A/N.

Hello again!

I was on a roll with the last chapter, so I thought I might as well keep going with the next one! However, I decided to take December off, so now we are back! New year, new chapter!... hopefully both better than the last. And we are officially switching the POV back to Donnie this time! It's been a while since we looked into his head, and he definitely has a lot to say.

Especially with the newly arrived 'guests'. Mixed emotions are running unbounded.

Not much else to say for the Author's Note though, this one's pretty short. I say we get right to the chapter! And once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…

Enjoy!

Chapter Twelve.
Familiar Strangers.
(Donnie's POV).

Pro: You shouldn't sound so negative. You have a mom, for crying out loud! Haven't you always missed having one?

Con: Yeah, a mom you know nothing about. Splinter was the perfect parent. You don't know this woman, or have any connection with her whatsoever.

Pro: She's also your brother's mom too! You care about them more than anyone else in the world, besides Splinter and Karai. You have her to thank for all of you being who you are.

Con: Oh please, like we'll be that similar to her. What if she finds out and rejects me? I don't know if I can stand losing her as soon as I've found her, especially since I'll be lying to her!

Pro: But there's also the possibility that she'll understand! She's family!

Con: That's another thing! She may already have a perfect family of her own! What about them?! They certainly won't want me or my brothers in the picture! And I severely doubt she'll be thrilled that her kid is a beast-

The conversation in my head ended swiftly with me letting out an exasperated hiss. I couldn't believe I had let myself slip into that back and forth nonsense again. It wasn't the worst thing to happen to me this week, but it was pretty annoying.

Has it only been a week?

Yes, just one. The three days at the farmhouse, our first day here, which I was unconscious for most of, the day we got the DNA results, and yesterday, when Karai had driven out. Today is day seven. One week ago, I was back at the lair, thinking I couldn't trust my newfound sister.

I had to count and make sure. Never, in all my life, had I felt so drained by anything. I ached all over. My body had been beaten and damaged in more ways than one. A few times, I have lost my grip on reality. The horrors of these seven days were almost too much for me to bear.

Now I was sitting by myself, curled up against one of the huge, floor-to-ceiling windows, awaiting Karai's return. I would be glad when she was safe here, but the person she was bringing with her… that was what was bothering me. Case in point, the argument I had just had with myself.

They knew I would object to this idea from the beginning, and they were right on point with that fact, but eventually, I let them go through it anyway. As much as I hated to admit it, this might have been my only chance. Losing my mind didn't sound appealing at all, though neither did bringing this strange woman into the picture. Sure, we were family by blood, but… in my head, I couldn't even bring myself to call her my...my…

Mother.

Sometimes, throughout my life, I have caught myself thinking about how different my life would be if I had that missing mom. The instances were fleeting, but there at one point or another. And even in the rare instances when I did think about it, they were sparse. I have actually never been in the presence of an adult woman, unless I was saving one, and those almost didn't count, because they didn't know I was there.

The only person who felt closest to a motherly figure to me at all, was Tang Shen. She had died in March of 1997, about six months before I was born, so obviously, I never knew her. But through her marriage to my father, she felt like the closest thing. I guess, given the circumstances of our recent discovery, she would have technically been my stepmother, had she been alive. Which is very strange to think about, but would be true.

All my life, I have heard wistful stories about her from my father. He always spoke so fondly of her, and we could tell he would never exaggerate. She had cared about her family more than anything; they always came first. She was stubborn, and fierce, and very protective of those she loved. He regretted not being good enough to protect her in return, no matter how many times my brothers and I tried to tell him it was Shredder's fault.

Even if it wasn't her, if I had had a mom, I probably would have had an entirely different upbringing. Another outlet to voice whatever ideas or concerns I had. Another support to go to when I was in trouble. Maybe I would be more open, less sharp around the edges when provoked. It would have brought more of a sense of peace into my life, had I had a mom. That was always what I would think, that glimpse of a fantasy. Maybe if Tang Shen survived, and had made her way to the city she had always dreamed of seeing, she might have made that a reality.

But I never had Tang Shen, and never will. I have Tina. With all that that implies.

At this moment, she was in the Party Wagon with Karai, coming closer and closer to our location. She was on her way, and it was too late to change my mind. Upon her arrival, I would suddenly have a second parent in my life, and she doesn't even know it! Would she be like the mom I imagined, or completely opposite? What if she bailed the moment she saw me? I had been tossing that question around in my head for hours, and it wasn't pretty.

Seeing that picture of her for the first time… that was truly something. The entire situation had been so insane, that I had had half the sense to laugh it off and disbelieve it until the evidence was looking me dead in the eye. That was my mother's face. My mother's calm, warming smile.

What on earth would I do when she gets here? I was put in a strange position. She was my parent by blood, one that I've never known, and there will be no telling how I might interact with her. If she stays for long enough, there is even this wild possibility that I've been pondering that I might become close to her, want her presence. How on earth could we keep up the act then without my actions around her being a dead giveaway? Even if they weren't, I'm sure it would still look pretty awkward.

I'm definitely not sure if I want to get too close. But I don't want to be repulsed either, so I'm still in the dark on what to do.

Another matter that had been heavy on my mind was that of a potential other family. She was certainly at the age where she was most likely married, which puts the possibility of, get this, a stepfather into the picture, and if the truth somehow got out, the explanation to him would be awkward as all get out. That was a confrontation I was certainly hoping to avoid.

Beyond that, she might also have children of her own, which is a whole other matter by itself, and an equally stressful one to tackle. If said children exist, that would mean they were my half-siblings, like Karai was, just on the other side of my family. The whole thing would only be more stressful with other children in the picture. Other children that she already loved and cared for their whole lives. I can't imagine what it would do to them if they found out that I, an inhumane, nightmarish creature, was their brother.

My best guess is that no one would benefit if word got out. As a matter of fact, I think I would be less than thrilled, too. It would only mean more trouble for us.

This was getting out of hand. I needed to stop and give myself a rest for a moment. But how? The moon was up, it's extremely late, and Karai said that it would be well into the nighttime when she got back. They aren't far away, and the more I try to ignore the situation, the more it backfires. Some things are just impossible to push away. But that doesn't change anything. I will have to confront this whether I like it or not.

And all I could do was beg that it wouldn't be a disaster.

When Karai called yesterday, we had gotten confirmation that it had worked, and that she had successfully convinced Tina into donating, but I had asked April and Casey to spare me the rest of the information. It simply wasn't something I could handle at the moment. I have no idea if she was bringing more than one person, or what she or the others were like, or anything.

Earlier today, matters were made worse, due to the fact that I can't talk for the next three days. I promised myself I would hold out as much as possible, but the temptation was too much, and once again, I was forced to try going back into my more familiar form, and completely lost control. This time though, we had been ready for it. I was locked in an empty storage room on the other side of the mansion, and April wasted no time in using her power to subdue me. The only damage I caused was breaking a lamp. When I woke up again, they moved me into the biggest room, and put me next to the window so I could watch for my sister, which I had been doing ever since.

Which I no longer have to do. My ears picked up on the sound I had been dreading for over two days.

The sound of the Party Wagon pulling up, signaling that Karai had returned, bringing my mother with her.

Through the window, I watched as Casey rushed out to greet them, but I turned away before I could see anyone else. Suddenly, I had become a bundle of nerves. A cold sweat ran down the back of my neck, my throat felt dry, and I was aware of the rising feeling of nausea. I couldn't do this, there was no way.

Behind me, the door opened, and April stepped in. I think she saw the fear of my face, because she immediately came over. "Here, why don't we move you for when they come in?" she asked softly. I nodded, trying not to feel so frightened.

With that, April tried to move me to the bed. Emphasis on tried. She was getting so much stronger, I could see this when she trained with us, but she was trying to be gentle, out of fear of jostling one of my injuries. It was more like dragging, even though she clearly was doing everything she could to avoid my being dragged. Eventually, she did manage to get me to the other side of the room, and up onto the bed, but not before my body had obtained a steady throb all over. It took everything in me to make it seem like this wasn't the case.

Now that I had been moved, April sat down next to me. She comfortingly placed a hand on my shoulder. "You're scared, I know. Just try not to worry. I've got a good feeling about this." Hearing those words did help calm me down a bit. If April believed it would go well, I would try to believe it too.

Somewhere on the other side of the house, I heard doors opening and closing. Loud voices were talking, but I couldn't identify them, or pick out Casey and Karai's. My guess was that Karai had brought back more than one person, making my nerves flare up again. This was exactly what I wanted to avoid!

April stood and moved towards the door, planning to greet our guests when they arrived at the room. Tina was in the house. She was getting closer and closer with every passing second. Any moment now, she would see me for the first time. I could imagine it now. She would walk in, take one look at me, then turn and run. That's how this was going to play out…

My breath caught in my throat as I saw April duck from the room, followed by a round of greetings from unfamiliar voices. I didn't dare move. As I sat frozen, the voices outside quieted…

And then she came.

There was no time to prepare. The door opened a little wider, and the tiny figure of a woman stepped in. She only reached my shoulders in height, but she looked almost identical to the woman I saw on that screen two days ago. Here. Moving. Breathing. Staring right back at me.

She didn't run.

Instead, her eyes softened at the sight of me. Her breath caught, too. One of her hands seemed to be reaching up towards her mouth, but never quite made it. She couldn't believe she was looking at me. And I certainly was going to have a hard time convincing myself I was looking at her.

I had been in the same room as her one other time in my life. I wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for her. She had been there the day I was born, maybe she had even been there when I was born, I'm not sure. Did she remember me or my brothers? Four small, frail baby turtles who shouldn't have even made it in the conditions of the place they were born? The ones who were saved when purchased too early? Or were we just four out of many countless creatures there, and pushed out of her memory? Either way, she certainly wouldn't recognize me now.

To think, she had been out there all my life. I just had no idea, no way of knowing. And now she was here. Unknowingly reuniting with her own son after fifteen years. This was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. I just had no idea what to do with it.

Five seconds of us staring at each other passed, and in an instant, I was unexpectedly overcome with an onslaught of emotion. I lowered my head, trying with all my might to hold tears back. Why was I crying? The connection between us may have been a huge one, but nothing had ever come of it. We only saw each other once! That was all… but she was here now, here to stay for some time, and when would I ever have this opportunity again?

"Hey, you okay?" That was Karai. She sat down next to me and I hid my face in her shoulder. That should soak up any tears in time for me to regain control of my conflicted emotions. She had only been gone for a day and a half, but I had missed my sister, and I can tell she missed me.

One would guess that my emotions would once again be misinterpreted for fear, but Karai wasn't fooled. Still, she covered for me anyway. "Don't be afraid. She's here to help you." Karai whispered, knowing fully well what was really going on inside my mind. Then she didn't hesitate gathering me into a tight embrace. Instantly, I was soothed into a safer, more secure atmosphere. Some of the stress that had been racking my mind began to dissipate. Much better. Karai for the win.

Behind me, I felt Karai beckon someone over with her hand. I knew it was Tina, of course it was Tina. I didn't move from her grasp, and she didn't try to move me. I needed this, and we both knew it, but she called over Tina anyway. I think she wanted to get our introduction out of the way, so not to raise the tension. It was embarrassing, meeting her while literally hiding in someone else's arms like a baby, but having Karai there actually made the whole thing feel easier.

"Hi there…"

Her voice. Just hearing her voice for the first time was jarring. It was a soft, smooth voice, yet it still sent a chill down my spine.

On the other end of the bed, I felt her sit down. "You're Donatello?" she asked. Not wanting the question to go unanswered, I nodded. She would know that, obviously. "It's nice to meet you." she continued, but I didn't react. I couldn't find it in me to turn around and look at her again. I had become pale and clammy, and my pulse had sped up, and I just couldn't do it. My courage had fled, and it was all I could do not to break down and panic.

"He's always been a little shy." April said. Well, I couldn't refute this, it was very true. It wasn't very often we met normal humans, and it was usually by accident. As a matter of fact, at that moment in time, I couldn't agree with her more. But this was different, given our circumstances and I had never felt this nervous before.

Down the hall, we heard a sudden clatter that made both Karai and I jump. I heard a startled yelp, and then… was that a cat?

"Oh, shoot." Tina muttered. I felt her stand and walk towards the door. When she did, I snuck a glance at her, now that her back was turned to me and I couldn't see her face. "This is embarrassing, I completely forgot about Hera. I don't mean to step out so soon, but can you let me go help George quickly?" She asked April. April nodded. "Not a problem." she said, moving aside to let Tina back out of the room.

"They brought their crazy cat with them." Karai muttered, stifling a laugh. For the first time all day, I allowed myself to smile a bit, amused.

As soon as Tina exited the room, an even smaller figure zoomed in past April, who jumped at the sudden appearance, and started bouncing up and down at the opposite end of the bed. I watched wide-eyed as they started talk a mile a minute in a high-pitched voice. "Hi! Nice to meet you! Are those real snakes on your hands?! I like snakes! I see them all the time, my mom works at a zoo!-"

Tina had returned as fast as she left, and quickly pulled the jumping figure backwards slightly. "Steven, Steven," she said calmly, causing the small child to stop jumping. "Give him a little space, okay? We don't want to overwhelm him."

There it was. That kind, caring, motherly behavior I had been so afraid of her showing. She had just gone out of her way to make sure I wasn't made uncomfortable with all those questions. That felt good when she said that, like it was something a mom was supposed to say. Something I had been missing. How could I keep up the act when she, my flesh and blood, was standing right there?!

Now that they had stopped moving, I saw the tiny figure in her arms was a small boy, about seven or eight, with brown curls and grey eyes. Under my breath, I gasped. She had a son of her own. I had just gained a fourth brother, and so had the others, bringing the grand total to five. Mikey was no longer the youngest. He finally had a little brother.

So she did have a family. I'll bet this little boy, Steven, I remembered her calling him, wasn't the only member of her family to come with her. I'll bet she brought all of them. But how many more were there?

No sooner than when I asked myself this question, in walked a small man with similar features to Steven, and several scratches on his face. "Good news! We got the cat situated!" he announced, then stopped when he saw me.

"Oh," he stammered, blinking. "Is this Donatello?" When Tina nodded, he waved. "Hi, I'm George, Tina's husband."

Great. I have a stepfather, too.

That's just perfect.

I couldn't wave back, so I held up the small head at the end of my arm where my hand should have been and shrugged. Hopefully, that was a good enough apology. I was so flustered, I didn't have the brain capacity to make up a better one.

"The cat only likes Elle, so she's usually in charge of her." Steven was explaining to Casey, who was carrying a large bag into the room. "But Elle is always saying she's got better things to do. Sisters, you know?"

Casey nodded. "I have one. No brothers." he explained.

Steven nodded. "Same here. One sister, no brothers."

Okay. So from what I could gather, Tina and George only have two children, one of them being the so-far unseen Elle. My best guess was that she was somewhere else in the house, dealing with their cat, which is why she has so far failed to make an appearance.

Adding up all of this new information, this brought me to the total of two parents, one step-parent, and six siblings, four of them being brothers, two of them being sisters, with me smack dab in the middle with three of them being older, and three of them being younger, and a bad case of my stomach sinking like a rock as I calculated all this. Overwhelmed, the best thing I could do was go back to hiding my face in Karai's shoulder as I tried to sort out just how messed up my life had become in only a week.

What on earth was I going to do? There was nowhere to run, no other options. The only way I was going to get better was with them here. So, the only thing I could do was swallow my fear, and let them try to help, no matter my situation. If by some miracle we pull this off, I'll walk out of this mansion exactly the way I was before I dropped into that mutagen, and everything will go back to normal.

"Can he talk?" I heard Steven ask. I felt my face go red as April answered, "Not right now, that fluctuates. Probably in another three days he'll be able to."

"Steven, why don't you go see if your father or sister need help with anything?" Tina mumbled quietly. I heard small footsteps running back out the door, before she sat down on the other end of the bed again. "I figured that less people at once might make it easier." She explained.

Tina could tell. She could tell how stressed I was. No way of knowing how she did, but she was trying to fix it. I was absolutely astonished. She didn't even know me! Why in the world would she be doing this?

For some strange reason that I could probably never figure out for the life of me, this somehow gave me a tiny bit of my courage back. I slowly lifted my head from Karai's shoulder, and turned my head, bit by bit, until out of the corner of my eye, I could see her. She and her photo counterpart didn't look much different, with wavy golden hair reaching down to her shoulder blades, and bright blue eyes, which I couldn't figure out, because one moment they looked more like Leo's, and then the next, they were identical to Mikey's.

It was quite clear who I had gotten my features from. My eyes, my height… they were all from Splinter. I'd be willing to bet that if I had been human, odds would be pointing more to me looking like him, too. Not a single trait had come from Tina. Those had all been given to my brothers. My brothers would be so much better at handling this than me. So much more successful. But they weren't here. It was only me, who was nothing like her, with absolutely no connection.

"I've never been good at talking to people, either."

That got my attention. I fully turned myself around, forcing myself to look her right in the eye. What did she mean?

"I've been freezing up around people when I've had to talk to them ever since I was a kid. Talking to people outside of my family was the scariest thing. I didn't socialize much, not until I went to college." She said. "And even then, I went to college in New York City, which has a ton of people, so that was terrifying. I had never been around so many in one place before."

Then, she giggled as a thought came to her. "Believe it or not, I've been better at socializing with animals than people!" She said, laughing. "I've been working as a Zookeeper for thirteen years. Working with animals has always interested me since I was a kid, which is funny, because my family isn't big on animals in general. I was the different one."

I was the different one. Listening to those words suddenly struck home. She got nervous about things, like me. She had extensive interests in things that were different from her family, like me. That jittery, nervous expression she wore when she arrived… how had I not recognized it? I had been looking back at it in the mirror for years on my own face.

She now had my undivided attention. I pulled away from Karai, and slowly edged myself forwards, closer to her so I could listen.

"I have heard rumors about mutants in New York," Tina continued. "There are probably a lot of mutants living there. I've had a feeling that those aliens that tried to invade last month have something to do with it, because there've been a lot of sighting of them too, but I've never known what to think about it. I'll bet that most of my family members would disagree, but now that I've met one, I don't think they're bad at all. As a matter of fact, their situation reminds me a lot of myself."

She sighed. "It's scary, isn't it? Being so different from the rest of the world, but being exactly the same?"

I couldn't help but nod. I knew exactly what she meant, exactly what she was talking about. She was just like me. There was nothing to fear from her.

"That's what motivated me to come help," she said. "You're basically a normal teenager. You deserve to be one. If I don't donate…" I understood why she couldn't finish. None of us wanted to think about that, especially not me.

"Listen, I'll do everything I can to help. I promise. And when it's done, I won't tell a soul about any of this." She said. Gratefully, I nodded hard. My mind was racing. She was so much like me, it was almost scary. Me and my mother had something in common… we were different from everyone else. We were strange, misunderstood individuals. I shared this with her, I had all my life. She was someone I could relate to… like a mom should be.

At that very moment, I realized that it would be impossible to keep up my resolve. There was no way I could keep myself from being drawn to her presence. There was no re-writing our DNA. She was my mom, and she always will be. But she can never know that. She can never know who I am, whose child I am, or that we lied to her. I couldn't do that to her, or her family. But they were my family, too. How could I keep that from them? It was a horrible, cruel thing to do.

Now I was just confusing myself. It was too late at night to sort this out in my head, I needed some sleep. I looked over my shoulder at Karai, and I think she got the message. "You know, why don't we all get some sleep, and then we can do the donation tomorrow, okay?" This is what I had been hoping to hear. Casey and April got up to show Tina where she and her family would be staying, where they were already getting settled in for the night.

On the way out, Tina turned and waved at me and Karai. "I'll see you two tomorrow."

Karai waved back as she left, then smiled at me, because this was our first step back to normalcy, for me at least. She was certain things were going to be alright.

So I smiled, too. A big, bright smile, that was hopefully convincing enough to cover up the new turmoil in my head.

Tina was my mom. Tina was a great person. There was a place for her in my life that I would gladly accept.

But I had no place in hers.

A/N.

I will admit, I was a little bit lost on how to do the last part of this chapter, and I'm not sure it turned out the way I wanted it to.

The problem here, is that now that Donnie's met his mom, he realizes that it might not be such a horrible thing that she's there. But, of course, she can't know that he's hers. He's scared that he'll want to get to know her, especially seeing how alike they are, but that he'll give away the truth if he does, and she might react badly. Plus, there's her family to think about, who didn't feature much in this chapter, but will make everything about the situation a lot more awkward.

I just had to explain, I wasn't sure if that came across the way I thought it would.

Anyways, the next chapter is the first time we see Tina's POV(!), and then it switches back to Karai, who is checking up on the situation with Shredder. Trying to hold everything together will be a lot harder than it seems.

Anyways, that's just about it for this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it, and once you're done, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…

Stay Tuned! ;)