Jenna stepped out into the foyer of the hotel, the night breeze cooling her as it drifted through the open-air design of the structure. Her raven hair was loose, and stirred slightly around her as she walked. She didn't bother looking back; the teen already knew she was being followed by a bodyguard, and wasn't bothered by it. She couldn't blame her parents for feeling protective, especially now.

They'd been on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for seven days, seven absolutely beautiful days. She'd lived near the ocean for most of her life, but she'd never truly seen paradise until now. Her new lease on life made the experience even more powerful, but as hard as she tried, she couldn't supress a certain sadness.

The teen had spent nearly every waking moment with her parents, almost feeling like she was getting to know them all over again, and they were starting to see the real her for the first time.

Jenna tried valiently not to talk about New York, or to display any of the inner turmoil going on. Tonight she was worn out from it, and needed a little escape. So with bodyguard in tow, she'd wandered out to the lobby of the hotel. It wasn't the most private place, but it had another element which drew her irresistably: a grand piano played often during the day, and completely unused and forgotten at this hour.

As if sensing her unrest, Victoria had quietly set up permission for her to use it earlier. Now Jenna only had to meet a woman at the desk she'd been referred to, and the pretty blonde manager set her up with the machine. The model was electric, so she outfitted Jenna with headphones to play privately if she wished.

After the woman left and her bodyguard hunkered down nearby, Jenna slid behind the piano, lightly tracing ivory keys. She took a deep breath as the wind shifted her way again and let it slowly. All of the unhappiness she'd bottled up rose to the surface in a flash.

She rambled slowly over the keys with no particular song in mind, haltingly giving way to her emotions through the sound. Jenna couldn't keep track of how long she'd been playing there, but at some point she realized Victoria was sitting nearby. Immediately she pulled off the headphones and motioned for the woman to join her.

"Hi, Mom. Is it too late for me to be doing this? I don't mean to keep you up."

"No, hon, you're okay. I don't need to stay either. I only wanted to find out how you were doing."

The guard pulled off to a more respectful distance so the two could talk, and Jenna took a deep breath.

"Honestly? I don't know. This place is a dream, and I've been having a wonderful time with you and Dad..."

"But?"

"I've been holding back too, trying not to let you know anything was wrong. I'm sorry, it's just...I'm not there yet, still not quite right."

Victoria looked at her thoughtfully for a few seconds, then smiled. "Why don't you play something for me?"

Jenna bit her lip and nodded. It was a familiar exercise she and Victoria had carried out for years when she had difficulty expressing herself with words. The first song which came to mind was the melody she and Donatello had created - the exact one she'd actively avoided tonight. But as it seemed to be the only thing which would satisfy her heart, she began to play.

Victoria listened passively, making it possible to almost forget the woman was there. The emotion the song stirred up was too hard to hide, but Jenna couldn't stop now that she'd begun. The teen pushed through it, sniffing to contain enough tears to see the keys. She'd brought the sheet music with her as well, but pouring over it repeatedly on the plane made the papers unnecessary .

She didn't count the number of times she looped the simple piece. Jenna only hesitated when the shudder took her frame, and made it more difficult to continue. The teen didn't realize Victoria was standing over her until an arm came around her back.

"That was beautiful. Did you write it?"

"Just the harmony part." Jenna hardly keeping her voice steady.

"Ah. And the melody is what's bothering you, isn't it?"

Jenna glanced up at her, confused.

"You don't have to talk about this if you don't want to. There's just such an intimacy and feeling in what you played. If you wrote it with someone else..."

"Yes," Jenna replied before she could stop herself. "I fell for one of them. The guy who saved me, no less."

"It was very hard to leave him," Victoria suggested quietly.

"It was. Something did happen between us, Mom. I got closer to him than I've ever been to anyone."

"He's the reason you've been on the internet every night."

"Yes!" Jenna managed a half laugh this time, before the melancholy undercurrent prevailed. "He tried so hard to let me go. He wanted me to be free."

"But it's not that easy, is it?"

"No, no it isn't. I don't know what this is, but it's not a crush. I've had that before, and this is entirely different."

"Do you think you could love him?"

"Mom! We knew each other less than four weeks! You can't know that fast...can you?"

"Well...I sort of knew with Michael in less than a month. I don't know when I fell completely head over heels...but by that time I was sure I could love him."

"You're my mother, you're not supposed to be encouraging this! Didn't they teach you anything before you picked me out?" Jenna laughed too loud, and had to cover her mouth.

Victoria chuckled too, then shook her head. "I guess it should rattle me a little bit. But honestly, the change in you is so incredible, I wish I could meet him myself. You understand your father and I wouldn't attempt any legal action against him and his family, don't you?"

"That isn't the issue at all. I'd like for you to meet him too," Jenna said morosely. "I wish he was here right now, and you could learn everything there is to know about them. But it's not going to happen yet - it can't."

"Tell me about him."

"I told you, I can't..."

"Don't go into major specifics. Tell me what he's like, if he writes you back, whether he loves your necklace as much as you do-"

"How do you know he has it?"

"Did you think I failed to notice you weren't wearing it? Where else would it be?"

"You're definitely smart enough to be a mom. Yes, I gave the medallion to him at the airport, after he fixed it for me. He's...Oh, where do I start? He took on several men with guns, without even knowing my name. He risked his life to help me, and came extremely close to dying. One of the complications left him in a coma for three days.

"We talked a lot those first days after he pulled through. I told him my life story and...honestly, I don't know how or when it really happened. Over the course of that week, I just started feeling something for him, unlike anything I've experienced in the past.

"He's not like anybody I've ever known. He's incredibly smart, in ways you wouldn't believe. The guy is a bonafide genius. Extremely physical and brave. He and his brothers have trained their entire lives in a form of martial arts. But they're not violent, Mom. They use those skills to help people, like Donnie saved me."

Letting his name slip was an accident, but Jenna wasn't sorry.

"Don's a very good listener, but he also has a lot of great things to say. We simply fit together. It felt so right. He's a musician too. We co-wrote the song one night when neither of us could sleep."

"What does he look like?"

"He's not what you would expect, Mom. Or what anyone would expect. Donnie is unusual, but our differences met nothing. I was attracted to him without even trying to be. He has the gentlest eyes, and the most wonderful voice. I could listen to him talk all day long. And he's got muscles that would blow the hood of a Buick."

"Now we're getting somewhere."

"Mom!" Jenna cried in mock horror. "That's it, I'm not telling you anything else!"

"Don't have to, hon. A mother's intuition can work overtime."

Jenna snorted even as slight embarassment colored her features. "So you really see right through me then?"

"I see what you allow me to. Now that you're an open book, who knows what could happen?" The mischievous twinkle in the women's eye made Jenna duck her head.

She groaned and sent her mom a begrudging smile. "Thanks for doing this. I guess I needed it more than I thought."

"My pleasure. And no more inquisitions for tonight, I promise."

"For tonight." Jenna scoffed. "Sure, what about later?"

"Well, you did say we couldn't meet them right now. Such terminology suggests an opportunity might exist at another time."

"If I have anything to say about it, it will, Mom. But I don't know how long this could take."

"I'm patient, honey. Some things are worth waiting for. I have a feeling these gentlemen are one of them."