Braving it in the New World
Who's yer daddy?
All four turtles whipped their heads around to look at Charlie who was standing on the ledge of the roof, looking down to the street.
Don’s heart caught in his throat. He couldn’t lose her. He shoved Mike away and ran to stand by Lisa who stood about fifteen feet from her friend. Raph and Leo followed.
“Charlie, sweetheart, baby, please step away from the edge, honey,” he begged, blood pouring from his wound all the way to the rain puddle at his feet. “Please don’t jump. I’m so sorry for everything. If you want to be with Mike, then be with Mike, just please don’t kill yourself. I love you so much, baby.”
“She doesn’t want to be with me, you asshole,” Mike called, from behind him. He sat up and rubbed his head. He was pretty sure he’d dislocated a wrist. He hurried over to stand on Lisa’s other side. “Come on down from there, babe,” Mike said, gently. “It’s not that bad. Mikey can fix everything, I promise. Don and I will never fight again. Not ever.”
Charlie didn’t answer or even turn around.
“Don,” Mike said, urgently. “Charlie found out a month ago that she was pregnant. She asked me to break into a woman’s clinic with her to get an ultrasound in case the baby was deformed. We had to wait a while for it to develop enough for us to tell because all fetuses of all species look the same for the first few weeks. Her nerves... hell MY nerves are completely shot! It’s been a really shitty month.”
“Why wouldn’t you just ask me?” Don said, tears falling from his eyes. “Cause I can only think of one reason why you wouldn’t.”
“If it was mutated so badly that it would either kill her or suffer, then she was going to abort it and never tell you,” Mike explained in an exasperated tone. “She loves you so much that she didn’t want to ever hurt you.” He looked away and then looked back into his brother’s eyes. “And I love you so much that I was going to take the pain of a lost baby for you, you dumb fuck. I’ve already shouldered stress and pain for a month that should have been yours! And what do I get out of it? Accusations and a busted wrist!”
Donatello was dumbfounded. “So the baby is...”
“It’s your baby!” Mike shouted. “Son of a bitch... I’ve never even kissed her, let alone had sex with her. Fuck, Donnie! No one cheated on you! And in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re standing on the roof of a fertility clinic!”
Don swallowed hard and looked from Charlie’s back to Mike. “So is it... okay?” He knew that he’d lost Charlie forever, but he was so afraid that after all this, he’d lose the baby, too. He couldn’t take that. If the baby was going to die, then he was going to jump over that ledge, too.
“It looks pretty human,” Mike said. “And it’s a girl... there’s no wang.”
“I-I’m sorry, Mikey,” Don said. “It just... it looked bad.”
“Even we thought so,” Leonardo agreed. Raphael nodded. It had looked pretty suspicious.
“Just cause I...” Mike trailed off. He wouldn’t say that he loved Charlie because she still didn’t know and didn’t need to know. “You’re my brother, Donnie. I wouldn’t have...”
“I’ll never doubt you again, Mikey,” Don said, sadly. “Never.” Mike stepped passed Lisa and hugged his brother hard. Don hugged him back.
“I’ll help you get her back because I love you, bro,” Mike whispered into his brother’s ear, “but if you ever drop the ball again, I can’t promise that I won’t pick it up.”
Don nodded. He got the message loud and clear. “I’ll make sure you never get that chance,” he whispered back. “I love you, Mike.”
When they stepped away from each other, Charlie had turned around and was looking at them from the ledge.
“Please come down, honey,” Donatello begged.
“Do you have any idea how much you hurt me?” she said. “I know you felt heartbroken when you thought I cheated, but how do you think I felt to be accused of that? I’ve never done anything this mean before, Donnie, but I’m going to hurt you just so you’ll know how you made me feel.”
A look of horror spread over everyone’s face but Lisa’s.
“No!” Donatello cried, lunging for Charlie. She jumped before he got there.