A/N: A big thank you to those who have reviewed! Your reviews really motivate my plot bunny.

Please note: Character thoughts are in italics. Computer chatting is in bold.

Disclaimer: Last time I checked my email, I still did not own the turtles.

Chapter 10-Never Letting Go

Raphael didn't falter in his series of punches as he observed his brother entering the dojo out of the corner of his eye. With a frown on his face, Donnie pulled the bo from the holder on his back. The purple clad turtle gave his staff a few experimental twirls as he headed towards a far corner. Raph let a smirk cross his features once Donnie was out of sight. It's nice to see I'm not the only one who gets in trouble for a change. Letting out a huff, Donatello took up a fighting stance and began to work his way through a series of katas.

Sitting in an opposite corner of the room was Leonardo, his eyes closed. The blue masked turtle tried to block out the thumps from Raph's punches against the heavy bag. And he tried to ignore the grunts from Donnie as he worked through his punishment from Master Splinter. Distracted during the day's earlier practice, the bo wielder had received a stern lecture, followed by a series of katas he was to perform.

Michelangelo bit the side of his cheek, trying to suppress the giggle that threatened to erupt from his lips. The mischievous turtle had waited patiently for this moment. He finally had the perfect opportunity to prank all three of his elder brothers at one time. Mikey cradled the three water balloons in his hands, as he shifted his weight along the support beam near the dojo's ceiling. Getting into position, a big smile emerged on his face. I have to time this just right. Mikey inched a little farther down the beam. The prankster took a moment to ready his aim, and then threw the water balloons at his unsuspecting foes.

Leonardo held back a sigh of frustration. This is pointless. Between the thumps from Raph's heavy bag workout and the grunts from Donnie's kata punishment, Leo just couldn't concentrate enough to meditate. Maybe I'll do better in my room. Standing up Leo headed towards the exit when a subtle change in the air captured his attention. He spun on his heels as he reached for a couple of shuriken in his belt, throwing them at the incoming targets.

The first water balloon exploded a foot from Leo, a few drops of water making it's way onto his arm. The second water balloon burst near Donnie's foot, and the quick acting turtle managed to pick up his foot in time to avoid getting a shuriken embedded in it. Unfortunately for Raph, Leo's third shuriken missed by a hair and the balloon broke on impact, covering the unsuspecting hot head with water.

Raph's angry rose rang throughout the dojo. "Mikey!"

Leo and Donnie looked up in time to see a shadow moving quickly along the ceiling support beams. Mikey's giggles carried down to them.

Raph headed towards the dojo entrance when Leo's voice stopped him. "Raph wait."

Turning around, Raph shot the leader a death glare. "What do you want Fearless?"

Donnie calmly walked up to the two elders and handed each of them a super soaker. "Now you're ready."

Raising an eye ridge, Raph looked at the super soaker for a moment. Then a large grin spread across his face. "Donnie, you are one clever turtle."

Donatello smiled at the compliment, then turned to Leo. Leo gave a quick nod to his team. The three siblings raced out of the dojo, determined to give Mikey some well-deserved payback.

Still buzzing from the days earlier water fight, Michelangelo came bustling into Donatello's lab. "Hurry up Donnie, we don't want to be late meeting up with April."

Donnie rose from his chair and reached for his bo. Realizing he left it in the dojo he called out over his shoulder. "Ok Mikey, just let me grab my bo. Don't touch anything!"

Mikey rolled his eyes at the order. Pfft, what does he think I'm gonna do?

Bored, the curious turtle's eyes roamed over the lab. They landed on Donatello's computer at the same time an instant message appeared on the screen.

Don, I'm still waiting.

Oh man, April's already waiting for us? Mikey walked over and quickly typed a reply from Donatello's keyboard.

We should be at the coffee house by 8:30 Ape. We're leaving now.

The reply was immediate.

Take your time. The coffee house on 9th Ave and West 21st street right?

Puzzled, Mikey shook his head. That's odd. April had mentioned the new coffee shop a few days ago. With a brief shrug, Mikey corrected the address.

No, the new one on 8th Ave and West 20th Street.

My bad, see you there!

Donatello's voice carried into the laboratory. "Mikey get out of my lab!"

Michelangelo winced at his genius brother's tone before exited the lab. Racing to the door, Mikey's voice rang throughout the lair. "See you dudes later, we're off to meet April!"

Master Splinter shook his head as Mikey's voice rang out. No matter how many times he's told the youngster he doesn't need to shout, he does it anyway.

Sitting at the opposite end of the coffee shop, the raven haired female had a direct line of sight to the trio in the corner. The red headed woman and her two acquaintances appeared to be having a fabulous time. Frowning, Mira flipped her raven hair over her shoulder as she crossed her legs underneath the table. Mira had recognized Don in his disguise the moment she had stepped into the coffee shop and spotted the trio in the corner. Understanding the need to conceal his looks in public, Mira waited for Don to notice that she was there, and introduce her to his companions. She assumed the young man to his left was one of his brothers. Shifting in his seat often, and constantly tapping his feet, it was obvious that remaining still was not an easy task for Don's brother. Don's brother acts like he has ants in his pants. But who is the red head? And what kind of name is Ape anyway? In all of their recent online chats, Don had never mentioned he knew anyone else besides his brothers and father.

Clearly the red head was friendly with the two brothers. Occasionally she would reach out and lightly touch one of them on the arm to emphasize a point. Mira always hated people that spoke with their hands. All that gesturing about wasted energy. Every time the red head touched Donnie's arm or hand, Mira felt her blood pressure rising. No one but me should be touching Don.

Waiting for a break in the action, Mira's patience was finally rewarded when the red head rose from her chair. Scooping up her friends empty cups, April affectionately squeezed Don's shoulder before headed to the counter for a second round. It was growing late, but April didn't mind sending her friends off with a to-go order. Donnie and Mikey just loved the caffeinated beverages from the coffee shops in her area. April would sometimes carry the shops drinks down to the lair for the guys. But it was nice to see her friends get a hot, instead of lukewarm, beverage for a change. Mira's eyes narrowed when April squeezed Don's shoulder as she walked to the counter. No longer able to keep her jealousy under control, Mira rose and sauntered over to the two brothers.

His brothers would never admit it, but Mikey was actually a very observant turtle. He had to be. As the resident prankster in the lair, his very survival after a well-executed prank depended on Mikey's ability to escape from his angry brother quickly. This meant that the orange masked turtle always kept one eye on the lookout for a getaway path.

Donnie was facing his younger sibling, leaving his back exposed to the coffee shop. Facing his brother, Mikey had full view of the shop while they talked. The observant youngster had noticed the raven haired woman staring at their small group all evening. With a determined look on her face, she sauntered away from her seat, heading directly for their dark corner.

Mikey did not take his eyes off of the approaching woman. "Umm, bro, do you know any humans besides April?"

Donnie frowned at the unexpected question. "No Mikey, why?"

Mikey shifted in his seat. His eyes flicked back to Donnie's face. "Because we're about to have company."

Before Don could turn around, he felt a hand land on his shoulder as a familiar voice purred. "Don, what a surprise to see you here."

Mikey didn't think his brother's purple masked eyes could get any wider.

The shock evident in his voice, Donnie sputtered as he turned to look at their guest. "M-Mi-Mira?"

Mira sat down in April's seat. Don's mouth hung open; he could feel his heartbeat racing. His mind refusing to work properly as questions ran around in his brain. Mira's here? Why is she here? How did she know we would be here?

Mira cleared her throat, staring expectantly at Don's surprised face. After a beat of continued silence she looked at Mikey. "You must be one of Don's brothers."

Ok, I don't know what's going on but clearly this woman knows Donnie. Mikey nodded with his greeting. "Yep, I'm Michelangelo. I'm Donnie's youngest brother. And you are?"

Mira shifted her chair closer to Don, putting an affectionate hand on his forearm.

"I'm Mira."

April juggled three steaming cups as she headed back towards her friends seated at the table in the corner of the cafe. With all of her attention on the drinks, April didn't notice their new guest until she reached the table.

Startled, April stumbled and the drinks began to tilt in her hands. Mikey jumped up and easily grabbed two of the drinks with one hand, while he steadied April with the other.

"Easy Ape, I've got it."

April blinked in surprise as she sat down. "Thanks Mikey. What's going on? Who are you?"

Mira slid her hand into Don's. Unable to pull his hand from Mira's firm grasp, Donnie squeezed hard in a silent plea to bend the truth. "I'm Mira. Don's ex, um, friend."

A broad grin emerged on Mikey's face. "Donnie! You have a human friend too. You and Mira, you're just like me and April. That's awesome dude!"

Donnie mumbled his reply. "Yeah Mikey, something like that."

With no one noticing Donatello's discomfort with their new guest, Mira easily became the topic of the night.

After recounting how they met for Mira, April sipped her drink before asking. "So Mira, how do you know Donnie?"

For the second time that evening, Donnie squeezed Mira's hand hard, a silent plea to sugar coat the truth.

"We're co-workers."

Mikey leaned forward in his chair, his eyes widening. "Dude, you have a job? Wait does that mean you get paid?"

Donatello wanted to let out a groan of frustration.

Mira let out a chuckle. "Not exactly Mikey. Don and I help each other with our work. We've been collaborating for years. Mostly computer modeling and simulations, with a heavy focus on psychiatric manipulation."

April leaned forward in interest. "Computer mind control?"

For the first time since Mira's arrival Donnie had found his voice. Yanking his hand out of Mira's he rose quickly from his seat.

"Well will you look at the time. Mikey we better head home before it gets any later."

Puzzled by his brother's abrupt departure, but happy to leave the creepy mystery guest behind, Mikey followed Don's hasty retreat.

With the brothers out of hearing range, Mira gave April a smile. "It was wonderful meeting you. Perhaps we can hang out again sometime?"

April shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, I'm meeting the guys Thursday for movie night. I'm sure Donnie won't mind."

Mira's smile got even wider. "No, I'm sure he won't mind at all."

Mikey waited patiently for his older brother to confess about their evening's mystery guest. His patience lasted until they went underground.

"So when did you two break up bro?"

Lost in his thoughts, Donatello stumbled at the unexpected question. "Mikey?"

Stopping so that his brother could catch up Mikey asked again. "You and Mira. When did you two break up?"

Caught off guard for the second time that evening, Donatello stuttered. "Mi-Mikey, h-how did you know?"

Mikey leaned back on his heels, a smug look on his face. "Come on bro, it's not that hard. It's obvious the girl is still crazy about you."

Donnie looked at the ground. "Yeah, you could say that."

Noticing his brother's discomfort, Mikey put a hand on Donatello's shoulder. "She's not that bad looking bro. Sounds smart too. So what gives?"

Looking into his younger brothers eyes for the first time since leaving the coffee shop, Donnie saw genuine curiosity staring back at him. The purple ninja let out a sigh.

"I'm not ready to talk about it Mikey."

Michelangelo raised an eye ridge. There seems to be a lot of that going on lately. Unwilling to let something this big slide so easily, Mikey leaned forward. "You're going to have to tell us sooner or later bro."

Frustrated, Donatello ran a hand over his face. "I know. Mikey, just please."

Sensing his brother had about all the stress he could handle for one evening, Mikey let a grin cross his face. "Don't worry bro, when you're ready, we'll be here for you."

With a look of relief Donnie gave his first genuine smile of the evening. "Thanks Mikey."

Deciding things were serious for long enough, Mikey lightly punched his brother on the arm before racing off. "Last one home has dish duty for breakfast."

Donatello took off after his energetic younger brother.

"Mikey!"

After losing to Michelangelo during their race back to the lair, Donatello found himself seated at the desk in his laboratory. Puzzling over Mira's surprised appearance at the coffee shop, Donnie did not realize that Master Splinter had entered the laboratory. Donnie let out a yelp as he was startled by his father's gentle voice. "It is getting late my son."

Rubbing his hands over his eyes, Donatello nodded. "I know, I'm sorry Master Splinter. I guess I just lost track of the time."

Splinter sat down in a nearby chair, a look of concern on his face. "Something troubles you my son?"

Giving his father a soft smile, Donatello shrugged. "You know me Sensei, always thinking about something."

Splinter wanted to continue prodding his troubled son. Yet the discouraged father was having limited success in getting his son's to open up. Splinter rose and gave his intelligent son a gentle pat on the shoulder before exiting the laboratory. "You can always turn to your family for help my son. You do not have to try to fix everything by yourself."

Thursday night was movie night in the lair. After the turtles finished their nightly patrol, April would stop by with a new release as well as popcorn, chips, salsa and other sinfully good snacks. Donatello should have known that Mira wouldn't be content to sit back on the sidelines after meeting Michelangelo. Mira had about as much patience as his impulsive older brother Raphael. When April waked in the door of the lair Thursday night, laughing alongside Mira, he shouldn't have been surprised, really. But he was anyway.

Having just exited from his lab, Donatello stopped in his tracks as his eyes fell upon the two visitors. "April! Mira!"

Unaware of Donatello's discomfort, April headed towards the kitchen table to drop off the goods. "Hey guys!"

Michelangelo raced over to help unload the packages. And to grab the best snacks for himself, of course.

Mira headed straight for Donatello. Before she could get a word out, Donnie roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards his laboratory. Slamming the door closed, anger was evident in his voice as he hissed. "What are you doing here Mira?"

Calmly crossing her arms in front of her chest, Mira coolly eyed the angry turtle. "Why I would think it was obvious Don, I'm here for movie night."

Frustration radiated off of Donatello. "The other night at the coffee shop. Now here at the lair! I told you to stay away from my family. Why are you really here Mira?"

Mira headed for Don's desk. Sitting on the desk top, she crossed her legs, a triumphant look on her face. "Michelangelo and April already know about me. I don't see the big deal if I meet the rest of your brothers Don."

With his arms crossed in front of his plastron, Donnie glared at the raven haired woman sitting on his desk. She always was pretty when she was stubborn.

For the first time that evening, Mira looked uncomfortable as she shifted. "And I need your help with a project."

Not breaking his glare, Donnie spat out. "Oh really?"

Mira pulled a device from the bag she had over her shoulder and placed it on the desk. "You remember this don't you?"

Unable to restrain his scientific curiosity, Donatello walked over. "Of course, it's the first Utrom neural interface we created together."

Don assessed the device as he turned it over in his hands. The older device looked nothing like the Utrom neural interface he used on his brothers. Continuing to admire the device in his hands, Donnie remembered when the prototype interface was still in development.

***Begin flashback***

Donatello and Mira were on their fifth, or maybe it was their sixth, cup of Utrom caffeine supplements. Between the combination of the late hour, the lack of sleep, and the supplement's corresponding caffeine high, Donatello and Mira found themselves relaxed and giddy.

"So do you want to test it out?" Mira leaned forward, caressing Don's arm as her eyes gleamed with mischief.

Donatello leaned back in his chair, pondering the question. He knew the device wasn't ready. But the purple masked turtle was as eager as his partner to test the device. If the Utrom neural interface worked, he might finally be able to recover his lost memories about his past.

With Mira's strong grasp of psychology and Donatello's engineering skills, the talented duo had created a prototype neural interface device. The hope was that the device would probe the mind, searching for fragmented memories and filling in the blanks. With a few modifications, the device might even be able to collect the memories of the Utroms, acting as a storage house for the races history.

Mira leaned closer, her breath warm against Don's cool skin. "Or we could try something else?"

Donatello shifted, looking into the eyes of his partner. It was tempting to take Mira up on her offer, but Don's scientific curiosity won. With a promise in his smile, Donatello softly palmed Mira's face. Mira leaned into the touch before Don's hand fell from her face and reached for the device.

Placing the interface on his head, Don squared his shoulders and settled in his seat. Mira moved over to the computer screen. "Let's see how this works."

Mira pressed a few keys and the neural interface hummed to life.

***End flashback***

Donatello glanced back at the prototype neural interface. The earlier model required many rounds of troubleshooting before Don and Mira realized that the original design had been flawed. The prototype could only scan a brain much smaller in size than Don's own. Attempting to extract memories from anything larger was an excruciatingly painful process that brought mixed results.

Donatello looked up from the device, the curiosity evident in his voice. "You never did tell me who the customer was for this prototype."

Mira shrugged. Did Don mention one of his brothers was with the Triceritons? "Yeah, well this prototype turned out to be perfect for the smaller sized brains of the Triceritons. This Triceriton, Commander Mozar paid a lot of money for the interface. I believe the Triceriton's call it a Triceriton mind probe."

The name Commander Mozar was familiar to Donnie, but he couldn't put his finger on the reason why. Suddenly Don's eyes grew wide as he remembered. Raphael rarely spoke of his time during the Triceriton Civil war. However, a few nights ago after patrol, Donnie was stitching a cut for Raphael in the laboratory. The red masked turtle was struggling to find some common ground with his brainy brother as a distraction from his injury. Quickly realizing what Raph was trying to do, Donnie opened the door by sharing some of his struggles to adapt to living among the technologically advanced Utrom. In turn, Raph detailed some of the harshness of living during a civil war. Lies, thieving, deceit, and torture. Donatello shuddered as he recalled the conversation and Raph's words. The treatment prisoners were subjected to by the Triceriton Republic sounded particularly cruel for those held captive by Zanramon's right hand soldier, a Commander Mozar. Donatello almost dropped the device in his hands. Wait, Commander Mozar? "This went to the Triceriton's? To Commander Mozar?"

Mira flinched at Don's sudden inquiry. "So? What's the big deal? You said that you've already used the Utrom neural interface among your brothers."

Cutting off Mira mid-sentence Donatello looked around the room with wild eyes. The panicked turtle searched for a hiding spot for the device as he hissed at Mira. "Raphael was with the Triceriton rebellion during the civil war. This was used by the Triceriton Republic to torture prisoners. If Raph finds out that we created this for the enemy, he'll have my shell!"

Mira hopped off the desk and placed a hand on Don's arm. "Relax Don, he doesn't have to know."

Michelangelo's voice rang throughout the lair. "Guys it's movie night, come on!"

Mira grabbed the device and shoved it into a nearby drawer. "See, all gone."

Pulling onto Don's arm, Mira led them out of the laboratory. "Come on, the movie's about to start."

Flustered, Don stumbled after Mira.

Leonardo and Raphael exited the dojo. They watched Mira pull a stumbling and flustered looking Donatello over to the couch.

Raph let out a snort as he watched his uncomfortable younger brother. "Heh, looks like that's Donnie's girlfriend."

Leo shook his head. "Ex-girlfriend from what I've been told."

Eyeing the couple, Raph shook his head. "I don't think anyone told Mira that."

The red masked turtle headed over to the living room. He introduced himself as he sat on a nearby chair. "Hey, I'm Raphael."

Mira turned predatory eyes onto the sai carrying turtle. So this is the Triceriton warrior. "I'm Mira."

Raphael let a smirk cross his face. "So I've heard."

Mira raised an eyebrow at Raphael's remark.

Leonardo walked over and bowed to Mira as he introduced himself. "Ms. Mira. I am Leonardo."

She watched Leonardo smoothly take a seat on the floor near Raphael.

Anger flashing in her eyes, Mira scowled at the blue masked turtle. Then that means he must be Ch'rell's son. Mira clutched Don's arm possessively. That wretched Utrom's son has no right to be near my Don.

Michelangelo gave Mira a smile as he sat down next to April. "Hiya Dudette."

Mira surveyed the room. So these are the brothers that have taken Don away from the Utrom. Away from me. Then Mira's eyes locked onto Leonardo. Sitting in the presence of the son, of her people's most hated enemy, was making her Utrom blood start to boil.

As the movie began, the wheels in Mira's head began to turn.

A/N: Finally, the brother's meet Mira. Looks like trouble is up ahead though. Virtual brownies with vanilla ice cream to those who review!