FINALLY! I am really sorry about the late post everyone! With Summer School, work, AND rehearsals for a Musical I just got cast in, the month of July was crazy busy for me. BUT, summer school is over, I have a little more free time on my hands and I'll be jumping right back into writing this story! So here is the next part, it is a little on the short side, but it's more of a transitional chapter. I can tell you, Chapter 5 will be a lot longer and things are going to start developing in terms of plot and character relationships! DUN, DUN, DUUUUUN! So please stick with me!

HUGE THANK YOU to all who have read, followed, favored and/or reviewed my little story! It means so much to me to see that people actually are enjoying what I'm writing and it helps to fuel me and my creativity as I write!

As Always, thanks for reading and please leave me a review/comment about what you think of the story so far! I always love to hear from my readers as it is what helps keep me going! Remember, constructive comments and thoughts are welcome, flames are not!

Chapter 4: Welcome Home

When Leena walked back into the lair with Raphael, she was greeted with happy surprise from the guys, who were still meandering around the main living room. It was Michelangelo who came bouncing over to her in excitement, his enthusiasm bringing an easy smile to Leena's face.

"Leena! You're back already? I thought you were going home… oh wait, I bet it was because you couldn't stand being so far away from the Mikester huh?" Mikey said, winking at her like a goof. Leena giggled at his antics and nodded her head vigorously.

"You caught me Mikey, I just can't bear to be away from you for very long at all!" she replied, stepping forward to hug him. "All that charm has just swept me off my feet."

"Oh yeah, Mikey's got it going on." Mikey crooned, sticking his tongue out a Raph as the other rolled his eyes at the two of them.

"All joking aside, Leena's gonna stay with us for a bit… her living situation isn't safe right now." Raphael explained, his gaze looking over at Leo who looked confused but nodded in understanding.

"We'll need to talk to Splinter about this first…" He began, walking over to stand beside Mikey and Leena. "But I don't think he'll be too opposed to it if your own home isn't safe." He finished, giving Leena a reassuring smile.

"I'll take care of it." Raph grunted.

"Well then, welcome home Leena!" Mikey grinned at her. Before Leena could reply, Raph stepped forward and grabbed her bag from her hand.

"Follow me." He said, before walking off in the direction of the bedrooms, Leena quickly following after him. "You can stay in the spare bedroom we have. It's a bit sparse, but there's a bed and a dresser in there for you to use." He explained.

"That's the room April usually sleeps in when she comes to visit…" Donnie called from his spot on the couch.

"It won't kill her to sleep on the couch Donnie. Heck, it would give you an excuse to set up a spare bed in your room and make her sleep in there!" Raph called back out over his shoulder.

"Ha-ha, very funny Raph. You know she always brings Casey with her when she visits these days. They'll want privacy." Donnie replied. Raph just shrugged his shoulders and kept walking.

"You're sure this will be ok, me staying here? I mean, we don't even know how long that might be at this point… I don't really have any money and I still need to get a job…"

"It's fine. Don't worry about." Raph replied, cutting her off and giving her a look that said don't bug him about it anymore.

"Ok." She replied, deciding to just let him lead the way and not question the situation. Once they got to the room she'd be taking over, Raph opened the door and led Leena in, turned on the bedside lamp and placed her bag on the bed.

"Alright, so this will be your room for now so make yourself comfortable." He said, gesturing around the room. "Luckily it's already prepared for someone to stay, but if you need anything specific, just ask me or one of my brothers and we'll see what we can do." Raphael moved through the room to stand in the doorway as he watched Leena move into the room towards the bed.

"Thank you." She said, glancing over at Raph with a small smile. "I mean, for helping me and for not telling the others about my situation… it's a bit embarrassing and I'm not really ready to talk to anyone about it…"

"It's fine. I figured that if you wanted people to know you'd say something yourself so if you ever feel like talking about it, it's your decision to make. Anyway, I'll leave you to unpack and get some sleep so I'll see you later" Raphael replied, turning to leave. But just as he was about to shut the door, he paused and turned back to look at Leena who was unzipping her bag. "All of us would be happy to listen to you if you do feel like talking about it… and we wouldn't judge you for it either." Leena looked back over at him, her gaze so intent in that moment that it caused Raphael to pause, his own attention drawn by just how blue her eyes really were as they stared at him.

After a brief pause, he cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'm not judging you for it and I can assure you my brothers definitely wouldn't either." He sounded almost a little shy as he said it, as if he didn't know how to be this sensitive with someone other than his brothers.

"I kind of felt like that would be the case…" She replied queitly. "It's just, hard for me really, to talk about it. But I promise that when I'm ready Raphael, you'll be the first person I come to." She gave him a small smile and waved to him. "I'll see you later ok?"

"Yeah, later." Raph replied quickly, turning and shutting the door behind him. He stood outside her closed door for a moment, the words 'you'll be the first person I come to' still repeating in his head. For some reason he couldn't understand, that had made him happy. Shaking himself out of his little daze, Raphael retreated to his own room for some much needed sleep, though he soon found out that sleep would be hard to come by that night.

After Raphael left, Leena was left staring at the closed door for a few minutes, her own mind trying to process everything that had happened to her literally in the course of a night. She'd met and befriended four mutant turtle brothers, had played games and ate pizza with them, had had her living situation discovered by one of them and then had been brought back to live with them in the sewer for an indefinite amount of time. It was definitely all a bit surreal to her still. But nevertheless, here she was and she would be grateful to them for their hospitality and do what she could to be less of a burden.

She returned her attention back to her small backpack and began to pull out the few things she had to put away; a few articles of clothing, a toothbrush and toothpaste, a hair brush, a small bag of hair ties, a little stuffed owl that had seen better days and an old photo of a woman hugging a laughing twelve-year-old Leena. The clothing, Leena tucked into the dresser in the room, while she left the toiletry items sitting out on top of it for use in the morning. The small owl plush she put onto the bed and the photo she tucked into the top drawer of the nightstand for safekeeping. She then returned back to her backpack and pulled out the last couple items safely tucked at the bottom of the bag; they were her most cherished possessions.

First she pulled out two leotards, one black and one pink, along with two sets of dance tights and black dance shorts. She put those into the dresser as well before she went back and pulled out a pair of nude colored lyrical half-sole shoes and then a pair of well cared for pink ballet pointe shoes. She gazed at the pointe shoes lovingly, running her fingers over them gently. After a moment of admiration, Leena tucked the dance shoes into the bottom drawer of her nightstand and then took her now empty backpack and placed on the back of a chair at the end of the bed.

Finally she let out a big yawn and pulled back the covers on the bed before she quickly stripped out of her clothes and slipped under the covers in nothing but a tank top and underwear. As she settled into the cushy bed, Leena couldn't help but smile in happiness; it had been more than a year since she'd slept in an actual bed and it felt amazing. Reaching over to the lamp, Leena clicked off the light, plunging herself into total darkness. Then, she turned over onto her side and curled up, drifting off to sleep in minutes.

For now, all was quiet in the sewers.