Ch 9 Haunting Memories.

Raph, his brothers and Renet stared at Leo in shock. "How is this guy Saki your father Leo?" Mikey asked. "You don't even share his last name."

"My mom and dad got married about a year or two after I hatched." Leo explained, a far away look in his eyes. "I've always had my mom's maiden name." He choked back a sob.

Hearing the commotion, Splinter came out of the dojo and saw Raph comforting Leo. "What did you find out Donatello?" He asked.

Donnie explained all that he had learned and why and how it was effecting Leo. Splinter nodded in understanding. He placed a hand on Leo's shoulder. "If your father, this Oroku Saki is still alive and killed Ms. Langinstein to try and get to you, then we need to find out why and what he plans on doing with you." Splinter told him. He turned to Donatello.

"Is there anyway you can use your computer to look into this Oroku Saki?" Donnie nodded.

Leo stood and began to pace. "All this time, I thought he was dead." Leo gritted his teeth in anger. "My mom told me he died in an explosion in the TCRI building in LA." Leo stopped pacing and placed a hand against the wall. "But all this time, it was a lie!" He pounded his fist against the wall. "He's alive and now he's hired these purple dragon jerks to kidnap me?!" Leo turned back to Raph and his family. "Why!" He yelled and slid down the wall placing his head in his hands. "Why is this happening!?"

Raph ran over to where Leo sat. "Everything will be okay Leo." Raph told him, wrapping his arms around Leo's shoulders.

"Yeah bro." Mikey chimed in. "No matter what this Saki guy tries to do, we'll be there to stop him!" He pounded his fist in his hand to emphasize his point.

Leo shook his head. "No, I need to face him alone and find out what he wants. Why he came back and like...like this."

"Leo..." Raph started.

"Raph, I don't want to see you, or any of you hurt." He looked at the rest of the group. "I...I just want to know why." He looked down at the floor. "Why and...and how he could do this to my mother?" He looked back at the group. "To me."

"Leo?" Raph looked away from him and toward his family who were watching them intently. He turned back to him and placed his hands on his shoulders. "Did your father hurt you?"

Leo looked at Raph confused." What do you mean?"

Raph licked his lips nervously. "When I got you in the car, you were pretty high. Mumbling things...singing and talking to your mother about your father and saying something about him... hurting your arms." He looked at Leo intently. "Did your father hurt you?"

Leo put his hand on his arm where he was jabbed with the needle. "That guy Xever shot me with a needle." He began to get a far away look in his eyes and his body began to tremble. "I remember...the last time I saw my dad...he took me out of my bed." Leo's breathing quickened. "He told me I had to be quiet, not to wake up my mom." His eyes started darting around. "He told me he had a surprise for me at work...we got there and he brought me to this lab." Tears started falling from his eyes and he started rubbing his hands up and down his arms. "He held me down while this dark skinned man began poking me with needles, he shot me up with stuff and drew blood...I screamed and begged my dad to stop and take me home." Raph wrapped his arms around Leo and soothed him. Leo cried harder into Raph's shoulder while the rest of the family listened in horror. "My mom showed up and she forced my dad away from me.. she grabbed me and...and took me away while the building burned." Leo shook hard and sobbed uncontrollably as the memories of that night flooded his mind. "OH GOD...MY MOTHER TRIED TO KILL MY DAD!" He yelled out grabbing his head with his hands. "WHY!? WHAT WAS HE TRYING TO DO TO ME?!"

"Oh Leo, I'm so sorry!" Raph told him. "But your with us now and your safe, we are not going to let that man hurt you." He pulled Leo away from him and looked into his eyes, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I promise you. We are going to deal with him."

"Raph, I can't..."Leo started

"Don't say you can't let us help you." Mikey came over and knelt beside Raph. "Family helps family and you are a part of this family."

"That's right!" Donnie said vehemently. "We take care of our own and no one gets away with trying to hurt the ones we love!"

Leo sniffed and smiled at the three brothers." Thank you guys." He took a deep breath. "I do feel a little better." He looked at Raph. "I'm really tired, can I lay down please?" Raph nodded and helped Leo to his feet. He then assisted Leo in getting to his room.

"Oh poor Leo." Renet said. "One minuted he's all excited about getting married and now all this!"

Splinter nodded. "We are going to have to keep a watchful eye on him." His sons looked at him curiously. "We do not know if he intends to do something dangerous and take revenge or if someone may try to come after him and take him away. Regardless we cannot let anything happen to him." Splinter looked intently at his sons. "We must be there to help him but he must first calm down and be in the right state of mind." Splinter turned and went to his room. "We should all get a good night sleep and deal with this in the morning."

"Well, it's been a long day, I'd better get home." Renet told Mikey. She began to walk to the door with Mikey escorting her.

"Renet, I know it's only a few minutes drive, but can you call me when you get home." Mikey said, sounding nervous. He grabbed her hands and looked into her eyes. "Please." He begged.

She smiled at him and they kissed tenderly. "Of course Mikey." They turned to the door and, with Mike's hand in hers, he escorted her to her car. As promised, several minutes later, she called his t-phone and he went into his room to talk to her.

Upstairs, Raph watched as Leo laid down in his bed. He looked broken and alone. "You don't have to stay with me Raph." Leo told him. "I know you still have things to do." He tried to smile at him. "Like your homework." He glared at him.

Raph chuckled. "In a minute." He told him. "You know you're a good singer." Raph told him.

Leo looked at him in surprise. "What song did I sing?"

"All The Pretty Little Horses." Raph smiled. "It's a lullaby, isn't it?" Leo nodded. "My mom use to sing 'You Are My Sunshine' to my brothers and I." He smiled sadly. "To this day I still miss it."

Leo nodded and began to get that far away look in his eyes again. "Me too, my mom use to sing it to me when I was scared or upset." He let out a nervous chuckle. "Now that I think about it, I use to get that way when I would get 'phantom pains' along my arms." A tear once again rolled down his cheek. "She tried to protect me from him and thought she killed him." He shook his head and wiped his face. "All those years she carried that guilt and he was alive all this time."

"I know it's hard but try not to think about that right now Leo." Raph placed his hand on Leo's cheek. "We'll talk about this in the morning." Leo nodded. Raph bent down and gave Leo a deep kiss. Leo then watched Raph walk out the room with a promise to be back after he was done with his homework.

Raph made his way to the living room and went to speak with Don. "What can you find on this Saki guy Don?"

Donnie walked over to his laptop and did some more typing. "I'm not finding anything really on him." He said. "He's from Japan and, according to the records, died in July of '02 after an accidental explosion in the Los Angeles branch of TCRI. According to one witness, the explosion happened when a mixture of explosive chemicals fell and set the building on fire." Donnie looked thoughtful. "I remember reading something about this in the TCRI archives."

"Who was the witness?"

"Someone named Baxter Stockman." He pulled up the picture of Stockman and Donnie's eyes widen in surprise. "Wait, I know this guy!" He looked at Raph excitedly. "He works in a different section at TCRI, he's experimenting with a variety of Steroid Enhancement drugs for soldiers."

"I thought that was illegal?" Raph sounded like he was getting angry.

"It has to do with helping them heal after they get wounded, or something like that." Donnie looked at his brother rather sheepishly. "No one's really suppose to know anything about it but there have been rumors about it."

Raph looked at the picture of Stockman. "Didn't Leo say something about a guy giving him shots and talking his blood being dark skinned?" He asked.

Donnie nodded and then looked at Raph in amazement. "Do you think this could be the guy?"

"It has to be." Raph told him. "It makes sense that..."

At that moment, a knock on the door brought the brothers away from their thoughts. Raph answered it and was not too surprise to see two police officers standing at the door.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"I'm officer Upton and this is Officer Graham, we're looking for a Leonardo Tartaruga." One officer told him. "We were told he may be here."

"What is this about officer." Splinter came out of his room upon hearing the knock.

"There's been trouble at his Aunt's home." Graham explained. "We need to speak to him right away."

All three Hamatos kept their faces calmed upon hearing the information.

Splinter turned to Raph. "Raphael, please go and get Leonardo." He turned back to the officers and at that moment Mikey was just walking in looking bewildered. "What sort of trouble Officer?"

"Sorry sir, we need to speak with him about this." Stated Upton.

Splinter nodded. "Is it alright that I and my sons stay with him officers?"

"If that's what he wants." Upton told him. "We may have to...

"Father!" Raph came running back into the living room in a panic. "Leo's gone!"