Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT.

Song for this Fic: We Found Love as performed by Glee Cast (liked their rendition)

Leo and his brothers are 31 years old. Tony is 37.

**Warning** This fic contains something that may be disturbing to some. Please if you choose to read do not flame this fic but rather comment concerning the quality of the writing.**

Read What We Hide, Learning a New Dance,Contemplation, Never Say Never,What is Love?, Heart Beats, and One Word Can Change the World before this please or you will be lost.

Chapter 20: Fragile

Mike's POV

Meir is silent as she dries her hair. From what I can see of her injuries I hold back a flinch. Her stomach, back, and right side are bruised. She's wearing her orange sports bra and her yoga pants at the moment but a large black sweatshirt is sitting off to the side that she's going to put on once her hair is dry.

"It'll be ok," I whisper.

She gives me a worried look, eyes misting over with tears, lower lip quivering.

I move forward from where I was standing and pull her into a hug after I gently take the hair dryer and put it down.

"I'm scared," she whispers softly, face pressing against my shoulder.

Her arms wrap around me and she clings tightly.

"Me too," I reply as I hug her, gently nuzzling her neck, "but it'll be ok."

"Mike…I could…I might've already," she chokes out, "I don't want to lose the baby!"

My heart shatters at her pain and I hold back my own whimper of fear.

Meir found out through testing at the hospital that she is just about six weeks along. She's pregnant, with my child. The doctors told her that because of her injuries from Blake so long ago and the damage he did the fact that she even got pregnant is nothing short of a miracle…the bad news is that she has an extremely high risk for miscarriage.

She might've already due to the trauma from the explosions at work and the stress involved.

My heart aches and all I can do is hold her because my heart is breaking for her. She wants to be a mom but that slim moment of having that dream may very nearly been ripped clean from her hands.

Me? I'm worried and scared and heartbroken…

The thought of losing my own child is painful, but knowing how upset and worried Meir is makes me more concerned about her.

I pull back and make her look at me.

"Hey," I whisper, "Hey, look at me."

Meir's green eyes are brimming with tears as she looks at me and her hand flattens against her lower stomach protectively

"I-" she starts.

"I love you," I state firmly, "…I want to be your angel and I want to protect you."

I place my hand over her's before continuing.

"Both of you," I whisper, "In order for me to do that…you have to breathe ok babe? You have to calm down and relax. The docs said not to stress out right?"

She nods quickly, eyes closing as she takes a deep breath, gripping my hand with her other one.

"What if-?" she starts.

"Meiridel," I stop gently, "that won't change my feelings for you."

Her eyes meet mine and it takes all I have to smile at her as I cup her cheek.

I'm scared, I'm worried, and I want to curl up and cry but I can't…I need to be strong for her. I need to help her stay calm and take it easy.

She leans into me and starts crying softly. She's so scared and worried.

I hug her tightly, but with care so not to hurt her and let her cry until she can't anymore.

Leo's POV

By the time Mike and Meir have rejoined us, with her wearing a large sweatshirt that I recognize as one of Mike's that he uses for cover when he goes topside, Raph and Stacy have split apart on the couch after bickering for a few minutes.

Their cuddliness lasted about a half hour and then they started bickering. Apparently Stacy no longer felt scared and Raph, my ever so eloquent brother, wasn't sure how to transition from holding her to simply sitting next to her and ended up annoying her.

I'll admit I laughed under my breath.

Don and Ellie are sitting off to the side still talking quietly. About what I'm not sure, but I do know that it is still his birthday and I'd like to celebrate it for him.

Honestly I think it'd be a good distraction from all of our rattled nerves.

Tony has moved off of my lap and is curled haphazardly on the pallet where we are resting. I wince at his back, which he's refrained from wearing a shirt due to how much it hurts at this point.
Knowing this I get up carefully to avoid waking him and nod to Raph before gesturing for him to follow me.

Stacy watches us go with a slight frown of confusion before huffing and again glaring at the TV.

I stop Mike and Meir as Raph joins me.

"Any chance you could start dinner for Don's birthday Mike?" I ask softly, "Raph could you go get the presents from us? Meir come with me I need your help with something."

Meir and Mike move away from each other reluctantly and I take note of the slight frown of concern on Mike's face.

"Yeah I can do that," Mike says softly before squeezing Meir's hand and moving towards the kitchen.

Raph grunts, nods and then quickly moves towards our rooms to try to collect Don's gifts.

I turn to Meir and give her a gentle look.

"Is there any way I could convince you to take Ellie to pick up don's gift and yours?" I ask softly, "I'd like to still do Don's party for him."

Meir pauses, and looks slightly pale before nodding.

"You don't have to Meir, I can do it, it's dark enough out, just get me your keys and Ellie's?" I comfort.

She looks relieved and moves towards the den area to get Ellie's attention.

After a few moments she snags Ellie's purse and holds up a small package showing me that Don's gift is already there and then hands me her own keys.

I pull her into a hug before leaving.

"We'll talk later about what's got you so upset, go help Mike for now ok?" I say softly.

She nods before moving towards the kitchen more quickly than I had expected she would.

I've gathered her gift to Don and returned in less than an hour later, food is on the table and Don is looking torn between excitement over his party and worry for everyone else.

Tony is gingerly sitting at the table icing a cake with Meir sitting beside him. They are talking softly as I approach.

"You're soaked," Tony notes when he sees me.

"It's raining," I reply with a chuckle then turning to Meir, "I did my best to keep it dry."

Meir smiles weakly before taking the plastic bag wrapped gift and pulling it out to find it relatively dry.

"Thanks," she says softly.

I look to see if it is relatively private before sitting next to her.

"What's wrong Meir?" I ask softly.

"I've been trying to get it out of her since I got up," Tony states softly, smiling at Meir gently.

Meir looks upset before craning her neck to spot Mike and then looks at us again.

"…was going to say tomorrow…" she mumbles, "since it's Don's…"

"Meir," I state softly.

Tony pauses from what he is doing and shares a concerned frown with me before touching Meir's hand.

"What is wrong?" he asks softly.

"…I'm….pregnant…but I could.." she stops looking distraught.

I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach and close my eyes.

"Miscarry?" I finish softly.

She nods and looks like she is going run out of the room crying. I stop her and encourage her to stay.

She's trying not to cry.

"Mike," I bark out just loud enough to be heard.

Mike moves quickly towards me before sharing a startled look.

"Take care of her," I state firmly, then gentler, "Go rest."

Mike looks torn.

"But Don-" he starts as he places a hand on Meir's shoulder.

"He'll understand Mike," Tony comforts, "you guys need to lean on each other right now."

Mike looks relieved and it's then that I realize it's all he's wanted to do. We share a look and I see the pain and worry darkening his gaze and give his shoulder a squeeze of comfort before encouraging him to leave with Meir.

Don's POV

I'm not stupid I know something has been bothering those two so when I see Leo and Tony send them off I don't mind.

I hope Meir's alright; she's been uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn. She usually teases and laughs as much as Mike and Tony do.

My party is quiet but relaxing, if I am worried about Meir and Mike. Leo and Tony are close lipped about what is wrong and thankfully even Stacy respects that after Leo levels her with a sharp look.

Raph is quiet too, but I think it's because he really doesn't know how to respond to Stacy. I don't blame him, one second she's clingy and cuddly and the next they are bickering like crazy.

Leo's gift to me is a book by Brian Greene titled The Elegant Universe which I am pleased to say I'll rather enjoy reading.

Tony's gift was the trip in December so I don't mind that he doesn't hand me something to open. Raph drops something in my lap before plopping down next to Stacy again and grumbling when she leans against him.

I don't think she even really knows how to feel about them.

I open the gift to find various tools that I've been missing and a few sets of dry erase markers and a box of chalk. Though it isn't exciting the gifts are something I need and I appreciate the gesture.

My smile seems to lighten Raph's sour mood.

Mike and Meir's gifts are handed over despite them not being there. I open Meir's first and find a beautifully bound copy of Grey's Anatomy by Henry Grey F.R.S. it's one of the books on my list of classics I've been wanting.

Mike's gift is along the same lines and is a battered copy of Arabian Nights with beautiful, though slightly water stained illustrations.

I smile at everyone and then glance at Ellie who offers me a slim package.

I give her a confused look as I open it to find a handmade scarf in deep violet and black inside it.

"Did you make this?" I ask with a smile.

She nods, looking embarrassed.

"Sooo that's what you were toting around during break the other day," Stacy notes as she perks up, "knitting?"

"Crocheting," Ellie replies, "Mah momma taught me."

She looks at me shyly.

"Do yah like it?" she asks softly.

In response I wrap it around my neck before leaning over to kiss her cheek.

"I love it," I state with a smile, "thanks."

She beams in reply.

I like making her smile.

Meir's POV

I feel terrible about walking out on Don's party but right now I'm relaxing in Mike's arms as he slowly reads from Tolkien's The Hobbit. I mentioned that it was a favorite of mine and he pulled out a battered copy before having me curl up with him.

I find myself relaxing and smiling as he changes voices for each character and gently rubs my stomach in soothing circles.

I ache, I'm sore, and I'm scared about losing my baby, but right now…I feel so safe its difficult to think about anything going wrong.

A/N: So those of you guessed correctly *high five* and those of you who are surprised, congrats on the excitement lol. Reviews Please!

For those of you who don't know apparently Michael Bay is back on track for the new movie for the TMNT where he is going to portray them as aliens…*raised eyebrow*… as if Nickelodeon's "silly pre-teen girly-ness" wasn't bad enough.

My Response to:

"Guest" – I would appreciate it if you didn't "flame." I do encourage constructive criticism, and if you have a more polite way of giving me advice, I would happily receive it. The reason you might not see as much "bonding" happening in this story is because it is a sequel and if you go read the previous ones you might find what you are looking for.

Also, the connections I do put in are subtle and are meant to be seen as a gentle progression, not a blatant reaction; with the stronger ties becoming slowly more obvious. Also keep in mind that everyone is different and some people take years to develop a relationship and some people know right away. If you are troubled about Raph and Stacy… Stress, fear, and concern are going to build up the emotions of anyone making any connection immediately stronger.

p.s. Also if you are using a translator…keep in mind that the subtleties of the English language (which I write in) are not properly translated by most translators.

But like I said some of the connections and interactions are subtle, they are not meant to be blatant.