A few weeks passed, and Michelangelo made the sacrifice of getting out of bed early on a Saturday morning. Like a lion waiting to pounce, he set up shop near the dojo. Sure enough, Donatello soon came limping out. He looked sweaty and winded, wiping his face with a towel slung across his shoulders. Michelangelo wasted no time in bouncing up and pursuing him as he meandered towards the shower.
"Mornin' Donnie," Michelangelo greeted.
Donatello glanced over his shoulder, but for once he didn't flinch. "Hey, Mikey. What has you up and about this time of day?"
"Just working on a theory," Mikey answered. "Sensei said that you are considering returning to training?"
"Considering it, yeah… maybe," Donatello hesitantly replied. His mind was willing, but his body wasn't exactly cooperating. Putting the primary issue of his bad leg aside, almost every inch of him had sustained some level of damage. After two weeks of tentative test runs, his best case scenario didn't seem all that good. Despite setting only modest goals, he still found himself discouraged. But, he tried not to let it show. Donatello wiped his forehead with the towel, while considering how close he was to giving this whole ruse up before it even began.
Donnie sighed softly and Michelangelo shuffled his feet almost shyly. "The thing is," Mikey finally said, "I did something after your surgery, and I've been waiting for you to come to this decision, because it's a sort of a trigger for something else to happen."
Donatello peaked out from under the towel and narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Huh?"
Just then, a strange noise arose from outside the lair. Michelangelo perked up immediately. Leonardo poked his head out from the dojo, appearing more curious than alarmed. Raphael had been working the punching bag, and immediately grit his teeth and began pounding as hard as he could.
Donatello was perplexed about what the noise and disparate reactions could signal. He didn't have to wait long for an answer, as Michelangelo scrambled to the lair door and opened it.
In the doorway stood a smiling, middle-aged Renet. Michelangelo immediately threw his arms around her. "Renet, I haven't seen you in forever! So much has happened!"
"I know, I know, I was giving you space," Renet explained. She hugged Mikey back and then shook him off when Raphael started yelling at her.
"Who knew you had enough good sense to stay away?!" Raphael snapped. "But now that you're here, I've got a few bones to pick with you, lady."
Apparently middle-aged Renet didn't have the fearful respect of Raphael that the younger version of her exercised, because she was bold enough to advance to within inches of the hothead. "Well, I'll just bet you do, so why don't you get it all out of your system now?" she challenged.
Raphael was momentarily taken aback by the response, but he soon commenced with a tirade anyway. "You knew!" he shouted. "You obviously knew that Donnie was alive! Why didn't you do anything about it?! Why didn't you go back and change what needed to be changed?! You could have saved him from all of this!"
"Everything is as it should be," Renet said patiently. "Donatello is right over there, isn't he?" Renet pointed to where Donnie was silently watching the scene unfold.
"Everything is as it should be?!" Raph roared. "Just look at him! He barely survived, and now he's crippled for life. I mean, look at all those scars! Not to mention his damn leg!"
"Hey!" Donatello yelped. While he was clearly offended, there was also a fire burning in his eyes that the others didn't often see.
"Calm down, Raph," Leo ordered. "Let her explain."
Renet nodded her thanks to Leonardo. "My point was, that while simpler minds are often too blind to notice, some things do happen for a reason."
Raphael's nostrils flared and he huffed at the perceived insult. Renet had been looking right at him when she said the part about "simple minds." Michelangelo exacerbated matters by pointing at Raphael and laughing.
Renet turned to address the group at large. "It's true that I knew what happened to Donatello, but my hands were tied. I had to let it play it out."
"The least you could've done is told us," Raphael reasoned.
"To what end?" Renet asked. "Would you have really wanted to know ahead of time?"
"No!" Donatello blurted.
"Well, you could've at least told the rest of us that Don was alive and that we'd see him again," Raphael clarified. "You saw Mikey on the regular when Don was missing, and you never said a word about him coming back someday. I may be a meathead but I'm pretty sure that meets the definition of lying by omission."
"Nice phrasing," Donatello complimented.
"Um, thanks?" Raphael replied, surprised that Don sounded more amused than angry. In fact, Raphael suddenly realized that he was the only one who was mad. Raphael looked to Michelangelo, whose face was a picture of happiness. "What about you, Shell for Brains? You don't have anything to say to your little girlfriend here?"
"Not in particular," Mikey answered. "You see, Raphie-boy, time travel is a tricky business. Things need to play out a certain way. Even though we've all suffered a lot, that suffering has taught us how strong we are, and we've learned never to take one another for granted."
"I… couldn't have said it better myself," Splinter complimented.
"I knew that I kept you around for more than just killing bugs and lifting heavy things," Renet joked.
"You… keep me around?" Michelangelo gawked.
Now it was Raphael's turn to point and laugh. "You mean to tell me that you still don't know if you're dating her or not?!"
"What did we just go over?" Michelangelo said. "We're not meant to know everything!"
"Still, I think you'd at least know that!" Raphael jeered.
"It's not all that relevant, really," Michelangelo shot back.
"What?!" Raph exclaimed. "When Don was gone you couldn't get enough of her, now you're playing it cool?"
"Oh Raph, I'm more complex than you give me credit for," Michelangelo declared with a measure of condescension.
"Somehow I doubt that," Raphael argued.
"She's been testing you, hasn't she?" Donatello cautiously asked. "Obviously I wasn't around, but from the stories you told, I thought that maybe-"
Leo finished his brother's sentence. "She's recruiting you! Why didn't I see it before?!"
Raphael was too dumbstruck to speak. If Splinter was surprised, it didn't show. Renet only looked amused.
"In a way," Michelangelo confirmed. "It's not official, but I think maybe when I'm older…." The turtle trailed off as he looked to the timestress, hoping for a hint that he would never receive.
The corners of Renet's mouth lifted ever-so-slightly, but she said nothing to anyone.
Raphael finally spoke. "You two deserve each other. You're both infuriating."
"Infuriating or not, it seems that I've got a leg up on you," Michelangelo teased. He then turned to Don. "Like I was saying earlier, you deciding to train was a trigger for something. I knew Renet would come back eventually, and well… there are certain rules and all, but some of them can be bent - if I've been understanding my lessons correctly, that is."
Michelangelo had put air quotes around the word "lessons," but his demeanor grew more serious as he continued. "When we fixed your back, I saved a piece of your shell. Medicine is different in the future. It's much more advanced." Michelangelo hesitated a moment and looked to Renet as if to see if she would stop him. "If I'm not mistaken, we can bring the shell to the doctors there. They can study it, and learn enough about our bone structure and genetics to fix your leg… I mean, if you want. I know you might not have been ready before now, but I always knew that there would come a time when you would want the chance to get better… like completely better. And if you're training, or wanting to train..."
Donatello stood completely still. His normally impressive and lightening-fast mind couldn't process any of this. His face was unreadable.
"Oh great, you broke him," Raphael jeered.
"Nuh-uh," Mikey countered, sounding more like his normal self. "He just needs a minute."
"Enough of this," Renet decided. "I need to talk to Donatello in private." The Timestress pushed Donatello through the door to his lab, as if she owned the place.
Donatello didn't know what hit him. One minute he was attempting to exercise, and then this happened. It didn't help matters that Renet immediately began talking with essentially no lead-in. Donatello had barely settled into a chair when she began. To make matters worse, she was speaking as though she knew all the deep secrets that he carried in his heart - even those he tried to hide.
"Life is crazy. Isn't it?," she started. "When you were younger, I'm sure that you couldn't imagine a life outside of these sewers. From what Mikey has told me, you were practically prisoners here when you were growing up. Then you had a brief taste of freedom. You saw other planets, other dimensions, the past, the future, places that you might be actually be accepted for who you are, rather than seen as a freak. Then, just when your life was finally beginning to blossom, you become a real prisoner, and that's all you were for four years. I know how much you're struggling now, to figure out where you belong and who you want to be. It's hard to imagine a life where you might feel whole again, isn't it?"
Donnie was flabbergasted. He didn't want to talk about any of that, but he couldn't deny it either. He had to do or say something in response, so he nodded sadly.
Renet put a hand on his forearm. "This next part is kind of breaking the rules, so you can't tell anyone this, okay?"
"Do I want to know, myself?" Donnie asked, reluctantly.
Renet smiled. "I promise that you do."
Donatello took a deep breath. "Okay then, my lips are sealed," he pledged.
"Think of everything that you have been through and overcome," Renet instructed. "You've seen the very worst that life has to offer and you've triumphed over all of it."
"Triumph might be putting it a bit strongly, don't you think?" Donnie asked as he indicated his modest surroundings.
"I'm not so much talking about right now. I'm talking about the Donnie that I know in the future."
"You and I still know each other in the future?" Donatello wondered. Was that why she knew exactly how he was feeling right now?
"I know you in many times, and I do know you in your future, Donatello. I can't tell you everything about it, and I can't guarantee that it will come to fruition, but the fact that I'm standing here talking to you is testament to the fact that it will, unless something happens to change it."
"So things will be okay? Is that what you're here to tell me?"
"Donatello, you will be more than okay. The Donnie that I know is a hero in so many ways, and an inspiration to people all over this galaxy. People know your story. They know all that you overcame, and you've still gone on to be known as one of the greatest inventors in history. Your life - it's incredible, Don, and you inspire others to be everything that they can be. You give the most amazing speeches-"
"I give speeches?" the shy turtle interrupted in surprise.
"Incredible speeches. You're the most popular Professor around, and you're such a softie that you get suckered into delivering a solid half-dozen or so commencement addresses a year."
"I'm a professor? I live a public life, and I teach?"
"Most semesters you teach a class or two. Other years you're too busy. You're kind of hard to lock down; you've got so much else going on."
"Like… like what?" Donatello wondered.
"Well I can't tell you everything now, can I?" Renet winked. "I'm bending the rules as it is."
"If you say so," Donnie smirked.
"The takeaway is that something absolutely terrible happened, but it made you into one of the most amazing people that I know. That's why I couldn't stop any of it, or 'save you,' as Raph put it. You were always meant to survive and save yourself. And your strength in getting through all of that will remind others of their own strength."
Donatello couldn't help but smile, and enjoy the warmth kindling inside of him at this picture of the future. it sounded too good to be true, but it was even more far-fetched to believe that Renet came all this way for nothing.
"I know it's a bit of a struggle for you right now, but things will get better," she continued. "You just have to keep fighting, and know that anything, anything, is possible. And Donnie, you are happy. I promise you that you are so happy. Living through these lows makes you appreciate the highs so much more. You put it far more eloquently in your speeches, but that's the gist anyway."
"You're choosing to tell me this now for a reason. Aren't you?" Donatello guessed.
"My timing is never accidental," Renet acknowledged.
"So Mikey's offer…"
Renet stood up. "As far as I know, I'll see you tomorrow. I'll be younger then. Feel free to tell me to pound sand if you want to, but I don't think that you will."
Renet pet Donnie's shoulder and strode out of the room.
