I was the first one to figure it out. Dad knew I was the 'smart' one, even if Leo was the oldest he saw that I was the smartest, he just didn't fully realise how smart. Fortunately, he had no idea I would figure out his secret hiding spot so soon. Unfortunately, he caught me within seconds that I found the box.

Though he was too late, too late from preventing me from seeing the picture.

There were three of us, not two like there was supposed to be, but three. There was a strange woman holding me against her hip, and another man holding Leo and another baby on either leg.

'September 1998' Had been written under the photo.

I was 10 when I saw the picture, 2007, so we had to be one year old or something when the photo was taken. Dad had been horrified when he saw me with those pictures. But the damage had already been done.

He had snatched the pictures out of my hand before I knew what was happening. I remember having the urge to cry, I remember feeling sad because I made daddy angry, or so I thought. Maybe deep down he didn't like it, but he knew he couldn't've held it a secret too long anyways.

It ended with both me, dad and Leo on the couch for a long and serious talk, and dad spilling that we actually had another brother, not an adopted one, but a real biological brother, eventually spilling that we were a triplet. Two months after that talk Raph came into our lives.

At the time we deemed it enough, one extra brother. I was too ignorant to push my dad. Unable to see the lie he was telling us all. And maybe we were all just caught up with the whole situation revolving around Raph, the nightmares, the cautiousness, and the loss of attention. And maybe it wasn't fair to call it a lie, rather a lie of omission.

We believed him, and we had no reason to think that there might me more to it. And while we were busy making Raph comfortable after everything he has been through, something I did not fully knew at the time, neither of us was thinking about another member of our family. Dad would never lie to us, not after revealing we had another brother.

Boy, were we about to be proven wrong.

TMNT

"This was our previous home" Dad announced, stopping quite suddenly. I frowned, taking another step towards the house in front of us. It was quite fancy, albeit less than our current home. It seemed like something you'd pay a lot for, but still it wasn't a house I'd like to live in. It was in the middle of Manhattan, there were constantly cars running past us.

People were shouting and screaming, brushing past us to hurry home. Definitely not a place for 4 little kids.

"Was this the place where…?" I ask hesitantly, inching a bit closer to my little brothers. Still the urge to protect, even while being afraid myself. I looked over to the little yard in front of the house, decorated with beautiful flowers, red roses, bright yellow ones and so on. And yet not a house I could see dad living in.

"It was" Dad eventually answers, hanging his head pitifully. Of course, losing your wife that way.. it can't be easy for you.

"I'm sorry" I mumbled, grasping his hand and squeezing it softly. He slowly looked up to me, pride shining in his eyes and he smiled gently at me.

"I am too, for you have never had the chance to meet your mother. No one should grow up without his mother…" He told us, eyeing at Raph. "..Or his father" Raph in response scowls, turning his head away. Donnie smiles at us sadly, all of us knowing Raph by now. Knowing he was hiding his pain that way. Hiding that he hated what happened.

And that it still deeply affected him even to this day.

"It wasn't your fault dad" Donnie cuts in, putting a hand on Raph's shoulder. Still the look of pain across his face was too evident. Because even if it wasn't his fault, and even if he fully realised that himself, he still wasn't there for Raph. He wasn't there for him.

And now history was repeating itself…

TMNT

A couple of days ago, and continuation of the ending of chapter 2.

"Dad?" I call out, slightly hesitant as I walk into one of the rooms the assistant pointed us to. Donnie was walking right behind me, visibly tensed like I was. And in no way were we reassured when we saw our father sitting in the room. He was holding one of those disposable cups made of carton, probably filled with tea.

His whole stance was off, his shoulders sagging and his elbows resting on his knees. Not to mention the bloodshot eyes and the faint lines that were still on his face, presumably from all the crying.

"You are not supposed to be here" Dad mumbles as he sees Donnie, which only causes me to be concerned even more. Dad never talks like that, never. He never puts one of us before another. He would never say that Donnie wasn't supposed to be here, unless something was definitely wrong.

"Dad?" Hesitantly Donnie walks over to our father, kneeling down with a concerned look on his face.

"Leonardo, please go with Jack." It is only when Dad mentions his good friend that I notice his presence. "I did not want you to see this either" He adds reluctantly, putting a hand on Donnie's hand and squeezing it softly as some kind of reassurance.

I turn towards Jack Kurzman. Someone dad met a long time ago and quickly became a good friend, one of his best friends. He even acted as our babysitter, looking after me and Don as children. He was like an uncle to us, family. Still, I had no idea why someone working for the police would be here. Whatever this facility was, and why ever dad wanted us to come here.

I eye at Donnie for a moment and he gives me a short nod, silently telling me it's okay to leave him behind with dad. And only with that confirmation do I follow Jack out of the room.

"Gotta tell you" Jack starts as soon as we walk out of the room. "This isn't how I wanted to see you boys again. I wish this would be a happier reunion." He continues, eyeing at me. While Jack was very close to my dad, and we trusted him without question, he was a busy man. And in the last months we barely saw him.

"I still have no clue what is going on" I mutter to no one in particular but Jack seems to hear me.

"I will explain in a second, but I don't want to overwhelm you." Jack says as he unlocks one of the rooms, before walking into it. There are comfortable chairs and a couch, along with some basic needs that you'd usually find in a normal house. A miniature version of a kitchen, a small room with a lock, so most probably a bathroom, and a television on the wall.

Jack gestures me to sit down and I sit down without saying anything.

"So what's going on?" I eventually ask as Jack sits down in one of the chairs. I curl my legs under me, trying to make myself as comfortable as possible.

"Yoshi has been lying to the three of you" Jack says, straightforward as ever. "I guess I'll need to go back a few years. Do you know why Raph was separated from you and Don?" He continues, seeing the obvious confusion that was on my face. Dad was lying to us?

But going back to the question, I had no idea, dad told us that something happened in the past and he told us a vague story. When we were just born our mother died unexpectedly and the police found that dad was unable to care for the four of us. But something told me, at least from what Jack had told me, that this wasn't the full truth.

So I shook my head, waiting for him to tell me.

TMNT

"Hey sweetie, don't be sad" The woman giggles, picking up the small infant and placing him on her hip. She gently ruffles his black hair, a pang of sadness making itself present. She's grown to love him during the past 5 months he spent here. She has grown to love all four of them. And while she was happy he was finally getting a happy family, she was sad to see him go.

A bit ironic that the youngest one would be the first one to find a loving family, but the second oldest would follow soon after. She was happy for them, they didn't deserve to grow up in here, they deserved a family that'd love them unconditionally. But it also meant ripping them from their brothers. And the four of them were quite close.

"I'm gonna miss you too darling, but you'll love them. Besides you've already met them several times" She said like the child could understand, taking in his appearance once more. The little and few freckles that had popped up on his face, his bright blue eyes and his messy black hair. Yep, she was definitely going to miss having him around.

But it was for the best. At such an age people still wanted to adopt them. Once they reached two.. it'd be harder. And now he was still 1 year old he wouldn't remember his old life. He may not be rich anymore, but he would have a happy life, with a happy family.

Away from his father.

TMNT

"That night, everything burned down in your foster home. Every paper and every worker that knew you" Jack finished.

I nod numbly, already knowing that that happened to our previous foster home when we were younger. I had read about it on the internet. To this day they still don't know what caused the incident but the two workers who were in charge didn't make it out alive. They perished in the fire, their family still not knowing if it was an accident or a murder. Or whoever caused it to catch fire.

"Without those papers and those people there was no way to track them.. and they were kept hidden"

My stomach is turning right now, and somehow I already knew where this was going to. So why did I still ask?

"They?"

I had no idea why, I only knew that I really didn't want the question to be answered. But I already asked, and Jack had every intention to answer my question. Because now I understood what this was all about, and this was what Jack wanted to tell me all along, the 'but' at that one sentence, the subject he deliberately avoided.

"You had another brother. The youngest of the four."

Tears were now freely streaming down my face, and the only thing I could think about was Raph.. little 10 year old Raph screaming and crying almost every night from endless nightmares and flinching at every touch. Nobody... nobody deserved such thing.

"What's his name?" I ask, my voice cracking halfway through the sentence.

"His name was Michelangelo, or Mikey for short." Jack says, and now it's his turn to look down in sorrow. "But he hasn't been called that for a very long time now."

There is a short silence, and for a moment I have no idea what to say or what to do. Get back to dad to comfort him, go home, go see my apparent little brother, ask for more information.. but Jack already beat me to it.

"Where is he?"

"He's in the other room" He says, gesturing to the room behind me. "You can imagine that he isn't in the best mental state... the boss wouldn't say anything about any of the men we caught.. we have no idea how long he's been involved"

"So why call me?"

"Like I said.. he isn't in the best health. In the last 8 days he's been here he never left his room. Only to go to the toilet. He refuses to acknowledge what has been done to him and he refuses to speak to anyone. But so far he's only seen adults, and considering adults were the ones.. well… y'know… Yoshi and I thought it would be good for him to see another teen."

"I will do it" I immediately state, causing Jack to be a bit startled by the quick reaction, but eventually he nods. He motions for me to stand up and to follow him. I follow him towards the door, feeling fear bubbling up in my stomach. Was I really about to..? And so soon after hearing nonetheless.

"Mikey?" Jack cautiously asks as he opens the door and immediately I can feel my stomach clenching painfully. "Michelangelo?"

Almost as if expected there is no answer and Jack gives a short sigh, before stepping aside to make room for me. He gives me a short nod before I walk into the room. It was a plain room, like a simple hotel room. There were no pictures to be seen, or anything remotely personal, and the only thing that was seemingly touched was the bed.

On the bed was Mikey, Michelangelo.

But his appearance shocked me. While Don, Raph and I all had black hair, he didn't. His hair was blond, but at the tops were signs of black hair. He bleached it. I thought grimly, taking in the rest of him. There were light freckles on the bridge of his nose. A purple and yellow bruise was on his neck, eventually hidden as it reached under his t-shirt.

I felt my stomach clench, twisting as I took in his appearance.

"Mikey?" I ask, hesitantly walking up to him. It was faint but I could see his shoulders tensing slightly as I neared him. He was afraid, that much was obvious, but he was covering it up with a straight face.

"What do you want?" He asks me, his voice surprisingly light. He swallows, and I'm surprised how difficult it seems to be for him to do such a simple task, until I remember the yellow bruise that decorates his throat.

"I… " I start, scratching the back of my neck. "I don't know. Are you Mikey?" I eventually ask, only earning a snort from the young boy. No, not young, younger. Just a little bit younger by minutes. And yet he seemed so small, so vulnerable.

"You heard the officer. Don't pretend like I'm stupid" He scoffs, turning his head away from me so I'm forced to look at the back of his head.

"That's…" I mumble, taking a few steps so I'm looking at the side of his head. "That's not what I meant. I wanted to be sure"

"And why are you so interested in me? Another boy to pity, another boy to brag about at school?" Mikey sneered and I cautiously took a step back, my eyes wide with disbelief. Raph never … he never did this. Not even at his worst.

"I'm not like that Mikey, I wouldn't-"

"Then why are you here?! Because all the other visitors I've gotten wanted me to talk. 'you should talk about what happened, tell us about it, confess in front of the court'." He sneered again, still not looking at me. And for the first time I saw a glimpse of the same defeated look Raph had when he just started to open up more.

The little crack in his voice, the shimmering of his eyes. And the turning of his head to wipe the starting tears away. The tough guy act.

"I'm not sure how.. or if you'd actually believe me. I don't even believe it myself yet" I start, taking a chair and putting it a meter from Mikey's form. The latter turns his head slightly, scanning me from the corner of his eye, however the moment our eyes lock he turns back again, glaring at the window in front of him. As if he was denying he ever looked at me.

"I'm Leonardo, but you can call me Leo" Still, he didn't look very fazed. "I know it sounds ridiculous, and I just hope you'll give me a chance to explain, or to prove it someway"

I took a deep breath, still wrapping my head around the idea myself.

"I'm your brother, we're family"

TMNT

So that was another chapter, and Mikey was in it! ^^

What are your theories so far? I'd love to hear them :D

and for the ones reading 'Crimson Lullaby', I know it's been way too long. But an update is coming very very soon!