Chapter 18

Back in the Farmhouse...

Leo put his shell cell away in his pocket before he went back to tending to Mikey, who was looking scared and in pain at the same time.

"Deep breaths, Mikey…Donnie is on his way…" Leo said soothingly whilst rubbing his brother's arm.

After hearing his mate's name, Mikey began to feel less scared and more relieved before he suddenly winced at the sudden urge to push.

"Leo…I feel like… I need to… Argh…!" Breathed Mikey before wincing in pain.

Leo immediately went to look in between Mikey's legs to check for signs of the baby's head. It was then that his eyes widened; he could just see the top of the baby's head starting to appear right in front of him! He looked up at Mikey before he spoke in an urgent but calm voice tone.

"Mikey, the baby's head is right there… you're gonna have to start pushing, bro!"

Mikey looked at his oldest brother with worry showing on his face. He didn't want to start pushing until his mate was back at his side, but he knew that the baby won't be able to wait forever and it would be too risky for both the baby's health and his own health to delay the birth for too long.

After giving Leo a determined nod, Mikey took a deep breath in and pushed with the contraction that was already starting to occur.

"That's it, keep going!" Leo cheered his little brother as he watched the baby's head beginning to show a bit more of itself. Mikey exhaled, then took another deep breath and pushed again.

Just then, the sounds of the front door opening and closing and then a familiar voice could be heard from downstairs.

"Leo!? Mikey!?" It was Donnie, much to Leo and Mikey's relief.

"We're up here, Don, hurry!" Leo shouted back.

Soon, the sounds of running feet could be heard and Donnie appeared first before Raph and Master Splinter appeared next to him. Serling was told by Raph to stay downstairs and keep an eye on Kane since he didn't want his son to see his uncle in pain.

When Donnie looked at the scene in front of him, his eyes widened before he dashed straight towards his mate, with the others not far behind him, and held his hand in one of his own and placed another hand on Mikey's blanket-covered plastron.

"Mikey…I'm here..." He said with tears appearing in his eyes.

Hearing his mate's voice, Mikey opened his eyes, which were shut due to the pain and the concentration from pushing, and turned to see Donnie's face first before the others.

"Donnie… Raph… Dad…you came…" He said in relief with a pained smile as he placed his spare hand on Donnie's, which was on his plastron.

"Of course I did, my love…" "I would not miss this for the world, my son…" "Yeah, bro, we're here fa ya!" They replied with warm smiles.

Mikey returned a smile back to them before feeling that urge again. "Oowww...!"

"Push, Mikey, push!" said Leo with encouragement in his voice.

Mikey pushed with all his might and then exhaled again before Donnie released his mate's hand and moved to his bottom half to check on his mate's progress. Knowing that Donnie would take over from here, Leo moved out of his brother's way to give him more space and took hold of Mikey's hand to support him. Raph stood next to his mate and wrapped an arm around his shoulders whilst he watched the delivery take place.

"Not much longer now, my son…you are doing well..." Master Splinter said whilst wiping the sweat off Mikey's forehead with the washcloth before Mikey started to push again.

"Come on, baby…come on..." Donnie cheered at his soon-to-be child softly as he watched half of the baby's head starting to appear whilst Mikey exhaled the breath he held in.

"Breathe now, Mikey, the head will come out on its own..." Donnie said to Mikey to stop him from pushing any further.

Mikey did what Donnie told him to do and started panting and sure enough, after a few seconds, Mikey gasped as he felt the head fully come out by itself. "Ah!"

"Well done, my love…when the next contraction kicks in, give me another big push, ok?" Donnie instructed Mikey, who nodded and then relaxed to catch his breath, whilst he touched and checked the baby's head with a warm smile.

Raph and Leo decided to take a quick look at their new niece/nephew's head and they both smiled in awe when they saw it for the first time.

"Man…it's definitely got Mike's skin colour..." Raph said with a smirk.

"Yeah, but I can tell he/she has Don's face, though..." Leo said to Mikey when he turned to his little brother, who giggled with closed eyes and a small smile on his face.

"Here, Mikey, give me your hand..." Donnie said softly as he reached out his hand for Mikey to hold.

Mikey leaned forward slightly with Leo's help as he reached and held his mate's hand with his other hand and Donnie guided it towards the baby's head to touch it, which surprised the orange-banded turtle.

"O-Oh, my...Is that...?" He said with wide eyes as he felt the damp but smooth skin on the top of the baby's head.

"Yes, my love...that's our baby right there...and you're the one who is helping him/her come into the world...!" Donnie said proudly with a warm smile.

"That is right...soon, Michelangelo...You and Donatello will be parents to your newborn child..." Master Splinter said softly as he placed a comforting hand on Mikey's shoulder.

"And we're looking forward to meeting him/her for the first time..." Leo then said with a hint of excitement in his voice, whilst Raph nodded with a hum in agreement to his mate's words.

"Yeah...We can't wait to meet you...little one..." Mikey breathed out with a warm smile of his own as he gently stroked the baby's head with his fingers, whilst his father and older brothers watched the scene with hearts filled with warmth and proudness.

Suddenly, another contraction had hit Mikey with full force and he immediately retreated his spare hand as he began to push again.

"Aarrgh…!" He screamed out in pain.

"That's it, push!" Donnie said to his mate as he prepared himself to catch his and Mikey's baby when he saw more of its body coming out from the birth canal. "Once more, my love!"

With one hand still in Leo's and his other hand now on his rounded plastron, Mikey took one more deep breath and pushed with whatever energy he had left.

"Nnnggghhh…Aarrgh…!"

Mikey leaned back onto the pillows with closed eyes and breathed heavily to catch his breath after giving everything he had into that last push. Then, after a moment of silence, he heard it;

The small but loud cries of a newborn baby…

Mikey opened his now tear-filled eyes and looked over to his mate, who had a surprised look on his face after he caught his and Mikey's baby just seconds ago.

"H-How is he…?" Mikey asked whilst still trying to get his breath back.

Donnie took half a minute to come back to his senses whilst he was tending to the baby by cleaning it with a fresh clean towel, much to the little one's disapproval.

"I think you mean...'How is she?'. Mikey…we have a girl!" Donnie corrected his mate as he looked up at him with a proud smile and watery eyes.

Mikey was amazed and speechless. He couldn't believe that he had just given birth to a little girl, and when Donnie held their new daughter up to give him a brief look at her, the tears in his eyes fell and he smiled when he saw her tiny form for the very first time.

"Oh…She's beautiful…" Mikey said quietly with no other words to describe what he just did to help bring her into the world.

"Wow...she's so small..." "She sure is, Fearless..." Leo and Raph said softly in awe before they watched as Donnie tended to her again.

"I am so proud of you, my son…!" Master Splinter said whilst wiping Mikey's forehead once more with the washcloth.

"Congratulations, bro...!" Raph said before giving Mikey a gentle hug.

"I knew you could do it, Mikey. You did great, little brother...!" Leo said next before giving Mikey a gentle hug as well.

Once Donnie had finished cleaning his new daughter up, he opened the first aid kit and took out a pair of scissors and a small clamp, which would be used for cutting the umbilical cord. Before doing so, Donnie looked over at Master Splinter and spoke.

"Father, would you like to cut the cord with me?"

Master Splinter looked at him with a surprised look before he looked at Mikey, who nodded with a tired smile to let him know that he was happy to let him do so.

"I would be honoured to, Donatello..." Master Splinter said with a proud smile before he walked towards Donnie just as he clamped the cord first before the old sensei placed his furry hand on top of his son's that had the scissors in. Then, after two snips, the cord was cut.

Donnie then moved on to wrapping his new daughter warm with a pink-coloured blanket, which had a blue-coloured blanket in a set-of-two pack in case it was a boy, and he gently lifted her into his arms to take her to Mikey.

"There you go, sweetheart, all nice and warm...Now, let's go see your momma..." Donnie said sweetly to his daughter, who had stopped crying and then cooed in his arms, before he walked towards Mikey, who looked at them both with a heart-warming smile.

"Here she is, Mikey…!" Donnie said lovingly to his mate as he placed their daughter into Mikey's arms.

"You were amazing, my love...!" He then said before he gave him a kiss on the lips.

Mikey returned the kiss and then looked at his daughter's face, which was completely calm as if she already knew who her mother was.

"My baby…you're really here…" He said softly before he gently nuzzled her little beak with his own and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. This caused the baby to open her eyes and she looked towards Mikey, who gasped quietly whilst his mate looked at her eye colour in amazement; because they were the same colour as Mikey's.

"She has your eyes, Mikey…" Donnie pointed out in a whisper.

"Yeah… and she has your face as well, just like Leo said…" Mikey replied back to him before he watched as their daughter yawned and closed her eyes again. He then looked at Leo.

"You were right, Leo; all that pain really was worth it in the end…Thank you for supporting me through it all, dude…!" He said with a sunnier smile. Leo placed a hand on his shoulder before he replied.

"Hey, it's what brothers are for, and I'm really happy for you and Donnie both. Also, Raph and I should be the ones thanking you guys for giving us this opportunity in becoming official uncles!"

"Yeah, bros, thanks! She's gorgeous…" Raph complimented as he looked at his new niece, who had fallen asleep in Mikey's arms, before leaning closer to gently stroke her small cheek with his large finger, causing her to coo and lean at the touch.

"Thanks, bros…and thank you too, dad…" Mikey said tiredly as he looks towards Master Splinter, who smiled proudly at his son and granddaughter.

"I agree with your brothers, my son; thank you and Donatello for gifting me with such a beautiful granddaughter..." Replied Master Splinter before giving both Mikey and the baby a gentle kiss on their foreheads.

"Mikey, would you like Master Splinter to hold her while you rest a bit? You look tired..." Asked Donnie after noticing that his mate was starting to fall asleep.

"Of course he can, Donnie, he is her grandfather after all..." Mikey answered him with a tired smile.

However, just as Donnie was about to transfer their daughter from Mikey to Master Splinter, a loud familiar voice boomed from the outside of the farmhouse window.

"TURTLES! Come out, or I will kill your friends!"

Leo ran towards the window and saw a scene that made him look on in horror; Shredder was standing outside with blades showing from his wrists, which were pointing towards April and Casey who were being restrained by two Foot ninjas!