Hi Guest, thanks again for the review, keep in mind Leo has yet to receive his shot and Falco has now recreated the vaccine so the super soldier thing may still be a possibility. Please keep reading and keep those review coming. Peace :)

Ch 28. A Lonely New Year.

That same morning, Raph walked into the guest room and began to gather Leo's belongings; his movements were slow as he put everything into Leo's suitcase. He picked up one of Leo's shirts given to him by Splinter. Raph stared down at the shirt and smoothed it in between his fingers. The color of the shirt was a bright blue and it reminded Raph of Leo's eyes.

He sighed heavily and, after a few seconds of thinking of his blue-eyed lover, put the shirt into the suitcase and continued with gathering Leo's things. As he went through the drawers on the dresser, Raph came across a familiar cell phone. 'Oh great,' Raph thought as he realized whose phone it was, 'Leo forgot his cell phone,' He placed it into the pocket of his jeans. 'No wonder he hasn't gotten in touch with me.'

He ran downstairs and over to the kitchen where Splinter was still enjoying his morning cup of tea. "Sensei," The large brown rat looked up at him in surprise as he made his way over to him.

"Raphael?" Splinter raised an eye ridge, "I am surprise you are already out of bed my son, is everything alright?"

"I couldn't sleep," He admitted. "I keep thinking about Leo so I decided to take care of Leo's things," He shrugged. "I figured I could give it to him when I see him on…."He looked at the calendar hanging in the kitchen. "At least I hope to see him on New Year's Eve."

Splinter lowered his eyes and nodded sadly, "Yes, I too keep thinking about Leonardo," He told him. "Have you heard anything from him?"

Raph held out the cell phone, "No and here's why." He said. He looked up at his Sensei, "I want to give it to him but I'm afraid if I go to his home I'll make things worse for him like I did last time."

Splinter nodded in understanding, he finished his tea and stood up. "Come with me Raphael," He told him as he left the room. Raph followed the large rat into the dojo and watched as Splinter pulled open a drawer filled with a variety of envelops. He grabbed a box from off his desk and handed it to Raph, then pulled out a federal express envelope. He smiled at his son as he gave him the envelope. "He will receive his phone before the first of the year if you get to the post office before it closes today." He told him as Raph began to wrap the phone in the box and fill out the envelope.

Raph smiled at him, "I'll go there right now." Raph said and hurriedly scribbled out a note to let Leo know he was thinking about him.

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On New Year's Eve, Saki walked into his study and looked over his mail. He picked up a package that had Leonardo's name and the return address showed it had come from the Hamato dojo. He furrowed his brow as he debated about bringing the package to Leo or opening it up first to see what it was. He walked out of his study and found Xever in the kitchen going through the cabinets.

"Xever," Saki's voice made him stop and turn to face him, "Where is Leonardo?"

"Forgive me boss," The smooth talking Mexican said as he bowed his head, "But your son has not ventured out of his room for the past two days." He smiled innocently as Saki looked at him bewilderment. "Uh, boss?" He nervously walked over to him, "Have you noticed there is not much food in here…."

"Then go out and get some!" Saki yelled then turned toward the stairs. Although he was not close to Leo he did know this was something very unusual for him. Without any further word, he turned and made his way up the stairs and to Leo's room. He grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened the door and looked into the darkened room.

Saki scowled upon seeing Leo's form. The young turtle laid in his bed wrapped in his blankets in the fetal position. He didn't even stir upon the creaking of the door as it opened further allowing the tall human to walk inside. "Leonardo," Saki's voice sounded loud and cold in the large room and Leo shivered upon hearing it. "Get up."

Leo opened his eyes and watched as his father clenched a hand when he saw Leo's red eyes stare up at him. "I can't." Leo choked out.

Saki angrily snatched the blanket and forced it off his son. "Get up!" He demanded again as he forced Leo to sit up. "I did not raise you to be a coward!"

Leo shook hard and wiped his face of the tears that now flowed down his cheeks. "Father please," He cried, "I tried to leave the house the other day and I couldn't walk out the door," He told him. "I started to shake and I got dizzy and I couldn't breath…."

"You had a panic attack Leonardo," Saki angrily told him. "You have been in your room for two days dealing with what happened to you," He threw his package at him, "I think you've had plenty of time to get over it now get up and get downstairs." He started to turn away from him. "Stockman will be here later today and I need you to be ready for when he gets here." He walked out the room slamming the door behind him.

Leo flinched when the door slammed. He took a deep breath and looked down at the package; he steeled his nerves as he looked at the address label. Upon seeing it was from the Hamatos, he quickly opened the package and pulled out his phone along with a note from Raph.

Dear Leo, I found your phone, please call me when you get this, I hope you're doing okay and I just want you to know I love you and miss you very much. Love Raph.

As Leo read the note, he gritted his teeth in frustration, angry at the way he had been acting since attempting to leave the house. He looked at his phone and noticed it needed to be charged. With a deep breath, he got out of bed and found his extra charger, after taking care of his phone; he made his way over to his bathroom and readied himself for the day. After a long hot steaming shower, he got dressed and with his phone now in hand, made his way downstairs and over to the front door.

Saki stepped out of his study and watched as Leo began to pull his boots on. He walked angrily over to him and grabbed his left arm before he could put his coat on.

"Where are you going?" He demanded as he quickly took the phone away from him.

"I'm going to see Raph," Leo told him as he winced in pain while attempting to wrestle his injured arm away from his father.

"No," Saki looked coldly down at him and forced him to walk toward his study, "You're not."

"But father…" Leo attempted to protest but Saki's grip was tight and painful as he pulled him along.

"Stockman will be here soon and you will be getting another shot," He told Leo as he forced him into a chair. "This shot will hopefully lead us to a cure for that cancer you carry."

Leo looked up at his father and rubbed his injured arm, "But…" Leo began quietly, "I was going to go to their party."

"Not at this time," Saki told him as he sat down at his desk. He looked at the monitor where a view of the front was visible and watched Stockman, along with Falco, walked up to the door. He pressed a button allowing the door to unlock and the two stepped into the hall and made their way toward his study.

Leo watched as Stockman stuck the needle into his arm. "We're just going to give you one for now Leonardo," He told him as he placed a bandage on his arm. "We'll give it a few weeks and see if there is any change to your...um….ailment." He smiled at Leo as the young turtle started to stand.

"May I go to Raph's party now?" He asked Saki.

"By all means," Saki replied coldly, staring at Leo intently.

"Both he and the scientist watched in anticipation as Leo began to make his way toward the door, swaying slightly as he went. Leo reached for the doorknob but stopped as his vision started to blur. He turned back to Stockman, "What did you give me?" He demanded, his words slurred as he attempted to stand and focus on his father.

"Don't worry Leonardo," Falco said as he and Stockman walked over to him and helped him back to his chair. "The vaccine we gave you could have some side effects," They watched as Leo fought to keep his eyes open and his breathing came in gulps. "This could be one of them."

Sweat started down Leo's forehead and his heart began to pound in his ears. He attempted to say something but nothing ever came out of his mouth as his eyes closed and he was plunged into darkness.

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At eight o'clock, Raph watched as Professor Honeycutt walked into the room along with, what looked to Raph to be a mutant monkey. He sighed dejectedly, hoping Leo would have been there by now to speak with Honeycutt and Rockwell, but as he was not, Raph figured he would be speaking with them alone. He walked over to his guest and greeted them.

"Ah Raphael," the Professor smiled at him as Donnie eagerly came up behind him, "I would like you to meet my good friend Dr. Tyler Rockwell, CEO of TCRI."

Raph stuck out his hand in greeting but was quickly pushed aside as Donnie swiftly took the Doctor's hand and shook it excitedly. "Hello Dr. Rockwell, my name is Donatello Hamato and it's a great pleasure to meet you," His words came out rapidly as he continued to shake the monkey's hand hard. "I have been hoping to meet and talk with you about a possible internship with your company and….."

"Donnie!" Raph cut in and gently pushed his overeager brother to the side. "Breath," He gave him a stern look as he turned to their guest. "I apologize for my brother," he told the monkey with a slight bow of his head, "He's a big fan of yours."

"Yes, so I see," Rockwell smiled at Donnie and handed him a business card, "Please call my secretary and arrange for an appointment, I'll speak with you then." He then turned to Raph. "My friend the professor here," He said waving a hand at Honeycutt, "Has advised me of a concern of yours regarding one of your friends."

Raph nodded. "Yeah, my friend, Leonardo Tartaruga is the son of one of your employees, Saki Oroku" he began, "Would you be able to tell me exactly what it is he does at your research company?"

"I'm afraid I cannot divulge that information Raphael," He told him apologetically, "Everything done at TCRI is strictly top secret."

Raph rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Are your employees generally allowed to bring their work home?" Raph asked, his voice raising in anger.

Rockwell looked at Raph curiously. "Why don't you tell me exactly what you mean, Mr. Hamato?"

Raph explained everything that Leo had told him and watched as Rockwell's eyes narrowed in confusion. He stroked his chin and nodded as Raph finished his story. "I do see your concern." He admitted, "And I must admit I do not recall giving anyone authority on doing any kind of experiment on cancer research."

"That's what I thought," Raph told him.

"Although, I am anxious to speak with your friend, Leonardo," He told him, "Will he be here tonight?"

"I was expecting him," Raph said looking at the door, "But he has yet to show up."

"Yes, well if I don't get a chance to speak with him tonight, have him come by my office when your brother makes his appointment." Raph nodded. "I am anxious to look into this, the last time we had someone experiment on mutants, he started taking children from orphanages under the guise of giving them vaccinations but what he was really doing was taking blood samples from the mutant children while injecting them with various steroids to see if the blood from the mutant children could be manipulated." Rockwell shook his head sadly. "Unfortunately this only made the children sick and some even died." He lowered his eyes and shook his head sadly. "Since our DNA is unstable due to the mutagen in our bloodstream, it is illegal to experiment on mutants."

"Whatever happened to this…."

"His name is Dr. Falco," Rockwell said, "Dr. Victor Falco, and as soon as I found out, I contacted the research facility that was funding our research and advised them of what was going on, he was fired and kicked out of the scientific community." Rockwell shook his head. "I haven't heard anything of him since."

Upon hearing Falco's name, Raph looked at Rockwell in surprise, "Did you say Falco?" he asked.

Rockwell nodded, "You've heard of him?"

Raph narrowed his eyes in consternation, "Yeah, the name is familiar to me but I'm not sure why,"

"Maybe it will come back to you when you're not thinking about it?" Donnie told him.

Raph nodded then looked down at his phone, for most of the day, he had been calling Leo, hoping he would have received his phone by now but so far the blue eyed turtle had yet to respond. He sighed heavily as he watched the guest begin to pair up to watch the New Year's Eve ball drop in Time's Square.

"No Leo yet Raph?" Casey asked him as he and April walked over to him.

Raph shook his head. "And it's almost midnight." He muttered sadly.

"Ah cheer up Raph," April told him. "I'm sure Leo's still dealing with what happened to him last week."

Raph looked at his phone, "'but why hasn't he gotten in touch with me?" He asked to no one in particular. "I sent him his phone and he should have received it by now so why hasn't he called?"

"Did you call him Raph?" Mikey asked.

Raph rolled his eyes, "Gee Mikey," he said mockingly, "Now why didn't I think about that?" He growled at his youngest brother who backed away slightly. "Oh yeah… I DID!" He showed him his phone, "Several times!" Raph stood back and took a deep breath. He looked at Mikey tenderly, "I'm sorry little bro," He told him making Mikey smile, "I'm just so scared for Leo, who knows what his father has done to him."

"He hasn't respond or called you back at all?" Donnie asked coming over with Angel.

Raph shook his head and looked at his phone with a heavy sigh. "I miss him." He muttered. He turned and watched as the ball started to drop and the guest started counting down to midnight.

Splinter came over and placed a hand on Raph's shoulder, Raph looked up at him with glistening eyes while around them; everyone cheered and toasted the New Year. "Happy New Year my son," Splinter quietly told him as he brought Raph into a hug, "Perhaps this New Year will be better for everyone."