Special thanks to Cynlee and Mei for help with this chapter and Leo's reactions to the "door" situation.

Leonardo stared at his family who were in turn staring at him. Even if he hadn't known who locked him in the bathroom before, Michelangelo's reaction now confirmed it. His little brother had both hands clasped over his mouth firmly but they couldn't stop the little giggles from escaping.

He hadn't meant to bust down the entire door. He thought that if he kicked the door knob, the lock might break and he could get out. Obviously, they just don't make doors like the used to or maybe the hinges were weak, because the whole door just fell.

Splinter's gaze bored into him and his sensei was obviously expecting some kind of explanation. Leo thought quickly. How could he explain without telling everyone that he had tried unsuccessfully for ten minutes to pick the lock? The eldest turtle was at a loss. This type of thing never happened to him. This was the sort of thing that happened to Mike. Mike. He was taking Mike's place for the day. How would MIKE handle this situation? What would Mike say?

Leo offered his sensei what he hoped was a sincere smile but was just really a not-so-good imitation of Mike's innocent look. He said the first thing that came to mind. It was a Mikey line if he ever heard one.

"I didn't do it," Leo said quickly.

Silence.

Leonardo studied his family, his father in particular, to see how well that sentence went over. Not so good. Of COURSE he did it. He was the one standing in the bathroom with the door at his feet. Who else could have done it?

Ok, time to back up and try again. He needed another Mikey-ism; a better one this time, because the first one just sucked. In his defense though, Leo was new to this sort of thing. He hadn't had to come up with some excuse for something as stupid as this since he was a kid. And come to think of it, those times had always involved Mike too.

"I barely touched it!" Leo tried again.

Silence.

Again, Leonardo tried to read the expressions on his family's faces. He didn't look at Mike, because he didn't want to see how amused his little brother was at Leo's predicament.

Raphael though the whole thing almost as funny as Michelangelo, but his amusement was tapered by wondering how he would fix the damn door.

Donatello, he could see, just looked as surprised as Leo felt. How in the world did Leonardo of all people get himself into this mess?

And Splinter. Splinter just looked calm. His face was completely unreadable, but Leonardo just knew that his last explanation was received just as well as the first. His mind raced trying to come up with another Mikey type excuse. One that didn't sound quite so…childish. But Mikey's excuses always sounded childish.

And that was when Mike did something that no one expected him to, even Mikey himself.

In a very calm and leader-ish voice, Mike spoke up. "It was partly my fault, Sensei." The temporary leader faced Splinter with as serious a face as anyone had seen. "I was testing Leo's abilities to pick the lock on the door, but I didn't think it was impossible." He gave Splinter his trademark "little boy" look. "Guess Leo thought his only option was to break his way out."

Splinter was surprised at Michelangelo's calm and mature admission. He had greatly underestimated this youngest son. Perhaps today would give him the chance to become a bit more responsible.

He nodded slightly. " I see. Very well, then. Although, you should have spoken up in the dojo when your brother did not arrive, Michelangelo. The two of you can help Raphael fix the door later."

He pointedly ignored Raphael's mumbled complaint.

Mike bowed, respectfully. "Hai, Sensei. I'm sorry." He turned slightly to give the still stunned Leonardo an expectant look.

The look jolted Leo from his silence and also bowed. "Hai, Sensei. I apologize as well."

Splinter smiled slightly. "You are forgiven, My Sons. Come, let us begin this morning's training." He turned and went into the dojo followed by both Raphael and Donatello.

Leo quickly grabbed Mike's arm preventing him from following. He smiled slightly. "I really do owe you for locking me in there. But thanks for helping me out just now."

Mike grinned. "No problem, Leo. You've done the same, on both counts. So how 'bout we say we're even?" He offered his brother his hand.

Leo took it, shaking his head at the maturity his brother was showing. "Fine, we're even." He released his brother's hand and sighed. "I still can't believe that I couldn't get that lock. I should have been out in ten seconds flat."

Mike's eyes glittered with amusement. "Ohhhh yeh. That. Heh, well. It's kind of hard to pop a lock that's had superglue put on it."

Leonardo blinked. "Superglue? Who put superglue on it?"

Mike turned to back away from his brother with a huge grin. "I did of course. When I locked you in there. The fast drying kind that Donnie's been working on. Had to give it a test before we tried using it outside of the lair. What kind of a leader would I be if I let you guys take an untested product in the field?"

Leo's eyes narrowed. "Michelangelo…" How dare this weasel of a turtle make it so he COULDN'T pass one of his little "leader" tests.

Mike put one finger to his mouth. "SHH…practice time Leo. Gotta be respectful in the dojo. Besides, you shook on it. We're even." He turned and bowed as he walked into the dojo.

Leo was about to tackle his brother from behind but the bright red words on Mike's shell acted as a stop sign. His eyes widened slightly and then he choked off laughter. Since Mike would have to be a contortionist to write it on himself, that only left Donatello. He was a bit surprised at the profanity, especially since Master Splinter was sure to see it. He chuckled. Leave it to Don to get back at both Mike and Raph with a few swipes of a marker.

Leo bowed into the dojo and took his place, or rather, he took Mike's place. It felt odd being at the end of the line rather than the front of it, but he took it in stride as his sensei began to explain the day's lesson. He noticed Michelangelo's concentrated effort to pay close attention to what Splinter was saying. Leo wondered if everyone was expecting him to be a class clown for the day.

Even as he thought it, Leo knew he wouldn't be able to do it. He could take Mike's place, but he certainly couldn't fool around in practice. He had far too much respect for his sensei and his training to do that. Especially after the incident with the bathroom door, he had to prove to Master Splinter that he was the same person he always was. The mature, responsible one who did everything to perfection. A vacation was one thing, but he would never…

"Leonardo?" Splinter's voice broke into his thoughts and the eldest turtle realized he hadn't heard one word of what his sensei had been saying.

Michelangelo was somehow standing beside him and Leo felt his face flush at his lack of attention in what was going on. Was this how Mike felt all the time? Leo hadn't been trying to not pay attention. He had just been distracted. Of course, that wasn't an excuse, but now Mike was staring at him expectantly and Leo wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.

"I…uh…" He looked to his brother's briefly for some clue as to what was going on but their amused faces told him nothing. His face heated up even more and he lowered his head. "I…"

Splinter studied him. He knew that with everything that had happened in the last few moments, Leonardo was distracted. Even more so than his other sons, just not being in his usual place was bound to affect him. "You were not paying attention." It was not a question and he could see the embarrassment that his oldest son was feeling.

Leo shook his head and he tried not to squirm under his master's gaze. At a time like this, he knew Mikey would give their father his best "I love you" look and offer him a sincere apology, followed by a smile. It happened almost every day, but now it was happening to him and he couldn't do what Mikey did. As he found out earlier, it wasn't going to work for him anyway.

"No, Sensei. I was…distracted for a moment. There is no excuse for it and I apologize."

After several long agonizing moments, Splinter nodded. "I was saying that in keeping with today's exercise, you would exchange weapons our practice session."

That would explain why Mike was standing beside him and was now offering Leo his nun chucks. Thanks, Mike, he thought. If you had done that in the first place, I might have known what was going on.

He took Mike's weapons and gave him his katana. Even as he did so, he realized that very rarely did he try to get Mike off the hook when he was caught not paying attention. To Leo's way of thinking, if he helped Mike out, he wouldn't learn anything about concentration. He sighed quietly coming to the conclusion that being Mikey was not all that easy.

"Before we begin," Splinter continued. "Leonardo, you will twenty flips for your lack of focus. The rest of you can begin warming up with these weapons."

Leo bowed and walked over to Mike's customary "flip corner." Yet another wonderful thing about being Mikey. He had the best back flips of anyone of them from many hours of practice.