Two weeks later-

Don was sitting at his computer desk working on a new prototype weapon to use against the Foot when he heard the distinct sound of a small hand rapping on his lab door and turned his head to see his recently adopted sibling Kira standing in the doorway with the covers from her bed wrapped around her shaking body.

"Kira?" He said as he blinked a few times and wondered if he was imagining her presence so late at night. Frowning, he pushed back from his desk and stood up and walked over to his baby sister, concern etched into his expression. "Kira, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be asleep?" He asked as he knelt down and started to reach for her when she quickly backed away.

Don froze in mid motion and got a sad expression on his face.

No matter how much he and the others tried to get Kira to understand that they weren't going to hurt her, she still sometimes reacted to them with fear. And it hurt. Especially when they were trying to be patient and kind and allow her some time to get used to them and their overprotective personalities.

He gave her a small smile to show her that he wasn't insulted by her subtle retreat from him and was startled when she put one hand out and put it against his shell, right over his heart and looked up at him with sad, sad eyes. It was her way of apologizing.

And it was almost more than he could bear. She shouldn't be apologizing. Not after the trauma that she went through...

"Trauma-" He said absently before asking, "You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

Kira nodded slowly as she lowered her hand from his shell and looked down at her bare feet as he sighed. "Oh Kira..." He said gently as he snatched her up off of the floor, earning a soft squeak from her as she wrapped her little arms around his neck and hung on to him like he were her life line. It had been like this since the night that he and his brothers had brought her home.

She had just seemed to identify with him and Splinter more than the others.

It wasn't because of anything that they had done. It was simply that Leo and Raph were too intense. Just like Mikey was far too hyper. Kira seemed to like calm and soothing personalities. Which was all well and good but it created a gap in their family dynamics that Splinter was already trying to fix by having all of them sleep in the same room with Kira until she was used to their presence.

The only few drawbacks to his plan was 1) Splinter didn't have to sleep in the same room, 2) Kira wasn't a sound sleeper most of the time due to the nightmares she had, 3) Raphael blew his top almost every night at bedtime- which didn't help...at all.

Which was why Don had been mostly inclined lately to stay in his lab and work. With the exception of sleep and Kira's late night terrors that is.

Making his way over to the cot against the far side of the wall of his lab he placed Kira down on it and wrapped her tightly in her blanket and said, "Stay here and I'll be right back." Kira watched him almost warily as he turned and made his way back to his computer and quickly shut it off. Figuring that he could use some shut eye himself, he'd help Kira sleep by letting her curl up against him.

Just anything he could do to help her feel more protected and less scared.

Once he was done, he made his way back to the cot and patted Kira on the shoulder and whispered, "Scoot over-" And waited patiently as she did so before he climbed into the bed beside her and wrapped his arms around her and said, "Ya know when my brothers and I were little, our dad used to hold us all like this when we were scared. And now that we're older- we can use this same method to protect you from the monsters in your head..." He brushed a strand of dark hair away from her face and smiled faintly in the darkness as he hugged her a little closer before saying, "Now close your eyes and try to get some sleep. I'll protect you."

Kira squirmed for a second then settled down and did as he told her too and was asleep within minutes.