Tᴜʀᴛʟᴇs Rᴜsʜ Iɴ (TMNT '16) ❪✘❫

08 || Things Happen for a Reason

Shortly after leaving Gray's apartment, Donnie made his way back home to the lair where he is greeted by his one and only father, Master Splinter. Donnie gasps, at the sight of his father who is at the lair entrance. "Dad." Don muttered, sighing in relief. "I'm sorry I came home late."

Splinter cleared his throat. "Never mind that, son." He paused. "Care to tell me what happened?"

Don's eyes are soft and gloomy, appearing like he is under an insane amount of stress. How does a mutant turtle take in the news that he'll be fathering a hybrid child with a human? He's hardly an adult. The mutant sits down on the couch in the living room, Splinter following close behind. "Dad, I don't know what to do. I'm sure Leo told you..."

"He did," Splinter said calmly. "Donatello, out of, you boys, I'd expect Mikey to pull this sort of stunt." Hearing himself say this even made him chuckle lightly. 

The nerd nodded with a shrug, unsure how to feel or cope. "I was just curious about the world above, saw a human girl, had some of the purple ooze, and then... I'm gonna be a parent." Don sniffed, feeling the tears well in his eyes. "I'm so lost." His voice broke.

Splinter put his hand on his son's shoulder, showing comfort and reassurance. "Son," He began. "We all make mistakes but sometimes it can lead to something wonderful and unexpected. Don't let these choices make you feel ashamed, learn from them. They are making you into someone you are meant to be."

"I'm a mutant, Dad." Don spoke quietly. "You can't be saying this was supposed to happen, right?"

"A lot of things are thought to never happen, but they do." Splinter said lowly, his voice at a low volume. "We were never supposed to be created but here we are, breathing and living a life." He said, still continuing. "Things happen for a reason... even if we may not like that reason."

Donnie rubbed his eyes underneath his glasses, wiping the tears before they soaked into his mask. "So what do you suggest I do? I said I'd be in contact with her and help."

"That's a good step." Splinter told him. "Take deep breaths with each upcoming day. And you must bring her here to the lair so we can meet her. It doesn't have to be tomorrow or the next day, but eventually, she'll have to associate."

Donnie realizes that no one else is going to be able to help Gray with this situation. Doctors will get a hold of her and possibly ship her off to some stupid facility or lab to figure out how she bred this baby. He can't bear the thought of Gray being tested on because she is carrying a mutant baby inside her and Donnie doesn't want any harm coming to her or his baby. "Okay. So... I have to be the one to perform medical procedures..."

"Yes." Splinter said to him. "Son, she can't be on the surface when that baby is born."

"I understand." Donnie agreed, folding his hands together and setting them on his lap. "Operation 'Mutant Pregnancy'." He chuckled, running his hand down his mask tails as a way to relieve stress.

Splinter smiled at his son, still keeping his hand on his shoulder. "Everything will be alright. You'll see."

"Thank you, Dad." Donnie grinned.

****

In the apartment, Grayson is doing all she can to process the news Donnie has given her. Her baby's father is a mutant turtle-- a mutant turtle fertilized her, he-- she can't get the gear turning in her head! She isn't sure if she should even see a doctor now because Gray hasn't got a clue as to what the baby looks like right now.

She bit her nails uncontrollably, fiddled with a pen, and ran her hands through her hair until finally going to the bathroom to stare at her reflection. Gray sat her hands down on the counter, leaning forward to get a closer look at her face. She looks so tired and drained of energy, not getting a good amount of sleep.

Her career has been thrown out the window, her family will be upset and she feels so alone in New York. The only company she has is Donnie, no one else.

Then, something suddenly triggered her to back up from the mirror and look her body up and down in her comfortable evening wear. Without thinking, just on automatic thought, Gray turned to the side and lifted her shirt to her ribcage, showing off a very small yet visible baby bump.

It's real.

She felt the firm surface of her belly, getting a reality check that this was actually happening and it would exist very soon. Then, with no warning, Gray felt a fluttery and bubbly sensation under her palm, making her gasp.

"You just moved." She says gently, a smile curling across her lips. How amazing to feel something so small create a movement so big and memorable. Grayson did have someone else besides Donnie to talk to and that is her baby. She dropped her shirt and breathed in deeply. "Everything will be fine, won't it?"

A little thump pushed against Gray, letting her know that her child could hear her already and was responding to her voice. Since this is a mutant child, it will be developing much faster than a regular human baby.

Gray chuckled at the baby's response, hopeful and full of joy. She shuts the bathroom light off to leave and goes down the hallway where she'll be back in the living room. Her next move was to go sit down on the couch and watch a show, but her cravings were telling her to grab something from the kitchen first.

What is her baby asking for? Perhaps some frozen pizza with some ranch, rocky road ice cream, and a popsicle on the side. And let's not forget the hot chocolate sitting in the cupboard above the sink! This child is wanting a whole buffet and Grayson was not going to say 'no'.

As Gray prepared her meal in the kitchen, she switched on the TV to watch one of her favorite shows, 90 Day Fiance.

Now that she is busy watching a show and prepping a 'snack', her smartphone is going off on the countertop. She licked the ice cream from her hands and tapped the screen to see a new text message.

𝚄𝚗𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚝

𝙷𝚎𝚢, 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝙳𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎. 𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊 𝚝𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝚜𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢. 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚠 𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎? 𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚍. 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝, 𝙶𝚛𝚊𝚢𝚜𝚘𝚗.

~ 𝙳𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘

Gray scooped some rocky road into her spoon and shoved it into her mouth. She stared at Don's message, set the spoon down in her bowl, and picked up her phone to respond.