Author's Note: I'm sorry for the long wait, I just been busy. Plus the fact that my new semester of school is going to start so I needed to prepare for that. Now the first part of this chapter does have some purpose but you'll find out much later. Now I had to rush most of this so hopefully it's good. But apparently the ending is a small part is something you all been waiting for. Enjoy.

Chapter 21: Surprises

Donny sat forward with his arms on his legs. Head dipped down as he is currently lost in thought. A question floating around in his head as the olive green turtle tried to find an answer within himself.

"Junko, you alright?" Dr. Adams asked the turtle, pausing a moment from writing in his notebook.

Don then raised his head to meet the doctor's eyes, his train of thought broken, "Sorry…just a lot going on at the moment."

"It's alright, I have been informed that you've been having a very productive week, so that's natural," he wrote more notes, keeping his eyes down on the book. "I see you're wearing something new, care to talk to me about it?"

"Oh this?" Don motioned to his black bandanna, picking up one of the ties then flicking it over his shoulder. "Just…a gift from sensei."

"Sensei? You mean Mr. Saki?"

"Yes," Don nodded, not being able to help himself from addressing Shredder by that title. "It's just that…Mr. Saki has been training me in martial arts…at first it just has been something he had been helping me improve on…but overtime I just started to see him more as my sensei. I've improved on skills that I normally been weak in. And because of his methods I'm much stronger and faster than before."

"Interesting," Dr. Adams said, jotting down more notes. "And what is one aspect of this training do you like?"

Don didn't say anything at first, the black clad turtle took a chance to think it over. What was it about Shredder's training did the turtle like? There were so many things he wanted to say but most of all only one thing stood out. "Well…the fact that…I like his praise."

"Praise?"

"Yes…Whenever I do something good, he recognizes it, and acknowledge me on it. Also when I do something wrong he helps me to try and get it right. I have his undivided attention the whole time."

"Maybe it's the fact that you feel special in Mr. Saki's eyes."

Don raised his head again, and with a confused expression looked at the doctor, "What do you mean?"

"There are so many employees and others working in this building, and out of all of them he pays special attention to you and only you. And the fact that he gives you confidence and actually encourages you to do the very thing you're good at."

"That's…true…" Don said with a surprised voice, not really thinking like that.

Just then a beeping went off, an all too familiar sound filling the room. The black clad turtle sighed as he watched Dr. Adam's close the notebook and then standing up. "Well we're out of time, I'll see you again soon."

"Ok, thanks," Don nodded as he got up but was stopped.

"Before you leave, you have been keeping up with the material I assigned you, right?"

He nodded, "Yes…although it's been tough."

"Ok, remember to keep it up, because you may never know when I'm going to quiz you."

"I understand," Don then headed for the door, and reached for the knob.

"Oh and I have a memo from Mr. Saki that he wanted me to give you," Dr. Adams said, catching the turtle's attention once more. "He said that you have the day off and to do whatever you please."

"That sounds good, thank you," and with that the turtle left the room. Once outside he leaned against the door and let out a huge sigh. "Now what do I do? Maybe get some more sleep?"

Don had trouble sleeping last night, mainly because his friend Gavin had gotten drunk and crashed on his bed. Not wanting to disturb him more the olive green turtle opted to sleep on the floor, which wasn't good for him. It took him a long while to fall asleep, and it when he did it was only for a short time.

"Well…maybe Gavin is up right now, and also maybe he's in a talking mood," he said out loud. After seeing his friend pass out Don found some rather interesting newspaper articles, which only instill questions in the genius mind. "Might as well check," he said once more as he headed for the elevator.

Footsteps could be heard as Don neared his door, without missing a beak he reached up and slid the paper door open. Both eyes rose as a groan could be heard, and the probe form of his friend on the floor. "Gavin!"

Don rushed in, closing the door behind, and kneeled down to his friend's side. The human groaned as he is assisted to his feet, "Man…my head…and my mouth is so dry."

"Take it easy, hangovers are the worst," Don responded as he sat Gavin down on the bed, letting go and seeing his friend slump.

"I was drinking? No wonder…and please not so loud," Gavin clutched his head and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Hold on a sec," Don said as he moved to another part of the room, where a small cooler rested. This was something he requested, since he wanted to keep some water and other things in the room so he didn't have to wander so far. Opening it he took out a bottle of water, then moving over to his desk to grab a left over glass.

Pouring some water inside he then searched through the desk and brought out a tablet, then dropped it into the water. His eyes watched as the water started to sizzle and bubble. Nodding he then took it over and handed it to Gavin, "Here, this'll help."

"Thanks," the human responded weakly as he took the glass and started drinking. Giving a satisfying sigh as his throat was moist again. "Much better…what time is it?"

"Just about noon," he pulled up a chair to sit in.

"Oh no…I overslept," Gavin groaned as his head hung.

"Did you have something important today?" Don questioned, leaning back in his seat.

"Just late for work…oh well I can afford being this late…heck I can just use one of my sick days," he seemed to be relieved at remembering this.

"Sick days? We have those?"

"Yeah…didn't you know?" Gavin now had a confused look on his face, surprised that his friend didn't know about this. The shake of his head only confirmed this. "Well yeah…surprised you didn't know about that."

"Well it doesn't matter, I have the day off anyway," Don sighed.

"Well that's good," Gavin placed the glass on the bedside table and cautiously got to his feet. "Look I'm sorry for imposing on you last night, didn't mean to make any trouble for you."

Don shook his head as he got to his feet as well, "No it's alright…besides you're my friend and you were in bad enough shape as it was."

"Still thanks, now I better go…and…find something else to do," Gavin rubbed the back of his head as he headed for the door.

Donny watched as Gavin started for the door, at first not wanting to say anything about last night, but for some reason it just came out. He had no idea why but it happened, "Why didn't you ever say you were a father?"

That stopped the human dead in his tracks, body stiff as his breathing hitched. A few seconds had passed before Gavin slowly turned, a shocked expression plastered on his face almost like he saw a ghost. "W-what…did you say?"

The black clad turtle took a gulp of air before continuing, "You heard what I said."

Seriousness is now on the human's face as he moved back till he was only a few inches away from Don, "I don't know what you mean…and I think it's best you drop this."

Normally Don would drop the issue but he wanted to know more, so as much as he didn't want to he pressed the issue. "Yes you do, you wouldn't be this defensive unless it was something."

"Maybe it's none of your business."

"Then why all the newspaper articles you had all over the table?"

Gavin seemed to be visibly shaking as he looked down at the ground. "Please…drop it…I don't want to be reminded," he turned towards the door.

"Reminded of what?" Don pursued.

"Reminded of what a failure I am!" he turned and shouted, heaving as he shouted at the top of his lungs. "You want me to tell you how much of a failure I was, how I wasn't strong or careful enough, or how about how careless I got and that it cost me my daughter's life!"

Don wasn't fazed by the outburst, he knew something like this was coming, "There's more to this story isn't it?"

Gavin fell to his knees, cradling his face in his heads, "My daughter…my daughter…they didn't even care…all they wanted was to make an easy buck…"

Don then kneeled down and placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, prompting him to look up at the turtle, tears falling down. "Don't worry…I'm not judging you…why don't you tell from the beginning?"

The whole lair was silent, except for the blaring of the TV. Splinter and his sons all sat in front of the TV, watching the tapes they had found in their brother's room. None of them had any sleep as they were captivated at all the memories they were watching, surprised that their brother had kept all these recordings.

They watched many memories, birthdays, family events, some training, and all sorts of things. They went through a few tapes and still had much more to go through. For the first time in so long they forgot all the troubles they were currently having and enjoyed the small downtime they managed to find.

"Man I remember this," Mikey responded with a smile. "Shell I even forgot Donny had the camera."

"How?" Leo asked.

"I was too caught up in finding a skateboard in good condition."

On the TV it showed Mikey walking the sewers, a beaten, but still good condition, skateboard under his arm. His shell was to the camera so they couldn't see his face. "Mikey are you sure this is a good idea?" Don's voice could be heard off screen.

"Totally, I've seen how they do it on TV how hard can it be?" he turned towards the camera, a cocky smirk on his face.

"Mikey those skaters have years of experience, you just can't pick up a board and automatically think you can do the same," Don professed his concern on what his brother is going to do.

"And I'm a ninja, years of experience is going to help me," he retorted as the image showed a long area, which looked almost like a half pipe. "Here I go!" he shouted as the orange clad turtle went into a full spring and dropped the board before jumping on it.

"Mikey, I don't think-" Don was cut off as the camera caught the youngest falling forward onto the ground. Apparently he put too much weight on the front and it caused the board to tip forward and come to a sudden halt. "Mikey!?" he called out as he ran to his side.

Everyone but Mikey laughed at the scene, including Splinter, who chuckled at the bail. Raph couldn't help but slap his brother on the shoulder, "Mikey, what made you think that your training would help?"

"Hey it was logical," he responded back, waving off his brother's hand.

"Michelangelo, there is a big difference when it comes to ninjutsu training, and the sport of…skateboarding," Splinter smirked to his son.

"Fine, now I know," the sea green turtle sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win.

"Wait," Leo suddenly said with a raised eye. "Wasn't this the time you came back home complaining of pain?"

That seemed to make everyone remember as well, causing them to raise their eyes and look at the youngest, waiting for him to say something. "Yeah," Raph seconded. "You said something about having a race with Don and tripping and landing on something hard."

"Uh…no." he responded.

Unfortunately luck wasn't on the youngest side as the camera was continuing playing. It showed Mikey cradling his arm, "Man…that hurt."

"I told you so," Don responded off camera.

"Don't rub it in…man how do we hid this from the others?"

"Well…we can't hide the injury…why not say you just tripped while we were having a race?" Don suggested.

Once that line was said they all looked over at the youngest, clearly been found out. All Mikey could do was gulp as he remained in the awkward silence.

"I worked at that same hospital," Gavin spoke from his place on the floor. Sitting with his back against the bed. Don listened from a chair next to the table, letting his friend talk and tell him his story. They had been talking for a while, Gavin stating off with how he met the mother of his child and how she was born and now he's talking about his old job "I worked in maintenance, fixing anything that broke. The job was good, and they were flexible about my hours since I had a daughter."

"But that still doesn't explain everything," Don asked, still a bit confused.

"I was getting to that," the human responded, looking down at the ground. "Unfortunately the hospital had some budget cuts so they had to cut most of the employee's time to part time…and I was one of the first to get that axe. My hours…pay…even my insurance was cut in half. And It came at a very worse time. My daughter…Emily…had been complaining about headaches…been getting them repeatedly. I had made an appointment for her but it wasn't going to be for a few weeks. Soon she got worse so I ended up taking her to the ER. They diagnosed her with AML Leukemia."

"I don't get it…wouldn't they have taken care of her?" Don asked, leaning forward so his arms were on his knees.

Both of Gavin's hand clenched, arms shaking as he seemed to get angry, "Greedy doctors…that's what. The very hospital that cut my insurance, refused to treat her because of that. I didn't have the right insurance anymore for them to treat her…they basically sent her home to die."

Don was shocked at hearing this, actually at the fact that doctors refusing to treat someone because they didn't have the money for it. He always read that doctors are supposed to help people no matter what. "But…that can't be…I mean-"

"Well it was!" Gavin snapped back. "All because they're greedy and want their cut…they don't care that a life is at stake. I had to suffer…watching my daughter get sicker, and sicker until I couldn't take it anymore. I grabbed my gun and went in and took some of the staff hostage until they agreed to treat her."

The black clad turtle slowly started to realize what had happened afterwards, but still had to say it, "But it didn't go as plan, didn't it?"

Gavin remained silent for a bit as he made his way to his feet, and angered look on his face. "I got careless…I was so close to getting what I needed. But I got caught when they sent a unit into the hospital without me knowing. They took me down and arrested me…I ended up going to jail because of it, and Emily…was taken away from me. I wasn't even there when she passed…"

"I'm…sorry to hear that," Don said.

"Don't be…I blame the doctors of that hospital…they refused to treat her…they caused me to do what I had to do…they basically took her away from me!"

"And that's how you ended up here?" Don asked.

"Yeah…sometime after I got out of prison someone approached me…and offered me a job here. I liked it so I took it, and believe me, it's a lot better than before."

"I know what you mean," Don responded as he got up.

"Don't you ever want to leave?" Gavin suddenly asked.

"What?" he asked, caught off guard.

"Don't you want to leave this place?" He suddenly got closer. "You seem out of place here, and I can see it…you're not happy here."

"I don't know what you mean…what gives you that idea?"

"I just do," Gavin responded. "I can help you escape here."

"What!?" Don responded, but this time shocked. "What do you mean?"

"I can help you escape here…You may have not told me the whole story here but I know you would rather be somewhere else…I bet-" Just then Gavin was cut off as a beeping rang out. Reaching into his coat the human pulled out a cell phone and answered it. "Hello? Yes I'm still here…but…oh all right I'll be down."

"What-" the turtle asked but was cut off.

"I have to go…just please think about it," without another word Gavin left the room, leaving Don alone in the room, confused and shocked.

"What…what does he mean…escape? Am I really that unhappy here?" he questioned himself. He folded his arms as he looked down at the floor, still confused at the question. "Can he…why does he want to help me like that?"

So out of his stay here Don really liked it here, he got to do things that he never ever got a chance to do. Work with the state of the art equipment, walk around like a normal person, and even improved on his training. What would make Gavin think that he was unhappy? Or…what if he was but he didn't notice it? Did he really want to leave, and if so why didn't he feel it?

He then placed a hand on his head as a small pain hit him, thinking too much caused this. He wasn't sure what to do or how to outlet this. Turning towards the window he saw that he had apparently been talking to Gavin for a while, and it was nighttime already. "I have to get out of here for a while…maybe a small run." On occasion Don would go out into the city and just run, to have the wind in his face and just get some air in general. No one stopped him from leaving, they allowed him to go out of the building and into the city, maybe they knew he would always come back. Either way he was glad he was able to come and go as he pleased and wasn't restricted.

Without having to put much thought into it the black clad turtle headed for his door, slid it opened and went into the hall. A run was definitely needed, maybe it would help clear his mind of what he was told, and maybe come to his senses about his true feelings.

Sometime later Don was crouched on the edge of a tall building. Basking in the cool wind that went his way, the sound of his bandanna ties flying in the wind. After going for a nonstop run across the rooftops he decided to take a break on one of the tall buildings so he couldn't be seen. He enjoyed the freedom of being out in the city on his own, not being monitored or followed. He enjoyed these small moments of private time to himself in the city, it almost made him feel…normal…like before any of these events had happen.

Sighing he then got up back to his feet, stretching out his joints as he basked in the air further. "Well…what do I do now?" during his run the turtle had been trying to think about what Gavin said and he was still conflicted. Was he really unhappy where he was, despite all his desires were being fulfilled? While still thinking about this Don started to jump the rooftops again.

"I been here for a few months…possibly a year and I have it good. I can't even remember what happened before all that…not as much. But really do I want to leave here? And how can Gavin help? He himself said that he liked it here so why would he risk this job just to help me out? He doesn't have to do that, I mean I know we're friends but I can't ask him to do something like this…I wouldn't be much of a friend doing something like that, even if he offered. Maybe I need to reevaluate my new life here…that should make it easier."

With a thud Don then broke his train of thought and was surprised at where he was, an old construction site. One that was shut down for a long while, and apparently remained closed. A familiar feeling overcame the turtle as his head started to hurt once more, but not from thinking but from remembrance. "Oh yeah…we…we used to use this place as a small training ground," he said to himself, remembering how he and his brothers always used this place as a sanctuary of exercise when they were out on patrol. The place was condemned and no one would ever come around here so it was perfect for them.

He smirked as he remembered the times they would do pull ups on the metal beams, usually having contests on who could do the most. Which of course Raph would win since he had the most upper body strength. Maybe-Don then shook his head, ridding himself of his current train of memories.

"No…I can't be thinking about that…not now…not…after…" His head started hurting once more as the memories of his torture flashed before him. Seeing his brothers brutally beating him while he was restrained. The Foot ninjas that did it were replaced by his brothers, all the torments they caused flooded back, which caused the turtle to gasp as he rid himself of the memories. Panting some as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. Once again he had flashbacks, something he didn't want at all, it always brought him pain and he wanted to forget about them.

"I…I need to leave this place…can't stay here any longer," he said to himself as he turned around, but then his body locked up. Both eyes widen as he shook violently, and heart raced which caused his breathing to increase a huge notch. Panic consumed the turtle at what he saw a few yards away.

"D-Donny?" Mikey spoke in disbelief as his long lost brother stood before him.

A/N: Hope you like, man weren't expecting an ending to a chapter like this? Well believe me now things are going to get good from this point out. I have a lot of good things planned, but I can't say. Believe me I'll work my best to get these next chapters up. Till next time.