"Uncle Donnie!" A pair of little voice said as I opened the door to my parents' place and led him in.

"Brace yourself." I smiled at him. "You thought we were bad with the hugs."

They crashed into him about as hard as I did, wrapping themselves around his legs. It was going to take Raph and a strong crowbar to get them off by this point. "Long time no see." Dad smiled at him as he walked up. "You done terrorizin' the city, boy?"

"Of course not. I think I left a few buildings still standing."

"Shiiiiit, you're slackin'.

"Well I have this meddling family, you know." Donnie grinned. "They wouldn't let me complete my wanton rampage of destruction."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I think there was enough wanton destruction going on with our nerves."

Since it was a saturday Donnie pretty much got stuck with the kiddos all day, but he wasn't complaining. They were happy he was back and he was happy to see them. They got away with everything but murder with him the whole day. Later that afternoon we were sitting outside my place. Donnie had Amy on his lap reading a book to her while Dennis was romping around nearby. Lavi and Ty were playing on a blanket next to me on the ground as the guys were training in the training area. All and all it was a normal day. With everything that just happened, normal felt felt weird.

"Read it again!" Amy told Donnie as he closed the book.

"I just read it four times." He smiled at her.

"So? Read it again!"

"No, it's my turn to play with him now, you stinky head!" Dennis told her as he walked up. I don't think I need to tell you how that went over. I will tell you Donnie ended up picking two wrestling kids up off of the ground by the back of their shirts.

"What have I told you two about that?" I asked them as they hung dangling in the air.

"To not to." They chimed together.

"You know what to do." Grumbling, my children went over to tell Leo they had been caught fighting again. I could see him shaking his head before he put them to doing flips. Well, one good thing about the constant arguments between the two was their flips were getting better, they could almost complete them without landing on butts. Leaving them under Leo's careful watchful eye I turned back to Donnie chuckling. "Pretty soon Leo is going to have to find something else for them to practice."

"We could start them on weapons training I suppose." Donnie smiled as he watched them. "I'll start making some practice weapons for them."

"You better wrap them in bubble wrap or something." I warned him.

"I'll come up with something." Be bent over to pick up Ty who had crawled over to him. "Isn't it about time for you to start walking?" He placed the boy in his lap.

"He's getting close, but still not quite ready yet. Dennis was on his feet at ten months, but I don't think it will take him that long." Even at this early age I could tell Ty was already pushing himself, trying to do more than he was ready for. He grew frustrated when his little legs wouldn't support him, but instead of crying and throwing a fit he would just get up and try again and again and again. Lavi would just sit and watched her brother, trying to figure out what the crazy boy was trying to do, before she went back to her toys. She would watch, observe, make her brother do all the hard work and once he figured it out I guarantee you she will follow right behind, with less effort. She will let him work out all the kinks and when he has it down, then she'll give it a try.

My observations proved to be true when a few weeks later Ty was happily walking around the room after days of trying and falling, and Lavi did it in two days. But by then my attention had focused to something else. Cris had been getting sick, a lot, and missed out on quite a few missions with the guys. She always seemed a bit more tired than usual and lacking the energy for anything. It took me awhile before it clicked in my head, and when it did a huge grin found it's way onto my face. I kept quiet about it though, but Donnie and I did exchange knowing grins when no one was looking. I figured she would tell us when she was ready. Apparently Raph couldn't figure it out and he grew increasingly worried about her. I hoped for his sake she wouldn't keep this to herself for to long.

Surprisingly one day she and Caitlin went topside on their own for awhile, on a grocery shopping trip. I knew something was up, she hated shopping as much as I did but this time she volunteered to go. Again I kept my mouth shut. This was her show this time.

A few hours later they came back and we helped them get everything in the lair and put away, now trying to dodge around the little walking forms that always seemed to get under foot and into everything. Cris watched them with a small smile on her face as the twins puttered around the kitchen.

Cris had pulled something out of the bags earlier but refused to show us what it was and now that we were done she had left the room with Raph. Since it was nappy time for my wandering little ninjas Leo and I scooped them up and headed back to his room where their cribs were once again kept.

It took us a little bit but we finally got them settled down. We were just leaving the room to go into the living area, when we heard a thump come from Raph's room. I rolled my eyes, couldn't they be quieter in there? I just put the twins down, if they wake them back up with their hanky panky ima cut something off. Surprisingly the door opened and a frustrated looking Cris peeked her head out. "Can I get a little help in here?" She asked Leo.

Leo looked at her surprised. "What?"

"You heard me. I need help."

Leo and I exchanged a quick glance and followed her into the room, and found Raph on the floor. "What happened?" Leo snapped as he tried to revive his brother.

Cris shrugged. "I showed him this." She handed Leo something and he held it up to look at it, then bust out laughing. It was a shirt, a little tiny shirt, that had 'My Daddy kicks ass!' printed on it. Amused I looked at the big guy on the floor. I guess that bit of information caused a brain overload.

"Well, we can't leave him there." Donnie said from where he was leaning on the doorframe, a wide grin on his face. He moved in and helped Leo get his big ass on the bed.

The next few months were hell, especially for Mikey. I thought Leo was bad with my pregnancy, Raph was worse with Cris'. Mikey wasn't allowed within twenty feet of her, due to pranking dangers of course. At least this time he had Caitlin around to keep him out of to much trouble, most of the time. I just rolled my eyes as he came shooting past me in the living area one afternoon, with Raph on his heels. Didn't take to much longer for the inevitable tackle and crash as they hit the floor. "You little punk!" Raph growled at him. "How many times do I have to tell you to quit putting whoopie cushions under my sheets!" Whoopie cushions? He was getting mad over whoopie cushions? I thought it was kinda funny really, that's why I suggested it in the first place.

'You're wrong.' Leo's voice chuckled in my head as he moved in to separate the two. 'You know how wound up Raph is right now and you go and egg Mikey on.'

I just grinned at him and shrugged. 'He makes it so easy. You're lucky I didn't get to pester you while I was pregnant.'

Cris on the other hand went through the same thing I did, a faster pregnancy. Once again Donnie had to endure a grumpy patient and set her up a special diet and vitamins. She endured, because she had to. With all her grumbling, whining and complaining you would think she wasn't thrilled about the little life growing inside of her, but she was. Raph was walking around all the time with this silly ass grin on his face. They were mirror images of Leo and I a year ago. It was funny as hell to see this side of the whole thing. Leo and I shared a lot of quiet bonding moments as we watched them struggle through this, memories of our own journey kept popping up between us.

Late one evening, Leo and I were sitting in the living area watching TV with Mikey, Caitlin and the kids. He was tired, I could tell. They had just came back from another mission and he had literally just sat down to join us after removing his katanas. Without saying anything he just wrapped an arm around me and pulled me next to him. "Rough day?"

"You have no idea." He mumbled. "I'm not taking Raph out anymore at the moment. Would you believe I had to keep Marina from stunning him with her knives? She got so fed up with his complaining about not being here for Cris she offered to use her knives to sew his mouth shut."

I chuckled. "He's just worried is all. She's due any time now."

"I know, that's why I'm not taking him out anymore."

That problem however seemed to solve itself. "Donnie! DONNIE! Where the fuck is Donnie!" Raph was bellowing across the lair as he came out of his room where Cris had been sleeping. "DONNIE!"

"Good lord, I'm right here." He came out of the bathroom where he had been trying to shower. "What?" He asked annoyed. I chuckled as I saw Marina's head peeking out behind him.

"Cris needs you, she thinks its time."

Everyone got in a flurry of movement at that. Caitlin went into the lab to prep, she was training under Donnie in the medical aspect of our life. Ever since Donnie got sick we understood that if anything happened to him again, no one would be here to fix him. So Caitlin had stepped up. She couldn't fight, nor did she really want too, but she would be able to help in that area.

I went to go help Donnie get Cris moving into the lab while Leo tried to calm his frantic brother down. Mikey did his best to get in everyone's way as he babbled excitedly about the new baby coming, until Raph finally had enough and gave him a good smack that sent him rolling across the floor. Marina came out of the bathroom and took the kids through the portal back to my place to get them out from underfoot.

Cris was not taking this well. With every contraction that hit, a string of curse words came flying out of her mouth. Poor Raph got called every name in the book plus a few made up ones. I thought I was bad when it came to labor pains, and she was just getting started.

By the time I got her settled down in the lab bed she was past cursing and had moved on to blaming. "This is all your fault!" She snapped at Raph. That sounded familiar. "Why did you do this to me!?" She paused as a contraction hit, then kept right on going. "I hope you only want one because I'm not doing this shit again! You even think about another kid and I'll chop your damn dick off!" Raph did the smartest thing he could have done in this situation, he kept his trap shut. He did manage to grab one of her hands though and hold it as another contraction hit. I guess Cris was pretty strong when she was hurting because she actually made him flinch a little as she squeezed that hand. "I'll use it for a damn door stop, that's what I'll do with it!" She paused to catch her breath. "I'll rip your damn nuts off and have them stuffed then give them to Mikey to use as ping pong balls!" That didn't sound gross at all Cris. Good lord she was popping off shit that would make Ironhide cringe.

"Will you quit?" Donnie gently scolded her. "All your racket is making it hard for me to monitor the baby."

"Fuck that! Get it out, I don't care how, just get it out!" Another contraction hit and again Raph flinched.

Leo and I took that as our cue to leave, with him dragging Mikey behind him by the mask tails. We waited in the living area, sitting and quietly talking as the TV was playing in the background. Leo and I kept shooting amused looks at Mikey as he was pacing around and looking at the door to the lab. "Mikey, the way you are acting, I'm starting to wonder if you're the dad." Leo grinned at him.

Mikey froze in his tracks, his eyes wide. "Dude, don't say shit like that! You saw how he acted with that stupid quiz thing." I bust out laughing. "I just like babies is all and I'm excited to see this one." He sat down with a frustrated sigh. "Why does this have to take so long?"

"It's her first child, Mikey." I patiently told him. "It usually takes the first one a while." He just sighed again.

So we waited, the good news was that she wasn't screaming at Raph and Donnie anymore. I hoped that was good news anyway. Mikey had fallen asleep in the chair he finally sat down in and I was leaning up against Leo on the couch about to drift off myself when the door finally opened to the lab and a silly grinning Raph was standing in the doorway, holding a very tiny bundle in his arms. Leo and I got up and he gently shook Mikey awake. We quietly walked over to look at the newest member of the family who was sleeping in its father's arms.

"It's a boy." The new father told us quietly as we joined him, he had tears in his eyes as he gazed gently down at his son. "I have a son." He smiled softly. "Thane. His name is Thane."

"Aaaaw, he's so cute!" Mikey gushed. "I never knew something as ugly as you could make something so cute!"

Leo slapped him upside the head. "How's Cris?"

"Sleeping. He gave her a hard time, she is exhausted."

"Already taking after his father I see." I winked at him. "I have no idea how she is going to handle two of you."

"She's going to need a bigger stick." Donnie said as he came over. "Not sure her hanbo can hold against two of them."

Leo let out a soft laugh. "I'm sure that can be arranged for her."

"If this keeps up we are going to have to expand the lair." I grinned at them. "We are running out of room quick."

"That might not be a bad idea." Marina smiled as she joined us, Caitlin had gone through the portal apparently to let her know.

"Oh? Why is that?" Donnie asked her curiously.

"Because I think yours is next."

The only sound in the lair was the yawning sound Thane made as he shifted in Raph's arms as we all stared at her. Then Donnie's face sprouted a huge grin matching the one Raph had on his face. Leo laughed again and shook his head. "Suddenly our small family doesn't seem so small anymore."

"That is so not fair!" Mikey griped. "I want one too!" We laughed and I noticed that Caitlin also had a mysterious look on her face. I raised my eyebrow at her but before I could ask her someone else made his presence known. We looked over into the lab as we felt him and Splinter stood there, his soft form glowing in the dim lab. He looked over his sons for a moment before he looked at the little form. He then gently smiled before he slipped back out of sight again. We all knew we wouldn't see him again for awhile, if ever. But we all took comfort in the fact that has was there and still watching over this growing family. He would be there to guide us if we needed him. After all, the greatest challenge is parenthood. That adventure never ends.

*Author's note

And here ends this book, my friends. But do not despair! I have another one already in the works. Title 'Future Realities'. Will be posting the first Chapter on that one soon!