𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍: 𝐾𝐸𝐸𝑃𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝐼𝑇 𝑄𝑈𝐼𝐸𝑇

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

The wind blew heavily against the tall, cold skyscrapers of New York City's skyline; pushing the breeze down into the city itself. The sun was barely peeking out from behind the buildings, and a glassy morning dew covered the greenery of the park as Kylie ran down the trails.

Gabbi followed behind her, winded and ready for a break; but Kylie wasn't stopping. It had been a while since she had gone on a morning run and despite the fact that she hated running; she enjoyed the calmness of the world around her when no one else was up.

Gabbi on the other hand, simply just hated running and the calmness to her was eerie and unnerving. But, she knew that Kylie needed this and Gabbi promised Casey that she would keep an eye on her these first few days of therapy.

However, Gabbi didn't know if she was more nervous about her sessions or her upcoming finales. She figured it was a good mix of both, and decided she would do her best to keep her happy and help her study.

But, she was nearing the end of her limits. They had been running since 5:30am and it was currently 6:15am. They had gone over 3 miles and Gabbi thought she was going to collapse as they hit the last curve.

She almost cried tears of joy when she saw the agreed stopping point and she ran faster than she had all morning. She was now beside Kylie, who was paying her no attention as she listened to her own music.

But as Gabbi went to speed up and get the run over with, Kylie took off in front of her; and Gabbi almost dropped her jaw at how fast she was running.

Even at the fast pace she was at, Gabbi was still behind Kylie; who had already made it to the spot. But within seconds, Gabbi is there too and she collapses to the ground in relief as Kylie takes off her headphones and puts them around her neck.

"You okay there Gabs? You look tired."

Gabbi gave her a look and rolled her eyes before picking herself up from the ground.

"We just ran like 3 miles Kylie. I don't run in case you forgot!"

"I don't like running either, but it's good exercise! I feel great!"

Gabbi groaned

"I ready for the gym now!" Kylie said excitedly as she began to make her way to the parking lot.

Gabbi's mouth opened and she groaned once more, before dreadingly following behind her.

By 8am, Kylie had completed her workout routine and was feeling energized for the day. Gabbi had long since left, claiming to have to get to the office to see how production of the interior was going.

But Kylie knew that she was secretly trying to get away from her before she dragged her into more physical activity.

Kylie stepped out of the showers and began to dry off and get dressed. It didn't take her long to slip into her favorite pair of grey Nike shorts and a cute sage green graphic tee.

And not long after, she was able to style her hair in a cute fish braid and put on some effortless makeup. She looked down at her phone as she stepped out of the gym.

She felt her stomach twist as she pulled up Donnie's contact. But she texted him that she was 'on her way' anyways.

She was nervous about showing up at the Headquarters, not because she was purposely trying to avoid the boys; but because Leo was purposely keeping them from contacting her.

Everything in her was tell her he wasn't doing it to be malicious, and he was simply trying to ensure that she could completely focus on herself.

But a part of her keep saying that there were other intentions behind it.

Within the few weeks that she has know Leonardo, she has known him to be closed off and reserved with what he chooses to share. She learned through Mikey what had happened the first time Shredder attack and what he and his brothers went through.

Kylie was sure Leo was experiencing untreated trauma and was trying to hide it. But she also knew that Leo mostly likely refuses to deal with it.

While Kylie had seen his sweet and caring side, she had seen has is overprotectiveness grow to jealousy and envy when she spends to much time away from him. It made feel as though she back to her sixteen year old self; dating a boy she believed she was in love with. Only he turned out to be a crazy psychopath who wanted her for himself.

The thought made Kylie want to puke all over the sidewalk as she thought about her junior year of high school.

She was almost to HQ by the time her mind stopped racing, she could see it a few blocks away. She quickened her pace, as if to force herself to stay true to her word and show up.

Every part of her wanted to turn around, the fear of bumping into Leo while her mind was making the connections it was. She knew it wasn't fair to him; She was his first real friend (besides April) and she knew that he just didn't want to lose her. But that voice in the back of her head kept her stomach spinning making her nauseous.

She felt terrible. Just twenty minutes ago she was energized and so happy. But now she was drained and upset. But, she was no one of not a woman of her word. So as she approached the entrance of HQ: she pushed through the doors, checked in, and made her way to the turtles room.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Leonardo could quite literally feel his blood pressure rising as he tried for the fifth time this morning to get into a deep meditation.

Every time he had been so close to this entity within him and as he approached; it turned to a cloud of dust and broke his mediation.

At this point, he was to frustrated to calm himself. And he began to grow more frustrated when he thought of how calm Kylie made him. How she could simply smile at him and put him to ease.

But, he pushed aside that world wind of emotions. He didn't understand them; and that terrified him.

He looked around his room, and his eyes landed on the bulletin board above his desk. He had written down everything he could remember about this entity and began to try and piece it together. But it seemed as he discovered one piece, another would appear missing.

He let out a heavy breath, and he tried to calm himself. He then turned to the clock on his wall which read, 7am. Donnie came home at 2am and returned to HQ around 6am.

Leo then picked himself up from the floor and gave his bulletin board on last glance before closing the door behind him.

By 8:30, Leo was ready to get this case moving along. After spending the last hour with Don trying to figure out who or where Blackspot was, he was more frustrated than when he left the lair.

Nothing was connecting, but everything was connected. It seemed as though Blackspot had purposely planted these pieces of evidence, but Leo nor Donnie could figure out what was true and what wasn't.

Leo watched as Donnie looked down at his T-phone, and how his face morphed to concern.

"What's wrong, Don? Did you find something relating to Blackspot?" He questioned

Donnie gulped and looked back up at him.

"N-no. I just realized that, uh- I left my freezer door open the lair!"

Leo turned his head sideways, narrowing his eyes.

"Uh- you should head back to the lair to close it. I have some chemical in there that could blow up the lair if they reach room temperature too fast." Donnie explained quickly

"Can't we just call Raph or Mikey and have them close it." Leo reasoned

"I don't trust either of them, they might think it would be a good idea to play with them." Donnie said truthfully

Leo crossed his arms for a moment before sighing.

"Alright, fine. I'll be back later."

Leo felt his gut telling him something else was going on, but he kept walking. He turned left around the corner to the stairs and began to make his way to the lobby.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

As Kylie stepped off of the elevator, she quickly made her way to the turtles room. She had been steadily trying to calm herself, and took deep calming breaths as she approached the door.

She closed her eyes and prayed to God that Leo wasn't in the room. She prayed, and prayed and prayed. She let out a sigh of relief as she stepped in and Donnie was the only one inside.

He turned to the door at the noise and smiled when he saw her.

"Hey Kylie. Thank you for coming over here. Me and Leo have both tried to crack this. And the only thing we're sure of, is that not all of this is true evidence."

Kylie nodded before walking over to the bulletin board. She saw instantly what Donnie was talking about. She read over each slip of paper three times before beginning to unravel the red string.

"I'm going to move this to the table and work it out there." She explained before unclipping each slip of paper.

Donnie moved closer and helped her bring the clues to the table.

The two spent the next twenty minutes there. Donnie was curiously as Kylie worked. He could see her mind working furiously as she pieced together each clue, and as she did; the clue began to become clearer.

Within a few more minutes, Kylie had eliminated everything but a few slips of paper. Donnie looked at her in shock as she turned the slips towards him.

"Your guy is somewhere between Spring and West Broadway, in Downtown Manhattan. I would check the towers there." Kylie says simply before standing up.

"I don't know what to say Kylie, thank you. That was incredible."

"Oh, well. Thank you." Kylie says as her cheeks redden

"No, thank you. I've got to call Leo and let him know."

"Well, I'll head home then, I have finals tomorrow and a class this afternoon."

Donnie nodded and Kylie turned to leave. Donnie looked down at the table and then the door.

"Kylie wait!"

She turned around, thinking something was wrong.

"I'll make sure Chief Vincent knows you solved this."

"Oh, Donnie. You don't have to do that."

"No, I don't. But you deserve the credit. I can't wait for you to finish academy, that way we can work on more stuff like this."

Kylie smiled brightly at him.

"I can't wait to work with you either. Goodbye Donnie."

"Bye Kylie."

Kylie felt relieved as she stepped out into the hallway, and more confident about the day as she entered the elevator.

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Leo watched as Kylie left from corner of the hallway. He was coming up the stairs and around the corner when he heard her voice from inside of the equipment room. He stopped and watched as she said her goodbyes to Donnie and left with a smile.

He felt his blood boil. Donnie had directly disobeyed him, something he had never done before. He had specifically told each of his brothers to give Kylie space.

But he took a deep breath. He made a slow stride to the door of the room, and when he felt the vibration of his T-phone against the side of his shell. He ignored the call and stepped into the room, where Donnie was sitting with his phone to his ear.

"Oh, Leo. You're back already." Donnie said, shocked

"Yeah, the door was shut." Leo responded bitterly

"Oh, sorry. Uh- I found the location of Blackspot! He's on Spring Street in Downtown Manhattan."

Leo clinched his fist, his nails digging into his rough skin. He knew now what Kylie had been here for.

"You found the location?"

Donnie gulped quietly, before turning back towards the computer.

"We should call Raph and Mikey, have them meet us there."

Leo watched as his younger brother began to gather things for his desk before heading to the lockers. And he decided to do something he hadn't before.

"You call Mikey and Raph, I'll inform the Chief." Was all he said before leaving the room

He decided to remain quiet, and see how long these secret meetings would last.

Within two hours, Blackspot had be found and arrested. His real name was William Adams, and he worked for State Bank Operations; which was how he was able to gain access to the money.

Leo had just returned to HQ, he helped some of the other detective recovery the stolen money and bring it to the Forensics lab, where it would be tested as evidence and used at trial.

Leo sat down in a chair at the table in the equipment room. He thought of how badly he wanted to contact Kylie, and tell her they had caught their first official criminal as members of the NYPD.

But he knew that she was the reason they found him in the first place. And that made his blood boil. He hated how dependant he had become of her. How now he needed her to solve cases for him and his brothers because they were now incapable of doing it.

But, that wasn't her fault. And Leo knew that. And that made him madder. He couldn't even blame her, she was still helping them; even though she was fighting her mental health. Even though she was struggling with her mind and herself, she was still there for them.

Leo stood up and in a fit of rage, he flipped the table before slamming the door behind him.

Trying to leave his heavy heart on the floor with the table.