Ch 14 A Letter of Love.

Leo sat on the steps of TCRI, a blanket wrapped around him. It was early morning now and his body shivered in the cold but he did not feel it. All around him, people were talking, moving, yelling, lights flashed and sirens sounded, but he heard none of it. He stared straight ahead, a blank expression on his face. He finally found out more about his life he ever expected to know, and now he felt lost and confused.

In front of him, Raph and Mikey were speaking to two tall muscular turtles, Detective Slash and Detective Spike. They had been investigating his aunt's death when they heard the 9-1-1 call placed by Donnie and came over immediately. Meanwhile, Donnie was speaking to a rather large alligator mutant and a mutant monkey, explaining to them what had been going on this night. Limping past Leo were Bradford, Stockman and the three purple dragons all in handcuffs and protesting loudly. Xever was in a stretcher cursing in Raph's name and threatening him. Then, a second stretcher with a black body bag was rolled past him. Leo's eyes followed as the stretcher was wheeled past. He felt so empty inside yet he wanted so badly to feel anger and hate for the man who killed everyone he once loved, but he didn't. He only continued to feel numb and lost.

"Leo?" He heard the voice but couldn't respond. "LEO!" Raph yelled, hoping to get him to look at him. Leo's eyes slowly wandered over to his. "We told the police everything, they want you to come down to the station later today and make a statement." He watched as Leo continued to stare at the body bag. "Donnie also talked to his boss, they're going to want to check you out as soon as they verify the chemicals Stockman created." He waited for Leo to respond but Leo only nodded.

"Snap out of it Leo." He told him. "Saki got what he deserved." He placed a finger under his chin and lifted his head to make him look at him. "If you hadn't done what you did, Mikey would be dead." Leo slowly nodded and let his eyes wander back over to the body bag now being lifted into the coroner's vehicle.

"Leo?" Raph now spoke softly. "Don't hold it in." He implored. "Let it go."

Leo shook his head. "I just wanted to hear him say it was all a mistake, that he came back into my life because he wanted to be with me...be my dad." Leo said, his voice sounding so far away. "Why couldn't he just love me?" Leo asked. "Why did he hate me so much?" He finally looked at Raph, tears flowing freely. "I'm alone now Raph. I have no one."

"Oh Leo." Raph brought Leo into a hug which was eventually joined by Donnie and Mikey." You're not alone Leo." Raph told him. "You got us and Sensei and all our friends."

"Yeah," Mikey chimed in. "And one day, you and Raph will be married and then you're really be a part of all this craziness...ow." Mikey winced as Donnie slapped his head.

Leo gave a small smile at their antics. "Thanks guys." He told them.

"Just promise me one thing Leo." Donnie looked at him with narrowed eyes. "You won't go running off like that again." He wagged his finger at him as though scolding a child.

"Yeah Leo." Mikey chimed in. "Uncool thing to do."

"It's like you said Leo." Raph reminded him, stroking his cheek. "We'll work through things together."

"I'm sorry guys." He lowered his eyes in shame. "I...I just wanted to protect you."

"It's okay babe." Raph pulled back and placed his hand in his pocket. He pulled it out and grabbed Leo's hand and placed the ring on his finger. He held Leo's hand up to his chest and looked at him tenderly. "Just promise me...you won't ever take this off again. He told him sternly.

Leo smiled at him teary-eyed and sniffed. "Promise." He told him sniffling.

"My sons!" The four boys turned and saw Master Splinter running through the crowd. He quickly wrapped his arms around Raph, Donnie and Mikey who had quickly made their way over to him."I heard what was happening on the news. I was so worried about you." He looked down at them, inspecting their faces making sure they were not hurt. "I am so thankful you are safe." He told them. He looked over at Leonardo who was staring at them with shame filled eyes. Splinter pulled away from his sons and gave them a loving smile, he then made his way over to Leo. He placed his hand on his shoulder. "All my sons." He said looking down at him.

Leo looked up at him, his face filled with emotion. He suddenly jumped up and grabbed onto Splinter and held him tight. He sobbed hard into the rat's chest, his whole body shaking as the tears spilled forth. Splinter gently stroked his shell and whispered words of comfort.

Several minutes later, after Leo calmed down, Splinter turned to the other turtles. "Come, all my sons." He placed his hand on Leo's cheek. "Let us go home."

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The next several days went by in a haze for Leo. Besides continuing to assist Splinter with their classes, he went to the police station and gave his statement and was advised to be available for any further questions and court. He allowed Donnie's boss, Dr. Rockwell, to check his blood and verify if the injection was doing anything with his DNA. From what he could deduce, Leonardo was fine, so far. He went to the coroner's office and verified his aunt's body. He gave her a tender kiss goodbye and left instructions with the M.E as to what funeral home the body was to be delivered to and began to make arrangements for the funeral.

Eventually, the day of the funeral came and Leo gave the eulogy. He spoke slowly and his voice sounded tired. At the end, many people from Roosevelt High School where Irma worked gave their condolences and he thanked them all. He started walking away when his aunt's boyfriend, Vern, came up to him to talk.

"Hello Leonardo." He greeted him. "How are you doing son?"

"Hi Mr. Fenwick." Leo returned the greeting. "Doing the best I can."

"I just wanted to tell you Leo...you know your aunt loved you very much..and..she was really happy when you came to stay with her" Leo nodded as they walked away from the freshly laid grave. "I also have something I need to give you." Vern took a deep breath and shook slightly. "I saw her that day, before she died. She called me after you went to work and gave me something that I was to give to you, unfortunately I got caught up at work and was not able to get to the dojo that day." They stopped walking and he looked down at the ground as tears threatened to fall. "It was as though she knew she wasn't going to see you anymore." He said choking on his words. He pulled out of his breast pocket a very thick envelope and handed it to Leo. "It..ah..probably has something to do with her estate." Leo looked up at him in surprise.

"Her estate?" He inquired.

"Yeah, your aunt had a lot of money." He told him with a light nervous chuckle. "Probably well over a million dollars and..." Vern looked at Leo who was looking at him in shock. "You...you didn't know." He said slowly.

Leo shook his head in disbelief. "I had no idea." He looked down at the ground in wonder. "How...where?"

"Her grandmother was an heiress." Vern told him. "She inherited a ton of money after her mom died and distributed it between her children, Irma's mom being one of them." Vern placed a hand on Leo's shoulder as he look down at the envelope. "If there is anything I can do for you."

"Thank you Mr. Fenwick." Leo nodded, staring at the envelope, eyes wide. He looked over to the limousine where Raph and the rest of the family were waiting for him. "But...I think I'm in good hands." Shaking hands, they said goodbye and Leo walked over to his family.

"What's that babe?" Raph asked.

"Something from my aunt." He explained what had transpired between him and Vern. "I'll open it when we get home.

At home Leo opened the letter and was surprised to see not just a note from his aunt, but a will that stated him as her sole heir and instructions to see her lawyer. Leo was stunned and requested Raph read the note.

My darling Leonardo.

If you are reading this then I am probably no longer with you and you are probably wondering what has happened. It's a long story but I will try to tell you as much as possible. First of all, I never meant to hurt you. I love you very much and wanted so much to just protect you, and at this point, I can only hope I have. Second, you probably know that I was being blackmailed. I suspect you overheard a conversation I had late one night. Anyway, I was being forced to keep an eye on you by a man named Saki Oroko. Your father. Who is still alive and trying to get you back to continue an experiment on you for TCRI to sell to the military. Please understand, I never wanted to see you get hurt, and more then once I tried to get him to change his mind. And there had been more then once I wanted to tell you the truth but I was too afraid because of my past. You said once that if someone's past effects someone's future, they should be told about it. I wish I had told you the truth about my past. Yes I was married once and my husband was shot. But what you don't know is that I was the one who shot him. It was in an alleyway, we had been attacked by robbers and one of them had a gun, he dropped it in a panic and I picked it up. I then used it to kill my husband, I told the police it had been the robbers and I had grabbed the gun after they panicked and dropped it. They believed me and I was free from an abusive marriage. But Saki had found evidence and..well...you now know the rest. I hope this letter gets to you before Saki does. Please, do what you can to stay away from him and go to the police for protection. I know I've done you, as well as your mother, (may she rest in peace), a terrible wrong, but I truly hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. No matter what happens between us, I love you and pray you will be okay.

All my love, Aunt Irma.

The whole household was quiet as Raph read the letter. He looked up at Leo who was staring straight ahead in shock. He was just about to say something when Leo stood up abruptly, he walked upstairs and slammed the door to the guest room where he had been staying since that fateful night. Several moments later, a heartbreaking pained scream could be heard throughout the house.