A/N: - So, here you go…the next, hopefully great, chapter of my story. Have fun reading it and I hope to update with the next chapter as soon as I can. There will be no Author's note at the end of this chapter because I want to 'finish in a suspenseful fashion and leave you wanting more.' I hope you like reading this chapter and I swear that there is a massive series of fights within the next four or five chapters.

As their breath began to run out, Mikey and Leo clung to each other tighter. They had made several attempts to escape the clutches of the weed but all attempts had failed. Then, as they started to lose consciousness, Leo freed one of his feet and soon afterwards he freed the other one. He quickly swam to his brother and untangled him but Mikey was out cold. His breath had run out because he'd panicked at the beginning of their ordeal and had used his oxygen.

   Leo dragged his limp brother out onto the riverbank and led him down. He felt Mikey's throat for a pulse but could find none; his brother wasn't breathing. He put both hands on Mikey's chest and pushed down as hard as he could. After three pushes, Mikey coughed and spluttered as he rid his lungs of the lake water. Leo flopped onto the grass in relief and both turtles caught their breath before slowly walking back to the house.

    Heaving themselves up the stairs to the front door was difficult. Both of them were exhausted and wanted nothing more than to drop into bed.

    Upon reaching their bedroom, they pulled back their bedcovers and simultaneously dropped into their own beds, not caring in the slightest that they were still a bit wet.

"You still haven't told me what's wrong," Mikey whispered, pulling his duvet tighter around him.

"Nothing's wrong," Leo whispered back, also hugging the duvet to him.

"Yeah, right…am I really supposed to believe that, dude?"

"It was worth a try. Ok, if you really want to know ----"

"My sons, kindly explain what you are doing up at this hour?"

"Master Splinter?" Mikey and Leo moaned.

"You should not have been down by the lake at all,"

"We were just ---- wait, how did you know we were down by the lake?"

"I could sense your panic, Michelangelo…and your discomfort, Leonardo."

"But Master Splinter, Mikey was looking for me because he realised I wasn't here."

"And why weren't you here?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"We will talk about this in the morning. Michelangelo, I know you were concerned for your brother but you must always wake me first if there is a problem. And as for you, Leonardo, it is about time you did your brothers the honour of telling them what's wrong with you so that we can all get on with trying to beat the Shredder, understood?"

"Yes, sensei," Leo replied meekly, not daring to try and explain that he couldn't share his worries with his brothers for fear that they would think him stupid for worrying over a memory that everyone else had managed to overcome. Why couldn't he just forget last year's Christmas like everyone else seemed to have done? What was his problem? Was he just weak, or was it something more than that? Maybe he just couldn't let go of the pain he had gone through. And the thought of Raph crying more than disturbed him! That was just wrong! He definitely needed to relax more and he should probably stop being so bossy but, hey, he wasn't a super-turtle…the bossiness would have to wait until another time!

"Hey, Donnie. Breakfast?" Mikey asked his brother.

"Yeah, thanks Mike."

"Scrambled eggs?"

"Oh, don't start the egg phase again!"

"Why not? I'm good at cooking eggs…only scrambled ones, though." Mikey laughed.

"Well, why not, I can't see the harm in it!"

"Apart from maybe some food poisoning," Raph added smugly as he entered the room, stretching.

"Hey, I'm a better cook than Leo!"

"Yeah, if he was cooking I would've been in the loo for a week!"

"Someone insulting my cooking?" Leo stood in the doorway, hands on hips and eyebrows raised.

"Yeah…" Raph laughed.

"Hey, at least I don't wear a pink apron with frills!"

"Hey, leave me alone…at least I can cook," Mikey laughed in comeback to his older brother, who pretended to be offended.

"Sorry, Mikey, but I'm not that bad at cooking! I can follow a recipe but I just can't cook on my own…I usually skip stages in the recipes but oh well!"

    After breakfast, the four turtles went for a training session in the dojo and Leo and Raph were soon into a one-to-one over who used the punch bag first. They were rolling around on the floor of the dojo in a serious wrestling match.

"I'm using it first!"

"Me,"

"ME!"

"ME!!!"

"ME!!!!!!!!" Raph threw Leo off before being caught off guard as his brother swiftly regained his footing and threw himself back onto Raph.

"Mine!"

"MINE!"

"MINE!!"

"MINE!!!!"

"Actually, we're gonna use it first as you two cannot seem to decide," Donnie stated as he and Mikey punched the bag to each other. Raph and Leo stopped in mid-fight and looked at each other in annoyance before teaming up and chasing after Donnie and Mike. The four turtles hurtled through the farmhouse and its grounds, playing a huge game of 'tag'. They were acting like five year olds again. It was incredible to watch.

    The four turtles finally stopped playing and stretched out in the sun to relax. Their worries all seemed to disappear under the sun's 'healing' rays. They were feeling drowsy and dozed off one after the other to restore their energy levels; it was all perfect.

"RAAAAH!" Casey leapt onto Raph and they began to wrestle. The other turtles squinted in the bright sunlight and laughed as Raph and Casey began sending barrages of insults at each other.

"Ape-breath!"

"Bozo!"

"Crap sniffer!"

"Dog fer!"

"Elephant snogger!"

"Fat Freako!"

"Gay Gargoyle!"

"Horrible Hamster Head!"

"Illiterate geek!"

"Joking Jackass!"

"Killer hockey dude!"

"Lizard lips!"

"Monkey arms!"

"Nutter!"

"Ogre!"

"Pompous prat!"

"No, that's Leo – anyway – Queasy Quack!"

"Rancid Ragamuffin!"

"St sniffing Shredder sucker!"

"Troublemaking Twat!"

"Underdog!"

"Vile Vomit!"

"Wobbly ass!"

"Xanthic pisshead!"

"Yob!"

"Zithead!"

"Ok, that's the alphabet done…can you get off me now?"

"Yeah, sure," Casey clambered off his turtle friend, satisfied with the Verbal Bashing match.

"Do you actually know what Xanthic means?" Raph inquired.

"Yeah, it means yellowish – April taught it to me especially for this type of thing!" Casey laughed, ignoring Raph's promises to kill April.

"Evil, huh?" Leo punched Raph's shoulder, "And I don't appreciate being called a pompous prat!"

"Sorry, Leo but it can be true sometimes."

"Only when you provoke me and refuse to listen to me!"

"Sorry about that, Leo, but don't go falling off any more platforms because of it now, will you?"

"Casey!" Raph hissed at his friend.

"Oh no…I'm sorry, it just didn't come out right…I didn't mean to say it!"

"It's ok, Casey. I just need to go to the bathroom…" Leo looked extremely pale and walked off quicker than usual. Donnie got up and went after him, knowing that Leo would need someone there for him.

"Leo?" Donnie poked his head round the bathroom door. Leo was sat with his back against the wall and seemed to be doing a reasonably good job of fighting off the nausea he was suffering.

"I'm ok, Don, don't worry about me."

"You're not fooling anyone, Leo. Casey said he's really sorry…were you ?"

"No, thankfully, but I just don't get it. Why can't I just put the past behind me? I can still remember stuff that happened years ago that was bad and I can't let go of it!"

"You've always been like it…but then Raph's always been a bad-tempered asshole and Mikey's always been a prankster and I've always been…well, a brainiac." Donnie sat next to his brother and they both stared at the wall with blank looks on their faces. The one thing that let Leo open up more to Donnie was that he would never make jokes or tease him for being stupid. Donnie understood that being a leader wasn't always easy and also that just because Leo was the oldest it didn't mean he was any less vulnerable.

"Donnie, when are we going to go back to New York?"

"When Splinter says so, I guess. What do you think about it?"

"I think we should go back soon, before the Shred-head destroys the city and any more of the people Casey and April are close to."

"Yeah, Casey's really bummed out 'cause he can't go to Angel's funeral," Donnie sighed as he stood up again, offering a hand to Leo who took it gratefully and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

"I kinda feel sorry for him," Leo shrugged once he and Donnie were in the living room.

"Kinda?" Donnie turned to his older brother and eyed him quizzically.

"Yeah…he's still a bit irritating and he is, as I'm sure you'll agree, he is a complete and utter jackass!" Leo laughed.

"Jackass?" Casey was right behind them, "I was gonna apologise for what I said, Leo, but now I'm not so sure!" he sniffed in mock hurt but winked to show it was a joke; you could never tell with Casey, "Anyway, I want you guys to see what I found in your lair a long time ago…" Casey walked over to the VCR and put a tape into it. Mikey and Raph joined them and the five of them settled down to watch the video.

"Donnie, is it working?" Raph's head could be seen in the shot.

"I dunno…is the little red light on?" Donnie queried.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Look at me, Don! Get this on tape!" Mikey was doing a headstand.

"Hang on, Mikey…" The shot went in and out of focus as Donnie fiddled with the focus wheel.

"No, Don…you said you'd record me first!" Raph whined.

"Raph…"

"Donnie! I'm the oldest so I should go first! Please!" Leo joined in.

"Ok, Leo…seeing as you're the only one being sensible about this!"

"Hey! Don, I gave you the rest of that pizza!" Raph growled.

"You didn't give it to me…you threw it in my face because I corrected you!"

"No I didn't…I know how you can film me, Leo and Mikey all at once!"

"How?"

"Mikey can sit and bawl his eyes out, and I can punch Leo's head in!"

"I don't cry!" Mikey could be seen with his bottom lip trembling in the back of the shot.

"Yeah, you do…or at least you will when I rip your panda to shreds!" Raph held a panda up and began abusing it.

"NOOOOO!!" Mikey burst into tears. Leo ran over to Raph and snatched the panda, handing it back to Mikey.

"That was uncalled for, Raph."

"You starting on me, Leo?" Raph squared up to his brother.

"No, but I'm just saying that you shouldn't take Mikey's panda."

"I'll kill yours instead then!" Raph cackled insanely.

"NO, RAPH, GIVE HIM BACK!"

"Haha! Come and get it! Don, I hope you're filming this!" Raph ran past and the camera followed him. Leo caught up with his brother and grabbed his panda and threw it to Donnie for safe keeping and he and Raph began fighting. Leo pinned Raph to the ground and Raph lashed out and caught Leo just above his knee, causing him to buckle.

"Ow! Raph that really hurt."

"Yeah, well so what?" Raph stormed off and a door could be heard slamming in the background.

"Leo, are you ok?" Mikey asked crawling over to his older brother timidly.

"Yeah,"

"That's gonna leave a bad bruise!" the camera shot moved as Donnie walked over to his brothers.

"Yeah, Donnie can you stop filming now?"

"Yeah sure------!"

   "Look familiar?" Casey glanced round at his four turtle friends.

"Yeah, those were the…ummm…good days," Raph snorted.

"We look so funny!" Mikey laughed.

"We were only six, Mikey," Donnie rolled his eyes, "and anyway, you looked the silliest!"

"Whatever," Mikey stretched out on the sofa and put his hands behind his head. Leo wrinkled his nose when Mikey put his feet on Leo's lap and pushed his younger brother's cheesy feet off of him.

"I don't want those stinky things anywhere near me!"

"Hey, just 'because your feet don't smell it doesn't mean you can make fun of me…I like my feet smell!"

"You would!"

"Quit bickering with Leo, Mikey," Raph walked over and whacked his brother in orange round the head.

"What?"

"That's my job!" Raph laughed and sat on his younger brother's legs, making him squeal in pain.

"Yeah, my quarrels with Raph are definitely more frequent than the quarrels with you, Mike!"

"Yeah, and I don't argue with anyone!" Donnie laughed.

"Whatever, Don," Leo shrugged and got up from his seat and walked over to the kitchen to get a drink. He emerged a moment later with five cans of lemonade and threw one to each person in the room before sitting down again and starting to drink.

"Hey, Raph, eat bubbles!" Mikey shook up his can of drink and opened it in Raph's face so it exploded all over his older brother.

"Mikey?" Raph snarled.

"Uh-oh!" Mikey got up.

"Run, Mike," Donnie hissed at him and Mikey was off like a shot down the hallway. Raph let out an ominous growl and started after his brother.

"Mikey will need to run pretty damn fast," Leo stated, looking disapprovingly after his two brothers. Donnie nodded and bit his lip in mock worry for Mikey when really he hoped Raph actually caught his younger brother.

"Nah, he won't be able to run fast enough. Rah will catch 'im before he gets to the end of the hall!"

    Sure enough, a series of high pitched screams at the end of hall indicated that Mikey had, indeed, been caught and when they poked their heads round the door they saw Raph attacking Mikey, who was on his front on the floor, and twisting his arm behind his back. Mikey was screaming and whining as his brother continued to attack him.

"Leo, Donnie, Casey, help me! Report Raph to Sensei!"

"Actually, I think I'm gonna pretend I didn't see this!" Leo turned and walked in the opposite direction with Donnie and Casey close behind him and whistling innocently.

"YOU TRAITORS!" Mikey screeched after them.

    That night when they were at dinner, Mikey was glaring daggers at his brothers and making a particular point of ignoring them by talking twice as much to Splinter and April. They were trying to scavenge what they could because none of them were in the position to just walk into town and go shopping! So their dinner was bread and butter (which was slightly too hard for comfort) and some chocolate cookies. They used the last of the fizzy drinks and the food was running out fast.

"We need to put the next part of the plan into action," Leo pointed out, voicing what everyone else was thinking.

"You got an idea, bro?" Raph asked, looking up at Leo.

"Maybe…it's risky…"

"Everything is risky these days, my sons." Splinter stood up, "Leonardo, please come with me. I wish to know of this plan before your brothers raise their hopes too high."

"Yes, Sensei,"

Leo followed his master out of the room and they went into Splinter's room, where Splinter lit several candles and motioned for Leonardo to sit down.

"Tell me of your idea, Leonardo," Splinter lowered his head and closed his eyes, a sure sign he was listening.

"Well, maybe we could catch Shredder out; he hasn't always got his Foot soldiers with him. We may have to take out Hun first but sneaking up on the Shredder shouldn't be a problem. He fell for the crash and he could fall for this."

"I think that is an absolutely…excellent idea," Splinter opened his eyes and smiled, "there is no other way to do it and it's certainly a better plan than I had got planned."

"What was your plan, Master Splinter?"

"To wait until they found us but that is even more risky because they would have full force with them then."

"Then let's go…tonight."

"That was exactly what I was going to suggest. Fetch your brothers and Casey. April will stay here to gather medical supplies and keep watch. Go, now!"

"Yes, Sensei," Leo bowed and left the room, leaving Splinter to some final meditation.

"Guys, tonight is the night - if we are to defeat Shredder and save New York, we must do it tonight. April, you will stay here. Casey will accompany us and----"

"Kick Shredder's ass!" Casey punched the air and there was an awkward silence. April hugged each of them in turn, taking longer over Casey than everything else, and wished them good luck. Finally, Splinter emerged from his room and they all knew the time had come.