Raph left her there so she could get some sleep. Returning downstairs, he put a plan he had come up with earlier that day into action. All he had to do was talk to his father and brothers. He knew Leo would be the hardest to convince, and Leo already cared about Emily as much as he did Mikey.

A few hours later, Raph jogged back up the stairs and to the third room on the left. Quietly opening the door, he hoped to find Emily asleep, but she quickly turned her head to look at him and smile. Not having time to prepare an eloquent speech about the pros and cons of his decision, he launched straight into things. "Move in with us." He spit out quickly.

Emily raised an eyebrow as she sat up in bed. "What?" she asked in utter confusion.

"Move in with us." He said again. "As in permanently claim this room as your own and live here with us. Well, at least for as long you can stand us." He added quickly.

Laughing, Emily slid her legs to the side, resting her feet on the floor. "Sorry about being a little shocked. But topside, you'd only say that to a girlfriend."

Raph growled and threw up his hands in frustration. "I don't care how you do things topside! All the things that go on topside are all the reasons I want you here with us, where you're safe. Namely where you're away from the Foot and your father."

Emily looked at him pointedly. "You want me down here or you and your family want me down here?"

"Both." He sighed. "The others agree that it's the best thing for you. But it was my idea to begin with." Sighing again, he walked over to Emily and sat down next to her on the bed. "It just doesn't feel right to have you up there where your life is in jeopardy from your father of all people!"

Letting out a sigh of her own, she curled her legs under her and turned to face Raph. "I belong up there, Raph. It's all I've ever known."

"You know us!" he shot back. "Mikey won't stop talking about how you've gotten better at his games; Don really trusts you, even when it took him almost a year to warm up to April; Leo respects you, which is a major deal; and Splinter already loves you like a daughter."

"What about you?" Emily asked softly. "Or am I too annoying and troublesome to be on your good side?"

Raph ran a hand over his head, rubbing his neck. " I didn't know what to think about you in the beginning; I wondered why I talked Leo into letting us jump into that fight to save you. But you grew on me, Em. And I'm more sure that you belong here with us than I'm sure that I'm a giant turtle."

Emily looked up at him, searching his caramel eyes for a reason to say no. Not finding one there, she looked down at her hands. "What about my dad? He's completely dependent on me." She realized. "My prize money pays for the rent."

"You can still send that in, can't you? Just because you live down here doesn't mean you can't still be a fighter. There's no way we'd take that away from you."

Out of retorts and excuses, Emily ran her hand through her hair. "Alright. You're right; it's best for me to be down here." Looking up at Raph, she saw him barely containing his smile. "Remind me to ask Casey to help me get my stuff later."

"Sure, Em." He finally smiled. "Are you sure any of us can't help?" he offered.

Emily shook her head. "My dad is going to go out and get more beer, during the day. We can't exactly have one or more giant green things walking around topside. Now can we?"

"No, we can't." he agreed with a smirk. Standing from the bed, he turned to look at Emily again before leaving and shutting the door behind him.

Later that day, Casey and April followed Emily down the street and up the stairs to her home. Looking around, Casey put on a sad smirk. "This place looks like where I grew up." He shrugged, glancing at the beer bottles and cans strewn about the floor, couch, table, and kitchen.

"I just have to pack my stuff, then we can get out of here." Emily sighed, ashamed of her apartment. She'd never known anything else, but she was sure April and Casey had some luxuries wherever they lived. She hurried into her room, threw open her dressers, and managed to squeeze all of her stuff into three backpacks. Coming back into the living room, she found a pen and paper to write a note to her father.

Dad,
Don't wait for me anymore. I'm leaving. I'm staying with friends untiI things have to change. So no more free breakfast. But don't worry, I'll still pay the rent. Take care of yourself.
Love,
Em

As Emily wrote the letter, April and Casey had their own discussion. "How did the guys talk her into moving in with them?" April asked. She knew Emily was fiercely independent and thought that she would have refused their offer on account of not accepting charity. But April knew the turtles were right. Emily needed to be some place safe; safe from the Foot, among other things.

"Mikey told me that it took Raph ten minutes to convince them and five minutes to convince Em." Casey told her as he grabbed two of the backpacks Emily had put on the couch, handing one to April.

Startled, April looked up at Casey in disbelief. "This was Raph's idea?" she knew Raphael to be the hardheaded, belligerent, and despondent of the brothers. Granted, it was obvious that Raph had taken a liking to Emily; they all had. She was the quirky, competitive, and determined piece of the puzzle that was made up by the brothers and their friends.

Casey nodded. "That, and Don says that Raph and Splinter were the first to find out about Em's father, a month before we did." He added. He was Raph's closest friend, his only comrade when he had moonlighted as Nightwatcher, and he had to admit that Emily was a good thing for him. She kept him in line and gave him something to work on. She was his pet project with a temper and strength, physical and mental, that rivaled his; an equal that he didn't even realize he had.

"One more thing, guys." Emily said quickly, rushing just as fast into the kitchen. Grabbing something off the counter, she hurried back out, shoved the object into the third backpack, and picked it up. "Well, here's nothing." She huffed, walking towards the door with the others behind her. Waiting for them to begin to walk down the hallway, she shut and locked the door.

Possibly for the last time.

AN: Sorry about taking so long, but C M just got back from nearly a month on vacation.

We're also sorry that this thing is so short. But we only had so much that we wanted to happen in this chapter. But more will come, hopefully soon. We just have to wait for C M to decipher her chicken scratch notes that she made on the plane rides.

P.S: We would have sent this in a PM, but you had it shut off:

Thank you true-wolf-at-heart for sending that message to us. It made us get off our butts and write this. (Yes, this was all written since 1:something in the morning).

Thanks for bearing with us.

Sincerely,

C M + L W = idkaname