After a frustrating morning, Leo leaves the lair by himself, only to discover that his day is about to get much, much worse.

Disclaimer: Don't own them, but I do dream about them occasionally.

A/N—This is my first attempt at writing a TMNT fanfic, though I have been a fan for a long time and enjoy reading all the wonderful stories out there. They have inspired me to write this, and I hope it is good. This first chapter features mostly Leo, but the other chapters will include the other brothers as well. I love them all, and especially love their relationship with one another. Hope you enjoy…

Leo woke up with a headache.

He lay in bed staring up at the ceiling, debating whether to get up or try to go back to sleep in the hope it would go away. He rarely got headaches, but when he did, they often had the annoying tendency of turning into migraines. Donnie claimed it was stress, and that the only reason he didn't get them more often was due to his rigorous physical training and healthy diet. Leo didn't really care about the cause, he just hated getting them. They always managed to throw his day off.

Eventually he gave in to the inevitable and rolled from his bed, pulling his gear on slowly in between pauses to massage his temples. He left his room, the lair dark and silent around him, his siblings and Master still sleeping. He wandered into the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water and rooting around in the cabinets until he came across a bottle of Tylenol. He hated taking drugs, but Donnie had warned him often enough that avoiding taking them was just inviting the headache to get worse.

He popped two in his mouth, swallowed them with the water, then headed for the dojo for his morning meditation. Raph always made fun of him for his habit of getting up early to meditate, but Leo found the quiet stillness the perfect environment to collect his thoughts and quiet his spirit. Quiet wasn't really something he found much of, living with three brothers, and the sleep he had to trade in order to find some was well worth it to him.

Yet for some reason this morning, Leo had difficulty slipping into the relaxed state necessary for meditation. He knew the headache was responsible for some of it, but he also couldn't seem to get his brain to stop working. Thoughts kept slipping into his mind: memories of last night's argument with Raph about the hot-head's tendency to sneak out of the lair without telling anyone, worry over Master Splinter's recent cough (though Donnie assured him it was nothing serious), concern over the increased foot activity throughout the city…

After half an hour of trying to relax, Leo gave up his efforts at meditation and switched instead to some basic katas. Thanks to the Tylenol, his headache had faded significantly, and the katas were something he could do without much mental effort, the forms as familiar to him by now as breathing.

An hour later he smoothly sheathed his swords and left the dojo, feeling calmer and more focused.

It wouldn't last.

The TV was on as Leo entered the main room, which told him Mikey was up. He spotted his youngest brother standing at the edge of the kitchen, a large spoon in one hand, his gaze fixed on the TV. Behind him, a large pot was bubbling away on the stove.

"Morning, Mikey," Leo greeted. "What's for breakfast?"

"Oatmeal," Mikey answered distractedly, his gaze still fixed on the TV. Behind him, the contents of the pot made a loud burbling noise before releasing a large glop of oatmeal over the side to land with a sizzle on the top of the stove. Mikey whirled around at the sound, his eyes growing wide. "Ah shell," he cried, lunging forward and reaching for the handle of the pot.

In his haste, his hand slipped, and he let out a loud yelp as his fingers connected with the hot side of the pan. He reflexively dropped the pot, and Leo watched in morbid fascination as it teetered on the edge of the stove for a long moment before slowly tipping over and crashing to the floor, the contents splashing out across the ground in an impressive spray.

Mikey swore again, this time not as mildly, and Leo frowned. "Language, Mikey," he admonished firmly. He was going to have to talk to Raph about the bad influence he was having on their youngest brother. Mikey just glared at him, still waving his singed fingers in the air.

"What has happened here?"

Leo started, turning to see Master Splinter standing directly behind him. The old rat was the only one in the household that could still manage to sneak up on him unaware, and Leo hated it when he did.

"Mikey just exploded breakfast," he replied serenely, inwardly finding perverse pleasure that it hadn't been him blowing something up in the kitchen this time. He could practically feel his brother's glare boring a hole into the back of his head.

Splinter narrowed his eyes slightly, and Leo got the distinct impression that his Master had just read his thoughts. "Well, it is a good thing you are here to help him clean it up then, my son," the old rat replied, casting his gaze over the impressive splatter of oatmeal covering the kitchen floor, walls, stove, and chairs.

Leo scowled, opening his mouth to argue, but a single look from Splinter had him shutting it again with a click. "Hai, Sensei," he replied instead, carefully keeping any form of displeasure from his tone.

"You had better hurry," Splinter added, turning and gliding toward the dojo. "Practice begins in ten minutes."

Leo sighed, then obediently turned and carefully picked his way across the soiled kitchen toward the sink, grabbing a nearby rag on his way.

Not surprisingly, Mikey whined the whole time they were cleaning, halfheartedly poking at the mess of porridge and complaining that his fingers hurt too badly to scrub properly. Leo inspected the digits and found them red and puffy, but nothing too serious. Of course, that wouldn't keep Mikey from milking the injury for all it was worth. In the end, Leo ended up doing the lion's share of the work, and by the time the mess was cleaned up, his head was throbbing again, and the calm focus he had found earlier was gone.

"Thanks for helping, Raph," he growled sarcastically at his red banded brother. Raph had shown up half-way through the clean-up, moving into the kitchen and dodging around them to grab himself a bowl of cereal before plopping down at the table

"Don't mention it," Raph replied flippantly, not even bothering to look up from his bowl. Leo ground his teeth in frustration but didn't push it. The last thing he needed at the moment was another argument with his brother. It seemed lately that all he and Raph did was argue, and he was getting more than a little sick of it. Nobody could crawl under his shell like Raph, and his brother managed it without even really trying. Splinter said it was because the two of them were so much alike. Leo took exception to that theory. He was nothing like Raphael. His brother was impatient, hot tempered, sarcastic, and sometimes downright mean. Leo preferred to think that his issues with Raph stemmed more from the fact they were exact opposites of each other.

Due to the kitchen fiasco, Leo didn't have a chance to eat breakfast before Sensei called them all in to the dojo to begin morning practice. He didn't even have a chance to drink his usual cup of tea. As a result, he was feeling irritated and out of sorts, his headache a growing annoyance once more. He sought to calm himself as Splinter paired him with Donnie for the first sparring match, but with little success. Such was his distraction that barely two minutes into the match, he lost his focus for just a fraction of a second…plenty of time for Donnie to land a quick strike to his knuckles with his bo. Leo's kantana flew from his suddenly numb fingers to land several feet away, its sharp point buried in the mats a mere two inches in front of Master Splinter's foot.

Raphael, who had been waiting for his turn with Mikey on the sidelines, laughed so hard that Leo wondered if his brother was going to pull something in his side. Not that he would offer any sympathy for him if he did. He felt his cheeks burn with mortification as Splinter calmly reached down and pulled the sword free, grabbing the blade and offering the weapon back to Leo hilt first. Donnie's smug grin certainly didn't help his mood any, either. It wasn't very often the genius turtle was able to land a blow on the leader, let alone disarm him, but Leo still felt his brother was enjoying his victory a little too much.

After that he took care to remain more focused and was luckily able to escape the rest of the lesson without further embarrassment.

Once Splinter had dismissed them, Leo wandered out into the main room, still feeling restless. He usually spent the remainder of the morning reading or practicing his Japanese, but with the throbbing ache behind his eyes, neither option was particularly appealing. He decided instead to try watching a little TV, only to find that Mikey had already claimed it and was starting up one of his video games. Apparently the burn on his brother's hand wasn't serious enough to keep him from gripping a game controller…just a washrag.

Grumbling under his breath, Leo headed up the stairs toward his room, deciding that it might just be best to take a nap. Maybe when he woke up, his headache would be gone and he could just start the whole day all over again.

He had no sooner laid down and closed his eyes, than the blaring sound of music turned up at least ten decibels too high cut through the wall separating his room from Raphael's. It was almost as though the barrier was made out a paper instead of stone. Leo groaned, turning on his side and pulling his pillow over his head. It didn't help. Donnie had made Raph a killer bass system for Christmas, and he swore he could feel his bed pulsing in time to the music.

Leo rarely indulged in foul language, (yet another area he differed from Raphael), but right now he was definitely thinking a few choice words. He swiftly pushed himself off the bed and stalked out of the room and down the hall, wincing with every pulse of the radio. Raph's door was partially open, so Leo didn't bother knocking…his brother would never have heard it anyway over all the noise. Raph was lying on his back in his hammock, reading one of his motorcycle magazines while rocking his head in time to the beat.

"RAPH!"

Leo had to yell in order to be heard. Raphael turned to glance at him, arching one eye ridge.

"Turn in down!" Leo ordered, crossing his arms over his plastron and glaring at his brother.

"Why?" Raph shouted back, already turning back to his magazine.

"I'm trying to get some sleep!" Leo hollered, feeling as though his head was one of the drums currently being pounded on in the song.

He couldn't hear Raph's derisive snort over the music, but there was no missing the mocking disdain on his brother's face. "It's ten in the morning, grandpa. You need a nap…just take out your hearing aids and you'll be fine."

A sound very much like a growl echoed in the back of Leo's throat. Raph was difficult to deal with on the best of days, and Leo was definitely not having the best of days. "Just turn it down," he repeated, then thought to add a belated, "please."

"Sure thing," Raph replied, never taking his eyes off his magazine as he reached over and pushed the nob on the radio a couple of notches higher.

Leo thought his head might explode, and it wasn't completely due to the deafening music or his pulsing headache. He briefly wondered if the act of fratricide would earn him extra flips during their next practice. Probably.

Retreating back out into the hall and indulging in a rare display of temper, he slammed his brother's door closed, wincing as the sound sent a slice of pain across his skull. He stalked down the hall, bypassing his own door and heading downstairs instead. Maybe he could curl up on the mats in the dojo and catch a nap in there. After all, Mikey did it all the time when Splinter sent him in there to do some extra practice meditating.

He was halfway across the Lair when the phone by the kitchen began to ring.

"Can you get that, Mike?" Don's voice echoed out from the open door of his lab. "My hands are a little full at the moment."

"Uh huh," Mikey grunted, his eyes never leaving the screen before him, his tongue sticking out slightly as he maneuvered the game controller. He made no move to rise from his position on the couch.

Leo sighed. "I got it," he grumbled, stepping over to the phone and lifting the receiver. "Yeah," he grunted.

"Hey, Raph" April's cheerful voice greeted him from the other end of the line.

Leo winced. "Not Raph," he corrected April, "it's Leo." He realized a bit belatedly that his gruff greeting had made him sound more like his hot headed brother than he would care to admit. Splinter probably would have had a thing or two to say to him about manners if he'd heard him.

"Oh, sorry Leo," April laughed nervously. "Bad day?"

Leo reached up and rubbed at the ache between his eyes. "You could say that," he answered morosely. "What's up, April?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I picked up those groceries Splinter was asking for. Unfortunately, I can't bring them down right now. I'm expecting an important call from a client, and my cell doesn't get reception down there. This deal could be worth a lot of money and I can't afford to miss it. I'd send Casey, but he has a dentist appointment, and as much as he'd like to skip it, I told him it wasn't an option."

"No problem, April" he answered smoothly. "We can come up and grab them later. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," she let out a small laugh from the other end of the line. "Hope your day gets better, Leo. If not, you can come up later and you and Casey can commiserate together. You'd think the man was going to get his throat cut instead of a tooth pulled."

Leo felt his lips turn up in a small smile. "Well, you can always offer to have Donnie do it for him instead of the dentist. Last time Mikey needed a tooth pulled, Donnie had Raph strap him to the exam table and he used an old pair of plyers to yank it out. Mikey didn't talk to him for a whole week afterward, though that could be because his jaw was too swollen. Come to think of it, that was one of the quietest weeks we've ever had around here."

"Dude, I heard that," Mikey called from the couch.

April laughed. "Don't tempt me. Some peace and quiet would be a nice change around here. Listen, I got to go. I'll see you all later."

"Bye, April." Leo hung up the phone, then resumed his trek toward the dojo, still intent on his nap.

He stopped as soon as he reached the doorway, somewhat surprised to find Master Splinter inside working on a complicated Kata. He groaned inwardly, knowing that the dojo was now out as a possible napping ground. It wasn't that he wouldn't be able to sleep…Splinter worked in near perfect silence…it was more the fact that if he tried, his Sensei would inevitably ask him what was wrong. If Leo admitted to having a headache, Splinter would immediately insist on making him one of his special remedial teas. Leo liked tea, but the kind Splinter employed to help get rid of headaches always left him feeling like he was going to puke. It never really worked all that well either…not that he would ever admit that to his father.

Leo turned from the dojo and scanned the lair. Okay, so the rooms upstairs were out, the dojo was out, the living room was out, and Donnie's lab was out. That left the kitchen, bathroom, and garage…none of them very appealing. Suddenly the lair seemed far too small.

He never thought he would say it, but suddenly the dark coolness of the sewers held a certain appeal.

Making a sudden decision, he called out across the room, "Hey Mikey, I'm heading up to April's to pick up some groceries." If he couldn't find peace and quiet inside the lair, he would just have to go looking for it outside. Maybe he would hang out at April's for a while. With Casey gone to the dentist, at least her apartment would be quiet.

"Sure thing, bro," Mikey replied, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him. "Need any help? I'm sure Donnie wouldn't mind…" He trailed off, leaning forward intently, his fingers mashing down on the remote in a controlled frenzy.

Leo shook his head. "No, I'm good," he replied quickly. He wouldn't say it aloud, but he wanted to escape his families company for a few hours, at least until he was able to get rid of this headache and find his balance once again.

Mikey made no reply, too caught up in his game.

It was a good three mile walk underground to April's apartment, but Leo didn't mind. The exercise was light enough to not aggravate his headache, and the peace and quiet was welcome.

Barely ten minutes in to the trek and he could already feel the dark mood that had settled over him beginning to lift. He could understand why Raphael often sought the solitude of the tunnels or the rooftops above when feeling particularly stressed. There was something refreshing about the solitude. He loved his brother's dearly, but sometimes he liked to just get out on his own, where he had nothing, and no one, to worry about but himself. Especially on days like today.

He was less than half a mile out from April's apartment when a strange grating sound caught his attention. He slowed his walk, tilting his head to one side to try and pin-point the source of the noise. He wasn't overly concerned. Strange noises in the sewers weren't exactly uncommon. In fact, there was an almost constant undercurrent of sound: the scurry of rats, the trickle of water over stone and pipe, the distant rumble of the subway. Over the years he and his brother had managed to identify most of the noises and their sources, but occasionally something would still surprise them.

He was close enough to the surface that it was possible the noise was coming from a work crew sent down to repair a portion of piping, but he didn't hear any voices.

He paused at an intersection of two tunnels. The larger tunnel he had been following would eventually lead to April's apartment, but he wasn't sure where the smaller, break-off tunnel led. The smaller tunnels were usually just access ways cutting between the larger passageways. They were cramped, smelly, and usually much damper than the main tunnels, and as such weren't as well explored by the turtles.

He was pretty sure the grating noise was coming from somewhere down the smaller tunnel. It was too consistent to be the settling of rock worn down by water. Curious, Leo ducked down the tunnel, moving silently as a shadow, listening intently. After a few minutes he became convinced he was heading in the right direction. The grinding sound was getting louder. The tunnel was also getting damper, the trickle of water a constant background noise. He felt the flow of water around his feet, the smell of wet moss and mold growing stronger the further he went. He came across a large grate in the middle of the tunnel floor, the water flowing down between the rusted iron grills before cascading its way deeper into the bowels of the earth. Moss and other debris carried down by the water had collected over the grate, making its surface slippery and uneven. Leo skirted around it and continued down the passageway.

After another few minutes of walking, he paused, his head cocked to one side. He was fairly certain the noise he was hearing was coming from somewhere directly above him. He was already in the upper levels of tunnels, which meant the sound could very well be coming from the streets above. He closed his eyes and listened for several minutes longer before a small grin crossed his face.

'A jackhammer,' he thought triumphantly. Somewhere on the streets above a jackhammer was pounding away at the concrete, the sound echoing through the earth and down into the tunnels. Now that he was standing still he could actually feel the vibrations through the stones around him.

His discovery had taken him several minutes off course, but he didn't mind. It was always important to investigate strange noises in the tunnels they called home. This time the noise had been nothing…next time it might not be. He wasn't about to get careless and possibly put his family in danger.

Turning, he headed back the way he had come, grimacing at the squish of grime between his toes. At least his headache had receded somewhat. The day might not become a total loss after all. He always enjoyed his visits with April, and she brewed some of the best tea he had ever tasted…

Allowing his thoughts to distract him, Leo wasn't paying as much attention to the tunnel before him as he should have, especially his footing. Before he even realized it, he had stepped out onto the grate he had spotted on his way in, the side of one foot slipping on the thick moss and sliding down between the cold iron bars. He threw his arms out to either side as he fought to catch his balance, his ankle twisting slightly beneath him. He came dangerously close to falling flat on his face, but with a little bit of effort he finally managed to steady himself. He glanced down at his foot, still wedged between the iron bars, a dark frown settling on his face. Of course something like this had to happen, and just when he'd been starting to think his day was actually getting better.

"Just great," he muttered to himself. "Raph would just love to see this! He'd be laughing so hard he'd probably crack his shell."

He began wiggling his foot in an effort to free it, hoping the rusty metal didn't have any sharp ends that could cut into his foot. If it did, he would have to go to Donnie for a tetanus shot, and he really wasn't looking forward to explaining what had happened to his brother. Don might be the least likely to make fun of him, but he'd still be amused by it.

He smiled as his foot slowly began to slide free, then suddenly froze as he felt the grate shift beneath him. "Oh shell," he whispered, his eyes widening in horror. The ground shifted again, and Leo desperately yanked his foot free while simultaneously throwing himself forward in a desperate attempt to get off the grate.

If the metal hadn't been so slick with moss, he might have made it. As it was, he felt his feet slide out from under him at the same moment the grate gave way beneath him, plunging down into the darkness with him on top of it. His fingers briefly grazed against the stone ledge above him, and he tried to grab hold, but the stone was too slick, and he immediately lost his grip.

A shout of alarm was pulled from deep in his throat as he tumbled downward. He had no idea how deep the hole was that he had fallen through, but he didn't have much time to consider it. He hit the ground hard, his left shoulder landing first before the rest of his body slammed down. He had a brief second to compute the fiery agony sweeping through his body before his head met the cold stone floor with an audible crack, and he knew no more.

TBC

Well, there it is, folks. Hope you liked it. Let me know if I should continue…