Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT, they belong to their creators.
" Before the fight."
" Why does this have to change all of the sudden? What happened… Why, Donny?"
" This just cannot work, Raph, it's to risky. I won't do it any longer…"
" Why?"
" I can't live with the fact that we have to look over our shoulders all the time," a sigh.
" besides… I just overheard Sensei and Leo's conversation… I've never seen Leo so sad before… or sensei so upset."
A hand on a shoulder, and a voice whispering.
" We can work this out Don, it does not have to end up like Leo and Karai…"
The hand is slapped away from the shoulder.
" DON'T YOU GET IT?? This is ten times worse! We're brothers for god sake! He will not just be unfair or upset, he will ban us forever! He will never look upon us as his sons again!"
" Don, calm down," it suddenly is as places has switched. " we are his sons, Karai was his enemy, our enemy… sensei probably just see it as a betrayal what Leo is doing."
" And THIS! What we have done! Is that not also BETRAYAL! A betrayal of the most horrendous kind!?"
Quiet.
" Just… just don't come near mere anymore.."
" Donny,"
" NO!"
A shocked facial expression. Another one; angry.
" This is over! This is not anymore! You and me, over!!!! Leave me alone, Raph!"
" Don…"
" I'm warning you!"
Don tightened his grip around Raph. Raph placed a hand on Don's arm and hushed him. When Don looked up again his face was tearstained and before Raph had a change to look closer, Don dried them away.
" If you stay they will have to know," he said and before Raph could respond Don had gotten up from the bed and walked over to the door.
" Donny?" Raph said from the bed.
Don turned his head while taking the door handle. His eyes were blank and tired. He gave a sly unemotional smile to Raph and then walked out the door.
Raph laid back in the bed and sighed highly.
How he whished he could stay. How he whished he could stay with Donny… but it was impossible. Many years ago he made a promise, a pact and alliance… he almost literally sold his own soul…and if it had been out of desperation or anger, he still did not know, but he was chained, and not as free as he could be.
And now he had made the biggest mistake ever. He turned his head and then placed and arm on the side of the bed where don had been just seconds before, it was still warm. Raph tilted his head back onto the pillow. What had he just done?
He then took the bed sheet aside and sat up to wipe his face, and swung his legs out of the bed and walked over to his clothes and gear. In his belt he found forth a little box. It was not bigger than a pill box, but in the top side there was a symbol of a cranium. It was cyanide. Raph clenched the pill box in his fist at closed his eyes, remembering Don's last words:
" If you stay they will have to know…."
" I'm tired," he whispered to himself. "forgive me father, but the plans have been altered." He then took the pill box, opened it and crushed the pills and threw them in the little bin in the room. He then turned and took on his pants and made sure the pockets contained the 'security' to his new decision, and walked outside.
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" WHAT!?? They got away??" Bishop yelled at Epsilon.
Epsilon sighed. " Yes, we have underestimated the turtle. Even though he had a wounded leg, he was able to take down the assassin we sent. "
Bishop took himself to the head and almost tried to rip out his hair. " GREAT!" he said and walked around in big circles. " then we just have to do something else." He walked over to the big computer and began to press in a few buttons while looking at the screen. Epsilon walked over to his allied.
" What are you doing?"
" Taking a further step in the plan," Bishop said. He then stopped by a picture of a dark cell. " mr. Jones will soon be ready. " he said. " It wont be long before the rats have poisoned him enough."
" There's something I don't understand, " Epsilon snarled. " why have you pumped all the rats with that poison and then let a can in also? Were they not supposed to infect him with the substance quicker?"
" You don't know what long time of pure torture can do to a human being, Epsiolon," Bishop said. "you need to be an expert in the human mind, to get as far with this, as I am going to do. Mr. Jones needs to feel pain in every aspect there exists, before we can form him in our own image. And since your superior now thinks that he is a valuable part of the plan, we will have time to try and locate the turtles."
" You said that they would come to us…?" Epsilon said.
" Yes, the warriors will, but there's still someone left behind," Bishop said.
" You mean Karai and her children?" Epsilon asked.
" Also them," Bishop said. " but it is the rat that has the information for your little 'treasure' which you want to get your filthy hands on to."
" The Assassin?" epsilon smiled and laughed shortly. " oh how I like how you use your vocabulary. I think our partnership could be very useful in the future. You do understand to entertain me…"
"Ditto," Bishop said and looked at the screen that showed the prison cell. " We still have time enough to make this man here extra 'spicy'."
" But I still don't understand what you are going to use him fore. Are you going to use him to find the turtle's hide out, or track down the Assassin?" Epsilon asked.
" Oh no, I all ready know where they are," Bishop said. " I've always known about their home in the sewers, but we have a plan as I have told you, and as you all ready know, and it looks to me like we can take it a step further while we wait for mr. Jones to get ready."
Epsilon smiled. "That's understood, just as long as you will find the useful time to try out this little experiment on the man, so he can be used for our advantage.. " Epsilon smiled and turned around.
" I'll send my team off with the message." He walked a few steps and the turned to Bishop. " And you're sure they don't have to kill them?"
" Just make sure they will deliver the message, and if your men die in action, they die as true warriors." Bishop said.
" Oh don't worry, they wont die," Epsilon smirked.
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When Don came out from the bathroom he saw Mikey stand by Mona who sat at the lab table in the living area. He had moved his black board of drawings over next to her, and Mona slowly began to place the things she was experimenting on, aside and looked at what Mikey was drawing. Don saw Mikey gently take her hand and place the pencil in her it and placed it on the white paper sheet. Mona smiled and was overjoyed when she had drawn something 'beautiful' and Mikey encouraged her to be his new muse, and they tried again.
Usually Don would have thought that the two young ones had become a little to close, and sat a little to close, but he hen remembered how those two had been sitting together when Mona had been a small child. Back then, Mikey had also taught her to draw, and they had been sitting in the exact same way, as they did now.
A door behind them opened just as slow and Raph came walking out, he was able not to make himself seen by Mona and Mikey, and then he eyed Don.
Don gave him a short gaze before turning around to head to their sensei's door. But by his second step the door to the lair opened and two people stumbled inside.
" LEO!" was the first thing Mona cried out, as she was the first to utter a word.
Don immediately ran to Leo who had Karai leaning up against him.
" Look at her first, Donny, how are the babies?" he stammered. " She was hurt, very badly… I'm afraid- "
" Leo. Calm down," Don said and took his brother, and looked at Karai, when suddenly the whole Lair went still.
Don could not help but look at what caused the silence that suddenly appeared, and then saw that Raph and Karai had laid eyes on each other. It was a very intense moment and suddenly it came as cold ice ran down Don's back. Raph had always had a rather spensty relationship to Karai, and both their tempers were always put to the limit. Don knew that Raph had always hated Karai, and he would not hesitate to attack her if he had the chance.
So it surprised everybody, even Karai, when Raph gently took a grip around his former enemy and said to Don. " I'll get her to the infirmary, you take Leo,"
Don nodded, and also felt how Leo began to relax in his arms, also and take away the painful grip he had on Don's shoulder.
As the two turtles carried the wounded away, Mona and Mikey came to help.
" Mona, you go with Raph," Don said as Mikey came to Leo's other side. " remember what you have been taught in class about this."
Mona nodded and did not hesitate to go to Raph and help him take Karai with them to the infirmary.
Once inside the infirmary, Mona and Raph helped Karai to the old hospital bed, and a stunned Karai felt how gentle the returned brother actually was when he placed her on the bed. She tried to capture his eyes and make eye contact, but he looked away all the time and she noticed that he from time to time shot his eyes at the young turtle girl.
" Thanks, " she then said when Raph had placed her fully on the bed. He just nodded and went away from the bed, when Mona grabbed his arm.
"You're not going anywhere," she said.
" What…?" Raph looked a bit perplexed.
" Since you're now here, you can just as well make yourself useful," Mona said in a certain tone, which meant that there was no arguing now. " I need an assistant when I have to look Karai over."
" But what can I do?" Raph asked.
" You have to hold her hand." Mona said.
Raph jumped shortly and for once made eye contact with Karai who suddenly looked like him in the face.
" I know it sounds stupid, but she needs all the support she can get, and since Leo's now in the lab, you have to be her support." Mon said and turned her shell to the older turtle, who was still rather stunned.
Mona went over to take the sterilized instruments and the monitor screen, and when she began to take her gloves on; she shot Raph a look. " Uncle Raph..."
Mona said nothing more, because it all lay in the tone of her voice, and as a man under the shoe, Raph went over to Karai, and placed himself behind the bed.
Karai looked as if she did not know what to do with her self, but when Raph then, without another 'warning' took her hand, she looked upon him.
Mona sat down by Karai's legs and placed a big piece of fabric over her lover parts and rolled up her shirt, to make the big belly seen more. With skill full hands she touched and pressed a few places on the belly skin, and suddenly Raph said.
" Mona, uhh, do you know what…."
" She knows perfectly well what she's doing, Raphael." Karai said and looked up. " She's had a very skill full teacher."
Mona looked at Karai, and gave her a smile. " I don't feel that the child has been changed with any abnormalities." She then took the gel from the little table beside her, and spread it over her belly, and turned on the screen. A black and white monitor picture appeared, and suddenly mona was standing with an open mouth.
" Oh my…" she said and sank. " Karai do you know that it is t…"
" Twins," she said. " I was told about the other day."
" No," Mona said and brought the screener further over her belly. "… t-.. triplets!"
Raph felt Karai shake shortly. " WHAT?" she said. " There are three?"
Mona nodded. " Yes, and they are all fine, look." She took the screener over the belly and shortly after each other three heads came in different pictures on the screen. Karai was stunned. She suddenly felt her hand be squeezed a little and looked at Raph. He was standing looking at the monitor with a closed mouth, but with a look on his face, that Karai could not read, and was that tears she saw in his eyes?
" Now I need you to relax, Karai." Mona said and sat on the stool that stood at the end of the bed. "This will be a bit uncomfortable, but it wont hurt. I just need to take a sample to see if there might be any blood in ammoniac fluid."
" All right," Karai said and looked into the ceiling.
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A few minutes later, Mona was taking off her rubber gloves and Karai was rolling down her shirt, and while she once in a while she planted a look on Raph. She had noticed that he was a bit different from the Raphael she had known all those years ago, but still very surprised of how calm he had been under the whole examination.
" I cannot see any blood in the sample," Mona said and placed the little glass in a holder, and turned her head to smile at Karai. " I think they are perfectly fine."
" Good," Karai said. " can I see Leonardo now?"
Mona came over. " No," she said. " you need to stay here." she gently helped Karai to lay down onto the bed again. " You were hit in the back, and if you don't take it easy now, there will might occur complications during the pregnancy. We don't wan that, wont we.?."
Karai placed a hand on her belly. " No." to think there was actually three in there! She was still stunned.
Now Raph had time to walk away, and he took the chance. But Mona followed him out and stopped him right as they had entered the living area of the lair.
" Thak you," she said stopping him. " that was really a brave thing you did in there."
" Really…?" Raph sounded a bit sarcastic.
" Yeah!" Mona said. " I've heard about your past, and your relationship with Karai… and I know it wasn't all good, but…." She held a pause, and raised a hand to pad his shoulder. " You really did great."
" I assume they are Leo's?" Raph then said.
" Oh, you mean the children," Mona said and nodded shortly. " Yeah, they are."
" Ok," Raph said.
Mona slowly took down her hand and sighed. " They've tried to keep it a secret for a long time, but then there were complications and we were led into it too… but not gran-pa, I mean Splinter, your sensei, he does not know it yet. Uncle Leo never wanted to break his heart… but now it is probably too late."
Raph could see that the young girl was beginning to realise the significance of what could might happen now. He felt obliged to place a hand on her shoulder, as was it one of the most normal things in the world, and then he also raised her chin.
" Hey, tot, I'll work out." He said. " Don't worry, Leo and Karai will have their kids, you'll see. "
" But what about grand?" Mona looked at Raph, her eyes were beginning to get wet. " At least one person will suffer on another's behalf… I saw how both dad and Mike took it when they found out Leo had been 'sleeping' with the enemy." Mona whipped away a tear. "For freaks sake, why cant they just get along. What is all that stuff about not getting along? They ought to forgive each other and be happy for the fact that there will be some children now…" the tears that began to flow down Mona's cheeks was to much for Raph to bear, and he took his arms around the turtle girl and embraced her in a warm comforting hug. And one thing Mona did not do, was to resist his kindness. Her arms wrapped themselves around him, and for the first time in a long time, Raph felt how it was to be embraced by someone. He almost felt as was his heart to burst. The young girl was crying because of her sympathy for two lovers that had to hide the truth for the rest of the world…. Wasn't this not just history repeating?
Raph felt how the emotions began to boil inside of him, and he had to fight hard to keep the tears back himself.
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When Don came out from the lab he immediately saw the two turtles hugging in the living area. He stopped for a moment, felt how stunned he actually was, and then a voice came from behind him.
" Don we need to get Leo…." Mikey stopped his sentence. " What are they doing!?"
Don turned and saw that Mikey was standing with Leo and looking straight at Raph and Mona. Don then quickly coughed rather loud, and Raph turned his gaze towards them. He noticed Donny's face and then gestured shortly to Mona that their time was up. She herself was a bit perplexed about her sudden reaction, to allow a 'stranger' to comfort her, and she sniffed a bit while trying to smile as Raph let her go.
" Oh," she said, when she took a took at his plastron. " silly me," she took forth a handkerchief and dried of the tears she had left on Raph's plastron.
" Mons," Don said and came over to his daughter while Mikey helped Leo into the lab.
" Hi, dad," Mona turned around to look at don. " the babies were fine and okay. I told Karai to rest."
" Great," Don said but still looked a bit concerned. " Why did you cry, Mona?"
She lowered her gaze. " It was just about something silly. You know why I get so emotional."
" Hmmm. Mm." Don murmured and raised his head at Raph, and noticed that the red blushing cheeks on Raph was slowly fading away.
Raph then coughed. " If you need me, I'll be with sensei," he said and walked away.
Don and Mona watched as he found his way to the room.
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Karai had told Leo the news and once again, hearing the third time he was going to be a father once again, he had almost tripped and felled if not Mikey had been right there to catch him. And when Don had told the coming father and mother to be, about how they had to take it from now on, he followed Mikey out and left the couple alone.
When Don closed the door behind him and turned around he noticed that Mikey was having his arms crossed, and was looking at Mona that sat from him across the lair.
It was no longer easy for Don not to admit the fact that he had noticed the romance that was going on between Mikey and his daughter. And for once he was rather concerned… was Mikey beginning to get jealous? Of Raph?
Don was beginning to be a little worried, a little stressed perhaps, and he felt how he body began to tell him something was wrong. All this that had happened the last few days, had been a little too overwhelming, and shortly after he saw Mikey go over to join Mona, he found his chance to slip unnoticed into the lab.
Once in the lab he walked straight over to the medicine cupboard and took forth the little bottle of morphine, and went over to make sure he had locked the door. On the shelf to his left, he took a rubber band and a sterile needle for injection, and took it all over to the table behind him.
How he longed for the calming sensation of the ecstasy of the morphine running through his veins once again. With one hand he took the rubber band around his upper arm, and by the help of his teeth, he tighted the rubber band and waited for the blood to stop flowing. With a finger he slapped a few times on his skin to find a vein, and as it began to appear, he took the morphine glass and emptied it in the injection needle. Don felt as the sweat poor down from his forehead as the needle went through the flesh, and he gasped while his head flew backwards due to the sensation of the morphine spreading. When the needle had been emptied, he immediately ripped the rubber band off, and threw it all down in the garbage can, and fell down in the chair next to him.
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" No Mikey," Mona said stopping what she was doing and laid down the pipette on the table. " I just began to cry, and then he stood there." Mona sighed. " He just comforted me, that's all."
Mikey snorted. " Yeah sure…"
Mona then pushed the chair away. " Listen! I don't need this from you!" she said and turned around. " If you want to be jealous then FINE! Just don't take it out on me!"
She stomped away over to the TV-area and sat down.
A few minutes passed by.
" You might wanna turn the TV on." Mikey said. " I would like to hear something else than your breathing."
" F#CK YOU!" Mona snapped back and instantly took the remote and turned on the VH1 music channel showing Billy Idol's ' White Wedding'. " How typical…" Mona snorted and found a pillow to hug. Shortly after she fell a sleep.
When Mikey had been trying to concentrate about the artwork for many minutes now, he then threw his pencil down on the table and sighed while looking over at Mona. Why did he have such a jealous mind? He stood up and walked over to the sofa where Mona slept and sat down beside her.
" Hey," he said and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Mona murmured and continued to sleep. So when Mikey bend over and give her a kiss, there was jackpot. She kissed him back right away.
Mikey felt how his smile formed on his lips, and Mona then ( still with closed eyes) took her arms forth and wrapped them around him and took him in deeper.
" Oh, Raph!" she murmured.
" RAPH?!?" Mikey immediately broke of the kiss and looked straight at the turtle girl who began to smirk and then laugh uncontrollably.
" Gotcha!" she laughed.
" Oh, I'm gonna get you!" Mikey grinned and began to tickle and tease her. " I'm gonna get you for good!"
" Then wait for my birthday, lover-boy," Mona said in between laughing and grinning.
Mikey stopped tickling her, his eyes became a little smaller as he began to sit down on the floor leaning at the couch. Mona turned to him and placed a kiss on his cheek.
" To morrow," she said.
Mikey leaned in and captured her lips in a very passionate kiss.
None of them noticing they were being watched from the shadows…
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" Why did you give her the picture, sensei?" Raph asked.
Father and son sat in the darkened room talking. Raph held his father's hand and Splinter was lying on the pillow looking at his son.
" Sometimes we must do what we find best," the dying rat said. " Even though it can might interfere or alter some things."
" She has really been asking a lot, hasn't she?" Raph said.
" She's a very curious girl," Splinter smiled.
" Growing up with Donny, how can you then turn out any different?" Raph smiled holding tighter on his father's hand.
Splinter laid his eyes on the son. " Anna-Mona is a wonderful girl, Raphael,"
" Please stop it, sensei" Raph said. " you only make it harder on me now."
" If you had done what I had asked you to do, you would have done it by now, Raphael," the old rat said. " Then what I say now would never have happened… "
Raph opened his eyes and starred straight at the rat. " Yes, sensei," he said.
" Something made you change you mind…?"
Raph did not answer but looked away.
" I see," Splinter said and lay his head back on the pillow. " I should have guessed…" he then sighed. " but it was the only way to have you back into our lives," he said.
Now Raph was stunned. " Sensei? Is there something you aint telling me?"
" I know it all Raphael," Splinter sighed. " ever since you first laid eyes on each other after Mary-Rose died. It has always been very obvious…"
Raph felt how his whole body began to shake. " R-really?"
" Yes, and it breaks my heart that you never dared to tell me."
" Don saw how you reacted when Leo told you about him and Karai…" Raph said. " we then both realised we wanted the family to be as it had always been. So… so…." Raph looked away again.
" To run away is never an option," Splinter said and turned to Raph again. " but in you're case I would have done the same."
Now Raph turned his head to his father again. " I've done things, sensei. Things I try to regret… and now, I know it will come back after me, sensei… with this decision I've now made, I fear for our family yet again…" Raph sighed.
" The past will get to you no matter what," Splinter said. " but it is up to you to decide which past it has to be, and how you will fight it with any of those necessary means there has been given to you. And as I see it now.. you have only chosen wisely my son… and"
There was a scream from the lair. " What was that?" Raph stood up.
" Go Rahpael," Splinter said. " and be ready. Your past might all ready be after you now."
Raph ran to the door and before he went out he heard Splinter once again. " Your choice has all ready been taken. Now use it well."
A/N: My goodness. It's like every time I tell my self to keep it short and simple something always seems to want to squeeeeeeeeze in here and there.
The next chapter will be the beginning of a long journey for the turtles.