A/N Thank you for the reviews guys, really love them! I tried to write this from my ipod and uh... No. No it didn't work. It sucked. And Wolfjade I believe this partially answers your question. :D

Read on fellow Fanfic lovers!

Chapter thirty

Three days we'd been here, snowed in, working our butts off, sore and exhausted, the nights often sleepless and the days spent over working ourselves. With Leo unconscious and everyone still busted up from the battle and tunnel collapse, we were hardly keeping ourselves together.

Three days I'd been working on keeping our little mutant/people group alive. I would be up before dawn and out until well after dusk like everyone else. I was either chopping wood or gathering food, a storm set in and no one could leave for the store, I told them to go shopping a storm's rolling in, but no one heeded my warning. In between squalls of the never ending Nor'Easter, I had chopped half a months worth of wood, I wore my gloves into uselessness from the relentless work, and my hands were raw, I barely had the energy nor strength in my sore arms to lift them above my own head. We would need more wood eventually, but that couldn't be helped. In my spare time I would be down by the creek with an old dog cage I found, I broke a hole in the ice over the flowing water, caught a few trout, freshwater clams, and crayfish. I also dug through the snow for acorns and boiled the tannin out of 'em so we could eat them.

That's what I spent my time doing, and while my city friends over here had to adjust to a new meal, I had to deal with supplying it with little help, for they had no knowledge on the subject. Today, the storm found a way to keep us indoors, the temperature dropped to five degrees and stayed there, the snow was up to my own waste, the wind would knock you over, going outside for anything was absolutely pointless.

So there we all sat, on the couch or on the floor watching movies that April took down from the attic, we some how still had power throughout this whole storm. Splinter and Donnie hadn't really left Leo's bedside since we brought him back in the room, both of them had been watching him twenty-four-seven. Our slow and quiet day was turning into night, the already dark sky grew darker. Raph had fallen asleep on the couch, hogging most of it, Mikey snuggled into the chair, Casey was out cold, sprawled across the rug in front of the couch with a blanket tangled around his legs.

April, Karai and I watching whatever movie was on, I had lost interest a long time ago and just stared at the screen as if I were watching, I was really wondering what we were going to do for wood after this storm settled. Mikey had helped me quite a bit but the wood could only last so long and winter had just begun, we needed wood until a little after February.

April suddenly shut the t.v. off and rose from her seat on the floor by Casey's head, she stretched, then turned to us.

"You guys wanna help make some dinner?" She asked quietly as to not wake the guys. I nodded and Karai gave a thumbs up as we both stood and headed for the kitchen with April. I took some of the crayfish that were in the fridge in a bucket of water and scooped a good twenty into a pot. I set the pot on the stove and filled it with water and added whatever spices were around the house. April thawed out some bread and butter from the freezer and also began frying a few trout fillets in bread crumbs. Karai went and took some clams to cook them over the fire like I had shown her earlier. We cooked in silence, well boiling water and frying fish managed to close the gap of total silence.

After we had dinner all set up, called everyone in and they sat down and even Splinter and Donnie had joined us, I tried to bring up the topic of food rationing and how long this storm was going to last.

"Alright so guys, we obviously have to start looking at how much food we have left. This storm, from the looks of it, is going to last a couple more days before it dissipates." I started calmly, placing my hands on the table. "A couple more days at the least, I've been watching the wind, and Donnie I know you have too." I said pointing at him.

As if he knew it was time to shine he took over the conversation. "Yes. It keeps changing from North to South, telling us the storm is stuck in place. The Great lakes aren't any help to us, they keep feeding the storm, with the jet stream pushing the moisture this way and two high pressure systems forcing it to stay in this region." Donnie stated trying to demonstrate in the air with his hands how the storm was developing. "And from the looks of it, Koda's right it'll be a while before we see any high pressure around here." Donnie finished taking apart a crayfish with a grimace.

"So..." Raph chimed in, stretching his voice out, trying to get the discussion to keep going, having no patience for our brief pause.

"So..." I imitated him but with irritation. "We need to take a real look at how much we've got left. I can only gather so much food around here, and we've only got so much canned crap that we can eat." I said calming down. "We have to ration it out and plan what to eat and when, and plan for Leo waking up and needing his fair share of food too." I finished taking a few bites of my own dinner.

"After dinner we'll get some numbers on what we got left." Kirby added.

"Yes. That sounds like reasonable plan." Splinter agreed enjoying his meal.

"Good. We finally came to a consensus." Raph huffed from his chair. No one really responded to his tiny outburst but he did earn a few glares from the table's occupants. After we had finished dinner we all sat at the table bringing out all the canned goods and labeling which ones to eat and when, putting dates on them, and who would eat what. We also labeled what was in the fridge and found we had a good amount of food left, including Leo in the meal plan. We had enough for about four and a half days taking out the factor that I would be out everyday in search of food. The only problem was, how long and bad was this storm going to be and when would the roads be safe for a store run. Only time would tell if we could last on what supplies we had left.

Everyone dispersed in their own directions, Splinter decided he couldn't stay up any longer and took one of the spare rooms to rest, leaving Don alone to watch Leo. Kirby went to bed early as well and us teens were left to play card games and really do what ever. I however decided to go give Don some company, not really realizing Raph was following directly behind me. I wrapped on the door lightly, Raph came up next to me and he knocked a little harder after a few moments of no response. Donnie gasped on the other side and came to the door.

"Yeah?" Donnie grumbled half asleep, tiredly rubbing his eyes as he swung the door open.

"Ya fall asleep, genius?" Raph half chuckled before taking a step in.

"Yeah...Kinda." Don yawned sitting back in his seat by the bed while I shut the door behind us.

"Don. Why don't you let Raph and I take over for a bit?" I said taking Splinter's previous seat, showing I had no intentions of leaving.

"Yeah, he's not gonna need much. You said yesterday his fever went down, and we can handle it." Raph said placing a hand gingerly on Don's good shoulder. Don took some time to think, obviously going over countless possibilities and whatnot.

"Okay..." Don finally agreed, a little happy tone to his voice being relieved of his duty, he stood slowly, he swayed a bit to the right and Raph pushed him back up. "If anything happens, come wake me up please." Don pleaded before heading out.

"Good night Donnie."

"Night bro." Raph called.

"Night." Don said as he shut the door.

Raph and I sat there, our chairs facing one another, we both looked over Leo then at each other entering a small staring contest. I quickly lost and Raph smiled with his small victory. I stared out the window behind Raph because I faced the window, through the small lamp that dimly lit the room I saw a small blue flash outside illuminate the window. It quickly was followed by a loud rumble of thunder, Raph spun around to look out the window.

"It can thunder during a snow storm!" Raph blurted wide eyed and in utter surprise, looking from me to the window and back.

"Sh. Sh. Sh." I stuttered trying not to laugh but ended up doing so. "Yes. It's called thunder snow, you dippy." I chuckled, slowly collecting myself.

"No. Way. That is awesome." He stated, now watching the window intently, waiting for more. My laughter lingered for a while more until Raph settled back down, he turned his chair so it was facing Leo and he could look right, towards the window when he wanted. We sat quietly, checking on Leo once in a while, both of us propping our elbows on the bedside to hold up our heads. I grew bored and poked Raph, he looked back at me confusedly, I sat there waiting for him to poke me back but he didn't. So when he looked away I poked him again, he again gave me a look, this one more aggravated. He continued to glare so I poked him again, this time getting the response I wanted. We kept poking one another and it escalated to small smacks back and fourth, finally with us both laughing Raph had shoved me backwards and my chair tilted back and loosing my center fell back with a loud thud. Raph bursted out laughing as I picked myself up, I was laughing too and went back to give Raph a soft punch to his good arm, but our play was interrupted.

"Can you guys keep it down." A scratchy voice came from next us. Both our heads spun to the owner of the voice, I found Leo's bright, deep, blue eyes staring back at us contently.

"Leo!" Raph and I yelled.

Scooting his chair closer to the bed Raph took Leo's good hand into his and held onto it as if he let go, Leo would fall from a cliff. "Leo, man, you scared us! Don't go unconscious for long periods of time! You had us worried!" Raph stammered as a few short lived tears rolled down his cheeks. "Thought we told you not to do that again!" He said hugging Leo's head lightly, the only part of Leo he could really hug without hurting him, Leo did his best to chuckle at Raph. "I'll get Donnie, and Sensei!" Raph declared before rushing out of the room at full speed. I watched his shell disappear into the hallway as he yelled for everyone.

I looked at Leo who wore a small smile at his younger brother's outburst.

"How you feeling, sleepy head?" I asked softly, sitting down in Raph's chair folding my arms over my chest.

"Okay, actually." Leo said with his same genuine smile, looking at me happily. "How long was I out?" He asked in a more serious tone, some of his smile fading.

"About four da-" I started but Raph returned with Splinter, Donnie, and anyone else who was woken up by Raph's yells.

"Leonardo." Splinter almost gasped before going to his eldest's side. "My son." He said gently stroking Leo's cheek and holding his good hand. Leo smiled in response squeezing his father's hand weakly. "I'm so sorry my son." Splinter said almost in tears bringing Leo's hand into both of his.

"It's okay Sensei. I'm okay." Leo stated, looking concernedly into Splinter's eyes. Splinter only continued to stare at his son in deep thought.

At that point Donnie stepped in and started firing questions at Leo.

"How do you feel?" Donnie immediately asked.

"Goo-"

"Light headed? Cold?" Donnie asked stepping closer to Leo, giving him no time to answer, as he felt his head, checked his pulse.

"No-"

"Anything hurt?" He asked.

"Well... Yeah bu-"

"How bad?" Donnie asked peeling back the covers on Leo's left to look at the bandage around his torso and Leo tried to look at his own side but failing to get it in view.

"K. Donnie, relax. He's fine. He just woke up you don't need to flood him with questions." Raph said pulling Donnie back from Leo a bit.

"Right. Right. Sorry." Donnie apologized, backing up a bit himself to keep in his urge to question Leo to no end. Leo let out a small chuckle at his brothers and shook his head.

"You thirsty? Hungry?" Donnie asked nervously, keeping close eye on Raph.

"Don." Raph sighed sarcastically at Donnie.


After Don had played twenty questions with Leo, and Leo fallen back asleep, we left him to his own space figuring now he was okay for the night and if he needed anything he had his T-phone on the nightstand. I went to the room I shared with Karai and April, I laid on my makeshift bed for not ten minutes, then I remembered the fire would need more food in the form of chopped tree. So I sluggishly got up and left for the living room, as I rounded the corner of the hallway to the stairs, I saw a figure there, standing by the fire, it was late and I was the only one who tended the fire so I was confused. It was Splinter and I quickly became curious as I tiptoed down the stairs.

"Master Splinter?" I questioned going to sit by his feet as he poked a log into place.

"Hello Koda." He greeted sort of sorrowfully. We were quiet for a moment, I was getting a depressed reading off his energy and I cocked my head as I looked up at him. His ears were slightly back and he stared into the fire with a longing look.

"Master Splinter, what's wrong?" I asked looking at him, begging with my eyes for an answer. He looked down at me with a guilty like expression. The fire cracked and he turned back to it, moving the log that had fallen and made the noise. "Should- Shouldn't you be happy. Leo woke up. He's okay." I said trying to bring up an answer for his sadness. He didn't really look back at me, but slightly glanced at me from the corners of his eyes.

"Yes, Koda. I am happy that Leonardo has awoken." He replied still with the same tone.

"Then what's bothering you Sensei? You can't be the only counselor of the family, you need one too." I said putting my hands on my hips. He smiled at that shortly before returning to his fire poking sadness.

"I prefer not to discuss it at the moment." Splinter said placing the fire poker at it's stand. "It is late, you should be heading to bed." He said gazing at the pictures of the turtles and their family moments that Mikey had brought and placed on the mantle.

"Well..." I trailed off trying to stall and get to the bottom of Splinter's sorrow. Then an idea popped into my head. "Hey. You know how we made that deal, that we'd tell each other everything about our lives. We never called that off, you have to hold up your end of the deal, life keeps going, you got to keep up with it and tell me what's wrong." I said standing. "I went last time. It's your turn."

Splinter chuckled. "You're right Koda." He went serious. "It is still a topic on which I do not want to discuss." He said stroking his beard.

"Splinter." I begged on my knees like a child for bedtime stories, which it almost kind of was a bedtime story.

He sighed heavily before bringing some kind of courage to the surface. "If you truly want to know what's bothering my conscience, then come to the kitchen, I have tea steeping and wish to stop it before the whistle." He said walking towards the kitchen and I followed.

We sat down as he poured the tea. "So... What is it Sensei? Just spit it out and get it over with, I won't speak a word outside this kitchen." I said crossing my heart.

He chuckled. "This is one thing I like about you Koda, you ask what's wrong rather than assuming some one is better off left unasked." He said placing the teapot down and sipped his tea. "So far you, Leonardo, and April are the only ones who I've seen consistently be concerned about others needs like this, no matter who they are. You three have no boundaries when it comes to others." He praised me slightly and I took a sip of my own tea. "What is bothering me, is what happened back in the tunnel, when we fought the Shredder. When it came down, Leonardo shoved me out of harms way. That pipe would have killed me, his shell protected his back, it would have broken mine." He said as a tear rolled down his cheek and he took a deep breath. "If I had seen it and moved, then he would not be so hurt. It is my fault." He admitted looking away, hurt and sadness written on his face.