Happy Wednesday everyone. Hope everyone is having a good week so far. Can't believe how fast the time goes myself. Weeks just seem to be flying by. Anyway here's the next chapter. Thank you again to those who take the time to review. I'll be back Sunday with the next chapter. Enjoy the rest of your week guys.

The Potatoe One: Well I hope the engagement party chapter does live up to your expectations then. Glad you feel the same way I do about that kind of language in these kinds of stories. I struggle reading them when they have lots of bad words myself. Thanks for the review.

Chapter 26

"Feels good ta stretch again," Raphael grinned wickedly as he spun his sai in his fingers.

"Raph, maybe you should take it easy today I mean your stitches did just come out… "

"I feel fine, Donny. I don't wanna take it easy no more. Sick o' sittin' 'round watchin' ya an' Mikey 'ave all da fun." Raphael's eyes were shining with anticipation as he circled his purple banded brother.

Donatello frowned ignoring the beads of sweat that were popping on his forehead. They had been out training for a little over an hour now. After an extensive endurance training run, Leonardo had allowed them to stop at a small clearing so Raphael could burn off the rest of his pent up energy in a sparring match with one of his brothers.

Michelangelo had not so gracefully bowed out to avoid his red banded brother's enthusiasm at being allowed to train again, mumbling something about having to get back to the farmhouse. Under Leonardo's annoyed glare he'd hurried away through the trees. Because of Leonardo's still broken elbow it had only left Donatello for Raphael to spar with.

Donatello tightened his grip on his bo, keeping his eyes locked on his brother. He could see Raphael's muscles quivering under the skin, the way he carefully controlled his breathing, and though his face was excited it gave nothing away about what he was about to do. Donatello was deciding to play this safe and be more defense than offense. He'd probably avoid injury this way.

Donatello knew why Michelangelo had ducked out of this. The little weasel. When Don got back to the farmhouse he was going to let Mikey have it.

Raphael lunged forward. Donatello ducked under his brother's swing and brought his bo up to meet Raphael's sai, but had to jump over Raphael's sweep and flipped backwards to avoid the punch his brother had thrown.

Raphael watched him, his amber eyes glittering as he studied Donatello thoughtfully for a split second before he moved again.

Donatello had no intention of being Raphael's punching bag and ducked once more, tucking and rolling, getting quickly to his feet and brought his bo around in a quick arch. Unfortunately for him, Raphael caught it with his sai.

"Gotta be faster den dat, Donny," Raphael growled through clenched teeth.

Donatello jerked his bo loose and took a step back, watching his brother with a calculating gaze. He saw the slightest twitch in Raphael's right arm and it was his only warning as Raphael struck out with his sai. Donatello threw up his bo, catching his brothers weapons and jerked. But even with a week off because of his injury Raphael wasn't an easy turtle to take down.

Raphael kept a hold of his sai, but just barely. He scowled as Donatello took a step back. Donatello swallowed hard, seeing a vein pulsing in Raphael's neck. The amusement had gone from his eyes, now Raphael meant business.

Oh shell…

The thought barely passed through Donatello's head before a blur of red, green and brown smashed into him and he was tackled to the ground, his bo went flying and he felt himself pinned underneath his brother's bulk. He squirmed underneath his brother, feeling the mud pushing up underneath the edges of his shell. He made a noise of disgust and tried to push Raphael off, but Raphael seemed to be in no hurry as he smirked at him.

"Raph, get off!"

With a chuckle Raphael quickly got to his feet. The spar was over. Donatello glared at him.

"Did you have to push me into a mud puddle, Raph?"

"Gives ya a reason ta wash yer shell before tonight." Raphael retorted with a self-satisfied smirk as he slid his sai back into his belt.

Donatello muttered something under his breath as he reached back and touched his shell gingerly, only to feel the squishy mud had pressed into the whorls of his shell. It would take forever to get it all out.

"Don't worry, genius. I'll 'elp ya get it out," Raphael offered.

"I'd prefer not to be sprayed off with the hose," Donatello scowled.

Raphael smirked. "As much fun as dat would be I ain't Mike."

Donatello shook his head as he retrieved his bo, he made a face at the mud that coated one side of it, wiped it off the best he could with his hand and then slid it into place on his shell.

"Let's head back," Leonardo said a bit gruffly as he pushed away from the tree where he'd been watching.

Donatello was relieved. Hopefully Raphael wouldn't be quite as stir crazy now that he'd officially creamed Donatello, though in Donatello's opinion the fight hadn't been that fair. Of course Master Splinter was always telling him to expect the unexpected, and if there was one thing Raphael excelled at, it was being unpredictable.

"Yeah better let Melinda 'ave a break, but 'Lizabeth might be up by now. Gonna go see what she needs 'elp wit' fer tonight."

Donatello looked at his brother in mild surprise but Raphael had already picked up a jog and was hurrying away back through the trees.

Donatello sighed as he walked along side Leonardo, the silence between them seemed heavy. Even the birds seemed to be holding their breath as the brothers walked down the path.

"So she's really coming tonight?" Leonardo finally broke the silence.

"I asked her to come, she said she was coming, Leo."

Leonardo nodded and drew a deep breath letting it out slowly. "Donny, I'm sorry that I haven't been listening to you about this girl. I wasn't trying to make you feel like I didn't trust your judgment. I know that you would never put our family in danger. If you thought there was a threat you would have told us, I should have listened to you earlier."

Donatello looked at his brother. Leonardo's dark brown eyes met his.

"It's ok, Leo," Don said. "I understand why you felt the way you did."

"Don… " Leo started.

"Leo, with everything we've had to deal with over the last few months, its completely understandable that you'd have your reasons to be wary. But I like her, and I trust her. She wouldn't do anything to hurt us."

Leonardo nodded. "Ok, Donny if you say so, then I believe you."

Donatello relaxed and gave his brother a slight smile. "You'll see when you meet her tonight, Leo."

Leonardo gave his brother a soft smile. He wasn't sure what it was about this girl that had Donatello wrapped around her finger, but it clear that Elizabeth was right. Donatello did seem to like her. Whether it was more than friends or not was yet to be seen.

"So what are your plans for the day, Donny? Going to work on the truck again?"

"Not today, I really need to go answer some of those e-mails. Haven't done it for a couple days now, I'm sure there will be several waiting for me." He sighed. Clearly not eager to get to it. "Might look into seeing if I can fix that swing in the barn for Akemi. I told Raph I would and I just haven't gotten to it yet. Don't even know if we have the right parts for it."

"I think Akemi will be fine without the swing, Don. There's plenty of other things for her to do out here. Don't worry about the swing. Just do what you need to get done. I don't think we're going to stay out here too much longer anyway. Raph's feeling better, and my arm is healing fine. We're going to have to head back to the city before too long."

"Leo, you really should give your arm at least four to six weeks to heal… if you take another bad hit to that elbow… "

"Don, I can do basic training and katas at home. I don't need to spar. But you know Raph will start to drive everyone crazy if he doesn't at least have his punching bag and practice dummy to practice with. And Michelangelo has already been complaining about the fact that there isn't even a TV up here. He mentioned something about some new comics he is eager to get. Melinda was talking this morning about working on some of the wedding plans but thinks that they could plan more easily from home. And what if something happens with Elizabeth and the baby? We don't have the proper equipment to take care of them here like you do at home. We can't stay here forever."

"I know that, Leo… " Donatello sighed. "Just feels like we just got here. And I at least want to make sure that I can get Sabrina's truck fixed before we leave."

"We won't leave until the truck is finished, Donny. I promise."

Donatello nodded, then made a face and reached up, wiping some mud off the back of his neck as it dripped from the lip of his carapace. "He knew that was there. Probably pushed me in there on purpose," He grumbled, annoyed.

"Probably," Leonardo said with a smirk. "But considering it was Raph it could have been worse.. "

Donatello shook his head. It was bad enough and he wasn't going to ask for help showering like a hatchling. Especially not from his brothers.

"If you want help, Don… " Leonardo offered as if reading his brother's mind.

Donatello quickly shook his head again. "I can get it, Leo. It's fine."

"If you're sure."

"I am."

Leonardo blew out a sigh, but didn't bring it up again. It was obvious Donatello was annoyed that Raphael had pushed him into the mud and wasn't going to accept help of any kind if he thought he could get it off himself.

As the two brothers got closer to the house they could see Elizabeth and Raphael on the back porch. Raphael was scowling and Elizabeth was glaring at him in return while waving her hands in the air, though the brothers were still too far away to hear what she was saying to Raphael.

"Looks like somebody is upset," Donatello muttered. "Hope Akemi didn't repeat what Raphael said this morning."

"Not like she hasn't done it before," Leonardo muttered as he automatically picked up a faster pace. Donatello lengthened his stride to keep up with his brother. If Raphael ducked out from underneath Elizabeth's angry glare at least Donatello would have Leonardo there for a shield.

To his relief, however, upon seeing the two turtles coming across the field towards the house Elizabeth looked away from Raphael, schooling her features into her usual calm demeanor. "Don, maybe you can help settle this for us."

Donatello's eyes widened as he looked at his scowling older brother, who had crossed his arms over his plastron. Donatello could have sworn for a minute the he saw smoke coming out of his brother's ears. He swallowed hard and looked back at Elizabeth.

"What's the matter?"

"I came 'ome an' found 'Lizabeth doin' some strenuous exercises." Raphael growled through clenched teeth.

"Raph, honestly I'm pregnant. Not dying. Exercise is important," Elizabeth's eyes snapped to her husband, annoyed.

"She has a point, Raph. It's important for the mother to exercise. We have no idea what this pregnancy will be like. But if Elizabeth is in good shape when she is ready to deliver it will make it that much easier for her and the baby."

"Then ya can find some other form o' exercise fer 'er."

"Raph… " Elizabeth started again.

"Don can find somet'in' dat'll let ya exercise," Raphael glared at her as he set his jaw, unrelenting. "Without it bein' trainin'. Ya ain't trainin', 'Lizabeth."

Donatello shook his head. Sometimes his brother was too stubborn. "I can find some exercises that'll be beneficial to you while you're pregnant, Elizabeth." He had the feeling that Raphael had come home to find her doing some of the more complicated katas he'd been teaching her back home before she'd told him she was pregnant. Honestly Donatello didn't think there was any harm in that as long as she wasn't actually sparring with Raphael, and as long as she didn't have any major falls.

"Fine!" Elizabeth threw her hands up into the air exasperated. "Fine! I give up. You win." She brushed past Donatello and Leonardo and grabbed Akemi under the arms taking her back into the house.

Donatello shook his head as he followed, leaving Leonardo to try and talk Raphael down. The mud was starting to dry and was making him itch.

The house was cool, a welcome relief to the rapidly rising heat of the outdoors.

Melinda was just inside the kitchen as he came in.

"Hey, Don."

"Hey, Melinda. Thought you'd be with Mike."

"Oh he came home a little while ago. Grabbed a shower, then went to talk to Splinter about something."

"So the shower is free?"

"Yes it is. Um, Don?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you covered in mud?"

"Raph," Donatello said as if that answered the question.

Melinda's blue eyes widened in understanding and she gave him a soft smile. "Want some help?"

The thought of his soon to be sister-in-law helping him in the shower made him blush. "I can take care of it myself."

If Melinda noticed this she didn't seem to care.

"Don, don't be so stubborn. You can't reach all of your shell by yourself. Of course if you're more comfortable having one of your brothers… "

"Uh no… "

"You want mud stuck in your shell when Sabrina comes over tonight?"

Donatello clenched his jaw.

"I didn't think so. Come on I promise I'm not going to jump you." Melinda set down the glass of water she'd been holding and took his wrist leading him right for the bathroom with a determined look on her face.

Donatello's face flamed. Not at all sure what Mikey would think of his fiancée helping to bathe him. He squirmed uncomfortably as she had him sit in the bathtub.

"Honestly, Melinda, I can handle it."

"Mikey isn't going to care that I'm helping you, Don." Melinda promised as she turned on the warm water and grabbed a wash cloth wetting it under the flow. "Lean forward."

Donatello sighed but allowed her to have access to his shell. He felt her gently using the cloth to clean out the whorls on his shell, ridding it of all the traces of mud that had dried to it. The muddy brown water ran down the drain and she rinsed the cloth before turning back to his shell.

"So tell me more about Sabrina. Mike only told me that he's met her and she was really nice. What does she do?"

"She's a school teacher," Donatello squirmed as Melinda worked and she grabbed his shoulder with her free hand holding him still. He sighed. "Teaches fourth grade, but she's really into baking. I helped her set up her own bakery website last night."

"No wonder you weren't home earlier, you and computers," Melinda laughed softly. "But knowing you I'm sure she was thrilled with the website."

"She liked it. But it's nothing fancy."

"If she's planning on running a bakery out of her home she'd better try and get a business license," Melinda rinsed the muddy cloth and got back to work.

"Didn't think about that," Donatello admitted.

"She probably hasn't either. You should talk to her about it when you see her tonight."

"I will."

"How's her truck coming along?"

"Have a few parts that still need to be replaced. But once the right sizes come in it won't take long to finish."

"She seems to have been spending a lot of time with you lately. First with the truck and then you were gone all day yesterday. We hardly ever see you anymore."

Donatello glanced at Melinda and frowned. She was teasing him. He rolled his shoulders. "I'm just helping her out is all, Melinda."

Melinda's eyebrows rose but she didn't say anything to that. She rinsed the cloth out one last time, getting just under the lip of his shell to rid it of the last of the mud. "There, that should do it, Don. I'll… let you finish up."

Donatello was relieved when Melinda left as he closed the curtain and turned on the shower head. He let the warm water run down his face closing his eyes against the spray. He and Sabrina were just friends. His family would see that when she came over tonight.

Forty five minutes later Donatello was ready to start banging his head repeatedly on the table, or the wall, or anything else that would stimulate something other than irritation and his astonishment at how unbelievable some of these customers were.

One customer had e-mailed him worried that her screen seemed to go blank whenever it had sat for a while when she wasn't using it. Donatello had read and re-read her e-mail a few times to make sure he fully understood what she was panicking about. Was she serious? Had this girl never used a computer before? Drawing a slow deep breath to try and keep his emotions under control he e-mailed her back explaining all about sleep mode and that her computer was fine.

There were a few e-mails that the customer actually seemed to be having problems. Unfortunately they weren't simple problems that he could try and walk the customer through, and told them that they would have to send the computers in to have one of the companies specialists look it over.

Donatello rubbed his temple and sighed as he refreshed his inbox. He was surprised to see an e-mail from the head of the repairs department and opened it curiously, not at all sure what Clint wanted from him. The e-mail was short but brief. They were having a problem trying to help a customer with their computer in the diagnostics department and after a couple people had quit unexpectedly they had a few openings. Because of Donatello's interest, and even though he didn't have any schooling back ground in the area they were interested to see what he could do.

Suddenly the urge to hit his head against the table vanished. Were they really considering him for this position? He read further into the e-mail.

They were willing to ship this computer to his home address to see if he could figure out what the underlying problem was. If he could discover the root of the problem and was able to fix it in a timely manner they were willing to give him one of the recent openings. They were still willing to allow him to work from home, provided of course that he could fix the computers from there in a timely manner and have them back to the customer by the time the customer had requested.

Donatello felt excitement in his gut like butterfly wings. This is what he'd been waiting for. They wanted to see what he could do, this computer was his "test run" to see if they thought him capable of this position. No more customer calls, no more answering pointless e-mails. No more feeling his brain slowly rot away while he listened to people who couldn't even find the power buttons on their new computers.

The last part of the e-mail informed him that he was to send his return to Clint and let him know if he was interested in the position, and if he was to provide a home address so they could send him the computer they were having problems with.

Donatello didn't even need to think about his answer. This was the opportunity he had been waiting for. He wrote Clint with his answer and April's address. He knew that April would be more than willing to accept the computer shipments and he could take the sewer tunnels to her place to pick them up when they arrived. He could hardly wait to tell the others. He'd have to call April too and inform her of what was going on.

But first he had to finish up these other customer e-mails.

Donatello's fingers flew over the keyboard as he answered six or seven more customer e-mails. Skimming over the ones that seemed similar, but reading further into details on the ones that sounded more complicated.

"I DID IT!"

"Dat's right ya did it, Akemi."

Donatello paused and turned, pushing his chair over towards the window and grinned.

He could see Elizabeth watching Raphael and Akemi uncertainly, hand over her stomach, her long hair had been pulled up into a twist and clipped into place.

Huh, looks like they aren't fighting anymore. He watched curiously, not quite sure what Raphael was intending to do with that golf club. He'd never swung a club at a ball before.

Akemi and Raph were a few yards away, it looked like Raphael had brought the miniature golf clubs and balls that Casey had given to Akemi for Christmas, insisting that the kid should learn how to swing a golf club. He had informed Elizabeth and Raphael that it could save Akemi's life someday. Elizabeth had been skeptical and Raphael had rolled his eyes with a snort of disgust but Akemi had been thrilled.

She loved swinging the clubs around the lair, though after she'd nearly hit the TV with one of the golf balls Elizabeth had taken those away. It seemed that Akemi had talked Raphael into playing with her and he was trying to show her how to properly hit the ball into the yellow hippo's mouth. Problem was Raphael really didn't know how to golf.

Donatello could barely contain the laughter. Raphael looked so funny bent halfway over with a little kid's golf club in his hand as he smacked at the ball, only to see it rolling away into the weeds. He heard his brother's growl of irritation as he went after it.

"Who invented dis stupid game anyway?"

"Raph, do be careful. Those are real golf balls," Elizabeth said fretfully as Akemi swung her club and hit her ball, making it inch forward in the dirt.

"Yeah yeah… ain't like its goin' anywhere anyway," Raphael muttered as he picked up the ball triumphantly.

"Raph, you can't pick it up, you have to hit it from where it lands."

"What?"

"That's the way the game is played."

"Well I ain't playin' it."

"You're trying to teach Akemi, Raph. So teach her how to play fair."

"Whatevah… " But Raphael put the ball down and took a swing at it. He missed the ball but a lot of weeds and grass flew into the air. Donatello snorted with laughter at the look of pure irritation on Raphael's face. He swung again with the same results.

"Raph, you're holding the club wrong."

"'Lizabeth, I got dis. I'm fine."

"Ok, Raph, I'm just saying… "

"Ya don't gotta be da smartest guy in da world ta know 'ow ta 'it a ball inta da 'ole," Raph grumbled. He lifted his club and swung. This time he hit the ball and it flew into the air.

Don saw where it was heading a second too late.

"YOU DID IT!" Akemi clapped for Raphael and ran forward to get her ball only to have Raphael's ball hit her right in the nose. Shock crossed her face for half a second before she began to scream.

Elizabeth was instantly at her side, examining her daughter and pinching her nose as blood began to flow.

Raphael dropped his club as he too hurried over. "She alright?"

Donatello stood up and hurried from his room to grab a washcloth and some ice to help with the swelling along with some tissues to help stem the bleeding. The back door opened and Elizabeth and Raph came in with Akemi.

"Oh, Don, good. Just coming to get you."

"I figured. I saw what happened." Donatello said as he handed the ice wrapped in the wash cloth to Elizabeth. "That'll help with the swelling. Try and get the bleeding stopped."

Elizabeth set Akemi on the counter and handed Raphael the make-shift ice pack to hold to Akemi's nose while Elizabeth tried to get the bleeding to stop.

"I told you to be careful. I don't understand why you had to play with real golf balls to begin with," she muttered.

"How did I know it was gonna go 'it 'er in da face?" Raphael snapped back.

"I told you that you were holding the club incorrectly! The way you were holding it was going to shoot it right into the air."

"Well we ain't all golf experts."

"I'm not, Raph!"

"Well ya sure as shell sound like it! I didn't mean ta 'it 'er it was an accident!"

"I know that, Raph. I'm sorry." The anger drained out of Elizabeth as quickly as it had risen.

Raphael still looked annoyed from being snapped at but seemed willing to let it go for now, focusing on taking care of their daughter instead.

Donatello once again found himself marveling at how quickly Elizabeth could get her temper under control. It was probably the main reason why she and Raphael didn't fight that much. Elizabeth let go of things a lot faster than Raphael did.

Donatello knew Akemi would be ok. Probably get a good bruise, maybe a bump but Raphael's swing hadn't been the best and the momentum of the ball wasn't hard enough to cause any real damage. Though Akemi might think twice before asking Raphael to play golf with her again.

"The bleeding is already slowing down," Elizabeth said, obviously relieved as she changed the tissue and tossed the soiled one into the trash.

Akemi sniffed and leaned the side of her head against Raphael's plastron, blinking sleepily.

Knowing that Akemi was in good hands with her parents Donatello decided he'd better get back to the last of his e-mails. Akemi would be put down for her nap once Raphael and Elizabeth were sure she was ok, so the farmhouse would stay quiet. He had to take advantage of that while he could.