*)O(*
Her babies were growing at an alarming rate. She didn't have anything to compare it to, human or turtle wise, but she knew from sheer weight alone. Jordan had been roughly five pounds when he'd been born. Donald and Jillian had weighed closer to four and a half. Now the smaller two weighted almost ten pounds while their older brother was at twelve. They were already a month old. She tried to remind herself that they'd only had five and a half months of time to put on weight to start, but this was getting ridiculous. She'd already compromised quiet a few times when it had come to feedings, giving a bottle when she'd just been too sore to feed them. At this rate she wouldn't be able to keep up with clothes shopping for them, let alone feeding them.
"How are you doing today, Mommy?" Donnie teased as he snuck behind her to give her a small hug. If it wasn't for him being the gentle patient person he was, she didn't think she would be able to take care of the kids by herself. The difficult parts of being a parent hadn't even started. What was she going to do once they started crawling? Goddess help everyone once they picked up walking. "Sara?" Donnie asked again as she drifted off into her worry again. "I'm thinking about having fat kids who learn how to crawl too soon."
Donnie joked, "It is because Jillian is starting to pick her head up? Or because they've almost doubled their weight?"
"Both. What happened to them being small and helpless?" Sara mourned. Donnie chuckled but held her from behind the couch. "They're still small and helpless. They still need Mommy and I think Mommy needs Daddy to remind her that it's because of her that they are doing so well." Sara sighed deeply. It just wasn't fair. She didn't mind not having slept more than a few hours at a time, or the god awful way her nipples ached because they were chapped. What she minded was that her babies wouldn't be her babies forever.
"I am actually excited to see them crawling around and getting into things. And you know, we're probably the only stay at home parent couple in New York who are going to have a small squadron of help to stop them from hurting themselves once they do. I mean, can you even imagine Mikey letting any of them near his DVD tower?" Donnie almost gushed.
Sara bit her lip, trying not to smile or encourage him. "Oh… hush you…" She finally conceited. Donnie grinned into a kiss on her cheek. "I love you, Sara."
"I love you too, Donnie."
*)O(*
Tonight was it. If she could pull it off, she'd be off probation and would be able to receive the respect she craved from her boss. There was a private, yet large, party being held tonight at their restaurant. Supposedly it was a bunch of rich people who needed to kiss each other's asses.
She tried not to laugh out loud randomly in front of Sophia. She thought of that as one of the defining lines of her character. Having enough money and skills to be able to take care of the ones you love made you wealthy, while if you had so much money you could literally wipe your ass with it, you were a rich ass hole. Still, she didn't try to look down on those people too much. Some, just some, of them were actually good decent human beings who had either gotten lucky enough or worked hard enough to get to where they were. Others had been born into it and had never known a different life, so they couldn't be blamed either. It was the ones who lied, cheated, even stole from little old ladies, who bothered her.
Sophia swirled about in her new dress. Bea was going to take her out to a movie and then some Chinese food. Thankfully Bea had been off work tonight and willing to go to an all expenses paid night out with a seven year old in tow. Bea's friend would go with them, supposedly it was the girl who worked with her at the pharmacy during the shoot out.
"You look very pretty. I like the color blue on you."
"Me too, pink is for sissies."
"What did I tell you about name-calling?" Tabitha lightly scolded.
"It's not nice and I shouldn't do it, unless I want people to do it to me." Sophia said just slightly apologetic.
"And if you want to name call someone, what are you allowed to call them?"
"Nice thing." Sophia perked back up.
"Like?"
"You, you're a nice thing… er… person." Sophia said as she slipped on her black ballet flats. Tabitha stood shocked in the middle of her living room. It wasn't the momentary slip of the seven year old mixing up words and thoughts, but instead it was that out of all the things she'd ever been called, and there was a long list, nice was not one of them. Things like: crabby, mean-spirited, cold, hot-blooded, cynical, critical, temperamental, and any racial slur that could be hurled her way, she'd heard. Not that she was nice, and not from a seven year old. "Does that count?" Sophia asked. Tabitha had to blink a few times and replay what Sophia had asked before just nodding her head a few times. Semi-numb she waved Sophia out the door as she wondered how she ever came across as 'nice.'
*)O(*
"So we should be done around ten or eleven, at most, midnight. I'll text you, okay?"
"Aw, but who am I going to bug if you're not here," Mikey grinned at Becca as she slipped into some ballet flats, almost ready to leave.
"The babies, of course, and probably everyone else too." She teased him back. "Just try not to be too busy when I get back," she added with a wink that make his shell feel tight. He hadn't known at the time, but he'd somehow unleashed a secret nymph side to Becca after their first encounter. He couldn't be happier though.
He'd quit his job a week ago to help out with the kids, but he'd spent more time making his own than helping Sara and Donnie. He corrected himself and frowned just a little. Technically he wasn't even close to starting to make any babies of his own as they'd started using protection. It wasn't as good as the few times she let him not use one, but it wasn't too bad. Anyway, if it meant that he could keep up the frequency of their little trysts he'd be happy to keep wearing them.
He walked her to the door of the garage, snatching a few kisses before she left. He leaned in for just one more because good god did she taste good, when she stopped him with a finger over his lips. Her cheeks were slightly flushed and her eyes were large. "When I get back. If we don't stop I won't even leave tonight." She let out a flustered sigh and yanked the door open, slipping away before he could protest. He turned around, grinning as he went to get Raph. They were going to go out tonight and stop some bad guys once it got dark.
*)O(*
She got to Bea's house about an hour early. It was only six, but she wanted to be of help with Sophia. Plus, she liked hanging out with Bea. It was nice to have someone who was a bit removed from the whole 'living in the sewers' thing and be able to talk about normal things. Bea was her own personal confidant now, and a reprieve from three little babies.
She sighed as she knocked on the door. She wanted babies, too. She just didn't think she was ready for them. Hell, probably no one else in the lair was ready for more kids yet. Then there was the fact that she would probably also have multiple kids at a time. She didn't know if she would be able to handle three of them, or more even. It was true that box turtles often had small clutches, but that didn't mean that it was always that way.
Plus, Sara had been so stressed all the time when she was pregnant. The risks were high. It was possible that she could have lost one or all of her kids at anytime. Even her own life was at risk, carrying little half mutants in her body, the possibility of rejection was high. Not to mention delivery had gruesome and scary.
Then there was always another road. What if she didn't mutate like Sara did? What if she could never have a baby with Mikey like Sara could with Donnie? It wasn't a proven fact that it would happen to her as well. They weren't sure Sara would be able to do it twice either. But with three kids, Becca wondered if Sara would ever want more.
No matter what, she would always be with Mikey, kids or not, but she wondered how he would take it if they started to try and she just never got pregnant. Could she deal with the heartbreak she would cause him? Also, what if because of the differences she miscarried, more than once. She lost her breath thinking about trying over and over again just to lose baby after baby like some women did. She didn't think she was strong enough to make it through that and come out the same person.
"Earth to Becca." Bea's voice called to her. Startled, she jumped a bit as a few tears leaked from her eyes. "Oh god, no. Stop that right now. What ever it is, it will wait until after the movie at least, got it? We can talk, but no crying tonight." Becca blinked a few times then wiped her eyes. She nodded and stepped into Bea's small apartment. Sophia, who Becca had met a few days ago, was sitting at the small kitchen table folding paper. "Hi, Sophia, what cha' doing?"
"Origami. Bea says I'm not allowed to cut that paper. It's not working." The little girl frowned as she looked at an instruction on a page of a book she had next to her then tried to fold the paper. "Well, you lucky little devil, guess who knows how to make the best little swans?"
"Bea?" The little girl grinned. Acting offended, placing her hand on her chest and scoffing dramatically, Becca gaped at the tiny girl. "You're not even going to consider yours truly?" Sophia gave a small laugh with an eye roll. "Let the master show you how it's done!" Becca challenged as she went to help her. Bea shook her head at them and asked if they needed anything. "I dare say we shall require a pillow fort after this is done," Becca grinned. Bea narrowed her eyes at her. "Pillow fort, pillow fort!" Sophia demanded.
Out matched, Bea leveled her eyes on Sophia. "Only if you can make me a swan for my window."
"Deal," Sophia fired back. "Hurry, show me how to make one before she forgets." The little girl said seriously. Sophia was amusing. When she really wanted something she would focus on it, but if she didn't care about something, you couldn't get her attention to linger on anything. It reminded her of Mikey in a way. Science and meditation, yeah, good luck. Games, music, or books? He could narrow his focus on them for hours and never stray.
It only took a couple tries before Sophia was cranking out swans and had made five for Bea's windowsill. A lopsided pillow fort was next. Bea had already grabbed a bunch of things, so it was short work before they were huddled under the unstable construction.
Becca was having a blast, but nature called as she dismissed herself to the bathroom. While there, she texted Mikey to let him know she got to Bea's safely. She set her phone down to wash her hands. From the bathroom she heard a "Hiya!" That had obviously come from Sophia. She walked back into the living room cautiously. The pillow fort had collapsed and Bea was struggling to untangle herself while Sophia pelted her with a pillow.
"Sophia," she said loudly, startling the girl. "That's not how you treat your babysitter," she winked as she scolded her. "You have to use at least two pillows when you attack her."
"Becca?" Bea warned from under the mass of blankets and pillows. Becca grabbed two of the couch cushions and proceeded to smack her friend with them. Sophia giggled, laughing almost too hard to hold onto the pillow she had in her hands. "I swear to god, I'm going to kick your a- butt!" Bea corrected.
"Quick, save yourself!" Becca told Sophia. Running away from the scene of the crime, Sophia knocked over a lamp on Bea's table.
They all went still as the room grew a bit dimmer at the sound of a bulb breaking. Then Sophia started to cry. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She mourned and went to pick up the glass. "No!" Becca called out, grabbing the large shard the little girl had been aiming for. Pain registered a split second later and she knew she'd cut herself, but she was only worried about Sophia. The girl was leaking giant crocodile tears looking like she'd just seen the boogeyman. Bea was scooping Sophia up an instant later and going to sit her on the kitchen table. Rebecca relaxed her hand and looked down at it. She had three little slices on her palm from the jagged glass, but they weren't anything serious and they didn't look to have any other shards in them.
She did frown heavily as she noticed the scar from the time she ran into the weapon rack though. At least now it would have some friends, she sighed as she started to carefully pick up the other large pieces of the bulb. A tiny bit of blood fell onto the floor, but it landed in some shards and she let it go until she got a broom. Bea had started to check on Sophia, asking her if she was okay, if she'd stepped on anything, if she was hurt at all. Poor little Sophia was just a nervous wreck. She kept saying it was an accident and that she didn't mean to do it, and that she was sorry.
Becca remembered a time when she'd done almost the same thing. It hadn't been a babysitter, or even a parent to calm her, but a housekeeper at the time. She got up from where she'd knelt to clean and threw away the large pieces. She went over to Sophia. "Hey, Sophia?" She said as softly as she could. The little girl looked to her as if she was some horrible person ready to hurt her for the small transgression. "We can get another light bulb, we can get a million more, but we only have just one of you. We want to make sure you are okay. Are you okay?"
Two little huffs escaped her before Sophia whined, "Yeeeeesss," and proceeded to breakdown like one of Donnie's inventions on a trial run. Bea bit her lip as Sophia attached herself to her and finished crying, making sure to confirm that they weren't mad at her.
Becca sighed, amazed at how similar it was to the time she'd broken a lamp. She fetched the broom and cleaned up the glass. She's almost forgotten her cuts until she noticed the ache when she swept. "I'm going to clean myself up, but it's getting close to show time, we should get ready." Bea nodded. Neither of them wanted to miss the show, even if it was a kids' movie. "And look, we don't even have to clean up before we leave, we'll do that later, after the after-movie-ice-cream, okay?"
"Ice cream?" Was of course the only word a seven year old would pick out.
"After-movie-ice-cream, if you're good at the restaurant." Just like that, all tears ended and promises of the best behavior flowed from the cunning mouth of the child.
One gauze pad and a bit of medical tape later, they were out the door. The incident behind them and the promise of extra buttery popcorn ahead. Becca smiled, hoping that they'd already put enough drama into the pot for tonight. It wasn't until they were in the movie theatre, when they asked that phones be silenced, that she realized she'd forgotten her phone in the bathroom.
Dun, dun, duh! Howdy, ya'll! Been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that. No excuses, but I do have one thing to say. My god, just how can people favorite this story so much and not leave a review? Hint, hint… any way… I hope that you all liked it and I hope to see you back for the next chapter.