Journey's end

Ch 19. Facing the Future

Raph blinked his eyes open and looked up into the angry eyes of Dr. Rockwell. "Raphael." The monkey looked down at him disapprovingly. "Don't you think this is getting a little out of hand?"

"Huh?" Raph looked up at him in confusion. "What doc?"

He sat up and realized he was now on the bed and Leo, who was dressed, was sitting on the chair, arms across his chest and looking at him with an air of amusement on his face. "Oh...uh...sorry about that." Raph rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment and slowly got off the bed. As he looked at Leo, the words the doctor had said came back to him and his eyes slowly widen in dawning.

"Oh my God!" Raph suddenly yelled out startling Leo."Leo…we're…we're going to have a baby! No wait…we're…we're going to have three…THREE babies." Raph started jumping around and bouncing about the room almost as bad as Mikey could get. "There's so much to do!" He grabbed his cell phone and was about to walk out the room when he turned and looked back at Leo. "We need to go baby shopping. I want to get baby clothes and baby furniture." He looked from Rockwell to Leo. "We need to get THREE highchairs and THREE cribs and…."

"RAPH!" Leo yelled. "Calm down." Leo put his hands on Raph's shoulders and forced him to sit on the chair. "We're not even done here."

"Oh…yeah…right." He looked at Dr. Rockwell sheepishly. "Sorry about that doc." He sat back quietly and allowed Leo and Rockwell to finish up.

"That is okay Raphael." Rockwell motioned for them to come with him into his office. "I am going to write out your prescriptions and please make sure you pick up some prenatal vitamins." He pulled out a prescription pad and note paper. While speaking, he wrote out the prescription along with instructions. He typed on his computer and printed out a few pieces of paper. "Here is a list of food items you should stay away from as well as some you should eat more of." He handed them the list.

Leo scanned the list and his face fell. He turned to Raph. "I can't have sushi." He told him with a disappointed look.

"That is only for a short time Leonardo." Rockwell reminded him. "From what I can tell, you should be laying the eggs within the next six weeks."

"Wow." Raph breath. "In six weeks or sooner we'll have little turtle eggs and then little baby turtles will be running around." Raph suddenly jumped out of his seat. "Leo, we have to go home and tell everyone! Ah man, Sensei is going to be so excited!"

Leo watched as Raph, once again, began to walk out of the room. He looked back at the Rockwell and they knowingly smiled at each other. A few seconds later Raph walked back in. "Why aren't you following?"

Leo sighed tiredly. "Raph." He looked at him in annoyance. "We're not done." He turned back to Rockwell. "I have questions."

"I figured you would." Rockwell chuckled. "Please, ask away."

"Can I still teach my classes?"

"The eggs that lay within you is using up your energy but you are still fairly healthy so I suppose a little exercise will be okay just as long you do not exert yourself and try to rest as much as possible. If while you are teaching, you start to feel tired don't be ashamed to let someone else take over so you can go lay down."

Leo nodded. "What about tea? Can I still drink tea?" He looked at Raphael. "I'd still like to have daily tea with Master Splinter." He explained.

"I will give you a list of teas that you, along with Splinter, will still be able to enjoy." He quickly typed again on his computer and printed out another list. He then handed it to Leo and then looked from one turtle to the other. "Are there any other questions?"