Many many thanks to Forgottenforever, MidnightRaine and rinpup14 for your awesome reiews! And as requested by MidnightRaine and Forgottenforever, the next chapter, hope everyone enjoys!

Chapter 21

Michelangelo finished packing his bag. He was glad they were going back to Katherine's. What he had told his brothers was true. Home was wherever she was.

He had tried to come up with a solution and in a drunken stupor decided the best thing would be for them to share Katherine. He didn't love the idea, but it seemed the only solution he could come up with where they could all be happy. Now he just had to run the idea of dating all of them past Katherine and see what she thought.

The problem with them dating anyone, was that women who they could date were slim to none. The phrase 'there are plenty of fish in the sea', did not apply to any of them. But there was something about her, something that told him she was it, she was the one, and he felt that his brothers felt the same way.

He didn't know how Donatello would feel about the idea of all of them dating her, but he knew Leonardo and Raphael would be against the idea.

He walked into the living room. Raphael was sleeping sitting up on the couch Starlight and Starbright each buried into Raphael's side.

Michelangelo frowned. They were another puzzle. He believed what Donatello had said about them being frightened, and their story was too fantastical to be true, he shook his head. He just hoped they would find their parents soon. He smiled to himself and went to his room. He rummaged around through his bag and grabbed Katherine's camera. He had grabbed it on the way out. He figured if Leonardo was going to be overly stubborn he had to have a really good reason to go back to Katherine's. So he had taken it in case he had to 'return' it to her.

He took a picture of Raphael and the two girls. He figured Raphael hadn't been asleep for very long, and that he wouldn't be asleep for much longer. He was too worried about Katherine to actually get a good night's sleep.

He had been upset when he had figured out that Raphael and Katherine had been sleeping together. He had wondered at first if she really had chosen Raphael, but he knew if they had actually done anything together, there would be no way Raphael wouldn't have bragged about it. He had realized then that whatever had happened, had frightened Raphael so badly he would not sleep and neither would she unless they were together. It made him wonder if Katherine had actually slept last night. Leonardo and Donatello didn't know that Raphael and Katherine were sleeping together, and he thought it best that they didn't find out.

He looked at the picture he had just taken and frowned. Raphael was clear, but the two girls almost looked transparent. Where their hearts would be there were two bright lights almost like stars. He looked at the sleeping girls who looked normal. He shook his head and hoped he hadn't broken Katherine's camera somehow. He put the camera down. He figured Katherine wouldn't miss it for a while. He would keep it here in case Leonardo decided they needed to run away again.

He walked to Donatello's lab where he found his brother sleeping at his computer. Donatello woke up as he entered. His brother looked wretched and miserable. "Donny." He said as he touched his brother's shoulder. "Let's go talk to Kitten." He said as he helped his brother up.

"It's 6 am Mikey." Donatello said with a groan.

"Exactly, we'll get there by 8 or before 8 if Raph's driving. Pack your bag, or if you didn't unpack then let's go. Raph will be up any minute now and the girls are probably going to sleep all the way there. I'll get Leo up."

It took them a lot longer to get going than Michelangelo was hoping it would. Leonardo was dragging his heels, the girls were practically comatose, they couldn't wake them up for breakfast or for lunch. They only showed signs of life closer to dinner. Donatello spent most of the day resetting and recalibrating the security system and they were not ready until 6:00 pm that evening.

"So much for an early start." Raphael grumbled. Raphael hadn't got more than a few hours sleep last night and had been as anxious as Michelangelo was to get going.

"The girls don't have any jackets or shoes." Donatello pointed out. They all stopped and looked at the girls.

"Do you know where your jackets and shoes are?" Leonardo asked them.

"At home." Starbright said to him.

"Great." Raphael grumbled. "Well it isn't like they are going outside. We'll just pull into the garage when we get to Kitten's." Raphael said taking Starlight by the hand and leading her to the truck.

Starlight looked around. Raphael opened the door and put her in the back buckling her up.

Leonardo did the same with Starbright. Raphael hopped into the driver's seat. "Try not to speed too much Raph, we have kids in the back." Leonardo said as he hopped into the passenger seat.

"You don't have to tell me Leo." Raphael said starting up the truck.

Starlight and Starbright let out a screech of fear. Michelangelo and Donatello grabbed at them as they tried to get out of the seatbelts.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong." He asked clutching at the frightened girl.

"What's that noise." Starlight whispered in fright.

"The truck engine?" He asked gently.

"The what?" Starlight asked. "Where are the horses."

"What would we need horses for?" He asked in shock.

"To pull the carriage." Starbright said from Donatello's arms. He looked at Raphael's surprised face in the rear-view mirror.

"The horses are under the hood." Raphael said as he floored it.

The girls seemed to accept this and pulled out of their arms. Michelangelo looked at Donatello.

"You've never seen a truck before?" Donatello asked them gently. They shook their heads.

"But how do you get anywhere?" Michelangelo asked.

The girls looked at each other. "The elevator." They said in unison.

Michelangelo frowned in confusion at Donatello. "Okay, but how do you get anywhere outside." Donatello asked.

"Well, mommy has a big black carriage that is pulled by six great big black horses. Uncle Lucy and Uncle Gabe gave it to mommy as a present." Starbright said to them.

"Sometimes we walk places, sometimes we fly, but not often cause the daddies can't fly." Starlight said to them.

"Okay." Michelangelo said in confusion.

He looked at Donatello who shrugged. "Your mom must have a lot of brothers and sisters." Donatello said to them.

Starlight shook her head. "Mommy doesn't have any brothers or sisters."

"So all of your aunts and uncles are your dad's family?" Donatello asked.

Starbright frowned. "Aunty Mon is daddy Raph and daddy's friend, and I think she works for mommy somehow. Uncle Lucy and Uncle Gabe are mommy's friends, and Uncle Azzy is daddy Raph's friend and mommy's..." She frowned.

"Just mommy's." Starlight finished. "Uncle Azzy lives with us. He always is telling mommy what is going on and what she has to do all the time, even when she doesn't want to do anything."

"Like an assistant." Donatello asked helpfully.

They shrugged.

"And we only have one Grampa cause mommy doesn't have any parents." Starbright said to him.

"Are we there yet?" Starlight asked Raphael.

"No we aren't there yet, we just left! We have another hour and a half at the least." Raphael growled.

Starlight slumped back in her seat. "But that is forever!" She whined. "Mommy's carriage is much faster." Starlight grumbled crossing her arms.

"I doubt six horses could beat this truck."Raphael said to her.

"Sure they could. This truck is slow. Does it fly?" Starbright asked.

"Of course it doesn't fly!" Raphael said clutching the wheel tightly.

"Then mommy's carriage is faster." Starbright grumbled.

"You're sayin' your mom's carriage flies?" Raphael said to her.

"Of course it does. Mommy's horses can fly, and they breathe fire. Everyone gets out of the way when mommy's carriage drives through the streets." Starbright said proudly. "They eat people too." She said with a smile.

"Well, they only ate Bob." Starlight put in.

"Yeah, mommy wasn't happy about that." Starbright said with a shake of her head.

"And back to the Twilight Zone." Raphael grumbled. "What kinds of movies are you kids watching?" He asked them with a shake of his head.

The girls shrugged.

"You have a very good imagination." Donatello said to her.

Starbright frowned. Starlight looked at her. They seemed to have a mini conversation without words.

"I'm hungry." Starlight said suddenly.

"You just ate!" Raphael said from the driver's seat.

"But you kept trying to get me to wake up during the day!" She accused Raphael as if this mattered.

"Well it isn't like I can just pull into a fast-food joint." Raphael said with frustration."You are just going to have to wait 'till we get to Kitten's." He said to her.

"Why not?" Starlight asked in confusion. "What's fast-food?" She asked.

"I take it back, kids are trouble." He grumbled "I'm a giant mutant turtle, humans scream if they see me." Raphael growled.

"Humans are silly." Starlight said nodding.

Raphael frowned at her comment but just shook his head. "Kitten will feed you." He said as he turned the radio on. The girls happily listened to the radio for the next hour, Raphael having put the pedal to the metal to get them to Katherine's.

They pulled up the driveway the garage door opening when they reached it. "Looks like Kitten knows we're here." Michelangelo said looking at the brightly lit house.

The girls looked at the house. "It almost feels like mommy's Castle...almost." Starbright said as they pulled into the garage.

Michelangelo looked at Donatello who looked grey. "Maybe we had better let Donny talk to Kitten for a few minutes before we throw the girls on her." Michelangelo whispered to them. They all looked at Donatello, who, if possible, looked greyer. He nodded and slowly got out of the truck and walked towards the door entering the house.

Donatello felt ill and yet somehow relieved. He no longer felt pulled and he no longer felt the deep feeling of wrongness about having left. Both feelings had lessened as soon as they had entered the gate of Katherine's house and now that he was in the garage, the feelings had completely vanished. He just wished that the absolute crushing guilt would vanish as easily.

He clutched at the doorknob and forced himself to turn it. He opened the door only to find Katherine standing right there. She was standing in the kitchen wearing nothing but Leonardo's shirt, the neck having fallen over her one shoulder and holding a mug of hot chocolate.

She looked at him in shock. She looked exhausted as if she hadn't slept the night before. She put the mug down on the counter. "Donatello what's wrong? Are you okay, your wound it hasn't re-opened has it? Oh no, the lair, who was..." He cut her off.

"Katherine." He said softly. She froze at the use of her name. He shucked his jacket and shirt. It was the easiest way to show her why he was in agony.

She looked at his shoulder in shock. She walked over to him and touched the scarring. She frowned in thought. "You think I did this." She said softly. "You think I managed to do this and you think that more of my life was sacrificed to do it." She looked at his agonized face. "Or I may have done something else to myself to do this." She whispered.

"Katherine, Leo said that at the very least, you may have taken decades off your life, but...you may have damaged your soul." He whispered.

She rubbed her thumb gently over the length of the scar. She shook her head. "I remember expending a great deal of energy to bring you back. This," She pointed to the scar. "If I did it, then I didn't even realize that I did it." She looked at him seriously. "Donatello." She grabbed his face lightly brushing both of her thumbs over his face wiping away the wetness he hadn't even realized had fallen upon his cold cheeks. "Out of the night that covers me/Black as the Pit from pole to pole/ I thank whatever gods may be/ For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud./Under the bludgeonings of chance/ My head is bloody, but unbowed./ Beyond this place of wrath and tears/Looms but the horror of the shade,/And yet the menace of the years/Finds, and shall find me, unafraid./It matters not how strait the gate,/How charged with punishments the scroll,/I am the master of my fate;/I am the captain of my soul. Invictus by William Ernest Henley."

He looked at her in confusion. "I don't understand." He whispered.

"Basically the poem means that life is what it is. I have Choice. I choose how I live my life, even if I can't choose my fate, I will control it. I control my soul, no one else. No matter what life throws my way, I will accept it as it is. Death will come for me one day, Death waits for us all, but I love you too much not to have you in my life." She said to him pulling him into a merciless embrace. "I will not have this conversation again and I refuse to have you blame yourself for anything. I chose, not you. My fault, not yours. Understand?" She said to him sternly her eyes burning with anger.

He closed his eyes against the anger that burned in her gaze. "I love you too much to..." He began.

"Donatello, what if Leonardo is wrong?" She said softly. Donatello looked at her, doubt filling his eyes. "What if he is wrong? He could be wrong and if he is, you are beating yourself up over nothing. Maybe I am more powerful than even Leonardo thinks I am." Donatello opened his mouth to refute her. "You don't know Donatello, and neither can Leonardo. You have to at least agree to the possibility."

Donatello frowned but nodded his head. He couldn't argue with her logic. There was a possibility that she may be right. He blew out a defeated breath. She smiled at him.

"Well I'm glad you two got that worked out." Raphael growled. "Kitten what the hell are you doing wearing Leo's shirt?" He growled angrily. Donatello stepped out of the way of his angry brother.

She looked at him and shrugged. "It smells like him." She said softly. Raphael strode over to her and he looked into her eyes searching. He reached out and touched her cheek.

"Did it help?" He asked her. She looked up at him in shock at the gentleness in his voice. She shook her head. He nodded. "It's okay Kitten, I'm here and I'm not leaving." He whispered down to her tipping her face up and kissing her.

Donatello looked away. He felt pain stab through him. His emotions were in turmoil. He didn't like that Raphael was kissing Katherine, but at the same time he knew that there was something between them, something that they had shared that had brought them closer together and it wasn't anything Donatello could fight against. He shoved away Michelangelo's comments from last night that sought to intrude.

"What are you guys doing here?" Katherine asked as she looked at them in confusion. Raphael held her tightly in his arms, but reluctantly pulled away.

"We found a couple of kids in the lair. We are trying to find their parents, but we aren't having much luck." Raphael said shaking his head.

"Especially since they keep calling us daddy." Donatello said. "Or more specifically Leo and Raph are their 'actual' daddies while Mikey and I are just the 'other' daddies." Donatello said with a slight smile at Raphael's blush.

Looking at Katherine he felt better, knowing that she didn't believe that she had done anything that jeopardized her life. She looked over at him and grabbed his hand giving it a squeeze as if she knew what he had been thinking.

She turned her attention back to Raphael and grabbed his hand as well. A smile tugged at the comers at her mouth. "Okay 'daddy', so what am I supposed to do?" She asked him.

Raphael glared down at her. "Let them stay here until we find their parents, and if all else fails you'll have to take them to a police station since we can't. But Donny here thinks they may be running from something." He said nodding at him.

Donatello nodded. "They seem to be grabbing at us as some sort of lifeline. Anyway, we haven't been able to locate any missing children matching their description."

"Are you sure they didn't run away?" She asked in concern.

Raphael shook his head. "They are like 4 or 5 years old. Twin girls." Raphael said to her.

Katherine nodded. "Alright anything I can do to help." She said to them.

Leonardo looked at the two girls in the back. Raphael had left the truck a few minutes after Donatello. He told them he was going to make sure Donatello stopped feeling sorry for himself long enough to actually tell Katherine why they were here. "Daddy Donny is sad, Daddy is sad, and Daddy Raph is worried." Starbright said to him. "Why is Daddy Donny sad?" She asked.

"He's sad because he hurt a friend and is worried she won't forgive him." He said softly to her.

She nodded. "Why are you sad Daddy?" She asked.

"Because sometimes, I miss my father." He said to her truthfully.

She nodded. "Grampa Splinter's in Heaven. Don't you visit him? We visit him lots." She said to him. Leonardo felt his world tilt and the blood drain from his face.

"Who told you about Master Splinter?" He asked her in a nearly inaudible whisper.

She looked at him like he had grown another head. "He's our Grampa. He died before we were born, but you take us to visit him all the time." She said with a shrug.

Leonardo swallowed hard. He looked at Michelangelo who was wearing the same look of stunned horror on his face. They began scrambling. Michelangelo unbuckled the girls. Michelangelo grabbed Starlight while he grabbed Starbright hauling them out of the truck and towards the house.

"Donny!"Leonardo yelled.

LOL poor Leo. Thoughts, feelings, opinions?