Chapter 12

It was the end of February and a whole year had passed since the arrival of little June Angelica Jones. The festivities were well underway in the Jones household. Casey had rented party space in a place called Gymboree so both sides of the family could celebrate in the warm indoors. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins young and old showed up for the celebration. One non-human family member was able to join in the fun via his kids' entertainment business. If there was a child's birthday party going on the twenty-year-old mutant was usually on it like mustard on a hot pretzel.

Little Junie was a lucky little girl to have such loving family of humans and mutants alike, for after this public celebration there would be a private, and very much secret party at another time and location. At that very moment the Hamato clan was preparing for the pending event. Raphael and Casey had winterized the van earlier that month in preparation for a trip to the country. April and Casey had fully renovated Casey's grandmother's old farmhouse the previous summer. The house was far from any main roads and deep in the woods so they all could count on the privacy.

Venus was very excited about the trip since it would be her first time going to the farmhouse. It would also be the first time the Turtles had brought any of their offspring outside of the Lair. Leo and Don had been helping her make sure there was plenty of warm clothing for the little ones, and the Joneses

provided cars seats for all three Turtle babies.

The following Sunday evening the Hamato clan was all geared up for their trip. While his younger brothers loaded their van Leonardo knelt before a rare, and precious photo of their late sensei and father. He prayed for Splinter's spirit to watch over them on their journey. When he ended his prayer the incense embers glowed unusually bright for a brief second before he extinguished them. Leo thought that was odd but chalked it up to Splinter acknowledging his request.

Michelangelo was loading Klunk's cat carrier on the very back seat of their van when Leo got to their hidden garage. Raphael had considered driving his motorcycle but changed his mind at the last minute. He was still concerned about Venus and wanted to make sure he was physically present to help her in any way. Raph's brother's had noticed that as he got older he became less selfish and rebellious. Leo wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that there were children involved that helped him take the focus off of himself.

Within minutes the clan was ready to go meet with the Joneses at their house. Leonardo was driving and Venus was riding shotgun for now . The other three Turtles were sitting next to each of the little ones. As they pulled off Tokio stared at his uncle Raph while pulling at the wool booties on his feet. His lanky legs were long enough to dangle over the edge of the car seat, and their inherited length made it easy for him to pull his feet up to his mouth.

"Hey, little nugget, I don't think your mom and dad have wool socks on your diet," Raphael playfully scolded as he pulled the baby's foot out of his beak. Raph then rolled his eyes at Mikey who was cooing over the back of his seat at the cute scene.

Soon the Turtles met the Joneses at their brownstone. Casey gave Donatello one of a pair of walkie-talkies in case they lost sight of each other on their three hour trip. They didn't want to rely totally on the Shell Cells because of the frequency of dropped calls the further they got out in the countryside. The two families proceeded with caution for there were icy patches along the road here and there.

Their journey was pretty uneventful, except for the time the Joneses hit a patch of black ice, giving everyone a scare. Both vans were pulled over to the side of the road while Leo made sure their human friends were all right. After determining that none of them were injured, just startled, Leo went back to the Turtles' van.

"Boy, I'll be glad when we get to the farm. I hate driving in this kind of weather," Leo grumbled as he started the engine. Venus gave him a reassuring pat on the thigh as they pulled off behind the Joneses. "Hopefully we won't have any more mishaps." A few minutes later it began sleeting.

"Man, Leo, why'd you have to open your big mouth?" Raph teased.

"Bite me, Raph. Or better yet, why don't you bite him for me, Toki-chan?"

"Funny, Fearless. Real fuckin' funny," the sai wielding ninja muttered as the others laughed at his expense.

Fortunately they avoided any more hazards for the rest of the trip. There were cheers all around when they arrived at the old Victorian style house. The four Hamato brothers stared at the building in awe. The extensive renovations had transformed the once dilapidated house into a sturdy, freshly painted and fully repaired house with a now complete wrap around porch. They didn't stand outside to enjoy the view too long since it was still sleeting. Casey went to unlock the front door as his Turtle friends gathered up the babies and the cat.

Once they went inside it was time for even more oos and ahhs. The interior was more wonderful than they expected. Mike carried Gidget into the fully remodeled kitchen and was floored by all the modern appliances, new tile, and cabinets. Everything about the room screamed dream kitchen to the cook inside him.

"Baby girl, I'm going to have to teach you how to cook because I don't think Daddy's ever going to leave this kitchen," Michelangelo sighed dreamily.

Raph was quite impressed by the living room with a huge LCD TV mounted on the wall, entertainment center with surround sound system, and an enormous sectional couch. The sunroom on the back porch was what caught Venus' eye. She could imagine herself relaxing in this room studying shinobi spells while the little ones played in their portable play enclosure on the floor.

Leo thought he had died and gone to Ninja heaven when Casey took him to the basement and showed him a dojo. It even had a tatami mat and places along the walls to store weapons. Donatello had a total geek-out freak-out when April showed him the computer room. Little Junie toddled behind him as he looked over every bit of brand spanking new equipment on a nearby workbench.

The more of the house they toured the more the Turtles got suspicious of the changes the Joneses had made. It was pretty apparent that they weren't random. After the Hamato clan had seen most of the house April gathered them all in the living room and asked them to have a seat.

"You guys are probably wondering why we included certain changes in the house." By now Casey was standing next to April with an arm around her waist. The human parents smiled as their daughter climbed into Donatello's lap. "Well, ever since we got all the legal issues straightened out with the money Winters left me, Casey and I decided take care of family first. Now, do you guys like all the changes we made?" There were nods and broad smiles all around. "Good, because all of this...is yours."

It took a moment for April's words to sink in, but when it did joy and excitement exploded among the Turtles. Leonardo's excitement was tempered by a question running through his mind.

"April, if we live here does this mean you'll be staying in the brownstone in New York?"

"Oh no. You remember that house you saw on the other side of the man made lake? That's where we'll be living. It should be ready by summer so we'll be moved in by the fall. So, are you guys going to accept the house?"

"Give us some time to discuss it among ourselves," Leonardo replied.

"What the shell? Leo, what is there to discuss?" Raph inquired as he thought about tooling around the long country roads on his Shell Cycle. Mikey was too busy crowing about his new kitchen to realize what Leo had said.

"We must come to an agreement as a clan, Raphael."

"Like any of us would disagree to this! It's in a nice secluded area, there's lots of open space, and it's a hell of a lot cleaner than the sewers. Besides, wouldn't you rather the kids grew up with better things than we had?" The eldest Hamato knew his brother had a point. Yet he felt living above ground would violate their lifestyle of secrecy. That's when Donatello piped in.

"If you want we can build a series of hidden tunnels underneath the house in case of a dire emergency. We can also use them to train the children in the ninja arts of stealth." Leonardo leaned back in his seat with a broad smile. He was so proud that his brothers were putting thought into their decision instead of blindly accepting the house out of their own selfishness. He got up and sat before the Jonses in the seiza position.

"All right. April, Casey, we are humbled by your great kindness and graciously accept this beautiful house to accommodate our growing clan." He then bowed deeply. The others glanced at each other for a second before following suit. Once they all sat up June ran over to Mikey and practically jumped on his shell babbling in her adorable baby speech. Mikey smiled up at his human friends.

"I think Junie wants birthday cake!"

"Can't argue with my baby girl!" Casey replied as he went to retrieve June's second birthday cake from the kitchen. April set her daughter's birthday tiara on the toddler's black curls before helping her blow out the candle. It's safe to say that the cake was demolished within the hour.

It had gotten pretty late so it was time for the little ones to sleep. June and Milan were already asleep, and Tokio was teetering on the edge fighting to keep his eyes open. Gidget was the only one wide awake. A bath hadn't even helped her to wind down. Mikey laid both twins down anyway. He had set up a crib in the room he had chosen for himself. Leonardo followed suit and put his own son to bed in his chosen room, then went down into the basement to check out the dojo once again. The Joneses had retired for the night. They were going to get up early the next morning to check on their house across the lake.

The rest of the Turtles were in the living room watching Kung Fu Hustle. Well, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo were watching. Venus had fallen asleep on the couch. Don was sitting on the floor next to her feet. He noticed the pregnant female's feet were a bit swollen, so he put one of her feet in his lap and began to massage it. He paused when he felt someone punch him in the arm.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Raph whispered as he gave Don a disapproving glare.

"Uh, I thought it was pretty obvious."

"Let Leo do that."

"Why should I? She's carrying my offspring." Donatello sneered.

"First of all, she's asleep so she can't have her a say in the matter. Second, you're not doin' it out of love for her, but to rub it in Leo's face once he gets back. You've been pretty disrespectful to him the past couple weeks and I'm gettin' sick of it."

"So you're taking Leo's side after what he said to me?"

"C'mon, Don. Don't you think you were over steppin' your boundaries a little in that situation?"

"What?"

"You don't get it, do ya, Don? Look, Fearless is head over heals in love with the Shinobi Princess. You ought to be glad he's been showin' as much self control he can muster not to pummel your ass." By now Donatello's eyes gleamed with anger.

"Did you ever consider that I'm in love with her too?" They both paused when they noticed Mikey was now watching them instead of the movie. "Forget it. I'm calling it a night." Donatello stood and gave the still sleeping shinobi mystic a quick kiss on the mouth before heading to his room. His heart nearly burst from his chest when he bumped into Leonardo when he turned around. The two brothers glared at each other for a moment until Don left the room. Raphael bumped Leo with his foot and mouthed the words "watch him" as the clan head settled next to his sleeping mate. Leo acknowledged his brother with a nod as he gently laid Venus' head in his lap.

"Raph, Mike, I'm calling a clan meeting right after our morning spar." Raph's face bore his 'why am I not surprised?' smirk. He had known it was coming and he had a strong feeling what it was going to be about. He just hoped the proverbial shit wouldn't hit the fan.

Next Chapter: Clear boundaries must be set in order to avoid turmoil within the Hamato clan. Can they all come to a peaceful agreement before they settle into their new home? Will their male egos even allow it?