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roseverdict · 10 months

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Lost and Found

April O'Neil was not lost.

She was not!

She was exploring the playground and the surrounding area, that was all!

…but was she supposed to take a right turn at Albearto's or a left?

Maybe she was a teensy bit lost after all.

(Or, apparently there are some tweets about how April presumably met the guys a good few years before the events of the series, but they didn't get the chance to elaborate on it since network mismanagement shot the show in the foot. However, the idea of teensy April with tiny tortles has been bouncing around my brain like a Windows screensaver ever since I saw those tweets.)

(Or, "piece of evidence #254 that i cannot for the LIFE of me control the hyperfixate")

〜

i know there's a line in "repairin' the baron" that implies that splinter and the turtles have yet to meet april's mom but shshshshsh i do what i want. also i think the idea of mrs. o'neil knowing about them from the get-go is neat :>

tw/sidenote but both april and her mom are aware (to varying degrees) of the danger to a lost kid in a big city with plenty of melanin in their skin. the white guy who harasses april for a bit knows it too. things get stopped before any lasting injuries can be gotten and nothing explicitly racist is said, but still. i'm trying to be accurate as i can be to these situations and the characters but i'm so pasty you could colorpick from most of my skin and just get #FFFFFF so. no firsthand experience.

also there are brief mentions of potential amputation, though nothing actually gets amputated.

stay safe all.

(you can tell i'm not a new yorker by the way i make up place names and intersections xD)

〜

April O'Neil was not lost.

She was not!

She was exploring the playground and the surrounding area, that was all!

And maaaybe she had lost track of her directions somewhere a few blocks ago, but she still recognized the buildings around her, so she was fine!

Really, she was!

…but was she supposed to take a right turn at Albearto's or a left?

April shivered and tugged her orange hoodie tighter around her body. "Hoboy."

Maybe she was a teensy bit lost after all.

Well, sitting around all alone in Manhattan when you were the cutest, most charming little girl in town was a surefire way to get yoinked into some alleyway by shady gross people. If she was gonna be lost, she sure as heck wasn't gonna look like it!

April started walking as confidently as she could down streets she knew but couldn't quite piece together. Hopefully, she'd stumble across the entrance to the playground and be able to get back before Momma and Daddy started worrying about her.

While her confident swagger prevented people from giving her any weird looks, it did not prevent her from hearing a weird, quiet chirp-y noise.

April slowed, then wormed her way through the throng of adults until she popped out the side and could come to a stop. "Wha…?"

The chirp-y noise came back, this time easier to hear now that she wasn't in the middle of all those people, and April cautiously followed it back to the open end of an alleyway.

The chirping persisted.

It didn't sound human, per se, but at the same time it had a lack of…something…that made April think it wasn't just some freaky bird.

It kinda reminded her of…

…crying.

"H-hello?" called April shakily. "Is anyone there?"

The chirping came to a stop with a squeak, and April frowned, taking a step forward. "I don't wanna hurt you, okay? Are you alright?"

There came no response, but April took another step, then a third, scanning the alley for any shady gross people.

After a few more steps, April froze.

So did the big turtle shell thingy jammed between bags of garbage opposite some old graffiti- though, on second thought, maybe she just thought it was big because she'd only ever seen turtles in the zoo that were small enough for Momma to pick up in her hands. Apparently some turtles got to be way bigger than grown-ups, but this turtle shell was only a little bigger than the turtles at the zoo.

"…hi, there," said April quietly.

A turtle face peeked out at her from inside the shell, wide-eyed.

After a moment, April lowered herself to the ground and crossed her legs. "Why're you crying?"

Now, she hadn't really been expecting an answer- she'd just figured that talking calmly like Daddy did whenever she scraped her knee might help calm the turtle down.

That said, she figured she did a great job at not startling when the turtle spoke, and with a voice like a little kid, to boot. "…I, I think I'm l-lost."

"You're lost?" asked April. "Me, too. Do you have any friends that should be with you?"

The turtle's head slowly came out from his shell, and he nodded. "M-me and my brothers were explorin', but I got distracted by the pretty wall art and when I looked around they were, they were gone!"

"Pretty wall art? Y'mean the graffiti?" April asked, twisting her head to look back at the graffiti in question- a vivid neon version of the sunrise over Manhattan. She turned back and grinned. "You got good taste, turtle boy!"

That got Turtle Boy to giggle, and he carefully pulled himself from his shell and his hiding place to sit in front of her. "You think so?"

"I know so." April held out a hand for him to shake. "My name's April."

"Hi, April," giggled Turtle Boy as he shook her hand. "I'm Mikey."

Huh. He only had three fingers instead of five. Then again, he wasn't a human kid, so it made sense.

April beamed at Mikey. "Well, then, whaddya say we try and find our families? At least we won't be alone and lost."

Mikey nodded, but then he glanced out at the hustle and bustle of the adults just past the mouth of the alley. "But what if the human grown-ups see me?"

April frowned in thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "They can't see you if you're wearing something big and baggy! Hang on-!"

She took her hand back from Mikey and yanked off her hoodie, then held it out to him. "Try this on!"

Mikey's eyes widened, and April almost could have sworn he got stars in them. "A-are you sure?"

"Positive," April said, winking at him. "Besides, ain't turtles cold-blooded? It's getting kinda chilly out these days anyway."

Mikey took the hoodie like it was some kind of sacred artifact in a movie, then slipped it on over his shell. The sleeves were long enough to hide his turtle-hands, and when they both stood up, it went down far enough that what little April could still see of his legs could easily pass as weird pants and shoes.

"Now you're lookin' cozy," April proclaimed, reaching over and flipping the hood over his head.

Mikey giggled, then grabbed her hand and grinned up at her. "Okay, let's go."

April gave his hand a squeeze, and the two of them struck out into the wilderness of rush hour.

"So, Mikey, do you recognize anything around here?" asked she after a few moments of walking.

Mikey's head turned from left to right and back again as he looked around, then he pointed with his free hand at Metro Tower, his sleeve flopping slightly at the end. "I think we were trying to go, uh, over there when we got separated."

"Right!" April nodded and led the way. "To the tower!"

For the most part, they managed to get through the crowds without too much trouble.

When they were just a few blocks away, though-

"Hey, there, kiddo. You're looking kinda green, heheh."

April tensed at the voice from one of the alleys. That was definitely somebody trying to be shady and gross.

She glanced at Mikey worriedly, but when he didn't seem to have any ideas for what to do beyond freezing up in fear, she swallowed down her nerves, squeezed his hand again, and shot a fake smile into the alleyway. "Thanks for your concern, mister, but my bro here just really likes dressing up as animals."

"Is that so?" asked the voice. The owner stepped into view, a very tall, very grown-up, very big white guy with an extremely icky grin on his face. "Would either of you be willing to show me the full costume?"

April gulped.

In the distance, she heard a few new voices yelling for Mikey, and from the tiny gasp that came out of him, April made an educated guess and said, "Sorry, mister, but our other brothers are prob'ly looking for us. Gotta go!"

Mikey nodded quickly. "Eheheh, yep! Bye!"

The two of them tried to bolt, but the man shot forward and yanked Mikey's hood down, gripping it hard enough that Mikey made a choked noise and skidded to a stop, clawing helplessly at his throat.

"HEY!" April snapped, whirling back around.

"A costume, eh?" snickered the gross guy. "Looks to me like you're a grade-A freak!"

April grit her teeth. "Let him go. Now."

"No, no, I don't think I will," said Gross Guy, scowling. "A scientific weirdo like this thing is gonna make me the big bucks!"

"Oh, I'll show you a scientific weirdo," hissed April right before charging the man and punching him right in the groin.

The sound Gross Guy made sounded a lot like the squeak Mikey had made when she first saw him, except better because Gross Guy's hand flew from Mikey's hood to grab at where April had punched.

Mikey gasped for breath, but April just grabbed him by the sleeve and started running. "C'mon, we gotta book it before he recovers!"

The two of them stumbled for a moment as Mikey got his feet back under him, but then they were sprinting down the sidewalk as fast as Mikey's little legs would let them. After a few moments of this, though, April shifted her grip on Mikey and just hefted him up into her arms, shell and all. "Hang on!"

"GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE-!"

Mikey glanced behind her, then shrank into his shell a bit. "He's gaining on us!"

April poured on the speed, but at the same moment as she saw another turtle boy about a street away and happened to catch his eye, a massive hand grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to a stop.

She let her grip on Mikey loosen so he would be able to go flying a few feet forward and yelled, "MIKEY, RUN!"

"Wha-? But April-!"

"I SAID RUN!"

She flailed in Gross Guy's grip in an effort to become as slippery, un-grabbable, and distraction-like as possible, but all she managed to do was get turned around so she couldn't see if Mikey got away.

Instead, all she got to see was Gross Guy glaring at her bad enough she almost wanted to cry.

Figured.

〜

Raphie's eyes flew wide as the human girl screamed, "MIKEY, RUN!"

From where he'd landed on the ground, Mikey scrambled to his feet, but instead of running- "Wha-? But April-!"

"I SAID RUN!"

Raphie chirped loudly, alerting Donnie and Leo to where he was without saying anything the human man might pick up on, then darted through the shadows to where Mikey lay, yanking him out of sight and into a nearby alley.

Mikey shook for a second, but once he saw Raphie's face, he launched himself up and grabbed Raphie in a tight hug. Before Raphie could hug him back, though, Mikey quickly pulled back and pointed tearfully at where the two humans were fighting.

Well, it was more of the man managing to drag the girl into another alley as she wiggled and yelled, but still.

For a moment, Dad's instructions to never, ever be seen by humans rang in Raphie's ears.

Then he reminded himself that the girl seemed to be trying to help Mikey, and it'd be rude to not help her back.

Raphie nodded to Mikey, then gave him a pat on the shoulder and slunk into the alley after the two humans.

"You idiot!" hissed the man, finally managing to grab the girl by the shoulders and slam her back against the wall, her feet dangling. "You just let the jackpot of a lifetime run free!"

The girl leaned away from the man's face, then spat right into his eyes.

Something in the man's face twisted. "Why, you-!"

Yeah, okay, Raphie wasn't watching any more of this.

He jumped up onto the man's back and clawed at him, a growl rising up in his chest.

The man squawked in surprise, though he didn't let go of the girl until Raphie bit him in the shoulder. He didn't bite at full strength- Donnie'd made sure he knew the kind of power a normal alligator snapping turtle had, and he didn't want to amputate anything (or, well, half-amputate with his tiny mouth)- but it was still more than enough to get the man to drop the girl to the ground.

As soon as the girl was free, Raphie stopped biting in favor of shoving himself off the man in such a way that the guy went tumbling into the wall.

The girl gawked at him, but shook herself out of it pretty quick once he grabbed her hand and ran back to where Mikey was, leaving the man to lick his wounds. "Thanks for the save, big guy! Guessing you're one of Mikey's brothers?"

Raphie nodded. "I'm Raphie."

"Good to meetcha, weird alley man aside," the girl laughed awkwardly, then leaned heavily on the nearby wall. "I'm April."

Raphie shot her a grin and a nod-

-and then Mikey cannonballed into her. "APRIL! Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine, Mikey, I promise," April told him, taking the cannonball-hug in stride and patting his shell through the hoodie he'd found. "Dude screwed up my locs, though. Booooo."

There came a groan from the other alley, and April's head whipped around to look before whipping back to meet Raphie's eyes. "We gotta move."

Raphie nodded. "If we can get down to the sewers, me and my bros know those like the backs of our hands."

"Then what're we waiting for?" asked Donnie, poking his head up from a manhole deeper in their alley.

"Let's go!" called Leo, popping up next to him.

The guy Raphie'd bitten made a weak-but-furious growling noise, and April nodded quickly. "Sounds good to me!"

Raphie watched carefully as she turned Mikey to the manhole and walked him over. She seemed to have Mikey's best interests at heart, and she didn't seem freaked out by the fact that they were all a bunch of talking turtles, but…

April glanced back at him. "Raphie, you coming?"

"I'm the oldest, so I gotta make sure everybody else is safe, first," Raphie told her firmly.

"Really? How old are you?"

"Ten. That's a whole two digits."

April snickered. "I'm eleven, which means I outrank you! Into the sewer with you, Turtle Boy!"

Raphie spluttered indignantly, but Mikey just giggled as he clambered down. "Yeah, into the sewer!"

Because she got Mikey to giggle, and only for that reason, Raphie relented and went next. April gestured grandly at the manhole as he passed, and then as soon as Raphie climbed low enough, she followed suit.

"Don't forget the manhole cover," called Donnie from below.

April nodded. "Gotcha."

The fading daylight cut out as April hefted the cover and pulled it back over the hole, and then they were lit only by the service lights of the sewer itself as they descended.

"So, I already met Mikey and Raphie," April said, glancing down at something past Raphie, "but I don't think I caught your names."

"My name is Donatello-"

"-but we just call him Donnie! I'm Leo!" declared he cheerfully.

"Ugh."

April chuckled. "Nice to meetcha. I'm April."

"Well, April, the sewers make for a quick getaway, but I doubt you want to stay down here forever," Donnie remarked as they started reaching the bottom. "Was there anywhere you needed to go?"

Once Raphie touched down, April hopped the last few feet to the ground and turned to them. "Yeah, actually. You know how to get to Carney Park?"

"Of course I do! I know everything," bragged Donnie, adjusting his glasses haughtily. "This way- wait."

Raphie watched as Donnie tensed. "…Donnie…?"

"The only efficient way to get from here to there is to take April through…" Donnie breathed, glancing at Raphie worriedly, "…the lair."

"Ah, crud," moaned Leo.

"Wha-? What's 'ah, crud?' What's 'the lair?'" April asked, fiddling with her hair. Then, after glancing around, in a whisper, "Is there a sewer gator?"

"No, no sewer gators!" Mikey assured quickly. "It's just…the lair is what we call our home, and we…may or may not have snuck out while Dad was napping."

"He has a very strict 'no human interaction' rule, for reasons you've just experienced," Donnie added.

Leo buried his head in his hands. "He probably won't even be mad. He'll just be…"

Raphie shuddered. "…disappointed."

April grimaced. "Oof, I know what that's like. Are we positive there's no other way?"

Donnie shrugged helplessly. "It's either the lair or a detour."

"How long a detour are we talking?" asked April, perking up some.

"On foot? Something like…" Donnie swallowed. "…an extra hour."

It was April's turn to groan and drop her face into her hands. "Awww, nooo, I'm gonna get so grounded!"

Even though April was (allegedly) older than Raphie, in that moment, all he saw was a girl like Leo or Donnie or Mikey- in need of Big Bro Raphie.

Raphie set his jaw, then turned to the others. "We go through the lair. Hopefully Pops is still sleeping, and if he's not…we sneak her through."

"You sure, Raphie?" asked Leo.

Raphie nodded firmly. "I'm sure."

"Then we'd best get a move on," Donnie said. "We've been gone…how long, exactly?"

April checked her wrist. "Well, it's almost 6 PM now. I dunno when you left, though."

Donnie still nodded, taking in the info. "Then Dad should hopefully still be asleep by the time we reach the lair, but only if we move fast."

"So let's hoof it!" declared Leo, breaking into a jog.

Mikey grabbed April's hand and dragged her after Leo. "Onwards!"

Raphie waited to make sure Donnie got back to the front of the group, then set off after them, keeping an eye out for anything else that might throw a wrench in their plans for the day.

"So, you're eleven?" asked Mikey after a few minutes.

April managed a laugh between breaths. "Sure am!"

Mikey beamed at her. "Cool! I'm eight!"

"Me and the nerd here are nine!" added Leo, pointing a thumb at Donnie.

"It's 'the nerd here and I,' Nardo," corrected Donnie.

Leo snorted. "See what I mean?"

April chuckled weakly, and Raphie glanced over at her just in time to see her foot come down and twist-

"Aaand scoop!" Raphie decided, doing exactly that to April before she had a chance to drop.

"Nice catch, Raphie!" Mikey cheered.

April blinked in surprise, then grinned sheepishly. "Thanks. Apparently I gotta work on my endurance."

"We're almost to the lair," murmured Donnie, slowing down.

"Right." Raphie shot Leo a look. "Leo, check if Pops is awake."

Leo nodded. "On it."

As Leo darted off, Raphie looked down at April. "I saw your ankle twist. Can you walk?"

"Only one way to find out," April declared.

Raphie set her on her feet, and while he held his hands nearby to catch her in case she fell, she didn't seem to need it. A little wobbling as she caught her balance, and April was fine.

Phew.

"Oh, haha, hiii, Dad!" called Leo's voice loudly. "You're up, I see!"

Raphie, April, Mikey, and Donnie all froze.

"He should've been out for another half-hour!" hissed Donnie.

"What do we-?" whispered Mikey.

"Stick close, April," Raphie decided. "I'm biggest, so if Pops gets close, hide behind me and we'll pretend you ain't there. Donnie, Mikey, act natural."

〜

"I certainly am," chuckled Splinter, scritching Leonardo's head. "How are you and your brothers doing, Blue?"

"Doing great!" Leonardo said with a grin, the response coming suspiciously fast and the smile growing suspiciously wide.

Well, so long as he and his brothers weren't actively being harmed, he supposed he could let it go just this once. Perhaps they were just trying to sneak in something cool they found while playing.

Splinter nodded and turned to head back to the TV room. "Wonderful."

He pretended not to notice as Donatello and Michelangelo entered with exaggerated sneaking motions, and he pretended not to notice as Raphael followed with a fake casualness.

He pretended not to notice as Leonardo joined the other three, and he pretended not to notice as the four of them tried to abscond to elsewhere in the lair.

When an unfamiliar voice gasped in time with a human girl stumbling into view, clearly hiding from him behind Raphael until whatever made her wince in pain, however, Splinter knew he had to confront his sons.

"Boys-!"

"Don't get mad at April!" Michelangelo burst, darting between the two of them with his arms held out protectively. "She helped me get unlost and saved me from a meanie human grown-up!"

"She told Mikey to get to safety when the bad guy grabbed her," Raphael added, mirroring the position. "And I thought the ankle she twisted was fine."

"It was!" protested the girl- April- as she leaned heavily on one leg. "At least, until just now. I think I double-twisted it."

"She's been remarkably calm about this whole situation, as well," Donatello chimed in, gesturing to himself in regards to the 'situation.'

Leonardo stepped between Donatello and Michelangelo, finishing the formation of a protective line between Splinter and April. "Dad, please don't be mad-"

"You snuck out?" Splinter started with. Then, before they could respond, he held up a hand. "This may be surprising, but I suppose I was already well-aware of that. I will be back to that subject later, but first- you all know how dangerous humans can be! And you brought one here?"

Then the other implications of his sons' words hit him like a yawning chasm splitting open in his chest.

"Wait, wait, wait- you needed saving?!"

Michelangelo nodded emphatically. "So I got distracted and lost track of the others and there was this guy, right? And April let me borrow her hoodie so people wouldn't see me and freak out but this guy saw me anyway, and he had the hood so I couldn't get away and April punched him between the legs so we could run! She picked me up so we could go faster, but then the guy grabbed her by the hair so she tossed me and Raphie was there and-"

"Woah, woah, Orange, slow down. I only caught the first part of that," Splinter said, holding his hands up placatingly.

Michelangelo took a deep breath, but Raphael dropped a hand on his shoulder and spoke instead. "Pops, this guy was going after Mikey, and April put herself in harm's way to get him to safety. Once we got away, she mentioned she needed to get to Carney Park, but the quickest way there meant we would need to come through the lair. I-I know you don't trust humans, but April is trustworthy, I swear."

Splinter looked between his sons, then searched April's gaze for…something.

The girl's hair was a mess. He'd done film work with all kinds of folks, way back in the day, and he knew that the amount of care that went into certain hairstyles- such as, for instance, April's- meant that for each grouping of hair to be frayed and off-kilter the way it was…well, that certainly proved the 'grabbed by the hair' part of the story.

She wasn't breathing too heavily, but it was still clear that she'd been doing a lot of physical exertion recently, and she certainly favored one leg over the other.

He looked into the girl's eyes- she couldn't possibly have been much older than Raphael!- and saw tempered steel underneath a laid-back exterior.

He looked into the girl's eyes and saw himself, and he saw her find herself in his in turn.

(He had a feeling that if he forbade his sons from becoming her friend, she was going to worm her way in anyway.)

"April, correct?" asked Splinter.

"Yes, sir," said she.

Splinter gently parted Leonardo and Michelangelo, then stepped forward. After a moment more, he held out a hand to shake. "You may call me Splinter. Thank you for keeping my boys safe."

Instantly, his boys relaxed, and April cracked a grin as she took his hand. "What can I say? They grew on me quick."

"Red, you mentioned getting April here to Carney Park?" Splinter asked, turning to Raphael.

Raphael nodded.

"Then you'd best get moving so she can get there before sundown."

"…can we play with April after this?" asked Michelangelo. "Like, playdates and stuff?"

"I'd be down for that," April answered, as if silently daring Splinter to contradict her.

Splinter sighed. "Perhaps it would be good to have some form of interaction outside of each other and this old rat."

He tried, but…just because he somewhat knew he was a less-than-stellar parent, that didn't automatically give him the ability to change that fact at will. Maybe a bit of outside interaction might help…well, everything.

A resounding cheer rose up from his sons, and Splinter smiled.

〜

Carol O'Neil was not panicking.

She was not!

She was searching every inch of the streets around Carney Park after exhausting her search of the playground inside, that was all!

And maaaybe she was calling her husband more often than strictly necessary, such as whenever she came to a new intersection without seeing her daughter, but it was perfectly normal to want to stay connected during such a time of crisis!

A crisis that, it bore repeating, was not making her panic.

…oh, who was she kidding?

April had disappeared forty-seven minutes and sixteen seconds ago exactly, and Carol had desperately tried to keep the numbers and statistics from overwhelming her ever since. She and her husband had scoured the playground, then set off to methodically search the surrounding streets, even calling in some of their friends and coworkers to help look, but to no avail.

It was like her daughter had vanished into thin air.

Her phone buzzed- another text from one of her coworkers.

nothing on 25th and Broadway :(

Carol stifled a sob with her free hand, but slid her phone back into her jacket pocket and turned to head back to the park. Maybe…maybe April had just found some sort of hiding place to take a nap?

(Carol ignored how flimsy the idea was in favor of something, anything that could give her a way to find her daughter. She knew the numbers. An unattended black girl lost in the big city could very well never get home again.)

She was so focused on keeping her breathing steady that she almost missed the voice at the edge of her hearing.

Almost.

The words were too quiet to discern, but the voice was calm, and Carol slowed to a stop. "April…?"

There were other voices, unfamiliar but just as young.

Then a manhole cover shifted in a nearby alleyway, and Carol pressed herself against a nearby wall.

"Looks liiike…the coast is clear," said a young boy. "And, just as I calculated, Carney Park is just a few blocks due south of our location!"

"Thanks, Donnie," said April's voice. "Y'all are lifesavers, you don't even know."

Carol was halfway through rounding on the alleyway in all her worried glory when-

"What? No, you're the lifesaver, April," said another boy's voice. "Like, literally. If you hadn't been there and helped me get back to my bros, I-I might'a been-!"

"Oh, don't get all mushy on me now, Mikey," April snorted.

Carol finished her motion, but stayed deathly silent as she took in the scene before her.

There were anthropomorphic turtles in the alley.

April was in the alley, her locs askew and one of her ankles slightly swollen…

…and a warm smile on her face.

None of them seemed to have seen her, and as she watched, April pulled the smallest of the turtles into a tight hug as if he was just another neighborhood kid.

The smallest turtle was wearing April's hoodie.

How had one of these turtles gotten April's hoodie?!

"Promise I'll try to hang out a bunch, okay?" April continued. "You guys are cool, and don't think I didn't see that skateboard ramp in there. I'm gonna pull off so many sick tricks you'll be begging me to teach y'all."

"Do I smell someone attempting to claim my throne as the sickest skater in the sewers?" asked yet another boy's voice, and this time Carol could see that it belonged to one of the turtles.

April smirked. "Maybe you do! Never underestimate April O'Neil!"

"See you soon?" asked the biggest of the turtles in yet another little boy's voice.

"Better believe it, Raphie!" April declared, patting the smallest of the turtles before letting go. "And, hey, Mikey, if you wanna hold onto that, you can. I'm the warm-blooded one here, and fall gets chilly."

The small one- Mikey, apparently- nodded. "Okay!"

April stood up straight, but just as quickly slumped back down sheepishly. "Uhhh…which way is due south, again?"

The turtle boy in glasses spoke up, his voice matching "Donnie's." "Well, given the time and the length and direction of the shadows cast by the sun rather than artificial light sources, it should be just that waaaoooeugh, boy…"

Carol blinked as the turtle boy locked eyes with her, then froze up in terror.

Donnie's reaction caused the rest of the group to turn her way, worry on their faces.

April swallowed, then smiled nervously, ducking her head into her shoulders like she was trying to turn into Mikey, who was legitimately drawing his head into both the hoodie and his shell. "…hiii, Momma."

There were many things Carol wanted to do in that moment.

She wanted to grab her daughter and spirit her home and never let her leave her sight again.

She wanted to break down crying from relief.

She wanted to demand to know what had happened and refuse to leave until she was told every single detail.

She wanted to demand to know why there were turtle boys living in the sewers.

She wanted to wring the reasons behind the 'lifesaver' comments out of them.

She wanted to wipe the fear from the children's faces.

In the end, she took a few steps into the alley, dropped to one knee, and held out her arms, hot tears bubbling up and dripping down her cheeks. "Oh, baby, I'm so glad you're okay."

April sniffled, then barreled into her and clung tight.

Carol quickly held April to her chest and peppered the top of her head with quick kisses, and as April started sobbing into her shirt, Carol turned her attention back to the boys.

Clearly, the fact that Carol had not started screaming at or about them had thrown them off a bit.

"I believe I have you all to thank for getting my daughter back somewhere we could find her?" Carol asked knowingly.

"Y-yes, ma'am," squeaked "Raphie," standing ramrod-straight as his brothers withdrew behind him, all four of them watching her warily.

Carol smiled warmly. "Thank you."

Yet again, the boys seemed taken aback, but Mikey quickly recovered and beamed at her from behind his brother's shell. "You're welcome! April's nice!"

…did these boys have parents? Follow-up question, would they like some?

April sniffled a bit as her sobbing slowed, then shifted to rest the side of her head on Carol's chest and look back at the boys. "Got any hangout plans that don't involve getting lost and running into your dad?"

Oh, right, Carol had to be a Stern Mother and make sure April knew not to run off like that again. Darn it all!

"Now, let's not make any plans just yet," Carol interjected, and almost immediately she got distressed protests from all five kids, but she pressed on- "April, you can't just run off and get lost like that on us. We were so worried-!"

"I'm, I'm sorry, Momma-!"

"-so I'm gonna have to make an executive decision, one I'm sure your daddy will agree with," Carol continued, raising her voice just enough to be heard. "You will not be doing anything with these boys-"

"Ms. O'Neil, you can't-!"

"-for the next two weeks!"

Dead.

Silence.

Almost as if afraid to speak, the boy whose name Carol still had yet to hear breathed, "…not for forever?"

"Leo!" hissed Donnie, elbowing him sharply without taking his wide eyes off of Carol.

Carol shook her head. "No, not for forever. This is a punishment for my daughter for wandering off into the city without somebody with her, not for you boys for bringing her back. Telling April she can't be friends with someone ain't my parenting style, anyway."

Oh, no.

They all looked like they were going to cry now.

Carol shifted her grip on April slightly and held out her now-free arm in invitation.

The four boys stumbled over their own feet as they rushed over, and then Carol found herself patting shells and getting nuzzled by little heads and struggling to stay more or less upright under roughly 240 pounds of sobbing, chirping turtle.

Wait, no- 180 pounds of turtle. Donnie hadn't thrown his entire weight at her like the other three, but even he had reached around and grabbed onto Carol's arm from the side, clinging tightly to her jacket sleeve and sniffling.

Not how she'd expected the evening to play out when she'd taken April out to the park, frankly.

Still, Carol murmured reassurances as she let them cry themselves out, and even April joined in after laughing wetly. On instinct, she found herself scritching Raphie's shell, then pressing a kiss to Mikey's forehead, then letting Leo bury his face in her shoulder. She even caught Donnie's watery eyes and tried to convey as much warmth as she could with a small smile.

Donnie gave her a wobbly smile in return before ducking his face into her sleeve, kneading it between his fingers.

After a good few moments, the boys started pulling themselves back together, and Carol made sure to stay put as they stepped back.

"Heh," managed Leo. "Sorry 'bout crying on you, Ms. O'Neil."

His brothers nodded in agreement.

"You're just fine, sweethearts," Carol told them truthfully. "Do you boys have a place to stay?"

"Mm-hmm." Raphie nodded. Then, with a shrug, "We live with our Pop in the…well, in the sewers."

"We keep our part of it very clean," added Donnie quickly. "We have our own rooms, and even several amenities we've found and taken home, such as furniture, a projector, and even Jupiter Jim movies!"

Leo flexed and grinned at Carol as if he hadn't just been bawling his eyes out into her jacket. "And nothing ever gets in without our say-so!"

"S-so it's okay if April wants to come visit sometimes!" Mikey finished, eyes wide and pleading.

"As long as you aren't running around on your own without even a place to sleep," Carol conceded. She…really wasn't sure she liked the idea of these bright boys living in the sewers with only humankind's refuse to claim as their own-

-oh, who was she kidding? She hated it.

Still, they seemed content enough with their lot at the moment, they didn't seem to be in any imminent danger, and Carol was, quite frankly, exhausted from the events of the past few hours, so instead of pressing the issue right then, she said, "April and I should be getting back home, and so should you."

"See you soon?" asked Mikey, giving Carol some of the biggest puppy-dog eyes she'd ever seen.

"Of course!" declared April.

"Not too soon, though," Carol reminded, pushing herself to her feet. "Remember, two weeks. You'll be lucky if we even let you out of our sight, little missy!"

April grinned nervously. "Because I'm your favorite daughter and you love me very much?"

"That, too, but mostly because you are so grounded!" Carol said, leveling a stern look at her.

April sighed. "Figured."

And as April took Carol's hand, and as the children waved their goodbyes, and as the two humans started walking/limping to the park, and as the turtles retreated through the manhole, and as Carol fished out her phone to message the rest of the search party, Carol smirked at April. "You can tell both me and your daddy about everything that happened today once we get home."

April grimaced. "Awww, what?"

"I'll help convince him those boys aren't some kind of imaginary friends, but other than that, you're on your own."

Carol chuckled as April groaned and buried her head in her free hand.

…and maaaybe she squeezed her daughter's hand as her adrenaline rush faded.

She was just glad April was there with her and okay enough to squeeze back.

〜

April O'Neil was not lost.

She pumped her fists excitedly as Momma made her way to an out-of-the-way picnic table, nearly buzzing right out of her skin as she waited.

Momma chuckled and took her sweet time sitting down, then grinned at April. "And that's two weeks. Have fun, and stay close to the park this time, okay, hon?"

"Okay, Momma!"

And April was off like a bullet, tackling a flash of green in the bushes and sending them all to the ground in a tangle of laughing limbs.

#rosie writes #rottmnt #tmnt #will i be able to write my beloved stick figures now?#i don't know man i'm chasing the barest scraps of serotonin rn and right now the turtles are giving me serotonin #gah i'm tired lmao #april o'neil #michelangelo rottmnt #raphael rottmnt #donatello rottmnt #leonardo rottmnt #splinter rottmnt #carol o'neil #i really hope i'm tagging properly orz #oh here's a tag i can't believe has to exist:#tcest dni

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