A/N: Aw yeah, baby! Another update exactly one week later! Also, heads up - I haven't forgotten about a certain loose end from earlier in the story. It'll be tied back in sometime soon. ;)

Edit 9/26/20: I wrote that note two days ago - and then didn't publish the chapter, smh. I'm not entirely happy with this chapter... (It seems a bit rushed, I guess?)

Edit 9/28/2020: Maybe tonight I'll finally be satisfied enough to publish this thing.

Chapter Fourteen

The room was silent save for the beeping of the heart monitor - the same monitor that was connected to the bared, scarred yellow plastron of the still-unconscious doctor in the hospital bed.

"It's ironic," Donatello said finally, and his words seemed to jolt his brothers back to reality.

"What is?"

"We haven't been together as a family in, what, four years?"

"Five," Michelangelo corrected quietly, wrapping his arms around himself. "Five, because the last time was for Shadow's first birthday party." The birthday party at which the Hamatos hadn't spoken to each other - hadn't even acknowledged each other's presence.

There was no ire in the youngest turtle's words, but his brothers still flinched. "...I can't believe it took something like this to bring us together," Raphael mumbled as he dragged a hand down his tired face.

"I mean, strictly speaking, the explosion wasn't what brought us together-"

"Not the explosion, Brainiac. Leo."

"Oh."

The trio settled into an uneasy quiet again - at least until Mikey dared to speak. "So...are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" His siblings looked at him blankly and he sighed, not quite wanting to have to say it, because saying it out loud meant that there was a possibility that it was all a lie. "Is Leo...I mean...do you think he's really…?"

"All evidence considered, I'd say yes," the professor ventured. "Of course, the only way to know for certain would be to take a blood test, but he'd have to consent. Does it seem like he has any inkling of what's going on?"

The latter was directed at Raph; the beefy mutant blinked once, slowly, before turning a keen eye on his unconscious friend. "I...I don't know. He suspects something, I think, but I don't know what."

A knock on the doorway interrupted their conversation before it could go any further, and a harried-looking doctor stepped into the room. "Mr. Hamato?"

Raph stepped forward, trying not to notice how the human cowered just the slightest bit. "Yeah?" The word came out a little too sharply and Mikey placed a hand on his wrist.

Easy.

"I'm very sorry, but visiting hours are over for the day. You may come back tomorrow morning, if you'd like."

"Oh, uh...thanks. We will."

As the doctor led them from the room, Raph turned to glance at Leo one last time. We'll be back. I promise.

"So what now?" Donnie asked as the trio stepped outside into the ever-growing night

"Well, at least you can go home," Mikey sullenly replied. "All the flights out of New York have been cancelled because of some massive security failure - don't know what that's all about."

Donnie snorted. "Very funny. Like I'd leave anyway, when we're this close to finding out if Leo is really our brother or not."

"Well then what do you suggest? It's not like we can just reserve a hotel room this late at night. Do you know how much that would cost?"

"I personally wouldn't want to stay in a hotel anywhere near here, thank you very much. The crime in this area alone-"

"You guys are forgetting something," Raph cut in dryly, crossing his arms and obviously trying very hard not to laugh.

Donatello turned to him with an eye ridge raised. "Which is?"

The younger Hamatos watched in mute surprise as their detective sibling led the way into a good-sized apartment and dropped onto the worn sofa, letting out a small sigh of relief.

Michelangelo exchanged a careful look with his brainy brother. "Uh...Raph? Should you really be sitting down like that?"

Raph raised an eye ridge at that. "I mean, I know that I'm a little banged up and all, but it's not like I'm going to get blood on the couch or anything. 'Sides, even if I did, it's my blood on my couch. What of it?" This time, he caught the silent exchange between the other two and his raised eye ridge became a scowl. "Don't tell me you both thought I was about to set up shop in some rando's apartment?"

Embarrassed silence was the only reply he got.

"Wow, alright. So in your eyes I'm still a drunk dirty cop that can't provide for himself, huh? Fine. Just...great." All of the anger left him at once as he finally picked up on the mental picture that they were carrying. His shoulders sagged and he shook his head, chuffing a bitter laugh.

Mikey stepped forward again, holding out a hand as if in appeasement. "Raph-"

"No. We're not doing this now. It's too long of a conversation to have tonight, 'specially with everything else going on. We'll have it soon - since it apparently needs to be addressed - but we're not having it tonight." He turned his weary gaze to the floor, where he wouldn't have to see the raw pity and embarrassment on their faces. "You guys fight over the bedrooms. I'll take the couch."

"Raph, this is your apartment-"

"Which is exactly why I'm deciding where to sleep tonight. Now pick a damn bedroom so I can get at least an hour of sleep before the hospital opens again tomorrow morning."

Donnie was sufficiently cowed at that; he offered a sheepish smile and a quiet, "Good night," before disappearing into the master bedroom. He was only gone for a few seconds before the beefy turtle heard him call out again.

"Raph, what is this?"

Grumbling something under his breath about damn needy little brothers, Raph got up from the couch and stepped into his room - and suddenly he realized what the younger mutant was talking about. He'd left the katana on the nightstand so he wouldn't forget to ship them to Washington.

"I didn't realize you still had these," Donatello said softly. His brother just shrugged.

"Seemed like a waste to throw out perfectly good swords. 'Sides, they aren't mine anymore." He swallowed, dropping his harlequin gaze to the floor for fear of judgment. "I gave 'em to Leo."

There was a beat of silence and then, "You what?"

If Raphael had looked up, it would've allowed his younger sibling to see the raw desperation and longing on his weathered face. "He's our fourth, Don. I can't explain it, I just...I knew. I knew they belonged to him, they were meant for him. The way his face lit up when he opened that box….Sensei would've wanted him to have them." They both grew quiet at the mention of their father and mentor, and it was a long moment before Raph spoke again. "Anyway, I didn't have any use for these, and I figured they'd be better in the hands of an expert than just sitting in my closet collecting dust. I mean, hell, did you ever see me with these katana?"

"You sucked," Donnie agreed, chuckling. His chocolate eyes grew serious again as he gazed at the weapons. "But Raph...if he is our fourth...you know what can of worms that opens up, right?" For that, the professor received a shrug.

It wasn't that Raph hadn't thought about it. It was that he didn't want to think about it. Because if Leonardo was truly their brother, it meant that either something had happened to split them up, or someone had made that decision for them all.

He didn't know which possibility was worse.

A/N: Any theories about what happened to separate the four?