Ch 2 The Ghost of Christmas Past.

Raph stared hard at his clock then after a moment, he looked around his room in expectation but when nothing or no one showed up, he shrugged and started to crawl back into his bed, "Guess it was dream," He muttered as he placed the covers over him, he rubbed his head where his Sensei's walking stick had hit him, "A very real like dream."

"It wasn't a dream," A ghostly yet familiar voice said to him.

Raph sat up in surprise, "Leo?!" He exclaimed, staring at the blue-eyed turtle who was dressed in a long white robe, "What's with that getup? And what the hell are you doing in my room?!" He jumped out of bed and stormed angrily over to him, "And how the hell did you get in here anyway, my door is locked!"

The ghost chuckled and shook his head, "I'm not Leonardo," He told him, "I'm appearing to you in a form that you would find familiar so as not to scare you."

Raph scowled at him, "Knock it off Leo and get the hell out of my room," He demanded as he attempted to grab his arm only to have his hand go right through the other turtle's arm. Raph startled at the ghostly figure, "My hand, it went right through you," He whispered in shock. Raph slowly moved himself back toward his bed, "I thought you said you were trying not to scare me."

Again, 'Leo' chuckled, "Take my robe and come with me Raphael," He commanded, "We are going to visit a time in your life when things were much different than they are now."

Raph watched as 'Leo' raised his hand, "Well," Raph started as he slowly made his way toward the apparition, "You sure are as demanding as my Leo," He took the sleeve of the robe and the two turtles started toward the wall, "Hey what are you doing?" Raph demanded as they walked against the wall, "We can't…." Raph closed his eyes expecting to hit the wall but was surprise when all he felt was empty air. He opened his eyes and looked around, noting he was now in the living room of the lair.

"I thought you said we were going back to a different time?" He sneered, "Everything looks the same to me."

"Really," 'Leo' pointed toward the far end of the lair where a small turtle sat against the wall looking sad and alone, "Who is that?"

Raph released 'Leo's' sleeve and slowly walked away from him, "That's me," He whispered in awe, "When I was five years old."

"Why are you alone?" 'Leo' asked, he looked toward the entrance to the dojo where happy sounds of singing could be heard.

Raph wiped his eyes, "I don't remember," He stated adamantly.

"Really?" 'Leo' watched him intently, "Well, I think you will in a moment."

The two turned toward the kitchen where a large brown rat in a red kimono was coming out of the kitchen with a cup of tea. The rat stopped and looked over at the lone turtle tot in curiosity. He was just about to walk over to the little turtle when the noise from the dojo caught his attention. He looked from the turtle to the dojo and after a moment, walked into the dojo.

"What is going on here?" Splinter asked.

"Merry Christmas father!" Three little turtle tots jumped up and down in excitement and pointed toward the large tree.

"Do you like it?" One freckled face turtle asked happily, "We made the ornaments and wrapped all the presents we found at the junkyard!"

Splinter placed his cup on a small box and looked at the tree in wonder, "You boys did a wonderful job!" He said happily as he looked over the decorations and brown wrapped presents, "Did you do the lights Donatello?"

The small brown eyed turtle smiled widely up at him, "And they all work too!" He stated proudly.

"I am proud of you all," He said then looked toward the entrance, "But why is your brother out in the living area alone?" He watched as the three turtles looked away sadly, "Did something happen?"

"We wanted him to come and help us but he said he didn't deserve to," Leonardo told him, "We tried to get him to tell us why but he wouldn't say."

"Well," Splinter nodded to them, "Why don't I go and find out what is bothering him."

Three little turtle tots, the ghost of Christmas past and Raphael watched as the large rat slowly made his way toward the red banded turtle tot. "Raphael?" Splinter watched as little Raph curled up and hugged his knees tighter, "Why are you sitting here by yourself?" Splinter asked, kneeling down and reaching out to place a paw on his young son's shoulder, "Why do not wish to be with the family?"

"Because I'm dumb," The small turtle sniffled.

Splinter startled at the declaration made by the little turtle, "You are not dumb my son," Splinter told him sternly, "Why would you say such a thing?"

"The guys found some really neat presents for you father," The turtle rubbed his snout, "But I couldn't find anything so I…." His hand trembled as he produced a small brown wrapped present, "I made this for you and they laughed at me."

"We didn't mean it Raphie," Mikey said timidly, walking over to them with the other two, "It's just that it looked funny," He shrugged at his father as the large rat looked back at him disapprovingly.

"Please Raphael," Splinter coaxed him to turn around, "Let me see what it is you made."

Raph handed the plain brown wrapped present to his father and watched with green shimmering eyes as the rat slowly and carefully opened the package. "Splinter gasped then blinked his eyes rapidly as he stared down at the handmade present, "You hate it, don't you Sensei?" Raph asked him quietly.

Splinter shook his head as he stared down at a plain white paper in a homemade frame, the edges colored in red and a large stick figure rat colored brown standing tall with four stick like turtles, one colored in blue, one colored in red, one colored in purple and one colored in orange standing in front of him and above the little family a banner in bold black letters stating: MY FAMILY, "No my son, I don't like it," Splinter told him in a choked voice, "I love it."

"We love it too Raphie," Donnie told him, "But you didn't let us tell you that part."

Raph smiled timidly at his brothers, "Thanks guys," He said.

"I have an idea," Splinter said proudly as he stood and started toward the dojo, "I have a camera that still has some film in it," The small turtles followed him back into the dojo and waited as he went into his room, "How about we take a picture just like this one and I'll put it on my alter for all to enjoy and this one," He smiled down at his small green-eyed turtle, "Will be on a wall in my room for me to enjoy."

"Wait," Raph looked at 'Leo', "I gave him the idea to do that?"

"I can't believe you don't remember?" 'Leo' smiled at him then nodded back at the younger family, "You even gave this idea."

"Hey I know," Little Raph yelled as Splinter came out with four brown wrapped present for his sons along with his camera, "How bout we have a special Christmas eve dinner then sing carols?"

"That sounds like fun!" Little Leo yelled as the others high-threed each other.

As the four turtles and brown rat started singing, the Ghost of Christmas Past coaxed Raph to turn back to the wall, "Wait, what are you doing?" Raph asked as he attempted to watch his past family have fun, "I want to stay and watch."

"My time is nearly up," 'Leo' told him, "It's time to go back and get ready for your next visitor."

"But I don't want to leave," Raph insisted as they walked toward the wall, "Can't we stay just a little longer?" He closed his eyes as they walked into the wall, the sound of the little turtles and brown rat's voice ringing clearly in his ears as they sang their Christmas songs.

The voices faded away and Raph opened his eyes to find himself back in his room lying in bed. The room was dark and he was alone. Raph sniffed and rubbed his eyes of the tears, "Wow, that was some dream," He muttered as he rolled over and stared at his clock, the numbers showing 1:59, "I really need to cut back on the pepperoni."

As He watched the clock numbers slowly turn to the 2:00am hour, the memory of what his Sensei said came back to him. He rolled over onto his shell and looked around his room.