Bishop had begun a search for the turtles throughout the city. He was even asking around if anyone had ever seen the spaceship take off or land here in the city. All of them said no.
Below ground, in the lair, Splinter summoned Don to his room.
"Yes Master Splinter." Don said.
"Sit down. I wish to speak with you." Splinter said.
"What about?" Don asked nervously. He had an idea.
"About your baby."
Don's guess was right. "What about my baby, Sensei?"
"I love all of you as my sons, and would like to see that your bloodlines continue, but, with the right people. I would love the concept of grandchildren. It's just, I am a bit concerned of what Devina did to you. I know she told us why she did it, and you told why, but I still find it disturbing that she did that to you."
"April said that too, Master." Don said. "And yes, I do too. But I won't get rid of the baby Master. I can't. It's a living being. I heard its heartbeat on Leatherhead's machine! I won't kill anybody or anything that innocent!"
"I did not mean it that way Donatello." Splinter said.
"Then how did you mean it?" Don was beginning to get upset. A mood swing was setting in. He placed a hand on his belly.
"I was just concerned about that." Splinter said. He knew that his son was getting upset now. He needed to wind this down. "I'll let you go now Donatello."
Don started to sniffle as he got up. He was glad to be out of there. He loved his father, but now that his family knew of the rape that got him pregnant in the first place, they just wouldn't leave it alone. Don wanted to put that out of his memory, but couldn't.
He went to his lab to look on his computer to help him to try to take his mind of Splinter's words. He went to a pregnancy calendar website. He wanted to see what size his baby was now.
He was at 10 weeks now, and what the site said was that the baby was 1 ½ inches long and weighed .14 ounces or 4 grams. This baby was getting big.
Don's belt still felt like it was getting tighter every day. Soon he knew he would have to stop wearing it. But it had long stray lopes on it; it would last for awhile. But Don still felt like he was losing weight. And he wasn't even that heavy a turtle. Sure he ate 6 small meals a day, but not much was kept down.
Don ate crackers before getting up in the mornings or whenever he felt nauseated. But he would also attempt to eat healthy foods too. Leo nagged him about it the most. If anyone knew how to eat healthy the most, it was Leo.
The site also said to start thinking about preparing a nursery. Yeah, that was something to start thinking about, if he was going to keep the baby, at least, when it was here. When Devina didn't have him or her. That thought also kind of upset him. What if she took the baby to claim the throne and never returned the baby? What if she was only truly using him? Don was not someone who liked to be used and betrayed. He already had so many enemies, all for the sole purpose of being what he was. A turtle that wasn't normal.
But if Devina did take the baby permanently, Don was sure everyone would think it was a relief off their hands and shoulders. That would leave Don feeling miserable and depressed. He wanted his baby. Sure, finding out about it and how he had gotten it started had been rocky, but now, aside from the nausea and not keeping much down, the pregnancy so far was going pretty smoothly.
Don read ahead a few more pages. He did want to know at least when he was possibly going to stop throwing up, and start keeping food down, as well as when he could start "showing" for real.
He didn't like the concept of being fat, but he knew it was inevitable if he was going to carry this baby to term. He still had at least 30 more weeks. It still felt like such a long way off, and he was only in his 2nd month.
Don thought about making a cradle for his son or daughter on his own, since he was an engineer. They would need a place to sleep of their own. But he wouldn't give a male or female theme look until it was here.
And there was also the concept of thinking about the sex. And names. So many out there, hard to decide. He didn't think Leatherhead's ultrasound could check on the sex. So, perhaps the baby was a surprise well waited for. But if he could, he would wait a few more weeks before he asked if the sex could be found out.
Leatherhead said to come by once a month so the baby could be monitored. To make sure everything would go smoothly, and if Don should feel any different, he was free to come over and he would take a look.
Raph still continued to be a burden about the child. If anyone was giving the cold shoulder, it was him. Mikey often threw jokes at him. Don tried not to take him seriously. He knew that was in Mike's nature. But at least Don knew he wanted to be an uncle. Leo tried his best to just give support and give advice, much like Splinter. Leo often found himself trying to keep Mikey away from Don.
April did the best she could to be Don's main supporter. Because Don's hormones were now making him much more female-like, he needed a woman to be there for him. His family was all boys, and there was only so much they could do. She had never had a kid yet, but planned on it someday with Casey. But she was a scientist herself in knowledge, and she would ask some of her friends or her mom, aside from doing research on how to describe things that Don would need and want to know when they came along.
Casey still came down to the lair with April. Don would look at her. She would shake her head. He still didn't know. Don felt kind of nervous around Casey right now. Casey already resented Don enough as it was just because he and April had so much in common.
As much as Raph was not caring about his new niece or nephew to come, but he did Don a favor by keeping Casey away from him. Don didn't need Casey's rude behavior upsetting him.
Don wasn't showing yet, so he wasn't concerned about Casey thinking he was eating too much to get fat and needing to lose weight. Right now, Don needed to gain some weight. He watched some online videos and they said to try to gain about one pound a week.
The ranges of where Don needed to gain weight was at least near 30 to 35 pounds. Right now he knew he wasn't going to gain weight if he couldn't keep much down. He just hoped that the baby would stop making him sick soon.
Also, as much as he did slightly miss training, Don did find relief from not having to be forced to train with his brothers. His dizzy spells were too bad. Headaches happened a bit too much too.
Donny typically took aspirin or ibuprofen for headaches, but now, after having done research, he switched to Tylenol. That was the best that he could do. Cold compresses or exercise could help too.
For exercise, Don would take walks in the sewers with Leo. Leo was almost like more the father role model than his brother. Don just didn't like being around Mikey or Raph that much right now, considering how they treated him. And yet, Devina, being the mother, was more the father too. But Don didn't want her here, and neither did his family. So Leo was fulfilling this role more. (The partner to the pregnant mother to be.)
In all this time while Don didn't feel well from the morning sickness, he didn't leave the lair much. The patrols, though he did go on them when he felt he could, were done by the other 3 more often now. Splinter was also beginning to go more too.
While Don walked in the sewers for most of his exercise, he tried to practice some katas, but at the moment, they only seemed to upset his stomach. But Don did need to practice self defense to protect his stomach if he should get caught in a battle. So then, a thought occurred to him that instead of trying the jumping/moving katas, he would do the hand moves of his Bo only for now. He would move to the moving ones when he wasn't sick anymore.
A couple more weeks passed by. Don was now in his 12th week.
He was now starting to feel a lot better. The morning sickness didn't happen anymore. There was sometimes still a little nausea, but not too bad. The baby was growing; it was going to cause some discomfort at all aspects in the pregnancy sometimes.
Within two weeks, the baby had grown an inch! It now weighed ½ an ounce.
Don's appetite was returning. Now that he could keep more down now, he began eating a bit more, but still small meals throughout each day.
He had a higher sense of smell more than he did before the pregnancy, and a heightened sense of taste. He would often turn his nose up at pizza. The smell of it almost made him want to throw up yet. But almost anything else, he could now keep food down.
To Mikey, it sometimes hurt his feelings that Don would refuse to eat some of the meals he would fix for everyone. It was just some of the smells and tastes for Don had changed. It could have been a way for Don to recognize if something wasn't right for the baby.
And another major breakthrough was, Don was beginning to show! There was a slight bulge down in his lower stomach. It was proving to the world that he was carrying a baby.
It took a little while, but Leo, Raph, Mikey, and Splinter had noticed. Splinter and Leo immediately threw Don's training with them at all out the window. Don was relieved for that. He would still walk and do some katas when he felt ready to, but for now at least, he could concentrate more on his projects.
Bishop had searched the city for the turtles for over 3 weeks now. He wanted information from those turtles. They had to know about that spaceship. But in this long a time, it hadn't returned. He was starting to pose more of a threat to Don's safety than ever before. But Don's secret was still safe for the time being.