Disclaimer: see chapter one


Donatello knocked on the bathroom door. Michelangelo had been occupying the bathroom for a good forty-five minutes and Donatello was getting worried. Leonardo and Raphael were out to April's getting food and supplies. So that left Donatello to tend to his ailing baby brother. Michelangelo had been sick for the last couple of weeks since they escaped Bishop's base, and Leonardo was worried that it could be something serious. However, Donatello kept saying that it was probably nothing more than a stomach flu. Donatello knocked on the door again and was answered by his brother's dry heaving.

"I'm dying," Michelangelo groaned.

"You're not dying, Mikey," Donatello reasoned. "It's probably just a stomach bug."

"I caught a Bishop virus and now I'm dying," Michelangelo continued, ignoring his brother.

Donatello sighed and hung his head. "There's no such thing as a 'Bishop virus'," he said.

"I see a bright light. Is that you, Mom? I hear a voice beckoning me to the other side. Good bye, Donnie. It's been swell."

Donatello shook his head. "Quit goofing around, Mikey and open the door," he said impatiently.

A couple seconds later the door opened to reveal a sickly green looking Michelangelo. "No respect for the sick and dying," the orange masked turtle muttered.

Donatello felt his patience thinning. "For the last time, Mikey, you're not dying."

"How do you know?" Michelangelo shot back. "I picked up something from Bishop. How else do you explain why I've been so sick for the last couple weeks?"

"There's a nasty stomach flu going around," Donatello replied. "You probably picked it up on one of our training runs from someone."

Michelangelo gave his brother a dead pan look. "How is that supposed to make me feel better?" he asked.

Donatello sighed. "Fine. I'll take a blood sample and run some tests. That'll prove that you're not dying."

Michelangelo's face brightened. "Really, Donnie? Thank you!" He threw his arms around his brother. "You're a life saver. Quite literally probably."

"Whatever," Donatello muttered. "Come into my lab and I'll get started."

Michelangelo released his brother and ran for the lab. Donatello followed Michelangelo into the lab and got to work on preparing a blood sample to test. He took out a clean syringe and sterilized the crook of Michelangelo's elbow where he was going to insert the needle. Michelangelo winced slightly at the slight pinch when the needle was inserted in his skin. Donatello extracted three vials of blood before removing the syringe and placing a bandage over the small needle hole. He taped off the bandage and picked up the vials.

"This is going to take some time, so you might as well make yourself busy," Donatello said.

Michelangelo gave his brother the thumbs up and jumped up from the chair. As Michelangelo disappeared around the corner, Donatello got to work on assessing the blood samples. It took the good part of the afternoon to test the samples. Donatello had to check and double check and even triple check the results. By the time he was doing a fourth check, Leonardo and Raphael had returned from their run and were putting the groceries away. Donatello sat in stunned silence for a few minutes, his eyes staring at the piece of paper in his hand. There was no way. It wasn't possible. Yet there it was, staring him in the face.

"You still alive in here?" Michelangelo asked, poking his head around the corner. He became concerned when he saw the look on Donatello's face. He stepped into the lab and walked over to his brother. "Hey, Don? What is it? Why do you look paler than me?"

"It's not possible," Donatello murmured in stunned disbelief.

"What's not possible?" Michelangelo wanted to know. "Am I really dying?"

Donatello slowly shook his head. "Far from it," he replied.

Michelangelo looked down at the paper in his brother's hands, but nothing made sense to him. "Talk to me, Donnie. What's happening?"

Donatello finally looked up to meet Michelangelo's fearful gaze. "I don't know how, but, you're..." He swallowed thickly.

"I'm what?" Michelangelo urged.

"Pregnant," Donatello whispered.

Michelangelo blinked a couple of times in stunned disbelief. "I'm what?" he asked dully.

"It's not possible," Donatello said again. "It goes against the very law of nature. There's just no way."

Michelangelo held up his hands in a T shape. "Time out, Donnie. I didn't catch that last bit. Mind repeating it?"

"You're going to have a baby, Mikey," Donatello said.

The meaning of his brother's words began to sink in. "Cool," Michelangelo said.

"Cool?!" Donatello exclaimed. "How is this 'cool'?"

"Just wait until Leo and Raph hears," Michelangelo went on.

He headed for the door. Donatello shot up from the chair to stop him, but Michelangelo was already out the door.

"Mikey, wait!" Donatello called after his brother.

Michelangelo ran into the kitchen where Leonardo and Raphael were putting away the food. "Guys, you're not going to believe this!" he said.

"Believe what?" Raphael asked, looking up from putting something in the fridge.

"I'm going to have a baby!" Michelangelo announced.

Leonardo and Raphael stared at their brother for a minute before bursting out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Michelangelo frowned in confusion.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"You? Having a baby?" Raphael said through bouts of laughter.

Leonardo tried to catch his breath. "You can't be having a baby, Mikey."

"Who says?" Michelangelo wanted to know.

"Uh...nature?" Leonardo replied.

Michelangelo still looked confused. Raphael managed to get his laughter under control enough to speak.

"Put it in words he understands, Leo," the red masked turtle said.

Leonardo tapped his fingers together. "You can't be having a baby because you don't the right...parts for it. You're a male, Mikey, and males aren't designed to carry young."

"But Donny says I am having a baby," Michelangelo protested.

"Well, then Donnie's just as insane as you are," Raphael said.

"How do you think I feel?" Donatello asked, walking into the kitchen. "I've spent years studying our anatomy to better treat injuries. I've spent my life studying the evolution of our planet. Learned the differences between male and female species. Females bore the young, males just...helped it along. But now...after seeing this? What's next? Up is down? Down is up? And gravity is just something someone made up in their head?"

Leonardo and Raphael looked at each other before turning to look back at their younger brothers. There was no way Donatello would make something like this up; he wasn't the practical joke type of turtle.

"So this whole 'Mikey is going to have a baby' thing...it's real?" Leonardo asked slowly.

"As real as turtles have shells," Donatello answered.

The brothers fell into an awkward silence for a few minutes before Leonardo spoke.

"How?" the leader asked.

"How what?" Donatello asked back.

Leonardo pointed at Michelangelo's stomach. "How did this happen?"

Donatello became thoughtful for a moment. "From what I can tell, Bishop must have implanted Mikey with the necessary organ for him to be able to carry young," he explained. "My guess would be that Bishop used Mikey's cells to grow it, so that's why his body isn't rejecting it."

"And the egg?" Raphael asked.

Donatello sighed. "Well, there was only one other turtle besides Mikey held captive," he pointed out.

Leonardo looked at his red masked brother. Raphael held up his hands defensively.

"I did not touch Mikey in that way," he said.

Michelangelo blinked in confusion before realization sank in. "Ew," he commented, frowning in disgust.

"You're misinterpreting what I'm saying," Donatello spoke up. "Raph, you fertilized the egg without even knowing."

"How?" Raphael asked. Then he remembered the man with the needle. His eyes narrowed and he growled. "That little..."

"There's one thing I don't get," Leonardo put in. "Where did the egg come from?"

Donatello hummed deep in thought. "Bishop could have used a normal turtle egg, but he used Mikey's and Raph's DNA to make it to his specifications. Kind of like Dolly the sheep, only with turtles...and all guys."

Michelangelo put his hands on his stomach. "So, I have a little Dolly the turtle inside me?" he asked.

"Yes," Donatello answered.

Leonardo shook his head in disbelief. "This was not how I imagined becoming an uncle."

"Forget uncle," Raphael said. "I didn't think this was how I was going to become a father."

"So, if Raph's the Dad, does that make me the Mom?" Michelangelo asked, confused. "How does that work?"

Donatello shrugged. "Well, you'd be a mother figure because you carried the egg. That's how I see it, anyway."

"Another thing," Raphael said.

"Yes?" Donatello asked.

"Why Mikey?" Raphael wanted to know. "What makes him so special?"

"Hey!" Michelangelo protested.

Raphael raised his hands. "Not sayin' anythin' bad against ya, Bro," he defended himself.

Donatello hummed deep in thought again, rubbing his chin. "It could be because of Mikey's flexibility. Also, Mikey has a thinner plastron and has more elasticity than yours, Raph. So maybe that's why Bishop chose Mikey to bear the egg."

"So, why have I been so sick?" Michelangelo asked.

"It's morning sickness," Donatello answered. "It's perfectly normal during pregnancy. However..."

The others became concerned when Donatello trailed off. "However?" Leonardo echoed.

"Morning sickness isn't the only thing that comes with pregnancy," Donatello said slowly. "There's worse."

"Worse?" Michelangelo echoed. "What could be worse than stomach cramps and morning sickness?"

A tiny smirk played with the corner of Donatello's mouth. Should he tell his brother, or let him find out for himself? Donatello ran a hand over his mouth to try to hide the smirk, but he just burst out into a fit of laughter. The others looked at him like he was going crazy.

"I think this whole thing has finally fried his brain," Raphael commented.

Donatello walked over to his hot-headed brother and patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck, Raphie," he said. "Trust me, you're going to need it." Donatello walked back to Michelangelo and put a hand on his shoulder. "And you're going to need a lot of tissues in the near future. Just as a heads up."

"Okay," Michelangelo said, completely confused.

Donatello left the kitchen, grinning like a madman. If he was correct in his assumption, this was going to be very entertaining...for him at least.


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