April couldn't tear her eyes away from the pictures. She sank down into the couch, looking over the large glossy pictures that Leatherhead and Don had produced after her ultrasound. They were a little blurry, but she could clearly see the baby — the shape of a tiny plastron, the little arms and legs, the large head that seemed to be looking directly at her. It looked more like Don than it did her, but she didn't care what it looked like.

It was her baby. Her little impossible miracle.

And she had seen relief and joy blooming in Don's eyes after they had seen it together, growing as normally as a mutant turtle baby could possibly be. Whatever misshapen horrors Don had feared hadn't come to pass — the mutagen had conceived a baby who seemed healthy, if the ultrasound scans were to be believed.

Her hands trembled a little as she put the pictures down. Leatherhead had brought them to her, still keeping his distance as much as possible, but clearly also enthralled by the images on them. Then he had retreated from the lair, promising to return if Don needed his further assistance. He lived only a few minutes from the Turtles, and it would be easy for him to come by again.

Something clinked nearby, and Master Splinter appeared beside her, with a tray resting on his arm. On it was a blue-glazed teapot and a pair of small cups.

"May I speak to you a while?" he said quietly.

"Of course," April said, inching over on the couch.

The rat settled beside her, and began pouring tea into the cups with a steady hand. April saw his eyes flicker to the photos in her lap, and his furred face softened.

"I have never seen a procedure like that before," he said.

"Neither have I," April admitted a little tremulously. "And I definitely never underwent it before. But it was worth it."

"I believe it was," Splinter said. "It is a great relief to know that the child is healthy."

"I thought — you were sure the baby would be all right," April said.

"I was not sure," Splinter said, handing her a cup of tea. "But I hoped that it would be. Especially since Donatello was so fearful of the opposite."

Don. April smoothed one hand over her stomach as she took the tea with the other. He had been so worried ever since he had found out she was pregnant, and that the conception hadn't been entirely natural. And he had blamed himself preemptively for any problems in the baby's body — she had never seen him so distraught. He was normally so calm and level-headed that his distress had been even more upsetting to April.

His eyes had been so alight with relief and amazement when he had heard the baby's heartbeat, seen its tiny shape. April hadn't just been relieved to see that her unborn child was all right, but that a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Now he could just be glad that they were having a baby, and look forward to what was coming. Together.

Of course, there were still other things to worry about. Sarkis was still searching for the baby, if Master Splinter was correct, and they knew nothing about him or why he was searching for a mutant turtle child. And she knew the Foot Clan would be deeply interested in the baby if they ever found out it existed. The idea of her helpless child in Shredder's hands was enough to make her stomach curdle. She would die before she ever let her baby be taken by their enemies.

For a moment, she thought about the old pictures of herself as a baby, clutched tightly in Robyn's chubby arms. Then a flicker of sadness came over her face, and she looked down into the greenish depths of her tea.

"Is something wrong, April?" Splinter asked.

"I was just… I just realized that nobody in my family will ever know I have a baby," April said, raising her face slightly. "I can't tell my sister that I'm pregnant, and she'll never know she's an aunt."

Sadness crept into Splinter's eyes, and he carefully set the teapot back on the tray. "I wish that it were possible to share this joy with her," he said softly. "But if she knew, she would wish to see the child, and she would discover who had fathered it."

"I know, I know," April said dismally, wrapping her arms around herself.

Splinter placed a hand on her arm. "Perhaps one day, if the world becomes a more accepting place, you can tell her that you are a mother," he said. "For now, we must be content with three uncles."

A loud clank came from the upper level of the lair, followed by Don's voice crying out, "Hold it higher, Raph!" A loud grunt, and the sound of stone and metal grating on one another. Then came the loud buzz of a power drill cutting through wood, loud enough that April thought she could feel the vibrations in her teeth.

She smiled slightly. Once she had released him from their celebratory kiss, he had stared at her in mingled desire and amazement, his hands clutching at her arms. Then, before either of them could speak, his brothers had suddenly been all around them, hugging them and slapping Don on his shoulders and shell, their voices raised in delight. Seeing the baby had been something extraordinary for all of them, April knew, especially since the baby looked as if it took after Don. They weren't the only ones of their kind anymore.

And Don… Don had smiled in a way April hadn't seen since before his rape, since those long nights spent together, brainstorming over some invention or other that required both their hands. Almost shyly, but with real joy in his eyes.

Not long after, he had dragged Raph upstairs, and the air had been full of drilling, hammering, and the loud sizzle of welding. And, of course, lots of commands to Raph, who grunted and complained intermittently. April wasn't entirely sure what he was doing at the moment, but it seemed to be fairly labor-intensive. And she had the feeling that Don didn't want her to look at what he was working on just yet.

"Done," Don said. "You can let go, Raph."

Raph let out a final grunt and let go of the door. The massive slab of wood, solidly screwed together, remained stationary on the wall after his hands left it. Raph glanced up at it, his eyes following the heavy steel track that ran over their heads, straight over the hexagonal doorway. The door — and its twin on the other side — hung from wheels set on the track, allowing them to be pulled together over the doorway. When they were, neither light nor sound would make their way into or out of April's room.

Don climbed down from the ladder and surveyed the doors. His face was almost painfully tired, but he looked satisfied by what he had constructed — and Raph had a feeling he knew exactly why. The doors were thick enough that any stray noises from inside the room would be muffled almost to silence once they were shut. The dense stone walls would do the rest.

And Don deserved it, Raph thought fiercely. He deserved everything April could give him and more.

He was just glad that things had apparently gone well the night before — and that Don's fears about the baby's well-being had apparently been for nothing. At least, as far as Raph could see. He didn't know much about babies and how they grew, but the fetus had looked pretty healthy to him, even if it was weird to see a mutant turtle with such a large head and thin, fragile limbs. It had looked strangely delicate, and it was hard for Raph to imagine that one day it might be as large and tough as one of them.

"Looks good, Donnie," Leo called out as he swung up onto the second level.

"Yeah, but when am I getting a door too?" Mikey called out from just behind him.

"Not right now, that's for sure," Don said, wincing. "I just wanted this to be done as quickly as possible."

"I bet you did," Mikey said, grinning. "And man, do we all know why."

Leo elbowed him lightly in the side.

"You ain't gotta explain nothin' to us, Don," Raph said, a soft edge entering his rough voice. "You needed this door made, all you had to do was ask."

Don smiled at him. "Thanks, Raph."

Raph massaged a sore muscle in his shoulder, and watched as Don put away his tools. Concern grew inside him at Don's slowed speed, the slight fumble of his hands as he closed his toolbox. He knew Donnie could go without sleep for days, but he also knew the signs when his brother was getting too tired to continue. When this happened, Raph and his brothers generally withdrew and let Don decide for himself when he was going to succumb to sleep. Not this time.

"Donnie, you look real tired right now," he said a little awkwardly.

Don shrugged. "I didn't really get any sleep last night," he said, sounding slightly embarrassed.

"Well, you were pretty busy," Mikey said, his mischievous grin growing wider. "Can't you tell us what it was like?"

Don gave him a sharp look. "No way."

"Come on, Don, none of us—"

"Mikey, I'm not telling you about last night," Don said firmly. "It was very special and very personal for me, and don't even try to imagine what was going on."

"And that's the end of it," Leo said before Mikey could protest. He stepped towards Don, his eyes moving quickly over his brother's face. "But you do look tired, Don. Now that you've done the ultrasound and gotten this door up, maybe it's time for you to get some rest."

"I guess I should," Don said, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

But he paused and looked up as footsteps rang out on the ladder leading up to them. A moment later, April clambered up onto the second level, and Leo quickly took her hand to pull her back to her feet. Don stood up a little straighter as she came toward him, and her eyes widened at the sight of the twin doors on either side of her room's doorway.

"This is what you were working on?" she said, sounding astonished.

"These were for you," Don said almost shyly, gesturing at them. "You'll have all the privacy you need — all you need to do is shut them."

April's face lit up with a smile as she went closer to Don, and kissed him gently, her hands resting against his plastron as she leaned down towards him. It wasn't a showy kiss — they weren't making out or anything — but Raph suddenly wanted to look away from the intimacy of it, the feeling that it was just for the two of them to enjoy, that something deeper was communicated through their touch.

When they finally parted, Leo cleared his throat. "We were just telling Don that he needed to get some sleep," he said.

"I agree," April said warmly. "You've done more than enough for one day, Donnie."

"If that's what you all think I should do," Don said, smiling faintly.

As his brother headed off to his own bedroom, Raph hefted his toolbox up onto one shoulder, planning to stick it back in Don's lab where it belonged. And then perhaps he would spend some time on the computer again, since Don likely wouldn't be awake again until the following morning. He had to get his time when he could.