Leo is now out of harms way, but can he adapt to his new surroundings?
Leo slowly moans sleepily and turns over. The ground feels much more comfy than he remembered. It felt.. warm and cozy. He barely knows the words, but they pop in his head. He turns on his shell, the ground shifting below him. He furrows his brow at that feeling. He moves so his plastron is below him, and the ground moves again; Fluidly and smooth. He feels his blanket above him, but it feels heavier and more comfy than ever.
He slowly cracks an eye open. But he has to close it quickly after. He isn't used to light when he wakes up. 'Wait..' He opens it up again, 'Light?' There is light in the sewers. He looks at the wall that's directly in his line of sight. He didn't know the sewers had nice clean walls. A window is on the wall, letting the light in. This completely confuses the little turtle.
Then he looks down. It isn't his blue blanket over him, but a comforter, like Mikey's orange one. Under him is sheets and a mattress. He's in a bed. Leo's in a bed. He pushes the covers and tumbles off. He isn't supposed to be in a bed. He has to sleep on the cold, hard ground of the sewer, outside the house. But this floor isn't cold or hard. It's soft. He feels the texture below him. He looks up and sees that it ends, revealing wooden flooring.
He looks around quickly and then gasps. His head is swimming. He starts to whimper as the pain increases. "Leo?" A voice calls. Leo ignores it and continues to hold his head. "Leo? Are you aw-" the voice gasps. "Oh, buddy. Did you fall?" Two hands pick him up. They have five fingers each, long like Splinter's. But Splinter only has four fingers. "Let me see." He's set on something warm, but not the bed. He feels a hand go to his head and take his hands down. He squeezes his eyes shut and whimpers.
The hand and no doubt a pair of unseen eyes examine the bump on his head. The other hand holds his plastron so he doesn't move. He waits until it stops. But he isn't let go and instead, two arms wrap around him. 'They're going to crush me!' He panics and starts to struggle.
"Leo? Leo stop." The little turtle doesn't listen and continues to thrash, despite the pain in his body starting to throb. "Leo, calm down. It's me." Leo is turned around by strong arms and is now facing his captor. "It's Heather." He goes through his head, trying to place the name. Then it comes up. 'My name is Heather. I took care of you the past three days.'
"Heather..?"
"Open your eyes Leo. You are safe." Leo flinches at the word 'safe'. He's been told that word before. It didn't always end up being safe. But he does. He opens his eyes and first sees a white shirt. He trails his eyes up to a pair of blue ones that almost match his. Brown hair is over her shoulder in a braid and her eyes are smiling, like her mouth. He watches it as it moves. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Umm.. I- I was playing with my toy-"
'No,' he decides, 'not my toy, Master made that clear. Toys are bad and they are not meant for slaves like me.'
"And Master punished me. I woke up and.." Leo looks around, starting to panic again. "Where's Donnie's lab? Where are my brothers?"
"Leo," Heather says, hugging him close, "I brought you from the sewers. You aren't in Donnie's lab anymore. You are in the apartment I share with Steve. Do you remember Steve?" Leo thinks, before nodding. He remembered the blonde haired man in the truck. "We are going to take care of you, Leo."
"But my.. my brothers.."
"They are okay. You'll get to see them sometimes. But Leo," Leo looks up into Heather's eyes. Now they are filled with protection and promise. "You never have to see Splinter ever again if you don't want to."
Leo shakes his head, "I don't. But won't Master- Splinter, be mad?"
"Yes. He was very mad that I took you away from him. But he wasn't being nice to you, so the matter wasn't up to him." Leo hugs her this time, thankful.
"Where are we?" He asks, not remembering due to his aching head.
"We are in your room." Leo looks up, surprised. He now sees he's sitting across Heather's lap. She is sitting on the bed, facing the window. He sees the bed, the rug, the floor, and a shelf that has a few things on it, like some books. But it is more than he's ever had. There is a dresser too, but it's empty. He looks down at himself. There is a cloth around him, covering his shell. He fingers it.
"What is this?" He asks, finding cloth around his legs too.
Heather chuckles, "Those are pajamas. You wear them at night. You were freezing when we brought you in. The pjs helped."
"Oh," he says simply. They are a light green, with turtles covering the pants and a single turtle in the center of the shirt. "Can I take it off now? I feel weird."
"One second," Heather feels his head and lightly touches his arms, legs and plastron, "Yep, you are good to go. Here, let me help. Arms up." Leo raises his arms. Heather grabs the hem of the shirt and lifts it over his head, turning it inside out. Then she has him stand up and pull off the pants. He has the plastron so it isn't awkward that he'd be running around with no clothes on.
"Thank you miss."
"Leo, call me Heather." Heather stands up and offers her hand, "Want to see New York?"
"Where?" Heather chuckles again. Leo likes the way her laugh sounds.
"The city we are in. The sewer is below it. But above.." Leo takes her hand and is slowly led to the window. Heather lifts him onto the window sill, "is the city of New York." The city lay across the land like an endless blanket. They aren't on the top floor, so Leo can't see all of the city. But he can see the houses across the street and a few rows of shops beyond them. It is daytime, but the Christmas decorations could still be seen on every street and house.
"Whoa.." he says. There are so many people in the streets and the place is so big!
"Like it?" Heather asks, seeing his awe-struck face. He nods. "I'm guessing you are hungry." Leo looks at her.
"..I've always been hungry. I can take it," he says, hoping she'll object. And she does.
"Oh no, mister. You need food. He was cruel, but I am not. Come on." Leo leaps down, but crumbles from his weight. "Careful Leo, you are still healing. Here, I'll help." Heather carefully lifts him up, like when taking him out of the Lair. Only this time, he's in a more upright position.
She walks through the open door and into a hallway. Leo takes in everything around him. There are a few other doors in the tan walls and the floor is wood. Then it opens to a kitchen and living room area merged into each other.
Heather walks into the living room and lays Leo on the couch. He protests, "Leo, what's wrong?"
"I'm not allowed on furniture," he says.
"You are now. So stay put or you'll hurt yourself more. I'm going to go get some breakfast." Heather gets up and pads over into the kitchen, finding the eggs in the fridge.
Leo looks around, setting his eyes on the Christmas tree in the corner. It has ornaments and lights, like at the Lair. The blanket under the tree is colorful and festive. The lights aren't on, but he can't take his eyes off of it.
Heather works on making scrambled eggs and peeks over her shoulder at him every once in a while. She sees him mesmerized by the tree. She remembers the Lair had a tree, in the living room.
She is putting jelly on some bread when heavy, sleepy footsteps make their way to the kitchen. Leo tenses up at the sound. Heather nearly drops the knife when she hears a thump from his direction. "Leo?" She sets it down and goes over to him. He was on the floor, shrinking into his shell. "Leo what is it?"
"He's going to hit me again," he whispers.
"Who?"
"Master..." Steve enters the kitchen and sees the eggs and toast.
"Are these for me?" He asks. Heather looks up and motions for him to come over.
"Leo, you heard Steve, not Splinter. This is Steve, remember him?" She asks as the soldier comes to sit next to her. Leo slowly draws his head out of his shell and peeks at Steve.
"You won't hit me?" He asks. Steve shakes his head.
"No Leo, I won't."
"And.. I can sit on the couch?"
"Of course." Steve gently picks him up and sets him back on a cushion.
"I'll be right back. You two boys get comfortable." Heather gets up and brings the plate over to Leo. Steve takes cue to go get his own breakfast. "Here Leo," Heather says, placing the plate on his lap. Leo looks at it like it was alive.
"That's.. mine?"
"Yep." Leo pokes it tentavly before grabbing a fist full of eggs. "Whoa there, buddy," She peels his fingers open and has him release the gooey mess. "Here," she shows him a spoon. He looks at it.
"What do I do with that?" He asks. Heather takes a napkin she brought with and cleans his hand. Then she places the spoon in his hand.
"Close this finger over there and this one right here," she directs, "And you scoop," She leads his hand over to the eggs, scooping some into its dip, "And you eat." Leo looks at it and puts it in his mouth. He bites down hard, only to yelp.
"That tastes weird," he comments, looking oddly at the utensil.
"You don't eat the spoon silly. You only eat the food on it. Try again." Leo tries to put egg on his spoon, but needs Heather's help again. But this time, he doesn't try to eat the metal.
"Mmm," he says, tasting the delicious eggs. He goes for another spoonful.
"That's it," Heather praises. Steve takes her place as she gets herself some cereal.
"Hey hey, go slower. You have plenty of time," she hears him say to Leo when he started inhaling the yellow goodness. When Heather comes back over, she sits on Leo's other side. He's poking the bread with his spoon, unsure of what to do.
"You don't need this for the bread," Heather says, taking the spoon, "Use your hands." Before she brought the plate over, she had cut the bread into small bites. He picks one of them up and puts it in his mouth. He chews it, smiling. "I guess you like grape jelly."
"I wove it!" He says, mouth full of bread.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Steve reminds, "Otherwise the food will go everywhere." Leo is content to sit and eat, Heather on one side and Steve on the other.
Aww! How cute is that!? It's adorable right? I love confused, seven year old Leo. More on the morning in the next chapter.