In the morning, Leo was found in the nursery by Don, who always checked on Akemi and Virgil first thing every morning/night. Akemi was still asleep in his arms. Don went over and took his baby girl out of Leo's grip gently, as to not disturb his brother.
"Leo. Leo, wake up." Don said in a low voice.
Leo was kind of a light sleeper. He awoke to his brainy brother standing over him, and Akemi in his arms.
"Fell asleep in the chair again." Don said.
"Yeah. The rocking motion is comforting. But she didn't cry again." Leo said.
"Nope, and I got some much needed sleep. Now it's time for breakfast, Uncle sleepyhead." Don teased.
Akemi was now beginning to stir herself, as was her brother in his own cradle.
Leo stretched and slowly got up from the chair. He picked up Virgil, and he and Don went down to the kitchen with the twins in each of their arms.
Lavish had stirred too, at the first hint of movement the next morning. She had now seen a gray rat, and another turtle in a red mask that she hadn't seen last night. They had all gone to the kitchen.
Mikey was busy cooking breakfast for the family. Raph and Splinter looked up when Don and Leo finally appeared with the twins.
"Look who finally woke up." Raph said.
"I fell asleep in the chair again, trying to take some of the stress away from Donny last night." Leo said.
"She was a bit of a pain last night." Raph said. "I took care of her twice last night."
"And me two more times." Don said. He yawned as he was still a bit tired.
"Third time, she just wanted someone to hold her." Leo said. "I took her and she fell back to sleep again."
"Sometimes, I'm not sure who she likes better. Donny or Leo." Mikey said from the stove.
"Akemi loves us all the same, Michelangelo." Splinter said. "And we all love her and Virgil the same."
"Yes, but she is picky when it comes to falling asleep, Master." Don said. "I know I can get her to sleep, but she falls asleep all too easily in Leo's arms."
Don felt a little jealous that his older brother had something that contented his daughter more than he could. He gave Akemi to Splinter so he could go get the bottles for his kids. They were both starting to fuss, and if they didn't get their breakfast soon, they would both begin to cry.
Lavish watched as the family prepared for their day to begin. She kept her distance.
The bottles were ready in just a few minutes, and Don took Akemi back. He held her and gave her the bottle. Leo gave Virgil his. Leo and Don were like the perfect parents.
Not too much later, Mikey had breakfast ready for the rest of the family. He came over to the table with 3 plates of eggs and toast. He knew by now that when whoever was feeding the babies was finished, only then would they be able to eat, so he kept a lid on the pan to preserve some warmth. Mikey never fed the twins around mealtimes. He had to be the one who cooked his family's food. And occasionally, Splinter did too.
Once Akemi and Virgil were fed, they were burped, and then they were taken back to their room for diaper changing. Then brought out to the living room, and placed in a playpen. Then Don and Leo went to feed themselves.
By now, Splinter, Mikey and Raph were done eating, and now came over to take over baby duties. Breakfast would have to settle a little first before training time anyway.
Lavish was seeing that the whole family shared in the responsibility of the twins. Don could only do so much by himself.
Two hours after breakfast, it was now time for training. There was another playpen just outside the dojo, so none of the boys would get thrown into it during sparring of any kind. Don still sat in on training. And as much as the boys wanted to have the babies in there just to keep an eye on them, it just wasn't safe for them to be in there when the adults were training.
The twins had gotten used to the sounds of their uncles sparring, and in a few more weeks, Donny would be joining them again.
After training was finished, everyone was left to their own devices. Don watched a bit of TV with Mikey so he could give his son and daughter some attention before they would be handed off to someone else so he would work on his projects. He worked out a schedule during the day for who would be doing what with Akemi and Virgil. And at least two of the family needed to be taking care of the little ones. Two was a handful.
…..
Lavish watched at a distance over the next month. She saw that Don was not a bad father after all. She second guessed that maybe Donatello hadn't wanted Devina to take the twins or even one baby at all, as he really loved his twins.
And in all her time here, she had only gone back to her ship to eat and freshen up. She never touched the Earth food. Not unless the turtles invited her to eat what they ate once she was involved in their lives.
Lavish was going to still make sure that Devina knew she had two kids so she wouldn't be sad anymore.
Another thing had come up on Lavish. She had also began to study Don's blue banded brother, Leonardo, more as well. He was just as attentive as a parent could be as well. Though Leo's other habits or hobbies were interesting to her too.
She admired his strength, courage, compassion, and bravery. No wonder he was considered the oldest and leader.
Lavish was not here for the reason that Devina had been -which had been to start a new family. Lavish was just here to get some answers, and she would get them, when she was ready to introduce herself into the family.
Donny also came back into the training in Lavish's 4th week there. He had much catching up to do.
During his time off for his recovery, aside from taking care of Akemi and Virgil and doing some projects, Don's stomach had healed very well. There would always be a scar there, but his belt covered most of it up. The belt would help to keep the cut stable, and some epoxy glue was also holding it steady.
Don had also lost most of his 'baby fat.' There was still maybe a slight bulge in his lower belly, but with some more exercising and the right diet, it would diminish.
Don still remembered his old moves, from hand to hand combat, to using his Bo staff. He performed good, if not a little clumsily on his first day back of training. His brothers and father encouraged him instead of taunting him, as they knew he had been out of it for the last several months.
Pregnancy and recovery from a c-section birth. Don thought it weird that he had been the one to recover and come back from all that. Aside from still recovering from what had started the pregnancy. Don didn't want to think about the horrible thought of being forced to mate. It was still hard to deal with.
Lavish had also studied Raph, Mikey, and Splinter as well.
Raph was a hothead, too wired up for action. But he was a good uncle and caretaker. He was as gentle as any of the others with the twins. His soft side was rarely revealed to anyone, but with the babies, he had to watch himself. And Don had made him swear to never say bad things around Akemi and Virgil. At least the cuss words.
Mikey loved to play with the babies as well. He could always get them to laugh at him. He was practically nothing more than a big kid himself, but he also knew when to act more grown up when handling the twins too. He still managed to pull some pranks on his older siblings, and now that Don was feeling better, Mikey had begun pulling pranks on him as well.
But it was never fun for Don to blow up at anyone. It took something EXTREME to make him blow his top; like broken inventions for example.
And then there was Master Splinter. He mostly kept to himself, except for when his advice was needed. He observed and gave pointers during training, he babysat, and watched his favorite TV shows. He mostly was trying to leave the teaching of the ninja skills to Leonardo now, but he had to make sure that his son was getting things right. As a sensei, as one day, the wise rat knew he wouldn't be here anymore, and he wanted Leo to be a good leader and teacher when that time came.
Splinter spoiled his grandchildren. He always knew that his son Donatello was a good father, but with twins, he needed help. He knew that his son also needed some time for himself and to work on the projects that he also loved. Don needed to protect the lair, so he had to have time to work on some projects. Don was also in charge of the lair's security, and so had to have time to run maintenance and other small details.
He was very proud of his son to have come up with certain times of day when he would give attention to his twins, and when he needed to work.
Don usually played with the kids in the mornings, before and after training. Then a few hours later, he would go to work.
Mikey and Leo took them next during the middle of the day.
Raph took them in the evening, though he still had to do patrols as well. But everyone took turns staying home with Splinter at night to watch the babies. And now that Don was recovered enough, he was also going out too. His belt would help keep the injury more stable while it was still healing some more.
And there were also rare occasions when the turtles' closest human friends came down to the lair to visit too. April and Casey adored Akemi and Virgil too. They would one day make valuable members to the turtle family team, as long as they were raised right, and they knew the turtles and Splinter were good with the kids.
Seeing the twins made April think about wanting to start her own family, but would Casey be a good enough dad for them? He was a lot like Raph. A big action man. But she knew that Raphael could be a big softie too. He just didn't like to show it.
Lavish saw that Casey was the perfect best friend for Raph. And April was the best one for Don. And they were great helpers for the family when it came to helping them with big problems and bringing them much needed supplies.
After everything Lavish had observed for a month, from the baby caretaking, to the fights on the streets, and training at home, watching TV and learning some Earth habits of how she might be able to introduce herself, she was finally feeling a bit more ready to come into the picture, but she wasn't going to make it obvious that she wanted the twins most of all. Just to take them back to her queen. She was sure that Devina would come back to Earth to talk to Donatello about what he had done to her. Mainly, lied to her that the baby had died. But she did want to win the turtles' trust too.
To Lavish, Devina had always been a fair person. But she was sure that she was going to be mad at her ex-mate. They had never been official mates, but Devina had called him that just to make it short for the father of her child, or children.
But now, Lavish was really trying to think of how she should officially come into the family's lives. She didn't want to try the helpless damsel approach as Devina had. And she was wanting to get close to one of the turtles. She would have to use him to get close to be able to nab the twins and take them back to Anolis. She didn't exactly want to just take the babies right now because they could be screaming their heads off if they didn't know her, and she wanted the twins to know her too.
Lavish saw that Don was a good soul, but just that what he had done was wrong, in her eyes. But she had more of an eye on his lead brother, Leonardo. He had intrigued her from the first night. Like how he could sense her following him.
And also Splinter could sense something was in the air too. But these Anolis lizard females were masters of stealth. And because both Leo and Splinter had sensed something was not right in the lair, that was why they had wanted to keep such close eyes on Akemi and Virgil, in case that 'something' was dangerous to them. And the twins were VERY precious to their small family.
The turtles needed a future generation.
Lavish wouldn't play the helpless damsel, but she would intercept them on the rooftops. Maybe near April's place would be best. The next time they went there, but she would make sure Leo was going most of all. She wanted to make a good impression on him. As the leader, he would have to approve of anyone living there, aside from Master Splinter approving too, and his brothers, as they had the babies to think of now. Don would also be suspicious as well. He wouldn't want anyone in his family falling for the same thing he had.
Darkunderworld edited.