Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from TMNT or even ROTTMNT, the characters belong to Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman and NOT me.
Papa Leo
Rain hammered hard against the ceiling above, battering and pelting the ground above was overhead. Each little droplet of rainwater created a "tap" sound and some droplets even pounded the earth so hard that it caused the dampness to seep into the air. It sounded like Mother Nature was unleashing her absolute fury on the world outside tonight and it was a wonder that anyone could sleep through such a racket.
…Or it would have been, were it not for the fact that it kept a certain ninja turtle from sleeping soundly.
There was little to no light in the room/cavern hole aside from a small lantern which provided the little light needed to be able to even see your own hand in front of your face should it be required.
It created a soothing ambiance at least.
Leonardo's eyes snapped open upon hearing a sudden faint rumbling which was followed by a sudden flash of blinding white light that smashed through the calm and relaxing atmosphere.
If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn it was lightning.
He had been laying in bed and he felt like he hardly got any sleep thus far as the thunder had been a bit irksome and hard to sleep through with ease since the sounds were so loud. He looked up at the ceiling and then his gaze drifted towards the digital clock that sat perched on the bedside table that stood alongside his makeshift hammock.
The clock displayed the time which read 3:20 PM.
A very heavy groan heaved from the reptile's throat.
It was three in the morning already and he wasn't getting as much sleep as he would have desired.
Leo, annoyed and sleepy, turned to roll on his side and he intended to go back to sleep since he knew he had some more stuff to do the next day that would probably be a bit hard on him. He slithered beneath his blankets and let loose a soft sigh of contentment as his eyelids lowered and closed; he felt so warm and cozy and, finally, that sweet slumber he had been yearning for was beginning to wash over him like an ocean wave.
Sliding a hand under his poor excuse of a pillow, he poofed it up with a swipe of his hand so as to better cradle his head upon it and relaxed under the weight of the blanket covering him. All he could do now was concentrate on drawing in slow, deep breaths that would hopefully let him drown in the soothingly dark depths of slumber.
With one last shuffle under the duvet and blankets, he began to relax.
He started to feel the effects as a haze of sleepiness finally clouded his mind like a thick mist.
He found it hard to focus on his own breathing now and could sense his consciousness slipping into the void he'd been longing for.
Then he heard a sound.
"Wah…?"
A confused-sounding whimper.
Leo's eyelids scrunched up as a whirlpool of dread sucked him from his sleepy void.
Oh no.
He prayed that he didn't heard what he thought he had.
Please don't let it be…!
"Ehhhh…" The sounds evolved from whimpers to outright whines. "…E-Ehhhhhhhhhh!"
Leonardo's eyelids split apart open when he heard the sounds, revealing a red-tinted pair of bloodshot eyeballs, with the illusional sound of glass breaking as they opened.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
He wanted nothing more than to bury his head beneath his pillow and ignore the noises.
But he couldn't.
He knew he couldn't.
That would be a bad thing to do and he wanted to keep his promise to Cassandra.
Besides, he had to prove that he could do this.
He wasn't going to lie and say that Raph's words from earlier in the evening didn't sting like crazy and he knew that his words held a shred of truth that made his heart ache; he knew full well that if he had been more…responsible and less brash and childish that maybe, just maybe, he could have prevented this entire war with the Krang from taking place and to hear Raphael put that blame on him really struck a nerve.
He could feel his blood turn to ice in his veins and his heart crumble a bit even just remembering what his older brother had said and that made him grit his teeth while he shook his head and narrowed his eyes.
He would have even blown smoke from his nostrils like an angry bull if he had them.
He'd show him…!
He'd show them all!
He could do this all by himself, no matter how tired he was!
Reluctantly, Leonardo peeled himself away from his bed and he slid out from beneath the sweet warmth of the blankets.
He sat up, sliding himself towards the edge of the mattress, slid his legs out from the side of the bed and just sat there with a zombie-like expression. He took a solid six seconds to get used to the sensation of sitting up and then started to push off the bed and climb to his own two feet in order to stand up. He swayed on his feet a bit but he quickly found his own footing and then proceeded to clomp along the room, trying to ignore the sweet siren calls of his bed that begged for him to return to it.
He grumbled frustratedly beneath his breath since he despised being awoken at odd hours like this.
What did the little one possibly need to have him awaken this time of night!?
After bringing baby Casey into his cavern home/room/living quarters, Leo had wanted to get the little fellow a proper bed or even a crib or a cot but, as he didn't have Donnie's help in making it (he refused to have help for this), for the time being, Leo had settled on using the same wicker basket Casey had been laying in when he had been found as a temporary bed —the basket already had a mattress for baby Casey to be comfortable laying atop of and it looked comfy enough to be a satisfactory temporary bed for the time being.
At least the boy didn't seem to mind it.
As if being controlled like a puppet on a string, the anthropomorphic Red-eared slider turtle lumbered along through the cavern/room, his steps heavy and stomping as he made his way towards the sound of the crying and, before he had even realised it, the giant reptile had finally reached the wicker basket where baby Casey lay crying himself hoarse. He hardly hesitated in bending down, reaching into the basket, lifting Casey out of his basket and propped him up against his shoulder and began to pat him firmly but gently on the back in a desperate hope that that would do the trick and soothe him.
Leo tried his best to soothe the wailing babe.
"Aw, c'mon, buddy. It's gonna be okay." He crooned. "Why don't ya tell ol' Neon Leon what's up, huh?"
The reptilian ninja master couldn't help but feel dumb after asking that.
He didn't know why, he just did.
That was a stupid question to ask in the first place considering that Casey couldn't even talk yet! What could have made him ask him that anyway? The little one was too young to even comprehend the concept of the colour blue, let alone verbalise what was the matter with him! Maybe it was in hopes that acting a bit silly, even towards himself, would inspire Casey to calm down.
But no such luck.
Leo removed the child from his shoulder, repositioned him so he was cradled in his arms, and tried to pop one of his long and green fingers into the boy's mouth again to act as a dummy…however Baby Casey just continued to cry and sob as he turned his face away and fidgeted continuously, refusing to have Leo's finger anywhere near his mouth.
This baffled the young adult ninja turtle.
Why wasn't this working?
It seemed to work all those other times!
He thought of it as his go-to method to get Casey to stop crying until his little lungs deflated like a pair of sad and deflated balloons. He had been under the impression that he could simply put his finger in the babe's cute yet gummy mouth and that would be all the effort he'd need to be an expert on taking care of this kid…until now.
"What gives? I thought you liked it when you sucked my finger!" He cried disbelievingly.
He tried again and, this time, Casey turned his head the other way to once again avoid the long green finger.
Clearly he didn't want a bar of it.
Now Leo was at a loss.
What could he do to help Casey fall back to sleep?
He wasn't a child anymore, he was an adult! He should know better! He had spent almost every single day of these last couple years fighting some violent yet aggressive alien race and he couldn't even look after a 7-month-old child properly!
"Ugghhh…how did Splinter deal with this kind of situation?" He muttered.
He tried to recall what his own father had done when he and his brothers were babies, thinking back on all the times when he and his brothers were tiny and young and toddling.
The furthest his mind could recollect was when the baby of the family, Mikey, was a baby and Leo recalled of the times when he would feed and help care for him when their father was unable to do so…and then he remembered those difficult nights where nobody was able to sleep because Mikey would cry practically all night long due to what they called "turtle colic".
The terrapin, inspired all of a sudden, released his own face and rose to stand on his own two feet.
That was it!
The poor little guy must have been hungry!
He hadn't eaten since he arrived at the Lair, so it only made sense right?
When he was on his feet, he bent down and lifted the tiny babe out of the basket and took him back into his strong and muscular arms once again.
Leonardo shifted the squalling infant into one arm in order to be able to use the free arm and started to make his way from his sleeping quarters and into the main kitchen area —it was quite dark so it was difficult to tell where everything was; it took a second of fumbling about in the darkness before Leo regained his bearings and turned on a light which basked the entire space in a weak ember glow.
The kitchen was a lovely-looking area.
The space was rather large with the walls sparkling and the floor covered in well-swept dust and dirt and there was a stove, a broken-down fridge, a coffee machine (made by Donnie, of course), a cabinet that housed all the cutlery and the dinner plates and bowls and a rather exquisite countertop which concealed some retractable cabinets —there was a broken-down rectangular mahogany table acting as the centrepiece. Hanging from the ceiling was a crystalline-like object which was the source of the fire-like light it emitted, somewhat like a chandelier.
Leo bounced on his own two feet as he tried to calm the little one down from his hysterical crying fit.
"Shhh, shh, shh, shh….."
He hummed thoughtfully, trying to scan the cupboards and cabinets for what he sought out.
"Hmmm…c'mon, c'mon, we have to have put them somewhere when we moved down here…where are theeeeeey…?"
He muttered and grumbled idly as he used one arm to continue to rummage and sift through the cabinets in order to locate the bottles that Splinter had used to fed them when they were tiny newly-mutated hatchlings. He knew that they were around somewhere —Leo nor his brothers could bare the thought of leaving behind their cherished momentos when the Krang attacked their Sewer home, even if there was no need to carry their baby things around with them.
He kept searching and, thank heavens, it didn't take long until he had his sights set on what he sought out for:
A banged-up baby bottle with a blue lid.
Leo didn't know why it was essential that he and his brothers grabbed their childhood momentos when they moved from their Sewer lair nor why Splinter had kept them in the first place, but he was happy to have had them now since he'd be in a sticky situation without them.
"Ah-ha!" He cried out, narrowing his eyes and smiling triumphantly as he grabbed the baby bottle out from the cabinet.
Leonardo, still bouncing Casey in his one unoccupied arm, then set about carrying out the next stage of preparing food for his new son and heating the milk up.
He used his foot to nudge the door open of what used to be a broken-down fridge found amongst some rubbish and used that same foot to keep it ajar as he leaned in to reach forwards with his free arm and grabbed hold of a little carton of milk from. There was no baby formula, unfortunately, so this would have to pass as nourishment for the time being.
Then he took a single side-step to move towards the equipment that constituted as a microwave.
His free arm, stuffed with the baby bottle and the milk carton, proceeded to place both items on the counter and it was with great one-armed difficulty that he filled the bottle with the milk and then opened the door, put said baby bottle into the makeshift microwave and closed it again. After punching the correct buttons, creating a "beeping" sound with each button pressed, the "microwave" came to life as it hummed and whirred and made a sound that Leon could only describe as the sound a helicopter would make if the propellers were broken and spun poorly while having copper pennies poured into the spinning blades.
It wasn't a pleasant noise but Donnie had assured him and his brothers that this noise was a great indication that the "microwave" was functioning correctly.
Anyways, Leo resumed the effort of trying to distract the babe from the hunger pangs that probably churned through his poor little tummy —he sighed and muttered to the now-whimpering boy in his arms, even having to raise one arm and whip a couple droplets of sweat from his brow.
"Phew. That took a lot of work, hopefully it won't be long until you can eat solids and I won't have to do this for too long..." He spared a glance for the boy curled up in his arms.
The Red-eared slider turtle dressed in blue's eyes softened as he stared at the sobbing babe in his arms and, in an effort to keep trying to momentarily pacify him, he bounced up and down on his own two feet. Casey seemed to quiet down a tad as he nestled his head comfortably into a crook of Leo's plastron and kicked and stretched both his stubby little feet while also wiggling his chubby arms.
His eyes were huge and watery as they glistened with unshed tears.
"D-Don't worry, kid!" Leo tried his best to sound upbeat but the exhaustion in his tone was heavy, "It won't be too much longer and then you can eat."
And then….
BEEEEEP, BEEEEEP, BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
That was the microwave, giving off a beep so loud that it could even be said that it was louder than Casey.
Leo was relieved.
He could feed Casey, hopefully get him to go back to sleep and then he, too, could return to his sweet slumber.
He couldn't wait!
More eager than he probably should have been, Leo shuffled Casey to one arm again and grabbed the handle of the "microwave" door and swung it open and he felt as the heat radiated from inside so he knew that the milk must have been pretty warm by now, the bottle was even steaming from how hot it was; he was so excited that he impulsively reached out and grabbed the bottle in his one hand…only to immediately release it and withdraw said hand when he felt a burning sensation from the bottle and he looked painfully at the appendage.
He would have cried out in pain but he didn't want to scare the baby so he, instead, settled on giving a pained hiss as he jerked back from the "microwave" which had practically nuked the baby boy's midnight snack.
"Hiiiiiiiiissssssss! Aaaaagh…" He moaned as he stared angrily at the injury he had received and saw that the palm of his three-fingered hand had received a bright red mark across the palm which was clearly a brand from the bottle, the wound itself even sizzled and emitted a bit of steam itself!
He immediately stuck his hand in the fridge in a quick-fire effort to nurse his injury and cool it down as the stinging and intense heat coming from his injury coincided and, thus, doubled the pain.
The smile of relief on his face was huge as the cool air from the fridge soothed his burn.
Then he made a mental note to tear Donatello a new one for making a microwave that overheated stuff.
Predictably, of course, all of this palaver didn't help Casey one bit as the little one sobbed and snivelled due to not having his milk already.
"Alright, alright, kid! Hold your horses, it's coming!"
Leonardo had no choice but to stuff his injured hand in the ice cool fridge. The wound on his palm stung even more when the cool air brushed against his skin and he could even describe it as someone using a red hot iron to brand his hand and someone immediately plunging it in ice water —the low temperature chilled his hand and soothed the stinging of the injury.
Thankfully, Leo always carried a medical kit in the blue pouch attached to his belt so he knew what to do to treat his injuries further when he returned both himself and Casey to his room.
This made him even more eager to get this task finished without any further delays.
It was only after the stinging in his burned hand was reduced to a mere tingling sensation that he decided that it was okay for him to recheck the temperature of his son's meal; he had to place an oven mit over it, though, to avoid the possibility of re-burning it and he gingerly reached over and picked the bottle up from the counter where he'd dropped it after grabbing it before and then he tilted the bottle upside down.
He let a few milk droplets drip on to his upper arm, the one that held Casey.
Thankfully, the milk wasn't nearly as blazing hot as the bottle itself was yet he had to attribute this to the fact that he left the milk for a minute or so while tending to his injuries —he was certain it would have been too hot had he not left it for while doing that. So, satisfied that Casey could finally be fed, he righted the bottles position in his clasp (wincing when the bottle merely touched the wound) and proceeded to offer it to Casey.
The baby didn't hesitate in the slightest and grabbed both sides of the bottle and then clamped his mouth down on the teat and started to drink. Leo gingerly bent his arm at an angle, tilting the baby boy back a bit as he drank the warm milk with voracious hunger; it was clear that the poor boy had been starving and that made Leo's gut clench with guilt as the implications for how long the poor thing had gone without any source of nutrients had sunken in.
How long had the poor thing been without food or anything to drink?
Cassandra had gone out to look for food so maybe he hadn't eaten for a couple hours at most?
Don would have picked it up during his examination of him, right?
Leo felt his heart break a bit at the thought of the poor thing starving, why hadn't he thought about feeding him right away instead of showing him to his brothers first? Heck, why hadn't he fed him before he went to sleep a couple of hours earlier!? How could he have been so selfish?
He was jerked from his guilt-ridden thought process when he heard the boy hiccup a bit as he still drank greedily.
It was then that Leo noticed how fast he had been drinking.
"Easy, lil' guy! You gotta pace yourself! We don't wanna get a tummy ache from eating too quick now, do we?" Leo grabbed the bottom of the bottle Casey was drinking from and made a move to tug it loose and out of his tiny but firm grip but stopped himself doing so when the babe with long dark hair began to make sounds that sounded somewhat like stubborn growls. Then, as if somehow understanding the anthropomorphic ninja turtle or he was just growing tired, the speed of Casey's drinking came to a slower pace. His eyelids grew a bit heavy as he kept suckling hungrily.
Leo couldn't help but find the sucking noises that Casey was making quite cute and his face softened accordingly.
When he wasn't shrieking his head off, he was actually really adorable…
Leo found it almost hard to believe that this was little pudge ball of cuteness was the son of a woman whom had once wanted to kill both him and his brothers.
When he was finally done, Casey pushed the bottle away and gave a relieved coo while he curled up comfortably in the ninja turtle's yellow-striped arms and he even started to seem a tad drowsy. He rubbed the top of his tiny head against the humanoid reptile's plastron and his tiny hands groped at nothing as his arms waved about aimlessly in midair.
Leo's heart exploded from the sheer adorability of it all..
….But then the cute moment ended when Casey's wailing began anew, this time much worse than before!
Leo was surprised, shocked, agitated, irritated, fatigued and was overcome by a sense of impending doom.
"What's wrong now? I thought we solved the problem!"
He thought for a second.
Maybe little the youngling had trapped air?
Leo, readjusting Casey so he was again hefted over his shoulder, started to firmly patted his back in hopes that it would help him in burping and releasing that build up of air trapped in his poor little tummy. He made sure not to be too rough with his pats since he didn't want to risk hurting him, not in the slightest.
His desperate patting of Casey's back ceased when the babe hiccuped and then…
Ur-Urrrrrp!
That was the sound Leo hoped for.
The ninja turtle smiled in relief for a sec…but then Casey unleashed an almighty shriek:
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
It was awful!
Tired and frustratedly out of ideas, Leo leaned back against the fridge door with Casey curled in his lap but doing this only succeeded in making sure baby Casey not only amplified the volumes of his own cries but also made sure his frantic squalling escalated from wails to outright shrieks. His tiny mouth was wide open and ear-bleedingly-loud mewls squeezed from his still-developing vocal chords as he communicated his distress.
It was a terrible noise.
The child was going to wake up everyone hiding in the caverns if he kept this up!
Helpless, Leonardo slid down the fridge and sat down on the kitchen floor in front of the refrigerator while he tried to recollect his scrambled thoughts, holding a squealing Casey, using one arm to grab the crevices above his eyes with two fingers and pinching them together as he tried to message his forehead in order to inspire some brilliant thought or recollection to come from within his own mind.
He always made fun of Raphael having a "chasm" between his eyes…and now he had got them.
How ironic.
The only thing he could do now was try and wait for Casey to fall back to sleep but he knew that he wouldn't enjoy it. He also knew full well that this was what he signed up for when he agreed to take on this responsibility; yet he was starting to seriously regret agreeing to it.
The sound of the small boy's wails bounced and reverberated against the walls and ceiling, it was a sound that rattled his poor skull and made his heart squeeze with of guilt.
How did he think he could do this?
How was he supposed to do this?
His late father, Master Splinter, had taken to parenthood like a duck to water…in some aspects at least…and had managed to look after four babies while he was having trouble getting one little baby boy to sleep!
How could he be failing already!?
His eyes squeezed closed and he put his head down as he attempted to perish that last thought.
He was too tired to think with an enthusiastic mind right this second.
He made an attempt to re-bolster his confidence while he bounced baby Casey up and down in his arms to help pacify him but winced as the child hollered right into one of his earholes, causing him to lean his head back a little bit to avoid the deafening sound while he paced back and forth in the caverns repeatedly, his heavy and aching body restricting most of his movements.
"Shhh! P-Please stop crying, I'm begging you…you can't keep this up all night." He begged lamely.
He sighed and resisted the urge to reach up to pinch his wrinkles for eyebrows together to fight off an oncoming headache.
This was pathetic.
He was a ninja warrior belonging to the Hamato clan!
He had spent his teenaged years fighting all sorts of crime and villainy of every shape, size and colour and he had spent most of his adulthood fighting the Krang and he was buckling at the presence of a tiny human being!
He was pretty certain that he had officially reached a new low.
That was when Casey's crying actually intensified and Leo panicked so much that he almostforgot that he'd been holding the baby at all!
Alarmed, Leonardo quickly studied Casey to make sure he wasn't hurt (he hoped beyond hope that that wasn't the reason for the escalation of volume regarding his cries) but was relieved to find not a single solitary scratch on him but that didn't stop him from being extremely worried, however. His eyes were wide and bloodshot and had dark bags stretching across them.
His brows knitted together with concern as he, tired of his earhole being screamed into, quickly and gently thrust the child out in front of him with outstretched arms keeping him in the air by holding his underarms but making sure not to harm him in any.
"Please, kid!" He was now almost at the point of tears himself. "Tell me what you want from me!"
But that was when something miraculous happened:
Baby Casey's full-blown wailing finally came to an abrupt and full stop.
The mutant ninja turtle dressed in blue was mystified beyond logical thought as his eyes widened and he looked down at the baby cuddled in his arms.
Casey had apparently taken to looking up at the fluttering tails of the turtle's signature blue mask and his scarf with the cape attached as if they were the most fascinating things in the entire world. He also looked rather intrigued regarding the green hand and it's three digits but the bandanna tails were what really won over his tiny goldfish-like attention-span.
Leo had taken notice, of course.
"What?" He asked, despite knowing he wouldn't get an answer. "What is it that's got your attention?"
Little Casey proceeded to waste no more time in grabbing hold of one of the mask tails and yanking it as hard as his tiny fist would allow.
Leo couldn't resist but let out a sharp yelp in response to the sudden tug.
He had been so tired that the thought of taking his mask off had never even occurred to him before he fell into his restless slumber so he knew that this was all on him…but he couldn't help but be a tad miffed that the little fellow had been making such a big deal out of something that had such an easy solution and even more so that said simple solution would cause him discomfort either way.
"Ouch!"
He yelped, closing one eye but looking down at the little baby with a hint of displeasure…but it melted away quickly when the babe's crying was replaced with a flurry of giggles and coos of laughter.
Then realisation hit him like a bolt of lightning.
Casey was just bored whole time…?
That was what all the fuss was about?
That was why he was crying himself hoarse?
He didn't think that a kid of Cassandra would be so melodramatic….actually, that's exactly what he expected from a child of Cassandra, what should he have expected?
His already-wide eyes somehow widened in their sockets, his pupils shrunk into pinpricks and his jaw dropped to the floor.
He couldn't help but scoff and roll his eyes, tired amusement tinted his voice.
"Wait so you were just bored? That was what all the tears were about? And my brothers say that I can be a drama queen…"
Casey just continued to pull and tug on the tails of Leo's mask, tightening it around his eyes and even knocking it slightly askew so it eventually covered one of his eyes and began to slide off of his face. He was certain he looked stupid but he started to care less and less, as long as the child wasn't screaming his lungs out.
It turned out that Casey's adorable laughter was infectious as Leo started to laugh too, albeit softly.
"Heh!" He chuckled. "Hey! Don't pull so hard on the mask, kid, that isn't a pull toy!"
He managed to tug his mask tail free from Casey's tiny fist which was surprisingly strong for someone so small.
Casey just continued to coo.
A hint of playfulness slid into Leo's tone of voice as he had two of his fingers hovering over Casey's pudgy tummy and started brushing them against it, tickling him, causing a flurry of giggles to burst from the baby in his care; Casey squirmed and squealed as he tried to pull away from the delightful form of torture, his face pinched with the purest form of childish delight imaginable. It was the first time Leo had heard this kid laugh and he found it to be one of the cutest sounds in the world.
Ever since the Krang had invaded, Leo had thought he wouldn't feel any form of joy whatsoever…
He now knew that he was just proven wrong and he couldn't have been happier about it!
"What am I gonna do with you, huh? What am I gonna do with a little mischief-maker like you!" He cooed. "Cootchie-cootchie-cootchie-cootchie-coo!"
Leo sucked in a giant breath, leaned down, lowered his own head towards the child and then he proceeded to blow hard raspberries on little Casey's chubby tummy, causing him to release yet another flurry of gurgles which sounded more like giggles than anything else. That sound was practically a guarantee to make the leader of the Ninja turtles' heart melt like cheese melting off of a pizza.
"Aww, whose a cute whiddle guy?" The reptile cooed as he jiggled the bundle up and down, causing him to gurgle with adorable delight. "You are!"
Baby Casey's laughter was obviously contagious since Leo couldn't stifle a chuckle, albeit a sleepy chuckle, while he kept the little one amused by pulling an assortment of bizarre faces as only he and his brothers could make them; he crossed his eyes, poked his tongue out his mouth, puckered his lips and even let his eyeballs roll around and around.
Sometimes being one of four of a kind had its perks, it seemed.
"Heh. Silly, isn't it?" Leo crooned.
The ninja turtle and baby boy both burst into laughter for what felt like an eternity.
When the laughter died down, though, Leo started to begin thinking.
This was tricky since he wasn't as tender and caring as his baby brother, Mikey, was. He wasn't as compassionate as Raph was (but, to be fair, Raph hadn't been as compassionate ever since this war started)…and he wasn't as clever as Donnie was! He had to pull his jokey, light-hearted persona deep from within just to amuse the boy and it wasn't easy —especially not with how exhausted he was!
He had to ignore his current exhaustion, though, as he had to get the little one to sleep first.
The atmosphere started to wind down and even the very air itself started to grow sleepy.
Soon enough the mutant ninja turtle and the human infant both started to nod off.
Casey peered wearily up at Leo, his eyes growing heavy and his expression becoming sleepy as he curled up a bit so he could grab hold of one of his bare feet and then he shoved it into his mouth and start to suck it. It was a miracle he even managed to fit all his toes in his gob with such ease. He made happy baby noises as he suckled contentedly on his foot.
Leo just sighed as he gingerly hooked one of his fingers around Casey's foot and gently pried it out of his mouth.
Surprisingly, Casey didn't protest in the slightest as his foot slid out from in between his gnawing gums and he substituted his thumb for it instead; he rolled one of his pudgy hands into a fist and stuck his thumb out and jammed that into his mouth instead.
He suckled contentedly on his thumb and this helped to pacify him as his eyes began to droop further,
Leo didn't say anything and was careful as he finally picked himself up off the kitchen area/cave floor and rose from his sitting position to standing at his full height. He made sure that Casey was carefully and comfortably nestled in the crook of his right arm and was looking to be on the very cusp of falling asleep as his eyelids were almost shut right over his sleepy adorably big eyeballs.
The ninja turtle made sure to take care in traversing back from the kitchen, through the narrow winding pathway, and made it back to his sleeping quarters.
He made an immediate beeline for his own bed and he plopped himself down and sat on the edge of his mattress which made both him and the baby bounce from the squishy impact his backside made to the plush bedsheets. It took a second or two for them both to stop bouncing and the mattress settled itself.
His breathing was soft, sleepy and slow.
Leo was far too tired to even attempt putting Casey back in the basket, he decided that there wouldn't be any harm should the boy sleep with him for the rest of the night.
That, mixed with the sound of the heavy rainfall hammering the earth above, created an oh-so sleepy ambiance that didn't help in combating fatigue or sleepiness in the slightest —it did the exact opposite, in fact. The muffled noise of raindrops pelting the ground above at full force, the odd distant rumble of thunder, the dampness that seeped through the air…
It created a symphony of soothingness.
It didn't take long to have an affect on Leo as he couldn't help open his mouth and stretch it as a lengthy yawn squeezed out from his throat.
He was soooo tired.
He glanced down at Casey who seemed to be so close to fall asleep!
Just a bit more.
But how…?
Then he remembered with vivid recollection when his father, Splinter, would take care of Mikey during those rough nights. Leo remembered watching as the rat would hold the tiny box turtle over his shoulder, rub his shell in soothing circles, and then feed him some warm milk and then sing him a lullaby to help him fall asleep.
Then he tilted his head back and pursed his lips together thoughtfully.
Casey already was filled with warm milk so now all that was left was to try and sing a lullaby to help the little one drift off to sleep…but what was that song their dad sung to them? Normally, he'd go and ask Raph since he'd know but he was still stubbornly reluctant to ask for help with the little one.
He promised Cass that he'd raise the boy.
Nobody else.
He had heard later on that Splinter had learned that song from his mother —his gram-gram; sadly he and his brothers didn't know much about how their grandmother took care of their dad but, what they did know was that their dad had never strayed from Karai's heart or her mind, not for a second.
As long as that song existed, their family —the Hamato clan— was still strong.
"Close your eyes and slow your breath,
hold that pulse and count to ten.
Cherry blossoms fall and spin,
just stay strong and you will win."
Leo's voice was as warm as a campfire in the midst of a blizzard and he looked exhausted beyond description.
He just rubbed the boy's tummy, massaging it as gingerly as he could with two of his three fingers while he found that Casey began to grow quiet as the minutes passed by like rolling tidal waves and, while he did this, the boy he cuddled close to him finally began to dowse off to sleep with the tip of his tiny thumb lodged in his mouth and his breathing soft and light.
He didn't stop singing sweetly.
"Rest your head, little one.
No longer do you have to run.
Your sleepy head is full of yawns,
and that's a sign that we'll see each
other again at dawn…"
Casey had finally fully succumbed to his sleepiness and snored softly with his thumb still in his mouth.
Leonardo felt relieved since all that work absolutely worn him out, he was absolutely knackered and fatigued beyond reason. He couldn't have imagined that raising a baby on his own was so difficult but he knew he had to persevere, there was no other option for him.
…Or was there?
He shook his head.
Now was the time to lay down and try and get some more sleep.
"Sleep tight, chamaco…" he whispered compassionately.
He kissed Casey's forehead before he lay down on the mattress, he would bandage the burn wound on his hand when he woke up in the morning but for now…he just relaxed and closed his eyes and let the Sandman spray every last sprinkle of that sleeping sand of his. It wasn't long until he drowned in the soothing pitch black abyss of slumber and dreams of fun times and loving memories swirled in his head.
His dreams were pleasant for the first time in ages.
A/N: Heres a new chapter of "Papa Leo" where some bonding between Leonardo and Casey has occured…but Leo is still a bit cross and prideful after what Raph had said in the previous chapter. Can he reconcile with Raph and admit he needs help or will he stick to his guns?
We shall hopefully find out in the next chapter.
-Chloemcg