Disclaimer – TMNT's are the property of Mirage, E&L, 4Kids Entertainment, Archie (and that's not in Bunker, folks!), and anyone else holding copyrighted privileges. Rahab, Gaele, Devon, Seth, Riahna, and Thomas belong to Wendy Peabody. Gabby, Mindy, and Jordan are mine, all mine, and nothing but mine. The story, too, and any reviews gleaned. Speaking of which, am I wasting my time with this story? Just wondering. I'm having fun, though, so – I guess that's all that matters, eh? Anyway, thanks for reading and leaving any comments in your wake.

A Time of Reflection

by Reinbeauchaser

Chapter 5 – A Sudden Disclosure

Mike shook his head and muttered irritably, "Should have kept her in Japan," and then sprinted away from the patio as he chased after Gabriella.

She had made it to the front porch of her home before he caught up with her, but there she stopped. Her hand on the latch, Gabby suddenly crumpled against the door, almost in defeat, sliding down to the welcome mat of the covered porch. As she let go of the knob, she huddled into the entry threshold and wrapped her arms tightly around her. She cried softly, now, shaking. She turned away from Mike as he raced up to her. When he stooped down and grabbed her, forcing her to stand back up, she offered little resistance, but still kept crying.

Mike could only shake his head and sigh. He took her into his arms, holding her now as she whimpered against him.

"I'm…so sor…ry," she blubbered as he held her, "I wanted to cooperate, I did, but…I just…couldn't go in that…that forest!" she sobbed.

As he held onto her with one arm, Mike reached out and tested the doorknob. When the door easily unlatched, he shut it again. He was relieved to know that Gabby had obviously decided against barricading herself inside the house. At least that showed she had realized the futility of trying to run, or maybe she had just lost courage. Whatever her reason was, all Mike could do for the moment was to embrace his niece and let her cry. He really did have a soft spot for Gabby and completely understood her fear, too, but it was something he knew she had to overcome. His brother had insisted she face it, in fact, before he took her under his wing the next morning.

Finally, his voice soft and caring, Mike said, "I understand, Gabs, I do…and I'm not saying it's going to be easy, but – well – you have to get over this. There's nothing in the forest anymore, Thomas and Don made sure of it, and we've even beefed up the new security since Don's rescue." He then sighed, "No one's going to trespass here, not without serious injury, anyway!"

Gabby's breathing staggered and her body trembled emotionally from her crying. She finally admitted between sobs, "It's not that, it's…it's what happened in there…I can't forget it, Mike; the…blood, Don beheading one of them, all the swords, the way you and the others fought. The way I fought. It's just so…different…than what I saw on the DVD's."

Mike rolled his eyes and chuckled a little, "Yep, it is different, that much I'll agree with." He pushed Gabby away, then, and thumbed a few tears away from her face, "and it's what kept me, your father, and your other uncles alive all these years, especially when we were – in the sewers." Mike smiled softly, "And I can't say I enjoyed the fighting either, Gabs. After years of dealing with all the crap we've had to deal with, I've had enough of it." He wiped more of her tears away and smiled at her, "Now, you need to buckle up and do what you need to do. Memories are only thoughts from the past. They can't hurt you and you know it."

Gabby nodded a little and sniffed, but then admitted, "Yeah, but, try telling that to my knees," she laughed lightly, "I've never shook so much since Leo made me clean the dojo in the dark."

Mike laughed, "That's funny, Gabs, but – you're right, your father told me you were pretty freaked out then."

As he held her and from where Mike stood on the porch, he could easily see past Gabby and along the eastern end of the house. The perimeter fence stood just beyond that, and then the trees. He didn't have to make a deliberate glance in that direction, though. His well-honed ability to discern shadows told him his brother was in among the redwoods, waiting. He could sense impatience, too.

Since Gabby had her back to the forest, though, she was unaware of her father's presence.

Mike then gave Gabriella a big smile and said, "Now, I think your father is waiting for you."

Gabby closed her eyes as she choked back another sob. She trembled in Mike's arms as she tried to gain control, but she suddenly blurted, "I don't know if I can – and it's not because I don't want to, either…" She glanced over her shoulder, to look again at the looming and threatening trees, but gave a startled gasp instead.

Raphael stood right behind her.

Yet, instead of becoming overbearing and angry, he held his hand out to his daughter and smiled, "Need an escort?"

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They had walked for a good twenty minutes, Gabby's right arm safely entwined within her father's, as he led her silently through the forest. Squirrels were gathering their winter bounty and it reminded Gabby of when she had first arrived in Big Sur. In fact, she remembered that it had been the first part of October, too, like now. She couldn't help but smile inwardly at the irony of her situation, "Leo would call it karma, but I'd just call it bizarre."

She had finally calmed down, too, but every now and then Gabby would hear a snap or a sound that would cause her to startle.

Raph would pat her hand, "It's nothing, Gabs, just the branches scraping against one another in the breeze," or "it might be a squirrel, maybe a raccoon," and then continue to lead her along.

At first, Gabriella was hesitant when her father procured her from Mike, but Raphael's determined steps – and strong grip on her hand - had given her enough courage to cooperate.

Besides, she was certain that had she not, he would have hefted her up over his shoulder and forced her into the forest that way. Gabby decided she didn't need that kind of embarrassment.

After a while, her hesitant stride became more certain, save for her nervous reaction to the various and mysterious forest sounds.

Soon, father and daughter arrived at the infamous knoll, atop which stood the tight circle of trees that Seth had coined the Trees of Solitude. When Gabby's husband was stateside, he would often retreat within them for a few hours of praying – or meditation – but usually he would pray. Yet, whenever Seth would invite Gabby to join him, she effectively declined his invitations each time, citing her responsibilities as a mother or just too busy. Never did she imply or hint that the forest scared her to death, that it held the very foundation for her nightmares and fears in Japan.

As she found out at Leo's ryu, concerning her dreams, she wondered if maybe it had been unwise to keep her fear of the forest from her husband. Once again, she believed Seth would have helped her through it, rather having one of the senior members of the clan force the issue. Still, Gabby had learned all too well to hide such insecurities, given the fact with how eager Leo and the others were in 'helping' her to overcome them. "Seems inevitable they'd find out anyway," she said sullenly to herself.

Raphael then stopped, forcing Gabby to do the same.

A sudden and terrifying thought then occurred to her. "You're – NOT going to leave here alone…are you?" she asked pleadingly to Raph, her eyes widening with a sudden fear. She remembered the one time how Leo had done exactly that, racing ahead of her and virtually disappearing, forcing Gabby to find her own way back to the house by herself, where he was waiting for her. She had not been too pleased with him, either.

Raph looked at his daughter without expression, studying Gabriella and gauging her emotional state. In fact, enough time passed between them to give her pause, to make her wonder if indeed he was going to abandon her in the way that Leo had.

After a moment, Raphael sighed and said, "No, that's not why I wanted you out here, Gabs," he took another breath and expelled it, paused for a moment, before saying, "We need to talk, I need to prepare you for tomorrow and what comes after." He looked away now, towards the deeper darker part of the woods, northbound towards where the trees ended about a mile away. He glanced at Gabby again and, spying a fallen log alongside the pathway behind her, he nodded towards it as he invited, "Let's sit down. Might make it easier to talk if we're relaxed a little, eh?"

Raph led Gabby over to the reclining beam of wood. As the two of them sat down, he held her hand in his, yet remained silent for a while longer.

Gabby was always amazed with the strength of her father's hands, a strength that could strangle if need be, but a strength that could softly caress his grandchildren's fears away – and maybe her own, as well. Nevertheless, she had recovered sufficiently from her panic attack at the house to ponder about Raph's need to talk. She didn't know what her father wanted to talk about, but she had a good idea it concerned the events in Japan.

She closed her eyes, now and wondered if she would ever understand her place within the family, what it meant to be ninja. She didn't have any illusions about becoming one of them; she was, after all, too old to be trained in that way.

Yet, even though she had promised six months earlier not to interfere again, Gabby was still uncertain about her own children's initiation into that lifestyle. Maybe learning the arts might keep them alive, but it was the very skills her father and uncles employed that had taken lives, as well.

It was what she had almost done, herself, five years ago, almost on the very spot in the forest, where she now sat. Consequently, her earlier recollections gained weight with each moment.

As it was, these past events conflicted within her. Yes, her own meager training, up to that point before the battle, had indeed given her the ability to defend her family. It had kept her alive, in fact. Still, her actions had opposed everything she believed in and most especially since she had accepted Christ as her Savior. Seth's and her Christian faith, blended with his clan's ninjitsu and bushido tradition, seemed a contradiction in terms to her, an oxymoron at best, and she struggled the most against this. She knew that her husband was adamant that their children understand their heritage, yet he was quite insistent, too, that they attend church and adopt the tenements and doctrines of their belief.

Overall, it was a juggling act at best, and one that could upend his and Gabby's attempt to raise their children in such a way as to respect their legacy as they walked the faith. "A fine line if there ever was one," she mused to herself.

Then, her father's voice broke through her reverie, "Gabby, I want to know where you are regarding Devon."

Just hearing her brother's name brought angry images back to her, but Gabby still tried very hard to suppress them, before Raphael sensed her thoughts.

She wasn't fast enough, though, and he turned a determined and challenging expression towards her, "Thought so," he grumbled.

Then, Raph leveled his eyes at her, staring her down at his daughter, and causing Gabby to cringe inwardly. She looked away as she heard her father tell her.

"You need to come to terms with him, Gabs, and I suggest before tomorrow." Raph tilted his chin up just a little and narrowed his expression, "No mercy then, not like today. If you had done this tomorrow morning, Mike wouldn't have hugged you, he wouldn't have gone easy on you at all – and neither would I."

He tightened his grip around her hand, causing Gabriella to wince just a little, yet not threatening breakage as much as – just threatening.

"Regardless of who trains you, Gabs, you had better get it straight in your head about who's training your kids, because that's not going to change and neither will your place in our family." Raphael lowered his voice, "We love you, Gabs, but we love you too much to leave you the way you are and to put up with your attitude." He smiled a little, "Although I can't criticize you too much, since you sort of inherited it," Raph paused for a moment, reflecting a bit, and then said, "But, I don't want you to make the same mistakes I made, okay? Devon is good at what he does and what he knows; Leo trained him; I'll give my brother that much."

Raphael released Gabby's hand and she gladly took it back, rubbing it gently, and trying her best not to be angry. She regarded her father's stern face and then looked away again. Another familiar lump formed in her throat.

She managed to swallow it back, though, before admitting, "I - don't want to make any more mistakes, I'm tired of fighting it, I really am." She glanced back at her father, her eyes full of worry, "but what happened here, what…you did…what the others did…what I almost did…" she squeezed her eyes shut, "I – can't forget, it…it gives me nightmares." The trembling started once more and Gabby hugged herself, just as she did earlier.

Raph let out a long impatient breath and shook his head, "I can't tell you to forget and have it be that easy, it's not that simple. But hopefully, Gabby, with the knowledge gained through your re-education, you'll understand that some things happen and it's just the way it is." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, now, and pulled her into him comfortingly, "You need to remember, my dear, that those ninja you fought, they trespassed and intended on killing us – killing you, to be honest."

Surprised, now, Gabby looked at her father and pulled slightly away from him, shocked by his revelation. What?" she gasped.

Nodding, Raphael explained, "Yes, Don found out it was their plan to kill you. It wasn't to kidnap you for Jason, because Jason wanted you dead, because…he didn't want…" Raph paused, hating what he had to say next, but he needed to say it in order to prepare Gabby, to make her realize she was not as safe as she liked to believe, "well, simply put, Jason didn't want t'father a freak of nature."

Gabby couldn't have been more stunned, but then as she thought about it, it didn't surprise her either.

"I guess, to him, that's what Mindy is, huh?" She looked up at her father and saw the sadness in his eyes, but there was a fresh amount of anger there, too.

Her eyes pooled with tears once again. The thought of her precious daughter nothing more than a freak to the one who fathered the child gave new meaning behind the clan's need to have Gabby's children trained.

Gabby realized then that, as far as the world was concerned, she and her family, and any child born into it, would always be considered a freak and nothing more than that.