A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters of "Shift". :"D

Seiencegal, Right? And you don't know the half of it just yet. ;) I know, I know. I just got no idea where to even start with Leo...You got your sister on board too? Heh. Thanks (whether or not you're strongheld into the idea). xD

October 10
1:09 P.M.

Twins? Nia was having twins? The young woman gaped at the crudely built ultrasound machine in Leatherhead's Lab, her stomach nearly leaping from her throat when the little figures across its monitor twitched. God, were they beautiful…

"I—is—is that thing accurate?" asked Raphael. He knelt beside the table Nia no longer deemed as uncomfortable or cold and fiddled with the Yin-Yang wedding band on his wife's left hand.

"It is not a glitch, if that is what you are asking, Friend," answered Leatherhead. His rumbling laugh filled the Lab, but sounded muffled to Nia, who couldn't tear her gaze away from the grainy imagine.

The fetuses looked like they had their own rooms inside her womb, little caves that their jellybean-shaped bodies curled up in. A calmness sounded them; Nia could sense it even when she couldn't see them. They were safe. They knew it. And their Chi filled her with such warmth that it brought trembles to her bones.

"Wanna know something else, Raph?" Donatello asked. He moved the Transducer Probe against his sister's bare stomach, a smirk on his wide mouth as Raphael glanced up. "I think they're yours."

"Ha ha, Funny Guy." The hothead almost squeaked. "Ya—ya sure it ain't a glitch?"

Nia giggled into her right hand. She had never heard her husband stutter so much before, not even when he said his first 'I love you'. This experience rattled his mind, so she clenched his three-fingered hand to keep him somewhat focused on Donny's answer.

"Quite sure."

"A—an—and how far along is she?"

"Had to say since these are the first hybrids in our clan…"

"I could go in to details about that, but they would hardly sink in," Melody followed up.

"Wh—where'd you disappear to?" Nia asked. She craned her neck against the table to see what the cyborg carried, but only wound up disoriented from looking at the world upside down.

"Do not strain yourself," Melody told her, stretching out a spiral cord. What'd that belong to?

"Is it working now, my friend?" LH asked her.

"I believe so. Can you hand me that electrical tape behind you, though? Just in case."

The crocodile mutant did so. His tail swayed behind him, its end nothing more than a jumbled mess of bubbly meat that no longer tapered to a point. It was a sad sight, but LH hated when others brought it up. So, Nia watched him turn, silent as he gave the tape to Melody.

"What's that for?" Raph questioned.

"In case the cord comes loose," she answered, listless. "We cannot afford a legitimate Doppler, so Donatello made one."

"What's a Doppler, Gray?"

"You will find out. Donatello."

Donny nodded then clicked a few keys on the ultrasound's keyboard. The image froze, so it stayed up when the purple-masked Chūnin lifted the Transducer Probe. Nia shivered at the cold breeze from his movement, and Melody replaced him, an egg-shaped remote in hand.

"I cannot accurately determine a conception date," she started in that 'doctor like' tone of hers. "From what I can tell, you can be twelve weeks pregnant or less."

"I—I've only been sick since the start of September."

"That means little, Nia. Symptoms do not often show until weeks afterwards. Besides, these children are unique. Which makes this a learning experience for everyone. That said, your uterus has dropped, meaning we may be able to hear their heartbeats."

"Like you could?"

"Better. I had assumed the multiple heartbeats were yours and you baby's. Since we now know they're more, we can hear them for all that they are. If you would like."

Nia met Raphael's gaze. Uncertainty. Fear. Excitement. He fought against the same emotions she did, leaving him silent under her strained smile. Stiffly, they nodded at one another then faced Melody.

She activated the Doppler. For what felt like forever the probe traveled though the gel around Nia's pudgy belly, its base close to Mel's ear. Nia held her breath while watching. The anticipation was madding and when the cyborg increased the Doppler's volume, the artist's limbs tingled.

"Here."

A simple word preceded a profound event. The sound was soft—a quick, whirl-like-thump that repeated and overlapped through the brick Lab. It was also proof.

They were alive. Really, alive. They weren't just an idea or a picture. They were more. Their hearts beat inside her womb and she was charged with their safety. These little beings belonged to her. They were her children, her miracles.

And they were alive.

Nia couldn't breathe, let alone close her mouth. Every time she tried, it fell again. So, her jaw shook as her prickling eyes focused on the ultrasound's monitor. She felt like throwing up, but in a good way. And the nausea didn't stop her from grabbing the arms Raphael wrapped around her.

He buried his face into her scared shoulder, smearing it with a warm wetness. "This…this is really happenin', ain't it?"

His whisper pierced Nia's lightheaded haze. "Huǒ, these…these are our babies," she whispered in return.

"Never"—a sniffle sounded by her neck—"I never thought this could happen. Not even through adoption an' yet… God, th—they're real,Shuǐ."

"Raph, w—w—we're going to be parents."

Any intellectual words left Nia with her following sob. Why fight the tears? Raph didn't. She let them take control while sinking into her husband's hold, forgetting everything—save the two jellybean figures and the thumping-whirls that would forever change her life…

A/N: Things just got a wee bit more complicated. But these two kids have been twins since 2009. I won't change that. Sorry, Raphy! :D