Hey guys. Didn't take me as long to get this next chapter up - though it's a little shorter than usual. I've only got a chapter or two left for this story. Next chapter will be longer I promise and then I'll have the epilogue after that. Thank you again to those of you who've stuck it out with me and those who take the time to review. I know exactly what's going to happen in the next chapter so hopefully it won't take me too long to write it. I promise I'll try and get it up as soon as I can. But in the meantime thanks for your patience and understanding in the waits between chapters. Still trying to sort out RL stuff and it isn't getting much better. But I do the best I can in trying to keep up with everything. I know it isn't always super fast and I'm sorry about that but I do appreciate you guys hanging in there with me. See you next time.

Chapter 23

"I swear if I get any larger I'm going to explode!" Elizabeth complained as she waddled into the main area of the lair.

She walks a bit like a duck Mikey thought with a grin as he watched Elizabeth make her way across the large room and make a face at the couch.

"'Lizbeth, ya 'eard what Don said – ya've gotta stay off yer feet!" Raphael scolded as he left the kitchen a plate in one hand a glass of milk in another.

"Raph, if you make me stay in that bed one more day I swear I'm going to explode!" Elizabeth growled.

Mikey chuckled only to get swatted on the back of the head. "Ow! Hey!"

"Can it, Mike!" Raph said as he miraculously balanced the plate and cup with one hand. He turned his attention back to Elizabeth, who was eying the couch cushions with some trepidation. "At least sit down, 'Lizbeth. Don don't want ya up an' round more den ya gotta be."

"But I can't get off those cushions once I sit down!" Elizabeth complained frowning again.

Mikey snickered again and ducked as Raph went to smack him again.

Raph glared at his youngest brother before returning his attention to Elizabeth. "We ain't goin' nowhere – we can 'elp ya up if ya need ta get up – but Don's gonna have my shell dat ya ain't restin' if he sees ya up an' around."

Elizabeth made a face but reluctantly sat down on the couch. Raphael handed her the plate with the sandwich on it and the glass of milk.

Elizabeth had become increasingly more agitated over the past few months, more nervous about the delivery now that she was only a month or so away from actually having the baby now. She felt like she'd grown to the size of a whale and had become more self conscious of the way her clothes sat on her large stomach, even the maternity clothes seemed tight.

The brothers had taken Elizabeth's unpredictable mood swings with good grace, something that wasn't always easy, but Elizabeth would usually feel ashamed of herself and apologize for her strong words later, to which the brothers always graciously accepted. None of them had ever really been in a situation like this before so they weren't sure exactly if such situations were normal, but were always relieved when Elizabeth seemed to come back to herself.

Close to eight months into her pregnancy Donatello had noticed her blood pressure had begun to climb and had insisted that she take to bed rest to see if they couldn't get it back to normal. Elizabeth hadn't been pleased, but when Donatello had told her the dangers high blood pressure could have, especially for her and the baby, Elizabeth had relented with little argument.

Raphael had also found himself more tense over the past few months and now that Elizabeth's delivery date grew increasingly closer his own stress levels had begun to climb. He had not been at all pleased when Elizabeth told him of her plans to deliver the baby in the hospital. He'd been angry and terrified – telling her that the whole medical staff could be looking for her or would inform Graham of her where abouts if they'd received a big enough payoff but Elizabeth had refused to budge on the subject. April and Casey had agreed to be there with her and April had promised that one or both of them would always be there just in case. But that did little to ease Raph's mind. He had tried begging with Donatello, trying to convince him to persuade Elizabeth to stay at the lair for the delivery, but much to his irritation Donatello had agreed that having the baby at the hospital would be much safer.

"It's simply too dangerous to risk her having the baby here, Raph. Childbirth is a complicated and risky business – if something goes wrong and Elizabeth doesn't have the help she needs she'll die."

Raph had been displeased by this and hadn't given up the argument with Elizabeth for several weeks, but Elizabeth had never budged in her decision, and nothing Raph could say convinced her or persuaded her otherwise.

The brothers had set up the crib in the guest room along with some of the other things that April and Casey had bought for Elizabeth. April had brought Elizabeth some busy work to keep her hands occupied while she was kept on bed rest and Elizabeth had taken to cross stitching, currently working on a light blue blanket, the brothers had quickly discovered that she despised pink, in which she'd stitched many turtles into the material. Raphael had been amused by this but couldn't help but grin as Elizabeth showed him some of her finished work. The turtles were regular turtles but each of them had a bandana around its neck, red, purple, orange, or blue. She'd made a border of these turtles all the way around the edge of the blanket and now had begun to cross stitch what appeared to be their weapons. She had centered these and they were much larger than the border of turtles around the edge. These seemed to take precedence of the design. She had already finished Leo's katana, the blade seemed to glow from the highlights she'd added to it – as if it had caught the light as it so often tended to do as Leo wielded it, the edge was sharp, the blue material wrapped around the handle the same shade that adorned Leo's katana. The blade was turned down, the handle up in the air as if it had been stuck in the ground at an angle, Michelangelo's nun chuck lay in front of the gleaming katana, spread apart as if it had been tossed onto the ground carelessly. The chain that held the two pieces of wood together were carefully criss crossed, delicately woven into the blanket with accuracy that had everyone staring in complete awe of Elizabeth's work. It looked more like she'd take a picture than actually stitched the delicate chain. But Raphael had touched the small xs with the tips of his fingers and had felt the smooth ridges of her handiwork. Donatello's bo staff was standing up, leaning against an invisible wall in the picture, tilted to an angle, the silky material seemed to be coming unraveled a little around the middle where Don would hold it. Bits of brown peeked out from behind the purple silk. The different mix of browns Elizabeth had used gave the wood an ancient and worn appearance to the bo and there was even a small piece missing, like in Don's recent bo. A small piece had been chipped out on one of their recent fights. Donatello had not been happy, he loved his bo and hated when it was damaged. But at least it wasn't bad enough he had to get it replaced this time. And finally front and center with the points much like Leo's katana sticking into the ground, the handle up in the air was Raph's sai. Raph's weapon seemed to make the details on his brother's weapons fade into the background. Elizabeth had obviously taken great care to make sure she'd gotten Raphael's weapon exactly right. The color she'd used for the material around the handle was a deep rich red, the silver and gray colors she'd given the metal part of the weapon made it gleam and shine, catching the light and glinting wickedly off the sharp points of his sai. Elizabeth had yet to finish the longest point on the sai but she was almost done.

Raphael enjoyed relaxing next to her, watching wrestling while Elizabeth worked on the blanket. She would often grow tired and curl up next to him, abandoning the blanket as her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until finally they gave up the fight and she slipped into the bliss of slumber while Raphael wrapped the afghan from off the back of the couch around her shoulders.

Raphael's thoughts snapped back to the present as Elizabeth tried to lean forward to put the now empty plate and glass onto the low coffee table in front of her, but growled in frustration as she realized she couldn't reach that far with her enormous belly. Raphael quickly took the dishes from her before her frustration could escalate and returned them to the kitchen.

Elizabeth sighed and settled against the cushions as Mikey flipped through the channels before finally settling on a old monster movie. Elizabeth's eyes grew unfocused, not interested in watching a monster movie but it was better than being trapped in the guest room with nothing to do.

Raphael washed and set the plates Elizabeth had used for lunch to the drying rack. He heard the soft sounds of his brother's feet on the floor and caught the faint whiff of sandalwood that seemed to follow his brother wherever he went. And sure enough seconds later Leo entered the kitchen.

"Hey, Raph." Leo said with a slight smile as he caught sight of his red banded brother.

Raph smiled back. Leo had once again settled back into the familiar and well suited role of leader. Full of confidence and no longer hesitant in his decisions. The brothers had been going on patrol a couple times a week now, not nearly as often as they used to but they were more wary now. Especially now that Graham had Hun in his payroll. Hun was a formidable foe at the best of times, but with this new batch of unknown enemies that were also working for Graham the brothers had thought it best to tread carefully. The last thing they needed was to be caught in another ambush or to lead one of the warriors back to the lair and Elizabeth. Not that that had ever happened before, but their underground home had been destroyed a few times now and they weren't willing to risk a fourth time.

Elizabeth never liked when the brothers went out on patrol, but she no longer protested their nightly excursions, knowing all too well that the brothers could care for themselves and would look out for each other. The patrols were never more than a couple hours but it was enough to stop the brothers from going crazy because they were being cooped up in the lair all the time, and they were much happier for it. Much to their relief they hadn't come across the strange new fighters that Graham had employed and Hun too seemed to by lying low. The brothers hadn't been worried about this but after a few weeks they'd gotten wary and had decided to check out the warehouse district to see if they could discover what Hun was planning. But to their surprise the warehouses had been abandoned and cleared out. Hun and the purple dragons had moved ranks – but the brothers hadn't been able to figure out where.

Donatello had guessed that because of Hun's new employer they had probably moved to Graham enterprises on one of the lower levels. This had madesense to the others but they had been unable to check it out for certain. The building was heavily guarded by nightly patrol men after dark. They kept their posts at every door and several around the sides of the building where the turtles could've scaled the sides with their shuko spikes. Not that a few guards would've been a problem to handle ordinarily, the dogs on the other hand had posed a bigger problem as well as the fact that a few guards constantly circled the building at five minute intervals, and even if the brothers were able to take out the guards posted at the side and hide them in the brush the dogs would be able to sniff them out and the guards absence would no doubt be noticed by the patrol men. Raph had suggested merely knocking everyone out and going in weapons out – but Leonardo had been more wary. There was something he felt was wrong with this building, something that screamed at him every time he got close to it. And so reluctantly the brothers had kept their distance and hoped for some glimpse of Hun on the other side of the thick glass windows. But never saw him.

Leo put the kettle of water on the stove so he could fix his early morning pre-meditation tea. He often found it relaxed his nerves and helped settle his spirit so he could focus and fall into his meditative state more easily. He frowned, however, when his phone buzzed in his belt.

Raphael frowned too. When someone called Leo's phone it was never good news.

Leo pulled his phone from his belt and flipped it open with the jerk of his fingers. "April?"

Raphael frowned deeper. This couldn't be good.

Leo's face darkened as he listened to what the red head was saying on the other line. "You sure that's who… ? What else do you know? Are you sure that's safe? No I'm sure you're right – it isn't worth taking the risk. Yeah I will. Thanks, April."

Leonardo flipped his phone closed and sighed rubbing his forehead as if suddenly tired.

"What is it, Leo?" Raph asked impatiently.

"Graham has donated a large sum of money to the local hospitals, clinics, and any other medical facilities in the city, Raph. It's on the news – he's willing to double the amount he's given if one of them finds Elizabeth and gets her safely back to him."

Raph swore quietly so as not to alarm Elizabeth in the next room. "Leo da baby is due in a month but Don said dat dat won't stop it from comin' earlier if it feels like it."

"I know that, Raph."

"So what are we gonna do – it ain't safe fer 'er ta go ta da hospital ta have da baby."

"April suggested that she and Casey take her up to the farmhouse – there's a medical clinic there that can handle childbirth. And since it's a small town there'd be less chance of Graham finding her there."

Raphael's face showed his doubts.

"Raph, it's safer than sending her to a hospital here – or risk Don try to deliver the baby himself and have something go wrong. We don't have a lot of options here."

Raph sighed, relenting. "I'll go talk ta Donny."

"I'm not going!"

"'Lizbeth, we ain't got another way ta go!"

"I won't do it, Raph! I'm not going to go to some place way out in the country where I don't know anyone."

"Ya know April an' Casey!"

"But I won't have you there!"

Elizabeth broke down into tears, holding her face in her hands as she began to shake.

"'Lizbeth," Raph said quietly as he knelt down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders trying to sooth her. He hadn't been able to put his arms all the way around her for a while now. "Calm down – it's ok. I'll come wit' ya if ya want. I jus' wanna make sure yer safe."

Elizabeth cried harder and turned to bury her face into his plastron.

Raphael gently stroked her long brown hair in his fingers "Come on, 'Lizbeth, it'll be ok. I promise. April and Case will take good care of ya."

Elizabeth blinked and looked up at him. "Why don't I just have the baby here? I'm sure Don could handle it."

"'Lizbeth, ya 'eard what Don said. If someting went wrong he don't got da stuff he'd need ta 'elp ya."

Elizabeth shook her head. "Raph, I'm scared."

"I know ya are – but it'll be ok. I promise."

Raphael bit his lip. Elizabeth had been more difficult to convince than Don had been. At first the purple-banded turtle had resisted the idea too but after some persuasion from April Don had given in, seeming as how it made more sense to be safe than sorry. Elizabeth, however, had refused to even humor the idea she was determined to stay in the city. And Raph was down to his last resort to try and get her to leave with their long time friends. Donatello had warned him not to try and get Elizabeth too upset. He'd done a lot of research on early delivery and had worried if Elizabeth got too stressed out she could go into early labor. None of the brothers wanted to see Elizabeth's baby come out unhealthy. But Raphael knew that Elizabeth was reaching the end of her rope. At thirty two weeks pregnant she had been more emotional than ever and little things tended to set her off. But his suggestion of going with April and Casey to the farmhouse had been the worst thing so far. He had never intended to let her go alone with them, though he knew she'd be perfectly safe with them, but he couldn't convince her that he had planned on going along. She had thought that this was just a ploy to get her to go along with it and that he'd go back on his word as soon as she agreed. It had sent her into hysterics and Raph was hard pressed to calm her down.

"'Lizbeth," Raph said quietly as Elizabeth cried harder into his chest. Elizabeth's fingers curled around the edge of his plastron, brushing the sensitive skin there. He sighed and glanced briefly up at the ceiling. Not at all sure what he should do.

Her crying stopped so abruptly that it caught Raph off guard. He pulled back a little, and was surprised by the sudden pale complexion her face had taken. Her eyes were wide and she released him her hands flying down to her stomach.

"'Lizbeth? What is it? What's da matter?"

"Raph," Elizabeth's voice was so quiet Raph almost missed it.

"What?"

"I... I th-think my water just broke!"

Raphael's eyes widened in shock and he glanced down automatically. "Oh shell."