A/N: Well I've nearly finished my exams. Sorry this chapter took so long as I had to write it bit by bit throughout the past two weeks. But I made the chappie longer to make up for it! The good news is that my school holidays are coming up soon (thank goodness for that!) so I should be updating more often in the near future.

Chapter 19: The Official Opening.

Two days later at the zoo…

All five turtles sat quietly in their cell, waiting and wondering what the day ahead would bring. Over the past two days, the scientists had repeated the experiment; slowly trying to get Silver used to the reptiles' constant presence. Like previously, no words were ever exchanged between the two species, only harsh and discomforting glances whenever the steel doors were opened slightly.

It was early in the morning and the room's heated lights had only just turned on. Dr Aquel entered shortly afterwards and let Silver out of his cell abnormally premature compared to most days. Leonardo expected their steel door to open only slightly, but to his surprise, the female scientist opened the door completely. Terrified, everyone huddled as far back from the door as possible, not knowing what the crazy ape would do.

Nothing happened.

Taking control of the situation, Leonardo cautiously stepped forward and poked his head out of the safe confines of the concrete cell. The turtle spotted Silver pacing aimlessly around at the opposite end of the enclosure. The two creatures locked eyes for a few seconds. Although the ape's cold and icy stare sent shivers down Leo's shell, the turtle was quite surprised that it was Silver who ended up breaking the gaze.

Leonardo looked around the enhanced enclosure. The tree and the glass window protected by a thick electric fence were still there, but that was all Leo could find familiar. A small yet deep pond was located near the edge of the perimeter, next to the lower viewing window. Looking up, Leo observed the barb wire fence that lined the upper audience viewing deck. It projected inwards into the enclosure at a forty-five degree angle, obviously to cause complications for any humans wanting to free the zoo's extremely rare inhabitants.

Yet the major difference was the fact that the enclosure was almost divided in two; an outdoor grassy area and an encased, concrete sewer like structure. Two tall solid concrete walls enclosed one of the corners; the only way in was through a large, wide pipe situated directly opposite the electrically protected window, so that even if they did decide to shy away, the audience would still be able to see them in their sewer hideout. On closer inspection, Leonardo discovered that the ceiling of the concrete area was in fact a partly transparent sunshade cloth so that people from above could still see them. Despite all the new elements that had been added over the years, there was still no place to hide from the inquisitive eyes of the public.

Although Leonardo didn't have to worry about the public at that particular moment, considering they were let out of their cell well before the zoo's opening time. However, what did bother the turtle were the zoo keepers standing around the upper deck holding tranquilizer guns. He figured that they were the reason why Silver wasn't as aggressive as he was compared to their first encounter. After ensuring that Silver was no immediate threat, Leo signaled for the rest of his family to come forth.

Leonardo watched in silence as his family timidly emerged from the cell one by one. Raphael wriggled his toes against the grass while Diana bent down to pluck off a few blades. The adults admired their childlike joy in discovering something so simple such as touching grass, though their hearts ached with pity upon the realisation of all the other natural wonders they missed had out on because of their hidden lifestyle.

Intrigued, Diana wandered over towards the single tree in the enclosure and felt the gritty bark for the first time in her life. Raphael would have gone over too, if it weren't for the foreboding feeling that was being emitted from Silver. Satisfied with her inspection of the tree, Diana was about to wander over towards the pond when Leo stopped her, worried that Silver might do something either suspicious or unexpected.

The ape stared at them, while the turtles all stared back. The zoo keepers that supervised the mutants raised their tranquilizer dart guns higher, preparing for anything. Once again, nothing happened. The tension between the two species lingered on for a while longer until Silver decided to enter the concrete area of the enclosure, disappearing from the turtles' view.

A click was heard from behind. Leo, Mike and Venus turned around to discover that Dr Aquel had placed food in their cell's tray. It was obvious that the staff wanted them to return to their nighttime concrete enclosure. Feeling uncomfortable about being out in the open with Silver, the turtle family obliged. Returning to the metal control panel, Dr Aquel partially closed the steel door once again so that Silver could continue his conditioning in getting used to the reptiles' presence. It stayed like that for the rest of the day. Silver came close to them a number of times, but nothing was said or heard.

*****

The next morning.

Mike and Leo watched on as Venus guided Raphael' s meditation and chi conditioning lesson. Mike couldn't help but chuckle at Leo's daughter who was trying to follow along, always wanting to participate and learn more. Leonardo absentmindedly chewed on his apple, staring into the abyss of the cold, gray blank room. Leo closed his eyes and judged from the ever-growing temperature of the cell that it was nearly the time where Silver was let out of his nighttime compartment.

Sure enough, five minutes later both scientists entered the outside room. Venus immediately stopped the lesson, wondering what would be in store for them today. Raphael watched on with cautious eyes from his meditation position on the floor, while Diana curled up into a ball. All of their muscles tensed when both Silver's steel door and their own were left wide open. Just like the day before, Silver didn't approach or attack them. Curious, Leonardo and Michelangelo slowly exited the cell only to freeze in panic.

"There they are!" a woman gasped, pointing at them from the crowd. As soon as the spectator spoke, hundreds of camera flashes filled the turtles vision. The murmur of voices grew louder and louder until it was almost deafening. Leo and Mike had forgotten how intrusive the media and public were. Venus poked her head out of the cell only to be blinded by the same bright flashing lights.

"Mum, what's wrong? What's happening?" Raphael questioned behind her. Diana nervously held her brother's hand. Venus sighed, knowing that they'd have to emerge sooner or later even though she didn't want to expose her two children like that. She bent down so that she was eye level with Raphael.

"Now, there's a lot of humans out there. A lot more than you've ever seen before-" Venus tried to prepare them.

"Are you coming?" Leo interrupted her, poking his head back into the cell. He gave the two children a worried and nervous look, knowing that this could turn out to be a rather traumatic experience for them. Mike joined the others and frowned at the two scientists waiting impatiently by the control panel so that they could close the steel doors.

Step by step, together they all entered the enclosure as a family. The chattering murmur dramatically rose once again at the sight of Raphael and Diana. The cell's steel doors snapped shut, locking all of them outside to endure the arrogant scrutiny of the human race.

"They're so cute!" a middle aged woman uttered to her husband.

"Extraordinary," a photographer murmured to himself in between photos.

"They're so weird," someone said in the background.

"Fascinating."

"Look at their size."

"Odd…"

"Ugh… They're so freakish!"

"I don't know what to make of them!"

"They shouldn't breed these abominations."

"I wonder how they became like that?"

"Those little ones are hideous!"

"They're not the most attractive animals in the world. They should have invested more money into the panda breeding program."

"They're just plain ugly."

Raphael glared up at the visitors with anguished tears in his eyes upon hearing their millions of individual comments. His hatred of humans that he had repressed a couple of days ago suddenly arose from the depths of his angry soul. He subconsciously growled at them with animosity, slowly clenching his fists with the overpowering desire to attack. Mike's hand was gently laid on his shoulder and almost instantly the anger faded away into distress. "You okay?" Mike asked quietly just to make sure. The boy nodded slightly and bit his lip as he allowed a tear to roll down his cheek. "Don't let them get to ya. You're better than them in so many ways," Mike encouraged Raphael while he gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

Diana froze under the judgmental gaze of the hundreds of pairs of eyes from the audience. She had never seen this many people before, and it scared her to no end. Her body shook with fear as she listened to their ceaseless comments and misinformed opinions. As a few tears dribbled down her face, she ran over to Venus for comfort. The adult bent down and wiped away her daughter's distraught tears before giving her a hug. "Mm… Mummy? Am, am I pretty?" the girl asked with a sniffle. Venus worriedly looked into her daughter's eyes, wondering how much she actually believed the negative comments.

"Of course you are," Venus assured her. Venus never wanted this for her child and it pained her to witness her daughter's realisation of how different and rejected she was from humanity. A tear of her own rolled down her face upon remembering the emotional pain she had endured over her childhood, when she realised that she wasn't beautiful and the possibility of falling in love or getting married was an impossible dream. Of course, her whole outlook on life had changed when she finally met the guys at the age of seventeen.

Venus watched as another couple of tears escaped from Diana eyes. Venus knew that unlike her upbringing, Diana would be raised in an understanding environment with her own species, though there would be no possibility in the future for a relationship. She remembered a conversation she had with Leo and Mike back when she was pregnant with Diana. After discussing all the possibilities, everyone realised that their species was doomed unless inbreeding occurred somewhere down the line. Inevitably the burden of carrying on the species would fall onto Raphael and Diana, as much as everyone hated to admit it. For Venus, today was the start of her daughter's inner torment of coming to grips with who she really was in this society and world.

"They're not very nice to look at."

"Eew."

"Gross."

"Cool."

"Yuck!"

"They're so ugly!"

"Mutants!"

"Freaks!"

Diana continued to cry as the random calls kept on coming from the spectators. Venus looked her daughter in the eyes. "Don't listen to them! Okay. You're my beautiful little girl and I love you very, very much," Venus said seriously before she hugged Diana tightly, as she herself became tearful once again. Diana numbly nodded her head while she wiped her eyes. Venus gave Leonardo a worrying look. The male turtle sighed, knowing that the audible comments were tearing both of the children's self confidence into shreds. They needed to hide somewhere; get away from the open. Leo anxiously stared at the concrete area with the idea of going over there, yet he also knew that Silver was around there as well. Heavily sighing, Leo decided that taking his chances with the devil he knew was far better than staying outside under the scrutiny of the audience.

Venus gathered up Diana in her arms while Mike held one of Raph's hands, as they all slowly moved into the enclosed concrete area. As soon as they entered, Raphael felt more secure because of the familiarity with his sewer home. The air was damp and dank; the room was colder than the temperature outside. Long, stiff fake pipes ran along the edges of the concrete walls; some haphazardly went straight through the room, making it look like the sewer environment even more. One pipe in the corner was on purposely dripping water, recreating the common sounds of the underground. Looking up through the slightly transparent sunshade, Raphael could still see the visitors clustering around the top deck to view them, but at least he felt more at home in the concrete part of the enclosure.

Silver was found pacing the length of the solid wall opposite to where they were standing. Nervously biting his nails, the ape quickened his stride, growled, muttered something incoherent before continuing his endless walking. The male turtles warily looked at him while Venus sat Diana down on a fake pipe to see if she was doing okay psychologically. Silver stopped pacing for a second and stared at them.

"Those your children Greenie?" Silver suddenly asked. Leonardo blinked for a split second, surprised that Silver was actually talking to them, though he seethed at the name the ape called him; it seemed that old habits die hard.

"My name is Leonardo, and the girl is my child," Leo answered slowly and cautiously, causing Silver to raise his eyebrow in wonder as to who the boy's father was. Silver grumped in response and started to chew his fingernails again; a bad habit he must have picked up over the years due to boredom. Although Leo didn't want to continue the conversation, Mike spoke up anyway.

"Hey… Do you know of a way out of here?" Mike asked, stepping forward. Silver gave the turtle an icy stare.

"How the hell am I supposed to know!? You're the ones who escaped!" Silver snapped bitterly. Mike stepped backwards in submission, surprised at the angry tone of voice he used.

"I was just wondering, you know," Mike murmured, saying it more to himself than to Silver. All of a sudden, the crowd grew quiet for no apparent reason. In an instant, Silver speedily ran past the turtle family and into the grassy part of the enclosure. Curious, the turtles stood in the pipe - which was the entrance to the concrete area – and peeked outside to observe what Silver was up to. They found the ape staring into the crowds, completely captivated by something. Looking up themselves, they were surprised to find Dr Aquel standing amongst the crowds, hooking up her microphone so that it sat nicely on her ear and cheek.

"What's happening?" Raphael whispered his question to no one in particular. Leo frowned.

"It looks like there's going to be a keeper talk…" Leo murmured. The turtles watched on in silence as Dr Aquel started to speak.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Dr Susan Aquel and I'd like to welcome you to our zoo," the female scientist introduced. "As you can see, this is now a shared exhibit between the Yeti and uh…" she coughed, hating the name. "Um… Yesmal's Turtle," she rolled her eyes. "Please leave questions to the end," she commented when several audience members put up their hands. "There is very little we do know about both of these species, but we hope that with time we'd be able to learn more."

"What we do know about the Yesmal's Turtle is that they are actually mutations from the regular turtles that you can buy from any pet store. They are bipedal and have a muscular skeletal system similar to our own, however they are still cold blooded like most reptiles. They also have vocal calls and have been known to simply mimic human speech. So far we've been feeding them a variety of fruit and vegetables. As you all know, a couple of years back some animal rights activists freed these turtles. Unfortunately, the two juveniles were born outside of the zoo's care and very little is known about their mating habits, gestation period, egg size, and how long it takes for the egg to hatch. They were recaptured in London's sewer system, and since they were originally found below New York, we have adapted their enclosure so it looks like their usual underground habitat. However we have kept the natural elements in the other half of the enclosure as that is what normal turtles prefer. This is actually their first day out in the public eye, so they're still getting used to things," Aquel explained before turning around to see what was happening in the enclosure.

"The large silver ape you see below me is actually the only known kind of his species. We don't know what his species actually is, but due to the similarities to the myths in the Himalayas, we have called him a Yeti, as he's the closest Yeti-like creature anyone has ever captured. Of course, if anyone ever does manage to catch an actual Yeti in the Himalayas, we'll have to think of something else to classify him as," Dr Aquel said as a few audience members giggled.

"Like I said before, he's most likely the last of his kind. Like the Yesmal Turtle, he is bipedal and similar to a human in body structure. He also has vocal cords and can also mimic human speech, which is why some of the staff at the zoo here have nicknamed him Zaius after the original movie of the 'Planet of the Apes'," Dr Aquel paused as there was some more laughter in the audience.

"Both the Yeti and Yesmal's Turtle are highly intelligent creatures. They do get bored easily if they aren't stimulated. What we found was that Zaius was sleeping for most of the day and that he wasn't getting enough exercise. Having this enclosure was both boring for himself and for the public watching him. We made the two species have the same enclosure so they would be more active. The Yeti and the Yesmal's Turtles won't hurt each other, however they aren't too fond of each other either. What you will find is that with shared enclosures, animals will go out of their way to avoid the other species. This makes Zaius more active and makes the enclosure more exciting for the audience. Here at the zoo you will find many other shared enclosures, such as the zebra and giraffe exhibit, and the caribou and moose exhibit," Dr Aquel continued.

"Now would you like to see Zaius perform a few tricks?" Dr Aquel asked the audience. There was a chorus of agreement and excitement from the anxious spectators. "Now these aren't going to be circus tricks or anything like that. We train our animals so that they are easier to handle, and to also perform health check ups without stressing the animal out. We don't teach them to do anything they wouldn't do in the wild," she explained further. After saying her little blurb that she repeated week after week for the audience, Dr Aquel reached for the bucket that laid beside her. She took out a small precut chunk of banana and showed Silver.

"Zaius, wave," she ordered, and Silver did exactly as he was told. After an impressed gasp was emitted from the audience, Dr Aquel through the piece of fruit into the enclosure. Silver anxiously grabbed it off the ground and ate it, causing Leo to frown in disgust at how much Silver was degrading himself.

"Zaius, say hello," Dr Aquel gave another order.

"Hello," Silver replied. Another piece of banana was thrown in.

"Zaius, sit," the female scientist gave another order. Once again Silver obeyed and another chunk of fruit was thrown in and devoured. "Zaius, smile," she asked. He did what he was told and was rewarded once again. "Zaius, do a lap," Dr Aquel said and immediately Silver took off, running around the enclosure in a full circle. Finishing the show, Dr Aquel threw in the remaining pieces of banana for Silver to finish off. "Obviously they were some basic tricks. We don't like to teach them too much, as we like them to stay wild for observational purposes. Anyway, that's the end of the session. For the next fifteen minutes I'll be available to answer any questions that you might have," Dr Aquel concluded, turning off her microphone. Instantly members of the press, locals and tourists bombarded her.

Holding all the spare pieces of the banana, Silver trudged back past the turtle family and into the concrete area for some solitude. Leonardo just stared at him from afar, not knowing what to make of the ape. "What!?" Silver snapped at the turtle with full mouth of food.

"I just didn't think you were to the type to stoop that low," Leonardo accused, angered and disturbed by his old enemy.

"So? I got food didn't I?" Silver defended his actions whilst stuffing his face with the rest of the yellow fruit. The ape stopped chewing for a second to give the turtle family a long, hard glare. "Don't you dare think that they won't try to train you too!" Silver outburst with anger.

"I'll never let them tame me so I could be a little show monkey like you," Leonardo said.

"Who said they'll try to train you first? They'll most likely start with your little she-shell, Greenie," Silver taunted while pointing to Diana. Leonardo growled in response to the suggestion. With an odd smile on his face, Silver sat down and lounged against one of the pipes. The adult turtles could tell that he was slowly getting back to his old self. "So how'd you wind up in here anyway?… Did Bonesteel catch you?" Silver asked carefully, growling while he said the name of the hunter.

Sensing no immediate danger, Mike and Venus chose to sit down while Raphael and Diana decided to explore the pond outside. Leo, however, remained standing; not trusting the ape for even a moment. "We were surrounded…" Venus answered when she figured that Leo wasn't going to.

"We ran into Bonesteel a lot, but he wasn't the one who-"

"-I swear if I ever get out of here, the first thing I'm going to do is snap that son of a bitchs' neck!" Silver growled uncontrollably, interrupting Mike's extended explanation. It was clear to the three turtles that Silver had developed a massive grudge on Bonesteel over the years. No one could really blame him for loathing the hunter. A resolution suddenly popped into Leo's head, and although he didn't really like it, his conscious told him that it was worth a shot.

"Then I guess that makes us allies," Leo speculated. Venus and Michelangelo almost gasped in surprise at what Leo had just considered, though they hid their shock behind a serious facial expression. Silver gave them all a filthy glare.

"There is no way I'm going to be friends with you green, primitive sewer reptiles! I still haven't forgotten all of the things you did to me!" Silver roared in disgust. Leo simply kept calm and shrugged.

"Being allies doesn't necessarily mean that we have to be friends. We're allies because we have the same interests and goals. We both want to escape and live out the rest of our lives peacefully, which in turn means that we have to dispose of Bonesteel," Leo paused and gave Silver some time to think about it. "Now will you help us or not?" Leo asked with a solemn monotonous tone.

Silver grumped and looked away. As much as he hated to admit it, the turtle had a good point. Deep inside, he knew that he couldn't escape all by himself. Yes, he did dislike them greatly, but that hate was completely overridden with his loathing thoughts of Bonesteel. He wanted revenge more than anything. In a weird kind of way, he felt secure around them, mainly because they reminded him of himself; they were also a rare species trying to survive the burden of humanity. Silver knew that they were trained ninja and had many useful skills that he could possibly abuse. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it; realising all of the benefits.

Silver locked eyes with Leonardo. "The security cameras that monitor the nighttime cells are on a twelve hour circuit. Every twelve hours, the videotape runs out and needs to be changed by the security personnel. While they're doing that, the cameras are inactive for about four minutes. This happens twice a day; once at eight o'clock at night, once at eight in the morning," Silver informed him. "You figure something out… Greenie," the ape said with a sly grin as he walked past Leo to get some sunshine outside. Leonardo frowned at the nickname.

"Hmm… Something tells me that you're stuck with that name, bro," Mike humoured him.

"Geez, you think?" Leo replied, wondering what they were getting themselves into.

*****

Late Afternoon.

Everyone was stressed and tired from the exhausting and drawn-out day. The hours ticked by extremely slowly, especially when there was nothing really to do in the enclosure except pose for the visitors. At five o'clock when the zoo closed, everyone was more than happy to return to their respective nighttime cells. Silver didn't really talk much for the rest of the day, but Leo figured that he was still thinking everything through. But it wasn't Silver that he was worried about. It was Venus.

She had barely said a thing to him all day, which was highly unusual as he thought that they could tell each other anything. Something was really bothering her, which in turn made Leo feel uncomfortable and worried as well. It wasn't just him either. Mike had also picked up on Venus' withdrawn behaviour and he had asked Leo whether he knew anything about it, which of course, Leo didn't have an answer.

Leonardo stared at her deep, serious pondering facial expression from across the glass-bound room. He could easily tell that she was deep in thought. Mike looked at Leo before looking at Venus again, knowing that the matter would be resolved soon. "Venus… Are you okay?" Leo finally asked. Venus snapped out of her troublesome thoughts for just a second to give him a dissatisfying nod, before returning back to her wordless thinking. Mike raised an eye-ridge at Leo, signaling that something definitely wasn't right. From observing the looks being shared by Leo and Mike, Raphael quickly picked up that something was wrong as well, and soon, even Diana could sense the heavy tension an awkwardness in the room.

Venus snapped out of her dreamlike state long enough to realise that everyone was looking at her, waiting for something to be said. She tried to form the words she wanted to say, but she couldn't do it, and instead she became close to tears. Leonardo immediately moved across the room to sit beside her in comfort. He took her hand in his as Venus used her other to wipe away the couple of loose tears that had rolled down her cheeks. Leo wanted an explanation, and Venus knew that whatever she said, he wouldn't like it.

"Venus… Please… Just tell me, please," Leo tried to coax her while he calmed her down.

"Leo…" Venus started before wiping away another loose tear and giving a quick sniffle. She looked away, avoiding his anxious gaze. Everyone was silent; patiently waiting for the rest of her sentence. "…I'm pregnant," she finally admitted. A sigh of relief swept over Leo, glad that it didn't end up being one of the many worst case scenarios he had thought up of in his head.

He wrapped his arms around Venus as a symbol of his understanding. "Venus… Did you think that I would be angry?" Leo wondered, considering she didn't act this way when she told him about the previous two pregnancies. Venus almost broke down into tears but she managed to compose herself. Her lips trembled in fear of what she was going to say next.

"…One of them is Mikey's," Venus admitted softly. An expression of pure shock could be seen on both Mike and Leo's face.

"What!?" Leo raised his voice in alarm; his tone was dead serious. Venus was about to say something else, but she was interrupted when Leonardo started yelling angrily at Michelangelo. "What the hell did you do!?" Leonardo accused the male turtle in orange. Leo stood up and swiftly walked over to him.

"Dude… I swear… nothing happened!!" Mike replied in a panic as he scrambled to stand up. Leonardo pushed him into the glass.

"Nothing happened!?! Venus is pregnant with your kid! How do you explain that!?" Leo yelled in Mike's face; his eyes burning with fury.

"Leo! We never did anything!! I swear… I would never do that to you!" Mike uttered quickly while raising his arms to try and block Leo's incoming punch. Venus jumped in and held onto Leo's arm, preventing the fist from making contact. Scared and confused, Diana crawled into her brother's protective arms, not liking the level of aggression in the room. Raphael held on to her tightly, not quite knowing himself what was really happening.

"Leo! He's telling the truth! Nothing happened between us!" Venus tried to convince her husband. Leonardo briskly turned to look at her face.

"Well something doesn't add up!" Leo said with a mixture of emotions and thoughts.

"They used artificial insemination," Venus said quietly, feeling ashamed. The room fell silent once again. "…So I'm pregnant with both of you," she concluded when the silence became too much. Both Leo and Mike's eye-ridges furrowed.

"What!?" Leo repeated, yet this time he was deeply confused.

"How does that work!?" Mike uttered at the same time as Leo. Venus sighed, knowing that it would be awkward and difficult to explain.

"Female turtles have the ability to… store sperm from multiple partners," Venus mumbled, eyes focused on the ground. The two males were stunned and still rather confused.

"So… you're having twins?" Mike asked slowly.

"Well… not exactly. I'm having two children that will be born around the same time, though one of them is Leo's and the other is yours," Venus answered Mike quietly.

"…Damn…" Mike muttered to himself. "I'm having a child and I'm still a virgin!" Mike murmured. Both Leo and Venus found his comment and predicament humorous, though neither of them laughed. "…Venus, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that…" Mike tried to apologise.

"Mike, it's not your fault. It's the scientists that did this to me," Venus said. Silence filled the room once again. After thinking over all of her problems, Venus finally released a few tears.

"Venus, it's okay. We'll work through this," Leo tried his best to make her feel better.

"That's not it…" Venus continued. "I'm… I'm going to have four children from three fathers!… It just… It just sounds so bad…" Venus trembled as some more tears escaped from her eyes. Leonardo knew what she meant. Venus was a respectable girl who lived by honour. Having multiple partners was something that she wouldn't do, and it went against everything she stood for as a Shinobi. Leo sighed knowing that the scientists hadn't only hurt Venus physically, but mentally as well, and Venus now probably felt she had dishonored everyone even though it wasn't really her fault that things turned out like this. There wasn't much Leo could say to make things better. She knew that it wasn't her fault, but it was the principle of the circumstances.

As the silence slowly crept back into the cell, the adults looked at the two children sitting on the floor waiting patiently, wanting an explanation of the current events. Not really knowing what to tell the two, the silence continued. "Is mum pregnant again?" Raphael asked quietly. Leo nodded wordlessly. The boy knew that there was more to it than that, but he decided to keep his mouth shut for the time being. That didn't stop Diana however.

"Why… why is Mummy sad?" Diana asked curiously.

"She's gonna have another baby," Raphael told her quickly. Diana thought about it for a while.

"Where… where do babies come from?" Diana asked, still curious. No one responded her question as no one really knew the answer anymore. They weren't created by love, but instead by the heartless greed of the scientists, and none of the adults could find it in themselves to tell the children the horrifying fact of the matter. They'd find out soon enough…