A/N: Thank you guys SO much for your reviews! Granted, a bunch of them are comming from unregistered guests but I'm still able to see them in my e-mail. You readers are amazing and so supportive of my material Back to the story! It's just a silly-ish chapter to keep the heat down for a little while longer before the conflict rises once again. You know, the whole "calm before the storm" thing. So, worry not, the juicy stuff is coming!

NOTICE: THIS STORY HAS OC CHARACTERS. IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE WHAT ANY OF THEM LOOK LIKE, PLEASE CHECK THE LINKS ON MY PROFILE FOR YOUR VISUAL AID.

One thing was definitely for sure, there was never a dull moment when Shiho was involved. One minute she was passionate and making beautiful love to her mate and the next she was literally at her sister's throat with a fierce and imminent glare in her eyes. Preparing for their next dangerous venture was going to be vexing.

Leo remained confident that he'd keep his family and his mate safe. He didn't care how difficult it was going to be, how exhausting and trying, he'd do it. For Shiho. For his brothers. For Aanika.

For his family.

The amount of training and conditioning that Leo was putting his brothers and the hybrids through had doubled and intensified. He hadn't heard anything from Karai as of yet about the brewing situation with Micah and Marcus, just about two weeks. The fighting between Shiho and Saundra didn't get any better. It wasn't getting worse, but progress just wasn't being made with the two. Shiho was stubborn and hard headed whilst colliding with Saundra who was ill-tempered and reckless, they were a chemical mixture and combined they were a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode. The family functioned around the angry bubble that surrounded the two sisters, pretending that nothing was happening made the days easier to get through.

Today was balance and focus. Leo had set up the tall bamboo poles that Splinter had used when he and the brothers were still teenagers. The boys thought they had seen the last of those awful sticks when Splinter retired. But Leo was headstrong to refresh their focus and steady their equilibriums and he wasn't taking lip from anyone. Spread out in front of him to his right were the turtles and to his left the sister hybrids, Shiho included. Her skills had long since gotten rusty and he ordered for a polishing. So there they all stood on one foot each. Donnie, Shiho, Fiona, and Aanika stayed perfectly still with their hands pressed together for intense focus. Raph, Mikey, and Saundra on the other hand all wobbled and made noises in their attempts to stay up.

Shiho stayed silent and did her best to keep her focus, but today just wasn't her day. She'd woken up this morning, early, and was already feeling less than perfect and substantial. But of course, she wasn't about to tell Leo; he'd make her stay in bed all day. So with a stiff upper lip the vixen had her breakfast after showering and threw it up not more than two hours later. Like she suspected, Leo panicked. He always did when she was less than herself. Getting sick more times after that didn't put his worry back in his shell and he protested against her training today. Shiho was born defiant and was going to do what she wanted and he was all too aware of her thick spine. He saved the argument and just let her work with everyone else.

"Michelangelo, find your center and hold it there. Raphael, you're leaning too far forward. Saundra, too loud. Come on guys, focus. How can we expect to be light and quick on our feet if you can't even do a simple balance exercise?" Leo said, opening one eye to observe his family. Shiho rocked her tail back and forth as a counter weight, Aanika and Fiona quickly copied her movements and found that staying up was easy. Saundra flailed her hands and swung her free foot around trying to not topple over, she was quickly getting frustrated.

"Rrrgg…this is stupid, Leo…Maggie is going to come at us with her teeth, not poles," Saundra said with a scowl. Leo silently glared at the gecko for a warning. But Shiho inflicted more fear with a bright flash in those violet eyes. She warned Saundra to not question Leonardo's orders and she meant it.

"What did I tell you, Saundra?" She warned, her voice low but steady. The gecko clammed up and fought to find her center but wailed when Leo launched at her with his foot. He knocked her onto her tail and she landed with a thump and a groan.

"Leo! What the hell did you do that for—AHH-AH!" Raph started but was fast on his shell beside his mate when Donatello jumped over him to land on an unoccupied pole. His red-masked brother shook his fist and growled angrily as the other sisters hopped from pole to pole effortlessly without making a sound. Mikey wobbled wildly and went forward and smacked onto his belly.

"I'm okay…ohhh man…" he groaned. The smallest of the foxes giggled quite playfully and rocked her pole back and forth until she sprung forward into Leo's chest, catching him by surprise and knocking the wind out of him. His eyes bulged and he opened his mouth to yell but stopped short when he hit the ground with a loud SMACK on his shell.

"Dude! You go Mini!" Mikey cheered. Leo grumbled and shook his head after rubbing the dome. On his chest sat a very cheeky little fox with a grin that reached across each side of her face and her tail wiggling sporadically behind her.

"Daddy down! I WIN!" Shiho laughed so hard that she found herself snorting as she landed on her feet after Fiona. The sisters clutched each other howling and guffawing at Leo's expense until they were falling into themselves and onto their knees. Leo didn't find his attack half as amusing as his mate and her sister did, but the little fox was more than pleased with herself that she managed to catch him off his guard like his brothers had been trying to do for years.

"I am so going to spank your butt later," he said, reaching forward and tapping the tip of her nose with his finger. Leo managed to stand and trap her in the tight snare of his arms and kiss all over her face with obnoxious loud smooches to make her squeal. When she shrieked and chortled while pulling against his hold, Leo drowned her in even more and flipped her onto her back against his forearm to assault her belly with tickling fingers. "Yeah! How about that you little gremlin!"

Shiho snuffed and leaned against her pole with her hands on the top and her cheek against the side with her eyes on her mate and Aanika. Leo never failed to put that child into a mad fit of giggles until she was red in the face and on the verge tears. The family disbanded as training looked like it was over; Raphael and Saundra went off to lift weights and punch the bag, Donnie and Fiona disappeared into his workshop, Mikey scuttled away into his little comic book and video game fortress. Shiho couldn't imagine the harmony of her family being torn open by Marcus and Micah, it made her heart sore to know that it was going to be halted sometime soon.

"Mama! Help!" Aanika screeched through her cackles with an outstretched hand. Leo lifted her shirt and raspberried her tummy jovially and she wriggled and writhed.

"Hehe, alright now! Don't take all the giggles out of my child, we might need some more later," Shiho said. Leo winked at her as she advanced with that smile of his that made her heart skip a beat and break out into a quick sweat. Aanika's short arms were latched around Leo's neck as she leaned up to nuzzle under his chin like Shiho often did, she's been mimicking her and everyone more it seemed.

"She started it. Not bad, she knocked me down. Sneaky little thing," he nuzzled his small fox right back. Shiho came closer but suddenly stopped with a falter in her step. "Woah, Babe. You okay?"

"Mama!" Leo nearly dropped Aanika when he sprung forward and caught his mate. She hadn't tripped but suddenly collapsed. Her eyes were hazy and crossing together as he lightly smacked her on the cheek to bring her to.

"Shiho?...Shiho! Dammit, Donnie! Bring your first aid kit!" She was there, but not as coherent as he'd like her to be. She wasn't even working her body; he knew she shouldn't have been training but damn that stubborn temper of hers. Not two seconds later, Donatello swooped in and was at his brother's side with the little medical kit in his hands. The first thing he brought out was his mini flashlight and held her eyelids open, flashing the beam into the hazy optics.

"Shiho? Can you hear me?" Donatello's voice was muffled in her buzzing ears but she was able to understand and nodded, squinting under his light. "Pupil dilation is normal and her eyes are clear. She doesn't appear to have a fever either. But man her pulse is through the roof…What happened?"

"I don't freaking know. One minute she was talking to me, I look down at Aanika for a second and look up then she was going down," Leo knelt with his woozy fox and gently shook her to try and rouse her. Shiho groaned and swiped at the air, just missing Donnie's face with her nails.

"Has she eaten today?" Donnie asked, opening her ears and looking inside them for anything. Clear.

"She had some eggs and fruit this morning at about 7, meditated with me, and got sick about two hours later. She hasn't been able to keep much of anything down today. I told her to sit out on training today, but you know how she is," The genius held his chin and hummed in thought. He pondered if he should run a blood test to see if she was becoming anemic, but he knew for a fact she'd put up a fight with that.

"Fruit or eggs might have been outdated. Go put her to bed and keep an eye on her. I'll ask April if she can pick us up some chicken broth or something. She's a little lethargic and needs something in her," Leo picked up his sickly vixen and looked around for Aanika. The little one was ducking behind Donatello's leg and whimpering, almost like she did when she first came into the lair. "Hey, she'll be okay. She just doesn't feel good. Like that time when you got that yucky flu, remember?"

"Yuck. Mama sick?"

"Mhmm. Go ahead and take her up Leo, I'll keep an eye on Shortstack here and give April and Casey a call," His brother nodded shortly and brought Shiho up against his plastron with a scowl. It wasn't normal for Shiho to get sick, she didn't even have allergies. She was still having a difficult time keeping her eyes open and focused, all she could see was the blurry outline of the underside of Leo's jaw. Her other senses weren't dulled, her hearing was crystal clear and she could hear every grunt and grumble Leo made as he made his way up the steps. He had the habit of mumbling to himself when he became troubled and confused.

"Leo…'m okay, really," She said as he set her down in bed. With a long exhale, the ninja removed her shorts and shoes to tuck her in. Shiho sighed with a heave in her shoulders.

"You're not okay. You've been sick since you woke up this morning, you shouldn't have even been training," The fox slipped her bare legs under the covers and unhooked her bra from inside her shirt and slid the straps off her arms. If he was making her lie down, she was at least going to be unrestrained. Leo piled her clothes and set them in the hamper for laundry later before sitting on the side of their bed. Shiho pressed her cheek against his bicep and hugged his arm, his hand resting on her thigh. "What were you thinking?"

"Oh Leo, don't be such a wuss. I'm just a little fluey. Nothing to worry—"

"You collapsed, dunce. That isn't 'nothing', something is wrong. I'm gonna ask Don to draw some blood and see if he can find anything," Leo leaned in and pressed his palm against her forehead after moving violet bangs away out of her face. Shiho huffed, annoyed. She still couldn't see clearly but she'd still try for a glare.

"You know I hate that…"

"Yeah, but you aren't going to tell me if you feel like shit or not, so I'm going to let the tests tell me. Now shut-up and go to sleep. April will be by later with something for you to eat. Hey," Leo turned her gaze on him when she looked away to stare at the wall in her irritation. She hated being babied and treated like a weakling, being waited on and fed. "Just let me take care of you, okay?"

Dammit, he had to give her that look that he knew would defeat her ill-temper. Leo was always looking for the chance to take care of her the way she did for him and everyone else. Shiho gave 100% of herself all the time without ever asking for much in return. Now, it was Leo's turn to make sure that she was better and healthy once again. But she was going to fight him on it, he knew that. Shiho was a horrible patient, keeping her in bed when she was injured was a pill. She'd find ways to sneak out and do exactly what Donatello told her not to and wound up hurting herself more. Leo didn't understand her, but her oddities made her that much more adorable.

"I'm not going to be quarantined am I?"

"….No? Why would we do that?" Shiho's face fell straight when she looked at him, he chuckled. She was cute when she was flustered.

"Because. Mikey catches a cold and you guys lock him up in his room like he has parvo. I've had my head in the toilet every few hours today, what's gonna happen to me?" Gathering her hands and kissing the tops of her knuckles, he smoothed over the joints with his thumbs and smiled at her. Now that he had the chance to get a good look at her, Leo realized she looked like shit. Her normally clear eyes were bloodshot, her complexion wasn't as tan as it usually was, and the dark circles under her eyes made her look like she hadn't slept in days.

"You'll be fine, Babe. Now go to sleep, I need to go speak with Donatello and then I'll come back and check on you. You better be asleep when I get back,"

"Putz.." She said, sticking her tongue out.

"Spazz. Sleep," He blew out the candle on his nightstand and left her alone to rest, much to her displeasure. Her grumbling and muttering made him smile, at least her personality was still in tact. He knew she was hating it, but he needed her healthy and able to fend off anyone who might have bad plans for her. Le owas going to do his best to protect her, but he still had Aanika to keep safe.

Donnie certainly wasn't looking forward to sticking a sick Shiho with a needle to get blood out of her arm. She'd scarred him once already, he couldn't imagine how upset she'd be when she found out he needed to run more tests. Sometimes, it sucked being the genius.

When you live in a house full of mutants and hybrids and one of the leaders falls sick, it's easy to say that you desperately wish for a vacation on a tropical island as far away from home as possible. At least, that's how Donatello was feeling. With Shiho out of commission for the day and Leo holed up in their room beside her, there was no one to keep the peace. Trying to do lab work when Michelangelo is goofing around on his hoverboard or when Raphael and Saundra are bickering is like trying to defuse a nuclear bomb. Nearly impossible.

At least he was being kept quiet company by Fiona and Aanika. The tiny fox had tuckered herself out while running around with Mikey and was curled up under Donnie's desk like some domestic cat. Shiho never really liked the idea that he'd even put a large pillow under there for her to nap on, but it kept her quiet and out of everyone's hair. So she didn't exactly protest it. Fiona was buried in one of the astronomy books that April had found in the shop, she hasn't put it down since she got it. Donnie was trying to figure out what was going on with Shiho today at Leo's request, but without that blood sample, he was stuck.

"So, what are you reading up on now?" Donnie said, not taking his eyes away from his microscope. He was looking at a blood sample that Fiona was kind enough to give up for him, quite unlike her older sister.

"Wormhole theories. You know, it's amazing to think that some scientists believe that interstellar transportation is possible in a matter of seconds. Falling into different dimensions, too," Donnie had to chuckle. If she only knew.

"Haha, well, we know all about different dimensions. You wouldn't believe the worlds we've seen. Although, I could go without ever stepping foot onto that bug planet that April had gotten lost in. The wasps there will make you soil yourself," Fiona poked her nose above the top of her book with curious grey eyes. In her big bean-bag chair, she wiggled until she was curled into a comfortable book worm ball.

"How did you guys travel to all of those dimensions, Don? I don't think Yellow Cab travels that far," She said with a giggle.

"Well, the Battle Nexus for one is a portal that you have to open with symbols and chanting. A majority of the others we stumbled into by accident. And some we were thrown into. Like once, all of us were separated into different dimensions by this insane dragon named Draco who had fused bodies with the Daimyo's son."

Donnie could tell by the way she dog-eared her page and rested the book in her lap that she was very interested in this tale. Fiona loved stories, much more than any of her sisters. She enjoyed being transported to other places and times through Donatello's storytelling. He found it endearing that his mate enjoyed his company and memories, she was a lot more fun to be around than his brothers when it came to his discoveries.

"Well, for starters, there were these two rather disturbed beings from the Battle Nexus dimension; the Daimyo's son and Draco. Both were sent into what we thought was oblivion but they wound up fusing bodies. But anyway, somehow they managed to find us in the old lair in New York and sent every single one of us into a different world. Mine was...not as cheerful as everyone elses."

Right he was, that particular experience gave him nightmares for years. Seeing his other worldly brothers aged by thirty years and slain before his eyes. He was hardly ever able to shake that disturbed and fearful feeling. The turtle left his mate hanging in curiosity and wonder, the doe-eyed look on her face egged him on to keep moving.

"Eh…I can't really get into that story, actually, Fi. It's honestly just too upsetting to even think about let alone re-tell it," Donnie twisted his mouth into a frown as he turned back to his microscope. The red fox chewed her lip and pulled her ears back, Donnie rarely shut her out, but when he did it never failed to sting just a little. Before she had the chance to apologize, there was a knock on his open door.

"Donnie! I'm here about a sick fox?"

"Hey, April. Thanks for coming by. I tried giving her some toast and Gatorade but she just can't keep it down," Don shut down his microscope and left to walk with April. Fiona's brow twitched slightly as he disappeared. It wasn't that she didn't like April, she just didn't like April alone with Donatello. He always became this chipper and excited turtle whenever she was around, being jealous was something that ran deep in the hybrids. And Fiona was absolutely green with envy. To keep her mouth shut, she decided to stay in the workshop and try her best to read some more all the while keeping an ear trained on the open door for anything.

"There she is. Oh jeez, you do look like hell," Shiho was laying on Leo's plastron her ears flopped to the sides of her head and her face tucked into the crook of his neck. Even her tail lost its wiggling luster. Donnie had left April with the fox and went back to his work shop only to find a jealous, irritated Fiona buried deep into her book.

"You're so kind, April. What'dya bring me?"

"Some soup and raspberry iced tea," Said the redhead with emphasis on the tea. The little treat brought those tall ears back up as the fox managed to sit up. April set down a plaid thermos full of homemade soup and a travel cup of chilly tea. Leo sat on his side of the bed with his arms folded behind his head, releasing the grip he'd had around her waist. She became a cuddling beast when she felt like crap, he didn't seem to mind.

"Well, it's easy to see what gets her excited. Thanks April. This sort of caught us by surprise."

"Ah forget it, Leo. You guys have saved my hide countless times. Heh, but could you excuse us for a moment, I have something I wanna ask Shiho," Leo opened his mouth to protest, but a glance from his vixen snapped his jaw closed and he sat up to leave. But not without a kiss to her forehead, of course.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me," He said.

"Thanks, Babe," Shiho said with a lazy wink. Once he closed the door her attention snapped to April who brought a narrow box out of her purse. "Alright, what do you want?"

"Go pee on the stick," April demanded, tossing her sickly friend a pregnancy test. If Shiho weren't so nauseous, she'd bust a gut laughing.

"Ohh sweet April. You're joking, right?" The redhead stood with her arms folded across her chest and a crooked brow. She certainly didn't look like she was joking, maybe she was just crazy. Shiho tossed the box back at her and shook her head. "Nuh-uh. I'm not pregnant. It's impossible."

"Just go take it, would ya?"

"I'm not gonna pee on the stick!"

"Go pee on it!" April shouted back.

"I'm not gonna!"

"You will if you want this," April reached forward and grabbed the travel cup full of Shiho's favorite tea and shook it in her hand. Violet eyes narrowed and a scowl cranked on those dark lips.

"…anyone ever tell you that you play dirty?" Shiho said, climbing out of bed and swiping her shorts out of the hamper to put on. April set the travel cup down and smirked victoriously. That fox was so easy to read. Shiho swiped that box out of April's hands with a grumble and waddled out of the room. "It's not going to prove anything. How many are in here?"

"Two," She said, following her into the bathroom and shutting the door and locking it. Leo looked up to the walkway in confusion as both girls disappeared into the bathroom, his curiosity tugging at him to go take a look.

"This is so humiliating. I have to pee on both of them?"

"Yep."

"Does Donnie know you brought these over? If he did I'm going to pound him into his shell," The irritated fox stuck one of the test sticks between her legs and waited a few seconds and then stuck the other down. Her ears flattened as she closed the absorbent ends and set them on the counter.

"No, of course not. But he described how you were doing and I just had a hunch."

"This is so stupid…okay, now we wait—"

"Girls? What's going on in there?" Leo knocked on the door and scared Shiho right off the toilet into the bathtub with a thud. Luckily, she'd finished peeing.

"U-uh…n-nothing Leo! She just started feeling like she was going to get sick again so I came with her. No need to worry Hehehe," On the other side of the door, Leo stared trying to see through the barrier like some sort of science fiction geek who wanted x-ray vision. April was pressed against the door with her hand on the knob to make sure he wouldn't get in.

"Hmm…alright. Just make sure she gets back into bed."

"Worry-wart," Shiho snorted, upside down in the tub.

"I heard that, Shiho!" She squealed and scrambled to get back to her feet. She was feeling better, Leo just insisted that she stay holed up in their room until tomorrow. Having such a compassionate mate had its downfalls when Shiho wanted to stretch her legs. But she did enjoy spending all day in bed with him next to her, that had to be the only silver lining she could find about this situation.

April pressed her ear against the door and checked underneath to make sure Leo had walked away. Once the coast was clear, she scuttled over to the counter to take a look at the tests as Shiho was crawling out of the tub to stand beside her. Her fingers ran through her hair to relieve the strands of the tangles she'd sustained in her stumble. April was wobbling eagerly back and forth as the symbols started to appear in the small windows.

"Almost there. Hey, how have you and Leo been, anyway? I see the guys but never get to see you two anymore," Shiho closed the toilet lid and sat on it with a shrug.

"We're fine. He's been a little more protective than usual when I need to go into the city, but with the circumstances I can't say I blame him," She said, absentmindedly scratching behind her ear and twitching it back and forth wildly. Her tail tapped impatiently on the bathroom floor, waiting. Shiho hated waiting. But the tapping stilled when April picked up the first test and started to read it, looking at the box for reference.

"Hmm…this one is negative—"

"Told you!"

"Ah-ah, we still have one more which is….negative," Shiho crooked her brow with a very satisfied smirk. As if to say I told you so, Dope.

"Oh don't give me that look. These things give false negatives and positives all the time. Let's go get Donnie for a blood test—"

"Apriiiil! Just accept it. I just caught a day bug. I'm not knocked up, it's impossible. First, Leo is a turtle, a reptile! Second, I don't even know if I can get pregnant. If you knew how many chemicals and junk were pumped into my veins you'd understand. Besides, we have Aanika. Leo's happy with that," Shiho grabbed both tests and wrapped them in a wad of toilet paper before tucking them into the trash. The last thing she needed was one of the brothers finding pregnancy tests. They'd never leave her alone.

"I know. He loves Aanika like his own, doesn't he? It surprised me when she first reached out to him."

"He does. Aanika adores him and follows him everywhere when she gets the chance. We're fine the way we are, really. I've accepted it, I did when I realized I loved Leo," April sighed a stream of air and tussled her bangs as she did so, a smile on her bright red lips. Her smile faded when she noticed Shiho turning a shade of green.

"You okay?"

"Hold my hair back will ya?"

A/N: What a terribe patient Shiho is right? Now, who else other than me wants Leo as a boyfriend when you're sick? I mean really, think about it. He's possibly the most compassionate one out of the bunch with family first on the brain. I'd personally love to snuggle up against that stud when I don't feel well. OOOOH I can dream. Okay I'm done fantasizing. Next chapter will be up soon. Hopefully I'll have this bad boy finished before I leave state in 2 weeks for an extended trip. Getting my scoliosis fixed! Thanks duckies! Read and Review!