Word of note-this chapter is all flash back to when the turtles were three years old. Hope you enjoy...as always I do like reviews.

"Alright my sons, the hour is late and it's time to sleep." Splinter told the four turtle tots.

"AWWWWW!" Was the collective chorus of complaints from the four of them.

"Come on Sensei, one more hour." Michelangelo said. "Please, Pleeeeeaaaasssseeee."

"No." Splinter answered "It's time for you to sleep now. But if you all get ready for bed in the next 5 minutes, I would tell you a story."

"Okay," The four boys answered before toddling to the bathroom to brush their teeth, returning with blankets as they curled up on a tatami mat Splinter had unrolled in the center of the room.

"Can we here the story of Princess Hase?" Leonardo asks as he curled on his stomach, eager for the story.

"As if we didn't hear that one yesterday." Raphael retorted. "I want to hear the one about "The goblin of Adachigahara"

"I want to hear a story with turtles in it." Michelangelo chimed in, which earned him a look from his older brothers. "What…I'm a turtle, so why not a story with a turtle as hero." Raphael responded by smacking the back of his youngest brothers head.

"Ow…why'd you hit me, Raphie?" Mikey yelled.

"I felt like it." Raphael answered.

"What about…" Donnie started to inquire a suggestion.

"Shut up!" Raphael yelled "No one wants to listen, to your stupid story." Donnie made a face like he was about to cry. He looked to Leo and Mikey as if looking for someone to take his side. Leo just continued to lay on his plastron and idly kicked his legs in the air as if he hadn't heard what transpired. Mikey on the other hand was still sitting with his ragged blanket eagerly awaiting the bedtime story from their father.

"I still want to hear a story about a turtle." Mikey chimed in.

"Children, Children." Splinter chided his four adopted sons. "If you're going to squabble over what story you want to hear, then there will be no story tonight."

"No…" Leo pleaded. "We'll be good."

"No my sons." Splinter answered as he got up and left the room. "You need to learn your actions have consequences, so tonight there will be no story. May you have pleasant dreams."

"Oyasumi Nisai, Sensei." Was said in a disappointed chorus of four childish voices as the light was turned out and the door to the nursery was shut.

"Great going, Donnie." Raphie whispered in the dark as he settled down upon the tatami mat.

"Huh, what did he do?" Mikey asked as lay on his back and draped his blanket over himself.

"He cost us our bedtime story." Raphie answered.

"If we had listened to the story I wanted, we wouldn't be having this argument." Leo stated.

"Why do we always have to do what you want Leo?" Raphie asked indignantly.

"Because I'll be leader one day." Leo proudly said. "And you'll all have to do what I tell you."

"The day you'll become leader, is the day Donnie admits he's a girl." Raphie shot back.

"Donnie's a girl?!" Mikey ask surprised.

"I AM NOT A GIRL!" Donnie screeched out.

"Boys… go to sleep!" Splinter commanded through the door.

"Hai!" The four boys answered. One by one, all four young turtles curling in their blankets and slowly fell asleep.

Donnie was the last to fall asleep. He just sat with his blanket wrapped around his tiny body. Even though he had his brothers around him, he couldn't have felt more alone. Curling down he watched as his siblings softly slept before his eyes too grew heavy, and he fell into a fitful slumber.

Splinter sighed as he traveled to his room. It had been three years since he had magically gone from lonely widower trying to make a new start to the single father of four. Thanks to whatever was in that strange canister that made them into who they were today.

After the deaths of his wife Tang Shen and his daughter Miwa, Splinter or Hamato Yoshi had traveled to America. Renting a single room apartment in the city of New York, he intended to remain in hiding until he was able to face his nemesis and avenge the deaths of his family. And being a virile man in his 30's he was bound to marry and have children once again. That way his clan could be restored and he could pass on the art of Ninjutsu to his children, as his father had passed on to him. Little did he know that fate would take an unexpected turn the day he had decided to purchase four infant turtles.

Finding himself transformed into an oversized rat, he gathered the four turtles into his arms and spirited them away into the sewers. Searching much of the day until he found the abandoned subway that now served as the lair they all lived.

Once the four infants had settled down to sleep, in a pile of rags and old clothes that man-sized rat had gathered. Hamato Yoshi journeyed to his old apartment in the dark of night retrieving what belongings he had placed in the apartment. Leaving notice for his landlord that he had changed his mind on the apartment and was going to live elsewhere. These belongings along with other items he had brought from Japan, which had up until that point been placed in a storage locker were used to make up his new subterranean home.

Life was different and difficult for the four of them. From finding discarded food scraps for himself and his young ones as nourishment, to learning which seasons it was wise to let the children sleep in the nursery vs. when they should sleep in the common room area. Making sure things were kept clean and sanitary so that his young ones didn't become sickened.

But the surface world…the world of humans would not understand them or accept their family. If humans were to discover them, he naturally would be killed as he would be seen as the greatest threat of the group. Death on the other hand would be a mercy for his young ones, as humans would round them up and study them in labs, knowing only fear and pain as they suffered and cried behind the bars of a cage.

And the worse yet…if Oroku Saki learned of their location, he would hunt them down. The Shredder didn't simply want to kill his former friend, he wanted to break him. To watch him suffer as he slaughtered everyone that he loved and valued. Only when Hamato Yoshi truly begged for death, would he grant it.

Settling down on the floor, Splinter closed his eyes and calmly breathed as he let his consciousness sink into his mind. His body still, his mind flowed out into the open space.

Donatello's mind was in turmoil as he slept. Rolling over onto his back, a tear dripped down his face to be absorbed by the tatami mat.

*dream sequence*
"Hey, wait for me!" Donnie called to his brothers who were walking down the one of the many labyrinthine tunnels of their subterranean home. The other three boys only paused, Leo and Raphie glared behind them as if annoyed by the fact the other boy was following them. Mikey also glance behind him, but shrugged indifferently.

"Come on, guys." Mikey yawned. "Let's just go." The three turtles walked faster as they continued down the tunnel. Donnie continued to follow after his brothers.

"Why can't he take the hint?" Raphie growled to Leo.

"I have an idea." Leo whispered to his brothers before loudly saying. "Bet you guys can't beat me to the next junction."

"Now you're speaking my language." Mikey cheered. On Leo's signal all three boys broke into a run. Wanting to remain with his brothers, Donnie raced after.

"Geeze, he's hard to shake." Mikey commented as he glanced behind him.

"All part of the plan," Leo smirked. "It's time we give Donnie a big dose of reality. That fork up ahead, Raph you take the left and I'll take the right. Mikey keep going straight but, double back after you've gone twenty yards or so."

The three turtle tots continued their race and broke off in their separate directions. Donnie skidded to a stop, glancing down the tunnels he saw Raphie and Leo head down, but didn't see his brothers anywhere. And Mikey had disappeared down the tunnel up head. That's when he suddenly felt himself pushed from behind as the ground tipped forward to meet him.

"Don't you understand Bucket Head, you're not wanted?" He heard Raphie say.

"But Leo, Raphie, Mikey…were brothers." Donnie protested.

"Yeah…And?" Mikey answered picking at his ear slit.

"Maybe we don't want to be brothers with you anymore, ever think of that" Leo shot back.

"Who wants to be brothers with a dork like you?" Raphie laughed "Let's go guys, maybe Donnie will finally figure out how lame he actually is?" The three turtle boys ran off, leaving Donatello alone in the tunnel…alone and forgotten.

Donnie's eyes opened to the gloom of the nursery. Looking about him, his brothers all lay curled about them, each in their own dream worlds. Even though it was just a dream, it could also be real. The large room, suddenly felt small and confining as the young turtle got up and wandered to the door. He didn't know how he managed to get the heavy metal door open enough to slip out of the room, but somehow he did. Knowing how much of a bear Splinter could be when he was disobeyed, Donnie softly padded his way to the pool. Crouching down he stared at his reflection, wondering what it was that made his brothers dislike him so. His vision blurred as fresh tears started to fall from his eyes.

Splinter came out of his meditative trance when he heard the door to the nursery open, and the padding of tiny three toed feet padding across the stone floor. Which meant one of his young ones was awake and out of bed. He didn't make any immediate assumptions about one son's disobeying him; it was possible that the child was only up in need of a drink of water from the kitchen, or use of the restroom. However his sharp ears picked up where the small feet were headed and it was neither place.

The older man again didn't jump to conclusions and punish the child needlessly. Raphael and Michelangelo were the more recalcitrant of the four children. There had been many occasions when they had refused to sleep just because their father ordered them too. Either one or both would try to hide themselves from their father's sight, but were almost always caught. Leonardo and Donatello were thankfully better behaved. They did have their moments, but most of the time they obediently followed what their father instructed. They wouldn't be up unless something was wrong with one of their brothers, or something was troubling their sleep.

Calmly the older man wandered out of the Dojo, his calm orange eyes scanning the room until he spotted a bit of green crouched by the pool. He recognized it to be his third son at once, cautiously he approached the boy.

"Donatello?" Splinter asked as he knelt down, the small child jumped not expecting the voice of his adoptive father behind him. Slowly the small turtle looked at him tearfully before he scrabbled at his eyes as if ashamed to be caught crying. Splinter at once grabbed the child, and held him in his arms. "What has brought you to tears, my son?"

"I had a dream," Came the soft reply as Donnie buried his face into his father's robe. "A dream where Leo and the others told me they didn't want to be my brothers anymore."

"I see…" Splinter answered as he shifted the boy in his arms so the child could wrap his arms around his neck. Standing up from the ground Splinter moved to the couches in the pit area. One hand stroking circles in the child's shell. "What makes you believe that your brothers would hate you that much?"

"I don't know…" Donnie answered continually clutching his father's robe for comfort. "Leo only wants to do what he wants, Mikey… I don't follow his way of thinking, and Raphie is mean to me. So when I had that dream, I felt it had to be true."

Splinter calmly listened to Donnie's words; his heart feeling a pang of sadness over how the boy must feel. Donnie was quite different from his brothers in many ways. He wasn't socially inept by any means. But he was somewhat more socially awkward then his brothers, preferring to keep to himself and only speaking or joining a family conversation when addressed or invited to speak. He also exhibited a high level of intelligence and a curiosity that seemed almost insatiable, which at times led to problems with the other three turtles. Sometimes Donnie would pick up toy (particularly the ones that have electronic parts) that his other brothers had gotten bored with, and take it apart to see how it worked. Leo and Raphie would see this and automatically take offence about it in different ways. Leo was fortunately the nicer of the two as he would often tell Donnie to please ask if anyone minded if he took the toy apart. Raphie on the other hand what a bit more physical about it resulting in someone (usually Donnie) ending up crying, and the other being scolded by Splinter before spending a time out in a corner of the dojo.

"My child," Splinter answered in a fatherly manner. "I can't deny there are times where you and your brothers will have your problems. However I can't reassure you on my honor as a ninja and as your father that on no circumstance will Leonardo, Raphael, or Michelangelo ever tell you that they don't want you as a brother."

"But all I do is cause trouble." Donnie answered.

"No, my son," Splinter answered. "You have special qualities about you that not even you, realize at this time your brothers don't understand these qualities. But in time, they will begin to understand."

Donnie lapsed into silence, finding comfort sitting in his father's arms. Splinter continued to hold the young turtle humming snatches of half-forgotten songs children's songs from his homeland until the child finally at long last drifted into the comforting embrace of sleep. Once he was certain Donnie was asleep, Splinter returned the boy to the nursery.

Unconsciously, as though the other three boys had been listening to their conversation, the other three turtles reacted to Donatello being placed among them. Leo reached out with one hand and seemed to pull his younger brother closer to him, offering him comfort and stability. Mikey seemed to cuddle closer to his two brothers, offering love and companionship. Raphie stretched in his sleep and curved his tiny body around his siblings. His small three fingered hands splaying out like claws, as though saying anyone who dared to harm his siblings, would have to deal with him. Splinter smiled at the sight of his four sons wishing they would stay this innocent and peaceful forever, but knowing in his heart darkness would in time descend upon their family. Until then, he could only pray that his sons would have the strength and resolve to deal with the darkness when it came.