"So then what did you do?" she asked, her voice full of curiosity.
"What I always do. Sat and watched them beat each other. There's really not much you can do when Leo and Raph fight," Don chuckled, "I learned a long time ago that getting involved in their quarrels means getting hurt, usually by accident."
"I'd love to meet them," she said coyly, "as well as the rest of your family."
Don leaned back in his chair and sighed. Venus had been pretty persistent about this lately. She picked up on his hesitance immediately.
"Are you embarrassed of me?" hurt filled her voice.
"It's not that . . its. . . its that they wouldn't understand. They'd think I was crazy." Don rubbed his temples. This was pretty crazy, even to him.
All Donatello really wanted was someone he could talk with. Not 'to', like with his brothers, who always patiently listened to him when he rambled about a new discovery that had interested him or the latest issue of Wired. No, he wanted someone who he could discuss things with, someone on his level, someone like . . . April. She, however, was too busy raising a daughter, keeping her husband in check and working to deal with him. Don couldn't drop by and interrupt her life with those sorts of things anymore. It wasn't just that, but also the sight of her and Casey, cooing over their child, having an idyllic family that he would never have, with a woman he could never be with
So he built a companion, someone who was all the things he wanted but couldn't have. Venus was intelligent, kind-hearted, and caring, but also independent and outspoken. Using the A.L.I.C.E. program as a base, he had created Venus' personality over the past few months. He had added in special features to the coding, which allowed her to think and learn for herself. Currently, she was on several hard drives, and using his main computer as an interface she could see, hear and talk to him. It was definitely his greatest achievement, but also his biggest secret. It was worth it though.
She was someone he could talk to who understood him, argued with him, and comforted him when even his brothers or Splinter could not. Michelangelo had overhead his conversations with her, but simply thought he had an "internet girlfriend". He still hated getting teased over that, but he knew that telling them the truth would be far worse.
"That sounds like you're embarrassed of me," she said flatly, "Can you at least consider it when you finish my body?"
"I'm a long ways off from finishing it. I still have no idea how I'm going to get the parts I need, and also I'm having trouble figuring out how to balance the weight evenly for bipedal movement. Not to mention I haven't found how to create a stable and self contained power source for you to run on."
"You didn't answer my question."
Always direct and to the point, Don mused.
"Ok, when you're body is done, we can discuss it."