An alien spaceship crashed into her family's New York City apartment and killed her parents. She had thought that would be the weirdest thing she'd ever have to face.

But she had been wrong.

Her little brother hadn't been home when the Kraang destroyed her family's building. And for that she would be forever grateful, because she was sure she wouldn't have been able to handle losing Woody as well. They were three years apart and had never fought like normal siblings, even as children. Instead, he'd always been her support system when she'd been teased in school for being a big nerd. The other kids had made fun of her for not only skipping a grade, but also for taking college classes back when she was still in high school. But Woody had always been there at the end of the day with silly jokes during Mario Kart races to determine who did the dishes after dinner.

In the aftermath, she moved out of the dorms at her university and found an apartment for the two of them. She was then quickly overwhelmed with facing her own grief, keeping up with classes and rent, while also trying to keep up with how Woody was handling his own grief as well. She was beginning to feel powerless as she watched Woody slowly and silently move through his days. He went to school, he came home and did his homework, he made them dinner, and he kept the apartment clean. All without being asked. And all without his normal Woody cheer.

Woody finished his junior year of high school and then asked her if he could get a job. She knew he wanted to help out financially and figured it couldn't hurt for him to have something to do over the summer. And since he actually seemed excited when the owner of their favorite pizzeria offered him a job making deliveries, she kept her reservations about him driving all over their neighborhood knocking on random strangers' doors to herself. Plus, the new job earned them some free pizzas for dinner, more often than their parents would've appreciated, but neither of them could turn down their family's traditional comfort food.

Another year went by and Sadie watched as Woody's cheerful smiles returned. He used the money he made to go grocery shopping for the two of them, something she wasn't good at remembering to do, and she'd often find a lunch stuffed into her bag when she got to school. He forced her to put her books away every few nights to play video games with him. He was promoted to chef at the pizzeria, much to her relief for his safety. And she cheered as loud as she could on the day he walked across the stage at his high school graduation.

And while she was happy to see signs of the old Woody, it also became pretty clear to her that he had a secret. But since Woody was obviously happier than he'd been in a long time, and she was pretty busy being invited to join a research lab on campus that would guarantee her a spot in a graduate school program, she didn't question him. Although, maybe if she had, she wouldn't have been quite so shocked when she came home, albeit unexpectedly that particular night, and found Woody in a deep make-out session on their couch.

She had to admit, his make-out partner was adorable with big blue eyes and freckles and an easy laugh, even if it did sound a little nervous. But he was also a turtle. A large, mutant, talking turtle. And, apparently, he also thought he was a ninja based on the nunchucks she could see strapped to his belt.

Sadie sank into the armchair next to the couch the two teens had recently jumped up from when she'd come walking through the door. They both stood awkwardly now in front of it and Sadie watched Woody grab the turtle's arm as his freckled friend's eyes quickly looked between her and Woody before darting to the closest window.

Then Woody tried to tell her that the turtle, Mikey, was just someone who happened to enjoy dressing up like a turtle. But Woody was a terrible liar and Sadie watched as even Mikey stood grinning at Woody as if he thought the image of a lying Woody was amusing.

Sadie held up a hand and Woody, who was drowning in the lie anyway, quickly shut his mouth and instinctually tightened his fingers around Mikey's arm, doing his best to keep Mikey from fleeing out the window.

"Please, sit," she said. She watched as Woody looked to Mikey, gauging his comfort level. Mikey grinned easily back at him before he plopped himself down onto their couch.

Woody sat himself on the couch then as well, between Mikey and Sadie. "So, Mikey, this is my big sister, Sadie. And Sadie, this is -,"

"A mutant turtle."

Mikey heard Woody sigh, but he kept his grin and kept himself quiet. He still wasn't sure staying was a good idea, considering how upset his brothers had been when he told them about Woody, but he could see that Woody wanted him to stay. Woody had told Mikey plenty about Sadie and Mikey had to admit, given how devoted he himself was to his own family, part of Woody's charm was his clear fondness for his big sister. So he was staying. And hopefully he would make a good impression to this person who was very important to Woody.

"So you were transformed with some of that Kraang mutagen?" Sadie asked.

"Sadie," Woody exclaimed with wide eyes aimed at his sister.

"I think that's a perfectly reasonable question," Sadie said, gesturing towards the talking turtle on their couch.

"You just met him. Maybe try some small talk," Woody said. "Like, it's nice to meet you."

Sadie looked back to Mikey and found him grinning at Woody as if Woody had just said something hilarious related to an inside joke.

"Do you have family, Mikey?"

Michelangelo's smile grew as he turned back towards her and nodded. "A father and three brothers," he said. So far he wasn't tell her anything he hadn't already told Woody.

"Are they also turtles?"

"My bros are," Mikey said.

"Are they older or younger than you?"

"Sadie," Woody said, shooting her another warning look as he leaned forward on the couch.

Sadie met Woody's eyes and wondered how best to go about this since she could now clearly see a rare irritation growing in Woody's eyes. "Look, Woody, you're clearly spending a lot of time with him, right? I just want to know more about him."

"By interrogating him?"

"Its fine, Woods," Mikey said. He rested a hand on Woody's shoulder and leaned forward so he could see Sadie better around Woody's protective block. He'd seen his brothers do something similar over and over again but there was something about the way Woody thought he needed to be shielded that made his stomach squirm and his skin reheat near the level it had been before Sadie had interrupted them only moments before. He tried to force his brain to concentrate on the present. "At least she's not running away screaming, right?"

Woody calmed with Mikey's hand on his shoulder and leaned back into the couch cushions. It had taken him months of building a friendship with Mikey through a door before Mikey had finally revealed himself to him. He loved his sister, but he didn't want her scaring Mikey off. There was always a niggling fear in the back of his mind that Mikey could truly disappear at any point and Woody knew that he would never be able to find him if that happened.

"Plus, I have questions too," Mikey said.

The serious tone had Woody tilting his head towards Mikey as he wondered what question Mikey could have for Sadie that he hadn't already answered himself as the two of them had been getting to know each other. Sadie sat up a little straighter herself and figured having the tables turned was only fair after she'd just played twenty questions with the turtle.

"So, has his hair always been this curly?" Mikey asked with a straight face and a nod towards Woody.

Woody rolled his eyes and felt his cheeks pink up immediately. He hadn't failed to notice that Mikey liked to run his fingers through his hair at every opportunity and he self-consciously tried to mash down some of the curls as he suddenly realized they were probably sticking up at all angles after their earlier session. But he was happy to see Sadie relax back into the cushions of her chair with a laugh at Mikey's question. She offered Mikey a sincere smile and Woody nudged Mikey in the shoulder before jumping up to grab them a drink from the kitchen.

"The answer to your question is yes," Sadie said. She stood suddenly and moved to a nearby bookshelf. "Thankfully the Kraang ship didn't destroy everything. We managed to save some things." She pulled an album down and turned to find Mikey already next to her, although she hadn't heard him move to cross the room. She quickly turned to the section she wanted and handed the book over to the turtle. "Those curls just sprang out of his head even then," she said, pointing to a few of the pictures. "He's probably about six months old there." She watched Mikey's eyes light up and his grin widen and felt herself relax further as she saw the clear affection Mikey had for her little brother.

Mikey greedily flipped through the pages and did his best to memorize Woody at these different ages. He paused though when he came to a particular photo and found himself staring at Woody and Sadie with big smiles as they posed with their equally blond parents. He glanced back up at Sadie and found her focused on the photo as well.

"I'm sorry about your parents," Mikey said to her in a low voice.

"It's been a hard couple years," Sadie said. It was her standard response when she didn't want to dive into the past.

"My bros and I got rid of the Kraang as fast as we could, but a lot of people were still hurt before it happened," Mikey said, softly.

Sadie's eyes widened a little bit and she glanced down at the weapons on Mikey's belt again. She suddenly had many many more questions for him. But she remembered Woody's irritation from a few minutes ago and decided to focus on the important ones.

"How long?"

Mikey blinked at her, suddenly wondering if she meant how long had he and his bros been after the Kraang before he quickly realized she was asking about his relationship with Woody.

"About a year and a half," he said. He cringed a little as Sadie's eyes got cartoonishly big.

"Has Woody met your brothers? Am I the only one in the dark?"

Mikey smiled sheepishly back at her as he handed the photo album back. He turned and plopped himself back down on their couch again as Woody returned and handed him a soda.

Woody gave her a mock scowl when he saw the photo album in her hands but still handed her a drink as well. And right when Sadie thought maybe Mikey wasn't going to answer her, he began to speak again.

"My bros and I had a pretty big victory recently," Mikey said. They had taken down the Shredder to be accurate, as Donnie would say. But Mikey hadn't even gone into that much detail with Woody yet. Woody didn't like to hear about his battles, probably due to the danger, although he had to admit he didn't mind the attention Woody paid to his scars. He shook the image of Woody's tongue out of his head and forced himself to focus on the present again. "And since my family was in such a good mood, I told them about Woody. My brothers have met him, but only a couple times."

"They like pizza as much as we do, so I'm sure after ten or so more free pizzas they'll totally warm up to me," Woody added.

"Nah, they already like ya, dude," Mikey said, resting his hand back on Woody's shoulder. "I know they're playing protective big brothers with you but they never would've met up with you again after the first time if they didn't like ya. Plus, what's not to like?" He grinned as he watched Woody's cheeks pink again. He got real pleasure out of making Woody blush and kind of wished he could blush so he could repay the favor. He turned back to Sadie who had sat down in her chair again. "Although, I did have to teach Woody the finer points of spicing up a pizza."

Sadie had been caught up watching the sweet moment between the two of them and suddenly jerked her head back to Mikey's face as she realized he was speaking directly to her again. "Uh, you mean like hot sauce?"

"Jellybeans."

Sadie laughed outright again. She glanced over at Woody and gave him a slight one shouldered shrug and watched as he grinned back at her in response to Sadie's I like him signal.

"Well, I'm going to bed," Sadie said, rising from her chair. "Mikey it was very to meet you, finally, and I want you to feel welcome to come over here any time. Even if I'm home," she added with a pointed look at Woody. She still had questions but decided to digest what she'd already learned before trying to dig for more answers.

Mikey watched Sadie stand and an idea that had been bouncing around in his head for the past few months suddenly sprang forward again.

"Wait," he said, "Woody says you like science stuff?"

"Mikester."

Mikey had just landed in the alley when he heard his name whispered loudly and turned to catch what Woody threw at him. Woody watched Mikey glance down at his present before Mikey turned that mega-watt smile back up to him. Woody winked at him before ducking his head back inside his apartment window.

Mikey tucked the bag of jelly beans into his belt, next to the scrap of paper that held Sadie's email address for Donatello, and headed for the closest manhole cover to head home.

A/N: So this was supposed to be a chapter on how Donnie and Sadie met. But Woody and Mikey got involved (and clearly took over the chapter) and poor D&S will have to wait for their own chapter once again.

I've actually made a lot of references to these early years with Mikey and Woody in the entire Promise series so I had to go back and re-read some of those details to hopefully make this all make sense. Please excuse any inconsistencies.