Let It Snow
A/N: I was going to update one of my other stories today, but the current weather gave me some inspiration to write this little one shot. I hope that you all will enjoy it and for those of you who are dealing with the snow like me, I hope you get through it.
Disclaimer: TMNT and all related characters are property of Nickelodeon. I only own the plot of the story.
Summary: The Turtles go out on patrol during the first snowfall of the year and decide to have a little winter fun.
"Hey, guys, it's snowing!" Mikey cried as he pointed at the TV here the weatherman was giving the forecast.
"Great, now we have to go out and freeze our shells off in this weather," Raph grumbled.
"Raph, you know that we still have to patrol the city no matter what it's doing outside," Leo told him. "Besides, it's just a light snowfall. If it was a blizzard, we wouldn't be going out at all."
"Yeah, but we're Turtles, Leo," Raph pointed out. "We still get cold when it's cold out."
"True, but we aren't totally cold-blooded like our ancestors due to our mutated DNA," Don lectured and started to go on a tangent about how they differed from regular turtles until Raph gave him a look that made him stop in his tracks.
"This is gonna be epic!" Mikey cheered. "I'm gonna take my board. I bet it'll rock in this snow."
"Mikey, that's not a good idea," Leo cautioned him. "You know that the rooftops can be slippery."
"Leonardo is right, Michelangelo," Splinter said. "Winter weather is no place for a skateboard."
"Yes, Sensei," Mikey answered. "But we can still have fun, right?"
Leo sighed. "No, Mikey, we're not going out to have fun. We're going out to patrol the city like we always do, so we still have to be alert."
"Aww, you're no fun, Leo," Mikey pouted, sticking his tongue out at his older brother. "Last one to the surface is a rotten egg!" And he sprinted from the Lair with Don and Raph following behind him.
"Just be careful and make sure they do not get in too much trouble," Splinter ordered Leo.
Leo bowed. "Hai, Sensei," he said. Then he hurried after his brothers, hoping that the night wouldn't bring any trouble.
22222
The snow was white and feathery as the Turtles made their way to the surface. Mikey was excited and stuck his tongue out to catch snowflakes.
"Ew, Mikey, that's gross," Raph said, wrinkling his beak.
"No it's not," Mikey protested. "It can be a lot of fun." He found a small pile of snow, scooped up a bit, and hurled it at Leo, who was keeping watch on the roof. It hit his shell dead center.
"Hey!" he yelled. "Mikey, quit it! We're supposed to be ninjas, remember? That means we have to stay—Ack!" His last word was cut off as Raph threw a snowball right in his face.
"Ha, gotcha, Leo!" Raph gloated. "You so didn't see that one coming."
"That's enough, guys," Leo said. "We still need to patrol, so stay focused."
"But this is our first snowfall of the year, Leo," Don protested. "Can't we just take a break from the ninja stuff and have some fun?"
"No, there is no time for breaks right now," Leo replied. "Let's keep going." He made his way to another rooftop, and his brothers followed, though they kept pelting the leader with snowballs on the way. Leo agreed that it was nice to kick back once in a while, but this wasn't the time for that since they had a duty to protect the city. He dodged the snowballs as best he could, and it was as he looked behind him to see his brothers laughing that he didn't see the patch of ice in front of him. He slipped, and before he could regain his balance, he slid right off of the roof to the ground below.
"Leo!" Raph cried, running to his brother's side with Don and Mikey on his tail. He saw that his brother was on the ground, and his right leg was bent at the wrong angle. "Oh, man, this doesn't look good, Leo."
"I'll be fine, Raph," Leo said, trying to be brave though the pain was killing him.
"Well, look who it is," a voice said as Fong and the other Purple Dragons came out of the shadows. "We thought we heard a noise, and we were right. Come here to play, Turtles?"
Despite the pain he was in, Leo managed to use the wall to get off the ground, He glared at the leader of the gang and pulled out a katana. "Stay out of this, Fong, unless you want us to hurt you," he threatened.
Fong laughed. "Looks like you're the one who got hurt," he taunted. "I guess we'll have to work on your other leg to even it out."
"If you want, Leo, you have to get through us first," Raph threatened, twirling his sais.
"That won't be a problem," Fong answered. "Dragons, attack!"
Sid and Tsoi complied and went for Don and Mikey while Fong went for Raph. The Turtles were ready and fended off the gang's attacks while Leo watched. He knew he was in no shape to fight, but there was no way he was going to let those thugs hurt his brothers. Fong threw Raph into a Dumpster, dazing him and then went for Leo. The blue-clad Turtle tried to fend off his attacks on one leg and was doing fairly well until Fong kicked his right leg, sending bolts of pain shooting through him and causing him to fall to the ground. Using this to his advantage, Fong began beating up on the Turtle, and Leo wasn't able to fight him off because of the pain. Seeing his brother in trouble, Raph barreled into Fong, knocking him away from his brother and punching him as hard as he could.
"Guys, we gotta leave," Raph called to his brothers. There was no way he was going to put Leo in danger when he was hurt like this. The other two nodded and managed to gather in front of Raph after fending off Sid and Tsoi. Raph picked Leo up while Don grabbed a smoke bomb and threw it on the ground. When the smoke cleared, the Turtles had vanished.
"Dammit, they escaped!" Fong cursed. "One of these days those freaks are gonna get it!"
22222
The Turtles managed to make their way into the sewers and to the Lair where they took Leo to Don's lab. He was in a lot of pain and could barely even talk because of it. Don gave him a sedative so he would be calm while Don treated him. As soon as Leo was out, the purple-clad Turtle set his leg and bandaged it.
"Is Leo gonna be okay?" Mikey asked worriedly.
"He'll be fine, Mikey," Don reassured him. "His leg will heal in time."
"It's all my fault for teasing him," Mikey said sadly. "If we hadn't thrown snowballs at him, he wouldn't have slipped on the ice and fallen off the roof."
"It's not your fault, Mikey," Raph soothed. "We all had a part in that."
"My sons, it has been a hard day for all of you," Splinter said. "We should let your brother get some rest. Perhaps now you see that having fun is not always the best thing to do when one is focused on another task."
"Hai, Sensei," the Turtles replied.
"Very well, it is time for all of us to go to bed," Splinter told his sons.
"Sensei, I want to stay and keep an eye on Leo," Raph said. "Is that okay?"
Splinter nodded. "You may do so if you wish to, Raphael."
So while the others went off to bed, Raph settled down beside Leo, determined to make sure his brother was okay. He felt awful for how they'd treated him and really felt that it was all their fault for distracting him while he had been running. Raph vowed that they would all make it up to the leader and show him that they could be serious too.
22222
Leo woke up when he felt a slight throbbing in his leg and saw that Raph was right beside him in a chair. Had he been there all night?
Raph turned when he heard Leo stirring and smiled. "How are you feelin', Chief?" he asked.
"My leg hurts a little, but not as much as it did," Leo answered. "Were you here all night?"
Raph nodded. "Yeah, I was," he said. "I wanted to make up what the guys and I did to you. It's our fault that you got hurt like that, and we're gonna make it up to you in any way we can."
"I see," Leo mused. "Have you told Don and Mikey that yet?"
"No, but I'm going to," Raph replied.
"You're going to do what?" Don asked as he came into his lab to check on his brother.
"I'm going to tell you that we're gonna make this up to Leo because of what we did," Raph informed him.
"Aww, do we have to?" Mikey jokingly whined as he came in behind his brother.
Raph slapped him on the head. "Yeah, we do," he answered. "We screwed up and now we have to set it right."
"Okay, but how?" Mikey asked.
"Well, Leo won't be getting around for a while so we'll have to take care of his chores while he recuperates," replied Don. "Then we'll have to patrol and show up for training as well as help Leo catch up on training once he's well enough to do so."
"And I can make all of Leo's favorite dishes," Mikey offered. "We can even hang out in here when we're not training or on patrol and play games with Leo so he won't be lonely."
"I like the sound of that," Leo said. "I should get hurt more often."
"Don't even think about it!" Raph warned. "Once you're on your feet, you're still gonna have a lot of catchin' up to do in training, and it'll be my job to help with that. I'll also help with exercises you may have to do once you're leg has healed up a bit."
"I have a list of exercises he can do," Don offered. "I think that sounds like a good idea, Raph."
"Okay, Genius, and what are you gonna do?" Mikey asked his purple-clad brother.
"I'm going to take care of Leo and help out with the chores just like everyone else," Don replied. "I'll set up a rotation schedule on who will have to do Leo's chores for which day."
And so the work began. The schedule worked out great, and the Turtles were true to their word as they did Leo's chores without complaint. They still trained and told Leo all that they had learned so he wouldn't feel left out and reported everything that happened while on patrol. Mikey made Leo's favorite dishes and served them to him in bed, and they even decided to eat their meals with him so he wouldn't feel lonely. Raph made sure to bring him his Space Heroes comics and other reading materials so he'd have something to do while the others were gone, and they even played board games and card games with him. Splinter also visited him and praised him for doing exactly as Don said.
"I am proud of all of you," Splinter said to all of them one night. "You have really shown that you care for your brother and have taken up his share of things nicely. And, Leonardo, despite your injury, you have not uttered one word of complaint and have done everything as you are supposed to."
"Thanks, Sensei," Leo said, and the others echoed him.
22222
When Leo was fully healed, the Turtles had a party to celebrate and invited April, her father, Mr. Murakami, and Casey to come down and celebrate with them. Murakami brought food from his noodle shop while April supplied the drinks. Casey brought music, and Mikey had made a cake in honor of the occasion. Leo was so happy to be back on his feet with his family, and it touched him that they were having a party in honor of his recovery.
The party was a lot of fun as they all laughed, talked, and even danced together. Don got a little jealous when April slow danced with Casey, but then she held out a hand and did the same with him, which made him extremely happy. She taught the Turtles a dance she'd seen on TV once, and they were able to do it with ease. Even Splinter joined in and busted a move of his own, much to the Turtles' amusement.
Splinter smiled at his sons' astonishment. "Do not look surprised, my sons," he said. "I may be a ninjitsu master, but I can still cut a rug when opportunity presents itself."
After the party was over, Leo sighed in contentment. It had been a great day, but everyone was tired, and it was time for bed. He finished cleaning up with his brothers, despite their protests that he go to bed and let them finish. The Turtles gave their brother a hug just before they retired for the night.
"It's good to have you back, bro," Mikey said, giving Leo a squeeze.
"Yeah, it wasn't the same without you," Don added.
"Welcome back to the team, Chief," Raph said giving his brother a squeeze and a noogie on his head.
"Thanks, guys," Leo said. "I want to say that I'm sorry for being such a spoilsport that day. I guess I just don't know how to have fun."
"Leo, that's not it at all," Raph said. "There's a time for fun and a time for work. We just didn't get that lesson until you got hurt. Now we know when it's time to have fun and when it's time to get serious."
"Yeah, next time, we'll have fun when you say we can," Mikey said.
"Well, it's supposed to snow tomorrow. How about if we have ourselves a snow day and just kick back?" Leo suggested.
"Booyakasha!" Mikey yelled. "I'm so in on that."
"Count me in, too," Don added.
"You got it, bro," Raph said.
"Great," Leo said. "Now, let's get some sleep. Goodnight, guys."
"Goodnight, Leo," they all said as they made their way to their rooms.
22222
The next night, the Turtles had a blast as they wrestled in the snow, had snowball fights, made Turtle snow angels, and even built some replicas of themselves. Leo felt so good to be having fun with his brothers, and he knew that whenever they had fun, it meant everything was going to be okay. Sure, being a ninja was great, but being a teenager was even better when he was with his brothers having fun.
The End
A/N: And so ends another story. I hope you all liked it. The snow has let up here some, but it's still coming down a bit. Feel free to leave a review and have a shelltastic day.