A/N: Little shorter than most. But, yeah. We're a little over halfway through now. :)

Gosh, ZathuraRoy, Daddy!Raph is going to ADORE them, even if he's awkward at the start. ROFL

December 3
9:01 P.M.

Nia hated exercises. Always had. Still did. Unfortunately, they were necessary to decrease leg cramps and back spasms. So, she sucked in some air, one hand cupped around the bottom of her pop belly and the other overstretched above her head. She leaned sideways, extending her side as her toes curled against her other leg's inner thigh.

Yup, she despised the whole pose.

"Stretch it, Ni!"

Nia glared at Raphael, who sat like a king amidst the pillows on their bed. "Quiet, peanut gallery."

The mutant's head rolled against the propped pillow behind him. "What? I'm rootin' for ya. Haven't seen ya do this much yoga in…ever."

"I hate this. Wish I could do my usual stretches, but no-oh"—the young woman blanched as she reached the opposite way—"turns out I can't lie on my back anymore. Bad for the babies. Don't pinch the Vena Cava, whatever."

"Rawr," Raph said with a chuckle. "Least ya've always slept on yer side. Kind'a wish ya liked facin' away from me instead 'a towards, though. The bigger those kids get, the more space will be between us."

"So?"

"Ain't it bad enough ya won't let me touch ya anymore?"

Her husband sounded more like a pouting child than an adult asking a serious question. But it still jabbed guilt through her stomach—an organ which was becoming closer friends with her throat with every passing day. She pressed her lips together, eyes set on her extended bare foot, and then switched her leg positions.

"Di—did Donny-niichan tell you we might be able to determine the babies' genders next week?" she asked.

Raphael sighed and flexed his arms. "Yeah, he called."

"You excited?"

"I guess."

"What, uh, what are you hoping for?"

"Two kids?"

The artist met the mutant's smirk with a flat look. "I'm being serious. We've sorta talked about it, but I really wanna know. Would you want sons…or daughters? Or a mix?"

"Are they a bag 'a Chex?"

"Like the one you're trying to hide?"

"I ain't got no Chex."

"Super smell, Raph. Still got it. It's beside you. I want some when I'm done."

"Geez," Raph grumbled. A crunch sounded then chewing. "Nothin' I got is safe, is it?"

"Who's fault is it that I'm in this position?"

"Which particular one?"

Nia's lips puckered. "These twins are yours. Least you can do is share food."

"That'd be easier if ya didn't eat everythin' in si—" Raph cut himself short when his wife reached towards the ceiling, her stare hard. "Fine. Finish yer stretches then ya can have some. If the bag makes it that long."

It was as good as any deal, so Nia nodded and pushed away the salty lure from her mind. "Now, boys or girls?"

"So long as the kids are healthy, I dun't mind."

"You have to have thought about this."

"And?"

"I'm leaning towards girls."

"Got somethin' against guys?"

"Yeah. There's way too much testosterone around here. We need more estrogen to mellow it out."

"Dun't ya got enough estrogen ta mellow it out already?"

Nia stretched both legs, eyes raised towards the oaf she called a mate. "I'm not crying every five seconds. Anymore."

"Still moody…"

"Only when ya push me. What's wrong?"

"Nothin'."

A lie. Obvious even if Nia lacked her empathetic ability.

"What do you think of the name Kayne?" Nia asked while leaning forward. Her fingers never reached her toes. Then again, they never could. "Or Benedict?"

"Please tell me those are a joke," Raph replied, snorting. "Thought ya said ya expected girls anyway."

"Doesn't mean I can't consider sons. So, thoughts?"

"Hate 'em both."

"What do you suggest then?"

"There are a lot. I—I don't really have an opinion." Another lie.

"Twenty-four years and you've never thought about at least one name for a kid?"

Raphael tensed under Nia's smile. "Wh—why would I? We never knew this could happen."

"That isn't what I asked."

Silence filled the loft bedroom. Then, the mutant sighed.

"Keitaro," he said.

"That's pretty," Nia replied. "Japanese?"

"Yeah. Means 'blessed'. Figured if I had a son that…that's what he'd be. Blessed."

"I like it. Better than Kayne."

"Way better than Benedict."

"There's a great actor named Benedict."

"An' he ain't my son."

Nia snort-laughed. "What about a girl name?"

"Never really imagined myself wit' a girl…"

Which meant he did imagine he had a son before. Nia let the topic slide, though, and aligned the soles of her feet with each other, saying,

"Ever since I was a kid, I loved the name Selene."

"Greek goodness 'a the moon."

"Call it cliché, but I'm a night owl. I love being high in the moonlight. It's serene. That's why our rooftop dates were always enough for me."

"Will ya tell that ta Mike? He won't believe me."

"Sure." Nia smiled. "We're gunna have to pick our more names soon, you know? I don't want them named Thing One and Thing Two when they do arrive."

"Alright. I'll think more about it. Want help gettin' up?"

Nodding, Nia unfolded her legs as her husband approached. His strong hands wrapped around hers then lifted her from the floor in a single motion that made her stumbled towards Raph's plastron. He paused with her in his arms, not stopped by her wobbly legs but by her scent.

She heard him sniff her hair, lick his lips—a slow, alluring action. His hands ached to roam like months prior, she sensed it. And he had been so patient with her sore, lethargic state that the pent up passion in his touch kept her glued in place.

'Guess my boobs don't hurt as bad anymore,' she thought, thumbing the top edge of his pectoral scutes. 'He's put up with me this long and…I do miss his muscles.'

"Ni," Raph whispered into his wife's ear. The husky lull made her shudder as his hands worked their way around her thick waist.

"I—I know," Nia replied. She tilted her head to accommodate his first kiss, which he always placed against her plasma burn. "So long as you don't mind a fat girl with horrible stretch marks…it's fine."

"As if." His warm, moist lips met the young woman's burn then her earlobe. "No matter how round or scarred ya get, ya'll always be beautiful. An' I'll always want ya."

"Y—yeah?"

"Want me ta prove it?"

She sort've did. So, wrapping her arms around Raphael's neck, Nia kissed the mutant and let his hands roam downwards.