Sorry for the long delay. I really don't have any kind of useful excuse, but I can make one up: blame the kittens and the Turkish door-to-door hydrangea salesman and the unseasonable outbreak of grasshopper pizza. How's that?

Standard disclaimers apply – still not mine, but I love them regardless.

Enjoy!

"Shouldn't we be closer?" Raphael asked quietly, looking down from the roof to the ferry building below.

"I don't think so. We'll be able to see if anything happens from here," Leo replied easily. "But if we get much closer, Don'll know we followed him." The three of them were perched in the shadows, even though it was unlikely there was anyone anywhere nearby to see them that wasn't a brother or a member of HEAT – it wasn't even yet 10pm, so the streets were still full of people, and therefore, they were instinctively cautious.

"He probably knows anyway," Mikey pointed out. Of the three of them, he was the most in awe of Donatello's intelligence, and therefore the most likely to remind them that it took a lot to put one over on him or catch him off-guard. Which, obviously, didn't stop him from trying; cheering up the Mr Crabby Pants Of The Lair Award Winner Of The Week was his job, and while that honor was rarely bestowed on Donnie, sometimes the genius needed it, too. After all, with Raph busy being a shell-for-brains and Leo being, well, Leo, any sane turtle might lose it. And Michelangelo wouldn't miss one chance to make his brother smile. Don needed more reasons to smile after everything he'd been through.

"That's just 'cause you can't keep from blabbin," Raph smirked.

"And you scare shadows into making noise with your ugly face," the orange-clad snapped back, grinning.

"You're probably right," Leo interjected. "Not about each other," he glared at them, "but that Don knows we're here. He hasn't said anything, but he had that look on his face when he asked if we would be bored while he was gone tonight."

"We ain't gonna be bored until Bishop's dealt with," Raph said darkly. "That guy has his sights set on Donnie, I know it."

Leonardo thought carefully before saying anything. The fact was that all of them, including Master Splinter, had the feeling that Donatello was specifically of interest to Bishop now, though they weren't quite sure why. Before, he'd just wanted to dissect them, learn to reproduce their mutations by trial and error. But there was no denying the chill on the back of Leo's neck – Raph was right and he could feel it. There was something about their gentlest brother that Bishop wanted, and for as long as that was true, Don was in serious danger.

So, as soon as Don had been pronounced well enough for normal activities, he hadn't so much as set a foot outside the lair without an escort, usually in secret, although they did follow him some places openly, too. To his credit, Donatello had not yet confronted his brothers about what was probably an annoying situation, and Leo hoped he wouldn't for a while. He was counting on that legendary calm and accommodating nature to buy them more time to keep an eye on him while they figured things out.

But even with their suspicions alerted to Bishop, Leo's was a fine line to tread. His gut told him Don was in danger, but he didn't want to edge Raph to the point of wanting to track down Bishop to deal with it. Something still didn't make sense, something still bothered Leo about the whole situation. That fight on the island, when Bishop got his hands on Don, it just didn't fit. There was a plan in motion, and Leonardo didn't really want to speed it up or change it without knowing what it was first. Normally he'd have gone straight to Don for his insight, knowing that he himself couldn't see as many angles, couldn't imagine as many possibilities. But, since Donatello was at the heart of it, he hadn't asked his genius brother for help on this one yet. He just wanted to keep Don out of it for a little longer. For as long as possible. He wanted to keep them all out of it until they had no choice. So he had to walk a delicate balance, guarding Donatello in secret, but not encouraging Raphael's desire for vengeance or Michelangelo's tendency to forget the seriousness of things.

"Be that as it may," Leo said after a moment, "until we know what Bishop wants with Don, we can't keep him cooped up. And he'd feel like we were questioning his ability to take care of himself if he caught us babysitting him like this. But you're right, he probably knows we're here. And since he hasn't said anything, he probably doesn't mind too much yet. Let's keep it that way for a while longer if we can."

Raphael grunted but didn't say anything. As far as he was concerned, the sneaking around was a little important, but mostly stupid. Left to his own devices, he'd have taken the fight straight to Bishop already, to make him pay for hurting Donnie. But rushing in head-first was really only his deal – his brothers were a little more cautious, and for now, he would let them take the lead. Don was in no shape to join a fight yet, even if he had mostly healed, and three turtles did not usually bode well against the government agent. But if they waited too long, he might well take matters into his own hands.

The red-banded turtle turned his eyes to where Donatello had vanished into the ferry building. He would much rather have been openly at his brother's side. Not just to protect him – this would be a pretty stupid place for Bishop to attack after all – but just to be there. How many times was something going to happen to the brainiac without anyone there to protect him? It was Don who had been captured by the Triceratons when no one was nearby. It had been Don who transformed into a monstrous version of himself alone in April's apartment. It had been Don taken by Bishop while his brothers fought on the sand yards away. It wasn't fair.

Raph didn't doubt Donatello could handle himself. But the point was that he shouldn't have to – none of his family should have to go through that stuff alone. The lone-wolf thing, that was all Raph's territory. He walked alone for himself, but his job was to make sure none of the others ever lacked for back-up. If one of the others was in trouble in a fight, he was there to help out. If one was stuck dealing with something too big for one turtle, he was there to pick up the rest. Already there was so much he couldn't help Donnie with, although he did work with his brainy brother on basic vehicle maintenance, it wasn't right for Don to have to deal with anything else without help. Raph would have traded places with Donnie in a heartbeat if it would have saved him from the mutation or from Bishop; the fact now that Bishop was gunning for him only made the sai-wielding turtle angrier. If one more bad thing happened to Don and he wasn't there to help, he might just lose it.

Together, the three kept watch over their brother, just in case.

-==OOO==-

"Hey! Long time no see!" Randy shouted. Four other heads swiveled in place, though Monique didn't take her eyes off of the table before her. She had known the others for too long to be entirely willing to leave the situation totally unguarded against treachery.

"Don!" Elsie was the first to her feet, leaving the table entirely. She wasn't a hug-y person as a rule, but she put an arm over his shoulders and squeezed, glad to see him up and around and safe. Donatello, having entered the lab completely unnoticed, smiled a little awkwardly.

"How are you feeling?" Nick asked, also rising from his seat. He extended a hand, which the turtle took warmly. They'd exchanged several emails after the Bishop incident, which had put his mind mostly at ease as to the well-being of his friend, but the purple-banded turtle hadn't been to visit. Nick's sharp eyes caught the remaining bandage on the back of his head, held in place by a bandana he could see was new. "Must have been some head-wound to take that long to heal," he thought to himself.

"Fine. I still get a few headaches, but nothing major," Don shrugged cheerfully. "Sorry it's been so long…"

"You required rest to heal," Monique said simply. "We are not offended."

"Yeah. Just glad you're okay," Mendel put in from where he sat tinkering with NIGEL. He didn't get up to greet the visitor, but he was relieved just the same. The last time he'd seen Don, he hadn't been sure he'd ever see him again.

"So, you want in?" Randy asked. Don moved closer to the table, his smile widening at the pile of chips amassed at Monique's seat. Randy, not unpredictably, was almost tapped out. He grinned at the hacker and gave him a high-five.

"Losing that bad, huh?"

"What can I say? My poker skills just aren't at their best for once," he replied loftily. Randy made a great show of suffering and launched into a long lament for the loss of favor by Lady Luck, that his attempts to woo her with his charm had not been successful for a while.

"Neither are your attempts to cheat," Elsie pointed out, retaking her seat.

"Hey! Can I help it if a couple extra cards ended up in the deck?" Randy protested.

"And you ought to work on your sleight of hand," Monique added, slapping the attempted grab at a few of her winnings from under the table, her fears of treachery well-founded. Though her voice was chiding, there was the tiniest quirk of a smile at the corners of her mouth, one she did not attempt to hide even from Donatello.

"Man, I'm catching it from all sides today! So you want us to deal you in?" he asked Don while sadly poking at his meager stash.

"No, actually, I wanted to talk to Nick, whenever you're done." Donatello raised his hands at the sudden worry in five faces. "Nothing serious, well, not yet. I don't think."

"Way to engender confidence there," Nick commented, winking. The turtle shifted his weight.

"It's no big deal," he said, smiling again. "Just something to ask that I think might be up your alley." There was something so easy-going in his manner, something relaxed and nonchalant, and the worried faces found themselves relaxing in turn.

"All right. We'll finish this up and then we can talk," Nick decided. "Besides, it only seems fair to give Randy one last chance to redeem himself."

"Oh, as if poker could redeem him," Mendel muttered, returning to his work.

Don wandered over to the roboticist, looking NIGEL up and down critically. He'd worked with the robot several times since befriending HEAT, and he'd even added a few little tweaks to the design when asked. Craven was particularly protective of this creation, and Donnie understood why – it was a pretty impressive gadget, all things considered. Still, there were some gaps in the structure as well as the programming, and he wordlessly leaned over to help.

"If you re-tuned that to a slightly higher frequency," he said, pointing at the piece Dr Craven was tinkering with, "it will probably boost your signal resolution by at least 30 percent."

"Good point," Mendel nodded, grateful. As he worked on implementing Don's suggestion, he failed to see Randy shoot the turtle a sudden worried glance, and the ninja wink solemnly back. Donatello had long since figured out the hole Randy exploited to regularly reprogram NIGEL for his own amusement, and he had quietly decided not to point it out to Craven just yet. After all, what was the fun of everything working perfectly every time?

Donatello fixed his eyes firmly on the circuitry before him, focusing on the humor, the at-ease behavior he was deliberately employing. Of all his brothers, Don was certainly the worst liar, and moments like this, when he was being watched by multiple observers, were difficult. But he knew body-language and had honed every expressive muscle in his own body with his ninja training, so he had at least some shot of pulling off the deception long enough.

Don's mind swam, momentarily, and he found himself picturing Godzilla again, not giant and well-developed but instead smaller and oddly out of proportion. The lizard seemed to be confined in a small space, and he was struggling. It was an image that had begun in the turtle's dreams a week after his rescue, and he'd dismissed it as solely the creation of his subconscious until he saw it again and again, dreaming the same scene every night, all night long. And now it rose unbidden in his mind while he was awake as well. So far, Don had avoided mentioning it to his brothers – they'd probably just send him to Leatherhead for more tests – but if something was wrong with Godzilla, Nick would tell him. And then there was this…

"Donnie?"

The purple-banded ninja had enough presence of mind not to whip around as if startled, instead turning distractedly to where Nick was leaning over him, forehead furrowed. Don turned his surprise into a sheepish grin.

"Sorry. Lost in thought." When Nick smiled, Don relaxed again. It was absolutely true, and if his human friend was inclined to believe that he had been distracted by robotics and programming, there was no real reason to enlighten him.

"Come on. I get the feeling we should do this where it's…quieter," Nick replied, pointing over his shoulder. Don followed the gesture with his eyes to see Randy hopping around Monique, apparently pleading for some of his losings, Elsie helpfully egging him on. The turtle grinned and nodded. As Nick led the way outside to the dock that overlooked the water, he suddenly had the unmistakable feeling of eyes on him; Don turned enough to see a piercing look from Monique pointed in his direction. He pretended not to notice and followed Nick into the quiet night air.

"Monique?" Elsie asked, seeing that the Frenchwoman was momentarily ignoring Randy for real, instead of acting like she was above noticing him.

"Something is amiss," she said shortly. "That is all." And with a disdainful glare at the hacker still pestering her, she strode in the opposite direction of Nick and Donatello.

"What's goin' on?" Randy asked, suddenly confused. Mendel and Elsie traded looks and shrugged.

-==OOO==-

"It's not just the dreams," Don finished, sighing. "There's also this that I don't understand." He held out a sheet of paper.

Nick took the offered printout and looked at it, mind working quickly. Donnie was dreaming about Godzilla? And, although the turtle was not describing the experience as particularly frightening, it certainly seemed to be bothering him. He skimmed the document in his hand, then looked up.

"It's an email I sent you a while ago?" he made it a question.

"Yeah. You said I sent you a message through Godzilla? Something about eggs and cloning?"

"Yes, he woke up and told me you'd spoken to him…" Nick said slowly. Donatello sighed and leaned on the railing.

"I believe you, if you say I got a message to Godzilla while I was in Bishop's lab, but I don't remember it. I don't remember anything from the time he put me under until I woke up at home." He stared out at the water. "So either I'm having psychic contact with Godzilla without my knowledge, or something else happened in between that caused me to forget."

"I can't tell you much," the scientist moved to stand beside him, "but Godzilla's impression was really clear. You told him to tell me his eggs were hatching, and you were worried enough about it that you got through to him somehow. He's not the easiest guy to talk with, you know," Nick smiled ruefully. Far away, a giant nuclear mutant chased a school of fish, completely aware of his parent and entirely focused on the pursuit.

"I know that. I just…I'm worried about the time I was in that lab. What if he did something to me, something else I've forgotten?" Don asked, turning to face his friend again. "What else don't I remember? And how did I contact Godzilla anyway? And how would I know about the cloning? According to the guys I was with Bishop for less than 6 hours, but I was only aware for about the first half an hour. I'm worried about what might have happened in between."

"Have you talked to your family about this?"

"No," and he deflated a little. "I don't want them to worry. This isn't the first or the second time they've been put in danger to get me out of a bad spot. The least I can do is not bring that danger home with me. They worry about me too much already. I can't ask them to worry even more, especially when there's not a lot they can do about it now. Whatever happened is over, but what if it isn't really over?"

"So what do you need?" Nick put a hand on his friend's shoulder, as always surprised at the odd warmth of the green skin, the iron of the muscles beneath his touch. Somehow, life seemed to hum through Donatello the same way it did through Godzilla – both had a vibrancy that radiated from them far more than any human being Nick had ever met.

"Can you help me find out if anything is different about me? Run your tests, compare it to the data you already had on me and what I've already got? Maybe we'll see if I'm just getting nervous about nothing."

Don felt the cold in the pit of his stomach warm just slightly as he finally voiced the question. The thought that Bishop might have done something to him, something he couldn't remember, had torn at him. And, though he knew his brothers and his father and even Leatherhead and April and Casey would have supported him completely, he just couldn't watch them worry over him again. Nick didn't have the same history, the same burden, the same memories to contend with, and he was a top-notch scientist with good equipment to boot. Help from this quarter would spare his family maybe needless anxiety, and would get him the answers he so needed for himself.

"You got it." Nick flashed a reassuring smile. "We'll get to the bottom of this, I promise. Come on," and he gave the shoulder a tug. Nick could almost feel Donatello's relief at his assistance. He remembered all at once that the turtle before him, for all his intellect and skills, was still just a kid in some ways. A kid who was scared and needed help. Well, he'd get it, the best HEAT could offer. Nick would see to it.

-==OOO==-

Monique permitted them a small, satisfied smile. She had emerged onto the rooftop in near-silence, but before taking more than a few steps she'd been surrounded by three turtles. They moved with true silence, invisible in the darkness of the night and the shadows of the rooftop in a way even she had to envy.

"What're you doing here?" the red-banded turtle asked roughly, turning from her disinterestedly to look towards the ferry building HEAT called their headquarters.

"I might ask you the same thing," she pointed out.

"We're tailing Donatello," Leonardo answered simply. "We think he might still be a target for Bishop, so we've been keeping an eye on him when he's out."

"Understandable. Likely a wise precaution," she nodded. "But I believe there is more troubling your brother than his recent experiences, no? More reason for you to be concerned than a possible attack?"

"What do you mean?" Leo replied "More troubling Don? I mean, not that being captured by Bishop wouldn't shake anybody, because it would, but why do you think we should be worried?"

"Because he's been having nightmares. And headaches." Raph and Leo turned to look at their youngest brother in surprise. Mikey shrugged. "What? You didn't know?"

"Obviously not," Leonardo said sharply.

"So what's goin' on with him?" Raph demanded.

"Well, I don't really know," and he looked at his feet, "'cause I didn't ask. But he's been having bad dreams. You can always tell because he makes his bed."

"What?" Monique asked, confusion blossoming in her face.

"Really! The only time Donnie ever makes his bed is when he's had a bad dream. I asked him about it once, when I was teasing him about nightmares making him wet the bed, and after he bopped me he said it had something to do with changing the parameters. Something about preconceptions and the subconscious and…yeah, I didn't follow it, but it's just what he does. Me, I just go sleep with Raph." He grinned.

"Don't I know it, you shell-for-brains," his brother grumbled.

"He's been making his bed ever since Bishop," Michelangelo continued. "And he's been having headaches, too."

"Now that you mention it, he has been acting a little under the weather, even taking breaks from the computer voluntarily," Leo said thoughtfully. "I guess I didn't put it together."

"How could ya? That's the brainiac's job." Raphael huffed, but he was rather annoyed. Donnie'd been bothered and he hadn't even noticed. The only comfort was that apparently the fearless leader, self-proclaimed observant protector of the family, hadn't noticed either.

"Why is it you are aware then?" Monique questioned, turning to the orange-banded turtle. Of the four, this one had won the least of her respect. To all appearances, he seemed to be no better than Randy in terms of maturity, with only his skills as a ninja making him worth even the slightest bit of notice.

Michelangelo shrugged again. How could he explain it to them? He'd been worried about Donnie, he'd been scared when he thought he might lose his brother again, and he'd been keeping an eye on him. After all, some part of Mikey felt that he was at fault for the blow Don took to the back of his head while they'd been fleeing Bishop, that if he'd been faster or more agile his brother wouldn't have been hurt worse. But besides that, Don was often his confidant, his friend, the stable one he could tell he'd broken something or caused some kind of catastrophe without being lectured or pounded. He wasn't very good at medicine, and he couldn't help Don with the science stuff, but the least he could do was be a brother, watch for a time he was needed, and just be there before Donnie even had to ask.

"It is possible then, that your brother has been compromised," Monique asked darkly.

"What do you mean?" Leo turned to look at her, his own face darkening in return.

"Precisely what I have said." She kept her voice cool, her mind analytical. "You do not know yourselves what was done to him while in the hands of your enemy. You do know that he has been affected. Whatever occurred that caused Donatello to be in the state he is in now might have left other symptoms that have not yet been made apparent."

"What exactly are you saying?" Raph wanted to know, fingering a sai angrily. Not angry with Monique, but with the world. Okay, maybe a little angry with Monique, for suggesting it.

"Can you be certain that your secrets are not in the hands of that man? That your location is not being fed to him by a bug planted on your brother? That he is not an unwitting weapon against you?"

"No way!" Mikey shouted. Leo raised a hand.

"Don checked himself for bugs and didn't find anything. But," and he met the other turtles' eyes, "she has a point. We don't know what could have happened that wouldn't leave something Don could track."

"So what're we gonna do about it? Slice him up the same way Bishop would to check for whatever you're worried about?" Raph knew he was pushing Leo's buttons, but he didn't care. Suspecting Don of giving Bishop any amount of help was like suggesting he'd actively betrayed them, and Raphael knew to his bones that not one of them would ever, ever do that.

"Never. But we'll watch him, watch for anything out of the ordinary. And if we see something…" the blue-clad turtle hesitated.

"You must act immediately," Monique put in. "You cannot run the risk of inaction."

"No." The steel in Leonardo's voice surprised them all, and comforted those who knew its sound so well. "If we see something, we'll ask Don. There's nobody better than him to help figure it out."

"But if he is compromised…"

"Lady," Raph interrupted her, "we got it. We trust Donnie." His eyes, blazing, would have bored holes into her if she were less than she was. Monique simply shrugged.

"It is a foolish, if noble course of action. I would urge you to separate your personal feelings and consider things from a more realistic angle, but I can see it would be a waste of time. However, I will not permit your brother to endanger my team."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised you'd say that," Mikey said softly.

"If he is a threat, I will deal with it as I see fit."

"You do that and you're gonna have to deal with a lot more than that!" Raphael actually drew his weapons, handling them menacingly.

"Stand down," their leader ordered. He took a breath and bowed slightly to Monique. "We won't endanger you. If something happens, we'll probably come to you for help. But we won't let you hurt our brother, no matter what. If it comes to it, do what you have to, but so will we."

"Agreed." Monique turned on her heel without a backward glance and moved to the fire escape on the side of the building, her steps soft as a cat's though not as silent as the turtles themselves. It was the best she could expect, dealing with the turtles as they were. They could not, would not see the situation objectively – they were too close to it emotionally. And if she permitted herself, a part of her agreed with them. But her training and experience told her something else.

"May it not come to this," she said within her own mind. "For if it does, I would very much regret having to kill Donatello and die at his family's hands for doing what I must to protect my own…family."

In thought, but not lost, for being lost led one to carelessness, she returned to the lab.