Leo struggled as he tried to get books from a box on the ground up onto a shelf. However, he groaned in frustration as all the books he'd been trying to lift flew out of his hand and sprawled across the floor, the result of his trying to pick up too many in one hand.

"Leo, what are you doing?"

Leo sighed and looked up at Donnie from where he was kneeling on the ground, trying to collect the books he'd dropped.

"I told you I would do that." Donnie knelt next to him and pushed Leo's hand away in order to pick up the books himself.

"You should be doing your homework."

"I already did my homework. I can shelf the inventory." Donnie knocked Leo's hand away again. "Go sit down."

The bell on the shop's door rang, signaling a new customer, and Leo left Donnie to clean up his mess as he maneuvered around the bookstore's shelves and made his way towards the front to see if he could be of any assistance.

"Can I help you?"

Leo was asking the question before he was visible to the customer and Raphael watched as Leo froze when he was spotted, with his mouth comically dropped open.

"Ya want to take a guess at what I want?"

"Raph." Leo's mouth finally closed and he took a few steps towards Raphael, stopping when he noticed Raph tense.

Raphael stared hard at him, determined to stay angry, despite the sheer relief he could see in those blue eyes. Why on earth would Leo be relieved to see him? And –

"What the hell'd ya do to yer arm?" Raph's eyes had finally moved away from Leo's eyes and scanned over the rest of him. One of Leo's wrists was in a cast. His eyes narrowed in on the cast. From what he could tell, someone had used an orange marker to cover it in dinosaurs.

"It's not a big deal." Leo's good hand tried to cover the casted wrist.

"Yes it is. It's a broken wrist."

Raph's eyes moved past Leo to see who the new voice belonged to. His eyes widened slightly when he spotted the second turtle he'd ever seen, a tall guy who was carrying a stack of books and coming to stand next to Leo.

"So don't let him carry anything for you."

"Donnie," Leo said, shooting the other an exasperated look.

"Or reach for anything above shoulder height. His shoulder was dislocated too and he should be letting it rest."

"Donnie," Leo growled.

"Donatello?" Raph asked as he watched the frustrated exchange between the two turtles.

Donnie turned to eye the newcomer who apparently knew his full name. "Yes, that's right."

He was about to ask more when the bell on the shop's door rang once again. As the door flew open, one more turtle entered the room, although he flew past Raphael and beelined for Leo. Leo was knocked back a step as the small turtle threw his arms around Leo's waist in a tight hug.

"Look!" the little turtle exclaimed, breathlessly. He held up a paper up for Leo to inspect. "I got voted most cheerful! Out of the whole class!"

Now it was Raphael's turn to stare in comical open-mouthed shock as Leo took the paper from the little turtle's waving hands and then smiled as he read the certificate. The little turtle stood beaming up at him as Leo congratulated him on the award. Raphael could only continue to stare at the little one, with his light green skin that was covered in freckles, as he jumped up to grab the paper from Leo's hands in order to dash over to where Donnie stood.

"D! Look at this!"

With the small turtle showing off his prize to the tall turtle, Raph turned back to Leo and asked in a very low voice, "Do you have a son?"

"No," Leo answered quietly in return as he shook his head. "They're both my little brothers."

"Do you think," Raph said slowly as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that Leo had two turtle brothers, "that since I dragged my ass all this way, that we could talk in private?"

Once he'd sufficiently showed off his new prize to his brothers, the little turtle finally noticed that Raphael was there and he promptly waved the certificate up to Raphael until Raph took it to read as well. Michelangelo Hamato – Most Cheerful.

Raph watched Leo close up the bookstore, then instruct his brothers that they were all going up to their apartment. Michelangelo grabbed his hand as they climbed the stairs and quickly began to list off the names of each of his friends and exactly what certificate each of them had received as well.

"Then there's Leatherhead. He got the best laugh award. But he said that I should have his certificate because I'm the one who always makes him laugh."

Raph found himself smiling down at the little turtle as they climbed. "So did you take it?" Out of the corner of his eye he could see Leo repeatedly glancing in his direction as he unlocked their apartment door.

"No way, man! Then he wouldn't have a certificate to take home!"

Raphael followed the other three into the apartment and Michelangelo released his hand in order to sprint towards the kitchen.

"Donnie can you -,"

"Feed Mikey a snack and keep an eye on him?" Donnie finished for his brother.

"Yes. Thank you. And don't -,"

"Leave the apartment. We got it, Leo."

Leo glanced towards Raph again before he turned and headed down a hallway. Raphael followed him wordlessly and closed the door behind them once Leo ended their journey in a small bedroom.

"Raph," Leo started right away, turning to Raphael where he stood on the opposite side of the room, "Raphael I'm so -,"

"Do ya know a guy name Oroku?"

For the second time that day, he watched Leo's mouth drop open in shock. But then Leo closed his mouth and those big blue eyes stared back at Raphael, practically pleading with him to let him keep his secrets.

"Maybe I should go first," Raph said. "And then you can talk. And since you owe me, you are gonna fill in the blanks." He stared hard at Leo and waited for a nod before he continued. "I'm gonna start at the beginning, so just bear with me for a minute. Ya see, being that I grew up on a tiny island where everyone knew me, it was pretty hard for me and Casey to get our hands on beer when we were in high school. So I started brewing my own beer. And I got pretty good at it, even though it drove my grandma and sister crazy."

"Why crazy?" Leo asked quietly.

Half of Raph's mouth twisted up in a small grin. "There's a step in the process where the hops stink up the whole house. They hated that part. Couldn't stand the smell. Never bothered me, though. Maybe it's a turtle thing." He shrugged a little when he saw Leo's small smile. "Anyway, that restaurant I took ya to is actually owned by my family. Well, by me and my sister now since our grandma passed away a few years ago. And while my sister took over most of the marketing and business side, I was given free reign to run the bar attached to it."

"Run the bar?"

Raph nodded. "The boring stuff like hiring bartenders and keepin track of schedules. But, I also get to stock the bar, and we're to the point where not only is every beer on tap from my own Blake Island Brewery, but my stuff is now shipped off to the mainland and sold in a few Seattle restaurants and bars."

"That's incredible, Raph." Leo's smile spread slowly as he said the words. "That explains why you always looked like you were inspecting your drinks. Maybe I should've tried some of your stuff."

Raph offered up a half shrug. "Ya did, actually." He continued when he saw Leo's confused look. "I branched out to vodkas a while back. That Red Ninja ya liked so much was mine."

Leo's eyes lit up and he huffed out an impressed noise.

"For my next project, I wanted to create a vodka that represents the Pacific Northwest, which my sister is all about because she can see the stuff practically selling itself, making her marketing job easier. So she sent me off island on a little research trip, because there's a vineyard one town over from here that has some grapes that may work as an ingredient."

"So you were flying home from a research trip when we met," Leo said thoughtfully before Raph watched those blue eyes refocus on his own face. "What a talent you must have, Raph."

Leo was smiling at him again. And it was genuine and proud and warming Raph in a way that he wasn't sure was smart. Raph turned his shell towards Leo and did his best to remind himself of how hurt he'd been when Leo had disappeared on him. But his thoughts on the matter stopped when he suddenly spotted the photo that had been taken of the two of them in the Space Needle. Leo had printed it. And framed it. And had it sitting on his bedside table.

He huffed out a soft noise, secretly touched that Leo had placed it in a location that allowed him to look at the two of them before he went to bed and as soon as he woke up. Then he turned back towards Leo and began talking again.

"So while I was down here doing that, my sister, April, found a new product that could actually catch – ,"

Leo stilled. "April?"

"Yeah."

Raph could see realization hit Leo like a truck. Much the way it had hit him when April had explained exactly who she was supposed to be meeting last week to see if they could purchase the newly developed fog catchers to use for his new vodka line.

Raph continued before Leo could say anything else. "So from what I understand, these fog catchers you have access to and were gonna pitch to my sister, are big sheets of mesh that get water-logged as fog floats through them, allowing us to pull water right out of the air. And didja know vodka is sixty percent water? April really figures that vodka made from actual Pacific Northwest fog will appeal to a lot of people."

"April Jones is your sister?" Leo asked slowly. "My contact person for my meeting on Blake Island was your sister? The one I had to call repeatedly to reschedule?"

Raph only nodded slowly in response.

"Your last name isn't Jones."

"Nope. She married my doofus best friend, Casey, after college."

Leo still looked like he was in shock. "I was supposed to meet with your sister, April, to see if she wanted to buy my brother's fog catchers? For your new vodka line?"

"Yup." Raph held Leo's eyes as he nodded again. He sat silently for another moment, letting their connection sink into the other turtle before he continued. "Only this Oroku guy showed up at April's office for one of those original meetings ya scheduled. And tried to pass off the design as his own. Thankfully April's always seemed to have a sixth sense about people. So after she met with him, she headed into Seattle so she could go directly to the patent office and get the name of the original designer. Which, it turns out, is someone named Donatello Hamato."

He paused then because Leo's eyes had drifted away from him and turned towards the floor, telling him that this part of his story was clearly not new information to Leonardo.

Refusing to sit on the edge of Leo's bed, he moved over to the chair Leo had in one corner and sat down. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "I think its yer turn to talk now."

Leonardo sighed and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck where he stood. But then he met Raph's eyes and began to speak.

"Donnie is fifteen years old and -,"

"Whoa," Raph cut him off with a hand in the air, "the designer of those fog catchers is fifteen?"

Leo smiled a small proud smile and nodded. "He's the genius I mentioned. He's taking some college classes already and he's created so many inventions that his room has become more of a storage area for them than an actual bedroom. I've caught him sleeping on the couch a few times because he can no longer find his bed in there." Leo smiled fondly as he spoke of him. "He keeps pretty busy with his projects, which is great, but I'm also constantly on him about getting enough sleep and joining us for meals. Mikey seems to have caught on as well, because I've noticed him bringing Donnie snacks and such lately."

"And how old is the little bundle of energy?"

Leo laughed, fondness still lining his face as he switched gears to the other brother. "Mikey is six. Although, according to his teachers, he has way more energy than your average six year old. I've signed him up for every season of sport there is to try to get rid of some of the energy. And I take him swimming or sometimes even running as often as I can. He's a natural athlete. But I'm also stuck here working a lot, which means Mikey – and Donnie - are stuck here with me."

"And yer parents?"

"Our dad actually adopted all three of us individually. It was just me and him for a long time, but I can also vividly remember when he brought Donnie and then Mikey home. I began to joke with him that the adoption agency had him on speed dial every time a baby mutant turtle arrived."

Leo paused then and turned to look at a photo hanging on the wall. Raph's eyes followed and he saw Leo posing for a picture with both brothers and a Japanese man with a friendly smile.

"I never realized how much work we all were until he was gone and I was suddenly in charge of everything concerning Donnie and Mikey."

"How long has he been gone?"

"Two years."

Raph waited, but Leo didn't elaborate further. Instead, his face looked a little lost as unfocused eyes moved back towards the floor. Whether he was mad at the guy or not, Raph couldn't handle the lost look on the other turtle. He decided to switch gears.

"Ya want to tell me who this Oroku guy is now?"

Leo's good hand lifted to his cast again and Raph refocused on the drawings, suddenly realizing that the childish artwork had probably been placed there by the turtle child he'd just met.

"Saki Oroku was like an uncle to me when I was a kid. He was my dad's business partner. They owned that bookstore downstairs together. But my father bought him out years ago and they stopped talking after that. But Saki showed up after my dad died, and he's been trying to get me to sell the business to him. Although, I know he doesn't really want the business, he just wants us out of here so he can have the property itself."

Raphael frowned as he listened and was once again relieved that April hadn't trusted this guy when he showed up in Leo's place for the meeting.

"To be honest," Leo continued, "even though I grew up here, I've never really enjoyed this business. It was just a place to hang out with my dad. I moved out when I went to college, but after dad died, I moved back in with my brothers and I've been doing my best because it's been keeping a roof over their heads. But without my dad here it's been difficult to keep it going. So much so that I was actually thinking about taking Saki's latest offer. But then Donnie came up with his invention and I thought that if we could sell it, then we could buy a little bit more time to come up with a plan. Or a next step. Because selling the business to Saki would feel too much like a betrayal to my father."

Leo took a step back and leaned his shell against his dresser.

"Raphael I'm sorry," he said, getting out the apology that Raphael wouldn't allow him to say earlier.

"Why'd ya leave like that?" Raph was able to ask the question, but he wasn't able to look at Leo when he said it.

"I - ,"

Raphael waited for Leo to continue and when he didn't, he lifted his eyes to look at the other turtle. It seemed Leo was waiting for that eye contact because he smiled fondly at Raphael and then began talking again.

"Raph, I was having a good time being a normal, single guy. Someone who wasn't trying to save his family business or take care of two little brothers or worry about being alone forever because no one in their right mind would want to be a part of this deal."

Raphael frowned because Leo's voice was slightly angry as he said those last words. And the words themselves didn't sound right coming out of Leo's mouth. It sounded more like Leo was repeating something he'd heard.

"Who said that to ya?"

"The guy I was dating when I moved back home and took over everything here. My point is, I was just having fun being with you, Raphael. No matter what we were doing, I was having fun with you."

Those blue eyes were looking fondly at him again and goddamn it because Raph was pretty sure his own eyes were full of admiration as well. But then he steeled himself again as he thought about the pain of being unexpected deserted.

"Ya were having so much fun you crept out in the middle -,"

Leo cut him off. "I got a phone call from Donnie a few hours after we fell asleep that night, because of course Donnie wasn't sleeping at that hour." Leo nearly rolled his eyes. "You still want me to fill in all the holes in the story?"

Raphael leaned back in his chair and nodded at the suddenly determined turtle.

"Donnie thought someone had broken in to our home a couple days prior, but didn't want to bother me with it since he couldn't tell what had been stolen. But that night he realized his original blueprints for the fog catchers were missing. So he finally called and told me what was going on. And that he suspected Saki was the one who took them."

Raph's eyes focused in on the new steely look in Leo's eyes.

"While I was off pretending I didn't have any real responsibilities, my brothers were in danger. I know leaving you without a word was a real shit thing to do, but I had to get home immediately. And I know you're going to say that I should've woken you up and told you, but –,"

Raph's glare silenced Leo as he rose to his feet. "Yes, you fucking should've," Raph growled at him.

"I missed you as soon as I left," Leo said suddenly, unintimidated by Raph's hulking presence or his growl. "And I told myself that I'd call you as soon as I got home. I just needed to make sure my brothers were okay first."

"But you didn't," Raph growled. He glared at Leo as he remembered the amount of time he'd spent stupidly staring at his phone, waiting for the other turtle to contact him. But then he looked closer at Leonardo, because Leo was nervously fiddling with the edges of his cast. "Were they safe?" he asked slowly.

Leo moved to his bed and sat on the end of it. "Yes."

A familiar silence fell after Leo's one word answer and Raph took another step towards him. "Don't shut down on me now, Fearless."

Leo swallowed. "Saki was here when I got here."

"In yer home?"

"He was tired of waiting for me to sell to him. Said that if I was gone, he'd get custody of Donnie and Mikey, due to some old paperwork he had from my dad. And if he had custody of my underage brothers, he'd have control of the store."

"If you were gone?" Raph asked slowly, taking another step towards Leo as he felt his chest begin to tighten.

"He said he didn't really want to kill me here in our town because he thought it'd be suspicious. So he was waiting for me to get off my plane in Seattle. And when I didn't show up, he went to Blake Island to wait for me there."

Raph sat on the bed next to Leo with his hands clenched into fists at his sides.

"How'd he know ya were gonna be on the island?"

"Donnie thought Saki must have had access to my phone, something the police have confirmed. He and Mikey were staying with a neighbor I trust while I was gone. And I called to check in often, which means –"

"This guy would've known about the changes in yer trip and where ya were gonna be."

"Except I didn't tell Donnie or Mikey about you. So when Saki canceled my hotel reservation, as a way to leave me stranded on a tiny island with no where to stay, he had no idea that I actually did have a place to stay. So thankfully he never found me on the island. But then he went to meet with April."

"Because if she bought the fog catchers from him she couldn't buy them from you and you'd be more desperate to sell yer book store to him. Get back to the part where he was here in yer home. Where were yer brothers?"

"Saki was here when I walked through the door. I hadn't even picked my brothers up from the neighbor yet."

"Then what?"

"Well, he talked for a bit, told me what he'd done, which gave me the chance to hit the 911 emergency button on my phone. Then he attacked me and I fought him off until the police arrived."

"And that's how you got a dislocated shoulder and a broken wrist?"

"Yes."

"You survived," Raph said, hoping the pride he felt for the other turtle came across in his voice. The way Leo's eyes lifted to meet his told him it did. "Which is good because I would've killed ya if ya hadn't."

Leo huffed out a small laugh. But then he sobered and said, "I just couldn't let him near my brothers."

Raph wrapped an arm around Leo's shell and pulled him in against his side. The tense muscles in Leo's arms and face that he had been watching while Leo talked remained that way until he gave him another squeeze and Leo finally released a breath and relaxed against him.

"Were ya really not gonna call me?"

Leo's sudden movement to stand and move a few steps away from him was a surprise. So was the angry tone of voice Leo had when he began speaking again.

"And drag you into a dangerous situation?" Leo stared back at Raph with wide worried eyes. "No way."

"Leo-,"

"No. I barely kept my brothers safe. The least I could do was keep you safe."

Raph paused for a moment and watched Leonardo. Leo hadn't called because he was too busy trying to protect everyone. And because he didn't think Raphael would want anything to do with the troubles he faced in his private life. Raph thought about what to say next, because he really needed Leo to stop and listen to him.

"You said you needed me. Did ya mean it?" He held Leo's blue eyes with his own and watched as they softened.

"Yes, but -,"

"But what?"

"I was being selfish. I was just letting myself have this – this trip with you, even though I knew I couldn't keep you. I'm sorry, Raphael."

Raph stood and began to invade Leo's personal space. He could practically hear Leo's heart beat faster the closer he got.

"You'd be okay with that?" he rumbled over to Leo when he stood mere inches away from him. "You don't want more than just a memory of some trip ya took?"

"I do," Leo whispered slowly. "But I'm not the only one in this picture."

"Leo, I want ya to listen very carefully to me." He gripped Leo's chin to ensure those blue eyes stayed locked with his own. "I didn't like waking up without you-,"

"Raph, I'm really so-,"

"Listen," he growled and Leo quickly shut his mouth. "If I have to accept two new little brothers into my life in order to keep ya, then sign me up."

The muted hope in Leo's eyes was going to kill him, especially since he could see Leo gearing up to argue with him about the responsibilities that came with two little brothers. Or the worry regarding a mad man intent on destroying him.

But Raph was done talking. He pulled Leo forward until he was crushing Leo into his plastron. Leo's only response was to sigh out in relief as he went willingly into the squeeze. He wrapped his good arm around Raph's shell and then nuzzled Raph's cheek before he began pressing his lips to the side of Raph's face. The first few kisses were feather light, as if he wasn't sure how Raphael would respond. But Raphael didn't leave him wondering for long. He turned his head so that he could meet Leo's lips with his own and squeezed Leo even tighter against him.

A/N: Confession – I wrote this chapter first and then backtracked to get here. It turned into a fun way to get my ideas down and beat back writers block regarding some timeline issues I was having with the rest of the story. And since I already knew exactly where this one was going, it's been fun to read your guesses and questions (and all that Leo hate for the last chapter). Thanks for following along with me. I believe there's one more chapter left to round this story out.

Also, while I was stuck on that plane that needed maintenance for two hours (and trying to ignore the dude in front of me who was reciting the Gettysburg Address) I actually read the magazine provided by the airline in those little seat pockets, which included an interesting article that mentioned a company called FogQuest who actually created the fog catchers I described. Although, the main point of the story was a company called Hangar 1 who used the fog catchers in order to create a vodka they could claim was made from San Francisco fog. These fog catchers obviously also have the ability to help areas affected by drought, and while Hangar 1 charges $125/bottle, they're also donating all the profits to water conservation.

#themoreyouknow