The sheer heartache he carried around now worried Donnie more than a little. Leo wasn't taking this well at all. But he had expected it. Leo and Vicky fell for each hard and fast, and now they were torn apart. He was now here in their world and she had been left behind in hers.

Donnie watched over the rim of his coffee cup as he took a sip. Watched as Leo quietly ate his breakfast, his hands and mouth operating on autopilot as his eyes stared at the table. Wasn't even anything to stare at besides the worn wood. With his next sip his eyes met Raph's who met his gaze with a worried one of his own. Donnie knew he was thinking the same thing. Would Leo ever be able to shake this?

Still, their life moved on. Wasn't long after they got back, much to a worried April and Casey's relief, that they had to go out and inform the nice scumbags of New York that the turtles were back in town. Somehow Leo managed to snap himself together to still be able to lead them. If they were out it seemed like nothing had changed, he was calm, decisive and quick on his feet. But as soon as they got home...they were stuck with this. Only thing Donnie could think of was that Leo was able to pull himself together because their lives depended on it. But once the threat of death by stupid moron had passed, Leo's thoughts went right back to her.

"Mornin'!" Mikey chirped as he entered the kitchen and began to pour him some cereal. Raph and Donnie answered, Leo just stared at the table. "Hey Leo!"

The oldest brother looked up and the sheer sadness in his eyes broke Donnie's heart.

"April called earlier and said there was going to be an expo coming to town. Supposed to have all kinds of cool martial arts stuff in it. She thinks she might get an after hours pass or somethin' and wanted to know if we wanted to sneak in and join her."

"You guys go. I don't feel up to it."

Mikey stared at him. "Dude...that's not gonna come back around any time soon. Might not get another chance at it."

Leo pushed his half eaten breakfast away. "I...can't..." Donnie saw the tears trying to form in his eyes. "I don't want to go." And he got up and left the room.

"Donnie, bro, you seriously need to do something." Mikey told the purple masked turtle.

"I've tried Mikey. He's not responding to anything. I...don't know what else to do for him."

Raph had his elbow resting on the table and his head resting on that palm, his other hand was drumming the table with his fingers as he looked at the door Leo had just walked out of. "I'd beat him out of his funk if I thought it would do any good."

"Oh yeah Raph." Donnie rolled his eyes. "Let's fix a broken heart by breaking everything else in him. That'll work."

"Don't see you coming up with any bright ideas."

"I don't know what else to do!" Donnie snapped frustrated at him. "Didn't I just say that?" Grumbling Donnie raised his mug back to his lips.

"You know, it would be cool if we had some kind of door or something to her place." Mikey muttered as he took a bite of his cereal.

Coffee flew everywhere as Donnie spit it back out. A doorway...

"What the hell Donnie!" Raph fumed as he wiped the coffee off of his face. Then just gaped as Donnie didn't seem to hear him. His eyes had a faraway look in them as he got up. Then he too left the kitchen. "What's wrong with him?"

"I dunno." Mikey shrugged. "But he's got good aim with his coffee spitter."

Raph glared at him for a moment, then reached out, took the bowl from in front of Mikey, and dumped it on his little brother's head. "And I got good aim with my cereal dumper."

.

.

Leo took a few deep breaths to gain control of himself after he left the kitchen. But it seemed to get harder to do. He missed her, he missed her so much... Swallowing his pain, he went to visit his Father, closing the door behind him after he quietly entered. He then sat down on the floor and tried to meditate, but he couldn't clear her from his mind. Again he was haunted by visions of her, her smile, they way she would blow her bangs out of her face, her morning grumpiness...all of those memories and many more passed through his mind. How much he loved her...

He almost gave up the attempt, but before he did he felt something else. Someone else was watching what he was struggling through. A calm came over him as the memories were shared. Leo knew who it was. "I miss her Father. I...I don't know...if I will ever stop missing her." There was no reply, but a cocoon of warmth wrapped around him, warmth that was tinged with hope. When he left the room a couple of hours later he felt a little better, not much but enough to where he felt he could control himself around his brothers.

He found them all in the lab, Mikey and Raph each looking over a shoulder as they watched Donnie, who was furiously scribbling and doodling on a sketchpad.

"What's going on?" Leo asked quietly as he entered and three heads swiveled in his direction.

"Nothing." Donnie hid the pad.

"Not a damn thing." Raph grumbled.

"Donnie is thinking about building a portal thingie so you can go see Vicky and not be so mopey anymore." Mikey cheerfully informed him. Donnie groaned and dropped his head in his hand as Raph smacked Mikey. "Ow!"

"What part of 'Let's not get Leo's hopes up' did you not understand lamebrain?" Raph growled at his little brother.

"The whole sentence apparently." Donnie sighed as he looked at a stunned Leo.

Leo's eyes had widened and his breathing picked up a little as the hope he felt earlier began to grow a bit more. "A...portal thingie?" He found his hands starting to tremble as what they were implying was starting to hit him, hard. "So I can...go...go see her..."

Donnie sighed again as he looked at the mess his big brother was rapidly turning into. "Leo, I'll be honest, I really don't know if I can actually do this." He glared at Mikey. "Which was why I wasn't going to tell you yet."

"I can...see..." Tears sprang to his eyes again. He slowly walked closer and Donnie pulled the pad back out so he could look for himself. Leo reached out a trembling hand and picked up the pad. He didn't understand much of what was written and scribbled on there, but it was something that he knew would end up being very important to him. "...Vicky..."

.

.

Donnie was mumbling as he worked. He had a lot riding on this silly contraption, but he kept running into hurdle after hurdle. If it wasn't having to go out, it was having to fix something Mikey managed to break. Not to mention trying to round up parts that he needed to even build this thing.

Now he ran into a major problem...how in the hell was he going to power it? It's not like he had a lifetime supply of lighting bolts in his pocket. It would take more batteries than he could ever hope to find room to put them and if he tried to take it off of the main grid, it might drain too much power from the city. He would be faced with two scenarios then, he would either cause a huge fucking blackout, or they would trace the power surge and that would bring them dangerously close to the lair. He didn't want to chance that. He rolled out from under it and threw his wrench on the floor in frustration.

"Donnie?" He looked up to see Leo standing there and he quickly schooled his temper. "I brought you something to eat." The way he stood there, his eyes so hopeful. Reminded Donnie of a kid who watched his parents buy him something cool. Kid...He wondered how Dennis and Amy were doing... "H-how...is it...is it going?"

"It's going." Donnie carefully replied as he stood up. Leo had been trying to keep composed, but he could see that this was starting to get to him. Every day as he watched from the side lines as the device began to take shape, the hope in his eyes grew. It actually scared Donnie on how much Leo needed this thing, because if it didn't work it would crush him. "Just taking me awhile to work it all out." He walked over to his brother and took the offered food.

Leo just walked over to the portal, his eyes lost in thought as he studied it, it almost seemed like he was trying to look through it to the destination on the other side. Then with a sigh he turned and quietly left the lab. Donnie had watched it all as he bit into the sandwich Leo brought him.

He still carried that pain in his eyes and the only thing that would make it go away was locked away behind that device Donnie couldn't figure out how to get running. Donnie looked from the door where Leo had just walked through to the portal. His eyes narrowed and he dropped the sandwich back onto the plate with a plop. He would figure this out.

.

.

"Well...here goes nothing." Donnie said late one night and turned it on.

Leo barely heard him as he stood next to his brothers. It flickered a little before the soft, blue tinged glow came from it. Leo began to shake violently. It was working...

"Whoohoo!" Mikey hooped before he made a mad dash towards it. He didn't get far when Raph grabbed his mask tails and yanked him back hard enough to make him fall backwards to the floor in a roll.

Raph met the eyes of the younger turtle and jerked his head towards Leo, who was oblivious to what just happened. Donnie threw a few objects through first, paper clips, pens, things like that to make sure it wouldn't fry anything going through it. Leo couldn't take his eyes off of it. Donnie finally walked over and carefully poked his finger through it, then pulled it back out. "Well, I didn't lose it." He said. "That's a good thing."

Raph just snorted as Mikey chuckled. Then they all grew quiet as they all looked at Leo, who still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that it was finally ready. He just blankly stared at his brothers.

"Well, go on." Donnie softly told him. "She's waiting for you."

"Donnie...I..." He struggled to talk around the lump he suddenly found in his throat.

"Oh good lord..." Raph grumbled and gave him a good push to get him moving and Leo stumbled a few steps to the portal. "Go already you big fucking wuss!" That time Donnie joined in with Mikey's chuckles.

"Tell her I said sorry for taking so long." Donnie winked at him.

Leo took a long steadying breath and stepped through.

The first thing he noticed was that the portal had torn apart a tarp that had been covering the machine Donnie had made to send them back home, and now was used as an anchor point for the portal. He winced a little when he noticed that it was one of Gramps'. He hoped the Vicky's dad wouldn't be too upset about that. Then he looked around to get his bearings. He was behind the house and very close to the back door. It just took him a few steps to reach it, and no effort to open it.

The house was quiet as he moved down the hallway, past the rooms of the children who were no doubt sleeping in their beds. Onward he went past the bathroom until he reached the door at the end of the hallway, and carefully opened it. His eyes found her even as he stepped in and didn't leave her as he closed the door back behind him.

She was tossing in her sleep, and muttering. She was also holding something against her chest, holding it tight even as she slept, seemingly trying to take comfort from it. His heart melted when he noticed what it was. The simple white flower he had given her after their first night together, it was now framed, and in her arms.

Leo carefully moved closer and knelt on his knee next to the bed before leaning in and kissing her hair. It was still just as soft as he remembered it. His eyes were now watching her face as his hand gently stroked her cheek. She mumbled something under her breath again as Leo noticed that her face was wet with tears she had recently shed. He was blinking back his own as he realized that he wasn't the only one who had been struggling.

Her eyes then slowly blinked open and found his. They were filled with such sadness and he could see the confusion that was now mixing in with it as she tried to get her half asleep mind to accept what she was seeing. He helped her along by leaning in and softly kissing her lips. It still didn't fully comprehend in her. Leo smiled, she always did take a bit to wake up fully. He reached out and took the frame from her, that she wasn't letting go of, and placed it onto the nightstand before he sat on the bed and pulled her into his arms.

Finally it fully clicked in her and her eyes started to moisten as she took in his features. "How...How are you here...please let this be real." She whispered.

"Very real." He replied softly kissing her hair. Then his hand brushed her wet cheek again. "You've been crying..."

"I missed you so much..." The tears flowing now were ones of happiness of being able to see him again.

"I know. I missed you too." He was fighting back his own. To be able to see her again, to hold her...

"How...how did you get here?"

"Donnie. He build a portal device that connects to the machine he made here. There is now a doorway between our worlds. He normally tests these things out first, but he let me go this time. We owe your dad a new tarp by the way."

"You mean..." Hope and joy filled her face then as she understood what he was telling her.

He smiled. "We can see each other when ever we want. He told me to tell you sorry it took him so long. I guess it was a complicated thing to build. It took him weeks."

"They didn't come with you?"

"No, not this time. They decided to stay behind tonight. You'll see them tomorrow I'm sure. Tonight it's just me, if that's ok with you..." He said. Her hand came up and touched his cheek as she fought back more tears.

That gentle touch called to him and he lowered his head to hers to answer it. The kiss was soft, gentle. Assuring her that he was here and would never leave her side again. It heated up quickly into something more and there were no more tears from either of them that night. Only happiness to be able to see each other again.