Disclaimer – My, aren't I productive today? And even with that, I still don't own them. This one is set in my favorite TMNT AU – Gabby's. However, she is not the star here. Someone else is! Once again, I have MetaCafe to thank for this one. Enjoy!

Everyone has their own idea of what a monster is, especially Mindy Angelo!

Ere's A Mons'er Ow'sai!

(There's A Monster Outside – for those unable to read 'toddler-speak')

"Finally, some peace!" Gabby slumped exhausted into her chair, watching her daughter scamper outside, leading her grandfather by the hand towards the patio area. As the mother turned back from the window to sit more comfortably in her overstuffed lounger, she wondered how she would have coped raising a two and a half-year old if not for the many babysitters at her disposal. Propping up the chair's footrest so she could recline a little better, Gabby thought about her long list of helpers…

Seth was her main man, the one who rushed in whenever she needed him. He thoroughly enjoyed the roll of fatherhood, too; so much so, that he had been hinting to Gabby at having another baby. Where Mindy wasn't his birth daughter, the idea of actually fathering a child of his own had intrigued Seth. He loved Mindy, of course, as if she truly were his, so there was never a problem there. For that, Gabby was quite happy.

Still, right now, to think about caring for another child and a baby especially, when their daughter was so active and inquisitive, was more than Gabriella wanted to think about.

Then, there was Mike, who lavished endless amounts of attention on his niece, that is, whenever he wasn't working down at the studio. He played the roll of favorite granduncle to the max, though. He spoiled Mindy terribly and had the hardest time disciplining her or saying 'No'.

Collectively, the whole family blamed him for teaching the girl about 'candy'.

As for Devon, whenever he wasn't down at the studio working, he was always willing to take Mindy. If he didn't, she would follow him around, becoming his virtual shadow until he would finally notice her. Mindy would then squeal in delight, as if she had played a big joke on him. Her peels of riotous laughter only grew louder when her 'favorite uncle in the whole wide world' would pick her up and toss her into the air, catching her on the downswing, and then repeating the process – much to the consternation of everyone else's ears! Of course, Devon loved his niece just as much as she loved him and it showed, his usually surly self quickly mellowing whenever he played with the little girl.

Riahna was sweet with Min, but her autistic mind didn't allow for babies. She would take her niece 'flower hunting' among the many roses and other flora in the garden area, but for the most part Mike and Rahab's youngest daughter kept to herself.

Then, there was Raphael, or Gan'pa 'Rap, as Mindy liked to call him. She had problems saying some sounds, so she just clipped names to make it easier. Nevertheless, Raphael tried his best to get her to say his name correctly, even the abbreviated form. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, Mindy seemed to dig her heels in and insist on calling him Gan'pa Rap!

"I only hope she learns to say m'name correctly, cuz I'm tired being called a genre of music!" he grouched one time.

Still, it was no mystery where she acquired her stubbornness, either, which made Raphael the butt of Mike's jokes regarding the Parent's Curse.

Of course, considering Rahab's marital history, Don had conducted a meeting of sorts, involving his sister-in-law in the proceedings. He thought it important to bring a measure of understanding between her and her ex-husband, Raphael. It was so that they would at least try to get along while in the company of their granddaughter. He didn't feel it conducive for Mindy to see two grown adults act like children. It was working for the most part, too, and for that, many members of the family breathed a sigh of relief.

But not more so than Raphael, since he idolized his 'little angel.' He said at the time he wouldn't know what he'd do with himself if he couldn't see his granddaughter when he wanted. Rahab's concession was hesitant, but – as always – Don convinced the woman to be more reasonable and accommodating.

Gabby's mother, Cassandra, tried very hard to involve herself with the clan. After Mindy's birth, she became a fixture at the big house whenever she could get away from her music store in Carmel, which wasn't often. Yet, with Don Tello trying to court her, the family hoped the woman would settle down and give her business up in order to spend more time with her granddaughter.

As for Don and Leo, they visited occasionally, but Don more so, where Leo lived most of the year in Japan. Still, Don's business dealings kept him more than busy, so Mindy rarely saw her two elusive granduncles.

Nevertheless, with Seth going to town that morning to help Mike and Devon at the studio and with plans to stop by the church he and his little family attended, Gabby knew she had extra time to relax. Her father, Raphael, had stopped by soon after the others had left and was more than willing to take his granddaughter in tow.

With Rahab preparing an early dinner and with nothing more for Gabriella to do, she soon found herself dozing off in her chair.

She didn't know how long she had slept, but the piercing scream was what woke Gabby up. At first, she thought it was part of her dream cycle, an interfering noise amid a more tranquil subconscious retreat. As it seemed to get louder – and closer to her in proximity– the gradually rising wail disengaged Gabriella from her dreams and in the next moment, she heard the front door slam open.

The first thing she saw was a red haired toddler barreling into the living room from outside, yelling at the top of her lungs, with the now-opened front door recoiling hard against the wall behind it. From behind her, but out of view, came a more masculine and burlier voice, "Hey, Min, stop yellin', you'll wake yer…"

Too late.

"ERE'S A MON'SER OW'SAI!" the child hollered loudly, racing towards her mom.

"A what?" Gabby asked, trying to wake up and make sense of her daughter's toddler-speak. She pushed the footrest back down into place against the bottom of the chair and then leaned forward, yawning and blinking, as she tried to will her eyes to stay opened.

"A MON'SER! ERE'S A MON'SER OW'SAI!" Mindy repeated, practically leaping into her mommy's lap.

"Oomph, Mindy!" Gabby lightly scolded as she reacted to the girl's sudden weight. Scooping her daughter up, she chastised, "How many times must I tell you…"

"MON'SER!" her daughter interrupted excitedly and then pointed eagerly toward the now-opened front door. At that same moment, Raphael walked through.

Rolling her eyes, Gabby smiled and chuckled, then said to her little girl, "That's just your grandfather!"

"Hey, I resent that!" he grouched good-naturedly.

Gabby smiled up at him as Mindy turned a teary but quizzical expression to her mom. "No, as' Gan'pa, he no mon'ser." The little girl giggled and hiccupped just a bit, "S…silly mommy." Then, sliding off Gabby's lap, the girl walked past her grandfather and went to the door again, only a little more hesitantly than when she came through it the first time. "Mon'ser ow'sai, mommy; gonna ge'me!" Mindy said wondrously. She stood in mock fright staring bug-eyed through the door and then yipped a little, only to race back again for her mother's lap. Burying her face against Gabby, now, the girl starting whimpering a little.

"What is going on?" Gabby asked as she looked up at her father.

"Beats me. We were just taking a walk around the back yard, enjoying the sunshine, looking at things. That long rainy spell made the garden look pretty and so…"

"You just said 'pretty'. I can't believe you said pretty!" Gabby smirked teasingly.

"Hey, it's just a word and that's what flowers are…" Raph shrugged defensively, "well, at least that's what Mindy said they were." He sat down on the couch and noticed a candy jar, "Hey!" he brightened, but when he took the top off, all he found were Goldfish crackers. "What the…"

"I'm trying to undo what Mike, did," Gabby explained with a huff, "Every time Min sees a jar, now, she asks for candy. I'm hoping that by filling our jars with something healthier, she'll stop asking."

Raph chuckled, "You can try, my dear, but candy casts a magical spell over kids. So, don't hold yer breath!"

"Yeah…I guess….anyway," his daughter turned back to the main topic, "why is Mindy so afraid?"

Before Raphael could answer, though, Mindy did the job for him, patting her mom's leg as if to get her attention, "I's 'old you, ere's a mon'ser ow'sai!"

Gabby thought about her daughter's words, and then tried to interpret, "There's a monster outside?" her mother repeated, hoping to discern her daughter's words.

Brightening considerably, the almost three-year old nodded enthusiastically, her eyes big. She smiled, "Yeah! An'…an' he's ow'sai'!"

"Well, at least we know where he is," Raph deadpanned, leaning back into the couch.

"Can you show me?" Gabby asked Mindy, ignoring Raph's sarcasm.

Instant fear erupted onto the child's face, "NO! I's a'raid!"

"Your afraid?" Raph smirked, "You're my granddaughter, you can't be afraid."

With hands on hips, Mindy straightened up as she turned a defiant and pouty face towards her grandpa, "Can too!" She then looked back at her mommy, "Even Gan'pa Rap a'raid!"

Raph's eyes widened, "Am NOT!"

"Yes y'are!" Min said defiantly.

"AM not!" Raph replied, trying his best to look serious. The expression on his granddaughter's face, though, nearly broke his resolve and so he quickly leaned over and scooped up a handful of goldfish crackers, shoving them into his mouth.

"Yous come wit me in…in da house when I runs away from da mon'ser, so…so's tha makes you a'raid!" Mindy reasoned, lifting her chin up as if that finalized things.

"I was chasing after you because you were screaming and going to wake your mother up!" Raph declared.

"She a'ready awake!" Mindy huffed, then pointed, "See? Mommy's eyes r'open!"

Gabby laughed and said to her father, "And you wonder why your granddaughter is so stubborn about things!"

Raphael deadpanned, "Took after you, I think."

"You came first!"

"Whatever."

Gabriella turned her attention back to her daughter once more, "If I go with you and if mean old Grandpa carries you…" Gabby stole a look at her dad and saw him bristle and then she smiled and looked at her daughter again, "can you show us the monster?"

Mindy glanced at her grandfather and studied him, wrinkling her nose, "Gan'pa Rap not mean, he's a big ol'sof'ee like Unca' Mihee says." Raph muttered something about 'payback, and not 'being old either' as Mindy finally accepted her mother's offer, "I shows you, but old Gan'pa Rap hassa carry me!" and she raced over to her grandfather and leaped into his lap.

"I'm NOT old!" he replied gruffly, but took his granddaughter in his arms anyway. He gave her kiss on her cheek and then stood up, "Let's go get that OLD monster, eh, Min?"

He led the way, with Mindy burying her face into his shoulder, as if terrified, while Gabby followed along, snickering behind her father.

As they walked out under the golden glow of mid-afternoon, Gabby had to agree that Raphael was right. It was a sunny day, bright, cheery, and warm. Very few clouds filled the azure blue sky, decrying the nearly two-weeks of rain they had weathered through. A housebound two and a half-year old made life very noisy and busy for those adults trapped with her. Waking to the first morning of sunshine in quite a while energized both the little girl, as it did everyone else.

This made Gabby wonder, of course, if Seth had gone with his uncle and brother, if only to escape for a while.

Nevertheless, she turned her mind back to the task of hunting for Mindy's 'mon'ser'.

As they neared the patio area, Mindy began whimpering. Raphael held her tightly and Gabby heard him offering soft comforting words to his granddaughter. She looked around and couldn't, for the life of her, find anything that a nearly three-year old might interpret as a monster.

"Mindy, where is this monster you're so afraid of?" Gabby heard her father ask. Then, she heard Mindy nearly howl in fear.

"ERE, RI 'ERE, ON DA GROUND!"

Both Gabby and Raphael looked but couldn't see a single thing, not even a bug.

Gabriella came up alongside her daughter and father and gently stroked the little girl's face, "Min, there isn't anything on the ground but concrete and the flowers in the planter. Are you afraid of the pool, maybe?" That didn't make any sense at all where the family had made sure to pool-safe Mindy, teaching her how to float and then swim, just in case she fell in when no one was watching.

"NO!" the child cried, balling her fists up and rubbing at her eyes in frustration. Tears now streamed down her face, as whatever seemed to be terrifying her gained intensity.

Raphael, his patience wearing a bit thin, finally asked, "What does your monster look like, Min?"

"He's NOT MINE, he-he-he keeps falwing me, though," she stuttered through her cries.

"What keeps following you?" Gabby asked, studying her daughter's face. It was perfectly obvious that whatever it was that was bothering Mindy, she was convinced it was a monster. "What does this monster look like. Can you tell us what color it is?"

Mindy paused in her crying for a moment, the word 'color' reminding her of more pleasant activities. Now, though, she had to think about what she learned from those activities to answer her mother. She scrunched up her face, trying to think what 'color' her monster was.

Finally, she yelled out, as if by doing so, it might very well scare her phantom away, "BACK!"

Gabby mouthed the word and then shook her head as she looked around the yard, "Black," she repeated her daughter's description, "I don't see anything around her that…."

However, Raphael's sudden laughter interrupted Gabby's search for the dreaded black monster. She looked back at him and realized that he had obviously figured out what it was.

"Okay, spill it, what in blazes is Mindy's monster?" she asked wryly.

Raph laughed so hard he jiggled his granddaughter, which of course caused her to begin laughing a little, if only because she thought he was doing so deliberately. "Go faster, Gan'pa Rap!" she begged, smiling and giggling.

"Well?" Gabby asked, hands on hips.

Raphael chuckled some more as he pointed to the ground.

Gabby looked and it took a moment, but then she turned to her daughter and asked as she pointed towards the ground, "Is THAT what you're afraid of?"

Mindy looked at where her mother was pointing. When she saw 'it' move (Gabby's arm, that is) the little girl went wide-eyed in an instant. She quickly tried to scamper further up onto her grandfather's shoulder, grabbing at the edge of his carapace, yelling "MON'SER, GET ME!"

As the dark silhouette of their shapes grew long, with the afternoon sun backlighting them, Raph chuckled to his daughter and replied, "Gabby, Mindy's afraid of her own shadow!"