When they broke apart again, Donnie spoke up: "So how do we know if we passed the test or not?"
"I will tell you, Donatello", Splinter's voice came said from behind them.
The young turtles jumped to their feet and turned around to see their father standing in the doorway with a smile on his face.
"Seriously?!", Raph yelled "You really want to startle us to death, don't you!"
Splinter chuckled, but then walked up to his sons.
"I heard what has been said in here the past few minutes", he said while looking at Leo "And I only have go one thing to say about that…"
"I know, Sensei", Leo interrupted him "I have acted like a moron. I've been nothing but a little kid that refused to admit he was wrong. And I'm sorry. But we fixed all of our little fights. Thanks to Donnie here". He put his arm over Donnie's shoulder, who started to blush slightly. "It was nothing, really", Donnie murmured.
"Quite the contrary, Donatello", Splinter said "You were able to fix the problems that have been going on for years now. Neither one of you has ever been able to do that. Until I made you do it. So you could have been just as good a leader as Leonardo."
"He would have done a lot better than me, sensei", Leo added "I just know so"
Now Donnie's face had turned completely red.
Raph and Mikey smiled in the background, wondering what the results of this little conversation may be.
"So… what will the test be?", Donnie asked. "You already did it", their father said "I wanted to see what would happen if you all were stressed and then put together in one room. And I have to admit, I had never expected this result."
"So what did you expect to happen?", Raph asked "That me and Leo would start fighting, Mikey would cry and Donnie would have a nervous breakdown?"
"Maybe a little", Splinter admitted "But you proved me wrong. You have proved to me that you are able to function as a team again, helping each other through difficult times and sticking together no matter what happens. I am proud of you, my sons"
All four turtles looked at each other and smiled, proud of their achievement.
Mikey put his hand on Raph's shoulder: "So, what does this mean? Who's gonna be our leader? Leo or Donnie?"
Splinter grinned: "You have achieved your goal within the time I gave you. So, technically Leonardo is the leader again. But…" "But what?", Raph asked.
"But", Splinter continued "I will leave the choice to the four of you. After all, it's your life. You may choose for yourself. Just know that this choice will be permanent"
After this, he walked out of the dojo.
And now I hope they will make the right decision, he thought as he walked to his room.
"So…", Leo said as he stood in front of his brothers "Now what? He said we can choose, so… what do you guys want? I already said that I want Donnie to stay in charge"
Donnie stood next to Leo: "It's really up to the two of you. Raph and Mikey, the future of this team depends on you guys"
Raph took a deep breath: "Leo, we both know that we will fight the entire time if you're our leader again. And we won't have a moment of peace and we will probably scare Mikey and Donnie most of the time"
Mikey nodded: "True. And Leo will get stressed again and he will make mistakes and situations like this will happen again. And Donnie will have to get angry again and…"
"We get it", Donnie interrupted "But that's still no complete answer. My idea is that we write the name of whoever we want as our leader on a piece of paper and make it an anonymous vote. Deal?"
Everybody nodded. Donnie went to find some pieces of paper and some pens from his lab and handed them to his brothers.
When everybody had put the name in a box, Donnie started counting.
"The result all of us expected…", Donnie said "And the winner, and leader for the rest of our lives is…"
Author's note: I know, both short AND cliffhanger. Please forgive me? :)
One more chapter coming up! As you know, I'm always open to suggestions! Send me a PM if you have an idea about either TMNT, Sherlock or even something else if you want to! :D