For Unto Us a Child Is Born
When four young turtle boys find themselves trapped above ground, they unwittingly become Christmas angels for a young woman in need of help. One – Shot.
"Guys we really shouldn't be doing this; Masta Splinta's gonna be real mad!" Three young turtles rolled their eyes at the whining of their older brother as they continued to put on their winter clothes.
"Yeah well, nobody said you hadda come Le – WOAH" Raph overbalanced and nearly fell of the bed while pulling on his thick brown snow pants over his red race car pajamas.
"Yeah, it's not like we'll be gone long. We just wanna see the snow and then come back down. Master Splinter won't even know we left." Donnie added, zipping up his coat and then reaching down to help Mikey who had managed to get his head stuck in the sweater he had been pulling on.
"Can we go now?!" Mikey shouted excitedly as his head reappeared; he bounced up and down restlessly on his heels.
"Hold on Mike you have to put your coat on first." Don chuckled holding out the bright orange coat. A few minutes all the kids were bundled up snugly in their coats, pants, and boots save for Leo who was still standing in his sweater and protesting leaving their den.
It was December 24th and that night happened to be the very first snow of the season. The five year old turtles had often read about snow in books seen pictures of it as well but had never gotten to see it in person. Master Splinter had decided to stock up on what food and supplies that he could before the weather became too bad and thus left his young sons at home for the evening; the boys of course decided that this would be a great time to sneak to the surface and see the snow for themselves. The idea had seemed wonderful when they first came up with it, but now that it was time to go, Leo was starting to get cold feet (Yes, pun intended).
"Well what if someone sees you?" This question was used as a last ditch attempt to make Leo's brothers see reason but it was met with only snorts of laughter from his younger siblings.
"Oh come on Leo, what people gonna see? We look like any other kids with our hoods on." Raph rolled his eyes and waved in the direction of the youngest brother who seemed to have disappeared inside of his bulky winter clothing; all that was visible under the hood were a pair of sparkling blue eyes. "So. Last chance Leo, are ya comin or not?" With all of his excuses gone, the youngster heaved a longsuffering sigh and grabbed his blue coat and proceeded to pull on his snow pants.
"Fine." He pouted. "I'll go but just to make sure you guys stay outta trouble."
"Whateva." The red clad child said rolling his amber eyes and looking around the room. "We ready to go now?"
"Yea let's go!" Mikey shouted and promptly ran for the door followed closely by Don and Raph; Leo trudged slowly behind."
"I hope we don't regret this." He whispered as he shut the door behind them.
The snow was even more beautiful than any of the young boys could have imagined, everything was white and looked like something straight out of a fairytale; even Leo was completely mesmerized and forgot the worst of his fears almost immediately. The four played happily, chasing each other around the alleyway and catching snowflakes on their tongues; as the snow began to cover the ground more they started to make snow angels and quickly became engaged in a snowball fight. They were all playing so heavily that they failed to notice that the snow was falling heavier and the wind was beginning to pick up.
"I think we better head back now, it's gettin late and Masta Splinta will be home soon." Leo said regretfully after some time of throwing snowballs at each other.
"Aww do we hafta go now?" whined Mikey dejectedly.
"Yea we do. Come on" The four turtles began looking for the manhole cover that would take them back to the sewers but by now the snow on the ground was quite deep and the wind had picked up considerably, disorienting the youngsters.
"Uh does anyone know how ta get back?" Donnie inquired, even though he was standing within touching distance of Raph and Mikey, he could barely see either of them.
"I'm cold." Mikey began to complain. Now finally, the other three also began to notice how cold they were making their minds and bodies sluggish which didn't seem to help their sense of direction.
"I know the manhole cover is around here somewhere." Donnie shouted over the wind but as he searched, he stumbled and fell into the snow with a slight yelp. The others heard his distress and rushed to try and help him but soon all ended up seated sleepily in the snow without a clue as to how to get back into the sewers. Don was the first to realize the dangers in him and his brothers falling asleep and tried to shake himself out of his stupor. "Come on, we have to get out of the cold or we'll be in trouble.
"Where're we 'sposed ta go, we can't get home?" Raph's voices shook slightly from the cold and he sounded slightly dejected. The others agreed with his observation, they were all too disoriented to continue their search for the manhole cover, and there was nowhere else that they could go to get warm; in the end they decided to just start moving in order to stay awake. By now all four of the children were scared and slightly uncoordinated, their reptilian nature reacting badly to the cold, and even their many layers of clothing weren't enough to shield them from the cold any longer.
Holding hands, they stumbled around slowly looking for any relief they could find from the cold and finally after some time of searching, Leo ran into a door that was slightly ajar on the side of one of the buildings in the alleyway, literally.
Thud. The impact caused the tiny turtle to lose his balance completely and fall dragging Raphael, who's hand he held down as well. Tears of pain and embarrassment sprung to the child's eyes and he sniffled pitifully.
"L-Leo, ya ok b-bro?" came the tired and slightly startled voice of the red coated turtle beside him which sighed in relief when the other nodded. Raph was surprised to hear his usually calm and collected older brother give in to tears that way but considering their situation, he couldn't really blame him. He found himself being helped up by Mikey who then helped him to pull Leo back to his feet as well while their other brother squinted to see what Leo had run into.
"H-h-hey g-guys it's a d-d-door!" Donnie whispered through chattering teeth, he effectively caught his brothers' attention. "I d-don't know what's in there though."
"Should we go in?" Raph asked uncertainly peering through the whirling snow at his brothers.
"Wh-what if t-there's peoples in there?" Mikey was positively terrified at the prospect of being discovered after the countless warnings from their father. The others were afraid as well, but their fear of freezing to death in the snow was greater. Leo finally spoke up, having recovered himself from his brief battle with tears.
"I d-don't know but it's gotta b-be better than freezing our shells off out here. I say we go in, maybe it'll be like Raph said and nobody will be able to see what we look like." All four turtles nodded and as one they pushed the door open enough to slip through. Once inside they shut the door and peered around the dimly lit room. It looked like an old abandoned warehouse and it seemed that the four of them were alone; suddenly however, a faint whimper reached their ears and they turned collectively to the back corner of the room where another figure was huddled. The boys froze and briefly contemplated turning back to the outside, momentarily forgetting the snow and their reason for retreating in the first place; none of them had ever seen a human up close before. Before they could figure out what to do, they heard a pained whisper.
"I-is someone there?" The voice sounded young and scared, perhaps more so than they were. They looked at each other, silently debating on what to do before finally Leo stepped forward and with more courage than he currently felt, decided to answer.
"Y-yea me an my brothers we're stuck in the snow a-and we came in here." His voice trembled slightly and the person in the corner seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking again.
"Yea me too…" before she could say anything else however, she uttered a soft cry and her shadowing form seemed to shiver slightly. This gained Don's attention and seemed to give him the courage to edge a little closer.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I-I don't know." Was the strained answer. Finally Don managed to convince himself to move all the way to the corner and couldn't help but utter a small squeak at what he saw; lying on the floor panting and in obvious pain, was a young girl who looked no older than 14 or 15 but most striking was her rounded belly. Donnie may have only been five years old, but already he was showing signs of his genius and he had seen pictures and even managed to read some simple books featuring people like this one and he was able to quickly deduce the situation.
"Uh oh. I think she's gonna have a baby." He announced to his brothers who, emboldened by his actions, had begun to inch their way over as well. Mikey stopped, looking around slightly confused.
"But where's the strk?" Everyone turned back to stare at him.
"The what?"
"The strk! Ya know that big white bird that takes the baby to the mommy." His brothers shook their heads at him and Raph rolled his eyes.
"Mikey there's no such thing as a stork ya goofball. That's just somethin they tell kids to keep 'em from askin questions.
"Yea everybody knows that!" Leo spoke up importantly. "I mean, how's a bird sposed ta know where ta take the baby anyways?"
"Maybe they have a list like Santa an the Easta bunny do."
"No cause Santa an the Easta bunny are real and the stork's just a fairy tale!" Raph said with a smug look on his little beak.
"Nah uh!"
"Uh huh!" Their quarrel was interrupted by another small scream from the girl and Donnie glared at the two and told them both to shut up.
"Wadda we do Donnie? We don't know how ta help with a baby." Leo whispered as he moved beside his brother who was kneeling next to the girl. The girl looked alarmed at the sight of the four little boys who had shown up seemingly from nowhere.
"Who are you. Where are your parents?" Leo and Don were startled that the woman was now speaking to them directly but Leo decided to answer anyway.
"Uh our Dad doesn't know where we are."
"Are you lost?"
"Yeah" All four answered this time; by now they were all kneeling beside her, careful to keep their hoods up and their features hidden. She smiled sympathetically at the boys but then was hit with another contraction.
"Is your baby coming now?" Donnie asked her.
"I-I think so…" the girl whimpered back and the others looked panicked and huddled together whispering.
"We gotta help her!" Don said to the others
"But how, we can't deliver a baby!" Leo retorted looking nervous.
"Uh, I think I can help." Came the reply from his genius little brother which was followed by a number of blank stares directed at him. Raph snapped out of his shock after a few seconds and asked incredulously.
"How the shell are ya gonna help wit a baby, ya neva even seen a baby or a human till now?!" Donnie gulped a little, his big bro had a point but he answered all the same.
"Well I uh… saw it on T.V." The boys looked at him for another couple of seconds before shrugging; in the world of a 5 year old, anything seen on television is law.
"Okay so wadda we do?" Mikey asked.
"Well…hold on let me think…. Okay, we gotta help her with the pain. Why don't you guys distract her while I decide what to do?"
"Um okay." Mikey an Raph went and sat on either side of the girl and careful to keep their own hidden, each took one of her hands. The woman looked at them slightly startled but surprisingly calm.
"Uh hi. I'm Mikey. That's my brother Raph." Mike pointed to Raph with his free hand as he spoke. "Does it really hurt to have a baby?" Even unable to see his face, the young woman could tell the innocence in the question and smiled a little.
"Yeah it does, but I can handle it."
"Why are ya here all by yerself? You should be wit a doctor or somethin right?" Raph spoke up this time, the woman chuckled sadly.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that I'm lost too." She whispered, suddenly she tensed and began breathing heavily again. "Oh no! I think th-the baby's coming!" Finally her eyes fluttered closed and she lay still except for the force of her breathing.
"DONNIE!!" Both Raph and Donnie exclaimed as they felt her hands go limp in theirs. Donatello on the other hand was staring wide eyed at her still covered lower half with a blush coloring his cheeks.
"Don?" Leo asked shaking his shoulder lightly.
"I gotta look d-down th-there!" He said shaking a little; his brothers all stared for a second before realization struck and they all blushed as well. Suddenly, the door banged open from across the room and the four jumped up in surprise and attempted to hide in the shadows. When they peaked out however, they couldn't find anyone there. They heard rather than saw, the feet shuffling around in the room and Mikey who was closest buried himself deeper into the shadows and let out the smallest of squeaks. Obviously that was enough to alert the intruder to their presence and the footsteps stopped; the older children all sent silent glares to their younger brother.
"My sons?" came the quiet yet familiar voice from the shadows and that was enough to excite the kids.
"Master Splinter!" They all yelled as they burst from their hiding places and flew into his waiting arms. Four small voices all began chattering at once inquiring how the old rat knew where to find them and apologizing for leaving the lair and going above ground by themselves. Master Splinter hugged his newly found children tightly before holding up a hand to stop the flow of noise from them.
"My sons, I am glad that I have found you all safe and sound and we do have much to discuss, it will have to wait until later. I see that there is someone here who is in dire need of assistance. He had noticed the girl who was thankfully still unconscious but her body was tensed in the throes of yet another contraction.
"Father!" Donatello spoke up quickly "She having a baby and I tried to help her but…" his voice trailed off and his face held a mixture of intense embarrassment and shame.
"It is alright my son, you did well to try and help her, but this is something that should be handled by someone who is a bit older and more experienced in the world. Now stand aside little ones and I will see what I can do for her."
The four children watched in amazement as their father carefully handled the pregnant girl with calm and grace. At the angle that they were standing they were not able to see what was going on but after sometime they all became excited to hear a loud wail coming from where there Master was kneeling. Splinter used a small knife and the thread to cut and tie off the cord and then wrapped the child in his own robe. His sons gathered around the small life with wonder in their eyes.
"Is it a boy or a girl?" Donnie whispered softly so as not to startle the little baby.
"I believe, Donatello that he is a boy." Splinter chuckled at the oohs and ahhs that he got from his four sons and allowed them a few moments to exam the little babe before rising again to his feet. "Now my little ones, you must remain hidden here for a little longer while I take this child and his mother to get medical attention.
"Can't we come too Sensei?" Leo asked eagerly, not particularly fond of being left in the warehouse alone again but Splinter adamantly refused and with amazing ease, he lifted both mother and child into his arms and left to take her to the hospital. He returned soon enough and led his four sons home with promises of punishment for their foolish actions earlier in the night, but for the day they were allowed to have fun and enjoy their Christmas. Each was in awe of the little Christmas miracle that they had seen on this day.
In the hospital…
The young woman lay back on the bed holding her son in her arms, as she looked into his large brown orbs filled with wonder and innocence, she thought back to the four little boys who had kept her company that night. All that the girl could remember from the entire ordeal of her birth was being in that warehouse hiding from the snow and encountering the young children, bathing in their innocence. The next thing that she knew, she was waking up in a hospital bed and a nurse was handing her this beautiful little baby. The doctors told her that someone must have found her and helped her deliver the baby before dropping her off in the front of the hospital's emergency room but she knew that she had found herself four little Christmas angels.
"Mary?" The teenager looked up as a young woman in a suit entered the room. "I have looked over your case and I understand that you and your son have nowhere to go after being released from the hospital. Mary looked sadly at her child and nodded, she had been waiting for someone to bring this up. It was the girl's greatest fear that the government would try to take her baby away because she was a minor and homeless; she couldn't really provide for him. "Well we just received a call from social services and there is a foster home that is willing to take both of you and help you to raise your son if you would like to go there. Mary stared wide eyed at the smiling woman and tears began to flood her cheeks as she nodded again in acceptance of the offer. She knew now more than ever that miracles really do happen on Christmas.
Well that's the end. Merry Christmas to one and all! I hope you all enjoyed this little Christmas story; and for the record I really do believe in Christmas miracles! I hope that everyone has a happy and blessed holiday!