Part Seven: The Nest


"Where's Gaele?" Rahab looked around the room as she entered. The playpen, which usually held the toddler, was empty. Mike just looked at her. "WHERE is the baby," Rahab asked again, her voice growing sharp with impatience.

Mike rubbed his neck nervously. "Ah, I uh...she's around somewhere...I was just in the other room for a sec, I had to get my phone."

"You don't KNOW where she is, DO you?" A stab of anxiety made her heart skip a beat.

"She gotta be here, don't worry, Rahab, she can't be far." He left the room to search.

"The door was wide open when I came in, Mike!" She pulled her half removed coat back over her shoulders, as she hurried down the front steps. No sign of the baby in the front yard. The river...NO, please, NOT the river... how long had it been before Mikey knew she was missing, damn him! No, she regretted saying that. But if anything happened to that little girl... There was no sign of her at the river...it was late autumn, and a thin sheet of ice was forming on the edges...as she hurried along the lawn that bordered the water, her mind ground to a halt. There was a hole...recently formed, big enough to be made by...

"GAELE!" Rahab fell to her knees on the frosty grass. She tried to see into the black water, but it was getting too dark. She thought she glimpsed Gaele's white t-shirt...she plunged in, barely feeling the shock of the freezing water. She flailed frantically, trying to reach that pale object, as the current pulled it slowly out. She touched plastic. Puzzled, she stared down at it. It was a stray float from the fish weyr upstream, broken and waterlogged, slowly rolling among the submerged weeds.The cold had numbed her hands and feet, and she wearily dragged herself onto the bank. Mike had arrived, and reached down to help her up. She pulled away from him.

"Y-y-you s-son of a b-b-b-" she tried to say, but she was shivering so violently, she was in danger of biting her tongue. She started for the house, her soaked coat feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds. She shrugged it off, and ran to the side door of the house.

A few minutes later, she had changed to dry clothes and was holding her trembling hands close to the fireplace. She was terribly chilled, and it wasn't just from the ice bath.

Mike came in to get his coat out of the hall closet.

"Why did you let her out of the playpen," she demanded.

"I did NOT let her out," he protested. "She must have climbed out-"

"Out of the PLAYPEN? She can't climb that! She's just barely learned to walk," Rahab snarled back. She rubbed her arms to help the circulation, and snatched another coat out of the closet.

"Well, she must have learned to do it today, or something," he said, as he headed down the passageway toward the back door.

She grabbed a flashlight, and leaped down the front steps in time to see a large black sedan slowly come to a halt in front. The rear door immediately opened and Donatello emerged, in a very bulky looking black wool coat.

"I take it you are looking for this," he said calmly, opening his coat to reveal a shivering, wide-eyed Gaele nestled in the crook of his arm.

Rahab dropped the flashlight, as she took Gaele from him. "Baby... where you been, huh? Where you been?" She held her tight, and hurried back into the house to get her out of the freezing night air. She sat in front of the fireplace, and wrapped the whimpering toddler in a blanket. She closed her eyes against the tears of relief, and slowly relaxed.

Don hung up his coat and approached the fireplace. "She seems to be all right," he said, holding his well-manicured hands out to the heat.

"Where did you FIND her," Rahab asked, rubbing Gaele's back.

Don glanced at Mike, who was hovering apologetically in the background. "She was down the driveway. Good thing she was wearing white... gave the driver quite a scare." Don smiled thinly. "How's that," Rahab asked, staring at him in disbelief.

"No sense worrying about what did NOT happen, she is a fortunate little child," Don said.

"YOU are also very fortunate," Rahab said, glaring at Mike. His chin lifted and he looked away.

Don watched her curiously as she got up and took the tired baby upstairs.

Mike met her in the nursery as she watched Gaele sleep. He looked at the baby a long time, and followed Rahab out into the hall. "Rahab," he said quickly in a half whisper, "She really did climb outa there. I tell you, when I left her, she was just sitting there, you know, playing in the playpen. I didn't think anything of it, and I didn't even know she was gone until you came back. If I knew she could do that I wouldn't have left her alone. I'd NEVER let anything happen to her, you KNOW that!"

"Okay, Mike..." she said holding up her hand to stop his rush of words. "Okay, it's okay. I got upset, that's all. It's over, we've all learned something tonight..."

"Yeah..." he said sadly. "Can't underestimate her capabilities. Don said..." he looked at her apprehensively. "Don said she was at the bottom of the hill, sitting right smack in the middle of the driveway."

"At the bottom of the hill?" Rahab breathed. "That's a quarter of a mile, almost to the main road! Lord, I need some tea." They went downstairs together.

Don was now sitting on the couch, staring into the fire. He didn't look up when they came in. Rahab sat on the opposite end of the couch, hands folded between her knees. "Don," she said at length, "I just want to thank you..."

"For what?" Don slowly looked up and gazed impassively at her. "I couldn't just leave her there." He studied the fire for a while longer, then looked at her again. "You don't usually let her out with the cat, do you?"

She stared at him, aghast. "Of course not! I-" She saw him smile. "Oh. I take it that was a... joke?"

His very straight teeth gleamed. "Couldn't resist," he said. He half closed his eyes. "Quite an interesting end to this day, don't you think? Your Gaele is a fascinating creature. She was afraid of Emilio, my driver, but immediately reached out for me when I went to pick her up. Poor thing was nearly hysterical, until I put her in my coat. She then proceeded to tell me, in great detail, of her long journey."

"Really?" Rahab cocked her head at him. "I can't understand a word she says!"

He gazed at her soberly. "It's all a matter of taking things into context, my dear. You simply need to listen."

Rahab silently inspected her cuticles.

"Of course, she would have been easier to understand if her teeth weren't chattering so much," he added, amusement in his eyes.

They laughed.



She woke up late the next morning, after a restless sleep, where she kept seeing the swirling black water of the icy river every time she closed her eyes. Raphael was away, and she missed him terribly. She could have used his company after such a stressful evening.

She heard Gaele's giggle, and Mike's voice. She got up and put on her robe, and found them downstairs in the playroom. Mike was in the recliner, watching cartoons and eating cold cereal, while Gaele sat in his lap and tried to eat directly out of the bowl.

"He-ey," Mike growled playfully at her. "Whatta ya want, I fed YOU yesterday!"

She wrinkled her tiny brows at him and growled back in her baby voice. Her little claws clinked on the bowl as she tried to yank it away from him.

Milk sloshed out and ran down his arm. "Arrh, cut it out, you little... "

Rahab sighed, as she looked around the room. "Mike, when you have finished corrupting our daughter, could you pick up this mess?"

"You have a maid, don't ya?" He craned his neck to look up at her. Gaele took advantage of the distraction and pulled the bowl out of Mike's grasp. "NO, Gaele!" He turned in time to see her dump it on her head. Milk and sodden cereal streamed down either side of her and covered Mike's lap. He leaped up immediately, holding her away from him. She flung the bowl, screaming with glee as it bounced off the TV stand and spun like a top across the floor, spinning the last remnants of milk across the room. Mike absently handed the wriggling toddler to Rahab.

Gaele shrieked until Rahab set her down, and watched her waddle off toward the kitchen, her little iguanid tail switching behind her. "You're spoiling her," Rahab muttered.

Mike stared at her, his arms still dripping with milk. "I'm doing the best I can," he said almost plaintively. "It's not as easy as I thought, though. It's probably one of the most difficult things I've ever had to deal with, y'know?"

She nodded. "I know, Mike. I know. I just think you should-" She was interrupted by a crash in the kitchen. They nearly collided in their haste to investigate.

Gaele was squatting on the floor, sampling some of the garbage that had spilled out of the upset container. Rahab scooped her up, and tried to pry Gaele's jaws open to extract whatever it was she was attempting to swallow. "Yucka," Rahab scolded. "Kucky-foojie, Gaele. Spit it out! Nasty!" Gaele struggled, then spat chewed potato peel on the floor.

"Good job," Rahab said, patting Gaele's diapered bottom.

Mike took her out of Rahab's arms. "I'll clean her up, I need it myself."

As Mike went toward the stairs, he met Don, who raised his brows at Gaele chirping and writhing under her father's arm. Don stopped in the kitchen doorway when he saw the mess Rahab was wiping up.

"Little accident, Don. You want anything?"

"Hmm, no." He held up a smooth palm. "It can wait." He started to turn away, then looked back at her. "You have help, don't you?"

"Help?" She squeezed the sponge into the sink. "Oh! You mean like, a maid?"

He gave her a little smile. "Yes. A housekeeper."

"Well... sure, but she doesn't come up until about ten or so, we like the mornings to ourselves."

"I see." He watched her thoughtfully as she dried the floor.

When she straightened, she caught the expression on his face. "I just don't want to leave it there, Don."

She dried her hands and watched him pour his coffee delicately as though it were part of a ritual. The house, though well kept, seemed untidy in Don's presence, though he never said a word about it. She felt that somehow the entire world wasn't up to Don's standards...

"You must have an immaculate house, Don," she heard herself say. "Of course, you don't have kids around..."

He looked at her over his cup. "I have a lot of houses, " he said in a matter of fact tone. "This is one of them."

Rahab gaped at him. "But- I thought this was Raph's?"

He smiled gently at her. "It is, in a sense. He has unlimited use of it, but I hold the title. It's easier that way."

Rahab's heart sank. "This is YOUR house..." she glanced in horror at the chaos back in the playroom.

Don shrugged a little. "I wouldn't worry about that," he said. "I understand a toddler is difficult to maintain." He gave her a congenial nod, and left the kitchen.



Raphael came home the next afternoon. Rahab nearly knocked him off balance, she embraced him so hard. "Hey, what's gotten into you?" he asked after brushing the snow off his coat and giving her a squeeze in return.

She breathlessly told him of the events of the past few days, and how Gaele had gone off, and how Don...

"Don's here?" Raphael jerked his gaze away from her. "Uh, I'll be right back." He gave her a reassuring pat on the cheek, and disappeared.

Rahab followed him more slowly, at a loss for his abrupt behavior. He never did tell her where he had gone on his trip, or for how long, he simply told her not to worry... now she couldn't find him or Don as she peered into each room. She saw Mike in his usual position, feet propped up on the desk in the study, talking on his pocket phone, and Gaele was fast asleep in the nursery. Judging by the snowstorm outside, she doubted Don and Raph had left the house... but they weren't anywhere IN the house. Curiosity got the better of her, and she poked her head out of the rear entryway, where the firewood was kept. Snow and ice crystals blew into her face, but she just caught the fading indentations of a set of foot tracks, leading away past the back lawn and in among the evergreens. She ducked in and grabbed her heavy coat and Bean boots, and dashed out across the lot, following the tracks before they were completely covered by the wind and falling snow. There seemed to be only a single pair of feet. Which brother did they belong to, and where was the other set? She scaled several crumbling stone fences that once bordered long-extinct farms, and finally came to a curious looking building that was a cross between a barn and a gazebo. The tracks led up to a tightly closed door. She reached out to pull on the handle, but stopped when she heard familiar voices between the intermittant rustle of bare trees in the wind. She strained to listen, and looked around for a better place to stand, and saw a tree stump close to the building's octagonal sides. She climbed up and could see a space beween the conical roof and the top of the wall, just wide enough to ventilate the interior...and for her to listen more clearly.

"...two days LATE, Raphael!" She heard Don say in a tone of voice she didn't like.

"Hey, it wasn't exactly a walk in the park, Don! You obviously have no idea how-" Raph's voice cut off sharply.

She strained to hear, but there was silence. Puzzled, she tried to look over the edge of the wall, but the gap was too narrow, so she turned to jump down.

Don was standing at the foot of the stump, his eyes flat and cold as he stared up at her.

Raphael was a pace away, mouth ajar in surprise. "What are you doing out here?"

"Well- I was just wondering where you went, that's all," she said defensively, giving Don a nervous glance.

"How'd you find this place, anyway?"

"It was really very simple, darling. I followed your tracks." She said in a feeble attempt to be nonchalant, as she jumped down from the stump.

Don directed his stony gaze at Raph a moment, before turning to go back into the building.

Raph stood still for a moment and frowned at nothing in particular. "Let's go home," he muttered to Rahab, pulling her along by one arm. He said nothing more until they got back to the house.

"What WAS that wierd little place?"

Raphael shrugged. "Just an storage shed, Rahab." He shook the wet snow off their coats and hung them up.

"Yeah, I know it's just a building, but what was Don doing-" She stopped at the odd expressionon his face. "What?"

He looked into her eyes a long time, as though reading something there, as he slowly took her into his arms to bring her close. "Tell me the truth, Rahab..." he whispered. "How much of that conversation did you hear?" His hands lightly kneaded the small of her back. "Thing is," he went on softly, without waiting for her reply. "It won't do to get Don peeved at you. It's not how much you heard or even understood what was said, it was the fact that you were attempting to eavesdrop on a private conversation." His breath warmed her neck when he sighed.

"Maybe I should apologize to him." she said, feeling contrite.

He shook his head. "No. Just forget it happened, okay?" His expression lightened as he kissed the corner of her mouth. "Gaele asleep?"

"As far as I know...Mike's watching her, anyway."

"Good." He grinned gently and stroked her jawline. "How about we go upstairs and make up for lost time, huh?"

She smiled back at him. "Sounds good to me."



Later that evening, she awoke to find Raphael had disappeared again. She dodged Mike crawling up the stairs with a delighted Gaele sprawled across his back. Rahab was too preoccupied to give them more than a passing glance, as she went to get her coat. Mike saw her and stood up.

"Where YOU going," he asked, hoisting Gaele onto his neck.

"Out for a walk," Rahab said lightly.

Mike stood in her path. "Ah, that's not a good idea. It's getting dark, and the snow's really-"

"Seen Raphael lately?"

Mike shook his head. "Nope."

"Know where he might be?"

Mike didn't answer right away. His gaze seemed unfocused and preoccupied, and he paid little heed to Gaele's feet drumming on his shoulders.

"You KNOW where Raph is, don't you," she said, pressing her lips together.

He grinned and cocked his head at her. "Let's say I don't."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "But you do. You know better than to lie to ME! Where is he, Mike?"

"I can't say."

"What do you mean, you can't say?" she snarled. "What's the big SECRET around here? I'm getting real TIRED of all this pussyfooting around lately, Mike! I'm his WIFE! Why shouldn't I know what's going on with him?"

Her voice had subdued Gaele, who was looking around Mike's head at her mother with wide eyes.

"Take it easy, Rahab, not around the kid, huh?" Mike said softly. His voice was calm, but his eyes were furious. "Why don't we continue this conversation after she's in bed?"

Rahab bit down on a scathing reply. "Then put her to bed."

"Don't you go anywhere." The look on his face told her not to argue.

She went into the living room and threw herself onto the couch, and stared into the fire. She didn't understand it at all. Just when she was starting to get a handle on things, life was becoming uncertain again. She fought the urge to leap up and run, to throw something, but she decided against it. Still the frustration was reaching the boiling point...

She felt a little calmer until Mike returned and sat on the couch next to her, with an annoyed look on his face.

"Whatever it is, Mike just tell me, okay, so that we can get this over with."

"I'm gonna tell you something, Rahab," Mike said suddenly. "I'm getting real TIRED of you talking trash to me all the time. I'm Gaele's father, not some houseboy you think you can take it out on, every time you get on the rag, know what I'm sayin'?"

Rahab was silent.

"Ever since I moved in here, you've been comin' down REAL hard on me. 'Mike, go do this, Mike, take this out, Mike, get the hell OUTA my way, don't touch me, shut up, siddown, rollover, sit up and beg!' You get the general idea, dontcha?"

"I get the idea." Rahab said evenly. "But if you don't like it, why don't you leave?"

Mike's jaws clenched. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Rahab leaped up. "I'll tell you what I'd like! I'd LIKE for you to tell me what is going on with Raphael! What is he hiding, and why are you protecting him?"

"Protecting him? Nobody's protecting him. He can take care of himself. He has a life, I have a life, and it's about time YOU got yourself one, too." His voice had calmed, but his words stung.

"How can you say that? You hardly know a thing about me."

"You don't know much about me either, sweetheart," he said."As a matter of fact..." He leaned into Rahab's face. "Just how WELL do you know Raphael?"

Rage exploded in her head, and she reached for the nearest heavy object to fling at him. He ducked the missile easily, and came after her, his face a mixture of astonished amusement, as he dodged the swipe of her scimitar claws. He pinned her easily against the couch. When she ceased her struggling, and bowed her head in feigned submission, he loosened his grip on her but didn't let her up. When she realised she couldn't fool him, she shrieked at the top of her lungs and in an attempt to kick savagely at him, slid headfirst onto the floor. Through the ringing in her head, she could hear him laughing, and shrieked louder to drown him out. Suddenly he let go of her. She got up slowly, rubbing the back of her head, and saw Raphael had Mike flat on his back behind the couch, one hand closed around Mike's throat. Raphael's face was expressionless, but the look in his eyes chilled her.

"Are you okay, Rahab?" he asked quietly, his eyes on Mike's.

"I think so," she said, watching the strange scene in front of her with the odd feeling that she was in a dream. Was this a dream? Somehow this seemed familiar, as though it had happened before...what was it called... deja vu?

"What was he doing, Rahab?" Raph asked in the exact same tone of voice.

Mike opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Rahab stayed silent.

"What was he doing, Rahab?"

Mike swallowed hard against the pressure of Raph's thumb.

"He didn't do anything, let him go!"

"Are you SURE?" Raph ground out, never taking his eyes off of Mike.

"I started the whole thing," she said, her throat tight.

Raphael suddenly planted his feet on either side of Mike and roughly pulled him up to meet him face to face. "What the hell were you laughing about, then?" he demanded.

Mike just glared at him from under his brows.

"You gonna talk to me or WHAT?" On the last word Raphael shoved Mike hard against the stone fireplace. "WHAT were you laughin' about?"

Mike coughed. "Gimme a break, willya? You damn near ripped my vocal cords out," he rasped. "I wasn't laughing AT her, I was just, you know, laughing. I thought it was kinda a joke, y'know? Her attacking me? That would strike you funny, wouldn't it?" He cleared his throat again. "She just doesn't understand, Raph."

"Understand what?" Rahab said faintly.

"That she doesn't know a thing about us." Mike said to Raph, as though he had asked the question. "You are gonna have to say something to her..."

Raphael back slowly off of Mike, who immediately retreated and sat in a recliner a safe distance from them, glaring at Rahab as he kneaded at his throat.

Raphael sat wearily on the edge of the couch, and rubbed his face.

Rahab didn't know what to do with herself. The three of them sat in the vast living room, with only the crackling of the fire breaking the silence.

Next section... Rahab 8

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