I have absolutely no idea why time doesn't just make up his mind, like one month goes by before you can even blink, but another day feels like an eternity. And it's confusing the heck out of me. Like these past months, it seemed like they went so fast. But from the moment we met Mikey.. and April was abducted, somehow those months seemed to be so slow. So tortuously slow.

Sure there were some, well a lot of, tough moments, but time flew by so quickly. Before we could actually progress what was happening, we were preparing for a trial which would hopefully lock Mikey's father away for life, which we managed to do by the way. But these last two months, they just seemed to drag on endlessly.

It seemed like we have been living like this for years right now, but it has only been two months. Though on the other side, Mikey did come a long way in these two months. If his smiling face next to me wasn't enough prove already. He changed so much these 6 months, in a good way at least. He was still somewhere at the bottom, but he was slowly climbing.

"So, how'd it go?" I finally ask him, keeping my eyes on the road in front of me. Next to me Mikey shrugs slightly, his smile faltering slightly.

"Good, we didn't do much actually. Renet figured we should do something else with what happened last time" He answered, shrugging slightly. I nodded bluntly, knowing fully what he meant with the last time. That time he didn't come out of the building with a smile on his face, no, he didn't come out of the building at all.

It was Renet, his psychologist, who came out of the building, saying I should get inside. Mikey had been so distressed back then, just two days ago. They had gone back in time, and Mikey had to relive his childhood so to speak. I didn't know what exactly, I sucked at that type of stuff, but I knew it was something bad. Took me some time to even calm him down. So I was glad Renet decided to do something 'light'.

I wanted to reply to his comment, but I wasn't very good with this sentimental talk, I had never been.

"How's April doing actually?" Instead it was Mikey who beat me to it. I quickly glanced to the right, studying Mikey slightly. He did seem to be more … relaxed than other days. He was looking out of the window with a distant look on his face, but an unfamiliar relaxed expression on his face.

"She's okay, ya can't hardly see the scars anymore" I assured him, knowing he didn't like talking about it. Even after these two months he still blamed himself for the wounds he gave April. He was smart though, and because he cut her eyebrows, there wouldn't be any visible scars left.

"So how are your roommates?" I eventually ask, genuinely curious. After his dad had been sent to prison and his mom was sent away to help her with her addiction, Mikey was sent to a foster home. Just 1 week ago his roommate moved away, adopted, and two others moved into the room. Needlessly to say Mikey was very nervous. He got along with that person quite well.

Unfortunately the foster wasn't close to our home, and it'd take a while for Mikey to get to our house. Luckily Renet, his psychologist, wasn't that far from either. It was actually somewhere in the middle of his foster home and our home. Still too long to walk, so I had offered to pick him up after every session, and bring him to his foster home again, since we weren't allowed to let Mikey stay for the night for some reason.

"I don't know Raph…. my room mates, Jeffrey and Clay.. .. they're okay I guess. They just ignore me most of the time" I wince inwards upon hearing those words. I knew it was inevitable that this would happened but it still hurt me to hear how these guys ignored Mikey. No one could forget Carl Buford, no one would ever forget it, or what Mikey had done.

And while it was clear that Mikey was the victim as well, they mostly wanted to avoid him because the fear was too fresh.

"It's okay though.. I knew it'd happen, and I still made some friends. I met this guy in the foster home. His name is Luke but I called him Leatherhead. And another boy, Mundo, or Jason." Mikey hastily said, actually smiling a little at the memory. I quickly joined him, delighted to see that Mikey had made some friends at last.

"Told ya it'd work out. They just need a little time, that's all" I offer, catching a shy smile from the corner of my eye. Mikey hummed in agreement, nodding his head slightly. Soon after, we arrived at home, Mikey obviously feeling better than he had when he got into the car, then again visiting us always managed to cheer him up.

TMNT

Ever since everything had happened, dad telling me what he really did in his free time, dad forcing me to join, and of course everything that happened after I met Raph, Leo and don, I was never a fan of surprises. I hated not knowing what would happen, I absolutely hated it. Of course I was excited for a present, or those things, but things I wasn't prepared for could always turn out badly.

But this wasn't a present, and they certainly didn't announce this to me. It wasn't really a surprise either, just not knowing why Angel was now sitting on one of the two couches, along with Splinter, Leo and Donnie. I give Raph a confused look, and I'm sure that the fear is clearly visible as well, since he gives me a short but gentle squeeze before leading me to the unoccupied couch.

My stomach twisted at the reason why Angel was here. I didn't know, and that's what scared me.

"Why's she here?" I practically squeaked, my voice once again betraying me. My heart was beating against my chest as I sat down next to Raph.

"Honey, don't be afraid." Angel said, flashing me a smile. I was surprised to see her smile, it was genuine. I didn't know why, but she seemed to like me a lot. I never saw her treating me the same as the other foster kids. The moment I came to that foster home, she had taken upon herself to look after me as much as she could. There were others who could help me, and she really shouldn't have, figuring she was the boss of the foster home, but she kept asking about me, helping me whenever I needed it.

But she had never been here. She often called me to talk to her in during these 8 weeks, asking me about .. well everything that had happened. She was genuinely curious, asking me about Renet, and how I was feeling every day. She even helped me with setting up my room with Jeffrey and Clay, knowing how much I just wanted to keep the room for myself.

Not because I was selfish, but because I was afraid of the roommates I'd possibly get.

"We have something for you Mikey.. and we want you to be honest okay?" Leo said, as Sensei pulled something from behind his back. Next to me Raph smirked slightly, putting a hand on my shoulder to assure me. I flashed him a shy smile before focusing on the package that Splinter was handing to me.

"Before you open it I want to say that we have thoroughly discussed this before offering this to you" Splinter said as he released the package. It wasn't a big package, but still quite heavy.

"Just remember Hon, the choice is up to you" Angel added. I nodded slightly, opening the box with hesitant movements. I frowned however when I saw what was in the box. I slowly removed it from the box, staring at everyone with confusion, Leo's birth certificate in my own hands. Raph smiled next to me, motioning for me to continue.

A little less hesitant, but more confused right now, I picked up the next item from the box. A birth certificate from Raph. Just like Leo's, there were two names actually. 'Hamato Raphael' and another name, which I figured was Raph's name in Japanese. The next one was quite different. Instead of a birth certificate it was an adoption certificate, and I wasn't surprised to see Donnie's name on it.

Proudly written in the middle of the paper 'Hamato Donatello'. But the second name confused me again. 'Formerly known as Kita Ichirou'. I looked up from the paper.

"Your name was Kita?" I questioned in a soft voice, afraid to catch Donnie's eyes. But instead of being offended, Don laughed.

"My name was Ichirou, the firstborn son. Remember that we switch name and surname in Japan" He told me gently. "And don't worry, I like Donatello more" He added, beaming slightly. I nodded, putting the framed certificate aside. My hands were now fully trembling and I was actually afraid to remove the last item from the box. I knew what is was going to be, and I was happy somewhere. So why was I still afraid?

I gently reached into the box, taking out another framed certificate. I swallowed down a lump as I saw the text. 'Hamato Mikey.' And on the top. 'formerly known as Mikey Buford.' I could see it wasn't an official certificate, my signature was missing, and it was obviously a printed version. Though Splinter's name and signature was on it, as well as Angel's, and even the signature of the guys.

"A-… a-are you serious?" I whisper, looking up to Splinter, who nodded his head.

"The choice is up to you, all of us would happily welcome you to the family" He said, standing up and walking up to me, but stopping half-way. "You will not have to decide just yet Mikey. Think it through." He added, but I hardly listened to him. Instead I walked up to him, wrapping my arms around him, him returning the gesture.

I buried my face in his clothes, not caring if tears were now streaming down my face, staining his clothes. Sensei didn't mind, instead he just pulled me closer to him. I don't know how much time has passed but eventually Splinter chuckled and patted my head, prying me off of him. He smiled down at me, me returning the smile with watery eyes.

"I suppose that is a yes?" He chuckled again, causing me to beam through the tears. He pulled me in a hug again. "Calm down.. my son" He smiled, the words rolling off his tongue like it was the most natural thing to say. It sounded so.. normal, like it was supposed to be this way.

"Don't cry bonehead, we're havin' a family moment" Raph snorts, but it wasn't hard to detect the hint of laughter in his voice.

"The papers aren't official yet, but it'd take a while, and you obviously have to agree.." Donnie said. I pulled out of the hug again, looking at Don. "There is one more thing however… when dad adopted me, my family name obviously changed, but he also made the decision to change my name, from Ichirou to Donatello, to start over." I nodded, already knowing where this was going.

"I was a baby back then, but you've been living with your name for 16 years now, but we still wanted to give you the opportunity to change it. You know, start over again." Another name.. I never even thought of that. Of course, I never even considered that Splinter wanted to adopt me.. and I would be able to get rid of the name 'Buford', but changing my first name? I liked Mikey..

So why was the option so tempting?

"You don't have to decide just yet hon, there's plenty of time to decide whether you want to change your name or not" Angel softly said. I shook my head slightly.

"I want to" I said, equally soft. "I… I just.. I like Mikey" I said, not really sure how to express myself. Leo seemed to notice my struggle.

"You want to start over, but you still want to be called Mikey?" Leo asked, more as a way to clarify what I wanted to say. I nodded bluntly. "How about Michel? Like we have with our names, Raphael, Raph, Donatello, Donnie" He told me, causing me to frown again, I actually liked the idea. The guys had other names.. and only their dad called them by the rightful name.

Donnie whispered something from his spot next to Leo, muttering something to himself.

"What'd ya say Don?" Raph asks, getting up a bit, a curious expression his face. Donnie's face twisted, silently mouthing something. As if he was testing the combination. As if he was testing how it sounded without giving away too much just yet.

"Michelangelo. I was thinking about Michelangelo. Mikey, Michelangelo.. and he's also from the renaissance, like Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello" He clarified, causing me to frown slightly. Michelangelo…. The name silently rolled off my tongue, complicated yet fitting. Like I was actually a part of the family… Michelangelo..

"You guys" I whisper, immediately tearing up a bit again.

"I thought I told ya not to cry" Raph smirked, putting an arm around my shoulders. I laughed through the tears, the smile continuously growing as Leo, Don and even Angel joined the hug.

"I love you guys"

TMNT

We ended up taking all the stacked boxes that were in the guest room, and take them to the basement. The room was actually quite dusty and we had to clean it before we could move the furniture back into the room, after re-painting the walls, getting rid of the dirty white in the room. Instead it was replaced by broken white.

It took the authorities a little while before everything was accepted but eventually Mikey was allowed to move into our home, permanently. And after a day of working, it was officially Mikey's room. He had few belongings that he took from his foster home, but then again, he didn't even have a lot of stuff at his foster home, or his former house.

Raph still drove Mikey to Renet for his therapy, two times a week. But Sensei picked him up one time, the other time Charly did. She had managed to switch studies during Christmas, and instead she took her study in New York. She was an adult right now, and with the heritage from her father's side she rented a small apartment here in New York.

Needlessly to say they grew very close, both knowing how the other felt. Because no matter how hard we tried, we could never know.

2 months after the trial Mikey, after Raph had urged him to, confessed about his drug use, and explained it to us. His mom was forced to take the drugs from Carl, so she would become addicted to them and wouldn't turn against Carl, in fear of not getting the drugs anymore. That's how Mikey came in touch with drugs, he saw the effect it had on his mom, how relaxed she was for a couple of hours. He just wanted to feeling, feeling released for once in his life.

But no matter how much he wanted that feeling, he couldn't be even more dependent on his father.

Ketamine, that was the drug he was on. Apparently he did a lot of research, which actually freaked me out more, seeing how much research he had done, how desperate he was. He picked the least addictive drug that could give him a moment, one little moment in his life to relax, to forget about all the pain he was feeling.

And on top of his 2 session of therapy a week we also sent him, on Mikey's request, to a weekly meeting group with people who were addicted as well. It was something getting used to, for Mikey just as much as to us. The sessions took a lot out of him mentally but we could see they worked for, there were small changes. He was starting to open up more, and enjoy his life a bit more.

But it was a change for him, suddenly having a family who cared for him, and for the first few weeks he actually pushed us away like he had done the time he was with us before, when we didn't even know his secret. He was very quiet a lot of times, or doing things on his own because that's the way he grew up. He was used to doing everything alone, and care for the ones around him, or hurt them.

We're still working on it, hoping that we'd help Mikey just like we'd helped Donnie. But it's hard.

And yet, we had a big change as well. It was something getting used to, having Mikey around us 24/7 again. Of course we had those 3 weeks, but that had already been 6 months ago. And back then he had hid everything from us, not wanting us to find out his secret. Right now, he didn't have to. And that was hard, seeing the real Mikey.

Not the happy kid who hid everything from us like those first 3 weeks, not the kid who had told us his secrets but wasn't with us all the time, giving him the opportunity to hide his break-downs from us. No, we saw the real Mikey. The real screams during a nightmare, the haunted eyes, and the tears that held too many memories.

But those challenges didn't matter, all that mattered now was that he was finally safe, family, son of our father, our little brother.

Hamato Michelangelo.

TMNT

And with this chapter.. this story is officially complete.

I just want to thank everyone who read/favorited/reviewed this story. Thank you all so much!