Part Thirty Four: The Hatchling



Raphael was still sitting near the far wall of the room, just out of the candlelight's reach. He didn't seem to notice her as she entered Splinter's chamber.

Splinter was awake, and greeted her in his usual cheerful manner.

"I am returning to California today, Sensei. I wanted to say goodbye." Rahab sat in the chair next to him, trying not to look at Raphael.

"Aah, I am saddened by your departure, my daughter, but your children need their mother. I understand."

"Sensei, you are always foremost in my thoughts."

Splinter's shaggy brows lifted in surprise. "Am I? I would think your husband would be foremost in your thoughts."

Rahab's mouth fell open, until she realized Splinter was joshing her. She laughed in spite of herself. "All the same, I will miss you terribly." She could say little after that, because the tears were threatening to fall again.

Splinter smiled gently and patted her hand. "There is no better direction to look than forward, my daughter, and nothing better to see than here and now," he said. He looked toward the end of the room. "Come here, my son," he said after a pause.

Raphael leaped up as though jerked by a tether. "You... you're gonna SPEAK to me?"

Splinter beckoned to him. "Come. Come-come-come, don't make a day of it, come here," he said, his voice bordering on impatience when Raphael hesitated too long. His spidery fingers dented Raphael's shoulder as he pulled him into a kneeling position by his side, opposite Rahab. He then tapped sharply at Raphael's temple with a forefinger. "What more will I do with this head of wood, and a spirit that weighs like a millstone?"

Raphael grinned momentarily, as though he had received a compliment. Then he glanced up at Rahab, and when his eyes met hers, they nervously darted away. He sat back on his heels and seemed to deflate, as he stared fixedly at the floor. "Uhm..." he said in a barely audible voice. "I'm sorry, Rahab."

"For what?"

He gave her another terrified glance. "You know... treating you bad, things like that."

"Oh."

They sat facing each other across Splinter's bed in an uncomfortable silence. Splinter sat quietly with his eyes nearly shut, fingers interlaced on his lap.

"Really, Raph, I'm willing to forget this... but I can't do anything about how Mike feels about you," Rahab said.

"I know," Raphael muttered to his hands.

"It might be best just to stay away from us, and the kids... if you know what I-"

"I understand," Raphael said in a hoarse half-whisper. "It's better this way."

Rahab nodded absently, as she slowly stood up. "Forgive me, Sensei, I must go finish packing, I am going to leave within the hour."

"Go then, my daughter, and live well," Splinter said, squeezing her arm affectionately.

Rahab leaned down and hugged Splinter, then reluctantly let go. She managed a nod to Raphael and stumbled out, barely seeing where she was going, through the haze of tears.



As Rahab and Seth walked for the last time over the little footbridge that led across the moat to the front gate, Rahab heard someone call to her. She looked down and saw Raphael, squatting by the edge of the pond, just under the bridge. He cautiously beckoned her her to come down the shallow embankment.

"Bring that boy of yours over here," he said.

Rahab squinted at Raphael, but his face was benign, as he held out a small object.

Seth ran to see what it was. "Mom, look," he said excitedly.

When she came close enough, she could see a tiny turtle, sitting quietly in Raphael's broad, callused palm. Rahab thought it was made of painted porcelain, until she saw it throat bob with its breathing. Its white and lemon yellow mottled carapace was no larger than a quarter, but its features were perfect. Alabaster-pink eyes calmly looked up at her, from under lilac brows in a triangular, pale head.

"Ohh-h," Rahab breathed. "It's beautiful!"

Raphael's mouth twitched, as he looked up at her. "You know," he said quietly, "I'm gonna start over."

"What do you mean?"

"This little guy isn't more than a week old or so, just out of the nest. You can still see the yolk scar. I saw him climbing into the water, and picked him up. He's kind of a unique breed, sorta related the Vietnamese Temple Turtle, y'know? He's a- a hypo- uh, mutated- whatever, pretty rare, and worth a whole lot of dough." He gave her a weak smile. "I'm wandering, aren't I... thing is, I'm gonna start over, I mean, I wish I could be like this little guy, all new and innocent, living in a moat like this, doing nothing but eating little fishes and lying around in the sun."

Rahab nodded in silence, and watched Seth gently stroke the turtle's tiny nose with a forefinger.

Raphael carefully lowered the hatchling into Seth's outstretched hands. "If you want to, you can take this little guy home with ya."

Seth looked up at Rahab. "May I?"

She smiled and gave him a nod, and then looked questioningly at Raphael.

"I know I don't deserve it, but... Splinter said, as long as I let Leo help me, doing stuff with him and just learning things over, and get my head back on straight, he said I could hang here as long as I needed to, maybe I'll stay here for good, and help teach, or whatever." Raphael then nudged Seth a little. "You get along with Devon all right, dont'cha?"

"Sure," Seth said, gently curling his fingers around the turtle, as he gazed up at Raphael.

"That's good. Look after yourself, uh?"

"Okay." Seth gave Raphael a bright smile, and climbed onto the path where Leo had come up, and was waiting. Seth turned to look back at Raphael. "Thank you."

"No problem," Raphael muttered sadly.

When Seth walked up the path with Leo, Rahab looked at Raphael. "I admire what you did," she said.

He shrugged in return. "It's the least I could do." He looked up the path at the retreating figures. "I guess you'd better get going, and so uh, I'll say goodbye."

"Okay, well... goodbye, Raph," Rahab said in return, and headed up the bank. When she got on the path, she turned back to look at him again, but he was gone.



Leo straightened up from securing the top to the portable turtle tank, strapped in the seat next to Seth's. "That should be all right, until you get home," he said, and gave Seth's cheek an affectionate pat. "Take care of your mother."

"I will," Seth said, his colorless eyes wide and solemn as he gazed up at Leo.

"You will come back to visit soon, I hope."

Seth brightened. "Oh, yes! I would like that very much."

Leo smiled at Rahab, and touched the back of her hand in passing, as he went out.



Mike was impatiently waiting at the airport when they arrived in San Jose. He seemed tired and withdrawn, so other than the necessary noises of greeting, he sat back and gazed moodily out the car window, until they got home.

"You're mad at me, aren't you," Rahab finally asked as they were getting ready for bed.

"You? No! No, it isn't you, I'm not really mad at anybody in particular. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed, that's all," Mike said, suddenly switching into a talkative mode. "You know, with Riahna. I've been trying to get her to look at me and talk, and it's getting really frustrating."

Rahab didn't answer, she watched Mike's face as he spoke.

"She's kind of- well, you've been trying to tell me that, haven't you," Mike went on. "Kind of- different? Her preschool teacher wants her to get an evaluation." Mike stopped, and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth, as though that were the conclusion of the conversation.

"Evaluation, for what?" Rahab followed him to the sink.

He held up a hand and continued to scrub his teeth with a little more vigor than usual. He looked at her as he swiped a towel across his mouth, and leaned back against the sink cabinet.

"Hello?" Rahab cocked her head at him.

He grimaced a little at her prompting. "It's an evaluation, you know, for some stuff... that she's having trouble with. She does unusual things. Walks around the edges of rugs, and hums all the time... After a couple of days of watching her and writing things on forms, the teacher and some counselor called me and said they think she might kinda have ah- autism."

"Autism..." Rahab breathed.

"Yeah, but they don't really know for sure yet, okay? I mean, she hasn't been officially evaluated yet, so don't go mentioning it to anybody or anything-" Mike was talking fast.

"It might be a good idea to be prepared, though-"

"Prepared?" Mike said the word with a derisive laugh. "How can ANY parent be prepared for that? Hearing their kid has some kinda mental problem? That they aren't- normal?" He then muttered something under his breath, and ran a hand across his forehead, as he walked past her into the bedroom.

"I wouldn't call it a mental problem, Mike."

"You wouldn't? What the hell would you CALL it? She was gonna get referred to Mental Health, but I told them I'd take care of it, hire a private... shrink, or something." He seemed to choke on the last word.

Rahab sat down next to him, as he pressed his fingertips into his eye sockets. She laid a hand on the back of his neck. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for that, Mike. Looks like you've had a rough time."

He stared straight ahead, and smiled a little. "Oh, I think I can handle it. Now you're home, and that has taken a load off my brain."

"I'm glad to hear that," Rahab said.

Mike turned and looked at her, as though just realizing she was beside him. "I don't know what I do if something happened to you."

She stared at him a moment, then smiled at an amusing thought. "Well, you could always join Raph and Leo at the monastery."

Mike raised his eyebrows, his mouth opening in an indignant protest. "Rahab, I don't know how you can make light of this, you have no idea how I've suffered..." His eyes narrowed, as she coughed and choked in an attempt to hide her mirth, blinking back the tears it brought on.

"You're NUTS," he muttered, and then snorted, as though to hide his own amusement. He drew himself up straight and cleared his throat, as though beginning a speech, but then suddenly bent over and wheezed in laughter. It set Rahab off again, and they both dissolved into helpless giggling. The giggling progressed to near hysteria, until they collapsed against each other into a sitting position on the rug.

"Ohho, Mikey, Mikey... what am I gonna do with you," Rahab murmered, as she put her arms around his neck.

"I dunno... I can think of a few things, though," he said, as he took her up in a firm embrace. "I guess I was being silly, huh? After all, you're home, now."

"You've got that right. I have you, the kids, and a new house almost finished in Big Sur... what more could I possibly want?"

Mike grinned and kissed her. "Yeah, I like that... what more could WE possibly want?"

-=END=-

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