Donatello lets out a long breath as he closes Sarina's file. He sets it back with Destiny and Diaval's files, resting his hand on his chin as he lets out a long breath.

"Wow," he breathes.

He didn't look at everything inside her file, he just skimmed over it and read the bits that especially intrigued him. That amounted to reports on which parts of her body are robotic and which are human, eventually leading to him learning about the fact that she had a lung defect at birth that made breathing a chore, hence why her lungs are reinforced with metal.

"Wow," he repeats to himself.

The last file on the table still waits, taunting him with its hidden contents. Donatello cringes as he shoots it a glare, that horrible itching need crawling back into his hands. If only—

He stops as a simple solution pops into his brain and he sighs at how silly he's being. Too many distractions definitely make him less sharp. He pulls out his t-phone and dials the number, putting it to his ear as it starts to ring.

There's a click on the other end. "Hello?" a gravelly, accented voice answers.

"Diaval, it's Donnie," Donatello says. "Is this a bad time?"

There's a pause, a few deep breaths, then a sigh. "Nah. Getting ready for bed," Diaval says and Donatello can imagine him giving a barely there shrug. "Everything okay?"

"Uh...fine. Well, sort of. A lot has happened."

"Destiny's okay?"

"Um...she's recovering from a..." He tosses explanations around in his head, then settles on "...injury."

There's a crash from the other side of the line and a soft "damn", followed by scuffling. After a few seconds, Diaval's voice comes back.

"Sorry, broke a plate," he states. "What happened?"

"She got shot in the shoulder, but a new friend of ours got some medicine for her. She should be good as new soon."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Mhm."

Silence. Donatello starts to tap his fingers against his knee as he pivots back and forth on his office chair. The man on the other end still says nothing.

"So..." Donatello says. "I was actually calling about something concerning you."

"Huh?"

"My...friend, Sarina, she used to be a TCRI Kraang subject," he continues, starting to nervously rub the back of his neck. "The other day, she found some files over there and...one of them belongs to you."

There's a long breath. "Huh..."

"It's your business, and I completely understand if you want it to stay closed, but I'd like to be able to do some crosschecks. The information could be a great help."

More silence, but Donatello is used to it by now. There's soft shuffling from the other end, a thump followed by a low "ow", and then the shift of material as if Diaval sat down on a chair or couch.

"You...know, about some stuff," Diaval mumbles. "Stuff 'bout...m-me..."

Donatello swallows as an icy feeling reappears in his gut. "Yes."

"Des doesn't?"

"As far as I know, that's true."

Diaval pauses again. "Don't let her read it. Not yet," he says.

"I won't."

"Thanks."

"Do you want to talk to her?"

"Nah, probably tired. Talk t'her later." Another beat. "You can check on her."

"If that's what you want."

"Yup."

"Then, I will."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Silence.

"Okay, bye."

"Bye."

They hang up at the same time. Donatello sets the phone aside and immediately reaches for Diaval's file, flipping it open and starting to skim. There's a few records of the arrangement between a man dubbed "Don Poppa" and the Kraang, then endless pages of experiments performed on him over the course of five or so years. There's even a picture for every time one of the tests messed up something, like when his hair started turning white from stress. Donatello lingers on an eyesight report, where it's noted that Diaval's eyes turned pink and that he has become severely farsighted, albeit he can see things in great detail from faraway distances. Donatello wonders whether Diaval has ever had the chance to get glasses, then abandons the idea when he remembers the boy's previous circumstances.

After a while, Donatello finally sets the file aside and lets out a long breath. He glances at the clock in the corner of his computer screen, letting him know two things: that it's getting late and that he's been holed up in his laboratory for hours. It won't be too long before everyone settles in for bed.

He stands and grabs his first aid kit before wandering out to the living room. Raphael reads a comic on the bench while Leonardo sits in front of the TV, watching Space Heroes reruns. The pinging noises of Michelangelo's pinball game mingles with the general ambience. April and Casey are absent, and Donatello has no doubt that they went home, since the weekend is over and they have school again in the morning.

"And so the hermit emerges," Raphael comments, making Donatello jolt from his daydreaming yet again. The tall turtle blinks rapidly as Raphael glances at him, a slight smirk on his face. "We were starting to worry, Don."

"I was just reading the files," he says, trying to keep his tone casual.

"Anything interesting?" Leonardo asks without sparing a glance.

Donatello's chest puffs up a bit and he takes a few steps further into the room. "Plenty. Sarina's mutation is, dare I say it, a work of art." He stares up at the ceiling, the haze of a daydream invading as he keeps rambling. "I've never seen a Kraang mutation so well thought out and meticulous. It's like the Kraang were never involved in the first place! Someone must have been watching out for her."

"Dude, you're smitten," Michelangelo calls as the pinball machine plays a round of victory music.

The purple-masked turtle's faint smile disappears altogether and his shoulders slump. He tries to say something, but nothing comes out except for a weak exhalation. He grips his first aid kit a little tighter and starts shuffling towards the bedrooms.

"I'm...gonna check on Des," he says before bolting away so fast that he could leave skid marks.

Raphael and Leonardo glance at one another, the former arching an eye-ridge, and Leonardo shrugs before turning back to his show.

Donatello reaches Destiny's room and knocks slowly, careful not to be too abrupt. From within, he hears a soft, "Who's there?"

"Donatello," he replies, pushing the door open a crack.

"Come on in."

He pushes the door the rest of the way open and steps inside before shutting it behind him. Destiny has her lamp on, the cutouts of stars lighting up the ceiling. She lays on her back on her bed, her uninjured arm folded behind her head, and her gaze is distant as she traces the stars with her toe.

She winces as she pushes herself into a seated position, hand drifting to her bandages. "You come to check on me?" she asks.

"That amongst other stuff," he says, seating himself on the bed near her and resting his kit on her milk crate side table. "How's the pain on a scale of one to ten?"

"It used to be a ten, now...I dunno, a five?" She gives a lopsided shrug and brushes her curls from her face. "Yeah, let's say five...and a half. No. Five. Just five."

"Alright, that's good," he says with a slight chuckle.

He reaches over and starts unwrapping the bandages. He keeps his eyes on his work, knowing that if he starts to look around, he'll notice the empty mattress on the floor with the faded patchwork quilt and the lumpy pillow, all cold and void of any sign of someone having slept there recently. She has her eyes on her pictures, a melancholic smile on her scarred face.

"How are you, aside from the shoulder?" he finally asks, bundling up the bandages and setting them aside as he retrieves clean ones.

Destiny's ears flatten and her chin tucks towards her chest. "It's weird knowing the names of my parents," she admits, "and my actual birthday."

"Yeah, I bet."

"I've spent my whole life not knowing anything about myself and where I came from, and now I know that I was born on October 18, 1997 to Penelope Harlow, a nineteen-year-old woman who died trying to give birth to me." She stops, immediately noticing the surprised look on Donatello's face. "Yeah...the paper that I threw in the water? A morgue report thing, I think. It was kinda confusing." She shakes her head and composes herself. "Basically, it said that my mom died soon after I was born and that her parents and my father weren't present."

"That's horrible."

She exhales, breath hitching for a second when Donatello finishes the cleaning and starts wrapping. "Yeah...why wouldn't they be there? Didn't they care?"

"Maybe Penelope didn't tell them that she was pregnant."

"Yeah, maybe." She huffs, a slight pout on her face. "So many questions answered, yet so many more have been created."

He smiles a little. "That's how life works, huh?"

She nods and he clips the bandage in place, making her look at it and rotate her shoulder a bit. She looks up at him with a small smile and tilts her head, her tail starting to sway to and fro. He knows that look and it frightens him.

"Your turn," she says. "What really happened in TCRI with Sarina? I can't put my finger on it, but you've been squirrelly ever since you got back."

He turns beet red. "What? Nothing happened. She just sacrificed herself."

Destiny's eyebrows arch. "I see blushiiiing," she sing-songs.

He gets impossibly redder. "I s-swear, nothing..." Her intense, knowing eyes don't even spare a blink and he freezes up as a weak, rattling laugh leaves him. "Oh...okay, yes. Something more happened."

"Tell me everything."

He purses his lips tightly and her tail starts to wag. He sucks in a deep breath, then lets it out. "Sarina...kissed me," he whispers.

"NO FREAKING WAY!" Destiny shrieks, gripping his shoulders as she lunges towards him. He falls back against the bed with a surprised yelp and she keeps him pinned, a grin on her face. "Oh my word, Donnie, are you serious? Did you like it? Was it nice? Did she feel metallic or human-ish?"

"D-Des!" he sputters. "T-That's very p-personal!"

Her grin becomes slightly more evil as her fangs glint. "Ooo, you did like it. It felt good, didn't it?" He wishes that she didn't have his hands pinned so he could cover his face, but she does, so he opts for squeezing his eyes shut. "She said she was starting to like you, but taking charge like that? That's my girl!"

"What? Did you do that to Leo?"

This time, it's her turn to blush. "Well...no, but still! Taking the initiative! I respect that."

"Des, I'm glad you're excited," he says. "I kind of need to talk about a lot of stuff." He lets out a heavy breath and shifts. "Now, if you could get off my plastron—"

"Oh, right. Sorry," she says, immediately getting off and letting him sit back up. "So...in all seriousness, what're you thinking about?"

"Sarina," he answers, making her sigh heavily. "Yes, obvious, but...I dunno, until that moment, I...I didn't know how much I cared about her," he says. "When she...kissed...me, I thought that I was dreaming. It came out of nowhere. I didn't do anything to make Sarina do that, I didn't try to get her to like me. In fact, I didn't ever imagine something like that happening, but despite all that..."

A knowing nod. "Yup..."

"I don't know yet, but I think I'm in real danger of falling in love with her," he continues. "Even though she bugged me sometimes and she was weird, I liked having her around. She felt right." He twiddles his thumbs. "Does that make any sense?"

"I understand completely," she says. She scoots a little closer to him and smiles. "That's pretty much how I feel around Leo."

"Is that just a part of loving someone?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out. Love is confusing."

"I agree."

Destiny tugs at one of her curls, twirling and twisting it thoughtfully. "Are you going to do anything about it?"

He shrugs. "Right now, my focus is on getting her back. Then...we'll see what happens."

"Sounds like a solid plan."

They pause. During that break, Donatello reaches over and slowly packs up his first aid kit. Destiny glances at her bandages, poking them lightly and wincing when she remembers that the injury beneath still hurts. He sets the kit on the floor and clears his throat again.

"Actually, there's another thing I needed to tell you," he says.

"Yeah?"

"It's about Subject 61390," he continues. Her ears perk and her pupils dilate, making him swallow and trace one finger along the edge of his plastron. "It's Diaval."

She goes stock still, her curious, puckered look melting into disbelief. After a second, she whispers out, "Really?"

"I just called him. He doesn't want you to read it yet, but I'm sure that you can talk to him if you really want to know," he continues, his eyes moving over everything in the room except her face. "It has records of some stuff from his life before the Foot, but it's...uh, not my business to say. He wants to be able to tell you when he's ready."

She bows her head as her pupils start to swivel around in thought. "Oh, okay," she says. She looks up and forces a smile. "Thanks for telling me."

"No problem." He stands up, stooping to retrieve his kit before heading to the door. "Just holler if you need anything."

"I could use something else, actually."

"Yeah?"

She swings her legs off the bed, letting her toes graze the floor, and extends her arms to him. "A hug."

He blinks, then flashes a gap-filled smile as he walks back to her. He leans down and scoops her into a hug, lifting her up in the process. She shuts her eyes and her tail wags as she lets out a long, peaceful breath.

"Thanks," she mumbles. "Hugs remind me that there's good in the world."

"Me too."

They separate and he ruffles her hair, making it flop all over her face and get tangled around her wolf ears. She smiles a little and runs her fingers through the mussed curls, then her eyes spark and she perks a little. "Actually, I just thought of something else that I want..."

"Yeah?"

"If I ever have kids one day, there's two things. One...I want Le—the dad to be there." She clears her throat. "And I want to live through it, so I can be there for my kids. That'd be nice."

He smiles a little at the thought of mini-Destinys running around. "Yeah, that would."

"What do you want?"

"Right now or in the future?"

"Either or."

He takes a long, thoughtful breath. "Peace in this family...and Sarina, even if it's just for a little while."

"That sounds doable, especially if Leo's big secret plan works out," she says with a hopeful glint in her eyes. He nods and she exhales sharply, lying back down. "Okay, sorry, that was a sidetrack. I just thought of it and...yeah. I need sleep."

"Alright, Des," he laughs.

He again starts for the door. Despite everything going on, he feels better. He feels lighter. He says another soft goodbye and shuts the door behind him, letting out a long breath. He turns to go but instead finds Leonardo walking towards his own bedroom, a yawn escaping his mouth. Donatello perks up and intervenes with his eldest brother's path, a serious yet slightly happy look on his face.

"Leo, whatever you do, do not let Destiny slip away from you," he says. "I'm taking a chance, you should too."

Leonardo arches an eye-ridge as he frowns a little. "What? I..." He shakes his head. "Okay, what's up with you?"

Donatello grips Leonardo's shoulders and tugs him closer, their noses nearly bumping. Leonardo squirms slightly, but is altogether too weirded out to actually escape. "Leo, you need to marry that girl one day or else I will be severely disappointed," he says. A grin lifts his lips and he pats Leonardo's shoulders. "Don't want to give up on love, right? I'm not, that's for sure!"

Donatello hurries off down the hall, whistling and swinging his first aid kit as he goes. Leonardo stares after him, wondering just where Donatello's good mood has come from and why he would talk about something like marriage so abruptly. Even so, Leonardo glances towards Destiny's room and lets out a long breath as his lip quirks at the corner.

"Yeah, maybe one day I will," he whispers.