A/N: This story is dedicated to my mom. She's been a single parent since I was born, and a darn good one. This story came into being after begging her to tell me baby stories. And it's kinda dumb. Oh well. I like it. Told from Splinter's POV. Turtles are five.
The sound of wailing reached my ears as I made my way into the living room. I knew exactly who it was. Michelangelo, my youngest, had a way of playing all his own. He liked to share it with his brothers, but, being brothers, they sometimes did not welcome it.
"It's jus' a toy, Mikey!" Raphael was saying. "Ya have lots of 'em."
"But I liked that one." Michelangelo answered. As their play area (also known as the living room) came into view, I could see what was wrong. Michelangelo's favorite toy, a Spiderman action figure, lay broken in half on the ground.
"You didn't hafta break it, Raph." Leonardo was saying. Donatello watched quietly. I sighed. I could sense a fight coming.
"I didn't break it Leo! It was an accident."
"Raph-"
"Enough." I said, coming into full view. The four turtles immediately fell silent, save for sniffing from Michelangelo.
"Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael. Play quietly until I return please." They all nodded. "Michelangelo, come with me."
I took his hand in mine, and led him to my room. I tried to make sure that I spent time with each boy, so as to not have one feel left out. However, today I felt that Michelangelo needed comforting that he could not get from his brothers.
Inside my room, Michelangelo was looking around curiously. "What's that, sensei?" he asked, pointing to a plant in the corner. The plant had once been a tomato plant, but being in the sewers with very little light did a number on it.
"It is a tomato plant." I told my son. No use in trying to explain to him that it was dead. "It makes food."
"Food?" He echoed, fascinated.
"Yes," I said. "Tomatoes."
"Oh…" he seemed to be thinking hard. "Sensei!" he said finally. I looked at him curiously and motioned for him to continue. "We, we can get a whole bunch of tom…tom…tommy toe plants, and then have lotsa food, right?"
I decided to humor him, and nodded, wondering where the excited turtle was going with this.
"Well then, if we have lotsa food, we can have a rest-er-aunt, and then, we'll be rich I tell ya! Rich!"
I ducked my head, trying not to laugh. "That is certainly an idea, Michelangelo." He grinned up at me, pleased with himself.
"Do you think you can play nicely with your brothers again?" I asked. He nodded. "Good. Go on then." He smiled up at me again, then hopped out of the room to join his brothers.
I watched him go, my whiskers twitching in a smile. Restaurant indeed.