Donatello barely noticed the passing hours of the morning. He was consumed with the task of chemically altering the receptor blocker they needed for Michelangelo, but thoughts of Rebecca were also nagging at the back of his mind.
Last night was pretty heavy, but Karina had a severe reaction after the first transfusion too. We just have to try it again in a few more days. I don't want to overwhelm Rebecca's body, especially if we're not seeing immediate signs of a miscarriage.
The purple-masked turtle leaned back in his chair, as anxious thoughts for his new niece or nephew distracted him. I don't want to disappoint Mike or Becky, and I don't want to lose this baby. I don't know how everyone would deal with that right now. I sure wish I could focus on one thing at a time, he thought ruefully.
Donatello looked away from the computer screen and massaged his temples. The headaches had come on stronger ever since getting his skull fractured by a drunk driver in January, but thankfully the other symptoms had faded. He'd woken up too early after the interrupted evening, and he'd been unable to simply lie in bed when there were so many things to do.
I can get some rest later. I'll make sure I stop at some point this afternoon, or...I wonder what time it actually is.
He glanced at the clock, and realized it was already a little after 11AM, which meant Doc and Caleb would be there soon. Donatello scooted up to the desk and typed with a flourish to save his current work. Time got away from me this morning. I should have been down to check on Raph. I'm sure no one's ignoring him, but he's my brother. I can't keep pushing him to the back burner just because of everything else going on.
Donatello picked up the empty thermos upon which he'd come to rely for his caffeine fixes, and he headed downstairs to the Great Room to see who was out and about. He heard the sharp sound of barking right before Leonardo opened the front door, flanked by the two Border Collies prancing over each other to get inside.
Molly made a beeline for Donatello, and the turtle took a moment to greet each dog before looking at his brother.
"Taking a break?" Leo asked.
He nodded. "At least until Doc and Caleb get here, which shouldn't be long."
"Are you holding up okay?"
"Sure. I didn't get much sleep, but I'll catch up later."
The blue-masked turtle gave him a stern look. "Make sure you do that, Bro, or I'll come after you."
"Do you know where Raph's hanging out?"
"He's in the back today. Karina and Kat took the babies that direction too, about an hour ago."
"Thanks. Are you keeping an eye out for Doc?"
Leonardo nodded. "I'll let you know when they get here."
Donatello heard the commotion coming from the back of the house before he could see any of it. He grinned as gibberish erupted between the two little girls. You'd swear they were talking to each other.
The purple-masked turtle ambled into the room, nodding at Kat, Karina, and his older brother in turn. "Hey, Raph. How are you feeling?"
"Okay. Just following doctor's orders, like usual."
"Has the novelty worn off already?" Don grinned.
"You guys outnumber me. What's a turtle to do?" Raph returned. "Uh, Donny? You've got a visitor."
Donatello looked down, and realized that Reina had toddled over to him. The blond girl was looking at his belt imploringly. "You've gotta be kidding me," he told the baby. "All this stuff to play with, and you still want my keys, kid?"
"You're the one who got in the habit of letting her have them." Raphael snickered.
Don sat down on the floor with a sigh and unhooked the ring from his belt. I don't know if I'm going to need them again. We don't know what happened with the Battle Shell. We never were able to retrieve it. It might not matter if she loses them, he mused silently.
Reina giggled as she shook the keys in her balled fist. Not to be outdone, Olivia began crawling his direction too. The little turtle sat up on her knees, and patted Donatello's leg insistently.
"I only have one set of keys, Liv. You're going to have to wait until your cousin is finished with them."
The turtle's lip trembled as if she actually understood what he'd said.
"Don't start crying, Olivia, c'mon. I can't take them away from Reina now that she's got them."
The blond girl walked off triumphantly with her prize, just as Olivia started crying.
"Way to go, Donny. She's been satisfied all morning until you showed up," the red-masked turtle cracked.
Donatello reached for the baby turtle and scooped Olivia off the floor. "You're going to get me in trouble with your Mama, now stop crying. I'll play with you, okay?"
The squirming baby wasn't interested in playing with him. Olivia was too busy twisting around, trying to see where Reina had gone with the keys.
"Karina?" Don called. "A little help here?"
The woman chuckled as she took the baby from him. "You're gonna be mean to your Uncle Donny today, angelito? You probably need your nap."
Katherine got to her feet too. "They should both go."
Kat picked up Reina and gently pried the keys out of her hand. "Sorry, baby. Daddy will be home soon, and you can see him when you wake up."
Reina's squawk of protest rose to join Olivia as the sisters carried the babies out of the room.
Donatello replaced his keys on his belt and shook his head. "That went well, huh? I know what I'm getting them for Christmas. Keys - nothing but keys."
Raphael chuckled. "Anything they're not supposed to have, that's what they want, Genius. Leo spent 20 minutes looking for his phone today before we realized Reina had taken it. It was mixed in with their little toys in the Great Room. What have you been doing with yourself today?"
"Whatever I can get done on my own. I've been studying the composition of the receptor blocker so that Doc and I can tweak it for Mike, and going over notes from Karina's pregnancy to refresh myself for helping Becky...that kind of thing."
The red-masked turtle winced. "Yeah, Kari said that Becky had a hard night. I knew something was weird when she didn't come out this morning."
"Marc and I asked her to stay put in bed for most of today. The beginning of the cycle was the hardest part for Karina ...let's hope the same is true of Becky," Donatello said.
"Crossing my fingers, Don." Raphael shook his head. "It wasn't easy to watch with Kari. On the other hand, the baby gives them something else to focus on, other than the fact that, y'know, Mike could be dying."
Donny stiffened. It was a known reality that Mike had a fatal condition, but no one had been able to talk freely about their brother in the context of him actually passing away. He couldn't think of anything to say to Raphael, so he didn't bother trying to come up with something.
"You look tired, Don," Raph said judiciously. "Were you up too early?"
"I couldn't go back to sleep."
His brother nodded with sigh. "Too busy trying to save the world."
"Just Mike and his baby," Donatello tried to say more lightly. "That and not lose sight of you at the same time."
"Donny, don't you worry about me," Raphael insisted. "I'm not one of the lives at stake here, right?"
"You still matter."
"Not like them. Don't worry if you feel like you're ignoring me. That's just more attention they're getting."
Don shook his head. "You're going to be a tough pain in the shell about this, huh?"
"You're the pain," Raphael countered. "Just do what I said."
"Would it be completely inappropriate for me to say, 'make me?'"
"Depends. Is it inappropriate for me to throw this lamp at you?"
Donatello's phone vibrating interrupted the laugh that was bubbling up. He held up a hand to signal Raphael to hold on and answered the cell.
"Doc and Caleb are about five minutes out, Don. Thought you'd want to know," his oldest brother told him.
"Okay. Thanks, Bro." The purple-masked turtle lowered the phone to hang it up, and was startled when a pillow struck him in the side of the head.
"Hey!"
Raphael grinned smugly. "Don't tempt me into coming after you, Donny. There are ways I can torture you that don't require walking, particularly with the wife I've got."
Donatello laughed. "You mean like the way she totally set Leo up for Mike last week?"
"Exactly. I'm not harmless, Bro, don't forget that."
"I never will, Raph. Doc and Caleb are about five minutes away, so I need to go meet them. Do you want us to bring you up front?"
"Nah, I think I'm just gonna chill. Kari's gonna come back anyway. Really, Donny, you don't have to worry about me."
Donatello excused himself to watch for the others along with Leonardo. Even the dogs were waiting by the door, as though they instinctively knew that their human was supposed to be arriving soon. A rush of barking signaled the men's approach, and the blue-masked turtle opened the door before the Border Collies could scratch it up.
Donatello went out onto the porch to meet them, and caught a grin from Luke.
"I've got a couple of ideas, Don. Have you been looking at the structure of the receptor blocker too?"
Donatello nodded. "We'll have to compare notes. I want to hear what you're thinking."
"Definitely - I want to hear from you too. We've got some sensitive equipment to get inside," Luke mentioned.
"Caleb, Leo and I can handle the instruments if you'd like to wrangle the dogs," Don suggested to the bespectacled man.
Caleb nodded. "You're probably more eager to get started than I am, and that's saying a lot."
Donatello and Luke spent the first hour after they'd reunited sharing the work they'd done independently. Donatello was so wrapped up in their discussion, he didn't really notice what Caleb was doing with the specialized equipment. Donny had already donated some of his own stem cells for the man's experimentation, and he figured Caleb wouldn't take long to start analyzing them.
"The thing that I'm most concerned about is not shutting his T-cells down completely," Donatello said.
"That's the whole trick of blocking, Donny. It's only supposed to affect the introduced stem cells - that's the scenario we're shooting for."
The purple-masked turtle sighed anxiously. "We have to get this right, Doc. If we don't create the correct composition for the blocker, no amount of cells that Caleb can produce are going to do Mike any good."
"Hey," Luke said quietly. "We're in a decent position here, Don. We've got the equipment in place, and we have the expert to guide from the helm. We'll get this straightened out."
Don nodded soberly. "We will," he replied with certainty.
He suddenly noticed that Caleb had been silent for a long time. Donatello glanced over his shoulder at the man, and saw Caleb bent over an interesting-looking microscope. Donatello tried to read his expression when Caleb went to write something down, but it was hard for the turtle to decipher.
Don poked Luke's side, and nodded at Caleb. "Is he okay?"
Luke looked uncertain. "Silence can be good or bad. There's only one way to find out for sure."
Luke climbed to his feet and Donatello followed him across the room.
"How's it going, Caleb?" Luke asked. "What are you doing over here?"
When the older man gazed at them, his amazement shone clearly through his eyes. "These cells are extraordinary candidates for becoming iPs cells," he proclaimed, fixing on Donatello. "Their structure isn't...it's not completely stable. They have strong tendencies, which makes it appear that most of your stem cells follow a specified genetic order. But they're also adaptable, easier to manipulate than, say, a typical human stem cell. It's the most fantastic thing to witness, and it's good news as far as your brother is concerned."
"You're saying that 'reprogramming' our stem cells isn't going to be difficult," Donatello tried to clarify.
"It shouldn't be," he answered. "The thing you still have to understand is that this is new technology. We're embarking on a journey that no one's taken before, and it's not going to be flawless. I wish I could tell you that I can create perfect iPs cells that will behave exactly like the embryonic variety, but I'm not there yet."
"But this gives you a reason to feel optimistic?" Luke asked hopefully.
Caleb nodded. "I'm feeling very optimistic based on what I've seen in the last few minutes, and that's without studying the samples from your other brothers. It could be any number of cells between the four of you that end up being the best candidate overall for reproduction and transplanting. I'd like to get cultures from Leonardo and Raphael soon." His tone had a hint of apprehension, as if he wasn't sure of how he would be received.
"We're all prepared for that eventuality," Don replied. "I've explained to them why the genetic differences between us don't matter as much in this case. There's nothing we won't do to help Mike...though my preference would be that you stick with me for as many things as possible."
Luke made a scoffing sound. "You watch, Caleb. The next thing he'll be saying is that he wants you to test the therapy on him before you use it on Mike."
"Why on earth would I do that?" Caleb was confused.
"Because Donny thinks that being a guinea pig is part of his job description," Luke replied.
"It's not that bad of an idea," Don wheedled. "It wouldn't hurt to run the receptor blocker past me first."
"Donatello." Luke groaned. "Just quit while you're still ahead, will you?"
"Would you mind if I have a look at what's under the scope?" Donatello asked.
Caleb shook his head, moving swiftly to the side to give the turtle access to his equipment. In that moment Donny was more distracted by the speed with which the man got out of the way than the sample he'd wanted to see.
He only looked at Caleb briefly, since the man was watching him too closely for the turtle to get a chance to study him. The way the man folded his arms protectively across his chest indicated the erected barrier. He's retreating, Donatello realized. Come to think of it, I've barely seen him outside of the Lab since they got back. I think the lack of complete trust that's been placed in him from the beginning is causing Caleb to mind his distance with us. We can't let this continue.