A/N: Alright, I'm closing in on the end of this story: after this, two chapters remain. I leave on Tuesday and lose Internet access until January, and I hope to have this story complete by then. This chapter might be a little jumpy, and it's been bugging me, but this thing has been floating on my harddrive long enough.

Disclaimer: The Turtles and associated characters, places, things, etc. are the property of Mirage Studios, and I (sadly) am not affiliated with Mirage in any way shape or form. I make no money from this and I mean no harm. Please don't sue.

Chapter 6 - Chances

While Raphael was concerned about the four eggs that hadn't hatched after the next few days, Donatello was not. Raph wondered if Don knew something he didn't, or if the purple-masked turtle was simply refusing to acknowledge the existence of the remaining four eggs. Not for the first time, Raph shrugged it off and continued to watch the eggs even as he wondered if the turtles inside would make it. The thing that Raphael found most odd over the next few days was that Don almost seemed concerned that two had hatched at the same time. On the other hand, Raphael could think of several reasons why Donnie might be concerned about suddenly having two children whose existence he'd been unable to accept a week ago.

A good week and a half had passed since Catherine's hatching when the next eggs started wiggling. When the next tiny turtle finally crawled free a couple days after that, Don already had Galileo in his arms, and Leo was holding Catherine. Michelangelo tried to remember the last time he'd seen Donnie awake and alert without at least one of the two children in his arms. He didn't count the two days during the previous week that Donnie had spent in one of his little funks. Even so, the week had been the first time he'd truly seen his brother happy for more than a few seconds since they'd come home... or rather, since they'd been captured. Raphael picked up the new hatchling this time. "Boy." He reported.

"Mikey?" Don asked, looking to his brother.

The orange masked turtle smiled. "You sure, Donnie?"

Don nodded. "You're the one who made sure they got here. I would have let them stay-" He stopped, unable to continue the sentence he had started. After a moment he tried again, the slightly bitter and horribly detached tone of voice returning with a vengeance. So much so that Don's brothers were concerned that they were about to lose him again. "I wouldn't have brought them home, remember? You made sure that they got here, and I should thank you for that." He cuddled the little boy he held, his actions very much at odds with his tone of voice.

"Alright." Mike grinned as Raphael passed the newly hatched turtle to him. "Tiziano." He said aloud. "Is that ok?"

Don didn't recognize the name right away, and Mike could evidently see that on his face.

"Well, I could call him Titian and name him after the same guy, but I'm not too fond of a rather obvious way to shorten that name. It might give him a complex"

Don, Raph and even Master Splinter seemed to get it, but Leo looked confused.

"First three letters?" Mike suggested.

"Ah." Leo got it.

"I like Tiziano." Don told Mike as he traded Galileo for the newest hatchling.

"We've got another crawler, here." Mike said as he glanced back down at the box. Sure enough, another little turtle was doing its darndest to finally get completely out of its egg. Don reluctantly handed Tiziano off to Master Splinter, and the newest hatchling slowly made his way around the group.

Shortly after Tiziano pulled free, the next hatchling followed him. This time it was Mikey who lifted the baby out of the box. "Another boy." He said after a moment as he cuddled the newest hatchling.

"Well," Raphael asked, looking at Donnie. "what's his name?"

"I don't know." Don replied. "Leo, why don't you do it?"

"Me?"

"Why not?"

"Uh, ok." Leo hadn't even thought of a name and while he searched his memory for a good one Donnie handed him the little boy. Leo barely had time to register that he'd received the newest hatchling before Don picked up Tiziano. "What about Machiavelli?"

"Leo, that's cruel!" Michelangelo objected. "He's going to have to learn to spell that!"

"It worked for you!" Raphael laughed.

"True, Mr. I-can't-spell-yesterday." Mike retorted. Raphael stopped laughing and glared at his orange-masked brother. "I am the Spell-Meister!" Mikey crowed.

All four babies started crying at the sudden shout, and Mike earned himself four glares from the individuals holding them.

"That wasn't very nice of you, Uncle Mikey!" Catherine stated flatly. "Making us all cry like that!" She crossed her powerful arms over her little plastron in a mock pout.

"True, but I didn't know that would happen. I wasn't used to having four babies around the lair. No one was. Well, Master Splinter re-adjusted pretty quickly."

Three Days Later

Leo found Don watching the remaining two eggs, odd in an of itself, with a strange look on his face. Though it didn't make a whole lot of sense to Leo, Don had always seen the eggs and the children as separate and distinct entities; he loved the children, but was still afraid of the eggs. Leo was beginning to wonder if that had finally changed. This was also quite possibly the first time that Leo had seen Donnie without at least one of the little ones since Galileo had been forced into his lap. He also noted that his brother looked exhausted and had probably been there all night.

"Hey Don, you ok?" Leo asked as he sat down beside his brother.

"I am. Yeah."

Something about the tone of Donnie's voice told Leo that he wasn't getting the whole story. "What's the matter?" He asked as he took a seat next to his obviously distressed brother.

"These two..." Don trailed off.

Leo sighed when he finally figured out what Don was trying to say. "You don't think those two are going to make it, do you?"

"I'm pretty sure at least... at least that one won't." He pointed to the smaller of the remaining two eggs. "and it's been..." He trailed off, unable to continue the sentence he had started.

Leo noticed the detachment in his brother's voice and he became a little concerned. "What makes you say that?" He asked, hoping to keep Donatello in the present.

"One. Two. Three." Don replied cryptically and distantly with a shudder. A decidedly haunted tone coloring his words. "I remember him saying that. One. Two. Three. It's one of the few things I do remember. One. Two. Three... One. Two. Three."

Leo was surprised. This was the first time he had ever heard Don start a conversation about that month of his life. The 'he' Don had referred to was Bishop.

"I knew when Galileo and Catherine hatched so close together." Don continued in the same distant tone. "I just didn't know which one."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Leo asked sadly.

Don shrugged, but made no other attempt at response.

"You know you can tell us anything, don't you, Donnie? Anything at all."

"Yes. I know. I guess I just- I don't know, Leo. At first I wasn't sure, or maybe didn't think much of it. I couldn't say anything then. After a while, I didn't want to believe it, and saying it would make it real somehow."

Leo nodded and hugged his brother. Despite the topic of conversation, he smiled inwardly as he noted that Don had actually gained a little weight over the past few weeks. It wasn't much, and Donnie still had a long way to go, but it was just enough for Leo to notice. "I don't know what to tell you, Don."

"I know there are four of them and that is more than any of us ever expected to see in our lives..."

"That's true." Leo agreed.

"But, two of them never even had a chance."

"One, Donnie." Leo corrected confidently. "One."

"Huh?"

"Look." Leo indicated the slightly larger of the two remaining eggs. It was wiggling. Normally he would have jumped up and gone to find Mike, Raph and Master Splinter, but Leo was pretty sure that he was needed here. He wrapped his arms around his brother's thin frame and let Donatello cry. And Donatello did cry; he cried for what he'd lost, what he'd gained, what had been, what could be, what would be, and what would never be.

The other babies were down for a nap so only the adults were present when the last hatchling cleared it's egg. The little turtle who had been inside managed to do so in such a way that it was stuck on it's back. Not wanting to see that last egg anymore, Don backed away. The action surprised Mikey and Raph, but Leo understood and Splinter seemed to know as well.

"Little girl." Leo commented as he rescued the child from her predicament and handed her to her father.

Don, very carefully and almost disbelievingly, took the little girl from Leo. When prompted for yet another name, he looked to Master Splinter.

"No, Donatello." Splinter said quietly. "You name the last one." After the brief moment of shock Mike and Raph experienced at those words they looked down at the floor.

The tiny little girl in Don's arms blinked and cocked her head slightly to the side as if trying to figure out what to make of her new situation.

"That one's definitely Donnie's daughter. Barely out of her egg and she's already mastered 'thoughtful mode'." Mike observed. Under different circumstances it would have had the group in hysterics. As it was, all he got was a couple of half-smiles. It might not have gotten that if Don hadn't dropped into 'thoughtful mode' and unknowingly matched the baby's expression.

"What about Isabella?" Don finally asked, not having heard the joke.

Mikey shook his head and tried to cover quiet laughter. A quick glance to the side revealed that Leo and Raph were now doing the same.

"What?" Don asked, having totally missed out on what they found so funny, even Master Splinter was smiling.

"Isabella is a beautiful name." Splinter replied rather than answering Don's question.

"Is Bella still like Daddy." Catherine inquired. "I mean other than her bandanna, which is kinda like Daddy's?"

Michelangelo laughed. "She most certainly is still like your Dad. Though, I think she's been spending too much time around Galileo lately."

"Gale's like YOU!" Kat accused. "'cept he's skinny! And kinda mean sometimes."

Not able to argue the points, Mikey had to laugh though he did fix the child with a mock glare. "Yeah he is. He does a wonderful job of driving people crazy, doesn't he? We could be in a world of trouble if he talks Bella into the kind of things I tried to talk your daddy into." Mike ruffled the girl's bandanna again. "Well Kitty Kat, that's the end of the story. I told you it had a happy ending."

Catherine still looked concerned. "Uncle Mikey?" She asked sadly. "Was I really supposed to have another brother or sister?"

Mike sighed. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have. He had already told her too much as it was, but there was no going back now. "Well, that's hard to answer. Yes, there was a sixth egg, but if it had been meant to hatch, it would have. So I guess I would have to say no. You were not meant to have another sibling. Sometimes we're not meant to understand why things happen, we just have to accept them as they are without questioning them. Does that make sense?"

"Like we have to do what Uncle Leo tells us to when we're in the dojo?"

"Something like that, yeah." Mike agreed. "What's important is that you are with us, and your sister and brothers are with us. We're a family Kat, we always will be, and everyone here loves you no matter what, even your dad... especially your dad. Now, why don't you go play?"

"Ok, Uncle Mikey." Catherine hopped off Mike's lap and ran to the main room where her siblings were playing quietly.

Isabella was pushing a dump truck filled with things that had probably been swiped from their daddy's room and being driven by a Barbie wearing a long flowing gown. She pushed it across the room to Tiziano where she emptied the back. Tiz refilled it with blocks and Bella pushed it to the other side of the room. Machiavelli and Galileo had a couple of action figures and were acting out one of the comic books Uncle Mikey had read to them. Machi's character was missing an arm and Gale's was short a leg, but, they didn't seem to care.

Bella emptied the truck again and Tiz joined her by the stack of blocks. Kat decided that the blocks looked like more fun and sat down with Tiz and Bella. It wasn't long before Catherine's attention drifted back to the story Uncle Mikey had told her.