"Shouldn't they be here by now? What if something happened?"

Leonardo raises an eye-ridge as Destiny paces around in front of the turnstiles leading into the lair, anxiously watching the sewer tunnels. Nearby, the other turtles, Casey, April, Sarina, Annalise, and Taylor watch her with varying degrees of amusement or concern.

"It said their flight landed. They'll get here when they can," Leonardo says.

Destiny frowns. "I'm gonna call him—"

"Des, no," everyone groans.

She stops pacing and turns to them. "Okay, that was freaky," she says.

Leonardo gets to his feet and moves to her side, reaching out to tenderly grip her shoulders. "How about you sit down, take a few deep breaths, and the next thing you know, they'll be here?"

Destiny sighs. "Why do you always have to be so level-headed and right about things?" she asks, half-teasing.

"Well, level-headed..." He teeter-totters his hands and grimaces, earning a giggle. He smirks. "Come on."

As he leads her back to the living room pit, Taylor shifts on her seat. "So, Diaval. The man, the myth, the legend," she says. "Anything I should expect?"

"He's very quiet," Destiny says.

"And very shy," Donatello adds.

"He has many magical abilities," Sarina says.

"He's an awesome go-kart driver!" Casey grins.

"He's a bit odd-looking, but he's really nice!" Annalise says with a smile and a thumbs-up.

"And his girlfriend, Melanie, is an amazing cook," Michelangelo says, already licking his lips. "Her chocolate-chip cookies are like heaven, dude..."

"Wait, girlfriend?" Raphael asks, eyes widening as he nods a little. "Good for him."

"He didn't tell me they made it official," Destiny says, eyebrow raising.

"I mean, she's coming with him," Michelangelo says. "So unless she's doing the whole Leo-Des 'we're just friends' pining thing—"

"Hey..." They pout, Destiny crossing her arms over her chest. April giggles.

"You know I'm right." Michelangelo laughs. He shifts, kicking one leg over the other while putting his arm over Annalise's shoulders. "I bet a whole pizza that they're gonna come in here all loved up. Just you wait."

Taylor wiggles her eyebrows a little. "Drama, I like it. Are the odds good?"

Destiny thinks a little. "Yes and no."

"Diaval's shyness and general fear of intimacy works against the formation of official relationships," Sarina says, nodding thoughtfully.

"But...Melanie's real sweet and understanding. Lady doesn't even cuss," Raphael says. "Kind of an angel, honestly."

"What we're saying is, if he won't ask her out, we're gonna do it for him," Michelangelo says. "Gotta snatch her up!"

"Who are we snatching now?"

Every head whips to the entrance to the lair just as Karai walks through the turnstiles, hauling a simple red suitcase, with Shinigami close behind her. A cloud of bats carries two other bags and, still behind her, Diaval and Melanie follow.

Diaval looks the same as usual—shaggy white hair in a low ponytail, pinkish eyes with slitted pupils, snaggletooth, black cloak—but this time, he's wearing a pair of rather stylish half-frame glasses.

Destiny rockets to her feet, tail wagging a mile a minute as she rushes to them. "Guys!"

Melanie grins and embraces Destiny tightly. "Good to see you, as always!" she says.

Diaval nods. "Mhm."

Destiny pulls away from Melanie and looks up at Diaval. "Since when do you wear glasses?"

He looks away, embarrassed. "Since...recently?"

"Turns out he's pretty farsighted. Oscar and I took him shopping for a pair! He looks good, doesn't he?" Melanie asks, clasping her hands together with a smile.

"He looks smart!" Michelangelo pipes up from the couch.

Diaval shakes his head. "M not. Don't be fooled."

"Ha! I missed your jokes, my dude!"

"Wasn't..." He sighs. "Okay."

Destiny crosses her arms over her chest. "Well, maybe I wouldn't be so surprised if you visited more. You said you were gonna visit often! This has not been often!"

He hunches a little. "Kinda...tough to make it over. Far away. Sorry..."

"I'll consider forgiving you," she says. Diaval's expression pinches with minor distress and she immediately flattens her ears, waving her hands. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding, I'm not mad, Di. I'm sorry."

His lip twitches. "Oh. Good." He looks out at the crowd of people in the living room and fidgets, dipping his chin into his cloak collar. "Uh..."

"Sorry about the crowd," Destiny says, moving around him. "Seems like our family just keeps getting bigger, huh?"

"S'fine," Diaval mumbles. "Always someone new..."

"Come on, I'll introduce you."

----------

Introductions don't last too long, in theory. The actual introduction part is short and sweet, but the tangents about everything else are anything but. Having Diaval and Melanie back in the lair puts the time that's passed into startling perspective.

After all, Melanie hasn't been back since the night they defeated the Shredder. Diaval hasn't visited since their bout with Circa, before Raphael and Taylor reconciled. Add Karai into the mix and it's the first time everyone has been together in years.

Diaval stares at Taylor as Raphael introduces her. "Guys, this is Taylor. She's—"

"The girl in your desires," Diaval says.

Raphael's mouth falls open and Taylor's face goes slack with shock. Melanie giggles into her hand.

"Desires?" Taylor repeats, slowly turning to her boyfriend.

Diaval blinks. "Mm. Desires."

Raphael groans, clapping one hand against his forehead. "Could've gone without saying that," he mutters. Diaval tilts his head a little and Raphael sighs. "Diaval can...I dunno, sense what someone wants most?"

"Mm." Diaval nods. "Right away or...all the time."

Taylor frowns. "I'm still confused."

Melanie pipes up, stepping closer to Diaval and briefly bumping their arms together. "He's saying he can look at what someone wants just in that moment or what their deepest wish is, depending on what he focuses on."

Again, Diaval nods, wagging his chin at Raphael. "He desired you. A lot."

"Shell, don't say it like that!"

Taylor raises an eyebrow, smirking. "My, my, my..."

Raphael shoots a glare up at Diaval. "You're back on my shit list, Di."

Diaval tilts his head. "I was off it?"

"I just decided you were."

"Boys, boys," Melanie says, clicking her tongue a little. She smiles at Taylor. "I'm sure you're kind of...used to the weirdness already, huh? Probably more than me by now."

"Definitely," Taylor agrees. She puts her hands on her hips. "So, Diaval, what's my desire then?"

Diaval squints at her over his glasses for a second. "Got some mixed feelings 'bout your parents," he says. Her eyes widen and he raises an eyebrow. "Hm. You just wanna be happy. No fighting."

Taylor clears her throat. "Oh-kay...ay, I thought you were pulling my leg," she mutters.

"You're not happy?" Raphael asks.

Taylor balks. "No! I mean, I'm happy with you, but—"

"Now you want to not talk about this anymore," Diaval says.

"Geez, you really know it minute to minute, huh?"

"Mhm. Been practicing more too."

Raphael waves his hands a bit. "Wait, wait, hold on—"

"I'll talk to you more about it later, okay? I promise you're not the problem!"

Melanie shifts a little, clearing her throat. "Maybe we should mingle, huh, Di?" she asks. "I need to speak with Annalise about setting up some one-on-one."

Diaval tears his attention from Taylor and Raphael, blinking. "Hm? Sure," he says. "She's nice."

He trails off after Melanie, leaving Taylor and Raphael alone. Raphael crosses his arms tightly over his plastron, almost pouting more than frowning, and Taylor groans as she mutters Spanish to herself.

"Raph, you don't honestly think he was telling—" she starts.

"Oh, Diaval's always spot on with his 'readings'," he says, making air quotes around the last word. His brow stays furrowed. "Look, I know things aren't great with your dad after the beach, but what else was he talking about? What happened to total honesty?"

"I just...my mamá told me some things and I don't know how to feel about it. I'm rethinking my whole childhood and I didn't want to burden you with it until I could figure out my own feelings."

"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm here to help with mental stuff? If you need it, I mean, I'm not a therapist but—"

"My papá bought out mamá's half of the custody agreement so that she'd leave us alone, okay? And now I'm wondering if that's why she never came back to see me."

He gawks, glancing out at the room for a moment. Melanie and Diaval have split off, Melanie chatting with Annalise while Diaval stands with Michelangelo, Casey, and April, standing so much taller than them that he looks like a chaperone for a kid's school field trip. Raphael ushers Taylor further away from the chatter.

"Did you talk to your dad at all?" he asks, keeping his voice low.

She bites the inside of her cheek against a surge of stupid, foolish emotion. "Of course not. He couldn't even look at me, I..."

She can't look at Raphael either, not when his eyes are burning into hers with so much desperation, so eager and so stubborn in trying to help.

"I keep..." she says, trying to keep her voice steady. "I keep thinking about how papá spent money on me after the divorce. He didn't say no to anything. He got me Bindo. He got me guitars and lessons. He got me a bike and clothes and hair dye and...and..." She sniffles once and blinks hard. "And I wish I hadn't wanted so much from him because maybe then—"

"You were ten and your mom was gone."

"Because he paid her to leave!"

"And she took it!"

Yeah. She did, and that's what Taylor has been trying not to think about. If her mamá really cared, really wanted to be a part of her life, then she would've shoved that money back in Jack's face and told him to stuff it where the sun doesn't shine. She didn't even need money. She was running off to join her rich-ass Spanish boyfriend at his villa across the ocean.

Tears roll down her face and she curses, turning away as she ducks her face to her arm. God, she's really ruining this tube of mascara for herself by being such a crybaby.

Raphael's strong, muscled arm surrounds her shoulders and leads her back to his bedroom, away from the noise. As they walk, he speaks.

"Look," he murmurs. "I know it sucks no matter how you look at it, but...the way I see it, at least your dad was there and he did everything he could to try and keep you away from someone who was only going to hurt you. I know he wasn't smart about it, but at the end of the day, he wanted to make you happy. I think the guy deserves a bit of grace for that."

He's still sitting at the kitchen island in the dark, missing the woman who left him behind, heart bleeding onto the granite countertop. She can't picture him any other way.

"But I also don't really know him and you've got one side of the story. You should talk to him about your mom, and...you should talk to him about me. If he can't accept it, then maybe he isn't as good as I'm hoping he is."

She'd never expect a guy like Raphael, someone who seems so focused on justice and righting the wrongs of the world, to believe in the goodness of a convict. Then again, he believed in the goodness she wasn't sure she had left, back when her rage at the world was all that kept her going.

"Shell, I could go with you! We can talk. I'll...I'll even show myself to your aunt and uncle."

Why would he do that for her? Why would he risk their hatred, their fear, just for the chance that things could be okay and that she could live without hiding her biggest secret?

She stops, bringing him to a halt too, and she sags against his shoulder as she turns to him, sucking in a sharp breath. All she can manage is a weak, whispered affirmation that she'll do it. All of it.