Donatello waited.
The last week Mayor Voron had been visiting him at his work station every day. The morning passed without him showing up. Just when Donnie was about to take his lunch break, he saw Leo coming up to his desk.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
Leo had a thoughtful expression on his face as he came to a stop by his mate's desk, arms crossed. Donnie raised an eyeridge at the stare and lack of greeting.
"Voron called an emergency meeting. Nothing too serious..."
"Okay...?"
"He asked me how we all were doing and I told him about Mikey's pregnancy."
Donnie blinked, inwardly cursing. Since Raph and Leo had been so happy yesterday, Mikey and Donnie kept their suspicions to themselves for now.
"And?"
"He was really happy for us..." Leo sighed. "... He just didn't seem... too surprised."
That made Donatello's eyes widen. He didn't seem surprised. That was precious information... Don looked up when Leo continued talking.
"I kind of sneaked after him when he had to make an important call. He was telling the person that 'it' worked..."
"It? Was he talking about the pregnancy?" Donnie got up from his chair.
"I guess." His midnight blue gaze was fixated on his younger mate. "He mentioned you, too. He said it was 'all thanks to Donatello'. Care to explain?"
Donnie's jaw fell in surprise. "What?! Why would he say that?!"
Leo seemed a little taken aback by Don's outburst.
"So you have nothing to do with it?"
"Shell Leo, are you nuts?! I wouldn't do that to Mikey!" Don snapped, letting himself fall back on his chair. He couldn't believe Leo would think that about him.
The forest-green turtle sighed in relief and walked around the desk to rest his hands on Don's shoulders.
"Okay, sorry. It's just... why would he say that?"
Donnie shrugged, still a little peeved. "Could be he was talking about something else." His mahagony eyes narrowed as he looked up at Leo.
"Wait, the call was completely out of context. Why did you automatically think it was about the pregnancy?"
Leo bit his lip. "Like I said, I found it suspicious how he wasn't as surprised as I'd expected... And I guess I'm not a hundred percent sure that we can trust him."
"Mikey, Kion, Bogen and I were talking about it yesterday." Don said. "And to be honest, we think Telon acts kind of weird."
"I noticed it too." Typical hawk-eye Leo. "I thought that was just his excitement, though..."
"Even Bogen thought it was strange that he got the promotion, Leo. And that only about a month before we found out about the pregnancy."
"You think Voron bribed Telon?"
Donnie nodded with a serious expression.
"To be honest, yes. And even though it's not necessarily something bad..."
"It feels like betrayal." Leo finished for him, getting another nod from the olive turtle.
"I don't want to jump into conclusions until we have proof, though..."
Leo leaned down to nuzzle Don's face. "Then let's find out what's behind this. Maybe our suspicions are wrong and Telon has nothing to do with it."
"Well, we can't just ask Voron if he drugged our mate and his best friend, can we?"
They could try, but the chance of a truthful answer was very very slim. And none of them wanted to aggravate the mayor enough to be thrown out of the city with three babies and a pregnant Mikey.
"You think a drug made it possible?"
"It's most logical."
"Didn't you say there's a special lab? Since it never happened before that subs got pregnant outside of mating season, it's got to be a new drug."
"Oh right..." Don glanced at the clock and grinned up at Leo. "Are you in the mood for a little ninja mission?"
xxxxx
"I honestly don't know what to think." Raph stared blankly at the fish tank in their living room.
The kids were already in bed, and Donnie was going over the pictures he had taken in the special lab. There's been a file that seemed very important and the last document was about a test on a prisoner.
"I thought you'd go berserk on Voron. I even brought some rope to restrain you." Leo said, only half joking. The thought of the mayor invading their life to that extent was not sitting well with him at all.
"Believe me, I'm thinking about it. But..." Raph shrugged, not sure how to express himself.
"... He didn't do something horribly bad. Don't get me wrong, I hate that he meddles with our life like that. But because of him we're going to have more children." He wrapped his arm around a quiet Mikey's shoulders and pulled him closer. "And I can't be mad about that."
Mikey shrugged, relaxing against his mate. "I just don't get why he'd do that. A few single babies more won't change the population much. What does he gain from it?"
"Oh shell..." Donnie laid his shellcell on the coffee table he was sitting in front of and buried his face in his hands.
"What is it?" Leo asked, coming over from where he's been leaning against the back of the couch.
"The components... I'm such an idiot." Donnie grabbed the phone again, biting his lip as he zoomed in on a few lines.
"Remember when I helped Voron with something back then? He asked me if I could find a way to mix two substances together. He said it was for a drug that would help subs and females regulate their hormones after taking suppressants. To make it easier for them."
His mates stared at him.
"He lied. I recognize these two substances. The prisoner the drug was tested on was a sub... the effect was that his uterus opened up for twelve hours. That's why Voron mentioned me on the phone... I helped creating the drug that made the pregnancies possible..." Donnie's shoulders hung as he sighed miserably.
"Babe, you didn't know what it was for... It's not your fault."
Donatello paled a little as he thought about what else he read. "One of the substances I didn't know, Voron said it was a plant from his garden. Here it says it's called nightflower. A higher dose of it would've led to death."
Three pairs of eyes widened. "Are you saying it really is a poison?!" Raph leaned forward, a familiar rage starting to build up in his gut.
"In a higher dose, yes. The amount used in the drug is too little to do damage." Don calmed everyone, including himself, after another look at the picture of the file.
"At least now we have proof Voron is responsible for this." Leo stated.
"But how did he poison us? Kion and I haven't seen him in ages, and if the drug only lasts twelve hours..."
"He would have done it about four weeks ago. To both you and Kion."
Donnie wrecked his brain to remember the time of four weeks ago. He and Leo were the only ones to see Voron more frequently. Both Mikey and Raph haven't had any contact with the mayor for over two months. And Telon...
"Oh my god..." Donnie blinked as he remembered.
"What? What is it?!"
"Back when they told us about Telon's promotion! The grape juice!" Donnie slammed his phone down on the table and stood, eyes blazing with building rage. "I knew he was being weird when he refused to let me drink from Mikey's glass! That little..."
Donnie growled lowly and stomped towards the door. "I'm gonna kill him!"
Leo's eyes were wide as he held his usually calm mate back. "Woah, calm down honey. Killing him won't get us anywhere."
"How could he betray us like that?! If the amount of nightflower was higher he could've killed Mikey and Kion!"
Raph also got up from the couch, fists clenched as he approached Donnie and Leo. "I'm on Don's side here, Fearless. Friend or not, he endangered our mate's life for his own selfish reasons and he's gonna pay!"
"Raph, calm down. Dammit Donnie! Chill!" Leo tried to keep both angry turtles in check. "Believe me, I'm just as mad as you are, but we can't just barge in there and beat him up! We're trained ninjas, he has no way of defending himself." Leonardo reasoned.
His own gaze was dark with rage and disappointment at the betrayal. It was by far not nearly as grave as April's betrayal, still it hurt. Telon's been a close friend, like April had been. Again their trust was broken.
Donnie growled and crossed his arms in front of his chest, a glare on his face.
"Fine, then what do you suggest we do? I'm not gonna let him off the hook, Leo!"
"Guys, keep it down." Mikey finally spoke up, coming to stand by his mates. "You're gonna wake the kids." He inwardly cringed at how much he sounded like a mom.
The reminder that they indeed had three children sleeping above brought their senses back. They weren't in their own universe anymore. They weren't talking about attacking The Shredder or anything.
"You barely said anything, sweetheart... Aren't you mad?" Donnie asked, biting the inside of his cheek as he rested a hand on the sea-green shoulder. He was relieved when Mike's hand came up to cover his.
"I'm definitely not mad at you, Donnie. You didn't know what your work would do."
"You had your gut feeling about Voron, and as always it turned out to be right. I should've second-guessed when he gave his flimsy explanation about the drug."
"To be fair, he appeared... he still appears to be really nice and honest. Even if his intentions are a little shady." Mikey smiled weakly. "Anyways, I'm also not mad at Telon."
Raph frowned as he worked his jaw. "He could've killed you."
"I don't think he would have given the drug to me and Kion if he knew it was that dangerous."
At the unhappy expressions of his mates Mikey shook his head.
"I'm not trying to defend him or anything. I feel just as betrayed as you do. Still I don't think confronting him in that way would do any good."
"Mikey's right." Leo agreed, rubbing a hand over his own head as he thought his next words over.
"We all can figure out his reasons for doing it. He desperately wanted another baby, and he's dreamed of the promotion for ages. Knowing this, Voron saw him as perfect pawn in whatever plan he has."
"Nothing would make me endanger my own mate." Raph grumbled, earning a nod from Donnie.
"You keep forgetting that they grew up different from us." Leo sighed. "We always were pretty close because we were the only humanoid turtles in existence. We only had each other until we came here."
Mikey nodded in agreement, catching on. "And these turtles grew up like humans back in our dimension. Like our children are going to be growing up. They have different morals, just remember dad's horrible soap operas."
"Still it isn't a good enough excuse!"
"It doesn't have to be. Telon betrayed us and I honestly don't want him near our family again." Leo clarified. "But your rage is directed at the wrong target. Voron is the enemy."
"So we let Telon off the hook? We just ignore him?" Raphael asked in disbelief.
Donnie shook his head. "No, not so easily. We have to tell Kion and Bogen. They're his mates, they'll handle this the way they see fit. It's them he betrayed most."
The genius' shoulder slumped slightly, anger fading. He felt like he lost his best friend. He probably did. "And I agree with Leo. I don't want to see him here anymore."
"Fine." Raph agreed, pacified by the solution. "Then we concentrate on Voron. I sure as shell don't know what's going on in this manipulative brain of his, but I'm gonna teach him the hard way that no one messes with my family."
Michelangelo sighed. He hated it when his gut feelings turned out right. Still...
"Please don't." He spoke up in a defeated voice.
"What?! Why not?" Mikey's hand automatically went to his stomach as he shrugged uneasily.
"I'm just so tired of fighting..." Raph's and Leo's stern gazes softened at that.
"Oh baby..." The comforting touches were soothing the youngest's troubled mind.
"We finally found a place where we belong, to raise our own family. I don't want to lose this and go back to... to having nothing. I don't want our babies to grow up like that. They deserve a normal life. We deserve a normal life."
"Sweetheart, we won't lose what we have." Donnie soothed, hugging Mikey close.
"Voron is powerful here. When he throws us out we don't have anywhere to go."
Raph pressed a kiss to Mikey's head as he and Leo wrapped their arms around both of their younger brothers. "Are you suggesting we should just let him get away?"
"We don't even know what his ultimate goal is." Mikey mumbled, eyes closed. "And so far nothing bad happened. I doubt he'd try to kill us, he just wanted to make us pregnant. It's okay, we can handle that."
"It's not okay that he did it without our consent." Leo said in a low voice.
"I know. But unless he starts seriously harming us – and most importantly our babies – I don't want to provoke anything. Please... let's just live in peace."
While Donnie concentrated on cuddling Mikey close, Leo and Raph exchanged a long look.
"Alright. But if Voron pulls another stunt against our family I'm gonna beat him to a pulp."
"Deal."
xxxxx
"Ugh... oh shell..." Mikey groaned as he rested his forehead on the toilet seat.
He couldn't remember throwing up that much in his last pregnancy.
Three weeks had passed since they found out about Telon's betrayal. They had told Bogen and Kion the next day while their mate was at work, along with the warning that the doctor wasn't welcome at their house anymore. It hurt, especially Donnie, but they couldn't just forgive that easily.
The two native turtles were not happy about what their mate had done, and they understood it was a rocky road ahead of Telon if he ever wanted to gain their trust back.
Kion had come over a few times with Elia to visit Mikey, and told them Telon had immediately broken down and admitted to what he did. Their suspicions of his reasons were confirmed, that didn't lessen the sting of the betrayal.
So far things were going normal. Voron acted as if nothing happened when Leo and Don saw him at work, and they pretended the same, though it was a great effort for both of them.
"Again...?" Raph asked sleepily from the doorway.
Mikey spat generously into the bowl before flushing it and getting up to rinse his mouth. "Yeah..." He sighed afterwards, looking at his reflection in the mirror.
Raph came up behind him to wrap his arms around his middle, resting his hands on Mikey's stomach. His green gaze found Mike's blue one in the mirror as he lowered his head to press a kiss on his mate's shoulder.
"You threw up at least twice a day the past weeks... maybe we should call that other doctor."
"It's fine, Raphie... It should get better within the next week."
Raphael didn't dare say it out loud, but he was scared for the safety of Mikey and their unborn babies. Maybe the drug had poisonous side effects they didn't know off.
His grip on Mikey tightened.
"At least let Donnie examine your blood. He's gonna see if something's the matter, right?"
"Yup." The unexpected voice had them both look to the door, where Donnie and Leo were standing. Amy was clinging to Donnie, one of her little fists rubbing her eye as she yawned.
Mikey smiled at the sight of his daughter and walked over to cuddle her. "What are you doing awake, my little princess?"
Amy snuggled into the warm embrace and smiled cutely. "Wanna snuggie wit mommy!"
"Aw, yeah, let's go snuggle." Mikey chuckled. Lately their children were quite clingy to all of them, staying close to their parents, wake up early to snuggle in their bed with them, and so on.
As they left the bathroom they heard babbling from Nix' room, as it was closest. Exchanging amused glances, Donnie and Raph went to collect the rest of their family, while Leo steered Mikey with Amy to the bedroom.
Mikey felt his eyes droop as soon as he got comfortable under the blankets. The exhaustion was worse than last time too. It came in waves and it worried him a little. A few days ago he almost fell down the stairs with Ky in his arms, and if Raph hadn't caught them, who knows what would've happened?
He would let Donnie examine his blood to be sure nothing was wrong. And if it wouldn't get better until next week, the start of the third month, he'd go to that other doctor.
Kion felt the same symptoms as he had stated two weeks ago, it just had to do something with the drug.
xxxxx
"Daddy, s'at?" Nix pointed at a print in the picture book he and his siblings were huddled around.
Raph put the weight he's been using away and knelt down next to his children to look at the picture. A smile lifted the corners of his mouth.
"That's a beach. And the ocean."
"O... Ocean?"
"Yes, very well princess. It's water. Like a really really big bathtub. Just a little colder and without the bubbles."
"Oh!" The faces of the toddlers lit up. "We go?" Nix asked.
Raphael blinked. He wasn't sure if there was a beach close by. There had to be a beach somewhere in this dimension, since it was in a picture book, but a days-long travel was out of question.
"I don't know where it is, ace. I'm gonna ask your papa and fafa if they know."
"Mommy ba-ck sssoon?" Ky asked, bottom lip sticking out. Amy and Nix looked up at Raph too with similar expressions.
From the day they were born, they've never been apart from their mother for very long. The maximal amount of time had been the five hours when he and Kion went out with Bogen.
Every time he left the house without them for more than an hour they would get anxious. Especially in the past two weeks, when they grew so very clingy.
It was as if they felt the tension, the hurt, the fear from their parents and that was their reaction to it.
Raph glanced at the sun-shaped clock hanging in the kids' playroom. Since their toddlers wouldn't leave their daddy's side, Raph had taken his handweights to their room to exercise there while they could play.
"They should be back very soon... don't worry."
Leo had taken Mikey to see the doctor for a check-up. The morning sickness had faded some days ago, and the exhaustion wasn't as bad anymore as long as he took a nap in the afternoon.
They didn't really trust the platinum level doctor since there was the suspicion that he was under Voron's direct control, but they didn't have much of a choice. They could go find another medic in the normal part of the city. And they still couldn't be sure Voron would follow them and bribe the next doctor.
The toddlers abandoned their book and surrounded Raph instead, cuddling up to their dad. The adult smiled softly and comforted them best he could.
Maybe they could really take a vacation somewhere. Just get away from their current situation and relax.
"There you are." At Leo's voice from the door Raph and the kids looked up.
"Fafa!" Amy used Raph to get to a standing position and then walked over to Leo, her brothers in tow.
Raph smiled and got up, greeting Leo with a kiss to his temple.
"And?"
"Everything's fine." Leo smiled back, rubbing a hand over each of his children's heads.
"Donnie met us at the doc's office, he said he was sick of his desk and wanted to hear what the doctor had to say."
Raph chuckled. Donatello has become quite rebellious lately. He left work really early every day, sometimes he only was there for two hours before he went home again. When Voron had asked him why, Don's had a hard time holding back a snarky response and instead just gave the sweet-voiced excuse that he wanted to spend time with his family now that they were expecting more babies. Voron appeared to be quite understanding.
"So it's alright? The drug didn't... you know..." They couldn't exactly ask the doc about it, since officially they didn't know about it.
"Donnie said the only side effect seems to be a hormone overload. That's why the morning sickness has been worse than last time. So far everything seems to be okay."
Leo's smile widened at Raph's relieved expression and he picked up Amy and Nix before placing them in his immediate younger brother's arms. Then he took Ky and leaned forward to nuzzle his mate's face.
"Come upstairs, we found out something else today."
Whatever it was, it had put Leo in a good mood. So Raph grinned and followed his mate up the stairs.
"Fafa, we go to o... o..." Ky frowned when he couldn't get the word out and looked to his smart sister for help.
"Ocean." Amy said, proud of herself. Ky nodded eagerly and faced Leo again.
"Yes. We go der?"
"To the ocean?" Leo sent Raph a questioning look over his shoulder.
"They saw a beach in their picture book."
Leo nodded in understanding as he waited for Raph to pass him before securing the gate on top of the stairs.
"Mh. In one of the meetings we were talking about the fishing business... I think there was a coast on the far west side of the city. You know, where the hills are."
"So close?" Raph blinked as he made his way to the kitchen, from where he heard their mates talk.
"It's about an hour to walk... I wouldn't define that as close."
"What's an hour away?" Donnie asked from where he was standing at the kitchen island, hands around a cup of coffee. Mikey was sitting on a stool next to him, holding a piece of paper in his hands.
"The beach. Our children want to see the ocean." Raph explained, biting back a curse when the toddlers started wiggling in his arms at the sight of papa and mommy. As soon as their feet touched the ground they tackled them.
"... A little vacation sounds pretty good actually. We could camp there a night, spend two days in peace." Donnie said as knelt to endure the affectionate nuzzles and wet kisses to his face.
Since Mikey was on the stool still, Nix could only reach his feet and shins. He jumped.
"Up! Up!"
Leo chuckled as he lifted their youngest so Mikey wouldn't have to bend and risk toppling over with the stool.
"Did you miss me, angelcakes?" Mikey asked with a wide grin, hugging Nix close and kissing his head.
"Mhm." Nix settled on his mother's lap comfortably, reaching for the paper. "S'at?"
Mikey's face softened and he looked up to Raph as he answered. "It's a picture of my tummy."
Raph's eyes widened, his mouth tugging to a smile as he stepped closer. Mikey put the picture on the island, letting Raphael take a look himself.
Nix shakily stood up on Mikey's knees and Amy and Ky let themselves be lifted on the island to look at it too.
"But mommy..." Amy tilted her head with a scrunched up face. "Diss don-t look like tummy..."
"It's the inside of it. See that circle?" He traced the faint line of an egg, with a grainy figure in it. "That's an egg, and what's inside it."
"Can you count them? How many eggs are there?" Donnie asked, enjoying how the little faces scrunched more in concentration.
"Tuh-woo!" Nix said, happy that he was faster than his sister for once. Amy didn't mind, just nodded in agreement.
"Very good. And do you see that figure inside?" Leo pointed at the grainy white figure, smiling at Raph's expression of pure glee. "That's your brothers or sisters."
The alpha turtle used his hand to rub over his eyes to get rid of the happy tears. Twins. They were going to have two more babies. He kissed the top of Mikey's head and squeezed Leo's shoulder.
"Dey in-side egg?" Ky asked curiously, head also tilting as he tried to recognize something. "No look like turle..."
Donatello giggled, leaning against Mike's other side as he kept an arm out so none of the kids on the island would fall accidentally.
"Not yet, sweetie. That's gonna take a while."
"Is bruh-da or sis-da?" Nix asked, leaning his head back to look at Mikey upside down.
"We don't know yet."
"I wanna sis-da. Smat like Amy!" Ky exclaimed, nuzzling his face into Amy's shoulder. The girl giggled and hugged Ky.
"Bruhda is otay too! Funny like Ky an' Nis!" Amy said cutely. Nix tried to climb on the island too to join the group hug. Mikey helped him along and leaned into his mate's embrace with a watery smile at the sight.
There had been signs of sibling rivalry between them sometimes, but mostly they got along very well. Like now.
"Can you imagine we made this?" Donnie whispered as they all watched their children cuddle.
"It's like a dream I never want to wake up from." Leo had a soft smile on his face as he rested his chin on his hand.
"They're little wonders." Mikey sniffed and wiped at his eyes, cursing his hormones. He giggled when he was squished between his mates.
"We have two more wonders on the way." Raph mumbled, squeezing Mikey as tight as he dared.
"God, I love you so much." He admitted, feeling his heart about to burst with how much he loved his family.
Their toddler squealed in surprised and joy when Don's and Leo's arms pulled the threesome closer so they were included in the family hug.