"You ok?"

The question came from Kyle, who was walking up to Lavi not much later as she still stood in disbelief at what she saw. "I...don't know Kyle. I've never had to deal with anything like this before."

"Noticing a lot of things are popping up you never had to deal with before." He calmly told her before pulling her against his chest and wrapping his arms around her waist. "If it makes you feel any better, your folks look like they are about to jump out of their skin too."

"Not really," she smiled up at him "because it's usually their calm adjustment to everything that keeps me from freaking out."

"Well, I guess you all get to learn to deal with it together."

"Best way to learn anything I suppose."

He arched a brow at her with an amused look on his face. "I wouldn't say anything. Some things are more fun to learn on your own."

"Are they now? Like what?"

"This, for one." And his head came down in a gentle kiss.

She was a little shocked, considering they hadn't...tried again since the last episode, but she welcomed it. She had been a little scared of herself honestly, and when the low growl began to climb back up out of her chest it almost made her want to run and hide again. She obviously still didn't have very much control over herself. Kyle had other ideas. His arms tightened around her as he kissed her more firmly. Another growl sounded and she pushed her body against his.

Lavi was torn now by the desire to slam him on the ground and dominate him, and fear, wanting to just run and hide somewhere. Her conflicting emotions fighting each other in her head until her body began to shake from the effort of trying to sort through it.

Kyle pulled his lips away, but still held her close, resting his cheek against hers. "Easy pretty girl." He told her softly. "Don't let it scare you. It doesn't scare me."

He had no idea how much those simple words eased her turmoiled mind. Lavi's body calmed as she laid her head on his shoulder. After a few deep breaths her trembling subsided and she relaxed in his arms.

"See? Not that bad is it?"

"Fucking freaks..." An angry voice grumbled near by. "How can any decent human being be caught with one of them, I don't understand."

Lavi's eyes flashed as her head snapped back up and a whole nother set of instincts came into play as she reached for her tonfas. Kyle just placed his hands over hers as he turned to the sound of the newcomer, then grinned at him. "Go jump on a smelter Jeff." Kyle told him in a pleasant voice. "Because that may be a safer place for you to be right now." Then his eyes turned hard and cold to the man Lavi wanted to pummel. "I meant it. Get the fuck out of here before I whoop your ass, then let her finish you off."

Jeff snorted. "Please, you never could take me."

"That was before he started training with me." Ty calmly said as he walked up, with Cindy's hand in his. "At our Father's insistence. But if you don't believe it, I'll be more than happy to educate you on what exactly happens in those sessions." Ty's eyes flashed, and Lavi knew Jeff more than likely wouldn't be able to walk after his introduction to turtle training basics.

Jeff sneered at him, and even snarled at the sight of the redhead standing uncertainly beside Lavi's brother, but Ty refused to be intimidated. Even reached out and grabbed Jeff by the front of his shirt and drug him closer. "If I hear you insult my sister, or any of my cousins, again I'll make sure that the time after you do, the words will be coming through dentures...understood?"

"Ty...don't." Cindy pulled gently on the hand she still held. "He's not worth it. He never was."

Ty just grunted and pushed Jeff back hard enough for him to stumble a few feet before he regained his balance. "You don't know who you are messing with, woman stealing turtle boy." Jeff spat at him.

Kyle raised an eyebrow. "I think you got that totally backwards there you idiot."

Jeff turned on him with a snarl, clearly about ready to launch a punch. Kyle just calmly pushed Lavi out of the way. But that punch was stopped before it even started. A third turtle had entered the argument, and this one didn't have his female on his arm to hold him back. "If your fist hits his face, ima gonna to rip it off." Uncle Raph growled at the much smaller human.

Clearly outnumbered now, Jeff finally backed off. The large turtle just glared at him, crossing his arms as Jeff retreated before he turned to the others. "What did you do to piss that one off?"

Cindy looked at Uncle Raph a bit nervously. "I have a feeling it's my fault." She admitted quietly.

"No." Ty said firmly. "It's not. Just because you were involved with him at one time doesn't give him the right to do what he's been doing."

"He's right red." The large turtle agreed quietly. "He doesn't own you. No one owns you. He was an ass to you and you left him. The fault for that is his if he can't let it go."

Whatever was about to be said next was lost by the sound of a large pop that made them all jump, hands reaching for weapons. It took battle ready minds a few moments to figure out that they weren't under attack, and by that time there was a green filmy smoke coming out of one of the tents, Kyle's tent. A tent Adam came stumbling out of as he hacked up a coughing lung.

Kyle dropped Lavi's hand and ran to his tent mate, trying to get the guy back on his feet. Then stopped, wide eyed as the fumes hit him. "Oh good lord in heaven!" Kyle gagged, dropping his friend. "What in the hell is that!"

Nearby, leaning calmly against a tree with a wide grin, stood Uncle Mikey. "That, my dear Kyle, was the insides of one of Casey's famous stink bomb hockey pucks." Then he turned and walked whistling away.

Kyle looked down at Adam, who was laughing now along with gagging. "Not funny man! Now all my shit stinks because of you!"

Adam just laughed harder. "So worth it! The look on your face!" He howled.

Uncle Raph rolled his eyes. "Babies." He muttered under his breath as he walked away.

.

.

"We're here!" Epps happily announced while we climbed out of Hide.

"Yay?" Ari said. "Where exactly is 'here'?"

"One of the few airfields big enough to handle a certain someone."

"That tells us a lot." Raph muttered as he looked around at the seeming abandoned airfield. "Who?"

Will walked over and laid his elbow on Epps' shoulder. "Yeah, sorry. Place doesn't get used much and it's gotten a bit run down over the years. Plans are in the works to bring it back up to speed though, since he came not too long ago."

We all looked curiously at each other. "Who?" I had to ask, echoing Raph.

The only answer we got from those two mischievous dunce caps were wide grins, and the slight shaking of the ground as the sounds of large, very large, footsteps could be made out. Then a bot even taller than Prime came into view from behind a large hangar and we had to crane our necks up so far Mikey actually fell over backwards. "That...is one big bot..."

His colors were predominantly white, with a bit of red trim and his head was so far up you almost couldn't make out his blue eyes in the early morning sun.

"Holy mother of god..." Cris breathed in awe. "He's bigger than I ever thought he would be..."

"Who?" Mikey asked. We were starting to sound like a bunch of owls.

She shook herself out of her daze. "In the G-1 cartoons he goes by Skyfire, but he's more commonly know as Jetfire."

"I thought Jetfire was that old jet in the movies?" I mumbled.

"Hide died too in those movies, and he's still here along with the others." She mumbled back.

"Good point."

"Well met Jetfire." Prime told the bigger bot as he walked up. "It seems we need your assistance."

"And I freely give it. Where are we heading on this beautiful day?"

Raph grunted. "A bit chipper for my taste."

Cris smacked his elbow. "Be nice, they can't all be as grumpy as you."

"Need a lift over the Pacific." Will called up to him "Going to Japan and you're about the only one big enough to handle all of us."

A quick nod of agreement was the answer he got, the the massive bot backed up and transformed into the biggest jet I had ever laid eyes on. "Holy Mother of Moses..."

We waited for the loading ramp to come down and then carefully walked in. Donnie was awe struck as he looked around. "This has to be the most sophisticated bot I've seen..." He blurted out, then winced as he looked at Jazz. "Sorry, no offense."

Jazz just waved it off with a chuckle. "This 'un is more of a scientist than ah fighter. Has all tha best gadgets an' gizmos in 'im. Not ev'n gonna lie."

While Donnie was walking around, looking like a star struck fan girl at a boy band concert, the rest of us got ourselves settled. Once the last Bot rolled in the ramp came up and Jetfire smoothly began to roll. And was in the air just as smooth a short time later.

About the only drawback was that there wasn't really any windows to look out of, so I settled for finding an out of the way spot and resorted to doing something I used to do way back in my army days. I made me a little lounging area with all of my gear. And then I settled down with a blanket, fully intending to sleep my way through much of the flight as possible.

I was restless though, and really couldn't settle down enough to sleep. Instead my eyes roamed around at everyone, idly watching as they found ways to entertain themselves. Ari had gathered a few of her friends and was playing some card game. Emily was with her, as well as Adam, a pretty blonde named Jessica, Kyle and Ty. That sight warmed my eyes and brought a smile to my lips. They were so lucky to have found these friends. It gave them a chance to socialize and not feel rejected from the rest of society. Overall, a positive experience in my opinion.

Thane was standing off to the side of that group, not really caring much for boring card games, but even I could tell his eyes wandered frequently over to Jessica. Shit, you had to be blind to miss it.

Lavi was talking quietly with Cindy in another area and Dante joined them after he made sure all of his gear was stored properly. And that group also had it's quiet watcher. Jeff was staring hard at Cindy, then flipped his eyes occasionally to Ty before glueing them back to the redhead again. Now that one gave me a bad feeling and I frowned a bit as my eyes wandered over to him. Something was screaming at me that he was going to be trouble.

Leo walked over then, and smiled at my little makeshift lounge chair. "Done that a few times I see." He dropped his gear next to mine, but he just settled on leaning against the wall instead of making a cozy little nest.

I shrugged. "Live in discomfort long enough, you learn to make it comfortable."

I got that amused half smile before he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. "And here I was thinking I was the only comfort you needed."

"Pfft, that's a different kind of comfort. Keeping my head on straight ain't going to help my sore ass from sitting in a hard place for too long."

That got a laugh out of him before he settled down. Then his eyes did the same thing mine did, wandered over the various members of our family as they hung out with their friends. "They seem to be getting along very well."

I caught the shy, baffled look Emily gave Dante and his calm gaze in return and smiled. "I think it's progressing farther than the 'get along' phase Leo. It's more along the lines of sneaking kisses in the moonlight."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

I laughed at him. "Oh, come off it. They are grown. How many times am I going to have to beat that into your head?"

"A lot." He deadpanned back. Then he grew quiet after another sigh of loss and regret as he watched Ari's group break out into laughter as Adam threw his cards in the air in mock disgust. "I always feared losing them to Hun, Bishop or countless others who have tried to hurt them over the years, only to find that I'm losing them to growing up."

"Still holding onto that?" I asked him softly.

"Vicky...I can't let it go. I don't know how."

Nothing I could really say to that to calm him really. The only thing I could do was lean into him and give him what little comfort I could. "Hey, you'll always have me."

His answer was to kiss my hair and wrap his arm around me tighter, then we both quietly watched from our little corner as our children widened that independance gap some more.