TMNT 100 Theme
Chapter 27
Love
Leonardo led the way through the sewers to April and Casey’s apartment. He stayed alert for any sign of trouble. Though the path that led from the lair to the basement of the apartment had been secured by Donny, they couldn’t be too careful. Their enemies were still out there, if the path was ever discovered they could walk in to a trap.
Being the most skilled of them all, Splinter carried Snow. Having her in his arms would not hinder his ability to fight. At least that was Leo’s belief. He hoped that it would not be tested any time soon.
They reached the hidden door that led into the basement. Leo stepped through first and listened for the sound of anyone being around. Once he deemed that it was clear, Leo stepped inside and the others followed.
It wasn’t too late but April said that she was going to close the store early. One of the perks of owning your own business was that you could close any time you wanted. That didn’t mean that there wasn’t someone in the store at the moment. April wasn’t the type to simply kick someone out if they were still in the store and looking. She would have waited a little while longer, dimming the lights to let them know that they needed to make their selection or leave. Passive aggressive was always her first choice of action when it came to her customers. That was unless they did something really bad. Then she could be very aggressive.
Leonardo moved up the steps that led into the store, making sure to avoid the one step that squeaked. Once again he waited and listened. As far as he could tell, the store was closed. He could hear April humming to herself as she cleaned.
Deciding that it was safe, Leo stepped up into the store. “Hey, April.”
After years of having the guys ninja their way around her April was no longer surprised when they appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It helped that she had been expecting them. She had invited the whole gang over for dinner.
“Hi, Leo,” April said with a smile. “Are you all here?”
“Yes,” Leo nodded, stepping out of the way so the others could come up.
“We even brought Snow,” Raph said as he stepped into the store. “It better be some damn good food to bring her out of the safety of the lair.”
April walked over to Splinter and relieved him of Snow. “I promise that it will be worth it.”
They followed her to the apartment above the store. The scent of the promised meal greeted them as soon as she opened the door. It smelled delightful. After handing Snow over to Raph, April got to work putting the finishing touches on dinner.
She laid out several dishes on the long table that was usually only brought out for special occasions. She was prepared for the Turtles’ large appetite. There were three roasted chickens, stewed pork, potato wedges with dill, fried rice, boiled eggs, several greens, bread, two pies, and a cake. It was larger than the meal they had made for Thanksgiving.
As they ate, Leo couldn’t help but wonder what the special occasion was. It wasn’t the anniversary of anything or any kind of holiday that he knew of. Whatever the reason, Leo was grateful for the meal.
April sat next to Tello and took the opportunity to get to know him. Leo figured that maybe that was the reason for the spread. April wanted to make Tello feel welcome with a grand introduction into the family.
By the time they were done eating, there was nothing left but the bones of the chicken. It had been a satisfying meal. Leo was so full and he hoped that they had an easy trip back to the lair. One kick to the stomach and he would explode.
Donny started to help gather plates but April stopped him. “There’s one more thing.”
“I don’t think I could eat anything else,” Mikey moaned, patting his stomach.
“It’s small,” April reassured him and headed into the kitchen. She returned with a bowl full of fortune cookies. She handed one to Splinter and then held the bowl out for the rest of them. “Grab one but don’t open it until I tell you.” Once everyone had a cookie April smiled. “Okay. Open them.”
Leo cracked the cookie and pulled out the slip of paper. He had to turn it in his hand before he could read it and then it took him a moment to process what it said. “You’re going to be a wonderful uncle,” Leo read out loud. And then it hit him. He looked up at April. “You’re pregnant!”
April nodded. “Twins.” She rubbed her belly and a smile consumed her face. “The doctor thinks that there are two placentas so that means that they are going to be fraternal. I’m ten weeks along.”
“This is great,” Donny said and stood up to give April a hug.
Raph slapped Casey on the back. “Congratulations, buddy.”
“I’m scared out of my mind, Raph,” Casey confessed.
“You’ll be a great dad,” Leo told him, earning a smile from Casey.
While the others continued to congratulate the couple, Leo looked over at Tello and saw him staring at the piece of paper in his hands. Leo leaned over and placed his hand on Tello’s shoulder. “You okay?”
“Just thinking,” Tello mumbled.
“What about?” Leo prompted.
Tello sighed. “How life goes on.” He looked over at Leo. “I’m happy for them and I look forward to seeing their babies.” His voice choked off and tears filled his eyes. “It gives me hope.”
Leo nodded. “Even in these hard times, there is room for hope and happiness.”
……
They made it back to the lair without incident. Which was good since Donatello was lost in thought the whole way. He walked next to Splinter, looking at his plump daughter and couldn’t help but desire another one. Not right away, of course. But, since he had the ability, why not take advantage of it? It would give Leo a few students to train, and Snow a sibling so she wouldn’t grow up alone. It was definitely something he wanted.
As soon as they entered the lair, Raphael relieved Splinter of Snow. “I’ll take her for the night so you and Leatherhead can have some alone time. I haven’t had her in a while.”
“Thank you, Raph,” Donny smiled. He was glad Raph decided to take Snow for the night. It saved him having to ask. Donatello was in the mood for some alone time with Leatherhead. The last time they had been alone was right before his body started shutting down. “Don’t let her sleep with you,” he warned, earning a look from Raph.
Taking Leatherhead by the hand, Donny led him upstairs to their room. Leatherhead must have sensed Donatello’s desire or had them himself, because he was the one who locked the door behind them. Making their way to their bed, they both removed their gear and then moved onto the pillowy nest.
Leatherhead moved over Donny and showed his affection by gently nipping at Donny’s neck. Donny’s hands moved along Leatherhead’s massive chest. “I want to have another baby.”
Leatherhead stopped and turned his head to look down at Donny. “Now?”
With a slight chuckle, Donny shook his head. “Not now, but soon.”
Looking to the side, Leatherhead pondered over what Donny had said. After a while, he nodded his head. “I would like to have another as well. It would be nice to get to plan and go to doctor appointments for sonograms; the things that people usually go through when they are expecting.” Once again he looked at Donny. There was something in the way he was looking at him that told Donny that he wasn’t going to like what Leatherhead said next.
“I want you to be finished with your portal project before we even start to try,” Leatherhead said.
He was right, Donny didn’t like what Leatherhead had said. “What do you mean ‘finished’?”
“This is the longest you have ever been sucked up into a project since I have known you,” Leatherhead stated. “It has been consuming all of your time.”
“I’m studying the different dimensions,” Donny said in his defense.
“You know as well as I do that it would not be possible to study them all,” Leatherhead said flatly. “There are infinite worlds out there and more are created every day. I understood why you felt you had to build it. You have now proven yourself smart enough to do so. I was hoping that once you got it built that it would be out of your system but you have become obsessed. I do not want to lose you to it. I love you too much.”
“Let me have it for just a little while longer,” Donny pleaded. “I’m not as bad as I was.”
Leatherhead nodded. “This is true. But I would still like for you to be finished with it before we have another child. And by ‘finished’ I mean that I want it taken apart.”
Donny felt his heart sink. “You don’t ask for much,” he said with a soft, sad chuckle. He understood why Leatherhead had put that condition in place. But, that didn’t mean that it made it any easier on him.
Leatherhead nuzzled Donny. “I don’t want to hurt you, my love. I want you there for our children. We won’t have Raphael to help us with the next one.” He pulled his head back to look down at Donny and smiled. “That is unless you want to ask him to participate in the creation of the next one.”
Donatello genuinely laughed and shook his head. “I think that was a onetime thing on his part. Besides, I don’t want to be shared between the two of you. I am perfectly happy with just you. I love you, Kroki.”
“I love you too, Donatello.”
……
Raph lay in his hammock with Snow dozing on his belly. He loved having his daughter with him. Her gentle coos always brought a smile to his face. He didn’t care that she didn’t look anything like him. He knew that she was his and that was all that mattered.
He absentmindedly stroked her back as he gazed up at the ceiling. His mind was in a slight fog from the pain pills. They had been stronger than he had anticipated. Apparently, he had mixed different dosages when he had stolen the pills from the Purple Dragons. Next time he was going to have to make sure to read the labels a little closer to keep it from happening again. For now he was going to have to look closely at the pills. Lucky for him they were stamped with their potency. So no more simply dumping them into his hand and swallowing them.
He was glad that he had the excuse of a full stomach to explain his sleepiness. Who didn’t have the overwhelming need to nap after a large meal? And besides that it was night time. So wanting to sleep was normal.
There was nothing to fear. Yes he had a foggy head but it wasn’t bad enough that he was going to let anything bad happen to Snow. They were nestled safely in the hammock and there was no way she was going to roll out of it and he wasn’t going to smother her.
She moved and whimpered slightly; a sign that she was waking up. His plastron was not a soft place to sleep and she was probably a little uncomfortable. Raph was getting ready to get up when Tello entered the room.
“Donny won’t be happy,” Tello warned as he took in the sight.
“We were just snuggling before bed.” Raph managed a lopsided smile. “Will you move her to her bed for me? I don’t want to try to get up right now.”
“Sure.” Tello closed the door and lifted Snow off of Raph. She was on the verge of waking and fussed a little as Tello placed her down into the pack-and-play. As soon as she was down, Tello took a moment to pat Snow’s back to settle her back down. He then turned to look at Raph. “You feeling okay?”
Raph patted his stomach. He had learned a long time ago that if he was going to tell a lie keep as much truth in it as possible. “I ate too much. I don’t think I could get back up if I wanted too. That and I had a few beers with Casey to celebrate so my head is a bit fuzzy.” It wasn’t a full on lie. A voice in the back of his head wanted to tell Tello about the pain pills but Raph shut that voice up right away. He had also learned how to squash that little need to confess that people tended to have.
Tello smiled. “It is great. Even in all of this chaos, there is a chance at new life.” There was a distant look in Tello’s eyes that told Raph that he was deep in thought. “I look forward to meeting them.”
“We’re gonna spoil them,” Raph said with a light chuckle. “And train them to be ninjas. No one is going to mess with those kids.”
Tello removed his gear and joined Raph in the hammock. “They are also going to be smart. They will have two geniuses teaching them after all.”
Raph snorted out a laugh. “If they are anything like their father, it won’t matter how hard you two try to teach them something. They’re gonna think they are hidden if they put a lampshade on their heads.”
“I guess that’s kind of universal across the multiverse,” Tello chuckled. “Casey Jones is a bit of a meat head.”
“But he’s a good guy,” Raph stated sincerely.
A tear ran down Tello’s cheek. “That’s why April loves him and will always choose him.”
Raph pulled Tello into a sideways hug and planted a chaste kiss on his forehead. Raph knew the pain Tello felt. He felt it when Joi had rejected him. “I guess it’s hard for a human to fall in love with a giant turtle. We’ll make it through,” Raph soothed.
