Casey and April sprinted down the halls and out the school doors as soon as the bell rang. Once they were in the sewers, the two of them scurried to the turtle's lair, where Donnie was waiting to escort them to the Mighty Mutanimals' lair.

"How is he?"

"He's doing fine." Don answered, curtly, as they made their way through the twisted tunnels.

"Will he be okay?" April asked, concerned.

Don paused and turned back to her with a gentle smile. "He'll be fine. He's already disobeying my strict medical orders."

Casey Jones smiled and shook his head. "That's Raph for you."

"Hmm, yes." The turtle hummed worriedly. "I just wish he'd be more cautious. Unfortunately I don't think the word caution is in Raph's vocabulary."

Case patted the brainiac's shoulder. "Don't worry. Raph may be a hothead, but he knows his limits."

With a sigh, Donatello continued walking. "I wanna believe you Casey, but I know Raph just a little too well."

"So do I, man, and believe me, I'm not just spewing out empty words. Raph is a lot more careful about these things than you seem to think he is." The human said.

Don raised an eye-ridge. Casey was telling the truth, he could see that. He grinned and shook his head. Oh, Raph...What am I going to do with you? Don grumbled under his breath, more to himself than anyone else, "If I find out that lunatic tried to get out of bed while I was gone, I'll sedate him for a week."

April's response made Donnie smile, "I don't think Mona Lisa would be too happy about that."

The turtle thought about it for a moment and nodded. "Yeah. She wouldn't talk to me for a month." He said with a chuckle.

Casey raised an eyebrow, inquiringly. "Umm...Don, you mean like with sign, right?"

Don was more focused on making the correct turns and carefully leading the way than he was on the current line of conversation. He answered distractedly, "Yeah. I meant both, you know, speaking and sign."

A sharp tug on his arm stopped him. Donnie took one look at Casey's face and belatedly realized that their human friends hadn't been told. "Oh. I guess in all the commotion about Raph we forgot to tell you. Mona's slowly learning how to speak. I'm going to start her on daily lessons as soon as we return to the lair. Knowing Raph and his insanely rapid recovery rates, I'd say that'll probably be within the next week or so." He beamed proudly as he informed them, "She actually said her first sentence today!"

April smiled. "That's great. I'll bet Raph is ecstatic!"

Don chuckled nervously and turned away. "Actually, since he just woke up we kinda haven't told him yet."

Casey laughed and shook his head. "Oh man. He is gonna be so pissed that he missed it. And he's gonna be even more pissed that you didn't tell him."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

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When they got to the Mighty Mutanimals' lair, all three of them stopped at the door, shocked. "Raph?" Casey asked, happy to see his best friend conscious and contented. He rushed over and punched his buddy fondly in the shoulder, being a lot softer than he usually was.

Donatello's face was quickly turning red.

Raph looked up and smiled at Casey, but his smile vanished as he saw Donatello fuming in the doorway. He held up his hands. "Before you go all code brown, listen to what I have to say!"

Steam was coming out of Donnie's nose and ears. He crossed his arms over his plastron and growled. "I'm listening."

"I didn't disobey your orders."

Donnie scoffed. "Clearly you did, Raphael. You moved."

Raph shook his head. "No more than necessary."

"Then please explain to me how you got from the lab to the main room?"

"Slash." He said, with no further explanation than that.

Brown eyes narrowed at Raphael as Donnie glared. "Don't overdo it." He said softly.

"I won't." Raph replied solemnly. He was sitting up, leaning his carapace against the wall for support.

They all turned as Mona Lisa stepped into the room. She greeted the two humans with a nod. Casey smiled and patted her shoulder, making certain to go slow so that she could see the action coming. "Donnie told us you can talk."

Mona blushed a little and sidled over to stand closer to Raph. The red-masked turtle smiled at her. "So Mikey and Leo have been telling me."

Don frowned. "She hasn't said anything to you yet?"

Raph shook his head and shrugged apathetically. "Nah."

Mona, who was starting to feel a little awkward at being the subject of their conversation, tapped Raph's shoulder. 'I'll go get Leo and Mikey.' Raph nodded and Mona left, headed towards the kitchen.

The brainy turtle frowned lightly as he watched her go. "I wonder why she hasn't spoken to you yet." He mused. He shared his thoughts aloud, "It could be shyness, I suppose."

Mikey, Leo and Mona returned, but they were standing at the mouth of the hall that led to the kitchen, on the opposite side of Raph where Donnie, Casey, and April were standing. As such, the hothead didn't notice their arrival.

"I told her a long time ago, whether she can speak or not, I'll always love her just the same. Mona knows that."

Everyone stared at Raph in silent wonder and astonishment. Not only was Raph's soft, caring admission very un-Raph-like, but the tough turtle didn't seem bothered at all by the fact that he had just made such a statement in front of his entire family.

April's eyes shifted to Mona Lisa. The smile on the lizard mutant's face was positively radiant. Slowly, April O'Neil's mind caught on to something else. Raphael had said he loved Mona Lisa. How sweet. She briefly wondered whether the others realized that. She grinned as Mona silently crossed the room to stand by Raph's side.

He looked up and his cheeks went a little red as he realized she'd heard what he said. Mona dropped down to her knees. Casey Jones grinned lecherously at the very blank stare on his turtle friend's face. Man, Raph had it bad. Mona Lisa had him wrapped around her little finger.

In the background, Mikey put a hand over his heart and leaned heavily against Leo's plastron, making lovey-dovey faces at his older brother. Leonardo rolled his eyes and shook his head, smirking as Mona kissed Raphael sweetly. Don smiled, but looked away to give the lovebirds a little privacy. April watched, thoughtfully. She'd never seen the temperamental turtle so happy. It warmed her heart.

Mona Lisa, too, seemed happier than April had ever seen her. But of course, April didn't know the lizard very well. As far as April was concerned, if Mona Lisa had the ability to make her friend so happy, that was all that mattered.

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Dinner was very straightforward. They bought a ton of pizzas and had a feast, sharing many laughs and companionable conversations. April noticed that Mona Lisa was still wary of her. The most telling factor was the way that the lizard mutant moved. Whenever Mona Lisa had to cross the room, she would carefully give April a wide berth.

But amazingly, after an hour of eating and talking, the lizard mutant's tension lessened a little. They played games for almost two hours after that, and when Raph declared it necessary that they play a few rounds of crazy eights, Mona Lisa and April were left to their own devices. Mona didn't know how to play and wasn't particularly interested. April just wasn't interested.

They both removed themselves from the circle that the others were seated in. As they moved off to the side, they accidentally bumped into each other. The others were already too occupied by the game to notice the two of them. April immediately drew back. Mona Lisa remained frozen, staring blankly at April with wide eyes. Slowly the lizard mutant shifted, her eyes never leaving April's face. "I—"

April stared in awe. She realized that the lizard mutant was nervous, so she waited patiently.

"—like your hair."

April O'Neil smiled sweetly and slowly put her hand on Mona Lisa's shoulder. Surprisingly, the lizard mutant allowed her to. "I like your hair, too."

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After April and Casey had gone, Donatello pulled Dr. Rockwell aside. They stood in the door to the main room, just far enough in the hall to be partially concealed by the shadows. The others were preoccupied with whatever game they were playing to notice. "Rockwell, I need some help."

"With what?" The monkey mutant asked, incredulously. The tone was grave, indicating to Rockwell that the request most likely had something to do with the files Donatello had retrieved from the research facility.

Donnie took Rockwell's arm and tugged the monkey mutant a little closer. Carefully eyeing Mona and his brothers who were just down the hall in the main room. Warily, he whispered, "Some sections of the files I retrieved are encrypted."

"And you want me to take a look at them." Rockwell deduced.

The turtle nodded. "Yeah. I remembered that you once said you worked at a research facility in the past."

"That doesn't mean that I'll be able to decode the encryption."

"No, but you'll probably have more luck than I will."

Rockwell smirked and raised an eyebrow. "So you admit that I'm more intelligent than you?"

Donnie mirrored the monkey's expression. "Not a chance. I was just thought you might be interested. Of course, if you don't think you can handle it..."

Shaking his head, Rockwell scoffed. "I'll take care of it tonight."

"While I would appreciate getting it as soon as possible, there's no need for you to out of the way."

"It's fine, Donatello. Believe it or not, I'm as interested in those research files as you are. As a former research scientist I see it as my duty to see that justice is done."

Both of them turned and smiled as Mona Lisa's ringing laugh filled the air. It looked like Mikey was showing her some of his cheap magic tricks. Donatello took in the soft, fond smile on the monkey mutant's face. "Are you sure your motivation isn't a little more personal?"

The former scientist averted his eyes. "She reminds me of my daughter."

"I didn't realize you had a daughter." Donatello said, apologetically, but Rockwell cut him off.

"Yes, well, she's quite grown now. She lives in Detroit. It's been years since I've seen her. And now..." Rockwell looked down at his mutated hands. "I probably won't see her again." He flinched as a hand landed unexpectedly down on his shoulder. His eyes slowly met Donatello's.

"Yes you will. We're geniuses. We'll find a solution." He reassured.

Rockwell smiled and nodded. "Perhaps. But first things first," he glanced back over at Mona Lisa with a very serious glint in his eyes, "the information in those files could be vital. Just out of curiosity, what are your intentions once you have the information?"

"All we really wanted was to find out more about Mona's past. We weren't expecting the rogue scientist to come into the picture, but now that she has, we have to find out who she is and stop her. If we don't, Mona Lisa will never be safe. After everything she's gone through, she shouldn't have to live in fear."

Rockwell curiously studied his friend's face. The young turtle looked very mature. He had to admit, though Donatello was not quite the genius he was, the purple-masked turtle had wisdom beyond his years. And right now, it showed.

Donatello was lost in thought. He loved his brother Raphael. And Mona Lisa was like a sister to him. The lizard mutant didn't realize it, but somehow her presence had brought them closer as a family. At first, he hadn't really understood, but now he was finally beginning to comprehend. For someone of his mental caliber, Donnie knew that he was surprisingly slow when it came to certain things. Things like his brothers, for instance. For some reason, he never seemed to notice how much they changed over the years until well after the fact. In this case, he was only now beginning to realize that Mona Lisa completed Raphael. She balanced him. And now, his immediate older brother was calmer, more mature, and happy. The change the lizard mutant had brought out in his brother had, in turn, pulled the five of them closer together.

He was determined to do whatever it would take to keep that masked female scientist away from his family. If she wanted Mona Lisa then she'd have to go through him first, and all of his brothers, too. Donatello's brothers and father were a part of him. And now, so was Mona Lisa. He would protect her with his life, if need be. Slowly, he turned back to Rockwell, who seemed to be sizing him up, thoughtfully. "Get me the results as soon as possible."

Rockwell nodded. "Of course."

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Well, how was it?