Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT

Chapter 8

It's been six months since I found out that Casey was still alive and that Karai had a son, six months since I decided to find myself a student that I could pass my family's legacy onto; six frustrating months' worth of physical therapy. And now I'm lying on the floor of the Dojo glaring at the ceiling wishing I hadn't skipped my runs over the weekend. I groan before rolling over and pushing myself to my knees.

"Dammit," I hear myself mutter as my limbs tremble.

I finally get to my feet and stand, arms resting over my head as I survey the Dojo. My eyes land on a lit candle in the corner of the Dojo and my skin crawls before I frown. Part of me is still convinced Leo is "haunting" me for a lack of a better word.

"That's getting annoying," I say to empty silence, half expecting an answer while knowing I won't get one.

I turn to enter the main part of the lair and yelp as I step in a puddle, my arms wind-milling for balance as I jumped back.

"What the hell," I hear myself sputter as I just manage to catch my balance. My bad leg twinges painfully before I snag the door frame to steady myself.

My eyes widen as I see the miniature lake spreading across the floor of the Lair. I step forward and grumble, shaking my head as I walk through the ankle deep puddle. It's as I am nearing the kitchen that I hear Casey cursing.

Then I see him struggling to stop the water from pouring out from under the sink.

A string of curses reaches my ears and I find myself laughing.

"SHUT UP," Casey roars before choking on water.

That gets me laughing harder and I clutch my stomach and struggle to stay standing by grabbing the table beside me.

"Shut up and help me," He sputters still trying to slow the torrent of water with the soaked towel in his hands, "Dammit Genius shut up."

I stumble forward and grab his tool bag as I am gasping for breath and trying to focus. My ribs hurt I'm laughing so hard.

"What were you doing" I laugh as I squirm through and onto my back to get to the pipe.

"It was clogged, I thought I had the water turned off," Casey snaps.

After a few minutes I manage to reclose the seal and sit back on my heels, I snicker at Casey as he glares at me. It's all I can do not to burst out laughing at him. He's glaring at me, soaking wet, his hair sticking up at weird angles, and looking simply pissed.

"Quit laughing at me," he growls.

I snort, nearly bursting out laughing and clap a hand over my mouth. He shoves me and I topple over, laughing.

"You should see your face," I gasp out.

He gets up and storms off his shoes squeaking across the floor before splashing through the giant puddle. I shriek with laughter to which he responds with another stream of curses in my direction.

It's what seems like hours later that I finally manage to stop laughing and head off to find more towels to start cleaning up the mess. I'm still chuckling when he returns wearing dried clothing one of his spare sets he keeps here in case he passes out on the couch.

"Why didn't you get me to help?" I chuckle.

"I used to help Ap-April out a lot," Casey whispers.

We both go still at the sound of her name. I look down, watching the water drip from the soaked towel in my hands and take a long shaky breath. Casey doesn't move, I'm pretty sure his eyes are closed.

"I guess I forgot how useless I really am, she used to fix whatev'a I screwed up," he says after a long pause.

I smile a little at that. April always did have a knack for fixing thing that one of us guys messed up or broke. I can still remember her chewing out Leo for knocking over her favorite vase once and then storming off to grab superglue and fixing it. Leo tried to help and ended up getting an ear full and nearly thrown out of her apartment. It's all I can do not to laugh at that memory.

Casey sighs before looking out across the lair.

"I guess we've got to learn to fix our own screw ups now," Casey mutters.

I nod.

"Casey…Has the storm rolled in yet?" I ask softly, vaguely recalling the blizzard that is supposed to hit tonight.

"Not yet nah," he replies, before giving me an odd look, "Why? You thinkin' about going for a patrol or something?"

"The first one in…a long time," I reply, "I need to start assessing the Foot's strength. Start formulating a plan."

Casey snorts.

"Just watch the news, crime's gone berserk," He grumbles, "I gave up on trying to keep up…it's not like Raph's there to…"

He stops, eyes snapping to me. I feel like throwing up at the sound of Raph's name but I manage to hold it down.

"Yeah," I whisper, feeling hoarse all of the sudden, "But…I've got your back now if you've got mine."

Casey sneers.

"Pfft, like you have to worry about that, just don't let your bum leg-give out on ya," he teases.

I chuckle.

"It should be good, but let's take it easy tonight, just a quick run," I reply, "test the waters sort of thing."

Casey nods before glancing around at the remaining mess.

"I'll finish up here, go grab your gear, and dress warm, it's freezing out," he calls as I turn to leave.

I wave in reply before jogging away, wincing as my leg aches but at least I can run on it again. I drop the towels in my hand into the hamper before jogging off towards my room to grab my winter gear.

It's time to stop hiding.

A/N: OMG GUYS I UPDATED THE WORLD IS ENDING. JK I've had stuffs going on…you know I have this new awesome coat that makes me hug myself and a service dog in training. .

/falls on floor.

Leave me a review please ( I needs your love).