"Leatherhead!"

Don's voice rang out across the lair, startling April out of her thoughts. She twisted around to see a massive figure standing at their "front door," the sliding wall area that allowed the Turtles to go freely from their home to the sewers and back again. It was the enormous mutant crocodile that the Turtles had befriended, Leatherhead.

April had only encountered Leatherhead a handful of times — she had first seen him when she, Casey and Splinter had saved the Turtles from Agent Bishop, who had somehow captured the crocodile as well. He had lived with the Turtles and Splinter for a while after that, shortly before she and Don had been abducted, but Don had later told April that Leatherhead's trauma and his unstoppable temper had made it impossible for him to live with them any longer. So he dwelled peacefully in an old station a few minutes away.

April had to admit that Leatherhead made her a little nervous. She knew that he was gentle by nature and meant well. But he was enormous — looming much larger even than Casey — and the knowledge that he could fly into a berserk rage was unnerving. Mikey had cheerfully informed her that Leatherhead had almost killed him because of a nightmare.

"I received your message, Donatello," the mutant crocodile rumbled as he entered the lair. "You need my help?"

"I've almost finished an ultrasound machine, which I've been modifying to get the clearest possible picture — clearer than any hospital has," Don said. "But I need another pair of eyes to make sure I haven't left anything out."

"Besides, it's been a long time since we saw you, croc-man," Raph said.

Leatherhead smiled slightly, his yellow eyes roaming over the faces of his friends, before settling on Don. "An ultrasound machine," he said. "Is someone here sick?"

A ripple of discomfort ran through the room, and the Turtles all looked at one another, their faces grimacing. They hadn't told Leatherhead about Don's rape, April realized. If they had, it might have set the crocodile off into a rage, and nobody wanted that.

"Not exactly," Leo said hesitantly. "It's more like a—"

"Pregnant," Raph said loudly. "April's pregnant."

Leatherhead's eyes widened slightly, and he looked over at where April was sitting in Don's lab. "That is good news, Miss O'Neil. Congratulations," he said rather formally.

"Thanks," April said, smiling uncertainly.

Then Leatherhead turned back to Don. "But surely there are doctors for a pregnant woman who could perform an ultrasound," he said, looking past Don at the bulky machine crouching in the middle of his laboratory. "Is there a reason that you are building your own?"

"April can't go to a human doctor," Don said quietly. "The child… it's mine."

That seemed to stun Leatherhead into complete silence, his eyes widening and his head rising above those of his friends as he drew back. Then he seemed to freeze in place. The only thing about him that moved was his massive tail, sweeping back and forth across the floor as he slowly looked from Don to April, and back again.

"What?" he said.

"The baby is my child," Don repeated. "April can't go to a human doctor, or they would recognize that there's something odd about it."

"How is this possible?" Leatherhead said, sounding both amazed and shocked.

"Utrom mutagen," Leo replied. "According to Donnie, it caused a conception, and… well, a baby mutant."

"And that's why I need the ultrasound," Don interrupted, sounding almost as if he were pleading. "I need to find out if the baby is all right — if the mutagen's catalysis was successful. I need to know if it's even viable, or whether there's anything — wrong with it." April saw a tremor pass through him, as quick and brief as a breath of wind through the leaves. "If it isn't all right, it's because of my mutated body, and I — I need to know."

Without a word, April rose from Don's computer chair and went to his side, sliding one of her hands around his forearm and twining her fingers through his. He held her hand tightly. She could tell that Leatherhead had noticed the intimate gesture, but chose not to comment on it — he probably presumed that the pregnancy was the result of a relationship rather than coming before it.

"I understand, Donatello," Leatherhead said quietly. "I will do whatever I can to help your child."

Don smiled at last. "Thank you, L.H."

April let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, and raised a hand to her stomach. "Thank you," she repeated.

Leatherhead nodded towards her, and moved past them to Don's lab. But April noticed that his path arced away from her, as if he were trying to avoid her. Not as if he disliked her, but as if she were a delicate porcelain sculpture that he was worried about knocking over and breaking. She felt a little annoyed by that — she wasn't any more delicate than she usually was just because she was pregnant.

Don's hand still clung to hers as he went back into the lab, drawing her after him. "I've rigged up a larger, clearer screen than the ones used in the hospitals. We should be able to see every detail of fetal development, but I'm concerned that the transducers aren't enough to get that level of detail," he said.

"We could always build our own," April said, running her other hand over her stomach absently.

"I can't wait that long," Don said, placing his hand over hers. "We'll build our own once we — once we have some idea of how it's doing."

April smiled gently, and pressed her lips between his eyes, the fabric of his mask brushing her face. "Calm down, Donnie," she said softly. "You're letting this become an obsession. The baby might be just fine." She stayed close to him, her words whispering across his face. "And even if it's not, we'll love it anyway."

"It might not live when it's born," Don whispered. "If that's because of me… I couldn't —"

April felt as though her heart was suddenly being squeezed by an iron fist. The thought of spending nine months — or however long her pregnancy would last — with the baby growing inside her, moving inside her womb, connected to her, alive and real… and giving birth at last, only to lose that tiny life immediately… she couldn't imagine that kind of pain, but the echoes of imagining it was more than enough. And suddenly she wanted to be holding her baby now — a warm, solid shape in her arms, looking up at her with trusting eyes. She didn't yet know whether it would be more human or turtle — what it would look like — but she wanted it. More than anything.

She leaned towards him and rested her cheek against Don's, gently moving against him as she stroked the back of his neck. Besides the fear curdling inside her, she wanted him not to be afraid — wanted him not to worry about their baby. But she knew that he wouldn't have any peace until he had seen their child on that screen — and if something was wrong, it would destroy him. Her hand tightened on the edge of his shell, pulling him closer, as if she could protect him from what might be coming.

"Donatello," Leatherhead's deep voice called out, breaking through the silence. "Would you please come here? I think that I might have a way of further enhancing the image reception."

Don took a shaky breath, and raised his head. "I'll be right there," he said. His hand closed around April's, and together they moved towards the half-built ultrasound machine.