Chapter 11

5 and a half months later…

It had just turned midnight, and Donnie was at his computer checking on the current number of Master Splinter's data bits that had been gathered with a tired look on his face; he and the others had gathered half of the data bits so far and they planned to continue gathering more tomorrow and onwards.

The reason why it was taking them so many months to gather this many data bits was that they were one team member short during most missions, but that was due to his current condition.

As he was about to set off to bed where he thought his mate was waiting for him, Donnie looked over to the TV area where a dark silhouette was sitting on the sofa and decided to see who it was, where sure enough he found Mikey sat there with a sad and tired look on his face whilst his hands were gently rubbing his now rounded plastron.

"Mikey? What are you doing up? You should be in bed asleep..." Donnie asked quietly to avoid scaring Mikey as he slowly sat next to him.

"I'm sorry…" Mikey answered without looking up at his mate.

"Sorry? Why? You haven't done anything wrong, Mikey..." Donnie soothed his mate as he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"But I…I haven't been helpful to you or the others at all these past few months, even though I promised to do more for you guys…" Mikey said with tears appearing in his eyes.

Donnie knew what Mikey was talking about; now that Mikey was halfway into his pregnancy, he could no longer take part in missions that involved fighting with either the Purple Dragons, the Foot clan or Cyber Shredder, and he also secretly questioned his role in the task of finding Master Splinter's data bits since after the celebration party until his mood swings exposed them in front of Donnie one day.

"I really am a useless lump…" Mikey said before he broke down and covered his face with his hands to hide it from his mate, not wanting to humiliate himself in front of him.

Donnie immediately hugged his crying mate and rubbed his hand on Mikey's head to comfort him.

"Shhh…Hey, there's no need to cry, my love…" Donnie said softly to him and gently removed Mikey's hands to see his face before continuing.

"What you're saying is not true; I know it's been hard for you since you're halfway through your pregnancy and you can't join in our missions as much as you used to lately, but what you're doing right now is much more important, and that is protecting and caring for our unborn baby."

Donnie placed a hand on his mate's round belly and rubbed it gently, before looking at his mate with a warm smile and spoke again.

"You haven't been useless to us at all these past few months, because if it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't be here right now!"

Now that he thought about it, Mikey did help his brothers and his friends April and Casey by being their observer and computer operator during their cyberspace missions, and he helped Casey and Raph search for the perfect engagement ring for Casey to propose to April.

(That's right; the announcement of April and Casey becoming engaged to be married brought more exciting news to the family as the months went by.)

Then, he helped convince Donnie to think about saving their older brothers first when Baxter Stockman's body was possessed by the Cyber Shredder after Donnie got frustrated again for thinking that he had to save Master Splinter alone whilst everyone else was busy doing other things topside.

He also helped Kane, April, and Casey with snapping his brothers back to their normal selves after they got their memories corrupted in Cyberspace and joined the Foot Clan, with the help of Serling by blasting them with a beam containing their real memories. Donnie, however, needed more encouragement to remember which side he was on and Mikey was able to do this by bravely approaching him whilst he was on his knees and reached for one of his mate's hands and placed it on his rounded belly before saying;

"Donnie, it's me Mikey, your brother, best friend, and mate. Do you know who will be joining our family in the next few months…?"

A moment passed and Donnie finally snapped out of his corrupted mind and looked up to find Mikey in front of him holding his own hand on his belly.

"Our baby…" Donnie answered looking from the rounded belly to Mikey, who nodded to his answer, and he immediately gathered his mate into a grateful hug and gave him a kiss before they both joined the others to escape the Foot.

Now back in the present, Mikey looked back at Donnie with a surprised look but soon returned his smile with his own.

"Thanks, Donnie…" He said before moving forward to kiss him on the lips, which Donnie returned with passion.

A moment after the kiss, however, Mikey felt it;

"Oh!" Mikey gasped as he looked down at his belly and held it.

"What's wrong!?" Donnie asked, worried that something was wrong with his mate or baby.

Mikey looked back up at Donnie with another smile. "…Our baby just kicked."

It took a moment for those words to sink in before Donnie's eyes began to widen. "Really…!?"

Mikey nodded before reaching to grab Donnie's hand and placed it on top of his plastron where the baby was kicking.

One minute later, they both gasped as they felt the baby kick again.

"This…this is amazing! That's really our baby moving inside you!" Donnie said in delight and awe whilst looking at his mate's belly before facing up to see Mikey with joyful tears in his eyes.

"Hold on, I'll be right back..." Donnie then said excitedly as he got up and dashed towards his lab area to get something from inside one of the drawers, and then he ran back to Mikey again with a stethoscope in one of his hands.

Donnie sat back down next to Mikey, who was watching him curiously, and put on his stethoscope before he gently placed the end of it on top of Mikey's plastron and closed his eyes as he listened in carefully. Then;

'Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump...'

The sounds of a small but strong heartbeat were heard coming from within Mikey's belly, causing Donnie to gasp before he looked at his mate with loving eyes as he spoke.

"I can hear our baby's heartbeat...and it's strong and healthy..."

"R-Really!?" Mikey said with wide eyes before Donnie passed the stethoscope over to him so that he could listen for himself.

And sure enough, Mikey gasped and his eyes widened even more as he heard the baby's heart beating for the first time.

"Do you hear it?" Donnie asked gently as he placed his hand over Mikey's, which held the end of the stethoscope in place on Mikey's plastron.

"Yeah..." Mikey answered with tears in his eyes before he jumped slightly when he felt another kick from the baby. "Oh! It kicked again!"

"Yeah, I felt it too! It's like our baby knows that we're listening in on it..." Donnie replied happily as he looked at Mikey's plastron and leaned in closer to it.

"Hi, baby...we can hear you and feel you moving in there...Your mommy and daddy are really happy that you're doing ok...we're really looking forward to meeting you soon..." He said lovingly before he kissed his mate's plastron, causing Mikey to giggle before he spoke.

"That's right...your daddy is really excited to meet you when you arrive and join our family...and I am too...I love you, my baby..."

Mikey let his tears of happiness fall as he rubbed his plastron affectionately before he felt another kick from his baby.

"Ha, ha...The baby is saying that it loves you too, Mikey..." Donnie said as he smiled when he too felt the baby kick again under his own hand, and then looked at Mikey's face and spoke.

"You see? This is proof that you're doing a great job in helping our baby develop and grow healthily, and this is why it's a good thing for you not to get too involved in fights, whether they're in the real world or in Cyberspace."

"Yeah, you're right…Sorry for being so selfish earlier..." Mikey said with small tears falling from his eyes.

"You're not selfish, Mikey, you just wanted to show us how helpful you are to us despite your condition, which shows just how noble you are to this family..." Donnie responded whilst placing a comforting hand on Mikey's cheek.

Mikey smiled gratefully and leaned into his mate's touch before he started to yawn.

"Time for bed I think..." Donnie said after he let out a yawn himself.

Mikey nodded in agreement before he was helped up by his mate and walked towards their shared room together after Donnie put his stethoscope back in his lab desk drawer. Once inside, Mikey climbed into bed first before Donnie followed Mikey in and covered both him and himself with the blanket.

"G'night, Donnie…" Mikey slurred as he fell asleep immediately.

"Goodnight, my love…" Donnie replied and planted a kiss on Mikey's head before falling asleep himself, with his hand on his mate's rounded belly.