I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope. -Aeschylus

Chapter 10 – The Hope Found in Dreams

Leonardo looked up at the sounds of footsteps descending the stairs and saw April's niece preceding his father, her steps purposeful as she headed over to April; the two women moving to sit in the dining room. The teenager tentatively took a seat next to Raphael, giving the red masked turtle a lopsided smile, giving care to her split lip. April sat in the chair opposite to the girl, next to Casey at the square table. He watched them speaking, the girl handing April a thick stack of papers and speaking in a shy manner, her eyes down and her voice too quiet for him hear. He shook his head with a sigh as a sound caught his ear, a three beat walk, and he looked down to find Master Splinter staring up at him with an inquisitive look on his furry face.

"Sensei," he said, his voice polite as he bowed, fist to palm, with respect to his father in the dim light of the kitchen. His father moved over to the light that hung over the sink watching it flicker, the light but never fully turning off before becoming fully bright again. They stood in the silence of the kitchen, no words, merely the murmur of the humans, a soft chuckle from Mikey and Donnie as they discussed something too quietly to be heard and the hum from the appliances the only sounds between them. Turning back to his eldest son Splinter smiled softly before speaking.

"My son, I was led to believe that Donatello would be fixing April's wiring problems," he stated glancing over at his younger son. Leonardo was confused, he had expected his father to speak with him about his attitude, but here he was going on about Donatello. He furrowed his eyebrow ridges and thought up a hasty answer.

"Uh, he was Master but he didn't get to it before her niece arrived and we've been banned from the building until now," he stated quickly, glancing covertly over at the taller, but younger, redhead. But he had not conceal his look enough as Splinter caught the direction of his son's gaze.

"Ah, I see, so he has been held back because of the girl," he stated looking back, slyly watching his son's eyes, for a moment Leonardo seemed confused by his father's words but quickly recovered.

"No, we just haven't been able to do what we normally would have since she came," was his hurried reply.

"Is that why you were so angered with her tonight?" Master Splinter asked, cocking his head, his whiskers twitching slightly in question

"No, no, I just, I just think we're too trusting, that's all. We accept people too easily into our confidences," he hissed, raising his voice and gaining the room's attention.

"We or yourself, Leonardo?" Splinter asked serenely keeping his voice low and even; the air from Leonardo's chest escaped in a sigh of frustration. He shoved his hands onto the pockets of his pants, looking down as though the pale gray linoleum flooring would reflect the answers he needed.

"Me," he grunted, looking at his father with frustrated eyes, nearly turning away.

"How so my son?" Splinter asked, but the turtle had begun pacing the short length of the kitchen and didn't seem to hear his father. Leonardo began speaking lowly, almost to himself, his words rushed as they ran together.

"I was the first one of the four of us to realize we would be alone, that the outside world would never accept us because of what we are. The idea used to scare me but I knew we'd have each other and that was fine. I gave up on having friends outside of my brothers then April and Casey came along and our family got bigger and I thought maybe, just maybe there were others who could see beyond the mutations, like they had," he said, nodding to the dinning room table where the humans were gathered; watching him pace. Raphael had turned in his seat, unsure of what to do.

"My son, there are plenty of people out there who could accept us, we can not close ourselves off to the possibility of extending our family," Splinter said, placing a hand on his son to still his movements. The young turtle looked down, his pacing stopped as his eyes focused again on his father and teacher. Splinter found such sadness in his son's face that he nearly stepped back from the boy; but his experience as a father caused his grip on Leonardo's arm to constrict in comfort.

"But she betrayed me, I should have known she was the Shredder's daughter," he whispered almost to no one in particular, his light green eyes darkening in defeat.

"Indeed? How could you have known? From what you say she truly did nothing to you but reveal her parentage, Leonardo. And I am of the opinion that most people are not in the habit of choosing their families," Splinter stated sagely, reaching up and again grasping his son's upper arms; forcing him to look down at the aged rat.

"Then why did she lie in the first place," he said, his voice raising again, before Splinter could answer a chair scraped the wooden floor and Raphael was next to his brother, so fast Eileen had barely noticed him move. Raph stopped inches from Leo and placed his hand on the shorter turtle's shoulder.

"What's she supposed to say, Leo? Hi, my name's Karai, I think I might like you, oh and by the way my dad's your mortal enemy?" The amber eyed turtle said, the sarcasm dripping in every word. Though unsure of the exact events that led to this conversation Eileen couldn't help but smirk at the comment. In a sudden clarifying moment she furrowed her brows; Saki had said he had a daughter her age; this Karai must be that girl.

"I don't know but she let it go on for so long," he started to say, his voice starting to take on a whine before Raph cut him off again, raising his hand to stop his brother's excuses.

"Leo, it's done. If you really want answers, talk to the girl. She still waits for you in the park some nights," Raph stated quietly. Eileen watched the interplay, still not really understanding everything but learning a lot about how the boys acted with each other. She felt a sudden feeling of the hostile turtle from earlier was gone and in his place was an awkward teenage boy.

"She does?" Leo asked, his ridges shooting up in surprise, "You've seen her?"

"Yeah, Case and I go by her sometimes, she sits right in the open. Look I'll go with you, 'kay," Raph said uncomfortably, Eileen guessed that the conversation was getting a little to touchy feely for the tallest turtle. The tallest of the four boys self consciously rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, a movement that told Eileen this wasn't the normal routine for the two.

"Since when did you get so smart, Raph?" Leo asked suspiciously, squinting his eyes and looking at Raphael as though he were some other six foot tall turtle.

"Eh," he shrugged, "your personality's bound to rub of a little, ain't it? Now stop actin' like me, there's only room for one jackass in this family and I already took that part. Come over here and talk with the girl, she's kinda nice," Raph said quietly wrapping an arm roughly around Leo's neck, guiding him over towards the dining room.

"She gave you a bruised jaw, Raph," Leo said incredulously.

"So have you, Leo, and I still love ya," Raph said giving his older brother a noogie.

End Chapter 10