Well, here's chapter 3, like promised. Big thanks to julia for her review which gave us the big number 10! Also thanks to the following people: Alora05, Starfire201, Opera-Gypsy, UHN, Angel362, Ruthia, and 1woof1 for your wonderful reviews!

Um....still don't own the TMNT characters. (still pouts)

Please enjoy and read the extra comments on the bottom!!!!!


When Mikey awoke the next morning, something felt different. The air held an unfamiliar change to it. He threw back the covers when he realized there was a small, brown bear in his hands. He frowned.

He'd gotten rid of all his stuffed animals but two years ago. All he had left was a small stuffed turtle he named Shelly and a small cat he called Snorkels. Even now he wondered who would name a stuffed cat Snorkel.

He studied the bear, wondering why it looked so familiar. He couldn't place where he'd seen it before but it definitely belonged to one of the turtles.

With a shrug, he threw it down on his covers and went downstairs. Splinter was busy drinking tea while reading one of the papers April had brought down for him every week. Leo was busy making himself tea and Donnie was trying to fix omelets. By the smell in the kitchen and the wrinkled nose of Splinter and the pained look on Leo, Mikey guess Don wasn't succeeding.

"Need help there, bro?" he teased as he walked up to Don.

Leo breathed a sigh of relief as the smoke alarm went off. By the look on Donny's face, it hadn't been the first time this morning. With a sigh, he handed the fork to Mikey and went to sit down at the table. A fresh cup of coffee was already there, waiting for him.

Within fifteen minutes each member of the family had a steamed, good looking and smelling omelet placed before them. Mikey sat five plates down and passed them out. There was an empty chair where Raph sat so Mikey set a plate down, knowing that Raph would be in at any second. He was always the last to get up.

"Looks good Mike." Leo congratulated his youngest brother as he took a bite. "Not burned either."

Don shot him a dirty look as he took a bite out of his own.

He was very thankful someone in the family knew how to cook; otherwise they'd have take-out very often. Chewing, he observed how everything mixed in perfectly and how there wasn't too much or too little of anything. Even after all these years, Mike's cooking never ceased to amaze everyone.

Mikey grinned at Leo, but inside he wondered where Raph was. He was usually up by now.

Splinter was talking to Donnie, but he was also wondering why the red masked turtle wasn't up yet. Although Raph had need to be taught a lesson, the way he had gone about it had been wrong. He needed to apologize. The mask that Raph had dropped was gone, so surely he'd be down soon.

Even though no one spoke it, they all had their apologies they wanted to make. Leo starred at the empty chair; amazed someone could easily sleep the day away. After half an hour, Splinter asked Leo to go and wake his brother.

As Leo made his way up the stairs, he really hoped that the sai had been placed somewhere other than the pillow. He doubted Raph had forgiven him yet.

"Raph?" he knocked on the door. He listened for any movement.

Nothing. The only time Raph was still was when he was sleeping and even then, he snored like a chainsaw. Leo knew he could hear him if he was still asleep. Yet still, there was no noise.

"Raph, bro, I want to apologize for last night." He began, hoping Raph would at least acknowledge his presence. "I was out of line. Splinter and I had a long talk, and we both agree that for once…" he said with a hesitant laugh, waiting to see if the door would open. "You were right. Splinter wants to make a public apology, as do I." He paused. "I'm really sorry bro." He waited.

Nothing.

Concerned, he gently twisted the knob. When Raph was in his room, the door was locked to keep out unwanted guests, mainly Mikey. To his surprise, the door swung open.

Leo peered into the room, expecting to see Raph still sound asleep. With a thudding heart, Leo flipped on the light switch. The room was empty. The bed stripped of sheets and pillow and, there, on the mattress, laid his weapons and pads.

After a moment of stunned silence, Leo hollered "Master Splinter! Donny, Mikey!" Footsteps thudded up the stairs and the three skidded to a stop at the doorway. Splinter shoved past his son, expecting to see Raph out cold from a nightly brawl. What greeted him, however, was an empty room.

Mikey also shoved his way in, anxious to see if his brother was all right. "No," he chocked out, seeing the vacant area. "No!"

Don stood in shock behind his brothers. Raphael was gone.

Normally when Raph did things, there were no second thoughts. For the first time in his life, he was unsure of things.

Am I making the right choice?

Yes, of course.

Where will I go?

No voice answered. Maybe he could chill at Casey's grandmother's house for a bit.

No, that would be the first place they look for you, the voice told him.

Right, he knew that. He splashed through the sewers, mindful of Don's alarms. When he came to a manhole cover, he climbed up the ladder and pushed it aside. This one came up in the middle of an alley. Only a few blocks away were a place where homeless folks go. There would by plenty of trash-fires to keep him warm through the night and in the morning, he'd decide his next course of action.

Taking the back roads to avoid anyone seeing him, Raph made his way towards the gathering. Already people were huddled around trash fires, talking to one another quietly. There were some even smiling and laughing. To Raph the air smelled not of warning and danger, but of friends.

Raph had heard that these people weren't like normal homeless people, but they were always together. Instead of hogging their stuff, they shared. They protected and looked out for one another. They found out that instead of fighting, working together in the cold, hard streets made life a lot easier.

A man that seemed to be standing guard, noticed him approaching. He wore a heavy, dirty and torn overcoat. Gloves with holes in them protected him hands while a too big for his head, hat, protected his face. His eyes were brown and Raph could see curly brown hair sticking out from under his hat.

"Hey stranger." He greeted Raph. His voice was friendly.

Raph dipped his head in greeting, glad that he had covered his face before he came. Already the evening chill was seeping into his bones. "You got an extra place where I can spend the night?"

"Sure thing." He motioned a small, skinny woman over. "I'm Shaun and this is my wife, Becky."

"Pleased to meet ya." Raph ignored the woman's hand, trying not to appear rude.

"What's your name?" Becky asked. She had long, dirty light brown hair that fell to her waist, and blue eyes.

"Raphael."

"Raphael?" she gave him a friendly look. "That's a unique name. But I like it." She led him over to a corner between two buildings. "You can bunk here for tonight. Let me know if you need anything. I'm afraid we don't have much to offer, but we'll share what we have. That's how we live."

Raph nodded his head. "Thanks." He told her. As the woman walked off, he began to unpack his blanket and pillow. Grabbing a large piece of cardboard, he spread the blanket out and set down his pillow. The blanket did little to comfort the hard cement, but it did keep him warm. Immediately, he fell asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he began to stretch when he noticed something trapping his arms. Snapping his head down to look, a small grin appeared on his face. Four little kids, two on each arm, had snuggled down with him under the blanket. There were three little boys and a little girl.

They obviously were cold because they were each pressed as close as they could get to him, their arms even around each other. A shadow passed over him and he noticed Becky starring at him.

"Sorry about that." She whispered, not to disturb the children. "Last night got down to thirty and everyone had to share what they had to keep warm. These kids lost their parents a few months ago and ran away so they wouldn't be put in an orphanage. All the blankets were taken but yours…" she gave him a weak smile. "I'm really sorry."

Raph carefully slid his arms out from the kids and stood up, being sure to cover them back up. "It's all right." He told her. "I used to have three brothers. I don't mind sharing-we had to do that a lot."

"You have three brothers?" she hesitated. "What happened?"

Raph shrugged his shoulders, trying to make it appear that it didn't bother him. "My father kicked me out. I was the black sheep of the family and could never live up to my father's expectations. He told me to leave and not to come back till I changed."

Becky's face softened. "Sorry to hear that. What will you do now?"

Raph opened his mouth, sure that a good idea would tumble out. When none did, Becky giggled. "Ya could have just asked."

"What?"

Becky waved her hand around at all the people. "See this? We're family. We love, protect and look out for one another. Unlike a lot of people, we always have room for one more."

Raph ran a hand down his face trying to make it appear that he didn't care. He froze. His face was uncovered. He felt around his face, horror dawning on him.

Crap.

Becky seemed to notice what he was doing and reached out a hand to stop his frantic movements. "No, you don't have to cover your face."

Raph stopped and starred. "You don't mind be being green and all?"

Becky shrugged. "One thing about here that I love is that nobody is judged because of how they look. If you want to be green-nobody will look at you any different. If you're missing a limb-no one will shy away. We welcome all."

Raph couldn't believe his ears. They would take him in? Then he ducked his head. "Na, you don't want me here. Trust me."

"Any why not?" she stuck her hands on her hips.

"Cause I'm dangerous." He whispered. He shook his head in shock. What in the world was he about to tell this woman? He was supposed to be the strong one.

"Dangerous?" she starred at him in shock. "Is that why you were kicked out?" At his meek nod, she spun him around to face the people. "See that teen over there in the black? That's Tim. He's been in jail five times; one attacking his teacher because she treated him unfairly, once for punching his mother because she wouldn't let him go to a party just because she was too lazy to drive him there, one for attacking a kid who was teasing his best friend and twice for attacking a cop for stealing. He did that to feed his family." She pointed out a young girl. "See her? Her parents abused her so instead of becoming shy, she reacts the opposite way and attacks people. She's getting better though."

"Cause she's surrounded by people who love her." Raph finished. "Maybe…maybe I'll hang around; see what's what." Not daring to hope that someone could love him.

Becky gave him a giant hug. "Oh, you don't have to wear that huge coat to cover your shell." She grinned.

Raph felt his dark green face go about five shades lighter. He felt his coat with one of his hands and went another five shades. There was a giant hole in the coat-no wonder it was stuck under his bed.

"Shell." He muttered.

Becky said. "You don't have to worry. There were quite a few people in here that you saved from Purple Dragons; they say you're okay." She motioned another girl over.

A girl walked to them. She was tall and thin. She had sparkling blue eyes and jet-black hair. She wore a maroon colored shirt and dark blue sweat pants. She gave him a cool, sparkling smile.

"Hi, I'm Suri." She blinked at him. "Hey, aren't you one of those turtle guys?"

"You know me?"

Suri shrugged. "Who doesn't? Almost everyone here who's homeless knows about you guys. You're a myth waiting to be proven. Some believe, some don't."

Raph gave her a wiry grin. "I guess some are going to have a leap of faith tonight, eh?"

"Sure will. At first, I'll be honest," she held up her hands in a slow-down motion. "I didn't believe either. I mean, come on, four ninja turtles? Well, I think you're the one who saved me that night." She closed her eyes, as if she was reliving the memory.

(FLASHBACK)

Her shoe's slapped the concrete in a frantic pattern as she struggled to outrun the two teenage boys chasing her. They were both high and drunk; a bad thing for a girl to run into.

Her breath came out in raged gasps. She glanced over her shoulder.

They were catching up.

She saw an alley up ahead, knowing that that would be her best bet if she wanted to give them the slip. She slipped into the alley. She suddenly realized her mistake. There was no way out.

The fire escapes were too high up for her to climb. The alley was a dead end and all the doors were locked.

She backed against the dumpster, her heart racing wildly.

Here they come!

"Hey pretty girl." One of the boys slurred. Her stumbled towards her smiling drunkenly, his eyes wide and crazy. "Me and Timmy here just wanna have some fun. Right Tim?"

"Yeah. That's right." The other boy gave her a wild smile. "Come here baby and let Parker show you how to have fun."

"I don't think so boys." A deep, gruff voice hissed from a shadow. "Didn't your mama ever tell ya to be nice to girls? Or it come back and bite you."

Timmy threw up his fists, looking around franticly. "Show yourself!" he screamed.

Suri had planned to make a run for it when she heard the voice, but something held her back.

She had second thoughts about running when she saw a large, green turtle walking towards her. But she seemed to be frozen in place. He had a red mask the color of blood tied around his head. The tails of the mask blew out behind him in breeze, only to land on a scarred shell.

She was real creeped out when she saw him outlined against the full moon. He gave her a chilling look .His eyes held a lust…for blood. She backed up farther against the dumpster.

The turtle pulled from his leather belt two weird looking weapons. They had three pointed prongs, with the one in the middle slightly longer than the other two. The handles were wrapped in the same red as the mask.

He lunged forward. A few punches and a split-kick and both boys lay on the ground.

"You okay?" He asked as turned towards her. Suri was surprised to hear a calmer, gentler edge to his voice, and the look in his eyes was calm.

"Yeah." She said. She gulped. "T-t-thanks."

He gave her a nod as he jumped and grabbed the fire escape bar with one hand and pulled himself up. Suri admired his muscles as he jumped, and watched him go. For a turtle, he was very nimble and light on his feet.

"Geesh! And I always thought turtles were supposed to be slow." She murmured again as she walked down the alley, back to the street and into the night. She turned back and looked up, hoping to see him one more time. "Thanks. I owe you one."

Raph tried to remember that time. He'd rescued so many girls and women from men like that, he'd lost count.

"Their names were Tommy and Parker." She offered, hoping it would jog his memory.

Raph thought long and hard. Those names did sound familiar.

After all, when anyone was doing something wrong, they tended not to say their names, especially not in the middle of the street.

"Wait!" he snapped his fingers. "I remember! The alley way and those to drunk kids who just couldn't see to stay standing."

She nodded her head. "Yeah." She ran her fingers through her hair. "Wow! I'm glad I finally get to thank you without stumbling all over my tongue."

Raph acknowledged her thanks with a tip of his head.

Her eyes narrowed. "Hey, aren't there four of you? I heard there were four. I guess they could have been seeing you over and over, huh?"

Becky gave a slight cough and rolled on her feet. Suri glanced from her nervous look to Raph's sudden glare.

"Those others you heard of were my brothers," he hissed angrily. "And they no longer exist in my life."

Suri had a sudden thought; maybe they'd died. "So that's why you're here; you've lost your family."

"Not dead," he corrected her as if he knew her thoughts. "Just kicked out."

"Well then," she spread her arms. "You'll stay here with us." She said, not leaving any room for discussion.

"Thank you." Raph for once, meant it. "Thanks."


Now one big thing I would like to let all my readers know is I know that homeless people don't usually group together like this. All this will be explained later on in the book so please don't tell me that doesn't happen. I know that!!! Thanks so much!

No flames...any and all will be used to heat the fires for the poor homeless people. OR I could fix brownies, or cookies. Both sound yummy!

As always, love reviews!