Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. Any references to "TMNT Out of the Shadows" DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Only my additions that I came up with myself belong to me. Anything from the films or other series ARE NOT MINE, only my OC's and my ideas that I have added onto the story FOR FUN.
Thank you.

Chapter #50

*Sunday March 13, 2016. 1:00p.m. at the beach*

Once everyone had discussed the room arrangements and had unpacked, everyone slept. Literally everyone. Some people found some cozy places throughout the gigantic mansion of a house, like Donatello and Kris who had explored the outside of the house and had discovered the extremely comfortable hammocks on the humongous outside deck (which there was also more than one).
The majority of the group however just stayed in their rooms and relaxed. It was 12:30 when everyone was officially awake and ready for some fun activities on their very first day of vacation and the first thing on everyone's mind was the beach.

Each room had its own mini living area including a mini kitchen and even a mini living room (including a hot tub, which everyone in the group was also eager to try out). On each fridge was a list explaining how things were run and what the group would need to take care of since there were no workers attending their jobs due to the group's request. These lists included information about what devices were located on the docks and also what beach or outside equipment was located in a shed right by the dock as well. The group made sure to get ready and was down by the beach at 1:00p.m.

The first thing the group did was explore what materials were available in the shed and were amazed at the variety of materials available. Of course everyone first grabbed the sunscreen, even the turtles who were forced to put some on thanks to Sam (whether they actually needed it or not, no one was sure, but Sam wasn't allowing them to take that risk, and Splinter just smiled and agreed with whatever the young and determined woman said).

Mikey and Kris then went for the volleyball and the volleyball net. The two worked together to set up the net while Raph and Leo were testing the feel of actually walking into the ocean for the first time (April made sure to take pictures because their faces were priceless and their smiles were wider than ever). So far the guys had only ever experienced the waters during their mission in Brazil, and that wasn't exactly a fun time. This was a much better first true experience towards water outside the sewers and the boys were enjoying every second of it.

Meanwhile, Donnie was building sand castles with Renet and was teaching her what tricks to use to make the castle stand as tall and as long as possible. The rest of the group was still lotioning up at this time.
"Guys we need to make teams!" Mikey called out.
"I'm busy" Donnie called over.
"Go!" Renet bluntly stated.
"Well, I see my help has been appreciated" Donnie teased.
Renet giggled. "Go play with your brothers, I'll hold down the fort…unless you don't trust me" she teased as she turned her head and pouted.
"Ohhh, we've taught you so well" Donnie said as he hugged the girl and then ran over to join his brothers.
Brenda and Jay then walked over, taking their turn to play with their daughter.

Raph and Leo had already exited the water and were standing amongst the group of teens.
April and Casey had already been passing the volleyball back and forth nearby.
"Since when did you get so athletic?" Raph called over.
"Since I've become the mother of four mutants that can pick me up and throw me over their shoulder" she called as she hit the ball so hard that Casey missed it.
He looked at her in awe.
"Whatever you're doing to train her, I want in" he said as he ran to get the ball.
"Well training starts now. Get over here so we can pick teams" Leo said as he waved him over.
"Where's Sam?" Donnie asked as he started counting heads to see if they would have even teams.
"She's almost done lotioning up" April said as she then turned towards Irma who was standing further away and helping Sam put on sun screen.
It was at this moment that the turtles realized that they had never seen Sam in a bathing suit. They had officially seen her in a dress, and they had seen her in sports bras that revealed nothing and covered her very well, but was this how she dressed when she went to the beach? Did she wear bikini bottoms? She had always worn shorts in front of them, so how would she look now?
They each turned towards each other and gave each other a look that without words stated 'we remain calm and show no signs of change,' to which each of them nodded in agreement.
Kris caught on to this however and let out a light laugh.
"Guys, its Sam. There's not going to be anything shocking about the way she dresses to the beach.
"Yet we saw her in heels and with make-up on at the wedding" Raph said, emphasizing his surprise when he saw her that way.
Kris looked confused. "Yeah, but all women dress that way at a wedding."
"Yeah, and all women wear revealing bikinis that show off their boobs and butt at the beach" Mikey said as he was using his feet to juggle the volleyball back and forth between him and Casey.
"Um, I'm not" April stated. She was wearing a sporty bathing suit (she had gone shopping with Sam) where the top made a V but it was thick enough where the V did not reveal anything, this was also because athletic bathing suits were a bit tighter and didn't allow as much jiggling up top. She was also wear athletic bikini bottoms that were solid black.
"Yeah, but I can't even picture Sam wearing what you're wearing" Donnie stated.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing" April said with raised brows as she crossed her arms and smiled.
"On you it's fine, but Sam has never worn anything like that. She wears sports bras that reveal nothing, and we've never seen her wear anything other than shorts."
"So what exactly are you looking for, you know, since she's not revealing anything?" April asked in a manipulating tone.
Donnie just shook his head and smiled. "You just love twisting my words around don't you?" he asked.
"April and Sam hangout a lot now, they have become one maniacal duo" Leo stated with a smile.

"Hey guys, did we pick teams yet?"
Everyone turned to see that Sam had finally ran down and joined the group.
Kris was not shocked at what she was wearing because he knew her personality and knew what she would be wearing. April already knew what she would be wearing since she had gone with Sam when all the women in the group went to buy bathing suits. Casey just saw Sam as being Sam and, well, he also wasn't a teenage boy (plus he was focused on how gorgeous April looked in her athletic wear).
The guys all smiled as they saw Sam wearing a very comfortable bathing suit that fitted her personality perfectly.
She was wearing a sporty crop top bikini top that covered everything perfectly and had thin straps that ran over her shoulders and along the back of the suit (no ties of course, she wasn't going to allow any part of her top to come off and reveal her breasts) and she was wearing a bikini bottom bathing suit, but no one would ever know since she was wearing a pair of board shorts that reached down to her mid-thighs over top.

The oldest three thought that this outfit fit her perfectly and weren't shocked like when they had seen her at the wedding. The youngest brother however, was a bit shook.
He was expecting much thicker straps, or even a long sleeve surf shirt, he had never expected to see such thin straps criss cross along the top of her shoulders.
And he assumed her shorts would reach down closer to her knees, not so short that they only reached her mid-thigh, which was also skin he had never seen before. Sam loved to wear epic designed spandex under her shorts and also did so in case she needed to change shorts so that she wouldn't have to run somewhere and change in private. But all those spandex shorts run long, she never wore volleyball spandex, so seeing this sight was a surprise to him.
Mikey was so shocked at what he was seeing (even though no one would ever know since he bore the same exact same calm smile as his brothers) that when Casey beamed the ball back to him, it hit him right in the face.
It stung a bit, but he was in the back where no one could see him, so he just stood there and continued to smile, pretending he was fine.
April had seen everything though, but she wasn't going to say a word.

"Alright let's pick teams!" Raph called. "I'm team captain."
"Whoa! Why do you get to be team captain?" Mikey called out.
"Because I can kick your butt if you try to say otherwise" he said as he shoved his hand into his brother's face and pushed him backwards.
"Well I get to be team captain because I'm the leader" Leo said.
"I think I should be team captain because I can hold the ball so that none of you can touch it" Donnie said with a smirk as he knocked the ball out of Raph's hand, who had been preventing Mikey from getting to it.
"I say you all get stuck working together since right now you all sound like annoying 4 year olds" Sam said as she crossed her arms.
"Heyyyyyy" came a young voice from further behind them.
Sam displayed an apologetic smile as she slowly turned around.
"Hehe, sorry Renet" Sam said with her hands clapped in front of her.
"Hmmmm that does sound interesting though" April said.
"What?" Casey asked.
"Mutant brothers verse the humans. I think we could take em. What do you guys think?"
The youngest three brothers looked at each other and shrugged. Raph nudged Leo in order to get a response.
"What?" Leo asked. He had been staring off as he watched Renet run over and pull Splinter by the hand down to where her sand castle was. He had been meditating, but seeing this child's creation and then help her build it so that it was even sturdier obviously was much more important which was made evident by the huge smile on the rat's face.
"Humans verse mutants. You cool with crushing their hopes?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Casey asked as he now got closer to Raph.
"You heard me" Raph said, now taking a step closer towards Casey.
"I think we can take care of ourselves" Casey said, trying to act tough.
Raph just shook his head and smiled. "Alright tough guy" he said as he snatched the ball from Donnie, who had been holding it at his side, and then shoved it into the stomach of the man in front of him, "let's see if you can stay true to your word."
"Hey! You guys are wearing the bathing suits I bought you!" Sam randomly called out.
Casey and Raph just stared at her.
"Good luck having dazed and confused on your team" Raph said with a smirk.
"I'd make a comeback if I wasn't so happy you're wearing the bathing suits I looked for two weeks for" she said with a beaming smile. She then turned towards Mikey. "So you're cool if I'm not on your team this round?" she asked, since usually the two were a dynamic duo.
"Yeah, there will be other rounds" he said, waving his hand to show that this was no big deal.
Sam smiled. "Alright, just checking. Don't hold back" she said as she pat his shoulder and then ran past him.
Mikey smiled as if everything was okay, but in a way he was glad they weren't on the same team. He wasn't sure he could work with her when she was showing off so much leg!

The first game started. The guys weren't sure what would be the best strategy to determine where each should stand, so they just went based on age. Leo and Mikey were in the front, with Raph behind Leo and Donnie behind Mikey.
On the other team stood Kris and Sam in the front, and then Casey and April in the back. This way there was always a guy and a girl in each rotation so that the guys couldn't try to take advantage of that aspect.
Donnie was the first to serve the ball and was shocked to see April bump it back with ease. Raph bumped the ball up so that Leo could spike it downwards, but Casey called it and dove forward so that when he got to it in time Kris was able to spike it downwards. They got the point that time. However, the next time the ball was served and this happened, the ball was right by the net and of course Raph was there to get it before Kris could jump up and slap it back to the other side.
There were multiple times throughout the game where the match got playfully intense. Of course there were times where Raph and Sam were matched up and they basically made it their own personal goal to see who could spike the ball down in front of the other as many times as possible.
Mikey would playfully flirt with April each time they were in front of each other, and of course the first time this happened she made sure to bump the ball high enough so that Mikey couldn't reach it. He caught on quickly and also made it a personal goal to always pass the ball to where she was, and being the ninja he was, he always hit it in spots where it was difficult to determine whether she or the person next to her should go for the ball.
She shook her head and smiled. "You're going down Hamato" she said as she pointed at him.
"Bring it angel cakes, make my day" he said with a smirk.
Leo and Kris somehow also made it clear that they were challenging each other as well (even though none of these challenges were ever truly spoken, but they knew who was challenging who).
Kris was constantly mocking Leo's stances as he tried to stay poised and ready for anything that might come up, and because of this Leo constantly spiked the ball at the boy's feet.
"Hey! My eyes are up here" Kris said, pointing from his toes to his face, "I didn't give you permission to look further down" he pouted as he crossed his arms.
"It's just so tempting" Leo mocked as he stared the other teen right in the eyes and smiled.
"Get a room!" Sam called out as she cupped her hands around her mouth.
The two boys looked at each other and shrugged.
"We got one" Leo said.
"Then let's go!" Kris said as he ducked under the net and then jumped into Leo's arms.
"Later guys!" the two screamed as Leo began to run off.
"Well that's a ship I didn't see coming" April said "I thought Raph was gonna run away with Casey first. Guess Raph is too wimpy to confess his love."
"HEY!" Raph called out and pointed at the woman. "I'm not wimpy! Casey already knows he's mine! I bought him jewelry and everything!"
Casey was now nodding his head. "It's true, for my birthday he got me a man necklace."
"A what now?" Sam asked, raising a brow and leaning to her side in a cocky manner.
"You know, a man necklace. A necklace for guys. Obviously he wouldn't wear the same necklace that you would see April wearing" Raph said crossing his arms and leaning onto the man in front of him.
Casey nodded his head. "What can I say? He gets me" he said as the two bumped knuckles.
"Well apparently you don't love each other as much as those two" Donnie teased.
Mikey then turned towards Jay.
"Hey Jay! Kris loves Leo more than you do!" he shouted over to the man who was being buried in the sand.
"What?!" he screamed.
"Dad! Go prove you love Uncle Leo more!" Renet said with a beaming giggling smile, and with that Jay was now chasing after the duo. He then quickly turned around and called out to Mikey "dude come with me! You take Kris while I win back Leo!"
Mikey smiled as he then ran off to catch up to Jay (with Casey and Raph not far behind because of course they had to declare their bromance as stronger than the others).
Donnie held his arms out to the side of him. "That's cool, I don't get a bromance. Whatever. I don't care."
He then noticed Brenda had walked up beside him. "Well, you could help me win my husband back from the mutant man he just left me for" she said with a wicked yet teasing smile.
Donnie laughed. "Need a ride over there? You know, before we piss off your husband?"
Brenda smiled as Donnie turned around and allowed her to jump onto his back.

April and Sam stood there with their heads tilted to the side as they saw the group as they made their way back to one of the decks and were joking around near one of the large outside pools.
They turned to see that Renet was still playing with Splinter, while Keeno was sleeping in a carrier under a large umbrella, with a blanket hanging over top his carrier so that the sun could not touch him. He was located next to Irma and Vern who were happily talking away, but constantly turning to check on the baby.
They overheard Renet asking questions to Splinter about his sons, in which he replied "I don't know them."

April then turned to Sam. "You okay with Leo stealing your man like that?" she provoked.
"Jay?" Sam said disgusted, "no that's my brother. Let Leo do whatever he wants with him."
"That's not what I meant and you know it" she said as she squinted her eyes at the teen.
Sam just stood there, her expression making it very clear that she was very confused.
April rolled her eyes. "I mean Kris! Everyone knows you like him" she said as she nudged the girl.
Sam looked down at her shoulder where she was just nudged and then slowly lifted her head to look at April, her mouth slightly open and showing her lightly gritted teeth while the rest of her face was scrunched up.
"I like who now?" she said in a low and sloppily muttered voice.
Now it was April who looked confused. "Do…do you not like him? Like, like-like him?"
Sam shook her head, and not in the rapid way that would mean she was nervous. She genuinely shook her head no.
"Does…does everyone think I like him?"
"No, well I guess I assumed people thought that since I did. No one has ever actually said that to me though. I know me and Casey think you like him."
"No, I stopped liking him a long time ago, why did-"
"Aunt Sam!" Renet cut in, running as quick as she could over to her aunt with her arms open wide, signaling she wanted to be picked up.
Sam's expression changed once the young child had come closer, and she scooped the young girl up into her arms.
"What's up buttercup?" she asked as she gently rocked the child while she held her against her hip.
"Will you go in the water with me? Sensei is going to check on the uncles to make sure they're not acting younger than me" she said with a giggle.
"Well I would love to go in the water with you! Did you ask Aunt April if she would like to join us?"
Renet's eyes went wide. "Sorry Aunt April! That was rude of me. Would you like to join us and go in the water?" she said with a beaming smile.
April walked over and bent down a bit so she was eye to eye with the girl being held in her other aunt's arms.
"Maybe a little later, that volleyball match tired me out. I'm not anywhere near as athletic as the rest of your aunts and uncles. I'm going to go check on your brother, which I think your mother had the same idea since she's jogging back over here now."

With that, April walked back over to where everything was set up, and Sam placed Renet back down on the ground and took her hand.
"Have you ever felt the ocean water before?" Sam asked, now noticing Renet was holding onto her hand tightly once her feet touched the ground.
"No…I thought you were gonna carry me in" she said with a frown.
"Then why didn't you say so?" Sam asked as she then scooped the child back up with a spin and then hugged her close and blew 'raspberries' against her cheek.
"Are you ready now?" she asked the hysterically laughing four year old."
"Yes!" Renet said, throwing her arms around Sam's neck.
Sam took a few steps into the water and sighed. "The temperature is perfect. There's enough sun where the cold water feels just right. The sun isn't beaming down to the point where it's unbearable, and the water isn't so cold that it makes you feel miserable. Everything is just right."
Sam was now standing far enough in that the water had reached her upper thighs. A wave splashed up and hit Renet's legs.
"It's chilly!" she giggled.
"Well that's because you're not walking in it, so when it hits you it's going to feel really cold. Your body isn't used to the temperature yet. I'll walk a little further so that part of your body is more in the water. Is that okay?"
The little girl nodded her head as she held on tight to her aunt.
Sam now walked far enough in so that the water was hitting her waist, and now was hitting Renet's legs. The girl got so excited every time the water splashed up and hit her tummy.
"I wanna feel the water more!" Renet exclaimed as she happily kicked her feet.
Sam laughed as she tightly held onto the girl. "Now hold on, we have to go back and get your swimmies if you want to fully go in the water. It's starting to get to high now-"
Ironically, just as Sam was referencing the high waves, a rather large wave had come crashing down and was up to Sam's neck, meaning it had hit Renet in the face. It was powerful enough to knock Sam backwards and she would have fallen backwards if a tall turtle hadn't shown up behind her at the perfect time.
Sam instantly began checking on her niece and was waiting for the girl to cry (she knew she cried the first time she was splashed in the face when at a pool when she was a kid) but Renet just shook her head and puckered her lips together.
"Ew, that's yucky" she said.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked in a worried tone.
"Yeah, I just taste yucky" Renet said.
Sam sighed and then tilted her head back some. "Thanks D, I owe you."
Donnie smiled down at the two ladies in front of him.
"I came to see how you two were doing, looks like I made a smart choice."
"As always" Renet said, making the other two laugh at her blunt honesty.
"Let's go back and wipe our mouths with a clean towel. I don't like that salty taste either."
"Uncle Donnie, why is the ocean salty?" Renet asked as the three made their way back to shore.
"Salt is poured into the ocean from rainfall on large rocks from land. This salt builds up in the ocean because the only way water can leave the ocean is through evaporation. And when the water evaporates it doesn't take the salt with it. So you end up with less water, and the same amount of salt, resulting in a pretty salty sea" he said nonchalantly.
"Renet" Sam said.
"Hm?"
"Repeat what Donnie just said."
"Salt comes from rocks on land. The water only leaves the ocean from evaporation, or the water turning into air. But the salt doesn't leave with the water, so the ocean becomes even more salty."
Sam raised her eyes and nodded. "Alright, just checking."
Renet narrowed her eyes. "You didn't think I understood him, did you?"
"Well, most four year olds wouldn't have a clue what he just said, but then again, you're not like most four year olds" Sam said with a smile.
"She's a bright one alright" Donnie said, ruffling Renet's hair as she was placed back on the sand and then ran over to her parents.
"They couldn't have picked a more perfect child to fit this quirky family" Sam said, leaning onto the tall turtle.
"I was worried that she would tell others about us, but she's bright. She knows how to keep secrets, and not only that, but she comprehends why they're important. She's going to change the world one day. I just know it."
"Well someone is jumping to conclusions pretty quick" Sam teased.
"I thought so to the first time that crossed my mind, but she just…doesn't follow the guidelines for how children develop. She can comprehend things that typical children in general wouldn't understand. I was literally talking to her about different parts of the world the other day because she found a globe in my lab, and she absorbed everything I was telling her. I was even asking questions that would prove whether or not she was understanding me and she was able to properly respond to everything. Heh, and then she sees Mikey and goes back to acting like a typical 4 year old" he said as he saw Mikey run up to Renet, who was running up to him, and then watched as Mikey fell back and hold Renet up high as if she had knocked him over all on her own. Donnie couldn't tell which of the two had the bigger smile on their face.
"I'd be a liar if I said I hadn't noticed it either. She's intelligent. Oh god, that means she's going to turn out like you" Sam said as she looked up at Donatello with a worried wide eyed expression on her face.
He squinted his eyes as he looked down at her. "And what's wrong with that?"
"That means…she's going to be a geek!" Sam scream-whispered just loud enough so that her friend could hear.

"Oh" Donnie pouted as he turned around and took a few steps out into the water.
Sam took a few steps and followed him, afraid that she had touched a nerve.
"What's wrong?" she asked, slightly concerned, slightly mockingly.
"I just think you're confused" Donnie said. "Cause geeks can't do this" he said moving so swift that Sam couldn't react and that fast was scooped up and thrown far off into the deeper waters.
When she popped her head back up above the water, she saw that Mikey had now tackled Donnie screaming "only I can do that to my best friend!"
Of course, if two brothers were water wrestling, then the other two just had to join, so now it was Raph and Mikey verse Leo and Donnie.
Of course, Sam had to avenge her best friend! So when Leo wasn't looking, she ran up behind him and jumped on his back, covering his eyes with her hands.
"I've got him!" Sam called.
"Back to the water!" Donnie called as he grabbed her and tossed her back.
"Oh we can do that to" Raph said with a smug look as he caught up to his second to youngest brother and tossed him further out.
When Sam rose her head from the water, Donnie had made a splash right next to her.
"Ha! Karma boi!" she said.
Donnie's reply was to push her back into the water and then run away to avenge his oldest brother, who right now was being lifted by Raph and Mikey.
Now Kris was joining to avenge his bromance brother.
The match was now 3 vs. 3…until Renet ran in to avenge the losing team (at the moment, Kris, Leo, and Donnie).
"Rawr!" Renet called with her hands up in the air.
"RUN!" Mikey yelled as he literally threw Sam over his shoulder.
"SHE CAN'T BE STOPPED!" Raph shouted as the two brothers darted onto the shore with a tiny Renet chasing after them.
The other group was laughing, until Jay walked near the edge of the shore with an even tinier Keno in his arms.
"Grrr fear me! I have powerful poopy powers! Fear me as much as my diaper!" Jay said in a high pitched voice as he carefully held his son in front of him.
"Nnn" the three men said as they pretended as if they had been cursed and were losing feeling in their bodies, twitching their arms and grabbing their chests.
"I can't move!" Leo called out as he fell to his knees.
"Is this the end?!" Donnie shouted.
"Hold me" Kris said as he basically trust falled onto Donnie, and the three playfully collapsed in the water.
"Dang, we have some strong kids! I feel proud as a parent" Brenda said. "We're heading back guys. We want to put Keno down for a nap and get him out of the heat."

The teens all nodded and decided that now was a good time to head back and relax as well. They all headed to the pool while the older humans (being all coupled up) and Splinter as well (who wanted some meditation time since it was happily taken from a young girl on the beach) headed to various places inside the gigantic house.
The 6 teens decided to test out the gigantic pool, along with its numerous water slides. It was now 2:30, and the teens slid and swam for hours. Eventually they made their way up to the literal designated relax space filled with comfy chairs. They were still wet so they didn't want to go back in just yet, so they all just hung out and talked for a while. They never meant to, but they all drifted back into sleep (they had been playing on the beach and then in the pool for many hours now). Most of them hadn't even realized they had fallen asleep, Mikey being one of them, as he was the first to wake up. He sat up very slowly, rubbing his eyes as he tried to look around.
The sun was setting now and there was a beautiful pink and red glow across the clouds. He was about to wake up his brothers so that they could see the view as well, but he then realized that Sam was no longer amongst the group.

At first he assumed she had just gone inside, but then he saw that her flip flops were still outside. She would have taken them inside if she had gone in, so she had to be somewhere.
A slight bit of panic began to rise in him as he wondered where she was. He stood up from his lounge chair and walked around some, first checking (and then sighing in relief) to see that she wasn't floating alone in the pool. As he continued to walk around, he saw that the shed door was still open down by the end of the dock. He took a few more steps forward and smiled in relief when he saw her lying on a boogie board out in the ocean.
He jogged down until he reached the water and then slowly walked out towards where his friend was lying down.
She turned her head when she felt more ripples growing stronger, and she smiled when she saw her best friend walking towards her.
"Getting a taste of the ocean before the night ends?" she asked.
"I am now. I was wondering where you went. I was afraid you fell asleep out here."
"Nah, too paranoid a wave would get me and I'd panic. This is a place to relax, not to end it."
"Heh, good to know" he said sarcastically as he leaned back on his shell, floating alongside his female friend.
"I never thought I would see the ocean again" Sam said calmly.
"Why?" Mikey asked.
"I dunno. Life just got dark for a while. I guess I assumed I wouldn't experience normal things like trips to the beach anymore."
"Ahhh, so that's why you're out here. Letting your thoughts roam, huh?" Mikey said, but Sam could tell by the way he spoke that he was being serious and genuine rather than silly and playful.
She smiled. "Yeah. It's easier to let thoughts roam when you're alone."
"Do you still have bad thoughts?" he asked.
"Not the same way I used to" she said as she now turned onto her stomach on her boogie board. "I mostly just have nightmares every once in a while, but even those have died down."
"What did you used to think about?" he asked, cautiously, not wanting her to speak of anything that would upset her or make her uncomfortable.
She sighed. "Robbing stores, figuring out what I could get away with. Not caring about the consequences. Just wanting attention because I was always alone."
"Why?"
Sam scoffed. "Why to which one?"
"All of them" he replied softly.
Sam turned her gaze towards her friend and now realized how concerned his face was as he stared back at her.
"Well, I was mad at the world because of what I lost, and I felt like there was nothing to look forward to every time I came home to an empty house. Jay had to work, well, what I thought was actual work in order to provide for us, so he was rarely ever home. I would come home to an empty house with no one to tell me right from wrong, so when I got angry or upset I did whatever I wanted. I never meant to get arrested, but it happened a few times."
"Then what happened?"
"Jay would fight for me to get free bail, reminding the authorities about what I had lost and why I was lashing out. That's when therapy started. That was one of the reasons why I stopped stealing and doing petty crimes. God I wanted therapy to end, that was just so frustrating" she groaned as she now turned back over to her back side.
"What were the other reasons?"
Sam folded her hands across her stomach. "Mostly therapy, but my coaches and dance instructors said I wouldn't be able to participate if I kept acting the way I was, and I was reaching a point in life where soccer and dance had so much meaning and purpose for me that I couldn't lose that. That and there was one other reason…" she trailed off.
Mikey stood up in the water and put his hands on the side of the boogie board.
"We don't have to talk about it if you're not ready" he said.
Sam then sat up herself.
"It's fine. Just, don't tell the others okay? I've never really talked to anyone about this."
"Of course, you know me" he said.
"Well…I got into an accident once. I was running from a store where I had just stole a couple packs of gum, and I wasn't paying attention and ran right in front of a car…you okay?" Sam asked in fear of the uneasy look her friend was displaying.
"Yeah" he said with a fake smile, "just, thinking of things."
"Like?" she asked, wanting him to further explain himself.
"…just thinking of when we saw you almost die…twice…sorry, this is your story" he said, shaking his head.
Sam then gently placed her hand on his arm. "Don't ever apologize for being worried about me, it's literally saved my life before. And I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't talk about it."
"Well now I need to know what happened" he said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Luckily it wasn't anything serious, but I broke my arm and sprained both ankles, so I was in the hospital for a few nights, and I stayed home for about a week. The pain didn't really faze me…but my brother. That's what truly changed me."
"Did he lose his shit?" Mikey asked, cringing as he thought of Jay lashing out at Sam, just like when they all returned from Brazil.
"That's the thing," Sam began, "he was so silent. He got a call that I was in the hospital and from what Brenda eventually told me, since he physically seemed calm, but mentally be was breaking down so she had a talk with me in his place, and apparently he was a mess when he got the call. Almost got into an accident himself speeding to the hospital. I had been so selfish and was so absorbed in my own thoughts that I had forgotten the way he reacted when he found me about to throw back pills the morning I woke up, just hearing the rest of my siblings had died-"
"Stop" Mikey sternly interrupted. "You're shaking…" he said as he clutched his hand tighter onto her arm.
She smiled at him. "It's okay, I don't think I can every calmly talk about this, but I promise I'm okay" she said in a calmer and sweet tone.
"So, your brother made you change your ways?"
Sam nodded. "Now I wasn't ready to completely change everything, but I knew I needed to make smart changes. I had learned a lot from my failed robbery attempts, and that's what lead me to learning coding and hacking so that I could sneak into places overnight. That's honestly also why I wanted to get back into martial arts and self-defense training. I convinced Jay that it was all so that I could safe, and also more confident in soccer and dance. Those weren't lies, but it wasn't the full truth either."
"But you made changes for the better. You were able to take better care of yourself so that you weren't in danger like you were before. You still snuck out at night which wasn't safe, but now you could protect yourself. That meant you weren't adding to your record and you weren't hurting your brother. I'm glad you made those changes."
"Oh really? Why so?" Sam said with a chuckle.
"You've said in the past that you also would sneak out so that you're siblings would send you a signal that they were watching over you. Well, since Jay allowed you to train yourself, and you stayed home and did things like study up on skills you could use to your advantage sine you weren't sneaking out during the day anymore, you made discoveries at night. And that lead you to the greatest sign your siblings could give you to show you they cared."
"And that was?" Sam asked with a smile, already knowing where he was going with this.
"To us. To your new family" he said gently.
"I know. And I thank them for that every day."
"I wish I could thank them in person. You've changed our lives. Heh, none of us ever thought we would be here."
"Neither did I bro, neither did I."

"HEY! Get up here! Dinner is ready inside!"
The two turned to see Raph calling down to them from further back closer to the house.
"I love how my stomach doesn't think of food until someone else mentions it" Sam said as she now held her stomach.
Mikey stood up in front of Sam.
"Hop on. Your suit looks like it's dry, so no point in both of us having to dry off when we get back."
"My, what a gentleman" Sam teased she hopped onto her friends back.
Mikey walked her back to shore and then ran the boogie board back to the shed, hoping that maybe that would help dry his suit off some.
It didn't do much, so Sam ran inside and grabbed him a pair of soft and dry sweatpants (man she was good at buying comfortable and appropriate sized clothes for the guys!) and then ran them back outside so that Mikey could change in the outside bathroom (since of course there was a lovely bathroom outside, like full plumbing and clean as could get, it was a beautiful bathroom and changing space!)
The two then made their way inside where they joined the rest of the family in the dining area in the lobby where all the fancy tables were located.
Everyone was already sitting down and had begun eating food along the dinner buffet. The list of instructions left by the original owners of the house stated that the mutants only needed to be hidden for a short period of time at the beginning of every day when a couple of trucks dropped off food that was usually served buffet style to guests staying at the house (it was easier to serve larger crowds that way). The instructions then informed the group of how to simply prepare the food so that they could eat all three meals each day at the house.
The two joined everyone for dinner, and after everyone was showered up afterwards, it was straight to bed where everyone fell asleep in mere minutes.

It had been a great first day.

Heyyyyyyyy I should be doing homework but instead I'm doing this!
Also….THIS IS MY 50TH CHAPTER!
Like….whoa. Granted, some chapters are extremely short, but the fact that I've even written so long now that this is an actual series. Like there's time skips and major events and so many characters now. It's unbelievable. But this is all because there are people who continue to read this story. Like people even replied after I uploaded my short chapter the other day and the fact that there were people who were waiting and surprised to receive an update literally made me so happy. I kid you not when I say I was smiling at my phone like a fool when I read those comments. And to the silent readers who don't leave comments, your support is always greatly appreciated. Any and all support means the world to me and the fact that the view count goes up means that you all continue to want to read, and I will never be able to truly thank you enough for that.

Well, day one of the vacation is complete! I'll try not to spend too much time on vacation, but there are a few things I want to focus on. But there's a HUGE event that will happen when everyone returns home and I want to get to writing about that soon, but I also don't want to rush through this section of the story too fast either. There was a main conversation that occurred in this story that puts certain character thoughts into perspective. And there were some cute Renet moments! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Hopefully see you again soon!