As the shock of intense pain filled her body, Karai tried to pinpoint exactly how badly it was compared to what she had been through in the past. Knife wound? No, that barely hurt. Broken arm? That was more annoying than painful.
Another pulse of pain shot through her being and Karai did everything not to cringe, but failed. She let out a strained gasp and Leonardo snapped his head to look at her, his eyes wide with shock and anxiety.
Beads of sweat lined her forehead and Karai weakly reached out, taking the mutant's hand in hers. His larger fingers wrapped around hers and she closed her eyes. In the end, the knife wounds and broken arms and the pain she had endured in the past definitely could not compare to the pain that childbirth brought.
The bed she rested in felt damp from the sweat. Her pixie cut hair was matted to her head and felt like glue against her scalp. If she could, she would run her fingers through the short do, but the pain kept her latched to both holding part of the sheet that covered her in one hand and Leonardo's fingers in the other.
When the worst of the pain shot through her, Karai clenched her hand tightly and could hear a crack followed by Leonardo grasping. She didn't have to look to know she probably did some damage. The mutant bit his lip in attempt to keep it together for her.
"Anytime now, Don?"
"She's almost done crowning. Once she's ready, we'll-"
"Get this thing out of me!" Her demand came out in a shrill hiss that made both young men jerk in shock. Karai felt bad for snapping. It wasn't like they could speed up the process, but the pain was just a bit much. Not that she would admit it to them later on.
Karai writhed in her spot, feeling the weight of her swollen stomach. Soon, she and Leo would be parents. Soon, she would be a mother. Mother...
She gasped in both pain and shock. Of course she knew that having a baby would mean parenthood, but it was still hard to think of herself as a woman who was going to be a mother. A caretaker for something that needs her in order to survive.
That thought scared her. It had scared her for the past several months, but not as badly as it did right then. She was minutes away from having a baby that will call her a precious name for the rest of its life, minutes away from the first step to starting a life that will continue on even after she and Leo are done raising it, a life that will most likely one day have a child of its own and would call her 'grandmother.'
Karai wanted to yell 'STOP!' and have everything pause so she could think this through. Obviously, life didn't work that way, but she wished it did. This was happening so fast. She never had a mother, how could she be one? She wasn't nurturing or kind or caring like her sister-in-law. April was a natural with children. But Karai? That was a different story.
What would the child even look like? April had had a little girl almost four years before. Magdalene had been born with a total of eight fingers and eight toes, green but pink enough to pass in public as a human and inherited her mother's red hair and father's red-brown eyes and smile. Would Karai's child be like that?
What if the child didn't look as human? Would it be picked on? Have a miserable life because of her and Leo's choice? Karai's head spin and she wanted to puke from the stress. She couldn't do this.
The baby had other ideas. Karai was hit with another blast of pain and knew the baby was coming. Her body naturally began to push and now it was all in Fate's hands. Donatello was there and coached her through it. The room was filled with hitched breathing and painful groans.
The last of the pain left her and Karai's ears were filled with the light sound of screaming. It took her a minute to realize that it wasn't coming from her. She inhaled deeply, her body feeling very weak.
"Congrats! It's a girl!"
A girl? Donatello was beside her before she could blink. He gently guided the bundle from his arms and into hers. She held onto it awkwardly, not wanting to hurt the child in anyway.
Karai gazed down at the baby, uneasy. She gasped, her fear being replaced with wonder. The baby had dark brown poof on its head like a peach gone bad, her skin pinker than the shade of her cousin's.
The woman stroked the baby's hand, counting the three fingers attached to each palm. In a way, she was more human than Maggie, but in others, she resembled her father greatly. But gazing down at the baby, Karai knew she would have a normal life. She could pass as human, go to school, reach her goals and fall in love if she chose to.
Karai knew she could say something, but nothing came to mind. The little girl wrapped her tiny hand around one of Karai's fingers and the kunoichi smiled, feeling her heart weirdly skip a beat.
"What will the bundle of joy's name be?" Donnie asked as he began to sterilize the era once more as to not get her or the baby sick.
The woman's smile dropped. That's right...the baby needed a name. Honestly, she and Leo had tried to go over names, but she always insisted on worrying about it later. She wished she hadn't put it off.
Karai's frown deepened as she lost herself to her thoughts, gazing down at her baby girl. But as she examined the little one's sweet face, she brought her eyes up to Leonardo's and the answer dawned on her. And as she searched his eyes, she knew he had the same thought.
"Miwa. Her name is Miwa." Karai said with confidence. Her smile returned and she went back to gazing down at her little girl. "And we love her very much..."
Leonardo bent down and gently wrapped his arms around both of his girls. She rested his head against his, not wanting to take her eyes off of Miwa. It was weird to think she had been so afraid moments ago. Still is afraid, just not as much.
Karai tried to will her eyes away, but she was afraid that, if she did, Miwa would be older by the time she looked at her again. She knew she wasn't ready to be a mother, but she knew she wasn't ready to say goodbye just yet, either.
The woman held the baby closer and sighed. She didn't want to miss anything. She wanted to be there for her first steps, be there when she goes off to the first grade, high school, college...she wanted to be there at Miwa's wedding and be there to get her through those rough teenage years...she wanted to read her bed time stories and to do the things her father never did with her.
Those ideas made Karai stop and think. She knew this was going to be the biggest challenge for her, but it's a mission she knew she could handle with time and enough patience and love and support from Leo.
Karai glanced at Leo and smiled. If he believed she could be a great mother...then maybe she could be? Karai glanced back at Miwa and sighed, happy she was still just a baby and not a year or so older, that time didn't fly by just yet.
She made a silent vow that she would be the mother she always wanted and the mother her daughter deserved to have. Karai leant down and gingerly kissed her daughter on the nose. The baby yawned and snuggled back into the blanket. Motherhood was going to be the toughest mission she'll ever have, but gazing down at her baby, she knew that it would be worth it in the end.
Reply to Reviews:
jakefan: Thank you! WIll do!
CrazyGeekyLove and creatorX33: Thank you ;)
CartoonPrincess: Thanks! That's what I was hoping for. I wanted it to be a surprise that she was having a baby instead of it being obvious right off the bat.