Who else was heartbroken by Mikey's sobbing in "Requiem"? Show of hands, please.
This is a fairly short fic. Probably the shortest so far.
"Splin...ter?"
Splinter's ears perked up the moment he heard his name being spoken by...
He turned to see little Leonardo crawling toward him on the carpet. He wasn't even a year old, and he was already talking. The rat felt pride in his heart as he listened to his son repeat the word. The Turtle stopped at his feet and looked up at him with his big blue eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting as he smiled admirably at his father.
Such a brilliant child.
Splinter knelt on the floor and gently picked Leo up, setting him in his lap. "Very good, Leonardo."
The baby Turtle squealed in glee at the praise he had just received.
Donatello was the second to learn to talk. One day, while Splinter was fixing dinner in the kitchen, Donnie caught his attention by tugging at his robe. Once he looked down at his son, the Turtle opened his mouth to speak. "Splin...ter."
Splinter chuckled as he felt his heart soar with joy. "Yes, Donatello. Very good."
Donnie beamed and gave Splinter a wide gap toothed smile.
Raphael was jealous of the attention Donnie and Leo were receiving. So he decided to speak, too. As Splinter sat on the couch in the living room, reading his favorite book, Raph sat on the foor directly in front of him and took a deep breath. But instead of speaking softy like his brothers did before him, he practically screamed his father's name. "Splinter!"
Said rat nearly dropped the book in surprise and a ringing sound filled his ears. He quickly realized that the loud noise came from Raph's mouth. Even though his ears were in pain, he was very happy that his son spoke his first word. He rubbed an ear as he spoke gently to Raph, "Very good, Raphael."
Raph smirked and felt proud of himself.
Michelangelo took the longest. In fact, it wasn't until he reached the age of 23 months that he spoke his first word.
As Splinter gently rocked him to sleep, Mikey looked up into his brown eyes and reached to touch his pink nose with his tiny green hand. His lips curved into a smile and his bright blue eyes sparkled with wonder and joy. That smile of his was contagious, and Splinter soon found himself grinning as well.
"Pa...pa."
At first, Splinter was surprised that Mikey finally spoke, but then he felt a warmth in his heart that he had not felt since the birth of his beloved daughter, Miwa, and his eyes burned with tears.
He gingerly held his youngest son close to his chest and whispered lovingly to him. "Yes, Michelangelo. I am your Papa."
Mikey giggled as he snuggled against Splinter's chest before falling asleep.
Mikey's shoulders shook as he held Splinter's cold, limp hand and continued to weep.
He wanted to beg his father to wake up and open those kind, brown eyes again. To tell him that it was time to go home.
But all that came out of his mouth was a pitiful, heart wrenching sound.
"Papa."