Okay, so I've got the next two chapters ready to go, for all you jumping up and down in suspense, here it is.
Ch 17 SURPRISE!?
Mikey sat on the couch in front of the TV attempting to watch one of his favorite cartoons, but the constant pacing of his brother was a growing disturbance for him, especially since Donnie continued to mumble incoherently to himself.
"Dude!" Mikey stood up and walked over to him. "What is with you D? You're all over the place."
"Huh?" Donnie looked up at him and gave him a grim smile. "Oh, sorry Mikey." He walked over to the couch and sat down feeling somewhat exhausted. It had been two days since he spoke with Rockwell regarding the information that was discovered and he had not slept since. He looked at his phone for the hundredth time that day and then looked toward the front door nervously.
"What's going on Donnie?" Mikey sat next to him and looked at him questioningly. "Are you worried about Raph and Leo?" He leaned toward him and looked at him intently. "You got those ninja vibes going telling you something's up?"
Donnie pushed Mikey's face away from him. "Nothing like that Mikey."
"Well, why you acting so weird bra?"
Donnie looked at Mikey with apologetic eyes. "Sorry Mikey, I can't talk to you about it yet." He leaned himself against the couch and sighed deeply looking at his phone once again before putting it back into his pocket.
"Wait, does this have to do with Leo and why he's been getting sick lately?" Mikey's eyes widen as an idea suddenly struck him. "Does it have to do with his blood test and that drug his father injected into him last year." Mikey stood up and started pacing himself, his hands clenched into fist and tucked up under his chin.
"Wha? How did you?." Donnie sputtered before composing himself. "It's nothing like that Mikey." Donnie insisted, trying to calm his little brother down. At this point, Splinter walked out of the dojo and watched curiously as Mikey began to get antsy and erratic while incoherently ranting about Leo.
"Is something wrong with Michelangelo?" The tall brown rat walked over to his easy chair and sat down. He looked at Donnie in confusion as he sat on the couch looking rather miffed at his little brother.
"No Sensei. Mikey is just overreacting as usu…"
"Leo's dying!" Mikey suddenly yelled out causing his Sensei to startle and lean away from him when he fell on his knees in front of him in tears.
"No he's not!" Donnie responded harshly. He gave Mike an angry look and was about to continue to admonish his younger sibling when the sound of a motorcycle coming up the driveway took his attention away from his over dramatic brother. He got up and ran toward the window. Seeing it was his brothers, he pulled out his phone and walked into the kitchen to make a call.
Leo and Raph walked into the house smiling and laughing while talking about their trip. They were just about to greet the others when Mikey came running over to Leo, threw his arms around him and began to sob.
"OH LEO!" He cried out. "I'm so sorry bro!" Leo and Raph looked at him in bewilderment as he sobbed into Leo's shoulder.
"What is going on?" Raph demanded as Leo attempted to pry Mikey off him.
Splinter chuckled lightly and walked over to his sons. "Michelangelo…compose yourself my son." He assisted in getting Mikey off Leo and then gave them hugs. "Welcome back my sons." He warmly greeted them. "How was your trip?"
"It was wonderful, thank you Sensei." Leo smiled back at him. "We took lots of pictures we want to share with you and brought some gifts too." He continued as he stared at Mikey in concern. "What's up with Mikey."
"Nothing is up with Mikey." Donnie said walking out of the kitchen and giving his brothers hugs. "Welcome back guys." He greeted them, then looked at Leo intently. "Um..but Leo, I do need to speak with you."
"Okay Don." Leo gave him an uncertain look.
"Why don't you and Raph go upstairs, get settled, unpack do whatever it is you have to do and when you come back down we'll talk."
Raph and Leo looked at Donnie with narrowed eyes and then at each other. They shrugged, took their bags and made their way upstairs. Half an hour later, when the two turtles came back down, they were startled to see Dr. Rockwell was now sitting in the living room speaking with Donatello and sipping a cup of tea. But when he saw the other turtles, he placed his tea down and stood up.
"Welcome home boys." He greeted. "How was the trip."
"Wonderful." Leo told him with a bewildered look. Rockwell nodded at them with a smile and then glanced toward Donatello.
"Um Sensei…Mikey, would you two mind going into the kitchen while Dr. Rockwell and I talk to Leo and Raphael in private please?" Donnie asked.
His father and brother didn't seem too please to be asked to leave but did so nonetheless. After they were gone, Leo turned to Donnie with an accusing look.
"What the heck Don, I thought we'd agree to wait till Monday before I spoke with Dr. Rockwell?" While Leo berated Donnie, Raph stared at him with an intense and shocked look.
"Leo." Donnie spoke sternly to him. "Doctor Rockwell came to me on Friday." He assured him. "He has discovered something and needed to speak with you right away." He sat down in Splinter's easy chair and motioned for Leo and Raph to sit on the couch. "We were almost tempted to call you on Friday and request you come home but…."
"But we didn't see the need to bother you while on your honeymoon." Rockwell took up the explanation. "We decided it would not have made a difference if we dealt with it now or then." He walked over to a briefcase he had laid on the coffee table. "But we did want you to know what was found as soon as we had a chance to speak with you."
"Wait, what the hell's going on?." Raph demanded. He turned toward Leo. "You weren't feeling that great on the trip." He looked from Leo to Donnie to Rockwell before looking back at Leo. They could all see a look of dawning in his eyes. "But you haven't been feeling well for longer then that…have you Leo?"
Leo looked away from Raph in shame. "I didn't want what was happening to me to ruin our wedding or honeymoon." He told him.
"How long?" Raph demanded.
"Since about the fifth of July." Leo's voice quivered. "It was nothing more then nausea and vomiting at first so I thought it was just something I ate and then, since it continued, I thought it may have been stress from planning the wedding and honeymoon and then after Jeffrey shot you I..I thought…"
"Leo." Donnie's voice was stern but soothing. "It's not what you think." Leo and Raph looked from him to Rockwell and both boys felt ice cold fear welling in the pit of their stomachs.
"Well, what's going on then?" Leo asked, not really sure if he wanted to know.
Dr. Rockwell had been standing by the couch but now that he had both turtle's attention, he walked over to the coffee table and sat down directly in front of Leo. The mutant monkey opened his briefcase and took out a manila envelope. He opened the envelope and pulled out a folder. "Leonardo, as you know I've been taking blood samples from you since Saki gave you that shot last year." Leo nodded at him. "I've been monitoring the samples checking to see if any kind of effect has been taking place and up onto last week, they've been stable."
"What happened last week?" Leo asked.
"That shot you were given is starting to react with your DNA." Rockwell sounded apologetic at the news he was giving them. "It was suppose to enhance your DNA but I'm seeing a different reaction between what the drug was suppose to do and what it is doing." He watched as Leo blinked at him in confusion. "Your blood was compromised when you were five years old due to the experiments your father did to you, correct?"
"Um…Yea, I suppose so." Leo said cautiously, he was trying to understand where Rockwell was going with this.
"Had Stockman given you more then just the one shot like he intended, your DNA would have been enhanced right away and you would probably have extreme healing abilities as well as your strength, hearing and seeing would be above normal." Again Leo nodded. "Of course, that's why Saki wanted to extract the serum from your blood afterward."
"But I only got one because Saki…."Leo let the rest of that sentence hang. He was still struggling to come to terms with what his father and Stockman had done to him and he hated to revisit that day.
"Yes, of course." Rockwell nodded and continued. "But because you only got one, it did not effect you right away." He told him. "Until last week when I started to notice some abnormalities beginning to form from the sample I took from this past June, so I got in touch with the doctor you saw the Thursday after you returned home and requested to check the blood sample he took." Leo's eyes looked around the room as the words slowly sank in.
Now Rockwell took a deep breath. "Your DNA is starting to deteriorate." Raph and Leo looked at each other then back to Rockwell. "Had you not gotten that shot when you did, the deterioration would have begun long ago, but the shot kept things together till now."
"But why now?" Leo questioned. "Why is my DNA doing this now? Why not before?"
"Because your hitting you adult hood years." Donnie now took up the explanation. "When we hit adulthood, our bodies began to take on a change and the body stops making certain nutrients and …."
"Just get to the point Don!" Raph yelled.
"The point is Raph…." Don snapped back. "Leo is slowly losing the ability to heal…and…."
"And if it is not corrected soon" Rockwell looked at him with intense seriousness. "You will..." He took a deep breath. "You will die"
Both Leo and Raph gasped upon hearing the news. "How do we correct it?" Raph asked, staring at Leo with fear and concern.
"We'll need to do a blood transfusion." Rockwell explained.
"Well then let's do one!" Leo yelled, jumping off the couch. "What are we waiting for? What do we need to do?"
"It can't be done just yet Leo." Donnie told him.
"Well why not?" Leo sat back down on the couch, staring at Donnie.
"Because." He licked his lips nervously. "There's something else."
"Something else!?" Leo shouted at him incredulously. "What more could there be Don? You've practically just given me a death sentence, what else can you throw at me?"
"Leo." Donnie looked at him. "Have you ever heard of a Kraathatrogon?"
Leo put a hand to his head and took a breath to calm himself. "Umm..yeah, they're supposedly the creature that was brought to earth by these beings known as the Kraang about a hundred years ago." Leo answered. "Supposedly, the Kraang harvested the mutagen that these worm like creatures supplied for their young as food and used it on our ancestors thus making us what we are today." Leo furrowed his eyes together. "But I thought that was just a myth."
"Your explanation of them is correct Leonardo." Rockwell nodded at him. "But the part of them being a myth is incorrect." Leo narrowed his eyes at him. "They are very real and can be found on the Japanese Island Shikoku."
"Okay." Leo replied slowly. "What does this have to do with me and what I'm going through?"
"The Kraathatrogon is a Hermaphrodite." Leo and Raph looked at Rockwell quizzically.
"A Hermaphrodite means it has the ability to reproduce with or without a mate." Donnie explained. "Because they have the ability to change their gender."
"Annnnd!" Raph was getting irritated and it was everything he could do to control his anger over the news he was hearing.
"Leonardo." Rockwell looked at him. "Saki used the DNA of the Kraathatrogon to help enhance your DNA."
"Ummm. What exactly are you trying to say?" Leo asked, feeling another wave of fear sweep over him.
"As I said earlier Leonardo, that shot is having a different effect then what was expected. The DNA of the Kraathatrogon mixed with your DNA not only manipulated the mutagen in your blood but also enhanced your reproduction abilities." Rockwell explained. He watched as Leo's eyes became huge giant saucers as a sudden understanding came over him. Rockwell took a deep breath. "Leonardo…You are pregnant."
Leo suddenly felt the room begin to spin. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes hoping to steady the dizzying feeling. Suddenly, after several long awkward moments of silence, Leo began to laugh. Everyone looked at him in confusion as his laughter seem to start out low and then slowly crescendo to hysterical laughter and tears rolled down his cheeks. "Okay Donnie." Leo said attempting to breath. "That's a good prank." He stood up and walked around the couch and leaned hard against it, still laughing hard. He suddenly stopped and looked angrily at him. "Did Mikey put you up to it? Because if he did it's a really sick joke!" Leo scowled angrily as he began to shake hard. "And you two are just as sick to be a part of it!"
Rockwell and Donnie exchanged nervous glances as they watched Leo shake hard with anger. "Leo." Donnie got up and walked slowly over to him. "This isn't a prank." Donnie looked closely at Leo who was staring at him with daggers in his eyes. "From what we could determine…your blood is showing elevated hormones due to an increase in female chromosomes." Donnie looked at Leo intently.
"This isn't happening." Leo whispered before suddenly shouting. "This can't be happening!" He looked desperately from Don to Rockwell. "Why!?" He demanded, his voice cracking. Don went to put his hand on Leo's shoulder but Leo smacked it away. "Don't touch me!"
Don watched in concern as Leo began pacing back and forth while ranting out loud angrily. "Welcome back from your honeymoon Leo…oh and by the way…the drug your father shot you up with is screwing with your DNA so now your dying AND it also made you PREGNANT!" He yelled.
Suddenly he stopped. "Wait." He turned back to Don and Rockwell who was watching him with very worried eyes. "You said my DNA is deteriorating?"Leo's eyes were red and filled with fear. Both Donnie and Rockwell nodded. "How is this effecting the baby?" Leo looked between the two of them, fear and anger welling at the bottom of his stomach at the looks they were giving him.
Once again, Dr. Rockwell took a deep breath. "From what we can determine, you were pregnant before your DNA began to breakdown and as of right now, the baby, or rather the egg, should be okay." He watched as Leo sank slowly back down on the couch and put his head in his hands. "But until I give you a full physical, it's hard to say if the egg can or will survive." Leo looked up at him with frightened eyes. "Once we give you your physical, we'll be able to have a better idea of what's happening."
Leo felt as though he was living a very long and very agonizing nightmare. "How long before I'm ready to…to give…Leo swallowed hard, he couldn't bring himself to say it. "Give birth." He choked out.
"Well Leo." Donnie began slowly. "We're diamondback terrapins and it takes about two months before a female lays her eggs and since you have been pregnant for almost one month." Donnie took a deep breath. "You should be ready to lay the egg in about another month or so."
"Of course, you are also a humanoid male turtle so it could be longer or shorter." Rockwell told him. "But only by a few days."
"And what happens in the mean time?" Leo demanded with a horrified look on his face.
"Your system is going to continue to break down but from what we can determine, it is progressing at a very slow pace so as long as we give you the transfusion directly after the birth, then hopefully you'll be fine."
Leo looked up at Rockwell questioningly. "Hopefully?"
"There is always a chance the transfusion may not work since we need to wait." He looked at him sadly.
"Isn't there something…anything you can do?" Leo begged.
Rockwell shook his head. "Short of …terminating the pregnancy…I'm afraid not." Leo's eyes shot open and he looked at Rockwell in shock.
Leo's mouth slowly gaped opened and he shook his head as the words continued to sink in. He stood up and began to pace again, his mind reeling with all that he had just heard. He placed his hand on his stomach and thought about what had happened as well as what was happening to him. Life...death, all seemed to be coming at him like a punch in the jaw. As Leo turned and looked from Don to Rockwell, it suddenly dawned on him that Raph was still sitting on the couch and had not spoken in quite sometime.
"Raph?" Leo looked at his mate in concern. He started to walk toward him. "Say something." He begged nervously, trying hard to hold back the tears. "Please." He watched as Raph very slowly began to stand up. Raph turned toward Leo with wide eyes and started to open his mouth.
CRASH
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Poor Leo, there is just no rest for the weary. A thumbs up for all you who guessed the pregnancy part and a two thumbs up for Alex who guessed pregnancy and illness part. Love the reviews, please keep them coming. Next chapter up soon.
