A Bond of Friendship

Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adult or adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.

Chapter Four: Family Life

LEONARDO:

Although my days schedule was never set in stone, how could it be when I never knew what might come up in the course of a night's patrol or, well to put it simply I could not say what each day would bring. I still managed to set my hours in such a way that seemed to work for me.

Since I was awake long before the others, I spent a few moments enjoying the peace in the dojo by doing a few light exercises, and katas followed by meditation to relax and prepare me for the days events. By then it would be time to prepare Master Splinter's morning tea, and after making it I would go and spend some time discussing certain things with him, sometimes I sought advice but mostly we just talked about many things, often asking one another deep questions.

Then after that I and my brothers had a two hour work out before breakfast. Once breakfast was done I'd spent a bit of time with Karena and the twins, before I went off to teach Ramiela the first lesson of the morning, at least for me, by then she usually had a few classes with Don. I then headed to a small room, that I used sort of for a den for planning out patrols and the like. I would review the reports from the patrols the night before, make any necessary changes and adjustments based upon activity and other dangers that might make themselves known. Also taking into account any one who might have become side lined due to a recent injury.

This was often a frustrating task, especially if I did have one warrior injured, it meant more work for the rest of us and quite a bit of rearranging so by the time I was done I usually needed some meditation time if only to get my thoughts back into a peaceful frame. This was followed by Splinter's afternoon tea, and Ramiela's afternoon lesson, then my brothers and I would practice again before dinner.

Lunch I usually grabbed on the run, sometimes eating it with Splinter, other times with Karena any where between noon and two.

Karena understood and accepted my being busy and what it took to prepare for battle, but she drew the line and insisted, quite firmly mind you, that from dinner until bed time was HER and the twins time, and I was not fool enough to disagree with her. After all I ought to spend time with my family. So I would do so, at least until it was time to patrol, or to be ready if the others needed aid on their patrol. Karena of course, could be very persuasive in her own way, she often showed me that work wasn't everything and family time was essential and she decided that I could take one weekend off every four months for a family trip to the farm.

Raph teased me that my wife kept me on a very short leash, that gave me the illusion of freedom.

I loved Karena and was more then willing to give in on these small demands, after all she sacrificed enough for me, so I did not regret one bit my decision to be with her, and I could only hope she would never regret her choice to be with me.

I had finished my duties and decided it was now time to be with the family before dinner, so after my shower I headed out to the living room.

Ramiela was sitting on the floor gently scolding Aiden who was trying to smack her "No hittin' cept in dojo Aiden" Ramiela informed him grabbing his wrist gently.

Aiden struggled because it wasn't what he wanted. If Aiden wasn't interested it was almost impossible to convince him otherwise. He whined and said "Rama NO!" He had a very strong stubborn streak my son.

Ramiela released his wrist and he went to strike her again in retaliation for stopping him the first time. "Aiden that is enough" I spoke softly but firmly, "You can go stand in the corner." I warned him.

Aiden turned and looked up at me "Daddy?"

"No hitting Aiden" I reminded him giving him a stern look.

Aiden pouted "Tory Rama" he muttered, as he looked down at his feet.

Ramiela smiled "S'okay Aiden, want to colour with me and Kali?"

"Yes!" Aiden cheered clapping his hands.

I rolled my eyes recalling the mess Aiden, had made last time he had crayons "Just try to insure he colours on the paper Ramiela. The last mess took forever to clean."

"Okay Sensei, I'll watch him. I promise" she vowed as she got up to get the books and crayons from her room.

I watched her leave, at first she had been extremely jealous of the twins, acting out and up, hating the attention the twins got from Karena that she, suddenly missed out on. Ramiela figured that Karena still ought to be able to teach, show and do things with her. " I hates the twins wished they never born" she ranted and raged more then once and had even tried to convince us to return them. It had taken a lot of time, patience, love, and discipline to finally convince Ramiela that the twins were here to stay, she best get used to it, and most importantly she was still loved.

Ramiela slowly came to accept them, and helped Karena with them when she wasn't in lessons or off exploring the sewer. Raph of course during this turbulent time of adjustment had assured her that he could never love my kids the way he loved her. That she was the first and the best and no one could ever take that from her. Then when they were about seven months old Ramiela had fallen in love with them, and they with her. Much as she cared for her younger cousins she would not allow them to get away with breaking any of their rules.

I sat down in a chair and Kaliann toddled over on her chubby legs, clinging to what ever she could find for support as she determinedly moved in my direction. "Up. Up pease" she pleaded raising her arms up.

I smiled tenderly, down at her "Since you remembered your manners I guess I have to" I told her as I bent and scooped her up, tossing her into the air and catching her, then raising her above my head, before pulling her down to cuddle her close in my arms, kissing and tickling her a little and listening to her delighted laughter bubble out.

Kali spied Rama then and squirmed suddenly to go to her cousin "Don,don."

"All right hold on." I grinned grabbing a firm hold on her, I might be ninja but I had learned children could be very slippery, especially when they wiggled a great deal, "I'll put you down." I set her on her feet by my chair and she made her way to the coffee table where Rama sat with the treasures.

I glanced over to see Raph giving the kids a look out of the corner of his eye, while acting disinterested and absorbed in the show he was watching. I heard Karena's soft foot falls behind my chair, sensed her drawing closer. I waited patiently until I could feel her weight pressed against the back of her chair and felt her lean over, I reached up and grabbed her firmly pulling her up and over, then shifting her weight so she ended up on my lap. Before she could voice a protest I locked my lips to hers in a passionate greeting.

Raph snorted, then sneered "You have a room for that you know" he informed us, "And there are kids present."

"You happen to be the biggest one" I returned in a teasing fashion, as Karena and I broke off our kiss.

Before he could retort Mike announced from behind us that dinner was ready.

While the wins were fully capable of feeding themselves Aiden had a tendency to throw his dish on the floor whenever he was done eating, so I had taken sitting beside Aiden, during meals to spoil his fun. Every meal my ninja speed and reflexes were put to the test by Aiden's skill at slipping his dish past me, he grew increasingly frustrated and upset when he was kept from achieving his goal, of making a giant mess for some one else to clean up after him.

I worried that his strong desire to have his way would cause us trouble in the future, if that nature persisted and was not the typical two year old desire to be independent. If it was a personality trait, I knew that I'd have my work cut out for me trying, to help Aiden find some balance.

I kept part of my attention on Aiden, and part of it on the conversation around the table, while enjoying the salad, spaghetti, meat balls and garlic bread Mike had prepared for the night.

After a while Aiden, who was by now more playing with his spaghetti, made his move nudging the bowl carefully to the edge of the table while watching me with an intent look in his eyes. He knew I didn't want him doing this, and if I even guessed what he was up to I would put a stop to the game instantly, so he tried various methods of sneaking past me.

I reached over and took the bowl, removing it from his reach "If you are done Aiden all you have to do is say so" I informed him.

He screamed his displeasure.

"Aiden!" I gave him a stern warning and a hard look. He quickly cut off his yells but scowled at me.

"Hungy, daddy. Hungy!" He pleaded reaching for his bowl.

I smiled and shook my head, did Aiden really believe that I was foolish enough to fall for THAT! I glanced towards Kaliann who was managing to smear spaghetti sauce all over her face, drop noodles everywhere and still, through luck, or sheer tenacity alone, get some into her mouth.

Aiden screamed "Want it!"

I glowered at him "Aiden!" I spoke calmly but kept my tone hard.

He ducked his head "Sowwy want it pease daddy." He replied.

"That is much better, your forgiven son." I replied smiling again and nodding my head, as I handed him the bowl of pasta. He took a few quick bites then prepared to do the whole heave-ho routine again this time by throwing the dish.

I pried the bowl from his death like grip "All right that is it. No more Aiden" I informed him.

Aiden sulked crossing his arms over his plastron. I wasn't supposed to spoil his fun and this was a game he intended to win, if he didn't he'd be grouchy and irritable for the rest of the evening. A small victory of sorts was necessary if Aiden was going stay agreeable, or as agreeable as my son ever seemed to get.

I got up and went to the cupboard retrieving two breadsticks, this was Aiden's victory, he could chomp on it, get it into mush and when he was ready toss it to the floor where it would make little mess. It was a reasonable compromise of sorts, and allowed him a chance to work off the frustration of being denied his victory to that point. I turned back to the table handing the twins the bread, Aiden grabbed his and instantly tossed it to the floor chortling madly then giving me an impish grin as if to say "Got ya dad!"

Ramiela cheered throwing her hands up in the air, "Yeah! Aiden scores and the fans go wild!"

I gave her a sour look "That is enough comments from the peanut gallery."

"What Sensei?" She asked spreading out her arms and giving me the innocent look she had inherited from her father.

"You know what" I replied, "Aiden doesn't need any encouragement to misbehave, he gets enough of that from Raph."

"I'm just tryin' to insure that your kids have somethin' you didn't have Leo?" Raph drawled.

"Which is...?" I inquired though had a feeling I'd regret it.

"A personality" Raph grinned.

"No fair Leo has a personality" Mike cut in.

"Thank you Mike." I nodded.

"If you consider a stick in the mud has personality" he beamed.

Ramiela raised a hand over her mouth but could not quite stifle her giggles. I sighed, I knew I wouldn't have trouble with her later, she respected me far too much for that, but I had no doubt Mike's joking comment would stay in her mind.

Mike looked at Rama and nodded, "You are to disregard that young lady. You have to remember we are brothers and so tend to give each other a bad time and it is allowed." He gave a shrewd glance Raph's way, "And we all know Raph's ability to influence children. He'd do well to have a few hell raising kids of his own."

Raph shook his head, "Not a chance of that happenin'." Raph insisted, "Not ever!" he grinned, "I'll just play uncle to everyone else's brood."

Splinter arched an eye brow "You may regret that decision Raphael, and there is still time for you to change your mind as well."

"Don't count on it Splinter, Donny and I are bachelors." Raph stated.

Don smiled and got up to place his dishes into the dishwasher, something he ha repaired and hooked up for us recently, Mike swore it was a god send and a necessity, especially when he did lots of baking or cooking. "Excuse me, I've got to go out."

"So early my son?" Splinter wondered.

Don turned "There is a part I need to check for topside to finish up a project I'm working on" Don explained.

I had a feeling that he wasn't telling the whole truth, and I knew for a fact Don wasn't spending as much time in his lab or at home as he used to, in fact there had been times I'd gone looking for him and he was nowhere to be found. I didn't bother paging him on his cell phone unless it was urgent, and I knew Don was capable of caring for himself topside, but I wondered what it was he was trying to hide. One day I might have to ask him, but for now I was willing to wait and see if he was willing to give it up on his own.

Karena looked my way, "I think we are going have to give a couple of people a bath Leo" she remarked intruding on my thoughts.

I stared at my daughter's orange stained face, with bits of red sauce splashed here and there and tiny remains of noodles caught in edges of shell. She smiled and clapped her hands " bath, bath" she chirped happily.

"You had to start her didn't you?" I grumbled to my wife.

"Want ath now" Aiden demanded.

"Looks like we don't have much of a choice," I said.

"We didn't have a choice before Leo, not with how messy they are." Karena laughed.

XXXX

After their bath I took Aiden into the dojo for a little rough house play, while many children might get wound up by such activity before bed, it actually seemed to help Aiden burn off energy wearing him down for a good night's sleep.

I crouched on the mat on my knees and let Aiden play at tackling me, or letting him hit or strike out with his hands or legs, and of course I managed to get in some tickling and tossing him around to his delighted squeals and the constant demand of "Gain daddy."

"Your going be a tough guy aren't you Aiden?" I asked as I reached out to block a kick.

Aiden yawned and slumped down onto the mats beside me, I fell back onto my carapace and he scrambled up onto my plastron, a sleepy look was starting to appear on his face. He reached up and rubbed at his eyes fighting sleep.

"I think it's time for bed tough guy" I murmured, as I wrapped my arms around to hug him. I liked this time of night, when Aiden got sort of cuddly. I got up off the mats and I whispered to him, "Tomorrow you can terrorize us all over again."

Karena entered the dojo "I was wondering when he'd be ready. Kaliann is all ready in bed and asleep."

"Kali doesn't need as much time to wind down or wear out as her brother does" I pointed out.

XXXX

I laid awake snuggled close to Karena, she was in a deep sleep after her long day. I had told Karena once that I didn't need as much sleep and it was true. I considered myself to have slept in if I got four hours sleep in a night.Sometimes when I was restless, I'd get up and do an extra patrol, after all it was natural to roam at night when you were raised, trained and breathed ninjitsu. But otherwise I'd snuggle close to her. Tonight was one of the nights I wanted to stay close holding my wife.

I thought I heard a noise from the twin's room and got up to investigate, slipping out of our bed without disturbing Karena. As I suspected Kaliann was awake and moving around the shared bedroom. I noticed that Aiden was still asleep, so I moved to pick up Kaliann and remove her from the bedroom so she wouldn't change that. Kaliann didn't seem to need much sleep, she was often awake at night time, and since I was usually up I would spend the time amusing her until she was ready to go back to bed.

I didn't mind her being a night owl, after all that would be a handy trait for her later on during training. I packed Kali into the living room and set her down to play with some of her toys that we kept in the living room in a box. She cooed with delight and began to play with a toy that aided in hand and eye coordination.

I sat back to watch a smile on my face.

Life was good. I enjoyed the pleasures of being a father, and I found now that Mike and I were getting closer then we'd been since we were children, perhaps because we had a shared bond of being father's.

Did I regret my choice to marry and have children?

Not one bit.

TBC