Raph was greeted by the sound of baby laughter when he entered their house. With a smile he closed the front door and followed the sound to the living room.
Leo was sitting on the ground, holding Ky under his arms while their firstborn was practicing standing. He bent his knees, more or less hopping up and down with cute giggles.
Donnie was inside the playpen with Amy, showing her one of the shape games. The mahagony colored eyes of their daughter were wide with wonder as she watched her papa, and eagerly tried to copy his every move.
Mikey sat on the couch with Nix, playing peek-a-boo. Their youngest's eyes would go wide when mommy 'vanished' behind a pillow, and he laughed and clapped every time he appeared again.
Crossing his arms, Raph leaned against the doorpost and watched his family fondly. He couldn't believe how great their life here was.
After months of traveling through various dimensions, each of them worse than the last, they found this place. Finally one worth staying in. It changed all of them, in a very good way.
The best part was that they didn't need to hide anymore. They made great friends, they could go out whenever they wanted, bask in the sun and finally be normal.
Raph found himself being way calmer. The rage that's always been simmering inside of him was gone. He and Leo didn't fight anymore, only some minor discussions. He didn't even mind that Leo and Don were bringing home the money while he stayed at home with Mikey and their kids. Raph thought his heart should burst with how much he loved his mates and his babies.
While Leo was still a big mother hen, he was starting to relax way more. Without the deadly threats from back home, he found time to be just himself. A mate, big brother, and father. No dangerous decisions that would make the difference between life and death. The way he laughed back at Ky was carefree, the way it always should've been.
Donnie could finally follow his dreams of improving the world. Sure, it was a different world, but now he could tinker and research and be all scientific as much as he wants. His work was highly praised, he finally got the recognition he deserves. Despite being appreciated, and him loving to bury himself in work at the lab, the mayor made sure he went home at reasonable times to spend time with his family.
Mikey became way more mature since his pregnancy. He still made stupid jokes from time to time, but his pranks practically stopped completely. Even though he wouldn't admit it, the role as mother fit him perfectly. He cooked and baked and cleaned every day, took his time to take care of the babies, and in Raph's eyes he looked just adorable when he fussed about minor things, scolding each of his mates like only a mother could.
"Daddy!" Ky squealed when he noticed Raph in the doorway and giggled at him. His hopping stopped and he bent his knees to sit on his diapered bottom. While he could already stand, sometimes without help, his movement was still restricted to crawling.
With smiles they watched the little guy crawl eagerly over to his daddy. Raph bent down to pick him up, nuzzling the face of his son.
Leo's hand on his shoulder startled him.
"You okay?"
"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Raph blinked at the question. Why did Leo look worried.
The forest green hand came up to wipe at Raph's cheek. Only then did he realize he was crying.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing... I guess I'm just happy." The red-banded turtle smiled, walking over to the couch when Leo gave a teasing expression.
"Aw, you've really become soft."
Donnie picked up their daughter and they all settled on the couch together.
Seeing her daddy was crying, Amy held her triangle shaped block out to him.
"Daddy." She cooed. Raph chuckled at the cute gesture and took the block from her.
"Thanks, princess. Daddy's okay." He tickled her chin, making her giggle.
They all cuddled together, just enjoying their time as a family.
"I guess I feel a little guilty." Raph said after a while.
"Guilty? Why?" Leo asked. Raphael shrugged.
"We're having a great life here. But... we're only here because of... well." He didn't need to elaborate, since everyone knew he was referring to the incident back home.
"If April hadn't betrayed us, we wouldn't be here. We still would hide away in the sewers. We would risk our lives against aliens and creepy ninjas and street thugs, all for humans who'd kill us without batting an eye." Raph sighed.
"I miss dad, but... I wouldn't want that. I want this life, the way it is right now. I guess I feel guilty because of that."
"Aw Raphie..." Donnie said, using his free hand to squeeze Raph's.
"It's just..." The hothead continued, only slightly embarrassed that he was crying, "We're happy here. All of us enjoy this life."
"We do." Leo assured quickly, his own eyes wet. "I feel the same. I think we all do. Of course I wish we could've taken Splinter with us. And if there was a way to turn back time, we would do so. But that's not how it works." Leo let out a breath.
"It's okay to be happy again. We grieved for a long time. We've been through a lot of... stuff. We deserve to be happy. Father would've wanted us to be."
Mikey rested his head on Raph's shoulder and put Nix up to nuzzled his beak with a smile.
"Dad would've loved his grandchildren." He commented to lighten the mood some more, chuckling when Ky reached over from Raph's lap to tug on Nix' hand. The younger of the two frowned at his brother and tugged his hand free.
Ky tried again, making sounds of protest. Curious, Amy tried to climb in Raph's lap too, grabbing Ky's ankle.
Watching the play with amused expressions, the adults snuggled together. Raphael couldn't help but wipe at his eyes again.
"Yes, he would have."
xxxxx
"I'm officially jealous." Kion stated as he settled down on a stool by the kitchen island.
The mates of the two subs were in the garden with the children. Donnie, Raph and Bogen tried to install a barbecue and put together garden furniture, while Telon and Leo played with the toddlers and Elia in an inflatable wading pool. They could hear the cute laughter and splashing sounds from the open door to the patio.
Mikey smiled as he filled a few sippy cups with juice and put them to the side for later.
"It's awesome. Pretty much space to clean, but it's doable. As long as the guys help out."
"It's so big. Like... there's room for a dozen more kids." Mikey laughed and put a glass of iced coffee in front of his friend.
"There are only four empty rooms upstairs and three more in the basement. And I certainly won't have seven more children."
"Oh, who knows? Add another set of triplets, or quadruplets, or more..."
"Will you stop teasing me? The guys and I talked about it. When the triplets are around five we might have one or two more, depending on how it goes."
"You had triplets, you have any idea how rare it is for us to have more than one, let alone three? You're highly fertile, no wonder Mayor Voron is so intent on you having more."
Voron was subtle. The past months he talked to Donnie and Leo multiple times, asking how they and their family were doing, if they were still happy in their house, and so on. He was especially interested in the babies, amazed by their development. Oh how great would it be if there were more of such talented turtles. Blah blah.
"Fortunately my mates are very supportive of my decision to wait. Well, we decided together that we'd wait until they're five."
Kion sighed and sipped from his cool beverage.
"I wish Telon and Bogen were more supportive. I mean, Bogen is not so bad at the moment. He and Raph are busying themselves. But Telon is annoying me."
"Yeah I noticed his whining." Mikey chuckled.
"You don't even know the bulk of it. At home he's talking non-stop about it. Just wait until next mating season. He's gonna cling to me 24/7 in hopes I'd give in."
"Why is he so insistent?"
Kion rolled his eyes. "It's kind of stupid, really. Elia is clearly Bogen's daughter. Telon wants to be the biological father of the next child."
"Seriously? Before Donnie found out their DNA merges together we agreed they all would be their dads."
"That was our agreement too. And it worked so well. But lately he's pretty emotional... I think it has to do with your move here. He wouldn't admit it, but he's a little jealous. That Donnie and Leo got the promotion without even trying, while he's been applying for years now. That the mayor speaks so highly of you all."
Mikey raised an eye-ridge. "He's jealous because the mayor is so obsessed with us?"
"Like I said, it's stupid. He's been trying to get in Voron's good graces for ages. I think he hopes that if we get more children, the mayor would praise him too, but he won't talk to us about it."
"That's horrible. I don't want him to be jealous... Donnie thinks so highly of him, they're such good friends..."
"Telon knows it's not your fault. He sees Donnie as his best friend, maybe he feels better if they talk about it some time."
"With our luck Telon's talk about having more babies gets Donnie on board too. I can't believe he was against the pregnancy at first." Mikey shook his head.
"Well, I'm kinda glad he was. We wouldn't have met that afternoon."
"True..." He laughed at the reminder. "I was crying like a sissy and Elia gave me a cookie. Shell, that was ages ago."
"Nah, only two years. Time flies when you have children."
"Mommy!" Elia shouted, running until she entered the house through the dining room. Then she walked overly careful not to slip on the smooth surface.
"What is it?" The little girl giggled, gladly accepting a plastic cup of juice from Mikey. She took a big gulp before continuing.
"Uncy Donnie did make fun of papa and uncy Raph and then the two threw him in the pool!" Elia laughed. "He splashed sooo much and Nix and Ky started whining and Amy laughed and uncy Leo was angry because he got wet too and then they all started splashing and now the pool is empty!"
Kion and Mikey burst out laughing at the mental image. Elia laughed along, dark eyes shining with joy.
"Yeah, I think it's time for a break." Mikey chuckled and grabbed a tray, where he put the sippy cups and iced coffees.
Together they went outside to find all of the other turtles dripping wet. The air-filled wading pool was indeed empty, save for a few puddles.
Ky stood and clapped, laughing at the way Raph shook himself like a dog would, while Amy sat by Don on the grass, using her little hands to wipe the wetness from him. As soon as Nix saw Mikey he crawled over to him, grinning as he made grabby hands for him.
"Mommy! Uh-p!"
Mikey put the tray on a sturdy looking patio table and grabbed one of the towels laying in the sun before he scooped his youngest up.
"Oh my!" He gasped in an exaggerating way. "My baby is all wet! What did you do?!" Mikey tickled the toddler, making him giggle and squirm.
Amy clapped and crawled over too. "Mommy. Suh-wim!" Mikey knelt on the grass and started drying her with Nix' towel after sitting him on the ground.
"You swam? Wow, what a big girl you are!" He tickled her beak with the towel, laughing when she grabbed it to bite at it with a grin.
"You see that?" Raph gestured to Mikey, leaning over to Bogen. "As soon as mommy's here we're not interesting anymore." He joked, a fond expression on his face.
Leo rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"No look, at least our little Ky stays with us." He said, looking at their firstborn who's tongue stuck out in concentration, gaze fixed on his mother and siblings.
Very slowly he lifted his tiny leg to take a shaky step. He wavered for a moment but managed to stay standing.
Leo's and Raph's jaws were slack while the other adult turtle's eyes were wide. They watched Ky wiggle his fingers before taking another step.
Seeing his goal was Mikey, the freckled turtle held out his arms to his oldest son with a grin. Ky was eager, gaining confidence with every step.
"Come to mommy, Ky!" Mikey encouraged. Ky stayed concentrated and gained speed, before collapsing into Mikey's arms. The sea-green turtle hugged him close, peppering his little face with kisses that had the toddler giggling.
"Mommy!" Ky snuggled close, enjoying the affections.
"Impressive. At this age... just wow." Telon commented with an amazed grin.
Since Leo was closest to Mikey he knelt by him and gathered him and their babies close. Nix and Amy tried to wiggle away from the crushing hug, but Leo wouldn't let them.
"Aw I'm so proud! He walked! On his own!"
Donnie leaned his head on Raph's shoulder. "Yup, and tomorrow he's gonna start teaching him ninjutsu." He commented, earning a few snickers and a childish stuck-out tongue from Leo, which made the olive turtle laugh out loud.
xxxxx
"No!"
Mikey looked up from where he was picking up toys. Their toddlers had figured out how to throw things and seemed to enjoy "cleaning up" their playpen by throwing all of their toys out.
Ky was standing by the wooden bars inside the playpen, holding on as he bopped up and down. Amy was busy playing with a shape game, putting the triangle shape to the fitting hole and clapping when it fit.
That left Nix. The youngest was sitting by Ky's feet, face in a frown. His tiny hand was tugging on his brother's diaper.
"No! S-daaay!" Nix tried to tell him to stay. He didn't want Ky to leave, as if he could jump over their playpen.
"Mommy!" Ky's eyes were wide as he wiggled his behind.
Mikey chuckled at the scene, but didn't intervene. Siblings.
Ky let go of the bars and with Nix' tugging he fell onto his diapered bottom. Instantly he whined, tears filling his eyes.
Nix seemed surprised and clumsily wrapped his chubby short arms around his brother. Amy, curious at the sound of her older brother's crying, abandoned her game to crawl over.
Her hands patted on Ky's olive colored cheeks, as if she could pat the tears away.
"No cwy!" She tried to sooth and pressed her spit drenched lips to Ky's head as she'd seen Mikey do a million times.
Ky sniffed, but stopped crying with how his siblings were comforting him.
"I'm done with the- What is it?" Raph stopped in his tracks when he saw Mikey standing there, clutching a plushy to his plastron and smiling like an idiot at the playpen.
"They're so cute! Ky fell on his butt and Nix and Amy comforted him!"
Raph chuckled at that and leaned against the back of the couch to watch their children. Right now Amy was crawling back to her game, since her older brother was calmed down.
Ky was standing again, both hands holding Nix' as he tried to help him stand up.
"Nnnnis!" Ky mispronounced his little brother's name, frowning when he wouldn't cooperate.
"No! S-day!"
Nix face displayed shock when Ky used his whole weight to pull him a few inches off the ground. The blanket that padded the playpen wrinkled when his feet slid on it, and after a few short moments of them both halfway standing, Ky's grip slipped and they both landed on their butts.
Simultaneous they started to cry. Amy looked up with wide mahagony eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh before she joined in. Couldn't she play in peace for a little while?!
Raph and Mikey laughed and hurried to console their babies.
xxxxx
The house was silent, safe for the sound of playing toddlers in their playpen. Raph was on the couch, reading a magazine while keeping an eye on them. Leo was cleaning the small guest bathroom, while Donnie and Mikey worked together on the bigger one upstairs.
And then it happened. Nix sneezed.
Raph blinked, turning his head to the playpen. Nix was rubbing on his beak, starting to whine, voice cracking a little.
They had suspected he was coming down with something, and now they had their proof.
The emerald turtle sighed and put the magazine away, getting up to brace for what was coming.
Leo got in position by the stairs, and sure enough they heard Don's yelp and Mikey's footsteps as he hurried downstairs.
Mikey ran straight into Leo's arms.
"Let me go! My baby needs me!" Mikey was vicious as he tried to get out of Leo's grip, kicking and wiggling as much as he could, even using his blunt nails to dig them into Leo's skin.
"Ow, stop that! You know what happened last time!"
"I don't care! Let go!"
Donnie came down the stairs, limping a little and rubbing on a forming bruise on his knee.
"Careful, Leo, he's not playing fair." He warned when he reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Mommy!" Nix cracking wail reached them.
Mikey sunk his teeth into Leo's arm, making the forest green turtle let go of him in shock. Seizing his chance, Mikey wiggled free and dashed to the living room.
Donnie and Leo exchanged a look before giving chase. Both of them threw themselves on Mikey just before he could reach Raph, who was holding a crying Nix.
The whole morning it's been easy to subtly keep Mikey away from him, so he wouldn't catch Nix' cold again. Now that Mikey knew his youngest was sick there was no way he'd let himself be quarantined.
That didn't stop his brothers from trying though.
"The last time you've been down for almost two weeks!" Donnie reminded him as he used his weight to keep him down.
"I don't care! I won't let you keep me away from my baby!" Mikey screeched.
Nix wasn't helping at all with his coughing and crying. He wiggled just as hard in Raph's arms as Mikey was in Leo's and Don's grip. Whining he kept making grabby hands for his mommy, leaning forward so he almost fell.
While Mikey has always been a tad bit weaker than his more muscular brothers, his maternal instincts made him an unpredictable force.
He managed to push Don away and growled loudly at Leo before also kicking him off.
Raph watched the display with wide eyes and took a step back from his raging mate.
"I swear to god, Raphael, if you don't give me my baby right now I will castrate you!"
There was an insane glint in those usually happy sky blue eyes, and Raph had enough self-preservation to hand Nix over immediately.
"Mommy..." Nix cuddled close to Mikey, who wrapped him tight in his arms and kissed his head.
"It's okay, honey, mommy's here..." Nuzzling him, Mikey carried his youngest son to the kitchen to prepare some tea.
Donnie and Leo rubbed several bruises as they got up from the floor. Raph winced at the state his mates were in.
"Thinking back, it might've been a dumb idea to stand between a mother and his baby..."
"If that's how he treats us, I'm already pitying any strangers trying."
"Baba an' Fafa ow?" Amy asked, eyes wide from where she was sitting by the wooden bars. Ky was standing next to her, watching his parents with a worried frown.
"Aw, no sweetie, we're okay. Just a tiny little boo boo." Leo took Amy while Don let Ky out.
The boy eyed the tiny bruise on Donnie's knee and blew on it with all his might, a little spit hitting the skin too. Amy pressed kisses on every bruise she could see and reach on Leo's skin.
Mikey came back a few minutes later, the baby wrapped in his blanket and snuggling close to his mother while drinking tea from his sippy cup.
Ky stumbled over to Mikey and patted the leg.
"Mommy anwy?" He asked, eyes filling with tears. Amy also crawled over and sat by his feet, pouting.
Mikey gasped and knelt down to them.
"No! I could never be angry at you..." He hugged his two older toddlers close too, kissing each of their heads. "I love my babies..."
"I wuv mommy!" Amy chirped, happy that mommy wasn't angry at them.
"Wuv mommy!" Ky joined in, snuggling his siblings and mother. "Nnniss otay?"
"Yes, he's just a little sick, baby. He's gonna be better in a few days."
"Aaaw... Nnis..." Amy cooed, leaning over to kiss her little brother's head.
"It's okay. Hey, let's build a fort, okay? We can make a nest and cuddle together!" Mikey suggested, delighted by the happy squeals of all three toddlers.
"But first you have to put all of the toys to the side so we have room for the pillows." He explained, smiling as he watched Ky and Amy scramble to do as told.
His three mates carefully stepped closer. Donnie rubbed a hand over Nix head, earning a frown from the toddler. Though the genius was relieved to find the baby didn't seem to run a temperature. Probably just a tiny cough this time, then.
"We could use the blankets from-" Raph was interrupted by Mike's icy glare.
"We are not using anything. I'm not in the mood to cuddle with you right now."
Leo, Donnie and Raph frowned and sighed. It was no use trying to explain they were only worried. Mikey would calm down in a few hours, he always did.
Surprisingly enough Mikey didn't catch Nix' cold. It was just a cough for the toddler, that was mostly annoying for him, as it made it hard for him to sleep through the night.
"Can you believe he's still not forgiven us?" Raph shook his head as he watched Mikey on the couch.
The older mates had just brought Amy and Ky to bed, while Mikey stayed on the couch with Nix, coaxing him into drinking some more tea to help with the cough.
Using a blanket to cover both sleeping Mikey and Nix, Leo shrugged. The past night Mikey and the babies had slept in a warm nest in their fort, and with how the freckled turtle was curled protectively around Nix, it looked like he intended to sleep on the couch this night.
"Well, we shouldn't have tried to keep him away from Nix..."
"With what happened last time, it was the better solution..."
"It was. But of course Mikey wouldn't care. Honestly, I wouldn't have either." Donnie admitted and shrugged, gently stroking his little brother's head.
In his sleep Mikey nuzzled into the touch, sighing. His mates smiled involuntarily.