The next morning found Leonardo dedicating more time than usual trying to focus in a calm place, even after running through some regular morning katas with Raphael. Over the last few days he'd been drawn into spending additional time alone this way, with no clear signal as to why.

Breathe in...and exhale.

Awareness washed over him, ebbing and flowing like an ocean tide, as he searched for the source of his unrest. He'd spent a lot of energy on his brothers already, trying to gauge their moods and what could be going on underneath the surface of everything. Raphael had been disturbed for months after his own ordeal, and they'd be coming up on the second anniversary of it before they knew it. Yet as much as his red-masked brother had struggled through the lasting effects, the turtle seemed to be now living under a greater sense of peace than he'd ever known before.

His younger brothers had always been the harder ones for him to read, Donatello in particular. Leonardo still had to ask them outright what was going on with them sometimes, because they were so much better at disguising their own issues in different ways from Raphael. None of the one on one time he'd spent with Donatello or Michelangelo had revealed anything telling though, and it had Leonardo wondering if this unrest was all in his own mind.

The turtle tried to still the rising questions, but as he settled back into silence, another familiar sensation hit him. This one was like a warm breeze, carrying the scent of jasmine. His dark eyes came open almost at once, and the thought of striving any further took a momentary hiatus. Leonardo rose to his feet and left the practice room, traveling down the hall to confirm if-

"Good morning." The young blond-haired woman had been sprawled across one of the chairs in the living area, but sat up quickly when she saw the turtle coming.

"Hey, you're early!" He grinned. "I thought you weren't coming until this afternoon."

"Instructor was sick, so my morning class got called." Calley rose with a languid stretch. "I figured you probably wouldn't mind."

"Mind? No, can't say that I do." Leonardo caught his youngest brother's wink from the couch, and felt himself coloring slightly despite how many months it had been.

"I was going to get on your tea, but I didn't know how long you'd be. I didn't want to interrupt you." Calley gave the blue-masked turtle a lingering glance, indicating there was more on her mind than she was openly saying.

"You're not an interruption, and tea can wait," Leonardo suggested, before casting another glance at Michelangelo. "We'll be back in a little bit bro."

"Hey, don't rush on my account or anything," the orange-masked turtle shot back impishly, and received a slightly dark look from Leonardo in return.

Behind the closed door of the practice room, Calley entwined both arms around Leonardo's neck, kissing him deeply. His palm cupped her chin lightly as he kissed her back, reveling in the goose bumps she still had the power to give him. Her fingers remained laced around his neck, as he met her brown-eyed gaze.

"So is this all you wanted to talk about?" Leonardo asked teasingly.

She tossed her short hair a little coyly, forcing back the bangs that had a way on often ending up in her eyes. "It's part of it. But I wanted to ask about you too."

"What about me?"

"You've been a little different Leo, like more subdued. It's subtle, but it's still there. What are you troubled about?"

Leonardo considered his response for a few seconds. "I don't know - I've been trying to figure it out. You know that feeling you get when you're preparing to dive off something, standing right up at the edge? You take this deep breath to prepare yourself, as it's the last one you'll get before you have to hold it. That's what this feels like. It's as if I'm holding my breath for something...and I don't know what."

"Did this just start when Marc and April left?"

He nodded his head. "For that reason alone, I feel like I could be blowing something out of proportion, or just being paranoid. This could be nerves, couldn't it?"

"I've never felt like you were the paranoid type Leonardo."

"That doesn't mean I couldn't be."

"Let me see if I understand you correctly." Calley was unable to contain a small smile. "Are you paranoid that you're being paranoid?"

The blue-masked turtle laughed, and shook his head. "If I didn't think I was crazy before, I do now."

"You're not crazy," she stated with certainty. "Take it from someone who's actually been there."


Raphael was nearly elbow deep in his least favorite chore, washing up the remainder of the morning dishes from breakfast. He could have been done with it a lot sooner, but he had a habit of ignoring it until he was getting on at least one person's last nerve. In this case it was Karina who had lit a fire under the turtle's shell, as she needed the area cleared up so she could get the baking done for the bi-weekly care package that her sister Katherine had come to "rely" upon.

She'd been giving the red-masked turtle gentle ribbing about the dreaded task he was engaged in, and coming over intermittently to check his progress. Karina vigorously stirred the brownie mix she'd started a couple more times, before setting it down to come meet him again. "Are you going to finish these sometime before lunch?"

"I'd be done already if you'd quit talking about it," he grumbled under his breath.

One of her hands rested playfully on his muscular arm, as she peered over his shoulder at the dishes he'd already washed. "I don't know about that Raph. You might need to go back over these, you're missing some spots," she told him, for no other reason than to get a rise out of him.

With a slight smirk that the woman couldn't see, Raphael flipped the sprayer head on the sink and sent a small blast of water in her direction. Her quiet gasp told him that he'd been successful without even looking.

"My bad Kari. Maybe you could give me a little space here," he said with as straight a tone as he could manage.

"Yeah, space. That's what you need," she agreed evenly, returning to her bowl sitting on the counter. "Since you're taking up all the space over there, how about washing something else for me?"

The red-masked turtle shrugged. "I've been at this so long, what's the difference?"

Karina tapped his shell to get him to look back at her, and immediately dragged the spoon she'd been working with across his face.

With a grunt of irritation he swiped dark batter off with one hand. "You had to go there."

"Accident Raph, just like you," she said sweetly.

"Yeah, yeah..." he mumbled, dashing a palmful of water in his face to get the rest of it off.

He was about to straighten up again, when something cold hit the back of his neck. "Hey!"

The red-masked turtle bolted upright, as about half the batter she'd made was now running down his shoulders. His hand instantly scrambled for the sink sprayer, as he flipped the water on full blast with the other. She shrieked somewhat hysterically as he captured her by the wrist, and turned the water on her. Her free hand still retained the bowl in a death grip, as she struggled to get it flipped over a second time. After two failed attempts, she managed to get it over his head with a gleeful laugh.

He only dropped the sprayer to rub chocolate out of his eyes, and shook off his hands partially in the sink. The turtle wanted to be irritated, but something about the sight of his soaked wife only made him roll his eyes. "What was the point of that? Now you have to start all over."

She giggled as she ran a couple of paper towels under the faucet, and attacked the batter on the back of his neck. "It was more fun than dishes, wasn't it?"

The door to the kitchen popped open at that precise moment, and Luke stopped in his tracks when he saw the both of them. "Please tell me that this isn't contagious."

"C'mere and find out Doc," Raphael said mock threateningly, and the man backed closer to the door.

"Nah, don't think so. I'm content to let you guys have all the fun."

Karina caught the red-masked turtle by the shoulder, and directed him to lean over the sink so she could get more of it off. "I'll help you finish everything after this."

"That's the least you can do," he said grumpily.


The sound of Michelangelo's laughter resounded all the way back into the kitchen when Luke came out, and told him and Donatello what they'd actually been doing in there.

"We heard 'em all right Doc, we were just afraid of interrupting something," Donny cracked, only making his orange-masked brother laugh a little harder.

"I don't understand the appeal." Luke shook his head.

"If you'd give it a chance, maybe you would." Michelangelo snickered, as Donatello punched him lightly in the arm.

"Some of us still enjoy it more than others," the purple-masked turtle pointed out,

"Dude, I didn't even do anything. Everyone's always so quick to look at me, but I'm not the one who started all of it years ago," Michelangelo protested.

"I guess you do get a bit of a bum-rap sometimes." Luke settled into a chair across from the two turtles. "I heard from Marc again last night," he added a little off-handedly. "Talking to him is like listening to a kid at Christmas."

That comment elicited a wide beam from both brothers.

"I'm happy for him," Donatello said wistfully. "It's been a dream of his for years, and it's a good one to have."

Luke's own expression was suddenly a bit far away from where they were sitting. When he'd been that way for a few moments, Michelangelo sat up straighter from lounging on the couch.

"What's the matter Doc? Are you nervous about this too?"

"Oh, sure I am...but that's not really where my mind's at right now. Africa was my parents' last frontier too y' know. They were in the process of running trials in a number of countries, searching for answers to better vaccines. They were making trips over there without me at that point, though most of the research had been including me in the States. I was caught up in residency at the time, but getting ready to finish up one of the stages, and follow them over. You know the rest of the story. Their plane went down, and that was it. Everything they'd worked for went down with them."

Luke paused for a few seconds, averting his eyes to the rug. "Part of me wishes that I could have gone with Marc. I can't finish what my parents were doing, but just serving over there seems like it would have been fitting."

The man swallowed emotion, and forced a smile for the two brothers. "I'm happy, I'm fulfilled here. I don't mean to sound like I'm not. But you guys know as well as I do that when somebody leaves a void, it'll always be there, no matter how many incredible people you have in your life."

He hesitated again, with a smile that seemed more genuine. "They would have liked you guys."

"We would have liked them too, I guarantee it," the purple-banded turtle said softly. "They certainly did a great job raising you. I'm sure the apple doesn't fall that far from the family tree."

"But if it did fall, and no one was around to hear it, would it still make a sound?" Michelangelo asked with a toothy grin, and earned a chuckle out of Luke.

"You're a goofball."