Megan sat on the edge of the bed, her chin resting in her hands as she stared out the window at the morning sun. She actually felt a little better today. She had only thrown up three times this morning, the last occurance over an hour ago now. She wasn't sure why, but an eery feeling crept over her, and her spine tingled as if long bony fingers had swept lightly over her skin. She shivered slightly and attempted to stand. That's when the phone rang.

She began to call out to Raphael, but then remembered that he'd already left for training. Even though Splinter had died seven months ago, the turtles still kept up a rigorous workout routine. She figured that the main reason for this, despite Leo's protests to the contrary, was that it gave them a way to remember him and allowed them to feel that he was still there with them in some way. Even after all this time, none of them had fully gotten over his passing.

Megan crept slowly to the kitchen as a wave of nausea swept over her. She pressed her hand to her stomach and stood still for a moment, allowing the sick feeling to pass. Then, slowly and carefully she headed for the telephone.

"Raph, come on, you gotta help me!" Don whispered loudly. He gripped his brother by the arm, staring into his face with pleading eyes.

"Why me?" Raph said in a low voice. "Why not Mikey or Leo?"

Don gave him an agitated look. "You know darn well why not! Mikey would just get all emotional on me, and he'd probably be in the way instead of helping anything, and Leo...well, we both know how Leo'd react!"

Raphael stared at his brother for a long time. This sounded like the kind of thing he lived for, sure, but what about Megan? He couldn't leave her in her condition, at least not until he found out what was wrong with her. She could be dying for all he knew.

"How soon?"

"I dunno..." Don thought for a moment. "A week or two. I need to gather up some things, make a few arrangements."

Raph knew how much this meant to his brother, and seeing how Donatello had done so much for him recently, he figured he owed this to him. Besides, he would know the test results any day now. "Okay." he said finally. "What do I need to do?"

"Mrs. Hamato?"

"Yes?"

"Hello, this is Nurse Halloway, from Doctor Trossler's office..."

Megan gulped down the lump in her throat, and took a deep breath, almost unable to speak. She knew that what the nurse said next could mean the outcome of her entire future.

"Yes, hello."

"How are you feeling today, Megan?"

Megan sighed. "I've had better days, but actually, I'm feeling pretty good this morning so far."

"Are you still vomiting?"

"Y...yes, but not as much..."

"That's good. We have the results of your blood test. You'll be happy to know that we found no signs of disease or HIV in your bloodstream..."

HIV? This was new to her. She hadn't even known that they'd tested her for that. How strange. She figured it must just be a new policy, testing people for that when they were severely ill as she had been.

"The x-rays show nothing abnormal in your bone or muscle tissue. No lumphomas or malignancy..."

That was a relief, although she had sensed that those things weren't really a concern either. Throwing up and passing out just didn't seem like symptoms of cancer.

"The urine test did reveal something however..."

Oh god, here it goes! I have some rare, incurable disease, right? Something totally unheard of before. Damn! Just what did Mikey give me, anyway? Some sort of turtle virus that's incurable for huma--

"Congratulations, Mrs. Hamato..." the voice broke her chain of thought.

"Huh?"

"You're pregnant."

Megan dropped the phone.

Leonardo stood with his head pressed against the mirror, the towel tied loosely around his waist, the steam from the shower fogging up the glass.

"This can't be happening..." he whispered. "I can't--"

He stared up at his reflection, at the worried face, the deep, soulful eyes, and he realized that there was much more to it. "Bastard." he growled. "Whoever you are, you better stop messing with my mind!"

He knew his dreams hadn't come from Splinter. They weren't death premonitions as he had previously thought. This was something much bigger, much deadlier than even death. Someone had somehow gotten into his mind, into his thought patterns. But how? And what did they want?

The nightmares had come again, this time while he was awake. Haunting images swam around in his head, pictures of death, destruction and hate. And always that dark sinister figure looming in the background. He wished like hell he could make out his face, but every time he tried, the images surrounding him would attack, causing him to wake up in panic. Somebody wanted something, but what? He wasn't all together sure he wanted to find out.

"Nah..." Mike crumbled up the paper and threw it across the room with the rest of the stack. "Damn! I sound like an idiot!" Aw, who am I kidding? She's never gonna want me! She's so beautiful, and I'm just...a freak of nature.

Freak. That word had never really impacted him before. He'd always known what he was, knew that he and his brothers were different. He understood that they were rejected by the world above. Yet, it hadn't really mattered to him. He had been content with all life had provided him, until now. Sighing, he set down the pad and strolled to the window, looking out over the new blanket of white that covered everything in sight. How deserted the streets were. Suddenly, he felt alone. It was an almost frightning feeling, one that he hadn't experienced often, and it gnawed and ate at him until he thought he would snap. Would he ever find true happiness like Raphael, and perhaps even Donatello had, or would he be doomed to face life's battles alone? For some reason, he'd felt more and more lately like he and his brothers were pulling apart, something he dreaded more than death. We're the only ones. We can't split up...

He closed his eyes as his mind filled with her, with the long, flowing hair, the bright eyes, the way her hand brushed his when he helped her up...

Forcing himself away from the window, he picked up one of the crinkled balls of paper, straightened it out as best he could and picked up the pen once again.

He found her, sitting on the bed, staring out the window like a solemn statue. Her long hair fell over her shoulders, clean and straight, and he noticed that a slight bit of the color had returned to her cheeks. He approached her slowly, not wishing to startle her, and wrapped his arms around her gently from behind.

"Hey" he said softly, breathing into her ear. "How are ya feeling? You look great."

Megan sighed pleasantly, shivering slightly from the warmth of his breath, and laid her hands on his arms, slowly increasing the pressure until she was gripping them, almost a little too tightly for Raph's comfort.

He scooted up a little to look over her shoulder, into her face. He could smell the freshness of her hair, the light scent of soap on her skin. "Megan? What is it? What's wrong?"

She turned her head to look at him, not sure how to tell him. She was afraid of how he might react. Sure, he'd told her that he wanted to have a kid some day, but how would he take the news that he was going to be a father just seven months from now?

Raphael saw the concern in her eyes and suddenly felt a twinge of fear. Had the doctor called? What did she find out? Oh god, was she...dying? He could hardly even fathom the thought. What would he do without her? She was his whole world. He pushed the thought aside and moved from the bed to kneel down in front of her.

"Come on Meg, what is it? You can tell me."

Tears began to well up in her eyes. "Raph, I--" As they escaped, he could sense her resistance, her worry.

"Shhh...Megan, don't cry. Come on, just tell me what it is. I promise, no matter what, we'll get through it, okay?"

She lifted her head and opened her eyes. "Promise?"

"Yeah, of course I do." he wiped at the wetness that had already begun to trickle down her face.

"Raph, I'm..."She couldn't believe she was saying this. "I'm...pregnant."

He stared at her, not moving, his eyes widening in surprise. "Pregnant?"

She nodded and stared out the window again.

"Woah..." Raph could hardly believe it. It was a foreign concept to him, one which he'd never really truly thought he'd experience. "So...so I guess Donnie was right afterall..."

Indeed Donatello had been right. And questions surrounding his theories had been plaguing her mind all morning. Could it actually be possible that she was carrying a mutant inside of her? What would the baby look like? Would it even survive? The thought of having a baby with Raphael was something that she had always wanted, but now the realization that it was inside her was almost unbelievable. Donatello had told them how it could be possible, but she never imagined that it would happen so easily or quickly.

I'm married to a turtle, she reminded herself. A turtle... The thought suddenly sounded so strange. This baby inside of me...it's part turtle too...

"Meg?" Raphael was squeezing her hand.

"Yeah?"

"Your illness...is...is that why you were throwing up?" He remembered how sick April had been some mornings throughout her pregancy. It was never as bad as Megan had been, but then again, April hadn't had a mutant child growing inside of her.

Megan nodded. "Yeah, that and the blackouts too. The nurse said that some women's bodies just react more severely to it than others. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones."

Raphael smiled at her. "We're the lucky ones, Meg."

She looked at him, stared into his eyes, and she knew he was sincere. "You...you're happy then? Cuz I mean, I don't want to make you--"

"Megan, of course I'm happy!" He laid a hand on her stomach and smiled up at her. "That's my kid in there! Damn, I'm gonna be a father!"

"...Just don't tell Casey yet, okay, we want to tell him in our own way..."

"What!?!?!" April stared from Raph to Megan, and then back to Raph again. "But how...I mean, I know how, but, I mean, you guys just got married two months ago..."

"Guess how far along I am." Megan said sarcastically.

"Two months...?"

She glanced at Raph. "Yep."

"Guess you guys musta had fun on the wedding night, huh?" Mike joked.

Raph glared at him. "Shut up, will ya?"

Mike grinned. "Seriously though, congratulations! This is so cool! I'm gonna be a full fledged uncle!"

Megan smiled at him and took his hand, laying it gently over her stomach. "It's in there right now. Although you won't be able to feel it moving around just yet. It's too small."

Mike closed his eyes, concentrating on the creature that was growing and developing within. A turtle child. One of us... The thought was overwhelming. After all these years of thinking they were alone, of fearing that there would be no one to carry on their memories after their passing, his brother had created a life. This kid was special, and he was the first of his kind.

Mike smiled up at her and embraced her in a hug. "So" he joked, wiggling his eye ridges. "Do I get to deliver this one too?"

Raph growled. "Mikey!"

"So...April...how are you...doing? Walter rested his butt against her desk and stared at her crudely.

Great, now I'll have to get that sterilized. April thought.

"I'm fine Walter. But I've got a lot of work to do, so if you don't mind..."

"No...no, I don't mind at all." He turned to face her, but he didn't leave. Instead, he lingered there, allowing his eyes to travel up and then down as he studied her features.

She could feel his eyes on her, and a shiver went up her spine. Suddenly, she remembered the email message. Could it have been from him? "Uhhh, Walter, I'll see you later, okay?" She was hoping that he'd take the hint, but just like Walter, he didn't.

"Aw, that's alright. I'll just wait here until your finished."

She turned toward him. "Don't you have work you need to get done?" God, he was really starting to creep her out now.

He flashed her a cheesy grin and shook his head. "Naw, who needs work? That's not what I come here for anyway."

April had just about had enough. "Look, Walter, please go back to your own desk now. I'm really busy, and I don't have time--"

He put his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay. I know when I'm not wanted. I can take a hint."

"Could've fooled me." she mumbled as he walked away.

He stood in the shadows in the darkness of night, once again taking vigil just feet from her front porch. The light of the moon was clouded tonight, casting dark shadows on the house, giving it a haunted feel like something straight from the movies.

She would be home any minute now. He figured that she must have a full time job, probably doing something really interesting like cooking for homeless people or working with animals or something. She just had that soft, nuturing look about her, something that he found desperately attractive.

There she was! A familiar car drove up and let her out before speeding away. She walked quickly toward the house, pausing for a moment to look back in the direction from which she had just come. A look of fear filled her features, lasting only for a brief moment before she returned her attention to the house.

Had she seen him? Of course not. Mike tried to reassure himself. If she had seen him, she would have screamed or ran into the house, or maybe she would have reacted like that day and simply approached him. No, it was clear she didn't know he was there. But as she reached in the mailbox and shuffled through her mail, she paused again, a questioning look in her eyes. He crouched down as she turned toward his direction, her eyes desperately scanning the darkness. She had found the note he'd left her! She stared down at it for a moment more, wondering about its origin, before a smile slowly crept across her face.

Robyn turned and layed her hand around his waist. "So, when are you leaving?"

"In a couple of days. As soon as everything's in order."

Robyn sighed and stared past him toward the dresser. He could sense what she was feeling. He knew that look in her eyes.

"Robyn, it'll be okay. Didn't I promise you that?"

"Yeah." she said quietly, choking back the tears. "But what if...what if you can't find him?"

He pulled the sheet up a little higher and leaned over her, stroking her hair. "We're gonna find him Robyn, I promise. Nothing's gonna keep me away from this kid."

Robyn sighed and snuggled closer to him. "Why are you doing this?"

He smiled. "I already told you. I love you. I would do anything for you." He ran a finger down her cheek. "Besides, I gotta meet this kid. I've heard so much about him."

"We're gonna find Robyn's kid, bring him back here."

Megan wasn't sure what to say. "Raph, I don't know..."

"Look, we'll only be gone a few days, I promise."

"I just...I'm scared Raph. I don't want you to go. Please don't leave me."

Raph sat down next to her and took her hand. "Megan, I'd never leave you. You know that. But I have to do this for Donnie. Look at all he's done for us. Shit, if it wasn't for him, we would have never known you could get pregnant..."

She lowered her head. She knew he was right. "Yeah, I know, I just..."

He squeezed her hand tighter. "I love you Megan, you know that. Please try to put yourself in his place. What if that was our kid way out there in California? Wouldn't you want him back?"

Megan nodded. "Yeah...I guess I would."

"So do you understand why I have to do this?"

"Yeah...just...just come back to me soon, okay?"

"I promise."

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