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Author's Chapter Notes:

Well, since it IS Christmas Eve, I figured i'd update....& hope for a review - lol. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays y'all!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Only own Catarina, Marietta, baddies, Rembrandt, & story idea! Mirage Studios owns everything TMNT. Thank-you!

Against her own better judgment, Rina had left the sewers and taken to Topside. A climb up the fire escape ladder got her to the rooftop of the abandoned business closest to the manhole they used. She was exasperated with her family, she was exhausted from not sleeping much last night, she hadn't eaten in a while, and she was afraid. She had no idea why she was still afraid, it didn't make any sense. Her family was there now and she was back home. There was no need to feel paranoid. She sighed and put her forehead into her hands.

 

"Hey, Rina, I'm comin' up!" she heard Mikey call from down on the ground.

 

She rolled her eyes and leaned over the side, "Mikey! What the heck?"

 

"I thought you could use some company," he replied, climbing up the ladder.

 

"Ughhh," Rina sighed, "Fine, whatever."

 

He was up beside her in a second and he gave her grin, "Nice night, huh?"

 

"Suppose so," Rina said, glancing up at the sky. It was its regular hazy grey, their glorious New York sky. "What do you want, Mikey?" Rina finally asked after he was silent for a while.

 

"Nothin', just wanted to look at the sky," he replied.

 

"Yeah, uh-huh," she replied, putting her head back against her knees.

 

"Hey, would you have preferred someone else?" Mikey asked, his eye ridges raised. "You almost had Marie, then Leo up here."

 

Rina groaned, not bothering to lift her head from her lap. "Figures," she muttered.

 

"They're just worried, is all," Mikey assured her. "We were all pretty scared last night, and now we're just overly relieved."

 

"I just wish people would give me space!" Rina growled softly. "Everyone keeps smothering me - I'm becoming claustrophobic, Mikey. It feels like everything's closing in on me, and I don't like it one bit!"

 

"I don't know what I can do about that, Kiddo," Mikey told her. "But I'll do my best to make everybody leave yah be, 'till you suggest otherwise. And maybe it'll help that we're gonna be going out to the farm for awhile."

 

"Really?" Rina said, glancing up at him hopefully.

 

"Really," Mikey nodded, smiling some. "We leave day after tomorrow. April needs a day to get some things ready and stuff."

 

Rina looked overly grateful and relieved all at once. "Thank-you," she breathed softly.

 

Mikey gave her a warm, brotherly hug. "No problem, Kiddo," he said, kissing the top of her head. "I figured we could all use a break, and the farm house is the best way to stay hidden."

 

"Isn't that considered running?" Rina asked.

 

"Nah," Mikey shook his head, arms still wrapped around her gently. "It's considered protecting the family, and going on a well-deserved vacation."

 

Rina pulled away some - it wasn't that she wasn't enjoying the hug, but she was starting to feel smothered again.

 

Mikey smiled at her, ruffling her hair. "Be sure to tell Leo I did a good job of playin' big brother," he joked. "I bet he'd be shocked."

 

"He shouldn't be," Rina replied softly, giving him a small smile. "You're always a good big brother - you know when to give me space."

 

Mikey beamed at that, feeling extremely glad that he seemed to have helped somewhat.

 

Meanwhile, Marie was still writing and plotting out her revenge on her pad of paper. "Maybe I should go tomorrow night.......or tonight......" She pondered aloud, glad no one was nearby. "If I wait until after the farm trip, they'll remember we exist and may come after us an' then everybody will know I went back......" She sighed heavily, biting her lip. "I better make sure my sai and manikiri are clean, if I'ma do this before we leave......." She refused to acknowledge the part of her brain that was telling her this was a foolish idea.

 

"I hope Mikey knows what he's doin'," Raph commented a while later, as the ones that had been left in the kitchen, all gathered in the den to watch television. "Don't need him makin' things worse."

 

"I'm sure he is doing fine, my son," Master Splinter assured. "She is like him in many ways."

 

"Yeah, her and Mikey have always been pretty close," Donnie smiled. "Especially when they get in baking mode."

 

Raph snorted. "More like experimenting mode," he stated.

 

Rembrandt looked a bit confused. "Is their food really that bad?"

 

"No, they're pretty good at it, and make most the main meals," Leo smiled. "Raph's just being his sarcastic self."

 

"Oh," Rembrandt nodded, understanding somewhat. "Guess I better get used to that?"

 

"Definitely," Donnie nodded, plopping down on the one chair, as Leo popped a movie in.

 

Rina and Mikey came back in, Rina not looking at the others as she walked over and sat down on the couch beside Rembrandt. The look on her face dared anyone to ask her if she was okay. Thankfully, they all stayed quiet and didn't even comment about it. She sighed and curled up next to Rembrandt, answering all the new turtle's questions about the show on the TV. Even though she wouldn't admit it, the images were less intense when she was around her family.

 

Meanwhile, Marie had made up her mind. She was going to go tonight, as soon as she got the chance. She placed her manikiri in her belt and stuck her sai in their holsters. It wouldn't be long until her brothers headed out on patrol…all she had to do was make sure that Sensei, Rina, and Rembrandt were occupied. She had a good idea about how to go about that…

 

After about an hour, Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey went out on their shortened patrol. They left with instructions from Master Splinter to stay safe and cautious, and they made sure to tell the younger mutants not to leave the lair under any circumstances. They all replied with reassurances. When the guys had been gone for about ten minutes, Marie took a deep breath. It was now or never.

 

"Rina," she said, getting her sister's attention.

 

The turtle in blue and white had been sketching in a white and black composition book. She raised her head to look at Marie, "Hmm?"

 

"You know what I think about what happened to you last night?" she asked, leaning back in her chair.

 

"Marie, you know I don't wanna…" she started but Marie cut her off.

 

"No, you don't, you little wuss! You can't keep cutting me off, you wanna know why? Because you're not loud enough to!" she shouted, standing up from her chair.

 

Rina narrowed her eyes, "What?"

 

"You're not deaf, you heard me," growled Marie, "You could have stopped them last night! It's your own damn fault you got snatched, you know that?" She was closing in on Rina who was glaring and obviously didn't like how close she was or how angry she was acting.

 

"With all your Speedy Gonzalez agility, you should've been able to move out of the way. And Donnie had to freakin' protect you before that! And why'd you have to push me, you got a Leo-complex or something? You're as much to blame for your capture as anyone else, Rina, so stop playing the victim and shutting us out!" She could see Rina crumbling, and she felt that her plan was back-firing. Rina was supposed to get mad, not…sad.

 

"Yeah, so don't blame me!" Marie said, shoving her sister in the shoulder. That got a reaction.

 

Rina snapped her hand out and grabbed Marie's wrist, "Don't touch me."

 

"What're you gonna do, Rina?" asked Marie, poking her with the other hand.

 

"Back OFF!" shouted Rina, stepping away from Marie.

 

"Go on, freak out; no one cares!" Marie yelled, shoving her again.

 

Rina let out an angry shout and nearly punched Marie in the face. She pulled her punch right before she made contact and then rushed past Marie.

 

Rembrandt looked at Marie, his eyes questioning. Oh great, he was going to think she was insane. It had hurt her a lot, but at least she knew her sister would stay in the dojo for a good while, working off her steam with her bow and arrows. Maybe Rembrandt would try to talk to her. Oh well. Marie had to do this, it was her revenge. She needed it. Sighing, she pushed the door open and headed out into the sewers.

 

About thirty minutes later, Raphael stepped into the dojo to find Rina and Rembrandt in the dojo. Rina was wearing the hitting mitts while Rembrandt was taking shots at them. She was good at blocking them, especially since he was so slow compared to the others. He smirked as he decided to test her. Running into the room, he aimed a punch at her plastron. She saw him coming and flung the mitt up to block him. He smiled as his fist connected with the soft material of the mitt.

 

"That was a good one, Rina," he said as she stepped away. She nodded, not really giving him a smile. He looked over to Rembrandt, "What's with her?"

 

"I'm right here," grumbled Rina, crossing her arms over her plastron.

 

"Marie made her mad," Rembrandt replied.

 

"Mad is NOT the word," Rina snapped, trying to pull the mitts off her hands. Raphael yanked one off for her and she pulled off the other one, "FURIOUS is better. Wrathful even tops that!"

 

"Yeah, sounds like a Marie move," said Raphael, "Have you guys seen her, anyways?"

 

"No," replied Rembrandt, "Not since we came in here."

 

Raphael frowned upon hearing that, as he knew under the circumstances she'd want to be near her sister - no matter if they were fighting or not. "Alright," he said finally. "I'ma go find her an' give her a talking too."

 

"Thanks, Raph," Rina sighed, licking her lips some as she tried to shake off what her sister had said to her - she was still in disbelief, not wanting to believe her sister could be so cruel.

 

Raph gave them a curt nod, then left the dojo to go give Marie a good swift kick in the rear end for infuriating Rina as much as she had. Nobody infuriated Rina without him kicking their shells for it! No one!

 

"He's just going to talk to her, right?" Rembrandt asked, still unsure of the Raphael/Marie relationship.

 

Rina shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. He usually kicks her rear end though, and she always deserves it for being such a brat!"

 

"Ooh-ka-ay," Rembrandt said, sounding unsure.

 

"C'mon. I'll show yah some kicks now," Rina told him. "Then you can surprise Leo with 'em, the next time we practice."

 

Rembrandt looked excited suddenly. "Really? I'm going to learn how to do all those cool kicks?"

 

"Well....the simple ones right now," Rina replied. "The cooler stuff takes time....I just learned this one myself." She then did her spinning high kick, being careful not to topple over.

 

"Wow!" Rembrandt grinned. "That was Awesome!"

 

Rina blushed slightly. "Well, it's harder than it looks," she smiled a bit. "Believe me."

 

Rembrandt just kept grinning. "Well, c'mon! Show me the easy ones!"

 

Rina gave a soft laugh, glad he was there and able to cheer her up somewhat. "Okay, okay. Hold your horses," she said, getting into position once more.

 

"Horses?" Rembrandt repeated.

 

"I'll explain later," Rina promised. "Now, get into position."

 

Rembrandt nodded, and did as asked, watching intently as Rina did a simple front kick.

 

Marie in the mean time was just nearing the building they'd rescued Rina from the night before. She paused momentarily to work her plan out in her head once more, before advancing to the building's rooftop, and peering down into the skylight to observe what was going on. She was going to find that man, and make sure he was no longer a threat to her family.

 

Meanwhile, Raphael had searched the entire lair, unable to find Marie anywhere. "Hey, Donnie?" He called out, as he entered the living room.

 

"Yeah?" Donnie answered, coming from behind him, as he'd been in the bathroom.

 

"You ever get to sticking that tracker on Marie?"

 

"No....why?" Donnie asked.

 

"She ain't here," Raph replied. "I've looked everywhere - she's not in the lair."

 

Donnie frowned, then suddenly remembered something. "I placed a tracker on her sai the other night, after she crushed the one on her belt. It’s so tiny, she'll never spot it."

 

"Well, get to checkin' it!" Raph snapped somewhat. "I'ma go check her room again, to see if she left a note or anythin'."

 

Donnie nodded, and quickly headed to his lab to see if the tracker was still working. Moments later, Donnie and Raph met up in the den once more.

 

"You'll never believe where she is," Donnie began, only to be cut off by Raph.

 

"Oh, I will," he growled, holding up the notes Marie had made while plotting her revenge. "LEO! MIKEY! GET IN HERE!"