Chapter Four
Leonardo awoke gasping for air. Doubling over, he clutched at his midsection and fought for breath. A foot connected three times in rapid secession to his already throbbing plastron, and he cried out.
"Leo?!"
Lights flooded the room. Raphael's eyes widened as his hand came away from the lamp, as he took in the sight of his oldest brother curled up in a ball on the floor. His jaw slackened as he watched Leonardo hold his arms to his midsection, tears in his eyes.
"Aw, shell! Leo, I'm sorry!" Raphael exclaimed, reaching for his brother with his good arm.
Leonardo waved off the assistance. He scrunched up his face as he pulled himself to a sitting position. "It's… okay… Raph," he rasped. He panted for another minute before adding, "I should have… known better than… to fall a… asleep beside… a sleeping n… ninja."
"Yeah," Raphael snorted. "Especially this one! What the shell are you doing here anyway?"
Leonardo wheezed for another minute before drawing himself into a cross-legged position. "This is my room, Raph."
The two sat in silence. Leonardo worked on catching his breath. Raphael stared at his feet as his legs dangled over the edge of the bed. A minute passed before the two made eye contact, and then immediately looked away.
"Raph," Leonardo voiced at long last. Looking his brother in the eye, he asked, "Why did you charge into that building when we had talked about waiting for…"
"Aw, shell! Here we go again!" Raphael scowled. "Here comes another famous Fearless lecture!"
Leonardo shook his head. "No, really, I want to know."
"Oh." Raphael sat up straight and widened his eyes. "Well… I figured just sitting around at some government facility wasn't such a hot idea. I figured screw it if we set off some friggin' security system… of course, I didn't know the security system packed a punch."
Heaving a sigh, Leonardo furrowed his eye ridge. "See, why couldn't you have told me that in the first place? How am I supposed to know if you're just getting antsy as usual or if you have legitimate reasoning?"
"Hey, I don't get antsy!" Raphael protested. "I just don't like sitting on my shell waiting for things to happen! That's legitimate!" Glaring at his brother, he added, "I thought this wasn't going to be a lecture!"
Leonardo took in a deep breath and hung his head. "It's not."
Silence reigned again. Raphael stared at his downtrodden brother, watching as Leonardo drew his palms to his face and pushed his hands to his eyes. His scowl melted.
"Look," Raphael's voice cracked. He cleared his throat. "I don't know why you're getting all bent out of shape. We got the crystal back. Bishop can't finish the transmat. End of story."
Leonardo raised his head and stared at his brother. "You were shot!"
"So we were a little sloppy! Big deal! We still got the job done."
Gesturing to his brother's bandaged arm, Leonardo exclaimed, "It is a big deal! Raph! You lost a lot of blood, and if that brachial artery had totally been severed, or if you had been shot in the chest, you'd…"
"But I wasn't!"
"But you could have been! And it would be my fault that you would be dead!"
Tears surged. Leonardo squeezed his eyes shut, but his barricade just wasn't strong enough. The tears prevailed. The turtle drew his hands to his face and dug the heels into his eyes. The brothers again observed silence.
"Whoa!" Raphael voiced a minute later. "Is that what you think? Leo…"
His voice trailed off in time to lay bare a sniffle from his older brother. Raphael cringed.
"Look, Leo," his voice took on a softer tone. "You can't control everything. What I do is not your responsibility. I'm going to do what I'm going to do. Even Master Splinter can't always keep me in line. Why should it be easier on you as my brother than my own father?" Raphael smirked. "What can I say? I'm a pain in the shell."
Leonardo looked up and laughed. "Well, admitting you have a problem is the first step."
Raphael smacked his brother's arm.
Leonardo's smile faded. "I just wish Sensei was here."
"He'll be back," Raphael assured him, "and we're doing okay on our own. Mikey hasn't broken anything… major. Donnie hasn't blown up the lair. You and I haven't killed each other."
Darkness descended over Leonardo's features.
"Oh, dude! Lighten up!" Raphael smacked his brother again. "We're teenagers, and we're home alone! I say we've been too good! The rat's away. The turtles should play! Come on! We should be out there having fun right now!"
Leonardo smiled. "Maybe later… but nothing too crazy." He eyed Raphael. "But you need to rest, little brother."
"Yeah, yeah!" Raphael eased himself back into bed.
Leonardo got to his feet. Drawing his arms over his head, he stretched his still sore plastron. He then tucked in his younger brother.
Pointing to the floor, Raphael asked, "Are you still going to play guard dog?"
"No, I'll go sleep in your hammock."
Raphael nodded before closing his eyes. Leonardo took that as his cue to leave. He was heading for the door when his younger brother called to him.
"Hey, Leo?"
Leonardo turned to him. "Yeah?"
"Don't be beating yourself up. That's my job."
"Raph, go to bed already!" Leonardo smiled. He shut off the lights and left his room.
THE END
