Okay, no more waiting. I had to get through the last two weeks of my fall semester before I could actually get my head around anything extra, but that's over now! And, gah let me tell you, there's no better feeling. Anyhow, this and the next chapter are the last of this one!

Thank you soooo much for staying until the end. I know it took much longer than it should have, but I told you I wouldn't abandon it. And I'm glad I didn't :)

Alright, lovies. Read and enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think!

Leo took two steps forward, turned on his heel and erased that distance. The next time he turned, he took three steps and then subconsciously took himself back where he'd started again. He didn't realize he was pacing. In fact, he didn't take much notice to anything other than the endless ringing in his ear as he kept his T-phone pressed against his temple and continually tugged at the strap across his plastron with his free hand.

He shook his head to himself and glanced over at his sensei as though by looking at his father he could assess whether or not they should be worried, but this gave him no answers. Splinter was standing completely still—serenely still—hands behind his back, eyes closed, breathing regularly as though he was meditating on the spot.

Leo switched his gaze to Donnie who was sitting on the bench with his own T-phone in his hands, occasionally tapping buttons on the screen as he tried to keep track of the signal and where it was going. He probably didn't realize that his knee was bouncing.

Raph, who was standing above the pit with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, groaned in a half angry, half anxious kind of way. "That little weasel's gonna get it."

"Raphael …" Splinter said calmly. He didn't lift an eyelid.

Leo sighed and pulled the phone away from his face, hanging up for about the third or fourth time. "He's not picking up. We should go."

"Hang on, Leo," Donnie mumbled, squinting at the screen of his phone. "The tracker says he's …"

He cut himself short and looked up toward the entrance of the lair. Leo, Raph, and Splinter all followed his gaze and found Mikey slowly shuffling in past the turnstiles, rather uncaring to the fact that his whole family was standing around in the common area rather than asleep in their rooms as they should have been by now.

"Mikey!" Donnie said, jumping up.

Splinter's shoulders dropped as though his muscles were unraveling and Leo noticed his fingers curling behind his back though his expression didn't lose its serenity. Raph bristled.

"Mikey!" shouted the turtle in red, his tone far more chastising than Donnie's. "You little mutant, you can't do that!"

He took a step forward, as though itching to run up and smack his little brother over the head as many times as it took for Mikey to understand his dislike for having to worry. But Leo got to him before he could move any farther forward and cut him short by sticking an arm out in front of him.

Something was not right.

"Mikey?" said the leader dubiously, blue eyes examining his baby brother's face.

The little turtle looked at no one. His normally wide and jubilant eyes now just stared at the floor as he slid his feet across the cement like his toes were too heavy to pick up off the ground. His shoulders were sloped and there was no trace of that annoyingly consistent smile he usually wore.

Leo's eyes searched his brother thoroughly, looking for lacerations, bruises, new grooves in his shell, anything that might indicate that Mikey had gotten himself into some kind of trouble, but he found nothing and this only made the coil in his muscles tighter.

"What happened, my son?" said Splinter, catching on that something was definitely off about their normally peppy bundle of sunshine.

Mikey stopped walking and when he looked up, Leo felt an unquestionable drop to his stomach. The eyes on his brother's face were not what he would've normally attributed to Mikey—Michelangelo, the little freckle-faced kid that had a joke for everything. These blue eyes were brimming with pain that welled up in tears at the rims and made them narrow behind his orange mask as though he was fighting off an emotion he'd never known before.

The little turtle glanced at Splinter but didn't seem to have any words to say. And then his eyes fell on the brother he always looked to when he didn't know what to do.

Leo suddenly felt nauseous. He hoped he was wrong about what he realized had happened, but he didn't want to question it yet. He simply opened his arms and stood firm as his little brother forgot about hesitating and ran into him, throwing his arms around his waist. Leo closed his youngest brother in a tight embrace and tried not to think of the way Mikey desperately nuzzled his face into his neck and trembled with loud, broken-hearted sobs.

"It's okay, Mikey," Leo said quietly, exchanging a glance with Raph who looked utterly horrified.

Donnie walked up beside them, and Leo watched him lean forward to match his level and place a gentle hand on top of Mikey's head.

"We're right here," he whispered.

The next day, Splinter allowed his youngest son to sit in silence during training, in front of the shelving unit that held Splinter's most cherished photograph of him and his late family. He never asked Mikey if he wanted to join his brothers, never demanded that he needed to, never questioned why he was sitting there. So, Mikey knelt facing the wall for a full four hours undisturbed, staring up at the black and white picture with an unnatural force pulling down the corners of his mouth. He ignored his brothers tumbling around the room behind him, though he knew they kept looking in his direction. None of them said anything either. And once Splinter called it quits for the day he sent the three of them away and finally walked up to the youngest turtle to kneel down beside him, though he still said nothing.

Mikey waited for a while longer, further ignoring how hollow his stomach felt before he finally looked up at his sensei who was staring at the photograph too, stroking his beard in that thoughtful way he always did.

"Sensei?"

Splinter turned his eyes down to Michelangelo without blinking. He said nothing, though Mikey knew he was expected to go on.

He took in a noisy breath. "Do you think Tang Shen would've liked us?"

Splinter looked away and stroked his beard a few more times, really giving it a thought before he glanced back down and very simply said, "No."

Mikey grimaced and his eyes fell to his knees as he bowed his head. But his sensei's arm found its way around his shoulders within seconds, and when Mikey looked at him again, his face was very close, amber eyes resolute.

"I know, for a fact, that she would have loved you—all of you."

Mikey blinked and he felt his shoulders relax under his father's arm.

"She was very tender, a loving spirit if I ever knew one, always happy and content with her place in the world. For a long while, there was no one I knew like her—the perfect person. And when I lost her, I was sure I would never again encounter such a compassionate soul."

A tender smile appeared beneath Splinter's fur and he squeezed Mikey's shoulder gently as he leaned in closer.

"Would you like to know a secret, my son?"

Mikey nodded.

"I have encountered such a soul."

"You have?"

Splinter nodded. "Yes." He looked back up at the photograph, this time with a very obvious smile, a proud smile, but he didn't go on.

Mikey furrowed his brow. "Who is it?" he asked, wondering if there might possibly be another woman out there that could be what Tang Shen might've been for them if she was still alive.

Splinter's warm amber eyes met his son's again and he patted his shoulder. "It is you," he said simply.

Mikey furrowed his brow. "Me?"

The old rat nodded once, in what might've been reminiscent of a bow. "Hai. You have something very special about you, Michelangelo. Something I have only ever seen in you and my wife. You are both incredibly compassionate. You care for others, truly, sometimes in a way that I find difficult to duplicate. And it is this love for other people that allows you to accept your position in the world and reach out to those around you who might be in need of your kindness. It is a shame," Splinter sighed, "that this woman, Jennifer, did not get the chance to know how special you truly are. If you ask me, my son, it is her loss."

Mikey pinched his lips and looked down at the floor. "People are always gonna treat us like freaks aren't they?"

"The world is full of narrow-minded people, my son. They are simply afraid of learning that they live in a world that is different than what they thought it was. It challenges their boundaries and sometimes they simply cannot handle that. But, there are also times when you might run into the occasional person that can—like your friends April and Casey, for example."

Mikey tilted his head to the side. "Yeah." He sighed. "But I wish everybody could."

Splinter nodded. "I agree with you whole-heartedly. It is not easy being who we are, but if you would believe, we are extremely fortunate, simply because we have each other. We may not be the ideal family …" He gestured toward the picture of him and his wife and daughter. "But imagine what life might be like if we lacked even what we have now. I know I could not imagine my life without you and your brothers. What about you?"

Mikey's stomach twisted at the thought of ever living a life without his sensei, without Leo, Raph, or Donnie. He shuddered and shook his head.

"There are many different kinds of families in the world, Michelangelo, none of which are the wrong kind. There are some with no mothers, some with no fathers, even some with no children, but they all make do and carry on in life with the love that they keep between what they do have."

"I guess so." Mikey shrugged. "It's just that … It'd be nice to have a mom, you know? Someone that would cook, and smile, and always give hugs, and love everybody, and keep us all together."

Splinter laughed. And it wasn't that inward type of chuckle that he usually kept to himself. It was an actual laugh, as though Mikey's words were the funniest he'd ever heard.

Michelangelo stared at him, wondering if he should be worried that his sensei was actually laughing at something he'd said—and it wasn't even a joke.

"What?" he asked, tensing.

Splinter shook his head. "You already do all of those things for us, musuko."

Mikey blinked and opened his mouth, but found that he was at a loss. He pressed his lips together and stared at the rug beneath him thoughtfully.

"Did I not tell you you were just like Tang Shen?" Splinter said, still amused. "Mothers are not the only ones with the power to keep their families together. That is why you are so special—and so very important to this family in particular."

Mikey felt his throat tighten and he tried to swallow, but this only made it worse. He wasn't quite sure he remembered ever hearing his sensei say anything like this, and for some reason it made his chest feel so full that it hurt.

He grimaced, pressed his lips together, and then threw his arms around his father and buried his face in his chest, which was warm and soft and carried a scent that would always smell like home to him.

Splinter chuckled and patted his son's head before curling his arms around him.