Donnie sat at his lab table and stared at the blinking cursor on the blank laptop screen in front of him. He glanced back down at the email address on the torn piece of notebook paper Mikey had given him. So far, he'd only managed to stare at it.

He left the lab and headed into the garage. It was late enough that Raphael should be asleep, which would let him work on the shellcycle secretly. He immediately began attaching the newest pieces he'd found at the junkyard and tried and failed to ignore the real reason he hadn't contacted Woody's sister yet. Despite who he was and where he lived, he had actually tried to have a relationship with a human in the past.

So maybe he had been taken with April because she was the first human girl he'd ever seen. No, he corrected himself, not taken with her, but hopelessly, stupidly in love with her at first sight. She'd been at the center of almost all of his thoughts and he wasn't sure he wanted to pursue anything that could have that kind of overpowering control over him again. And while part of him was happy to no longer be part of the weird, competitive love triangle he'd been in for the past few years, it had still stung when she'd picked the toothless hockey moron over him.

His brothers had done their best to soothe the hurt. There were no I told you so remarks, and even Raphael, Casey's own best friend, had said that April was obviously an idiot.

Donnie didn't think she was an idiot. After the years they'd spent battling the Kraang and the Shredder, he thought she was just done with abnormal. And Casey Jones was human, and therefore normal. Something Donatello could never be. And in the past year that he'd had to watch April and Casey together, actually together, he thought maybe she'd made the right choice. After all, Casey could be seen with her in public. He took her to their senior prom. He could do things with her during the day and go on dates that didn't involve the sewer.

Donatello had avoided the two of them for as long as he could. Until April cornered him one night and practically begged him to spend time with her. He'd been reluctant. But she was nothing if not stubborn. So she began bringing her college schoolwork into the lair and making herself at home at his lab table until eventually his curiosity for her college textbooks got the better of him.

Although Donatello wasn't in any rush to try to fix his strained relationship with Casey. And Casey was wisely keeping his distance. Casey was rarely in the lair, anyway, and when Raphael would disappear on his own on the nights April showed up to do her homework, Donnie would keep his mouth shut since he didn't want to hear about Raph's vigilante nights out with Casey.

But he and April were beginning to be just friends again. A real friendship that wasn't clouded with his previous nervous stumbling.

And maybe that was why he was avoiding the scrap of paper that held that email address. He could try to rationalize that since he was older now and had learned from his experience with April, that he wouldn't turn into a nervous, stumbling idiot around another girl. But he couldn't know that for sure without having all the variables in place, mainly meeting another girl face to face, and by then it would be too late to know if it was a good idea or not.

Plus, there was nothing he could do about the fact that he wasn't human. He would always be a turtle.

He paused in his work and thought about Mikey and Woody. Woody didn't seem to mind at all that Mikey was a turtle. In fact, the way Woody looked at Mikey made Donnie wonder if Woody even noticed the turtle part.

Was he surprised that out of the four of them, Mikey had managed to be the first to develop a seemingly mature and real relationship?

Shell yes. Yes he was.

Mikey had introduced them to Woody several months ago. Big surprise there, Mikey had befriended someone who worked for their favorite pizzeria. Leo had been pissed. Like royally-turned-a-little-red-in-the-face-pissed when Mikey sat them down and said he'd made friends with a human. It had been a little bit funny.

Okay a lot funny.

Part of Leo's fury was obviously that Mikey had revealed himself to a human, but Donnie could also see Leo's clear worry that their seemingly gullible baby brother was setting himself up to be hurt by someone who would take advantage of him.

But Mikey had done something that surprised all three of them at that accusation. His shell had straightened and his blue eyes had steeled in determination, in a way that had reminded Donnie of Leo's own fierce gaze, as he asserted that Woody was a real friend who truly cared about him.

Friend. Donnie had been pretty sure at that very moment that Mikey thought of Woody as more than a friend. And since he'd been wading through the middle of his own heartache back then, he hadn't been overly supportive of Mikey's new friend. But, so far, Woody had proven himself to be a steady and loyal presence in Mikey's life. And Woody was actually supposed to come to the lair for the first time in a couple weeks for Raph's surprise birthday party.

Donnie re-covered the shellcycle so Raphael wouldn't notice that he'd been working on it and put his tools away before heading back to his lab. Even if he didn't think it would lead anywhere, he knew Mikey wasn't going to stop pestering him until he finally sent an email. He sighed as he sat down in front of his laptop again.

And his eyes widened when he found a brand new email waiting for him in his inbox.

Hi Donnie,

Mikey gave me your email address and encouraged me to email you. And by encouraged, I mean he pulled out the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes I've ever seen and begged me to email you. I'm still getting to know him - does he do that often?

This is Sadie by the way. I'm Woody's older sister. Mikey says to tell you I'm very smart. But I'm pretty sure he's forcing this email because he just had to sit and listen to me complain about my upcoming organic chemistry midterm at dinner. His and Woody's eyes definitely glazed over two minutes in. I love my biotech classes, but the sheer number of chemistry classes required for the degree is driving me crazy.

So Mikey suggested (begged) that I email his genius big (?) brother for help with a particularly troublesome problem. Mikey has mentioned that you're usually pretty busy working in your own lab, so if you don't have time to look over this stuff, I understand.

Have a good night,

Sadie

Donnie read through the email twice. It was a completely normal, mature email. From a girl who knew he was a turtle.

Well, he thought to himself, he could either try to be a completely normal, mature turtle and respond, or he could huddle into his shell and try to ignore her.

"Okay, Mikey," he muttered as he downloaded the chemistry problem she'd attached.

Hi Sadie,

I'm scanning in my work on that problem and attaching it to this email. My brothers always complain that they can't read my handwriting so I hope you can decipher it. It was a pretty complicated equation. Hopefully your professor goes easier on you and classmates on the actual exam.

So, to answer your question, my brothers and I are probably all the same age. You've met Mikey so you know I'm not exaggerating when I say that our origin is a tad unusual. But at some point, Mikey did become the designated baby brother. I guess its something else that he and Woody have in common. We have a mutation day that we mark every year, but at some point, our father also gave us designated birthdays. I think it was so that we could each have something that was our own.

And yes, beware the puppy dog eyes.

Have a good day,

Donnie

Donnie was the last to stumble into the kitchen the next morning and he gratefully reached for the cup of coffee Mikey was offering him. Mikey snatched the coffee away at the last moment, though, and raised an eye ridge in question.

Donnie sighed. "Yes, Mikey. I responded to her email." He reached again for the steaming mug.

But instead of handing over the cup, Mikey shielded it behind his own shell. "A real email back? With real words? Not just science-y equation crap, right?"

Donnie tried to reach around Mike's shell for the coffee, but Mikey twisted away easily and moved to the other side of their kitchen island. He planted himself behind where Raph and Leo sat eating breakfast. Donnie growled, frustrated with his slow, lead-filled, sleepy limbs for being unable to keep up with the smaller turtle this early in the morning.

"Yer really challengin the morning beast there, Mike," Raph said between bites of cereal. He heard Leo laugh beside him and froze in the next moment when he turned and found Leo's face lit up with a grin aimed directly at him. His thoughts about Leo's eyes and Leo's face were interrupted by Donnie's response and he jerked his face back to his own breakfast.

"Yes, real words," Donnie said.

"Great," Mikey said cheerily as he practically skipped back around the island and handed Donnie his mug. "Please enjoy your coffee."

Donnie gave a half-hearted growl as he slumped down in his seat and gratefully began drinking his required wake-up cup.

Donnie,

Your work on that problem was amazing. You made it look entirely too easy. So much so that I wouldn't even mind if a similar problem showed up on the exam because I finally understand how to solve it! Thank you. Have you taken chemistry classes?

So if Mikey is the baby, where does that place you in the lineup?

Best, Sadie

Hi Sadie,

No, no chemistry classes. I'm mainly self-taught. Although, I wouldn't mind taking classes, but I'm not sure how that could work out.

Anyway, I guess I'm one of the middle brothers.

Donnie sat back and stared at the screen. He was pleased he had been able to help Sadie with her schoolwork. And so far, responding to her emails was rather easy. But he realized he had really only responded to her emails. She'd asked questions and he answered them.

He was still sitting there wondering what else he could add to his email when Leo walked into the lab. He decided to go to his big brother for help.

"If you were a girl, what kind of question would you want me to ask you?"

Leo stopped in his tracks and immediately rubbed his hand over the back of his neck nervously.

"Um, what?"

"Say I wanted to learn more about you, what kind of question should I ask to prompt you to open up and share?"

"I'm pretty sure you already know all about me, Donnie," Leo said with half a grin, doing his best to evade the question.

Donnie rolled his eyes at him as Raphael appeared in the lab doorway.

"Hey, I'm headed out," Raph said. He still didn't mention Casey's name in front of Donatello, even though everyone in the room knew who he was going to meet. Leo didn't meet his eyes but he waited until he saw Leo's nod of acknowledgement before he turned and left.

"I'm really no good at relationships, Donnie," Leo said, his eyes pinned to the ground in front of him. "Maybe you should ask Mikey?" He paused and Donnie watched as a grin suddenly appeared on Leo's face before he looked up and said, "There's a sentence I never thought I'd say."

Donnie chuckled with him before they were interrupted again as they heard April call out from the lair's entrance. They left the lab and quickly moved to help unload her of some of the packages she'd managed to carry down to them.

"I knew Raph was going to be out," she explained, "so I thought I'd start bringing some of this stuff down."

Leo took the box April offered to him as he was once again reminded that Raphael was out playing with Casey. He opened it and peered in at the red motorcycle helmet he'd ordered.

"Thanks again for letting us use your apartment for shipping, April," Leo said. "I'm going to stash this in my room and then head out for a run."

April and Donnie nodded to him absentmindedly in return as Donnie looked through some of the other packages.

"You should've called us to come pick this up instead of carrying it all down yourself, April," Donnie said, as he took the rest of the packages filled with the party supplies Mikey had ordered and headed back towards his lab.

April followed him and watched as he quickly stashed the bags in one of his lab cabinets.

"This stuff will probably be safer in here than in Michelangelo's room," he muttered. He listened to April laugh as he returned to his lab stool. He sat considering her for a moment as she began pulling out her books on the other side of the table.

"What's up?" she asked, feeling his eyes on her.

"Um, well, let's say you were a girl -,"

"I am."

"Right. Right. But let's say you were a girl I didn't know. And you were emailing me and you had asked some personal questions in the emails. That shows a level of interest, right?" He continued before she could even nod her head. "And-and, I'd like to return that level of interest, but I don't know the perfect question to ask to learn more about you. Do you have any suggestions for what that might be?"

April sat back on her stool, suddenly full of questions herself. She swallowed them down, however, and decided to focus on the question Donnie was asking her. She wanted to be his friend, after all, and she wasn't going to waste this chance to actually be his friend.

"Well, Donnie, there is no perfect question," she said with a small shrug. "And really you might not even need a question. Maybe just write as if she was in front of you and see what comes of it? She'll probably just start naturally sharing in repsonse."

Donnie nodded thoughtfully and picked up a pencil to tap against the side of his mouth. He returned his eyes to April's when she began speaking again.

"Just -," she said, meeting his eyes with a slightly intense look of her own, "maybe start small, first. And then go from there."

His earlier fears about letting his heart go too far too fast suddenly returned. But he found he wasn't as nervous as he'd been before the emails had started. He offered April a thankful smile and pulled his email back up on his laptop.

April watched as Donnie's tongue appeared between his teeth as his fingers flew over keyboard. She gave herself a little nod and tuned her focus to her homework.

The apartment was dark when Sadie entered. Her earlier experiment in the research lab had completely failed and she'd had to stay late to set the whole process up again, which meant she was arriving home close to midnight.

Legally, Woody was an adult now, but she still crept to his door and stuck her head in his room briefly to make sure he was home and safe. She had texted him earlier to let him know she was going to miss dinner and her guilt about leaving him alone was quickly diminished when he texted back and said Mikey was going to come over for dinner. Her fondness for Mikey was growing fast.

She silently closed the door and stared at the handle for a moment as it suddenly occurred to her that with Mikey around, maybe she shouldn't be randomly checking in on Woody in his room anymore.

She quickly moved away from his room and headed into her own. She looked longingly at her own bed as she flipped on her laptop. But her day still wasn't finished. While she wished the seemingly all-consuming research lab was her only responsibility, she still had plenty of work from her actual classes to work on as well.

But as she sat in her desk chair, she couldn't help but pull her email up first. She chewed on her lower lip as an unfamiliar sensation filled her chest as she waited for the website to finally connect. What was that she was feeling? Nerves? Hope?

"Yes and yes," she whispered to herself. Although, it was happiness that blossomed as soon as she spotted a new email from Donatello in her inbox. She read through the first part and then reached his explanation that he was one of the two middle turtle brothers.

Leo is definitely the big brother, a role he takes very seriously. You can probably relate, being the eldest yourself. I know we haven't met, but I have heard enough about Woody from Mikey to know that you stepped in immediately when you were needed. I've seen Leo in action enough times to know how hard it is to be the eldest, and to shoulder responsibility for everyone. I don't really thank Leo enough, but take it from someone who is also a little brother, your efforts are always appreciated.

Sadie swallowed over a lump in her throat and tears filled her eyes as Donatello's words hit home. She knew Woody appreciated her, and she appreciated him right back. But there was something deeply filling in being told that she was doing a good job. That her hard work was paying off.

She rubbed at her eyes so she could focus on the screen again as he began sharing with her some of the details from one of the several projects he was currently working on.

She read through his email once more before she forced herself to switch gears and work on her schoolwork. But before she went to bed, she typed out an email to him in return.

Dear Donnie,

Its super late and I have to be awake for class in approximately four hours (thank the heavens for coffee), but I really felt the need to respond to your email before bed to let you know how much I appreciate your words. It has been difficult, to say the least, without our parents around. But you've honestly given me hope that I'm doing okay not only for Woody, but for myself as well.

You should also know that even if you aren't the eldest, you do a pretty great job at being a big brother. Mikey has mentioned Leo and Raphael during his dinners here with us, and he clearly idolizes all three of you, but he goes on and on about what a genius you are and insists that your family would be living "in the stone age" if it wasn't for you and your inventions. And it's endearing, to me at least, to know that Woody has become involved with someone who's so close to his own family.

I'd love to see what you're working on. Maybe you can bring something over here? Have dinner with us? I hope you say yes.

Sincerely,

Sadie

Another thought occurred to Sadie and she did a quick online search before returning to her email to Donatello.

P.S. I'm attaching an application for an online GED test. You'll need it before you can apply to an online college. Just do it. See what happens.

Sadie hit the snooze button as many times as she possibly could before she finally pushed herself out of the bed the next morning. She didn't really have the time, but pulled up her email anyway to see if she had anything from Donatello. He'd indicated in his last email that he did his best work at night while the others were asleep – fewer interruptions - and she had been secretly hoping that he'd still been awake when she sent her own email response just a few hours ago.

Her inbox was empty, however, and she did her best not to be disappointed as she got dressed. She tried to convince herself that maybe Donnie just hadn't seen her email yet. But she couldn't keep random thoughts from racing through her head, like maybe he had seen it and it had scared him off. Maybe she was overstepping by asking him over for dinner after just a few emails had been exchanged between them. Hadn't Woody said he'd talked to Mikey for months before they actually saw each other in person? She didn't know what the proper etiquette was. She just didn't date.

Her cheeks flushed as she realized she was actually thinking about dating. She never thought about dating. She was always too busy with school. And yet, someone had arrived, albeit via email only so far, who had her immediately thinking about it.

She pulled her hair up into a bun as she walked out to the main room where she found Woody cooking breakfast.

"I don't have time to eat, Woody," she called out as she stuffed her notebooks into her bag.

"I figured," Woody said. "I heard your alarm go off like eighteen times."

"Sorry," she said. "I should be home for dinner tonight, though."

"No worries," Woody said, grinning at her.

"I'll see you later," she said, looping her crossover bag over her head.

"You should check the weather before you go," Woody called out.

Sadie stopped and looked down at her outfit. It was early spring and probably chillier than she was expecting, but she didn't really have time to change. But she moved quickly to one of their windows and slid it open to humor Woody.

Her mouth dropped open when she spotted an unexpected travel mug sitting on their fire escape. She gingerly picked it up and was rewarded with steam and the delicious smell of coffee as she slid open the lid. She tilted her head and found a small note taped to the side of the cup - Thank the heavens for coffee, indeed.

Her grin practically hurt her cheeks as she pulled the cup into the apartment and turned with a raised eyebrow at her brother.

"Did you see him here?"

Woody shook his head, a small smile on his face. He'd only received a text from Mikey asking him to send Sadie to the fire escape before she left. "No, but they are ninja."

She tilted her head at him. "I think that will have to be our first topic of conversation at dinner tonight," she said before she exited the apartment, sipping her coffee treat.

Mikey and Donnie watched Sadie close the fire escape window from where they sat perched and Mikey quickly elbowed Donnie's side. Donnie adjusted quickly so that no precious coffee was lost from his own travel mug due to Mikey's rough nudge.

"Good call on the coffee, D," Mikey said with a grin. He turned and studied Donatello's face, waiting for a reaction. Surprisingly, he couldn't tell what Donnie was thinking. "She doesn't have curly hair, but she's pretty, right?"

He waited as Donnie remained silent, although his brother's eyes were still pinned on the closed window. Mikey wasn't sure what it was that had him pushing this so hard. But something in his gut told him that Donnie and Sadie were supposed to meet.

Donnie finally released the breath he'd been holding since Sadie had first appeared at her fire escape. He thought of her appreciation for his most recent email and her own sincere words in response. Of her immediate encouragement that he pursue a degree, which was a dream he hadn't even shared with his own brothers. Of her clear night owl habits. Of her believably sincere interest in his work. And of her smile when she saw his note on the coffee cup.

And good heavens, on top of everything that he already knew about her, she turned out to be beautiful as well.

"You'll come to dinner tonight, right?" Mikey asked.

Donnie turned to Mikey and found Mike's eyes staring intently back at him. There was no begging, no pouting, and no puppy dog eyes. Mikey wanted him to say yes for no other reason than because he wanted to be there.

He grinned at Mikey. So much for not letting his heart rush things this time around.

"Listen, Sadie, I'm going to go up on the rooftop for a little bit."

"What? Why?" Sadie asked. She rushed out of her bedroom and found Woody already halfway out the window on the fire escape. "Is that thing safe?"

Woody glanced out at the metal ladder system. "Well, uh, Mikey's over two hundred pounds and he leaps on and off of it all the time, so I'm going to say yes, it appears pretty sturdy."

"Why are you leaving?"

Woody grinned at her. "I just wanted to give you a little privacy to meet your new friend. You don't need little brothers standing here staring at you, right?"

Sadie smiled at the thoughtful gesture. "You'll come back down for dinner?"

Woody nodded.

"Okay," Sadie said, as her nerves revved up. Because if Woody was leaving, then that meant Donnie would be here soon. She suddenly wondered if this was such a good idea. She had no real time to date, right? And although she thought Mikey was adorable, she had no earthly clue what Donnie looked like. Maybe she should've asked for a picture first, just to be pre-

"Hey," Woody said as he watched Sadie actually look worried. "You're gonna like him."

Sadie nodded, thankful to her brother for interrupting her chaotic thoughts, and watched as Woody moved the rest of the way through the window. She turned her back to the window and chewed on her bottom lip as she ran through the pros and cons of this meeting. Then rolled her eyes at herself for making up a pros and cons list in the first place.

"Such a nerd," she muttered.

"Who's a nerd?"

Sadie spun back around and stared at the turtle who was suddenly on her fire escape with his hand raised, ready to knock on the window.

"Sorry, I heard you -,"

"Talking to myself," Sadie said with a short laugh and a self-deprecating headshake. "Please come in."

Donnie moved through the window and found that once he was inside and just a few feet away from her, all of the nervous energy he'd felt building up on his trip here disappeared. He noticed her intently looking him over, but he found himself completely at ease in front of her, in a way that he rarely ever was with anyone outside of his brothers.

Once he was inside the apartment and able to straighten himself upright, Sadie was immediately impressed with how tall he was. His eyes were wrapped with her favorite shade of purple and her nerves flittered away when their eyes locked and she saw warmth and intelligence shining out of those brown eyes.

"They say those with the best scientific minds often talk to themselves," Donnie said.

She soaked in the sound of his voice for a moment before responding.

"Who says?"

"Mostly me," Donnie replied with a smile.

Sadie quickly grinned in return when she saw his gap-toothed grin.

"And usually I'm just saying it to make myself feel better-,"

"When you catch yourself talking to yourself?" Sadie asked with a laugh as she felt butterflies dance in her stomach.

Donnie grinned wider and nodded in response.

"It's nice to meet you, Donatello."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Sadie."

Donnie poured one solution into another and then watched closely for the reaction. He made some notes in his tablet, but stopped when his T-phone lit up with a loud beep that indicated he had a new email.

He had recently updated the technology on his original de-radiation tool, the one the government had purchased from him so many years ago when he'd been fresh out of graduate school. And now he was expecting an email with details of a new purchase agreement for the updated, patented blueprints. He pushed his email button and his newest email immediately filled the screen.

Mr. Hamato,

If you don't get your cute turtle butt out of that lab and into our apartment right now I will be forced to -

The stairwell door swung shut behind him as he rushed through it to head upstairs.

A/N: A few people have asked how Donnie and Sadie met and this was pretty much what I had always pictured in my brain, leading up to Raphael's surprise birthday party in "Promise" when both Sadie and Woody get to visit the lair for the first time. This is clearly a monster of a chapter but I just couldn't make it any shorter!