Don was relieved to wake up the next morning, still pregnant but feeling much better. He'd slept sounder than he had in months. His brothers had spent the night at April and Casey's too, and Don couldn't help but wonder if having them nearby had benefited his slumber.
They had a nice breakfast. April did an exam, and then the turtles went back to the sewer. Don was really thirsty all day and conceded that he had been dehydrated and worn out. He agreed that it would be best if he stopped patrolling.
In the afternoon, April came over and they ran a more thorough exam and an ultrasound. Don hadn't had any more contractions, and the babies were all healthy and very active. They were growing fast now, and judging by how their kicks felt, they were nice and strong already. Just to be on the safe side, Don spent the remainder of the day and night with electrodes taped to his belly to constantly monitor the babies. They were okay, and he was too.
Don spent a couple of weeks on very light duty. He stepped down his training even further. He went for jogs instead of runs, and he reduced the weight around his wrists and ankles when he exercised. He limited himself to four hours a day working on his feet in the lab or garage. He spent the rest of his time resting, working on his computer, or on the IT support line.
He finally found time to start building the cribs, which was important to him. It was a labor of love, and he didn't want anything store-bought or repurposed. The work proved interesting because the babies were moving a lot now. Don almost felt like they were attempting to help out or offer input. He used his savings from his IT work to purchase new bedding.
Michelangelo helped him pick out the soft goods. They were all gender-neutral, with different animal patterns. One baby was getting frogs, one was getting ducklings, and one was getting birds. It was all stuff that a turtle could expect to encounter in the wild. Don was shy about admitting it, but he really loved his nursery theme. He was sure that his babies would too. He sometimes liked to sit on his bed and stare at his works in progress and daydream. But, he always made sure to lock the door before doing so.
Between the stolen property and the broken jaw, Hun was extremely angry. Now that he was out of the hospital and adequately recovered from surgery, he was dead set on getting revenge. He planned to get a hold of the turtles by any means necessary and rip them out of those ugly shells of theirs.
He'd had his Purple Dragons searching the city. Problem was, even though the other three kept turning up, that clever, fat, purple one was nowhere to be found, and that was the one that Hun wanted most of all - the one who'd stolen his stuff then taken him down with a lucky hit.
The ugly SOBs hadn't even noticed the tracking device that one of his underlings had stuck to the bottom of their customized vehicle.
Donatello had reached month six and was feeling absolutely huge. Moving around was increasingly difficult, and the weight of the babies pressing against his nerves had resulted in a few scary episodes of leg numbness. His back had been getting worse and worse and was becoming prone to locking up.
He was resting on the sofa and texting Valeria when his brothers came back from patrol and grocery shopping.
Don slowly got to his feet to greet them and help put the groceries away. The movement caused the babies to wake up, and one of them kicked him hard in the ribs. "That hurt," he muttered under his breath.
Raphael turned to him. "What?"
Don blushed. "Nothing. Oh, you got ice cream!"
Michelangelo smiled. "Coffee flavored, just for you."
Don got three bowls down from the cupboard and scooped ice cream into each of them. He then took the carton and waddled over to the kitchen table with it.
"I bent one of my swords," Leonardo complained. "I'm going to go fire up the furnace. Be right back."
The furnace was in the garage. Leonardo got it going, then went back to the main Lair to share a snack with his brothers. They chatted for a while, and at one point, one of Don's babies kicked out hard enough to make contact with the table. There was an audible thump.
Michelangelo cringed. "Didn't that hurt?"
Don shrugged. "They liked the ice cream."
Leonardo chuckled. "Or maybe they were reminding me that the furnace should be ready." He got up and went back to the garage. Raphael followed him. He'd had enough of sitting, and was always attracted to weapons and fire.
The two were discussing the best way to repair the sword when Leonardo suddenly hushed Raphael.
"Rude!" Raphael snapped.
"Quiet!" Leonardo hissed, dropping low. Raphael followed his lead.
Donatello had designed a false wall that separated the garage from the sewers. There were voices coming from the other side. "The signal is coming from right here. I'm telling you!" a muffled voice claimed.
"There's nothing here. The signal must be coming from the streets above," another voice argued.
"We already checked that. Besides, I've seen those freaks jumping down manholes."
"Yeah, and I've seen the tooth fairy."
Whoever was on the other side of the garage started banging on the false wall. "I'm telling you, there's nothing here. Maybe the tracker fell off and drifted down the storm drain."
"Find it, then, so we can report back to Hun."
Leonardo and Raphael heard water sloshing around. "Go! Go!" Leonardo hissed. They hurried back to the main Lair.
"Guys, we've got a situation," Leonardo told Donatello and Michelangelo, who were still sitting around the table.
"Hun's crew must have planted a tracking device on the Battle Shell. There are at least two of his men right outside the garage!" Raphael said.
"What?!" Don gasped. He dropped his spoon and hurried as best he could to the security console, where he collapsed into his chair. He fired up the hidden camera mounted on the exterior of the garage door. Sure enough, there were two thugs prowling around. Don turned on the audio. At the moment, they were just chatting about last night's street hockey game.
"Shouldn't an alarm be going off?" Leonardo asked.
"Texts only at this point. The siren only goes off if they attempt to break through the wall." Don hit a button. "Except that I just silenced it."
Leonardo looked at his phone, which had been left on silent since the beginning of patrol. Sure enough, there was a perimeter proximity warning text message from Don's security system. All the turtles had received them, but they had all gone unnoticed. Don had left his phone on the sofa after texting Valeria. Raphael's was on silent as well, and Mikey's was recharging in his room.
"How did no one notice this? Were we all sleeping at the wheel?" Leonardo chastised.
Don glared at him. "Will you relax? The situation is not critical!"
Leonardo's eyes widened. "Don't you tell me to relax! The safety of this family is my responsibility. If the safety of our home is compromised, I don't know what we'll do!"
"What we always do," Mikey said bitterly. "Find a new home."
Raphael shared Leo's sense of urgency. "How are we supposed to do that with Donatello as far along as he is? All the medical equipment and baby stuff are here."
"We're not going to lose our home," Don assured. "I can throw them off our trail."
Leonardo took a deep breath to gather himself. "What's your plan?"
"We remove the tracker from the Battle Shell, but leave it active and send them on a wild goose chase." Don put a hand over his belly and winced as he bent over to open one of his lower desk drawers. He pulled out a small device. "We'll just attach it to my mini-drone, here."
"Aren't they going to notice a drone flying through the sewers?" Raphael wondered.
"I can send it straight up through the garage ventilation system," Don told them. "It will come out on the street above."
"I heard them saying they already checked the street," Raphael said. "They know that the Battle Shell was never there."
"So?" Mikey asked. "They know we're crafty. They'll probably just assume that we found the tracker and put it on some other vehicle."
"The longer the tracker just sits there, the more suspicious this looks," Leonardo realized. "Give me the drone, Don. I'll go remove the tracker and tie it to the drone. I'll let you know when it's done, and you can fly it out of here."
Don made a move to get up. "I'll come too."
Leonardo snapped his head around. "No! I want you as far from those guys as possible. Just stay here and monitor everything. Give me a call if there's trouble."
"Okay," Don agreed, sinking deeper into the chair. He pushed a button on the drone, and a compartment opened. "Put the tracker in there. I can open it again by remote later."
Leonardo hustled to the garage. Raphael was hot on his heels since he knew the Battle Shell upside down and sideways by this point. The two worked quietly, knowing that enemies were nearby.
It was Raphael who found the tracker, sticking to the underside of one of the rear wheel wells. He pulled it off and showed it to Leonardo, who placed it into the drone.
It was Leo and Raph's instinct to hurry back to Don, but they both knew better. It would be dangerous to take the tracker deeper into their home. Raphael sent a text to Don, who flew the drone almost directly up into the vent. There was one conveniently placed above the Battle Shell, to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning if the vehicle had to be left running in the confined space of the garage.
Leonardo and Raphael could hear Hun's men getting upset. "It's moving again. I told you it wasn't in the damn sewer!"
"Well, it wasn't in the alley either!"
"Not anymore it ain't! It's headed northeast. This sewer tunnel doesn't bend that way, so it's gotta be on the street."
Leonardo heaved a sigh of relief as two voices retreated. Still, this had been far too close of a call. Leonardo and Raphael headed back to the Lair and watched Don expertly pilot the mini-drone through the vents and down the street. "I'm going to follow the surface streets for a few miles, then I'll drop the tracker into a river," he said over his shoulder.
While Don was busy doing that, Leonardo watched the two goons until they disappeared from the perimeter cameras, obviously having taken the bait. Don stopped the drone at red lights so that it would appear that it was attached to a vehicle. He was meticulous about his work, dropping the tracker about a half an hour later, then piloting his toy back to the Lair.
When he was finally done, Don swiveled his desk chair around, put his hands behind his head, and leaned back. "See that? Piece of cake."
Leo had been nervously hovering nearby this whole time. "Piece of cake?!" He hissed. "Don, this was a disaster!"
The next chapter picks up immediately where this one leaves off. Thanks for reading.