Sorry about the delay in posting this, but I rewrote this chapter about ten times, and I'm still not very happy with it.

It was just before nine o'clock when Raph saw Don slip away from his lab, looking around himself as he headed towards the elevator. It was obvious that he didn't want to be followed from the way he was moving, his footsteps silent and his movements keeping with the shadows. The aqua doors parted to let him inside the glowing, crystal-powered chamber, then slid back together, hiding him from sight.

It wasn't like Donnie to sneak out without the rest of them. He was the sensible laid-back one… unless some kind of problem, like a Mouser, piqued his interest. Raph stepped out from behind the pillar he had been hiding behind, and rubbed his hand against the knot of his mask.

He started to move toward the elevator, intending to follow Donnie and make sure he was okay. Raph still hadn't forgiven himself for not saving Don from the Purple Dragons before — if he went out into the night alone and got hurt somehow —

But as he passed Don's lab, Raph saw something flutter on his table — a piece of white paper, propped up against his computer monitor. He snatched it up and looked at the few lines scribbled there, all in Don's handwriting.

TO EVERYONE:

Gone with April. Will be back in the morning. Don't worry about me.

—DON

For a few minutes, Raph stared at the note, his heart racing in his ears. For a moment, he was tempted to race over to the elevator and follow Don to the surface, before he and April could vanish into the night. She was pregnant, and he had only just started venturing out of his home. There were still plenty of dangers out there, like Hun, the Foot, Agent Bishop. If anything happened to them — to the baby —

But on the other hand, the phrase "gone with April" made him hesitate. Raph had been been training with Leo early that afternoon when muffled gasps and moans had suddenly started coming from April's room — ones that sounded like April and Don. Raph hadn't known what to do. Should they leave the lair until the two of them had, um, finished? Should they just try to blot out the noise and pretend nothing was happening?

Leo had had an almost comical expression of horror on his face as he realized what Don and April were doing. One of his katana slipped from his hands, clattering loudly, and the noises from upstairs had ceased. Raph had breathed a sigh of relief, but he had also felt a sudden burst of guilt — the last thing he wanted was to stand in Don's way, especially if April was finally willing to love him the way he deserved.

Which was also why they were sneaking off. They wanted to be alone, and they could only really do that by leaving.

Raph grimaced. Every fiber of his being told him to go take the Shell-Cycle and track the two of them down, just to make sure they were safe. Just to make sure nothing interrupted their little tryst. He wanted Don to have the privacy he clearly wanted with April — he wanted Don to be happy — but he also knew he would never forgive himself if anything happened to them.

What should he do? The note crinkled in his hand as his fingers closed around it, as if he could delay them by just a few minutes by entrapping Don's farewell note.

"You are troubled, my son."

Raph nearly jumped out of his shell at the soft, calm voice coming from behind him. He sometimes forgot that his father was also a ninja, and that he could move more quietly than a breeze. When he turned, he found Splinter's quiet hazel eyes watching him patiently, his gray brows raised slightly.

"Master Splinter," Raph said quickly. "Donnie — he —"

"Has left, I know," Splinter said soothingly. "So has Miss O'Neil."

"I'll go after 'em. It ain't safe for them to be goin' around by themselves at night."

"Why?"

The question momentarily stumped Raph. "W-why?" he repeated. "'Cause of what happened — if someone attacked them again — the Foot or Agent Bishop — "

"We cannot shield them every moment of every day, Raphael," Splinter said gently, placing a hand on Raph's shoulder. "Donatello will always have the support and love of his brothers, but he must stand on his own feet when it is called for. He is capable of taking care of himself. Remember, he is a ninja, and soon to be a father."

Raph felt himself wilt slightly, and his eyes looked hopelessly at the crumpled paper clutched in his hand. "Master Splinter…" he started to say, knowing already that his father was right.

"And you must learn that none of what happened was your fault, Raphael," Splinter added gently. "You have tried to avenge Donatello ever since his return, but your feelings of guilt are misplaced. There was nothing you could have done. He does not blame you, and neither do I." He patted Raphael's shell lightly. "Now, it would be best if you went to bed, my son, and left Donatello to his time with April. I will inform Leonardo and Michelangelo of his departure."

"Yes, Master," Raph mumbled.

As he left the lab area, Raph snatched up Don's laptop and hugged it to his chest. Brainiac wouldn't have any use for it this evening, so he might as well get some work done. He glanced back at the aqua doors, wondering where Donnie and April were going — he was already sure he knew exactly what they were doing. He didn't want to imagine it, but he knew.

His bedroom was sparsely furnished compared to those of his brothers, even Leo — it was mostly filled with things that interested him, from sports equipment to old trophies, from movie posters to another punching bag. It was something he treasured after fifteen years of sleeping close to his brothers, all in the same room, with no privacy. It was a space uniquely his.

He slid into his hammock and let his legs hang over the sides, as he placed the laptop on his stomach and opened it. A pale blue glow filled the dark room as he began typing in familiar Internet addresses.

He dozed off sometime after midnight, still clutching the laptop to his chest, his sleep filled with uneasy dreams about Don. In his dreams, his brother was trying to head to the surface to meet April, but Raph knew that the Foot was up there waiting to ambush him, and he couldn't convince Don that they were waiting to attack. Finally Raph and Leo went ahead of him, easily dispatching all the ninja that were waiting for their brother. But April was there, her pregnant belly much larger than it had been the day before, and suddenly she cried out…

Raph was still tense when he opened his eyes, staring at the high stone ceiling above him. He groaned and rubbed at his sandy eyes, wishing he hadn't been on the computer so late into the night. Was this how Don felt all the time?

As he stiffly made his way out of his room, he saw that his brothers were already awake. Leo was watching the news with Master Splinter, his face set in a frown as he listened to the newscaster. Mikey was heading into the kitchen, dragging that cat of his with him.

And Don…

Don was sitting at his computer in his lab, as if nothing unusual had happened the night before. But as Raph approached him, he sensed something a little different in his brother's demeanor — he seemed lighter, more relaxed than he had been the day before. His shoulders weren't so tense, and he was smiling slightly as he tinkered with some little metal doodad that Raph couldn't even start to identify.

As he came closer, Don glanced up at him, and removed his goggles.

"Donnie!" Raph said. "When'd you get back?"

"Just a half hour ago," Don said easily. "April's in the kitchen, and Mikey's making her breakfast. She's craving eggs again."

"Maybe we should get a chicken if she keeps eatin' like this," Raph said.

Don smiled at that, and Raph felt something inside him unknot at the sight. He hadn't realized that he had become so used to seeing Don tangled up in trauma and misery, his eyes shadowed by the pain he had experienced. Even when he became used to April's pregnancy, it had been a source of fear for him. But now — at least for the moment — he seemed somewhat at peace, his eyes shining and his face relaxed.

Raph leaned against the table, feeling a momentary prick of guilt that he had almost stopped or delayed Don's tryst with April. If he had gone out there and tracked them down on the Shell Cycle, Don probably wouldn't be in the state he was now. And though Raph knew that a roll in the hay wasn't going to fix all Don's problems, right now it was enough for Don to have a little peace, temporarily.

"Is that my laptop?" Don asked.

Raph glanced down at the computer folded under his arm. "Uh, yeah. I was just bringin' it back."

"What were you using it for?" Don said dubiously.

Raph wasn't surprised that his brother was curious — he was more physical than intellectual, and he didn't do much with computers when there was a genius there to do it for him. He knew how to use a computer just fine, but sometimes he suspected his family had forgotten that he could because he did it so infrequently.

Don was still watching him curiously, so Raph shrugged. "Needed to look some stuff up." He placed it firmly on the desk beside Don's desktop computer.

For a moment he thought Don was going to pursue it further, but instead his brother set the gadget he was tinkering with down, and reached for a massive toolbox that he had slid under the table. "Do you have some time to help me out with a project, Raph?"

"Sure, Donnie," Raph said, not quite sure what he was needed for. "What are you makin'?"

Don smiled at him with a hint of mischief. "A door."