A sneeze warned everyone in the lair that Leo was approaching. Mikey and Raph jumped up and ran towards the entrance, while Donnie just poked his head out of his lab.
When Leo walked inside, he was dripping wet and slightly shivering.
"Leo! Where have you been? Mikey's been driving me mad with his constant fretting!", Raph exclaimed, hiding his own worry.
"I was just going for a little walk and got surprised by the storm.", Leo answered.
"You mean the storm that was already going on when you left?", Mikey asked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm.
But before Leo could answer, master Splinter walked out of the dojo: "Leonardo, go warm yourself. Michelangelo, go with him. When you are done, I am expecting you in the dojo."
Leo nodded and left for his room, followed closely by Mikey while Splinter returned to the dojo..
As soon as they were out of sight, Raph went over to Donnie's lab.
"Okay, I know you're not gonna say anything but I'm gonna try it anyway. What happened out there between the two of you?"
Donnie looked up from his computer at Raph's question and shrugged: "Nothing."
"You always do this!", Raph replied, pinching the bridge of his nose "Leo runs off, you chase him, return before he does and say nothing happened when it's obvious something DID happen."
"It's not important", Donnie said again, turning back to his computer.
Raph sighed and walked back towards the living room: "Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that…"
Once Raph had closed the lab door, Donnie sighed and turned away from his computer.
He wasn't really doing anything anyway.
"Nothing happened", Donnie said to himself "Leo didn't mean a word he said. No harm done. Tomorrow, he'll be fine and everything will be back to normal."
Deep inside, he knew Leo had spoken out of anger about the situation. But that didn't make it any easier to hear those things.
Donnie closed his eyes, still hearing Leo's words in his head.
isn't it the genius' job to think about the possibility of an ambush?
Wasn't it a little too obvious? A little too easy?
Go home and leave me alone.
Those last words had been spoken which such venom that they had physically hurt Donnie.
More so than the scrapes he had gotten when Leo had dropped him on that roof.
"Get over it, Don!", Donnie told himself "Just put that gentle face on, get out there and make sure he doesn't catch pneumonia."
He took a deep breath and walked into the living room.
He opened his mouth to ask where Leo was, but before he could speak he saw Leo enter the dojo and Mikey jumping onto the couch next to Raph, who didn't even look up from his comic.
"Hey Donnie!", Mikey said with a big smile "Come and join me?"
"Sure", Donnie answered, not completely buying Mikey's smile "How's Leo?"
"Sneezy", Mikey answered casually "And sad for some reason he doesn't want to say."
"Well, that's what you get from being out in the rain for that long", Donnie answered, deliberately ignoring the last part of Mikey's sentence.
"Are you okay?", Mikey suddenly asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?", Donnie asked confused.
"Well, you were out in the rain as well", Mikey explained "Won't you get sick as well?"
"I'm fine, Mikey", Donnie said "I wasn't out there for as long as Leo and I took a warm shower as soon as I got back."
At that moment, Leo walked out of the dojo and sat down next to Raph.
"And how did it go, Fearless?", Raph asked still without looking up.
"Extra training in the morning and in the evening for a month and I just had a huge lecture about leaving without permission", Leo answered while looking at the floor.
"Could be worse", Raph said, finally looking up "I would have bet you had to clean the entire lair for a month".
"Ssh!", Leo sushed "Don't give him ideas!"
At that, Leo, Raph and Mikey started laughing while Donnie gave a tiny smile.
When the laughter died down, Donnie stood up: "I'm gonna do some work in my lab."
He turned around and closed the door behind him.
The rest of the turtles watched him leave, but remained silent.
Then, Leo stood up as well and followed Donnie without saying a word.
Mikey and Raph watched them leave with a knowing look.
When Leo entered the lab, he wasn't surprised to find Donnie just sitting at his desk with his head resting on top of his arms.
"Are you gonna enter or are you just gonna stand in the doorway?", Donie asked after a while.
Leo still didn't say anything, but closed the door behind him and stood in front of Donnie's desk.
"Donnie?", Leo asked "I know I hurt you, but will you please look at me?"
Donnie lifted his head and looked into Leo's eyes, desperately trying to keep them void of any emotion. But the change on Leo's face was all he needed to know he was failing miserably.
"I don't even know where to start apologizing ", Leo said "I know I made a lot of mistakes. I blamed it all on you when I shouldn't have. I was angry at everything, but mostly myself. I shouldn't have let my anger control me. I'm sorry".
Donnie looked at Leo for a moment, before smiling: "It's okay, Leo. I know you didn't really mean it."
Leo's eyes grew big: "So… we're cool?"
Donnie nodded, still smiling: "Yeah, sure. Come on, bring it in!"
Donnie stood and walked around his desk, inviting Leo for a hug to which Leo happily complied.
"I'm so relieved we're okay", Leo said as he pulled back "So… I'll see you in a bit?"
"Sure, I just want to fix some of the damage on the Shellraiser", Donnie replied "I'll be there in half an hour max".
"Cool", Leo said, leaving the lab and reclaiming his former seat next to Raph.
"And? Is the braniac still moping?", Raph asked, finally putting his comic down.
"No, we're cool", Leo said with a smile "He's gonna fix some stuff on the Shellraiser and then he'll join us."
"Awesome!", Mikey exclaimed "You know what that means… Movie night!"
"Ah, why not", Raph agreed "We could use some relaxation time!"
While Mikey and Raph discussed the movie, Leo settled down and simply enjoyed being around his family.
Back in his lab, Donnie sat back down at his desk and looked at the door through Leo had just left. Now Leo was gone and Donnie was sure he wouldn't be bothered for about thirty minutes, he let go off all restraints and just let the tears flow. He didn't make a sound, not entirely trusting his lab to be 100% sound-proof.
No matter how broken he might have felt at that moment, by tomorrow he'll pretend nothing ever happened. Like always.
He'll do anything to hide what happened that night from everyone. Like always.
When he returned to join his family, his tears will be replaced with a brilliant smile. Like always.
No one will know how much the events of that night had affected him. Especially not Leo.
But Donnie himself will know.
He had forgiven Leo the moment he had dropped him.
But no matter how much he wants to, he was never good at forgetting.
Author's note: Hi! I know, not quite the 'happy-ending' you probably were expecting.
To be fair, this chapter took a twist without me noticing it until I reread it. It also turned out to be a lot longer than I had anticipated ;).
Anyway, this was based off a request from efarraiz. I kind of altered it, but the baseline and, most importantly, the idea of a sequel were from efarraiz!
Thank you for reading my (incredibly late) update! I've been busy and a lot has happened, but hopefully I'll be able to update sooner now :).