Warning: This chapter does feature mention of child abuse. Also, this chapter is used to explain some things so it doesn't contain much action. Sorry. More on the way. Hope you like it. :)
Kaylee and Leo entered into the kitchen, she was still giggling from Leo's overly grand gesture. She never expected anyone to bow down to her let alone a giant mutant turtle. Mikey was already in the fridge, digging for pretty much any form of food, but mostly pizza. Raph was leaning against the wall that stood next to the fridge, refusing to admit that he could go for a slice. Don stood at the sink grabbing a glass of water. Leo and Kaylee sat at the table.
"Jeez, Mikey. How long does it take ta find one slice a pizza?" Raph asked, already growing impatient. Mikey lifted his head out of the fridge to stick his tongue out at his impatient brother before turning back to fridge digging. Kaylee couldn't help, but giggle at the simple brotherly scene.
"Mikey. How about grabbing our guest something to eat?" Leo stated. Mikey lifted his head out of the fridge to look at his eldest brother.
"Sure thing. What ya want to eat? Pizza, cool?" Mikey asked, smiling. Kaylee smirked back.
"Of course. Can't go wrong with pizza." Kaylee said, smiling.
"Topping?" Mikey asked.
"Anything is good." Kaylee said.
"Sweet." Mikey said, grabbing two slices of cheese pizza. One for him and the other for Kaylee and brought them to the table. Raph went into the fridge, also, grabbing a slice and sitting down. Mikey sat on the other side of Kaylee and Raph took the seat across from her. Kaylee thanked Mikey and picked up the pizza and began to eat. She hadn't even noticed her hunger until the minute the pizza lay in front of her.
"So Kaylee. How did you sleep?" Don asked, sitting down next to Raph across from Leo.
"Fine." Kaylee said.
"Good. So, Kaylee, um, we were kind of wondering if you knew why the Foot were after you?" Don asked, awkwardly.
"No idea." Kaylee said, finishing the pizza slice and sitting smile dissipated. "I was just walking with Luke and then they came out of no where. That's it."
"Are ya sure?" Raph questioned, not knowing whether to believe her or not.
"Positive. If I had any clue I would tell you guys." Kaylee said.
"I hate to continue on this topic, but have you ever done anything to draw attention to yourself." Leo asked.
"No. Nothing bad. I took part in a few fights, but not anything major. Nothing to draw much attention." Kaylee looked down at her lap, contemplating all of her actions over the years of her life.
"Have you known anyone that might be involved?" Don asked. Mikey sat on the sidelines. Mike was an upbeat person, conversations like this weren't his strong suit. The question posed by Don seemed to light a spark of knowledge in Kaylee's mind. She looked up for a quick second before stareing some invisible object in the table. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about her past.
"Only one person, but he is long gone now." She responded. The whole table was drawn into seriousness.
"Who?" Mikey asked which, if Raph was sitting next to him, would have received a smack to the head, but Mikey was too curious to keep his mouth shut.
"My foster dad." Kaylee spoke, for the first time since they met sounding slightly timid.
"Your foster dad?" Don asked.
"Yeah. He was... something." Kaylee said.
"Um, could you tell us more? We don't want to push, but we need some idea as to why the Shr are after you." Leo spoke. None of them wanted to push too hard, but they needed some clue as to what would cause the Shredder to want Kaylee.
"I'll tell you, but it isn't a happy go lucky story. You guys sure you want to hear it?" The four nodded in response. "Well, um, I guess I will start from the beginning. There was Damien, my foster father, and Lucy, my foster mother. They were a couple living in a low room in an apartment building. One day they found me on their doorstep and I was a nameless newborn so they adopted me. Lucy was always sweet and kind and Damien was the greatest, most intelligent man you could ever meet.
For six years, I lived with Damien and Lucy happily, but good things don't always last. Lucy got sick, really sick. She passed away and I was left with Damien. After her death, Damien lost it. He got into more than just alcohol. He did drugs, gambled, stole, basically you name something bad and he did it. He became more vicious, arming himself with weapons of all types. He would go out for hours and wouldn't come back until early in the morning when he would wake me up and do whatever he had in store for me which could range from a slap on the cheek to gun threats to insults. Three years passed just like that with Damien hurting me in any way he could, but one night I guess karma kicked in, because I woke up to see him dead on the floor from what was said to be over dose. I was put in the foster program after that. I don't know what Damien did in the time when I didn't see him. He could have been a Foot ninja for all I know, but that's the story."
The turtles looked at her with some form of empathy on their faces. They couldn't imagine what it was like living with that, but none of them could even decide how to handle this. Leave it to the girl who suffered the situation to begin with light the seemingly frozen kitchen scene. Kaylee looked up and smiled softly at the four who gave her strange looks in return. The turtles had gone through many harsh scenarios such as being sent to alternate dimensions, facing the Shredder on many occasions, and living in hiding their entire lives. One would think they would have been accustomed to some suffering, but this was out of their spectrum.
"Guys, it is in the past. Okay. I told you about it, because it could have everything to do with the situation, but it may not. It's okay." Kaylee said which just got shocked looks from all of the turtles, but Raph, of course, had anger etched his seemingly surprised face. He was just about to burst into a long winded statement about how it wasn't okay, but before that could happen the female interjected. "Hey Mikey. I haven't really gotten a full tour of the lair yet. Want to show me around? I would love to see that comic book collection you were going on about last night." Kaylee said, trying desperately to change the subject. The mere mention of comic books brought the orange-clad turtle out of his paralyzed state immediately.
"ABSOLUTELY!" Mikey shouted, standing up out of his chair and grabbing Kaylee's wrist. "Come on, Dudette! Let's see where ta start." Mikey dragged Kaylee through the door as he jumped around, in an excited Mikey fashion. "We could go to Donnie's Lab, and my room and the living room and…" The rest of the statement was cut off by the shutting of the door, leaving three turtles in its wake.
"How could should she treat it like it was nothing?!" Raph shouted at the remaining turtles.
"Like she said it is in the past. She can't really change it now so why bother thinking about it." Don said. Ironic that the turtles, including Mikey, couldn't stop thinking about it.
"Do you think she is just keeping her pain to herself?" Leo asked as a theoretical question.
"No clue." Don responded.
"This chick is one complicated puzzle." Raph said.
"Yeah. A puzzle we have to solve." Leo said. The three who hadn't been doing much, other than looking at each other as they spoke, now turned to the door. She may be a complicated puzzle with obscure pieces, but they had to fit them together. No matter what it takes.