I do not own TMNT. I am not a genius! There's no way I could've come up with it!
Epilogue:
"Ok Leo, I've run all the tests," Don said while watching his eldest brother sitting up on one of the cots in his lab.
"And!" Raph yelled, sitting on Leo's left and moving slightly closer, causing Mikey, on the other side, to move closer as well.
"Everything seems to have healed correctly," Don said with a smile, "I'm keeping you on another two weeks of rest though, just to be safe."
Leo sighed but nodded, "So what do I have permission to do?"
"We can go watch a movie!" Mikey yelled, "Just you and me."
Mikey turned on, 'the eyes' and Leo was about to give in and say yes when Raph cut in.
"Oh come Leo," Raph said as he elbowed Leo's arm, "Don said no training, he didn't say anything about not roof-hoping. If we're lucky we'll run into the Foot and we can pulverize one of them for more answers."
"Well-" Leo looked back at Mikey.
"Oh, not those eyes Mikey please," Leo groaned.
Mikey stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. Leo's defenses crumbled, but before he could succumb to his youngest brother's charm, he glanced back at Raph to find him copying the pouting stance. Oh no, he was right between their battle for attention.
"Save me," Leo squeaked to Don.
"Didn't Master Splinter want to talk to you Leo?" Don asked, giving his oldest brother the escape he needed.
"Right!" Leo said with a smile and dashed out of the room.
"Night out at 9:00!" Raph yelled after him.
"No! Movie night with your favorite little brother!" Mikey shouted too.
"Hey, stop stealing Leo!" Raph yelled.
"You're the one hogging him!" Mikey yelled back.
"He's my brother!"
"He's mine too!"
"You brat! I bet you're just trying to sweet talk him out of our training!"
"No I'm not! You're just being so nice to him because of your stupid mistake! You impatient hot-head!"
"What! Why you little jerk! You know what! You're just jealous that Leo would rather spend his time with me!"
"Oh, you're one to talk brick head! You just can't handle the fact that I am his favorite!"
"You are not!"
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
"Are not!
"Am too!"
Don shook his head as he finished putting things away. They would be going for hours on end until one of their voices failed or it would turn into some kind of contest. The purple masked turtle walked into the living room to find Leo sitting on the couch, a hand thrown over his eyes.
"Headache?" Don asked.
"Slightly," Leo mumbled, removing the hand and leaning forward, "How long are they going to keep that up?"
"My estimation: 5 hours at max."
Leo groaned and then sagged.
"Hey Leo?" Don asked, suddenly starting to trace an invisible circle on the ground with his foot.
Leo raised an eye ridge at the strange behavior but answered, "Yes?"
"Um, they're going to busy yelling at one another and I really don't have much else to do except keep an eye on you so could I-"
Don fell into silence and let Leo figure out the rest of the sentence in his head. After a moment of contemplation Leo patted the spot next to him. The younger turtle smiled and sat down next to his older brother.
"Want to watch TV?" Leo asked, picking up the remote.
The purple masked turtle nodded, "There's a documentary on 18 about arthropods."
Mentally Leo rolled his eyes and thought sarcastically, "Fascinating, I so want to watch it."
The blue masked turtle kept his thoughts to himself and turned the TV to channel 18. He put the remote on the table, although he knew the next day he would find it in the couch, and leaned back once again. With that metal band gone it was so much easier to move. He'd never felt greater relief. About five minutes into the documentary Leo felt a pressure on his shoulder. He glanced over to see Don's head resting there while he breathed deeply.
Asleep. Leo concluded. Either this documentary was boring because Don knew everything it explained or he wanted to use it as an excuse. Leo reached for the remote slowly and turned off the television, making sure to move as little as possible so as not to disturb his younger brother. He sharpened his hearing and heard the distant shouts from, Don's lab.
"YOU SELFISH JERK!" Mikey shouted.
"ME! YOU'RE THE JERK! YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!"
"AM NOT!"
"ARE TOO!"
Leo turned his attention back to his tech loving little brother and pulled him closer. Don responded by automatically cuddling into Leo's hold. The eldest smiled and took a moment to reflect on their, latest adventure. After trading stories they found out that the 'Black Wolves' in Central America had a connection to the Foot and with the Foot active once again, there was no doubt that they would have many fights to face in the future. April had finally revealed that the information she had found was on a laptop that one of the scientists aboard the ship had. He was the only one to successfully escape.
April had managed to erase the information before leaving Central America with the information all printed out. As for that folder now, it was being held for some reason by Splinter. He said that he wanted to keep the folder as a reminder of what he had failed to do, not as a teacher, but as a father, what he failed to perceive. Leo had been informed that the long wait of his spine healing was also allowing his chest wound to heal. Karai had driven the sword deep into his plastron but only slightly nicked the skin underneath. Still, his plastron took very long to heal. After Karai had drove the sword into him Leo simply ran off because he had still been in that animalistic state of mind. In other news, Keno and his family had found a new apartment to live in close to April and Casey's. So he contacted the turtles more often. After some research April informed Leo that the hunters had been driven away by the new 'Ghost of the Jungle' so apparently someone had taken up his role in the jungles of Central America.
The door to Don's lab flew open, startling the genius out of his nap.
"NO FAIR!" Raph and Mikey both yelled, scrambling towards the couch.
Don held onto Leo for dear life while the eldest simply smiled as his younger brothers tried to knock each other out of the way to sit at his other side. Mikey ultimately won and left Raph standing. Huffing, the red masked turtle turned to sit in one of the chairs when a hand reached out and touched his arm. His eyes flew back and locked with Leo's gaze. Those dark chocolate eyes held an invitation. Smirking that he'd be able to rub it in Mikey's face Raph stepped closer and sat in Leo's lap, curling as close as possible while sticking out his tongue at Mikey.
"Told ya I was his favorite," Raph mocked.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Mikey shouted dramatically and tackled Raph off of Leo and onto the ground.
"Let's escape now," Leo whispered and shared a secret smile with Don before they both slipped out of the lair leaving the red and orange masked turtles to continue their competition.
It was five minutes later that they were seated up on a random rooftop. After ten minutes of solemn silence, Don turned to Leo.
"Bro, do you really have a favorite?" Don asked and mentally slapped himself, of course Leo wouldn't have a favorite.
"I do actually," Leo said a teasing smile.
"Who?" Don asked uneasily, fearing answer.
"All three of you."
Don frowned and mock glared at his older brother, "I knew you'd say something like that."
Leo laughed and Don smiled before his smile turned into a frown once again. He glanced down and fidgeted with his hands. Yes, Leo appeared to be perfectly back to normal once again. His spine had successfully healed, his plastron still had a thin crack in it but it would heal in the next few weeks. The genius turtle was trying to find the right words to explain what else he had learned after an examination but he wasn't sure how to say it or if he really could say it to his eldest brother.
"LEO!" Mikey's exuberant voice shouted a few rooftops behind them.
"Didn't we just escape them?" Don sighed, pushing his previous thoughts away for now.
Leo groaned, stood up and walked away from the edge before being knocked over by Mikey.
"I love you big brother!" Mikey shouted next to his ear.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" another voice shouted and Mikey jumped to his feet to run from Raph.
"I'm still your best friend right Leo!" Raph asked frantically.
"Yes," Leo said with a tired smile as Raph cheered and Mikey grew angry.
"Want to sneak back to the lair?" Don asked Leo as their brothers began fighting again.
Leo nodded and they both set out for home. Halfway through the trip Don stopped suddenly.
"Don, what is it? What's wrong?" Leo asked, his protective side glowing brighter than a neon sign.
"You don't remember right? They had you too drugged?"
"Yes," Leo said coming to a conclusion, "You were looking in that folder again."
Don nodded ashamedly but it wasn't merely the thought of those pictures and notes the scientists had kept but what Don had discovered in one of the reports. He at first didn't believe it and ran a few tests. It all too well proved a single truth. All those drugs did have a negative affect on Leo but the younger turtle was hesitant to reveal the problem.
Unable to read Don's thoughts Leo sighed sadly and stepped forward to pull his little brother into a hug, "It's ok Don. It may have happened but I'm here. We're all here."
"Well, you won't be here for much longer…"
So, was it good?
Make sure to leave a review. You guys rock! An author gets no where without their readers backing them up, like a team. So anyways, reviewers are awesome and like totally make the world go round!
I just sounded like Renet.
*Shiver.*
Happy now Raph?
"I guess," he said with a huff.
There is no pleasing the guy, honestly. Everyone's alive and ok, what more does he want? So, I want to hear people's thoughts. Reviews and messages will be loved for all time! Oh, and if I overlooked anything please yell at me.
~Moonsetta
