Author's Note: Thank you to all who have viewed, reviewed, followed and "favourited" this story so far. I honestly didn't expect such positive feedback, so thank you! So because you guys are awesome (and I'm feeling generous today) here's chapter 2. I will not update daily, just as heads up. More likely it will be weekly. Nevertheless enjoy!

Chapter 2

Mikey buried his head under his pillow when he heard incessant wailing. Ugh, he thought as he tugged the blankets higher, someone shut that baby up. Then his eyes went wide with remembrance. No one had any babies down here in the sewer…except them. They had a baby now. Leo was a baby. And he was crying.

Mikey jumped out of bed, irritating Klunk (who meowed his displeasure at the sudden draft in the blankets), tripped over a stack of comic books, got back up, and ran out the door and into the kitchen where Splinter was trying to feed his (eldest?) brother. The toddler refused his attempts, kicking and screaming.

"What's wrong?" he demanded, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Mikey!" Leo stopped yelling and smiled at him.

Splinter sat down with a huff, his ears drooping. "I am too old for this."

Mikey was pretty sure Sensei hadn't meant to say it out loud and he strode forward. "Here, Sensei. Let me try."

Splinter gave him the spoon and bowl of mashed up algae and worms, and he turned for the toddler. "Here, we go, Leo. Open wide."

But Leo wasn't interested in being fed by someone. He reached for the bowl with a shrill demand of "Me!"

"You want to do it?" the orange-banded turtle asked skeptically.

"Yes!"

"And how do we ask, Leo?" Mikey's tone was firm but kind. "We say 'please', right?"

"Me, please," said Leo obediently, and Mikey gave him the bowl and spoon. Leo calmed immediately and spooned his food into his mouth with surprising aptitude, not spilling a bit.

"I forgot how independent he was at that age," Splinter commented, his forehead resting in one hand, his elbow on the table.

Mikey had never seen Master Splinter look so tired, and he took his shoulder after a moment's hesitation. "You don't have to do it alone, Sensei," he said quietly. "We'll help."

"Thank you, Michelangelo. That is a comfort." Splinter covered his hand with his own for a second, and then got up. "Would you like pancakes for breakfast?"

Mikey grinned and leaped forward to help, grabbing the griddle from under the cupboard, plates, cups and cutlery.

"All done!" Leo announced as Mikey mixed the batter.

"Be right there, Leo. Can you wait?"

"Wait?" Leo echoed.

"Yes, Leo. Wait, please."

"Okay!"

"It wasn't a dream, then." Donnie walked in and spotted Leo in his high chair.

"Donnie! All done!" Leo said by way of greeting his brother.

"Do you want out?" asked Don as he moved to unbuckle the toddler from the chair.

"If you set him loose, you must watch him," Splinter put in from his position at the griddle. "And I want your lab door closed and locked. Your brother can open doors."

"We need to baby-proof this place," Donnie muttered as he set Leo on the floor. "The last thing we need is him getting into…everything."

"Maybe we can ask April for baby locks for doorknobs?" Mikey offered, and then he froze. "Aw, shell! April! April doesn't know! Neither does Casey! What are we going to tell them?" He looked up at Splinter desperately.

Sensei was silent for a while as he took the batter from him and poured it onto the griddle. The spat of oil was loud in the quiet kitchen. "Invite them for dinner tonight, and we will show them." He paused suddenly, his ears twitching, and he spun around to view the room. "Where is Leonardo?"

The two brothers blinked and looked and saw what their sensei did: no Leo.

"Shell, the kid can move!" Donnie hissed as he ran from the kitchen. "Leo? Where are you, little man?"

"Go help Donatello," Splinter ordered Mikey, and the turtle obeyed.

"Leo? Come on out, Leo! Where are you?" He checked the bedrooms and tiptoed past Raph's on his way to the dojo. "Leo…? LEO!"

His brother had somehow reached into the weapons rack and now had a kanabo-tetsubo in his hands. The iron-knotted club hit the floor with a bang, dropped in surprise, and narrowly missed the tiny turtle's toes. The loud sound startled Leo further and he ran to Mikey and clutched his leg. "Noise! Noise!" he whined.

Mikey picked him up as both Don and Splinter rushed to his side. "It's okay," he told all three. "He had the tetsubo and dropped it. The noise scared him."

"Leonardo," Splinter said firmly, and the toddler looked at him. "You do not touch anything in this room, all right? They are dangerous. You must not touch them. Do you understand?"

"No touch," Leo said with a nod and teary navy eyes. "Okay, Daddy." He reached out for the rat and Mikey let Sensei take him.

As Splinter comforted the toddler with quiet words and hugs, Mikey left for the kitchen to save the pancakes, and Don followed him.

"This is going to take some getting used to," Don mumbled.

"Yeah. Who knew Leo could get into so much trouble so early in the morning?" Mikey tried to be chip and cheerful, but at the back of his mind, his thoughts were troubled. What would happen to Leo? What would happen to the team? What would happen to the family? But he couldn't let those thoughts dominate him. He had to stay happy for the family's sake. He had to keep them all together and see this through. He'd done it before. This time would be no different.

He set a couple pancakes on a plate and set it on the table in front of his brother. Donnie stared at his meal without seeing it, and Mikey sighed. "Chin up, Don," he urged. "It could be worse."

"Worse? How can it be worse than this? We've lost our brother, our leader, Splinter's perfect son. How can it be worse?"

Mikey spoke with a complete deadpan expression. "It could have been Raph?"

Don blinked once, twice, and then he laughed. He bent double, clutching his stomach, as he full-out guffawed. Mikey stood there, flabbergasted, because he hadn't thought it would be that funny. He watched in growing anxiety as his brother folded his arms on the tabletop and rested his head there as his laughter turned to wheezing. "Raph," he said breathlessly. "It could have been Raph. Lands, Mikey, never change. Never, ever change."

Mikey sat next to his brother and hugged him around the shoulder as Don's wheezing trailed off into quiet sobs. It hadn't been that funny, after all. Don had mentioned hysterics before, though he'd never seen his second eldest brother display them. "It'll be okay, Donnie," he soothed, rubbing his shell. "We'll fix this or wait it out or whatever, but it'll be okay. You'll see."

Don nodded and sat up, wiping his cheeks. "Thanks, Mike. Really."

"No problem. So, are you gonna eat or what?"

He nodded again, pulled the plate to him, poured syrup over everything and began to eat. "Thanks, Mikey," he said again.