Loud technobeats thumped through Donatello's lab, though not at full volume out of consideration for the slider slumped in a bean bag on the floor. As Leo worked through his newest medical textbook, taking copious notes as he went, Donnie delicately laboured over the long process of building Shelldon's new body.
The young genius was so grateful that he was also incredibly paranoid; daily uploading a backup of Shelldon to his remote servers just in case. But while Donnie could be prideful, he made a point of learning from any mistakes he DID make and had spent what little spare time he had the last two years meticulously designing a new, far more robust, body for his little AI. Finally in the manufacturing phase, an intricate drone was taking shape under his careful hands.
Any observer could be forgiven for thinking that the twins were simply sharing space while working on their separate tasks. They'd be wrong though. The boys were practicing.
With Don finally accepting their true nature, barriers had fallen and the twins were growing towards each other, like trees planted close. Right now they were bouncing emotions back and forth, an invisible game bringing soft smiles to both their faces as warmth and joy reflected between them.
Leo marvelled a little, pausing in his reading; he knew Donnie felt more than he was able to accurately display, but the depth of emotion that his brother had roiling under the surface was startling. I should've known better. He FEELS just fine, it's processing emotions that he has trouble with, Leo mused; skipping the chapter on diseases of the reproductive system for now, not in the mood to be grossed out. It's only fun if I'm sitting next to Raph anyway. Tilting the book just so and freaking out his older brother with pictures of diseased body parts was endlessly entertaining.
That thought must have leaked through because Don snorted into his circuit board while the mental equivalent of an uproarious belly-laugh rolled over Leo's mindscape. The medic huffed a bit in amusement then continued reading, enjoying easy camaraderie with his twin. "Was it just that I thought something was funny or did you actually hear what I was thinking?"
The engineer paused a moment, just realizing what he'd done. "I … heard you. I think?" Donatello turned wide eyes to his brother.
Leo's grin grew across his face. "So cool! What about this?" Donatello's a drama queen.
The softshell frowned for a moment, then, "I think you've got that backwards Nardo."
"Yes!" Both of Leonardo's fists shot triumphantly into the air. "Twin telepathy for the win!"
Don rolled his eyes and went back to work.
We already had the mind meld. The slider froze. That, that was a thought but it had a distinctly Donnie … taste, feel? Whatever, it was Donnie. For the first time, Leo had picked up a full thought from his twin. It's not the same though, he replied, we can only do that with Raph; and he basically has to yell it at us. This is just… like overhearing someone talking to themselves next to you.
A sense of agreement wafted over from his brother, followed by nervousness as Don bounced one of his legs. Donnie?
Are we going to overhear everything each other thinks now?
A chill washed over Leon. Oh boy I hope not. People don't share every stray thought for a reason. Next time, we practice blocking each other out.
Agreed.
…. In the meantime, do you know who took my Scarlet Wonder #6? I'm sure I had it in my "Do Not Touch I'm Not Done With This" drawer.
Uhhh…..
Their brewing squabble was interrupted by Don's com ringing. "You are conversing with Donatello," the softshell answered while studiously avoiding his twin's evil eye and was promptly blasted by April's voice bellowing out of his headphones. "Donnie! You gotta watch the link I sent you! Right! Now!"
A few minutes later April had been routed through the main speakers, Don was pulling up the link she'd sent him and the rest of their family were barrelling through into his lab.
"In class today the teacher decided to have us watch an FBI press conference that was held here in New York," she was explaining, "Prof wanted us to get used to taking notes, making up questions on the fly, that sorta stuff." There was a clang in the background along with a male "Hey!" as she sprinted through campus. "After a bit I realized what they were talking about …" the young woman trailed off as she recognized the playback starting on Donatello's end.
Turtles and rat gathered around the primary monitor where a blonde woman stood behind a podium. "Good afternoon. I'm FBI Agent Jennifer Jareau and we've called this press conference today in the hopes that the public will be able to help us solve a series of murders, and find some potentially vulnerable victims."
The agent gestured to the screen next to her where a timeline appeared, filling in as she spoke. "In the late 90's, eight homeless people were found dead in New York city. They had all been murdered, parts of their bodies 'sampled', for lack of a better term, and then they were dumped. They were all linked by the presence of a yet to be identified liquid. This past November, the body of a young woman was left outside the 20th precinct, also with traces of the same liquid. Her name was Claudia Sullivan. She was abducted March of 2000." Their mother's smiling picture flashed up on the screen.
Leon settled a trembling hand on Don's shoulder, a wave of acceptance and anxiety flowing back.
"From evidence gathered at the scene, we've been able to determine that she was used to produce two children. Twin sons, who's DNA is also linked to another missing person's case, that of Yoshi Hamato, better known by his screen name of Lou Jitsu, who went missing in 1999. His body has not been found and until it is, he is still considered a missing person."
That very man gasped as his former face was displayed. Michelangelo grabbed their Dad in a side hug, briskly rubbing up and down his furry arm.
"We believe that these people were victims of the same serial killer. Mission oriented, the creation of these two boys were his ultimate goal; homeless people being used as practice for his real targets, Miss Sullivan and Mr Hamato, so that he could use their genetic material."
Raphael's great bulk hovered over his family, trying to reassure them that he was there for them; that they had his protection.
"We believe we are looking for a male, 40 – 60 years old, of Caucasian or East Asian descent, likely in an interracial relationship with someone of the other race. He probably works in the medical field, specializing in treating infertility. We believe he and his spouse have raised these boys as their own. Given the timing of the boys delivering their biological mother to the police, we think that our suspect was killed or seriously wounded in the alien attack."
Don's right hand snaked up, to twine with that of his brother.
"The twins are of mixed race, Caucasian and East Asian, between the ages of 16 and 21. They also have a very distinct birth defect of their hands." Agent Jareau fixed her gaze on the camera. "Someone out there knows these people. Someone knows this couple, knows these boys. You can help give the victims back their voices and connect these young men with their biological families." A phone number and web address began scrolling across the bottom of the screen. "Please, contact the FBI by the means listed below to share any information you may have. Now," she glanced off to the side, "the parents of Claudia Sullivan are here and would like to say a few words."
Nonononononononononono. Leo's mind devolved into rushing blur as his shaking legs finally gave out. He sunk to his knees next to Donatello's chair, incredibly grateful the young genius maintained an iron grip.
An older couple took the agent's position, blinking rapidly as the many cameras present flashed in front of them. Our grandparents.. Don's reverent thought wafted over.
"Hello," the man began, "I'm Bruce Sullivan, and this is my wife, Maria," he said, while rubbing the stately woman's back. "We'd like to thank all the members of law enforcement and people in the community that have tried to help us find Claudia. It meant the world to our family." He took a deep breath, "But most of all we want to say… to our grandsons," the grey headed man lost his composure, looking down to rub his eyes. Maria took over. "We want to say thank you. Thank you so much for giving her back to us, we weren't sure that we would ever know what happened to her. And.. please know, we'd love to meet you. No matter how you came into this world," she blinked back tears, "you ARE our grandsons, and if you ever decide you want it, there's a place for you with us. But if you could," her jaw trembled as she fought with her emotions, "if there's a way, could you let us know that you're safe?"
The press conference then descended into semi-orderly chaos with journalists jockeying for their questions to be answered. But the answers they wanted weren't there.
The twins were discovering the downside of their newly open link. Mutual panic and confusion reverberated between them, building in intensity with each passing moment. Don honestly couldn't even tell what was coming from whom anymore. He latched onto Nardo with all he had while falling into the maelstrom.
Longing/fear/disgust/hope/anger/why?/It was over/fear/pain/want/maybe?
Guys!
Raph?!
Guys! We're here! You need to calm down.
Their big brother's mental call cut through the confusion. Slowly Donatello became aware of massive arms tightly wrapped around him. A thunderous heartbeat next to his head. Leon's hands woven with his own in a death grip. Oh. Raphael had gathered the panicking twins up into his expansive grasp. Tucked together, legs entwined, their heaving plastrons gradually slowed, calming down from the tandem panic attack.
Donatello closed his eyes and focused on riding out the lingering symptoms. We definitely need to practice blocking each other out.
"Sorry." The soft whisper forced Don to look outward again. Leon's dark gaze was full of naked pain and remorse. "S'okay." Donnie murmured back, worried about the deep pit of fear and despair he saw behind his twin.
Raph rumbled deep in his chest. "You're both ok. Just rest, Raph's gotcha. We'll take care of everything else later." Between panic induced exhaustion, and the comfort they'd fallen asleep to so often growing up, both drifted away.
Eventually, Don blinked back awake, Leo still right in front of him. At first, he only registered the slider's slack, tired face then shifted back a bit when he noticed the bright cheery visage of a teddy bear popping right over Leonardo's striped shoulder. Raph's room. Glancing around, it looked like the snapper had tucked them both into his own bed, then constructed a fluffy, squishy nest of plush critters all around them. Actually, he could feel glass orb eyes pressing uncomfortably into his shell. Reaching around, Don found the offending koala, glared into its cold, dead marbles and chucked the effigy of adorable evil across the room.
Carefully extracting himself from his sleeping twin's grasp, Donatello slowly sat up and shifted away to sit cross-legged against the wall. Alright, break it down. One, their original plan had achieved its goal. Two, they had apparently left enough evidence behind that the police had discovered their existence and connection to both of their human parents. Three, their maternal grandparents were now aware of them and were seeking contact. Four, the FBI was involved and would be watching any contact with said grandparents like a proverbial hawk. Five, the thought of making contact with their grandparents absolutely terrified Leonardo.
That's the one he got stuck on. Some trepidation would be understandable, but what he'd felt from his brother was a soul deep dread that even now caused a pit to open in Don's own stomach. Why was the prospect of contact with these people so frightening? Donatello himself was nervous about it. Afterall, they didn't know their grandsons were mutants, and while mutants were now publicly known, and had found some acceptance; there was no way to know how they would react to finding out their murdered daughter's forcefully produced children were a couple giant reptiles. Leonardo's fear though was much more profound than Don thought it should be for the given circumstances.
The softshell found himself at a loss, watching his sleeping younger twin. As they'd gotten older, the rest of the clan had eventually figured out that much of Leo's behaviour was in fact motivated by insecurity. After the Krang it had morphed into outright self-loathing. Holding himself responsible not only for that which had nearly been, but the many deaths that had occurred, it'd taken everything the family had to convince him that he was merely the butterfly that flapped its wings and eventually started a windstorm. Even if they had gotten the key that night, they would've just returned it to the museum, the Foot would've stolen it again and everything would've gone down the same way. They knew though, that Leo's self-destructive brain refused to completely let go of the juicy bone it'd found to gnaw on.
Perhaps it had dug up another in their origins, and the what ifs surrounding their maternal relatives? That was all Donnie could come up with to explain this. He leaned forward, steepling his hands. Both of us have malfunctioning brains, not surprising as they were the same brain once. Mine refuses to process sensory input and emotional output correctly. His seeks potential threats to his family so as to strategize around them but identifies ITSELF as a potential threat and therefore seeks to eliminate itself. Perhaps it is time to ask Papa to find a therapist for Nardo as well. Was this the trade-off for their own respective forms of genius? Rewiring to allow them to think beyond the means of most people resulted in poor performance in other areas?
Perhaps we can balance each other out? The entire family helped Donatello accommodate and work around his limitations, Leo and April often taking the lead with Michelangelo occasionally beating him over the head with heavier lessons when called for. Cold logic had given Leon's strategic mind ammunition to fight it's own irrational conclusions before, maybe Donnie could help provide that again? In the dark, watching over his brother, Donatello began to scheme.
With a deep breath, Leo opened his eyes. Directly across from him was his twin sitting like a glowering king among Raphael's many, many plushies. "Y'know, I could totally see you winning the game of thrones, but I don't think you'd accept anything less than a titanium one."
"Huh? Wha?" Donnie was knocked out of his train of thought. "Oh, you're awake."
"Excellent observation Dontron." Leon huffed as he heaved himself upright then sighed. "Sorry for … y'know, earlier. Didn't mean to drag you down with me."
"Nardo…"
They were interrupted by the subway car door being slid open. "I thought I heard you guys." Raph's soft grin greeted them as the eldest walked in. "Good to see you up. Feeling better?" he asked, running his eyes over Don while cupping the back of Leo's head to check the slider's temperature with a giant thumb. "Yeah big bro, I think we're good." Leonardo answered, not wanting to cause any further worry. "You sure? That was a pretty strong reaction out there." Well so much for that.
With Donatello's disapproval weighing heavily behind him, Leo tried one more time. "You're right, I shouldn't speak for Donnie, but I'm good hermano. Really!"
"Uh huh…" Raphael's flat response clearly showed he wasn't buying it.
The slider shrunk down into his shell a bit, not wanting to face the reality of his earlier emotional implosion. "Look, I just thought this whole thing was done and over with, then BAM! FBI press conference! It was a bit of a kick in the teeth." He squirmed under the combined weight of his older brothers' stares. "It's not like we can contact them anyway, what with this whole situation." Leo waved a hand up and down himself.
"Well….." Donatello interjected, "they don't HAVE to see us."
He knew he didn't have reason, but Leo suddenly felt so betrayed. "Um. What?"
"Yeah, whaddayah mean Donnie?" Raph asked, eyes narrowed in confusion.
"We could call them. I can run our connection through encrypted servers all over the planet so the FBI can't trace it and they won't be able to see us." The softshell answered, already on his wristcomp. "We can give them the reassurance they want and keep our true nature secret."
Don was pointedly avoiding his twin's eyes, focusing now on Raphael. What are you up to 'Tello? His brother flicked a glance Leo's way then back to their elder, a sense of nervousness, want and determination wafting over. You WANT to meet them?
"That's not a bad idea Donnie." Leon's attention was drawn back to the giant snapper. "They seemed really worried about you guys. Seems like they think you're in the hands of a serial killer or something so if we can let them know you're ok…."
Everything faded out a bit after that. We're really gonna do this? We're going to risk contacting them… even with the FBI hovering over them. Their daughter was MURDERED to make us …
But they already know that and said they want us.
But they don't know we're mutants.
Some people are ok with mutants.
They probably arent'.
But the FBI won't just walk away.
"Nardo."
It's not worth the risk.
"Leon."
What if they find out YOU caused the invasion?
"Leonardo!"
Donatello grabbing Leo by his shoulders and shaking finally knocked the slider out of his spiralling thoughts. "Huh? Wha?"
"Nardo, are you ok?" The naked concern on Donnie's face and in his mind was another splash of cold water. Suddenly Leo was aware of EVERYTHING. Raph was gone. His legs were tangled in blankets and plushies. His muscles were trembling. Why am I shaking? "Uh, yeah. I'm ok."
The softshell's face instantly dropped. "Riiiiight. Because people are ok when they're having a panic attack."
Nope nope nope. "I wasn't having a panic attack." Leo rebutted, trying to get his legs free. Stupid plushie snakes.
"Sigh. Rapid breathing, sweating, clearly trapped in your own thoughts. You didn't even notice Raph leaving. Am I missing something?" Dammit, why are you so observant when I don't want you to be. "Look, is it really that weird that I'm nervous about contact with the Sullivaaaans?!" Leo was free of the blankets; he was also now face first on the floor.
"It's weird that you're THIS nervous. Why are you so afraid of them?" He cocked his head to the side like a confused dog.
"Really Donnie?" Frustrated, the young leader sprung up from the floor, rubbing his side a little as he finally got to his feet. "You really can't see why I don't want to get any more tangled up in this than we already are?" Arms flung into the air, Leon began to pace, giving his twin both barrels. "Ok MAYBE they'll be ok with how we got here, they've had time to think about that. But if we get wrapped up with them? We won't be able to hide being mutants forever. We won't be able to avoid the freaking FBI forever! They'll find out that Pops is alive, about Draxum, that we were getting CLOSE TO THEIR DAUGHTER'S KILLER!"
"What's goin' on in here?" Both middle brothers stopped dead as Mikey poked his head in the train car. "Are you guys fighting?"
"Yes."
"Yes!"
The twins glared at each other. Well, at least we agree on something.
"Ohhhhhkkaaay." The youngest swiftly took control of the situation. Plunking down on the bed where he was essentially between his brothers, he crossed his legs and folded his hands over a knee. "What's the issue gentlemen?"
Hoo boy. "Mikey we can sort this out ourselves."
Their miniature juggernaut fixed Leo with a glare. "I SAID, what's the issue gentlemen?"
Right. "Don wants to contact our Mother's parents. I don't." Leo leaned against the car wall, crossing his arms defiantly.
"Hmmm. Right, right, and why are you so opposed to that?" Their baby brother was still prim with his annoyance.
For real?! "Uh… why wouldn't I be?" He couldn't believe that any of them were seriously considering this. "Do I need to list the many and sundry reasons why this is a TERRIBLE idea? Again?!"
Annoyingly, his brother's shared a knowing look. What the actual? In what universe would Donnie be on the same wavelength as Mikey in an emotional conversation?
"Really guys?"
"Leo," Donnie started lowly, "we can do this safely. Initiate contact with an untraceable audio call and progress according to results." A soft, tentative longing tickled along the edge of Leon's mind. Damn your craving for parental approval.
Mikey's eyes were getting bigger and wetter every second, putting Todd's puppies to shame. "You won't know how they feel unless you talk to them Leo."
Never let it be said that Leonardo Hamato didn't know when he was beat. Heaving a breath behind gritted teeth, the slider closed his eyes, reasserted his self-control and said, "Fine. But we take every precaution to make sure they can't find us."
"Alright!" Mikey clapped, jumped up and glomped onto the striped turtle. "I'll go tell the others!" Then he bolted out of the room.
Leo rubbed his side absently, carefully ignoring Donnie's stare.
"It's not just my desire for adult approval and affection at play." Well, so much for that.
"They've spent decades wondering what happened to their daughter, should they spend the rest of their lives wondering what happened to us?" Shocked, Leonardo snapped around to lock eyes with the softshell. Donnie raised an eyebrow. "What? Even I can see what that would do to someone."
Doing his best to bring this back around to a logical argument, Boy have we flipped the switch, "And that's worth risking discovery by the FBI?"
"Psshhh," Don waved a negligent hand, "FBI, FBsmhI. I can run rings around them. Besides," he gave the slider a bit of a side-eye, "we've risked more for less haven't we?"
"Hmph." Leo ran a finger along one of the scars on his arm. "Yeah, and how'd that work out for us?"
The engineer got up and murmured as he walked by, "Two attempts to end the world, and we're all still here? Works for me."
"Agent Jareau?" JJ turned from her phone, where she'd been checking up with Will in a quiet corner. "Yes?"
"I think we've got something here." An older female officer handed over a hastily scribbled transcript. "They're typing it up for the file, but I thought you'd want this right away."
"Thank you." The blonde nodded in dismissal and started reading.
Officer: Hello, Sullivan Case tipline.
Caller: Yes, you're looking for her sons?
Officer: Yes Sir. Do you have any information about them?
Caller: Yeah. I'm one of them.
Officer: I see. If I may Sir, we've had more than a few people call in making the same claim; would you mind answering a question in order to confirm your identity?
Caller: Sure?
Officer: On the inside of the coffin lid, there was an inscription. What did it say?
Caller: "You deserved better. Rest in peace."
JJ kept skimming, looking over where an officer had arranged a call back time when Claudia's parents would be available. Speed walking while she read the officer's observations, JJ burst into the boardroom. All the BAU looked up at her entrance and she announced, "They made contact."
Three hours later, the Sullivan's were sitting at the end of a dinged boardroom table, making small talk, trying to avoid fixating on landline phone laying between them. JJ handed each a cup of coffee, getting soft thank you's in return when a shrill ring forced everyone to try not to spill their drinks. Glancing over at the on-screen Penelope, JJ gestured to pick up once the tech nodded her permission.
On speaker, with everyone else remaining as silent as possible, Bruce shakily connected the call. "Hello?"
There was a brief pause, then a cautious young voice, "Is this Mr Sullivan?"
"Yes. And my wife Maria is right here with me. Are… are you one of our grandsons?"
There was an audible breath on the other end. "Yes. I am. We're both here actually."
Silence as everyone tried to think of something to say, then another young male voice. "Well… this is awkward."
"Leo!" A smack followed by a nervous giggle broke the ice a little.
FBI agents shared glances and smirks, reassured by the normal sibling behaviour on display.
Bruce and Maria huffed softly; she piped up. "So, one of you is named Leo then?"
An exaggerated throat clearing signalled the boys getting themselves back under control. "Yes ma'am," the first voice came back in. "I am Donatello, my brother here is Leonardo, though we usually go by the diminutives 'Donnie' or 'Don' and 'Leo' or 'Leon'."
"Donnie and Leo." The couple grabbed each other's hands while Bruce continued. "It's very good to hear from you. Before we go any further, are you two safe?"
Leo quickly answered. "Yes. We're safe, you don't have to worry."
That dramatically cut the overall tension in the room. No longer having to be concerned about the boys' wellbeing, at least for now. Their focus shifted.
"Glad to hear it; we were worried. Now that we have you on the phone, we'd like to thank you personally. Thank you for sending Claudia home to us… you have no idea what a difference you've made already." Their grandfather said, running a shaky hand through his greyed hair.
Donnie cut in this time. "You're welcome. We… wanted to do what we could, what little it was." JJ felt her eyes prick a bit at the young man's quietly solemn voice. She glanced over to see Penelope still frantically working, and clearly getting increasingly frustrated.
The Sullivans were talking again. "You should know, we buried her in the coffin you made."
That had been interesting. Hotch'd hesitated to grant the request, but once they found out their grandsons made it, the couple were determined to bury their daughter in her bespoke coffin. After making sure all possible evidence was collected, the section chief had gone to bat for them, handing Claudia's body over in the wooden chest.
"You did?" Leo's voice was small and tinged with wonder.
"Yes dear," Maria answered this time, "knowing that you two made it for her, we had to. Thank you for that by the way, it was beautiful." She squeezed her honey eyes shut, likely remembering the funeral just a few days past. "You did an excellent job making it."
"You're welcome." Leo's reply was husky. "We just, wanted to give her back with dignity, y'know?"
Bruce smirked. "Misson accomplished son. You two work with your hands? 'Cause I don't think just anyone could do what you did there."
"I built it," Donnie interjected, pride evident, "Leo decorated it."
"We did both together, Dontron."
Don kept speaking over Leo. "I usually engage in metal working, but it wasn't too difficult to adapt my equipment for wood."
The eager grandparents pounced. "Metal working? You work in a metal shop?"
The young man was clearly warming to their curiosity. "Work, as in employment? No. I have my own personal workshop where I manufacture my many wonderfully designed devices; and repair everything the family breaks, repeatedly. Yes, I'm looking at you Nardo, I know what happened to DVD player."
People were starting to stifle chuckles around the room.
"Sounds like you have an interest in engineering." Maria observed, relaxing enough to finally take a sip from her coffee. "Oh ho ho ho ho, interest is not the word Madam." Donatello's youthful boasting continued. "I have designed and built vehicles, machines, drones and I am currently constructing a new body for my custom coded AI."
Penelope suddenly lunged forward on her screen, a sort of "aha!" look on her face. Waving off questioning glances, the bubbly blonde kept working.
"That's very impressive," Bruce commented, "how old are you two?" Obviously wondering when his grandson'd had time to accomplish so much.
"We're eighteen." Leo informed them. Spencer leaned forward, eyes flicking back and forth as he processed the conversation, filing information away for later.
"Just getting started out then. Are you two thinking of going to college?" Maria asked, "If you're considering Columbia I could pull some strings."
There was some whispering on the line then, "Our current plans to do not include college, but thank you Ma'am. Did you go to Columbia University?" Donatello's slightly deeper voice came back.
Their grandmother frowned a little at the failed connection. "I did. All of our children did too. What about you Leo? What are your interests?"
"Uh." Leo started, clearly caught off, "Oh you know, comic books, tv, the usual teenage stuff."
"Medicine." His twin interjected. The sounds of a slight scuffle could be heard.
"Medicine?" Bruce perked up. "You looking for a job in the medical field son?"
But the young man prevaricated. "I mean, I just sorta take care of the family. Going to the doctor isn't always an option y'know?" A few people were exchanging looks and frowning. Weren't they raised by someone in medicine?
The Sullivans were looking concerned again. "Do you boys not have health insurance? If you need help we're more than willing."
There were some low murmurs, then, "Just a second," and the twins muted their end.
The BAU took the pause to quietly confer. "Garcia, have you traced their connection?" Hotch began.
Speakers turned down because she was clearly NOT HAPPY, Penelope ranted. "No! I have bounced all over the planet about five times tracing them. It keeps somehow rerouting while still maintaining the previous connection, then dropping when ready. I don't think I can trace them Sir. But," she cocks her head, sharing her view with the team, "I did find something. You remember how hackers always have a sort of signature on their work? They prefer to use certain code? I recognize this. He's a pretty well-known guy in certain circles." The bubbly blonde shook her head. "I'll do up a full report for you later." She muted again, turning back to her own efforts.
"Even if," Derek began, "the unsub lost their job, they would still be able to treat their family members to an extent themselves, right? So why is Leo picking up the slack?"
"They're afraid of something." Rossi theorized. "They could just be stubbornly self-sufficient, but to outright refuse a normal offer from family to help with education and medical care? They're keeping themselves in a bubble."
Emily waved them silent again from where she was watching the Sullivans with an eagle eye. The boys were back.
Leo hesitantly spoke. "We… need to explain some things." He paused, trying to figure out what to say. "We weren't raised by the guy that made us." The concerned grandparents shared looks and Bruce sat a little straighter at the mention of their daughter's killer. "Before you ask, he's dead. Killed in the invasion. The only name we had for him was Barry Draxum, but I don't think you'll find that in any records. We only met him a few years ago and didn't know about the murders until after he was dead."
JJ quickly typed the info to send to Garcia for later investigation. Leo kept speaking.
"We knew he was… sketchy, but we didn't know how far he'd actually gone until we found out about our mother. We know you probably think we were raised by him, but we weren't." When the young man paused again, his brother jumped in. "We were raised by Yoshi Hamato."