A/N

I'm baaaaack from the dead, baby!

No, seriously. I swear, I'm okay! It's just... wow, moving and remodeling two houses turns out to involve a lot of time consuming work! Who knew! And my job is one that became super busy with the whole pandemic thing, so I've been working a lot of extra hours and, just in general, life has not been a kind mistress when it comes to pursuing my hobbies.

BUT! Things have calmed down, the weather's getting better, and most of the move is completed with critters all settled in and happy. So, hopefully, I'll have more free time for a while. I hope so, I really want to finish this story soon and start tickling out some of those other story threads bumping around my brain.

Chapter 18: Musings

Leo easily stepped through the darkness of his still-unfamiliar new home, rubbing the fluffy towel over his head to wipe off the last bits of moisture off of his scales.

His senses reached outwards and quickly picked up the three wonderful, colorful auras that he had missed for so long in the area he recalled where the kitchen table was, still mingled with those of April and Casey. As he padded across the smooth stone floor (which he noted was now impeccably cleared of every and any object that Leo could possibly trip over), he noted absently that everybody seemed to be gathered by the table, talking low about something that Leo couldn't quite overhear. He could also make out the slight sound of marker squeaking against the surface of fresh tag board.

Hm. If he knew his brothers, then he knew that sound meant that a flow chart was currently in the works. One of Donnie's favorite past times. And, from the sounds of the intense whispering conversation going on as they all leaned over the table, all of his clan were highly involved in whatever was being created.

He sensed Raph's aura perk up as his brother apparently noticed him approaching, and instantly there was the scrape of chair legs against the wooden floor as his red aura quickly got up and hurried over. Leo couldn't help but give a small, happy smile as he felt a strong, sturdy three fingered hand take him gently by the elbow. He momentarily pondered flipping Raph over in response to the excessive coddling, but, truth be told, it still hadn't been even twenty four hours ago he was alone and still wondering if he would ever find his brothers, and the feelings were still very raw and fresh. Now that he had finally found them after all this time, he had to admit he was still feeling a little clingy himself. The physical touch of his brother in this world of darkness was very much welcome and reassuring, even if it was a bit patronizing.

He'd just have to set his brothers straight later if they kept it up.

"Hey guys." he greeted them all as Raph guide him the rest of the way towards the rest of the group, where he could sense Mikey already had a chair pulled out and ready for him.

"So, it seemed like you enjoyed yourself, Leo." April voice observed, a hint of amusement in her lovely voice.

"Hmn. Very much so." he nodded with a grin as he settled into the chair. "I can't tell you how good a warm, clean bath felt after months of cold streams and showers in the rain."

He tactfully didn't mention the baby monitor he had found outside the bathroom door, and in return, his family pretended that such an offending device never existed in the first place.

"I bet." Mikey's aura moved close, and then a warm, smooth ceramic mug was pushed into his hands, smelling wonderfully of jasmine tea. "Here you go, bro. Best to take care of both the inside and out!"

Leo blinked, pleasantly surprised, and brought the cup of tea up to his beak to sniff at it appreciatively, before taking a sip. He exhaled and sat back in his seat with a contented sigh and feeling unbelievably spoiled. "Oh, this is good. Thank you Mikey."

He noted that Donnie seemed to have picked something large, flat, and flexible off the table, most likely the tagboard he had been writing on before, and had turned to quietly try and tape it up to the wall. Unfortunately, although he could sense the tagboard as it was being quietly moved about, he was unable to see what his brothers had written on its surface.

"So what's that for?" Leo asked curiously.

"Hm?" Donnie's aura froze in place, still holding the tagboard up against the wall. "What's what for?"

"That tagboard you're taping up." Leo clarified. "Is it one of your flowcharts?"

"Wait, what?" Donnie sounded surprised and, oddly enough, a little guilty, like his hand had been caught in the cookie jar or something. His aura quickly shifted to stand in front of it, blocking it from Leo as if trying to hide it from him in a slight panic. "Leo, you're blind! How can you see this?!"

"Ninja senses." Leo said simply, sipping on his tea, his blind eyes narrowing with increasing suspiciousness. "So what's going on? Is this about the Neofoot, or some other new danger I'm unaware of?" Were they planning something? A lot of new information had been brought up in their previous conversations, and he knew that there was still a lot that he himself needed to be brought up to date about. This was obviously as good a time as any for a good old strategy meeting.

"Uhhhh…" Donnie was obviously fishing for an answer.

But before he could come up with anything, Casey jumped into the conversation. "They were just coming up with a list of rules for Mikey." There was a pause as apparently everybody stopped to stare at him, and he finished a little more weakly, "Y'know, to keep him from pranking you and such. You.. you all know how Mikey is."

"Really?" Leo turned his attention to Casey, still not completely convinced. "This is about… Mikey's pranks."

"Oh Leo!" And he was caught by surprise as Mikey suddenly threw his arms around him dramatically, and he had to hurriedly steady his teacup to avoid spilling anything with the unexpected jolt. "They're stifling my creativity!"

"What?" Leo was a little startled and now a little alarmed that this might actually be a thing. "Why? What were you planning?"

"Oh mah gosh! I just only realized! There's just so much to consider now!" Mikey almost bounced with excitement. "Why, just think of the Halloween costume possibilities alone! You could dress up like Stevie Wonder! Or, ooh! How about the three blind mice?!"

"Mikey…!" Raph's aura bristled up immediately, and he growled warningly at him through gritted teeth, his hands reached over to try pushing him off of Leo. "That's not funny."

"I… don't get it." Leo blinked in confusion, still balancing his teacup in both hands and relying on years of experience to not spill a drop even with the two brothers scuffling over him. "How could I dress like three blind mice when there's only one of me?"

"Psh, bro." Mikey sounded slightly distracted against the backdrop of slapping noises as he resisted Raph's attempts to reign him in. "You just lack imagination! I can think of at least three different costume designs to achieve that character concept."

Leo was suddenly left to resume drinking his tea in peace when the orange and red auras rolled off of him and split apart as Mikey broke loose from Raph's grip and dashed behind April for safety. Leo could hear Raph huff and give an offended snarl, and, if he knew his brothers at all, he figured that Mikey was probably currently sticking out his tongue tauntingly. Raph couldn't risk getting to Mikey while April was there, so apparently he just settled for hovering beside Leo protectively. Probably shooting their youngest brother death glares, if Leo had a guess.

Apparently Mikey was now fully on a roll now, intrigued by all the possibilities of the existence of 'rules' for him to dance around. If he hadn't been thinking about the possibilities of pranks before, he certainly was now. His aura hopped up to perch on the hard surface of the countertop, still safely behind the shield known as April. "And Leo! I was also thinking! Since you now sense things through touch, we shouldn't deprive you of the beauty of art. Thus" his voice here grew noble and theatric, "I volunteered my services as Master of Macoroni Art to produce wondrous illustrations of different artistic visions for you to ponder over with your fingertips."

"Um. Yeah… no." Leo said flatly, putting his teacup down. "Mikey, don't think that I've forgotten the time when we had that argument about putting your drawing of the Shredder's butt in a place of honor on the refrigerator. I don't know if I want to try and interpret a piece of your 'art' through touch."

Donnie had meanwhile quietly taped a new, second tagboard up on the wall next to the first one. "'No... inappropriate macaroni art... that Leo has to touch to figure... out what it is.'" From the sounds of the marker squeaks, Donnie was writing the words down as he spoke them. Then there was the satisfied click of a marker lid being snapped back on, and the purple aura stepped back. "Okay. That's now added to 'Mikey's List', which is a list that most definitely, absolutely exists now."

"There shouldn't have to be a list!" Raph hissed. His strong, warm fingers were resting gently on Leo's shoulders, apparently he was being considerate enough to provide Leo with constant physical contact even as his red aura bristled protectively over him. "I can't believe I even have to say this, but this isn't the time to play practical jokes on Leo, Mikey!"

"At the very least, I was expecting a bit of a honeymoon period." Leo sipped at his tea again bemusedly. "I was predicting at least a week or two before I needed to be on my guard once more."

Ah well. He was surprised to find that the threat of pranks was strangely comforting. That just meant that, even in this new place, things were starting to already feel a little more like home, and his brothers were really, truly okay. He was starting to feel hopeful that soon life would shift a little more back to some semblance of normal.

"I'm serious Mikey. It's not like how it used to be in the old days!" Raph growled warningly, immediately dashing those hopes as his fingers tightened slightly on Leo's shell. "Leo needs our help right now. If you're not careful, you could seriously hurt him!"

"'Leo' is also sitting right next to you, well within earshot, Raph." Leo huffed, getting a little annoyed. "You can talk to me directly, you know, instead of talking over me like I'm not even here."

"Oh. I, Um…" Raph froze, suddenly a bit flustered. "I… I wasn't trying to… to… Y'know…" He cleared his throat. "Uh, sorry 'bout that, Leo."

"It's okay." Leo finished off the last of his tea and set the cup aside. "And don't worry about Mikey's pranks. I've had a whole lifetime of dealing with them, remember?" He held up a hand in Mikey's direction. "And just to give you a warning, Mikey, that lectures do not require eyesight in the slightest, and I have about two years worth stored up that I'm more than willing to unleash if needed."

"Eep!" Mikey's voice was filled with mock horror. "Leo Lectures! I almost forgot about them!"

"Ha! Oh Leo! Have we ever missed you!" April laughed, and her aura walked over and in a moment her warm, human arms wrapped around his shoulders, giving him a quick squeeze. "Unfortunately, while this has been amazing and I can't tell you how happy I am that you're alive and back, Casey and I have really got to get going now. We're really late for work as it is."

"Yeah, using the good ol' 'getting caught in traffic' excuses has its limitations." Casey agreed. "I guess we can try to embellish it a bit with tales of a gang of bank robbers trying to hijack the bus in a desperate attempt at a getaway, leading to a high speed chase with the cops that ended in a fiery crash, but I know from experience that even that will only get you so far."

"That's fair." Leo agreed good naturedly, then tilted his head curiously up in the direction he sensed her face was. "Would you guys like an escort? We could go out with you. I think it'd be good to stretch our legs out and reconnect for a bit, all four of us."

"Wait." Casey's voice had a bit of a squeak to it. "You mean as in you, Leo… personally going outside? Out of the safety of the lair and above ground where it could be dangerous?!"

"Oh, relax, Casey. I can handle myself just fine, and my brothers will be with me." Leo scoffed.

And the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. The thought of going out into the city with his brothers at his side was actually rather exciting after all this time, plus this was an excellent opportunity to show them his new skills at navigating the city, even while blind. He immediately perked up as he thought of something else. "Oh, say, would either of your workplaces be near a good farmer's market by any chance? I'm hoping to find these little citrus fruits called kumquats." He held up his hands to demonstrate their general shape and how small they were. "They're kind of both sweet and sour, and you can eat the peel as well as the pulp. There were a bunch of them on the island that I lived on for a bit, and I kind of grew kind of fond of them while there." He lowered his hands and tried not to look too hopeful as he added, "Plus, I've learned to make a really good sauce for fish with them that I'd like to make for you guys sometime. Maybe we could pick some up on our way home."

He could still sense some hesitancy among everybody around him and, hoping to appease any apprehension and to give the excursion the air of a more legitimate purpose, put on his best 'strategic leader' tone, and added, "At the very least, I would like to learn the lay of this area around our new home a little better. Y'know, where April and Casey live and work, where we get our supplies, things like that. " He already found himself slipping back comfortably into his old role, and decided that he had had enough of the coddling. It was time to show them that he could still be their leader! "Plus, it'll give us a chance to talk tactics on what defense we have, and what we can do to bolster them further. After all, the NeoFoot may be absent right now, but they're not gone. They might come back at any time, and we should be ready for them."

Immediately there was a change in the atmosphere as a spike of emotions rippled through everybody's aura at once, startling him with its intensity.

And before Leo even knew what had happened, he found himself suddenly herded over to the couch, propped up with pillows and wrapped securely up in a warm blanket.

"What…" Leo started, a little taken aback as another hot cup of tea was pushed into his hands.

"We'll go out together some other time, Leo. I promise." Donnie said soothingly as a strong, three fingered hand rubbed his shell. "But… but the route between April and Casey's workplace is a little tricky, and you still need to catch up on your rest. Plus, I think it's still raining outside. So tell you what, Leo. Raph and I can go out with them and make sure April and Casey arrive at work safely..."

"Which we totally will!" Casey's voice added with a little too much forced sincerity. "Absolutely nothing to worry about out there! Nope! Everything's cool!"

There was a muffled thud and a small pained grunt as if the red aura standing next to him had just slugged him.

"...And while we're out doing that," Donnie continued patronizingly. "Mikey will stay here in the lair with you, where it's nice and warm and dry. I'm sure you're tired of being out in the rain all the time."

"Yes, but…" Leo blinked.

"We can all go out together when the weather's a bit nicer." Donnie said soothingly. "Raph and I will be back before you know it."

And then there had been a rush of hugs and goodbyes and people moving around, and then nothing. The lair was now empty except for an orange aura moving around in the kitchen.

Nestled in the cocoon of blankets and pillows, Leo held the warm ceramic mug of tea in both hands and blinked, wondering just when he had lost control of the situation.

"No worries, bro. Doctor Donnie and Mister Grumpenstien will be back at your side and bugging you again in no time." Mikey's voice carried over as it drew closer, and the couch cushion next to him sunk down under his youngest brother's weight as the warm, solid body radiating orange snuggled up next to him. "Your favorite littlest brother is here to take care of you! Did you need anything? More pillows? Foot rubs? Is your tea warm enough? I can read you a book or comic books if you want. Just say the word! Anything you want, Leo!"

Leo sighed and set aside the cup of tea, turning to the orange aura. "Mikey. Tell me the truth. What's really going on?"

Mikey's arms wrapped around him, and he found himself caught up in a tight hug. "Psh. You worry too much. What's going on is that we're just so happy that you're alive and back!"

"Really." Leo was hardly convinced.

"Yes, really." Mikey snuggled innocently up under his chin. "Leo, just relax, bro! Trust us to take care of you. We missed you so much, and now it's our turn to spoil you rotten."

Leo's eyes narrowed. He could tell when Mikey was trying to butter him up and distract him from whatever plot was brewing behind his back.

He felt Mikey give just the smallest of trembles against him and squeeze him just a little tighter, but he couldn't see what expression was on his little brother's face right now.

Leo exhaled slowly. At least… he was fairly certain he could tell.

...Right?

Cloaked in darkness and unable to see Mikey's face, Leo felt a twinge of uncertainty. He hesitated for a moment, then tentatively lifted a hand and touched his orange brother's face. Mikey nuzzled his hand happily, and, encouraged, Leo grew bolder and spent a moment tracing the corner of the eyes that were crinkled up with happiness and gazing up at him, and the warm cheeks that he knew were freckled upturned and sculpted by that familiar happy, dopey grin that he could envision so well.

Obviously thrilled at the attention, Leo could feel Mikey beam happily under his touch, and his expression felt open and loving.

Snuggled up to him, Mikey seemed to be genuinely thrilled to be with Leo once more, and he murmured with total and complete sincerity, "We really, really, REALLY missed you, Leo."

Leo melted almost immediately, and hugged Mikey back tightly. "I missed you too, little brother."

He suddenly felt a twinge of guilt for doubting his brothers like that. It was beyond obvious that they had missed him and had been grieving deeply for him all this time. After almost two years of believing him to be dead, it was only natural that emotions would be running wild and unpredictably. Of course things would be chaotic for a while! He just needed to be patient, trust his brothers, and be there for them when they needed him. Soon enough things would go back to normal.

And right now, he figured that the best thing he could do to help Mikey and his brothers was to let them adjust, and to just trust them.

Leo sat back and cleared his throat, his hand still lightly resting on Mikey's cheek. "So... Can I have an official tour of our new lair?" he asked in Mikey's direction with a smile.

"Dude! Of course!" Mikey was obviously thrilled at the prospect, and he scrambled off the couch, his warm hands grabbing at Leo's and helping him stand up. Sliding under his arm, he excitedly stated, "Come on, you're going to love it here, Leo! We've worked hard to make it feel like a real home!"

Leo happily let his little orange brother tuck under his arm and steer him along, chuckling. "Lead the way, little brother."

Raph brushed aside broken cables dangling from the ceiling as he and Donnie stepped carefully through the charred and broken tunnel. Cracked cement and broken tiles littered the floor leading through the dark up to the half destroyed entrance yawning ominously in the old subway tunnels. He frowned, skirting a twisted metal bar sticking out of the wall. "It's strange being back here like this."

"Indeed." Donnie absently agreed, using his bo to help him hop over a large, broken piece of cement ceiling that now lay in the path.

Raph wouldn't ever admit it out loud, but never liked coming their old lair. Not anymore, anyways. Walking through the ruins of what had once been their old home, the broken walls still haunted by so many old memories, always left him feeling backed up and almost overwhelmed with a mess of overpowering emotions. It just didn't seem right, looking around the place where he had grown up beside his father and brothers, where they had felt so happy and protected and safe, and seeing everything burned and broken all around him.

It reminded him of when they had lost everything.

It reminded him of when they had lost Leo.

His lips tightened as he stepped past the shattered turnstiles and stood at the top of the steps, pausing to carefully scanned the room around him.

"Let's split up." Donnie looked around the old lair unsurely. From the way he was clutching his bo, worrying at the cloth handgrip wrappings, Raph was fairly certain that his genius brother was feeling the same way and thinking similar thoughts about this place. "We know for certain that the NeoFoot know about this place, and there's a good chance they've dropped by looking for clues."

"Yeah." Raph nodded, watching Donnie head towards his old lab. He rubbed his arm uncomfortably for a moment, then turned to the other side of the lair to start searching, pointedly avoiding looking at Leo's old room. At least, for now anyways. He knew that logically, if the NeoFoot were looking for signs of his recently returned older brother, that would be one of the places they searched. But… Leo's altar that they set up when they thought he was dead was still in there... and Raph had only just convinced himself that his brother was really still alive, and… and…

He'd look in there later. Right now, he'd search the kitchen first.

Immediately, he noted that the particularly bad collapse that had blocked the hallway leading up to the dojo had been partially cleared out, leaving a small gap where one could squeeze through if they were careful, and he moved over to investigate this change. He crouched up on top of a particularly large chunk of rock near the cave in and studied the ground before him with a frown. Without glancing up, he called his purple brother. "Yo. Donnie."

"Hm?" Donnie's head poked out of his old lab. "Find something?"

Raph merely tilted his towards the rubble strewn ground in front of him. Carefully picking his way across the destroyed lair, Donnie stood next to his red brother to take a look. His face darkened considerably.

There, outlined in the dust and small rubble strewn across the floor, were the clear outlines of the three toed footprints unique to himself and his brothers.

A single set of footprints of a lone mutant turtle who had at some point in the recent past obviously been working on moving aside rubble to dig out that small path in the rubble to try and make his way through to the dojo, desperate to find his brothers. The brothers who had never bothered clearing out that passageway, because the paper wall overlooking the tire swing and the rest of the former lair had been blown out, leaving only splintered wook and tatters of burned paper. That left a gaping hole up at the top of the lair's wall that left access to the destroyed dojo located on the upper floor. Raph, Donnie, and Mikey had just jumped or climbed up there to survey the damage and gather what they could. While normally a difficult jump, they were trained ninjas, and made the leap easily. And, after clearing out and tossing down what possessions they could salvage, they had never really had the need or desire to go back in up there.

But, of course, Leo was now blind and couldn't see that alternate path that they had taken. Heck, he probably couldn't have even made that jump up there anymore even if he had known about it. (And Raph knew exactly who's fault that was, and it wasn't Leo's.)

But Leo's footprints in the rubble weren't what caught their attentions. No… what had Donnie's brow creased in concern and Raph fairly bristling with silent rage, were the tabi-wearing, human shaped footprints alongside and surrounding those of their brother's.

Raph's jaw was clenched tight, and he let out a long, drawn out breath through his nose. Then he reached down and carefully traced one of the intruder's footprints. "Think there were two of them." he noted, being careful not to disturb the dust too much. "Definitely Foot training here, judging by the way they move about." He sat back on his haunches, resting his muscled arms on his thighs. "And I'm fairly certain that they ain't Karai's."

"The NeoFoot." Donnie breathed, looking around them as if the intruders still might be hiding in the shadows of the ruins.

"Bastards." Raph snarled.

Donnie snorted, and didn't seem to disagree with that particular sentiment.

Raph's electric green eyes continued to study the tracks. "They came in two, maybe three days after..." He paused and withdrew his hand, looking around the area suspiciously, before continuing a little more loudly, "After one of us was here, making these earlier prints." he emphasized to nobody in particular.

Donnie quickly caught on to what Raph was implying. Behind his purple mask, his reddish-brown eyes flashed with a dangerous and determined glint, and he immediately turned to silently start prowling through the old lair, lightly creeping over every mountain of broken cement and hopping up to investigate little hidden nooks and crannies on both the floor and the ceiling.

Finally, just in a little alcove just above the kitchen counters, he clicked his tongue and shook his head in disapproval. "Found it."

"Figured." Raph wondered with a frown as he stood up and walked over. "Does it have audio?"

Donnie peered at the small electronic device sitting on top of the broken cupboards. "Hm. Yeah, looks like it. I see a camera lens and a small microphone, and this right here…" He pointed to something that Raph couldn't see, "... Pretty sure that's a motion detector. My guess is that they set it to record when it senses movement."

"So they've been watching us since we came in." Raph growled. "They know we're here?"

Donnie shrugged as he continued to study the device. "Possibly?" Apparently convinced that it wasn't trapped, he picked it up and turned it over in his hands. "Though they're probably not getting live feed from this thing. I don't see much of a transmitter, and it's difficult to penetrate the sewer walls this deep. Looking at the technology here, at most, they might've gotten a ping on a cellphone or something. My guess is that it sent a text or alert that there's activity going on in the lair here, and is now recording us right now for them to download and watch later, when they arrive."

"Pity." Raph snorted. "I was kind of hoping they could hear us. I have more than a few choice words I'd like to share with them."

"Grab a scrap of paper and jot it down." Donnie suggested, pulling a screwdriver from his belt. "Since they're probably already going to guess that we're onto them, it wouldn't hurt to send them a message. I'm going to see if I can't find any clues from this, delete all the data,and then we can leave the dismantled remains of their little toy for them to find next to a few words of your choosing, telling them just what you think of them."

"I like the way you're thinking, Dee." Raph gave a wolfish grin, approving of this plan. He immediately began scouting around for a blank, intact piece of scrap paper laying around. "Probably shouldn't take too long, though, just in case they really were alerted. As much as I'd enjoy putting my sai through a Footbot's face or three, we can't really get into a fight right now."

"Agreed." Donnie grunted, already starting to skillfully peel the case off the small electronic device and pulling out various pieces. "Which is disappointing. I know both your many, many opinions of the NeoFoot, and your particular creativeness when it comes to vulgar language. I would've loved to see what masterpiece you would come up with given the time."

Raph found a suitable page torn out of an old book, and pulled out a marker. He swept rocks and dust from the most intact part of the counter he could find, and spread the paper down, running the tip of the marker over the paper in swift, confident strokes. "Well, tell ya what. I'll get a whole proper manifesto all typed up and ready to go for the next time we find ourselves in this situation. I'll let ya proofread it and everything."

"Then I look forward to being properly scandalized by the foul language." Donnie said agreeably, pulling out what looked like a memory card and glancing it over. "And having my vocabulary expanded, I'm sure."

A few minutes of quick work later, Donnie had all the pieces he needed safely stowed to look over for clues later, and while he worked on leaving behind a couple of very well concealed surveillance devices of his own to keep an eye on the place, Raph began tastefully arranging the remaining pieces of the NeoFoot's disassembled surveillance device in the shape of a hand flipping the bird on the countertop, which, once finished, he left acting a paperweight for a very brief yet very, VERY threatening note written in bold marker.

And then the two brothers left their old, broken home behind, quickly disappearing back into the maze of sewer tunnels like wisps of smoke, determined to avoid the NeoFoot soldiers (or maybe worse) that they knew would probably be arriving soon.

Once they were deep in the old, abandoned parts of the sewers, well clear of the old lair and any NeoFoot listening devices they may have missed, Raph spoked tensely, currently holding his phone as they walked and tapping at the screen as he searched for something. "Do you think this means that they know that Leo's back in New York now?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." Donnie exhaled, looking back over his shoulder with concern. "After all, we are mutant turtles, and most humans can't seem to tell the difference between us when we're not wearing color coded masks, even when we're standing right in front of them. So I'm hoping that, along the same vein, the NeoFoot can't tell the difference between our footprints either. After all, we've visited the lair many times in the past, alone or as a group. It's not at all unreasonable those footprints were one of us three visiting our old lair."

"Yeah.." Raph exhaled slowly.

Donnie shrugged and tried to sound upbeat. "Hopefully the NeoFoot were just there grasping at straws, and looking anywhere they can for clues. I know it looks bad but's still very possible that they are still unaware that Leo's back in the city."

"Well, we're going to make damn well sure that they don't ever find him." Raph growled, still glued to his tPhone's screen. Without looking up, he gestured for them to take a turn at an intersection, and then turned to start walking down it, shoulders still bunched up tensely. "They ain't going to get anywhere near him again. Ever."

"Agreed." Donnie agreed wholeheartedly as he followed him down the dark, dusty stone sewer corridor. "But there is a positive side to what we saw today, I suppose. Even if the NeoFoot do realize those are Leo's footprints and not one of ours, we can at least be reasonably sure of the fact that they're looking in the wrong spot. Which means that they still don't have any idea of where our new lair is."

"Yeah… Well, I still don't like any of it." Raph's face darkened. He frowned, studying his phone screen, slowing down as they approached an old, rusted metal ladder heading upwards to the levels above. "The fruit things that Leo wanted, they were called kumquats, right?'

"Huh? Oh Yes, I believe so." Donnie glanced up at the ladder and the hatch above it. "Is that our next stop?'

"Yeah." Raph tucked his phone into his belt and turned to grab the ladder, grunting a little as he pulled himself up. "Looked it up, and saw that there should be a market near here that stocks them. Let's see if we can't find him any."

Back at the new lair, Mikey and Leo had arrived at the phase of the 'Grand Tour' that left them both sprawled next to one another on the cool stone floor around the pool of sea water in the center of the lair. Leo lay comfortably on the his plastron at the edge of the pool, chin resting on one arm while letting the other dangle curiously in the cool water, letting the salty sea water lap gently against the scales of his forearm. Mikey was laying close next to him and poking at the water with little experimental twirls and splashes that sent ripples and vibrations against Leo's arm.

Leo absently swished his arm slowly through the water, feeling the vibration created by himself and Mikey bounce around the underwater wall and getting a feel for the size and scope of the tunnel below. Through the underwater tremors, he was able to scope out that the water went straight down a smooth tunnel wide enough to drive a car through, but he couldn't sense any bottom. "So how deep does this go?"

"Like, super deep. The tunnel here goes all the way down and out to the harbor." Mikey's aura and tone were a little distracted as he talked, as if he were just now realizing how fascinating it was now that he was examining it with his big brother. "There's a big cavern way down there too, just below us. Donnie thinks the Kraang used it for parking some of their smaller underwater vehicles. He says he's thinking about making another turtle submarine or something that we can use someday, but I don't think that's made it past the 'notes on napkins scribbled madly in the middle of the night during a fit of insomnia' phase."

"Huh." Leo thoughtfully, lifting his hand up out of the water and flicking the water from his fingers, listening to the drops hit the surface. "Well, I like the idea of an alternative exit, but how have we secured it to make sure we don't have any unexpected visitors?"

After finding their old lair in the state it was, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that his brothers wouldn't taking any chances of a repeat of that happening ever again, and he was curious as to the defenses they had set up in his absence. Sleeping gas aside, of course.

"Oh, well, there's a fancy solid metal gateway down there with some pretty heavy blast doors left over from the lair's old Kraang days." Mikey's voice mused thoughtfully as he sat up and shifted around. Leo sensed him move to dangle his feet in the pool next to him, kicking his feet and occasionally wiggling his toes in the water as he talked. "Which, of course, Donnie hijacked and took over almost immediately. We also brainstormed together and added a few extra security measures, just to be safe. Raphie came up with the idea of a bunch of motion detectors installed all over the place. I, personally, wanted piranha's with lasers, buuuuut after being reminded that they're freshwater fish and this is saltwater, and that sharks are too big to keep down there long term, I settled for underwater cannons that shoots taser nets." He paused, and kicked up a small wave. "Donnie, of course, is awesome, and built them for me, even though Raph thought the whole idea was dumb. So, just to warn you, there are underwater cannons that shoot taser nets installed down there." He paused, then added, "But they're mostly on the other side of the gate, and have all sorts of safety features installed, so you'd have to try super hard to get tased by one."

"If we go swimming down there later, I'll be sure to follow your lead." Leo chuckled, and continued to rest his chin on his forearm, still feeling out the pool with swirls of his fingers. "Y'know, the fish idea wasn't that bad, though. I'm not talking about piranhas or sharks or anything dangerous, mind you, but it probably wouldn't hurt to stock this pool with some types of smaller, edible fish. Maybe some crabs or oysters as well. It'd be nice to have a supply of fresh food available if we get stuck down her for a while."

"Oh, like a fish farm?" Mikey's aura perked up next to him. "Oh man, I'm totally in for that! It'd be like we had our own giant fishbowl, right in the middle of the lair!"

"If we do this, you're not naming any of them." Leo warned him with a playful splash. "Last thing we need is you draping the lair in black mourning cloth and playing funeral music as 'George' or 'Fred' baked in the oven or something."

Mikey laughed, ducking under the spray of water and obviously amused by the thought. "Oh please! I'd come up with far more superior names than that! Like 'Finnie Borscalo' or 'Gillbert'." He chuckled, then, after a moment shifted a bit where he was sitting. "So... I suppose you ended up eating a lot of fish while stranded on an island, huh?"

It was obvious from his tone and posture that Mikey was dying of curiosity about Leo's adventures while he was gone, but also unsure if that was a sensitive topic.

"Yup." Leo indulged his little brother. "As well as squid, crabs, and whatever else I could fish up out of the streams and oceans. Later in my stay there, I learned how to make nets and traps, but at first, the only way I could figure out was to basically tackle the fish and wrestle it to shore." Leo shook his head, an amused smile on his face. "I have to admit that the first few times I attempted that were... less than graceful."

Mikey's chuckle was more wistful and less amused than Leo had thought it would be, and he tipped over a bit to flop across Leo's shell, and he whispered, "Wish I could've been there with you."

"Yeah." Leo exhaled. "Me too, Mikey." He went back to running his hand through the water, enjoying the feeling of a brother sprawled on his shell. He added, "I'll teach you how to tackle a fish later, if you'd like. I've gotten pretty good at it"

Mikey's hand reached up to pet Leo on top of the head. "I'd like that, bro."

After that, they spent several minutes just laying on the pool's edge, lazily listening to the water lap gently against the stone edges and the soft, muffled sounds of the radio that Mikey had left on in his room upstairs.

Then the sound of the elevator across the room in front of them rumbled softly to life, and they perked up. A second later, the doors slid quietly open, and two familiar auras stepped out, walking back into the lair.

"Raphie! Donnie!" Mikey chirped, pushing up off of Leo's shell. "You're back, bros!"

"Hey Mikey." Donnie's voice greeted back warmly as quiet footsteps padded across the floor towards them, and then their purple brother was there, crouching down nearby and reaching out to help as Leo sat up as well. "And hey Leo. I hope Mikey behaved himself while we were gone?"

"Donnie!" Mikey spoke excitedly before Leo could say anything, leaping up to grasp at their startled brother. "Leo was talking about getting some fish to put into the pool! I wanna get one of those fancy goldfish with spots and I'm going to name her Piebald and love her and teach her tricks!"

"Mikey..." Donnie's aura struggled to peel the orange aura off his arm. "Goldfish are freshwater fish as well."

"What? Oh. Darnit." Mikey sounded disappointed. "Maybe I'll get a pufferfish then."

"I was talking about fish as a food source, Mikey. Not pets." Leo stood up, moving quickly to do so before the two brothers next to him noticed and tried to help when he definitely didn't need it, and brushed the floor dust off his plastron and legs. "I'm glad you guys made it back just fine. Everything go okay out there? You didn't get too wet out in the rain, did you?"

"Oh. Uh... yeah." Donnie cleared his throat. "Yeah, it's still fairly cloudy, but we were fortunate in that the rain held off while we were traveling. And now that April and Casey are off to work safe and sound, there's no further reason to go outside, and we can spend the rest of the afternoon here, warm and cozy in our lair together, doing whatever you want, Leo."

Leo could sense Raph moving into the kitchen and could tell from his movements and the way his aura shifted that he was carrying something heavy hoisted up on his strong shoulders. Then there was a slight thump as he set what Leo guessed was a good sized wooden crate down on the counter. "Hey. Yo Leo." he said, stepping back. "Got you some of those kumquat fruits that you wanted while we were out."

"What? Oh, really?" Leo perked up, and moved over towards Raph's aura and the crate, intrigued now that he could smell the faint scent of citrus. "I didn't mean for you guys to go out of your way to find them right away. Where did you even find them? I hope it wasn't too difficult."

"Nah." Raph's voice said gruffly, digging around in the crate for a second before turning towards Leo. "Noticed there was marketplace that had them close by, and stopped by on our way home." He reached out and carefully took Leo's hand, placing a smooth, oval familiar fruit in his palm. "This what you wanted?"

Leo happily brought up the fruit to sniff at it, and immediately powerful images were conjured up of the nights he spent on the island, sitting around a fire and petting a purring cat on his lap while listening to the Ancient One talk in that old, creaky, nasally voice. He was surprised how nostalgic he felt for those two. "Yeah." he breathed out. "That's the fruit that grew on the island I lived on. It was the first real foods I ate there. I'm glad you were able to find some." he turned and smiled in Raph's direction. "Thank you."

He couldn't see Raph's face, but his brother cleared his throat awkwardly, his feet shuffling slightly from side to side. "Yeah. No problem, Leo."

"What else did you guys bring home?" Leo asked curiously, turning back to the crate.

"Nothing else. Just the kumquats here." Donnie stood next to Leo, apparently peering in the crate himself. "There wasn't really anything else we needed. April and Casey already got us most the groceries we needed, and we wanted to get home to you and Mikey."

"Wait." Leo blinked, feeling the heavy wooden crate in disbelief. Kumquats were only about the size of a large olive, and this large crate was loaded. "This... this is all kumquats? This whole crate?!"

Donnie paused, and then sheepishly admitted, "Okay, we might've gone a little overboard. We didn't know how many you wanted, though, and thought we'd play it safe."

"I'll admit, I was thinking... like a small grocery bag full." Leo ran his hand over the pile of small fruits. There had to be nearly a hundred pieces of fruit in there, if not more. How many fruit stalls and markets had they plundered for this?! Kumquats weren't exactly an abundant or cheap product in New York.

Next to Leo, Mikey rummaged around in the box for a second. "You should know by now, Leo, that neither Raphie or Donnie do things small."

"Don't call me Raphie, Mikey!" Raph growled a little defensively. "And you said you wanted some fruits, we got you some fruits!"

"I'm not mad or anything!" Leo quickly clarified, peering over the edge of the crate with sightless eyes and sniffing at the contraband held within. "I'm... Well. Frankly, I'm actually kind of impressed."

Raph's aura unfurled from it's defensive posture at Leo's words, and then even fluffed a little in pride. "Really?"

"I'll... start looking up recipes." Mikey mused thoughtfully, popping a piece of fruit in his mouth. "I have a strange feeling that we're going to be eating kumquats for quite a while."

A/N

So a few things about this chapter.

First off... you might recognize a reference to Mikey's List: The 222 Things Mikey Is No Longer Allowed To Do To Blind Leo, a wonderful and hilarious fic based off this story by an author who wished to remain anonymous. I'm not sure if it was uploaded on this site or not, but it's on Ao3, and I highly recommend googling the title, finding it, and giving it a look.

Second, I was really stuck on how what Mikey and Leo would do while hanging out at the end of this chapter, and a reader named windofmysoul messaged me randomly out of the blue just in the nick of time with the idea that Leo should go fishing in the pool, which gave me the idea for this scene, which played out just the way I wanted it to. So thank you windofmysoul!