Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT

*The guys are 25 years old in this fic.*

*I have the guys at about 6'2" in this fic*

Chapter Fifteen: A Story to Tell

It had been two weeks since the surprise Christmas night for Leo. Don was now gently removing the wire from Leo's jaw so he could start opening his mouth.

"How's that feel?" Don asked as he finished removing the last piece and sat back.

Leo slowly worked his jaw, wincing slightly.

"Sore," he managed, his voice sounding rusty.

Don chuckled.

"It will be for a while still," Don said gently, "just soft foods for another couple of weeks alright? If you have any real pain…let me know right away alright? Don't do too much talking either, not right away anyway."

Leo nodded.

"So…what are you going to do now?" Don asked.

"Eat some oatmeal," Leo replied with a grin, before getting up and moving out of the room after patting Don on the shoulder.

Don laughed behind him.

"I'd go with cream of wheat instead!" he called, shaking his head as Leo shrugged just before turning the corner.

"Stubborn as eva" Raph mumbled as he slipped out past Don, earning a chuckle from the second youngest.

Mike was in the kitchen humming away as he flipped through Trisha's old cook book that Jamie had given him to look through when Leo walked in. Leo paused as he saw the cookbook and smiled softly. Although the grief was still there the raw pain had slipped into a dull ache now. He could look back at memories without crying or choking up now.

He walked up to Mike and flipped the pages till he got to a certain one, earning a startled look from the youngest.

"This is a good one," Leo offered.

"You're not…upse-" Mike started.

"She'd want a cook to have that, Jamie chose well," Leo replied softly.

"Hey you got the wires out," Mike noticed, "glad to be able to eat something other than liquid now? And talk for that matter?"

Leo chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah I have some things to talk to Raph about; and you for that matter," Leo said as he moved further into the kitchen and began to look for the oatmeal.

Leo winced slightly, rubbing his jaw.

"Too much talking?" Mike chuckled.

Leo nodded.

Raph walked in and grunted as Leo grabbed a bowl and dumped the oatmeal he'd found into it.

"Raph do you want some? Could you grab me the milk either way?" Leo asked as he turned, again wincing slightly and rubbing his jaw.

"Yeah and yeah, easy on the talking thing remember," Raph chuckled as he watched Leo rub his jaw.

Raph grabbed the milk out and gave it to Leo who poured a careful amount out into each bowl and then rummaged around for the sugar and measured out a little for each of them.

As the microwave hummed away, warming the first bowl, Leo leaned back against the counter, his ribs aching slightly as he moved causing him to wince.

"Ribs," he stated as both brothers glanced his way in worry.

"Hmm," Raph murmured, "yeah I hope you aren't goin' to try working out again."

Leo winced at the thought.

"Yeah, not for another week or two at least," Leo whispered.

Mike chuckled suddenly.

"Dude, she had a picture of you in here with the baking section…you're covered in flour," Mike laughed, pushing the picture into Raph's hands as he looked at Leo.

Leo groaned.

"Yeah, Jamie said you could bake…you should make something for dinner tonight," Raph offered after chuckling at the picture.

Leo rolled his eyes before opening the microwave and switching out the oatmeal bowls as it "dinged"

"Fine, look through the list and see which one you'd like me to make, then ask April to pick up what we don't have," Leo mumbled.

Mike whooped making Leo jump and nearly spill his oatmeal, earning the youngest a glare. As Mike dashed off to ask Jamie's opinion.

Raph chuckled and got his oatmeal out as the microwave and leaned against the counter next to Leo.

Who proceeded to grab something out of his belt and hand it to Raph.

"Now's a good enough time as ever," he whispered.

Raph opened the folded piece of picture that Leo had handed him. Raph's shocked gasp, made Leo pause.

"I…I…don't understand…" Raph whispered.

"I found out she was planning on selling you to Bishop once she got you to a point of trust to drug you. I took that picture to show you and then…I decided I'd rather you be mad at me than her. I didn't want you to think that the woman you loved, that any woman you might ever love would betray you. I wanted it to seem like she just…that it wasn't meant to be," Leo whispered.

Raph stood still, staring down at the picture of the woman who was conversing with someone in black, a shadowed figure with Bishop's emblem clearly showing on his chest.

"She was going to betray me?" Raph whispered.

"Yeah," Leo replied.

"So…when….you had Splinter forbid us from having relations with humans in a romantic manner it was because you didn't want me to get hurt…" Raph asked, turning to look at Leo.

Leo made eye contact and then after glancing back down at the floor he nodded stiffly.

"I…I was worried with you going out at night again so much, so I followed you one night and then her and saw that…she…I didn't want you to be hurt Raph," Leo whispered, "I realize now that after I started things with Trish that by forbidding you and then my doing so it would cause strife between us. I never meant for that. I never even meant for Trish and I to become involved. It just happened. It started as me just needing somewhere to go when I needed to talk and turned into me falling for her. I was desperate to avoid that. I stayed away from them for weeks, I told Trish that we couldn't be together and I nearly broke her heart. It wasn't until Jamie threw a plate, well a few, at me when I stopped by to see how they were doing that I realized how much I missed them; especially Trisha. How much I didn't want to lose them...didn't want to lose her."

"I…I don't….I understand now but…I…it's a lot to think about right now Leo. Not sure how to respond here. I…I need to think, but thank you for lookin' out for me," Raph whispered.

Leo nodded stiffly before nibbling on his oatmeal. Raph paused, nervously noticing the hunched posture Leo had taken.

"I'm not mad bro, just confused," Raph said stiffly.

Leo nodded but it wasn't until Jamie walked in and spotted Leo's posture that Raph realized the effect his response had had on Leo. Jamie froze eyes flashing as they met Raph's worried gaze and then softened as she realized that Raph was concerned. Raph was now starting to understand that Leo was very fragile psychologically.

"Hey Leo," Jamie greeted.

Leo blinked and looked up at her.

"Hey no wires," Jamie grinned, "Mike told me so I had to come see for myself. How's the jaw?"

"Little sore," Leo replied, seeming to perk up slightly.

"Hey Raph," she greeted after giving Leo a quick hug.

"Hey," Raph replied.

"I'm going to go talk to Splinter for a bit," Leo whispered, slipping away before either could protest.

"He never liked what he did to you," Jamie said suddenly, turning to look at Raph.

"What do you mean?" Raph whispered.

"Leo was very upset about the hypocritical relationship he was having with Trish, so much in fact that he's cut himself off from Trish for weeks. At first we'd be angry with him until we realized why. Leo's depression deepened after he realized he loved Trish. Leo was so desperate to prevent himself from hurting you that he'd punish himself for being near Trish," Jamie whispered.

"Punish himself?" Raph whispered in shock, "how-I?"

"He'd purge," Jamie whispered, "mostly just not eat but when he did it wasn't much and then he'd purge not long later."

Raph shuddered and then made a nervous sound.

"Shell Leo…" Raph mumbled, "he starved himself?"

Jamie nodded.

"Still purges at times, it was an addiction he can't get rid of," Jamie whispered, "he's gotten a lot better though."

"Because of Trish," Raph whispered.

Jamie nodded sadly.

"Leo felt so isolated that he hoped by starving himself it would get him some attention, you all noticed that he was leaner than even Mike and chalked it up to being his constant training," Jamie shrugged.

"Quit talking about me," Leo muttered as he returned before Raph could say anything.

The two paused and blinked.

"What did Mike chose?" Leo asked.

"Oh um…the double chocolate caramel fudge with the dark chocolate and white chocolate," Jamie said with a grin.

Leo groaned.

"The one that takes the longest to make…of course," Leo muttered.

"He's calling April to pick up the ingredients. I told him to make sure there was enough for three batches," Jamie replied with a grin, cocking a hip and winking at Leo.

Leo grunted as he rolled his eyes at her.

"Whatever," he mumbled.

Thus causing them to all laugh softly.

Mike came shooting into the kitchen rambling on the phone with April, nearly collided with Jamie, and twisted to avoid slamming into her nearly crashing into the table at the same time.

Leo chuckled, smirking softly as Mike started to make sure Jamie was fine and then hesitated, he was jumpy suddenly.

Leo nudged Raph with his elbow and jerked his chin toward Mike, a smug grin plastered to his face.

Raph raised an eye-ridge before returning the grin and snorting softly.

As Jamie laughed at Mike's antics and Mike scrambled around the room Leo leaned over to Raph.

"I know that look," Leo whispered, "…how long has this been going on?"

Raph leaned over.

"Not long after I busted you up honestly. Think he's shy about it," Raph replied softly.

"I can see why," Leo murmured, "he's older than her by a bit. Nothing major though."

"You'd be ok with it? After all you're technically her legal guardian," Raph said softly.

"Like she'd let me call the shots on that if she had her mind set on it," Leo replied with a shrug, wincing as his ribs ached, "plus I honestly think they'd be good together."

The mischievous glint in Leo's eye made Raph chuckle slightly, abet nervously.

"Don't sign me up for your dating service," Raph teased.

"You're already on it," Leo replied with a smirk.

Raph's head snapped around to look at Leo in shock.

Leo winked and had a smug grin plastered across his face as he leaned against the wall behind him.

A/N: Hahahahahahaaaa….sneaky elder bro. Leo what are you up to? Oh wait I know….please review!