AN: Okay, so I wasn't expecting this to be more than a oneshot, but some things are just beyond our control. Many of you wanted to hear more about Gio, and April and Raph, so...and I've been having ideas for this story, especially after I saw TMNT 2014. Hearing about Project Renaissance and how April was the one to save the turtles...I was watching it like hmmm...this sounds kinda familiar. Hahah, so remember, I first posted this back at the beginning of June, I had no idea Michael Bay's film was going to use the same idea. Anyway, here's the second part. Encouraging reviews keep me motivated! Thank you!

Renaissance

II.

It had been nearly a year since she saved Gio from the bullies and he has since then become part of the family. April remembered the first day she came back to the lair after her and Raph had fixed up the baby turtle. All four teenagers were in the living room doing their own thing, Leo watching his show, Donnie tapping away on his laptop, Mikey eating some creation he just concocted, and Raph reading a comic.

"How's my baby doing today?" She asked, expecting everyone to talk about something funny the little turtle did that day.

But she was only met with three sets of confused eyes.

"Donnie! My turtle! You didn't tell me something happened between you and April!" Was the first words spoken from Mikey.

Donnie's face lit up like a fanned flame, "U-uh…nothing, I-I mean, I d-don't recall anything that—."

Leo cut him off, "Wait a minute! This's impossible, because surely Donnie would have been displaying some sort of—."

"It's not about me, okay!?" Donnie stopped him, his irritation and confusedness getting the best of him.

Raph just rolled his eyes and turned the page of his comic.

April put her hands on her hips, "Raph, you didn't even have the decency to tell them?"

"Oh no, please say this isn't happening…" Donnie mumbled under his breath as he gripped his laptop and put his face as close to the screen as possible. If he needed to block something out, he was prepared to shut down and make a run for it.

"I didn't think it was any of their business," Raph replied as he turned another page.

"Why oh why did it have to be Raphael…" Donnie grumbled again and it appeared that he was about to start banging his head against his device.

April sighed at Raph's response, "Well, I'll be in your room then."

The three clueless turtles couldn't be blamed for their speculations after that mysterious conversation. But it wasn't long before April came back out holding baby Gio in her palm to introduce. And when she finally explained everything that happened, realization dawned on Leo and Mikey's faces whereas Donnie looked nothing but relieved.

Over the last year, Gio had become a favored household pet as he was allowed to roam the lair as he pleased (as long as someone was watching him). Even Splinter would sometimes be found with Gio on his shoulder as he meditated.

And there were occasions when April would take Gio home to her apartment. Raph always expressed his dislike of the idea, but April continuously reminded him that she was the one that saved him, therefore wouldn't let anything bad happen to him.

And she was hoping in a weird sort of way that her and Raph would grow a little closer since their small bonding moment during the day she saved Gio. But no alone time ever came about. Like before, she found herself in the lab with Donnie more often than not, whether she had Gio with her or not. But she knew that if he wasn't with her that Raph was keeping a close watch on him and making sure Mikey didn't do anything stupid.

But ironically enough, it wasn't Mikey that Raph had to worry about.

One evening when April was walking home from the lair with Gio, she came across a commotion going on in a side-street restaurant. Her training had come along way as a kunoichi and she couldn't just ignore what could possibly be trouble.

As it turned out, it was some maniac who had somehow come across a canister of mutagen and was threatening to pour the green liquid on anyone that didn't give him what he wanted.

The innocent civilians, thinking it was some sort of acid or liquid disease (they weren't too far off) were screaming in terror as they reached in their purses and wallets for the money they had on them.

"Hold it right there!" April yelled as she entered the restaurant, not feeling at all intimidated by the canister of glowing green goo. But looking back, she knew she should have been more aware. It wasn't just her, after all. She held Gio, who had gone into his shell due to all the yelling, in her left hand, never even considering what the crazy guy might actually do.

She took out her tessen as she ran toward the man, ready to knock him unconscious and then have the police handle the rest. But the man, frightened by her attack, smashed the canister against the side of a counter before throwing a broken half right at her.

April held up her tessen to block the sharp glass flying at her face, but as the broken half flew over her, mutagen dripped from its sanctuary and splattered all over her. Still, nothing to be concerned about considering she was immune to it…

But when she became acutely aware of the heavy weight in her left hand, she opened her palm to find a couple green spots on her Gio.

Her eyes widened in horror, "No….no no no no no no no no NO!" The surprise and panic rose within her and before she could think, she swung her tessen as hard as she could at the offender, hardly wincing as it made contact with his skull, knocking him off his feet, before it returned to her waiting hand. He was out for the count.

Although the innocent civilians were trying to thank her for her courageousness, she couldn't think about them right then. She bolted from the scene as she tried desperately to wipe away the mutagen that landed on Giotto's shell.

She ran into an alley even though she noticed no more mutagen on him. She kept looking at the shell in her hand, but nothing was happening. She breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned against a building.

"Raph woulda killed me…"

But just as she got the sentence out, the turtle in her hand began to glow a bright green. Her eyes widened as he became too hard to look at, but the extra weight being added to her hand told her well enough what was taking place.

"Oh, no…Gio….Gio…." she could do nothing but lower her hand to the ground as the glowing green grew and grew into a shape all too familiar to her. Before she knew it, a toddler mutant turtle kneeled before her, all four limbs still touching the ground and his eyes downcast.

"Gio…I'm so sorry little one…" April kept repeating as she watched the confused eyes of a half human half turtle look up at her. The first thing she noticed were his eyes. They were unmistakably cyan. A color midway between blue and green and a complementary color of red.

He opened his mouth, "Ap—," but he cut himself short when he heard a foreign language come out of him. That wasn't what he normally sounded like!

April reached out a tender hand to his head, "It's okay…Gio, you're—."

The panic in him arose as he slapped her hand away from him. He stood up on two legs, wobbling as he looked down at himself in wonderment.

A surge was rushing through him and April could sense that he was getting ready to bolt. In a flash, she wrapped her fingers around his wrist, "Gio, please! Please don't run…" The last word cracked in her throat as her tears stung her nose, "We'll get you back to the lair…with Raph and Donnie and Leo and Mikey….you remember them, right?"

Mutagen was a tricky substance. How people or animals reacted to it was so random that believing it could possibly work in favor of wants and desires was ludicrous.

So she was hardly surprised, if not disappointed, when the mutagen really kicked in and he tried to fight her off. She blocked a blow to her face and again wrapped her hand around him, this time his ankle, as he tried to escape.

Gio fell to the earth when he was tripped, quickly flipping himself over to bat at her hand, "Off! Off, off, off!"

"Gio, stop!" April yelled in a pitiful attempt to make him realize who and what he was. But the obscurity of his situation mixed with the substance now running in his blood kept him from coming to his senses. He tried to attack her again, but she somehow managed to get her arms around his waist and yank him up to throw him over her shoulder.

"Off!" Gio yelled again as he pounded his fists into her back and his legs kicked her front.

April couldn't deny that these blows hurt, possibly more mentally than physically, but she knew she couldn't let him run off. She supposed this is what it was like trying to calm a child from a temper tantrum; it wasn't just that she could handle it, it was that she had to.

Scanning the area, she made sure the coast was clear before she exited the alley and jumped down a manhole.

This is it…Raph is going to kill me when he sees what happened…She kept wondering as she got closer to the lair she just left not twenty minutes ago if this would be the last run she ever took. She wouldn't blame Raph for whatever he did, however. She knew she would do the same to anyone that was placed in her shoes.

Though she might not have gotten a whole lot closer to Raph in the past year, an invisible and unspoken bond had formed between the two due to Gio. And April knew that Raph had went through some great measures to keep little Gio out of harm's way, even if it was something small like Mikey messing around with something or Donnie creating something that had to do with mutagen.

And she literally had to come up with a speech of why it was safe for her to bring Gio back to her place for a few nights now and then. She finally got into a yelling match with the hot-headed turtle because he was being way too over protective in her book.

She groaned at her luck as her eyes found the entrance to their lair. She jumped the turnstiles and tried to ignore the tiny oomph! Gio made when his body collided with hers upon landing.

Interesting that all the turtles were in the living room (right where she left them) when she arrived.

"Guys! Uh…something…happened…"

The uncertainty and fear in her voice made all four of them look up. And their eyes instantly connected with the tiny green legs that were kicking at her midsection.

April focused on Raph's response the most.

First he looked in denial. He grinned and looked about to call her on her joke. But when he realized there was no possible way she could pull that off (nor would want to), his eyes widened and his comic dropped to the floor.

"Dude! We have a new ninja on the team!" Mikey offered, being the first to recover and accept what he saw.

Raph jumped over the back of the couch and clenched his fists, "What have you done…?"

April shook her head quickly, "Raph, I'm so sorry, let me expl—OW!" She cut herself short when she felt Gio sink his teeth into her shoulder. She couldn't help but release her grip on him as pain seared through her shoulder and neck. Gio took this opportunity to free himself as he ran from her. His young mind was unsure of which way to go so he ended up running in circles around the lair until something made sense.

"How did this happen, April?" Leo asked as he watched the young turtle topple over everything that was in his way.

"Uhh-um…well, see there was this guy who—."

"It don't matter, 'cause Donnie can make some retromutagen, right?" Raph cut her off, his voice low and obviously pissed off.

All eyes turned towards Donnie despite the ruckus Gio was making, "I…well, I can try, it's been awhile since—."

"What is going on out here!" came a voice that made everyone stop and stand at attention. All except Gio, of course. But as Splinter (and the rest of the ninjas) watched as Gio ran toward Splinter, he narrowed his eyes and yelled bluntly, "Juubun!"

Though Gio probably had no idea what that meant, he stopped dead in his tracks at the loud and demanding voice. The young turtle looked up at Splinter in wonder and alarm, his short legs quaking in fear.

Splinter stared at the tiny turtle and recognized instantly what happened.

Still, he asked, "How did this happen?"

Everyone continued to stand deathly still until April finally sighed and stepped forward, "Master Splinter…it was my fault. There was this guy…and he had a canister of mutagen…and he threw it at me and…." She stopped and glanced over at Raph. He was glaring daggers at her, his emerald eyes dark with animosity.

Splinter didn't need to hear anymore, "Just as well…what has happened has happened. Giotto is now a mutant and must be watched closely. He may be small, but darkness is coursing through his veins."

April shook her head and took a few more steps forward, "No…Sensei, I was the last thing he was touching when he mutated…he can't be…" she couldn't bring herself to continue, because thinking that her adorable baby turtle was evil was…blasphemous!

Splinter's wise eyes narrowed, "It does not matter who or what he touched last. Mutagen blackens the heart and leaves the mutant at its will."

"But…" she looked around at her mutant friends then back at Splinter, hoping he realized what she was trying to ask.

"All of those that have been mutated have become nefarious because it releases a survival hormone into the bloodstream that causes the one that has been mutated go be under its control. I had been trained in the art of deep meditation….and because of that, I was able to keep my humanity. My four sons…they were not always this civilized. It took years of training and discipline to get them to where they are now."

"Years…?" April glanced at each of the four brothers, wondering if they even remembered those years of mutant rebellion.

As if on cue, Gio got tired to standing around waiting for the conversation to end and attacked Splinter's leg. It was pitiful, to say the least, as the small half human half reptile tried to punch at his feet with no visible outcome.

Splinter didn't even look down as he turned and walked back into his meditation room, Gio still latched into his leg.

April let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding.

"Don't worry, April. Splinter has everything under control," Leo offered, seeing how tense she was.

"Splinter has nothin' under control!" Raph spoke up, "I mean, sure, he can scare the shit outta the kid, but that doesn't change the fact that—."

"I'll start working on a new retromutagen," Donnie cut him off before Raph could insult April's responsibility levels, "It may take a little while because I need to go through my notes, get another full canister of mutagen, mix the right amount with April's DNA…"

"It won't be done today, we get it!" Raph interrupted this time, "I'm already sick of everyone thinkin' this situation is okay 'cause it's temporary! Fact is that it happened!" He turned his attention to April again and pointed an accusing finger, "You promised you would protect him at all costs!"

April looked down, her shoulders slumping, "I know, and I feel awful about—."

"Hey, don't blame April!" Donnie cut in, stepping in between the two even though they were at least ten feet apart, "She obviously didn't want this sort of thing to happen either, it just—."

"Stay outta this, Donnie!" Raph yelled, "You can't defend her mess-ups no matter how much ya like her!"

Before Donnie could defend himself, April stepped around him to get closer to Raph, "There's no need to take your anger out on anyone but me, Raph! I messed up and I'm sorry, okay? But until Donnie can create the retromutagen, it is what it is."

Raph snorted and crossed his arms, "Spoken like a true quitter."

April shot her head back like he slapped her, "A quitter? I'm just accepting the things that can't be changed right now! You should try it sometime!"

"I'll never accept what you turned Gio into!"

There was fire in both of their eyes now, "Well at least he's not a ten foot tall tortoise who goes around breaking your brothers' arms!"

Ouch. Too close to home.

"You know what? Whatever! You're the one that let this happen so there's no use in trying to make me feel bad!" And with that, Raph turned on his heel and disappeared into his bedroom.

She wasn't sure why, but watching him walk away from her hurt more than anything. She could feel the eyes of the other turtles on her and it made her feel self-conscious.

"You need any comfort food, April?" Mikey finally spoke up, lightheartedly yet brightly, "I can make a pizza with anything ya want on it!"

Feeling a harsh sting behind her eyes, April shook her head, "Not hungry right now. I'll…be in the lab." And with a quick pace, she made her way toward Donnie's lab; she had to escape the pitied looks but didn't want to go home before knowing the short term consequences for Gio. Raph would have to forgive her eventually, especially after everything returned to normal, but for now, his anger was affecting her more than she thought it would.