#Donnie would have just laid down and wished for death during Covid

[tmnt-tychou]

I headcanon that Donnie Leo and Mona took shifts watching over the babies for the first two months and keeping them warm etc there was once an incident when dj got sick and had to be separated from LJ to not get him sick and they both cried and wailed for hours because they missed each other but after the first day they stopped crying but only if they got to see each other atleast once throughout the day

Separation Anxiety

Series: Rise of the TMNT

The temperature scanner beeped and Mona Lisa removed it from her son's forehead to check the screen. “It's official. Little Man's got a fever.”

One year old DJ made some unhappy turtle noises as he squirmed in discomfort in her arms. He had always been the more fussy of the twins. With him not feeling well, he had been absolutely clingy. Usually content to let Leonardo take care of him most of the day, he currently wouldn't let anyone else hold him but his mother. As such, her shirt was a mess of snot and drool as she showed the temperature to Donatello who was, of course, dressed like a mini pandemic had exploded in their household. He was double-masked and dressed in paper scrubs and plastic gloves.

“What do you think?” Mona asked.

“Not high enough to take him to the hospital,” he replied. “We'll keep an eye on it. In the meantime, we'll have to keep that twins separated and hope LJ doesn't get...whatever this is.”

Mona sighed. DJ began to get fussy again and she rocked him. “Great. So I'm going to be watching a sick baby by myself.”

“What do you mean by yourself?” Donatello protested. “These kids have three parents.”

“Yes, but Leo's going to watch LeeJay and you, the germaphobe you are, the second you leave this room, none of us are going to see you for at least a week.”

Donatello narrowed his eyes at her. “Fine, I will stay and help you with the baby. And to prove to you I am trying, I shall remove one of my masks.”

She shook her head at him. “What are you going to do when the kids go to public school?”

“P-public school.” He said the words as if he could taste those grimy halls in his mouth. “Can't we just home school them until they're twenty?”

She chuckled and then tried to kiss the side of his face. Donatello immediately jabbed a finger into her cheek and steered it away from him.

“Oh, no-no, my dear. No skin-on-skin contact until this situation is taken care of.” He motioned to the baby.

“So you're probably not going to hold him, then.”

“Not a chance. Not that he'll let me. DJ's already chosen his caretaker and he chose well. I shall merely fetch you anything you require.”

“I guess that's better than nothing.”

He patted her shoulder with just the tips of his gloved fingers. “You can do it, baby.”

***************

“Is LeeJay being fussy, too?” Mona asked over the baby monitor. She currently sat in the nursery rocking chair, DJ's lightly snoozing and frowning form in her arms. She could hear unhappy baby noises from the monitor. “Is he feeling okay?”

“He doesn't seem sick,” Leonardo's voice came from the other end. Currently, LJ's room was the guestroom as they kept the twins quarantined from one another. As of yet, the other twin hadn't caught DJ's flu, and their parents were doing everything they could to keep it that way.

“I think he's worried he can't find DJ,” Leonardo continued. “He's been looking for him all day.”

Mona made a sound of empathy. “It will be just a couple days. I hope.”

“It's already been a couple days,” came the irritated reply. Then a soft sigh. “I miss you. I miss not having our house divided in half.”

“Just a couple more days. His fever's getting better.” And it was about time. Mona couldn't remember when she last slept more than an hour at a time. From the sounds of it, LJ was getting louder and more in distress. “I have to turn off the monitor,” she added with regret. “I don't want Lee to wake up DJ.”

“Okay, I'll talk to you later. I love you.”

Mona was forced to turn off the monitor right then as her other son grew too loud.

***********

Sometime in the night, DJ managed to find a fitful sleep instead of snoozing for a few minutes at a time. And as soon as he was at peace, Mona nodded off. She was awoken to an impatient squirming in her arms, then little hands touching her face. Her eyes fluttered open to find LJ in her arms, making happy turtle noises at seeing his mother after not being able to see her for a few days.

“What?” she wondered blearily. “Where--” she paused as she realized she only had one baby in her arms. “DJ! Where's DJ? Leo?” If he did this, Leo was one dead turtle. She stood with LJ in her arms. “LEO!”

As she stalked out into the hall, a startled Leonardo came up the other end to meet her. He had a fussy DJ in his arms and he looked utterly confused.

“Why did you switch the babies?” Mona demanded.

“I didn't do it! I just woke up and DJ was in the crib!”

“Well, I didn't switch them! Why would I do that?”

“Why would I do that, Ramona?”

Their argument was interrupted by a shrill gasp as Donatello caught them all. “You broke quarantine! You filthy lying LIARS!”

By now, Mona Lisa had enough of both of their antics and was about to give her partners a piece of her mind when she felt a tingling in her arms. In a shimmer of green light, LJ faded away and DJ was returned to her arms. An equally surprised Leonardo now held LJ. Of which, said twin made a noise of disappointment and disappeared again. This time, instead of a shimmer, it was more like a pop. Mona had to readjust to the sudden weight of both twins in her arms.

LJ looked extremely pleased as he tried to interact with his long-lost and kind of cranky twin brother.

Leonardo blinked at them for a while and then his face lit up. “My boys found their ninpo already! That's great!”

“What's not great is all of you are infected now!” Donatello barked. “The quarantine is a bust!”

Silence from everyone as that sank in.

“Good,” Leonardo announced. “I'm glad it's a bust. Quarantine sucks.” Mona Lisa made a surprised noise as he picked her up, the twins still in her arms. “The boys have spoken. We stay together. So I'm taking the family and we're all going to sleep in our bed tonight. You can join or not, Donnie, it's up to you.”

Donatello frowned as they left. But it wasn't long until he showed up in the bedroom. Though in a full hazmat suit, he stood in the doorway frowning. No one noticed him. The twins were being too cute. DJ was asleep, snuggled up to his brother while LJ made happy turtle noises.

With the squeak of rubbing plastic, Donatello sullenly sat himself on the side of the bed.

Mona glanced over her shoulder. “Look who's being so brave.”

“Don't patronize me, woman,” he shot back. “I'm here, aren't I?”

She chuckled as she snuggled in, surrounded by her family. “Yes, you are.”

*****

Thank you so much for this request, Anon! This gave me a great opportunity to show the twins' special abilities. They can "location swap" or they can portal to each other. I was looking for a way to show that in story form and you offered it to me.

Thank you for the ask!

Writing Tag:

@thelaundrybitch @turtle-babe83 @hotredphoenix @post-apocalyptic-daydream @leosgirl82 @dilucsflame33 @akesdraws-blog @fluffytriceratops @happymoonangel