Chapter 21: Morning Conversations

"Sshhh" Mikey hushed finger to his lips as his two older brothers sluggishly sauntered into the kitchen. "You're going to wake him up if you keep stomping around like that Raph" Mikey warned pointing his spatula at his older red banded brother.

Raph just waved it off but if he walked a little quieter on the way to the kitchen island no one said anything.

Mikey turned back to the hashbrowns, as Donnie poured himself a cup of coffee.

"It's weird isn't it?" Raph's voice broke the silence. "I mean not in a bad way..it's good. It's great! It's more than I could have ever hoped it's just" Raph rushed.

Donnie placed a hand on his brother's shoulder in an understanding gesture. "I feel the same way Raph, I was too afraid to hope that Leo could still be alive, and after all this time having our prayers answered it's just..."

"Overwhelming" Raph supplied, turning to face Donnie.

"To say the least," Donnie smiled. "It's an answered prayer"

"It's the best news ever!" Mikey squealed, running over to hug his brothers with an arm around each of them.

Raph smiled "Leo's home now and we're not going to let anything happen to him."

Donnie and Mikey nodded in agreement, their faces set in shared determination.

"What are we going to do about his memory?" Mikey asked as he returned to his pancake mix.

Donnie let out a sigh, his head hitting the counter. "I don't know Mikey. From what I read in Baxter's notes Leo's amnesia is more than just a side effect; it is one of the primary focal points of the reverse-retromutagen. There is a huge chance it's not reversible."

Raph let out a sigh "I was afraid of that" looking at his two brothers the new leader continued. "Even if he doesn't remember us, Leo's still our brother"

"Of course he is!" Mikey's blue eyes widened, offended that such an obvious fact would even be drawn into speculation.

"Stockman is after him, we can't forget that. Plus he just lost everything he knows! He's human now, it's going to be hard for him to adjust." Raph stated his green eyes shifting between his brothers.

"We can't let him think for a second that he isn't wanted" Donnie added "our brother is really lost and confused right now"

"He just spent the last year without us. We can't push too much on him too fast."

"But we can't lose him either," Mikey added.

The three brothers come to a conclusion.

"I will try everything I can. If it's the last thing I do, I will restore Leo's memory. Maybe there's more information on the flashdrive Leo provided" Donnie took a breath.

"I believe in you Donnie, if anyone can do this it's you" Mikey added from the stove, his blue eyes radiating clear confidence in his older brother.

"You're already years ahead of most scientists, Don."

"Thanks guys"

"..I just can't believe he's home" Raph's voice came out quiet.

Mikey slowed his whisking feeling the same torrent of emotions.

"I just keep fearing I'm going to wake up and it will all have been just an incredible dream." Donnie admitted. "It just seems so impossible"

Silence fell over the kitchen as the three brothers processed the unimaginable.

"We need to take things slow," Donnie stated after a moment. "Remember, Leo.. I mean Peter is still processing everything. We don't want to push too much on him to fast"

Raph nodded "the last thing we want to do is scare him away" Raph mumbled looking down at his three fingered hand.

"There is a small chance that his memories could be retrieved through other processes. Maybe something here will trigger a forgotten memory. We could also try meditation." Donnie let out a sigh. "But we shouldn't get our hopes too high. The key will be finding a comfortable balance. Our brother needs us right now but he doesn't remember us. We should give him space to adjust and come to terms, hopefully proving our relation to him will help with this process. We should also try and build a relationship with him, let him know he's not alone."

Raph nodded. The second he saw Leo he wanted nothing more than to grab him and never let go. All doubts he held had melted away as soon as he heard that voice. Human or not he'd recognize his brother anywhere. Looking into those eyes he feared he'd never see again and not seeing a single ounce of recognition had hurt the red banded turtle to his core. Hearing how apologetic, lost and confused his brother sounded had hurt even worse.

"I also think we should refer to him as Peter not Leo" Donnie's voice pulled Raph from his thoughts and into the kitchen.

"What?" Mikey asked mid-poor, the pancake batter sizzling in the pan.

"He introduced himself as Peter, Mikey. We have to remember that for the past year he's been living a different life, this was all sprung on him quiet suddenly"

Mikey just blinked, obviously still confused.

With a huff Raph turned to invervien "how would you feel if I started calling you Kevin? Told you your whole life has been a lie and that your real name is Kevin, not Mikey, Kevin"

"First off" batter went flying across the kitchen as Mikey pointed at his brother. "I'm the one in the family who is in charge of naming" as Raph held his hands up in surrender and Mikey continued with a sigh. "But your right Raphie I didn't think of it that way" Mikey turned back to the stove "Leo is a much cooler name than Peter"

"Not the point Mikey" Donnie said, pinching the bridge of his non-existent nose.

"Though Peter is kinda cool, like Kevin"

Raph and Donnie exchanged a glance, both annoyed at the turn of conversation.

"And I wonder if he has a last name" Mikey continued his ramblings.

"You keep this up and I'm going to throw you" Raph grumbled, grabbing his own cup of coffee.

"What direction would you throw me?"

"East" Raph indulged his younger brother.

"Eastman. His last name could be Eastman-east cause if he went east he'd be there to catch me when you throw me and man cause Leo's human now"

"Why not Lair cause he's in the lair" Raph spat out sarcastically.

"Add a 'd' to the end and make it cool, like Laird"

"Ugg"

"Okay, I'm ending this conversation" Donnie interjected. "The point I was trying to make was that we shouldn't go changing our brother's name! He goes by Peter now and we should respect that. Giving him a fictual last name is not respectful" Donnie turned pointed eyes on his little brother. "He probably has his own last name Mikey, but he introduced himself by first name which I appreciate. We do not want to make Peter uncomfortable here, we need to acknowledge that some things are going to be different now."

"I know things are different Dee, but I'm choosing to look at all the ways Leo is the same"

"Peter Mikey, Peter"

"Like his movie commentary, and the way he saves some buttered popcorn for the rest of us"

Mikey turned to see mirroring smiles on his brothers' faces.

"I know things are going to be different, but they are also still the same. I'm going to relish both the old and the new" Mikey said with a nod, as he flipped a pancake.

"Maybe one of the new things is that our big bro has learned how to sleep in"

Raph let out a snicker "doubt it, being an early riser is pretty deeply ingrained in our big bro. I think the only reason we're up before sleeping beauty today is that all the crazy stuff that's happened the last few days has caught up with him."

Donnie nodded "it's been a crazy last forty-eight hours for Peter to say the least. This is probably the first full nights sleep he's had recently"

"Good thing I'm making his favorite: pancakes, hashbrowns and eggs!" Mikey exclaimed.

"No weird ingredients this time Mikey, I mean it" Raph narrowed his eyes

"Psshh, my ingredients are not weird!"

"Mikey"

"I'll keep it classic"

A beaming smile spread across Raph's face as Peter walked into the kitchen, whipping the sleep out of his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Morning sleepy head" Raph teased.

An embarrassed smile spread across his face as he took a seat, and Raph couldn't believe how even as a human Leo was still so Leo.

"Sorry" Peter rubbed the back of his head "I usually don't sleep in late"

"No need to apologize," Donnie smiled. "Mikey's making breakfast, do you want anything to drink"

"Do you have tea?"

Donnie smiled as he pulled the warmed tea pot off the burner.

Mikey beamed as he pulled down a box of year old Jasmine tea that he had refused to throw away.

"Thank you" Peter smiled politely "Jasmine?" Peter asked as he smelled the steaming cup.

"Yeah, is that okay"

"It's my favorite"

Donnie, Raph and Mikey exchanged a glance.

Yes some things were different but some were still the same. And they were determined to relish all of it.


Author's note:

Just a short chapter of brotherly fluff.

Hope you are all doing well, healthy, happy, safe and enjoying your summer. Thank you for sticking with this for the late update, life has been busy lately. Heads up this is going to be quite a long story if you haven't guessed already. Peter may be home now but the story isn't over :)

Ohh and for those who caught the easter egg in this chapter, I was using the last names of the actual owners of the turtles for Peter's fictional last name :)

TMNT doesn't belong to me but Peter Laird and Keven Eastman

Please, comment or review :)