A/N: I'm not proofing my chapters right now because I'm typing them up and sending them out as fast as I can. Sorry, and you're welcome, all at the same time.
And now for the outside view of what's going on! Disclaimer: Yeah, you guys are gonna hate me.
Also, check out down below as I list all the wonderful people who have left a review on this story so far! Just a small thanks for being so freaking awesome!
*)O(*
Donnie was crushing her arm. It wasn't new, or even rare. Sleeping with a giant turtle had some drawbacks. Her ability to flop about in her sleep coupled with his unconscious desire to cuddle her meant that sometimes her appendages would end up underneath some heavy parts of his body. This time it was nearly unbearable. The extra soft mattress didn't help at all as his shell and a good bit of his weight pinned her arm. She couldn't feel it. Well, she couldn't feel from the middle of her forearm down. From there up was a different story. Once that would have scarred her, now she just knew it meant it would hurt like hell when she pulled it free. Grumbling and wiping her eyes with her free hand, she focused on the task. She had to pee.
Unforgiving, she shoved him, barely moving him. "Get off, Donnie." She groaned. Her drowsy fiancé rolled away at her hand pushing him. She didn't even wake him. It had taken a while of sleeping together before they were able to co-exist like this. Before they got used to another being sleeping with them any movement that was too big would have woken the other. Now they just rolled, squirmed or scooted away, not even aware of what they were doing.
Her arm was like lead. She could still move her fingers, but she didn't think that it mattered. Her arm was rushing from blue to purple as blood tried to return to it. "Gonna give me a fucking blood clot," she grumbled. The pain hadn't started yet, and she could only pray that she could make it to the bathroom in time to relive her self before nature decided to do it for her. Having bodies sucks, she complained silently. She made it to the bathroom in time for the pins and needles from hell to start.
Still angry at Donnie, Sara went to the kitchen. All the lights were off. The only thing illuminating the area were the clocks on the different appliances. It was strange. Even if Mikey didn't make breakfast, he'd usually been out here by now and turned something on. It wasn't until she turned the light on and saw the dishes in the sink that she knew something was wrong. Mikey had cooked, and so, like normal, Mikey would have cleaned. For anyone else, that chore wouldn't have applied, but Mikey made such a huge mess in cooking that he was the one responsible for the clean up as well.
There was still sauce splattered all over the stove. The pans that the meatballs had been cooked in were crusted over on the counter. Dried, and yet mushy, spaghetti noodles sat in a pan on the stove that was only half full of water. The difference in the water level leaving half the noodles to dry while the bottom half absorbed as much water as they could and become a glob of yellow. Plates were stacked in the sink and Sara felt bad for whoever was going to clean them. If the kitchen was still like this, then yes, there was something severely wrong with Mikey.
Or Becca, Sara thought for a moment. Mikey had said something about them eating alone and she'd thought that he'd use the garage for some alone time like Donnie had. Maybe he'd taken her above ground and something had happened. The thought of going topside made her flutter a hand over her stomach. She couldn't go out anymore. Not to fight at least. She had to protect the life inside of her. She'd already been banned by Leo and Donnie, but now the idea of getting in a fight was scarier that she'd ever thought it could be.
Then something moved and she sighed. Mikey, dull-eyed and moving her way. She took a breath and calmed herself. Maybe things had gone well and that was why everything was still a mess. She grinned at him, but he ignored her. Nope, something was still wrong. "How'd it go last night?" The sudden look of anger on Mikey's face made her falter.
Then the banging started. He banged the pasta pot into the trash, dumping the contents. Then the sauce pan and everything it still held, clearing out the old food. Everything banged as he moved through the kitchen, Sara sidestepping when she got in his way. This was not her happy, carefree brother that she loved so much.
"Did-did something happen?" She asked, nearly squeaked as Mikey jerked the faucet into the on position with such force she thought he might rip out the whole sink. He didn't say anything. The silence boomed around the echo of things smashing into each other. This was something Raph would do, not Mikey. "Mikey?" She said his name like a question, asking more that way than any other way that she knew. Still, he said nothing. She'd never seen him like this and she was lost on how to approach him. Slowly, she backed out of the kitchen and away from the angry turtle.
Something was wrong here, and she needed to find out what.
*)O(*
The eggs were burned, the pancakes were charred, the bacon looked like it'd been cooked in hell, and even the mass of paste that was supposed to be oatmeal had something that looked decisively like charcoal in it. Leo looked between the food and the others gathered around the table to Mikey who was, oddly enough, already cleaning up the kitchen. Leo looked back down at his food. It looked like he'd tried to cook today, not Mikey. Gulping and nearly scarred, Leo poked at the pancake. It couldn't actually taste like something he'd cooked. Maybe this was some kind of prank.
Everyone else was watching him. The weight of his clan's stares forced him to take the first tentative bite. Yep, it was burned. The taste of ash and soot filled his mouth, over powering the syrup he'd drowned it with. Exactly like if he'd tried to cook and had somehow managed to not burn down the lair. Nearly choking, he swallowed then greedily reached for his orange juice. He'd never not eaten something that Mikey had cooked. With determination, Leo forced himself to take another bite. Everyone else nodded then started to eat.
It was only then that he realized that Becca wasn't at her seat. The grimaces on everyone else's faces matched his own, he was sure. Sara plead that the baby was making her sick again, and had opted to just eat a piece of toast. Raph had gotten out because he would usually only eat cereal or a protein shake. Leo, Donnie, Mik, and Splinter formed a temporary pact and ate at least half of what they had in front of them.
If Mikey's feelings were spared, Leo couldn't be sure. The utter silence that his brother resonated was irrationally deafening. He was looking forward to practice. Maybe then, in the heat of the moment, could he glimpse at what was wrong. After Sara had warned them all that Mikey wasn't speaking and that something was wrong, Leo didn't even try to get a word in with his brother. The behavior was new and Leo didn't know where to start.
Becca not showing up to breakfast had made him wary. Usually the blond was glued to his brother and her absence was felt as strongly as Mikey's silence. Something must have happened between the two and Leo wasn't versed in matters of the heart. Mikey always spoke when they practiced though, surely that would be Leo's opening.
*)O(*
Like shell this was going to happen again. Raph pounced, aiming to smack Mikey with the butt of his sai in the back of the head as Mikey fumbled after Raph had knocked into him. Mikey had already taken down Leo and Donnie. Raph wasn't going to let his little brother beat them all again. Much to Splinter's displeasure, Raph had charged in, not waiting to start his round with his brother like he should have.
Raph didn't even blink, but before he knew what happened, something hard connected with his hand, knocking his sai away. Then the edge of a nunchuck caught him under his jaw. He bit his tongue and growled through the pain. He still had his other sai, but now Mikey was facing him.
His little brother hadn't shown any mercy on the others, knocking them down and away like they were little more than flies. Raph refused to go down like that. It was clear something had happened with Becca. She hadn't been there for breakfast, and she'd refused to come to practice. That didn't mean that everyone else had to suffer for whatever Mikey had done to mess things up. To be honest, Raph had a little bit of hope that maybe, if Becca was done with Mikey, that she might look his way.
It was less than honorable, but he couldn't suppress the shred of hope that he might not be the one to live the rest of his life alone. That would only happen in his dreams. Still, Raph would have to live past this fight. Pain, anger, and jealousy were a heady cocktail that fueled him. How could Mikey be so stupid as to mess up his one chance? "You're an idiot, you know that?" If Mikey wasn't going to talk, Raph would. "It don't even matter what you did, you're an idiot."
The pain and hurt in Mikey's eyes almost made Raph stop, almost. "You couldn't even do one thing right, could you?" Hurt turned to rage in his baby brother's blue eyes. "How hard could it have been? I mean, look at you," Raph gestured to Mikey as he danced away from a nunchuck that was aimed at his head. "If she could get past how ugly you are, how else could you fuck it up?" There was a collective hiss behind him. He knew he'd get yelled at later by Splinter for cussing in front of him, but Raph had to get it out. He didn't get the chance to block the solid punch to his temple.
The room dipped and then swung around until Raph was on his shell, looking up at the beams one moment, then Mikey's face the next. Then a fist as it hurdled towards him. His shifted his head just fast enough to avoid the first punch, but not the second, or the third. He should of never gave Mikey lessons on how to lift properly, or started him on his protein shakes. Each connection was like a sledgehammer. Jesus, was this what it felt like when he did this to the others? His hands were pinned under Mikey's legs; he couldn't defend himself. He wasn't sure how many times Mikey connected before something threw him across the room.
It felt like someone had set firecrackers off on his face. Sharp bolts of pain that flared into others. He couldn't open his left eye. He breathed through his mouth because blood was pouring from his nose. His lips felt like they had been put through a meat grinder. Everywhere there was a buzzing or ringing and the ceiling kept trying to fall on him. He was sure Mikey hadn't been on top of him long, but like everything else, Mikey could land a hit faster than any of them. His cheeks, which were like fresh hamburger, yelled at him when he tried to spit some of the blood in his mouth out.
Sara and Donnie were there, yelling. Why did everyone have to be so loud? Raph realized why everything was fuzzy. The sounds were too loud and the dim light of the dojo was blinding. Mikey had given him a mild concussion. In his dazed state Raph actually felt a sense of pride. Who would have thought that Mikey had it in him.
*)O(*
Three hours. Three long hours. Not one word from his son. No apology. No look of remorse. No fidgeting. Three hours they sat in silence that wore down on everything that Splinter thought he could hold together.
Where could he start? What experience did he have in these matters? He'd never loved anyone the way he was sure that Michelangelo had started to love Becca. He didn't know what had caused this whole situation. His son refused to respond when he'd asked what had caused him to attack his brother.
"Go to the bathroom, drink some water then come back," he ordered. Michelangelo hated to meditate, but it was going to be necessary for him to conquer whatever he was going through. Deep reflection and meditation would help to ease the tides that eroded his son's natural good disposition.
There was no 'Hai, Sensei.' or even an 'okay' as Michelangelo got up and did as he was told. Splinter got up, his knees popping and creaking. One painful pop made him grimace. He was too old to be doing these things, he grumbled internally. His nose twitched and he scented a female outside of the door to his room. Some of his frustration fell away and he let himself smile.
"Come in," he announced. He could have sworn he heard her heart pick up. Mik pulled the door open and walked in. Her dress matched his chestnut kimono. The red strips that spiked her cheeks and down the middle of her forehead always drew his gaze to her eyes. Crimson shot back at him, meeting his eyes before looking down and away. "How did it go?"
"Not very well." Splinter said, discouraged for a moment.
"Becca won't come out of the room, either. She won't say anything about what happened." Mik informed him. Splinter sighed. He wasn't sure he was supposed to even be meddling in these things. He'd forced himself to remain silent at breakfast, but he drew the line at assault. "Whatever happened between them, happened. We can't force them to be together." He tried to speak with wisdom. Matters of the heart were a tricky thing to begin with.
"I… agree… but, I'm still worried." Mik seemed to crumple. Splinter walked to her. Her eyes flickered up to his. "I am too, but it's not our place to guide them in this." He reached out and laid a hand on Mik's arm. It was true. He had no idea of what to do when it came to loving someone more than as a father loved a child, or as a friend loved another friend. There were things he was feeling that he didn't understand himself. Mik smiled at him, patted his hand then moved away. "I'll leave you to it, then. Good luck, Splinter."
"I believe I will need it." He nodded.
*)O(*
There are certain things that being a giant mutant turtle doesn't prepare you for. Having an angry, pregnant fiancé was one of them. Having to deal with the after math of a younger brother's heart break was another. Donnie was clutching any rope he could find to stop himself from drowning. "You should have kept your mouth shut," Donnie hissed as Raph growled at the needle guiding thread through his skin. Five stitches to his eyebrow ridge and a handful of butterflies on various cuts on his face, and Raph still had a concussion to worry about.
"Here, soak your feet, it'll help with the head ache." Sara grunted as she set down a basin of hot water next to the bed in the lab. The large tub easily weighed over twenty-five pounds. Donnie shot her a look then immediately looked away. 'Not the right time' vibes were ebbing off Sara with a vengeance. The ban from going on patrol and training, anything more than yoga, had went over better than he'd ever hoped they might have. The next ban of lifting heavy things would be more of a task, he was sure.
"How in the-"
"Raphael, do as you are told, now, or so help me-"
"Okay, okay," his brother grumbled and submerged his feet. Donnie even wondered over it for a moment, but dared not to question her. He tried to tell himself that he wasn't walking on egg shell, but failed. Too many stories of angry pregnant females from TV over the years and he was afraid to breath around her. "It'll pull the blood down and increase the circulation there, giving your brain a chance to heal up without it hurting too bad. Plus, it feels good." On the last statement, she patted Raph's shoulder, like she was telling him he was doing a good job.
Then she turned to Donnie and he froze. She didn't look angry though, so he relaxed after a moment. "She won't say what happened and Mikey has been in there with Splinter for a while." Worry flowed through her voice and Donnie hesitantly wrapped her in his arms. "They are the only one's who can fix this." He murmured into the top of her head as he kissed it. "You don't need to stress yourself about it," he soothed. "Like Raph said, Mikey's an idiot, but he's good with people. If there's a way for him to fix it, he'll find it."
Sara nodded into his plastron and hugged him back. It had been rocky the past few days with her. After the shock wore off, she'd gotten angry and stayed that way. He knew that she knew, that he didn't know it was even a remote possibility, but that she also blamed him at the same time. Now he was in the process of setting up a makeshift ultrasound device so they could get a number for how many kids to expect.
Over anything else that was going on, he was still reeling from that idea alone. Not just Sara being pregnant, but her carrying more than one of his children. The idea that something he'd never dreamed of could be magnified in such an unbelievable way was baffling. Not only had he somehow found someone to spend his life with, but they were going to be blessed with a child, if not children.
There was fear there. The kind of fear you only get used to when you live the life he'd lived. The fear of her dying without warning. Pregnancy was like a battle. There was a chance you'd walk away, happy and healthy with only a scar to remind you of the pain it had caused you, or you could lose your life. Then there was the fear of her being captured. The things that his enemies would do to her if they knew she was pregnant was enough to make him sick with anger.
So he walked on eggshells because if he was feeling like this, he couldn't imagine what she was feeling. It was her life on the line. It was her body that was nursing another. It was her who was in the most danger. He could only hold her hand and remind her that he loved her. He could never express his joy enough at the risk she was taking for him.
"Do you think it has anything to do with what you told me?" Sara whispered soft enough for only him to hear. Donnie blinked. Then things clicked on in his preoccupied mind. He'd told Sara of what Mikey had done to Liam. He couldn't keep a secret like that from her, but he'd sworn her to secrecy. It was the fact that Sara had experienced what she had that she'd agreed and had basically wanted to thank Mikey for his contribution to society. Castrating another man like that still made Donnie's blood go cold. He pulled her away from Raph and over to the desk. "No, I don't think so. He wouldn't have told her, not unless he had to." Sara nodded. Donnie nodded back. If that wasn't the problem, then they would have to somehow dig to find it. No matter how much they thought it wasn't their place to interfere, it was still their family and they didn't want things to end like this.
*)O(*
The girl was asleep again. The blankets were pulled up around her and seemed to be the only protection from the real world that Becca could find. It was hard to watch. Mikey's outburst and attitude coupled with Becca's withdrawn form made Mik a little depressed herself. The beacon of joy that was Mikey was tainted. The flare of happiness that was Becca had seemed to sputter out of life. Things were far from right.
Mik sighed and left the room, going to the living room, hoping to find one of the magazines that had the baby pictures in them. Too much was going on around here and she needed a break. She kind of wished that she could go above ground like the others. It was daytime though, and even if any of them agreed, it wouldn't have been possible. Mikey was doing meditation with Splinter, Donnie and Sara were with Raph who was being nursed back to health. Leo had been ordered into submission, leaving Splinter to discipline Mikey while Leo sulked somewhere.
Mik rolled her eyes. Leo was probably in his room, mediating as well. If Splinter liked meditation, Leo loved it. Each of them had their own things that they did to relax, but Mik wondered if Leo knew the word existed sometimes. The whole ordeal was taxing and she was ready to put it behind her. She found that she was getting tired more easily throughout the day.
The idea of being old was a foreign one. To a normal rat, time, age, and all other things that most people worried about, didn't have a place in their lives. It was all about eating, living, and reproducing. She sighed and flipped through the pages of a magazine as she settled onto the couch. Life had been simpler before she'd been mutated, but she wouldn't go back for the world.
There were too many new, and amazing things. Her brain worked so much faster and harder, absorbing everything with speed. Her heart felt new things as well. The memory of Splinter's hand on her arm made her blush under her fur. Not for the first time was she thankful for it's protection. The fear, the racing heart, the shallow breaths that started when she was around Splinter weren't anything like she'd first thought them to be. It was only after watching many movies and TV shows that she'd started to form a word for her feelings. Attraction.
She was attracted to the male rat. It made sense. Her body was still trying to tell her to reproduce, even though she knew that that wasn't possible anymore. It was similar to what Mikey and Becca were feeling. Being drawn to another person like that was scary by it's self. She could hardly think around Splinter. Becca and Mikey were younger, and both as inexperienced as the other, really. If it was this difficult for her, she pitied them.
Maybe Splinter was right, maybe things would work themselves out if everyone just left them alone. Mik sighed and squeezed her eyes shut. When was anything ever that simple with this family?
*)O(*
A/N: So, yeah, a hurt and pissed of Mikey is not a good thing. I know this might have seemed a bit redundant, but I wanted to highlight the severity of Mikey's pain. His and Becca's inner turmoil will begin again next chapter. I hoped you all like it!
Now for the shout out to everyone who had reviewed so far!
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AND Guest #2!
Thank you, to all of you!
So many of you have followed this over from System Malfunction and I'm so happy to see you all again!
Some of you are new, and that's great! I hope that you've gone back and read System Malfunction, or that, if you're a rebel, that you're loving this story by it's self! So many !'s!
Just so you don't think I'm leaving any of you guys out, shout out to everyone who has followed and or favorited this story as well! Some of you haven't reviewed, and I don't know why, but thanks none the less! I'm happy to have a lurking population who secretly indulge in my story, even if you're too shy to leave a review.
Much love to everyone! You guys are the greatest!
