Chapter 11
AN: There is one person in Guernsey who has been faithfully reading this story, but this person never leaves a review. I would like to know where Guernsey is and if that's where Guernsey cattle come from. Oh, and thank you , lone Guernsey person for following this story. Thanks to all of you who have reviewed so far. I truly enjoy the feed back. As for my previous formatting problem, it has been resolved. Now on with the story.
It was around 6 a.m. and Donatello woke feeling like he was floating on a cloud. He looked to his left to see Venus sleeping beside him and smiled.
'So this is what it's like to wake up from the best night ever,' he mused as he sat up and stretched. He leaned over to kiss Venus on the temple before heading to the shower, humming happily to himself all the way. Eventually Venus woke up in bed alone and immediately started looking for Donatello. While wiping the sleep from her eyes she followed the sound of running water. Once in the bathroom she heard Don turn off the water before he opened the glass door. With an outstretched hand and a sweet smile he asked Venus to join him in the shower. That led to round three of some slippery, wet fun.
After Donatello secured everything in his secret bachelor pad the pair headed back to the Lair wearing their winter clothing. Despite it being morning topside the tunnels were still pretty dark. The Turtles knew their way by heart so that was not an issue. Both mutants were blissfully unaware of what was waiting for them at home. When they entered the Lair they didn't see anyone else up, so they began to remove their winter garb.
As Venus took off her hooded cloak she sensed something that made her feel uneasy. There was something in the air, like an oppressive heaviness wroth with negative emotion. She looked over at Donatello to see if he sensed it too, but he seemed totally oblivious. When Venus headed towards her room she paused when she realized there was someone laying on the couch. It was Leonardo with Tokio laying across his chest fast asleep. The young shinobi shivered a bit as she noticed Leo's cold glare.
"Ohayo gozaimasu. Welcome back." Venus bowed quickly and politely as she returned Leo's greeting. She reached down and picked up her sleeping baby and gently rested his head on her shoulder. She turned away from Leo for his glare was making her very uncomfortable. "So, how was your tour at the aquarium, Mei-chan?"
"It was wonderful! The rest of you should definitely go to see the sea turtle exhibit. Atima said it will be here well into April so there is plenty of time..." Her voice trailed off as she felt as if she was babbling. "I...I'm going to put Tokio to bed."
"Yeah, you do that, Venus." Leonardo slowly sat up as Venus rushed out of the room with the baby. His cold, blue eyes now rested on his brother. "So, brother, what time did the tour end?"
"Oh, around 12:30," Donnie replied, not realizing that he had opened up a can of worms.
"Oh really? You do know it's almost 7:30, right?" Leonardo growled as he grabbed Donatello's arm, swung him around, then pushed him into a wall. Leo pressed one arm against his shorter brother's throat and his eyes narrowed with menace. "Where were you two all that time?" he practically hissed. Don's eyes were wide as saucers until his shocked expression melted into one of great annoyance.
"I don't see how that's any of your business," Don spat back in a cocky tone. That just pissed Leonardo off even more and he pressed his muscular arm against his brother's throat a little harder, causing Donatello to gag a little.
"What were you two doing?" By now Leo was scowling like an angry gargoyle.
"You really want to know, don't you? I bet it's eating up inside. For your information, Venus and I had some incredible, mind blowing sex!" The now defiant bo wielding Turtle gasped when Leo punched him in the gut. His oldest brother backed away as Donnie held his stomach.
"How could you? Even after I warned you! I gave you that information so you could resist her, not take advantage!" By now Donatello had regained his balance and sneered over at his brother.
"So your saying I should have asked your permission to seduce her? What bullshit! You're just pissed cuz I've challenged your position as the Alpha Male! Well, it's not my fault I'm tens times the lover you are!"
In a flash Donatello felt the wind knocked out of him. The next thing he knew he was on the floor on his back with Leo sitting on top of him. The incensed leader had his fist cocked over his younger brother's face. His whole body quaked as he held back his fury.
"Now listen here, you cocky little piece of shit! You may think you're real special because you got to enjoy Venus' body, but know this..." Leonardo leaned in really close with a look in his eyes that Donatello found absolutely terrifying. "...Venus' heart belongs to me!"
Around the same time April was up with her daughter, June. The 11 month old was sitting on her play mat watching a Your Baby Can Read DVD April had ordered when April's cell phone rang. The human mother chuckled at her daughter excitedly slapping the image of a cat on the TV screen as she answered the call. The smile was wiped from April's face when she heard the caller sobbing. At first April couldn't tell who it was but she soon realized it was Venus. She sounded like she was utterly devastated.
"Venus, sweetie, what's wrong?" April's heart was breaking just hearing her choking on her own tears. It took Venus a while to get herself together enough to be able to speak. "Honey, please tell me what happened." April's voice had a soft, motherly tone that Venus always found so comforting.
"L-Leo...and I...we..."
"Did you two have a fight?"
"Y-yes." She had a fit of hiccups until she got herself together enough to speak again. "He t-told me that I should stop acting like such a...slut."
"Leo said that to you? Why would he say such a terrible thing?"
Before Venus could answer April heard a whole lot of cursing and arguing in the background followed by some banging on a door. The female turtle asked her human friend to hold on a moment. There were a few more cross words before April heard another familiar voice on the line.
"Yo, April."
"Hey, Raph. Is everything ok over there?"
"It will be as soon as I find out what the hell's goin' on. All I know is that crazy ass Don and Leo woke me out of my sleep and poor Venus is here crying her heart out! I know one thing. Once this is straightened out I'm gonna kick a couple Turtle's asses for makin' her cry like this. I'm surprised they didn't wake the baby!"
"Things sound a little calmer over there."
"I think Don retreated to his room and Leo's probably stalking the hallway. He can be so psycho at times. But don't worry. Things are under control."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. We'll call if we need anything. I think we'll be ok, though."
"All right. Give V a big hug for me."
"Will do. Thanks April."
After he got off Venus' Shell Cell Raphael gave the distraught female a one armed hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"I'm not sure what happened here but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I know my brothers can act kinda crazy at times, but try not to let it get to ya." Venus responded with a weak nod. Raph admonished her to lay down and get some rest. He draped her comforter over her and gave her one last kiss on the cheek before turning off the light. As he headed back to his room he shook his head. He felt another family meeting coming on.
Later that morning Leo was awakened by Tokio crying. He groggily stood up and went over to the crib. He saw that his son still had his eyes closed and realized that he was crying in his sleep. He was about to pick the baby up when his Shell Cell went off. He answered it with his left hand while he patted Tokio on the carapace.
"Moshi moshi."
"What's mushy, Leo? You having oatmeal for breakfast?"
"Hey, Casey. What's up?" Leo thought it was odd Csey was calling him instead of Raphael.
"Well, I got home from work and April was pretty upset about something. Told me you and Venus had a fallin' out, so I'm callin' to see if everything is ok."
"I guess so."
"You don't sound too sure, buddy. So what happened?"
Before Leo could answer Venus came into his room, walked over to the crib, pushed Leo to the side with her hip, then picked up the baby and walked out. The whole time she avoided eye contact with Leo.
"Casey, I have brought down the wrath of the goddess with my foolish words. I don't know how I can appease her. I'm such a fuckin' idiot!" he exclaimed as he slammed his fast into the wall above the crib.
"Take it easy, Leo. It's not the end of the world. I have fights with my wife now and then. We've said some pretty crazy stuff to each other, believe me. But after we've had a chance to cool off we come together again. We're always gonna love each other, and I think the same of you and your wife."
"What did you just say?"
"C'mon, Leo. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. I see how you look at each other and the way you two act. You act like a friggin' married couple. You ever consider makin' it official?"
"Like with a ceremony?"
"Yeah. Exactly."
"Casey, it's not like we can walk into a court house or a temple and get married. We're kinda not human."
"Nobody suggested anything like that. Why don't you come up with your own special ceremony? You're good with formal stuff like that, right? As for the proposal, you guys have really fat fingers so a ring is out of the question. Maybe you should go with a necklace or even a bracelet."
"Seems like you put a whole lot of thought into this, Casey."
"Look, are you in love with Venus or not?"
"Of course!"
"So if you're gonna show her you might as well go all out. Trust me, that'll get her attention. So will you at least think about it?"
"Yeah, but first things first. I need to apologize to her. I feel like such an ass for what I said to her. I'm never going to let my anger get out of control like that again."
"Now you're talkin', buddy! Well, I gotta go. Junie has a doctor's appointment. Good luck with your wifey." Leo chuckled and shook his head.
"Thanks, Case. Later."
Leo found Venus at the dining table feeding their son some baby cereal with little bits of pineapple. Tokio had dropped his egg tooth over a month prior and was developing faster than a human baby. At two months he was already eating semi-solid food and sitting up on his own. He also had a mouth full of teeth, which his uncle Raph had discovered when Tokio bit him one day.
Leo greeted two of his brothers as he brushed the back of his hand against Venus' cheek. He ignored Donatello glaring daggers at him and noticed Michelangelo wasn't there. He figured Mikey was hovering over the eggs like a mother hen. He had been doing that a lot lately, and he kept insisting that he heard sounds coming from the eggs. No one else, not even Venus, heard anything so they just left the issue alone.
Before he headed to the kitchen Leo asked his mate if she wanted him to fix her anything to eat. She shook her head no and kept feeding the baby. Still no eye contact. With a sigh Leonardo went to brew himself some herbal tea and fix some toast with strawberry preserves. He could tell Venus was still pretty mad at him, and he couldn't blame her.
Leonardo spent most of the day trying to get some alone time with Venus so he could talk to her, but she was having none of it. She managed to find other things to do besides listen to him. Leo decided to have the patience to let her anger subside before initiating anything. For the next few days tension hung in the air among them while Venus gave Leonardo the silent treatment and Donatello gave him nasty looks and snide remarks. Raphael was getting annoyed with all three of them.
"Look, I don't know what the fuck is wrong with you three, but I wish you would get it together and start acting normal soon." Venus was being very standoffish and Leo and Don looked like they would come to blows any minute. Leave it to Mikey, the Sunshine Turtle, to part the cloudy mood with enthusiastic positivity as he burst through the swinging door.
"Guys, you gotta come see this! I think the twins are trying to hatch!"
Soon the entire Hamato clan was gathered in the nesting area. Mikey was a ball of giddiness when he saw a little beak poking out of the egg on the north end of the nest. They could see movement in the other egg but the infant turtle hadn't broken through. It didn't take long for the first twin to push out of the shell and try to climb out of the nest. Mikey scooped up the baby to look it over. It had light green skin with bright yellow stripes and red marking on each side of its head. The tail was short and there were no ridges on the rear scutes. This one was a little bigger than Tokio was when he first hatched. It was determined that this little one was a girl. While Mike and Don cleaned her up Venus lifted the second twin out of the nest. This little one was all flailing limbs, wide eyes, and the spitting image of its father. The long tail and the extra long claws were a dead giveaway that this one was a boy. Venus held the infant up for Tokio to see. Tokio leaned over, sniffed, then wrinkled up his nose.
The young mother laughed at his response as Donatello called her over to give him the readings on the thermometers. Mikey was absolutely thrilled about his beautiful babies and called the Joneses to tell them the news.
"I'm so happy for you , Mikey!" April was practically cheering, knowing full well how much Michelangelo was looking forward to the twins hatching. "What did you name them?"
"I named the girl Gidget, cuz she's such a cutie pie and I always thought that name was cute. And the boy's name is Milan. I think that's a city in Europe somewhere. Anyway, I make really cute babies!"
"I'm not surprised at all. Just let us know when we can drop by to see them."
"I will!"
Venus smiled at Mikey's enthusiasm over the babies. She sighed inwardly as she considered how she was going to adjust her daily routine to care for three babies. Being a mother, whether human or mutant, was quite a challenge.
Next Chapter: Leo and Venus try to heal their wounded hearts together, but Don is not helping with his own erratic behavior. Raph has some words for his younger brothers and a warning for Leo.