A/N: So I realize that I haven't really described what Laura's wearing at this point, so I'll just put it out there that she's wearing a lab coat and her hair is still in braids. Also, remember back when she was in the van after she got kidnapped? Details that were forgotten rise to the surface and actually serve a purpose! Who'd a thunk.

Chapter 12: Finding a Moron (FINAL)

"What do we do with her now?" Mikey asked.

The turtles stood in a circle on a roof top far away from Shredder's lair. They had escaped from the underground lab with little difficulty, mostly bots and a few humans. Karai had made an appearance, but they managed to get by her with a smoke bomb, choosing to retreat instead of fight. They left her coughing and cursing, calling them cowards, blah blah blah.

Now that they had time to think, they had to decide what to do with the girl scientist. She was still unconscious and was lying propped up against a heating unit. Her lab coat was dirty and her braids were falling out.

"Do we take her back to the lair?" Donnie asked, "Or wait for her to wake up?"

"Wouldn't it be best to just bring her home?" Mikey put in.

"But what if the Foot come looking for her again? They know where she lives," Raph asked. He had grown to like the crazy girl, and the idea of just leaving her on her own didn't sit well with him.

"I don't think we should bring her back to the lair, but we can't leave her alone either," Leo said.

"Why don't we bring her to Aprils?" Donnie asked. April O'Neil, the girl Donnie was crushing on. Recently, her father had been mutated into a giant bat-like creature. April had blamed the turtles when she learned that they had released a large shipment of mutagen over the city, but she had come to forgive them after a nasty encounter with some Foot Bots.

"Good," Leo said, "April can call us when she wake—." He stopped midsentence and listened. What was that? Vibrating? A phone! Someone's phone was vibrating nearby, but there was no one else around. His brothers were all together, it wasn't any of their T-Phones. . .

As one, they all looked toward the sleeping figure of Laura Whitten.

"You mean they didn't take her phone?" Donnie asked.

Leo knelt beside her and checked the pockets of her lab coat. He came out with a pair of safety goggles, a few pens, a rubber band and a . . . ruler? "Where's it coming from?"

"Dude's," Mikey said, pointing, "her foot." Sure enough, Laura Whitten's foot was slightly vibrating.

Leo pulled off her shoe and a touch screen phone fell into his hands, just in time for the call to go to voice mail.

"Laura, it's mom," the voice of an older woman sounded over the line, "I hope you're safe. I haven't heard from you, even though you said you'd call. I know you're trying your best to find Tim, but I don't want to end up losing you too." The woman's voice cracked. "Just make sure you come home safely. I know you don't want me to worry, but I can't help it when you go off the grid like this. I'm sure there's another way to go about this. I love you honey. Come home safe."

"Guys . . ." Leo said, almost afraid to believe what he just heard.

"Tim?" Donnie asked, as the pieces fell into place.

"It can't be," Raph said.

"Pizza . . ." Mikey said seriously before Raph slapped the back of his head, "Oww!"

"Donnie," Leo said, "you said her brother disappeared four months ago, right?"

"Yeah," Donnie replied nervously, "right around the time we ran into him again."

"Ran into who?" Mikey asked, not getting any of it.

"Ugh," Raph sighed, "The Pulverizer! Timothy is Laura's brother."

"Whaaat?! No waaay," Mikey insisted, "They look nothing alike."

"It doesn't—," Donnie started, but Leo interrupted him.

"No, Mikey's right. We can't just assume that it's him," he said, "I'm sure there's a lot of guys names Timothy in the Foot Clan. Raph, did she tell you anything when you were there?"

"Nothing helpful," Raph said, thinking back, "The only thing I knew for sure was how determined she was to find him. But when she saw her brother was dead . . ." Raph couldn't continue. He looked toward Laura Whitten again and was started when their eyes met. Her stare was as scary as her ruler, which she had clenched in one of her hands.

"Uhh," Raph stuttered, not sure what to say. The others turned to see what threw off Raph and they were just as startled when Laura stood up slowly and limped over to Leo. She looked him in the eyes before swiping her phone out of his hands.

She turned her stony gaze on each turtle in turn, crossing her arms, waiting for them to say something. She was taller than all of them, except Donatello. But that didn't stop her from intimidating him too.

They all shrunk away except for Raph who held her gaze, also crossing his arms. They stood stalemate for a while.

"What was that about someone named Timothy?" Laura finally broke the silence.

"Well, he actually goes by The Pulveriser," Mikey chipped in.

Laura's face fell slightly as she heard the name. She groaned and face palmed, "He actually used that stupid name!"

"Wait . . . the Pulveriser is actually your brother?" Raph asked, "How does that work? He's a . . ." Raph left his sentence hanging, realizing it probably wasn't the best idea to insult this girl's brother.

"Moron? Idiot? Complete and utter doofus?" Laura listed off, her voice rising, "You don't have to tell me, I am very, very aware of what he's like." She lowered her voice, her eyes starting to water, "What do you know?"

"Well for starters," Mikey said, "He's back home right now in Donnie's lab."

Laura's head shot up. "What? He's where? You mean, he's okay? You better not be shitting me." Her voice was full of a new sort of hope.

"Well, define okay," Mikey said. Raph nudged him to shut him up.

"But, he's alive! Right?"

"Yes, he's alive," Leo said, taking over. It was never a good idea to let Mikey lead the conversation for too long. "Right Donnie, the Pulveriser is doing just fine." Leo looked towards Donnie.

The purple turtle had hung back, eyes downcast, a look of guilt eating through his stomach.

He has a family, Donnie thought, and what have I been doing? Trying to fix a problem to impress a girl? What kind of person is that? I shouldn't have left it this long. I should have—

His thoughts were interrupted when Leo called his name again. "Donnie?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Tim's just great," Donnie said half-heartedly.

Laura crossed her arms, stuck her hip out and tapped her ruler menacingly, "What are you not telling me?" she asked between clenched teeth. The protective older sister came out again. Tim's alive, but he apparently isn't all right.

"It would be better to show you," Donnie said, still not meeting Laura's eyes.

"Well fuck!"

The turtles brought Laura back to the lair to reunite her with her brother. They left her alone in the lab with Donnie, who felt it was his responsibility to explain the situation to her.

Laura now stood in front of a tall metal container with a glass viewing window. Inside was an array of mashed organs, cluttered around a brain with two tentically eye balls floating around. Or, they would be floating, if the whole thing wasn't frozen solid.

"How long did you say he's been frozen," she asked the purple turtle, Donatello she remembered. Too long. So is Purple. Grape! Grapes are purple . . . sort of.

"A couple weeks now," Grape said, his face sad as he looked at the remnants of the girl's brother.

Laura heaved a sigh. She crossed her arms and twisted her face into one of deep thought.

Donnie stood by awkwardly. Should he say something? Apologize for letting her brother get mutated? She hadn't asked about it at all, but she deserved to know, didn't she?

Laura came to a conclusion. She nodded to herself and kicked out, planning her foot on the glass as if kicking Timothy in the stomach. "You, dear brother," she said pointing at the gelatinous mess, "are a moron."

Turning towards Grape she swung her arms behind her head and leaned back, "Thanks for looking after him. You've a pretty nice set up here."

Thanks? Donnie was confused, she should be angry with him not thanking him. She didn't understand.

"It—it's not quite—," Donnie started to explain, but Laura held up a hand, silencing him.

"Before you tell me what happened, because I'm sure there's a good story behind this, let me tell you something about my idiot of a brother." Laura looked at Grape, he almost looked scared of what she was going to say. Laura smiled to herself, familiar with the feeling.

"Tim was always a special kid," Laura said leaning against the cold container, "from an early age, he was hopeless, but his imagination was incredible. He would dream of being a superhero and foiling evil villains. Even when he got older, he kept it up. If he came across a situation where someone needed help, he would try to 'wow' the crowd with his superpowers. He ended up in the hospital a couple of times, but he never learned.

"Tim's got this thing, where once he gets really into something, you can't get him out. There was this one time, he was all into airplanes and being a pilot. Well, we were in the airport heading to Disney for a vacation and Tim thought he should be the one to fly the plane. I mean sure, he was only eight, but he'd watched all sorts of airplane movies. In his mind, he was an expert. He snuck onto one of the airplanes and started messing with the controls . . . well, all I'll say is security wasn't happy.

"What I'm trying to get at here, is that what happens to Tim is usually Tim's fault. I don't know what happened, but I can tell that you care about this idiot, and I appreciate it. I really do. There aren't many people who would put up with someone as hard headed as Timmy. So thank you."

Donnie let her words sink in for a moment. "He really is an idiot," Donnie said smiling.

"That he is!" Laura exclaimed turning to look at her brother again. "So what is this?" she gestured to the solidified mass, "You say he's frozen, but shouldn't he have melted by now?"

"It is melting," Grape explained, "just very slowly. If left alone, I calculated that he should completely de-thaw in about seventy years."

"Yikes. So, how do we fix it?"

"We?" Donnie asked.

"Well you don't expect me to just leave my frozen blob of a brother problem for someone else to solve on their own. That would be rude. And no fun."

"So . . ."

"So it means we're partners now, Grape," Laura said, extending a hand.

Donnie smiled and took her hand in his and they shook. "Wait, Grape?"

A/N: Fin. For now at least. Stay tuned to the next story in this Timmy arc; Fixing Tim, or check out Found Tim, now what? for some one shots about Laura's adjustment to life in New York. Rest assured there will be more to come. Join Laura and the turtles next time as they do more stuff and piss off more bad guys. I'm getting excited already.