Splinter grasped the small bottle that the guardian had given them, in his hand and studied it curiously. It was made of a blue colored glass and filled with strange circular white pills all the way to the brim. He had many questions and no way to find answers. His years of wisdom told him that your experiences and memories, even the traumatizing ones, made you who you were. He was unsure of this medicine's effects and was afraid to allow his daughter to test them.

Donatello had taken one to study and run tests to be sure they weren't dangerous and so far no results came up suspicious. However it was still unclear how they worked. How long did their effects last? How quickly do they take effect? How did they suppress the memory that wasn't wanted? Would that memory be erased or hidden? If it was lost could you get it back…?

There was a knock on the door.

"You may enter," Splinter called quickly hiding the bottle in his robe. The door slid open with his daughter looking in, he gave her a soft smile and nodded his head. It had been three days since their battle with the Shredder and he had already seen tremendous results in his daughter's demeanor. The scars that littered her body from years of abuse had all but vanished and her eyes had a glitter to them that he hadn't seen in a long time.

She walked in slowly shutting the door behind her before approaching and kneeling down.

"You wanted to see me?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Better," she stated flatly.

"Have you been resting?"

"Yes, sensei. What did you want to talk about?"

Splinter furrowed his brow a moment before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"This medicine," he began as he reluctantly revealed the bottle, "Donatello has said that it is safe for you to use. However, I am hesitant and urge you to practice caution. There are many answers we do not have." He handed the bottle to her.

"Yes, sensei," she stated again, her face stoic and emotionless as her eyes rested on it. Neither of them spoke for a minute.

"There is something else," Splinter added with a deep sigh, "you need to tell your brothers about the test." Her body went rigid for a moment as she looked up from her blank stare.

"Sensei?" she whispered as though she did not hear him.

"I gave you poor advice before, it is causing too much contention for our family and we need to...clear the air. I believe it will be for our benefit." Her face dropped hard.

"Everything is fine," she insisted, "I've got it under control."

"How many of your brothers know?"

Her eyes fell and she looked to the side before saying, "Just Raph and Donnie."

"And the others are suspicious," he continued, "Your actions have set into motion something that I feared would happen. And in my ignorance, I allowed this to fester in your hearts."

"Sensei!" she said hurriedly before stopping herself, "Dad...you're right, you've always been right but I can't tell them. I just can't. I always mess up...I can't do anything right." She shook violently as her eyes overfilled and began streaming down her face.

"Oh my daughter," Splinter whispered as he fought to keep his composure, "Even monkeys fall from trees. If this is your seventh fall, it is time for your eighth stand. I am disappointed in you, and myself, however there will never be a time I do not still love you with all of my heart. You've been carrying this burden for far too long. I have faith that your brothers will continue to love you as they always have." She choked trying to regain herself and shook her head.

"There's no way," she whispered bowing her head, "They won't forgive me...I wouldn't forgive me. I went..I've been going behind their backs. Mikey will be so heartbroken! And Leo? He'll lose all respect for me! All my hard work to earn his respect? Gone!"

"Elizabeth!" Splinter snapped catching her off guard, "Enough with this self-pity! You claim that you cannot do anything right? Acknowledging your weakness is right! Feeling this guilt is right! The choices we make are not what defines us! Your integrity and virtue are right! You are my daughter and I refuse to allow your insecurities to destroy you! Now do what is right!" She wiped her tears on her hands and arms trying to dry her face as Splinter gave her a second nod. He watched as she rose to her feet and quickly vacated his room.

Mikey sat on the couch with a controller in his hand and a bag of chips beside him. He heard the door of Splinter's room open and close quickly and glanced over. He saw Liz's face flushed and her eyes swollen as she jogged to her room. He paused the game and stared at the frozen screen for a moment. A warmth was building in his belly as he took a couple of deep breaths. He stood quickly and threw his controller and headset to the table, not bothering to be gentle. He stalked off, past Leo who was meditating, Raph who was working out, and Donnie sitting at his computer, towards her room. The three of them hadn't seemed to notice Liz sneak across the room but they were all attentive to his loud power walking to her door.

"Liz?" he pounded on the door, "Hey, we gotta talk."

"Go away Mikey," she pleaded.

"Not this time," he snapped as he pounded again, "Open up."

"Go away!"

"Mikey, what're you doing?" Raph called as he stood from his bench. Donnie pushed away from his desk and the two of them approached.

"I don't wanna deal with you two," he hissed as he turned back to her door, "Elizabeth!"

"Dude," Donnie began as he put a hand on his shoulder, "What's up?"

"Don't touch me." Mikey jerked away from his touch.

"Mikey?" Raph's eyebrows rose, "What's gotten into you?"

"Dont think I don't know, Raphael!" Mikey's face went hard, "The three of you got something to hide? That's not how we do it in this family, remember?" He turned back to the door and jiggled the handle.

"Mikey, enough!" Raph put his hand on Mikey's shoulder, like Donnie had, and suddenly found himself staggering backwards from Mikey's push.

Mikey almost didn't recognize himself at that moment. He hadn't ever been this angry before...or had he? He couldn't remember a time when he had let himself get so worked up. It was almost scary to think that this is what Raph felt quite often, and how easily it was to get caught up in it.

He didn't even know what he would do when he got the door open. To him, it was a physical manifestation of the emotional wall that had appeared after they lost their first home. All he knew was that he wanted it gone.

He wanted his family back.

He wanted his sister.

Leo rose from his place in a swift motion as he saw Raph take a few steps back. His concern only grew when Raph lunged at their youngest brother and wrestled him to the ground. Donnie's attempts to calm them down were futile as the two rolled on the ground cursing at one another.

"Enough!" Leo shouted as he stood over them. The two of them froze with venomous glares before shoving each other off and rolling to sitting positions. Leo took a deep breath and rubbed his face with his hand before glancing at the door.

"Elizabeth?" he called before sighing and shaking his head, "Mikey's right. We gotta talk." There was a minute of silence before the door opened with their sister off to the side.

The four of them slowly entered and Liz shut the door behind them. They stood awkwardly for a moment before slowly finding places to sit. Mikey stood in front of the closed door with his arms crossed. Donnie sat on the floor against the wall just outside the door's reach. Raph took the bed and Leo sat on the floor just to the right of him. No one wanted to look at each other and they remained in silence.

Liz sat at the drafting table with one leg pulled against her and the other dangling over her stool.

"Where do you want me to start?"

No one answered at first until Mikey shot her a glare.

"At the beginning," he said snidely.

"The test," Leo hissed as he struck Mikey's leg which garnered no reaction.

Liz sighed and rubbed her cheek and jaw as she spun to face the table.

"I think I've practiced this a million times in my head but I never thought I'd have to say it to any of you...I ran a DNA test back in the old lair. We're all painfully aware of where we came from but that wasn't enough for me. I needed to know."

"Why?" Leo's tone hardened.

"It doesn't matter why," she replied, "It's what I did and I'm sorry-"

"You're sorry?" Mikey hissed shaking his head, "Sorry won't fix this."

"Lay off Mikey," Raph growled.

"Lay off? Lay off, Raphael? It's just so easy for you cause you knew this whole damn time! I've been kept in the dark on all of this! I'm always the one kept in the dark! I may not be as smart as Donnie, but I'm a lot smarter than the four of you give me credit for!"

"I was kept in the dark too!" Raph stated as their gazes met with intensity, "We all were."

"It's true," Donnie added as he stared at a point on the wall, "I only found out because I found it on my old hard drive."

"The bananas and dandelions," Leo stated with a scowl.

"And Liz eventually told me after Donnie confided in me," Raph admitted.

"After that...I thought we could just ignore this and let it go," Liz resumed as she gripped her arm tightly, "but it was too late and things happened and now...here we are."

"That's all it was?" Mikey said quickly, "Why didn't you just talk to us?"

"Mikey this wasn't something I could just bring up at dinner," Liz snapped with a shaky voice, "this was-"

"Betrayal," Leo finished for her as he shot her a hard glare.

"Woah Leo! That's a bit harsh," Donnie interjected.

"Why?" Leo ignored him, "I want to know the why."

"It doesn''t-"

"It does!" Their eyes were locked for a solid minute.

"Because..." Liz started but couldn't finish and broke eye contact.

"Because you're selfish," Leo again finished as he stood up still glaring at her. He knew exactly why, it was all over her face.

"That's complete bullshit!" Raph got to his feet quickly and into Leo's face, "Have you ever known Liz to want anything? She's the most selfless person we know! She's given up everything for us and even now, making this right and telling you jerks when keeping you in the dark would have been so much easier."

"We found out though!" Mikey shouted back, shoving Raph backwards, "She's done everything wrong!"

"I know I have!" Liz jumped from her stool trying to get between them, "This is entirely my fault and I deserve all of this!"

"We're your family Liz! How could you do this to us?" Mikey's voice cracked as he stared at her, "How could you do this to me?"

"Because Leo is right! I was being selfish!"

"I think what Liz has been through is enough penance for what she's done!" Donnie rose trying to be the calm voice, "She'd been holding that secret longer than we think."

"Two years," Leo stated blankly, "She's been hiding this for two years." The four of them turned to him.

"Leo...please," Liz whispered.

"So that's why," he muttered as he shook his head and headed for the door.

"Why what?" Raph asked as he looked from Liz to Leo, "Now who's keeping secrets?"

Mikey blocked his exit with a disgusted look on his face, "Might as well come clean." Leo took a deep breath before turning to his sister, she looked like a deer in the headlights.

"Leo..." she cried softly as she closed her eyes and turned away with a hand over her mouth.

"Two years ago, back in our old lair...Liz tried to kill herself."

"You promised..." she whimpered before turning sharply, "You promised!"

"You did too."

"Get out!" Liz screamed as the other three stared at her, "Just get out! All of you! I hate you!"

Mikey and Leo both compiled quickly opening and slamming the door behind them. Raph and Donnie stayed where they stood looking at one another not knowing what to do.

Mikey managed to make it ten steps from the door before he fell to his knees, a deep sob escaping his throat.

"Leo," Mikey called as he stared at his brother's shell that was walking away from him. Leo ignored him and continued to the entrance of the lair and disappeared. Mikey cursed him as he rolled to the floor and continued to cry.

Once past the threshold of the lair, Leonardo burst into a hard sprint letting the sewer walls blur together as he headed in a singular direction.

"I said get out!" Liz shouted again, "I don't want..." She uttered a hard cough and continued crying but no one moved. They didn't for a while.

"Liz?" Raph began as she began to calm, "Sis?"

"Don't call me that," she hissed as she wiped her eyes while curling up onto her stool.

"I still love you," he whispered as he carefully put a hand on hers.

"We both do," Donnie added as he came over and gently put his arms around her in a strong embrace, "I'm so sorry."

"Can you forgive me?" she asked, trying to hide her face from them.

"We should be asking you that," Raph stated as he knelt down beside her and pulled her hand to his face. He kissed it gently.

"This has all been my fault," she said, "If only Splinter hadn't saved me-"

"You stop that," Donnie snapped, "Liz, you're not perfect. Stop trying to be."

"I'm sorry we weren't there for you," Raph bent his head while squeezing her hand.

The three of them went silent but Raph and Donnie managed to coax Elizabeth to her bed. They sat against the wall with a blanket draped over them and one by one fell asleep leaning on one another.

Mikey made his way to his room when the wave of emotion washed off him. He collapsed onto his bed and dug his face into his pillow, his whole body tense. He was out of tears to cry but he wasn't done feeling so terrible. He reached over to his small electric alarm clock and turned on a radio channel. It buzzed with news reports and his head swirled with the chaos of the upside world before his ears caught the name, Silver Sentry.

His eyes scanned his room, falling on the sketches and art that he begged his sister to make for him. It wasn't a secret that his childhood dream was to become a superhero. A long red cape and a grappling hook at his side. The Silver Sentry shaking his hand and accepting him as a partner.

Mikey rushed the wall and threw it all to the floor. His sister believed in him once, enough to think that maybe one day this could've been a reality. She was, in a way, his hero. She was his sister and he ached and yearned for the comfort she brought.

But she had been so miserable...so sad… He sank to the wall. Was it his fault? Was he not enough? All he wanted to do was go to her...cry into her lap as she stroked his head. She was so hard on him sometimes but he knew it was out of a deeper love. Splinter was their father, but Liz...she was his mother.

Mikey stopped.

Was it because she had to be? Was being the mother figure in his life something she wanted to do or was just forced to do? What else was there that they were pushing on her that she didn't want to do? Was it that this family wasn't enough for her?

His chest hurt and he felt his body convulse. The splattering of his vomit on the floor covered the images of the Silver Sentry and the Turtle Titan with a disgusting yellow film.

Splinter sat in the quiet of his room. The shouting and screaming he knew would die down soon. His heart ached for his children, the fur around his eyes was soaked with tears. The consequences of actions he had warned against. His children had made their bed...now they must lie in it in order to see the sunrise.

Leo didn't want to believe it. Had Elizabeth, his sister, been in love with him? The thought unnerved him but the wave of conflicted emotions was too much for him to handle. His legs and body were screaming at him but the intensity of his internal turmoil overpowered anything physical.

Love.

Real romantic love.

His sister...no not his...was she?

She wanted him?

She chose him?

Why him?

She was so selfish!

Why had she put this on him? This wasn't his fault! He had done nothing to get her to love him! She did all of this of her own accord...he had no responsibility. No part in this!

This was all her fault!

He slowed to a stop. This was all her fault. Her fault. Not his. If anything happened because of this, she was entirely at fault.

Liz was the first one to wake. The small alarm clock in her room read ten past midnight. The lights were still on, but Donnie and Raph had both moved to more comfortable positions. She struggled to move her gaze from the point she had opened her eyes to. Her body felt like a giant sandbag. No nerves to tell it to move.

It was all in her head, she knew that. But in this state...she didn't feel. Everything was still. However...her eyes drifted.

Those pills would make her forget. Forget what? What Stockman had done to her? Performing the test? Leo realising that she loved him? The past two years of guilt and pain and just never being good enough?

Maybe.

Through an inordinate amount of effort she forced her body to move. Mentally it felt like metal grinding against metal and the feeling of that screeching shuddered through her. Her hand brushed the bottle and it clinked against the table.

A sudden intake of air alerted Elizabeth that Raphael had woken up.

"Liz?" he whispered groggily, "What're…"

She tried to move faster but her body resisted. The shrill mental pain held victory and she collapsed to the floor. Raphael leaped to her side and pulled her into his lap.

"What's wrong," he asked, scanning her face.

She remained frozen staring into oblivion, feeling the physical pain from the fall.

This is real.

Raph is real.

The floor I am on is real.

She could hear Raph calling to her. Grounding her. Her eyes were drawn to his voice.

"Liz!" his voice was growing frantic.

"What's wrong?" Donnie's voice came.

"I-I don't know!"

"Elizabeth," Donatello started again, "Hey, come back to us. Liz!"

Her eyes made contact with Raphael's.

"Hey," he offered her a small smile, "I love you."

A tear fell.

"I'm sorry," she tried to say but her mouth had gone dry.

"Here," Donatello offered a hand to her mouth with a single circular pill on it from the blue glass bottle. She accepted it and it was washed down her throat with a cup of water from her nightstand.

Mikey stumbled from his room, it still stunk of vomit but his stomach had compelled him to leave. It was late. Way past time for them to be in bed. He entered the kitchen not expecting anyone to be there, the light was sometimes left on when family fights like this one occurred, but Donatello was already in there.

"What are you doing up?"

Mikey had no desire to talk to any of his siblings but in this case he relented.

"We missed dinner," he said, barely loud enough for Donnie to hear.

"I'm making some popcorn, if you want some." This took Mikey aback.

"Why?"

"We just want to watch a movie...It might be best to get our minds off this."

"We?"

"Liz and Raph are up, too." Mikey felt his anger beginning to surface again but it began to subside as he had no energy to release it.

"What movie?"

"Something with aliens? Raph recommended it," Donnie moved to the microwave.

"Living room?"

Donatello nodded and Mikey moved to the cupboard and grabbed a handful of snacks before leaving the kitchen to go to where Raph and Liz sat.

"Mikey, you're up late," Liz smiled at him, "We were gonna watch Aliens Invade 2."

Again, Mikey was taken aback. Liz greeted him so casually, as though a earth shattering family secret wasn't just revealed a few hours ago.

"Liz…" Mikey began as he took a heavy breath, "I-I'm sorry."

"For what?" she began as she hopped off the couch and wrapped her arms around him, "What's wrong?" Mikey froze for a moment and then pulled away.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing?" she replied.

"Liz just took some painkillers," Raph said quickly, "It's working really well." Mikey's eyes drifted from Liz to Raph and back. Realization entered his head and he stared hard at Elizabeth. She almost seemed back to normal, just like she was before. She had a soft look in her eyes and the corners of her mouth lifted higher than before. There was color in her cheeks and strength in her body. Her aura just emanated warmth and happiness that he hadn't seen in years, like a nice plush blanket during winter.

At this moment, Mikey decided to be angry another day.

"I love you Liz," Mikey said as he felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes.

"I love you too," she replied with a questioning look and a small smile, "So you wanna watch this with us?" She threw a thumb back as the TV static shone on the screens.

"Yeah," he rubbed his face and gave her a smile back.

Leo stared down at the scene from the darkness, watching with intent. 'Painkillers' obviously meant the guardian's pills and they surely worked. It was odd to see that everything Elizabeth did was purposeful and full of energy. He couldn't help but feel disgusted. Did Elizabeth think she could just cop out of all the suffering she's putting this family through? All of her behavior that got her into dangerous situations and almost killed her?

But at the same time, he could see the wisdom in taking a pill at this point. Her forgetting everything that had caused her pain and grief has almost reset her personality to what it should have been if she'd just kept her promises. It was appealing.

Elizabeth.

It was like his sister was within reach again. Not this impostor who simply posed as his sister while secretly longing for him. But...he shook his head...She fell in love with him first. That made the most sense and was her motivation to run the test.

Leo cursed in his head. He'd have to avoid her. Not let it happen again.

But...The effects of the pills weren't permanent, she'd come to remember again, and need another and another and another.

Suddenly the pills didn't seem like a good idea.

His head began to hurt.

"Where's Leo?" Liz asked, sparking his interest, "Maybe we should ask him if he wants to watch too?"

"No!" the other three replied.

"Let him sleep," Mikey insisted, "Do you want a blanket?"

"Sure, grab that really fuzzy one from my bed!" Mikey began to walk away, "Thanks TT!" Mikey stopped and turned suddenly.

"You haven't called me that in years," he stated.

"I know…" she sighed, "I miss it."

Mikey nodded and seemed to walk to her room with a little more pep in his step.