DISCLAIMER – Simply put, I don't own the TMNT's or any other character, except for Gabby, Marie, Cassie, and Tricia.

This has been, by far, the hardest chapter to write, if only because I tried to make it the last one. However, my muses refused to let me go. In fact, they have kept me prisoner to my PC.

Case in point -

Rein quickly looks around, hoping for escape. Suddenly, she sees an opening, and makes a mad dash to freedom!

Next thing she knows, though, she's down and flat on her face, looking up at her muses. They had tripped her!

Now, they bellow evilly at her, "And where do you think you're going, hmm?"

Rein scrambles back up to her feet to peer desperately around her Muses, only to see her exit point already disappearing. Sighing despairingly and well aware that she remains trapped within their sinister grasp, Rein answers meekly as she hangs her head in defeat, "Back to the computer?"

Muses nod affirmatively, "Yes, back to the computer, slave, and this time we're going to chain you to it until you write this story the way we want it written, capisce?"

Yeah, it was like that. Sorry.

So, with that said, I can't say when this story will end, but my goal is before the end of this month! Hey, maybe by the end of this WEEK! (Looks around nervously, hoping the muses didn't hear that) I truly did attempt to make chapter 12 the last one, though. As it stands now, there are a few more chapters and then maybe the epilogue, but I refuse to say exactly how many chapters are left, because I'm afraid if I do, my muses will only laugh in my face.

And - I'm getting mighty tired of them doing it, too. GRRRRR!.

Chapter 12 – It Pays to Be Don.

The moment the ambulance arrived at the hospital and as quickly as he could, Seth climbed out the back of the vehicle. He now stood outside in the freezing cold, wrapped in his hooded coat with his gloved hands shoved deep inside the pockets.

"How could she even think to live in this weather?" he grouched to himself as he shivered. Then again, his own father had sequestered himself years ago up in the snowy mountains of Nepal, certainly as inhospitable to his kind as Fairbanks currently was. "She must have felt truly desperate," he mused sullenly. He could only wonder, then, how the weather was affecting his children. Despite his concerns for his wife, Seth was also equally disgruntled with her, too.

As the paramedics prepared the gurney to move Gabby out of the transport, Seth sensed someone approaching from behind. Looking over his right shoulder, he saw his father jogging over to him from the parking lot just beyond. Although clothed as well within his hooded coat, Leo's thoughts nearly shouted out his worry for his daughter-in-law.

"How's Gabby?" he asked anxiously as he sided up next to his son. They both watched as the paramedics eased the stretcher out from the back of the emergency transport, the wheeled legs immediately swinging down and locking into place.

"She stopped breathing about half-way in!" Seth exclaimed anxiously as the medics wheeled his wife towards the emergency receiving area. With a cry in his throat, he commented, "I guess her heart stopped." Sensing his son's despair, Leo embraced him as Seth continued, "She did wake up for just a moment after they revived her, but she lost consciousness again, before I could talk to her." He shook his head, as a sickening fear gripped him, "Oh, god, I didn't mean for her to get hurt like this, Father, I don't want to lose her." He then broke away from Leo's embrace, almost running to catch up with the paramedics and Gabby.

Leo took off after him, however, catching up with his son to firmly, but gently, grab at Seth's shoulder, and turn him around, "Stop, Seth. Let the doctors do their job. We'll only be in their way."

Then, he guided him over towards the main door of the emergency room. Just the same, Seth's eyes never left his wife. He watched as the paramedics pushed her gurney through the automated doors. As the first set opened with a 'swoosh', and then the second did likewise, as soon as they were passed the weather break, the medics turned the gurney towards triage.

Seth then said a quick prayer. He knew that Gabby had several breaks. With her left arm in a splint and her legs equally restricted, he knew she was going to be in casts for a while. Still, he was not sure how serious her injuries were. On the way in, there had been some cryptic talk among the paramedics about her spinal cord and a severe concussion. Yet most of it was medical jargon, of which he had very little understanding.

Still, he had sensed an urgency within them that indicated Gabby's injuries might be far worse than just having fractured limbs.

It only increased his anxieties.

The other members of the family quickly joined up with Leo and Seth. As one body and with the doors spreading wide before them, the six ninja walked through the automated entry of the hospital's emergency wing. With Don leading the way, they soon filed into the main waiting room and, as soon as the warm circulated air hit their face, pushed their hoods back. The moment they did, it generated a great deal of excitement for those already in emergency. The buzz of sudden hushed conversations reverberated and grew, cutting short in stifled amazement, only to start up again as the reality of what they were seeing settled in. Fortunately, only a few people were present and, for the most part, they kept their verbal responses quiet and non-invasive.

However, they could not help but to stare at the strange collection of creatures.

The group of mutant reptiles could easily sense the worried concern from the humans, which caused Raph to grouch between clenched teeth, "Someone smile, or do something." He then nudged Mike, grounding out under his breath, "Sing or tap-dance, but get the mood in here going in a different direction. We don't have time for long-winded explanations."

Mike rolled his eyes, exclaiming, "Ya know, Raph, I'm just as concerned about Gabs as you are. It certainly wouldn't hurt for you to smile a bit."

"Really?" Raph replied sarcastically, "Well, how's this?" and then he gave the wickedest smirk he could muster.

Mike immediately threw his hands up and waved them in front of his brother to stop him, his eyes wide in alarm, "NO…that won't work! Stop, quit it, otherwise they just might arrest us for 'expressive terrorizing'." Sighing he accused, "You did that deliberately, ya know," which only caused Raph to chuckle.

Sighing, Mike turned towards the small knot of people who now huddled together as one group and smiled at them.

"Hey, nice night, eh?" he exclaimed cheerily. Hesitantly, one middle-aged man responded with a small nod of his head, so Mike added, "Could be a bit warmer, though, know what I mean?" and then he laughed. The man smiled back, as did a few of the others, quickly understanding Mike's intent behind the comment.

A small child of eight, however, finally broke the tension, "You're not from here, are you?"

While the rest of the family focused on Gabby and trying to find out as much as they could about her condition, Mike did his normal routine, "What was yer first clue, kid? Actually, we were born in New York, so cold weather's something we grew up with. However, we live in California, now, where it's warmer. How about you?" He noticed a towel wrapped around the youngsters arm, with the boy's mother protectively standing next to him. "Probably a broken arm," Mike surmised silently to himself.

Smiling, the young boy replied, "Born in Anchorage."

"Really? Wow," Mike exclaimed, "So, that means you – ah - don't know Jack about hot weather, right?"

While Mike was paving the way towards charming the masses, Don took charge at the reception desk, "I'm Don Tello, and my niece was just brought in by ambulance."

"Yes, Mr. Tell," the admittance clerk replied as she looked at her computer screen. Don groaned audibly, but she ignored it as she said, "We received the call a moment ago and have things all set up in triage." The clerk then looked at him, "Your niece has been taken there already…possible compound fractures and a concussion." Pushing a clipboard with forms across the desk to him, the girl instructed, "You will need to fill these forms out first, please answer all questions, and then sign all three sets of papers. Also, please read your patient's rights and sign where indicated." The girl then looked up at the mutant – and went wide-eyed in an instant.

With both hands flat against the cubicle's tabletop, Don leaned in towards the girl. Clipping each word precisely, he declared as he told her, "Please page Dr. Hamilton Mills right away. I do not have time to fill out forms." He locked eyes with the girl, who gulped nervously as she picked up her phone and punched the appropriate speed dial. Don had already checked beforehand which resident physician was in charge and on duty. Don also knew that his name alone would go far in avoiding any unnecessary paperwork. Paper trails of this nature were never tolerated, no matter what hospital any of his family ended up in.

The clerk kept her eyes on the impatient creature standing before her as she waited for the other end of the call to pick up. Finally, when someone answered her page, she quickly said, "Yes, Dr. Mills, there's a Don Tell here in the emergency room, and he wishes to speak to you," The girl listened for a moment and then remarked, "Don Tello? Oh, sorry…" she blushed a bit as she quickly glanced up at Don and then continued, looking away, now, her voice quieter, "Well, Don Tello's niece has been brought into emergency; she was in that car accident at the Mitchell Highway. However, Mr. Tello is refusing to fill out the admittance forms and…" Then, with her eyes widening even more, she nodded eagerly, "Yes sir, yes, I will, right away. Thank you."

As the girl hung up the phone and looked up into Don's face, she smiled, although weakly at best. With her anxiety considerably heightened, she stated, "D-Dr. Mills will be down shortly. Please make yourselves comfortable in our privacy room," she then pointed a shaky finger towards a door marked 'Private' across the way from where she sat. "Could I get you some coffee or other refreshments?" she asked graciously, standing now as if ready to do whatever it took to make the family's stay comfortable.

Smiling generously, now, Don waved the offer away, "No, not now, maybe later when we know that my niece is all right. Thank you, though." With that, he ushered the rest of his family into the room, calling for Mike to follow along.

"Hey, see ya'll later, Ryan, 'kay?" Mike exclaimed to the young boy, and then hurried to catch up with the rest of the clan as they filed into the private waiting area.

"Yeah, later!" the ten-year old exclaimed cheerfully. His mother adjusted the icepack on his arm and wrapped the towel around it again. As she stroked her son's head affectionately, he looked up at her and remarked with a wide smile, "Cool people, eh Mom?"

Looking after the departing turtle, the boy's mother could only nod mutely, still a bit shaken with Mike's and his family's presence.

Shortly thereafter, Dr Mills came into the privacy room, introduced himself to the clan, and then he and Don went over to one side of the waiting area to talk.

"We prefer a private wing; cost is not a problem, Dr. Mills." Don told him, "I do not want casual walk-bys and most definitely no news reporters. This is to remain low key, no matter what. I will have each member of my family sign in and out whenever they visit her, that way your staff can keep track of who's visiting her."

Clearing his throat, the doctor said carefully, "I don't believe that my staff will have a problem with that, all things considered, Mr. Tello."

Smiling patiently, Don reiterated, "Just the same, they will be told to sign themselves in. I have a valet and there may be a few more…"

A knock at the door sounded out, interrupting their conversation. Mike went over to open it, revealing Tricia.

"Hi, so is this where everyone's waiting?" she asked.

Dr Mills immediately stepped over to intervene, "Sorry, this is a private waiting room. You'll have to use the general public area,"

Don walked up to the door and motioned the girl inside, "That's all right, Doctor, Tricia is welcomed." He opened the door wider to allow the girl to slip by, "She's a friend to my niece." He smiled at the girl as she made her way to a seat far from the rest of the family. Turning back towards the doctor, Don explained, "This is why I want everyone who is associated with my niece to sign in. There may be three more on the list, as well. As easy as it may be for your staff to recognize those from my family, there may be others who will not be as distinguishable. I'll inform you as soon as I know for sure who all will be expected."

Nodding in understanding, Dr Mills then left. As Don closed the door after him, he turned around to face his family.

"I have decided to return to Gabby's house and retrieve the caretaker. Considering we will be staying here in Fairbanks for a few more days, I feel it is prudent to make ourselves known to the woman. Therefore, I would appreciate it if two of you would volunteer to go with me. Seth, Raph –you are excluded."

Devon and Mike both raised their hand and stood up to join Don at the door.

In that moment, Tricia wished she had opted for the more public area of the emergency room. While Don had eventually eased her insecurities and seemed kind, despite his questioning and insulting her, her one and only encounter with Raph had been a startling one. Still, she reasoned to herself that considering everyone had only one thing on their mind, and that was Gabby, what could possible go wrong?

As Don left, Leo gently walked over to the girl and sat down next to her, "Thank you for befriending Gabby. We appreciate it, a lot."

Shrugging, Tricia replied, "No problem. She's rather easy to like. At least, I think so."

"Yes," Leo nodded, "Gabby can be that, that's for sure." He sensed the girl's uneasiness, though, and so he encouraged her, "You are welcomed here – please relax."

Tricia nodded, accepting Leo's assurances, but then she glanced over at Raphael, who was busy talking with Seth, "He seems – angry with me, though," she whispered.

"Raph?" Leo glanced at his brother, who then turned a queried face to him when he heard his name, "Not him, he's only concerned for Gabby." Looking back at Tricia, "Trust me, if you saw him truly angry, you'd know the difference!" and then he chuckled.

After requesting that the receptionist call him the moment the triage assessed Gabby's injuries, Don led the way out of the hospital.

"Hey, Don, you're gonna have to call Cassie and let her know about Gabs." Mike remarked as they walked into the parking lot.

Sighing deeply, Don asked, "Do I have to?" He chuckled then, "Yeah, guess I better do that." Shaking his head, he commented quietly, "She's not going to be happy, though."

As Devon noted his uncle's less than enthusiastic mood, he sided up to him and asked, "Think she'll be pissed at you."

Looking at his nephew, Don grumped irritably, "Well, she didn't necessarily like my plan to begin with, so…yeah; she's going to be 'pissed', as you said." He hated it whenever any of his plans went awry. Don took great pains to make sure he covered all his bases, especially where it concerned his family. However, he found that in recent years, he had been making more mistakes than he was accustomed to, which was none, as he thought about it. He wondered if maybe his experience in the Philippines had something to do with it. Just the same, this recent blunder grated against Don's nerves, and more than he would like to have admitted, too.

"Then, I guess that settles it." Devon declared with a weary grin, as the three of them walked across the parking lot.

"Settles what?" Don asked and eyed his nephew quizzically, retrieving the car keys out from his coat pocket as they approached the suburban.

Devon chuckled, looking over at his uncle as he shook his head, "It sucks to be you right now!" causing Mike to erupt in a fit of laughter.

Don could only shake his head and groan, "Indeed!"

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, Ramica and a few others mentioned to me that the comment Splinter made in chapter 11 was reminiscent of Yoda and what he said to Luke in Part 5 of the Star War Chronicles. Funny thing is, I just thought it was a clever bit of writing on my part and not something I heard from another source. I should have known better, I guess. I went ahead and made changes to reflect a more original 'flavor'. I hope, anyway. Until someone mentioned it, I truly did not connect the dots with the 'try or try not', saying. And considering the fact that I love Star Wars, it just seems even more weird than anything, right now.

COMMENTS

RAMICA – As I mentioned when I e-mailed ya, that line sounded so good that I didn't even THINK it belonged anywhere else. Silly me. So, as mentioned in my A/N, I've changed it. Hopefully, it will say as much. As for Gabby's condition, you know a bit more about that with this chapter 12, a bit more, but not the whole story. It's always risky to include a new OC that's not central to the plot, but Tricia needs to show up a couple more times before I kill her off. Just kidding. I'm not really sure exactly where she will fit in this story, if at all. Either way, thanks for reading and for reviewing. Be blessed.

PACPHYS – Well, Gabby is so – unique – in the way she looks, Don had a hard time believing Tricia would even assume there wasn't more to her story. As you mentioned in your review, he didn't know what Gabby had been doing, so it sounded kind of fishy for Tricia not to know that his niece was a mutant reptile (mix). EMP-EMT…sounds vaguely similar to me. LOL I went ahead and made the changes, but – alas – at the time I did that, Fan Fiction was on the fritz again. I had to giggle, though, with your electromagnetic pulses! Tricia is only as smart as her writer, so – she's pretty limited right now! LOL As for what will transpire and where this story will take her is still uncertain and undecided. Right now, as far as Gabby is concerned, the family has more important issues to deal with than reading her the riot act. Ah, it's all relative, isn't it? I did genealogy researching a few years ago just for fun and I was amazed how two people producing a half-dozen kids can end up with hundreds if not thousands of descendents in only a matter of 350 years. Truly amazing. As far as cousins or half-cousins marrying, in the south it used to be quite common. And, I've changed the Yoda saying to something more original, I hope. Means the same, but different. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Be blessed.

SPLINTER – Wow, so neat that you reviewed! I noticed you recently added a new one-shot, which was quite exciting when I saw it in my e-mail! The Burden. Quite the controversial topic. :0) Anyway, I fixed the Yoda thing. What was I thinking? Oh, yeah, that's right – I wasn't! Didn't even occur to me at the time. LOL Well, for Gabby, she's still pretty new to this kind of family and I would think the question of when to start training would give her reason to pause, especially where she had been so traumatized with that battle in the forest in Yosutebito Daughter. Maybe I should have written up a short story centering around her PTSD a bit more; it might have justified why she ran when she did. Unfortunately, as it's turned out, she is now considered as evil as Shay was in The Legacy, Ramica's epic. Ah well. Thanks so much for reading – and reviewing! Be blessed.

LUNAR-NINJA – Well, sorry for the delay on this chapter. I was going great guns on this story, more ideas than Carter has pills, and then when I tried to end it, the muses went on strike. They just had more to offer and decided if I wouldn't let them to do that, then they wouldn't do anything at all. Spoiled brats! Anyway, I feel sorry for Tricia now in this chapter than the previous one. Being in a room, by herself, with a completely different species and one with an attitude, no less? Goodness, talk about a difficult spot. Well, if Don married Cassie and Cassie is Gabby's mom, then…yeah, it's possible. In fact, it's was a practice common in the Bible, where if a man dies and leaves a wife, his unattached brother was obligated to marry her. Not that I'm promoting anything here, but as I thought about it, it wouldn't be too unusual. No, Splinter is not an angel in this story. I haven't decided what he is. More than likely, it's an angel portraying the image of Splinter. This is fiction, so what does it matter, eh? LOL Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing. Be blessed.

CHIBI ROSE ANGEL – Hi back! Well, without RR under your belt, a lot of this will seem weird. Which is why I flashbacked to RR scenes a bit. Maybe too much, as it's come to pass, but – well – what's done is done. And, I've E-mailed you so you know that there isn't any possible way I can be mad at you or anyone, unless people flame mercilessly without any intent to be constructive with it. That's my only angst. Makes me a bit hesitant to even properly critique stories for fear of being misinterpreted as a flamer. I do, anyway, but there's always that little, nagging fear someone will take me the wrong way. Anyway, Butterfly will get updated as soon as this story ends. It should have ended Friday, but the muses had other ideas. This chapter is one of them. So, thanks for stopping by and 'waving':o) Be blessed.

GEMDRIVE – I waffled on including Splinter, but I'm glad I did, now. I wanted Gabby to have an 'other worldly' experience to drive home the point of what she has put the family through. Don's going to a have a surprise, though, in a few chapters! LOL Seth is very likeable, isn't he? I need to re-read his book, too, but that part where it delves into the spirit world just confuses the heck out of me. Well, Don had been pursuing Cassie for a while; it was only a matter of time before her heart turned towards him. In RR, she admitted as much to Rama, although that was a completely different universe. This one is just a 'what if' story. I may continue RR a bit, to briefly touch on Mindy's training. I need to be careful in how I develop her, though. Ramica's cornered the market on 'adorable' TMNT offspring and I do not want to trudge into her territory, not that she would squawk much. Where and when I can, I try not to step on toes. To some, Gabby IS a pickle and I'm sure that some would like to see her jarred up and put away, too. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Be blessed.