Over the next few days, Splinter continued the acupuncture on Leo's hand, and it seemed to be helping, along with lifting weights. It was helping Leo to get it in shape again to hold his katana like before.

Now that Leo was recovered enough physically, the turtles were ready to return to the city. They would get ready to go home in a few days. They missed the noise and the lair and their stuff at home. But once they got home, they would want to try to come up with a plan to take down the Shredder. They weren't going to let him get away with hurting their leader!

Leonardo was more than ready for revenge on the Shredder and the Foot. He felt he was strong enough now to take him on. But his father assured him that he wouldn't be doing it alone. Shredder just couldn't be taken on alone, at least the turtles couldn't do it by themselves. He was their most deadly adversary.

Leo's nightmares still hadn't improved much on their own, but he felt the sooner they put the smack down on Shredder, the sooner he would feel like himself again.

"I understand your need for revenge," Splinter told him one day while they were meditating. "However, do not let it consume you to the point that you are blind to everything else. When you do face him, do not jeopardize your family to get at him. They will support you in the fight, but do not risk everything to get him."

"I understand, Father," Leo bowed. "I will not let my desire for vengeance cloud my judgment."

A soft smile spread across Splinter's lips, "I chose you to be leader for a reason, Leonardo. You, among your brothers, have shown that you are best at overcoming adversity. You can see a problem and work your way through it. You know the strengths and weaknesses of everyone on your team and how best to use them. A tactician at his finest. I am proud of you, my son. You have come through this admirably."

"Thank you, Father," Leo choked out past the building emotion. "You and my brothers have been a huge help."

"We are all here for you," Splinter soothed.

Leo nodded, "I know. I don't think I would have been able to survive this if I didn't have your support."

His brothers spent a good deal of time with him when he would let them. He had taken their words to heart this time. And for that, he had also asked them if they would accept him again as their leader.

"You will always be our leader, Leo." Mikey said. "You inspire us to go on."

"No one else could do the job like you can." Don said.

"What the Shredder and the Foot did to you didn't take away who you are. Or your honor. We will get them back for it, and we are behind you all the way, bro." Raph said, slamming his fist into his hand.

Leo smiled. He was ready to take the role back again, but he still needed to be a little stronger first.

Raphael definitely was helping him get stronger in training again. And he was sticking to a workout time that Donatello had worked out for him. Mikey even tried to help him to try to be faster in making moves, though he couldn't always pull a move like his youngest brother could, but he did try.

Right now, when he did do some katas alone, he was more intense than ever at it. He still saw the Foot menaces that had tortured him, and he wanted to make them suffer.

Don would at least once a week check the covering on Leo's plastron to see if it still held in place and it still stayed on really good. Leo wished it would come off already. He had gotten used to it long ago, but still didn't like the feeling of it. He felt that it hindered his ability to move his middle in training, especially if he had to twist his middle.

One day while Leo's cover was being looked at again, Don had to confess to Leo about something.

"Leo, I know you don't like talking about what happened to you and I know that you are still haunted by what happened. But you have to know, what we saw, it scared all of us too. We all wanted to get in that room and pound those ninjas into paste, but we just couldn't because of the restraints. We all felt so useless in that moment. It just made us know even more how much of a monster that those Foot goons are. But don't think for a minute that you made them do it. They did it because they have sick minds." Don explained his thinking on the matter.

"I realize that now, Donny. But after that, it just felt like they had taken everything from me. At the time, I was in so much pain and so humiliated that I just wanted to die. But I would have known I could have done all I could to protect you guys, and especially Mikey." Leo said.

"You know the Foot's word can't be trusted, Leo. If you had died, we would have felt guilty that we couldn't save you. And before long, they would have started to torture us anyway. And I also especially worry about what they would have done to me too. But even I would take your place if it meant keeping you safe."

"I know, Don, but this family would be lost without you around to help be the emergency doctor and your technology knowledge. We just don't understand the things that you do to be able to fix projects and make all the security for our lair. But we could always help you with some projects if you'll let us. But the Foot would have really tried to destroy your mind more than any of us as that they know you are the smartest one of us all."

"I guess we all see someone else as more important to the team than we see ourselves," Don chuckled lightly. "You are our leader, Leo. We all look up to you, even Raph, though he won't admit it."

Leo laughed, "Thanks, Don."

That night Leo had a hard time sleeping. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the Foot ninja looming over him, his body remembering the pain they caused him.

Despite his attempts to be quiet, he must have been making some noise. Either that, or Mikey was just intuitive. The youngest turtle approached Leo's bed and without a word, crawled in. He wrapped his arms around Leo and held him in a brotherly embrace.

It helped. With his brother beside him, Leo was able to relax and fall asleep.

…

The next morning, Leo felt more at peace since Mikey had been there for him last night. He thanked him later that morning for helping him sleep. Mikey was more than happy to oblige.

Throughout his recovery, Leo still had gotten up early in the mornings even when he hadn't been able to train. He had just done morning meditations by himself. But in those times, his soul had been miserable after what had happened to him. Now his soul felt more at peace thanks to his family helping him get through those hard times.

At breakfast, it was pretty quiet. They were all thinking about going home. Tomorrow was the day they were heading back to the city.

Mikey had made pancakes, toast, sausage, and bacon. Despite how quiet it was, the family was enjoying their food.

Mikey was getting tired of the quiet. "Hey guys, I just had an idea."

His father and brothers all looked over at him. "Pray tell, what could that be?" Raph said.

"Since this is our last day up here, how about we do something fun?"

"Like what?" Leo asked.

"How about we go swimming up at that lake near here? We haven't been swimming for fun in a long time." Mikey said.

"I think Michelangelo is right. Since Leonardo couldn't go swimming while recovering, and before we go home, you boys should go have some fun." Splinter agreed.

The agreement from Splinter with Mikey's idea for once did bring smiles to the turtles' faces. They did like to swim when the occasion arose for it.

After breakfast was over, after a short time for letting their food settle, there was training, then the turtles set about getting ready to go to the lake for the day.

Splinter knew he could use some time alone. But while he was waiting for his sons to leave, he did his meditation session with Leo one more time.

"I hope you just let go of troubled thoughts today and just relax with your brothers, Leonardo. We have time when we get home to start planning our revenge against the Shredder." Splinter advised.

"I know. This will be good for us and me." Leo agreed.

While Leo and Splinter were in meditation, Mikey had made some lunch for the trip. He also checked the weather report. It was supposed to be a nice sunny day.

Soon, the four brothers went and got in the Battle Shell and with the food supplies, they took off for the lake for hopefully, a fun afternoon in the sun and water.

…

Once they got there, they got their supplies out of the truck, a blanket to sit on for their lunch later on, some towels to use to dry off, and the basket with the food in it. There was also a cooler for their drinks to be kept cold while they were swimming.

When they were done setting up their makeshift camp, they all took their gear off and went running for the lake. Mikey was teasing Raph to get him to chase him. Raph gave chase alright, and Leo and Don were also laughing just watching.

Once in the water, all the turtles took turns splashing each other, going under the water, back floating, and just having plain good old fun.

After a few hours of swimming, they all went ashore to have lunch. They all had worked up their appetites.

Mikey unpacked the food while Don unpacked the drinks. It was water and sodas. Leo didn't always drink soda, but he wasn't above it on some special occasions. All the others wanted soda too.

Mikey had packed ham and turkey sandwiches, some chips, some brownies he had made for dessert, and some pizza.

They all enjoyed the lunch Mikey had made, then they did some basking in the sun for awhile, and went back to swimming before it started to get dark out. Then they all packed up and headed back to the farmhouse.

For many hours, the brothers had just relaxed and didn't talk about what happened to Leo. Leo had wanted it that way, but it was still on his mind about planning out on how to strike at the Shredder. But it had still been a great day overall just having a good time having fun with his brothers.

Master Splinter had cooked up some spaghetti and rolls for supper when they got home. That was a good supper too.

Good they enjoyed today, because tomorrow it was going to be all serious business again.

Worked on with Applepye.