It was late. Past time anyone should be up. But the light shining out from the crack at the bottom of the lab door into the hall said otherwise. Inside, Rockwell sat in front of his computer with dark rings of exhaustion under his eyes. A severe frown accentuated the numerous wrinkles in his face. He could feel his palms sweating. Slowly but surely, the monkey mutant was making his way through the encrypted files. He had started with the one labeled: SX71364, which he soon learned was the researcher's project file. The deeper he read, the more his stomach rebelled. Rockwell himself had never approved of experimentation on animals that was why he preferred using DNA samples for his projects.

Not only did this file contain the project head's official reports, it also provided him with her notes and the notes of some of the other scientists who worked under her. He didn't like her handwriting. It showed she was a woman of a very cold, stoic disposition. At times, the dark, heavy scrawl slanted extremely to the right, which suggested the scientist was being carried away by her emotions, yet there were also moments where the text leaned to the left, suggesting that she was holding something back. The varied presence of both suggested that the writer was unstable. Of course he was no graphologist, but he knew enough to tell that besides the features he'd just noted, she was very intelligent. The way that the words grew smaller suggested considerable focus.

Rockwell decided to return to the notes later and turn his attention to the official reports. He blinked at all the confidentiality warnings attached to the cover page. The monkey mutant's finger hesitated before scrolling down. The first section was dated the twenty-third of October, ten years ago.

Subject SX71364 has been placed in confinement. DNA evidence shows Homo sapiens and Lacertilia characteristics. Subject is approximately 100.0 centimeters in height, weighing 20.4 kilograms. Hair color: brown. Eye color: brown. Gender: Female. Ethnic Background: Unkown. Subject's skin consists of very small scales, yet displays almost human-like consistency and texture. With the exception of tail, subject's anatomy is more human than lizard. DNA also shows signs of rapid mutation, though the cause is unknown, as such it is predicted that subject is a humanoid mutant.

Rockwell paused. One-hundred centimeters weighing twenty kilograms? But that would mean...He skimmed the rest of the paragraph until his eyes landed on the information he sought. His breath hitched.

Subject's predicted age: Six years.

Six years old. Mona Lisa was only six years old. Rockwell's head spun. He felt sick. He fell back into his chair, letting his arms fall limply to the sides. Another thought sobered him: If Mona Lisa hadn't been as young as she was, they probably wouldn't have kept her alive as long as they did. The sound of the door creaking on its hinges made him swivel around. His visitor froze. Rockwell stiffened and his eyes narrowed. "You shouldn't be here."

The figure in the doorway took a couple tentative steps inside, warily staying close to the wall.

Rockwell frowned, his paternal overprotectiveness flared and he stood to reprimand the turtle sternly. "Donatello is going to have a fit. You aren't supposed to out of bed yet."

Raphael yawned and shrugged indifferently. "It's his fault for being a nerd. Just assumed he was pulling another all-nighter. I came to kick his shell back to bed."

The monkey mutant answered remotely, "It is my lab."

With yet another yawn, the obviously sleepy turtle replied, "Bet it hasn't been yours much since my family invaded."

Rockwell shrugged his shoulders. "I can't blame them. You were in a bad way."

"Still, it was nice of you." Raph observed.

Rockwell was no fool. He could tell when someone was trying to distract him. And he had thought Raphael would have been intelligent enough to realize that he wouldn't allow himself to be distracted. The rather bland attempt at a compliment was clearly a diversion tactic. A tactic that he could easily recognize since it was one, his daughter had often tried on him back in her teenage years. His eyes narrowed. He was not about to allow Raphael to avoid the issue at hand. "I better not see you doing this again." He reprimanded sternly, snapping remotely back into parent mode.

As the turtle smirked, Rockwell could see the sparkle of impish youth in his eyes. "Okay. You can close your eyes next time."

Bringing two fingers up to rub at his temples, Rockwell hung his head and let out an exasperated sigh. "I cannot begin to imagine how your father managed it."

Raph smiled wanly and replied, "With a lot of patience."

Eager to wrap this conversation up as soon as possible and get back to work, the monkey mutant said gravely, "Overtaxing your body in its already weakened state could lead to further injuries."

One of Raph's eye-ridges shot up and his loose grin turned into a frown. There was still a small hint of sleepiness on his facial features, but he was obviously pushing them aside. "Why do I get the feeling that you're anxious to get rid of me?"

"I do still have work to do, so if you don't mind—"

"What kind of work?" He asked as he took a few steps forward, tilting a little in an attempt to see the screen better. Rockwell shifted to block his gaze. Raph's neon-green eyes brightened and then narrowed. His drowsiness was gone and he was suddenly wide awake. Dr. Rockwell's lips were pressed into a tight, thin line. Raphael attempted to straighten his posture, but instead he lost his balance and swayed a little. The monkey genius pitched forward and caught the turtle by the elbows, steadying him.

By the time Rockwell realized it was ploy, it was too late.

Raph's eyes stared straight over Rockwell's shoulder at the text on the screen. He froze, suddenly riddled with tension. One word leapt off the screen and flashed repeatedly in front of his eyes: SX71364. Mona Lisa.

The hothead tore himself away from the former scientist's grip. He clenched his hands into fists using so much force that they shook. Even in his weakened state, he easily shoved Rockwell to the side and leaned forward to rest his hands on the desk. After finally getting past the initial shock, Raph's eyes flew rapidly across the page, absorbing as much of the information as he could. His emerald-green hand reached for the mouse. He growled dangerously as a hairy brown hand snatched it out from under him.

"You shouldn't be here." Rockwell said sternly. The turtle didn't budge. "If you do not return to bed I shall call Donatello to come fetch you." Raphael remained steadfast. The monkey sighed. "This is my lab, Raphael. Don't make me throw you out."

There was dark determination in Raphael's eyes. "You so much as try and I'll raise enough shell to wake everyone in this lair."

A chill ran down Rockwell's spine. The turtle was being as serious as he was. Damn. If there was no foreseeable way to get Raphael out of his lab without a fuss, then he'd have to let the red-masked turtle stay. Donatello was not going to be pleased with him.

Dr. Rockwell slowly put the mouse down and Raphael snapped it up without so much as a thank you. But given what he knew of the hotheaded turtle's personality, he hadn't really expected one. Raph plopped down into his chair and began reading, or perhaps more accurately given the turtle's current rate, skimming through the file. He took a few moments to analyze Raph's expression. At present, the youthful, impertinent charm was absent. Which left behind an image that Rockwell had never before seen any of the turtles display. Now, he could see Raphael for what the turtle really was: an adolescent shocked into an early adulthood by the harsh reality of the outside world.

There was something else bothering the monkey mutant, though. It took him a couple brief seconds to pinpoint what it really was. In fact, it wasn't what was there but rather, what wasn't there, Rockwell realized. Raph's face didn't show even a hint of curiousness or suspicion as to where the information he was reading had come from.

As though he were reading the monkey scientist's mind, Raphael asked, "These are the files Donnie got from the research facility?" The turtle actually pulled his attention away from the file to look up at Dr. Rockwell.

Rockwell nodded slightly stunned. "Donatello told you?"

Raph crossed his arms over his plastron and leaned back in the chair, swiveling to face the monkey mutant. "Yeah. I forced it out of him. If he'd kept it a secret from me any longer he probably would have exploded."

"How much did he tell you?" He asked curiously. Somehow, he doubted that Donatello would have told Raphael everything.

The question made Raph raise an eye-ridge. Apprehension began to claw at his gut as he perceived a hint doubt in the genius's voice. "What do you mean?"

Rockwell shifted from one foot to the other, averting his eyes. "We almost didn't make it back."

"You were with him?" Raph asked, surprised.

So, Donatello did not tell him everything. Rockwell thought fleetingly. He sat on the edge of the desk and placed his hands in his lap. When he turned back to Raphael, he saw that the turtle was now leaning forward anxiously. He frowned and his eyes dulled as he remembered the night in question. He spoke lowly. "I managed to get there before he lost his head."

"You saved his life?"

Soft, brown eyes looked curiously up at the turtle. There had been an odd flatness in Raph's tone that he didn't really know how to interpret. He shrugged, trying to skirt away from a direct answer. "I followed him. I didn't step in until I had to."

"But you did save him?" The hothead repeated, more urgently this time.

The monkey suddenly found the wall to be a very interesting place and ignored the turtle's question, answering only with silence.

"Thank you." A very small, quiet voice murmured.

Rockwell's attention snapped back over to Raphael. He was shocked by the genuine sincerity and depth of emotion that Raph was able to convey through those two simple words. Suddenly, he felt humbled and undeserving of such profound gratitude. "I did your brother little good. The guards pursued us as we ran for the wall. Donatello fell and the guards were coming up fast." The scientist carefully observed the way Raph's muscles tensed. "We never would have made it out if it weren't for Slash."

"Slash...?" Raphael asked, a hint of wonder in his voice. Rockwell nodded. Raph's eye-ridges furrowed. "But how did he...?"

"I think he, like me, noticed the look on Donatello's face after your father told the three of them to wait until you were fully recovered to take action."

Raph's face went blank. Slowly, he stood and headed for the door. Halfway across the room, he paused. "You and Donnie will fill me in on the details of those files, right?"

"Yes." Rockwell affirmed with a nod. "As Mona Lisa's guardian, it is your right to know." Raph could hear the unsaid 'and lover' in Rockwell's justification, but he ignored it. All that mattered was that they kept him in the loop.

"Good." He replied automatically, turning back towards the door and shakily making his way out the door, closing it softly behind him.

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In the hall, the turtle paused and eyed the door to his room, which he was sharing with Mikey. Thankfully, Mikey was a heavy sleeper and probably hadn't even noticed his absence. He took a few steps towards the door, but stopped short. His eyes strayed to another door further down the hall. Padding noiselessly past the door to the room Leo and Donnie shared, he crept all the way down to the end of the corridor.

Mutagen colored eyes snapped open as he heard the door of his room close with a click. He could hear the sound of gentle breathing and soft footfalls as whoever had just entered his room drew closer. The smell and the aura that swept over him was one that was very familiar. Slash raised his head, looking up at the figure now standing in front of him from where he lay on the floor. He watched as Raphael dropped to his knees, smiling softly at him.

"Did I wake you?"

"I sleep lightly." Slash answered automatically.

Raph smiled again. "You always did."

Slash slowly sat up, realizing that this was the closest he had been to Raphael in a long time. At least, while the turtle was conscious, that is. "How are you?"

Raphael scoffed, making Slash grin. "Donnie said I wouldn't be able to walk until day after tomorrow. Ha! Shows what he knows!"

While Slash reveled in Raph's pleasure, he wasn't afraid to voice his concern. "You shouldn't rush things any more than you have to or you'll get hurt."

Raph sighed. He was really, really tired of people telling him the same things over and over again. Slash could see that, so the larger turtle quickly changed the subject. "So why did you come here?" He raised an eye-ridge, slightly surprised, as Raphael scooted closer to him.

The red-masked turtle stared up into the eyes of his friend, his gaze filled with intense emotion. He put a hand on Slash's plastron. "Thank you for saving Donnie."

Slash's eye-ridges furrowed. "How did you—"

"Rockwell told me. Donnie had confessed to me earlier, but he hadn't told me..."

"I see." Slash said gravely.

Shaking his head, Raph glued his gaze to the floor and said, "No, I don't think you do."

The dark, spiky-shelled turtle looked down at Raph's face, confused.

Raphael stared up, deep into the eyes of his former pet. "You stepped in and looked after my brothers when I couldn't. You welcomed my family into your home. That's something I'll never be able to repay you for."

Acting completely on impulse, Slash easily and abruptly yanked the red-masked turtle into hug. "For eleven years of my life you cared for and protected me, Raphael. You still do. I am the one who will never be able to repay you."

Raphael returned the hug and smiled. "You don't have to. Your friendship has always been enough."

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How was it?