I am having one of those author moments when I feel like people are going to start yelling at me eventually...or at least yelling at thier computers...hmmm. Anyway enjoy this next chaper! =)

p.s Thank you forgottenforever13 for your review! Anyone who has reveiwed thank you because it really leans a lot to me! =)

Chapter 11

Leonardo looked dully at the book in his hands. He had been staring at the title for what felt like hours, and it probably had been. He had left Donatello's room and found a library. He had sought refuge here because his mind was caught within a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions and he couldn't seem to stop his head from spinning. Raphael had confronted him about his decision to leave, even Michelangelo had tried to change his mind, but he had been adamant. If it were possible they would leave tomorrow because he couldn't be here.

He was still furious with her. His anger boiled and raged, but under that anger was fear. She had known Donatello was injured, she even knew the type of injury he had sustained. He looked at the card in his hand. It had been beneath the book on the nightstand.

He closed his eyes. Master Splinter had been very spiritual, and very intuitive. Master Splinter would feel a sense of wrongness, a deep foreboding when they were in danger, but he wouldn't know what the danger was, who was injured, or what type of injury was suffered. Only someone with a very deep connection to them would have known, could have known. It frightened him to think that she had perhaps formed a strong spiritual connection with them, and it hurt his heart to think she may have formed it specifically with Donatello.

He opened his eyes and looked at the card. He didn't know what it meant, but he was determined to find out.

Michelangelo burst into the Library. "Donny's awake!" He said relief thick in his voice.

Leonardo leapt from his seat. They ran from the room and took the stairs two at a time. He rushed into his brother's room. Raphael was holding Donatello's hand tightly and talking softly to him. The room was dark, only illuminated by the nightstand's single lamp.

Raphael stood making way for Leonardo to sit by Donatello. "How do you feel Donny?" He asked through a throat that was too tight. Guilt and regret washed through him.

Donatello struggled to sit up and Leonardo helped him. He settled him so he was leaning against the headboard, a pillow supporting his body.

"Better." Donatello said looking at his arm. "I'm sore, and feel really weak, but I feel surprisingly good." He said with surprise.

"Well you can thank Kitten for that. You should have seen her Donny, she patched you up real good." Michelangelo said with a smile.

Donatello nodded. "Where is Kitten?" He asked in a quiet voice. Donatello seemed anxious.

They looked at each other. "She stayed with you all night and most of the day Donny, she was exhausted so she is resting." Leonardo managed to say.

Donatello's eyes narrowed. "What aren't you telling me Leo? I know that look. You all looked at each other like you don't want me to know something."

Leonardo closed his eyes. He knew they hadn't been subtle. "She collapsed around noon today." He said softly.

"She collapsed." Donatello said in a hollow voice. His face paled.

"She's fine Donny. We just put her to bed. And she's been sleeping ever since." Leonardo assured him.

"When was the last time you checked on her?" Donatello asked. They looked at each other. "You have checked on her, haven't you?" Donatello questioned angrily.

"She was exhausted Donny, you know what a light sleeper Kitten is, we didn't want to risk waking her up." Raphael said defensively.

"So she collapsed, from absolute and utter exhaustion," Donatello looked at the clock, "Eight hours ago, and no one has checked on her to make sure she's all right?" Donatello growled.

Leonardo looked at his brother worriedly. He was beginning to work himself up.

"I'll go check on her Donny. We were just worried about you, that's all bro, we almost lost you last night." Raphael said quietly as he turned to go to the door.

"Donny." Leonardo began as his brother looked at him. But what could he say. He was relieved and thankful Donatello was okay. "I'm so sorry, this was all my fault. We almost lost you because I was pushing too hard, because I didn't warn you that they had pulled their guns." He said softly his voice full of pain and regret.

Donatello squeezed his hand. 'Leo, it isn't your fault. I know that no matter how many times I tell you this you will never believe me, and you won't stop blaming yourself, but..." He began as Raphael came back into the room.

"Shower's on in the bathroom." Raphael said to his brothers.

Katherine looked blindly as the water washed down the drain. She had washed her hair and her body without paying much attention to what she was doing. She felt empty, hollow and utterly exhausted. She felt absolutely and completely drained of physical strength and overfull of emotion. She felt herself hit the side of the shower wall and slide down. She pulled herself into a small ball and let go.

Her body shook uncontrollably as it was wracked with the force of her sobs. Fear, horror, shock and realization rolled through her, bursting free of the restraints she had put around the box that had held her emotions while she had completed her task of the evening as well as throughout most of the day.

She had been terrified that she was going to lose Donatello, even after she had managed to stabilize him she had felt him pulling away, felt him drifting father from her arms and into those of Death. She didn't know how she had known. There was no way to describe how she had known Donatello had been injured; no way to explain her knowing he had been shot; no way of explaining that she had known he was slipping through her fingers, she had just known.

She was so confused and she didn't know what to do. Her own emotions and thoughts were a jumbled mass that didn't make any sense. She didn't know how long she sat in a ball in the corner of the shower as she released all of her emotions in a torrent of pain, but she finally managed to stand. She pulled herself together, blindly got dressed and went to check on Donatello's progress.

Donatello turned towards the sound of the door opening. Relief flooded through him. He had been desperately concerned when Leonardo had told him that no one had checked on her throughout the day.

He looked at Leonardo who seemed pale, apprehensive and oddly angry.

Katherine walked into the darkened room, she was in shadow as she stopped just inside the door. "You're awake!" She said in surprise and with relief. Her voice was low and husky as if somehow her voice had been damaged.

Leonardo stood up quickly. "How did you know?" He growled at her. "How did you know Donny was hurt, and how did you know he had been shot!" He roared at her.

"Leo!" Donatello said in shock at the sudden attack against Katherine. He looked at his brother's face and saw a mixture of anger, fear, desperation and underneath it all, an all consuming need.

"I don't know Leonardo." She said softly. "I wish I did, but I don't know."

"Don't lie to me. You knew, and the fact that Donny had been shot didn't even bother you. I was sick to death with worry and you calmly patched him up like it didn't bother you at all!" he accused her.

"Didn't bother me at all!" She asked in surprise as she stepped closer.

"And what the hell is this?" Leonardo picked up a book and card throwing them onto the floor.

Katherine stepped into the light and Donatello let out a gasp of horror.

"Don't you dare tell me how I felt Leonardo." She said evenly to him. "I was terrified, horror-stricken and completely overwhelmed. I'm not a doctor, and Donatello was minutes away, literally, minutes away from death, so don't you dare tell me I wasn't worried. Don't you dare tell me I didn't care." She growled at him. "I had to be calm so I could save Donatello's life, otherwise I would have happily had a complete and total breakdown." She dashed angry tears out of her eyes. "I don't know what's happening." She said shaking her head. "I had finally fallen asleep and I woke up with this feeling of utter and all consuming dread, as if something in my life had just gone utterly wrong. Like I was about to lose something so incredibly important that I couldn't even breathe. I could feel your horror, your pain, your guilt and your anger, but Donatello's voice was missing. I got up and ran, my legs carried me. I wasn't thinking, I didn't know what I was doing, but I pulled that book from the shelf." She said pointing to the book laying on the ground. "I knew you were coming. I knew Donatello was still alive, so I had time to prepare. That is why I was so calm. I was able to get myself under control before you arrived because I knew you were coming." She shook her head, her wet hair pulled back from her face. "I don't know how I knew, nothing like this has ever happened to me before." She whispered.

"Kitten, your hair." Michelangelo said in a shocked voice.

She looked at him in confusion. "I haven't had a chance to brush it, so what, who cares about my hair!" She said in a bewildered voice.

Raphael walked up to her and pulled a strand of hair forward putting it right in front of her face. "Kitten." He said very softly and gently. "You didn't notice this." He said letting her take the lock of hair from him. She looked at Raphael's face in shock. Her hair had gone white, completely and totally white.

Raphael clutched her to him as she wavered a little on her feet.

"Donny what could cause that?" Leonardo asked in a horror filled voice.

"Severe emotional or physical shock." Donatello said bleakly. "But that isn't why her hair is white." He whispered grimly. Leonardo looked at him in shock. "It's because of me." He said with absolute and utter conviction. "It wasn't a dream was it?" He asked her.

Katherine looked at him steadily, her head resting gently on Raphael's shoulder.

Michelangelo looked from him to her in confusion. "What's going on?" He asked confusion and fear radiating in his voice.

"I was almost dead." Donatello whispered.

"We know bro, that's what Kitten just..." Michelangelo began.

"What did you do Kaethryn?" Donatello asked, as a strange name left his lips.

She looked at him in shock, her face going chalk white as her eyes closed and she collapsed. Raphael managed to hold her upright and swung her into his arms. "What the hell?" Raphael shouted in disbelief.

"Donny?" Leonardo asked in worry. "What's going on, and why did you call her Kaethryn?"

Donatello frowned in confusion. "I don't know, I don't even know where the name came from." He shook his head. He pointed to Katherine. "She's not okay." He said grimly.

Raphael looked down at Katherine, worry and panic crossing his face. "What's wrong with her Donny." He whispered clutching her close.

Michelangelo walked over to Raphael and touched Katherine's forehead. "She's cold, really, really cold."

Raphael strode over to the bed and lay her down on the opposite side from where Donatello lay. He covered her up and held her hand tightly in his.

"She doesn't know what's happening, but we've seen this before with Master Splinter. But I would say she is spiritually stronger than Master Splinter ever was. It's probably why she isn't dead right now." He said bleakly. His brothers paled.

"What do you mean Donny?" Raphael asked.

Donatello shook his head. "I'm better with the physical stuff, Leo's better with all of the spiritual aspects of everything, but I think she's formed an incredibly strong spiritual connection with all of us." He closed his eyes. "I was still dying. After Kitten dug the bullet out, after she stabilized me, I couldn't pull away from Death's grip. There was nothing wrong with my body that a little rest and time wouldn't cure, but my spirit, my soul, it was...disconnected." Donatello said softly. "I thought it had been just a dream, her calling me back, but it wasn't, she knew I was still dying."

"But she said..." Leonardo began. "His body is out of danger." Leonardo closed his eyes with realization. "She used whatever connection she had with you and she pulled you back, but she didn't have any idea what she was doing, so she pulled you back, expending huge amounts of spiritual power to do it. She wouldn't know when she herself was in danger of draining herself to the point of death." Leonardo looked at the unconscious woman.

But Donatello was already shaking his head. "She knew." He said bleakly. "Everything is a little fuzzy, but I do remember that she did keep pulling, even though it was killing her, she kept trying to pull me back." He said softly.

Michelangelo looked at him. "She protects those she loves." He said softly. Michelangelo brushed a finger down a pale cold cheek.

"Michelangelo..." Leonardo began.

Michelangelo glared at him. "No Leo, get your head out of your ass for once."

Leonardo looked at him in shock. Donatello felt his mouth drop open in surprise."You heard her yourself Leo, she felt as if something in her life had just gone wrong, like she was about to lose something so incredibly important that she couldn't even breathe."

Leonardo looked at Michelangelo angrily. "She was feeling what we were feeling Mikey. You heard her say that she could feel us, she was feeling what we knew we would feel if Donny died."

Michelangelo shook his head. "Did she risk her life to pull Donny back?" Michelangelo asked in a soft angry voice.

Leonardo closed his eyes. "Yes Mikey she did, but..."

"You heard Donny, she knew she was using too much energy." Michelangelo said. Leonardo frowned at the truth of the words. "She kept pulling anyway, because she felt exactly the same as we did. We would have been devastated if we had lost Donny, and so would she." He said quietly. They were quiet for a moment each contemplating Michelangelo's words.

"Is she going to be okay Leo?" Raphael asked pulling up a piece of Katherine's hair and twining it around his fingers.

"I don't know Raph. If she expended the amount of energy that I think she did, then..." He paused looking to the side. "At the very least, she probably took several decades off her life, at the very worst, she may even have damaged her soul." He managed to choke out.

Donatello looked down at Katherine in horror. "Oh God." He whispered. "My life is not worth that!" he said shaking his head in denial.

"I'm going to take her to bed." Raphael managed to say. He pulled her limp form from under the covers and strode from the room.

Donatello watched Raphael go. Leonardo stood as well and followed Raphael out.

It was silent for a few moments, then Donatello heard a door close, and he and Michelangelo heard the fighting begin.

"Leo, I don't want to see you come anywhere near Kitten, you understand me." Raphael growled.

"Raph..." Leo began.

"She saved Donny's life, twice, and all you could think of was to attack her and yell at her!" Raphael roared. "I'm looking after her! I see you come anywhere near that room and I am going to kick your ass, got it!"

Leonardo was silent but Raphael angrily strode back into the room, grabbed the extra chair, and strode back out from the room.

"Looks like Raphael is playing guard outside Kitten's room for the night, and Leo's going to probably go sulk somewhere." Michelangelo said as he walked over to where Leonardo had thrown the book and card.

"Do you recognize this Donny?" Michelangelo asked showing the card to Donatello.

Donatello looked at the card trying to remember where he had seen a card like that. Guilt ran through him. He turned his head away. Nausea was crawling through his stomach. "Donny it isn't your fault." Michelangelo said as he put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Just like it wasn't Leo's fault that you got shot. She did what she had to do to bring you back. It's the way she is."

"How can I even look her in the eye knowing what I did to her?" He asked Michelangelo in a bleak colourless voice. "If only I had been stronger, if only I..."

"If only the Red Dragons didn't exist; if only we had been born human; if only we were still little turtles happily living our lives away in a little turtle tank. There are a million 'if only's in the world Donny, this is the one we've got. She would never blame you Donny, you know that and I know that." Michelangelo squeezed his shoulder. "I think it's time for you to get some rest." Michelangelo said to him.

Donatello nodded blindly. "The Hanged Man, is a Tarot card." Donatello said finally.

"A whozit now?" Michelangelo asked.

"They are used to play card games with, but are also used to tell fortunes." He said, brow furrowed.

"Seems a little strange for Kitten to have something like this laying around." Michelangelo said.

"It's part of a deck. It might have been something her Uncle was into. I know Kitten didn't have a deck, and I think it would be hard to find one in the middle of nowhere. It's not like you can pick a deck up at any corner store."

Michelangelo nodded and put the card beside him. "You need anything?" Michelangelo asked him, changing the saline bag.

He shook his head, guilt still weighing heavily in his heart, but exhaustion was beginning to pull at him. He closed his eyes and was asleep even before Michelangelo left the room.