TMNT characters are copyrighted by Mirage studios and were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. And this is a non-profit fanfic.

"You don't trust me not to tell, yet I have kept my mouth shut." Don said defensively, feeling the admonishing gaze he was getting. 'She would not disembowel me, right? She was bluffing right?'

Pieces of a Puzzle

Donatello was shocked and could not move from the spot he was. April got the hint. "I should not have?"

Don just shook his head slightly gulping, not daring turn his back.

"OK, never mind." April said.

"Hey Ape! Nice seeing you!" Mikey irrupted giving April a big hug. "What is going on Don?" He asked. "You look pale."

"Yes," the also arriving Raph agreed, narrowing his glare. He had heard part of the conversation but had not been following it with attention as Mikey had yelled something at the moment the name was mentioned. "Who is female?"

"None. The other day April thought I…"

"A friend of mine" April intervened. "A confused teen we are both acquainted with. I told Don he reminded me of her like a younger sister so I asked him if he was…"

"Angel?" Mikey said. "She is in trouble? … Wait… You asked him if he was a g…?" Mike started laughing uproariously.

"No…Not at all!" Don retorted, failing miserably to sound collected as he felt Splinter's stern glare on his back.

"Are you one, brainiac?" Raph exclaimed, surprised watching Don carefully observing how he shook his head, turning as purple as his bandanna. He continued: "April mistook you for a girl! Hahahaha" Raph exploded in laughter.

"Dude, you and purple! You were practically asking for it." Mike added joining the prank.

"Very funny! I am not a girl! And purple is not girly." Don said, trying to stop the teasing.

"Says the guys from the parade. Well if ya coming out of the closet, just count me out or I will beat the hell out of ya. Oh, and there is a parade you and Cinderella can join." Raph managed to say between laughs.

"Yes dude. You probably can lead it as one grouchy stepmother." Michelangelo said defensively. "You would look cute in a tutu."

'I'll show you tutu, shell fer brains." Raph growled, heading to pummel the fleeing Mike.

"Right?" April said not sure what to say anymore or what to think about the turtles' attitude.

"So, April, to what we owe the honor of your visit? You know is not safe to visit the sewers on your own, less of all, the lair, as you could be followed." Splinter interrupted the unmerciful teasing of Donatello by his brothers, eying him carefully.

"Right… er…won't happen again….Leo's stuff… I brought them." she said handing it to Donatello whispering a subtle "Sorry, later..."

Leo's mention was enough to crush the mood as Raphael stop chasing Michelangelo and they all went dead silent.

"Where is Leo by the way? Is he OK" April asked, confused. However she got the hint when no one answered. "Another journey?" she said sarcastically.

"He needed some time on his own to collect his thoughts. We hope to see him back soon. Have a safe return home April…Raphael! Michelangelo! Please, escort her back …Have you set a date yet?"

"We want you all there so I will postpone it until his return so when you know, please tell me." she replied, looking at the unreadable rat sensei. "Have a pleasant evening, sensei"

Just as Donatello was about to sigh in relief, Splinter's voice was heard. "Donatello! Meet me in my quarters. We need to talk. Now!" he ordered, heading towards the rice paper sliding doors.

"Dude, what did you do?" Mike wondered out loud, noticing the tone in his master's voice.

"Fitting fearless shoes ain't easy, right sista?" Raph spat, patting him kind of hard on the back.

"You have no idea Raph. You have no idea." Don said pushing him away.

"Please seat." Splinter said with his back turned, clenching in his paws a letter he had received that morning from the Ancient one, summoning Leonardo to appear before the Tribunal. The shy and wishing he was a shadow Don ventured into his father's quarters as if he was heading to the gallows.

"Could you explain what I just heard?" he asked, turning to face Don, lashing his tail in a very atypical tick Donatello had only seen in him when things got really bad.

"Well… a little misunderstanding…. between April and I that is all." Don replied, averting his father's glare. He sucked at lying but he could bend and embellish the facts in an incomprehensible jargon to make his attention deviation intents as convincing as possible. Not entirely lying as he had been doing, the issue was it was master Splinter and he did not have Leo's poker face to play. Shell! Leo could convince you the sky was purple and clouds made of cotton candy and still maintain her honesty halo, never breaking a sweat. Don had found that much about her in the last months. But he was clear as water and Splinter saw right through him… 10 out of 10 times, he had to admit.

Shell! He was already sweating even before Splinter had asked the question and he really did not know what or how much had his father heard but he was in for a throughout interrogation that would probably make him spill the beans.

"What was Leonardo going to tell us the night he went missing?" Splinter asked, glaring at his son sternly. "Was he going to inform us of something? Was Leonardo going to speak in your stead my son? It's no sin to be who you are and whatever path you choose, you can count on your family as long as you respect the ones around you… Coming out the closet, as humans say?" Splinter said carefully "err... Should I start calling you Donna from now on, my… son?"

Why does everyone think I am a girl and Leo is not? Man, that joke is getting old. Don's jaw dropped slightly and he remained silent, facing an impossible choice: either he let Splinter believe he was Donna and endure teasing that was bound to come from his two tactful and sensitive brothers about him being a drag queen or he would have to lose Leo's trust and earn her wrath upon her return if... when he tried to reassure himself averting his father's glare. But then, she had basically told him it was OK during the party, but still, she might not remember that part. She might not even remember she was a she considering the reaction he had seen. Why was Leo so spooked this time, when she had been so level headed the first time? Well yeah, except for Ms. Leo Hyde… he shivered.

What had he done to deserve this? He disliked conflict so how had he gotten into this? His life had been so peaceful aside from the weekly psycho trying to kill them or them getting involved in the most absurd situations, though fortunately they almost always happen with Leo being around, except the whole Karai's vendetta, otherwise they would be goners by now. Peaceful but still goners.

He stopped that line of thought and he suddenly reflected how much easier his life had been before he meddled with Leo's secrets, Curiosity will definitely kill this turtle, he had to admit. But life without Leo had been boring actually. IT job coffee, sleepless nights, the occasional energy drink, fixing the things that got broken or deteriorated, never feeling any ounce of gratitude. He had truly missed her even before and he would do it again. He had to recognize he would not trade being Leo's confidant for anything, though he could live without some of those secrets; the real issue now was he used to live below the radar of his father's interrogations, but now it had gotten frequent: Don had been having issues in this last weeks with his father's decisions regarding Leonardo, no matter how he analyzed it. Sending an obviously disturbed turtle alone was absurd and his inability to stop it as she had just left had been rewarded by a constant the dread of not knowing where she was if she was all right… What if Raph was right? and she was…? He did not even want to imagine it.

Leo is smarter than that and she is not a quitter. But she would need someone to support her. Someone she could trust at least a bit so he could not bring himself to betray Leo's trust no even to his father so he now was between his father's cane and Leo's swords as one would say. Drag queen it is, he sadly concluded. Starting to concoct his reply to his father regarding animal behavior variants, the season of the year, the position of the stars and such. But was suddenly interrupted by Splinter who lifted his head almost brusquely with his paw.

"Donatello!" Splinter said raising his voice thumping his cane on the floor to get his attention. "I am talking to you, what was Leonardo going to tell us?"

He barely managed to blurt, not really able to focus, reacting to his father's voice but still retaining his grip. "Leo's business! Ask Leo when Leo returns… Don't make me lose Leo's trust, please." He almost begged. That had come out worse than he had imagined. He sighed, refraining an impulse to slap himself, which would just be the icing of his dismal response to pressure from his father.

"So you are keeping something important." Splinter stated sighing releasing him. "Your loyalty to Leonardo is commendable, but concealing what could be important information is absurd. We are your family! And, as your father, I demand to know what is happening. I am at my limit with Leonardo's secrecy but for his sake I had endured it, hoping he'd know what he was doing, but I won't tolerate it from you. Am I to believe the comments from Raphael have some truth behind them and… you were pressuring your brother into something he was not…comfortable with?" Splinter said looking at Don sternly.

Don jaw dropped. What had that nosy Archelon Neanderthal told his father? Did he even want to know? "That is preposterous. Give Leo some credit and I would never harm her!"

"Her?" questioned Splinter sternly, trying to process it.

"Him. I meant him." Don blurted trying to fix his mistake.

"Explain!" The master commanded.

Don remained silent, not wanting to answer and sighed: he had just blown it, and foresaw disembowelment in the near future. "No father. I am not saying anything more and if you wish to banish me to the ancient Fat one too, I will comply." He would be more than happy to be near Leo again.

"I did not banish Leonardo!" Splinter said, uncharacteristically, raising his tone momentarily and then softening it. "He needs…advice I cannot give."

"Like in Counseling?!" retorted Don letting all the frustration pour out. "And why don't you send Raphael too? He sure could use temper control. Or Mike, so he can finally grow up. And why not me, since I am such a proficient ninja addicted to caffeine? No! You sent, alone, a very confused and messed up turtle with post traumatic stress, who trusts no one and has serious self-esteemed issues, to someone who already turned her down and made her feel worthless. Someone who serves 4 immortals who don't give a damn about Leo, no matter what she does. And you tell me that is not banishment?"

"You know nothing of Leonardo my son, and I don't have to justify my decisions to you!"

"No father! It is you who knows nothing of Leonardo." Donatello said finally.

Splinter sighed deciding to step back and play it differently as Donatello did not react well to threats or punishment as Michelangelo and Raphael did, and certainly not to filial piety and duty as Leonardo. Only to reason and that made him his hardest son to negotiate with, unless Leonardo was around which was the reason they were in this mess in the first place. He also had grown to depend too much on the blue clad turtle.

"I think my son we both have pieces of a puzzle regarding your brother we have kept for his sake, but I believe if we have any chance of reaching him we need to see the whole picture. You see your brother is…. Missing." he said painfully. "And has been for at least 5 weeks."

Don sighed heavily. Too long for the trip back, his father was right, he had too admit that was what he had been trying Leo to do for months and even if it cost him Leo's enmity forever, having her safe in the lair was worth it.

Splinter breath falter he would have to talk first after all "What I am about to tell you happen long ago I still don't understand all of it and… I must start by asking you what do you remember of Leonardo as a child my son?"

Author's notes

Thanks again to Lady-Kassy for her beta of this chapter

Thanks to dozer, deathoftoast and 54viruses for their reviews. Don the timeline environmentalist not even Renet gets that worried well bad example.

I mean yeah I drag you to the Cretaceous in the vicinity of the asteroid hitting the Earth but you don't have to give me the cold shoulder treatment.

Thanks to Light of Reason for the idea for the first part of this chapter could not resist using it.

Next chapter is long and Splinter and the Ancient One finally speak.

Regarding Don's attitude on the latest movie Don was bickering to Splinter for not sending Raph away instead so he does speak his mind even to his father.

About the Ancient One is a character that appears on the 4th Season that is supposed to be Hamato Yoshi master. He is a Java the Hutt mixed with Yoda character based on the kung fu flicks masters. Leonardo gets out of control ends hurting Splinter and is sent to him in a sort of pilgrimage. The odd part is the first time Splinter reached him with the turtles he was living in a small town or city but when Leonardo goes to him 10 or 13 years later he was living in his own twilight zone like sanctuary that was bordered by a great wasteland crawling with ghouls and ghosts he even had yeti doormen. Is unclear if he moved to the Tribunal sanctuary; talking about which wasn't it sort of far from anything and virtually inaccessible so how did Splinter and 4 baby turtles manage to follow him there? Portal express?

Archelon is a extinct variety of turtle that lived in the Cretaceous in case you wondered and Neanthertal well you know that the kind of insult Don would use on Raph.