Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT

A/N: First of all, thank you ever so much for the reviews! Secondly, some of y'all misunderstood the last part and it is entirely my fault. I know that the lingo can differ between hospitals, early labor in the term that your thinking it is always labeled as 'premature'. For us early means that she's in the first stages of labor. Meaning she's in the early part of labor and not about to give birth. I know that turtles have a much shorter gestation than humans, but if you noticed the dates after he came out of the chamber I made it equal somewhat 9 months. I am trying to keep my medical lingo simple for those of you who are not medical types. Just like my husband keeps his mechanic's talk simple for me.That's why I'm staying out of the 'gravida', 'para', and the whole percent/dilation bit. Though for those of you who want to know I will be touching a bit on that in this chapter. One of the great things about writing in Raph's POV is that whenever something really complicated/technical goes on he tends to need a lot of explaining. Once again sorry for the mixup you guys. Hope you don't hold it against me. Anywho, hope you enjoy this segment in the story!


Chapter 24

Sock it to'em

What! You didn't think that I was surprised! I thought that having to go poop meant having to go poop! Not that you were going to poop out a baby! I mean, wha- (He cuts off, stomping around the room while squeazing his head between his hands. He storms back over to you.) What I'm trying to say is...WHAT THE FRIGGIN HELL! As if this couldn't of happened to Donny or something! He's the emotional one! Here I am, acting all macho and bragging about testosterone and here I am, the one about to give friggin birth! It's not fu#king FAIR! (He snatches a nearby heavy object and lobs it across the room. It goes through the wall. A voice yells in complaint.) Eh. Uh oh. Maybe I'll have to patch that up later or something...or something. (Looking a bit more subdued, he sighes and finally faces you.) Why is this happening to me? Hell if I know. Right now turtle luck is just working true to friggin form. Well, I got this far, I might as well tell you what happens next, I guess...


For a long moment there the room just sorta went silent. And everyone was kinda moving in slow motion. I looked around slowly, my head moved like it weighed a ton. Everyone was talking hurriedly. Several of my bros were grabbing my arm or something, yelling something in my face. I managed to recognize what they were saying somehow. They wanted to know if I was alright.

Alright? Does that word have a definition? I'm not so sure it does at the moment. I'm in complete shock. I've never experienced this kind of shock.

Well, I guess that things could have been different for me. I mean, in the back of my mind I knew that I was pregnant despite ample stores of testosterone, and that being pregnant meant eventually having to give birth. So what was I so shocked about? I guess that it was because I never really thought about it. No, that's not it. I never really wanted to think about it. I mean, this isn't even supposed to happen to a guy! By law we shouldn't have the right parts! There's a law that says that somewhere, isn't there?

It's not like I planned for this or anything. In essence, you could say that I was raped to conceive this child. Damn I sound like a chick. Too friggin 'matronly'. What's wrong with me?

I vaguely listened to the things that were being said around me. According to Donny someone can be in the early stages of labor for a pretty long time. He wouldn't know for sure how far along he was until he checked how many 'centimeters' I was. He didn't look too happy about that decision, and wasn't too sure he could pull it off. What does he mean, check how many 'centimeters' I am?

Leo's the one who broke my daze. I guess that everyone was finished deliberating or something and I was still standing there, kinda dumbfounded. Grabbing my shoulder, he tugged at me hard, urging me to move. It only speaks testament to my still receding shock that I didn't try to wham on him good for that.

Fortunately it didn't last long. I don't think that I've ever been in shock like that.

We ran down the halls and at first, not only didn't I say anything I didn't really think anything.What was there to say? Suddenly I remembered all those tales of women saying things like 'why don't you try popping a grapefruit out of a hole this size and see how you like it!' They now had my deepest sympathies. But at least their's was made to do that sort of thing! It was, what do you call it?...it had elasticity. It was made to be, uh, stretchy. I couldn't really do that, could I?

I shuddered. Then I noticed that conversation was still going on around me as we were running. What's going on with me? I'm not normally this spacey.

"...But how! I don't understand!"

Don scrunched his face in thought at Mikey's question. "Well, Vivid just told us that most humanoids create themselves a sort of, uh..." He cast me a nervous glance. "Man-gina."

Mikey choked on a laugh and nearly fell on his face. He caught up with us, his hand pressed so tightly against his mough that his fingers were turning white. Great. Now I'll never live this down. They're discussing how I'll give birth?

Don continued. "With turtles, the female gives birth through a tube-like structure in the tail. I suppose that we can expect something similar from Raph, considering that he's a turtle. One thing that I'm not sure of is whether it'll be an egg or live birth..."

Amuke shook his head. "My species lay eggs, but with me and other reptilian aliens on this planet all the births are live ones."

"Who will it look like?"

Amuke smiled. "Well, that one is a mystery. All children look just like the elentials for the same reason why no male without powers can give birth to a boy. Since Raphael has powers not only does he have the capability to have a male child, but the child's appearance is not set in stone as it is with a male without powers."

Shankign his head, Don said: "I only need to check how far along he is." Immediately he got questioning looks from his brothers. Donatello blushed, plucking at his lip. "Well, how they do it with humans, is that they insert a finger into the vaginal canal to feel how far the cervix is opened up, or how many centimeters she is..."

My fists clenched. I didn't want to hear this! NO ONE is sticking ANYTHING in me unless they want to lose a vital body part! Damnit! Who did he think he was! I picked up my pace, growling, thinking of all the painful things that I could inflict on my brother.

It was right about then that the floor shook once more. On top of that, we saw a solid mass of soldiers rushing at us from the other end of the passageway.

Immediately everyone was up in arms...except me. They saw fit to simply shove me aside in their 'protection.' Just because I'm pregnant and in labor doesn't mean that I can't fight! A fresh new wave of pain warmed over me and I doubled over momentarily, gritting my teeth. Damn that friggin HURTS! Considering this I'm surprised that women don't take drastic measures to ensure they never get pregnant!

Slowly I stood up and watched the fierce fighting going on around me. It wasn't looking so hot. They were already separated, my bros and Vivid's family cleaved in half by a wave of soldiers. Suddenly Amuke's huge horned head fell from view. Wait, where's Heartfelt! Frantically I looked for Vivid, then managedto spot her redhead bobbing in the battle. But sheonly had use of onearm, she couldn't hold them off her forever!

Gritting my teeth, I concentrated. I had to help her. Slowly I tried to summon my energy, just as I did before. Slowly I felt it building, slowly...then a contraction swept through my belly and everything vanished as I gritted my teeth to bear it. As soon as it passed I tried again. The energy was more scant this time, more difficult to grab... It was then that I realized that I just couldn't do this. If I did, then I could hurt my family as well. Unlike the last battle, this one was too close together. If I tried to hit one, I might hit everyone!

Screw this shit.

With a snarl I snatched up my sai and jumped into battle. It felt good to be doing a bit of steel-on-steel action again. I have to say that I missed it. I tore through thatcrowd like a thing on fire, concentrating on that red head that was bobbing in the middle of the group. I parried, blocked, and slashed with my sai, ignoring both the pain from inflicted injuries and the constant cramping in my stomach. I didn't care. I just had to reach her...I simply cleaved through them, with only one purpose in mind.

I don't know quite when I reached her, but when I did you might be able to imagine my surprise. It wasn't Vivid at all, it was just a red-haired elential soldier who'd lost her helmet. Her hair wasn't the same shade, but in the confusion I managed to mistake it for hers. I couldn't believe it. With a snarl of rage I balled my fist on my said and swung at her face. She tried to block that blow and was successfull at it, but didn't see my other hand coming. I clubbed her in the side of the head. Immediately her eyes rolled back and she slumped to the ground. Frantically I fought my way through once again, looking for the bodies on the ground. I must have stepped on at least a couple dozen fallen soldiers but I didn't find any of my new family. Not even Amukes fat a$$.

Suddenly all the soldiers broke away from directcombat and scattered, running away. With a roar of rage I pursued them, bloodied sais blazing. They were running! Why were they running!

A hand grabbed my shoulder, jerking me back. With a snarl I swung around, ready to strike down my opponent. I stopped short of opening Leo's face.

"What do you think you're doing, Raph!"

I glared at him. "What the hell does it look like, Leo!"

He crossed his arms and looked at me. Slowly Mikey and Donny crept up behind him. "Your going to get Amuke and the others, which is understandable. We will rescue them." I looked at him. Surely he wasn't actually understanding me, was he? This was a monumental event! Unheard of! Leo finished. "You're just not coming with us."

Immediately my head boiled with pure unadultured rage. How DARE he! I'll blow his fu#kin brains out!

Don came from behind him hesitantly. "He's right, Raph. You're not in any condition to fight." He shrank momentarily at my deadly glare, then came up and looked me straight in the eye. "Every time you move, even walk, you induce the labor even more. You don't want to deliver the baby right into Honor's suspecting arms do you? Why do you think that the soldiers left once they had them? Because they're trying to lure you in! That's why they went for them, because they're all injured and easy pickings."

Leo nodded. "Besides, we don't want to endanger the child that you are carrying. We will take care of it from here. Kartal and his daughter are waiting outside in a skif. Go there and wait for us, he'll take care of you until then."

For a moment I just stared at them and said nothing. At first they stared right back, ready for a challenge. When I didn't say anything in rebuke they slowly started to relax. They must think that I'm going easy.

Like fu#king hell!

I don't care what friggin 'condition' that I'm in right now! Vivid's my wife! My soulmate! You can't honestly say that I've been wanting this child in the first place, at the moment I don't give a crap what happens to this baby! I'll kill it myself before I'll let Honor get a hold of it anyway! At this moment all I care about is getting back my wife! My blood was boiling.

With a furious gaze I swept all of them until I came to rest on Mikey. He grinned and motioned his eyes over at the other two. I grinned. My sentiments exactly.

Leo nodded and smiled. "Right then, Raph. I believe that if you go this way..." His sentence stopped abruptly as my fist connected with his face. It was a sucker punch, I know. I'll pay for it later, I realize that too. Did I enjoy it? Hell yeah. My knuckles hit him in exactly the right spot, I threw my shoulder and my body weight in with it so you could say that there was enough force involved. The blow lifted him off his feet and toppled him backwards. I darted forward to catch him, slowing his fall. See, I can be nice when I want to be!

Don made a single sound of protest before Mikey's nunchucku hit him solidly in the back of the head. He caught him as he fell.

Slowly we dragged our unconscious brothers to the side, hiding them behind a drape. They wouldn't be out for long, just long enough for us to have our way. I high-fived Mikey. He was grinning from ear to ear, if not a bit nervous.

"Man, this has to be the dumbest thing we've done to date!"

I chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. But I wasn't going to let them keep me from Vivid."

He grinned. "Yup. We're going to rescue my sister!"

We turned on our heel and ran down the passageway. I couldn't believe my own actions. I sure was going to catch hell for this one, that's for sure! I don't care what happens after this, as long as I get to stay with my Vivid!


A/N: Sorry, I'm pulling out the worst endings to date! I hope that this chapter was somewhat satisfactory for you. I did kinda write it in one big rush. I do have a dilemma, though. It is true that I work with babies in the hospital, but I get them after the mommies give birth. The only ones that I did assist with were either cesarean section orthey had an epidural.What I'm trying to say is that couple that with no kids of my own and I'm not sure what labor without an epidural feels like. Obviously, Raphael will never be blessed with an epidural, so either in your reviews, or in an email message to me; I'd appreciate it if all you mommies out there told me what exactly it felt like. It doesn't matter if they're different. I promise I'll use something from all of them, then commend you at the ending of the 'labor' chapter unless you desire otherwise. It would really help the storyline. Naturally I want him to progress rather quick so just ignore that part. I'd appreciate the assistance!

Anywho, remember, if you Read it, Review it!

Toodles!