Casey stood on the elevated walkway that ran around the lair, his hands on his hips. His eyes took in everybody huddled around Don's lab, their concerned faces turned towards him, and finally came to rest on April. She was still wrapped in her bathrobe, with hair still rumpled from a night's sleep, and her hand resting on her stomach.
"April, you slept here all night?" he said. "You had a sleepover with the guys, is that it?"
"Something like that," April said with a faint smile, uncomfortably aware that someone was going to have to tell Casey everything. She knew that he wasn't petty enough to be enraged by the idea that April might be falling in love with someone else, but she also knew that the information about her being forced to mate with Donnie would enrage him. Especially since the Purple Dragons, his lifelong nemeses, were involved. And she didn't know how he would react to her being pregnant by Don because of that.
She felt Don stiffen at her side, the same thoughts apparently going through his head — though he might also be worried that Casey might think he was stealing her away, and that a fight might break out between them. Without Casey seeing, she placed a comforting hand on his arm, then slid it down to rest her fist inside his hand. He curled his fingers around it, seemingly grateful for the contact.
Casey seemed to notice their apprehension, because an odd expression crossed his chiseled face. "Okay, everybody's bein' really weird today," he said, crossing his arms. "What's the matter? Is there some kinda secret you don't wanna tell me? Do I have a 'kick me' sign on my back?"
"We were discussing future changes for our family, Mr. Jones," Splinter said vaguely.
"Huh?" Casey said, looking baffled.
Raph glanced at April and Don, his keen eyes taking in their expressions, then grunted and turned away. "I'll tell him everything," he said, leaping out of the lab. "Come on, Case. We're takin' a walk in the sewer, and I'll fill you in on what the shell is goin' on."
"Okay, if you want," Casey said.
"I'll come too, if you don't mind," Leo said, following a few steps behind.
Casey looked even more confused, but allowed the two Turtles to lead him out of the lair and into the dank, damp tunnels that ran around them on every side. Raph's face was grim as he pulled at Casey's elbow, his mind racing as he tried to figure out the best way to phrase it so his boneheaded best friend would understand what was going on. Raph wasn't particularly good with words, but he suspected that Leo would have just as much trouble. There was no easy way to tell the guy that his recent ex-girlfriend — whom he was still interested in — had been effectively raped by his mortal enemies, and was now pregnant with Raph's brother's child. Shell, it sounded like one of Master Splinter's shows.
After five minutes of silent walking, Casey suddenly stopped and dug his heels in, his blue eyes blazing as he looked from Raph to Leo and back again.
"Okay, Raph," Casey said. "This is gettin' real weird. Everybody's being all weird. What are you guys tryin' to say?"
Raph glanced at Leo, who shrugged and said, "You said you'd tell him."
Raph growled a little, and then heaved a sigh. "Case, we found out about a day or so ago that somethin'… happened when April and Don were imprisoned by the Purple Dragons."
"Like what?"
"Like… the Dragons made 'em do things. Things they didn't wanna do," Raph said slowly
Casey's expression was still completely baffled, and Leo could tell that Raph was struggling to come out and say what had happened to his closest friend. So the blue-masked Turtle spoke up. "What happened was — the Purple Dragons forced April to be — intimate with Don while they were imprisoned."
"Intimate?" Casey said, as if he had never heard the word before.
"Sex, Casey," Raph blurted out. "He means sex. April and Don."
That bluntness caused light to dawn in Casey's eyes, as he finally understood what they were trying to tell him. It was then swamped by a dark wave of blinding anger, and Leo found himself grateful that Raph had had the foresight to remove Casey from the lair before telling him anything. Casey's powerful rage was effective in battle, but when not given a channel to flow through, he sometimes just destroyed whatever happened to be nearby. They had lost enough furniture to Casey's emotions in the past.
"Those stinkin' rotten punks—" he snarled, clenching his fists and hunching over, as if preparing to charge against a wall of imaginary Purple Dragons. "Sick, disgustin' — so that's why April's been so funny ever since we got her back!"
"And it's partly why Don's been so reclusive too," Leo said.
Then Casey blinked. "But guys, how could Don do that?"
"It wasn't his choice, Casey," Leo said. "He was forced to do it, like April was."
"No, I mean, how can he do that? Seriously. He's got no… you know…" Casey gestured in the general direction of his groin. "No junk, you got me? I've seen him naked all the time, and none of you guys got nothing. So how could he do that with April?"
Raph groaned loudly and slapped a hand against his forehead.
Once again, Leo felt that it was up to him to speak up. "We do have those, Casey. We just don't keep them outside our bodies most of the time, the way humans do," he said, wishing fervently that he wasn't discussing turtle genitalia with Casey.
"For real?" Casey said, eyes wide. "What do they look like?"
"Don't even think about asking to see mine," Raph said darkly. "You're gonna go to the grave not knowin'."
Casey looked like he had more questions, so Leo hastily interceded before he could ask further questions about his friends' genitalia. That was a topic he had never known he would have to discuss with Casey, but he did know he never wanted to again. "And because of the — intimacy between Don and April, something unusual has happened," he said. "Something that we only found out about yesterday morning."
"What is it? Do they got some kind of disease?" Casey asked.
"Not really," Raph said uncomfortably. "See, the thing is — April's pregnant."
A stunned silence settled over the sewer tunnel, except for the drip of water and the squeaking scurry of a few rats. Leo braced himself for whatever reaction came from Casey next — he didn't know whether it would be anger, disbelief, or some other response that didn't slot neatly into any category. The man's eyes were still wide, and Leo could almost see wheels whirling madly inside his head.
"She's pregnant?" Casey said finally.
"Yeah," Raph said.
"And Don's the father."
"Correct," Leo said.
"April's gonna have a turtle baby."
"It's the reason she's staying in the lair, Casey," Leo said, heaving a sigh. "She's going to be living with us at least until the baby's born, since it isn't safe for her or the baby to be too exposed topside."
"A turtle baby," Casey repeated, as if Leo hadn't spoken at all. "This ain't for real, is it? You guys are just pullin' my leg."
Raph and Leo looked at one another, their expressions almost mirroring. "'Fraid not, Casey," Raph said. "She found out she's pregnant yesterday, and we moved her in right away."
If they hadn't been standing over a small river of sewer water, Leo suspected Casey would have collapsed onto his backside. "I can't believe this," he said. "This is too weird. I didn't think you guys could even get human girls pregnant 'cause… you're Turtles."
"Neither did we," Leo said, a strange look coming over his face. "But according to Donnie, we can."
It took the better part of an hour for Casey to fully absorb what Raph and Leo were telling him. Leo patiently reiterated that April was pregnant with Don's child, and that yes, she was very sure she was, and no, they were not joking. When Casey finally seemed to accept what had happened, Leo felt worn and spent.
"So what can I do?" Casey said, crossing his arms. "I could get the kid a crib or somethin'. I could ask my ma what babies need, and get 'em for you — diapers, or bottles, or those little pajamas with feet, or —"
"That might be useful closer to the birth, Casey," Leo said. "Right now, I think what April wants most is emotional support."
"I can give her that," Casey said steadfastly, with the air of a man undertaking an important mission.
"And you can find out more about the Purple Dragons and what they've been up to," Raph said with a grim smile. "We got most of 'em when that warehouse came down, and the ones who didn't get crushed are in the hospital. But at least a couple escaped, and the news has had some stuff about the Dragons turnin' on their own. Maybe we can help take both sides down."
Casey grinned back at him. "It'll be a pleasure," he said. "We're gonna give 'em plenty of payback for what they did to April and Don." He smacked a fist into his open palm.