Smile

"LEO!" Michelangelo's voice resonated through the lair, "Leonardo!"

Young Mikey ran through the lair in search of his eldest brother. He searched all the usual places: the living room, the dojo, the kitchen. But Leo was nowhere to be found. It was almost noon and no one had seen him since the night before.

As he walked past Leo's bedroom on his way to Donnie's lab, he heard an unusual sound from inside. Mikey opened the door and took a peek inside. Leo was lying in his bed with the covers pulled up to his chin. He rested his head on the pillow behind him miserably and stared at the ceiling.

"Leo, what's wrong?" Mikey pushed the door open and ran inside.

Leo turned his head and stared blankly in Mikey's direction. A few weak coughs escaped his throat and his eyes filled with tears.

"Are you sick?" He ran to Leo's bedside and stood beside him.

Leo swallowed, which obviously hurt his throat, and opened his mouth to speak. Unable to make any words come out, he closed his mouth and nodded his head.

"Oh. Well I guess we will have to play follow the leader tomorrow then…" He asked fluffing Leo's pillow.

Leo sighed. He promised Mikey they would play together all day today. He hated to go back on his word. But by the way Leo felt, it would be weeks before he was well enough to play. "I'm sorry Mikey. We can play when I get better." He choked out in a harsh whisper.

"It's okay Leo. I just want you to feel better." He thought for a moment, "I know. I'll stay with you and try to make you smile."

"Nothing you do will make me smile today, Mikey. I feel awful!" His voice was nasally and weak.

"I'm gonna take that as a challenge." Mikey smiled as he ran out of the room to collect some props.

"Oh boy." Leo complained as he tried to find a comfortable position in his bed.

Mikey returned shortly after with all of his toys on a blanket that he was pulling behind him. "I'm back!" he exclaimed and closed the door behind him.

"Mikey, you should really get outta here. I don't want you to catch this." Leo forced himself to speak.

Mikey smiled and shook his head, "No way. I'm gonna stay right here until you are all better." Mikey hopped up on Leo's bed.

Leo sighed in defeat. There was no way he was going to get rid of Mikey. He eyed the toys on the floor. How he wanted to be able to play with his brother and not be confined to his boring bed. Mikey smiled ear to ear as he randomly picked a toy off the blanket. He looked at the toy he chose and sat on the edge of Leo's bed. "This is my toy robot, Boby. He talks." Mikey explained as he pressed the buttons of the robots back. The mechanical forced voice and sound effects began to give Leo a headache.

"Nothing that talks please, Mikey. My head hurts." Leo covered his face with his pillow.

"Oh, sorry." Mikey threw the robot back onto the blanket and found a quieter toy to play with. "This is my action figure. He doesn't talk." He handed it to Leo, "It fell through the grate one day and I liked it, so I took it home. He has a cape, and I think it's really cool."

Leo held the plastic toy in his hand and lifted the pillow on his face. He looked at it with tired eyes and sighed. Usually he would love to battle action figures with Mikey, but he just wasn't in the mood. He exhaled through his nose and dropped the toy and the pillow.

"I guess you don't wanna play action figures either." Mikey frowned as he picked out another toy. After what felt like hours of trying to find a toy Leo wanted to play with, Mikey had gone through each and every toy on the blanket. He had tried coloring, block building, and even juggling, but he wasn't able to make Leo smile even a little bit. "I'm out of toys now Leo." Mikey sighed

"It's okay. I didn't really feel like playing anyways." He shrugged it off.

"You must really feel bad" Mikey looked at Leo with sympathy.

Leo just nodded underneath his pillow. He sneezed followed by a sniff. Mikey noticed as his eyes started to drift into sleep, "I know. I'll tell you a story."

"I'm not really in the mood for a story, Mikey" Leo said in between coughs.

"Oh, come on Leo. It'll be funny." Mikey begged.

Leo just covered his face with his pillow in reply. He only wanted to sleep. Why wouldn't Michelangelo leave him alone? But you can't just tell such a determined 5 year old to go away. It would break his little heart.

"Do you want me to get Sensei? Does he know how you feel?" Mikey stood up and moved towards the door.

"No, Mikey. I don't want Sensei to know. I don't want any attention." Leo sat up a bit too quickly and found the room spinning around him.

"But Leo. Sensei might be able to help. Besides, he's gonna find out when you don't show up for practice." Michelangelo insisted.

Leo sighed and laid back down hoping to stop the room from spinning, with little success. He frowned and closed his eyes, "I'll be fine by practice." He lied, assuming he would be getting a lot worse before he got better.

Mikey put his hand on Leo's forehead as he remembered Splinter had done when he was sick last winter. He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing or why he was doing he. He just figured it was something you do when someone is sick, "No, you're not." He frowned looking into Leo's dark melancholy eyes.

Leo sensed the concern in his brother's gaze. It warmed his heart that Mikey was so determined to make him feel better. Before he had time to think about it, Leo felt his cheeks lift under his heavy eyes.

"I told you I'd make you smile." Mikey smiled a Leo. He fluffed Leo's pillow and pulled the blankets around his brother. "See ya later, Leo. Sleep tight." Mikey collected his toys and left Leo's room.

Leo watched attentively as his brother left and closed the door behind him. He started to feel his heart sink in his chest, but not long after, sleep overcame him and he was drug into a deep and peaceful sleep.

The Next Day

Leo woke up feeling much better than he had the day before. He immediately he remembered that he promised Mikey they would play follow-the-leader when he felt better. Excited and impatient beyond compare, Leo jumped out of his bed and ran down to Mikey's room. Despite the earliness of the hour, he swung open the door and ran to Mikey's bed. His excitement vanished as he noticed his little brother in the same state he had just recovered from.

"Mikey" he whispered, "are you okay?" he asked.

Mikey shook his head and pulled the blankets over his head, escaping from reality for only a moment.

"I'm sorry I got you sick, Mikey." Leo pulled the covers off Mikey's head and gently tucked him in.

"It's not your fault." Mikey frowned as he stared out his bedroom door admiring that which he couldn't have.

Leo pondered for a moment, followed by an ingenious idea. He dug through the mess known as Mikey's room and found the toys from yesterday.

"What are you looking for Leo?" Mikey asked while watching Leo run around frantically.

Leo collected as many toys as he could find and dropped them on Mikey's bed. He looked up at his brother smiling ear-to-ear, "I'm gonna make you smile."