Jenna beamed at Victoria as she started unpacking a bag and putting her mother's clothes away. "You traveled light."
"Well, you know Tim and I can only stay a few days. We've got to be back in the city next week. We wanted to give the extra carry-on room to Brandon and April. Actually, there are still a couple of special things in the van," she added mischievously. "But we didn't pick those up until we got to Asheville."
"What's that look for, Mom?" she asked. "Are you keeping a secret?"
"It just occurred to us that a couple of you were going to miss something, if you haven't already."
"What did you do?"
"You'll find out. C'mon, we can leave those clothes for later. The boys have probably already brought the rest of the things in from the van."
Jenna tucked black hair behind her ear, smiling easily as she followed Victoria out of the bedroom. Being surrounded by everyone made the house feel much more like home. The sound of happy voices could be heard all the way from the second floor, and only increased in volume as she and her mother descended to the Great Room.
The first thing Jenna noticed was Donatello close to the front door, barely containing an excited smile. She'd always loved the way the turtle's face lit up when he was enthusiastic about something, even when it involved technical jargon she couldn't understand. Seeing him genuinely happy was one of the greatest gifts for whichJenna could have asked.
"Okay, Genius, they're here. What the shell are you hiding back there?" Raphael asked in irritation, waving a hand toward Jenna and Victoria.
"It isn't a huge deal," Victoria replied. "We thought you might like some entertainment being off your feet, Raph, and it snowballed from there."
The woman nodded at Tim, and Donny moved so that he could retrieve the first of three cases. The man took it over to the coffee table where the red-masked turtle could reach it. Jenna already knew what was inside just by the shape of the case, and she was certain Raphael did too. He slowly pulled the acoustic guitar out, holding it near his plastron.
"Oh, shell. Wow, you guys, you didn't have to do this," Raphael said.
"But we wanted to," Victoria replied. "You like it, don't you? It's not too shiny?"
The turtle shook his head. "It's a thing of beauty...I love the black. Thanks, guys. Thanks a lot."
"We knew you'd eventually miss the instruments you had to leave behind," Tim said morosely. "This won't take their place, but it gives you something to use in the meantime."
"C'mere and sit down, honey," Victoria invited Jenna.
The young woman swallowed as she laid eyes on the dark wood finish of the guitar in the next case, and she ran a hand experimentally over the strings. It was nothing close to a starter model.
"Mom, you didn't have to spend so much."
Victoria smiled at her. "Hey, it's all business for you, young lady. I expect you to keep writing."
Despite her joking tone, Jenna nodded seriously. "I want to make good use of our time here. I'm sure I can get some songs written over the next couple of months. Thanks, Mom."
The woman kissed her forehead. "After all that's happened, the music from you three is sorely needed around this place."
"It sure is." Mike grinned. "I vote for a sing-along tonight."
Donatello looked up from his own instrument, flashing his brother a smile. "I think we can pull that off. We just need some time to tune, and we'll be good to go."
A thrill raced through Jenna's mind as she withdrew her guitar from the velvet insert. "You did good, Mom, you did really good."
Jenna waited about two hours longer than she really wanted to go upstairs. The musician in her desperately yearned to explore the new toy, but she also wanted to spend time with the others who'd only just arrived. Mid-afternoon she finally broke away with Donatello, so they could both set to the task of tuning the new guitars. The strap fit comfortably over the young woman's shoulder as if it had been made for her, and she wasn't sure how that was possible.
"Nice, huh?" Donatello whistled. "It's got a good sound, even before it's been tuned properly."
Jenna nodded. "It feels good to hold."
"You know, if you really do want to write up here, we could find some equipment for you to record. I'm sure there's some place we could set up a little studio for you."
"It would be nice to keep some momentum," she said honestly. "There's something that's been running through my head anyway. I've been driving myself crazy trying to remember the chords."
Donatello laughed. "Your mom came at a good time. How far along are you with the song? Ready for me to hear some of it?"
Jenna gave him a wry smile. "I think that could be arranged, Don. Let me finish tuning, and I'll see how much of the chord structure I remember. I might end up needing to fool around a little bit to get it down."
The young woman concentrated on twisting the knobs exactly right to get the desired sound, enjoying the vibration of the guitar against her knee. She was drawn out of the focused state to watch Donatello after a while, as he meticulously worked on his own guitar. A memory flooded back to her of years ago, when she and Don had both been night owls, not long after they'd first met. The purple-masked turtle had found her fooling around with a keyboard in the Lounge, and joined her for a private session that was still etched strongly in her remembrance.
Jenna felt tears prick her eyelashes, and she hardly had time to try and blink them away before Donatello looked up at her.
"Jen? What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong, Donny," she assured him, as she ran her fingers over all the strings at once to produce a full sound.
Don nodded approvingly, then gave her a pleading look. "Talk to me."
She shook her head. "I'd rather tell you a different way. Just give me a few minutes to work on this."
Jenna tapped a beat lightly against the instrument, imprinting the timing firmly in her mind before she began combining chords to create the loop that she'd only heard inside her head. She looked at Donatello to find him gazing at her patiently, not saying anything while he waited. She strummed through the rough structure of the piece a couple of times before she started to sing along with it.
"For so many years I thought I had to go alone
Afraid to speak out loud so I tried it on my own
A lost and lonely child, who people didn't understand
Longing for someone to come and take me by the hand
Searching for salvation, a way out of the dark
Surrounded by the light outside, it didn't penetrate my heart
I never say you coming, no you didn't cross my eyes
The way you came onto the scene, you took me by surprise
Sheltered here in your embrace
I finally found a place I'm safe
Refuge, refuge
You're my refuge, refuge
Refuge, refuge,
You're my refuge, refuge."
Jenna held the chord for a few seconds, and slowly let it fade out. When Donatello didn't speak, she looked up at the turtle questioningly. He got to his feet to join her on the bed, lightly tugging the guitar strap over her head to separate her from the instrument.
"Jen, I don't know how to describe this, I'm just...overwhelmed. It's beautiful, but even more so because it comes from you."
The young woman set the guitar aside so he could get his arms around her. The room was silent, but it didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable. It was one of the fullest silences that had ever surrounded her. She suddenly detected the tremor in Donatello's breathing, then saw the tears on his cheeks.
"Everything has been so messed up," he said brokenly. "From being forced to leave home and not knowing how the city is going to make it through all of this, to coming here and finding out about Mikey. You've been there, Jen. You've been so great, even when I was on the verge of falling apart completely. I don't know if I could do this without you, but I know I wouldn't want to."
They lingered upstairs for as long as they could without making it seem like they were trying to avoid everyone else. A powerful sense of calm hovered over her subconscious as they traveled silently back downstairs. Donny's fingers lightly grazed her arm as they entered the Great Room, and Karina was the first one to notice their arrival.
The bronze-haired woman gave them a double-take. "Is everything okay?" Concern etched Karina's features as she glanced between them.
Jenna nodded rather than speaking. The subdued feeling that she and Donatello were under was persisting.
"We're fine, Karina," Don said quietly. "Honest."
The concerned look became one of bewilderment, and Karina shrugged. "Okay. Are either of you hungry?"
Donny gave Jenna a secretive smile, and the warmth spread over her once more.
"Is there something I can help with?" Jen asked.
Karina laughed. "No, it's your Mama's kitchen tonight. She didn't even want me around doing anything. How did the guitars work out for you?"
"They're great," Donatello replied, and looked over the back of the couch at the red-masked turtle. "Has Raph put his down?"
Karina shook her head. "Only to hold Liv. I don't know why I didn't think of this."
"Sure, because you didn't have anything else to think about, like trying to take care of all of us, or Raph, and let's not forget the baby," Donatello teased.
"The three of you need to pull something together," Karina said. "I'm being so serious. Just make sure that it's happy, whatever you do."
Jenna nodded somberly, and Karina chuckled again.
"You two are acting so strange."
Jenna reached for Donatello's hand, interlacing her fingers with his. "We're just a little enthralled, Karina. Don't mind us."
"That must have been some guitar session," Karina cracked.
Jenna looked at Donatello as she answered the woman. "It never hurts to remember why you fell in love to begin with."
"Right...I'm gonna have to leave you kids alone before I start to get embarrassed."
As Karina walked away, Donatello's phone vibrated on his belt. When he hesitated, Jenna nudged him.
"Answer it, Don. It's got to be Doc," she said. "Everyone else is already here."
The purple-masked turtle withdrew the cell. "Hello? No, I can hear you just fine, Doc. How did the meeting go?"
Jenna watched his face closely for a reaction, but he remained impassive.
"That soon? Of course we will. Okay...great. We'll be here, Doc. Call me before you get on the road, all right? Talk to you later."
The young woman stared at Donny as he hung up the phone. "Well? How did it go? Did they get the green light from the investors?"
Don nodded with a huge smile. "Caleb acquired permission to take a furlough from the Institute. Luke told me he introduced him to the investors as an associate from New York, who was displaced by the earthquake."
"How does Luke factor into Caleb's work in their minds?"
"They're combining forces on the side, at least that's what they told the suits. Luke's family name is still a powerful force in these parts. People remember his parents. In any case, Caleb got the leave from the Institute, and obtained permission to temporarily relocate the equipment to reproduce cells. This is a big deal, Jen." Excitement returned to his voice full force. "It's a really big deal. It means we can get right to work on a solution for Mike, based off research that Caleb and others before him have already completed.
"Doc and I have to start on the receptor blocker. That's an important step, because we have to make sure that it's reformulated to suit our specific chemistry. We can begin on that at the same time that Caleb is creating new cells."
"Is it true that he wants to get cells from all of you?"
"He's going to experiment with them. Studies have already been conducted where receptor blockers were capable of tricking the body's immune system in accepting cells that weren't even a genetic match. Using our cells may be the easiest way for Caleb to create new healthy stem cells for Mike."
The purple-masked turtle stretched over impulsively to kiss her, wrapping both arms around her waist. "We're going to make this work."
"That's very good news," she told him. "Are you going to tell the others?"
Donatello brushed her lips again before releasing her. "I'll get on that right now."
Karina took a seat next to Raphael, folding her arms as she stared at the red-masked turtle who was quietly strumming chords on his own guitar.
"Hey, remember me? Your wife? I'm still here," Karina told Raphael.
Donatello and Jenna shared a chuckle quietly among themselves.
"Some things never change," Jenna whispered.