Chapter Nineteen
Ihre Gefangennahme ist bevorstehend! Schicken Sie ihm alle zum Boden! (Their capture is imminent! Burn it all to the ground!)
An explosion rocked the house, followed by the sounds of gunfire
What is going on? What was that sound?
Another blast of gunfire made Angie's eyes open up wide. She looked around through the dark of the bedroom, listening to the voices that had haunted her for weeks.
Gehen Sie! Ergreifen Sie sie! Lassen Sie sie entkommen nicht!
(Go! Seize them! Do not let them escape!)
Angie then jumped to her feet and ran to the bedroom door as it flung open by itself. She watched in horror as a team of demonic figures dressed in black broke through the windows, sending sprays of ammunition into the walls.
Übergeben Sie zu uns jetzt oder wir werden Sie töten, wo Sie stehen!
(Give yourselves up now or we you will kill where you stand!)
She then saw four turtle creatures, dressed as ninjas, begin to fight the group of demons. Gunfire rang out over her head, and she watched as the demonic creatures suddenly multiply in number and grew in height. Angie tried to call out to the turtles, but found she had no voice.
We need to get her upstairs! Hurry! Grab the IV's!
A white light flashed in front of Angie's eyes and she suddenly felt as if she couldn't breathe. She wrapped her hands around her throat and fell to her knees as she gasped for air.
Hurry up! We're losing her!
Angie then fell to the floor and laid her head down, clawing the floor as she felt her life force drifting away. She flipped her body over onto her back and looked up at the bright lighting above her. She could hear the shuffling of feet and the beeping of a dying heart, which then faded away into nothing. Angie grabbed her chest, and closed her eyes as tears began to pour out.
We've done all we can. She's gone.
When Angie reopened her eyes, she was back in the fiery house. She pushed herself onto her knees and began to crawl through the thick smoke toward the turtle creatures. Another round of gunfire made Angie drop to the floor and she covered her head. Then it was silent. Angie looked up, then cried out in despair. Staring back at her were Donatello's lifeless hazel eyes. She reached out to touch his face, but was stopped by an enormous black boot. She looked up at the mutant tiger, then shut her eyes as he rose his rifle to her face.
Dies ist das Ende. Sie gehören alle mir jetzt
(This is the end. You all belong to me now.)
Angie shot up in her bed, and gasped for air as she looked around the darkness of her apartment bedroom. Her eyes then met with the sleepy gaze of her cat, who meowed, as if asking her if she was alright. Angie placed her face into her hands, trying to hold back the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes.
" Please don't let me be right. Please don't let this happen."
Raphael stood in silence as he stared down into the gray headstone in front of him. He shifted his weight as his eyes reread the bold black inscription:
OUR BELOVED FRIEND AND ALLY
ANDREA LESLIE-RENEE SILVER
BORN MARCH 23RD 1952 DIED SEPTEMBER 14TH 1991
HER HEART AND HER BRAVERY WILL
NEVER BE FORGOTTEN
Raphael took a deep breath, then watched Vanessa as she rubbed the stone with her hand, then lean over and kissed its cold surface. Raphael then handed her the bouquet of white lilies he had been holding and Vanessa laid them down on the ground.
"Happy birthday Aunt Leslie." Vanessa whispered to the stone as she let the tears drop down her face. She looked back up at Raphael, who was also teary eyed, and reached up for his hand. He slowly pulled Vanessa to her feet and wrapped his arms around her, and they continued to stare into the headstone. After a few minutes, Raphael turned his head to Vanessa and smiled, then they began to walk back down the hill of the city's war memorial cemetery.
" Andrea," Raphael whispered loudly, which scared Vanessa out of her thoughts.
"What?"
"I like that name. Do ya think we could call the kid Andrea, after your aunt?"
" How are you so sure it's a girl?" Vanessa placed her hands on her hips as they reached Raphael's car. " You wouldn't even let me show you the ultrasound pictures."
Raphael reached into his jeans pockets for his keys and unlocked the passenger door of the car. " I just gotta a feelin', that's all." He then winked at Vanessa and helped her in. He then moved to the drivers side and started up the engine. The car went down the winding cemetery hill, then stopped at the large red STOP sign, and Raphael waited for the traffic to pass.
" So, where to now?"
Vanessa suddenly felt a dizzy rush push into her head and she placed her forehead into her hands. " Home. I'm not feeling too good all of the sudden." She then felt a small pain shoot through her abdomen, but ignored it as Raphael steered the car onto the busy city streets. Another, more intense pain then ripped through her and Raphael watched as Vanessa winced in pain.
" Hey, are you okay?" He reached over to her with his right hand and grabbed her shoulder.
" Raph, we need to get to the hospital." Vanessa said calmly, then suddenly screamed as the pain intensified. She grabbed onto her abdomen and leaned forward.
Raphael slammed on his brakes, causing his car to swerve into a parked car. " You can't be goin' into labor yet! It's too early! You still got three weeks left!"
Vanessa grabbed onto Raphael's shoulder as again screamed. " Don't you think I don't know that!"
"Okay, calm down and breath with it!" Raphael said calmly as he got Vanessa to did the breathing technique they had learned in her labor classes. " The hospital's only four blocks from here. We'll be there soon." Raphael sat back down and pulled his car into traffic without looking, which caused several vehicles to honk their horns, and he navigated his way through the crowded city streets.
"Man, it feels so awesome to finally get outside!" Mandy exclaimed as she skipped ahead of Michelangelo and looked around at the vast array of trees that covered Central Park.
"Take it easy there lady," Michelangelo said as he reached for her arm and pulled her back. "Try to keep yourself on the down low."
"I can't help it!" Mandy pull off the ball cap that was on her newly dyed brown hair and threw it into the air. " I've been cooped up inside of that house all winter long and I want to enjoy myself! WOOHOO!" Mandy then took off running as Michelangelo went after her. Behind them, Leonardo and Donatello shared a laugh.
" So much for keeping a low profile." Leonardo said as he tighten his grip around Linda's waist.
"Mikey now knows what we had to go through with him when we were younger." Donatello laughed again. He then stopped and looked around. " Where'd Angie go?" The three of them turned around, and saw Angie walking slowly behind them with her head down and her hands clasped together. Donatello sighed, then walked back to her.
"Everything is going to be okay." Dontello reassured her for the hundredth time as he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her sad eyes. " Nothing is going to happen to any of us. It was just a dream, that's all."
Angie lowered her gaze back down to the ground. " I can't help it, Don. All of my premonitions have been coming true lately." Donatello watched as the sidewalk under their feet became wet with Angie's falling tears. " I'm just so scared."
Donatello said nothing as he pulled Angie closer and held onto her tightly as her body shook. He raised his eyes to Leonardo and Linda, then laid his head on top of Angie's.
"God, it hurts! Why does it hurt like that!"
Vanessa wailed in pain again, squeezing Raphael's right hand tighter.
" Don't get stressed out! Just breath with it!" Raphael winced as Vanessa's grip crushed his hand again. He looked over the blonde haired female doctor and the many nurses who were scrambling around trying to get Vanessa hooked up to the fetal monitor. "Can't you guys give her somethin'? I'm about ready ta lose my hand!"
The blonde doctor looked up from her paperwork and glared at Raphael over her glasses.
"Raph, we can't until we know her exact condition."
"Her exact condition?" Raphael's jaw dropped as his voice rose. " She's freakin' havin' a baby! What else do ya need!"
"You need to calm down or you can leave!" The doctor said as she assisted one of the nurses with the readings on the monitor. " How far along did you say you were, Vanessa?"
"Thirty-seven weeks." Vanessa grunted as she tried to breath with Raphael. "She'll still be okay if she comes today, right?"
Raphael then smiled at Vanessa and ran his hand over her hair. "It really is a girl? I told ya I knew."
" Yes, she'll still be okay. We might have to keep her here for a few days, but she should be fully developed." The door of the room opened and another nurse pushed in an ultrasound machine, and the doctor quickly squirted Vanessa's belly with gel and started to move the probe around. Raphael, who couldn't see the screen, studied at the doctor's face, then moved his eyes back down to Vanessa.
" Just take it easy. Everythin' goin' be okay." He ran his hand over her Vanessa's hair again and then kissed her forehead. Vanessa slowly rose her other hand to Raphael's face and stared into his eyes, and Raphael could see the tears in them.
" Raph, there are just so many things I want to tell you, but, there's not enough time."
Raphael's face twisted in confusion. " What are ya talkin' about? We got the rest of our lives to talk about things!"
Vanessa patted his cheek. " Andrea is going to have such a great father." The tears then ran faster down her furry cheeks. " I love you."
Raphael searched Vanessa's eyes for the meaning behind her words. " I love you too, but why are ya sayin' stuff like that?"
Vanessa took a deep breath and was about to speak again when she grabbed her stomach and screamed from the intense pain while the beeping on the monitors began to increase. The doctor threw down the probe and began to yell at her staff.
"Quickly! We need to get her upstairs! Grab those IVs!"
"Why? What is goin' on?" Raphael asked as the panic in his voice increased.
" Call them and tell them to prepare for an emergency C-section!" The doctor said to a male nurse as she collected the papers from the fetal monitor and shoved them into her clipboard.
" Hurry people! We need to move!" The doctor then reached for the metal bars on the hospital bed when Raphael stepped in her way and screamed in her face.
" Nobody is goin' anywhere until YOU tell me what the fuck is goin' on!"
The doctor lowered her glasses from her green eyes and gave Raphael a cold stare. " I told you to calm done. If you don't, I will call security and have them drag your ass outside!" She then pushed her way around Raphael and helped two nurses push the bed out of the door. As they rushed down the hallway, Vanessa lifted her head up and reached out to Raphael, who was on the heels of the doctor.
" Raph," Vanessa called out weakly.
" I'm right here, babe. It's okay. Just relax."
When they reached the elevator, the nurses pulled in the bed as the doctor stopped Raphael from jumping in. He watched with wide eyes as the door closed in his face.
" What the Hell?" Raphael yelled. "What the fuck is your problem?"
The doctor then pushed Raphael into the opposite wall and gave him another cold stare.
" Now, you better listen to me. Vanessa's life and the life of that unborn child are in a lot of danger right now. If you want to go up there and be with them, you had better calm down right now!"
Raphael's evil gaze slowly disappeared as fear set in. He wanted to ask the doctor so many questions, but he couldn't get the words to come out of his mouth. The doctor then soften her face and patted Raphael on the shoulder as tears formed in his eyes.
" Everything will be okay. We are doing all that we can to save that baby. I just need you to be strong for Vanessa right now. Is there anyone you need us to contact?"
Raphael nodded as he wiped at his eyes, then let the doctor lead him into the elevator.
"Yeah, I gotta call my brothers."
The doctor patted Raphael arm. " I'll take care of that."
Angie sat silently on the grass and stared in the new leaves that were growing on the trees. She absentmindedly picked at the grass under her legs and flicked it aside. Linda and Mandy sat next to her, laughing together as they watched Leonardo and Donatello toss a football back and forth as Michelangelo tired desperately to tackle it away from them. After pretending to give up, Michelangelo then lunged at Leonardo, sending him to the ground, then quickly ran off with the football. Leonardo and Donatello chased him in circles, then trapped Michelangelo in between them. As they ran toward him, Michelangelo took a step back, and Leonardo and Donatello collided and fell to the ground. Michelangelo did a little dance then ran off again as his brothers regained their footing.
" Those guys are such little kids!" Mandy said as she continued to laugh. A shrill beeping noise sounded from behind them, causing Mandy to jump. Linda turned around and picked up Donatello's pager.
" Donatello!" Linda waved the pager around in the air.
"Who could that be?" Donatello asked as he and his brothers neared the girls. Linda handed him the pager and watched as he made a confused face. " 911? Who the heck-?" Donatello's eyes then got wide as he looked at Leonardo.
" What is, Donnie?" Leonardo asked.
" It's Raph. That's the code I told him to send when Vanessa went into labor." He looked back at the pager and scratched his head. " But, she's not due for another three weeks. This can't be right!" Everyone then shared nervous glances when Michelangelo spoke up.
" What the heck is wrong with you guys? Let's go!" He pulled Mandy to her feet.
" There's a baby on the way!"
" Okay, I'm making the incision. Make sure you watch those monitors."
Raphael sat behind Vanessa's head, wearing the seafoam green scrubs that the other nurses and doctors were wearing, and calmly stroked Vanessa's hair. He look at her expressionless face under that sat under the oxygen mask and silently prayed for her. He took a deep breath as the tears streamed down his face, then leaned over and kiss her forehead.
" Just hang in there," Raphael whispered as he looked over at the heart rate monitor and the slow beeping noise it made echoed in his head. His eyes then went to the blue tarp that hung between him and where the doctor and nursing staff were, but Raphael's thought were so distance, their words were nothing more than mumbles.
"Doctor! Her blood pressure is dropping!"
Raphael snapped back to reality when the beeping increase rapidly, and he jumped back in horror as Vanessa's eyes flashed open and her body began to convulse. Raphael was then pushed aside as two nurses tried to administer another round of sedatives, but the beeping increased, and Vanessa's body lashed around.
" Get this baby out of here! NOW!" Raphael heard the doctor yell, and before he could even lay eyes on his daughter, the male nurse he had seen earlier wheeled her away, and Raphael was left feeling more confused about what was going on around him. All he do was stand back helplessly as Vanessa's body thrashed around and the beeping sound of her heart grew louder and faster, and he felt the room spin as the doctor spoke again.
" Hurry! We're losing her!"
"Hurry! We're almost there!"
" What floor is the maternity level anyway?"
"I'll go ask."
Angie stood behind Donatello as she watched Linda stop a nurse, then moved her eyes around the low tiled ceiling above her. She suddenly felt the room spin and she fell into Donatello, who then turned around as Angie fell to her knees.
" Are you alright?" Donatello asked as he held Angie under her arms, then noticed Angie was gasping for air. " Ang? Angie!"
Angie's body slumped down to the ground as he hands went to her neck and her body shook violently as she struggled to breath. Donatello grabbed her again and looked into her eyes and saw the glazed-over stare in them.
"Angie! Come on! Snap out of it!" Donatello then held her tightly to his chest until she stopped shaking. As he pulled her back, Angie's limp head went backwards, but her eyes reminded open. Donatello looked up at his brothers, then at Mandy and Linda, all of which had been frozen in fear during Angie's fit.
" Okay, the Voodoo Lady is REALLY creeping me now!" Mandy finally said, breaking the silence.
" Angie?" Donatello patted her cheek lightly, then snapped his fingers over her still frozen eyes. He then held his hand over her gapping mouth, then looked at Leonardo and Michelangelo. " She's not breathing."
As they all began to panic, Angie suddenly took in a huge deep breath and sat up as she blinked her eyes. She slowly turned her head to Donatello and softly spoke as tears flowed down her face.
" She's gone."
Leonardo knelt down and looked into Angie's eyes. "Who's gone?"
"Vanessa."
"No! NO! NOOOOOOOOO!"
Raphael screamed as he threw the female doctor to the floor and ran to Vanessa's side, grabbing her lifeless face into his hands.
" Come on, babe. Don't do this to me! You gotta be okay!"
Two nurses helped the doctor to her feet and she threw her broken glasses to the floor.
" Raphael! I'm sorry, but we did all we could do! She's gone!"
Raphael lowered his head onto Vanessa's furry shoulder, shaking his head back and forth, refusing to let his tears fall. The doctor placed a hand on his shoulder and pulled him up.
" You need to think of that baby, Raph. You can't do anything for Vanessa now."
Raphael then turned his head to the doctor and his eyes burned straight through her. " You! You did this!" He then lunged at the doctor and pinned her to the wall. " You better bring her back right now or I'll kill you! Ya hear me? I'll KILL YOU!"
Just then, four armed security guards busted into the operating room and pulled Raphael back just as he threw his hands around the doctor's frail neck.
" Get your fuckin' hands offa ME!" Raphael shoved back two of the guards with his elbows, then kicked another in the gut before turning back to the doctor. " Bring her back RIGHT NOW!"
Raphael then felt a sudden sting in his shoulder, then turned to see the male nurse that had taken the baby out of the room with an empty syringe in his hand. Raphael dropped his hands from the doctor's throat then reached for the nurse.
" What the fuck did you just do!" Raphael squeezed the nurse's shoulders, then found he was losing strength in his arms. He then felt a numbness in his legs and he fell to the ground. As Raphael looked up, his sight began to become fuzzy. The guards then grabbed onto Raphael's limp body and began to drag him out of the room. Before he lost touch with reality, Raphael looked at Vanessa's lifeless body and reached out to her with his limp hand.
" Don't...leave... me..."
Leonardo held onto the Linda's hand tightly as they ran down the long twisting hallways of the maternity ward floor. Michelangelo was behind them, with Mandy holding onto his shoulders as she rode him piggy-backed, and Donatello brought up the rear slowly as he held onto Angie's hand, still worried about the episode she had experienced downstairs. They all rounded the corner and stopped at the long glass window that housed all of the newborns. Michelangelo let Mandy slide off his shoulders and they both pressed themselves against the glass.
" I wonder which one is ours?" Michelangelo asked as they searched the plastic beds.
""We're going to go find Raph." Leonardo said to Donatello. " You guys stay here until we get back." He then pulled Linda around another corner and they disappeared from sight. Angie pulled Donatello over the glass next to Mandy and they both peered in.
" I don't see anything that's green, has a shell or even looks remotely furry!" Mandy said as she stood on her tiptoes and strained to see in the back of the room. She then pointed to one that was sitting on the scales as a nurse checked it's measurements. " Look at the hair on that baby's head!"
Michelangelo, Donatello, and Angie looked to where Mandy's finger was directed at and saw the head full of bright auburn hair.
" Damn! Look at that hair!" Michelangelo exclaimed, then looked at the blueish-pink skin under it. " But it ain't ours. It's human."
" They might have taken it to the neonatal unit, just to be sure it's okay." Donatello suggested as he turned away from the window and searched the hallway for Leonardo.
" I wish we knew what it was." Mandy said as she too turned around and crossed her arms over her chest. She then looked over at the visibly upset Angie. " Do you know what it is?"
" Sorry, my voodoo doesn't cover that!" Angie snapped as she walked away from the window and sat down on the floor across from them. Donatello moved over and sat down next to her and placed his arm around Angie's shoulders. She then looked into his eyes as her tears poured out again. " I can't believe Vanessa's gone."
" Now, come on. We don't know that for sure yet." Donatello said, not really wanting to believe Angie.
" I DO know! You should understand that by now!" Angie said as her sobbing increased.
" I can't help what I see, Don. Do you think I like seeing stuff like this!"
Donatello then grabbed her and held her tightly as she wailed into his shirt. " Okay, I'm sorry I said that. I just don't like seeing you upset. It kills me." Donatello then looked up at Michelangelo, who was staring at something down the hall. Donatello followed his brother's gaze and saw Linda walking toward them with tears in her eyes, while Leonardo held onto Raphael. Donatello pulled Angie to her feet, then they all joined together in front of the large window. Donatello saw the expressions on all three of their faces, and knew the words that were about to come out of Leonardo's mouth.
" She- she didn't make it." Leonardo's lip trembled as the tears ran down his face. A sudden silence seemed to take over the hallway as they all lowered theirs heads. Raphael closed his eyes, then finally let out all of the tears he had been holding in as the truth finally sunk down in his heart. He screamed out loudly, which scared everyone else around him, and they watched as he crashed in Leonardo's arms and cried uncontrollably.
Later that night, Dr. Littmen walked down the quiet, main hallway of the maternity ward as she pulled back her blonde hair and prepared herself for the difficult conversation she was about to engage in with the mutant turtle who had, just hours ago, tried to strangle her. She stopped in front of the inclosed waiting room, took a deep breath, then opened the door. Her eyes went first to Raphael, who was sitting in a chair on the back wall with his elbows propped up on his knees and his head leaned over into his hands, and he made no movement as she entered the room. Next to him was Leonardo, who continually rubbed his brother's shell with his left hand, and Linda's hands were wrapped tightly in Leonardo's right hand as her head settled into his shoulder. On Raphael's left side on the opposing wall sat Donatello and Angie on the floor, and Michelangelo sat under Mandy, who was cross-legged in the chair above him.
Everyone's eyes, except Raphael's, went directly to the doctor as she entered the room and moved toward Raphael. Raphael's line of sight was glued to the speckled gray and white tiles below him, and his vacant stare refused to look up at the presence he felt in front of him. The doctor then shifted her gaze to Leonardo and extended her hand to him.
" I'm Dr. Carol Littmen. I am-" She then nervously cleared her throat. " -was- Vanessa's obstetrician."
Leonardo shook the doctor's hand and offered her a smile, but said nothing. The doctor then looked back at Raphael and threw all of her fears away as she knelt down in front of him.
" Raphael, there are a few things I need to discuss with you about what happened today."
Raphael said nothing at first, but then drew in a deep breath and spoke without looking up. " I don't wanna talk. Just leave."
Dr. Littmen exchanged a glance with Leonardo, then felt something bump into her back. She turned to find Michelangelo's hands around a chair and the doctor smiled as she stood up and allowed him to push it under her. Dr. Littmen then pulled Raphael's hands down and held them tightly as his head shot back up, and she found no emotion in his eyes.
" I need to ask you something. Did Vanessa ever tell you about her family? About her race in Africa?"
Raphael's eyes blinked as he wrinkled his forehead. " Not a lot. I never bothered ta ask."
" She never told you about how her people are slowly becoming extinct?" The doctor's words suddenly seemed to bring everyone else around them into the conversation.
" Extinct? What the hell are ya gettin' at?" Raphael said as he pulled his hands free.
The doctor sighed then spoke. " Her race has been around for thousands of years, and at one time their numbers were close to a million, but as time went on, as the world around them changed, as Africa was settled by Europeans, those numbers started to slowly diminish. Their bodies were slow to adapting with all of the environmental changes going on, and it was mainly in the females of her species that it was occurring."
Raphael leaned back in his chair, becoming a little impatient with the doctor's story as she continued.
" You see, when a woman becomes pregnant, it starts off a chemical reaction in the body, sending off hormones telling the body to change and adjust to the baby inside. But with Vanessa and the rest of her people, this reaction doesn't take place, and the chemicals in their bodies start to fight off the invader, which, of course, is the baby, and it kills the offspring. But if that baby's own chemical makeup is stronger than then mother's, the baby then starts it's own reaction and, over time, it causes the health of the mother to deteriorate."
Donatello then interrupted. " So, since Raph's chemical makeup is different than Vanessa's, that's what helped the baby survive?"
The doctor nodded. " Yes, I'm afraid that's what happened." Her eyes then went back to Raphael's face. " After Vanessa told me all of this, I tried to convince her to abort the baby," She then saw the anger returned to Raphael's eyes. " I'm sorry for saying that, but I was thinking about her safety. But Vanessa refused to have the procedure done. She wanted that child more than anything, no matter what the cost. I just don't understand why she didn't explain any of this to you. I'm sure you noticed her health going downhill over the past few months. She told me that some days she would sleep all day, or that she would barely eat."
Raphael turned his head away, feeling more tears in his eyes. " I just thought it was normal pregnancy stuff." He wiped angrily at his face. " I didn't know what was goin' on!" He then stood up and walked over to the window, then slammed his fist into the wall beside of it.
" Why didn't she fuckin' tell me! What was I suppose ta do!"
Leonardo then stood up and moved over to Raphael, then grabbed his brother in a tight hug as Raphael broke down again.
" Raph, it's okay." Leonardo then felt his own eyes watering. " I'm sure she wanted to tell you. But I think it was because she didn't to see you like this." Leonardo then pushed Raphael back and looked into his brother's eyes. " You need to think about your child now, Raph. You need each other now more than ever."
Mandy then perked up. " Is the baby okay? Can we go see it?"
Dr. Littmen rose to her feet and smiled. " Yes, she is a very strong and healthy baby, and she has quite a set of lungs on her!"
Mandy then gasped. " It's a girl? Cool!" She then waited for Michelangelo to stand up, then she jumped out of her seat and walked out the door. Leonardo waited until everyone had left before he spoke to Raphael.
" I'm really sorry, Raph." Leonardo gave his brother another hug. " I know how much you cared about her. I wish there was something I could do for you."
Raphael sighed as he looked into Leonardo's eyes. " Just bein' here is enough, Leo. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here."
Leonardo smiled, then walked behind Raphael as they exited the room.
When they caught up with the rest of the group, Dr. Littmen grabbed Raphael's hands and pulled him along as they made their way to the back of the viewing room. The doctor stopped in a front of a wooden bassinet and Raphael peered down, seeing nothing but a pink hat and a several white blankets.
" Where is she?" He asked, feeling slightly embarrassed. The doctor smiled then reached in and pulled the bundle of blankets out. The rest of Raphael's family moved in closer as the doctor carefully set the bundle in Raphael's arms and pulled back the blankets, but the new found smile on Raphael's face faded away as he saw the pink skin of his daughter's face.
" Wait a minute. This can't be right!" He pushed the baby back toward the doctor. " This kid is human!"
Dr. Littmen looked at the chart that hung on the backside of the bassinet and shook her head. " That's your daughter, Raph. I should know, I delivered her. You were in there with me."
Raphael looked back at the sleeping baby's face and shook his head. He turned around to face Donatello, and Raphael could see in his brother's eyes that he had no explanation for the baby's appearance. Raphael placed the baby into Leonardo's hands, then began to open up the blankets. His heart raced as he found more pink skin under the blankets, and he counted the ten fingers and ten toes over and over again. Dr. Littmen moved over to them and gave Raphael a curious look.
" Is there something wrong?"
Raphael took a step back away from Leonardo and shook his head in disbelief. " No. She ain't mine. She can't be mine." He then took another step back. " Vanessa lied ta me. That kid ain't mine."
"Raph! Wait!" Leonardo called out as Raphael turned and ran out of the room. He turned back to the doctor and shook his head. " I'm sorry, Dr. Littmen. I think we were all expecting something, well, something a little more-"
"Weird looking!" Michelangelo jumped in as he watched the baby wiggle around in Leonardo's arms and a little puff of dark auburn hair poked out from under the pink cap. " Well, you can tell it's Vanessa's at least!"
Leonardo then sat the baby in the waiting arms of Mandy, then ran down the hallway to find Raphael, and he was relieved when he discovered he didn't have to go very far. Raphael was sitting next to elevators under a water fountain with his eyes fixed on the wall in front of him. Leonardo stood at the corner of the wall silently as Raphael sniffed back his tears and began to speak.
" I can't believe she lied about me bein' the father, Leo." Raphael lowered his eyes back down to the floor. " How could she do that ta me?"
Leonardo then sat down next to Raphael. " Raph, come on. You don't know that."
" Did you even get a look at that kid, Leo!" Raphael yelled as he pushed himself away from the wall. " That kid is human, up and down! And after everythin' Don told us about all that DNA shit, how can you sit there and tell me that she's mine!"
Leonardo turned his head away from the anger in Raphael's eyes and sighed. " I can't, Raph. I don't have an explanation for the way she looks. I'm just as confused as you are, as all of us are." He then looked back at his brother. " But we just can't abandon that baby, Raph. She doesn't have anyone else but us now."
" Well, we could take her to her real father," Raphael mumbled under his breath.
Leonardo narrowed his eyes. " Come on, Raph. Don't act like that! Besides, do you really think Chad is going to take that baby with open arms?"
Raphael kept his eyes to the floor. " I'm sorry. I shouldn't had said that."
Leonardo then patted Raphael's shoulder and jumped to his feet, and offered his hand to Raphael, who hesitated at first, then allowed Leonardo to pull him to his feet.
As they walked back down the hallway, a blonde woman dressed as a nurse, picked up the receiver of the pay phone that hung on the wall, and punched in a few numbers. Then after waiting for another minute, she spoke into the phone in a whispered German accent.
" Doctor, I have news on the child. You are not going to believe this."