Okay so new chapter here for you guys! And you all have been so patient! Mikey's history is revealed! Enjoy!

Days and days passed and the brothers practiced trying to harness what Master Splinter had showed them and talked about yet still they were unable to draw their own creature from their Chi. Still though they did not give up. Every time they had a chance they would concentrate. Even Mikey who so often goofed off knew this was something they had to learn. Through all their hard work they were able to get their Chi to manifest, but it would be too much and they would break before they found out what it was. In between practice times they trained and Leo was able to come back once more as the leader.

Still his leg gave him problems, but this was something he learned he was going to have to live with. They all trained extra hard with each other and with Miwa, Casey and Leather Head on occasion. The missing member of their family and team was acutely felt by each of them, but they knew in order to save her they had to keep practicing. Finally the day came when the moon was full and they had to face the Kraang and hopefully stop the demon Shredder from even coming.

"So we go tonight." Leo said with a sigh looking at the faces of his family and friends. "Which means… we should probably speak to our family before." He added softly speaking the words that everyone was too afraid to say. They were all going to say their last goodbyes. Everyone nodded and broke up. Leo headed back to his parents apartment taking his time as he wound through the ever busy streets of New York. Rain had started to fall slightly starting to get the ground wet, but not quite soaking anything else. Leo turned down a street then down another street and before he knew it, he was facing the apartment complex he lived in. Looking up, he glanced at the window that he knew was his parents.

For a little bit he just watched the outside as the rain steadily grew more heavy. A lone drop fell right on his nose somehow waking him from his trance and with that he gathered his courage and went inside. As he rode the elevator up soaking from the rain, Leo realized he hadn't come back to this place since he had left. At least not through the front door. He had come every once in a while for supplies and clothes, but every time he came no one was home. It felt like so long ago since he had stormed out on his father. So much and happened in that time it felt like it was a whole other life time. The door to the elevator dinged and Leo stepped out into the hallway. He walked the small distance to the apartment and pulled out his key that he had.

Unlocking the door he stepped inside. Taking a deep breath he called out, "Mom? Dad?" He was silent standing in the doorway for a moment or two before he realized no one was there. Another sigh left Leo as he stepped in and closed the door. He went to get a towel for his soaking hair and change of clothes. Once that was done he stayed for a little bit and ate something then went to the kitchen to write them a note.

In it he told them that despite everything they were his parents and he did still love them. He didn't go into details, but he warned them about what was coming and that hopefully he would see them again. After it all he told them that he would come back so they could talk, but deep down inside, Leo somehow knew that he really wasn't part of that family any more. He was sad, but he was okay too. He had a family that loved and cared for him. He was going to fight for them. With that taken care of he left and headed back to his real home.

..::-::..

"Hey there Donnie!" A nurse said softly smiling at him as he entered his mother's hospital room. His mother was sleeping at the moment and they wanted her to recover as quickly as she could.

"Hi Chelsea." Donnie said just as softly with a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm doing well. You?"

Donnie shrugged, "Considering things, I'm doing okay."

"That's good to hear." Chelsea said as she finished up writing his mother's stats.

"Hey, Chelsea, is it alright if it's just me and my mom for a little while?" Donnie asked while rubbing his neck, "I need to talk to her in private about something really important."

Chelsea got a worried look on her face for a moment before nodding. "Sure thing kiddo. I'll let the other nurses know."

"Thanks." Donnie said with a relieved smile as she left the room. Donnie then turned to his slumbering mother and patiently waited for her to awaken. He didn't have to wait too long as about an hour later, her beautiful eyes fluttered open and she turned to look at him. "Hey mom."

"Hello, my sweet little gift." She said her voice still a bit raspy from sleep. With Donnie's help she sat up a bit in her bed and turned to smile at him. "What are you up to today?" She asked with a wink. Donnie chuckled a little before it left him and he was sitting there quietly. "Donnie?" She asked seeing his demeanor. "Is something wrong?"

Donnie glanced at the clock. He still had time, but it wasn't a lot. With a sigh he began. "Mom, do you remember a week or so ago when I told you about this thing me and my friends have to do?"

"I do." She answered with a nod. "It is something serious that has you quite nervous and you can't tell me about it."

"Yeah." Donnie said a bit sheepishly. He hardly ever kept secrets from his mom. In fact this whole situation was the first thing he had ever kept from her. He knew however she couldn't nor didn't need to know about it at the time so it was better for her. "Well the time had come for us to… fight." Donnie said at last. His mother stared at him patiently waiting for him to continue. "I don't want to leave you mom, but if I don't do this, believe it or not, it could be the end of the world. We're fighting for so much and I just came to, to…" Donnie trailed off not willing and not wanting to say it. Not ever wanting to say those words to his mother.

"I don't know what this fight is or why you have to be the one to do it, but I'm not scared." She said at last making Donnie stare at her in shock.

"You're not?" He said surprised.

His mother chuckled, "No I'm not. I admit that I'm nervous for you, but I'm not really afraid. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I believe in you. I know you can do anything you put your mind too. You have more power and strength in you than you realize, Donatello. I have seen it time and time again. Once you decide something, nothing ever stops you. You are brilliant and kind and so brave. I know you will win and when you do, I'll be ready to get out of this darn hospital bed and we can go home and celebrate. Does that sound like a good idea?" She asked holding his hand.

Donnie had tears in his eyes, his mother always knowing just what to say to make him feel better and stronger. "Yeah mom. I think that's a great idea."

..::-::..

"Raphael! I am a strong and powerful woman who has got the greatest son in the entire world!" Raph raised his head up from his comic he had been reading to smile at his mother as she entered their apartment.

Raph smirked as she came in and flopped down in the couch next to him. "Good session with Terri?" He asked happily.

"Yes." She said with a nod. Turning to face him his mother ruffled his hair. Raph frowned as she did so, knowing from experience he wouldn't win the fight if he tried to stop her. "So tiger, what are you doing home so soon?" She asked throwing her purse onto the floor to get it later. "You're usually with your friends. Not that I'm not happy to see you." She added with a wink.

Raph put his comic down and sighed. "Dere's… dere's somethin' I gotta talk to ya about."

His mother frowned, "Oh? What's up honey?"

"Ya know how I've been hangin' out wit' my friends a lot?" He began and she nodded. "Well dere's somethin' really important we have ta do and we have ta do it tonight. If we don't, somethin' bad is gonna happen. Somethin' really bad and… I don't know if we'll be able ta do it."

For a long time his mother was silent just looking at him then finally she sighed. "Raphael." She began hugging him close. He cuddled into her embrace not caring at the moment what anyone would say. He loved his mother and he was proud of her. "I know that things have been hard around here for a long time and I know I wasn't the best mother I could have been, but," She then pulled away to look down at him as he looked back up at her, "I love you more than anything in this world. More than my own life and I'm so proud that you are my son. I'm so proud of everything you do. You're so strong and such a good person. You're more than anything I could have ever wished for." Tears were now pouring down both their faces. "I know there are still things we have to work through as a family, but please be honest with me. There's more to this than you're telling me isn't there?"

Raph looked down and away from her for a moment deciding whether or not to tell her the truth. Then with a deep breath he started talking. He told her about everything. Not one detail was spared as he told his mother the truth behind the strange creatures on the news and what was going on and what was going to happen. He told her about his friends and their abilities along with his own and at last he told her about the fight that was going to happen tonight. Then to prove his point he started to focus on his power inside him. He felt the familiar burn of his core as it overcame him and flowed out allowing his change to happen.

His eyes fluttered open and he turned to look at his mother somewhat scared of her reaction. Instead he saw tears in her eyes before she pulled him closer still. "Oh my sweet little boy." She cried softly. "Please be safe."

..::-::..

Leo looked up as Donnie and Raph entered the lair. "How'd it go?" He asked softly.

They both looked down and away. Leo knew how they felt. He was scared too and didn't want to leave his family either.

"You?" Donnie asked coming to stand next him with Raph.

"I'm all set." Leo said looking at his brothers.

"Same." Raph said.

"Me too." Donnie agreed with a nod.

"Mikey you good?" Leo asked turning to the youngest. Mikey didn't answer him as he was staring at the ground. "Mikey?"

Mikey's head popped up in surprise. "Huh?" He asked confused.

"Are you ready for tonight?" Donnie asked gently. "Did you talk to your family?"

"Oh… uh, I um must have forgotten." Mikey said nervously. "I'll be back later!" He called with a smile before racing out. All three of them stared in slight confusion.

"Guys something's wrong with Mikey." Leo said watching as he left. "Mikey hasn't told us anything about his family the whole time we've known him and I say it's time to figure out why."

Donnie and Raph nodded their heads. There was no reason why Mikey would be nervous about going to see his family. So stealthily they followed behind him through New York until they reached a rather poor and dodgy side of town. A little confused, they still followed until Mikey came to a stop in front of one of the houses. It had dead grass and all kinds of weeds in front of it. There was paint chipping, cracks in the walls, a few windows were broken, a few of them were boarded up poorly, and trash was everywhere. Leo even spotted alcohol bottles littering the ground. The three brothers shared an uneasy look before watching Mikey enter the home hesitatingly. They hurried over to the window that was easiest to look into seeing the home was really just a big dump. Even more alcohol bottles were on the ground with cigarette butts and empty packs all over the place.

There was a woman sitting on the ratty old couch smoking while watching the TV and the boys watched as Mikey went over to her standing off to the side looking far younger than he ever had before. For a few moments nothing happened, but then the woman spoke making Mikey jump.

"What do you want?" She asked not sounding the least bit interested, not even bothering to look at him.

"Well…" Mikey trailed off before looking down at the ground.

"What!?" Snapped the woman making Mikey jump up again.

"Sorry!" He cried taking a step back. "I just want to tell you that-"

"That what?!" She snapped again finally looking at him. "You want to come home? You don't want to be alone anymore?" She asked making herself sound like she was whining, obviously insulting Mikey. "You just want me to be happy!? Well guess what!?" She cried standing and glaring at him. "I would be if you weren't here! You ruined my life! I had everything then you came along and everything was about you!" She had turned on him and Mikey was backing up away from her, his eyes wide and afraid. Leo, Raph, and Donnie stared in horror already working on the board to get in and help him. "You took everything from me! I never want to see you again! I already told you never to come back! GET OUT!" She screamed and threw her bottle of liquor across the room causing it to shatter and splatter all over the wall.

Mikey didn't need another thing said before he was racing out of the house and down the street. Donnie and Raph shot after him and Leo went to follow before he cast one last look inside. The woman crumbled to the ground before she started crying hysterically. Leo didn't know whether to pity her or be angry at her. So he went with both before racing after Mikey.

By the time they had caught up with him, they had already made it out of that nasty neighborhood and back onto the streets of New York they knew. "Mikey man, wait!" Raph called finally catching the boy by his shoulder. Mikey tried to push him away, but Raph was holding on tight. "Mikey it's okay. It's just us." Raph added softly, for once being very gentle. Donnie and Leo ran up next to them and Mikey finally looked up at Raph, his eyes were filled with tears that continued to cascade down his terrified face. He then launched himself at Raph crying into his chest and Raph didn't fight him off for once. He held him tight sharing a look with Leo and Donnie. Who was that awful person?

Finally Mikey seemed to calm down enough to pull away from Raph and wipe his eyes and offer them a small smile. "Sorry guys. I was hoping you weren't going to find out."

"Mikey, you can trust us." Donnie said with a concerned frown. "Who was that woman?"

Mikey looked down for a moment before he answered so softly they all almost missed it. "My mom."

They all stared in shock.

"Your… your what?" Raph rasped.

"15 years ago my mom was attacked by a man named Joe Stern. He was later arrested and is in jail, but nine months later I was born. She doesn't like me because I look too much like him, but I always thought I looked like her more. She says she's only reminded of that night when I'm around and that's why I'm not allowed to stay with her." Mikey explained tears once more falling down his cheeks at this horrible truth he was telling them. The three of them didn't know what to do. Raph was barely containing himself looking like he wanted to kill something. Donnie looked like was about to throw up and Leo wanted to do both.

"That's why I'm always happy." Mikey continued to explain looking at them with a watery smile, "Because I don't want to be sad like my mom is. I want to be happy." He then couldn't handle it anymore and broke down. "I'm sorry." He said softly as he crumpled to the ground and buried his head in his arms and pulled his legs to his chest making himself be a little ball.

"Don't be sorry Mikey." Leo said at once placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You have nothing to apologize for." Donnie added as they all kneeled down to him.

"Its dat good for nothin' mother of yours." Raph supplied with a growl.

"But that doesn't change anything Mikey." Leo went on pulling him to his feet as the others joined them. "From the very beginning you been calling us bros. And you were right." Mikey looked up at him his eyes still watering, but he was calming down, "We're more than just teammates now. We're more than just friends. With Master Splinter, April, Casey, Miwa. I suppose even Leather Head. We're family. And the four of us, we're brothers and that is never going to change." Leo smirked and the others smiled as well before they all joined in for a group hug. "Now, let's go save the world." Leo smiled at Mikey. "Care to do the honors, bro?"

Mikey wiped the few remaining tears from his face and shook his head. He was far from ok, but he had a world to save. "Aww yeah! This calls for something extra special." He said thinking hard. "I got it!" He cried before throwing his fist into the air, "Cowabunga!"

Leo, Raph and Donnie all smiled and through their fists into the air with the battle cry as well. "Cowabunga!"

So I usually don't do author notes at the end, but for this chapter I felt I needed too. This chapter was written waaaaaaay before any political stuff came out and in no way is this chapter about any of that. That being said I am a Pro-life person. I have no desire, nor am I going to engage in any debate. This is just what I believe. Period the end. This background story for Mikey however legitimately just popped into my head when I learned he was homeless. Don't know why, its just what came, so it's what I went with. Hope to hear from you guys! Until next time!