A/N: Sorry this was a little late guys. Mom ended up going to the ER tonight. I posted as soon as I could. Thanks for being patient. I'll be back Sunday. Have a great rest of the week. Thanks for those who've taken the time to review

The Potatoe One: I'm glad you are enjoying this story so far - I've had a lot of fun writing this one. Hope I do Don's story justice for you since he's your favorite turtle. Thanks for taking the time to review.

Chapter 20

Michelangelo knew that Leonardo probably would have left the house exactly five minutes later if Elizabeth hadn't blocked him from the door. Michelangelo admired his sister-in-law's nerve. Leonardo wasn't an easy turtle to try and stare down. Although, Michelangelo mused, she was used to staring down Raphael on the rare occasion she was in a bad mood.

"Leo, don't. Don will be back anytime I'm sure."

"You don't know that!"

"Leo, he probably got caught up studying a blue polka-dotted mushroom or something," Elizabeth glared at the blue banded turtle. "What kind of trouble is Don going to get into up here?"

Leonardo tried to side step her, but Elizabeth matched him step for step.

Michelangelo couldn't help the smirk that spread across his face, despite is older brother's obvious annoyance with Donatello and now Elizabeth. Elizabeth had been working really hard with Raphael in the dojo over the last few years, and while she wasn't ready to try and take one of them on in a spar, she'd learned a lot.

Raphael frowned at the two of them as he pulled Akemi's hair away from her face and back into a ponytail, but he wasn't in a hurry to interfere either. Being on the wrong side of Elizabeth when she was in a bad mood wasn't a side he liked to be on. Especially when she was pregnant, hungry, and dinner was getting cold. Stepping in now would probably make her snap at both of them. He didn't mind when she snapped at Leo, in fact he rather enjoyed it sometimes. It was fun to watch his brother stare at Elizabeth the way he did when she was angry. It struck him as funny that Leonardo would take on Hun, the Foot Elite, or Karai alone, but Raphael's wife, weighing one hundred and fifteen pounds, could stop him in his tracks.

"He let that woman see him, Elizabeth! How do we know she didn't call the nearest science facility and let them know what he was and where to find him?" Leonardo's voice held a dangerous tone.

"She wouldn't do that."

"You don't know her!"

"Donatello trusts her, isn't that enough?"

Leonardo glared at her. Elizabeth's eyes narrowed as she glared right back.

Raphael walked around the table, grabbing Leonardo's arm. He knew Leonardo would never strike Elizabeth, above all Leonardo maintained his control. But he also knew that Leonardo was reaching his breaking point and Elizabeth wasn't helping. It was time to step in before this really got ugly. "Leo, ya know she's gotta point. Donny woulda told us if he t'ought we should clear out."

Leonardo's dark brown eyes snapped to Raphael's face. Raphael met Leonardo's gaze evenly. "Look, fearless, if Don ain't back by da time dinner is over we'll go look for 'im… see if 'e fell down a 'ole lookin' at a leaf or somet'in. Mike an' I will go wit' ya."

"I'm not hungry."

"Well try!" Elizabeth snapped, her usually even temper finally reaching the breaking point. "It wouldn't kill you."

She turned away from the two turtles and grabbed what looked like a ball of tin foil, unwrapping the hard roll inside and put it on her daughter's plate.

"Careful, Akemi, it's still hot," she warned as she pried a small piece off the top of the roll to reveal the steaming meat and cheese mixture inside it.

"MEAT! MEAT! MEAT!" Akemi banged her fork on the table.

"And don't do that. There's meat inside your roll."

"Mmm…. Lasagna in a hard roll. Elizabeth, you're awesome," Michelangelo grinned as he grabbed one of the wrapped rolls himself and pulled it out of its protective tin foil wrap. Not bothering with a fork Michelangelo lifted the roll to his mouth and took a large bite.

Bits of meat and hot cheese landed on his plastron and a few pieces his thigh, making him jump in surprise and pain.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Honesty, Mike, you're as bad as Akemi."

"Yeah, chucklehead. Looks like yer da one who needs da bib," Raphael smirked as he sat down next to Elizabeth and grabbed two of the wrapped rolls.

Michelangelo scowled at his brother, unamused, while he used a napkin to wipe up the spilled pieces of meat and cheese off his leg and plastron.

Still scowling Leonardo sat down across from Raphael, arms folded across his chest, glaring at the back door as if it had personally insulted him.

Michelangelo reached out and grabbed one of the wrapped rolls, dropping it onto Leonardo's plate.

Leonardo shot his brother an annoyed glance before looking towards the back door again, as if willing Donatello to walk through it.

Raphael glanced at his wife, seeing a ripple of tension run through her as she fought to maintain the tenuous hold she had on her temper.

At the head of the table Splinter's whiskers twitched as he too watched his son with those dark eyes. As if feeling his gaze Leonardo turned, met Splinter's eyes for a moment before looking at his plate and unwrapping the roll.

He had only taken a bite or two when the back door opened and Donatello entered the kitchen. He paused as everyone turned to stare at him.

"Um, sorry I'm late. Lost track of the time."

"Don, where have you been?" Leonardo demanded, forgetting all about his dinner and making as if to stand up and face his brother. Michelangelo grabbed his arm, stopping him. Leonardo scowled but remained seated as he fixed Donatello with an annoyed glare.

"Just out walking, Leo. There's a lot of interesting flora out here." Donatello shot Elizabeth an apologetic smile as he sat down on the other side of Akemi and grabbed a roll from the plate, unwrapping it quickly and used his fork to begin cutting it up.

Elizabeth passed down the salad bowl without comment, knowing from the look on Leonardo's face that he had no intention of letting Donatello get off that easily. In fact, if the way he was puffing up his plastron was any indication, Elizabeth had a sneaking suspicion Donatello was going to get a real earful later.

"You were the last one to the table, you know what that means, Donny," Michelangelo grinned as he released Leonardo's arm and took another bite of his roll.

Donatello shook his head as he helped himself to some vegetables. "I don't mind doing the dishes, Mike."

"I'll help," Elizabeth offered.

"No, you cooked, Elizabeth. Besides you should try and take it easy, you look a bit off color tonight."

Elizabeth frowned, but Raphael reached over and squeezed her arm gently.

"I'll help, Don," Leonardo volunteered, shooting Donatello a sharp glance to cut off any protests.

Donatello glanced at Leonardo, and nodded slowly. "Ok, sure, Leo."

Melinda's eyes darted between the furious blue banded turtle to the purple banded one, before she glanced at Michelangelo, who smiled reassuringly and squeezed her hand.

Akemi reached into her roll, pulling out some of the insides and while glancing at Elizabeth to make sure she was watching, opened her hand and let the contents fall to the floor.

"Akemi, we don't throw our food on the floor," Elizabeth said frowning at her daughter.

Akemi scowled, picked up her roll and deliberately dropped it onto the floor as well.

"Ok, yer done," Raphael said with a growl. He stood up, picked Akemi up under her arms and carried her out of the room.

"She didn't eat very much," Mike observed as he reached for another roll.

"She'll be hungry in an hour or so. I'll give her some goldfish crackers before she goes to bed," Elizabeth sighed. Her stomach churned a little, protesting. She looked at the remains of her own dinner and knew she couldn't make it go down. Instead she stood up, gathering her plate, Raphael's, and Akemi's and deposited them in the sink.

"There's some tiramisu in the fridge for dessert."

Michelangelo's eyes lit up and he looked at the fridge eagerly.

Melinda laughed. "Maybe you should finish what you have on your plate first, Mikey."

Michelangelo glanced at his plate, as if forgetting that he'd had anything on it. He grabbed the last bit of his roll and stuffed it into his mouth chewing quickly.

Elizabeth shook her head, smirking and left the room to go see how Raphael was doing with Akemi.

Forty minutes later Donatello shifted uncomfortably in front of the sink, his eldest brother by his side, as Donatello quietly handed him the clean dishes for them to be dried and set aside before they would put them away.

"I just don't understand why you had to lie about it, Don. Why didn't you just tell me you were going to go out?"

Donatello sighed. "I'm sorry, Leo. I just wanted to get that spearmint for Elizabeth. "

"Raph or I could have gone with you."

Donatello shook his head. "Leo, Raph has his hands full right now. And I had no idea what you had planned to do today. I wasn't going to bug you."

"Don, none of us should go out alone."

"It's not like it is in the city, Leo."

"I know that, Don." Leonardo blew out a frustrated sigh.

Donatello scrubbed at another dish, then rinsed it and handed it to his brother.

"Don… " Leonardo glanced at Donatello from the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, Leo?"

"Were you out with Sabrina this morning?"

Donatello froze, hand still reaching for the next dirty plate. It was all the answer Leonardo seemed to need.

"Don… " he began sternly, turning so he was facing his brother.

"Leo, she isn't going to do anything. She told me last night she knew where the spearmint grew, she showed me where, that's all."

"Don, we don't know if we can trust her."

"You mean you don't know." Donatello was starting to get annoyed. "We can, Leo."

"How do you know that, Don? You don't even know her."

"Neither do you, you haven't even met her." Donatello's tone changed, annoyance turning to irritation.

Leonardo's eyes narrowed behind the mask. "Don, you know what's at stake if you're wrong."

"You think I don't know that?" Donatello snapped. "Especially now with Elizabeth pregnant. I wouldn't do anything that would put our family in danger, Leo."

Leonardo gazed into his brother's chocolate brown eyes, frowning. He couldn't understand this woman's hold on his brother. Why Donatello seemed to trust her so willingly. How he could so lightly put the safety of their family into her hands.

A muscle along Donatello's jaw twitched as he stared back into Leonardo's eyes, refusing to back down, knowing if he did, Leo would win.

The tension between the brothers was broken by Akemi's giggling and the pounding of her bare feet as she ran, giggling down the hall and into the kitchen, wearing nothing but her pull up, her hair still dripping water, leaving a trail behind her. Obviously she'd just gotten out of the bath. She ran right for Leonardo and grabbed his legs, wiggling around him so her back was pressed against the counter, her face buried in his knees as she stood on his feet, her hair dripping onto his toes.

"Akemi Nicole Hamato!" Elizabeth sounded exasperated as she entered the kitchen holding a pair of pajamas in her hands.

"No clothes! No clothes!"

"Yes clothes! You cannot run around half naked."

Akemi clung to Leonardo's legs tighter, refusing to let go as she snuggled into him.

Leonardo barely controlled the amused smirk that threatened to pull up the corner of his mouth. Elizabeth clearly wasn't finding this funny.

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her own slightly damp hair. Her clothes were wet in several places, it was clear she was tired, and that Akemi's bath had been hard tonight. She opened the pantry, pulled out a large carton of goldfish crackers she put some into a cup and approached her daughter.

Akemi screamed and clung to Leonardo's legs.

Taking pity on his sister-in-law, Leonardo grabbed Akemi under one arm and lifted her up. She snuggled into him, and kissed his cheek.

Leonardo said something to her softly in Japanese, making Akemi frown. He repeated himself, a bit firmer this time.

Akemi considered him for a minute then reached for his mask tails. Leonardo leaned his head back, keeping them out of her reach. She pouted, glanced at Elizabeth and back at Leonardo, she kissed his shoulder.

"How about I help get her to bed tonight, Elizabeth?" Leonardo offered.

Donatello glanced at him over his shoulder, the dishes were nearly done. He didn't mind finishing them up alone.

"That would be great. Thank you, Leo." Elizabeth seemed to sag a little as if she were suddenly too tired to stand up anymore. She held the pair of pajamas and crackers out to him, which Leonardo took and then he carried Akemi down the hall to her bedroom.

"Well, I'll give her this," Donatello said with a smirk as he reached for another plate with sudsy hands. "She sure knows how to stop Leo mid lecture."

Elizabeth looked at him, then laughed.