Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT. They belong to their creators.

" Rows and Surprises"

In the lab, Don was sitting next to his daughter, showing her how to mix a few harmful chemical fluids. He gave the pipettes to Mona, after he had shown her what to do, and sat back onto his chair, with and arm resting on the table and another on the chair she sat on.

" Now show me if you can do it." He said.

" Dad, does this mean that if I do this right, ill get a reward for being so good and clever?" Mona asked. Don could see a smile coming to stay on her face, and he smiled back at her, knowing that this was something that usually happened near her birthday.

" What do you have in mind, sweetie?" Don played along.

" Well I've seen how you and Mike have been sneaking into the garage over and over again…. " Mona said. " but every time I go out there, I see nothing but the old museum object of and old truck. That is not what you are giving me for my birthday, is it?"

Don took off his plastic gloves and threw them into the little bin.

" Oh you are so nosy!" Don grinned and took a hand under his daughters chin and smiled.

" Wherever did you get your curiosity from?"

" From you I guess." Mona smiled. " There's probably no doubt in that… Leo says I am more curious than you were in my age."

" Probably," Don said smiling a little. " but now, Mona, officially you are having a class. Now show me what you can to."

Mona smiled.

In secrecy Mona began to study her own and her fathers skin colour of their hands, noticing once again, how dark she was compared to him and when she took the pipette down her father said:

" When you see it begins to turn into a gel like substance, you can turn of the flame….Mona…. Mona?"

" Uhm!" Mona suddenly woke up. " Oh yeah," she said and turned off the flame.

Don studied his daughter for a while and then looked at the substance in the little bowl. He then looked at his wrist watch. " How long have we been working to day?" he asked.

" Dunno," Mona said taking up her goggles to her forehead. "We started at around eight…"

Don's watch showed 11.17. " Perhaps we should take a break?"

" Good idea," Mona said and sighed. " When I come back, I'll try it again."

" Ok, " Don said and getting hug from his daughter before she left.

When Mona walked out of the lab, Don waited a long time to stand up. He wanted to make sure; she was out of reach before he did anything. And when he was completely sure that she was far away, he then went over to the medicine cupboard and opened it. His hands were roaming through the many small bottles until he found what he was searching for.

" I think I have been asking almost everyone I know about mother, and every time, I get the same answer. Especially dad keeps avoiding talking about her, and somehow I can't wonder if he's telling me the truth or not." Mona held a break and looked down at her grandfather on the bed.

" Did my mother and uncle Raph have an affair?"

The old rat looked back onto his granddaughter.

" What makes you think that Raphael might have had an affair with your mother?" Splinter said.

" Hmm. I dunnooo…." Mona shook her head and cut of their eye contact. " It's just…. It's just, when I look at the pictures of my uncles as teenagers, I can't help but think that my father and Raphael might have had some sort of rivalry going on. Rivals over my mother. In every picture I see, they seemed so awkward together almost as if the do not like each other…" Mona sighed. " and I can't help but see the resemblance I bear with Raphael."

" What resemblance is it you refer to?" the rat asked. Splinter was lying in his bed leaning up against the highly placed pillows, and looking at his granddaughter in the flash of the single candle light on the bed table. She held his hand rather tight, and he thought she felt that he would might loose her, if she let go. Mona was having a break from her class, she had had with her father in the lab, and she usually, like now, spendt her breaks with her grandfather. Splinter felt how he had become a little more ill after Mona was beginning to be more suspicious, but he could not help the fact that when he looked at her now, she looked exactly like Donatello when he had been in her age. The white cloak and the goggles on her head made the dot over the I.

Mona tilted her head. " I've just been hearing stories here and there… she said. And every time I have my 'times', I hear Raphael's name being spoken over and over again, and especially Mikey have called me Hot-Head Junior a few times, and I've heard Leo told me, not to pull a 'Raph', when I had my 'time' a few months back. And then when I was looking at the old picture in my room, yesterday, I could noticed, that I have almost as dark skin as Raphael…. Gran, did my mother love Raphael?"

Splinter did not know what to answer.

" I never wanted this…"

" I know…"

The two people in the darkened room sat on the bed next to each other.

" This was never suppose to happen. This was suppose to be impossible…"

Don was sitting by the lab table, when his daughter came back, he tuck down his left sleeve a little more and pushed the bin further under the desk. Mona sat down on her chair heavily and then leaned over the desk, hiding her face in her arms. Don placed the device he was working on, on the table and walked over to his daughter.

" Wanna stop for today?" he asked.

Mona, still with her face on the table, nodded. " Yeah, dad."

Don raised his hands and placed them on his daughter's shoulders, and gave her a light massage.

" I feel so lucky to have a father who's both, a scientist, doctor and a geek." She said and sat back in the chair.

Don smiled at the remark.

" And I am lucky to have you for a daughter." He said. " I would never change that for the world."

Mona placed her hand on her father's fingers and smiled up at him. " I'm sorry." She said.

" Why are you sorry?" Don asked, still massaging his daughter's shoulders.

" For ever doubting the fact that you're my father." Mona said.

Don suddenly froze. He stopped massaging his daughter.

" Wh- what?" he repeated while looking at Mona. She then turned to face him.

" Well I had to get my doubts cleared " she said." And since you never want to talk to me about before I was born, my mother or even how you're lives were, I had to ask gran dad?"

" What? Why? " Don said stunned.

" Well I went to ask gran dad if he knew anything. So I asked him if Raphael and my mother had an affair."

" Wh- why?" Don stuttered.

" To get some doubts cleared." Mona said. " but don't worry dad, they are cleared now."

Don was still stunned, breathing rather heavily.

Mona stood up and walked over to her father. " I'm so sorry, dad, I didn't know that you would take it like this." She placed a hand on his shoulder. " I just needed to get my doubts cleared. That's was it. I'm sorry…"

Hector was looking rather bedazzled at the new turtle that was sitting by his parent's kitchen table. He was larger that the turtle's he knew, and he dark green skinned and more scarred.

" Uncle Raph?" he asked. Raph stood up. Hector walked closer to that uncle he had only known for one year of his whole life, that uncle he thought he was never going to see again…

Raph nodded. " My god, he's grown." He smiled and then looked at April and Casey. " How old is he now?"

" 17." April said.

" But how? But why?" Hector began. " They said you were dead! We even held your funeral and everything. How can this be?"

" He was never officially dead, Hector," Casey said. " We held a funeral for some of your stuff, Raph." Casey said turning to his old friend. " The children got to know it was you that was in the coffin. "

" Did you bury all my stuff?" Raph suddenly asked.

" No, not all of it." Casey said. " Why?"

" Thank god." Raph said and sighed in relief.

Casey raised a brow and so did April. But none of them had time to speak before Hector opened his mouth.

" How cool, if your uncle Raph, then Mona will be so thrilled to see you." Hector smiled.

Raph stopped his move to sit down.

" Mona?" he asked.

" Yeah, Anna- Mona," Hector smiled. " Don's daughter. My cousin! Wu huu! I'll call her right away." Hector took forth his mobile phone and was just about to dial the number when Raph took it out of his hand. Still standing in the same position, Hector looked back at the large turtle with a confused look in his eyes.

" No, little guy." Raph said and turned of the call.

" I don't understand." Hector said. " I know she'll be thrilled."

" Perhaps," Raph said looking at the phone and then giving it back to Hector. " But don't call her. Was it Mona? I want to see my family unannounced."

" We understand," said April from the window. She walked over to Raph and padded his shell. "Come on old friend. Let's get on the road."

He was looking at his sons, all four of them. In his image, this was peace. His family gathered.

" Mikey, gimme the remote!" Raph bellowed beginning to fight his younger brother.

"No way, Hosé, its mine for to night!"

" It's been yours all other nights! No it's my turn!"

" Then it means that it is more attached to me than you!" Mikey continued.

"grrrr!" Raph growled. " gimme that!"

" NO!" Mikey tried to avoid his brothers fist.

Leo who had been sitting on the floor doing his meditation called Donny." We need to get them apart. " Donny nodded, and Splinter watched from the shadows how his sons were able to help each other out.

Leo ran to get Raph away from Mikey, but somehow it was impossible and he struggled, until Donny came. Don placed his arms around Raph's shell and squeezed and began to pull back. Leo got Mikey away in the minute that Raph was distracted by Donny's touch from behind, and the two brothers were taken apart. Leo and Mikey fell to the floor and Don and Raph remained on the couch. Mikey began to sob loud and clear and Leo started to comfort him.

Splinter could see that his second eldest son began to show regret, and went down next to Mikey to comfort him, but Mikey pushed him away and immediately Raph got angry. He jumped up from the floor and ran to his room quickly followed by Donny.

When splinter later that day found his purple and red coloured sons, he saw them lying on the floor together faces to each other, Don holding a comforting hand on Raphs'.

Splinter smiled, they were like yin and yang, by heart connected, even though it was rarely seen in the day time. Splinter smiled and closed the door again.

Without the yin, yang cannot exist.

Splinter looked at the picture on his night table. It had been taken years ago. He himself had found and old camera in the dumpster, still working, and taken the picture back then. His sons had been so small thirty years ago… they had been so peaceful.

Splinter smiled and placed his head back on the pillow again. He starred into the ceiling, trying to forget his pains, and remembered how he had told Mona, what he had been instructed to. By counting all of the inhabitants of the Lair , Splinter was the only one that knew the whole truth. Not even Donatello knew that he knew it, and that was also why he had never said anything. But Splinter had known it all along, the lies his sons were now living on, together with his grand daughter, were not helping in his illness. He wanted to feel happy and joyed for the fact that he would be able to die with his children around him… except for one.

Splinter once again turned his head to the picture on the night table and sighed.

" Come home my son, come home Raphael."

" will you agree never to tell her?"

" Yes, yes I will… she will never know."

" Dad?" Mona took a grip around Don's left arm. " Dad, are you there?" Mona began to shake her father even more, and in the end she was afraid that she had shaken him to hard, because he suddenly just stood up and walked in a straight be line over to the sink. Mona saw as he put a hand to rest on each side of the sink as he had to have some support, and leaned over it, almost looking like he was about to throw up this mornings breakfast.

" Dad, are you sick?" she asked.

" I feel sick," he said.

Mona felt how her guilt began to grow. " I said I was sorry. I just had my doubts. I needed to know."

" Then why didn't you ask me?" Don began.

" Because you always avoid the subject!" Mona snapped back.

" Now listen young lady!" don turned around and looked very pissed off.

Leo was walking with the cane, Don had provided him with. He had Mikey to walk beside him, just making sure that the leader would not fall. They were headed for the garage, where Mikey was going to show his brother Mona's newly coming birthday gift, when they heard noises from the laboratory. They immediately agreed, by the look of their eyes, to forget all about the gift, and then instead finding out what was happening.

When the two brothers came to the laboratory, Mikey had to pull Leo back, so he was not hit by the empty bottle that came flying from the lab and out into the Lair.

" Jeez, what's happening in there?" Mikey said. His question was soon answered when Mona came walking out of the lab with long quick steps followed by Donny.

Mona walked to her room, but Donny had time to grasp her arm before she reached the door and he raised his voice loud and clear. " Don't you ever do that again, ANNA-MONA!"

Leo looked at Mikey. " My god, what has she done to deserve being called by her full name?"

" Made her father cranky." Mikey said. " For the second time in her entire life."

" But she haven't flooded the Lair this time." Leo said looking confused at the scene that was going on between their niece and brother.

" Is this a bad time?" a voice came from the entrance.

Mikey was holding Leo in a grip, supported in such a way, that he would not be able to fall at all, but fate had other plans. In that moment, he heard that particular voice, that he had tried to forget for so many years, he immediately dropped his brother and leader to the floor, and turned around to stand face to face with Raphael.