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Chapter 25: Week 1

Leo sighed, twiddling his thumbs. He didn't like leaving the eggs, but he had to train. Master Splinter glanced at him, admonishing him for fidgeting. Usually, Leo was the most quiet and calm during meditation, but it was clear his mind was elsewhere.

The rat admitted defeat; his son wasn't going to be able to meditate if he was constantly looking over his shoulder at the nursery across the lair. "Leonardo, you may begin the stretching." Splinter hoped working out some of the leader's nervous energy would help with his restlessness.

The rat was sympathetic to Leo's instincts – he himself was still edgy around cats – but Leo needed to work through this, and the best way Splinter knew how to deal with raging instincts was to train the teenagers until they didn't have the energy to obey those instincts.

Raph, Don, and Mikey got up with him, bowed to Splinter, and faced Leo. They slowly warmed up, making sure their muscles were loose. They had all, at one point or another, suffered the cramps that came from not properly stretching.

"Begin with katas," Splinter ordered. All four turtles faced him again and began as one. It was like watching a slow dance; Leonardo urged them faster, imperceptivity; he was always slightly ahead of the movement. "Leonardo, you are rushing," Splinter reprimanded. Leo blinked and hung his head slightly, a silent apology, and slowed down.

"Good. Pair off and spar." After half an hour of katas, even Mikey was eager to do something more invigorating. He faced off with Raphael; Don wanted to make sure Leo didn't strain himself, and so would be watching the leader as they sparred for any signs of pain. Raph and Mikey bounced around the dojo, Raph in pursuit of Mikey and the youngest turtle evading him easily.

Splinter let them run their energy out; Don and Leonardo were attacking each other by the book. They moved quickly, but Leo was obviously lacking his normal grace. Don landed a whack to his arm, and the leader grunted. Don hesitated, but Leo shook it off and let Don gather himself before attacking.

Splinter had insisted Leonardo use a pair of wooden swords until he could replace his katanas. April had already promised she would do anything to help; she was being very supportive. Lil' Sis was happy with her new "stall" and had thanked April by slobbering on the human's shirt. The mare was outside; she knew the dojo was off-limits to her.

Wood scraped and banged against wood with the pair in the middle of the dojo; Raph was sitting on Mikey's shell triumphantly and watching the two turtles still sparring.

"Enough," Splinter ordered. Don and Leo halted; both were panting, though Don was obviously more strained. The only reason Leo hadn't won was because he was distracted and unfocused. Splinter ordered them to cool down and eat and then left them to it.

Leo hurried through the cool-down stretches and bolted down some food before going back to the nursery. He didn't even pause for a shower, though Raph knew he would be out as soon as he had made sure the eggs were okay. It had only been a week since they had been laid, but Leo acted as though they could hatch at any minute.

Don took the opportunity and claimed the shower. He enjoyed getting clean and lingered in the warm water, thinking hard. Leo needed an outlet; he was wearing himself down, and he hadn't slept in his room for the past week. The eggs were looking good; Leo asked Don to turn down the heat a little. Don warned him that lower heat would make the eggs males, or kill them, but did it. Don himself was hoping for a baby girl, at least. To have come a week with no obvious signs of disruption to the eggs was making him tentatively dream for a good batch of four healthy younglings, but he cautioned his own hope.

Mikey had drawn a few pictures of the very protective turtle; they were basically the same, but there were subtle differences. In one, Leo was awake and glaring out from the paper; in another, he was peacefully asleep, his hand lying over the top of an egg.

Don had been gifted one by Mikey, which showed Leo at one of his more alert moments. He was eyeing the watcher, tail coiled around the closest egg. Don had hung it up on the wall of his lab; it was almost as good as a black and white photograph.

When Don finally left the shower, Leo was waiting impatiently. He said hello to Don and disappeared inside; Don heard the shower begin running almost immediately. Usually the leader took long showers, but he was out again in a few moments and back in the nursery. Don shook his head and returned to making himself some food. Mikey and Raph had already eaten, and were probably playing a videogame or watching TV.

Leo sighed, lying down. His wing extended itself almost without thought to cover the small pale tops poking through the dirt. Don had told him he should sleep in his room, but he didn't want to be that far from the eggs. Maternal instinct, Don had called it – Leo was a little leery of the term "maternal" but it fit.

The warmth was soothing; he began dozing off, occasionally waking at a sound – real or imagined, he didn't know – and checking on the eggs under his wing.

Raph knocked on the door; Leo muttered and the hothead opened the door. "Hey, Leo, Don wants ya t' eat."

"Okay." Leo furled his wing and got up carefully. He followed Raph out into the kitchen; it was nearly mid-day. The boys were still on a diurnal schedule, and were trying to revert to their normal nocturnal schedule so they could begin patrolling, but Leo wasn't in any hurry. He didn't want to leave the eggs for as long as a patrol generally took, and there was no telling what the humans knew. So far as Don could discern, surfing the internet, Alex hadn't released any information regarding them, but if she heard rumors of "green men" in New York, there was no chance she wouldn't suspect who they were.

Leo sat patiently through a family lunch, dressing his salad in Italian dressing and accepting an apple. He even waited for everyone to finish before excusing himself; Master Splinter reminded him that they would be training again in the evening, and the leader nodded distractedly.

Don and Raph were tinkering; Raph was eager to get his ShellCycle in working condition. While they'd been gone, it had rusted slightly, and needed a new coat of paint. Mikey had offered to help with the painting, and was designing a flame motif to ride down the side of the gas tank. Raph had insisted it have a turtle in it somehow, so Mikey was using Munchkin as a source of inspiration and had drawn a turtle breathing fire.

Raph grinned when he saw the decal. "That's awesome, Mikey. Thanks." Mikey beamed and nodded acceptance. "Do you want to get started?" Again, the youngest nodded; Raph handed him the freshly cleaned gas tank to paint. The bike was lying in various parts around the lair; the exhaust pipe was being sniffed out by Lil' Sis at the moment.

The horse had found that tires were great fun, making Don hide them in his lab. She had awoken Leo and brought the leader's wrath down on all of them. The slightly groggy turtle had insisted the eggs needed their sleep; when he had gone back into the nursery, his brothers had erupted in fits of laughter, though they tried to make it quiet fits.

"Time to check on Leo," Don sighed, glancing at the clock. Master Splinter had insisted they keep an eye on the eldest; he wasn't quite himself, the old rat explained.

"I'll do it," Raph grunted. Don was tinkering, and Raph wanted his ShellCycle; if he could suffer through checking in on Leo, which usually involved some form of "you okay?" "yes" "kay," Don could finish the motorcycle quickly.

Raph knocked on the door; Leo didn't answer. He gently opened it and glanced in; it was dark. Flicking on the light, he blinked. Leo was lying slightly around his eggs, but his wing was furled. The leader appeared to be deeply asleep; Raph called quietly and he didn't respond. The eggs looked fine, and the blue-masked turtle was asleep.

He returned to his other brothers. Mikey had taken the gas tank to his room to paint it, leaving the door open so the fumes wouldn't knock him out, and Lil' Sis had gone to see what the source of said fumes was. Don and Raph started piecing the bike back together.

Master Splinter called them for a training session, and Leo suffered through it admirably before fleeing to take another shower and go back to the nursery. Raph and Mikey watched a movie before going back to bed themselves; Don opted to stay up and do more web-surfing.

In the middle of the night, something woke Raph. He didn't know what; Lil' Sis was dozing peacefully in the corner. Silently, the turtle got out of his hammock and went downstairs. Something was making him uneasy; he check on Mikey, but the youngest was sleeping fitfully in a pile of blankets. Don was asleep on his keyboard, drooling into the cracks; Raph smiled slightly. Finally, Raph checked in on Leo.

He opened the door carefully, announcing his presence with a whisper. Leo didn't respond; the hallway light spilled into the room. The eldest turtle was lying slightly apart from the eggs, obviously having rolled over in his sleep.

Raph glanced at the eggs; they looked fine, except one… He gasped and moved forward. Something was wrong; the dirt was wet around one of them. The hothead saw a small green thing lying on the dirt; he could make out the beginning of a shell and little arms and legs. Gingerly, he picked it up; it was about as big as his hand. He turned it over very gently and it flopped sickeningly. The red-banded turtle suppressed a horrified cry at what he saw.

The front was mangled; Raph thought he could make out a few internal organs through the nearly transparent skin. The plastron was missing, and the film underneath hadn't grown in to cover its chest. A few small ribs poked through, shining in the slight light. It was obviously dead; the little thing couldn't have survived even if it had been fully developed.

Raph valiantly held back the urge to hurl. Leo suddenly shifted in his sleep, his wing unfurling back over the eggs. Raph froze instantly, barely breathing; he really did not want Leo to wake up. He held his position until the leader was breathing deeper again; only then, using all his ninja-skills, did Raph creep back out, the small bundle in his arm. He ran into Don's lab and shook the genius awake.

"Don! Wake up!" Don started groggily. "We have a major problem." Raph hid the body until Don was awake and functioning.

"What, Raph?" The braniac stood, rubbing his beak to get rid of the spittle there.

"I found this…" Raph held his arm out and showed Don the dead hatchling. The purple-banded turtle gasped in horror and gently took it from him, cradling it as if it were the most fragile thing on the planet.

"This is going to kill Leo," Don muttered. He fought down rising bile at the sight of the uncovered chest cavity. "Poor thing… It didn't stand a chance."

"Leo's gonna freak," Raph grunted. He was fighting back horror himself, and trying not to run to the bathroom to throw up; he knew Don needed his show of strength to be strong himself. They depended upon each other's deceptive calm.

Don grabbed a scrap of cloth from his table and wrapped the little body in it. "Go wake everyone up… We need to be there for Leo." Raph nodded and woke Mikey and Master Splinter. When they saw the expression in the hothead's eyes, both were awake almost instantly. They gathered in Don's lab.

The wrapped bundle was lying on one of the tables; each one kept glancing at it guiltily. "We need to get Leo out of there; I need to clean up the shell so it doesn't rot and mold. Raph, Mikey, you need to distract him so he doesn't see the remains of the shell; if he does, and he doesn't see his hatchling, he might just go berserk."

"I will prepare tea," Master Splinter said quietly. Don nodded gratefully and picked up the small bundle.

"What should we do with… him?" Don asked. He didn't know what gender the deformed hatchling was, but he didn't want to call the little guy an "it" if he could help it.

"We will burn him. There can be no trace, but he will have a funeral pyre fit for a king," Master Splinter said decidedly. His voice, remarkably, didn't tremble, and his sons took comfort in their father's calm.

Don left the hatchling in the lab. Raph and Mikey went in and carefully managed to get Leo out of the nursery without him freaking out; they had to clamp down on their emotions, and Mikey forced himself to be jovial. Raph kept himself between Leo and the eggs, blocking Leo's line of sight.

"Master Splinter just wants t' talk to ya," Raph insisted again, shutting the nursery door behind them. "Yanno how he's tryin' t' get us t' be nocturnal again? Well, this's parta that. We gotta wake up in th' middle o' the night."

Leo accepted his excuse and went into the kitchen. Master Splinter offered him a cup of tea and they sat down; Raph and Mikey left them alone and went to help Don clean up the remnants of the egg that had broken. They took the shell pieces out and put them in the sewer; they were broken up enough so that no one could wonder why large eggs had fallen into the stream of sewage.

"Prepare yourselves… This is going to be bad," Don warned them as they went back in. Master Splinter had calmed Leo down, and the leader smiled at his brothers when they came back into the kitchen.

However, their expressions made him stand up in confusion and fear. "What's wrong?" he asked immediately.

"Leo…" Raph cautiously put himself between Leo and the door as Don spoke. "We have to tell you something…"

"What?" Leo asked suspiciously, eyeing Raph. He wanted to escape to the nursery; something was wrong with the eggs, he knew it.

"One of the eggs hatched." Leo blinked and immediately bolted; Raph barely managed to catch him and held him in a crushing hug as he struggled weakly.

"Leo, it didn't survive. It wasn't ready," Raph murmured quietly, bracing himself. Don and Mikey were fighting back tears; even Master Splinter appeared to be battling sorrow. "We didn't want you to find it."

"No…" Leo collapsed as suddenly as he had bolted; Raph caught him again and held him up. "No, no, no." The eldest's voice was almost silent; Don barely made out the words, but the grief and despair behind them was obvious.

Carefully, Mikey engulfed the leader in a hug, both protecting and offering support in the simple touch. Raph let Mikey handle the distraught turtle and merely rested a hand on Leo's wing. Leo's shoulders shook, but he wasn't making any sound; Mikey had lost his battle and silent tears streamed down his face. Don sniffled quietly; Master Splinter patted his shell soothingly, though it was obvious the old rat was in pain himself.

"I want to see it…" Leo finally managed to say, after a few minutes of being lost in their grief. Don started to shake his head, but Raph overrode him and nodded.

"I'll be righ' back." The red-banded turtle left and Mikey carefully sat Leo down in a chair again, pulling up another to be next to his big brother. When Raph re-entered, the small white bundle held ever-so-gently in his arms, Leo whimpered quietly but accepted it from the second eldest and held it just as carefully.

Don carefully peeled back the cloth so Leo could see the baby's face, since it wasn't deformed; only the chest seemed to have been problematic. Leo gently stroked its beak with the back of his knuckle and then kissed it on the forehead.

"He needs a proper burial," Leo whispered. "It wasn't his fault…" Leo's voice broke and he stopped, a single tear splashing onto the hatchling's face.

"We will burn him," Master Splinter said quietly.

Leo nodded and stood up, still cradling the tiny bundle. He pulled the cloth back over its face. "Don, please call the others… They should be here for this." Don nodded and went to his lab; he woke April up with the call, and she told him she would get Casey up and be there as soon as possible.

Leatherhead and Don had discussed the problems that could happen, but the larger mutant hadn't come over yet; he was working on something, and Don told him Leo might attack his seemingly dangerous presence. However, LH was willing to risk it to be there for his friends. The Professor also agreed to attend.

When Don emerged to let Leo know everyone was on their way, he found Leo and Mikey sitting on the couch. Leo was still holding the small bundle, clutching it almost desperately. Don could see the doubts running through Leo's mind.

"It wasn't your fault," Don said quietly, patting Leo's shoulder. "You did everything you could. Sometimes… It just isn't enough." Don glanced at Mikey when he said this. He had done everything he could for the youngest brother, but it hadn't been enough, either; he shook his head. The braniac didn't know the anguish his brother was experiencing, losing his own kid, but he knew Leo needed help.

The elevator dinger open and April ran straight into the lair. She gently approached Leo, who accepted her condolences with a graceful round of tears they shared. Casey and Raph consoled each other the way they knew best; they wrestled. Master Splinter ordered them to take it elsewhere and they disappeared into the dojo. They had energy they needed to get rid of, and being unable to do anything now meant they had to take it out on each other.

April sat on Leo's left side, opposite Mikey, and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. She avoided the little bundle; Don had warned her about the deformity, and she didn't want to scar Leo by asking to hold the hatchling. It was clear that Leo needed to hold it for it to be real to the turtle.

Leatherhead and Professor Honeycutt walked in a few minutes later; they offered their sincere condolences and agreed to help Casey, Don, and Raph begin building a pyre. The body would need taking care of as soon as possible; Leo needed the closure before he could return to his eggs. Don guessed being close to his remaining babies would be more therapeutic than holding onto the one who died.

~~TIME WARP~~

"We're ready." Don's voice broke into Leo's thoughts; he had been staring at the little white bundle in his arms until he no longer really saw it. The harsh reality came back, however, and Leo sobbed quietly, just once. Then he clamped down on his emotions and stood up; April and Mikey stayed right next to him.

They all went to the large junction, with a wide floor. The pyre was large, and made of dry wood so it would burn fierce and hot. Don had explained to those helping him put it together that they didn't want anything but the hottest of fires; otherwise, they'd have a melted skeleton to deal with, and no one wanted that.

Master Splinter said a graceful prayer in Japanese and Leo tenderly laid the bundle on the stack of wood, in a small hollow. Mikey handed him a torch, already lit; Raph was standing on the other side of the stack holding his own torch. They needed to light several areas for it to catch quickly.

With a silent prayer of his own, Leo touched his torch to the wood. It caught fire almost immediately; he lit two more spots and then shoved the torch into the stack so it would light the middle. Raph did the same and they stepped back. Soon, the pile was consumed by a roaring fire; the family stood, watching silently. Leo stood slightly apart, though Mikey tried to put his arm around Leo's shoulders. Leo had gently shook himself free; he wanted to be alone.

It took nearly an hour for the flames to die down; the fire had done its job, though, and not a trace of the little body was left. Everyone had stood there, watching it silently, until it was done; then Don thanked everyone for their support. Leatherhead and Professor Honeycutt promised they would do anything necessary to ensure the health of the remaining eggs; April and Casey offered whatever they could do as well. Don thanked them and sent them home to rest and spend time grieving; Master Splinter escorted April and Casey back to the elevator.

Raph and Mike used large planks, which had been set aside for this purpose, to shovel the ashes and charcoal into the river below them. The debris sank slowly, piece by piece; Leo felt part of his heart sink with it. He would always remember the little turtle he had failed so terribly.

"Leo…" Don put his hand on Leo's shoulder; the leader turned to him. The utter despair and self-loathing in his eyes made Don hesitate. He needed to be very careful with his leader's emotions right now; a single word could tip the volatile turtle. "You did everything you could… It wasn't your fault."

"What if he was early because I worked so hard getting here?" Leo said quietly. Don shook his head firmly.

"He wasn't, Leo. You didn't see it, but he wouldn't have lived if he had been hatched at the correct time." Leo shivered. "I'm sorry, bro. You need to rest; your eggs need you now."

Leo functioned best when he was protecting something; Don felt him gather himself to face his remaining eggs. "Don… Will you do something for me?"

"Anything," Don said fervently.

"Will you… help me name him?" Leo asked, voice cracking again. Don blinked and stared into the river, watching the baby's ashes swirl away into the river.

"Of course, Leo."