It had been two weeks since Keiko's son was born. Slowly but surely, everyone had been adjusting to this new reality as best as they possibly could... almost everyone, anyhow. While Eddie, his family, his friends, and their allies had been busy scrambling to get some last-minute preparations done, Keiko was still keeping her distance from the baby; both physically and emotionally. No one seemed to know what to do to fix this or how to broach the presumed elephant in the room with her. Instead, all they could do was focus on getting the baby's needs met while also dealing with their own responsibilities at hand.

Speaking of which, Raphael thankfully wasn't aware that the woman who gave birth to him was practically a stranger in his life. Better yet, he'd taken to the bottle rather quickly as well. That was probably for the best anyway. If Keiko wasn't in a good place to take care of him, why not his grandfather? Though the circumstances were far from ideal, the grandfather took solace in the fact that Raphael seemed to be at least adapting well to his new home life. Besides that, he'd be getting a new aunt in two months, so Raphael would get to grow up alongside a potential new friend.

"How's Keiko doing?" Eddie asked Charise while he was feeding Raphael.

Charise's expression told him everything he needed to know. "She's... about the same."

"So not much different than yesterday, then?"

Charise shook her head. "I'm afraid not. How's Raphael, our little man? Is he still doing well?"

"Oh yeah, very much so." Eddie waited until he was sure that the last bit of formula was gone before carefully removing the bottle's nipple from Raphael's mouth. Then he got out a soft purple blanket and laid it across his shoulder. "Alright, Raph, you know what time it is." He lifted Raphael up and laid him on top of the purple blanket. "That's right, it's burping time." He patted his grandson on the back a few times and shifted him from side to side. It took less than ten seconds for Raphael to burp after that. "There you go..."

Raphael proceeded to doze off after that, having exerted himself a bit earlier.

"I still don't get it," Eddie said. "Why didn't she tell anyone? Was she afraid we'd blame her for what happened somehow?"

"Hell if I know," Alice replied. "It's impossible trying to get her to open up anymore."

"Not for lack of trying, though." Eddie sighed. "She still needs time to grieve, that much is obvious. In fact, we all do, but I want to get to the bottom of why she hid Raph's existence from us in the first place."

"Well, we're not going to get any answers just sitting around and talking," Jared chimed in. "Is Keiko awake right now?"

"She was when I left," Charise replied. "Don't expect to get any answers out of her, though. I tried getting her to talk, but she wouldn't say much of anything."

"Okay, so talking's out of the question, then. Maybe if we get her to at least hold him, we'll get somewhere with this."

"It's worth a shot, at least."

Eddie nodded and stood up, being careful not to disturb the sleeping baby. "Alright, what are we waiting for? Let's go."

And so Eddie had Jared, Charise, Alice, Bruce, and Victory follow him out of his office and right outside Keiko's bedroom door. Once there, Eddie listened closely, noting to himself that Keiko was listening to "PPAP" on loop for what he could've sworn was the five-hundredth time. He knew that "PPAP" was one of Keiko's all-time favorite songs (one that she liked to put on to lift her mood, no less), but this was ridiculous. Still, he really wanted to help his daughter in any way he could.

Eddie lightly knocked on the door. "Keiko?" No response. "Keiko?" Still no response. "Keiko, we want to see you about something."

"PPAP" abruptly stopped playing, and the sound of footsteps could be heard. It only took a moment for Keiko to open the door and see her dad, stepmom, step-grandparents, and their friends standing there. It was enough to catch her off guard, and she blinked in surprise, momentarily unsure of how to react.

"Dad?" Keiko asked, still genuinely surprised. "What are you guys doing-?"

Keiko suddenly noticed the baby resting his head on Eddie's shoulder and slammed the door shut.

"Keiko!" Eddie gasped. "Don't you want to hold your son, even for a little bit?"

Keiko didn't respond.

"Keiko, please," Eddie begged. "Don't do this! Don't shut him out of your life, not like this."

"Leave me alone," Keiko barked, irritation starting to set in.

"Keiko, I know you're hurting, but-"

"Leave me alone."

"Keiko-"

"What part of 'leave me alone' don't you understand?!"

Eddie gave out a defeated sigh. "Well, we'll always be there for you if you need us."

"Great plan, Jared," Eddie sarcastically praised the former accountant.

"Well, how was I supposed to know she'd slam the door on us like that?!" Jared replied.

"I don't know! All I want is for Keiko to not avoid Raph every chance she gets. Is that too much to ask for?"

"Look, sir, I get it. I really do, but at this rate, we might end up pushing her away."

Eddie buried his face into his hands. "Oh God, I don't even want to think about that. I know Keiko hasn't been herself in months, but there's got to be a way to get through to her and help her realize how much Raph needs her."

"I don't think so," Bruce chimed in. "Nothing's going to change. Keiko's made up her mind, and there's nothing we can do about that."

Eddie shook his head and sighed. "No, I won't accept that. We have to keep trying."

"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" Victory asked.

Eddie shook his head again. "I don't know, but we'll figure something out. We always have."

Soon, everyone was overcome with awkward silence. No one knew what to say next. Instead, they resigned themselves to their inner thoughts for a moment. As the group sat at the table in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, a cloud of uncertainty hung in the air. Keiko's resistance to reconnecting with her son weighed heavily on everyone present. Eddie couldn't shake off that feeling of helplessness that engulfed him, knowing that Keiko was drifting further away with each passing day. Jared, meanwhile, felt a pang of guilt for inadvertently contributing to Keiko's distress by orchestrating this ill-fated surprise visit.

Eventually, Charise was the one to break the silence. "So, Eddie... when are you going to tell Ethan and Maddie that they have a great-nephew now?"

"Damn, I didn't even think about that," Eddie replied. "I don't know, but I know I can't keep it from them forever."

"Alright, just wondering."

Eddie nodded. "I know. We'll get through this. We always have."