A/N: I said there would be a Gavin and Mia talk. Here you have it. *puts on helmet*

Sciencegal, yeesh! Raph twin cuteness! :D

Zathura, right? It feels so good to know others agree with this twist. Thank you! :'D

Rhodesincolumbus, hello, newcomer! *hands over gift basket* Thanks for the support and love. I'm SO HAPPY you've enjoyed the story thus far. :)

October 22
4:01 P.M.

Mia sent her husband a hard stare every time he glanced up from the living room television. He noticed the looks, and for the longest time, ignored them. Until her hard stare evolved into a glare.

"What?" Gavin asked.

"You know 'what'," Mia countered.

"Mi—"

"I want my babies here. All of them. Raphael, Nia, and the little ones she's carrying. She told you, didn't she? She's having twins."

A slow, loud sigh cut through the news report that acted as a background hum to the conversation. The redhead clasped his hands tightly, unmoving on the sofa.

"I've given you time," Mia added. "Just accept it. You can't stop this and if you tried…"

"I'm not that cruel," Gavin muttered.

"So why not be happy? Nia and Raph need the support."

"It isn't right."

"Says who. You?" Mia frowned when her husband twitched and pushed herself further against the sofa's armrest, which braced her back. "You know what isn't right? Hurting your daughter."

"These," Gavin glanced down, "children will cement things."

"Things? What things? Wake up, Gavin. Things were cemented months before these babies came along. You complained about not seeing a ring on Ni's finger? Well, Raph got help and changed that."

"I noticed in July."

"What's done is done." Shoulders falling, Mia's voice grew soft. "Our baby's married. She's starting a family. And you should be at her side, not blocking her way."

"I—I can't, Mia. I…" He began scratching his knees through his dress slacks.

After so many years, Mia knew the Tell like second nature. Forward and back. Again and again. Silent in tracing the fingernail scars below the fabric.

"You know," she started, hands on her tender legs, "this time last year Nia wasn't with us. She was taken. You had no leads. And I wasn't even self-aware. But the Hamatos never gave up. They're good people."

"You think this is about that?"

"I know it isn't. I'm just saying. Gav, we aren't in Ireland." The scratching paused as Mia drew in a slow breath. "The Hamatos aren't your sect. The situation is completely different. It won't be a repeat of whatever happened with the mole hair people."

"Moher."

The brunette managed a smile, hollow though it may be. "Yeah. Them."

With a scoff, Gavin gripped his knees and a sunlit glare across his round spectacles obscured his gaze from Mia. "Ya can't mean that about a brutal time ya were never part of. Ya have no idea what happened. No idea…"

"Because you won't tell me," Mia whispered. She reached ahead, yet fell short of her husband's dress shirt. His thick, Southern-like drawl and shakes froze her from the inside out.

"It's me burden. Me fault! I will not give it to ya! I'm no sap and refuse to put those thoughts in yar head. Ya got enough rotten memories."

"How is that fair?" Mia all but screamed. "You hoard all the poison and think that's protecting me? It's not. It's affecting me, too. Gavin"—Mia's voice broke—"we vowed to be there for each other, through better or worse. Why won't you let me help you through the worse?"

"Ya already have," Gavin answered in a small voice. "The night ya convinced me not to kill meself. Ya saved me then."

"But not by conquering your demons. For Heaven's sake, I had an easier time convincing you to take Nia on her first camping trip than I've ever had talking about your cousin and sect."

"I cut that out of me life, Mi. It was the only way to move forward without devolving into some header."

"If you had truly cut it out, we wouldn't be in this situation."

The truth cut deep.

Gavin jerked his head sideways, chin length hair covering half his face. "Everything was fine before last year."

"No, it wasn't! We were losing our daughter to depression!"

The redhead stood—a sudden action that stomped his feet against the floor. He said nothing. Mia doubted he could, given how tensely he clenched his jaw.

"We—we thought we could manage it," Mia continued. "We were wrong. She needed something more. Sh—she…we weren't enough."

"Don't say that," Gavin spat.

"It hurts, but it's true. Had it not been for Splinter, Michelangelo, Raphael, Jones, everyone, she'd still be—"

"Stop. Now."

"No!" Meeting her husband's narrow, green eyes, Mia sat strong on the sofa. "Nia needed to expand. We couldn't help with that."

"So ya're sayin' I'm banjaxed anyway." Gavin's head shook as his arms flailed. "I turned out like me Da always said. A useless piece of shiat no one wants. Not even me Ma. Guess it makes sense that the one place where I felt I could make a difference led to a dead end. Me cousins were right…so was me uncle."

"No"—Mia wagged a finger—"your sect is still wrong. So are you. There are no dead ends when making a difference. They change; don't end. You can make a difference now by reassuring your daughter you'll be there for her. Regardless of your anxieties, personal interests, or faults. She needs you."

"Does she?"

Gavin's whisper stung, clenching Mia's throat like invisible fingers until they left her breathless. "You're forming a wedge between us and her. Worse still, it's out of a fear that you won't share. I can't let that wedge remain. I want to be throughout her pregnancy, Gavin. She's scared and excited and wants to share her milestones with us. Yet you give her the cold shoulder. Does that mean you're done being a father?"

"Never." At least he answered without hesitation, although he glanced away while clenching his fists. "It goes against logic, but…part of me sees Nia as Keelan. If I let me guard down, if something happens because I wasn't vigilant enough…I won't be talked down from the ledge. I'll jump. And I won't look back."

He meant every word, which is why Mia felt so sick. "There's a small army around Nia, who would die before letting anything happen to her. Hell, Hugh included. They won't betray her or mistreat her. They want exactly what you want for her: happiness, health, love, freedom."

"Their lives aren't free."

"She's half Languu," Mia said, toneless. "It's as free as she'll ever be. With or without them. You can't say you don't feel better knowing she's surrounded by people in the same boat, others who know just what she needs to stay out of bad hands."

God, did the woman wish her legs could support her. If they could, she would've stood and stalked towards her husband. She'd rip off his glasses and stare into his near-sighted eyes so he could feel the impact behind her frustration and pleading.

But she couldn't.

She had only words, so she saturated them with broken trembles. "You came to America with nothing, save pocket change, to become a better person than what your family dictated. Like me. So be the better person I know lies inside you. Please. Le—let our baby know our home will always be a safe haven. Convince her you don't hate who or what she is. Please, l—let…let them come home."

A chattering jaw kept Mia from adding anything more. She sniffled and watched her husband with a heavy heart. He stepped aside, towards the entryway way that led to the foyer, then brought his focus to her. He was crying. The sunlight and his pale skin made it hard to tell, but the streams were evident when he approached.

Fear. He'd always been so scared. And no one else could see it below his stoic guard and dismissive anger.

"I know you loved us being under your wing," Mia whispered, chest tight from the thumbs he ran under her watery eyes. "You loved being the provider, the protector, the leader. It must pain you to let that go, but she isn't forsaking our nest. She's building another beside ours. Do—don't you want to be a part of that?"

The redhead nodded. His tears remained unchecked as he took a seat beside Mia and he enveloped her in weak hug, ragged breathing as his only noise.

"You mean a lot to her, Gav. And guess what."

Stiffly, the man glanced up. Mia removed his glasses to meet his green eyes. Tears glossed their rich color, which made them shine brilliantly. They were the vulnerable eyes she'd had fallen in love with, the eyes she rarely saw in the last decade. And no matter the pain, dread, or desperation behind them, she always found them beautiful.

"I'll always need you," she whispered. It was everything he desired to hear; his head rested on hers and he signified his resignation with a sigh.

A/N: I keep forgetting to mention that Mia completed her Speech Therapy during the time gap between "A Tale of Heroes" and "Shift". This is why she doesn't need to carry around a handkerchief anymore or slur nearly as much. If she seems stronger, that's why. xD Anyways, hope ya'll understand Gavin a wee bit more now. Broken people are the hardest to reach...