Donatello was pretty upset, and feeling unwanted in his own home, even though it was his brothers' desire to help him with the nursery that had set off their most recent argument. Although Don had been the one to blow them off and storm out of the room, he was now afraid to bring it up again.
He slept for a few hours, then began planning for the nursery. He had already decided to keep his room where it was rather than moving it to the lab. He started by boxing up old projects that he had abandoned and quietly rehoming them around the Lair. When Leonardo woke up the next morning, the two exchanged curt nods. Don then disappeared into his room, emerging a little later with a stack of blueprints.
"You're finally cleaning out your room?" Leonardo asked.
"Yes. I'm finally doing it," Don confirmed.
Leonardo wanted to volunteer to help, but after last night he assumed that Don wanted his space. He would have been surprised to discover that that was the last thing Don wanted. What Don wanted more than anything was a hug or even a simple apology. He'd been pretty heartbroken that Leo didn't want to feel the babies. Don hesitated, hoping that Leonardo would make some sort of move to make amends.
"Let me know when it comes time to move the furniture," Leonardo said. "I don't want you straining anything."
Don nodded and returned to his work. He didn't emerge for breakfast, or even lunch, choosing instead to work on the nursery area. When he got too achy to keep up the physical labor, he moved into the lab and worked on EDS. He binged on his hidden stash of junk food and avoided both his family and his feelings. The babies moved a lot, and he took great comfort in how strong they seemed to be growing.
Michelangelo forced Donatello to come out for dinner with the family. Don had been absent so much lately that they hadn't even realized he was still upset about the night before. Don scarfed his dinner as fast as he could, then made a move to leave. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough.
Michelangelo looked up to see Don beginning his scramble. "Whoa, Don, your waddle game is fierce today. What's the hurry?"
"Yeah. Where are you going?" Raphael demanded.
"Back to work," Don shot back.
Leonardo stood up. "Did you need us to help move the furniture now?"
"Already did," Don replied.
Leonardo was taken aback. "I offered to do that."
"It was no big deal," Don dismissed. "In case anyone hadn't noticed, I'm building a massive intergalactic weapon prototype in the garage. I think I can handle moving a desk to a room down the hall."
Leonardo frowned. He didn't like Don's tone, but the family genius had been so darn temperamental lately. It wasn't like Don had done anything wrong per se. In fact, he'd done exactly what his brothers had requested - started setting up the nursery. Leonardo decided to drop the matter.
"Now that you've knocked that off your plate, can you finish teaching me about the Battle Shell's weapon maintenance?" Raphael requested.
"Fine," Don huffed. "Meet me in the garage when you're done with patrol." Don stomped off towards the garage.
The triplets didn't seem to approve of Donatello's behavior. One of them had worked its way under his ribs, and it really hurt. While his brothers were on patrol, Don searched the web for advice on repositioning babies. He ended up spending a good part of the night on his hands and knees, swaying back and forth in a futile attempt to force them out of his ribs. While it didn't work, he did succeed in straining his poor back even worse.
Don cringed when he heard his brothers come home. He didn't want to face them. He especially didn't want to be bending over the hood of the Battle Shell, pretending that everything was okay.
Don managed to get to his feet before Raphael arrived in the garage. He put a hand on his belly, wishing it hadn't gotten so darn big and heavy. As if sensing its father's dark thoughts, the baby in his ribs kicked him hard. Don couldn't help but let out an 'oof.'
Raphael didn't seem to notice. He just began chatting idly about how quiet the streets were since Don had knocked Hun out of commission. Don hardly listened at all. He went through the motions of showing Raphael what to do. Then he sort of lost himself in his own misery.
He knew that he should just go to bed. He was hurting, overtired, and upset, and the hormones were only making things worse. He didn't want to admit how badly they were affecting him, even to himself, but they were. He wasn't thinking clearly. He wasn't in proper control of his emotions. He was about to lose his composure entirely and he knew it.
Don suddenly realized that Raphael was looking at him expectantly. Had he asked a question? Don couldn't even recall his brother speaking. He was just so exhausted. Don was going to ask Raph to repeat whatever he had just said, but when he opened his mouth, something else came out, almost against his will.
"Raphael," Don said hesitantly. "I just can't do this right now. I'm sorry to keep ditching you, but I'm too...pregnant."
It was the first time Donatello had said that word out loud in front of his family, other than when he was instructing them not to say it themselves. He had been avoiding it at all costs, even though everyone knew exactly what was going on. That particular word was just too feminine, too embarrassing, too blunt and too real. Now that the word had crossed his lips, the impending tears turned to laughter.
"I think that might be the most outlandish thing that I've ever said in my life, and we both know I've had some real doozies," Donatello chuckled. "Too pregnant. I'm too pregnant. How the heck is that even possible? I'm too pregnant for vehicle maintenance. Me. I'm too pregnant. I'm pregnant. How the hell did this happen? How is this my life? Why did this happen to me?"
There they were. Don knew the tears weren't going to stay gone for long. He went from uncontrollable laughter to a sobbing, hysterical mess in no time flat. "Pregnant," he wailed, feeling like a crazy person.
Raphael was more uncomfortable than he had ever been in his life. Why did it have to be him stuck in here alone with Don when he finally lost it? Raphael knew that he should just hug his brother and let him know that it would be alright, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to do it. It wasn't alright. There was no denying that this whole thing creeped Raphael out, but this moment took the cake. Don was right there in front of him, in hysterics, wavering on his feet, and undeniably pregnant. The thought of holding his brother, having that huge, quivering belly pressed against him - it was repulsive. Raphael loved Don, but there was no other word to describe what he was feeling right now. He was repulsed. Besides, if it were him in Don's shoes, crying and acting like this, the best thing that he could hope for was for everyone to ignore it, and never, ever, discuss it again.
Raphael took a step back, and his voice was measured when he spoke. "You're right, bro. This is clearly too much for you right now. You've been working nonstop for weeks. Just go to bed and get some rest. I'll finish up here, and you can check my work in the morning."
Don wiped away the worst of the tears with the back of his hand and nodded. He waddled off before he could embarrass himself further, calling a quick thanks and goodnight over his shoulder on the way out. He was completely mortified about his outburst, but the worst part was that he had seen the look on Raphael's face - sheer disgust. It was just like the night before when Leonardo had pulled his hand away.
It felt like no one loved him anymore. He was in such desperate need of affection, but he couldn't remember the last time anyone had given him a hug, or even so much as a simple pat on the back. Would it have really been so difficult for Raphael to just give him the reassurance he so clearly needed? That night, he cried himself to sleep.
The next day, Don focused on getting some rest and attempting to regain control of his emotions. Since he couldn't seem to cope with his brothers, he decided to catch up with his female friends. The first person Don called was April.
"Hey, Don! It's been a little while since I heard from you," April greeted, cheerfully.
"Sorry. I've been busy," Don explained.
"So, I shouldn't be offended that you never took me up on my weekly get-together offer?" April half-teased.
Don searched his memory banks. He vaguely recalled April saying something about that when he first started suffering from abdominal muscle spasms. "Please don't be offended. With everything else going on, I think that I just kind of forgot. I'm sorry."
"Oh, I forgive you," April replied. "I'd been meaning to get ahold of you anyway. Angel wanted me to let you know that she's planning to babysit her niece this weekend. She was wondering if you wanted to join in."
"Right," Don recalled. "My infant care lessons. That sounds great. I'll have to take her up on that."
"So you're still feeling unprepared?" April asked.
Don gulped and rubbed his belly. "To say the least."
"You know, I've been wondering," April started hesitantly. "Would you like me to throw you a baby shower?"
Don was assailed by a coughing fit that left April feeling rather concerned. "A baby shower?!" he finally managed to gasp.
"Yes. We could buy you gifts and play some games," April sputtered.
"Who is this 'we?'" Donatello wondered.
"Angel and I, your brothers, maybe Casey," April elaborated.
"Wow. I mean, that's really nice of you, but I cannot picture that happening," Don said. "Like… at all."
April heaved a breath. "I thought you might not go for it, but I still wanted to offer."
"And, that's generous of you, really," Don praised. "Unfortunately, no one around here has really been in much of a celebratory mood. And, even if we were, I cannot picture my brothers playing baby games."
"It could just be a regular party," April attempted to entice him.
"I'm afraid I'm not much fun right now," Don admitted. "But, I'm really working hard to finish the EDS before the babies are born. Maybe we can have a party when that's done."
"And if there are baby gifts…" April said, leadingly.
Don chuckled. "Who am I to stop you?"
April and Don spoke for a while, and Don was feeling much better when they hung up. He texted Angel and set up a time to meet for babysitting. Angel also requested a tutoring session, and Don was happy to oblige. Don nibbled on a snack and enjoyed feeling the babies move around.
The night was still young, so Don spent some time working on EDS. After dinner, he called Valeria.
Valeria picked up the phone. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the very busy turtle who has no time to check in with the office."
"I'm constantly in the office," Don defended. "I live in it."
"I meant the head office," Valeria clarified. "Me."
"It has been a while since we spoke," Don realized. "Hasn't it?"
"Yeah, it's been a while," Valeria agreed. "I haven't even had a chance to tell you what happened the last time that I went to the hairstylist to have my purple streak covered. It turns out that there's squid ink in hair dye, and when PETA found out, they blew up the manufacturer's headquarters."
Don grinned. "Wow. That's a good one. Ridiculous, but almost believable."
"I know, right?" Valeria bubbled. "I've been holding it in reserve for a while now."
"Why do we do this again?" Don wondered.
"You were worried that Bishop would hire someone to impersonate my voice," Valeria reminded him. "This was how you would know it's really me."
"Well, we can probably stop now," Don recommended. "I'm sure he's listening in and has picked up on the pattern by now. We might as well go out with a bang."
"If you say so," Valeria replied. "I was running out of ideas anyway. So, what's new on the EDS front? The build team has been running around like crazy, but they haven't asked me to do much coding lately."
"It's coming along pretty nicely. I'm really hoping to have my part of the work completed by the end of the year," Don answered. "I'm almost done with the orbiter now."
"Well, that explains why you have no time for phone calls. Last time we spoke You'd hardly even started that part of it," Valeria replied.
"Yup. Like you said, I'm a very busy turtle."
Don really did enjoy talking to Val. It was nice to have someone who understood his technobabble. It was even nicer that she didn't know about the babies. She had become a kind of a safe zone for him - a pleasant diversion from the worst of his problems. Funny, he mused after he hung up, that dealing with a potential invasion was easier than dealing with his personal life.
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