Thicker than Blood.
Chapter 2- Alexandra.
Leatherhead had silently made his way into the turtle's lair, holding the cradled infant in his hands, attempting not to disturb her slumber. The turtles were out, apparently they had gone in search of Mikey or April, so he was all alone, it seemed. Letting out a sigh, the crocodile made his way to the couch and carefully laid the baby upon the red velvet sofa. He sat down next to the furniture and silently stared at the sleeping baby.
What kind of monster would have abandoned such an innocent creature in the sewers? And how had she gotten there? After all, it was not common for humans to climb down into the sewers to abandond their infants. It made his heart clench with anger, the very though of the babe's parents flushing her down a toilet or drain, like he himself had as a hatchling. But he doubted a human infant even fit into a toilet.
"You're back."
Leatherhead nearly jumped, and went into his 'savage mode' (As Mikey had dubbed his habit to lose his mind and attack anything around him), hadn't the babe been present. Even if she would not remember it later on, he still didn't want her to see that side of him.
Splinter advanced towards the couch, having noticed the mutant crocodile staring down at the couch, "Is something the matter?" he asked.
"Actually, there is," Leatherhead replied, "I found something very… unusual while walking in the sewers."
Surprised, Splinter walked closer to the alligator, and although his expression remained mostly unchanged, his eyes opened a bit when he discovered an infant was lying on the couch, sleeping soundly.
"What do we have here?" he simply said, "How did it get here? Shouldn't it be above the surface with a family?"
Leatherhead sighed, "That's why I brought it here. I found it abandoned in one of the tunnels, and I couldn't just leave it there to die of starvation, or worse." If he had skin instead of a scaly hide, he would have been blushing for what he said next, "I wanted to ask you, Splinter… Can you tell its gender? I'm not exactly an expert on that…"
Chuckling softly, Splinter carefully moved the babe's blanket until her body was completely exposed, and after examining her closely, he smiled lightly, "Congratulations, Leatherhead. It's a healthy girl."
"A female?"
"The proper term for humans is girl, but yes, she is a female."
The girl started to shift in her shift, protesting from the cold; when she started to whimper, Leatherhead quickly but carefully scooped her up in his hands again to wrap the blanket around her once again, but to his and Splinter's surprise, as soon as he touched her she grew quiet and still again.
"Looks like she's grown attached to you," Splinter commented, rubbing his long, thing white beard, "And you just met."
Leatherhead remained silent. He was staring down at the babe with a loving gaze, feeling attached to her already himself. He had never felt this way for someone else, but guessed it was some kind of instinct buried in the corners of his brain.
"Have you named her yet?"
"No, I haven't," the crocodile replied, "I couldn't because I didn't know her… gender until not. Besides, I wanted to ask Mikey and the others for suggestions, I'm kind of new in this."
"All right, then," Splinter slowly turned around and walked away to his chamber, "If you need me, you know where to find me."
Saying this, the mutant rat retreated into his bedroom.
"AW! Isn't she a cutie?" Mikey attempted to get the girl to open her eyes, but Leatherhead didn't let him.
"Stop it," he whispered, "She's sleeping."
"I've never seen a newborn human this close," Donnie commented, taking a look at her, "Mind if I run some tests on her?"
Leatherhead gave him a glare that read 'Don't you even think of it.'
"What kind of person would have left her down here?" Leonardo added, "IT would have to be a black-hearted individual."
Raphael rolled his eyes, "How many black-hearted people do we know, genius?"
"Come on! I doubt Shredder is behind this!"
"Whoever did this has no forgiveness," the mutant alligator growled, "If I had not found her, who knows what would have become of her."
"Well, how about we name her?" Donnie suggested, "I don't think we should keep referring to her as 'baby'."
"I have an idea! How about Tallulah?" Mikey said excitedly, just to earn stares of confusion.
"What kind of name is that, 'Tallulah'? She's a human, not a canary!"" Raphael growled, "How about Dylan?"
"Damian!" said Donnie
"George?" Leonardo spoke next.
"Joe."
"Christopher."
"Knock it off!" Leonardo finally snapped, "Don't you see we're making a mistake? All of those are boy names!"
Leatherhead softly caressed the infant's cheek with his claw, trying not to hurt her; the girl let out one of the cutest cooing noises he had ever heard in his life (the first one, actually). He could recall his mother's name, from years ago, but now to him it was only a whisper; but at least it was a female name.
"How about Alexandra?" he spoke softly.
The turtles remained silent while their brain processed the name. After a while, Donnie was the first to smile.
"It's perfect!" he exclaimed.
"It's got a nice ring to it." Raphael added, "It's cool! Almost like my name."
Leonardo rolled his eyes, "Seriously, Raph," he set his eyes on the newly-named newborn, "But it's a nice name."
"I still think Tallulah is a nice name," Mikey commented, before receiving annoyed stares. The turtle made a defeated pout, "Alright, I guess Alexandra is a good name for her, after all."
Alexandra seemed to agree with them, for she started giggling softly, squinting her little eyes; afterwards, she took her thumb to her mouth and started sucking on it, making the turtles let out an 'aaawwwww' simultaneously.
Leatherhead just kept staring down into her golden amberish stare, feeling drawn to them. Was this that feeling humans called 'love'? Not the kind of love April and Casey had for each other, obviously, but the kind of love April and her father had for each other.
Fatherly love, they called it.
This tiny girl in he was holding was his daughter, his little Alexandra.
He did not care if she did not carry his blood, or if she was from a different species.
All he cared about was that she was his daughter, and he was her father.