The night was quiet and uneventful, and the entirety of the next day passed the same. The respirator was turned off, and only the monitoring equipment remained in place to watch over Donatello's heart.

Luke tried to keep their family upbeat; no, the purple-masked turtle hadn't woken up yet, but he was out of true danger. The doctor was confident that he would come around with a little more time.

Mike volunteered to take the first night's watch again on the third day. Truth be told, he had spent most of his "awake" time in or around the Lab anyway, finding it hard to tear himself away from his brother.

As he sat by the older turtle tonight, he soaked a rag in one of their Sensei's herbal waters, and applied it lightly to his forehead. At his touch, he felt Donnie suddenly stir beneath his hand. He leaped to his feet excitedly, trying hard to keep from shouting.

"Don! Donnie are you with me?"

"Mike," he rasped softly without opening his eyes. "What happened?"

The orange-masked turtle grabbed a water bottle and bit his lip against rising emotion. "You got to be your own experiment this time, Donnie. I've got some water - how about a drink?"

Blinking laboriously, he opened his eyes, but didn't appear to focus on him. Don accepted a few blind sips from Mike, despite appearing to be completely out of it.

"It's okay..." Donnie murmured. "I'm still here...somewhere. I'll be back."

"Promise?" Mike asked brokenly.

"Yeah..." he said slowly. "Not thinking...too well. I'm really tired."

"Then get some more rest," Mike said immediately. "I'll be right beside you."

"Okay." The word barely escaped before he appeared to fall back asleep.

It was late morning when Don stirred again, a quiet sound drawing his consciousness back to reality. He felt much more like himself, and easily opened his eyes. As the turtle silently turned his head, he noticed an unfamiliar young man examining the flow level on the IV. The stranger had a distinctly knowledgeable look, and Don was pretty sure he knew who he was.

"Doctor...Barrows, I presume." Donatello repressed a snort when the man nearly jumped a mile.

The figure didn't bother hiding his own grin. "The illustrious Donatello - we meet at last. I didn't know Mike told you about me."

Donnie rolled his neck painfully from being in the same position, and then smiled back. "He didn't. April may have threatened to unleash you on me a few times, if I didn't stay healthy. Call it an educated guess."

"Your reasoning faculties seem completely intact. How are you feeling?"

"Not bad," he answered vaguely, though his voice still grated with exhaustion. He shifted his injured shoulder, and used his good arm to sit up a couple inches. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Take it easy there, buddy. You're not going anywhere for a while. In the process of saving someone's life, you took a bullet in the shoulder along with a mild tranquilizer..."

"That nearly killed me," Donnie finished for him.

"If it weren't for you, it would have," the man answered wryly.

"Huh?"

"Your research, your equipment, the experimentation you already completed, and the formula you devised. I wouldn't have unlocked that puzzle on my own, believe me. In a sense, you were your own salvation. Before I got a hold of your writings..."

"My journal? Mike showed you that old thing?"

"That thing reads like a medical textbook for your species, and you don't have to be so modest about it. I still can't believe it's the work of a sixteen-year old."

"Stick a bored teenager underground with nothing to do, you'll be surprised what he comes up with to stay busy, Doctor."

"Please, call me Luke...or Doc if you want. That's what Mike's been doing."

Donnie smiled at that. "He found me, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did. He was a huge help here too. Mike launched your journal for me, showed me your equipment...I could ask him anything, and he knew where it was."

"He's a great guy," Don murmured, suddenly dizzy again. "My best friend." He paused to shift his arm once more and looked up at Luke. "How long was I out?"

"Mike said you woke up around 11 last night, so about three days total. You never came back after the tranq took effect."

"I was afraid that could happen. We're so sensitive to conventional medicine, especially the drugs within sedatives. What did you end up doing?"

"The long of it can wait. In short I picked up right where you left off, and took the next step. It was risky, and I didn't know if it would work...but your own advance efforts and a few prayers might have made a difference too."

"They sure didn't hurt. Do you know if that girl I found ended up okay?"

"Jenna? Yes, she's fine. Still hanging around too."

"Is that her name? We didn't quite get that far."

"She stayed after you passed out. Applied pressure to that bullet wound, and was still there when your brothers found you. She's under protection now, until the police have rooted out those terrorists that took her to begin with. Jenna has spoken with her parents, but they don't know where she is."

"That's not what I expected. I'm surprised she...well..."

"Listen, Donatello, I don't want you to talk yourself to death right now, though I'm eager to catch up. How about you get some more sleep, and then you can see your brothers after a while?"

"Yeah...okay," he agreed with a deep relaxing breath. "Will you still be here?"

"I'm not going anywhere. Go to sleep. We'll talk again later."

When he obeyed, sleep came easily, but it felt restless. Don found himself dreaming again, replaying the entire interaction from Central Park, up to the first moment that he saw her.

He'd watched many teenage girls on TV, and even defended a few on the streets of New York. There was something distinctly different about this one. He remembered her like a smoldering, untamed flame, showing utter disdain for her captors rather than real fear. She wouldn't have given them the satisfaction.

As gunfire erupted in the vision, he jerked awake so hard he nearly tore his IV out. After catching his breath, he realized he wasn't alone. Donatello locked eyes with the young woman from his dream, now here in the flesh.

Her dark hair was disappointingly pulled back from her face, light blue eyes suddenly wide.

"Hi," she greeted sheepishly. "I'm sorry - I wasn't trying to wake you."

"No," he corrected. "It was just a...dream. They told me you were still here, but I didn't expect to see you. It's Jenna, isn't it?"

"That's right. And you're Donatello."

"All my life." He gazed at her for a long moment, brow furrowing as he remembered something. "You remind me...who do you remind me of? I feel like I've seen you somewhere, before three days ago. Are you from Australia?"

"Got me pegged, mate."

"You're Jenna Richards aren't you?" He realized the truth in a flash, sitting up slightly with his good arm. "The diplomat's kid?"

"Adopted kid, but it means the same thing. I haven't exactly been spreading that rumor around your family yet, so you must have figured it out on your own. Seems like you're just as smart as everyone says you are."

He scoffed at that, shaking his head. "I read about your family coming to New York on the Internet. The terrorist thing makes sense now. But then...you stayed?"

"You nearly gave your life to save mine. I wasn't going to leave you."

"I could have been dead before they found me. I guess we're even."

"No, not even close," she objected. "What you did took more courage than I knew any stranger could have. It's wonderful to finally talk to you."

"Likewise. It's kinda great to be here period. Tell me something, are you really as cool about this as you seem, or are you just a good actress?"

She laughed. "Y'know when you get past the initial shock of meeting someone you didn't know existed, we're not all that different."

"Oh sure." He grinned wryly. "I bet we have tons in common."

"Hey, don't knock it. We're both teenagers. We're from large cities. We spend time on the internet?"

"And the similarities end."

"Only because I don't know you well yet."

"Yet?" he echoed curiously.

"Yeah. I know I'm not staying down here, but this isn't something I can walk out of and forget. If I wanted to talk to you, would that be a problem?"

"Not as long as we used a secure method, but...you want to get to know me?"

"Is that so strange?"

"Sort of. I'd think you would have much better people to expend your energy on."

"Let me tell you something about people, Donnie. The vast majority I have to deal with are shallow, judgmental, and superficial. They're not all bad, don't get me wrong. But most of my experience with humans across my own nation and a couple others has led me to draw one conclusion - mankind is highly overrated."