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Leonela’s up at the crack of dawn and busy making herself a hot cup of jasmine tea when she hears the soft pitter-patter of slow, sluggish footsteps entering the kitchen from behind her.
“Good morning!” she chirps, fully expecting to be greeted by either Donnie, half-asleep and searching for coffee after an all-nighter in his lab, or by Mikey looking to get a head-start on breakfast. “I’m just making some tea, do you want any—?”
“…M…Muh-muh…?”
Then just the absolute weakest and most heartbreaking little wail that she’s ever heard in her entire life rips painfully through the air—the sound is unmistakably that of an infant crying desperately for their mother, and oh, it makes her stomach clench and she wants so badly to help whoever made that pitiful little noise—and she whips around in frantic concern to figure out where it came from so that maybe she can try and comfort them.
Sure enough, standing in front of her is a bleary-eyed and alarmingly scarlet-cheeked Raph innocently peeking up at her with his bandana tied all askew, clutching a chocolate-brown teddy bear by the paw and clumsily rubbing at his face in the same way that a sleepy child would, and the sight makes her stop short as a nearly overwhelming surge of baby baby baby baby baby, help baby, care for baby, nurture baby flares up in her chest. He’s very clearly little, and she realizes then that he made that noise and she’s Mama and he needs her, and she very nearly melts right there on the spot.
“Mama’s coming, sweet baby, it’s okay, Mama’s here—oh, you poor thing, you’re not feeling just real good, huh?” she coos, reaching him in two long strides and carefully scooping him up in her arms, and she can feel her heart pang with concern when he merely closes his eyes and snuggles into her hold without hesitation. “Aw, Ellie…why don’t I go find you a nice, soft blankie to snuggle with, and then we head on over to Donnie’s lab so he can give you a check-up, okay, honey?”
“…‘tay, Mama.”
“Mama’s got you, darling, it’ll be okay,” she promises, moving towards the sofa and grabbing a honeydew-colored blanket off the armrest, and her poor baby just limply curls in on himself and presses his forehead up against her plastron with a quiet whine as she drapes it across his shoulders—he must really not feel good.
“Oh, sweet pea, I’m sorry you feel so yucky—but Mama’s gonna shower her baby with lots of hugs and kisses to make it all better!” she gushes, gingerly bouncing him up and down to help calm him, and she can’t help but smile when he loosely wraps his arms around her and roots weakly at her shoulder like he’s trying to get even closer to her. “Aww, does bubba wanna snuggle? Yeah? Are you a li’l snuggle-bunny? Mama loves to cuddle! Tell you what—after Don-Don’s all done with your check-up, we’ll go lay down on the couch and have our snuggle-time, okay, precious?”
“Mhm…” he sighs softly, laying his exhausted little head against her chest and settling down once he finds her heartbeat. “Ge’ Mama…‘tect?”
She can feel her heart just breaking for him. Raph is usually so headstrong and independent, without a care in the world regarding what anyone else thinks of him, but her sweet, gentle Ellie is just so skittish and clingy, as shy as anything and wanting nothing more than love and snuggles from his Mama.
“Yes, sweetheart,” she affirms, “you’ve got Mama right here, Mama will protect you. Ooh, does my cuddly little cub know how old he is?”
Leonela knows that he’s very tiny, maybe a year or two old at the most, but it still catches her by surprise when he bashfully shows her his fist without holding up any fingers, and she can’t help but coo at him under her breath because he’s just as little as little can get. “Aww, so itty-bitty! What a sweet baby my Ellie is! Does my little boy know how many months old he is, hm?”
Ellie frowns and his face twists as if he’s in deep thought before he ultimately shakes his head, a few small tears pricking at his eyes as he meekly babbles a string of only partially sensical apologies—but now, that just won’t do, he hasn’t done anything wrong.
“You don’t have anything to be sorry for, precious, that was a really tricky question for such a little guy,” she soothes. “Mama knows her sweet baby’s just, well, a baby, and that’s all that matters. Now, let’s go see Don-Don, okay, sweetie?”
She carries him to the lab with a little extra bounce in her step, and she can’t help but smile when he yawns with a contented little sigh before closing his eyes—though he almost immediately stirs when the doors slide open, flinching just slightly and clinging even tighter to his Mama.
“Paging Doctor Donnie!” Leonela calls, lightly tickling Ellie’s tummy to get him to smile, and Donnie’s eyes widen slightly once he gets a good look at them and realizes what’s going on before he manages to collect himself. “Are you taking walk-ins? I have a sick li’l baby Ellie here, and we gotta figure out what’s making this poor guy feel so yucky-blucky and fix him right up, don’t we, buddy? Yeah, we gotta take care of my sweet boy!”
It’s like a switch flips in Donnie’s brain, and Leonela watches in surprised amusement as he just instantly swaps from pensive scientist mode to bubbly caregiver mode. “Oh, my goodness, he’s so tiny—yes, of course, I always have time to spare when it comes to itty-bitty babies,” he coos, springing up out of his chair and practically jogging over to the both of them in his haste to come check on her baby. “Hi, Ellie! Hi, there, bun-bun…are you not feelin’ too good right now, buddy?”
Ellie shakes his head minutely, turning away for a moment to look up at his Mama instead as if he isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do next.
“Hi, bright-eyes,” Leonela whispers, pointedly ignoring how Ellie’s eyes in fact actually seem somewhat dulled with fever. “Don-Don’s here to help you, I promise. Can you try and tell us what feels yucky or owie? Or maybe just point, if words are too hard?”
“Tummy…tummy bo’f, Mama,” he whines, hiding his face in her shoulder.
“Your tummy feels both yucky and owie?” she asks, and he just nods and clutches at his stomach with a sniffle. “Oh, sweetie…you did such a good job telling us, baby, Mama’s super-duper proud of you.”
“Aw, no, I’m sorry your tummy doesn’t feel good,” Donnie says sympathetically. “How about you and your Mama go and snuggle on the couch while I fix you up a li’l something-something to help make that tummy feel less icky, hm?”
Ellie barely reacts to any of Donnie’s gentle cooing, only murmuring something incoherent in response, and Leonela’s concern only grows stronger at this new, sudden display of lethargy.
“Poor thing,” Donnie frets, moving over to one of the cabinets and quickly rummaging through the contents. “Let’s see…I’ve got liquid acetaminophen in raspberry, grape, and honey flavors, all with those little plastic dosing syringe-things, what do you think he’d like best?”
“Probably raspberry…?” Leonela guesses. “I would just ask him, but answering questions seems to take so much out of him, I don’t know…”
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up about it,” he consoles, gently patting her shoulder. “For the time being, at least, you’re a parent with a sick baby—so you go ahead and relax on the couch, and snuggle with your kiddo. Doctor’s orders.”
So that’s exactly what she does—with a quick forehead-nuzzle as thanks, she exits the lab and makes herself comfortable on the couch with her half-asleep infant, and they both end up lightly dozing for a couple of minutes until Donnie comes in with his supplies.
“Raspberry-flavored Tylenol, coming right up!” Donnie announces, carefully cradling a dosing syringe full of clear medicine in both hands so he doesn’t spill any of its precious contents. “Hm…lemme text Mikey real quick and see if I can’t get him to make some strawberry milk so Ellie can wash this down, can you—?”
“Way ahead of ya!” Mikey hollers, bursting out of the kitchen (when did he even get there??) with a baby bottle held delicately in both hands, filled up just a little bit over halfway with strawberry milk. “I kinda overheard that we gots us a baby on board, and I just…I wanted to help out somehow, y’know? I know he likes strawberry milk anyway, so I just put it in a bottle and warmed it up…”
“Oh! Thank you,” Leonela breathes. “You must have, like, a sixth sense for these kinds of things—hey, Ellie? Would you like some strawberry milk, bubba?”
“Mi’k,” Ellie echoes under his breath, reaching for the bottle and whimpering quietly in confusion when Leonela manages to get a hold of it first. “Mi’k? M…mi-mi’k…?”
“It’s okay, sugar, you’re still going to get your milk,” she soothes, cupping the side of his face and gingerly running her thumb across his cheekbone, then gently swaddling him and his stuffie in his blanket to keep him feeling comfortable and secure. “But Don-Don’s gotta give you something first to help that li’l tummy of yours stop feeling so sad, okay, precious?”
Ellie simply nods and opens his mouth just slightly, and Leonela’s heart aches seeing just how much he trusts them as he readily accepts the medicine from Donnie and laps it all up without any fuss.
“Oh, good boy,” she breathes, lovingly nuzzling his temple with her cheek. “Such a trooper.”
“Muh-muh,” he informs her happily, beaming at the praise and snuggling deeper into the blanket. “‘g’y.”
“You’re hungry, sweet baby?” she croons softly, sitting up and cradling him more comfortably in her lap so he can eat. “You just relax and get cozy now, okay, honey? Mama will take care of the rest, you don’t have to lift a finger.”
He blinks up at her, slowly and sleepily, and rolls over just a little bit to get closer to her, making soft grabby hands at her from just over the top of the blanket and babbling quietly as he opens his mouth to be fed. “Num?”
“Yes, sweet boy, time for num-nums!” she coos, offering him the bottle. “Lookie, bubba, here comes the airplane…!”
Eagerly, he latches onto the tip and happily starts to eat, stretching his arms and legs out and then curling up like a kitty as he contentedly closes his eyes.
“Oh, my goodness…look at this li’l sweetheart,” Leonela breathes, holding Ellie just a little bit closer. “He looks so peaceful, so tiny, so cute. Have you guys ever seen something so precious?”
“I don’t think I have,” Mikey muses. “He’s been so stressed out lately, and then getting sick on top of that…it’s nice to finally see him so at ease.”
“It really is, it’s just absolutely remarkable…” Donnie whispers. “I’ll be right back, okay? I just have to go grab something really quick.”
Ellie curls himself around his Mama’s arm and clings to it as tightly as he can without hurting her, like he’s afraid she’ll leave if he lets go.
“Hey, it’s okay, honey!” Leonela says gently. “Mama’s not leaving you! Donnie’s the only one leaving, and he’ll only be gone for a minute. Mama’s gonna stay right here and snuggle her sweet baby, I promise.”
He grunts quietly in acknowledgement before prying his eyes open and detaching himself from the bottle, having drunk about three-fourths of it, and she gently wipes a few stray droplets away from his beak with her thumb as he fully relaxes back into her hold. “…‘tay, Mama.”
“Are you full, sweetie?” she asks. “Or are you just taking a little break?”
“Jus’ bweak,” he mumbles, loosening his grip but not letting go. “Don-Don…? ‘abve q’esh’i’n.”
“Hm? What’s going on, tough guy, what can Don-Don do for ya?”
“Uhm…needwes?”
“Oh—no, buddy, no needles,” Donnie reassures him immediately. “Just a thermometer and a super-quick cheek swab, that’s all. I’ll be right back in just a little bit, okay?”
“Buh-bye,” he says sadly, waving slowly, and Donnie waves right back before heading out of the room.
“It’s just heart-wrenching to see him so sick…I’m sorry,” Leonela murmurs. “I would’ve gotten the bottle and everything myself, but—”
“Hey, don’t apologize!” Mikey says with a nonchalant wave of his hand. “It’s like you said: he’s tiny, sick, and clearly scared out of his mind, and he just wants his Mama—he needs you. So I get it.”
“My Mama,” Ellie mumbles sleepily, snuggling further into Leonela’s torso. “Besh’-esht Mama. Mama, Mama, Mama.”
“My sweet boy,” she hums. “The best little baby. I love you so much, honey.”
“…lo’e Mama.”
Then Donnie comes back into the room with a first-aid kit, opening up the clasps before pulling out the thermometer and then immediately busying himself with prepping the cheek swab. “Hi, little one, I’m back,” he coos, gently tapping at Ellie’s beak to get him to open his mouth. “Open up for me, okay?”
Bless him, Ellie’s so very sleepy that he just does as he’s asked without batting an eye, and he doesn’t even react as Donnie carefully runs the swab along the insides of both of his cheeks.
“Good job, jellybean!” Donnie praises, stroking a thumb across Ellie’s temple as Leonela offers him the bottle back to get the taste of cotton out of his mouth, which he lethargically finishes off with a tired little snuffle. “That’s the yuckiest part over and done with, and you handled it like a champ! Aww…those li’l eyes are getting heavy! Are you goin’ night-night, buddy—ooh, how about we get you all settled in with a nice paci, and then you can cuddle up with your Mama and have a good, long nap, yeah? Does that sound like a plan?”
Leonela smiles down at her baby and rocks him just slightly in her arms. “That sounds like a fantastic idea, sweetie! Would you like a paci?”
Ellie’s eyes sparkle faintly at the suggestion, and he nods. “‘ci?” he asks softly, sounding genuinely excited by the prospect. “Mhm…”
In that moment, it strikes her yet again just how different her softhearted little boy is from her hotheaded brother. (She can’t help but worry that maybe he’d felt like they would make fun of him if he tried to seek out comfort, and the real reason that he regressed is because he just needed so badly to be taken care of and loved on…)
She’s ripped from her thoughts by a tiny, pained whimper, and she turns her attention back to her baby boy to find his brow furrowed in discomfort as he restlessly nuzzles her shoulder with his cheek.
“Oh, honey, are you okay?” she whispers. “What’s the matter? Are you still hurting?”
“Mama…?” he mumbles, listlessly pushing himself up to look at her, and the confused, glassy look in his normally sharp eyes just absolutely breaks her heart. “My…my tummy—”
“…I’m gonna go grab some soap and washcloths,” Donnie announces rather abruptly, darting back into his lab like he isn’t sure how else to confront the situation.
Ellie chokes out a breathless little whine before heaving weakly, and Leonela doesn’t have time to do more than unwrap him and rescue his beloved teddy bear from the line of fire before the poor dear ends up just drenched down the front in strawberry milk and crying his little soul out, hanging his head out of shame and trembling in every limb as he blubbers out apologetic gibberish—and then he tries to shove his teddy bear in between them to shield her from the mess and her heart just shatters.
“Oh—oh, no, sweet baby, you don’t have to do that,” she whispers, trying as hard as she can to keep her voice steady while Mikey runs back into the kitchen, which honestly doesn’t work in the slightest. “That’s so thoughtful of you, precious, but that’s your teddy.”
“Nnnuuhhh,” he insists, but he doesn’t put any sort of force behind it—he just sounds completely defeated. “I bad—f’ow up on my Mama, nee’ fi’s i’—”
“No, no, buddy,” Mikey interrupts gently, coming back with several paper towels and using them to carefully dab away the majority of the mess. “We’ve got it taken care of. I promise, your teddy bear can stay clean and snuggly.”
Leonela can’t help it, a sob tears its way out of her throat, and she just ends up feeling even worse because Ellie startles and clambers his way up next to her head, and then his worried little voice asks her, “Mama…? Mama c’y? I he’p—hol’ ted-dy?”
“…you’re right, sweet pea, Mama’s crying,” she admits with a sad chuckle, “but it’s not your fault, I promise. Thank you for offering me your teddy bear, lovebug, you’re a very thoughtful little boy, but you don’t have to ‘fix’ anything—you’ve done nothing wrong. All you need to worry about is letting Mama take care of you, okay, baby? Can my brave little boy take a big, deep breath for Mama?”
He does, and it’s a pitifully shuddery little whine of a thing, but he manages it alright. “M-Mo-m-my-y—Mommyyy…!”
His pained little voice combined with the new nickname makes her feel like someone’s ripped her heart right out of her chest and haphazardly stitched it back into place. Her poor baby.
“I know it, precious, you’ve just got so many feelings for such a tiny baby…Mommy loves you so much,” Leonela coos. “Mommy’s going to give you all the snuggles, I promise. Are you okay for now, buddy? Do you feel like you need to throw up again?”
“Muh-muh,” he pleads, his cries coming out strangled and hoarse as he flops his head against her shoulder, and he just sounds so small—in both the regressed sense and the sick sense. “Mama…I sowy, Mama.”
“Ellie, baby, it’s not your fault, you shouldn’t have to feel sorry for being sick,” she soothes, gingerly kissing his forehead. “Lay back down on Mama, precious, just try to relax, I know you’re tired…just snuggle right up to Mama, and go back to sleepies…”
He just nods sluggishly with a quiet whimper, clearly too worn out to respond any further.
“Oh, goodness…so nausea and vomiting, we can check those off the list,” Donnie muses as he comes back with some washcloths and a travel-sized bottle of baby shampoo. “Does your head hurt, nose or chest feel stuffy, anything like that, bud…?”
Overwhelmed and so very disoriented, Ellie clamps both hands over the sides of his head and chokes out a desperate, pleading wail, burying his face in his Mama’s shoulder as his entire body wracks with sobs. “Nnnuuhhh-huh—nuh, nuh, nuh—noishesh—!”
“Oh—no, hey, it’s okay!” Leonela reassures him almost frantically, gently rubbing at his shell scutes to soothe him, while Donnie heads over to the sink and soaks one of the washcloths in water before scrubbing it with some shampoo to create a nice, foamy lather. “You’re safe—I promise you’re safe, honey, Donnie would never ever hurt you for anything!”
She pauses for a moment and shifts her hold on him, letting Donnie step closer to them and gently wash the remaining sick away from his face and plastron.
“…mad?” he mumbles, chewing nervously at the tip of his thumb like he really wants to self-soothe with it but he’s afraid to.
“Why, honey?” Donnie asks. “You haven’t done anything wrong. You’re just a baby, so very itty-bitty. I’m sorry I scared you like that.”
He nods sleepily and starts absently gumming at his knuckles without a second thought, and Donnie smiles fondly and starts digging through his tool belt, where he pulls out a small, clear case with a neon red pacifier inside. “Oh! My, my, bun-bun, look at that, it’s your favorite color!”
Ellie almost immediately stops chewing on his hand and whispers his thanks as Leonela takes the case, after which she quietly unclasps it for him and very gently coaxes the pacifier into his mouth; something shifts in his demeanor, then, and he visibly relaxes and snuggles into his Mama’s chest as he suckles on the paci contentedly.
“That is unfairly adorable,” Mikey coos. “Li’l cuddle-bug!”
“Now I just need to check your temperature, okay, hun?” Donnie asks. “You might feel a little bit of a cold touch on your forehead.”
Ellie nods slightly in assent, watching Donnie’s every move with half-lidded eyes, and Donnie slowly slides the thermometer across his forehead—and then they both flinch when the thing starts beeping at them.
“…Muh-muh…? Wha’…?” Ellie mumbles, clearly confused.
“It’s okay, bubs,” Leonela soothes, gingerly kissing Ellie’s temple. “All done! You can go ahead and sleep now, I’m sorry we kept having to bother you.”
“S’eep…?” he breathes, the words slightly garbled around his paci. “…‘tay.”
Then he blinks and sluggishly lifts his head, propping himself up on shaky elbows and looking her right in the eyes as he quietly tells her, “I lo’e y’u, Mama.”
Oh, she loves her sweet boy so very much, her heart just can’t take it. “I love you, too, my Ellie-bō.”
He hums happily, slumping back against her chest, and then he’s practically out for the count.
“No wonder he’s not feeling good—that’s a really high fever he’s running,” Donnie comments worriedly, and Leonela can’t help but hug her baby just a bit tighter. “103 even. I’m gonna go analyze this cheek swab and see what I can figure out, but I have a feeling it’s probably just a nasty stomach bug.”
In his sleep, Ellie slowly reaches out and grabs a hold of Donnie’s wrist as if he doesn’t want him to leave.
“I guess you’re just gonna hafta wait a minute,” Mikey teases lightly, and the sound of his voice makes Ellie reach towards him and weakly pull him closer, too. “Oh! I think the li’l dude wants snuggles from everybody!”
“Well,” Donnie says nonchalantly, wrapping one arm around the back of the couch and resting a gentle hand on the crown of Ellie’s head, “if the baby wants snuggles, the baby gets snuggles. That means you, too, Mikey, get in here and cuddle.”
“Alright, alright,” he huffs, only pretending to complain as he leans against Leonela’s side and takes Ellie’s hand. “Turtle pile time!”
It isn’t very long at all before the warm coziness of the turtle pile lulls the other three into a calm, gentle sleep just like Ellie.