The Greenhouse was deathly quiet. Even Mike couldn't hear anything with his head pressed up to the door. Don had evidently made sure it was soundproof.

"Oh, I'm so excited!" Mona said, practically bouncing up and down on the couch. "I'm going to be an auntie!"

"I know!" April said; her voice was higher with delight.

"Well don't get too excited," Raph said, placing a hand on Mona's shoulder to still her. "We don't want to make you a momma too early, an' with all this excitement that kid's gonna wanna come bouncin' out to see what it's all about."

"I know, I know," Mona said, making a visible effort to calm herself. "I just can't wait to see what the babies look like!"

Splinter folded his hands together in his lap and nodded.

"Indeed. I must say that I am looking forward to seeing the faces of my grandchildren for the first time." His face stretched into a wistful smile. "It is a day that I never dreamed would be possible."

Mike came bouncing back over to the gathering and perched on the back of the couch behind Cassio.

"Still nothing," he said. "I wonder how long it could take for the little guys to fight their way out?"

"It could be a few hours," Cassio said. "I remember when –"

His voice was silenced by a vicious glare from Desdemona. Othello's face looked pained, and he turned away. Cassio's Adam's apple bobbed in his throat and sank down in his seat.

"What?" Mike asked. "Come on, I wanna know."

Cassio found himself the centre of attention; he looked as though he wanted to disappear. Desdemona stood up and yanked Cassio up be the collar of the baggy t-shirt he was wearing and dragged him out of the lair. Othello hurried after them. Raph stared at their backs as they disappeared and shook his head.

"Weirdos," he said. "I knew bringing them back was bad news."

"They are…odd," April said. "I haven't really got to know them, but they seem strange, and not very friendly."

"Perhaps," Splinter said, "it is simply that they have gone through a sea-change in their lives, and have not yet had time to acclimatise to their new environment."

There was a moment's silence, before Raphael snorted.

"Nah, they're just weirdos."

Before Mike could jump in with a retort there was a commotion outside, and Casey appeared carrying a stack of pizza boxes. He shook his shaggy mane of hair, sending raindrops flying, looking every inch like a drowned dog.

"Man!" he said, setting the pizzas down on the coffee table, "that is the last time I go get pizza for you, Mikey. It's rainin' cats and frogs out there!"

April chuckled and knelt down on the floor to open the pizzas and dish them out.

"It's cats and dogs, Casey," she said.

"Dogs, frogs, whateva. It's still pourin'!" He looked around and saw the empty spaces on the couch. "Where did those guys go?"

"I think there was a bit of a…domestic dispute," Mona said.

Casey shrugged and dug his big hand into one of the pizza boxes.

"That just leaves more for the rest of us!" He went to take a bite from the slice, but eyed it warily. "What the hell is this? It that…a marshmallow?"

"Oh, that's mine!" Mona said, reaching up to snatch the slice from him. "Marshmallow and anchovies, delicious!"

She devoured the pizza in several large bites. Casey looked as though he was going to swiftly lose his lunch, and possibly breakfast as well.

"Gross," he said.

Raph shook his head and reached for a slice with a more traditional topping of pepperoni.

"It's not gross, it's pregnancy," he said.

"Thank you, Raphie," Mona said, sauce spread around her lips.

Raph simply grunted in response.

***

It was just as the last bite of pizza was taken when the door to the Greenhouse slowly opened and Donatello emerged.

"Get yourselves ready guys," he called, "and make space for the newest members of our family."

Mona clapped her hands over her mouth and her eyes scrunched up in delight, and April grinned more widely than Don had ever seen. Clearly she had a maternal streak that they had never seen before. Maybe that was what all women were like. Maybe not all, he thought, and scanned the gathered crowd for Desdemona. Strangely, both she and her brothers were gone. Don shook off the curiosity to attend to more important issues, though his heart did lurch a little. What had happened? Maybe they didn't feel comfortable anymore.

He held the door open for the new parents and allowed them to pass him. The tears had dried up and were replaced by smiles of pure, unadulterated joy. Leo and Mei walked slowly over to the group, their babies swaddled in clean fleece blankets that April had bought.

As soon as Mona saw the tiny faces she began to wail; Raphael looked utterly lost as he tentatively patted her shoulder.

"Babe, it's…okay?" he stuttered.

"It's just so beautiful!" she cried, and buried her face in Raph's plastron.

Instead of sitting down in the vacated seats, Leo and Mei went straight to Splinter and knelt down in front of him.

"Father," Leo said, "meet your grandchildren. This is Yoshio, your oldest grandson," he said, gesturing to the larger of the boys in Mei's arms. "This is your granddaughter Xiu-Mei." He inclined his head to the girl in his own arms. "And this is the younger of my sons, Zhong." He paused and his voice caught in his throat. "They're all healthy," he said. "Though Zhong has a…slight disadvantage."

Splinter's delighted smile wavered for a moment. Leo pulled the blanket down from Zhong's little face to reveal his stunted arm. Splinter reached out for the child and gently cradled him to his chest. The others gathered around. There were gasps, and then silence.

"Ningen banji saiou ga uma," Splinter said.

"Sensei?" Leo asked.

Japanese language had never been his strong suit. Don stepped in.

"It translates something along the lines of 'All human affairs are like Saiou's horse'. It means that your luck is unpredictable and changeable," he said. "It comes from an old Chinese folk tale."

Mei's mouth curved into a small 'o' of recognition. Splinter adjusted the little bundle in his arms.

"There was once an old man named Sai, whose horse broke down his fence and ran away," Splinter said, taking on his well-honed storytelling tone. "The old man's neighbours were sorry for his misfortune, but he said to them, 'How do you know that this is not good luck?' Soon after the horse returned with another horse and his neighbours congratulated him for his fortune. However, Sai said to them, 'How do you know that this is really good luck?'

"After a time, the old man's son fell while riding the second horse and broke his leg. Again the neighbours commiserated with the old man. However, soon after this all the young men of the village were ordered to join the Emperor's army. Thankfully, Sai's son was spared because of his injury." Splinter carefully ran the tip of one of his long-nailed fingers along the side of Zhong's face. "We should not see this as bad fortune," he said. "Things are not always as they first appear."

April placed a hand on Mei's shoulder and leaned down to get a better look at the babies.

"They're all just beautiful," she said. "You must be so happy."

"Happy and grateful," Mei said.

She looked up and singled out Don for a wide smile. Don felt himself blush. He hadn't really done anything. The assembled group took turns in cooing over the babies, though the parents weren't ready to let anyone other than their grandfather hold them just yet. Don sat down heavily on the arm of the couch and sighed. Three down, one to go.

***

When the buzz had died down and April and Casey had reluctantly gone home, Donatello excused himself from the group and jumped into the Sewer Slider. It wasn't a long journey to get to Des's place, but he was anxious to see her. Mike had filled him in on what had happened just before they had left. He pulled up outside their makeshift front door and pressed the buzzer. After a moment the door slid open.

"Oh, thank God," Cassio said. "Maybe you can sort my sister out."

He flounced back over to the dining table and sat down heavily. He picked up a file and resumed buffing his nails.

"What happened?" Don asked.

"Apparently I'm the worst brother in the world," Cassio said, rolling his eyes. "Maybe if someone didn't keep so many secrets," he bellowed, "then these things wouldn't happen in the first place!"

Don winced at the volume of the shriek.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"In her room," Cassio said. "She hasn't come out since she practically gave me a lobotomy with her shouting. Honestly," he huffed.

Don walked through the living room/kitchenette and towards the sleeping quarters in the back. Having designed the abode himself, he knew where everything was. He had never been to Desdemona's room before.

He knocked on the door and waited, but there was no stirring from inside. He knocked again and called for her, but there was still no response. Eventually Othello appeared from the room next door and beckoned Don inside.

"What's going on, Othello?" Don asked.

Othello gestured to the desk chair and sat himself down on the bed. Don glanced around. The shelves he had built were gradually filling up with second, third and fourth hand books that Othello was acquiring both from garbage-surfing and donations from Don, April and Splinter. The desk was covered in pens and piles of paper.

"Cassio nearly let something slip that he shouldn't have," Othello said. "And Des… Well, it's not something that she…or I, for that matter, ever want to discuss."

"What?" Don asked.

"Well, I guess you might as well know, though I would ask you that this goes no further than these walls."

"Sure, sure," Don said, sitting forward. What was going on?

"You know our history, and you know that Desdemona and I worked as – well, let's not sugar coat it: we were prostitutes."

"Yes," Don said. It was something he preferred not to think about.

"Well, there's one significant side-effect of having unprotected sex that Des didn't really think would affect her. We figured that because we were mutants, it was pretty much impossible for us to…you know."

"Oh God," Don said, covering his mouth with one hand.

"Yeah," Othello said. "We weren't the only mutant turtles in MuTo. There were thousands of mutants of every conceivable kind. And…I think you know where this is going."

"She got pregnant, didn't she?"

"Well, pregnant per-se. She laid an egg."

"Oh, God…"

"We didn't really know what to do with it. Father would have known, but then if Father had lived we probably wouldn't have been doing what we were doing. We tried to find out information on incubation et cetera, but we were totally lost. Eventually the egg hatched. It took hours, and eventually I stepped in and tried to pull the shell away because it was struggling that much. It was a little girl."

Othello looked close to tears. Don closed his eyes tightly and shook his head.

"She only lived for about a day," Othello said. "She was really small and very weak. She didn't stand a chance. When Cassio opened his big trap and nearly let it slip about how long it took for the egg to hatch, it brought up a lot of bad memories for Des. We never talk about it. She doesn't want to remember."

"Wow," Don said. "That's rough."

"She's disappeared into her room now," Othello said. "She won't come out until she can pretend nothing ever happened again. She tries to pretend things like this don't affect her, but they do."

"I guess there's no point in trying to get her to talk to me then," Don said.

"Right," Othello said.

Don shook his head again.

"'Wow' is all I can say."

"Yeah. Did Leonardo and Mei's babies hatch?" Othello asked.

Don felt a smile creep onto a face in spite of the story he had just heard.

"Yes, they did. They're all fine."

"Good," Othello said. "They're really cute, aren't they? Turtle babies, I mean."

"That they are," Don said. "Weird little creatures. But cute, yes."

Don stood up and placed his hands on his hips.

"Thanks for telling me that, Othello," he said,

Othello waved a bony hand.

"It's fine, just as long as you don't tell anyone."

"I won't." Don fixed him with a concerned stare. "How are you feeling?" he asked. "You seem a little more shaky than usual."

"I'm fine," Othello said, though his voice was a little more strained than before.

"Uh huh," Don said. "Well, please let Desdemona know that I was here."

"I will," Othello said.

The tall turtle showed Don out, and Don carefully manoeuvred the Sewer Slider around in the tunnels and headed home. It had been one unusual day.