Author Notes:
So I finally figured out a game plan for my stories! Before, I just had a few one shots and a couple of really long stories in mind. It took a little planning and reworking, but I've decided to break down what once was a really long story into a couple of smaller stories, with the one shots and such woven into the same universe. And by smaller, I mean roughly about the size of my 'Misunderstandings' story, probably a little longer, as I tend to run on the wordy side. My intention is going to be that these can each be read alone as stand alone fics if desired, but each contains an undercurrent of a larger story that comes to light if all are read. Only time will tell if I have the skills to pull such a thing off. We'll see.
This particular story is where I'm truly launching off, whereas the two previous stories could be considered to be prequels or something. Thus, there's a leaning towards world and character exploration in this one. It will be mostly fluff, humor, and Leo trying to keep sane.
These turtles are heavily based on the 2k12 series, but elements of the 2k3 and comics will be implemented.
Chapter 1: Morning Routines
Breath in.
Breath out.
Concentrate on the cool air inhaled through the nose.
Feel the warmth as he exhaled slowly through the mouth.
As Leonardo's meditation deepened, he could feel his ki build up, then settle heavily through his body, as tranquil as a calm lake's water. As deep blue as the mask on his face.
Breath in.
Breath out.
The lair was at peace. His family was at peace. He was at peace.
Letting his ki reach out slightly, Leo could feel Splinter's spirit kneeling beside him, and he took silent comfort in the warm, quiet presence. His father would not abandon his family, even in death.
Since Leonardo's youngest days, he had been aware of the fact that one day he would lead his family. It had always seemed like a natural role for him, and it was a weight that he was glad to shoulder, although he had always thought that the full burden wouldn't be fully placed on his scarred shell until after decades of gleaning wisdom and advice at their father's side. Sadly, such a luxury as a proper education in leadership was not to be. Their father Hamato Yoshi, had been murdered by the Shredder six years ago, and at the tender age of seventeen, Leonardo had become Clan Leader.
While over the years he had gained a greater appreciation for the quiet strength and wisdom he had observed in his father, and had come to realize that maybe, juuuust maybe, Captain Ryan was full of bullshit (not that he'd ever admit that to Raph, Space Heroes was still a guilty pleasure he indulged in), Leo was left rely mostly on his own wits and instincts to keep his family alive, safe, and thriving.
In his years of leading the Hamato Clan, Leo had come to realize one, singular truth.
Effective leadership was comprised of one part knowledge and common sense, two parts instinct and intuition, three parts dedication and hard work, and four parts of just inwardly flailing about while outwardly acting like you knew what the heck you were doing.
He only hoped that his brothers and family wouldn't suffer too much as he fumbled around blindly in the dark, trying to figure out the ins and outs of the leadership role thrust upon him.
It was only six pm, but the sounds of his home waking up were just starting. It was one of his favorite sounds to listen to. One thing about living a nocturnal lifestyle was that, for his clan, early afternoon was the same as pre dawn hours for the rest of the world.
Leonardo was almost always the first one awake, going through his early 'evening' routine silently as not to disturb the others. After neatly folding up his futon and bedding, he would silently make his rounds through the lair, taking comfort and reassuring himself that all his clan were safe and whole. Satisfied that all was well, he would go through the necessary morning hygiene rituals, then head to the dojo, where he would light incense and make a small offering and prayer at the family shrine. Then after running through his chosen katas to stretch and fully awaken his muscles, he would settle down and begin his meditations, waiting for the rest of the lair to awaken.
Nowadays, Raph was usually the first one to awaken after Leo, although it was not voluntary. Chompy's little growling chirps would grow more and more insistent, until finally, grumbling under his breath, Raph would roll out of his hammock and stumble around his room to sleepily feed him. Leo could faintly hear him talking to the small baby Vorkathian fire tortoise in an uncharacteristically fond and gentle tone, almost akin to baby talk. Then, his unusual pet cared for, he would leave his room to head to the shower before the others could take it over.
Before Chompy had joined them, Mikey used to be the early riser. The youngest turtle had boundless energy, and seemed to have only two modes, on and off. One minute, he was snoring soundly, and then suddenly, he was awake. Just like that. He would hum happily through his own 'wake-up' routine, which involved some jumping on the bed and backflips, then, once he heard a sibling awaken (such as Raph), he would sneak out to see what mischief he could get up while said sibling was still sleepy and vulnerable. Leo was still debating on whether to put an end to that particular routine or not. On one hand, it would cause the target sibling (such as Raph) to begin the day at the receiving end of some prank, like an ice cube in the shell or glitter in the shower loofah, and that usually led to violence and bodily harm and general grumpiness. On the other hand, as a ninja, Leo firmly believed that one should be prepared to react to anything, and it was partially Raph's own fault that he kept falling for these pranks. He should honestly be expecting them by now! If Leo didn't know any better, he would almost think that Raph was purposefully letting Mikey prank him, just to give him an excuse to chase him down and slug him a few times. And if that were the case, who was Leo to stand in the way of such brotherly displays of affection? Anyways, after burning off some excess energy one way or another, eventually, Mikey would find his way to the kitchen, and enthusiastically start cooking breakfast for everybody.
Until their human friends had moved in, traditionally Donatello had always been the last to rise, usually because he had stayed up too late the day before in the lab. In the past, Leo had to go in and physically drag him out of bed to join the rest of the waking world, although until he finally nursed his way through at least a few refills of his coffee mug, his groggy and sluggish state could hardly be referred to as 'awake'. Since he and April had started sharing a room, however, he had gotten somewhat better about his sleeping habits. Most mornings, he actually managed to stumble out in time for breakfast, with April fondly guiding him into the kitchen from close behind.
Casey was usually the last one to emerge from his bedroom, formerly the old guest room, and he only ever emerged because Leo had insisted on everybody being present for breakfast. After multiple alarm clocks had failed to convince Casey to get out of bed, Donnie had (somewhat gleefully), engineered a mechanical contraption that, after half an hour of his alarm going off, would cause his bed to literally tip over and dump him on the floor, before righting itself once more. They all figured that it would be fine, as all the piles of dirty clothes he left on the floor more then cushioned his landing. The messy state of that room was something of a compromise between Leo and Casey. As long as Casey made a reasonable effort not to mess up the rest of the lair, and as long as his room didn't emit an odor repugnant enough to offend even sewer dwellers' noses, Leo would do his best to ignore the landfill that was Casey's bedroom. That was another lesson he had learned regarding leadership; how to carefully to pick his battles. The young man had a... complicated relationship with his father, to put it politely, and Casey eventually was left with the choice of either the turtles taking him in, or sleeping on the streets. For the Hamatos, it was an obvious choice, though Leo and Casey had a lot to work out together between them in the first few weeks regarding authority, house rules, degrees of cleanliness, and respecting the need for some personal freedoms.
The smell of breakfast began to waft up to the dojo as Mikey flipped pancakes expertly, no doubt letting them soar and practicing unconventional moves with the spatula. A thought flittered through Leo's meditating mind to check his food for either floor or ceiling debris before eating. In a short time, he could hear that Raph had exited the shower and had made his way to sit at the kitchen table. Finally, there was the mechanical whir and sleepy yelp as Casey was dumped out of bed.
Well, meditation time was over. Time to go join his family.
"Leo! Morning, dude!" Mikey greeting him warmly as he walked into the kitchen. He spun a plate skillfully on one finger, flipped it behind his shell, and deftly caught it with his other hand, while at the same time twirling the spatula, then using it to send the pancakes on the griddle upwards through the air, only to catch them in a neat stack on the plate. He handed it off to Leo. "Breakfast is served, my big bro!"
"Good morning, Mikey. It looks delicious, thank you." Leo nodded his thanks. He noticed that Mikey had once again added blueberries to his pancakes, somehow arranging them so that they were embedded in the shape of a smiley face. Over the years, Mikey had (thankfully) learned that cooking was more then just throwing foods he liked together, no matter how incompatible those individual items were, and then once he figured out that his family members actually had favorite tastes and different preferences for flavors, he seemed to make it his life's goal to figure out what made everybody the happiest. Raphael's pancakes had apples and cinnamon added, and Mikey was currently sprinkling chocolate chips into the next batch for Donnie.
Taking the plate of pancakes, Leo sat next to a maskless Raph, who passed him the little jar of blueberry syrup that he knew Leo would use without saying anything. He then went back to sulkily trying to unstitch the pink silk flowers that had been sewn on his mask earlier this morning by certain little brothers yet unnamed. Casey stumbled out of the bathroom up to the table a few minutes later and collapsed haphazardly into his chair, letting out a big yawn. The now-twenty four year old human was dressed only in a pair of hockey-themed boxers, showing off his very well toned muscles, with his long hair still wet from his shower, messily ruffled up from the quick attempt at towel drying.
Mikey reached over to pick up the plate of pancakes with bacon bits added to them, and, with a twist of his wrist, sent it spinning down the table like a frisbee to stop in directly front of their human friend. "Sorry Casey, my zombie man, but I double checked and, sadly, we're fresh out of brains. Hope these will work for ya instead, brah."
Casey mumbled a half-awake thanks, then started drowning his pancakes in syrup and butter.
The only ones not out yet were Donnie and April.
Leo closed his eyes and considered this as he chewed. On one hand, it was a ground rule that Master Splinter had set down, and one that Leo had strictly continued to adhere to, that all members of the clan met together for breakfast before morning training. Splinter had told Leo once that it promoted conversation and team bonding, letting everybody and get a feel for how the day was going to go and touch base with one another at the start of the day.
On the other hand, if April and Donnie were late because they were busy 'touching base' with one another, Leo really didn't want to come across it. Granted, it wouldn't be the first time, and they needed to know that rules needed to be followed, and it would definitely be another good lesson that they probably wouldn't learn from to exercise more discretion. It was just... why did Leo always have to be the one to suffer for that?
Leo's sapphire blue eyes flashed opened with concern when moments later, April burst out of Donnie's bedroom and bolted down the hall to the bathroom, not even closing the door as she began to gag and heave over the toilet. Donnie stumbled after in after her, rubbing sleep out of his eyes as he knelt by her in concern. It was obvious that he had just been pulled out of a deep sleep.
"Whoa! Ape's! Are you okay?!" Mikey quickly abandoned the skillet and rushed over with the others to follow her and watch with concern.
"She's barfing her lungs out." Raph snapped from behind him as he gestured towards the vomiting redhead. "Obviously she's less then okay!"
"Oh man, you don't have the flu, do you?" Casey asked worriedly, trying to peer around. "I heard a really nasty strain is going around. Eddie at the bar has been out all week 'cause of it."
By now, Leo had arrived, and he sighed at everybody crowding around the bathroom door. "Okay, stand back, stand back!" he ordered, pushing his way forward, then working on herding everybody away from the bathroom. "April doesn't need everybody watching her get sick!"
He managed to push them down the hallway back towards the kitchen, though everybody peered around the corner to try and see regardless. Satisfied that everybody was sufficiently distanced for the moment, he walked back to the bathroom, turning back to motioned firmly and with narrowed eyes for them all to stay there. "Donnie? How is she?"
Donnie was holding April's hair out of her face as he rubbed her back and murmured comforting words. "I'm not sure. She was fine last night!"
"I knew... I knew that chicken... we had last night... tasted funny." April panted. She was definitely looking green, not quite as flattering color on her as on the turtles, then she suddenly tensed up, then heaved again.
"Mikey!" Donnie snarled, twisting to look around the bathroom doorway down the hallway. "What have I told you time and time again proper food storage and preparation!"
"Dude! I swear, I've been super careful! I just pulled it out of the freezer that morning, and defrosted it in the fridge and everything!" Mikey protested his innocence.
Donnie was back to rubbing April's back tenderly. "Human stomachs are not quite as robust as ours. Not everybody is built with garbage disposable for digestive tracts!"
"Hey, I ate the same stuff, and I ain't sick." Casey pointed out.
"Hence, he made the 'garbage disposal' remark." Raphael rolled his eyes.
April slumped on the floor, apparently finished for the moment. "Oh, gods..." She took the damp cloth that Donnie offered, and wiped off her face. "That... that was unpleasant... Sorry about that."
"Shh, it's not your fault. Are you okay now?" Donnie asked, concerned.
"Still... queasy..." April's face was pale. She sighed and pulled her knees up, resting her arms on them and letting her head fall forward. "Dammit, and I have a test today I can't miss."
Leo frowned, stepping in to kneel beside her as well. "Well, you can rest up this morning at least. You're not stepping into the dojo if you're feeling this unwell. But if you're still feeling sick this afternoon, it might be best to make up the test at a later date."
"I'm never going to get my biochemistry degree if I keep missing these tests." April frowned, leaning into Donnie's plastron and obviously taking comfort in the flat, hard surface against her cheek.
Leo frowned and glanced back sharply as he heard Raph approaching, but then nodded in appreciation when he saw the red turtle had just brought up a glass of water, handing it off to Leo before retreating back down the hall. Leo passed it to April, who took it gratefully, using it to rinse out her mouth a few times before drinking.
"You look pretty miserable, April." Donnie gently smoothed her hair. "Maybe Leo's right..."
"It's just food poisoning, Donnie." April lowered the glass of water, inhaling deeply. "I can't miss this test. I'll be fine." She glanced at the blue leader, looking a little hopeful. "Say, Leo, do you think your healing mantras would help me out here?"
Leo blinked, then frowned, thinking it over. "I... I don't know? I could try, I guess?"
"Thanks, Leo. I'd really appreciate it if you could." April grunted as she tried to get up. Both turtles were immediately on their feet, helping her.
"Let's get her to the couch." Leo tilted his head towards the hallway, and Donnie nodded. He lifted April up in his arms and started to carry her towards the living room.
"Hey!" she protested, whacking him half-heartedly. "Just because I barfed a few times doesn't mean that I'm suddenly going to keel over or something. I can walk just fine, thank you very much!"
"April, you're going to be okay, right?" Mikey looked at her with big, dramatic, tearful eyes. "I didn't mean to poison you with the chicken! I swear, I'll never cook chicken fettuccini alfredo again!"
"No... no need to go that far, Mikey." April winced, holding her stomach and looking pale at the very mention of any food. "Don't worry, this stuff happens sometimes. I'll be fine."
Donnie tenderly set her down on the couch, and Leo knelt down by April. "Alright, I need everybody to back up and be quiet for a moment." he ordered.
"Hey, you heard Leo." Donnie stood by the head of the couch protectively, glaring at the others, who all took an obedient step back.
Leo glanced at April uncertainly. "Like I said, don't get your expectations too high. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do much. I've never used this on food poisoning before."
"Eh, food poisoning, regular poisoning, it's close enough. I just don't want to miss this test." April grimaced, laying her head back on the pillows.
Leo nodded, then tucked his heels under him as he settled into position. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, exhaled, then began, twisting his fingers into the proper form with each enunciation of the mantra. "Rin... Pyo... Toh... Sha... Kai... Jin... Retsu... Zai... Zen..."
He slowly fell into himself, letting his life energy bubble up to the surface until he felt his ki building up, then allowed it to expand outwardly, using it mentally prod at April's life force and trying to hone in on the source of the illness so that he could use his ki to try and soothe the problem.
"Rin... Pyo... Toh... Sha... Kai... JiCKLTH!"
Everybody stared, startled, as Leo made a strange, strangled noise in the back of his throat.
He immediately stopped chanting, hands frozen in mid-mantra, and his eyes shot open wide, staring at April with a very unLeo-like expression, a startled look with his muscles tensed up and rigid.
"Leo?" April raised herself up on her elbows, looking at him with confusion and concern. "Is everything okay?"
Leonardo stared at her with wide blue eyes, obviously trying to keep his breathing under control. "You... you don't know?" his voice squeaked.
"Know what?!" Donnie's voice rose in pitch as he leaned down closer, hurriedly examining April for any abnormalities, obviously on the verge of panic at his normally stoic brother's unexpected reaction. He turned and grabbed Leo by the plastron. "Leo?! What did you sense?! What's wrong with April?!"
Leo gave a long exhale, then quickly rose to his feet, reaching out to grab both April and Donnie's wrists in his hands and dragging them up. "You two. Dojo. Now." He whirled to face the others. "You guys, wait out here. You'll get an explanation later, I need to talk to these two first. Mikey, your pancakes are burning."
Mikey gave a yelp and fled to the kitchen as Leo shoved April and Donnie around to the dojo, and shut the door behind them.
"Leo?!" Donnie asked, grabbing April and looking her over intently, obviously scared now. "What's going on?!"
Leo took a deep breath, leaning back against the door and wondering how to handle this. He cleared his throat, tapping his fingers together nervously. "April... Donnie... Have you...? In your...um... relations... together..., have you been taking certain... precautions?"
"Precautions?" April blinked at him, confused.
"You know... were you using... protection?" Leo felt stupidly awkward. As their clan leader, was this a conversation he should've had with them beforehand? Oh gods, he was bad at this! "I'm guessing no?"
"Protection?" Donnie frowned, then his reddish brown eyes widened and almost looked offended. "Wait! Leo, do you think April or I have some sort of... some sort of STD or something?!"
"What? No! I meant that..." Leo held up his hands.
"Oh... gods..." April's quavering, quiet voice interrupted them, and they turned to her. Apparently, she had caught on to Leo's meaning quicker, and had just used her own psychic abilities to check. She now stood there with her hands on her lower stomach and eyes as wide and shocked as Leo's had earlier. She looked up at her turtle boyfriend. "Donnie... I'm... pregnant?!"
Donnie froze. Then looked at Leo, who nodded. Then back at April, eyes wide. His mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish out of water, then finally he managed to choke out, "PREGNANT?!"
Huh. Leo hadn't heard Donnie's voice crack like that since they were teenagers.
There was a moment of silence, then, from out in the kitchen, there was heard Casey's whoop, Raph's exclamation of, "I'm an UNCLE?!" and Mikey's cheer of "Aw, YEAH! I love babies!"
"What? HOW?!"
"Please don't tell me I need to give you 'the birds and bees' talk, Donnie." Leo pleaded, hand running over his face.
"IknowhowbabiesaremadeLeo!" Donnie hissed as he whirled on him, then turned to April, flabbergasted. "You're a human and I'm a turtle! We shouldn't be able to... to..."
"I know!" April looked as panicked as he was, hands still holding her lower stomach. "That's why we didn't bother using any protection!"
"April, you're half mutant, remember? And Donnie, don't we have human DNA in our genes?" Leo reminded them, wincing. Yup. He definitely should have had the 'practice responsible sex' talk with them. Well, consider that lesson learned. Now he had to prepare himself for awkward brother time later, because Casey, Raph and Mikey were each soooo getting that lecture, just as soon as he had pilfered enough relevant informational pamphlets from a clinic lobby or something.
"Does that really make a difference?!" Donnie demanded, whirling on Leo once more. "She is biologically a human! I'm a giant turtle! She's warm blooded, I'm cold blooded! Not to mention that this involves two completely different biological reproductive systems! This... this shouldn't happen!"
"Obviously it does, Donnie!" April gestured to her stomach, panicking as much as he was.
Donnie raised a finger, obviously trying to come up with an argument or rebuttal. Then, with a squeak, Donnie's eyes rolled back and his knees gave out, and Leo lunged forward to catch him as he fainted.
April had decided to maybe skip that test after all. She wouldn't have been able to concentrate on it anyways. Instead, she spent the day in a flux between unexpected joy and unbridled terror. Donnie, upon revival, had immediately rushed to the lab, somehow threw together some device or other, and used more medical and scientific means of confirming the news. The results definitely came out positive.
Donnie ran a few more tests, and managed to detect both mutagen and turtle DNA, confirming that yes, this was going to be a turtle mutant and, as far as they could tell, she was currently about six weeks along. When he tried to push more testing on her, some of the tests sounding rather terrifying and extreme, April threw an empty water bottle at him, saying that she was not going to be treated like a lab rat by her boyfriend.
He then defended himself by saying that they needed more data for both her and the baby's health.
She told him that she had been poked and prodded enough for one day and she didn't think that half the tests he was proposing were even necessary.
This arguing eventually devolved into a heated yelling match, which, when involving two intellectuals, meant that the barbed words that flew back and forth were often seven or eight syllables long. Leo had no idea most of the time what they were actually saying, but he did his best to make sure that nothing more then words and the occasional pen or dryboard eraser went flying.
The 'debate' finally ended with both of them sobbing and tearfully hugging and kissing one other while quarreling over why they personally needed to apologize more then the other one did, before tightly clinging to one another while panicking over the idea of the future with a baby together and parenthood in general.
So, all in all, it went about how Leo expected it to go.
Author Notes:
This particular story is not going to be about a baby. It's going to be contained within a few weeks time period, so there's not even going to be much focus on the pregnancy. It's mostly going to be about Leo trying to keep his sanity during a time of major upheaval for his family.
Oh! And April's preferred pancakes come with strawberries and whipped cream, while Mikey likes to add gummy bears to his own