Chapter 20
A big thank you to Amoraphoenix for beta reading this chapter! and a giant that you to my reviewers chibiwolf33 and mela989898!
I hope everyone enjoys this next chapter.
A/N spoiler alert (sorta)for anyone who hasn't read Breaking Dawn from the Twilight series.
Leonardo looked at Katherine in shock at Michelangelo's pronouncement. Katherine looked at Michelangelo in irritation.
"Sorry Kitten, I guess you probably wanted to tell him." Michelangelo apologized sheepishly.
Katherine shook her head back and forth as she sighed tiredly.
"I'm sorry, I just got so excited that it was Raph that knocked you up and not a low life Purple Dragon." Michelangelo said with obvious relief.
"I am not knocked up!" Katherine said offended by the term.
"Congratulations Katherine, Raph." Leonardo said quietly. He felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest before being cruelly stomped on. Leonardo had never really thought about children, except that he would never have any. But he had secretly always wished and hoped that one day he would be able to mentor a child to some degree, possibly Casey and April's daughter Shadow. But his brother was going to be a father, and he was happy for Raphael, but there was a selfish part of him that wished the child was his, even though he knew that after what he had done, he didn't deserve Katherine, or to be a father.
Raphael stumbled over to Katherine a look on his face that was half horror, half disbelief. "We…you…How?" Raphael stammered as he shook his head incredulous.
"Well," Michelangelo said unable to contain his devious joy, "I'm not an expert or anything, but generally I think it had something to do with notch A going into slot...ouch! Leo!" Michelangelo protested rubbing his side where Leonardo had given him a light cuff, a look of mild surprise on his baby brother's face replacing his joy.
"Donny?" Raphael looked at Donatello desperately.
"Raphael…" Katherine began as Donatello asked her a question.
"I'm due July 31st, at least according to the pregnancy calendar on the internet. They have an app for that you know." Katherine informed them.
"Kitten," Raphael began softly. "You can't be pregnant." Raphael said shaking his head. "We can't…there is no…I'm not father material Katherine." Raphael said as he looked at her desperately.
"Mikey, could you help me up?" Leonardo asked his baby brother. "I think Katherine and Raph need some time to talk."
"You aren't going anywhere." Katherine said to Leonardo and then rounded on Raphael. "And what do you mean you're not 'father material'?" Katherine asked Raphael a hint of anger in her voice.
Leonardo motioned for Michelangelo to come and help him up. Katherine and Raphael needed to talk in private without him.
"Donny are you sure Kitten's really pregnant?" Raphael asked desperately.
"Raphael, you think four pregnancy tests are wrong?" Katherine said with exasperation. "Besides have you looked at my hair?"
Michelangelo put an arm under Leonardo's arm and helped him to stand on shaky legs.
"What does your hair have to do with anything?" Raphael asked her as Leonardo and Michelangelo limped towards the door, but Michelangelo paused.
"Leo you should stay." Donatello said with abstraction.
"It's a Wraith woman curse, as soon as we get pregnant our hair goes white, or grey, or," She pulled a silver curl. "Silver. We lose pigment in our hair. My mom's hair went snow white, not that you would ever know it because she dyes it all the time, but…"
"So that explains your hair." Donatello affirmed.
"Come on Mikey." Leonardo said to his baby brother to get him moving again.
"And how do you think I feel Raphael!" Katherine said as she rounded on his brother. "Do you think that if I ever got pregnant that this would be the way I would have wanted it to happen? If I had kids I wanted to be at least married first!" She said shaking her head.
"I can't marry you Katherine!" Raphael said with frustration.
"You are a reptile, I am a mammal, we weren't supposed to be able to have kids together, but apparently we can!" Katherine shot back. Leonardo and Michelangelo had made it to the door. "But the worst part about this, besides all of it…"
"Leo could be the father." Donatello said thoughtfully as he interrupted Katherine, completely unaware of how his words threw the room's occupants into turmoil.
Leonardo felt shock rocket through him. He turned too quickly forgetting that he was unable to walk or even stand on his own.
Michelangelo barely managed to haul him upright before he landed flat on his face. Leonardo looked at Katherine with utter disbelief and shock. Katherine looked back at him with distressed, angry eyes.
"Katherine?" Raphael asked in a choked whisper.
Katherine just shook her head.
"Katherine," Donatello began, pulling his phone from his pocket. "Based on your due date, your date of conception would be November 11th, so all you have to do is remember if you were with Raph or Leo on that day and we will know who the father is." Donatello said gently.
Leonardo shared a look with Raphael, whose face had paled. Raphael closed his eyes and turned his head away angrily.
Michelangelo looked from Leonardo to Raphael to Katherine and back again. "You guys have to have a schedule of some sort..." Michelangelo said but then his eyes widened. "Unless…" Michelangelo's face broke into a salacious grin."Never thought you two would actually share together."
Leonardo felt himself blush heatedly. They did have a schedule. It allowed them to pretend that both of them weren't sharing the same woman.
"Our sex life ain't none of your business Mikey, so get your head outta the gutter." Raphael snarled.
"I was with both of them, I always am." Katherine said softly.
Michelangelo opened his mouth.
"Not at the same time Mikey!" Raphael snapped angrily.
"I am with Raphael in the mornings and Leonardo in the evenings." Katherine continued as if Raphael had not spoken. "So, the date doesn't help."
"So let me get this straight." Raphael said, his voice going dangerously low. "You're tellin' me that not only is my girlfriend pregnant, but the baby could be my brother's?"
"Uh..." Donatello looked at Raphael.
"Girlfriend?" Katherine asked in surprised irritation.
Raphael turned his angry gaze towards Katherine. "Yes, girlfriend." He growled.
"Hey Donny," Michelangelo asked. "Do turtles mate for life?" Michelangelo asked innocently out of the blue.
Donatello turned his attention from Raphael's angry amber gaze and focused on their baby brother. "No Mikey." Donatello began. "In general most turtle species lack even basic social behaviours. They generally don't form any bonds with either their mates or siblings. In fact most female turtles mate with several males so their clutches tend to have several different father's..." Donatello's scientific observations ground to a sudden halt under Raphael's growing fury.
Katherine had placed a hand over her own face and groaned. "Okay Michelangelo, quit making things worse than they already are. Put Leonardo back on the bed please, and then get out."
"I'm not making things worse." Michelangelo protested sullenly as he led Leonardo back to the bed and gently set him down.
"I know what you are trying to do, but you should know that your brother's brains don't work like that, now please get out." Katherine said as she shoved Michelangelo towards the door.
Michelangelo looked at Katherine with hurt in his eyes. "Kitten." He said as he stopped in the doorway.
"I'm not mad at you Michelangelo, just, give us a few minutes okay?" Katherine said as she turned her attention back to Donatello who was studying her, a worried frown on his face. "Donatello, whatever grim pronouncement of doom you have burning on the tip of your tongue can wait for a few minutes. I am so very tired at the moment and I am hanging onto the last shred of my composure. All of my thoughts are jumbled around and I feel like I should be on the cover of The Weekly World News with the headline 'Woman having mutant baby!"
"Chimera." Donatello said softly interrupting Katherine's train of thought again.
Katherine opened her mouth and quickly shut it with a reluctant nod of agreement.
"What?" Raphael asked in angry confusion.
Michelangelo visibly paled. "I thought chimera's were those big two headed lion like monsters with a snake for a tail. Yeah one goat head and one lion head." Michelangelo looked at Katherine's belly in confused horror.
"Well that is true in the mythical sense Mikey," Donatello said with a nod. "It is also a term used to denote a fusion of genetic material that differs biologically, or to put it simply, the mixing of cells from two different species, so in this case human and mutant turtle. Although the term chimera is rather base and can also be used to indicate..."
"Thank you Donatello." Katherine said as she walked over to Donatello and began leading him towards the door as well. "Weren't you supposed to be getting Leonardo something to eat?" She asked as she gave his younger brother a final shove through the door before closing it with relief.
"Raph, please don't kill Leo!" Michelangelo shouted through the door. "We just put him back together!"
Katherine leaned against the door and closed her eyes before opening them again and studying both himself and Raphael.
"I don't care." She said as she walked over to Raphael's dresser and began opening the drawers searching through one before moving on to the next.
Leonardo looked at Katherine in confusion. He felt too overwhelmed to even speak. He glanced at Raphael whose fists were clenched together in white knuckled fury at his side.
"Don't care about what?" Leonardo finally asked softly when Raphael remained oddly silent for once.
"Who the father is." She said as she pulled out a pair of sweat pants and an old t-shirt from Raphael's drawer.
Leonardo felt his eyes widen in shock.
"I mean yes it bothers me that I am now a candidate for the Jerry Springer Show because I just became 'that' woman who has no idea who fathered her child, but at the end of the day that is not my biggest concern." She said as she undid her jeans and let them fall to the floor. "I need to get bigger clothes." She grumbled to herself as she pulled her shirt over her head revealing her rounded belly.
How she had managed to hide the fact that she was pregnant was beyond him. She wasn't huge, but she was obviously pregnant. She pulled Raphael's shirt on and then the sweats that she had picked out. She rolled the sweats down until they sat firmly under her protruding belly.
"Kitten," Raphael began, his anger seemingly to have abated somewhat at the sight of her pregnancy.
"There is nothing we can do." She said focusing her attention on Raphael and himself. "We made this mess together, but I will understand if neither of you feels that you can handle this. I just...I thought you should know." She said quietly, with only a hint of a hitch in her voice.
"You think that I'm just gonna walk away? Or let you walk away?" Raphael asked with surprise that quickly turned to anger again.
"You said it yourself Raphael.' You're not father material' that does not exactly sound promising, and besides, the father could be Leonardo." She added shifting her gaze away from Raphael to himself.
Leonardo opened his mouth to reply.
"And don't you dare tell me that you don't deserve me or this child Leonardo, because if you do I won't hesitate to hit you across the face again." Katherine growled.
Leonardo snapped his mouth shut as shame burned through him.
"This is too messed up." Raphael growled. "My head hurts and I am too pissed off right now. I can't even think straight anymore." Raphael's angry gaze shifted to himself and Leonardo felt himself shifting his gaze away from his brother's accusing amber eyes. "I'm still pissed at you Leo." Raphael continued angrily. "And I ain't even talking about possibly knocking up my girlfriend."
"I am not knocked up! I'm pregnant." Katherine defended angrily. "And I am not your girlfriend."
"Yes you are Kitten." Raphael's angry amber gaze lit upon Katherine again. "The moment you walked back in here and said you were pregnant with possibly my kid you became mine again. You don't have a choice." Raphael's eyes narrowed dangerously, waiting for her to refute his claim.
"Fine, but if I'm yours then Leonardo's mine too." She said crossing her arms across her chest and glaring at Raphael, daring him to say no.
Raphael glared back at her as a growl sounded from deep within his chest. He stalked up to her and Leonardo felt himself shift as if to stand, to stop his brother from possibly hurting Katherine in any way.
Raphael scooped Katherine up gently in his arms. "I can't think right now Kitten. It's too much." Raphael growled softly, his eyes still narrowed in anger. "So I ain't gonna think right now." He said as he began walking from the room with Katherine still in his arms.
"What are you doing?" Katherine asked as she struggled uselessly in Raphael's grip.
"The only thing I can think of where I don't have to think." He said as he stalked across the hall. "I'm borrowing your room Mikey!" Raphael shouted as Leonardo heard a door slam.
"What!" He heard Michelangelo yell. "Raph don't you dare!" Michelangelo's voice became clearer as Leonardo heard the pounding of Michelangelo's feet up the stairs. Leonardo heard Michelangelo's fist bang against his bedroom door. "Awh, come on Raph!" Michelangelo pleaded. "Fine but you are washing my sheets!" Michelangelo said as Leonardo heard Michelangelo's feet retreat down the hall and back to the main floor.
Leonardo stared at the blue scrap of fabric that Katherine had given back to him in the bathroom. He clenched his mask in his hands as he looked down at the clothing that covered his arms, before pulling the fabric up, exposing the fresh, self-inflicted scars.
Donatello's legs suddenly appeared in his line of sight. He hadn't even noticed his brother walking into the room.
Donatello pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him, a warm bowl of broth in his hands. Leonardo looked at his brother a flush of embarrassment and shame clawing its way up across his face.
"Not only did I nearly abandon all of you and Katherine, but also possibly my unborn child." Leonardo said softly. "How can she not hate me Donny?"
Donatello looked at him with dark chestnut eyes."'Probably the same reason we can't hate you Leo." Donatello said as he handed over the broth. Leonardo placed his mask beside him and reluctantly took the bowl, staring at the bland offering for a moment while waiting for Donatello to finish his thought. "She loves you." Donatello said with a shrug.
Leonardo frowned but nodded as he took the spoon and scooped up a little of the broth, managing to put it in his mouth and swallow it down. The room was quiet for a few minutes, both of them lost within their own thoughts. "What was Mikey trying to do?" Leonardo finally asked his silent brother.
Donatello blinked and focused his attention back on Leonardo. "I don't think Mikey actually knew the answer to his question, but he may have. After all, who knows what Mikey stays up half the night watching? He may have watched animal planet a few times and caught a special on turtles, who knows. Katherine seemed to understand where Mikey's brain was going though." Donatello fell into abstraction for a moment. "She's a really smart woman." Donatello said almost under his breath.
Leonardo nodded in agreement as he waited for his brother to continue.
"Mikey was trying to prove a point, which was turtle females are not monogamous by any stretch of the imagination and neither are the males, so you and Raph should have no problem sharing Katherine." Donatello said reasonably.
"But we do Donny." Leonardo said softly.
"You less so than Raph, but yeah, and that is because we have been raised in a human culture, specifically an American one. So even though we are biologically mostly turtle, a tiny percentage of our DNA is human. Also socially we are human, which is why Katherine said your brains don't work like that. We have the ability to reason and love, which makes things...complicated, less biological and more social."
"How wrong is this Donny, and how weird is this for you?" Leonardo asked an almost desperate edge to his voice.
"Are you talking about the pregnancy or your relationship with Kitten?" Donatello asked softly.
"Both." He said without hesitation.
Donatello frowned and contemplated his questions. "I want to talk to all three of you about Katherine's pregnancy when Raph and Kitten are...uh...done." Donatello said as he shifted a little uncomfortably. Leonardo felt another blush creep up his own cheeks at the thought of what was going on next door with Raphael and Katherine, but found that he was not so much jealous as envious at the moment.
"I don't really know what to say Leo. Are you asking my permission, my opinion? It isn't 'wrong'. Biologically it makes perfect sense, two males competing over a biologically compatible female. Also there is no rule that says she has to choose only one of you, most females don't." His brother pointed out.
"Don't give me the biological answer Donny. I want to know what you think!" Leonardo growled in irritation.
"What does it matter what I think Leo?" Donatello asked.
Leonardo turned his head away in shame. "It bothers you." He whispered. He heard Donatello give out a sigh.
"It bothers me because it bothers you." Donatello replied softly. "Is it a little...different, yes. Do I think it's wrong? No. Would it be easier if she chose between you? Yes."
"What am I supposed to do Donny?" He asked his brother desperately. "I don't deserve her, especially after what I did, after everything I have done. I betrayed Raph by trying to steal Katherine away from him in the first place. Then I made his girlfriend fall in love with me and then everything with Hun happened and Raph had to share the woman he loved, his girlfriend with me. He didn't have a choice, not really." He said closing his eyes in regret. "They should have been allowed to start a family together without my interference. And now... I may have got my brother's girlfriend pregnant!" Leonardo said with agonized remorse. "I...how am I supposed to apologize for that?" Leonardo said shaking his head as much as his neck would allow. "How can I ever make this right?" He asked, his thoughts jumbling into a confused, agony filled mass.
"Leo…" Donatello sighed as he took Leonardo's half filled bowl of broth from his shaking grasp.
"I just...Donny...I can't...I..." Searing pain burned across his cheek as he looked at his younger brother in surprise.
Donatello looked down at the hand that he had used to slap Leonardo across the face. "Huh, that felt kind of good." Donatello said with surprise.
Leonardo opened his mouth but no sound came out, so he closed his mouth and stared dumbly at his brother.
"Did you mess up? Yes. But you didn't make Katherine fall in love with you. You can't tell your heart who to love and who not to love, even I get that. It just happens. With Raph having lost his memory and not really being himself he didn't allow himself to tell her he loved her, or let their relationship move forward, which left Katherine's heart unsure, but in the end you both left and you both had to fix it. But then you both made her leave, but now she knows that you both need her."
"It's true Leo." Michelangelo's soft voice came from the doorway. "You two are so messed up right now." He said with a shake of his head. "Raph blames himself for you deciding to be an idiot and trying to do the 'honourable' thing, and you blame yourself for everything that happened. And when Raph starts thinking with his big head again, he is going to think that you need her more than he needs her, because he believes that you are one slice short of a full loaf. That and he thinks he would make a horrible father. So when he comes back in here he is going to tell her to be with you. Then Kitten is going to kick both your asses. Which I think would be really funny, but in her condition..." Michelangelo said finally walking through the doorway and into the room.
Raphael looked down at the woman in his arms. She stared up at him a soft smile on her face as she brought him forward for a gentle kiss. He wanted to pull back and resist her, tell her he had made a mistake and that he was being a selfish ass, again, and for her to be with Leonardo. His big brother needed her. If having her kept his brother from trying to take his own life again, he would let her go, even if she was carrying his child. Raphael knew that Leonardo would make a better father anyways. No matter how much it hurt him to admit this to himself, or how much he wanted to perhaps try to be a father.
Raphael knew himself. He knew that he was too self centered and had too much of a temper to ever be good with a kid.
"Katherine..." He began as something moved against his forearm. He looked down in shock at Katherine's stomach. "Uh...was that?" He asked pointing to her midsection.
Katherine nodded, pulled out of his arms and slid from the bed. "The baby is kicking." She said as she began pulling on her clothes. She threw him his jeans and he began to dress as well.
"It's strange you know?" She began. "I don't know what to feel right now. I woke up and found out I was nearly five months pregnant. It is a rather horrifying thought." She said softly. "I mean I didn't even really get a chance to get used to the idea. All of a sudden I could feel something moving around inside me like some alien being." Katherine looked at him then, when he remained silent, because he didn't know what to say. "I had things to do, I stayed away for two weeks because I was scared. I was scared that for some reason knowing that I was pregnant, you would reject me, which is ridiculous because I know you and I know your brother, but I couldn't help thinking these thoughts and having these feelings."
Raphael brought her into the fold of his arms. "Nothin' would ever let me let you go Kitten." He whispered. Because even though he had just reasoned with himself that Leonardo needed her more, he was still at his core, a selfish bastard, and he needed her as much as he wanted her. He gently brushed a hand over her swollen belly and felt the baby move under it. He found the movement oddly disturbing. He didn't really know what emotion to feel. He had never once wanted to touch April's belly and had to be forced to hold Shadow. But the possibility that now his child was moving under his hand, carried by the woman he loved sent a surge of possessiveness through him.
She finally pulled away and nodded. "I need to get some sleep." She said quietly. "I'm tired."
Raphael nodded as he pulled her into him as they walked from the room, across the hall and into his bedroom where he found Leonardo still sitting on the bed. Donatello was sitting in a chair in front of his older brother and Michelangelo was leaning against his dresser. The room was oddly still and quiet as if whatever his brothers had been discussing, they hadn't wanted Katherine and himself to hear. Michelangelo looked at Raphael and pushed himself away from the dresser and walked over to Katherine.
Michelangelo pulled Katherine from Raphael's grip and pulled her gently into his arms. Raphael blinked in shock as Michelangelo buried his face in Katherine's neck.
Raphael looked at Donatello's grim face as well as Leonardo's pale one. Not that Leonardo was looking any better than he had been a few hours ago, but his skin had taken on a new waxy appearance.
"You're going to be fine Kitten." Michelangelo whispered just loud enough for Raphael to hear.
"Donatello," Katherine said in an irritated voice. "I told you to keep your grim pronouncements to yourself for a few minutes, was that too much to ask?" She asked.
"I'm sorry Kitten." Donatello said avoiding her eyes as she pulled out of Michelangelo's grip and went to sit beside Leonardo on the bed.
"Did Leonardo eat?" Katherine asked as Raphael looked around the room at his brother's concerned faces in confusion.
"Yes" Donatello said as he nodded. Michelangelo sat down on the bed next to Katherine and took her hand in his own.
Raphael frowned harder at his youngest brother's sudden affection, but crossed his arms over his chest instead of saying something to his baby brother that he may regret later.
"Proceed with your doom and gloom Donatello." She said to his genius brother.
Donatello looked over his shoulder at Raphael. "You better have a seat Raph." Donatello indicating the bed.
Raphael was about to say no, but changed his mind as he walked over to the bed and had a seat beside Leonardo. "What's going on Donny?"
Donatello rubbed a tired hand across his eyes.
"I have read Twilight you know." Katherine put in.
Donatello frowned in confusion. "I don't..." Donatello said shaking his head in confusion.
"Spoiler alert, Bella dies at the end." Michelangelo said miserably.
"Huh?" Raphael said in equal confusion.
"Michelangelo." Katherine said with a warning in her voice.
"It's true Kitten. Bella gets pregnant with her human vampire hybrid baby and she dies trying to give birth." Michelangelo said desperately.
"Okay..." Donatello said giving Michelangelo a quelling glare. "And now we are back to reality Mikey." Donatello said as he looked between Raphael, Leonardo and Katherine.
"I don't get it." Raphael said still confused.
"Katherine could die." Leonardo said miserably.
Donatello glared at Leonardo.
"What?!" Raphael shouted as he felt himself pale.
Katherine just shook her head and sighed. "I know Donatello."
"Katherine." Donatello reached out and took her hands in his own. "You are human, but the child is not. I can't be certain that everything will be okay. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you were able to get pregnant in the first place. But yes. It is possible that you may not even be able to give birth naturally. The baby may be too big, or any number of other factors that could occur. I have to assume so many things and I don't like assuming, or theorizing on this. I know you are late into your second trimester, if we go by human gestation, but there is still the possibility that you could lose the baby to a multitude of complications. Also it is possible that even if you are able to carry this child to full term, it may be stillborn or...disfigured."
"Donatello." Katherine interrupted him. "I know. But you have to remember, that every single pregnancy is like that. Even a human pregnancy has risks to both mother and child. The only thing we can do is wait and see." She replied calmly.
Raphael reached over Leonardo and turned Katherine's face towards him, his heart filled with dread. Katherine's eyes were blue-green with sadness and worry, but they quickly turned back to their normal moss green colour, making him think that he had imagined the emotions he had seen within.
Raphael looked at Donatello, hoping his brother would tell him that everything was going to be okay, but his younger brother remained disturbingly quiet to his pleading eyes.
Thoughts and opinions are always welcomed and highly encouraged! =)