"Wake up. Its time for training," Leo said, giving Raph's shell a hard shove that sent him tumbling off the couch and onto the ground.

He snarled a few choice words at Leo and watched as Mikey, Donnie and even Casey dutifully followed Leo into the dojo. He stayed on the ground in protest for a few moments but the sound of Leo's leader voice directing the others through a warm up forced him to push himself off the ground and head into the dojo as well.

Leo didn't look in Raph's direction when he entered since he didn't want to bring attention to the fact that Raph had chosen practice over going back to bed. Leo had been pretty sure the hothead would refuse to join them altogether.

By the end of practice he was somewhat disappointed to see how far behind this team was. When he asked, Raphael glared at him but Mikey and Donnie admitted they'd stopped training when Leo left.

He dismissed them and watched as Casey headed back to bed, Donnie headed to his lab and Mikey headed to the kitchen to cook breakfast. But Raph moved over to his punching bag and began taping up his hands.

Leo approached him as Raph began throwing punches.

"You gonna try to whip us back into shape, Fearless?"

"I'm going to keep training for as long as I'm here. You all may as well join me," Leo said, stepping behind the bag to hold it steady for Raph. "There is something I don't understand, though."

Raph grunted in response.

"I can see Mikey not practicing without some sort of structured schedule. And I can see Donnie pick his lab over the dojo. But I can't see you just quitting. When was the last time you even picked up one of your weights?"

Raph's eyes moved to Leo's face and he caught Leo's blue eyes trailing over his arms.

"I'm sure you and your Leo competed with each other in this room growing up," Leo continued. "Do you really need a Leo here in order to keep up with your training? Is he the only reason you worked so hard to be a ninja?"

Raph growled at him as he threw another few punches. "You don't know anythin about me."

"That's where you're wrong, Raphael. I know almost everything about you."

Raph's eyes flashed over the kanji mark he'd previously noted on Leo's arm. It was one symbol, not an entire name but it was still his symbol. He wondered again if it was a coincidence.

"You should stop scowling at me. I know you don't hate me. Or your Leo."

Raph's eyes flew up to Leo's face. "What makes you think so?" he asked after a moment. He watched Leo smirk as he let go of the punching bag and began to walk away from him. Raph stood where he was and began to wonder what Leo meant when he suddenly felt Leo's hand run across the back of his neck. He gasped at the shiver he felt run down his spine. When he finally turned around he found the dojo empty.

Smug bastard, he thought and growled as he went back to throwing punches.

Leo left the dojo and walked into the kitchen to find Mikey flipping pancakes. He froze as a now familiar pang hit his chest as a picture of Raph flipping pancakes for him and the kids on his last morning with them entered his mind.

He was about to leave when Mikey noticed him and gave him a small nod.

It was such an uncharacteristic Mikey greeting that Leo stopped his retreat and was reminded again that he wasn't the only one hurting here. He sat at the table and regarded his baby brother's shell for moment as Mikey began pouring more batter on the griddle.

"What are your plans for today, Mikey?"

Mikey glanced back at him for a moment and then shrugged one shoulder. "No plans."

"Sounds boring."

Another shoulder shrug.

Leo frowned. His Mikey would never willingly be bored. He'd poke and whine and prod and plead until someone agreed to entertain him.

"What video game are you playing right now?" Leo asked. He could remember certain things about their lives at twenty but exactly what video game Mikey had been trying to beat at the time wasn't one of those things. He'd been pretty busy taking over all of their training from Master Splinter at twenty and hadn't had a lot of spare time.

Mikey glanced at him again, slightly suspicious about Leo's interest. "Ghosts." He watched Leo frown. "Call of Duty," he added.

Leo's eyes widened. He hadn't joined in the tournament, but he remembered the competition Mikey had set up over that game. It had almost started turtle world war 3,456 in the lair and in the end, Woody had come out the victor.

"Woody is pretty good at that one, isn't he?" He almost smiled when Mikey whipped around to look at him. Finally. That got his attention.

"You know Woody?" Mikey asked, doing his best to not look nervous. His Leo didn't know anything about Woody. His Leo would hate that he'd revealed himself to a human. Or that he sometimes got free pizza from that human. Or that he sometimes hung out at that human's apartment to play video games and watch movies and come up with stupid jokes. Not as often in the last year or two though. He missed Woody but it seemed more important that he stick closer to the lair with Leo gone.

"Yeah I know Woody," Leo said in a quiet voice. "I haven't seen him since I've been here though. He doesn't come over?"

Mikey huffed out a laugh. "No." He could only imagine the reaction that would get from everyone. Although, he eyed Leo again, maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he's picturing.

"Have you met Woody's sister?" Leo asked.

Mike's eyes flashed to Leo again and he nodded again. Yes, he had met Sadie. It was an accident, though. Woody thought she'd be out for the night so they were caught off guard when she'd returned home and found them having movie night. Woody had tried to introduce him as a friend who liked to wear a turtle costume. But Woody was a terrible liar, something Mikey kind of liked about him, and Sadie didn't buy it. And in the end she hadn't been all that freaked out when Mikey admitted he was a mutant turtle. Woody said later that Sadie's science brain probably explained why she wasn't upset. Mikey kind of figured that after seeing aliens take over the city, catching your little brother watching movies with a mutant turtle wasn't that bad.

"You should invite them over," Leo said.

"Uh, ok," Mikey said, immediately excited. "Woody's a great cook. Maybe we can make dinner for everyone."

"Perfect," Leo said, taking the plate of pancakes Mikey offered him.

He listened to Mikey start whistling and picked up his fork to eat.

Raphael startled awake when he heard Machi cry out. He bolted up from the couch and headed into her room. He sat on the edge of her bed and she jumped into his lap, pressing herself into his plastron and grabbing hold of his hands.

"Your hands were disappearing," she said and he shushed her and rocked back and forth until her breathing slowed and she calmed down enough to release her tiny death grip on his own hands. He returned her to her pillow and covered her up when he realized she'd fallen back to sleep. He watched her for a few moments. She didn't have these nightmares every night but often enough that this was becoming routine.

He rubbed a hand down his face and headed back to the living room. He refused to sleep in his and Leo's bedroom without Leo so he'd been sleeping on their living room couch for the past month. When he reached the couch he found Akito sitting on it.

"Did she wake you up again?"

Akito nodded. "When is he coming back?"

Raph sat on the couch and sighed. "I don't know, buddy."

"I'm not going trick-or-treating."

"Machi will be disappointed," Raph said, although he wasn't surprised by Akito's declaration.

"She doesn't want to go either," Akito said. "How can we when we don't know where he is? What if they're hurting him? And we're out wearing costumes for candy?"

Raph rubbed his hands over his tired eyes. He didn't know what to say to his worried children. He was worried, too. He wasn't sure how to act like everything was going to be fine when it had been a whole month without one glimpse of Leo or one sign that he was ok. He tried to think of what Leo would say to Akito.

"Well, what yer dad say if he came home safe and sound the day after Halloween and found out you guys didn't go trick-or-treating because of him?"

He watched Akito consider it. "He'd be upset. He'd feel guilty."

Raph nodded. Very true. Leo would return from being turtle-napped and still manage to feel guilty because the kids had missed out on something due to his absence.

"It's up to you, buddy. But right now, its time to get back in bed." He walked Akito back to his room and shut his door once he saw him disappear under his blanket.

He sat back down on the couch and stared off into the kitchen. The last place he'd seen Leo. Donnie had been all over it to make sure there wasn't some strange portal in the middle of their kitchen. There wasn't. Not one Don could find anyway.

He stood and paced the living room. He couldn't stand to sit here and do nothing. But he couldn't leave the kids here alone either. And when they woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares and concerns they only wanted him, which prevented him from using the nights to roam the city.

He moved to one of their windows and looked out into the city. "Where the hell are you, Leo?"

Raph watched Leo during their morning practices. His movements were as smooth and as familiar to him as ever. He almost scowled when he realized that Leo had been right about the competition he'd always felt growing up with his own Leo. Seeing how advanced Leo was certainly had him pushing himself through the katas to try to catch up. He also stayed after each morning and began lifting weights again. He could feel strength returning to his limbs.

When Leo first suggested Casey move in with them, Raph didn't understand it. But he didn't question it because he thought it'd be great to have his drinking buddy right on hand every night. Plus, Fearless had already said he wasn't going to lecture him about the alcohol. But a few nights of drinking followed by a few mornings where Leo kicked his hung-over ass in training and Raph quit altogether. He grumbled to himself a few days later when he realized that had probably been Leo's plan in the first place.

Because he'd taken to watching Leo during practice and throughout the lair, he recognized that Leo was off today. In general, Leo was sad. Raph hadn't seen him laugh or smile once since he arrived. As far as Raph knew, Leo hadn't shared any details about his life in his own world with any of them. And it was very clear to him that Leo wanted to go home. But it was also clear to him that there was something else going on today.

Leo disappeared after dinner that night. Raph thought he'd gone to bed but when he walked past Leo's open bedroom door, he found Leo's room completely empty.

Sneaky, silent turtle, he thought. He glanced at Casey and Mikey who were involved in a video game on the couch before he ducked out of the lair to hunt for Leo.

It took nearly an hour before he found Leo sitting on the edge of a building with his feet hanging over the side. He took a seat next to him and glanced over the edge at the people below. Leo didn't acknowledge him. Raph watched Leo's breaths come out as white puffs in the cold air as he began to wonder if he should've just left him alone.

Several moments passed before Leo said, "Its Halloween down there."

Raph frowned and looked over the edge again. They hadn't celebrated Halloween since they were children. He was about to ask what the big deal was but shut his mouth when he looked at Leo and saw the deep sadness on his face. Leo didn't return his gaze but just continued to stare down at the street.

He didn't understand why this particular holiday would upset Leo but it clearly did. So he bit back his sarcastic comment and instead said, "I'm sorry, Leo. I'm sorry yer stuck here."

Leo turned to the hothead at the unusual soft words and thought about how cruel it was that he should miss Raphael so fiercely but still have to look at his emerald face every day.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked Raph.

Raph shrugged. He didn't want to admit to Leo that he'd been worried about him. Or that he didn't like him going off by himself, especially in the cold. He looped an arm around Leo's shell and watched as Leo glared at him and tried to pull his shoulder away.

"Relax," he said. "I just can't stand to watch you sit here shivering."