I have the most sporadic need to write for this fic...
.oOo.
April felt anxious where she sat by the kitchen table with three of her turtle friends, drinking tea and coffee.
"Shouldn't someone go talk to him?"
Mikey looked up at her from where he was rocking the cradle basket on the tabletop with sleeping baby Taraya inside. "Nah, it's not the right time yet."
"And when is the right time?"
"Look, April," he said matter-of-factly, almost sounding like the leader at the start of one of his long-winded speeches, "let me explain how this works: When Raph hits his limit and says or does something bad that he doesn't really mean he first goes off to brood in his room in anger. That usually lasts from twenty minutes to three hours depending on the situation and how mad he is, and whether or not Leo tries to talk to him in between. Leo's like the Uno reverse card and kinda rewinds time back to the start of the brood. And if the fight was really bad and Raph's really really mad then he doesn't even go into his room and rather runs off into the sewers or topside, and he didn't do that so it's not so bad.
"When he's done being an angsty, upset teenager he normally regrets what he did which leads to phase two: Brooding in his room out of regret and embarrassment. He has way too much pride to come outside and just own up for his explosiveness.
"Now, phase two is when you need to act. The tricky part is—and there's always a tricky part with Raph—you can't really know when he switches between phases, and if you wait too long he can switch back, too, so it's hard to know when's the right moment to go in. But when Raph's at phase two one of us needs to go up to him and kinda start a conversation with him that isn't about what happened. And if you pretend it didn't happen then Raph will feel okay about pretending it didn't happen, too, so he'll come out of his room. And then everything will slowly go back to normal. He might even apologize if the planets are aligned in the shape of the letter S for 'sorry'."
The whole room was listening by the time Michelangelo finished.
"Interesting…" Donatello muttered thoughtfully, kind of impressed with his little brother's analysis. However he felt the need to correct his only mistake. "But you can only align things in a straight line."
Leo commented, too. "Thanks, Mikey, for never telling me this! I could have avoided a lot of unnecessary arguments."
"I can't tell you everything or you'll exceed me."
"In what? Raph whispering?"
"Exactly," Mikey grinned. "It's a gift and a curse of the youngest brother."
Leo sighed exasperatedly and dropped his head into his hand.
April wasn't as impressed. "Well, that's a plan… But Raph already looked regretful before he even said anything and he wasn't mad, so I'm going to go talk to him." She stood up from her chair beside Donnie who was doing research on his laptop.
"No, April don't be a Leo…" Mikey whisper-shouted dramatically which was followed by a smack and an "Ow!".
The girl rolled her eyes as she stepped through the kitchen doorway. She crossed the main room toward the turtles' bedrooms.
She'd rarely been in the turtles' bedrooms aside from Donnie's which she occupied for a short time when she'd been living in the lair. Raph, Leo and Mikey only spent time in their rooms to sleep or if they wanted to be alone.
Her feet slowly carried her to the door with a stop sign attached to it.
She didn't knock on it because she didn't intend to be rejected so quickly. She slowly opened it and snuck inside.
"Hey, Raph."
"Hey, …April?" Raphael looked surprised to see the redhead in his room and not one of his brothers. He'd been lying on his bed but he sat up in her presence.
April took that as a cue to sit down beside him.
"Did Leo send you?"
"No. They didn't think I should come. But Mikey gave me some pointers on how to talk to you. Basically to ignore what you said earlier and pretend everything is normal until it magically is. But we both know I can't really do that right now."
"Yeah…" Raph exhaled and cupped his head in his hands. He looked and sounded tired and defeated. "I guess not…"
"It'd be impossible anyway. Life's going to change around the lair now."
"Are you trying to make me feel better?"
April shrugged. "Not necessarily."
Raph pushed himself from the edge of the bed so he was no longer sitting next to her and now had his bent legs in between them. "I appreciate your contribution, April, but I think I can feel thoroughly inadequate and screwed over without your help."
"Raph… How do you think Master Splinter felt when he ended up with you guys? Let's not talk about the fact that there were four of you, he just got mutated into a rat, and he had nowhere to go. And he didn't have any family or friends to help him out."
The turtle crossed his arms over his legs. "Can I start comparing you to starving children in Africa the next time you complain about green olives on pizza?"
"Hey now! I didn't…" April quickly fell silent. "Touché."
"Don't bring my dad into this. I don't care how many people have it worse than me. It doesn't make this situation any less… what it is."
"I didn't mean it like that," April apologized. "Look, Raph, I'm just trying to make you understand that sometimes things in life change and you can't ignore that. It often sucks, especially if you were in a comfortable spot and then everything got turned upside down. But it's messy only until you get a grip on everything again. Trust me," she explained, speaking from experience. "My life took a drastic turn when I met you guys and it really sucked for a long while but now I wouldn't want it any other way," she smiled.
Raphael mulled over her words. He agreed with her in theory. "It's not about that. It's just… Having a kid…"
"No one is forcing you to be a dad."
"You sure? Mikey's getting pretty comfortable calling me that."
"Well, the easiest thing to do is to dump a problem on someone else. The guys just feel relieved with the fact that someone else took some responsibility. You'd probably prefer to see one of your brothers take the dad title, too, even though the baby's technically yours."
"I don't know… I don't really want to see one of my brothers take over. Even though Leo would be a better choice."
…
"No? Then what's the problem?"
"It's just that… I'm… scared," he finally admitted what was already obvious to everyone. "Like I said, Leo would be a better person for something like this. I'm not ready. I'm not even eighteen yet."
"Trust me, you wouldn't feel any readier in half a year. And Leo isn't a better fit. 'Cause I don't think it's about fitting. It's more about accepting."
.
.
.
"April, you were gone forever! We already started mourning you," Mikey exclaimed and ran up to the girl when she returned to the kitchen. "Do you want pancakes?"
A sweet smell wafted the air around April and she noticed the floury mess on the counter. "I'm alive and well," she smiled. "And I'd love pancakes."
She sat back down beside Donnie and opposite Leo.
"So how'd it go?" the oldest brother asked.
The girl sighed. "Raph says he doesn't want to be the dad but he also doesn't want any of you to be the dad."
"Okay?" He wasn't completely following. "So no dads, just fun uncles?"
"Hey!" Mikey complained from where he was pouring batter onto a pan. "I'm the fun uncle! You're the serious uncle and Donnie's the weird uncle that lives in the garage."
"Hey!"
April smiled a bit at that but continued explaining. "Just don't call Raph Dad and don't call Taraya his daughter and all four of you help out equally. Basically just give him time to accept his role on his own if he will. Which I think he eventually will. It's only been, what, three hours? You're overwhelming him."
Leo felt defensive. None of them were expecting anything extra from Raphael. "We're all overwhelmed, April. But you don't see us closing ourselves in our rooms."
"Yes, but you're still 'Leo with a baby' or 'Donnie with a baby'," she looked at Donatello who was listening, too, "while you're making Raph into 'Dad with a baby'. Don't you see how that's scarier?"
"I guess…"
"What do you think about when you think about a dad? You don't think about yourself. You think about Master Splinter or maybe my dad, or any adult man. - Raph currently thinks he has to become someone else."
"But he doesn't," Donnie said.
"I know! But he thinks that!" April was getting frustrated.
"I promise," Mikey spoke up with his right hand over his heart and the other hand holding the spatula like a scepter, "that I won't call Raph Dad or Taraya his daughter until he doesn't start calling himself and her that on his own. No matter how tempting it is."
April smiled. "Thanks, Mikey."
"So that's it?" Leo asked.
"Pretty much," April shrugged. - "He's just scared of taking care of a baby and accidentally hurting her in the process. But you all feel the same way and it's just something you'll need to deal with. It's unavoidable."
"Responsibility can be scary," Leo nodded, "but it gets better." Then he looked at Taraya in the basket next to him and smiled, watching the newly hatched baby curled up with her tail up to her chin.
"At least she's a good sleeper. And she's cute."
April stood up and leaned over the tabletop to have a better view of her, too. "So cute!"
She sniffed. "Do you smell that?"
"My pancakes!" Mikey turned back to the stove.
"No, Mikey, not that."
.
.
.
"Raph!" Mikey burst into Raphael's room like a hurricane, making the older turtle spring up defensively. "Taraya just pooped her diaper! We have to figure out how to change it!"
"What do you need me for?"
"It's a family emergency! All hands on deck!"