It's been 2 months since April and Casey visited the lair. The HQ sure became more quieter without them. The turtles missed them, but they also respect their decision. Sure they helped them moving in into an apartment, assemble some machines, furnitures and they left. Sometimes April or Casey calling the turtles If everything goes well, but nothing more than that. Tho Raphael tried to visit them to say hi or just get drunk with Casey, but something always came up. But it was normal. Everyone doing their own job in their life. Casey and April living together, the turtles beating up bad guys and saving people. Still, something, or someone missing in the picture.
After 5 months, this day started just like any other regular day. The turtles and Splinter woke up early, they ate breakfast and they started to train. Everything went fine, but Raph became a bit more aggressive in these days. No wonder, perhaps he missed hanging around with Casey more than his brothers. Maybe Don was the least who missed him. He still remembered those days when Casey "accidentally" broke some of his inventions. He gave him some hard times, but he started to missed that. Just a little. He missed April more, to be honest.
After their training the turtles relaxed in their own ways. Leonardo practiced some of his moves or just meditated. Donatello repaired some machines or just sitting around and drinking coffee or tea, depends on his mood. And Michelangelo just playing video games. This time with Raph. Maybe playing video games calms Raph down, who knows.
"Mikey, that's cheating!"
"No way Raph, I'm just good at this."
"You breaking the rules here. There's no way you could shoot 10 bullets with that pistol."
"I picked up a random upgrade. I swear I didn't know it would do that."
"Bah! I never fond of these shooting games."
"Don't worry Raph, you were good tho. Rematch?"
He dropped the controller next to Mikey. "Screw this, I'm leaving." He stood up and before he left, Mikey interrupted him.
"Hey Raph, try to chill a bit, It's just a game."
Raph rolled his eyes, annoyed, he could even punch him, but he decided to not doing it and just shrugged. "Whatever."
He walked inside the kitchen, close to the fridge and took out a can of beer.
Leo also walked in. His expression was a bit worried. "Raph, we need to talk."
Raph just wanted to have a few minutes of silence, to have his peaceful moment, drinking his beer and not think of anything at all, but once again, someone disrupted him.
"Spare me with your chit chat, Leo."
"You still miss them, right?"
"Huh?"
Leonardo was the leader, sure, but also a caring brother too who tries to make his brothers feeling better. Even if a little bit. It was worth to try.
"I know It's a bit hard, but we have to accept it."
"You don't have to tell me this, I know that." He took a sip from his beer and he sat down on a chair and he continued. "It's just...weird, you know. Back in the days when we kicked some Foot ninjas and mutents with April and Casey, those days were the best."
Leo leaned on the wall and nodded. "Yes, I agree with that. But you can't force them to stay with us."
"I'm not that stupid. But they are the part of the family too. At least they should visit us sometimes or inversely." He started to drink his beer.
Luckily the fridge filled with non-alcoholic drinks so Raph could drink as much as he want. It's not like Raph or his brothers can't handle alcohol well, but there was an "incident" 2 months ago, and Splinter forbade the alcohol for a certain period of time. Next week they can drink alcohol again. Doesn't matter to Raph anyway, the taste doesn't change.
"Don't worry Raph, I'm sure we will have the opportunity to meet them."
"But when?"
Before Leo answered him, Mikey screamed from the distance and shouted loud like the way he got his limited edition superhero comic book on Christmas day.
"Guys! I got a message from April! They are going to visiting us 2 hours later!" Just like that Christmas day, he jumped on all over the sofa like a kid. But that was okay. With good news like this, who can sit still anyway?
Raph smiled bright, just like his brother. "Now that's more like it!"
And like a good hosts, they started to clean their lair as much as possible. They have enough food and drink, everything seems to be ready. Maybe everything is going to be the same again.
After 2 hours, the lair is cleaner, except the sewer scent. It's a natural scent that just can't be changed, but good old Mikey tried to compensated it with a lot of air freshener.
The doors opened. April overjoyed.
"Hey there guys, long time no see!"
April and Casey. Finally. It was like forever. Thought this the turtles. They welcomed Casey and April with fist bumps and hugs. Actually only Casey received fist bumps, but he got two hugs too from Mikey and Raph. And April got all the hugs and a little high tree with Don.
"I like your new clothes." Donny admired their fashion.
April blushed a bit in response. "Thank you. I can't wear a purple shirt all day, right?"
"It seems Casey you can't wear anything than sleeveless shirts, huh?" Raph poked Casey's sides a bit with his elbow.
"What can I say, I don't wanna hide these babies." And he flexed his muscles a bit. Good old Casey. Doesn't changed.
Leonardo stepped closer to them. "So, everything is okay with you, guys?"
Mikey interrupted him. "Yeah, we barely talked with each other."
April scratched the back of her neck a bit. "I'm sorry about that. Me and Casey had a lot things to settle."
Casey helped April answering to them. "Yeah. You know, new home, new start, stuff like these." Well, he loved making things short.
"You look good Casey, but April, I think you ate too much, If you know what I mean." Mikey pointed on her belly and Donny slapped his neck a bit. "Ow!"
"Mikey, you shouldn't say this to people, especially for a lady! But if you want April, I could suggest you some special regimen." Not sure If Donny tries to seduce her or just want to be nice, this two can be confusing for Mikey.
"Well..." she hesitated a bit. "...that is the other reason we are here. I'm pregnant."
Everyone's eyes were widened. Casey just smiled bright and giggled like a champion who scored big or reached the goal.
Leonardo was the first to go back to the reality and he congratulated. "Well, congratulations to you both."
"So that's why you guys didn't contacted us that long?" Raphael asked.
"Yep. We started to looking for furnitures and other things." Casey answered with full of pride.
Mikey joined to the conversation. "So it was an accident, or you two made up your mind to have a baby?"
"It was April's Idea at first, but I needed to think about that. Raising up a baby isn't easy at all."
Splinter coughed a bit. "I know the feeling, trust me. Raising up four turtle boys can be very tiring for an old man like me." He turned to April. "Mrs. O'Neil. If you want, I could give you some advices and sharing my experiences about how to raise a child."
"Thank you Splinter, I think I could learn from you." Of course Splinter would skip those parts like what turtles should eat or not and all the methods actually involved with turtles. But some tips here and there are the same so it was worth to listen. April started to study and searched for informations about how to raise a child at home, she even asked some of her friends and people she knows, maybe she could learn more. She wants to be ready for this. And Casey? Well....he is trying his best too. Probably.
While Splinter and April walked into Splinter's room, the turtles and Casey killing the time with chatting, drinking beer, like the good old days.
"So, wanna tell us how did you and April...you know." Yeah, Mikey and his curiosity. It's not like he didn't saw anything like that. He saw that a lot on the Internet but talking about it with his friend, is a bit different to him. Or not.
"Whoa, hey there, I'm a gentleman, I'm not gonna talking about our private times." And Casey saved the day to avoid any awkward situations.
Donny chuckled a bit. "You as a gentleman, huh?"
"Well I can be an asshole too, but you guys already know that side of me."
Raph couldn't help it, he started to laugh a bit and nodded. "True."
Casey took a sip of his beer. "Damn, non-alcoholic beer? Where's the real beer?"
Leo crossed his arms. "We can't tell you that. But soon we can drink alcohol again, so don't worry."
"Ah, Splinter punished you guys? That's suck." He finished his drink and sighed with joy. "Who wants to arm wrestling with me?"
Before anyone said something, Raphael smirked and he gave his beer to Mikey. "Hold my beer. I've got this."
"Okay?" Mikey confused there for a second. Raph was too eager. He waited for this moment long time ago. A friendly arm wrestling.
Elbows on the table, hands in hands. Mikey counted down. "Three....Two....One....GO!"
Both of their muscles started to work. Casey tries to push Raph's hand down on the table, but Raph won't give him a chance. Tho Casey aren't a weak guy, he made Raph sweat a bit, but he wasn't full dry neither. Veins can be seen better on their arm after a minute. They really enjoying their moment, both of them wants to win, but also they fooling around sometimes which it made each other amused. But Casey's arm started to get sore and it was enough for Raph to finish him off. And his hand touched the table. Raph wins.
"Ah, dang it!" he smiles while rubbed his hand. "I guess I lost, huh?"
"I admit you are still strong, Casey."
"But not enough."
"Pfft, so what? You lost this, no big deal. I remember you also won a lot."
"True." Casey scratched the back of his neck a bit. "Say, Raph, can we talk in private?"
"Sure." Both of them stood up and they went into Raph's room. They sat down on the bed and Casey didn't hesitated to start the conversation.
"How are you, man?"
"Now that you finally arrived with April, I feel better now. I tried to visit you guys a lot, but always something came in."
"Yeah, I know what you feel. We wanted to visit you guys too, well, especially I wanted to visit you, but the thought that I will have a baby made me a bit nervous."
He poked Casey's shoulder a bit. "C'mon, that's not the Casey I know. Normally you love challenges."
"I do, but this one probably the toughest."
"Yeah."
"Say, Raph..." he stopped a bit, then he continued "...am I will be a good father? Just be honest."
"I can't really answer to this. It depends on you. Try to study a bit, like April. Look up for informations and such. Or take a course, literally, do anything that could make you feel more confident."
Casey smiled. "Heh, thanks Raph. You're one of my best friend."
"Tho, you are a bit irritable. Try to chill." *Raph smirked.
"Oi! I'm not irritable!"
Raph laughed and Casey punched him on his shoulder softly with a big grin.
"I really missed ya, Casey."
"Oh, I missed you too. But I'm affraid If we keep continue like this, we will probably kissing each other."
Raph smirked again. "I don't mind tho~"
"You asshole." Both of them laughed and punched each other softly, like two silly brothers.
After they calmed down, Raph's smile disappeared and turned into a bit anxious.
"So, that means we can't see each other again?"
"I don't know. But hey, we will figure it out. I won't forget you, nor your brothers. How about, we try to hanging out every weekend?"
"That would be cool."
"Good. I will talk with April."
Both of them paused a bit and Raph had something in his mind.
"The baby will be a boy or a girl?"
Casey did a face palm. "Ah damn it, we forgot to check it."
Raph smiled. "At least you know what would be their name?"
"Well, we talked about it with April. If the baby would be boy, then he will be Casey, like me."
"And if the baby would be a girl, then she will be called April?"
"Nah, we would call her, Shadow."
"That's a nice name."
"It is, and thanks."
April shouted from the distance. "Casey! We should go back home now!"
"Coming, honey!"
"So, this is goodbye then, huh?"
Casey stood up. "Nah, let's just say, see ya later. I try to call you on friday if we could hang out on the weekend."
Raph stood up too. "Alright. You better visit me again, or I punch ya."
"Heh, I'm more afraid of April than you. But I'll talk with her." he opened his arms. "Give me a "see you later" hug."
Raph didn't hesitated. He leaned on Casey and hugged him firmly, just like Casey.
"Then see you later, Casey. Take care of April and your future child...but mostly take care of you."
"Yeah. And look after your brothers. Don't let them getting into a trouble."
"Heh, I will."
Both of them broke the hug and Casey left Raph's room.
After a few minutes, April thanked the tea and the informations from Splinter, Casey shook hands with the turtles, and they waved with a smile while they left the lair. The feeling was mutual. This wasn't the last goodbye. They will see each other again.
