CelandineGranger: Aww, thank you! That's so sweet. :) Thank you for reviewing!
ChangelingRin: Where would we be, indeed? ;) Thank you for reviewing!
theMusicofyourSoul: Yay for forgiving everyone! And Raph couldn't hold a grudge for much longer because he was secretly eavesdropping from behind the door and heard Don screaming at Leo and crying. Even our favourite hothead couldn't hold back after that. Thank you for reviewing!
jgrasper22: I am so sorry to have made you wait (and then wait again, sorry, sorry!) but I am happy you are happy! Thank you for reviewing!
pownxmanonnie: It does sound weird like that, doesn't it? ;) Cross your fingers, m'dear. Thank you for reviewing!
tarin2014tfan: Hip-hip hooray for happy feels! Thank you for reviewing!
Turtlecrazy714: Yeah...Leo's hugs are a definite cure-all for self-hatred. :) For the experiments, you'll just have to wait and see. Raph was eavesdropping behind the door and felt that it would be a good time to walk in. He has excellent timing when he wants. Here's your update, though I do apologise for its lateness. Thank you for reviewing!
snowflakeangel21: Yay for making up! You'll just have to wait and see. :) Thank you for reviewing!
5Mississippis: Ah, yes. Leo being a stubborn prat for the sake of his brothers is fun. I've never actually dialed someone incessantly like Leo did but I can imagine how annoying it must be. :) Raph had a thing or two to work through but now it's all good and the family can get back to being together again. Thank you for reviewing!
Guest: Yay for Big Brother Leo! Yay for forgiving everybody! Yay it's not a SAINW fic! :D Thank you for reviewing!
lizzybudd: I can only imagine how satisfying it must be to be that annoying. ;) Sorry for the brutality. "Science Leo until he's better"? Oh, glory, that's hilarious! Thank you for reviewing!
TMNT-Queen: Leo is the best big brother, let's be honest here. :) Yeah, Leo's done holding Donnie back from trying to figure stuff out. If it works, great. If not, there's really nothing lost anyway. Thank you for reviewing!
efarraiz: Que maravilloso comentario largo! Gracias millones veces! Te acuerdo: Leo haria cualquier cosa por sus hermanitos preciosos. Me encanta Leo, tambien. (Es mi tortuga favorita - que sorpresa, jaja!) Mi bloque de escritor se pasa lentamente pero se pasa. :/ Me alegra de que te guste, que crees mi historia es todo eso - gracias otra vez! :D Perdona la cantidad de dias para esperar y gracias por tu paciencia y el abrazo. Gracias por el comentario!
Guest: Yeppers! Leader Leo definitely needed to take a back seat on this one! Thank you for reviewing!
Guest: Thank you so much! Thank you for reviewing!
TheMaskedTimelord: Looks like... :) No, seriously. I hope things are looking up, too. Don's had enough to deal with, as have Leo and the rest of the family. Thank you for reviewing!
Tartur: Hello to Finland! That's so cool! I'm glad you like the story so much and that you've read it over and over. I always find something new when re-reading stories: little details I missed the first time. :) Thank you for reviewing!
Charley79: Welcome, welcome to "Flash"! Thank you so much! I'm thrilled that you're liking the story as much as you are. Thank you for reviewing!
Author's Note: Special shout-out and thanks to AlessandraDC for another incredible sketch on DA. "Recovering together" pictures Leo and Mikey from "Flash" and it's adorable! Thank you again, my dear! Also to all readers, reviewers and followers: I am so, so incredibly sorry for the long wait (I can't believe it's been a month!). Seriously, between writer's block and university requirements, I was at a standstill for this fic, and I apologise profusely. This chapter isn't very long and not a lot happens. I'm trying to wrap it up while also not rushing it or making it drag on but this story is coming to an end. On an unrelated topic, I don't write science stuff for the very obvious reason that I'm not good at it. Please, humour me. :)
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 29
"Okay, so there really isn't much to go on here but I think it's only fair that after subjecting your occipital lobe to electrocution, you shouldn't make it try to work even more."
Leo sat up gingerly and fingered his skull. The small electromagnetic waves Don had sent through his brain hadn't hurt him but they left his brain achy. "Huh?" he asked.
"Eloquent," his genius brother said with a chuckle. "Keep your eyes closed for a while."
"I've been keeping them closed for a while now already," Leo reminded him gently, hopping off the cot and steadying himself on the wall.
"Fair point." Don clicked at his keyboard for a moment then said, "I've been meaning to ask: how are your headaches?"
"Well, I've got one right now but I think that's just because of the EMPs. They've gotten a lot better over the last couple of weeks," answered Leo.
"Probably stress, then." Donnie's footsteps crossed the floor and gentle fingers touched his arm. "You've been having a rough time lately."
"Foot ambushes and getting kidnapped notwithstanding?" he grumbled.
"Yeah. I know it sucks but until we're through with the experimental electrocution, I think you should stay in the lair."
Leo sighed and leaned his head against his brother's. "Sensei talked to me already, yesterday when we got home. He said the same thing…" He trailed off and felt Don's instant worry turn the air sour.
"What is it? Leo?"
Maybe you were right, Leo wanted to say. Maybe Don had been right about him not being leader anymore. Maybe he should give up the responsibility, at least until he was allowed to leave the lair again – whenever that would be. It would be a lot of stress off his shoulders but at the same time, he knew it would be an unfair burden to place on Donnie since the resident doctor was now in full Let's-fix-Leo's-sight mode. He wouldn't do that to him, not to his little brother who sometimes cared too much.
Leo forced a small smile onto his face and said, "Forget about it. Come on. I'm pretty sure I can smell Mikey's cooking from here and I want to eat something other than soup."
He smiled wider at Don's laugh and the two exited the lab.
"Mrow!" Klunk greeted loudly.
"Hey, Klunk." Leo obediently bent down, Klunk slid between his hands, and he settled him on his right shoulder. "Thanks for being so patient." He scratched the kitty under his chin and was rewarded with a purr as Klunk rubbed his face against his cheek.
"He really missed you," Don murmured. "He kept wandering around the lair, looking for you."
Leo knew that already. He also knew that the cat had purposefully been left at the lair during his time at April's because whenever Klunk did visit, he wrecked a lot of April's stuff. The solution had been for Mikey or Raph or Don to run back to the lair, feed and water their pet and make sure he was doing okay before running back to the apartment every day. Klunk had been less than pleased with the arrangement and had left several messy gifts for his caretakers on their beds as repayment. He was a lot better now that everyone was home, and he'd stuck close to Leo since yesterday when he'd walked through the door.
"I missed him, too." He gave Klunk another scritch, and the trio entered into the kitchen.
Mikey was chopping what smelled like green onions. "Hey, Leo! Hey, Don! How'd getting electrocuted go?"
Leo grimaced at his baby brother's volume but replied, "Fine" as chip as possible.
"He's got a headache, Mikey, so maybe take it down a notch?" Don suggested. "Sit, Leo. I'll get you something."
Leo obeyed and sat in his usual chair at the table, resting his head on his arms on the tabletop. Klunk meowed, climbing down from his shoulder to the table, and rubbed against him ferociously.
He heard Raph's steps before his brother entered the kitchen. "So how'd it go?" Then in the same breath: "Shell, Leo, ya look awful!"
"I'll take your word for it," Leo mumbled and sat back up when Donnie approached.
"Here," the resident doctor said, setting two pills in his hand and a glass on the table. "They're extra strength," he added in warning.
Leo would take the sluggish feeling of drugs in his system over the jackhammer rampaging through his skull's innards any day. "Thanks," he said, downing the medication and water. He resettled his head on his arms and waited for the meds to kick in.
"Here, Leo." Mikey set a bowl in front of him. "I know you and Don don't like green onions so I made yours separate."
It was ramen with pork and boiled egg, and Leo lifted his head to smile at his baby brother. "Thanks, Mikey," he said.
Mikey answered by patting his shoulder, and swiftly returned to the stove.
Leo used his chopsticks to attack the egg, hacking it to bits and stirring it in with the rest. The smell of it drifted through his nostrils, making his mouth water and the muscles in his shoulders loosen. He nudged Klunk away from his bowl with his forearm, not wanting kitty hair in his food (which had happened before), and took a bite.
It felt wonderful to chew something again.
Klunk mewed piteously, as if he were starving, and Leo chuckled, fishing a bit of meat out of his bowl. "Here you go," he told the cat who took the tidbit with a louder meow, presumably thanking him, and Leo smiled, stroking his spine. His brothers chuckled.
"I swear that cat likes you more than me," Mikey whined, prompting Raph to chuckle louder.
"Can't imagine why" was the snarky comment.
"I'm still cooking your food, Raphie," warned the younger turtle.
Leo snickered quietly, knowing his baby brother wasn't above sabotaging Raph's bowl if it meant getting even. Raphael knew this, too, and fell silent.
"Ah, my sons. I thought I smelled dinner." Master Splinter strode in and everyone greeted him with murmurs of "Sensei". "Though I see that Leonardo has a head start on us."
Leo smiled into his bowl and said nothing. Sensei was only teasing, after all. This proved true when a soft, warm hand curled over Leo's right shoulder. Still absently stirring in his egg, he smiled and turned his head slightly in the hand's direction. He was still getting used to not being dead, to being home and to resuming living, and it was in moments like this, with his father's hand on his shoulder, that Leo felt an overwhelming wave of contentment. He wished it would never end.
It seemed Sensei felt something similar because he stayed like that until Mikey had set all four other bowls down on the table and taken his seat. Only then did Father squeeze his shoulder gently and walk around the table to his own chair.
Not even a minute into the meal, Mikey piped up: "We're gonna read this evening, right, Raphie?"
There was no hesitation from Raphael before he said, "Sure, Mike," and Leo smiled. His brothers truly were the best.
-:-:-:-
Raphael read for four hours straight before Leo's head began to nod. Don was already sound asleep on the other side of the couch so while Mikey gently roused their second eldest brother, Raph took charge of their eldest.
"C'mon, bro," he said, pulling an arm across his shoulders. "Off ta bed with ya."
Leo hmm'd and mercifully stayed on his feet, Klunk following, until Raph deposited him into his bed, removing his gear, mask and katana. Setting it all on the bedside table, he heard his brother's quiet "Thanks, Raphie."
His mouth twisted upward into a smile. "'Course, Leo," he said and stroked Klunk who lay curled up in the crook of the tired turtle's arm.
Even though there was absolutely no way that Leo would wake up until six tomorrow morning, Raph tiptoed to the door and closed it as silently as he knew how. Returning downstairs, he found his brothers and Sensei in the living room, Donnie awake with a mug of coffee in hand.
"He's out," Raph announced, eyeing the mug with distaste because now Donatello would be up until who knew when.
Donnie smiled into his drink, oblivious to Raph's scowl. "Good," he said. "That toxin really did a number on him. I don't think I've ever seen him so…" He trailed off, trying to find the right word.
"Spaced?" Mikey offered.
"Accurate," complimented Don.
Raph sat down and absently tapped his fingers along The Three Musketeers' cover. "So…in all honesty, Don, how's it goin'?"
He'd caught his elder brother with a full mouth so Master Splinter answered. "Your brother thinks there might be some progress but it is only the first day."
Donnie nodded, swallowed and added, "I've managed to set up an electrophysiological monitor – I don't know why I didn't think of it before – and it monitors the neural oscillations. I've managed to tweak the monitor enough that I can actually zero in on the occipital lobe where the damage is and see if I can get any kind of response when I release an electromagnetic pulse."
Raphael rolled his eyes. "In English, Donnie-boy," he chastised.
Don grimaced, screwing up his face in earnest concentration as he tried to select down-graded vocabulary, and explained slowly, "The monitor is for his brain waves. I've changed the way it works so that it focusses on the part of his brain that's in charge of sight. When I aim an EMP at that part of his brain, the monitor tells me if there's a response."
"And…is there?" Mikey asked hesitantly.
Donnie shrugged. "It's hard to tell," he said. "Firing consecutive EMPs in my lab isn't the best because it shortens everything out for at least thirty minutes every time. I've back-up generators but I have to activate them manually; otherwise, they get shorted out with the pulse, too. What I do get are readings that are automatically saved to one of my databases so I can look at them anytime and it's not a one-time view deal. Still, it's a slow process," he finished, looking down into his mug. "It's really, really slow because of the technology involved but…it's our only lead."
Beside Don, Mikey put a hand on his arm but didn't say anything. Raph shared a look with Sensei and both sighed quietly.
"Donatello, my son," Splinter said carefully, "it is not your responsibility to fix everything."
Raph's heart skipped a beat when Donnie glanced up at him, chocolate to amber, and looked down again.
"I know, Sensei," the genius murmured. "I still want to try."
"There's no harm in that," said the old rat.
"We'll do what we can," Raph offered. "Right? Those exercises we had him doin' earlier. We can still do those, right?"
His elder brother shook his head. "At this point, I want him to keep his eyes closed for as long as possible. Having his eyes open will just give him unnecessary headaches since his brain would be working for nothing – as far as we know," he added. "I'm thinking, a few days of treatment and then a week off. Give his brain a chance to rest."
"Yeah. You wouldn't want to fry it or anything!" Mikey quipped.
Raph rolled his eyes while Splinter grimaced and Don choked on his swig of coffee.
-:-
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