``We're here, Raph'' Karai said to him from the front seat of the car, ``thanks Karai'' he answered back in a sad voice, before getting out the back of the car.
He started to walk away when Karai said to him ``are you sure, you want to do this without your brothers?'' ``I already lost the fight with Splinter, so I can't go back, besides even if I want to, I can't go back, Splinter will kill me, before losing them to me, Splinter wants Shredder dead no matter the cost'' Raph said sadly.
He turned towards her and gave her a heartbreaking look while saying ``be careful Karai when you get back to the city'' ``I will and good luck Raph'' she answered back with a concerned look.
Karai got back in the car and drove back to the city alone. Raph started walking and didn't stop until he came to a small lake. There he stopped and took a chance and went to sleep inside an underwater cave.
He was to tiered to worry about being seen right now, he fell asleep fast, because he was exhausted from walking for almost 9 days straight.
Luckily, he had found an old plane crash, that still had its unused first aid kit, so he could take care of his left arm, that had reopened the wound, that Karai had fixed. He had taken the first aid kit bag with him, just in case he needed it later.
When he woke up, he took a look around and saw that he was inside some kind of building, the place was abandoned, the amount of dust and dirt was a very good indicator of that.
He had found out that there were no door or entry to the top side, other than the underwater tunnel he had used to get in, so he got to cleaning up the place and, in the process, found out what could be used and what he needed to fix.
The place had its own power source, water source and an air circulation system, all of which still worked without a problem. He was lucky, that the place had several floors, so many that it was like an underground city.
The floors that could hold to it, became farming floors with plants and animals. An entire floor became half a lab with half an infirmary. One floor became a kitchen with dining area and one floor for storage, with half for dry food and half for wet food.
When the whole place was done, he started to feel lonely, so he started to try and find out how to get children of his own. He studied all he could, by reading online books and physical books from maternity, medical, biology and other subjects that he thought he might need.
He had finally found out how to have children of his own, without the second parent, sort of. The way he did it was by taking his own DNA and taking the female part from it to make an egg, that he would then put one of his sperm cells into, then wait 12 days to see what the result was, if there was no baby, then he would try again, but after the second fail he would destroy the egg. If there was a baby, then he would put it in the incubator until it hatched around 60 days later.
This was the way he had gotten all of his four children. He had gotten three boys, not that he aimed for boys every time, but he loved them all just the same.
Raph was living a quiet life with his children, but as time went on, he missed his brothers more and more, but he knew he couldn't go to them because of Splinter. He knew he had to wait and with how long he could live, he knew he had time for waiting.
..........................................................................
``Same boring day, just like yesterday'' Mikey said all bored ``Mikey focus will you'' Leo said firmly, ``sure'' Mikey said, ``it's practice time, not complaining time'' Leo said firmly.
``Hey guys'' Karai said standing in the dojo door, ``hey Karai, how are you?'' Donny asked, ``good and you?'' She asked calmly, but with an undertone of something else, ``good'' Leo said with suspicion in his voice.
``What are you doing here?'' Donny asked calmly, ``just out for a walk, so I decided to come and say hi'' Karai answered calmly, but again with an undertone of something else, ``okay, what do you want from us?'' Leo asked firmly, ``how is Splinter?'' She asked back at him just as firmly, ``he is sick, why?'' Leo asked with suspicion, ``he doesn't have long anymore'' Donny said sadly.
``I see'' she said calmly, ``so that is why you are here?'' Mikey asked confused, ``yes, because it means that I can finally tell you guys a secret of mine'' she said with relief, ``what secret?'' Mikey asked curiously.
They went into Splinters room, where Splinter was laying in his bed sick and breathing heavily, ``it really is almost time for him'' Karai said calmly, ``yes and if you don't mind, we would like some alone time with our father now'' Leo said.
``I can't go Leo, I have a promise to keep'' Karai said while sitting down next to Splinter, she leaned in to get his attention before she said ``Raph has a message for you. You lose'' she said coldly before getting up and walked out the room, she went into the living room and waited for the brothers to come join her.
The brothers stayed with Splinter until his last breath, after he was gone and they were ready for it, they came into the living room and joined Karai. ``He is gone'' Leo said sadly, ``good'' Karai said calmly.
``Good?'' Leo said angrily, ``what do you know about Raph?'' Mikey asked confused and sadly, ``where is Raph?'' Donny almost yelled at her angrily, ``not in the city, but when you are ready, then I can take you to where I last saw him'' she answered calmly.
``Raph is alive and he is not in the city. Is that correctly understood?'' Leo asked her firmly, ``yes'' she answered calmly, ``take us to him'' Mikey said sobbing, ``when you guys are ready, Mikey'' she said calmly.
Karai knew that the brothers were very sensitive right now, therefor she tried to stay calm and talk calmly to them, especially since she didn't want a fight to break out.
She made Raph a promise and she was gonna keep it no matter what. Because of everything that was going on, she decided to tell them calmly what Splinter had done to Raph.
Raph had told them that he needed to talk to Splinter alone that day, which was why they had left without Raph that day. Splinter and Raph had started the talk calmly in the dojo, but when Raph realized that Splinter was just using them to kill Shredder, the talk turned loud fast and one thing lead to another and they started to fight, a fight that ended when Raph managed to slam Splinter into the wall, which made him pass out and that was when Raph ran away.
She told them, that she was on patrol in the sewers when she found Raph. Raph was bleeding heavily from his wounds, especially the one on his left arm, that wound went from shoulder all the way down to the middle of his forearm.
She continued to tell them, that she didn't have a first aid kit, but she knew where to get one, she took him up to the streets and broke into a car, so he would have some cover while she worked on fixing his wounds, with the first aid kit that was in the car.
After fixing Raph, she had driven Raph out of the city, like he wanted her to, but while she was driving, Raph told her everything and cried the rest of the way. She even told them what Raph had said to her before they parted ways.
``And now I'm here'' she said calmly, they were looking at her with big eyes and open mouths. It took them a moment to process, what Karai had told them, but there was a part of them that knew she was telling the truth, because they had killed Shredder and Splinter had told them to kill Karai too, which made no sense to them, because Karai was turning the foot into the protectors of New York City.
``Take us to Raph'' Leo said calmly, ``now please'' Donny said softly while trying not to cry, ``what about Splinter's body? We can't let somebody get their hands on it'' Mikey said calmly, ``we'll burn him, before we leave to get Raph'' Leo said firmly.
Donny went to the garage and got a bottle of gas, while Mikey and Leo took Splinter's body to the bathroom, where they put him in the bathtub along with some of his things. Then Donny poured the gas all over Splinter and his things, before Leo sat it all on fire, then they stayed and watched until it was all gone and the fire was dead.
``Time to go'' Leo said calmly, ``we can clean up later'' Donny said, ``then let's go, I'll drive'' Karai said calmly.
They got in the back of Karai's van and Karai in the front. She drove them to where she last saw Raph, once there she stopped the van and said ``we're here'' ``thanks Karai'' Leo said while they were getting out of the van.
``Where is he?'' Mikey said confused, Karai got out of the van and started to walk away from them, ``this way guys'' she said calmly, ``how far?'' Donny asked her, ``I don't know, this was the last place I saw him. I know he walked this way, but I don't know how far or how long'' she admitted to them.
``I do know how to find him, he told me to follow the lonely turtle in the trees'' she told them, ``like that one'' she said, she had stopped walking and was pointing up a tree to a carving of a turtle.
They saw it and then Leo said ``thank you, Karai. You should go back home. We got this'' ``alright Leo'' she said before turning around and walked back to the van.
``Hey, don't forget to tell him that Splinter is dead, instead of fighting with him from the start'' she told them calmly, ``we will'' Donny said giving her a small smile.
Karai drove back to the city alone, while the three brothers walked towards Raph, they hoped.
After walking for almost 9 days, they stopped when they came to a small lake, where they saw a little turtle tot near the water, the little tot looked to be around four or five years old.
When the little tot saw them, the tot froze in place with big eyes of fear.
Donny tried to get a little closer slowly, but be friendly at the same time, they saw the tot stayed still until Donny got a little closer, then the tot screamed and a deep growl sound came from over at the rocks, the tot ran over to the growl sound, and that was when they saw Raph.
They saw the tot run to Raph and quickly run into the tunnel behind him. Raph was looking angry at them, then Leo remembered what Karai had told them in the lair, ``Splinter is dead, we burned his body and things about ten days ago'' Leo told him calmly.
Raph stopped growling and just looked suspiciously and angry at them, ``Karai told us everything, how else do you think we found you?'' Mikey asked him calmly, ``he really is dead?'' Raph asked slowly, ``yes, he is'' Donny said calmly, they saw Raph's face turn from angry to sad, before he let out a deep sigh of relief.
``I'm so sorry, for leaving you guys, but I'm glad you know why I had to leave'' Raph said sadly but with a small smile, ``it's alright Raph'' Leo said walking towards him. Raph came out of the doorway and over to them, they hugged and kissed each other, all four.
``You have a child?'' Donny asked curiously, ``no'' Raph said firmly, ``I have four of them'' he said smiling and half laughing, ``four?'' Mikey asked, ``how?'' Donny asked, ``with who?'' Leo asked, ``alright calm down. Yes, I have four and how and with who, you can find out by reading my notebooks. Now can we go inside?'' Raph said half laughing, ``sure'' Leo said calmly.
They followed Raph inside the tunnel, where Raph had closed and locked the hidden door behind them. They went down the spiral stairs until they came to a door, Raph unlocked the door and opened it, once inside they saw they were in a hallway, Raph closed and locked the door behind them.
``Where did the kid go?'' Mikey asked, ``the *tot* went to the safe room'' Raph said firmly, ``sorry, Raph'' Mikey said giving a small smile, Raph's answer was a smile back. They followed Raph into the living room, where Raph told them to sit and wait, they did as Raph said.
While they were waiting for Raph, they sat and looked around the room. Raph went to the safe room and found all four tots there safe and scared, once they saw Raph they ran over to him, and Raph took them in his arms and hugged them, before calmly saying ``I have some family for you to meet.''
Raph kept his tots in his arms as he walked to the living room with them. While walking with them, he told them who they were going to meet, so they wouldn't be too nervous. When they came into the living room, the tots were calm, but nervous, they had never meet anybody new before.
One by one Raph put them down on the floor, before he sat down behind them, but all four crawled back up into his arms or into his lap. Raph just smiled at them, ``sorry, they haven't meet anybody new before'' Raph calmly told his brothers, ``that's alright Raph, we can take this calmly'' Leo said calmly with a smile.
``Alright, who wants to go first and say hello?'' Raph asked his tots calmly, ``it's alright, they are not going to hurt you, they are family'' Raph said calmly and smiling. ``Hello'' one tot said nervously, ``hello'' Donny said calmly and smiling sweetly, ``very good, Raina'' Raph said smiling sweetly.
``Hello'' another tot said nervously, ``good boy, Rambo'' Raph said giving him a smile, the last two tots looked at each other, before turning to face the three big once and said nervously ``hello'' together, ``well done, Rush and well done, Rumble'' Raph said smiling.
``And now your turn'' Raph said looking at his brothers, ``hello I'm Leo'' Leo said calmly, ``hello I'm Donny'' Donny said calmly too, ``hello I'm Mikey'' Mikey said smiling big, ``see that wasn't so bad'' Raph said calmly with a smile.
While the four brothers sat there, and talked calmly about what had happen since last time they saw each other, the tots were still in their dad's arms, still nervous, but as time went on and nobody was hurting them or their dad, they started to relax and begin to fall asleep.
Once the tots were asleep, Raph slowly got up with all four still in his arms. He walked with his brothers to the tots' bedroom, where he tugged the tots into bed one by one.
They looked around the room, and saw that the room was clean and everything was in order. Then Raph came over to them and got them out of the room, so he could turn the lights off and close the door.
Following Raph, they went down the hallway and into a small hallway with five doors, two on each side and one at the end of the hallway. ``From left to right it's, a closet, my bedroom, my bathroom, my meditation room and a guest room'' Raph said while pointing at the different doors, ``do you guys wanna sleep with me or alone?'' Raph asked them looking a little nervous.
``Your room, if you don't mind'' Mikey said with a big naughty smile, ``alright'' Raph said laughing. They went into Raph's room, and saw that there was no hammock, but there was one big bed in the middle of the room.
``No hammock?'' Mikey asked confused, ``hammocks and tots are not a good combo, especially when nightmares are involved'' Raph said smiling while shaking his head.
``How did you get them, Raph?'' Donny asked curiously, ``easy Donny, bed time first and then I will show you tomorrow, alright?'' Raph said calmly, ``alright Raph'' Donny answered calmly.
``Why did you give them those names?'' Leo asked curiously with a smile, ``well think about it, what are they called?'' Raph said smiling.
``Raina, Rambo, Rush and Rumble...hmm, Rush and Rumble I get, but Rambo and Raina?'' Donny said thoughtful.
``Rambo like the movie character, and Raina because of the rain pattern on her shell'' Raph said smiling sweetly, ``oh how cute'' Mikey said smiling big with bright eyes, Raph couldn't help but chuckle at Mikey.
``Alright you, time for bed. We can talk more tomorrow'' Raph said getting into bed, ``heh alright Raph'' Leo said smiling.
While getting into bed, they notice that they could better see the scar on Raph's left arm, ``did he really give you that scar?'' Donny asked softly, ``huh?'' Raph responded, ``the scar on your left arm'' Mikey pointed out to him, ``oh, that, yes he did'' Raph said while looking at the scar sadly.
``Does it still hurt, when you move your arm?'' Donny asked in his doctor voice, ``relax Donny, it doesn't hurt and I can move it normally, so there is no reason to worry about it, alright?'' Raph answered calmly and with a smile, ``alright Raph, but it looks bad'' Donny said sadly, ``I know'' Raph answered sadly.
Raph took a hold of Donny, and pulled him down into his arms for a tight hug, ``relax Doc, it looks worse than it is, but I promise you, I'm not in pain'' Raph said before kissing the top of Donny's head, ``now please go to sleep'' Raph said yawning, before he closed his eyes and fell asleep holding Donny.
..............................................................
Few weeks later.
``Papa?...papa?'' Rambo kept saying while trying to crawl over to him, ``Raph, Rambo wants you'' Leo said sleepy, ``mmm'' Raph answered still sleeping, ``come here you'' Mikey said while taking Rambo up in his hands, then Mikey put Rambo down on Raph's chest, ``there you go'' Mikey said smiling at him.
``Papa...papa'' Rambo started with again, while pushing his hands down on Raph's cheek, ``mmm...what...what is it'' Raph yawned while trying to open his eyes, ``papa...papa, your late for breakfast'' Rambo said while still trying to wake his papa, ``alright I'm coming'' Raph yawned.
Raph took a hold of his son, before getting up and out of the bed, ``go tell the others to sit at the dining table and wait, then we will be right there, alright?'' he said before giving a kiss on top of Rambo's head, ``alright papa'' Rambo said while being put down on the floor.
Rambo left the room and they made the bed, before going to the bathroom to take a shower.
After the shower they went into the kitchen dining room, and saw all four tots waiting there. Leo and Don sat down with the tots, while Mikey went with Raph into the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone.
When they were done eating, they started their new daily routine.
They were all happy that they were all together again, and the tots were a big jackpot, that they had not expected, but they were still happy, that Raph had solved the having children problem for them.
The end.
