Definitely not my best chapter… oh well :/
It wasn't long after they left Vic's house they arrived at the lair again. As expected Splinter was in the dojo, meditating while April was working in the kitchen, quietly doing her homework. She placed her pencil down and looked up when she heard the guys coming back.
"Hey guys, how'd it go?" She asked and walked out of the kitchen, watching as they all sat down on the couch, books stalled around them. When she had arrived at home, and noticed her turtle friends were gone, Splinter had informer her they had gone to Mikey's old 'home'.
She frowned when she received no response and glanced over to Mikey, he was unusually quiet. Even in the days she met the young turtle she soon figured out that Mikey was always active, and always laughing and jumping around.
Of course he has had his ups and downs, getting sick, his breakdown about his past, but never he had acted like this. And it sounded pretty pathetic to say it, after having known him for only a few days, but he wasn't acting like himself. It was like he wasn't even here, that he wasn't acknowledging him.
"We went to Mikey's old home" Leo confessed after a few silent minutes. April's eyes widened slightly and she walked over to the couch, sitting down on the ground, in front of Mikey. Who was now sitting cross-legged on the ground, his shell leaning against the couch, a pile of books in front of him.
"How'd it go?" April asked and watched Mikey closely. His eyes were fixed on the books in front of him and placing them in order. He was trembling slightly and some small tears were lingering in his eyes. Whatever was in the books was special to him.
"We found Cayden's old diaries" Leo said and gestured to the books in front of Mikey. "And we discovered Cayden's dad is actually Spider Bytez" Leo added unsure. April whipped her head around at that comment and stared wide-eyed towards Leo.
"Wait you mean the mutant that almost burned you guys?!" April exclaimed, her voice raising dangerously. Leo was slightly surprised by her outburst but before he could say anything Mikey opened his mouth.
"He just misses his wife and Cayden, he isn't really bad, Cayden told me how he used to be" Mikey whispered and glanced up slightly. His eyes were filled with grief and with slight fear. Raph sighed and stood up, walking over to Mikey.
"Of course we now, but he still almost killed us" Raph sat and said down next to Mikey on the ground, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "And called us Kung Fu frogs" Raph added with a grin and rubbed Mikey's head playfully. The freckled turtle laughed and gave Raph a quick hug.
Raph grinned and placed his chin on top of Mikey's head, he wasn't the guy to hug a lot, but it was different with Mikey. He loved every moment he was with Mikey, even the bad ones. He loved his other brothers sure, but none of them were really close, like hugging.
They loved each other so much, but they rarely hugged but Mikey hugged almost every day, and the weird thing was, nobody was annoyed by it. And Raph had caught himself so many times thinking about the reason behind it. Why Mikey was hugging so often.
Or course he grew up without them, and he had never had his 3 brothers until a few days ago. But maybe it was just who he was, Mikey was so different than all of them. He was carefree, happy, and enthusiastic, even after all he'd been through.
"Enough with the huggin' kid" Raph grinned and pulled out of the hug, giving Mikey a playful jab in the side. It was so weird how one boy, turtle could change their lives so much. They hadn't fought in these last few days, something they'd do like every day and the atmosphere had improved so much.
"Sorry" Mikey grinned sheepishly and turned back to the book, picking up the first one again. He looked up to Raph hesitantly, like he was waiting for permission to open it so Raph nodded towards him. Carefully Mikey opened the book and Raph immediately wrapped his arms around his little brother again.
The first page was again the picture of him and Cayden. The boy holding Mikey in his arm, while he was still a little baby and smiling towards the camera. Mikey's fingers trailed along the photo. His eyes were closed and his hand was wrapped around Cayden's pinky.
'Second day after I found this little guy' Was still written under it. Mikey stopped for a second and quickly wiped away a tear before turning the page. His breath hitched in his throat as he stared at himself. He was still a baby here and he was lying flat on his shell. His mouth was in a huge smile and he was staring right at the camera with his baby blue eyes.
'He keeps doing this, every time I try to place him down he keeps rolling onto his shell, it's kinda cute though' Was written under it, and only those few words already made Mikey cry. He could feel Raph pressing him closer to his body but he ignored it and just turned the page again. This time there wasn't a picture.
'it has been 4 days since I found the little turtle and he is growing so much! And for some reason he doesn't cry either, it's like he knows he has to be silent for my dad, not like he's home very often, and when he is he is completely drunk.
Finding this little guy was just what I needed. After mom had passed away, daddy just hasn't been the same. I still have to find a decent name for him, but I don't even know if I can do it. He doesn't belong to me, how much I already love him.
I saw the rest of his little family when i saved him, I'm just surprised the weird rat hasn't come to save him. I feel bad for him that I had grabbed him, but I had no choice, those robots were trying to get him so I had to save him. Although I couldn't save the rest, I don't even know how but this little guy has crawled away, towards the dumpster I had been hiding in.
The point is, he isn't mine, he has a real family out there, somewhere so I can't name him yet. First I have to find his family.'
Mikey stopped for a second, he always knew Cayden wanted him to find his real family but he never knew why he had no name. He was always called little one, or something like that. But now he knew, and somehow he smiled reading it, Cayden really cared about him, even if he didn't have to.
"Cayden really loved you" Raph whispered in his ear. Mikey glanced up to his older brother, grinning through the tears.
"He did" Mikey admitted before turning back to the book again, turning to the next page. There wasn't any text but there were more pictures, and all of them were adorable. Different pictures of him playing with toys, sucking a pacifier, him wearing diapers, and on all of them he was smiling, and if he wasn't he was sleeping.
Mikey smiled through his tears as he studied every photo. They were all so adorable. Seeing Cayden play with him, sometimes feeding him, and just caring about him. Mikey smiled and turned the page around.
There weren't any pictures anymore in the first book, but the remaining pages were full with diaries and experiences that Cayden had with Mikey. And it wasn't until Mikey started yawning he realized how long he had been reading in the diary.
Leo was sitting in front of the television, watching an old episode of space heroes, Donnie was nowhere to be seen and so was April. The only one who was still at his side was Raph, who had fallen asleep. His head fallen backwards, his mouth partly open. Mikey sighed and closed the book, placing it aside.
"Raph" He whispered and shook his older brother slightly but he didn't wake up. Mikey tried shaking him again. He was going to be really stiff in his neck once he'd wake up. "Raph wake up" Mikey said, slightly louder this time, which got Leo's attention.
"Finished reading?" Leo asked in a serious tone but grinned when he saw his little brother trying to wake up Raph. He chuckled and stood up, walking over to the two. "He won't wake up like that, trust me, we've tried already." Leo explained and hovered over his red-banded brother.
"The only way is to drop him but I don't think he'd appreciate it" Leo grinned and gave a playful wink towards Mikey. With a soft grunt he managed to get Raph on the couch so he would be sort off comfortable.
"C'mon, you have to sleep too, Sensei has a surprise for you tomorrow" Leo said and offered Mikey a hand. Mikey hastily picked up the remaining books and cradled it close to his plastron, like it was some kind of treasure.
Leo grinned and threw his arm over Mikey's shoulder, leading him towards his room. Sensei did have a surprise for their new little brother, a very special surprise indeed.