"Did something happen between you and Leo?"

"Hm, what do you mean?" Donnie asked, turning away from his computer to look at the brother that had just come into his lab.

"You guys have a fight or something?" Raph asked.

"What makes you think that?"

"You guys ain't talked in days, you've been avoiding each other, can barely look each other in the eyes, etcetera, etcetera…" Raph said, raising a brow at his brother.

"Oh, um, well...I don't know if you'd really call it an argument...more of disagreement."

"About?" Raph asked and Donnie sighed.

"Leo's...he….he asked me something that I wasn't expecting and the answer I gave him was not the one he wanted to hear."

"What did he ask you?"

"He...he wanted me to…"

"Does he want you to build something for him?" Raph guessed and Donnie huffed out a laugh.

"I guess you could say that."

"What?"

"He...he wanted to know if having children was a possibility for us." Donnie said and purposely avoided looking at his brother's eyes, not wanting to see the same look Leo had given him.

"...is it?"

"Probably...most likely...I've done my best to make sure that it won't happen but, Leo wants it to...he made it very clear that he wants children and wanted me to consider….consider having them."

"And you told him that ain't gonna happen?" Raph asked, his voice low.

"He didn't respond well to that."

"You know what he gets like this time of year." Raph said and Donnie hummed his agreement.

"I guess Leo's always been the most aggressive towards me during mating seasons because he was hoping…"

"That you'd get...um, that you'd lay eggs that would hatch?" Raph asked, trying to use the right words so as to not upset his brother.

"Yeah…"

"Guess we've all thought that." Raph shrugged and Donnie's eyes widened.

"None of you have ever brought it up before…" Donnie frowned.

"Me and Mike talked about it to each other before and agreed to just...see what happened, see if you ever brought it up, I had no idea Leo felt the same way but I guess all that sorta stuff comes out more around this time."

Donnie didn't know what to say to that and Raph wasn't going to let his brother stew in his own thoughts.

"Look Don, I don't know the exact words Leo said to ya' but I sure as shell ain't gonna force or pressure ya' and neither will Mike. I can go the rest of my life without a little squirt, ya' know I ain't the best with kids anyway. I got you guys and that's all I need."

"It's selfish of me...I have something that could make all of you so happy but I won't give it to you." Donnie said, looking away from Raph as he said it. Raph frowned and placed his hands on his brother's tense shoulders.

"Don, it's your body and what you wanna do with it is up ta' you, not us." He said, pressing a light kiss to his mate's mouth.

"I need to speak to Leo...but I don't know exactly what to say, he's very upset."

"He's just gonna have to suck it up like a big boy." Raph said and was happy to pull a smile out of Donatello. "Or I can always smack him until he comes to his senses."

"Thanks Raph...but I think I just need to talk to him without getting too emotional, I was very defensive when we spoke earlier."

"He caught ya' off guard."

"Yes, but still, this isn't something that is going to go away anytime soon, it needs to be talked about." Donnie said as he moved off his chair.

"I'm here if you need me."

"Thanks Raph."

Donnie had expected his oldest brother to be in the dojo, where he had spent most of his time the past few days but instead he was in the kitchen, sat at the table with a cup of tea in his hands, staring at the opposite wall with a blank expression.

Donnie was going to ask if he could sit down but decided just to do so, not wanting to give Leo a chance to turn him away. When he sat down in the chair next to Leo, his brother frowned slightly before his face smoothed out again.

"I'm sorry." Donnie started and Leo turned to face him. "I reacted badly when we last spoke…" Donnie wanted to say more but Leo cut him off.

"I should be the one apologising, usually I can control myself but…" Leo paused and then sighed before continuing, "I'm sorry I was so aggressive, you didn't deserve that."

"We both were not very nice to each other."

"I know what you struggle with and still I asked something so huge from you when you already do so much for us."

"Leo...it's only natural to want to carry on your genetic line, mating seasons are there for a reason. Occasionally I feel that way too but my tokophobia and gender dysphoria overwhelm that feeling." Donnie took a short breather before he continued. "I've also just learnt that apparently you all feel the same way."

Leo's eyes widened ever so slightly, although Raphael and Michelangelo had spoken to each other about wanting children they had apparently never involved their leader.

"They do?"

"Yes."

"They've done a better job at keeping that to themselves than I have." Leo belittled himself.

"Leo, you, as well as Raph and Mikey, probably feel it's more your right than theirs to be…" Donnie drifted off, his hand gesturing in the air. "And if you hadn't come to me it probably would have been a matter of time before one of them did...we've done pretty well these past few years to avoid this discussion." Donnie chuckled lightly.

"When I first thought about...I pushed it aside immediately and buried it away, knowing that it was never going to happen but after April and Casey announced they were expecting...everything just bubbled up to the surface again and being so close to the season, I just couldn't control myself." Leo explained.

Donnie let Leo's words sink in before he placed a hand over his brothers

"We never know what's going to happen in the future, we're still young...I don't want to give you any false hope but things happen, opinions change…" Donnie said, trying to hold Leo's eyes with his own.

"I'm terrified of how I may react when the baby is born." Leo admitted.

"You'll be a fantastic uncle and who knows, maybe it will fix your...baby fever, by having a child around that you can look after."

"But if it doesn't…"

"We'll deal with things then...for now, we haven't spent a lot of time with each other these last few days, I think we should make up for lost time, don't you?"

"As long as…" Leo started to say.

"Leo, if sex made me feel uncomfortable I wouldn't be having it as much as I am." Donnie answered, feeling his face heat up at his words and even more so at the look that Leo was now giving him.

They didn't make it to a bedroom.