassed is feeling better, then I feel much better," I said with sarcasm in my voice.

"Do not feel embarrassed, my son. It is perfectly okay to feel this way," Mater Splinter wisely spoke before exiting the pit and entering the kitchen, no doubt to get a cup of tea.

"Master Splinter's right Raph," Donnie agreed, as did everyone else with a nod of their head.

"Yeah, now call her. I'm sure she'll be happy to talk to you," April instructed with a kind smile.

"Finally," I smirked bringing the phone up and hitting the speed dial. I brought the phone up to the side of my head and waited for the phone to ring. It rang one. Twice. Three times.

"I'm sorry, this number is not available at this time. Please try again later," was all I got once the phone rang through.

"Her phone must be off," I said aloud to everyone putting my Tphone away, my worry growing slightly.

"She could be with Lizzy at the twins' house," April noted as she and Donnie sat on the couch.

"Your probably right April. Mikey, call Lizzy," Leo instructed working his way over towards the group as well.

"You don't have to tell me twice," he laughed pulling out his phone and hitting the speed dial for Lizzy.

"Put it on speaker," I demanded sitting next to my baby brother.

"You got it dude," he followed, doing so. After only a few rings, Lizzy answered.

"Hello?" She sweetly giggled.

"Hi Lizzy Bear," Mikey replied.

"Hi Mikey! How's my favorite turtle?"

"I'm great, and how's my favorite girl?"

"I'm fantastic. So what's up?"

"Well-" Mikey began.

"Is Cade there with you?" I interrupt before things were brought out any further.

"Was that Raph?" she asked in confusion.

"Yeah, you're on speaker. Now answer the question," I commanded.

"Geeze, what crawled up your shell?" She asked, sounding a little offended, but she'll get over it.

"Don't worry about him Liz, he's just worried about Cade," Mikey laughed.

"Awe Raphie, that's adorable," she giggled amusement in her voice.

"Look, will you just answer the question?" I practically yelled into the phone.

"No, she's not. I haven't talked to her since-"

"LIZZY! *BAM*" a boy's voice was heard loudly in the background, which was followed by a loud slam.

"Ben! What's wrong?" she shouted towards the twins. We heard Lizzy's footsteps head somewhere before they stopped and we heard her gasps.

"Maggie! What are you doing to Ben?!" she yelled like she hadn't been talking to us a few seconds ago.

"What! He hit me first!" Maggie yelled in defense.

"So, you aren't supposed to bend arms that way!" she scolded. I snickered a little, despite my worry.

"But you do it!" the 10 year old replied.

"I do it for self-defense, not to hurt my brothers. Now get off Ben, NOW!" she demanded. We heard a soft fine and sounds of the twins getting up.

"Ben, did you hit her first?" Lizzy asked.

"Yeah," he answered quietly.

"Why?" she asked.

"Mag stole my DS," he defended.

"Maggie?"

"Okay, maybe I did take it. Here," the girl agreed as there was shuffling, my guess giving the boy his DS back.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for hitting you," Ben apologized.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for taking it… and then lying to you about taking it… and then bending your arm behind your back," Maggie apologized back.
"Good, now that that's settled, go do your homework," Lizzy commanded. We heard the kids sigh before heading off to wherever.

"Sorry about that you guys. Those two can be a handful sometimes, and Maggie can get violent sometimes," Lizzy apologized

"Yeah, but you handled it well," Leo commented.

"Thanks. Well, anyway. What I was saying was that I haven't talked to Cade since she got out of detention. Why?" she answered.

"She hasn't come home yet. Raph tried calling her but her phone was off. We were hoping she was with you," Donnie told her. The worry for Cade began to grow.

"Do you think she's okay?" Lizzy asked in a small voice, worry in her voice.

"God I hope so," I confess to the group.

"Well I'll keep you posted if she calls or stops by, okay?" Lizzy told us after a few seconds of silence.

"Alright, thanks for telling us Lizzy Bear," Mikey said.

"No problem. Bye guys', bye Mikey, love you," she told him into the phone.

"Bye Liz, love you too," Mikey replied before hanging up the phone.

"What now?" Mikey asked once the phone was away. We shrugged, but inside I was freaking out. I didn't know where she was, and for all I know, I didn't know how to find her.

"WAIT! I have an idea!" Donnie burst out standing up and we all stared. "The other day I had Cade give me her cell phone so I could put a GPS tracker in it," he finished explaining. Immediately he raced into his lab, followed closely by the group. As soon I we entered, Donnie was already at his computer typing in letters and numbers pulling up the tracker app. After a few seconds of agonizing wait, a red dot began to beep on the screen.

"Got her, but… I don't recognize the address though," Donnie replied after pulling up the address. I heard a small gasp come from April. I turned to her and saw a look of worry flash on her face.

"I do," she told us in a quiet voice. Now everyone was looking at her.

"Well?!" I questioned a little harsher than I should have, which earned me a glare from Donnie.

"That's Cade's old address," April spoke. As soon as she spoke worry washed through my whole body, and soon anger was added to the mix. I let out a fierce growl and bolted out of the lab and straight for the exit. I only stopped once when Leo called out my name.

"Raph, what are you doing?!" he asked with his arms crossed.

"I'm gonna go save Cade, and nothing's going to get in my way. Not even you Leo," I told him angrily, pointing a finger in his direction. We said nothing, only stared at each other a few seconds before he gave a small nod. I nodded back and ran out of the lair, heading to save the girl I love.

Cade's P.O.V.

My eyes fluttered open as I regained consciousness. I sat up and looked around the dark room I was in and, at first, had no clue where I was due to the fact that the lights were off. But I soon realized that I was in my old bedroom. The room I lived in for eight years after moving from the old one, though it no longer existed. This room brought back a lot of old memories, though many bad ones. I still remember coming in here and crying into my pillow, asking god why I was here. I never got my answer though. I brought my focus back to my surroundings. I was sitting on my old bed and soon realized that my wrists and ankles were tied together.

'Funny I didn't notice that sooner,' I thought wriggling my wrists against the rope, which only resulted in a rope burn. On my face I felt the dried blood from my wound. Then the full force of the situation hit me like a ton of bricks. I was back at my old house, tied up, with my dad probable lurking around here somewhere, and no one knew where I was. I felt the corner of my eyes moisten. I quickly shut them.

"No, I will not cry. I'm better than that," I say, trying to convince myself with eyes clenched shut. Taking in deep breath and letting it out, I calm myself down. After opening my eyes, I look around the room to see if there was anything I could use to cut myself loose. The only thing I found though was an old chewed up pencil.

"Great, yep that'll help," I sarcastically whispered looking to the floor where the pencil was. I glared at it intensely until an idea popped into my head. I quickly whipped my head towards the window, thinking that maybe I could hop over there and open it somehow. Unfortunately for me, my father had nailed the window shut. I sighed and sat there.

"Come on Cade. You're smart right! I mean, you read mystery novels all the time, so there must be something you can do," I whispered, encouraging myself. I then thought of all the ways the people in my books have gotten out of situations like these.

'Hmm, let's see. Pocket knife, no. I don't have one of those. Lighter. No! Never one of those. Laser pen. Nah. Cell phone… YES! I have one of those,' I thought finally. Carefully, I began to reach for my back pocket in search of the cellphone I kept there. As I neared the cell phone, I used my slender fingers to slide it out of the pocket. Once it was grasped in my hands, I searched for the power button. I quickly found it and turned it on. Unfortunately, it made a loud noise. Soon after it dinged, I heard loud and heavy footsteps heading for the room. Trying to be as quick as possible, I look over my shoulder and at the screen. I had just clicked the contacts list and was about to click on Raph's number when the door slammed open. There in the doorway stood my father. His raven black hair was a mess and his blue eyes were dull. In one hand he held an empty beer bottle while his other was clenched in a fist. On his face held the most evil grin I had even seen. On the inside I was freaking out, but I glared at him in disgust.

"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to wake up," he spoke entering the room, not bothering to close the door. I stayed quiet as he approached the bed, glaring at him the whole time as he walked up and grabbed the cellphone from my hands.

"I thought I heard this," he said coming around, leaning in my face dangling it between us.

"Thought you could just call that freak and have him save you last time, hmn?" He asked backing away with my cellphone.

"He is not a freak!" I finally yelled after he crossed the line. "No one calls Raph a freak and gets away with it. He is anything but that. Him and his brothers and his father are more human than you could ever hope to be," I spat at him, only to be backhanded. I guess he didn't like my reply. I could already feel the sting of his handprint left in my cheek.

"Don't you ever talk that way to me ever again. I am your father and you will show me respect," he commanded dropping the cellphone and crushing it with his foot.

"You stopped being my father a long time ago," I told him, absolute no emotion in my voice.

"Well I really don't care what you think, but I can tell you one thing. You will not be leaving again for a long time little miss," he grunted.

"I highly doubt that 'daddy dearest'. I will get out again and I will never come back, and you wanna know why? Because I fucking HATE you! I hate you so much! And you know what else? I'm glad mom's not here to see you like this!" I screamed leaning as close as possible to him. This earned me another slap across the other cheek.

"Don't you ever speak of your mother ever again you little brat! It's your fault the she and Kenny are dead," he yelled back. Tears now flowed freely at the mention of them. The tiny streams of tears slightly cooled my burning cheeks.

"I could have saved them, but-"

"NO YOU COULDN'T HAVE! You would have died with them, we all would have died that night," I interrupted shakily. I felt my body tremble as I tilted my head down, my long hair covering my face.

"Then at least we would have died as a family," he spat. My eyes winded in horror. He would have rather us all die than just them. Tears fell harder as I thought about this. This was how he really felt. All these years he blamed me because I wanted to spend some time with my family all those years ago.

"You fucking bastered," I told him quietly, still hiding my face with my hair.

"What was that?" he angrily asked coming closer to me. I sucked in a breath before letting it out, as if preparing my last words.

"I said, you fucking bastered!" I screamed right in his face. And with that he launched himself at me, his hands quickly finding their way to my neck. He squeezed and began to shake me back and forth. I knew it was the end. I tried to put away the pain and think about my friends. I'll miss them, even if Lizzy can get kind of annoying. She was like the little sister I never had. I'll most definitely miss Raph. My only hope was that someday he knows how much I love him. My vision started to become blurry, and just as I was about to give away to the darkness one last time, I heard a crash and the pounding of footsteps. The came closer and closer. Before I knew it they were right there.

"What the? It's that freak!" I heard my father exclaimed distantly. I couldn't help but weakly smile. Raph had come to save me. My hero. Soon the hands left my neck and I fell on the old mattress. There was a battle cry before a series of loud crashes and grunts. After one last crack of fist against face, a body dropped to the floor. Then hurried footsteps rushed to my side an began taking the rope off my wrists and ankles.

"Cade? Cade can you hear me? Please tell me I'm not too late," Raph pleaded as he brushed my hair out of my face. Slowly I cracked my eyes open so I could see his beautiful lime green ones. He smiled upon seeing my eyes open and gently pulled me into a hug. I carefully hugged back, due to the soreness of my arms. Carefully, without saying anything, picked me up bridal style and began to carry me out of the room, only stopping to grab my bag, which apparently in the kitchen. After, he climbed through the window, up to the roof and headed back to the lair. About a quarter of the way to the lair he stopped and set me down on the roof. He then kneeled down next to me.

"Cade, are you okay?" he asked with concern in his voice as we looked at each other. I silently nodded.

"Look, I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner," he apologized to me. I had no idea why he was saying this. It was in no way his fault.

"Raph, it's not your fault. It's okay," I told him in a soft voice, placing a gentle hand on his cheek.

"Yeah it is. I had this feeling that you were in trouble and I didn't come sooner," he told me, placing his hand over mine. This small gesture gave my goosebumps and sent the butterflies in my stomach in frenzy.

"You had no way of knowing Raph. It's okay," I told him once more.

"Beating your child is not okay," he said softly looking away from my eyes. We sat there a few minutes in silence, never moving our hands.

"Cade, what did your dad mean when he said that you would have died as a family?" he finally asked moving his eyes back to mine. I felt tears come up once more and quickly looked away shaking my head, eyes clenched shut.

"Cade, please answer me," he pleaded. When I didn't respond, one of his hands gently took my jaw in his three fingered hand and moved so I was facing him, though I still didn't open my eyes.

"Cade, will you please open your eyes and tell me," he asked still in a gentle tone. Slowly as I opened my eyes, he removed his other hand from mine and wiped the tears away with his thumb.

"Please?" he begged once more. I sighed, he was gonna find out sooner or later…

"When I was eight, I wanted to camping. We had planned out this trip with the family, but the day before we were going to leave my brother, Kenny, got the flu. We were going to cancel, but Kenny said just to go without him. We said no, but he insisted that we went anyway. My mom, of course, had stayed to take care of him. So we left the next day. About half way there, my dad got a call from our neighbor saying that our house had caught fire… and by the time the fire department got there, the flames had gotten really intense. They told us there were no survivors," I finished closing my eyes, my body trembling. He didn't say anything, only pulled me into a strong embrace, shushing me.

"I'm so sorry Cade," he replied after a few minutes of calming me down, just rocking me back and forth.

"Thanks Raph. Come on, let's go home," I told him standing up. He followed, but stood there. It looked like he wanted to say something.

"Can I tell you somethin' first?" he asked rubbing the back of his neck.

"Anything," I told him. He came closer to me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me against his plastron. A blush crept up on my face and the butterflies were once again awake.

"Listen Cade, I'm not very good with telling people about my feelings, so I'm just gonna say it. Cade… I love you. I have the moment we met, though I didn't know it at the time. I love your eyes, your smile, everything about you makes me feel things I've never felt before. I love you," he told me. I small smile played on my lips. He said it. He said that he loved me. I can't believe he said it. I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Really?" I asked, still shocked. He nodded, a small smile of his own.

"Good, cause I love you too," I confessed. His smile grew and before I knew it, we were twirling in a circle. After putting me down he pulled my tight.

"You do?" he asked happily. I nodded and smiled. We looked at each other and our faces slowly began to lean closer. I slowly closed my eyes as our lips met. It was wonderful. Sweet and passionate. Just like a first kiss should be. We released from the kiss and looked at each other once more, both smiling, before he lifted my bridal style and carried me back to the lair.

'Finally,' I thought as we headed home.

Well, there you go everyone. I hoped you liked it. Please review! And if you have any questions, do not be afraid to ask. Actually, I insist. Ask away. Bye, I'll update soon.