Donnie woke up early that morning for the same reason most of us wake up early in the morning. He had to pee. He glanced at the alarm clock on Mizu's night stand. 5:07am. Ugh. He put his head back on the pillow and tried to will away the urge to use the bathroom, but it was a loosing battle. He finally gave in, got up as quietly and a gently as he could so as not to wake the sleeping 30 year old girl, successfully stepped over a sleeping Elric & made his way to the bathroom.

He sighed with relief as the pressure on his bladder disappeared and seeing as how if he looked up he would get a sleepy eyeful of bright light bulbs, he let his eyes wander to the waste basket next to the toilet. What he saw almost made him turn mid-pee. He finished up, washed his hands (which he thought was silly considering he was about to go delving into the bathroom trash) and with shaky hands pulled the two pregnancy tests from the garbage. He stood up straight, inhaled deeply, held it for a second, and as he exhaled he looked at the tests. In a matter of seconds the room spun & went black.

Elric was the first to hear the commotion. He jumped up faster than one could thing a dog that big could move and immediately commenced his signature barkfest, which coupled with the crash from the bathroom, was enough to rip Mizu from slumber. Her body reacted before her brain could and she ran to the bathroom.

It took a minute for her sleep addled mind to put together the scene in the bathroom. Donnie apparently had fainted, grabbed on to the shower curtain for support, and when that failed horribly, he spun around while dangling from the now downed curtain & he landed on his back, where his carapace had knocked a nice chunk out of her apartment's one redeeming quality. The antique clawfoot porcelain tub.

"OH NO! DONNIE!"

She ran over to the downed turtle who was still kind of out of it. She brushed the drywall dust from the curtain rod hardware, off of his face and managed to untangle him from the shower curtain. She went to gather his head in her lap & reached for one of his hands. That's when she saw them. He was still clutching the two tests. He must have seen them in the trash! Her heart jumped into her throat & her face drained of it's color.

"not like this, I didn't want him to find out like this…"

"Unnnngh. Uh. Oww-ow-ow-owwww. Oh, man…. Mizu? What happened? Did I faint? I fainted didn't I? I'm a grown ass man & I fainted…"

"Shhhhhh… yeah it looks like you passed out, unless you and the tub are having a secret feud I don't know about. If you are it looks like you won" she smiled down at him, just glad he was ok.

"Oh, no… Your bathtub! I'm so sorry" He was about to go on apologizing as he raised his hand to rub his eyes his head. He stopped dead in his tracks, suddenly remembering what had caused him to faint in the first place.

His eyes darted from the tests to Mizu and after a few seconds of awkward silence they both blurted it out at the same time.

"I'm Pregnant"/"You're Pregnant"

Donnie went pale, well, pale green. His eyes became as big as saucers and he started to hyperventilate as he sat Indian style, still gripping the pregnancy tests.

"But You!…."

"Donnie"

"But I!…."

"Donnie."

"But We!…."

"DONATELLO!" Mizu looked at him with both eyebrows raised, and he seemed to snap out of it, mostly.

"Donnie, we need to talk about this. But first, you need to put down those tests. They've got pee on them. You take a second to wash your hands & collect yourself. I'm going to put on a pot of coffee."

Donnie, still a bit wide eyed, nodded in agreement and began to gather himself.

"French roast, please. And can you make it strong?" he squeaked out.

"Yes, Dear." She kissed him on his head and walked into the kitchen muttering "it's too damn early in the morning for this…" as she left him to his own devices.

Donatello stared down in disbelief at his coffee mug, but for all the intense looks he was giving it, he failed to notice the single black dog hair floating on the surface of the creamy tan liquid. These days he took a splash of cream in his coffee. It helped to cut down on the acid reflux.

"I still can't believe it. You're sure you're pregnant?"

"I'm pretty sure Donnie. Those tests don't often give false positives. Plus I'm late. That's why I took them in the first place. You know my ovaries run smoother than a sweatshop. You can practically set your watch to them."

"But how? How could this even happen?" he muttered

"Well, you see, when two people love each other very much…"

"You're really going to crack that joke right now?" he said before he took a sip of his coffee. He paused and picked the dog hair out of his mug, and finally took a sip of the caffeinated beverage. Thank the maker for coffee. "I still don't see how this is even possible. We're not the same species. Our DNA shouldn't even be compatible."

"Yeah, but you're not exactly not human either Donnie. You & your brothers we're given a healthy dose of mutagen goodness. It's reasonable to believe that your, uh, genetic material shall we say, has some adaptative trick up their tiny sleeves."

"Good point. I never thought of that. But if that's the case, why has it taken 3 years? We haven't exactly been birth control champions or anything." His mind raced with various scientific reasons & precedents. He was even doing a couple of punnett squares in his head to try and figure out what genetic qualities a terrapin human hybrid might have.

" Earth to Donnie! That problem could be on my end Donnie. There are many reasons it could have taken so long. And as much as I'd love to hypothesize about my fertility with you, we have to discuss what to do about this."

Donnie's head jerked up and his expression fell. "What do you mean 'what to do about this'?"

"Oh man, ok. Here goes…. Donnie, you know how I feel about children…"

"I know" He went pale green again, as he nodded.

"And you know I never planned on having any…"

"I, I know" he felt a sob catch in his throat. He knew where this was going, but he had to hear her out.

"Donnie. I'm not keeping it. I don't want to be a mother."

There it was. Mizu had just put all of her cards on the table. Donatello wished he didn't know this was coming the second he found those tests in the garbage, but some small part of him knew she didn't want this. Mizu had always been a vocal proponent of being childfree. She even went so far as getting a VHEMT tattoo. He wasn't even sure he wanted children, but now, the opportunity had presented itself, and he'd be lying if he said he hadn't at least entertained the thought once or twice. It was something he thought should at least be considered seriously.

"Donatello, at least say something? Please? Donnie?"

Mizu's eyes filled with tears and thought it couldn't possibly have gone any worse. Donatello finally looked at her through tears of his own, searching her face for answers to questions he didn't have. After what felt like forever he stood up from the table, walked over to the window and left without a word.

Elric, who had done his best to steer clear from the tension up until this point, padded over and put his head in her lap. He looked up at her with his big brown eyes as if to tell her it would be ok. Mizu hugged her dog and cried.