A/N: Look who's back!

Sorry about the massive delay and if this chapter is...not the best. Writer's block and life have been an utter mess...

Anyway...cuteness in this chapter!

Please leave us a review when you are done. Let us know what you like, what you don't like, and how we could improve.

(Side note: OH MY GOSH! THE NEW EPISODE!)

Chapter 20

An atmosphere of happiness and calm washed over the farmhouse and its inhabitants after the remains of the strange creature were cleaned from the barn.

But it wouldn't last, as they all knew.

It started with Gianna, considering that she was the most advance of the group of infants.

The periwinkle bowed turtle started fussing one day, a normal occurrence, but no matter what her father or brother did, the baby wouldn't stop. She only seemed to find comfort when she was being fed or tired, though it was brief and the fussing would only return not too soon afterwards.

Eventually, Sebastian came to the end of his rope, and he handed his sister over to his father for evaluation, hoping that she wasn't sick, especially since the girl had taken to drooling on everything. (Though Donnie rationalized this saying that Gianna was a baby, she was bound to drool on things.)

That was, until Gabriel started joining into the behavior only a week after Gianna.

Finally deciding that "just being a baby" wasn't a good enough excuse, Donnie decided to evaluate the infants. It didn't take him long to find the reason (and could have slapped himself when he did): Teething.

By this time, Lucy had joined the fussy, saliva soaked crew, however the silver bowed turtle was worse than the others, especially since she had taken to leaving her mouth hanging open and let the drool just fall from her mouth.

At that point, Donnie sent April and Casey to the store with clear instructions to get Orajel and teething toys.

It didn't take long before Vincent also joined the crew.

He was sitting on his father's lap in the living room, watching Crognard, when it all started. The baby took very little interest in cartoon and was incredibly bored. On top of that, the swelling in his gums was incredibly painful. Although Lucy just let herself drool, the blue bracelet boy mainly just whimpered.

Which he did, at least until he noticed his father's fingers.

His dad wasn't using his fingers at the moment, right? Maybe he could use them to relieve the pain? Besides, he always wondered about his father's hands, more specifically his fingers. Were they like his own? Do they sound like his?

Only one way to find out… the boy thought as he took his dad's finger and guided it into his mouth.

Leo, who had been focused on the TV show, jumped a bit when he felt Vincent's mouth on his finger. And the baby looked up, startled and a little worried, when his father flinched. Once the leader in blue saw what Vincent was doing, he relaxed slightly and turned to his smart brother. "Donnie, is this normal?"

Donnie looked over at him and smiled slightly. "Of course. He's teething, Leo. He's gonna chew on stuff. I've caught Gianna doing the same thing to my fingers. They are just doing it to relieve the pain in their gums. But I think I can find something better to help." He said, stood and left the room.

When the tall genius returned, he strode over to Leo and Vincent, a pacifier in hand. After coaxing Leo's finger out of the baby's mouth, he stuck the pacifier in a moment later. Vincent whimpered when the finger was pulled out and looked ready to spit the binky out…until he realized that it didn't jump away from him when he "chewed" on it with his gums.

"Thanks, Donnie." Leo said, sighing in relief. "Can you hold him? I have to go wash my hand."

Lucy was having a bad day.

Her gums wouldn't stop hurting…and it caused the baby to cry.

Loudly.

Mikey was holding her, bouncing her around, trying to get her to stop crying.

"Come on, my Sunshine…please stop…Oh you're so cute! I can't stand to see you like this…" He said, close to crying himself, seeing his daughter in so much pain.

They had just run out of Orajel and April was on an emergency run to the store. But she wouldn't be back for a while. It was quite a trip to get there, regardless of Casey's driving skills.

"Calm down, my beautiful darling, it's gonna be okay. Aunt April and Uncle Casey will be back in a little bit with the special medicine…just please stop crying, Blossom."

Unfortunately, the pain out won the influence of obedience, and the baby continued to cry and cry and cry.

"We have groceries!" April called, announcing their return.

The words had barely escaped the girl's mouth before Mikey was before them, his eyes desperate and mask soaked with tears, holding a screaming infant. "Gimme the teething gel, PLEASE!" he pleaded.

"She finally annoying you, eh?" Casey asked, reaching into one of the bags and tossing the gel towards the ninja.

"OH THANK YOU! And no. She's just so cute, I can't stand to see her like this…" The ninja replied, turning towards the baby in his arms. "Here you go, my Darling Sunshine. Open your mouth, Sweet Tart. That's a good baby girl. Here you go." He said, twisting off the cap and putting a drop on his finger before smoothing it over the swollen gums. "This'll stop the bad owies."

After a few minutes of sniffles and occasional whimpers and hiccups, Lucy started her normal routing of opening her mouth and letting the drool flow out.

However, this time, she had licked some of the gel on her gums and the numbing properties go the gel got on her tongue, leaving the muscle to hang from her mouth too like a puppy on a hot day.

Needless to say, there were more than just a few drool spots that day.

Fortunately, the phase of teething is only temporary. Within a couple of weeks, the flow of drool and the necessity of buying Orajel decreased (easing both the burden on the wallet and on the car). It was during one of these drool free days that found Mikey, Cyprian, and Lucy in the living room with Ice Cream Kitty, a bunch of pizza and Crognard the Barbarian.

Mikey bounded onto the couch with Lucy and hand. "Oh no! Wizardess has been captured by the Mikeanator!"

Lucy, true to her character, held out her arms in front of her, as if casting a spell, and stuck out her tongue, blowing raspberries.

"Whatever shall be done?" Mikey asked in true narrator form before starting to "munch" on his daughter's arms.

Cyprian jumped onto the other couch, striking a "heroic" stance. "Wizardess shall be saved by Crognard the Barbarian! Fear my barbarian punch, fiend!" He shouted, jumping towards the next couch, attempting to tackle his father.

He only managed to graze the ninja before falling, but Mikey, quick on his feet, nabbed the boy's wrist before he could collapse and pulled him into a one armed hug. "Now the Mikeanator has Wizardess and Crognard! There is no one to save you!"

"Spooch! Save us!" Cyprian called, arm outstretched towards Ice Cream Kitty, who rested in her bowl.

The kitty of ice cream had been licking one of her paws, but turned when she was called for and hissed at the "Mikeanator". Mikey, hearing the playful hiss, moved back in play horror. "Oh no! Not Spooch!"

Ice Cream kitty shook a paw at Mikey, causing him to drop the two captives. "THE HORROR!"

Cyprian grabbed Lucy, who was laughing and ran to Ice Cream kitty. "Come Spooch!"

"Do you think you can escape so easily, Crognard?" Mikey called out, jumping and bringing the older child to the ground. "You cannot escape my … TICKLE RAY!" And with that, the orange masked turtle proceeded to tickle his children, who cried out in laughter.

Of course, it was at this point that Leo, Raph, and Donnie had to come in.

"Mikey! What have you done?" Leo yelled, looking around the rather messed up room.

Mikey's hands stopped, his head turning towards his brothers, then looking all around the room…to see a colossal mess, and it was worse than last time… There was pizza hanging from the ceiling, pillows scattered about, heaven knows what on the walls…it honestly looked like a bomb had gone off.

Great…just great…

"Seriously, Michelangelo!" Raph shouted, looking all about. "This is the third time this week."

Broom and mop in hand, Mikey stared at the mess around him, wondering how on earth this happened. He was just having fun with his children – something Leo had encouraged, but apparently this wasn't the kind of fun the older turtle meant. He knew he was messy, but this felt like things had gone into overdrive…

And the worse part was that he didn't have much help.

Cyprian, standing beside his father, held a spray bottle and a cloth. He would help as much as he could…but it was the baby that both of them were more worried about.

Lucy lay content on the floor, playing with her feet and rocking back and forth. Set in the least messy point of the room only meant that they had to start cleaning around it to make it safe for her…and knowing the little child, she could move fast.

Moving as quickly as possible, they started cleaning up a pathway through the mess. Lucy was content to play with her feet, but did look up once or twice to see what was going on.

Soon, a decent path was cut through the mess, and Mikey's mind began to wander. Why does nobody appreciate me? I've done good things…right? He paused in this cleaning. …do they even want me around? Am I too much of a problem?

He looked around the room, seeing the mess he had made and then his kids. Cyprian was trying his best to get pizza off the walls, and Lucy looked up at him as his eyes met hers. She smiled at him, and it melted the cold feeling in his chest.

There are people that love and appreciate me… I can't just up and leave without them…and maybe we don't have to go away for long…maybe just some time together will do.

Mikey walked over and placed a hand on Cyprian's shoulder. "Once we're done here, I think we need a little family retreat."

Cyprian blinked, but soon smiled. "Ok, dad!"

A/N: And that's all for now! Once we finish up the next chapter, we'll upload it. Thank you for your patience!

~R&R