Chapter 1

"Wake up sleepy head. We arrived."

Leo tried to focus on Sylvia's voice, but he was so tired that he couldn't even say something to the woman that just opened the door of the car leading to where he was seated on the back.

"Leo, come on, wake up. We are in front of the house."

"Mmmmmpf….. I want to sleep… Leave me alone."

She was used to his whining when sleep was mentioned. As she was told, Leonardo used to be an early riser back in the day always up before his brothers. He could handle lack of sleep very well. But after the accident and after his body suffered some great trauma that made him weaker than he was, he took more on human characteristics and he was found often sleeping late into the day and napping when he woke up early. His body learned how to cope with the loss of blood and the burns. So, this was no surprise for Sylvia. She took one of his arms and flung it on her shoulder. She picked him up bridal style and kicked the door of the car with her leg. The door closed with a loud noise.

"You really are enjoying yourself Leonardo." Sylvia said as she entered in the house she owned in New York City. It was covered with dust and smelled like no one entered in a long time, and now she regretted it she left it without a man or a woman taking care of it, while she was gone. She quickly placed Leonardo on the couch carefully leaning him against the frame of the couch as she went to clean the house. She took the vacuum cleaner and tried to make the place where they were going to live as from now on dustless.

And she succeeded. After a half an hour swiping up and down the house with the vacuum cleaner she was satisfied with the result.

She casted a quick look on the couch where Leo slept peacefully and she asked herself the toll this trip took on Leo. He seemed fragile and she was afraid that after building his self-confidence back, he was going to crack under the pressure that they were back in the town where he was born, where he spent his whole life, and also where he lost his family.

She eyed the windows that also required cleaning and she noticed spider webs hanging in the corners of the ceiling and all over the windows. Someone's been busy while the man of the house was away. Okay, okay, the woman of the house. Sylvia was careful enough to bring inside the electric blanket she bought Leo for his birthday last year and she tucked Leo safely on the couch. She opened the windows so a pinch of fresh air would enter in the house.

She took in a deep breath as in less than an hour her house transferred from dusty palace of the spiders to a livable place, fresh, nice and clean. She let her breath out as she thought of all the things that will happen now that they finally arrived to their destination.

It was Leonardo's decision for them to come back to New York, but she felt nostalgia for her home town either. She wanted to come back sometimes, and she hated to admit, but she missed walking from one store to another when your car broke down in the middle of the road, the endless night shifts she pulled just to not feel alone at home, the breathtaking sight form Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty that always looked like she kinda greeted you and wished you a good day or week.

New York City was her home town, the town where she was the happiest and the saddest person just like Leonardo. Here she was complete. And she had to admit to herself, the credit went to Leonardo for his idea extraordinaire.

She still wanted to ask him what was that made him go back to NYC, but she decided to wait for the morning. There would be plenty of time for him and her to talk over some things. She felt tension in the air and she wondered what was what caused it. Was it the chilly New York City air that entered in the living room? Was Leonardo's sudden change of heart? Or was someone out there watching them as they went inside the house and stayed there?

So many questions, but no answers on neither one of them. Sylvia sighed as she closed the windows and decided to cover Leo with second blanket. She eased herself on the sofa, relaxing with just one look over the sleepy turtle that changed her lonely life. She was thankful for that.

The next morning when Leo woke up, he took in the surroundings and he discovered that they had already arrived in NYC. He was baffled to find out that he slept through most of the drive and their arrival. He figured that Sylvia brought him in. He slowly blinked few times to clear his vision and after the wave of dizziness passed he got up and went to the bathroom. He had a nice and warm shower and stayed a little longer under the hot water that helped his aching muscles to relax. After the shower, he went to Sylvia's room thinking she was there, but found it empty.

Oddly, he found the house all cleaned up with a scent of lavender lingering in the air. He was asking himself how Sylvia managed to take care of everything in the little hours they were in NYC, and still get some sleep, when he realized she wasn't home.

The listened to a creaking sound, and a minute later Sylvia entered in the house with two large bags with fruit, vegetables, cereal, milk, bread and other food and something sweet for them to savor later on.

"Good morning Leo."

"Morning." Leo stifled a yawn. "I see that you already made everything usable in this house. And I see you brought some food. Which reminds me that I haven't eaten since yesterday morning when we stopped to rest a little."

The 40 hours driving form Los Angeles to New York City wore them down and they weren't eating and sleeping properly. But it was worth the while. At least Sylvia hoped it was.

"Well help yourself Leonardo as I go and prepare your room before I go to shower. Eat whatever you want. If you want to make something for both of us, then do it. Your choice."

"Okay." Leo said smiling as he took the eggs and bacon and pulled a pan. He put pieces of bread in the toaster and took out a jar full of raspberry jam (his favorite). The minute the bread was ready he took it and spread the jam on it. He ate every bite with pleasure as he let the jam melt in his mouth and his taste buds explode. Sylvia knew just the thing he needed.

He removed the pan with eggs and bacon and he placed full plates on the table.

He enjoyed drinking orange juice so he poured some in two glasses. He smiled inwardly. Mikey would be proud of this. Not did Sylvia just teach Leo how to cook, but she told him the finesses of setting a table and making the atmosphere relaxed. He closed his eyes for a moment as he relived some of the best cooking lessons he had with Mikey when he either burned the dish or set the kitchen on fire. Donnie would laugh first and then throw a fit because he needed to repair the toaster, or change a fuse on the stove.

"Hey what smells so good?" She always tried to lighten up his mood after he used the kitchen. After year or so practicing he still felt like he failed greatly in his skills. But, the fact was he could be Mikey's replacement in the kitchen if he were alive.

"I made breakfast, and fresh orange juice and thank you very much for the jam. You are the best."

"I know, I know." She blushed at the praise. "No need to thank me. I have been driving around New York looking for a jam like that with hours once. Luckily I found it."

"I can imagine. I've been craving a certain food more than once. It reminds me of an article I once read on Don's computer about pregnant women, and Donnie used to kid around I was like a pregnant woman when I asked for something in the middle of the night. But you cannot give orders to what's inside you that wants that particular food at the moment."

Sylvia nodded and ate her breakfast silently. She enjoyed this moment with the blue-banded turtle and for a moment she took in the scars on his face, but how he still looked attractive in a way. She loved him and she wanted him to find a girl one day and be happy, but she knew the chances to that coming true were tiny. Leonardo caught up her staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing, just thinking."

Later on, as Sylvia finished with the cleaning of the house, she joined Leo in the living room where he sat plopped against a pillow, switching between channels on TV. His eye were drooping and she knew that it was his nap time. She smiled contently to know that he was back to himself and coming here didn't affect like she thought it would. She pushed her question in the back of her head as she eased him on the couch and covered him with a blanket. She went to her own room for a nap too.

Sync.

She was woken by the sound of someone yelling and thrashing and she was up in an instant. She found Leonardo having a nightmare and she shushed him as she tried to calm him. After rocking him back and forth and speaking softly over his ear, he finally calmed and opened his eyes. His breathing went back to normal and Sylvia allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.

"So how was it?"

"How was what?" Sylvia asked startled.

"How was it for you to go back to the place where your family lived after they died? I mean they died in a fire that spread through the whole building where their friends had an apartment, but there was something that made you not go in the place where you all lived… I guess." Leonardo said sheepishly and looked aside, not wanting to meet Sylvia's big green eyes that seemed to read his chocolate orbs every time she sneaked a look at them. Leonardo rarely spoke about what happened in his nightmares, but this question caught Sylvia unprepared.

"It was tough at first. My three sisters and I were very close. The fact that I was the eldest and them being a triple, only a year younger than me didn't make much of a difference. But I remember that I had to take the Bar exam the next day and I stayed at home. I kinda felt that their cheery spirit will linger around me if they stayed in my room for a sleepover the night before. On the day that thing happened, they didn't want to go to their friends' place, they said they wanted to stay close to me and give me all the energy they could give to their bigger sister." She smiled bitterly. "But, I urged them to go there, to spend some quality time and I used the studying card… I told them that I could use the quiet place for a change and that I would be perfectly fine by myself. I was the big girl, they were the youngest of the family and I think that you know what I mean by responsibility 24/7 and wishing the house would be quiet for just two minutes."

"Yeah, I pretty much have the idea what it's like to live with three loud and noisy brothers that weren't even trying to listen to me when I wanted to rest a little, or just train in silence. My father, Master Splinter always pleaded with them to be quieter, but you go and handle your teenage sons that are mutants with all those hormones working in their system… You pretty much know the rest."

"That's my point Leo. But I regret that decision. And I would say yes to their pleas to stay home, so I would see them one more time… My heart aches for them every single day."

Leo's eyes filled with tears and he fought them as he tried to keep a neutral face, the one Raphael used to call, the leader's face, and often called him fearless because of it. The face that hid the pain and the hurt deep beyond recognition.

"Why are you asking me this Leonardo?"

"Well I was asking because I want to go back to the lair. I want to see if I can go to my home for almost 23 years before that horrible thing happened. I want to be at peace and revisit the old memories before I forget them… I want to be the old Leonardo, the one that doesn't have scarred face. The one whose brothers didn't die in that fire two years ago. I want to… don't know… um, just peek in for a sec and then go back to the surface with you. Besides, you are the only one I have and the only one that I'm stuck with, so I don't want to live alone in the sewers."

She had an answer to her earlier unspoken question. What Leo wanted all along was to visit his home.

"I couldn't go back to my… our house either, Leonardo. I couldn't face those walls and those rooms, and the objects inside that held the deep imprints and scents of my sisters, but after a while I was able to go back there, and well you are living in that exact same house, so I pretty much can relate to what you want to do. And I'll be joining you."

"Thanks Sylvia. I appreciate that."

"No problem. I won't leave you alone on this one. I know how tough is what you are about to do. And I always wished that someone was beside me when I entered in my house after my sisters died, for the first time. If I could provide support for you then I'm here."

"Shall we?" he asked tentatively."

"We shall."

No one knew what the sewers will bring to Leonardo.