Sarina finds herself in the laboratory yet again, adding a few more emotions to her ever expanding list. She can hear the sounds of everyday life going on outside Donatello's scientific haven, making her smile lightly. The lair is vibrant and full of life. It pleases her.

Her friend works nearby, alternating between his microscope and his computer. She glances up at him just as she's adding a curve to the "g" in laughter, when her hand freezes. Donatello is standing up now, his body curved over top of the table with one eye closed as he peers into the microscope. His large fingers deftly adjust the slide beneath, his tongue just poking out from between his lips. His arms shift, falling back to the sides of the machine, and for a split second Sarina wishes that those hands were touching her sides instead.

Her entire face bursts with heat and she has to forcibly stifle a choking noise. With a quick twist of her hips, her office chair swivels away from him and she is free to stare at the floor in disbelief. Her heart pounds and her stomach flutters and lurches as if she's swallowed a multitude of tiny butterflies. She keeps her hand firmly clapped over her mouth as she tries to steady her breathing and rid herself of the fuzz invading her brain.

"Sarina, I've got training right away. Do you want to observe?" Donatello asks, making her heart perk up and start racing away from her yet again.

"No," she says, getting to her feet with such force that her chair rolls away, bangs into the lab table, then tips over. She doesn't dare look at him. "Something has come up. I will watch another time," she says in a rush.

She strides from the lab without another word, leaving Donatello behind in his confusion. The cyborg can see that his brothers have already gone into the dojo for a quick evening training session. She whirls around and makes a beeline for the hallway, where she locates her bedroom and goes inside.

Destiny is already there, her earbuds in and a book on her lap. Sarina flops onto her mattress and stares aimlessly at the ceiling, her mind whirring and clanking and churning. Destiny slowly looks up from her book, reaching up to remove a single earbud.

"You okay?" she asks.

Sarina exhales heavily and lets her eyes fall shut. She can faintly hear Destiny's music trickling from her earbuds, adding soft voices to the tense atmosphere.

"Leave my heart open, but it stays right here in its cage..."

"I...fear I may be coming down with something," she whispers, her hand moving to clench over her chest. "Perhaps a fever or a virus of some kind?"

Destiny's eyebrows lift and her ears perk. She pauses her music and tugs out her remaining earbud as she bookmarks her page and sets it aside all in a few quick motions. She crawls to the edge of her bed and flops onto her stomach, gazing down at Sarina with no small amount of concern.

"You can get sick?" she asks.

"It is very rare, but yes," Sarina answers. "My immune system is far more advanced than others, plus my hardware is always kept up to date. That is why I am concerned." She stops, sucking in a sharp breath. "I am dying."

"Okay, woah, calm down," Destiny says, raising her hand. "You're not dying."

"Are you positive?" Sarina demands. She sits up and snatches Destiny's hand, bringing it to her forehead and pressing the palm solidly against her skin. "I am burning up inside and I think I have developed a heart murmur. Surely, this is the end of my lifespan." She allows Destiny's hand to fall, but still holds it gently as she stares off into space. "I am so young..."

"Sarina, you're a perfectly normal temperature," Destiny repeats. She pulls her hand away and folds her arms beneath her chin. "Maybe backtrack and tell me when you started feeling sick."

"It was only a few minutes ago," the cyborg says. "I was looking at Donatello, at his hands, and I imagined him...touching...me. The next thing I know, I'm exploding on the inside and my internal organs are fluttering and pulsing!" She claps her hands over her face. "I am infected."

Destiny stares at her for a solid three seconds before her scarred face shatters with a wobbly grin. She lets out a gasping giggle, tries to stifle it, then starts laughing even harder, her barking, howling voice invading every available crevice. Sarina cannot look away.

"You think this is funny?" she demands.

"Sarina, you were attracted to Donnie," Destiny says through her giggles, her eyes bright. "He was making you act...no, he..." She stops, pursing her lips as she searches for the right term, then sighs. Her words are slow and tentative. "Okay, I think he, kind of...turned you on. Y'know?"

Sarina gasps and looks down at herself. "I do not have a power switch, or at least...I do not think I do. He must have discovered it weeks ago! How strange!"

"Oh my god," Destiny mutters, starting to snicker again as she buries her face in her arms. "You're so innocent! It's adorable, I c-can't," she wheezes.

"Destiny, you are scaring me. What is this turning on phenomenon all about?"

Destiny makes brief eye contact with her, slightly pink in the cheeks. "Uh, well...you know what Sensei said about hormones the other day?"

"Yes."

"And...do you remember what you've learned about attraction? And love?"

"Yes."

Destiny says nothing more, eyebrows arched and expectant. Sarina blinks, her brain whirring, and she suddenly stops as her entire expression goes flat. Her lips part and she makes a soft "oh" noise.

"I...am attracted to Donatello?" she whispers.

Destiny shrugs, rolling onto her back and dangling her head off the edge of the mattress so that her hair waterfalls to the floor. "You tell me."

Sarina hugs her knees to her chest, starting to trail her fingertips along her kneecaps. "This is so strange. I do not understand," she admits. She shuts her eyes. "But..." she begins, "what I do know is that Donatello is kind to me in a way that very few ever have been. He is intelligent, tolerant, thoughtful, and he is not afraid to tell me when I have made a mistake. I have nothing but endless respect for him." Her eyes flash as they open. Her shoulders sink. "He is...very special to me."

Destiny's face is no longer joyful. There is a melancholy to her that, combined with her scars, serves to make her look far older than she truly is. She hoists her head back onto the mattress and lays there, one arm dangling off the edge of the bed as she takes in a deep breath, then lets it out. The side of her face that is visible is mark free save for a few freckles and some acne, once again morphing her back into the young girl that she is.

"Yeah...I get that," she whispers. Sarina is quiet, and Destiny's lips twitch with a weak smile. Her hands start to tug methodically at the single streak of black hair nestled amongst her curls. "He's a really good guy, Sari," she murmurs. "It'd be a real challenge to find anyone else like him."

"Destiny, his heart is not mine to take, not when he has given it to another," Sarina says. "It will only end in pain, and I wish to prolong that for as long as is necessary. I dare not love him."

Her friend is quiet. She sniffs, her mouth twisting as she screws her eyes shut. "No," she croaks as a single tear escapes the corner of her eye and rolls over the curve of her cheekbone. "No, I guess not."

Sarina falls back, head sinking into her pillow. Her hand drifts back to Destiny's, taking it and allowing their fingers to intertwine. Destiny's hand trembles, then tightens as she sniffles yet again.

Sarina thinks of April. She thinks of the beautiful, feisty woman whom Donatello loves and Sarina knows that it's not worth it. Donatello is only nice to Sarina because he pities her, because she's a sheltered, annoying child who does not understand how the world works. He is responsible for her in the way a babysitter is responsible for an immature child, and to add salt to the wound, she's a Kraang cyborg.

I am an enemy. I am his burden.

"Sari...I'm really glad you're here," Destiny's trembling, broken voice reaches her through the fog of self doubt. "Being alone k-kinda sucks."

Sarina's strong grip tightens and her eyes sting, flashing rapidly as she realizes that there's some kind of moisture leaking from the edges, blurring her vision. She wants to ask what's happening. Why is there some kind of water dribbling down her face and making her feel like she's short-circuiting on the inside and out? This can't be natural.

For once, Sarina does not want to know. For once, she wants to just exist without thinking about everything that's going on. All she wants is to focus on the girl laying above her and the rough, worn palm that's fastened to hers. She takes a gasping, trembling breath and nods as she hones in on what is happening in the here and now.

"Me too, my friend," she murmurs. She drags her free hand along her cheek. "We can be alone...together."