It was obvious that getting Donatello to relinquish the mutant turtle baby to someone else's arms would be next to impossible, so April didn't try. Instead, she examined the infant as Don held it, running her fingers over his bald pate and cooing at the baby.
Then she suggested that Don take the baby into the television corner, where the sunning lamps had been installed. It was the warmest place in the lair and the couch their most comfortable piece of furniture.
While Don and the baby moved, Mikey began unpacking the shopping bags. Casey took the items related to feeding the baby, including several different bottle styles, and passed them up to Leo in the kitchen.
Under the sunning lamps, Don removed the blankets from around the baby so that he could have skin to skin contact with him. When April had gotten Don settled on the couch she went back to the kitchen to show Leo how to prepare the infant formula she'd brought. Master Splinter left them to go to his room, a purposeful look on his face.
Raph climbed the stairs to the kitchen and stared at the array of baby things laid out on one of the kitchen tables.
"Here," April said, shoving bottles, nipples, and a bottle brush into Raph's hands. "Wash these in warm, soapy water while I put some water on to boil. After they're washed and rinsed, put them in the boiling water."
If it had been anyone other than April asking him to wash baby things, Raph would have treated them to a few choice words. Instead he took the items to the sink to do as he was told.
To say it was difficult to handle such tiny things with hands as big as Raph's was an understatement. Their kitchen was small and Raph had to keep moving to the side to give April room to fill a pot with water and then place it on the stovetop.
At April's request, Leo brought some clean towels to the kitchen and covered the other kitchen table with it. Once the baby items were rinsed, Raph tossed them into the boiling water.
When Master Splinter came out of his room he had several books in his hands. As he sat down next to Donatello on the couch, the turtle glanced over at his father and saw books on American history, the Italian renaissance, Japanese culture, and both Greek and Roman mythology.
"Dad?" Don asked.
"The child should have a name as soon as possible," Master Splinter responded. "I am certain to find the perfect name in one of these books."
Leo and Raph watched as April used tongs to take the baby items from the boiling water and place them on the towel to cool and dry.
"Do we have to do this every time we feed the kid?" Raph asked.
"You have to clean each part of the bottle after every feeding," April said, "but you don't have to boil them every time."
The baby's cries still echoed through the lair and Raph rolled his eyes. "Will feeding him shut him up?"
"Most likely," April said. "Then you have to deal with burping and diaper changing, and getting him to sleep."
Before Raph had the chance to make a snide remark, Mikey ran up to the railing with a pile of clothing in his hands.
"Look at this cute stuff," Mikey exclaimed with excitement. "There's little pajamas with the feet sewn into them, and things called onesies, and tiny little caps for his head . . . ."
"I guess we gotta learn how to put all that stuff on him too," Raph muttered.
"And diapers too," Casey said, tossing a package of them at the grumpy turtle.
Raph caught the package. "Disposable diapers," he read aloud. "This right here is another thing I ain't doing."
"Be thankful that Miss O'Neil is able to acquire these items for us," Master Splinter said. "When you were little I had to use scraps of cloth as diapers and wash them out by hand."
"Raph was a baby once?" Casey asked. "I'll bet those were some big diapers."
Raph threw the diaper package at his head and the man ducked aside.
"How about we don't damage the diapers before we get the chance to use them?" Leo asked.
"Okay Leo, let's fill a bottle with formula and feed that hungry baby," April said. "Use the bottled water I brought."
Following the directions on the formula container, Leo prepared a bottle. He and April then joined Don in the television corner. April showed them how to hold the bottle while feeding the baby so as to avoid letting too much air into its stomach.
Very carefully, Don touched the nipple to the baby's mouth. Because the infant had worked himself up, it took a couple of tries before he would stop moving his head and latch onto the nipple.
The loud crying was instantly replaced by tiny sucking sounds. There was a collective sigh of relief from the group at the return of relative silence in the lair.
"I bought clothing that I thought would fit around his shell," April said, her eyes glued to the feeding infant.
"His carapace doesn't seem as large as ours," Don said, glancing at his father.
"It is not the same size as yours at that age," Master Splinter said. "Perhaps because he started out as fully human."
"Could someone tell me the full story now?" April asked. "I'm dying to know how this happened."
Casey, Mikey, and Raph had joined them, so with his brothers help, Don told the full story.
When he finished, both April and Casey were gaping at him. "Did you know that giving him your blood would save his life?" April asked.
"Not with any certainty," Don said. "I knew if I didn't try something, the baby would die."
"I'd like to know why his mother thought it would be better to toss him in the trash than to take him to someone who could care for him," Casey said. "There's no way she had the baby in a hospital. They would have had him in an intensive care unit."
"She looked pretty sneaky when she was carrying that baby down the street," Raph said. "Like maybe she was worried someone was following her."
"We don't even know if she was his mother," Mikey said, his eyes wide. "Maybe she stole the baby and dumped him after she saw he was in bad shape."
"There's not really any point in speculating," Leo said. "Whether this child was hers or she kidnapped him, he was going to die. Don saved his life and in the process changed the baby into one of us. He can't be returned."
"Maybe not, but if she wasn't his mother, don't you think the birth mom might want to know what happened to her baby?" Casey asked.
"If we could even track her down, what would we tell her?" Leo asked. "You're the police officer, Casey. What would you suggest?"
Everyone but Don looked at Casey expectantly. Don was too fascinated with watching the infant turtle's face as he drank his formula.
Casey crossed his arms. "I'd start by trying to learn who the mother is. You said the baby was wrapped in newspaper. Did you guys keep the paper?"
"It's in the trashcan in my lab," Don said without looking up.
"There might be a clue on or in the paper," Casey said. "I can check to see if anyone reported that their baby was kidnapped, though if there are detectives assigned to the case, they won't make it public knowledge."
"Ya' gotta know someone who could tell ya' that off the books," Raph said. "Or we could ask Chief Vincent."
"If we get her involved, she'll have questions about the baby and that could open up a lot of red tape," Casey said.
"We don't tell anyone about this baby," Don said firmly, finally looking up at those gathered around him. The glasses he wore magnified his eyes and they were expressive. "Raph's concerns about the dangers outside of this lair are well-founded. The fewer people who know this secret, the better the odds are that our enemies won't learn about him."
"Glad to know somebody here agrees with me," Raph said.
"All of the points that you made were valid, Raphael. Our task is to overcome them," Master Splinter said.
"You guys should show me the alley where you found the baby," Casey said. "Also the route the woman took. Maybe I can backtrack her and figure out where she came from."
"Practicing to get your detective shield?" Mikey teased.
"When you have gifts, they should be used," Casey replied.
"What do you tell the mother if you do find her?" April asked.
Casey thought about that for a moment. The bottle was nearly empty and the baby turned his head, refusing to drink more, so Don handed the bottle to April.
"Here," April said, draping a burp towel on Don's shoulder. "Drape him over your shoulder and gently pat his back . . . I mean shell. Keep his little head supported whenever you move him."
Don followed her directions, placing the baby as she showed him and then tapping his carapace lightly with two fingers.
"If we learn the baby mama is the one who dumped him in the garbage, then we say nothing," Casey said. "If she cared about him, she wouldn't have done that. If we find out otherwise . . . ."
He was interrupted by a loud wailing as the baby once more began to cry. Don continued to pat his shell, but that did nothing to resolve the baby's obvious discomfort.
"What the heck's wrong with him now?" Raph asked.
"He must have swallowed a lot of air when he was crying earlier," April said. "He needs to burp."
"I'm trying," Don said, starting to sound a little frantic. "It's not working."
The infant's screams had a more pained sound to them than before and the crying began to set everyone's nerves on edge. Don shifted the baby to his other shoulder and patted his carapace a little harder, to no avail.
Finally Raph stepped forward. "I've had it," he said.
Reaching down, he curved two fingers behind the baby's head and lifted him off Don's shoulder. Shifting the baby carefully, Raph laid him plastron down on one massive forearm and gave his carapace four firm thumps.
There was an immediate and quite loud burp from the child. Raph's arm was splattered with a mixture of phlegm and formula, but the infant stopped crying.
"How did you know to do that?" April asked with obvious amazement, passing a towel over to the large turtle.
"Pfft, I don't know," Raph said as he cleaned off the spit up. "Seemed pretty damn obvious to me."
Master Splinter closed one of the books he had been reading through and looked around at the gathered group. His expression caught everyone's attention.
Clearing his throat, Master Splinter said, "I believe it is time to give the baby a name."
When he paused, Don said, "What name have you chosen, Sensei?"
"Yeah Sensei, what are we gonna call the little fella?" Raph asked.
"It'll be great to call him something other than 'baby," Mikey said.
"Whatever you've chosen, I'm certain it's perfect," Leo said.
"The baby's name shall be . . . Shilo," Master Splinter told them. "To the Native American Navajo it means 'brother'. In Hebrew the name means 'His gift' and also possibly 'peace'. I believe all of the meanings to hold great significance to this fortuitous turn of events. Do you not all agree?"
"Yes!" Mikey exclaimed enthusiastically.
"It's perfect, Master Splinter," April told him as Casey murmured his agreement.
Don, Leo, and Raph smiled as the new name sunk in. Raph gently lifted the now sleeping baby and held him against one shoulder, cradled in his arm.
"Shilo," Raph whispered. "I kinda like that."
TBC….