Final part of this story! HUGE thanks to Skitsmix, who was a fantastic beta reader and who made awesome suggestions for how it could be improved! This chapter wouldn't have been complete without their help. And there would have been a lot of typos. :)

Part 4

The quiet knock at the door dragged April protestingly from sleep. She wondered if just this once she could pull the pillow over her head and pretend she didn't hear.

Casey stirred next to her and groaned into his pillow. "Whuzzat?"

The knock came again, and she could hear Michelangelo calling softly through the door. "April? Casey? I'm really sorry, but you need to wake up, guys."

The strained tone of his voice chased away the clinging shadows of sleep. She hopped out of bed and hurried to the door, nearly tripping over the boots that Casey had left on the rug.

Mikey looked up at her when she opened the door, utterly wretched. The hollow look in his eyes sent her heart plummeting to her feet. "What's wrong?" she forced out.

"Mrs. M. died last night."

"Oh, no." Her hand tightened on the doorknob, blanching her knuckles as tears burned her eyes.

"Raph and Leo are with her." He looked away, swallowing convulsively as his breath hitched. "You guys should come," he said hoarsely.

"We'll be right there." April roused Casey and hurried to dress. She pulled her hair into a quick ponytail while he stomped into his boots. When she opened the door again, she saw that Michelangelo was still waiting in the hall. She gave him a brief little side hug before the three of them made their way to Mrs. Morrison's room. As they walked, she took Casey by the hand and held it tightly, grateful for his solid strength.

Raphael was sitting on the edge of the mattress, gently holding the old woman's hand. His amber eyes were bright with tears and his mask was slowly turning dark beneath his eyes as his sorrow spilled over. Leo stood beside him, resting a hand on his brother's solid shoulder.

"Oh, Raph, I'm so sorry," April said tearfully.

"She told me where her husband is buried," Raph said dully. "I think if we plan it right, we can take her there and bury her with him."

Leo nodded, hand tightening on Raph's shoulder. "I'll make sure we do."

"I don't understand," Raph said, voice breaking. "I got her the medicine. She was getting better. She was really good the past few days."

Leo sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, Raph," he said softly. "I don't know, maybe there wasn't anything we could have done. Maybe it was just her time."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raph said harshly. He started out low and gained volume as he went on. "'Just her time'? Why, because she was old? So that makes it okay? Was it just Splinter's time?" April gasped softly. The temperature in the room seemed to plummet, Raphael's bitter words hanging in the air like spears of ice.

Leo's hand slid away from Raph's shoulder and he stepped back, bewildered and hurt. "Raph, I…I didn't mean…"

Raphael ducked his head and lurched to his feet, shoving past Leo and bulling his way out the door. The silence he left behind was cold and hard, freezing them all in place and stifling any attempt to call after him.

Casey was the first to move. He let out a long sigh, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "I'll go talk to him."

April gave her husband a grateful look as he ducked out the door, then crossed the room to stand next to Leo, putting her arm around his shoulders. "Raph's grieving," she said gently. "It doesn't excuse what he said, but he didn't mean it. You know that."

"It was a stupid thing for me to say," Leo answered dejectedly. "I don't know what I was thinking. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I haven't been much use to my brothers for a while, now."

"Stop it, Leo." Mike's voice was quiet, but no less forceful. "That's not true. I've told you, you can't keep talking like that."

Leo didn't seem to hear. Very gently, he reached up and removed April's arm from around his shoulders, pressing her hand briefly between both of his in a silent apology before turning his face away and slipping silently out the door. He wasn't quick enough to keep her from seeing the tears that he was fighting to hold in.

A smothering silence fell. April blinked back tears of her own as she gazed upon the peaceful, laughter-lined face on the pillow. Mrs. Morrison had only been with them a few years, but her sweet, calming presence had been a blessing in the middle of a war that was rapidly engulfing the planet in chaos.

"I - I don't know how I'm going to tell Shadow," she said, starting to cry.

Michelangelo crossed the room and wrapped his arm around her, hugging her tightly. "You'll tell her the same way you always do," he said quietly.

April clung to her friend and allowed herself to cry. Shadow was a bright, happy little girl in spite of the loss that surrounded her, but April couldn't fight the fear that one day there would be one loss too many, and the cheerful spark in her daughter's eyes would be extinguished forever.

Michelangelo let her hold on for a few minutes until she'd calmed herself. She gave him a sheepish look as she took a step back and palmed her tears away, but he just smiled a little and shifted his hold on her, keeping a brotherly arm around her shoulders as she leaned against his side.

They stood there in silence for a while. It was still too early for the morning routine of the base to disturb the quiet, but April knew that all too soon, the day would start and the world would move on with one less soul to warm it.

A soft sound from the doorway made her look up to see Casey and Raphael standing in the hall. The anger was gone from Raph's face, leaving only guilt and sorrow behind. He stepped into the room, making eye contact with both her and Mike as he said very quietly, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't've…Splinter and Mrs. M. wouldn't want me to be like that."

Mikey gave April a final pat on the back before releasing her, stepping over to punch his brother lightly on the arm. "It's okay, bro," he said, giving Raph a spare but genuine smile.

"I'm gonna sit with her just a little longer," Raph said. He lowered himself carefully to the edge of the mattress, turning his body sideways to face the head of the bed. "Stick around?" he asked over his shoulder.

Mikey's eyes softened. "Yeah." He sat on the edge of the bed behind Raph, leaning his right shoulder up against his brother's carapace. "You know," he ventured quietly, looking down at the patch of floor between his feet, "you really should track Leo down, sooner rather than later. He was pretty shook up."

"I know," Raph said grudgingly. "Don't worry, Mikey, I'll talk to him. And apologize. Again." He frowned. "I just hope he listens to me this time."

"Dude, I know that feeling," Mike muttered, not quite under his breath.

April's brow furrowed a little, troubled by the uncharacteristic undertone of resentment in his voice, but Raphael didn't say anything in reply.

Casey came up beside her and opened his arms, pulling her tightly against his chest. She curled gratefully into his embrace and hid her face against his shirt, imagining that she could shut out everything and not have to deal with the world around her for just a little while…

But then she felt him sigh. "The kiddo's up," he said quietly.

She sighed too and nodded. "Okay. Come on, we should go talk to her." She looked back over to the pair of brothers. "We'll be back soon, guys." Mike gave her a little wave in response as they headed out the door.

Casey's arm settled heavily around her shoulders as they walked, and she wrapped her arm around his waist and gave him a squeeze. "You're a miracle worker."

Casey chuckled a little, but the troubled shadow didn't leave his eyes. "I dunno. I got Raph to come back, but he wouldn't talk to me about what happened with Leo this time like he usually does."

"He'll come around," April said, trying to smile. "It's Raph. He always does."

"Yeah, I know. It's just I ain't seen him like this for such a long time before. Leo, neither. I mean…you know they've butted heads all the time since they were kids, but they've always made up real quick and moved on. But now its like…it takes 'em longer to cool down, and the way they fight…that was a low blow, Raph bringin' Splinter into it. He felt bad about it even before I called him on it, but…he still said it. The arguments are startin' to feel mean now. It didn't used to be like that."

"I've noticed," April said. "And I think Leo and Raph have noticed, too. They're just…lost, and this war hasn't given them any time to find themselves again. But they're brothers, and they need each other. They won't forget that."

Casey tried to smile down at her. "If you believe it, I believe it."

"I do believe it," she said fiercely. She didn't voice the uncertain "I have to" that lurked in the back of her mind, but the look Casey gave her told her that he'd heard it all the same. The world around her had changed beyond recognition, and she was beginning to fear that her family would do the same. That fear had been creeping up on her from the very first day everything had seemed to go wrong; the day Donatello disappeared, the pebble falling in the pond that sent ripples of change spreading unstoppably outwards. And the world had moved on.

"I can't believe anything else," she said softly. "Casey, I think the guys are starting to be afraid that they're losing each other. And if that's true, I don't think they know how to stop it. So…so I can't even let myself believe it could be a possibility. Theymight not believe in themselves any more, but I do. I won't let that change."

Casey held her a little closer. "Well, with you in their corner, they're gonna be fine. There's always, hope, right?"

"Yes, Casey," she said, leaning her head against his shoulder as they walked. "There's always hope. No matter what."

Outside the compound, dawn broke. The red sun climbed into the sky, and the world moved on.