Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"We've taken different paths and traveled different roads,

I know we'll always end up on the same one when we're old,

And when you're in the trenches and you're under fire,

I will cover you

If I was dying on my knees,

You would be the one to rescue me

And if you were drowned at sea,

I'd give you my lungs so you could breathe,

I've got you, brother"

Brother by Kodaline

This was kind of his worst nightmare. All things considered it could have been worse… but. No. This may have been the worst-case scenario.

That’s not true. He knows it could be worse. But honestly this was too much…

Leo was currently sprinting top side with three tiny turtle tots squirming in his arms.

Holy Pizza Supreme Raph, those spikes are turning my arms to pincushions. Stop wiggling!

Donnie was crying and Mikey was clinging like a koala to his neck preventing air from getting to his lungs properly.

This day was insane. Leo had gotten portal jacked, but when he tried to redirect himself home, he found himself in Baron Draxum’s lab. Draxum’s lab fifteen years ago. He didn’t have time to wonder what was happening. He saw his brothers being held by an ooze covered Lou Jitsu and offered to help them escape. But when Splinter – Lou? Saw a much larger mutated turtled he quickly passed off the tots with an excited: “Oh you must be the parent turtle. Here’s your babies.” And then he ran out the door! Abandoning them!

Donnie would have been better at this. He would have known not to get involved and would not have messed up the ‘space time continuum’ or whatever it’s called.

He didn’t have time to really think too hard about it. Because Draxum had been furious and sent yokai lackeys chasing them to ‘retrieve his specimen’.

Which led Leo to now.

Sprinting down an alleyway, tearing the manhole cover off before leaping in being sure to pull it closed behind him as he went. He ran through the sewers automatically taking himself to their home…  their first home. The one that Shredder destroyed in the future.

Stepping into the large space he thought would be a hard sight, but it was pretty neutral. The space was empty and grimy. It wasn’t a home. It was an unlived in part of the sewers that had potential, but hadn’t been touched in many years.

A sharp pain in his harm made him jump and look down. Donnie was biting him! His tiny turtle jaws were surprisingly strong.

“Hey Dee, I know you’re upset, this is a weird day. But I need you to let go dearest brother of mine.”

Raph was still squirming and he could feel Mikey trembling against his neck still.

“Ok. You know, I could use a breather too.” He sat cross legged on the floor letting the little turtles rest in his lap. Raph immediately scrambled away and began exploring the area around them. Mikey slid down his plastron and snuggled himself into the crook of Leo’s knee before yawning and drifting to sleep. But Donnie was still giving tiny little hisses as he clung to the scales of Leo’s arm with his beak.

“Donnie. My sweet little Bitey-Tello. Its ok. We’re safe now.” He started lightly tapping a finger against his brother’s softshell in a rhythmic pattern. After a few moments of quiet Donnie finally released his arm and gave a distressed chirp.

Leo gave a comforting chirp in response on instinct. The twins had always done this as kids. Raph made a low rumbling noise that was almost like a cat purr. And Mikey copied all three of his older brothers’ noises to fit whatever he needed.

At the response chirp Donnie turned and glared at Leo, finally meeting his eyes. The older turtle racked his brain trying to remember what Splinter had said about how old they were when he rescued them. The mutation aged them up a bit, right? If he was correct, then over the next twenty-four hours his brothers would grow to be four to six years old.

He was trying not to feel stressed out because he didn’t want to lapse into a panic attack. His brothers needed him. But what was happening? Was this the past? Did he get sent back somehow? If he did – did he just ruin his brothers’ future? Splinter – no. Lou Jitsu abandoned them. He passed them off and disappeared to who knows where! Leo was barely seventeen himself! He didn’t know how to raise three kids!

He choked on a sobbing laugh running a hand down his face. Raising kids… jeez…

He did have the advantage of knowing his brothers likes and dislikes pretty well. And he had the added benefit of being a turtle just like the tots and knowing what was the best for them.

When they were kids Splinter had tried, but there were so many things that they had learned the hard way. Like when Raph got shell rot, and the first several times Donnie injured his soft shell.

Also brumation.

Holy shell.

It was winter in the sewers… the tots were too small to brumate. Honestly, they had discovered that brumation was always a bad idea. And he was already starting to feel the chill now that his adrenaline was dying down.

Donnie chirped again.

Leo looked down and saw his twin’s small hand lightly touching the taller turtle’s plastron as if examining it. Gently he guided the soft shell’s hand to the indention in his plastron where his own Donatello had taken a bite when they were still normal turtles. His twin and his inquisitive nature… surely, he was too young to realize what was happening?

But oh man did he wish Donnie was here. His Donnie. Leo could strategize and make plans all day, but that was useless if you didn’t have the info. And his Smarty-tello would already have a grasp on where and when they were if he was here.

Donnie would know what to do.

Mikey would be better at calming the tots who still seemed pretty shaken up.

Raph… Raph would have done what he always did. Handled everything and saved the day like a boss. Or an amazing big brother.

Leo was the worst one to be stuck here. With his track record he would accidentally have his brothers frozen to death or kidnapped by Draxum in days.

Right.

It was cold.

Raph had toddled back over and was checking on his little brothers before looking up at Leo.

“Do you want to sit with us?” Leo gently lifted the snapper onto his leg that Donnie and Mikey weren’t occupying.

Donnie seemed content with his evaluation of Leo and was firmly tucking himself into the taller turtle’s plastron for a nap.

“I can’t leave you guys alone… but I can’t ninja in and get some supplies while carrying all of you either…”

Mikey was starting to retreat into his shell. That wasn’t good. That meant he was likely getting too cold.

“I guess we’ll just have to play it by ear huh?” Leo chuckled mirthlessly. “You guys don’t realize how funny that is yet. Because you don’t know we don’t have ears. Well, not like humans anyway. Or maybe the joke is that I’m a red earslider?” Man he was losing it if he didn’t even know where he is own jokes were going.

He carefully scooped them up into his arms. Mikey was so small. They all were. But… his littlest brother was tiny. So tiny he actually could fit into his medical pouch. He carefully placed him in there tightly buttoning the flap to keep him safe which freed up more room in one arm for Raph and Donnie. That left one hand free to grab his katanas if necessary.

Hopefully it wouldn’t be necessary.

The great Pizza Supreme in the sky was clearly looking out for him right now because he lucked out with his first dumpster dive. There was a pile of dirty blankets and a large ragged quilt in there. Opening up a small portal he tossed the larger stuff through back to the lair and kept one blanket to make into double slings. Donnie was on his right with Raph on his left. He would have preferred to have them both on one side but he didn’t want to risk it with Don’s exposed shell. Raph was super spikey right now and one wrong tumble would hurt the smaller turtle quite a bit.

Another few trips down some alleyways and a trip to the junkyard and he had secured more soft things, a torn beanbag that he knew he could sew up, and some canned goods that were bent and had the labels removed, but they were still sealed. A trip inside of a hardware store and he ‘borrowed’ multiple battery-operated space heaters and lots of batteries to keep them going.

He could hear Raph scolding him for stealing in the back of his mind, but he also knew that realistically his brother would do the same in this situation. Family first. Besides. This was one of the big chain companies. They could afford some things to go missing. It wasn’t like he was stealing from a local owned shop or something.

It was still stealing.

But.

He would do that and worse to keep his brothers alive. So be it.

One more quick stop into a large grocery store and he grabbed a few fresh fruits and vegetables for the tots and emergency medical supplies just in case.

Once he had settled all of his new finds around the Lair, he quickly made a nest of sorts with all the soft things he found. The tots were still small enough that the blanket barrier he made would hopefully keep them from roaming away if they got restless – Mikey. Not that he anticipated sleeping too well himself.

Everyone was fed, clean, and safely snuggled into warm blankets that were surrounded by the heaters he set up. No brumation in this Lair! All three tots were snuggled up against him and making quiet little chirps in their sleep.

It was adorable.

And he had no one to share it with.

Because his brothers were babies. He was in the past somehow.

Lou Jitsu had abandoned them…

What did he do? He wasn’t smart enough to create a time machine like his twin could have. And his portals just took him to different places. Not times.

Except this time apparently.

He was stuck here.

His only real hope was that his brothers would find him.

And until then he would… raise these three tots…?

What could go wrong?

He laughed hysterically into the echoing sewer.

Chapter Text

Nobody who had ever met him ever would say that Leo was capable of raising kids. Definitely not one, certainly not three. He knows that if CJ were here he would say that Leo had lots of great ‘dad qualities’, but they don’t talk about that. Because that was a Leo who had lived through an apocalypse.

This was a different sort of end of the world. The dramatic kind that was only in his head. Because these three smaller versions of his brothers had a lot of living to do. He thought he had the advantage of knowing who they would grow into… but he quickly learned – that wasn’t necessarily true.

Because when they had been kids Raph had done everything. Leo and Donnie mostly messed around and occasionally helped out with Mikey, the true baby. Basically, there was a lot that Leo had forgotten.

Like Raph’s biting. Holy shell did that hurt. It has only happened a few times in the last year, and they were all out of frustration. He was an emotional guy and he didn’t always know a good outlet for his feelings. Leo decided that a punching bag couldn’t hurt.

He explained very seriously and thoroughly that punching only the punching bag was ok. Never his brothers. And then he showed little Raph how to safely hit the bag without hurting his hands. He was only a year old technically but he was already the size and had the mentality of a six-year-old.

Raph had so far listened to all the rules for the punching bag. The only really ‘bad’ incident was the last time he had gotten really angry and bit the bag. Which tore a hole in it. Leo felt like a Real Adult when he sat down with Raph and explained how actions have consequences. The punching bag was not for biting. Biting anything other than food was not ok, they had talked about this. Now the bag was ruined and Raph didn’t have his favorite toy anymore.

The repentant snapper had his hands clasped in front of him as he looked sadly at the ground. “M’sorry Leelee.”

Leo sighed but gave a small smile at him. “It’s alright Rafa. Now we know. Right?”

“Right!”

“Maybe if you are really good at doing your chores for the next few weeks, I’ll look into replacing the punching bag.”

“Thanks Lee!” Raph gave him a hug before rushing out of the training room.

That was the other thing that was weird. Actually. Maybe the biggest thing. It made him uncomfortable to think about. He was parenting in so many ways. He was teaching them to speak, walk, play, eat, write, there was even… the toilet training stage.

Which.

Shell.

Thankfully they all picked up on that pretty quickly.

At some point he managed to smuggle some books for them that he read to them to pass time and to help settle down when things got a little too rambunctious. And the boys learned about families.

He explained to them that they were brothers.

“Except you’re the dad.” Raph pointed out.

Leo nearly choked and died. “Wha? No no no no no.”

“He’s right!” Donnie pointed at the pictures of the family of turtles in the book. “The big one that takes care of Franklin is the dad. And you are the big turtle who takes care of us. Therefore – dad.” The little genius was proud of himself crossing his arms of over his plastron.

He wanted to argue. He was their brother! Why couldn’t he just be their big brother? That was better! He couldn’t be…a dad.

Mikey patted his knee to get his attention. Looking down at his orange speckled brother he smiled. “Yeah bud?”

“Dad?” It was so quiet. Mikey was still learning to use his voice. He was surprisingly shy right now.

Another stage of life that Leo had no memory of… or maybe these are really just different versions of his brothers. Did having Splinter around really make that big of a difference? He really hoped he wasn’t stifling Mikey’s exuberant energy somehow.

Three pairs of hopeful eyes watched him waiting for a response to their request to call him ‘dad’. He balked at it. He hated it. But… he also had no right to deprive them of having some sort of parental figure in their life. He remembered an awkward conversation with Raph when they were kids when his big brother explained to them that he wasn’t their dad. Splinter was. And it had been so confusing. Because Splinter wasn’t even a turtle! And he was never around like Raph was! But they eventually learned.

These three didn’t have a Splinter.

“Yeah… ok.” He shook his head smiling down at them. “If that’s what you want.” They had so little. They deserved this.

“Daddy!”

Yep. This was going to be super weird forever.

“Let’s stick with Dad for now… or you know. Get creative! We like nicknames in this house. Right?”

Leo knew what depression could do to a person. At some point in their early teens when Donnie was getting more into medical research, he discovered mental health. His genius brother never really could stick to science that wasn’t specifically technology and machines, but this one held his interest enough that he called in Leo to go over the pages of research he’d printed on the topic.

They learned together what was likely going on with their mostly absentee father. They knew Splinter loved them. He provided so much for them until they were big enough to figure it out themselves. Or rather, Raph was. As kids it didn’t seem like a big deal, as pre-teens they thought that they had ‘earned’ or ‘deserved’ the freedom they had obtained as Splinter secluded himself to his room and his chair more and more often.

But when the twins discovered mental health, they agreed that their father showed a majority of the symptoms that went with severe depression. Eventually they showed Raph and Mikey their research and agreed to just not speak of it. None of them were doctors or knew beneficial ways to help.

That’s when Mikey started researching how to become a therapist. His brothers tried adamantly to reassure him that it was not his responsibility. Leo tried to help in the only way he knew how, try to make people laugh or at least smile. Try to get their minds off of the negativity. Lighten up a room.

He knew he was over the top… a lot. But what Raph didn’t always understand, and Mikey and Donnie seemed to get, was that Splinter loved Leo’s dramatics. He claimed that Donnie was the funny one… which was rude. But still! Leo saw the way their dad would grin or even chuckle at his antics occasionally. The slider tried to emulate Lou Jitsu all the time when he was younger because he was their dad’s favorite. It came naturally to him anyway.

Knowing what he does now, Leo wondered if Splinter liked that Leo was simply copying his acting skills or if he appreciated that something of his was passed down to his turtle sons.

He hoped he got to ask him someday…

Depression was a tough battle. After the Krang invasion and Leo was stuck in the med bay for a long-time recovering Donnie was constantly checking on him. He even would wake up some mornings and find that his softshell brother had brought his mobile work desk into the med bay to work.

At first, he thought nothing of it. They had all just had a traumatic experience, it was natural for different habits to form and things to feel off for a while. But it quickly became apparent that Donnie was worried about something. Of course, he couldn’t just come out and say it, but he knew his twin. And when he confronted him on it, he was honestly surprised by the answer.

“You know how I’ve done research on our individual turtle species?” His purple clad brother was clenching and unclenching his hands. This was really bothering him.

“Of course.” Leo shrugged.

“Well… in that research I learned all sorts of fascinating things. And really a lot of them are not applicable considering our mutations and human DNA. But on the small percentage of a chance that this is one of the traits that did carry over I need to be here to keep an eye on it. I have a mixture of-”

“Tello. What is it?” Leo asked softly.

“Red ear sliders…” Donnie took a breath and released it slowly. “Red eared sliders can die if they get too depressed.”

Leo raised his brow. He hadn’t been expecting that one. Of all the things. He was ready for his twin to spout off some nonsense about maybe his shell not healing properly or maybe his stripes multiplying and he wanted to be there to document it. Something ridiculous. Because if his shell didn’t heal properly, he knew his genius brother would hook him up with one of those sweet battle shells. No sweat. And if he did get more stripes? Awesome. He was proud of his markings.

But depression killing his species? That was unexpected. No wonder why he had been hovering so much. Leo didn’t want to go as far as to say he was ‘depressed’ but he certainly wasn’t happy right now. He was stuck in this medical room until his shell and broken leg healed properly.

“I’m really ok DonTron.” Leo offered him a small grin. “Clearly this isn’t my shining moment or anything – but I don’t currently feel like I’m dying or anything. Just bored. And… a lot of things. But I don’t feel… that kind of bad. Not… not now.”

Donnie frowned. “But you did?”

“That day… after the portal closed… there was a moment where I didn’t see the point of fighting anymore. I didn’t see any hope of rescue. And the Krang was mad… I didn’t see… I didn’t have… hope.”

Donnie lurched forward grabbing Leo’s hands and gripping them tightly. His words failed him in that moment, but Leo could see that care and love in his twin’s eyes.

“I know Tello. I love you all so much. I love you. And I promise. I want to live a long and happy life now. I mean. We sure fought hard enough for it.”

Donnie nodded slowly, tears steadily dripping down his cheeks.

“Don’t worry Dee. I’m not going to leave you. Not again.”

Well, he sure broke that promise.

Not intentionally of course. But still.

And now he thinks he understands Splinter all the more. It was one thing suspecting that their father was depressed, but now he felt he could empathize as well. He was in the wrong timeline. He was alone. He had three little turtle tots depending on him for their continued survival. He couldn’t just crawl into his nest of blankets and not move for days like he wanted to. He had to get up in an hour and check on Mikey. The box turtle had been a little too sluggish lately and he was worried that his body was trying to brumate.

Leonardo Hamato had responsibilities; he didn’t have time to be ‘lazy’. But that didn’t mean his brain wasn’t trying to convince him otherwise.  

He was also trying to avoid thinking about this timeline – dimension? – where this Leo was. Because… it hadn’t occurred to him until the second day that there should be four baby turtles. His selfish brain just fit himself right in as the ‘fourth turtle’ and he didn’t even consider that there was a little Leo somewhere. Did Draxum still have him? Did he die in the fire? Did he even exist? Maybe he disappeared when Leo arrived here. That sounded like something he saw in a sci-fi show.

His whole life was a sci-fi show.

Nope. He can’t leave the kids alone and he wasn’t thinking about the lost Leo. Because what if it was his fault that he was d-

Nope.

Nope.

No.

He rolled off his pile of blankets and landed roughly on his plastron on the cement floor sighing heavily into his folded arms.

They needed to do something kind of fun.

What was something that his brothers got a kick out of when they were younger?

His brain felt like it was screaming at him to just crawl back under the blankets. Surely the kids wouldn't notice him missing for a little while yet...

No.

Fun.

He would think of something.

Chapter Text

This may not have been the best idea. There were a million things that could go wrong. And Mikey didn’t even like the water half the time. He wished Donnie was there to turn off all the security cameras, if there were any.

He had his portals. If anything went wrong, he would just jump them home right away.

They needed to try to have fun. Plus, this was educational! Every turtle should know how to handle a little water.

Ok that wasn’t necessarily true. Donnie would say it was scientifically false.

But every mutant turtle should!

He had portaled himself and the tots into the local university’s indoor pool area. It was currently closed for the night. The perfect time for some turtles to have some fun.

The kids were still so small… what if something went wrong?

No. They were already here. They were going to try this.

“Ok guys. Listen. You hang on to me until you feel comfortable to try on your own. And if you absolutely hate it, I will pull you out ok?”

He got three excited nods.

Carefully he scooped Mikey and Donnie into his arms with Raph clinging to the back of his shell and lowered himself into the pool. It was only four feet deep where he was currently, but none of the tots were that big yet. Raph was closest, but not quite.

The second that Donnie felt the water cover him the little softshell shivered before launching himself out of Leo’s grip with an enthusiastic chirp and zooming through the water.

“Whoa…” Mikey whispered. “Deedee is so fast…”

“I bet I can go faster!” Raph crowed jumping off of the slider’s shell and attempting to follow his younger brother.

The poor snapper was nowhere near as fast as Donatello, but that didn’t stop him from trying. After multiple laps around the pool Donnie seemed to notice his older brother following him and excitedly chirped and rushed over to him and they began playing together.

Leo watched them for a moment before he felt truly confident that their instincts had fully kicked in and they weren’t about to sink to the bottom. When he looked down, he saw Mikey, still clinging to his arm, watching his brothers playing tag in the deeper end of the pool.

“How are we feeling Miguel?” Leo asked him.

Mikey kicked his legs in the water a bit and seemed to enjoy the splashing that followed, but didn’t let go of the larger turtle. When he looked up at him though he was smiling.

“I like it.”

“Do you want to try surfing?” The slider asked, remembering Raph doing this with them a few times when they played in the sewers.

After the box turtle nodded, Leo guided him to his shell and finally stretched out and laid on his plastron in the water. As he swam around in slow laps around the pool Mikey got used to trying to balance on top of his shell. It wasn’t too long before the orange speckled turtle was laughing and cheering on his brothers who were still chasing each other.

Of course, once they saw Mikey surfing, they all wanted to try it. They each got a turn, but Raph decided that Leo’s shell wasn’t a big enough surf board for him, which he was right but the slider wasn’t about to ruin his fun. And Donnie decided he much preferred zooming through the water on his own. That left the shell surfing solely for Mikey.

Once everyone, even Donnie, started getting tired Leo quickly opened a portal back home for them. The kids were happy, and went to bed without complaints.

It may have been a little unsafe to sneak into a university like that, but it had been worth it. The kids had the time of their lives and Leo… he felt like his heart was much lighter than it had been in a long time.

It had been three weeks and no sign of Leo.

If Donnie wasn’t already bald, he would certainly be now from pulling his hair out. Where the hell did his twin go?! One minute they were on a mission. Nothing too crazy… definitely no Shredder or Krang… and Leo slipped into one of his portals and was just gone!

His tracker was out of range.

Which made no sense because Donnie had made them to work worldwide, including the Hidden City and any such similar cities that may be hidden on the planet.

Which meant that Leo wasn’t on their planet.

He considered the Prison Dimension.

Which had been an awful thing to bring up with Raph and Mikey, the looks on their faces… but every option needed to be explored!

The only real mistake he has made in this investigation was trying to get CJ to help. The teen had gone non-verbal. Once they explained Leo was missing Casey had ran out of the sewers in a rush to find the missing turtle.

He came home two days later a total disaster with red eyes and used sign language to tell them he also couldn’t find Leonardo.

He hasn’t spoken since.

Mikey and Raph tried to reassure him that they would find Leo. But it was hard for them to reassure him when they were losing their own minds with worry.

For the first two weeks Splinter had been out on the streets and tearing apart the Hidden City looking for his missing son. He had even demanded Big Mama help them. But even with all her henchmen helping there was no word. But now their father had locked himself in his room, refusing to come out.

Mikey and Draxum had tried some mystic nonsense that Donnie didn’t understand, but clearly didn’t matter because it didn’t work.

Nothing was working. Leo was still gone.

After the first week he was sure that someone had kidnapped him and that they would be getting a ransom note any day.

During the second week he thought maybe Leo had gotten portal jacked and was stuck at sea with pirates again. But when they sent Hueso and his weird sometimes his enemy brother looking they found nothing.

And now it had been three weeks. And Donnie… didn’t know.

He was back to the prison dimension option. It had taken so much out of Mikey to open that portal and save Leo the first time. Even with Donnie and Raph helping him it had nearly torn them apart.

Of course, their brother was worth it. But he didn’t want to ask Mikey to try again when he wasn’t sure that’s where their brother was. What if they opened it and he wasn’t there? What if the Krang got out? And not only would it be a waste of sacrifice on Mikey’s part for opening it, but Leo’s as well who nearly died getting the alien in there to start with.

The proximity alarms around the lair’s entrance beeped.

“It’s just CJ dude.” Shelldon informed him.

“Thank you.” Donnie pulled up the cameras.

There was the human teen, heading out for his nightly patrol. The kid had finally gotten to a healthy weight after he had arrived from the wasteland he had grown up in and now he was losing it all again.

It’s like Casey’s mindset had reverted back to the apocalypse. Which made no sense to Donnie because from the little he had spoken of his past, it sounded like the boy hadn’t gone a single day without ‘Master Leonardo’. But maybe it was just the loss in itself that was triggering this response from him.

The brain could do annoyingly unpredictable things at times.

“Donnie…”

He turned to see Mikey standing in the doorway to his lab.

“I want to try it.”

He stared at his little brother.

There was only one thing he could possibly be talking about. Mikey had always been smarter than they gave him credit for.

And there was one thing that Donnie had suggested before that would need Mikey.

“Raph is on board too… kinda.” Mikey shrugged before crossing his arms. “Obviously he’s understandably nervous about it. I think we would be crazy not to be. But… for Leo… I want to try.”

Donnie nodded along with his words.

For Leo.

“Excellent. I’m glad we’re all on the same page. Let me just put something together that will reassure that the Krang can’t escape any portals we make before we try anything. Leo would never forgive us if we undid his hard work.”

Mikey gave a small smile, but it was more of a grimace than anything. “Good plan Dee. Let me know if you need me… in the meantime… how about some food?”

He wanted to say no. He didn’t have time for a snack-break. But he needed the energy to keep working.

“If you don’t mind… could you maybe throw together one of those meal smoothie things?”

He liked that he could just set it on the desk and sip on it and not have his hands occupied.

Mikey actually brightened a bit at his request. “Of course! One Super Smoothie with Super Duper Cool Bendy Straw coming right up!”

Donnie swiveled his chair back to his monitor set up.

Great. Now to come up with a device that can keep the Krang inside the Prison Dimension when they open it.

How hard could that be?

Leo had resented Splinter when they were younger for never using their names. Names that he himself had given to them to start with! There was something… demeaning about being known by their colors. It was just slightly as step up from being known As Turtle 1 through Turtle 4. He had assigned their colors to them and half the time he would still get them wrong! He had convinced himself that Splinter did it as a joke when he called them by the wrong not-names he used. But he really wasn’t so sure.

Needless to say – it really did kill him inside when he realized there was no way that he could call the kids by his brothers’ names. He didn’t change their names. That would seriously be wrong. But… he encouraged the kids to be creative with friendly nicknames the same way he was. Raph often was Rafa, Donnie was Donato, and Mikey - Miguel. Not that he had never used those names for his own brothers. He certainly did, but he didn’t want to change their names so much that they felt as underappreciated as he had as a kid.

So far, the kids seemed to take to the nicknames. He had even heard them using them for each other too. Which led him to believe that they liked them. They had been calling him Lee and Leelee until the whole Dad thing had come up. Now they were pretty set on that.

Really… he didn’t blame them.

He still remembered the giddy joy he and his brothers felt when they discovered that Lou Jitsu was their father. He also remembered going home that evening and reassuring Splinter that he would always be their favorite dad.

And that was still true.

Though his competition wasn’t Lou Jitsu… it was freaking Draxum. Since Mikey kept insisting that the old goat hung out with them at every opportunity.

One good thing about this time dimension travel nonsense… no surprise Draxum dinners.

The chill from the cement floor was seeping into his scales.

He should crawl back into his blanket nest… but his limbs were just feeling too lethargic to move.

The heater that he had placed in his room had shut off yesterday. The batteries were dead. But he only had two more sets of replacements and he wanted to save them for the ones that were in the kids’ room and the main living space where they played.

So far, he hadn’t had to leave the kids alone for more than a few moments at a time. Leo didn’t want his little Rafa feeling like he needed to step up in his ‘big brother’ roll so intensely this time.

Raph was an amazing big brother, but over the years his brother’s anxiety had grown so much. The ‘Raph Chasm’ he had joked about was obviously in bad taste, but he didn’t know how else to approach the fact that taking care of his siblings was physically and mentally effecting their oldest and biggest brother.

Leo had really tried since the Krang invasion to step up and take some of the weight off his brother’s shoulders… but now… he can’t even imagine what his brothers are thinking about him being gone for so long. It had been months that he’d been away.

They probably thought he was dead…

“Dad?” There was a quiet tap on the doorway to Leo’s room.

He rolled over so that he was facing the door, a tiny orange speckled turtle was standing there holding his hands behind his back.

Was Mikey ever this quiet?

What was he doing wrong?

He missed his sunshine filled little brother…

“Can you sleep with us? There’s a scary monster in the ceiling.” Big watery eyes looked up at him.

Leo rolled to his feet and scooped up the little tot. “A scary monster? Did you see him?” He hummed thoughtfully.

Mikey shook his head.

“How do you know he’s scary then?”

“Because! He made a scary noise!” The tot made a rumbling noise. “Like that!”

“That sounds like Rafa’s tummy when he’s hungry.” Leo grinned.

Mikey sighed. “It wasn’t Raphie’s tummy!”

“Maybe it was your tummy? Are you hungry?”

“It wasn’t my tummy!”

“Well maybe it’s a sad monster who is hungry in the sewers. Maybe he’s just looking for food too.”

Mikey frowned. “He doesn’t have a dad to bring him food like you do for us?”

Being called dad was still so weird. But he finally had stopped hesitating whenever he heard it. “Maybe not. I’ll sleep in your guys room tonight and if any hungry monsters come in, we can give them Donato’s leftovers.”

The little turtle nodded with a grin. “Yeah! Dee never eats lefts-overs anyways.”

When he stepped around the curtain to the kids’ room that they were currently sharing he saw that Donnie had already crawled under a large comforter with Raph. The oldest had one large arm protectively around the softshell as they both were watching the doorway, clearly waiting on their little brother to come back.

“Dad!”

“You got him!”

Leo chuckled as he made himself comfortable in their blankets pulling the kids close to his sides so that they could all bundle up. The warmth from their heater and their blankets already making him feel better. He felt the small aches from just a few minutes ago already slipping away again.

“You guys can always call me if you’re scared.”

“I wasn’t scared.” Donnie said. “I just didn’t want Raphie to be scared.”

Raph rolled his eyes at that and poked Donnie in the arm. “Ya too were scared.”

“Mikey was scared!”

Mikey nodded seriously from where he had crawled back into Leo’s lap. “Very scared. But dad says it’s just a sad hungry monster and we just gotta give it Deedee’s lefts-overs.”

“Why mine?”

“Cause you’re the only one who wastes food.” Raph sighed already starting to fall asleep now that everyone was together.

“It’s not wasting! Its saving for later.”

“If you never go back to eat it, its wasting.” Mikey nodded sagely.

Donnie looked ready to start a much bigger argument, so Leo cut all conversation from there.

“If the hungry monster comes then Dee is going to be a hero for saving food for us to give it. So, let’s not worry about it for now.” He pulled the comforter around them making sure everyone was completely covered and tucked in.

“I wanna be a hero!” Mikey started to wiggle like he was going to go play. Leo pulled him back.

“You can’t be a hero unless you know how to do cool hero moves.” Donnie informed him.

“Like Raph and dad?”

“Raph did wha?” Raph started to sit up again.

“No no no no.” Leo patted the snapper’s head until he laid back down.

“No more talking kiddos. I will teach you all cool hero moves, but not tonight. Now it’s time to sleep.”

“We need sleep to recharge our energy.” Donnie yawned as he snuggled into Leo’s side.

“Thank you, Dee.” Leo smiled as he watched all of them slowly drift off.

Chapter Text

Leo wanted to be sure that he did something special for the kids Mutation Day. He refused to ignore it. Splinter had gotten them special desserts with little gifts when they were small, but as they got older Mutation Day had been forgotten. The boys had exchanged small things between themselves. Donnie would build gadgets and repaired things for them, Mikey would make everyone’s favorite foods, Raph and Leo would go to the surface and collect various knickknacks that their brothers collected or were just in their favorite colors.

But after they met April, they learned what humans did for birthdays and accordingly adapted their little traditions to fit those. Mainly Mikey now made a cake and they tried to wrap their presents. They still called it Mutation Day though – since none of them really knew when they were ‘born’.

He missed his brothers.

He wonders what they were doing this year…

The blankets around him kept him in a dark alcove. He never did get around to replacing the batteries in his heater. Being a turtle, his body didn’t really give off any heat to warm the blankets, but it worked well enough. Besides, most nights he got dragged into the kids’ room to protect them from the ‘sewer monsters’.

One of these days he was going to explain to them that the rumbling they were hearing was the subway, but he knew the second he mentioned a giant machine Little Tello would be dying to go see it. He would be fine showing him, but he didn’t want the softshell to get any ideas and sneak out.

Leo was not meant to be a parent. But damn he was trying to take care of these three.

But Mikey was still so quiet.

What was he doing wrong?

How did he get his little star to shine?

And Donnie wasn’t getting the answers his curious brain was searching for. Leo would find him books, but that just led to more questions. He didn’t know how to help the genius grow.

Raph… needed more outlets for all his energy. He was so good. He offered to help clean, he carried Mikey around everyone and spoke up for the smaller turtle when he was being extra quiet. He made sure to take very good care of his new punching bag and after a particular nasty argument with Donnie was quick to lock himself in the room that Leo hoped to make into a dojo one day and only punch the bag.

There were so many things that needed to be done.

Things he was probably doing wrong.

He was going to be eighteen on Mutation Day, that is legally an adult on the surface. And he couldn’t figure out how to help three kids who were honestly great kids.

The only thing he knew he was actually doing right was getting them to eat fruits and vegetables.

They may be unhappy kids, but at least they were freaking healthy.

Leo smacked his head against his pillow a few times.

He really needed to get his shit together.

It was almost time for the kids to be up and he had to pretend that he slept well so that Donnie didn’t point out that Leo had ‘tired eyes again’. His silly little Smarty-Tello. And then Raph would spend the whole day following him around trying to help with everything. And Mikey would cling to him like a quiet butterfly on the top of his shell.

He needed to do better.

They didn’t have a kitchen really. Leo couldn’t begin to figure out how to get a stove working down here. But he did figure out a fridge, toaster and microwave. He got them a table and some chairs that he found at the dump, cleaned up and sanded down so there were no splinters.

No Splinter. Ha. That was totally funny…

The jokes were never funny anymore…

Their home was far from perfect, but it was theirs.

When Mutation Day finally arrived, Leo toasted a bunch of French toast strips and heated up some syrup for them to dip it in. There was also a bunch of different flavored mini cupcakes, microwave bacon, and the ‘good chocolate milk’. Which means he got chocolate syrup and added a lot of it to the milk rather than buy the premade kind. He decorated each kids’ plate with their favorite fruits to make smiley faces. Oranges for Mikey, grapes for Donnie, and strawberries for Raph. He even snagged some blueberries for himself, plus a little extra because anything different he ate he quickly learned that the kids would want to try it too. Even though he knows that Raph is going to hate the blueberries, the snapper will still insist on trying them.

As he was setting the plastic cups on the table, he felt small hands pat at his leg. He smiled as he held a hand down and lifted Mikey up on to the top of his shell. The best little ninja of them all.

“Is it a special day?” Mikey aked softly.

“It is!”

“Is it Christmas?”

“Close, its Mutation Day!” He smiled up at the big eyes that were peeking over his head.

“What’s that mean again?”

“That means it’s been a whole year since we became mutants.” Donnie yawned as he climbed up on his seat. “So, we’re all a year older. Dad?”

“Yeah Dee?”

“Does that mean we’re all two now? Or are we going with our mutated ages?”

Donnie had been asking about how their ages were supposed to be judged. He knew that the softshell wanted a more scientific answer but he just tried plain Leo-logic for them.

“Well let’s think about it. Do you think Raph and Mikey are the same age?”

“No. Raph is clearly older.”

“Even though you all mutated the same day, you weren’t the same age when you were regular turtles. Right? So, I think it’s safe to say that as of today, Miguel is five,” He grinned when he heard the excited gasp from above, “Donato is six, and our sleepy snapper Rafa is seven today.”

“Can I be the oldest next time?” Mikey asked.

“That’s not how it works Mikey.” Donnie rolled his eyes. “You will always be the youngest.”

“Oh. Ok.”

“Did I miss breakfast?” Raph clambered over to Leo and rested his head against the slider’s hip. Man, he was getting tall fast.

“You’re just in time! Look what I made you!” He lifted the snapper into his seat, still treasuring that he could do that. He knew it wouldn’t last too much longer.

“STRAWBERRIES?!” Raph wiggled excitedly and shoved the biggest one in his mouth with a strip of bacon.

“Happy Mutation day!” Leo cheered.

“Happy Mutation day!” They squealed back.

Breakfast went over splendidly. Then they played games and Leo portaled them to a lake out in the middle of the forest outside of New York that they had visited a couple times now. The kids had fun splashing in the water and taking in the sun rays.

He had got them all pool noodles to hang on to and launched himself into the center of the lake so that the kids screamed excitedly as the waves he made sent them across the water. Donnie had a great time zipping all over the lake and finding strange plants and critters living under the water. While Raph gave Leo a heart attack as he tested how long he could hold his breath before finally giving up and trying to chase Donnie. Mikey had decided that the pool noodles were horses and played cowboys with Leo by riding their ‘horses’ and rounding up the ones that kept floating away.

They had a picnic lunch before going home. Everyone was so tired from running around in the sun and all the swimming that he blessedly didn’t get a single argument when he suggested they take naps before dinner.

Of course, he didn’t actually sleep, but he did let them make a blanket fort in the living room while he laid down outside the door ‘to keep guard’. Once he heard snoring from all three of them, he went to get dinner and dessert ready.

The quiet was never good for him. His mind wandered too much the other three turtles he was missing in his life. So, the radio that he had found and worked together with Donnie to get working again was one of his favorite belongings in their lair. It was weird listening to the ‘new big hits’ on the radio and realizing that he knew all these songs already. If he knew how to write music properly, (and was human) he probably could make money being the next ‘big songwriter’ or something. He definitely had lyrics memorized from songs that wouldn’t exist for several more years yet.

“I wanna shine on, in the hearts of men.

I want a meaning from the back of my broken hand,

Another head aches, another heart breaks,

I’m so much older than I can take,

And my affection, well it comes and goes,

I need direction to perfection, no no no no

Help me out, yeeeah,”

He sang and danced a little as he set the table for dinner, before hearing giggling from the doorway. A quick glance and he saw three little heads disappear around the corner.

He began to sing louder and dance even more dramatically. Before too long the kids ran in and joined him. Mikey even bouncing around and repeating all the words right after Leo sang them. Raph and Donnie spun each other around as Leo lifted the box turtle into his arms and did a few spins before tossing him in the air for the song finale.

Raph and Donnie were giggling and jumping into dancing to the next song on the radio when Mikey bounced out of Leo’s arms and joined them in boisterously singing.

He watched them with a grin before he felt heat behind his eyes. He turned quietly to act like he was checking on something in the fridge before rubbing his eyes. This was the most energy he had seen in the Mikey yet. It felt like he was finally finding his sunshine.

He was so excited to see the beginnings of the energetic fun-loving turtle he knew he could be, but it also hurt so much.

Wherever they were, he really hoped his brothers were doing something fun and silly for their own Mutation Day.

Dinner was pizza. Because of course it was. Everyone got their favorite soda, and then he pulled out an ice cream cake for dessert.

He was a little nervous to give them their presents. Which he knew was ridiculous. There was no way that they would do anything but like them. But he still felt hesitant as he pulled out three large boxes.

Mikey’s was full of art supplies, Donnie’s was full miscellaneous metals, tools and tech, plus some books and two laptops that were older, but hopefully he would find something to do with them. And Raph got several stuffed animals, and a new football. There was lots of shouting and excited ‘thank you’s. They each took turns looking in each other’s boxes before becoming enamored with their own gifts.

But then he saw Mikey whisper to Donnie who in turn made a few hand signs to Raph out of Leo’s direct vision, even though he could tell he was up to something before the snapper’s eyes widened and he took off for their shared bedroom.

“What are you three up to?” He raised a brow suspiciously.

“Nothing!” They chorused.

“Well now I’m totally reassured because I definitely believed that.”

Donnie smiled because he still didn’t get sarcasm, while Mikey attempted an innocent expression.

Their big brother came back quickly with his hands behind his back as he nervously side-eyed his brothers. “Uh… dad?”

“Yes Rafa?” Leo crouched down resting his arms on his knees so that he was eye level with him.

“So… we were thinking - Mikey, Donnie and me – that it was your Mutation Day too, right?”

Ignoring the small stab of pain he felt at past memories trying to take over his thoughts he nodded along. “Sure.”

“So. Uh. Happy Mutation day!” Raph handed him a card.

It was covered in red, purple, and orange doodles that were clearly the three turtles and then one big blue one in the center. There were a bunch of crudely drawn orange hearts around all of it and they each had signed it with each letter being carefully spelled out.

The tears he had been holding back all day finally broke through.

“You made dad cry Raph!” Donnie hissed.

“What did I do?!”

“Dad? Don’t be sad!”

He gently placed the card on top of the fridge before kneeling back down and scooping all three of them up into his arms. He tried not to think about how much harder it was to wrap his arms around all of them now then it was a year ago. And how that meant he hadn’t hugged his own brothers in a year. He didn’t think about that. Or at least he pushed it aside for now.

“You kids are the best. I love my card. Thank you.” He said softly kissing each of their heads.

There were happy chirps and churrs in response before they wiggled to be put back down so that they could get back to their new presents.

Chapter Text

Something was trying to strangle him. Slimy yet rough tentacles squirmed around him, inching more and more around his body. He writhed and fought against Krang. Mocking laughter was ringing through his head. Every point of contact burned. There was blood in his mouth.

It was so cold.

He… he never left.

Krang still had him.

The Prison Dimension.

He was…

He needed to get his legs free!

He needed to get away!

“D-dad?”

Mikey was standing in the doorway to the older turtle’s room. Their dad was twisting in his blankets, hissing in a violent way the kids had never seen from him. It was the hissing that had drawn the box turtle to the room.

He carefully stepped forward with a hand out… it must be a bad dream, right? Sometimes when Raph had nightmares about the sewer monsters he growled and swung his arms and Dad always woke him up and rubbed his shell. Maybe dad needed his shell rubbed? Or a hug?

“Mikey no.” Donnie grabbed him by the shell and pulled him back out of the room.

Looking up he saw the worried look on his softshell brother’s face. He was watching their father as he pulled his smaller brother further away. Mikey didn’t understand. Dad wasn’t dangerous. He was just having bad dreams! Why did Donnie look like that?  

“What’s happening?” Raph was there, they both looked up at their tallest brother.

“I think Dad’s having a nightmare.” Donnie muttered.

Raph frowned. “I got this. You guys stay here.”

The snapper crept closer, just out of range of their father’s swinging limbs. “Dad? Its time to wake up!”

No response.

“Dad?”

More swinging.

“L-Lee?”

There was a pause. Raph took a deep breath and reached out and grabbed the bigger turtle’s shoulder. “Leo?”

The slider was suddenly standing with an arm wrapped around Raph’s plastron, the snapper’s feet kicked out at the unexpected lift. His foot kicked Leo’s knee forcing it to buckle and he dropped Raph who scrambled away to stand back in front of his brothers.

“Dad? Please wake up now?” Mikey’s voice was so quiet again.

Leo was on his hands and knees; Mikey’s soft voice finally broke through his nightmare.

What did he just do?

Did he… attack a kid? His kid? His little Rafa?

Mikey had been so cheerful and boisterous the last few months… and now his voice was quiet again.

What did he do?

What did he do?

What the hell did he just do?

“Dad… can you speak? Its ok if you can’t… sometimes I don’t like speaking.” Donnie was rambling, a comforting sound that he hadn’t heard in so long. Even if it wasn’t on of his twin’s scientific monologues. His little Donato had certainly been exploring his curiosity lately though…

Deep breaths.

Leo looked up at the three turtles standing in his doorway. Raph was standing protectively in front of the other two. Apparently, that was a trait that was just instinctively part of Raphael.

He was a child though. Still just a kid. A kid protecting other children.

From him.

“I’m gonna puke.” He muttered jumping over the kids and running just outside of the lair to promptly lose last night’s dinner into the sewer water.

A small hand was rubbing his shell. Another was patting his arm. One more hand was offering him a bottle of his favorite blue sports drink.

He attacked these kids and they were trying to take care of him?

How pathetic was he?

His nightmare was still lingering in his mind, his hands shook as he accepted the drink and chugged down half of it.

He finally looked up at the kids.

Mikey carefully sat in his lap and patted his plastron. “It’s ok Dad.”

“Everyone gets nightmares, even if they don’t remember them.” Donnie nodded.

Raph hugged him and rested his head on the slider’s striped shoulder. “And ya didn’t attack me, just picked me up. Just kinda scared me a little. No one is hurt.”

Leo just breathed for a minute.

The kids were ok.

The Krang was just in his nightmare.

He didn’t attack anyone.

And now the kids were trying to care of him. The adult.

The literal worst adult ever.

“Dad?”

He looked down at Mikey who was grinning brightly.

He didn’t scare away Mikey’s smile. Thank pizza supreme.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t need to be scared. The sewer monster is actually the subway. It’s a big train that lives underground like us. It won’t come in here.”

Leo snorted before bursting into an aching laugh. “Really? Thanks bud.”

“Dee told me last week. But I didn’t think you were scared too.”

The slider inhaled deeply before snuggling the box turtle under his chin and giving him a tight hug. “Thanks Mikey.” He said quietly before getting to his feet. “Thanks, you three. Sorry if I scared you. How do you guys feel about ice cream and a movie?”

“Yeah!”

Loud cursing could be heard from Donnie’s lab. Mikey and Raph hovered just outside with April and Casey.

The portal to the Prison Dimension worked.

Donnie’s huge defense weapon worked, even though it was thankfully not needed.

Mikey’s training with Draxum was successful and opening the portal didn’t hurt him.

Everything worked.

Except it was still a failure.

Leo wasn’t in the Prison Dimension.

Donnie had run his scanners, sent in search drones, each of the brothers tried to reach out using their ninpo.

Nothing.

Something loud crashed off a wall.

Mikey sobbed heavily into Raph’s plastron as his big brother watched Donnie destroy his lab with tears in his own eyes.

“Where else could he be?” April whispered.

Casey choked back his own sob before taking a deep breath. “He’s - he’s got to be somewhere.”

Draxum cleared his throat. “We may have to consider that he isn’t. I know no one wants to hear this – I don’t want to think it – but Leonardo may be - ”

“Do not finish that sentence.” Donnie appeared in the doorway hissing vehemently. “Leo is alive. I would know if he was dead! I would know! He’s not dead! I said he’s not so he’s not!”

“Donatello, you have always been a man of science, all the facts are in front of you. It is not unheard of to have a portal -”

“What? Disintegrate matter? Kill people? Destroy objects upon entry? Of course, that’s a thing! We are talking about a mystic way of travel! Its unstable! But Leo has practiced his portals for years! This wouldn’t just happen with his own blades!”

“Leonardo also would have come home by now.”

“Maybe he can’t! I’m not going to do nothing and wait! What if he is captured? What if he hit his stupid head and has amnesia like an idiot and doesn’t know how to get home? Or what if he portaled somewhere and lost his swords!? There are too many variables! Possibilities! Too many things that could go wrong! He could be anywhere! We are not giving up on Leo because Leo would never give up on us!”

Mikey nodded. “It’s still true... We got to just hang tight and keep trying, for Leo.”

Raph pulled Mikey, April and Casey into a tighter hug, while meeting Donnie’s eyes, knowing the softshell didn’t want to be touched right now. “For Leo. We keep fightin’. But we stick together and we do things safely. Leo wouldn’t want any of us risking our lives to save his. But we aren’t giving up.”

Draxum looked them each over for a moment watching as the determination grew steadfast in their gazes.

They were all lying too.

They would do anything and everything to save their brother.

He sighed deeply. “Very well. The search continues.”

Chapter Text

Teaching the kids to fight was a whole new challenge. He waited until they were old enough to have control of all their limbs properly. Well. Mostly. Mikey tended to bounce around more, which Leo was honestly happy about. The last two years Mikey had become more of the exuberant joy that he was familiar with.

Raph was doing great, taking his training seriously, but he kept trying to copy his brothers’ movements and not adapting moves to his larger size therefore he overbalanced a lot. But the classic Raph stubbornness was still there and he would always seek out Leo to help with certain move sets or just joining the older turtle when he was doing his own workouts.

And Donnie… was extremely quick, but surprisingly uncoordinated. He worked hard, refusing to be left behind when it came to something the rest of his family was dedicated to learning. But it wasn’t the enthusiastic learning that he gave to his inventions. He took the basics and then tried to add his own flair, not unlike Mikey, and honestly as long as it got the job done Leo didn’t see the harm in it. His own twin had loved adding flashy elements to his own fighting style and it almost always worked out. Besides… he had no intention of letting these three anywhere near a real fight… ever. But definitely no time soon.

He knew they could overcome all their weak points, or even use them to their advantage later on. Mikey’s razzmatazz had saved them many a time in battle. So, he didn’t want to risk taking away the extra energy he put into his moves. Besides, they were so entertaining to watch. As long as no one was bouncing off of walls hurting themselves. Thank Pizza Supreme for mutated healing and strength.

It took extra time after their normally scheduled training hours to teach Raph that he had to do things a little differently than Mikey and Donnie. And that there was nothing wrong with that, but he would just have a different move set sometimes.

“So, I’m the strongest?” Raph looked down at his hands.

“Yeah bud, Donato and Miguel are fast, but they’re not as strong as you.”

“Right. I’ll protect them by being biggest and strongest!”

Fear flashed through Leo as he recalled broken pieces of his big brother’s shell crumbling down on to him from the Krang attack.

“No no no…” Leo quickly reached out and grabbed the hands that were now the same size as his own. “You definitely look out for your brother’s Rafa. Just like they will look after you. But remember to always be safe. Promise me ok?”

Raph gave him a curious look, but nodded. “Ok Lee. I promise.”

Leo sighed in relief and hugged the snapper. Raph had gone back to calling him Lee, or Leelee. And he was thankful for it every time he heard it. Such a weird thing to miss, his name, but it had been three years since he had become the Turtle Tot Wrangler. And he hadn’t spoken to anyone but his three charges in all that time.

But that was going to change tonight.

He had spent countless nights at this point planning what he needed to do, and where he needed to go. And the stress of his potential failure… or if something happened to the boys while he was away…

“Rafa, you remember what we talked about last week?”

Raph stepped back and nodded seriously. “Your super-secret ninja mission?”

“Yes. That’s tonight, so I need you to be in charge and watch out for the other two ok? I’m sorry to leave you on your own… but I won’t be gone long hopefully and it’s really important.”

Raph nodded again. “I will watch them. And this super-secret mission… its different than when you do the food trips?”

“It is… It may take a little longer than those. Is that ok?”

“Yes Leelee. I got it.”

“I know you do buddy. I’m going to check on your brothers and then head out, do you have any questions before I go?”

The snapper shifted from one foot to the other a couple times before nodding again. “Yeah. Um… What if there’s an emergency?”

Leo smiled reassuringly. “Then you use the phone I showed you. Remember? You push on the picture of my face and hit the green button. If there is anything wrong you call me and I will be here before you can say “Pizza Party”. Worst case scenario, ask Donato.”

“Ok. Love you Lee. Good luck on your mission.”

“Love you too Rafa. I’ll be fine. You all be good.”

He gave the snapper one more hug before getting up to go find Mikey. He still had reservations leaving the three of them alone even for a few hours. With weird mutations aging them quickly the first year but finally slowing to a normal pace. Raph was nine now. That wasn’t old enough to be watching them… But in Leo’s past Raph had been much younger when he stepped in as a parental figure... much too young. Not that it made it ok now, but he had no choice…

And his mind was drifting again. That’s been happening way too much lately. What happened? He his twenty years old and now can’t focus on a thing? That was awesome…

Focus. Right. He was looking for Mikey. The orange speckled box turtle had finally come out of his shell, so to speak. Being seven years old was apparently what he was waiting for to be his bright self. He was singing loudly while painting a mural in his designated art room.

“Miguel! I am heading out for a little bit, Rafa is in charge, capiche?”

The smallest of the turtles quickly spun around causing bright green paint to fling around him. “Oops. Padré! You just did a food run! Where are you going now?”

“This is a top secret one. If it goes well, maybe I’ll tell you about it tomorrow. But for now, I need your promise that you will listen to your brother. And I mean Rafa. Not the mad scientist.”

“You just don’t like that Donnie has fun ideas.” Mikey stuck out his tongue.

“I don’t like when I have to get refills for the first aid kit because you two have electrical burns for the third time in one week. I also really really don’t like when any of you get hurt. That’s two ‘reallys’. So, play it safe for just this one night at least please?”

“Yes sir!” He gave a cheeky little salute before spinning around and going back to his painting.

He honestly debated whether or not he should tell Donnie he was leaving for the night. He may be on better behavior if he thinks Leo is home. However, Leo is well aware that Donnie tests experiments that he knows are more dangerous when he knows that a certain red ear slider is there to fix everything or at the least warp away the chaotic creation before anyone gets hurt too terribly.

“Donato?” He peeked his head into the doorway of the lab. It wasn’t much yet, but Donnie had already made an impressive amount of tech with the scraps that Leo had collected from the junkyard.

They were still too young to leave the sewers, but thankfully Leo had a pretty good idea of what ‘junk’ his purple clad eight year old could use for projects.

“Yes Papá?”

Ah yes. The ‘I am incredibly innocent voice’. That’s never suspicious.

“No experiments while I’m gone tonight ok?”

The soft shell didn’t look up from whatever he was working on at his desk, but his shoulders did stiffen.

“Nothing?”

“Designing and planning is welcome, but no actual building tonight please. I am going to be gone a little later and I don’t want Rafa calling me to tell me that you accidentally blew Miguel’s arm off.”

“I would never.” Now he spun in his chair to give an offended look at him.

Leo raised a brow.

“Well. I would make him a truly spectacular prosthetic if something like that were to happen.”

“And would you be dealing with the blood that would come with such an incident?” He knew it was harsh to force the young turtle to think about something so graphic, but that was the best way to get Donnie to pay attention. Force him to think about the consequences that are within the realm of possibility. And quite frankly, they were already mutant turtles. There is a lot that they believe possible at this point.

“No experiments. One night.”

“Sigh. You always ruin my fun.”

“We can have fun tomorrow.”

“Sure sure. Are you going to tell us what your super-secret mission is?”

“It wouldn’t be a secret if I told you, would it?”

“I bet you told Raph.”

“I didn’t. Nobody knows.”

“I could check security cameras for you! If you tell me where you’re going!” Donnie gestured to one of his screens.

“I’ve got this Donato. You just rest easy tonight. Listen to Rafa. Be good. Please?”

“Yes yes. And you will be totally safe as well and we will definitely see you… before sunrise?”

Leo smiled. The tone was so sassy but he could hear the worry. He knew that the softshell cared a lot even if he wanted to pretend he didn’t.

“Yes. I will be back before sunrise, and if for some reason I’m not, I’ll call ahead. Deal?”

“Deal.”

He said a quick good night and then backed out of the lab closing the door quietly.

He stretched his limbs out and double checked his belt and katanas.

Tonight was the night. He had been planning this for a year now. He had two big missions that he had to complete before he allowed the other three out of the sewers.

The first one was to get the Key to stop the Krang.

The second one was to locate and properly hide or dispose of the Shredder’s armor pieces so that the Foot Clan can never find it and bring him back. He seriously hoped that wherever Lou Jitsu had ended up that he took good care of that stupid tea pot. Leo was aiming for the piece from the clock, and the other few places he remembered the Foot and Draxum finding some. Plus, he remembered that April had said that Sunita’s boots had ended up being part of the armor as well. Which… that one may be harder. He is hoping that he can meet her at Run of the Mill sometime soon and offer her money for them or something. Maybe he could be honest and explain the situation? Sunita had a good head on her shoulders… most of the time. She may just understand.

But that was further down the road. Sunita had been the same age as April… so theoretically she was still pretty young right now. And he didn’t want to come off as a total creep approaching a young yokai. Ideally, he would meet April and have her talk to the yokai she had become really good friends with.

April…

Man, he missed his sister…

No. Not tonight.

He needed to focus. Why was his mind wandering so much lately?

It’s definitely gotten worse.

Tonight, was the Key.

That was the one he had listed as top priority.

As awful as Shredder had been, the Krang… well.

It didn’t matter. He would take them both out before they could even rise to power this time.

He opened a portal and slipped through.

It really was surprisingly easy to sneak into the museum and steal the key. Nobody was after it right now. They didn’t know what it was yet. The Foot hadn’t even shown up in New York as far as he knew, so he had time. While he was sneaking in his mind wandered a bit.

Changing the timeline was wrong. He knows that his twin would tell him that there were probably a million scientific reasons why he should try to stick as close to the original set of events as possible. Back to the Future was one of Donnie’s favorite movies, they’d watched it hundreds of times on nights when they were having their twin insomnia. Leo knew what kind of consequences were possible.

And he realized that by changing things now that meant that he was very likely drastically changing his brothers lives forever.

They likely wouldn’t meet Gram Gram now. Or Casey Jr. Or Cassandra Jones. They didn’t have Splinter in their lives for Pizza sake. And he was really worried that they would miss April.

He really really missed his big sister.

Obviously, in this universe she would also be much younger than him. Which… was weird. Of course it was. Just like how it was still sometimes weird when he remembered that he was responsible for potty training Raph in this universe.

He had been here living this life for years now… and it never got easier to accept that the roles had become so reversed.

He was also realizing just how much his big brother had really done for them. The three younger brothers were well aware that Raph had gone above and beyond the normal duties of a ‘big brother’, but being in his position now… he had so much guilt for every time he argued or pissed off his brother. Especially when he was doing it just to be an annoying little brother. The stress the snapper must have been under. Particularly once they got older and were exploring New York streets and fighting criminals. The stupid arguments they had after the Shredder and before the Krang…

He stopped resting his head on the brick chimney he had been leaning against. He needed to stop there or he would spiral into missing his brothers so much he wouldn’t be able to function for the rest of the night. His focus was already too scattered. Even though the stupid forsaken Krang Key was in his pouch. He’d gotten it. So easily.

Which was awesome because he was tired. He had put so much pressure on himself for this night…

The Foot would never get it. During one of his previous trips to the Hidden City looking for supplies for the lair he had stopped into Witch Town and purchased a box that would hide anything from mystic detection. It had been costly, but he had been only too happy to do a bunch of maybe a little shady favors for the witches that cast the protective charms on the box for him.

He may have ‘borrowed’ a secret sandwich recipe from some restaurant for one tiny witch, and gotten magical red shoes that could teleport for another. He knew his Raph would be so disappointed in him… but he also knew that nothing was worth the chance of the Krang returning. Once he had more time to be out longer and the kids were bit older, he planned on trying to find something that could destroy the cursed thing once and for all.

For now, a mystic protection box being hidden in another junction in the sewers was going to have to make do. He’d even tested it, trying to think of the box and open a portal to it literally made his portals just fizz out before they could open to a location. Something that they hadn’t done since he had first started practicing using his ninpo.

He looked up at the moon. He had time. He could sneak into that department store and see if they had the gauntlet piece that the Foot had tried to steal that time he and his brothers had been watching skating.

Man, he missed watching videos with his brothers… and testing out new skateboard tricks…

Leo. Focus.

Right. The department store.

Ninja in, look around, ninja out. Easy.

The stupid thing was right there in a display case. It was modeling some gaudy rings and a few watches. This store really was weirdly too classy to be using armor as a display model. Who even owned this place? It didn’t matter. He had the gauntlet.

He could put it in the box with the key for now. He warped to where he was hiding it away in the sewers and put the items away securely.

He still had time before the kids started to worry about him. He had hyped up this night so much and it had been easy to knock out two things that had potential to ruin the world. His life never got boring. At least he had that still.

He was feeling so nostalgic tonight. He missed his family.

He’d just prevented an alien invasion from happening like ten years in the future. He’d earned a treat! He’d been avoiding this… but. Nope. Tonight, was the night.

He was going to Run of the Mill.

Chapter Text

Stepping into the restaurant was like a slap in the face of nostalgia. It was exactly the same. Practically nothing was different. Except when he glanced down toward the Maze of Death the photo of him and his brothers was not on the cheater wall. Which made him a little sad… But he kept walking until he sat at a corner table and waited for someone to take his order.

“Good evening sir, what can I get you tonight?”

It was Señor Hueso.

And he didn’t recognize Leo.

That hurt just as much as he knew it would.

“A large Hawaiian with jalapenos would be perfect, please and thanks.” He grinned trying not to look as sad as he felt.

The skeleton simply nodded and stepped away to put his order in.

He looked around at the yokai going about living their lives. This had been such an amazing discovery when they found this place. Somewhere they weren’t freaks. That they didn’t have to pretend to be cosplayers. They could just be brothers enjoying a night out.

Maybe he could bring the kids here. They had yet to really leave the sewers, except for a few trips to the lake. And he always portaled them in and out. This would be safe. He could warp them straight into the restaurant and they could have a fun family dinner. Then they could go home and have a movie night. He’d gotten them pizza already of course, but they’d never had it fresh from the oven like this. They’d love it.

“Sir?”

Leo startled into sitting up and realized his pizza had arrived. “Uh, thanks Señor.”

Hueso raised a brow at him but nodded giving him a reminder to just ask if he needed anything but as he was about to step away Leo stopped him.

“Lo siento Señor. But actually, could I have this in a box? I changed my mind and I’m going to take it home to the kids.”

“Of course, it is no problem.”

The skeleton returned shortly with the box and wished Leo a good night. And it was so incredibly weird for such civil manners to be directed at him from Hueso that Leo just squeaked a thanks and warped back home.

Belatedly he realized he should have ordered a second pizza that didn’t have pineapple for Donnie. But. Oh well. He didn’t need to eat it if he didn’t like it.

“Guys! I’m home and I have pizza!”

The thundering of small feet slapping concrete was amusing. Such little ninjas they were.

“Donato I am warning you now, it has pineapple. If you don’t like it you can pull them off. But I wasn’t planning on sharing so. Well. Yeah.”

Donnie frowned as he peered into the box with Raph and Mikey right behind him. “I’ve never had pineapple before. How do you know I won’t like it?”

“It’s probably one of Padré’s hunches. You know those are usually spot on!” Mikey grinned as he took a large bite of the pizza. “Oooh jalapenos!”

Raph made a sandwich of two pieces and took a large bite out of it.

Donnie hesitantly took a slice and the smallest of bites.

Leo watched his face carefully as he munched on his own slice.

There it was. Classic Donatello. He clearly was not enjoying it, but he hated it when Leo ‘guessed’ his likes and dislikes accurately so he was trying to hide his disgust.

“Donato… if you don’t like it, don’t force yourself to eat it please. It’s not kind to yourself, and one of your brothers might appreciate the extra food.”

Donnie slumped his shoulders and nodded, he began peeling off the pineapple chunks and dividing them equally between Raph and Mikey.

“How do you always know?” He grumbled around his freshly disassembled slice.

“Intuition.” Leo responded without thinking.

“That’s what you always say. And it’s not possible. I’ve never had pineapple before. But I’ve had oranges which is a similar texture and flavor. And I like those, therefore I could potentially like this. But you knew I wouldn’t. It’s not intuition.”

Leo chuckled a bit nervously. This was one of the other things that kept him awake at night. His little Donato figuring out that Leo was really his brother from the future. Once he had really wanted them to consider him a brother, but at this point… it was hard to consider them as anything than his kids.

Was that weird? Maybe.

Was it going to keep him up at night thinking about it? Of course.

“Magic parental mind reading?”

“That’s not a thing either!”

“One of the great mysteries of the universe I guess.” He shrugged.

Donnie growled and stole another slice quickly dividing the pineapple off of it and leaving to go back to his lab, before he left the room though he paused and looked back at the taller turtle. “Were you successful on your oh so secret super mission whatever then?”

“Yeah! Tell us what happened!” Mikey cheered climbing onto Leo’s shell and peering at him over his shoulder.

Raph looked up hopefully.

They loved a good story.

And he certainly didn’t have one. The mission had been exceptionally easy. He’d missed most of it himself because of how badly his mind was drifting to another three turtles tonight. Which always made him feel guilty. He needed to be here and present for these three. They looked up to him, how horrifying was that?

“Honestly, it was stupid easy. I hyped it up too much. Took care of everything pretty quickly.”

He saw them look crestfallen at his words. He felt Mikey slouch over his shell.

“Buuuuut. I did stop by the place that made this pizza and I think we should all go together.”

That had their attention.

“WHAT?!”

“We’re going out in public?!”

“We can’t be seen in a restaurant!”

“But you said humans would be scared of us?”

“How?”

“Did you hit your head while you were out Papá?”

He held up a hand to quite them down.
“No. I did not hit my head. That’s rude to say Donato. And it’s not quite the surface. There is a place that has other beings like us, they’re called yokai and walking talking turtles are not weird for them. There is a restaurant that we will be welcome to go to, but you guys have to be on your absolute best behavior. Comprende?”

“Yessir!” They all cheered.

“When are we going?” Mikey asked clambering over Leo’s head to look him in the eyes.

“How about tomorrow? We’ve earned a night out, I think. And I haven’t asked Rafa yet but I’m assuming you all were good while I was gone…” He looked down at the snapper.

Raph nodded eagerly. “Everyone was good! Donnie just looked over his blue papers and Mikey did cool paint stuff and I watched a movie!”

Leo grinned. “I knew I could count on you guys. Awesome! Then we all totally earned a pizza night out!”

There was more cheering and loud questions about restaurants. He couldn’t help the adoration that swelled up within him as he saw how happy they were. Maybe he wasn’t a good parental figure. But they were happy and healthy. So, he had to be doing something right.

… Right?

When he had said they needed to be on their best behavior he had expected them to be a little more chill. But he did not expect the perfect little gentlemen routine that they were pulling off. Donnie must have found a book or video on what was ‘good behavior for children’. He almost was tempted to pull out the cell phone and record it. Knowing how rambunctious these three really were, this act they were doing was kind of hilarious.

And a bit endearing. They really were trying to be good on their first trip out of the sewer and in a public place.

Despite being weirdly exhausted, he had done some training with them before they left tonight in hopes of getting some extra anxious energy out of them. He knew Mikey tended to bounce around more the more anxious he got.

Even though this was intended to be fun, he was watching each of them closely for signs of anxiety. This was a huge change to their private sewer lair. Maybe it was too much for their first time out. Maybe he should have started smaller? Like a trip to an alleyway topside?

“Back so soon?” Hueso was taking their order again.

Leo smiled at him as Donnie squirmed in to his side just a bit more at the sudden appearance of the skeleton. “Yeah, the pizza was amazing and these guys loved it so much I thought I’d bring them to where the magic happens.”

Hueso gave a small smile and looked over the smaller turtles. “You like pizza?”

“It’s the world’s bestest food ever! And the one we had last night was extra delicious!” Mikey exclaimed, then seemed to realize he was too loud and quietly said. “Sir.”

Hueso laughed. “I appreciate that you liked the food. Do we have any special pizza requests tonight?”

The boys looked over at Leo eagerly.

“You guys can each order one for yourselves. We are celebrating and it’s fun to pick your own toppings.”

As they scoured over the menu that had the topping options Hueso went to get them drinks. When he returned he wrote down their pizza orders.

“And what’s the occasion we are celebrating tonight?”

“It’s our first time out of the sewers.” Raph answered trying his soda. It was a flavor that was exclusively a yokai treat.

“Yeah! Humans aren’t nice to talking turtles so we’ve never gotten to meet other people before!” Mikey chattered as he colored in the sketchbook that Leo had brought for him. “But you’re super nice and this place is super-duper cozy!”

Donnie nodded in agreement with his brothers as he sipped his own drink. A mix of water, electrolytes and sugar that was like a sports drink but with a bland basically nonexistent flavor.

Hueso frowned slightly and Leo began to panic.

What if Hueso thought that Leo was abusing the kids? Would the yokai police take them? Maybe this was a bad idea. They could still get the pizzas to go and try again in a few years…

“I have heard that life is hard on those that live in the human world. I am so happy that you all get to experience the world now. And what an honor that you started here.” He smiled before excusing himself to put their orders in.

Leo sighed in relief leaning back and slouching in his seat.  

Raph looked over at him worriedly. “We shouldn’t had said that, right?”

Leo waved a hand. “It’s ok bud. Just… try to be aware of how some things sound. But it’s not your fault. We have a weird living situation.”

“You mean… even with other non-humans we are still weird?” Mikey asked looking up from his drawing.

“Yeah… kinda. But its ok. It just means your best friends will always be your brothers and how comforting is that? Because you already know them and they know you.”

That sounded cheesy even in his head but the kids seemed to like it and gave each other high-threes.

Every Friday from then on became Pizza Night. Hueso was always happy to greet them, calling them his favorite customers. Which was always such a trip for Leo, who was used to the skeleton man trying to chase them off verbally while always welcoming them with his actions.

Mikey had even started calling him Uncle Hueso. Which was so cute and didn’t make Leo’s heart clench at all. Nope.

He didn’t miss his own grumpy yet surprisingly caring skeleton pizza man. Never.

With how close the kids were to him he probably should have just sent them to him when he started feeling sick. But the whole thing caught him by surprise honestly.

He didn’t remember really getting sick ever.

There was the rat flu contagion. But that was once a year and lasted for barely a day. This was definitely not that. That was a fever with delirium.

This was just painful. It had kind of been building up for a while now. His wandering brain had turned into him being more spaced out.

He felt achy and dizzy.

Lethargic.

He was the family medic. But he didn’t know what this was beyond being some weird cold thing. He tried taking some pain killers and hot tea. He soon began feeling so… tired…

He should tell the kids that he was having an off day. They needed… they would worry… maybe after his nap…

Raph knew something was wrong when it was almost lunch time and he still hadn’t seen Pops. He tried not to call him that, because he saw how uncomfortable it made the older turtle when they referred to him as their father sometimes. He’d gotten better at hiding it… But Raph knew that it made him sad. He wasn’t sure what the sadness was for… it wasn’t for being their dad. He may not like the name, but Leelee was a great dad. And he knew he loved them. Raph was never worried that Lee didn’t love them.

Donnie had explained it one night when they had been having a movie marathon and Pops had gone to bed earlier than them.

Leelee was a different kind of turtle. They all were. So scientifically or whatever, they weren’t blood brothers. But they also were mutated together. According to Donnie that made them more like ‘half-brothers’. That had upset Mikey. Pops had vehemently argued that once they had broached the topic with him. He said they were brothers. They were family. That was all that mattered. For this one thing, the science of it didn’t matter.

And Donnie had mostly let it go.

Mikey was content again.

But Raph knew that something was still bothering his purple brother. But it was specific to the older turtle in their lives. When he asked Donnie about it the softshell just shook his head and said he didn’t want to share his theory until he had more data collected.

Not that any of that mattered right now anyway.

The problem was that it was lunch and Pops hadn’t tried to drag Donnie from his lab to eat any food yet today. Or asked Mikey about his newest art project. Or asked Raph to join him for some morning training before their evening session.

When the snapper stuck his head into the red-ear slider’s room he found that he was completely inside his shell.

He’d never seen him do that before.

Mikey did it all the time.

Raph sometimes tucked his head back, and Donnie preferred his large hoodies to hide in.

But Pops? He was always so strong and tall. He never hid away. Even in the winter when the chill sometimes got to him, he just put on more layers.

“Hey… Leelee?” Raph carefully tapped on his shell.

Maybe he was sleeping?

There was no response.

He tried gently rocking the shell back and forth on the bed. “Pops?” The lack of reaction was making him anxious.

He needed to ask Donnie. His genius brother had done thorough research on all their turtle species. Maybe this was a weird slider thing that they didn’t know about. He ran for his middle brother’s lab space.

“Donnie?”

The softshell looked up from his workbench, goggles covering his eyes. The goggles were kind of goofy looking, oddly bulky with different lenses he could switch through. He was constantly ‘improving’ his goggles. Or so he said. Raph didn’t know how much more his brother could improve eye protection. But that was neither here or there. Donnie set down what he was working on and lifted his eyewear.

“Salutations brother, I don’t usually see you this early.”

“I think something’s wrong with Pops. He’s in his shell and he’s not respondin’.”

Donnie frowned checking his wrist tech. “It has been longer than usual for his daily nagging.”

“Can you come look at him? I don’t… I don’t know what to do.” Raph hated asking his younger brothers for help… but Donnie was a genius. Pops said so all the time.

Donnie nodded grabbing his tablet and the bō staff he had modified multiple times over the last few months.

Once they were in their father’s room Donnie held up his bō and let it run a scan over the older turtle. He frowned as he looked over the readings as they uploaded on his wrist tech. “His heart rate is significantly slower than usual. But he’s not running a fever… Papá? Now would be a good time to respond to me before I start conducting experiments on your unconscious body.”

“Donnie!”

There was a moment as they waited to see if the other turtle in the room would respond, but still nothing.

“No worries brother, I was trying to get a reaction. Sort of. I may have to run some tests to see what’s wrong though.”

“Maybe he got sick on his secret mission? What if he was poisoned?”

“That was weeks ago. This would have already happened by then. Though I will admit to having noticed that he has been acting off lately. Slower response times.”

“What if it was a slow acting poison?” Mikey asked stepping into the room.

The older two brothers winced at the frown their youngest was giving them. Mikey had become exceptionally aware lately that he was left out of things a lot for being younger.

“In the show we were watching the other night the character was sick for months before they got super sick. What if this is like that?” Mikey insisted.

Donnie opened his mouth to explain how tv rarely if ever portrayed diseases or anything scientific accurately, but… Mikey could be right. Papá had his mystic portals, and having gone to Run of the Mill proved that there were things that humans weren’t aware of that were in the world. Which meant Donnie didn’t have sufficient data. Ever since meeting Señor Hueso he had begun doing research on yokai and some mystic stuff.  

He would like a better understanding of how his parental unit’s mystic portals worked. The blue haze that would appear had saved them from many situations and if Donnie could mechanically create something that could do that then he could help his brothers when they got in trouble too. Or when he wanted to escape from certain people who wouldn’t leave him alone to conduct his more… exhilarating experiments.

All of that to say… its extremely possible that their father was sick with some sort of mystic poison that took weeks to take over his system.

“If this is mystic or from the Hidden City somehow…” Donnie sighed. “Then the answer to a cure would be found there. And I don’t have a way to get us there without Papá’s portals.”

Raph and Mikey frowned.

“Could we call Uncle Hueso?” Mikey suggested twiddling his little fingers in front of him. He was still so tiny compared to Raph.

“I don’t think so. He is a restaurant owner, not a medical professional.”

“But could we call him to come get us and then we could explore the Hidden City from there somehow?”

“Is it contagious?” Raph suddenly pulled them away from the still slider.

“If it’s a poison then the only way it could spread would be contact with his saliva or blood… Probably.”

“I touched his shell.”

“It is extremely unlikely that you ‘caught’ anything by touching his shell.”

“We need to help Dad… what are we going to do?” Mikey asked quietly.

“Give me a minute… I’ll think of something…” Donnie glared down at his tablet searching different options and diseases that could make turtles or humans sick like this.

But they were mutated turtles. There was nothing out in the world that would have info on them. Except for whoever mutated them. Or whoever created the ooze that mutated them. Papá was pretty resistant when they’d tried to ask about how they came into the world. No matter how many times he insisted it was a mutated turtle-stork, nobody believed that.

… Any more.

The answer was in the yokai world. That Donnie was sure of. Humans would have nothing on mutant turtles. And lots of yokai looked like they were part animal or reptile like themselves. So, there was a good chance that someone may have a cure of some sort to help their ailing parental figure.

Donnie glanced at the twin katanas that rested next to his bed.

Theoretically they all were created similarly. Whatever Papá had in him that made him able to use the mystic part of the katanas surely the three of them has as well?

Mikey had been watching his purple clad brother closely and noticed when his gaze drifted to the swords.

“What’cha thinking Dee?”

“It’s possible… that maybe one of us also has the capability to use the katanas to open a portal as well. I don’t know exactly how it would work though…” He scanned the katanas trying to glean any information he could from them.

Raph picked up one of them. “Well Pops always just kind of slashes the air and ‘boom’ magic doorway.” The blade was slightly too big in his hands, but he still used it unsteadily to chop at the air a few times.

Nothing.

Donnie frowned. “Maybe we don’t all have this power?”

“My turn!” Mikey reached for the other blade. It was awkwardly huge in his small hands, but he concentrated real hard glaring at the shiny blade and swung hoping to make a hole to Run of the Mill.

There were blue and orange sparks.

“It’s not usually that color…” Donnie pulled down his goggles. “The portals are always just blue…”

“But did you see!?” Mikey cheered dancing in place slightly. “I got it to do something! I got the magic like dad!”

Raph and Donnie nodded eagerly.

“Try it again Mike!” Raph encouraged.

Mikey thought of Run of the Mill. Of the comfy booths and delicious pizza. Of Señor Hueso and his kind skeleton smile. He tried swinging it in a large arc that he had seen his dad do so many times, admittedly his wasn’t as smooth. But he tried!

And it worked!

A portal opened up mostly blue but with orange swirls mixed in. Raph poked his head in before pulling back and giving a thumbs up. “This leads to Run of the Mill!”

“Hurry before it closes!” Donnie rushed forward with the other two close behind.

They did it! Now they just needed to find something to help a sick mutant turtle!

Chapter Text

They used their limited amount of stealth training to get around the restaurant without getting caught and through another portal that was being used by customers to get to the Hidden City’s main street. Once it was clear they had succeeded in getting to their destination they cheered and gave a high-three.

“Now what?” Mikey looked around at all the bright colors and bustling people that was very different to their sewers. If it seemed like he was nervous as he climbed on top of Raph’s shell neither of his brothers said anything about it.

Raph just reached up and made sure he was secure in his spot before following Donnie down a path.

The softshell was typing furiously on his tablet. “If I can connect to one of the local networks here, I should be able to find a directory. Then we should be able to locate some sort of yokai pharmacy that may have a ‘mystic poison cure’.”

It took no time at all for him to make the connection he wanted and then pulled up a map that would supposedly lead them to a Healing Clinic. They had the best of intentions to stay on track but they did get sidetracked plenty by local shop windows and street vendors. Though each time Raph reminded them that they had no money and that they needed to help Pops.

The Healing Clinic turned out to be unhelpful. It was a yokai hospital. Donnie did make a note of its location in his system in case they were unable to find a cure. Their next best choice may be to bring their father here. He and Raph tried to figure out the logistics of carrying the rather heavy larger turtle all the way here. There was no easy way to do it, and Raph was nervous that they would hurt their dad worse somehow by moving him around too much.

“There was that Witch place!” Mikey pointed down another street. “Maybe a witch could make a cure potion thing?”

“Or turn us into sewer monsters.” Raph shuddered. Yokai were one thing. But witches? None of the movies they had watched made that seem like a good idea.

Donnie frowned. “This over here seems to be a sort of market. Let’s explore and see if we can find any medical supplies.”

As they browsed through the stalls, they didn’t notice too large yokai following them from the side streets. At one point there were glowing eyes watching from a dark corner and Raph growled a little and pushed Donnie forward quicker. They needed to wrap up this mission quick. Not that they were any closer to finding something to help Pops. If Donnie couldn’t figure it out, they were in serious trouble.

Raph was beginning to think maybe they should have told Uncle Hueso. Even if he wasn’t a doctor, he was an adult… They were clearly in over their heads here.

The small turtles gave up on the market and continued on toward Donnie’s next address when suddenly Mikey was ripped off of Raph’s shell with a shriek.

“RAPHIE!”

Donnie and Raph spun around to see two large yokai, one who seemed to be part snake and the other appeared to be part coyote. The coyote was holding Mikey firmly against him, with one hand over his mouth to muffle his yelling.

“You kids shouldn’t be out without your parents.”

“Actually,” Donnie stepped forward. “We are running an errand for our father, and he will be very upset if we are not home soon.”

“Yeah! And he’s a warrior! With big swords and stuff!” Raph huffed inching closer to the coyote with Mikey. “So why don’t cha give our brother back so he won’t come kickin’ your tails.”

The snake laughed. “Nice try kiddies. You’ve been alone all day. No one is looking for you yet. It looks like you’re looking for something. But you seem like smart kids. Come quietly and we won’t hurt the small one.” He pulled out a knife and pointed it at Mikey.

Donnie stuttered, not sure what to do since his lie failed.

Raph was getting angry but also not sure what to do with Mikey in such a compromising position.

“You low level fiends! Put the child down, cowards!” There was suddenly another presence behind the two turtles.

They looked up to see a white rabbit with a hand resting on the katana on his hip.

The snake and coyote glanced at each other nervously.

“Usagi? Is this one of your kids? We didn’t know!”

The rabbit continued to glare.

Coyote quickly set Mikey down, brushing him off as if there were dirt on him. Mikey stumbled as he ran toward his brothers who held him in a big group hug. Raph clung to his two brothers while growling at the kidnappers.

Taking the moment they were all distracted, the thugs ran away yelling apologies.

“Thank you, mister.” Raph said as he picked up Mikey and held him like a teddy bear close to his plastron.

“I am happy to help.” The rabbit knelt down so that he was eye level with the turtles. “May I ask your names?”

“I’m Raph, the purple one is Donnie, and this is Mikey.”

“Nice to meet you three, my name is Miyamoto Usagi, but you may just call me Usagi. Now I must ask, what are you little turtles doing out here alone? It is getting late and these streets are not safe at night, as you have just seen.”

The three glanced at each other before Donnie nodded.

They very much needed help.

Raph cleared his throat and explained why they were in the Hidden City, where they came from, and about their father.

“I see. That is terrible. You three are very brave to take on such a quest by yourselves. I am no medic, but I have had practice with some healing. Maybe I can take a look and see what ails him?”

They frowned at that. It was one thing to trust him here, but to show him where they lived? That was dangerous. Dad was insistent to the point of paranoid about keeping their home safe and secluded from others.

Usagi seemed to understand their hesitance instantly. “Do you trust Señor Hueso?”

They nodded eagerly; they had explained about how they snuck out of his restaurant after all.

“What if I take you to him, and he vouches for me? Then we can go check on your father.”

“That seems like a good compromise.” Donnie agreed.

“Excellent. Then stick close turtles, no one should bother you as long as I’m here, but I’d rather not take risks.”

“Yeah, those guys were suuuuper scared of you.” Mikey finally spoke up. “Are you a hero?”

Usagi grinned but shook his head. “No. Not a hero. Just someone who likes to help.”

“That seems like a hero to me.” Raph pointed out.

Donnie pulled out his tablet and began taking notes. “I think it qualifies as heroic.”

Usagi chuckled at their antics before hurrying them along.

“You three should have just asked me for help.” Hueso huffed even as he patted Raph’s head and handed Mikey a take-out bag of breadsticks.

“We’re sorry Señor.” They chorused.

“You are forgiven. And to answer your original question Donatello, yes. Usagi is very trustworthy. You three are in safe hands.”

“Yay! The hero!” Mikey cheered. He reached for the strap on Raph’s shell holding their father’s katana and began to swing it around. “I’ll make a way home then!”

Before Hueso or Usagi could discourage the child from opening a portal the box turtle had swung the blade and opened a blue and orange sparking portal that led to the sewers near home.

“Way to go Mike!” Raph cheered rushing through.

“First try! You have improved smallest brother!” Donnie congratulated stepping through as well.

Usagi was quick to scoop up Mikey and jump through before the portal closed on them.

“I know you three are new at this, but it is very dangerous to use mystic weapons without proper training. And it is especially dangerous to utilize portals when you haven’t had training as well. You could accidentally lose a limb. Or send someone to a different dimension. Please be careful my young friends.”

Donnie frowned as he took this in. “That… makes sense. We need training. Papa will simply have to teach us how to use his weapons in case of another emergency such as this. Or. At least teach Mikey since he seems to have an attitude for it.”

“I think you mean aptitude.” Usagi grinned.

“I said what I meant.” The softshell huffed before leading the way to their father’s room.

The slider hadn’t moved.

Raph nervously rubbed his hands together. He thought for sure they would go on their big adventure and then come home to find their Pops worriedly pacing the lair looking for them. He thought there would be big hugs and then lots of scolding and getting grounded. Which would have been fine. Because then it meant that he was well enough to be awake and grounding them to start with.

Mikey quietly stepped closer and grabbed one of his hands.

Usagi stepped forward pulling some items out of a pouch on his belt.

“What is that?” Donnie leaned forward peering at the herbs and plant bits that Usagi was mashing together in his palms.

“It’s a healing poultice. It won’t magically make him better. But depending on the color it gives off it should help me discern what is ailing him.”

“If this works, I want a list of those ingredients.”

“Of course, Donatello.” Usagi’s lips twitched in a grin despite his focus on spreading the mixture on to the slider’s shell.

At first nothing happened and the turtles were about to start questioning the rabbit’s methods, but then their father’s shell began to glow a warm maroon color.

“What does that mean…?” Mikey asked watching the color change in awe.

Usagi frowned and added a little more mixture directly over where the slider’s head should be hidden. “I believe my young friends that your father is just deeply exhausted. It seems he has just simply run out of energy, enough so that he has made himself ill. But some rest and proper relaxation should be all he needs to heal.”

“That’s it?” Mikey frowned. That sounded too simple.

“He has been busy lately...” Raph pointed out.

While Leelee went out of his way to only show them smiles and positivity. As they had gotten older Raph had begun to see the way sometimes the dark circles around his eyes were darker than other days. Or when he would pause and stretch his limbs out as if they were hurting him even though their dad wasn’t old. He was super young compared to the dads they saw on tv!

Donnie had once expressed that they he felt they weren’t getting a proper education because their father was still a teenager himself. Of course, that was a couple years ago…

Teenagers were not kids… but they weren’t adults.

How old was their dad? And he did everything alone… were they too much? Were they making him sick? He remembered their last Mutation Day when their dad had stepped away with wet eyes and muttered about being ‘a real real adult now I guess’. Raph thought being an adult was supposed to be cool, and their dad made it look cool. But maybe it was really hard? Or was it just too hard taking care of three rambunctious mutant turtle kids?

Did they make him sick?

“Take a deep breath big guy.” Soft warm hands were suddenly on his shoulders.

Raph followed the exaggerated breathing pattern Usagi was demonstrating for him. After he had calmed down a bit, he looked over to see that Donnie and Mikey were watching him with concerned eyes.

He couldn’t scare them like that! He was the big brother! He had to do better.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

“No apologies necessary little one.” Usagi smiled. “And you need not worry, your father is tired, but it’s not your fault. Adults get sick too, just like kids. Is…” The rabbit frowned before sighing. “Is your father the only other adult here?”

Donnie and Raph looked at each other nervously. They had heard what people had said when they were at Run of the Mill.

Was it just the one adult?

Did those boys have a mother?

Surely three little boys were too much for one young father.

And the two older siblings had discussed how important it was to prove that they were good when out of the sewers so no one tried to take them away from their Pops. They trusted Hueso wouldn’t call anyone on them. But it wasn’t a stretch that a nosy ‘overly concerned’ individual that’s seen them at the restaurant wouldn’t call the Hidden City officials or something. It just wasn’t worth the risk.

They were still young and they realized that, but their Padré had made one thing very clear to them from the beginning. They were a family. And there was nothing more important than taking care of your family and being there for them.

“Yeah, it’s just the four of us here.” Mikey said shrugging.

“Mikey!” Donnie hissed.

“But we are really good. And everybody is happy and stuff.” Raph quickly tried to reassure the rabbit.

Usagi raised a brow. “Hmm… alright. Let’s see what we can do to help your father here feel better.”

The turtles nodded determinedly.

Leo felt so warm… and cozy… Like he was in a nest and a turtle pile with his brothers again. Did they fall asleep watching Jupiter Jim movies again?

Wait.

No.

He suddenly bolted up and realized that he was in his room, someone had wrapped a bunch of blankets around him and turned on one of the large sun lamps that Donnie had recently been in the process of creating one for each of their rooms. Looks like it was his turn. But how did that heavy lamp get in here?

“Dad…?”

Leo looked down to see Mikey standing next to his bed a little nervously.

“Hey Miguel… what’s wrong?”

“Do you feel better now?” His voice was so quiet. He hadn’t been this quiet in a long tme now. Something had shaken him.

“I feel like sunshine and rainbows.” He grinned at the little box turtle. “Was I sleeping too long?”

“You were asleep for…  two days.” He held up two fingers to show him, but Leo saw the slight tremble in his arms. He had really freaked him out.

“Come here mijo.” Leo scooped up his smallest turtle and hugged him close to his plastron. “I’m sorry if I scared you.” He said quietly.

Mikey burrowed his face in the spot between his plastron and shoulder. “It’s ok. It was kinda scary at first and then we went to try and get medicine for you. And there were these scary guys that grabbed me. But then ‘sagi showed up. And he’s like a super cool hero. So, he’s been here helping us. And he made yummy noodles for us all to eat. But he said we need more vegetables then just the stuff that’s on pizza.”

Leo stared shellshocked as he tried to process the story.

“Someone grabbed you?! Are you ok?!” He lifted Mikey in to the air turning him all around looking for injuries which just made the orange speckled turtle start to giggle. Apparently, he was fine.

“I’m ok Padré! Like I said! Usagi saved us!”

“Who the h-” The slider closed his eyes and took a breath. No cursing in front of the kids. Once Donnie picked up on cursing, he would never stop. “Who is Usagi?”

“That would be me.” A tall white rabbit in a dark blue hakama with a lighter blue kimono over it stood in his doorway. “It’s nice to see you awake and well… Leelee?” The rabbit smirked.

Leo felt his cheeks warm up.

The new comer was very strong looking, clearly some sort of fighter… what? Rabbit yokai? Probably not a mutant… there were two katanas resting on his hip… samurai? Maybe?

Either way the mysterious whoever was still standing in his doorway waiting for a response.

“Leonardo actually, but my friends call me Leo.”

“Leonardo then,” the rabbit nodded.

Ouch. That didn’t hurt. We’ll work our way to Leo… No. Focus. There is an unknown person in his home who apparently saved his kids from something awful.

“I apologize for being a stranger in your home. But as young Michelangelo has explained, there were some extenuating circumstances.”

Leo got to his feet, only a little shaky, Mikey still cradled in his arms, and bowed deeply to the rabbit. Splinter had taught them some manners after all.

“Thank you for saving my kids. And for caring for them while I was… out of commission so to speak.”

Usagi gave a bow in return. “It was truly no trouble. They are good kids who simply wanted their … father? To be feeling better.”

Why did he sound like he didn’t believe that he was their father? Rude.

Mikey tapped a hand against Leo’s cheek. “Can we have pizza? I don’t want any more vegetables…” He whispered the last part, but from the way Usagi’s ears twitched Leo didn’t think that he was hiding anything.

The slider looked over at the rabbit. “How do you feel about pizza?”

“I love it.”

“Then you’ll fit in well with this family.” Donnie said as he stepped around the rabbit to hurry over to check on Leo himself. “Papá!”

“Leelee!” Raph came charging in and tackled all of them onto Leo’s bed.

“AGH! You vicious hug bugs! If you don’t unhand me there will be no pizza!”

“NO!”

Chapter Text

The three younger turtles were busy eating their personal pizzas from Hueso as they discussed a new game on one of Donnie’s upgraded tablets.

“They really are great kids.” Usagi said as he sipped at his water glass having finished his own portion of the pizza he was sharing with Leo.

“Thanks, I’ve always thought so too. Even when they’re little gremlins. They’re my whole world.”

There was a moment of silence before Usagi spoke up again, his ears twitching nervously as he finally broached the question he’d clearly been sitting on for a while now. “Pardon me if this is too intrusive… but you seem rather young to have three kids on your own…?”

“I have a great skin care routine.” Leo grinned.

When Usagi just raised a brow, the slider sighed and lowered his voice.

“It’s kind of a weird story… but no. I’m not their biological father. But they are my family and I am raising them.”

“I see. You are a father in the ways that matter. They truly love you. They got themselves into a lot of trouble just to help.”

“I can’t believe they were able to use my katana to get into the Hidden City.” Leo groaned dropping his head into his hands. “That literally never occurred to me as a possibility. I knew someday we were going to have to talk about mystic powers. But using my own? Nope. Never. I swear. It’s a good thing I’m already bald. Or I’d be getting white hair already.”

“And what is wrong with having white hair?”

Leo waved his hands in front of him nervously. “Nothing! Uh – it’s an expression! A horrible one really because your white fur is like beautiful! So why would anyone use that expression in such a negative way? Not me. Not anymore, I mean. Actually, why don’t we -”

Usagi started laughing.

Leo stared before running a hand over his face.

“Wow. Talk about a train wreck.” Donnie deadpanned from the other side of the table.

“Thank you, Donato. That’s very helpful.” Leo groaned banging his head on the table.

“Usagi, please don’t leave us because our dad is bad at making friends.” Mikey asked as politely as he could.

“It may have been a ‘flirting’ attempt.” Donnie mused.

“Is that what that was?” Raph asked around a large bite of his pizza.

“I think ‘making a fool of himself’ would be more accurate however.” The softshell snickered.

“Alright! Enough! Thank you all very much for your commentary! I’m just a little out of practice talking to someone who is taller than three feet!” Leo mock-glared at them.

“That actually is weird.” Donnie tapped on his tablet. “Why is Papá taller than Usagi? Shouldn’t a rabbit be bigger than a turtle?”

“Depends on the turtle.” Mikey nodded sagely.

“And the rabbit.” Raph agreed.

Leo dropped his head back into his hands and sighed. “Oy vey.”

“That’s not Spanish.”

“THANK. YOU. DONATELLO.” Leo said with his face still hidden.

“I just like to be accurate.”

“We know.”

Mikey jumped back in to the discussion. “Usagi… you are coming home with us, right?”

“Miguel. You can’t just ask someone to live with us. I’m sure Usagi has his own life that he needs to get back to.”

Usagi tapped his fingers rhythmically on the table top. “I could stay for a few days. Just to be sure you are feeling better and that the children are not too much while you recover.”

“You really don’t have to do that.” Leo shook his head. “I know we seem like a bomb waiting to go off over here. But we have been a more or less functional unit for years. Though I will forever be indebted to you for saving them. So, if there is anything that you need actually just let me know.”

Usagi’s lips twitched slightly before he finally nodded. “Very well. Maybe I can have your contact information? Just in case something comes up, or there is another emergency and you all need another contact?”

“That’s easy enough.”

“We don’t have phones.” Donnie frowned.

“No. You don’t have a phone.” Leo corrected as he pulled his cell out of the pouch on his belt. “I however do. So does Raph. But only for emergencies.”

Donnie exclaimed at the unfairness of his brother having tech that he didn’t while Usagi and Leo exchanged numbers. Raph reassured him that it was more of a lump of metal that never got touched in his room. Which ended up making Donnie angrier that it was not just tech he didn’t have, but ‘wasted potential’.

“We will discuss the benefits and downsides to all three of you having cell phones when we get home. For now, say goodbye to Usagi.” Leo said as one of the waiters cleared their plates away.

Mikey launched himself into the rabbit’s arms. “Thank you so much for saving my life! Please come visit soon so you can teach me how to make those yummy noodles!”

“I am very happy I was there in time to help you three, and Michelangelo, it was just ramen. But I will gladly come back to show you how to make things other than microwave dinners.”

Raph was next with a big hug around his waist as he looked up at their new friend. “Like Mike said, please come visit. You’re really nice and I want to see those cool sword skills again.”

“Yeah! You should spar with dad sometime!” Mikey nodded. “He’s super amazing with his katanas when he’s training!”

Leo could feel himself blushing again and gently took the box turtle from the rabbit. “I don’t pay them to say that I swear.”

“I could be bought.” Donnie looked up at Leo as he stepped toward Usagi. “He’s a master with his katanas, there isn’t a better warrior than our Papá.” He said suddenly serious as he shook the rabbit’s hand, before looking over his shell at Leo. “I think that was at least twenty dollars’ worth.”

“Get out of here.” Leo herded them towards the entrance where they usually portal out. “What would you even use the money for? You don’t go shopping.”

“There is this wonderous thing called online shopping my dearest father.”

“You are so grounded.” Leo sighed.

“What?! On what grounds?”

“On grounds of overall sassiness.”

“That’s not grounding worthy!”

“It is if your parental figure says it is.”

“Usagi! Tell him that’s not fair!” Donnie looked up at the rabbit.

“Usagi, tell him that life’s not fair.” Leo snorted.

The rabbit stared wide eyed at both of them before chuckling. “Not that it’s my place to handle such a great family dispute… but since I was asked… I think maybe you both are a little in the wrong here and maybe a simple sorry could solve both issues. Donatello, you need to show your father respect, even when you don’t agree. And my friend… don’t let the children rile you up so. They win that way.”

The three kids laughed as Leo gave Usagi a mildly betrayed look before sighing it off with a shrug. “Fine. So, I’m still young at heart. It goes with my incredibly young handsome face.”

“I don’t think I said handsome when describing your face before.” Usagi pointed out.

Leo clutched his plastron dramatically as if he were stabbed. “I have only just recovered from my great illness and this is the treatment I get?!”

Usagi rested a hand on the older turtle’s shoulder. “I didn’t say it was ugly either. Calm down Leonardo. I’m just currently remaining neutral.”

“So, you’re saying you could be persuaded.”

“I said nothing of the sort.”

“But you’re not denying that you could be.”

“I would like to remind you two that there are children present and watching.” Hueso appeared next to them. “Also, half my staff.”

Leo jumped slightly but sighed and stepped back from the rabbit.

When had they gotten so close to each other’s faces? Jeez.

Usagi smirked. Before touching the device that opened a portal from the restaurant to the Hidden City. “I shall see you soon children, and it was a pleasure to meet you Leo.”

Then he was gone.

Leo felt a wide smile take over his face.

“Ha! He called me Leo!” He pumped a fist in the air.

“I’m researching what to do when your parent starts dating.” Donnie informed them as he tapped away on his tablet.

“Aaaaand we are going home. Adios Hueso!” The slider called as he opened a portal and corralled the kids through it before it closed.

The skeleton sighed. “I feel like I’m going to be asked to babysit soon.”

Getting home, the kids were rambunctious and asking ridiculous questions about having two dads. Leo sighed and just let them chatter while he made some tea in the kitchen.

Taking the tea to his room Leo looked around his room. Over the years it had really began to feel like his. But also, very much this new him. Not the Leo that his brothers knew. There were drawings taped to the walls, mostly Mikey’s, but a few from when Raph and Donnie still liked to color too. He didn’t really have a comic collection anymore, but books on medicine and parenting. Even a couple nutritional books and one that had initial been for fun and turned a little more serious, the How to Raise Your Turtles Happy and Healthy book. He’s so glad he found that section on proper sun exposure… Their mutation kept them from being too sick as kids, but Leo could already see the difference in his kids than his own brothers when they were this age.

These kids were already a little bigger, a little stronger and just overall healthier looking. Once he and his brothers started sneaking out to the surface, they each grew into their gangly limbs. But the biggest difference was their shells. Leo and his brothers had shells that were a little more concave at the ends. After some thorough research he learned that turtles that aren’t raised properly tended to have ‘collapsing shells’.

Leo would never truly blame Splinter. He could see that his father did the best he could with what he had and what he knew. Someone who was a human movie star that recently got mutated into a rat and had four infant turtle mutants dropped on him would never really be ready to raise children right off the bat.

But the curved shells proved that his brothers and himself weren’t the healthiest of turtles. Even now that they got everything they needed, it was something that had formed when they were children, it may never fix itself. He’s ok’s with it. He and Mikey especially had spent hours admiring their colorful shells with their patterns. And admired how badass Raph’s looked. And even Donnie’s, the softness had made a great pillow when they were kids, and now that he had gotten older also looked really cool even if it didn’t provide a lot of protection. It definitely gave him the benefit of speed in the water.

Leo’s kids had rounder, and more brightly colored shells. It was amazing to witness as they got older. Mikey had even more orange splotches across his scales, Donnie had more purple markings, even a few on his shell that were starting to appear, and Raph had markings! Before his brother’s only really defining feature (besides his size) had been how spikey he was. Now his little Rafa had crimson triangular marks among his spikes, a few speckled along his arms and a couple that were very faint but getting brighter ever month growing around his neck and chin. They were amazing.

Glancing in the mirror Leo looked at his own markings. He was twenty now. He had grown taller; his muscle mass was starting to grow too. Nothing compared to his big brother, but there was definitely a little more bulk than he used to have. He felt with his new height however it didn’t make him look too bad. He used to be so vain… it’s still there a little. He was proud of how strong he still looked despite everything. He loved his new stripes that had appeared around his eyes and on his arms and legs. Even a few on his neck that he thought were really cool.

Casey Jr. had once described his Sensei to them, and Leo knew he was nowhere near that size yet. But he could see how in a few more years he would get there.

Casey’s Sensei… he had died alone.

Protecting Casey’s escape… but still alone, without his brothers.

Were all Leo’s destined to die this way…?

Was there no way to change that part of the timeline?

Like the… the other Leo…

No. I can’t go there. It’s too late now. It’s been too long now. If he did exist – you left him behind. And I can’t change that.

He rested his head against the mirror. What a disaster of a creature he really was.

He was only a little surprised when he saw Raph showed up with his arms crossed in the mirror’s reflection. He was going for tough, but Leo could see the nervousness hiding in his eyes still.

“Pops. I think Usagi should be around more.”

“Yeah? His cooking is that much better than mine?” Leo swallowed a sigh and forced a fake chuckle as he reached for his tea that had cooled just a little too much now.

The snapper made a face that suggested he actually was not a fan of the rabbit’s vegetarian meals. “No. Definitely not. But… I think you need a friend.”

Leo set down his mug and looked at the oldest of the kids. “I got you guys. I’m doing all right. Thanks bud.”

Was every Raph such a worrier?

“No… I mean. Yes. You play with us. You’re our friend. And our dad. And we have each other… but we’re all kids. You don’t have a grown up that you spar with or anything.”

“I spar with you.” Leo frowned, crouching down so they were on the same level. “Raphael.”

He hated the way the snapper sucked in a breath at hearing his own name. Leo knew he needed to get better with their names.

He better not pick up Splinter’s worst traits. It was already bad enough that he apparently spent the last few days in bed.

“I appreciate what your saying buddy. I do. And it’s really sweet of you.”

Raph huffed at that, he was still trying to seem tough, it made him more ‘grown up’ in his mind.

“But I have a lot of responsibilities. I got to make sure we have food in the lair, and power, and that you guys are safe - ”

“We weren’t safe when you sick.”

Leo stared at him.

He was right.

He had gotten so caught up in the kids being able to use his sword, and ninpo, an almost kidnapping and there being a whole new person in their home that he hadn’t stopped to consider how much he probably scared the kids.

And he still didn’t really know what was wrong with him.

He didn’t necessarily feel better right now either… just less sluggish.

Raph was right. They needed a back up plan.

These kids – his kids – need someone they can call and rely on if something happened to Leo.

And all jokes about tortoises chasing hares aside, Usagi seemed like a nice guy. Honorable. Not only did he save the kids, he stayed with them for two days while Leo slept away being of no help to anyone.

He shouldn’t be surprised Raph was right. The snapper always had good instincts, even if they were acted on a little rashly.

“Listen. I will think about it.”

Raph gave him a disbelieving look.

“No really. I will. But – Usagi just spent two days here with you guys. And I am feeling better. We have chores and stuff to do around here to take care of our home. I’m sure Usagi has other things to do then wait for us to call him. Maybe he has a family to take care of too.”

“He doesn’t.” Mikey poked his head in. “I asked him if he had little rabbits like you have little turtles and he said he doesn’t have anyone. He Roombas.”

Donnie stepped in the room and stared at his smaller brother before sighing. “He roams. He’s a traveler.”

Leo nodded along as they spout off other facts they knew about their new friend. Apparently, they had interrogated the poor guy while the slider was down for the count.

“Well guys, I hate to break it to you, but if Usagi is a traveler then he’s probably not sticking around New York. Or the Hidden City.”

“He always come back here because he has ants.” Mikey argued.

Leo laughed. “He has what?”

“He has an ant farm!” The box turtle excitedly wiggled about, using his hands to talk. “I saw them on tv one time! They’re these cool glass box thingys that you can see all the trails that ants make when they travel! ‘sagi said he comes back to the Hidden City because of his ant farm!”

Raph nodded along like he knew about this, while once again Donnie just openly stared before realizing that Mikey was serious.

“No… he said he has an Aunt who lives on a farm.”

“What?” Now the orange speckled turtled frowned. “What’s the difference?”

“An Aunt. Not an ant. He meant he had a familial relation - not an insect.”

“That would make more sense. I was wonderin’ why he didn’t just take the bugs with him travelin’.” Raph muttered.

“Do we have an Aunt?” Mikey asked.

“We would only have an Aunt if Papá had a sister. Or an Uncle if he had a brother.”

Three pairs of eyes blinked up at him.

Leo froze.

This had never really been discussed before.

With the way things were… April would be their Aunt… and his brothers… who were them. Would be their Uncles? This was too freaking weird. But also… he was sad. Because he just knew that his brothers would be amazing Uncles. And they would never meet these kids.

Raph would have been a gentle giant as always, so kind and watching out for them. He would have practice of their shenanigans from when they themselves were kids and he would be able to help little Rafa with his strength and speed training. Mikey would have a blast teaching the kids pranks and arts, and being just so much better at the mood swings that kids went through so quickly some days. Donnie… would pretend to not like having kids around, or want to experiment on them considering exactly where these kids came from, but then would also make the coolest toys and safety gear for them.

These guys were missing out on all of that.

His brothers were missing out on that.

He missed… them.

He realized the kids were still standing quietly in front of him waiting for his reply. They each were giving him suspicious looks.

Did he… tell them the truth?

Surely not.

He didn’t want to lie.

But then they would want to know where his brothers were. And that would lead to where he came from which would lead… to dark thoughts. He didn’t have the mental capacity for dark thoughts right now.

“Not right now guys. This is… a question for another day.”

Raph clapped loudly. “Yeah. Pops probably needs rest. Can we do a movie night?”

“But you just slept for daaays.” Mikey whined as he clambered on top of Leo’s shell.

“Sorry kid, old people sleep more. Not that I’m old, that’s just what I’ve heard. And yes. I think a movie night sounds great. Don, would you like to help me construct a proper blanket fort?”

“Naturally.” The softshell nodded enthusiastically despite his monotone response.

“Excellent. Then Raph you and Mikey are on snack duty! Vámonos niños!”

Chapter Text

Donnie knows he promised. He knows that Raph and Mikey were watching him ever so closely. But for once he was grateful that his brothers weren’t as intelligent as him. They could walk into his lab, see that he ate his required plate of food, check to see if he was getting his naps during the allotted hours, and assume he was following the rules they had laid out.

Leo would have noticed.

Of course, if Leo was here, then this wouldn’t be happening to start with.

He’d manage to record the readings of mystic energy from when Mikey used his portals and replicate them. It required ninpo to be powered and it just so happened that he was a Hamato, therefore he was full of his own mystic powers. Every time he used it the familiar cracking injuries appeared on his arms, but it was nothing some bandages and his hoodies couldn’t hide.

Quickly he checked where his family was located, Raph in the dojo, Mikey was putting yet another tray in the oven, Splinter was in bed still, and Casey was in his train car adjusting the chain on his hockey stick chainsaw. One of these days he needed to talk to Casey about some of his gadgets that he brought back with him from the future. Some of them were intriguing… especially considering the resources they lacked.

Not right now Distract-atello.

Since his family was thoroughly busy elsewhere, he took his hoodie off so it didn’t get bloodied, and nodded to Shelldon who activated the portal machine.

He felt the pain flare through his arms as a purple and orange portaled swirled to life. Taking a deep breath, he pushed his head through the portal to see where this one went.

Raph felt like a failure. He’d talked to Donnie and Mikey to literal tears for hours. Mainly Mikey, or rather, Doctor Feelings… but it didn’t make a difference.

As the big brother, oldest and biggest, he was in charge of watching out for his three younger brothers. Younger and smaller. Of course, Leo was larger than life itself. All his brothers shone in their own ways. But Leo… he was like one of those toys where no matter how many times you opened it, there was another surprise inside of it. Nesting doll? Whatever.

Leo was silly, a goof off, but he was also clever and strategic, but then he would turn around and bend over backward to cheer up one of his brothers when they were down.

After the Krang attack Leo had been stuck in the med bay for months recovering. Yet they still kept finding him around the Lair trying to comfort each of his brothers and taking extra special care to be sure Casey Jr felt welcomed and safe.

It made Raph cry seeing his injured little brother with his arms wrapped securely around the sobbing human teenager.

Casey still hadn’t opened up to them about everything from the future. He said his Donatello had extensively spoken to him about how the smallest change in the past could ruin the future. When Leo tried to lighten the mood claiming, “We get the gist. Some real Back to the Future jazz.” Casey had frozen, staring at the slider.

“Case?”

“That’s… that’s exactly what Sensei said then too…” The teen whispered.

Leo gave a forced chuckle before offering to put the movie on. “It’s one of the best movies ever.”

“Even more than a Lou Jitsu or a Jupiter Jim?”

“Well, nah, but we’re mildly biased.”

“Is it true that Master Splinter used to be a human movie star?”

“Best there ever was.”

“Let’s watch one of those then.”

“Deal.”

Raph had been so choked up over how good of a big brother Leo stepped up to be for Casey. He could tell from the human teen’s words and mannerisms that the Leo from his time was likely more of a ‘father figure’ in his life. Something that Raph would have laughed or wept over once upon a time.

Thinking of the same brother who once shoved a bunch of raw eggs in Donnie’s pillow just to see how long it took for the softshell to discover where the smell was coming from – as a father?

Laughable. Ridiculous.

The same brother who put googly eyes on a rock and called it a goldfish?

With children?

Horrifying.

Except… maybe it wasn’t. Because Leo was the one who taught Mikey not to be scared of ghosts. And he was the one who could actually get Donnie to take a real break from his lab. And he was the only one who was able to help Casey Jr adjust to being in their time after the apocalypse.

And Raph was well aware that when he was lost in the sewers in his ‘Savage Raph’ mode, it was Leo that was determined to look for him and calm him down. Mikey had told him that Leo had been the one to keep them on track by expressing concern for their oldest brother.

Once upon a time Raph would say that they are all too young still to be caring for any children, and the last turtles he would have recommended for the job would be the Disaster Twins. But. Maybe Leo had hidden talents they weren’t aware of. It really wouldn’t surprise him at this point if Leo had great big brother instincts.

He’d stepped up with them before and he would again…

They just needed to find him first.

Mikey was well aware that he was stress baking. But he hated not having anything to do! Donnie had stopped calling him into the lab to help with the machine thingy he had built to help locate where in all the dimensions their blue brother was. Raph was on another one of his ‘got to bulk up and get stronger’ phases.

Which really – how much bigger could the snapper possibly get?

According to Casey… way bigger.

Mikey can’t wait to see it. And not just because he wants to see how tall he is once he climbs the snapper shell once their all fully grown. It will be insane!

It was a little disappointing that apparently the box turtle himself didn’t get too much bigger, but Casey thinks that may work differently this time around. Something about Mikey not needing to stress his mystic abilities so much now.

Of course, Mikey would ‘stress’ his mystic hands as much as it took to find Leo.

He mentally winced as he remembered their promise to Raph. And each other. That they would do whatever it took, but not to the detriment of each other.

The thing was… Donnie is a terrible liar and they all know it. He was obviously lying when he made that promise.

Raph was probably telling the truth… or his best intentions. But he had no room to talk. He was the one who had got taken by the Krang trying to protect Leo. He still had a hole on the edge of his shell where the Krang had tried to stab the slider.

Mikey was just lying. He knew it. He knew it was wrong. But he also knew that none of them would be the same without their brother. He wasn’t just Donnie’s twin, or Raph’s best sparring partner, or Mikey’s partner in pranks. He was their best friend. Their brother. The leader of the Mad Dogs. Their strategist. The one who brought laughter in to their dark sewer home.

Leo was the first one to recognize that Mikey wasn’t just ‘the little brother’ anymore. He was the one who helped him stand on his own, and then encouraged him to try things on his own.

What were they supposed to do without Leo?

How did they get him back?

Where was he?

Rationally he knew that this wasn’t his fault. But… his portal located Leo before to bring him home? Why couldn’t he do it again? What was different?

A voice in the back of his head told him that he must not love Leo enough if he couldn’t twice.

But that wasn’t true!

Mikey loved all of his family so much!

“Mike? What’s up buddy?” Raph’s large hand was on his shoulder.

He realized he was crying.

His timer was about to go off.

Quickly he spun around turning off the timer and pulling the cookies out. “I’m ok Raph. Look! I finished those sunbutter protein cookies you liked for your workouts!”

He showed off the tray of desserts.

Raph gave a small smile before taking one of the cookies and eating the whole thing in one bite. The chef in Mikey hated when he did that.

There was no way the snapper was appreciating the flavor properly when he was practically swallowing it whole!

Whatever… not important right now.

His big brother gave a small smirk as he took a second cookie and carefully bit into a small portion of it. “Sorry big guy. Raph forgets.”

“It’s ok. I’m just glad you like them!”

There was another loud crash from Donnie’s lab.

Those were not so common anymore. Enough so that they knew to be concerned.

“Donnie?”

Holy Pizza Supreme… had he done it?

Donnie stumbled forward further in the portal knocking something off one of his tables. He heard the crashing domino effect it had started but he didn’t care.

This. This was the one… It had to be.

Distantly he heard Raph and Mikey pounding on the lab door.

It didn’t matter right now.

This was portal 196… and inside he saw two tired eyes blinking up at him surrounded by oh-so-familiar red stripes.

“L-Leo?”

Chapter Text

Mikey didn’t want to panic. He wanted to trust Donnie. He did trust Dee.

But how in the great Pizza Supreme did his genius brother open a portal without him?

Were all of those tests for the machine just so the softshell didn’t need Mikey to help him anymore?

That didn’t matter right now! What mattered was that Donnie was just hanging out of a portal!

They all remember Leo’s portal chopping phase. Which sadly didn’t end with his witty remark to Krang Prime.

Raph was currently having the same thought process because he was reaching out for Donnie seconds before Mikey was about to.

They both heard their purple brother’s shaky voice.

“L-Leo?”

Raph paused in his reaching. “Dee? Did you find him…?”

With wild eyes Donnie spun around. “Do not let this portal close – I need roughly forty-five seconds.” He didn’t even give them time to answer before he jumped all the way in.

“Ohmigosh! He just went in!” Mikey shrieked. “Raph what do we do?!”

Raph had his serious ‘leader/ big brother’ face on. “We keep the portal open and he better get his shell back on this side of that portal in forty-five seconds or less.”

Mikey used his mystic powers with Raph’s hands on his shoulders to give him an extra boost on keeping the portal open. With three seconds to spare on the clock Donnie rolled back in through the portal with something large clutched to his plastron.

The other two let the portal shut as they waited for Donnie to explain himself.

The softshell was breathing heavily on the ground staring at whatever was in his lap now.

“This… can’t possibly… how…? But if he…” He was mumbling to himself.

If they let that go on for too long, he would get so caught up in talking to himself that they wouldn’t be able to get his attention for hours.

“Hey Don. Raph’s gonna need you to explain what just happened.”

“Raph needs…” Donnie slowly got to his feet but didn’t turn around. “I found… some… one?”

“AND?” Mikey tapped his foot impatiently.

The softshell turned around and carefully revealed his find.

“Donatello. You have the body build for speed and you wield a bo staff, why are you putting so much effort into the strength behind your attacks?”

Donnie frowned at Usagi. “Why shouldn’t I?” He asked testily.

The rabbit crossed his arms patiently. “Because you would be a much more effective warrior if you focused on your speed and agility. Your strength is your mind, correct? You need to think fast and then learn to react on instinct.”

“Warrior? I’m eight.”

“Don doesn’t need to fight! Raph’s got this!”

“And Mikey’s got this!”

Usagi stared at the bored softshell and the other two little turtles who were doing their exercises exuberantly.

Leo was leaning against the doorway to their dojo. Over the years he had really tried to make it feel like the one he was used to. But there were certain additions that were focused more on his kids specifically. Rings attached to the ceiling so Mikey can climb and get used to his razzmatazz. Maybe event some new moves with it. A fully stocked first aid kit. Accidents happen. More dummies for Raph plus access to a ‘pool’ area to help with agility. Raph is never going to be the fastest… and he was never slow. But it didn’t hurt to work on more than just bulk and strength. There were definitely a lot of foam pads on the ground in case anyone fell. It was mostly Donnie… who didn’t seem to have any sense of balance… and it was getting worse?

He stared at the softshell rubbing at his scrapped knees on the ground.

“I am such an idiot.” Leo slammed his head against the doorframe in frustration.

Usagi and the kids paused to look over at him.

Shaking his head with a sigh the slider scooped the softshell off the ground. “I’m going to borrow Don really quick.”

“But Papá I was about to take Usagi out with my secret move.”

“And what move was that?” He chuckled carrying him into the med bay area.

“I said secret.”

“Mhmm. Right. Never mess with an angry softshell. I know.” He set the smaller turtle down on exam table. “I have a really important question for you Donato.”

“Yes?”

“How much trouble do you have seeing things?”

Donnie frowned and stared down at his wrist guards fidgeting with them. “I have my corrective eyewear in the lab.”

“I know. But when you aren’t wearing them, when you’re not in the lab, how well can you see?”

There was a long silence before the softshell sighed. “Less than optimal.”

Leo sighed rubbing his hand across his face. “Donnie… you know that you can talk to me about anything that’s bothering you right?”

“Of course.”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me about this?”

“Its… not important… I made my goggles so that there were no accidents in the lab.”

“And as awesome as it is that you made those and I am so proud that you are remembering proper safety measures, it’s important that you can see outside of your lab too though. You probably wouldn’t fall as much in the dojo if you could see, right?”

Donnie shrugged. “Maybe.”

“I bet you could eventually beat Raph if you could see while training.”

“With my secret move?”

“Maybe? I don’t know. It’s a secret remember?”

“Right.”

“Will you let me help you make some glasses? I bet together we could make something work.” Leo had the tablet left in the med room that Donnie had made specifically for emergency look ups.

“Maybe… contacts? They would be safer and less likely to get lost or in the way in battle.”

The slider raised an eye ridge. “I thought you didn’t want to be a warrior.”

“I will become one to defeat my greatest foe!”

“Raph is not your greatest foe. He’s your big brother.”

“Rafa is my nemesis!” Donnie insisted. “He brutally tears me away from my work on the daily!”

“He is trying to get you to rest. And go to bed before I find out you’re sneaking out of bed past curfew.”

“That’s no excuse! He – wait. You know about that?”

Leo smirked. “I know all little turtle.”

The genius frowned with a huff. “Rafa is still my greatest foe.”

“Very well. But you are never going to get a chance to beat him in a fight if we don’t get you training with proper eyesight. Besides, this may also help with your random bouts of nausea.”

“Very well. I shall allow you in my lab as my assistant.”

“Thank you oh great genius.”

Donnie grinned and shook his hands out a little bit.

Ah. He was familiar with that one too.

“Come here you.” He snuggled the smaller turtle to his plastron.

There was a little more wiggling before he heard the happy chirps.

He had been failing Donnie. He should have remembered that his twin had problems seeing when he was younger. He had grown out of it, or his eyes had corrected themselves? But he definitely remembered the months of watching his brother jump and accuse them of ‘sneaking up on him’. Or the times he just stumbled, bounced off of corners when walking around their home… there had been so many clues. His brother had to figure out what was wrong on his own. His twin had made glasses and corrected his vision by years of trial and error.

Leo refused to let his little softshell suffer through the same thing alone.

He would help him with this.

“I’ve got your back. Always.” Leo murmured against the top of his head.

The kids were in bed. For real this time. He had worked with Donnie in the lab on the glasses for hours. Usagi had been kind enough to stay and finish training with Raph and Mikey before having them help him in the kitchen with dinner.

Once everyone had been tucked in, and then Leo waited and listened to Raph drag a hissing Donnie to bed, he made one more round of making sure everyone was secure and warm. Finally, he was able to collapse onto their couch where Usagi was seated in the process of folding up the blankets that Mikey had used to make a blanket fort earlier.

“You don’t need to do that.” Leo gestured to the mess of blankets.

“It’s calming to have a simple task sometimes.”

“Calming? Kids stress you out?”

“No. They are great kids. You are an excellent father for them.”

Leo swallowed at the compliment.

Wow. He really needed to hear that.

Or he was just getting sappy in his old age.

“I think they are just great kids. When I was younger, I couldn’t even keep a goldfish alive.”

“We all make mistakes in our youth.”

“Yeah? What did the great Miyamoto Usagi get up to as a child?”

The rabbit hummed a little before shaking his head. “Let’s just say that it was worse than killing a fish.”

Leo studied his face and nodded before reclining even further into the couch. “Ok. But with the goldfish our dad loved that thing more than us, and I accidentally flushed her down the toilet. Then instead of telling the truth I put a rock with pasted on eyes into her bowl and lied about what happened.”

Usagi raised his scarred brow. “Your father believed a rock to be his pet fish? It sounds like we found the source of Donatello’s bad eye sight.”

The slider cackled. “Yeah. Probably. Anyway, it turns out she didn’t die in the drain, got mutated, then came back to try and murder us years later.”

“What?!”

“It’s cool. It was actually a huge prank between her and my dad to teach us a lesson about lying.”

“That’s… an interesting way of parenting.”

“Dad may have been not quite by the books but he did the best he could.”

Usagi hummed again in response before putting away the last of the blankets. He picked up a book off the table and showed it to Leo.

“I began reading this volume when I was staying here before. Do you mind if I borrow it?”

“Not at all.” The turtle shrugged. “If you want to take it with you, or if you want to hang and just chill here and read. I’m thinking about making some tea.”

There was a moment of silence as the rabbit studied him with an observant gaze. “Tea sounds wonderful. I would love to stay and ‘chill’ with you.”

Leo stood up to go make the tea in the kitchen while clapping his hands. “Excellent! I’ve been wanting to get some reading in myself!”

“What are you reading?”

“Well, I was working through some comics that I’ve been dying to read since I was a kid. But I think with how today went I’m going to study up on my optometry.”

At Usagi inquisitive look he continued.

“That’s the medical field specialized on eye health. Donnie is a little genius but I will feel better about making him proper lenses once I’ve done a little more research. I also want to get more knowledge on the chances of his eyesight correcting in the future so he won’t need the eyewear at all. Of course, with how addicted to his screens he is I imagine he will always need something anyway.”

He handed Usagi a mug of tea as he held onto his own and sat on the couch next to him. Using a portal, he found his optometry book in the med bay and pulled into his lap.

“You are a very interesting turtle Leonardo. You have a child’s heart in wanting comics but the responsibility and intelligence to not only be an adequate father, but one that goes above and beyond to care for his sons.”

Leo felt his face heat up.

Pizza supreme. Was he blushing?

No. No. No. No.

Not he. Not Neon Leon.

He laughed totally normally. “What is this Leonardo business? I thought we were friends. That is Leo to you sir.”

Usagi huffed a quiet chuckle of his own. “Very well. Thank you for the tea Leo.”

“Is that… LEO?!” Mikey whispered.

“Donnie. What is this?” Raph made a large gesture toward…

Leo?

Cradled gingerly within the softshell’s arms was a glass containment canister. Within the glass it was full of… ooze. Very familiar ooze that they hadn’t seen or dealt with since Draxum helped them get rid of the last of the Oozesquitos. And floating within the ooze was a mutated red ear slider. But he was tiny.

Barely the size of Raph’s hand.

He seemed to be in a sort of stasis. His eyes were open, but they didn’t seem to be actually tracking anything.

“We need to get him out of there!” Mikey reached for the cannister.

Donnie jolted away with a hiss, surprising both of his brothers. “Ah. My apologies. I don’t know… I don’t know how secure this is. I don’t want to pull him out of the ooze only to find that he can’t properly breathe oxygen or something equally disastrous.”

Raph frowned as Mikey who had been leaning into his side wringing his bandaged hands in nervousness, began fumbling to pull out his phone and call Draxum.

“Don. That’s not our Leo.” The snapper couldn’t take his eyes off the tiny slider.

It wasn’t a question.

“No.” Donnie’s voice was soft. “No. This is… another Leo. And we must protect him and take care of him. But that means our search for our brother is still not over.”

Raph nodded. “Of course, we’ll take care of the little guy.”

“I apologize for the false hope I may have given you two…” The softshell muttered. “I just – couldn’t leave him there once I saw the conditions he was being kept in. This is not a pod for healing purposes, he is an experiment.” His thumb rubbed over an engraved: Specimen #002

“There were no others. He was alone in a broken-down lab. He may have even been an abandoned experiment. I’m not totally sure… I can’t honestly say how healthy he will be if we are able to take him out of this.”

“He had no brothers?” Mikey sounded heartbroken.

“What do you mean if we take him out?” Raph asked.

Donnie shook his head. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I’m so sorry.” He rested his forehead against the glass.

Chapter Text

Donnie kicked everyone out of his lab once Draxum arrived. He wanted one hundred percent focus for both the goat man and himself.

The frown on the older yokai’s face deepened the longer he examined the tank.

“This is definitely my work. However, it’s not mine.”

“Not from the past then? An alternate dimension perhaps?”

“Very likely. I would need to look into further to be sure.”

“Of course. My first priority is his health though. Is this turtle… jeez he still looks like a hatchling… is he able to be withdrawn from the mutagen?” The softshell couldn’t take his eyes off the canister.

That was his brother in there.

Maybe not his twin… but his brother.

And he hadn’t even gotten a chance to live. And depending what Draxum said next, he may never…

“Well?!” He hissed and finally looked over at the goat.

Draxum sighed. “I know you won’t appreciate me trying to ‘soften the blow’ so I will be honest. Donatello there is a high chance that this hatchling won’t survive. It-”

“He.”

“He,” Draxum amended. “is very weak. He looks practically emaciated. Despite looking roughly two or three years of age, it’s likely that he was just an experiment.” He looked down at Donnie.

For a moment the softshell frowned as he tried to figure out what was being implied. Then it hit him and he felt a ton of bricks settle in his gut.
“That… that’s… I can fix that. It will just take some teaching. He can be taught. Nardo is much smarter than anyone gives him credit for including myself.”

“Donatello.”

He froze and looked back at the goat.

“This is not your Leonardo. This is a completely different being. Granted he is made of the same genetic material; however, he has not been raised in a home with a family. He has likely spent his whole life in this container with rare moments of being removed for testing. While he may contain the potential to get to Leonardo’s intelligence, he currently is likely on the same level of a common house pet. I realize how harsh that is, but it’s true.”

Donnie hissed at him before shaking his head. “Fine! Maybe that is the facts. But I can fix it! I can change him! If he doesn’t know how to speak, I will teach him language! If he is unable to do simple self-care tasks, I will care for him! He will live!”

Draxum narrowed his eyes before closing them and sighing. “Very well. As long as you understand the difficulty of this undertaking.”

“I never take the easy way.”

“Good. That’s what he’ll need. Now I am going to prepare for school tomorrow. Your brothers I’m sure would love to stop hiding and actually speak up before Michelangelo bursts.”

Mikey fell from a vent just as his name was mentioned, Raph’s head peeked around a corner by one of his machines.

Donnie wanted to be mad that they didn’t get out like he had said, but they had stayed out of the way and quiet which is generally more than he can ever ask for.

“Let’s let him out then!” Mikey cheered bouncing off the floor to stand next to Donnie.

“This isn’t like freeing the monkeys at the zoo again Mikey.” The softshell sighed. “This is going to be a very delicate process. I want to be fully prepared for every scenario that may occur. And have everything on hand that he may need. For example, how are we on chicken broth? He will be unable to consume solid foods for a long while. We probably will want to look into baby food that is plant based and protein added. I will construct him a crib of sorts… I don’t want it to look like a cage. He’s been trapped enough. But I want him to be secure. We’ll also want to find-”

“Donnie.” Raph rested a hand on the rambling turtle’s shoulder. “Make us a list of what we can do to help. We need to set goals, right? How about a week?”

“Tomorrow.”

Raph shook his head. “You haven’t slept in a long time, plus don’t think I missed what you’ve done to your arms. And you want to build a baby crib? Five days.”

“Three.”

Raph frowned but his stern look wavered when glanced over at the slider trapped within the canister. “Three days.”

“And this isn’t going to derail the search for Leo.” Donnie reminded him. “I am still doing that.”

“But you aren’t doing it alone.” Mikey rested his hand on the slider’s canister. “Dee. You’ve got us. We’re all brothers here. Even with this new little guy who needs our help. He’s family now too. But you can’t, and we don’t want you to do it all alone. Give us stuff to do. And not just busybody work so we ‘stay out of your way’. We’re a team.”

Donnie took a deep breath and held it for a moment.

Carefully he looked at each of his brothers, even the newest one.

He let the breath out.

“Together.” He conceded. “We’re a team. We’re family.”

It was three days later.

The time flew by ridiculously fast. Raph knew that time didn’t actually move faster at different points. His nerd brother reassured him and lectured him on how time was consistent. But it still seemed like they suddenly jumped to this moment.

He didn’t feel ready.

Donnie had said he didn’t need to baby proof the house – but maybe he should have anyway. They literally had dangerous weapons laying around.

What if the little guy fell off the skate ramp?

Or fell in the sewer water?

Draxum and Donnie had expressed that this turtle likely had no ‘motor functions’? Which apparently meant he likely wouldn’t be able to do much on his own. Did that include swimming? Even though as a red ear slider he should totally be a pro at swimming.

“Raph. I can smell your stress stink.” Donnie’s monotone voice carried from over by his computer that he had brought to the med bay so that he could be ready to scan the baby and be ready to search whatever he may need. Or something like that. Raph wasn’t too sure.

But he did know he trusted his smart brother.

Mikey was on standby with a small tub filled with lukewarm water and towels so that they can clean the mutagen off as soon as possible.

Raph was supervising. He was ready to run and get whatever Donnie may need.

Realistically the snapper knew that the softshell was going to send Shelldon for something before he sent his big brother for it. But he did have the emergency ventilator nearby plus the case that they kept adrenaline and other things that Leo was the only one with real knowledge on. They all knew that Donnie roughly understood the basics, and he probably did more research on such things in the last few days, but Leo would always be their medic.

But Raph was ready. His job was to be available and do whatever it took to help and protect his little brothers.

He stopped breathing when Donnie began the process of unlocking the canister.

There was a hissing sound before the mutagen drained into a reservoir in the bottom part of the unit leaving the small turtle to flop against the glass. Donnie was the first to reach and feel for a pulse. Apparently satisfied he backed away.

“Mikey.” A sharp command. No time to mess around.

“On it.” The box turtle reached forward, his hands and arms carefully covered in safety gear, and lifted the unconscious child and begin washing him in the tub. Donnie’s tech was furiously beeping as it began scan after scan. The turtles themselves were silent as they waited. While Mikey was patting him down to dry the small turtle opened his bleary eyes.

They didn’t appear to be tracking anything. Raph saw how clouded they still appeared. Like Leo after too many insomnia filled nights.

Little Guy gave a frightened chirp. His small plastron began heaving as his breath quickened.

“Hey hey, its ok.” Mikey cooed trying to calm him.

“There there small Not-Leo.” Donnie drawled though his eyes gave away his anxiety.

The frightened chirps grew in intensity.

Finally, Raph stepped in. He had been afraid that his size would scare the tiny turtle, but the scared chirps were triggering his big brother senses. And the kid couldn’t currently see anyway. He made a low rumbling churr.

The chirps hiccupped a few more times before he stopped, his head turning, seeming to search for the source of the comforting noise.

He gave a more hesitant softer chirp.

Raph carefully lifted him out of Mikey’s arms and held him against his chest. Little Guy froze as he was moved before raising a shaky arm and smacking it against Raph’s plastron. His hand rested there feeling the vibrations before curling his whole body in toward the snapper.

There was one last satisfied chirp and then his breathing evened out.

“How did you learn to do that?” Mikey demanded resting his hands on his hips.

“Red has always been great with calming you boys down.”

They all jumped as Splinter appeared in the doorway.

“Dad!” Mikey shrieked.

The tot began to grow anxious again but Raph increased his comforting hum and he settled again.

“I heard the baby crying.” Splinter gestured toward said child. “I was going to offer my assistance but now I am far more curious as to where you three obtained another mutant turtle baby.”

“It’s Leo!”

“It’s not Leo.”

Raph kept humming.

Splinter raised an eyebrow. “This is not my Blue. Though he has many similarities to my baby Blue, this is clearly a different turtle.”

“What do you mean clearly?” Donnie frowned pulling his goggles back on and examining the child closer.

“Look here along his neck, under his eyes, these are stripes that my Blue does not have.”

Sure enough. Where Splinter was pointing there were very faint yellow marks just under the baby’s jawline.

“So… is this not Leo?” Mikey asked.

“It was never Leo.” Donnie snapped. “I thought this was our brother from another dimension but these new markings are making me question it.”

“Him.” Raph quietly insisted. “Even if he’s not another version of our Leo, he’s still a kid who needs help.”

The softshell sighed dramatically before nodding. “Of course. I wasn’t going to not help the baby.”

“Besides, didn’t you say that all his blood stuff matched?”

“His DNA test was a perfect match. You are correct. Maybe other dimension us just look a little different.”

Mikey shrugged. “It makes sense. In different dimensions, we could look or act different. That doesn’t mean we’re not still brothers.”

“You are correct Angelo. All the evidence is pointing to this being another version of our brother. However, I refuse to call him Leo. And I’m sure we are all in agreement the Specimen Number Two is too callous.”

“Obviously!”

“Can we just call him Lee for now?”

There was a moment where they contemplated it. They often threw nicknames around, but as simple as it was, Lee, was not one that they commonly used for their brother.

“I don’t see why not.”

“Works for me.”

Splinter nodded. “Well, if Lee just woke from a nap, he’s going to be hungry.”

“How can you be so sure?” Donnie frowned.

“It’s nature’s way.” Splinter shrugged before turning and leaving towards the kitchen.

“Pop’s is right. Soon as naptime is over its food time. ‘Sides, this little guy definitely needs some food.” Raph started toward the kitchen as well, carefully still cradling the little slider.

The flailing arms had stopped and now he seemed to be carefully running his tiny hands over every bit of Raph’s plastron and scaley arms he could reach. When he caught the ends of Raph’s mask he carefully grabbed it and rubbed it against his cheek.

“Chirp…?”

“That’s my mask.” Raph told him softly. “We can get you one too. But we should wait until you can get your eyes properly checked. I’m sure your big smart brother is already learning how to do a child safe eye check.”

“Correct you are Raphaella.” Donnie said his snout practically glued to his phone as he furiously read through some article.

“Ooh ooh!” Mikey bounced over to the fridge. “So, I looked up some recipes for babies and then looked up turtle-y stuffs and I made this green applesauce stuff for baby Lee! It’s got lots of important vitamins and nutrient stuff a growing ninja needs! But also, is soft and easy on tummies!”

Donnie’s scanner ran over the food container and after reading the results on his wrist brace, he nodded. “Well done Michael. This is exactly what he needs.”

“He won’t eat it cold though.” Splinter pointed out from his seat at the table next to Raph.

“Who eats warm applesauce?” Donnie questioned.

“That’s actually how most people eat it.”

“No.”

“Yes. And some people like it warmed up over pancakes or hash browns.”

“Right right. Another case of Donnie’s wrong. Thanks for playing. Anyway – who wants to try and feed the baby?”

“Me!” Mikey cheered pulling the glass bowl out of the microwave where he slightly heated it before pulling out one of the ‘Donnie approved’ baby spoons. “Try this little Lee! It’s a Mikey special!”

The tot seemed disinterested. He was still busy playing with Raph’s bandana.

“Oh wait.” Mikey carefully took a small bit on his finger and dabbed it to the tot’s beak. He chuckled at the disgruntled look he made before licking the sauce off his face. After he tasted it, he gave an excited chirp and began licking his beak searching for more.

Gingerly Mikey guided a spoonful to his mouth and watched as he swallowed.

“He likes it!”

“Excellent!” Donnie’s shoulders drooped in relief. “Just make sure not to give him too much. His stomach won’t know what to do with too much sustenance.”

“Rodger!”

Their newest addition to the family was clean, fed, and currently wrapped in a soft blanket in Raph’s arms as he made comforting rumbling churrs from the couch. It was almost instantaneous after they finished his meal that he fell asleep.

Donnie assured them that it was normal.

The tiny turtle’s body needed healing. And the best way to do that was let him sleep. His heart rate seemed normal considering his condition. He was severely emaciated. But considering how the last few hours had gone Raph had genuine hope that this little guy was going to make it.

Looking around he saw that Mikey was curled up under his own blanket scrolling through his phone. Donnie had disappeared back into his lab with a short announcement that he would be back in a few hours to check on Lee, but he needed to adjust the setting on his machine to search for Leo.

Splinter had surprisingly hovered the whole evening around them before retiring to his recliner. Even from their though he kept looking over at Raph and the little bundle in the snapper’s arms.

Raph sighed and rested his head back against the couch.

They still needed to find Leo.

He wasn’t sure, but his gut was telling him that this little guy was a sign that they were getting closer.

Even if he wasn’t a sign, they still saved a life, and gained a new family member.

Leo was going to be so excited by Lee. The slider had already proven that he wanted a sidekick of sorts when Casey showed up calling him ‘Sensei’. Another little red ear slider was just going to thrill him.

Raph’s eyes popped open as he sat up quickly.

Mikey met his eyes at the sudden movement.

“Raph?”

“We forgot to tell April and Casey.”

“Oh shell.”

Chapter Text

Usagi had invited them to his Aunt’s farm for Christmas. It was adorable watching the kids run around and play in the snow. There were a few other yokai children there that his Aunt had taken in and they quickly warmed up to the turtles and showed them fun games to play in the snow before taking them inside to have warm drinks and desserts.

Leo gifted Usagi a new katana that he had seen the samurai admiring on one of their trips in the Hidden City, and was pleasantly surprised that Usagi had gotten the same for him.

Usagi’s Aunt made jokes about wedding bells which they both denied vehemently with proclamations that they weren’t even dating.

“I’m a full-time dad these days. I don’t know if I’m allowed to date.” Leo said quietly as they laid on the farm house roof.

The kids had gone to bed an hour ago and they were finally getting a moment to themselves. The night was clear and glittering with stars. The snow seemed to glow in the moonlight. The romantic in Leo wanted to say it was perfect, but either way it was breathtakingly beautiful. With the glow from the snow, Usagi’s white fur made him look ethereal. It almost was too much for him, so he kept his eyes on the stars. They rarely got to see them in New York anyway.

“I believe that is a choice that only you can make.” Usagi replied his voice just as soft, neither of them wanted to run the risk of waking any of the kids.

“I think… if I were to date someone, they would have to be very good with three crazy turtle boys.”

“Four, if you count their father.”

Leo chuckled. “Good point. Four. And… that person should probably know the truth about those turtles.”

He heard Usagi’s ears twitch against the snow of the roof. The secrecy of the turtles’ pasts had remained unvoiced until now. Usagi had not asked, and Leo hadn’t felt the need to scare him away with their horror story creation. And he was still undecided how much he wanted to include… did he talk about how he was from the future…?

“You don’t need to tell me something that is so personal Leo. I know this is something that is hard for you and your family.”

“No. I trust you. And… at this point I don’t really see how, but it may become relevant in the future. If you stick around that is.”

“You’re not losing me that easily. Not now.”

Leo felt the butterflies fluttering in his chest. Man. The things that this guy said to him.

“Well… it started with an evil warring warrior scientist named Baron Draxum…”

He ended up talking for hours, telling Usagi about growing up with his brothers, discovering who they were, who their father was, their ancestors. He talked about the Shredder. He whispered the horror that was the Krang. And proudly spoke of Casey Jones who came from the future to save them and how his brothers each played a role and sacrificed so much to save the world. All because of a stupid mistake Leo had made as a dumb teenager. Something he really still hadn’t forgiven himself over.

He ended up telling Usagi about being portal jacked… though he wasn’t really positive that was what happened anymore. How he was sent to the moment of his brothers’ mutation and how they had been abandoned by their human DNA donor who in one reality was their father. How Leo had done his best to raise his brothers, without them realizing that he was their brother from another time.

Because this world didn’t have its own Leonardo. Something had happened to the other red ear slider and he still wasn’t sure what. He admitted the weirdness that was being called ‘father’ and ‘pops’ by kids that he once considered his brothers. But how over the years he had honestly began to feel like they were his kids. And he didn’t mind being their dad anymore. In fact, he loved it. He felt honored. And he loved seeing them grow into awesome individuals, that were still similar to the brothers he knew, but were somehow completely different too.

Once he was done speaking, he waited nervously for Usagi’s response, determinedly starting at the almost full moon.

Was it too much all at once?

It was definitely too much.

Did he sound crazy?

Surely, he sounded crazy?

He was crazy.

Oh no… he was going to get kicked off this roof and out of Usagi’s life forever.

“Leo… you’ve been through so much…” The was an intake of breath. “What are the odds… Don’t answer if it’s too much. But what are the odds that you will return to your own time?”

At one point that would have been too hard to answer… but he’s had a few years to come to terms with it.

“I’m no genius, that was my twin… but I would think that the longer I’m here, the smaller of a chance there is of them ever finding me again. Who knows how it happened…? Magic is so weird. And it’s not like any of us have any real training with it. I suppose… I guess it’s always possible that someday they’ll find me.”

“You… you aren’t looking for a way home?”

Leo shook his head. “I miss my brothers more than anything. I’d give up everything to see them again. Everything except my kids. I couldn’t leave them behind. They need a parent and I love them. I really do. And as much as it hurts being away from my brothers, they would understand that I couldn’t just leave these three.”

“And if they showed up here…?”

“It would depend. Can I bring the kids with me? Did Donnie create a way to travel between the two places as many times as we please? Am I potentially leaving anyone else behind that I may miss a lot…?”

He gave in and looked over at his friend. Usagi had sat up and was sitting cross legged next to him. He was staring down at the turtle with wet eyes.

“You are such an incredible and strong warrior. I am honored to be considered your friend. There is nothing more I would love then to stand by you and support you and your family in all your future endeavors. And if the time should come when we have to make impossible choices, we shall make them together.”

He slowly sat up and turned to face his long-eared friend. “Do you… do you mean…?” How could his words be failing him now? He was known for being able to talk himself into or out of anything. Or just for talking too much! But now? When he needs it?!

“Yes, Leo.” Usagi reached forward resting one hand on his cheek and leaning his forehead against the sliders. “For as long as you want me. I’ll remain by your side.”

Leo felt the wetness running down his face, it was a little colder because of the weather, but he hardly noticed it.

“What if I never want you to leave?”

“Then I never shall.”

The next morning, they found the kids whispering out by the barn.

“What are you three conspiring about now?” Usagi asked with a mock stern expression.

 “NOTHING!” They all turned around with guilty expressions.

Leo raised an eye ridge in suspicion. He knew these kids. They couldn’t keep a secret for anything. Especially not Mikey.

He gave them five seconds.

They stared at each other.

“Donnie snuck out last night and heard you guys talking on the roof!” Mikey squeaked before covering his beak.

Leo froze.

… How much did he hear?!

Donnie sighed before crossing his arms and frowning. “I didn’t get much. You guys were too far away from the window and it took too long to adjust the settings on my headphones. And then when I finally got it to work it was just to hear two old men being sappy.”

The slider wanted to sigh with relief but he just slowly let the tension out of his shoulders. It was fine. They didn’t hear him talking about his past. It was ok.

“Raph is confused though. We thought you already were…?” The snapper asked slowly not wanting to offended them.

“They definitely were kissing in the kitchen that one time.” Mikey nodded.

“We were not!” Leo argued. “We weren’t even next to each other when you came in!”

“Then why did you look so guilty?” Donnie questioned crossing his arms.

“Because I had broken the toaster!”

Usagi nodded. “It’s true. He was trying to hide the broken toaster inside the refrigerator.”

“I knew it!” Donnie cackled. “Well. I didn’t know you hid it in the fridge… but I knew it had to have been you who broke it!”

“Wait. So, you guys are like… boyfriends now?” Raph asked.

 They both looked at each other with shrugs before Usagi spoke. “We aren’t going to put a name on it for right now. We both have a lot going on in our lives, but we are going to stand by each other.”

“What does that even mean?” Raph frowned.

“It means that Usagi is going to be around just as much as he ever has not a whole lot is going to change.” Leo shrugged not wanting to really discuss it further. Mainly because they had the worst questions sometimes.

“Then does that make Usagi our dad too?” Mikey asked excitedly.

“No dumb-dumb. That would be if they got married.” Donnie sighed.

“ARE YOU GETTING MARRIED?” Mikey squealed.

Like that. The worst questions, really.

Usagi’s Aunt and the other kids came rushing into the room.
“USAGI’S GETTING MARRIED?”

“THAT’S NOT WHAT WE SAID!”

“NOT YET!”

Usagi raised a brow at Leo. “Yet?”

“Well. Yeah. Yet.” Leo shrugged as if it were obvious. “Maybe. Whatever.”

There was a moment as the rabbit considered him. “Very well. Yet.”

“Yay! Two dads!” Mikey cheered using Raph’s shell as a springboard for a backflip.

“And here I thought we were going to have to attempt a mistletoe shenanigan sitcom cliché to get even get fractionally close to this.” Donnie muttered.

“We could still do that.” Raph grinned.

New Years was spent on a rooftop in New York City. Leo knew that he wasn’t going to be able to top how great their Christmas was. Because. Wow. But he would be a horrible father to his sons and a terrible “whatever” to Usagi, if he didn’t show everyone how amazing New Year’s Eve in New York could be. He bundled up the kids and made sure Usagi knew to dress warm, though his fur kept him pretty safe from the chill.

They listened to the live music, watched the famous ball count down, and saw fireworks.

Raph made sure his two younger brothers were focused on the brightly colored explosions taking over the sky when he heard a very surprised but pleased churr from a few feet behind them.

“Look at all the colors!” Mikey ooed and aahed at the fireworks.

“Do you think they have multiple people setting them off or that they are on some sort of timer system?” Donnie asked even as he pulled out his still relatively new cell phone, with his own personal upgrades included of course.

“Uh. Maybe both?” Raph wrapped an arm around of each of them. “Like. Timers on some and then maybe the really big ones have people setting them off?”

“That actually is an extremely plausible theory. I wonder if I could make fireworks that would be safe to set off in the sewers. They would obviously have to be on a smaller scale…”

“That would be awesome!” Mikey cheered.

“No fireworks.” The slider’s voice suddenly cut in.

There a moment where he bent down to hug all three of them before lifting them up into the air. They were really getting so big. He honestly probably wouldn’t be able to do this with them for too much longer. He left big smooches on each of their heads.

“HAPPY NEW YEARS!” He shouted to the sky while holding all of them tightly.

“HAPPY NEW YEARS!” They cheered back.

Chapter Text

He knew that the chance of them avoiding it all together was impossible… but the day that they wanted to go to the surface was still too soon. Mikey had just turned thirteen! That was too young!

Sure, they had all been up together at different points. They did family trips to the junkyards for Donnie’s new treasures. And he had dressed them up in baggy clothes and hoodies so they could visit places during the day, like Teddy Bear Town for Raph and some art stores for Mikey. When that one band was at Maddison Square Garden, he snuck them in through the roof hatch and they got to hear the music live.

But the three of them going to the surface? Without him? No. Not a chance.

He could hear his big brother’s voice echoing in his mind, distressed about Mikey wanting to go to the surface alone…

“Yeah - but when I was his age, I was two years older.”

At the time he had mocked him. Once again judging the snapper’s intelligence. Which was stupid of Leo. None of them were book smart like Donnie – but everyone was smart in their own ways. And Raph’s was protecting their family.

He really got it now. Raph wasn’t physically two years older when he’d gone by himself. But he’d grown up the fastest of the four them. Raph had been making trips by himself to get food and supplies because Splinter had forgotten that week.

Leo knew how dangerous it could be up there… that’s why he was so hesitant. Even though these kids were better trained than he and his own brothers were at their age.

“Remind me why I can’t go with you guys? It’s not like I’m busy right now. We could go together.” He tried not to sound too… ‘worried parent’. But he knew he was epically failing.

“It’s not really allowing us ‘freedom’ as growing teenagers if you are hovering over our shells.” Mikey pointed out.

“We will be like three hours tops!” Raph reassured him as they put on their gear.

Leo frowned with his arms crossed over his plastron. He knew he needed to let them go. Besides. He knew them. They would just sneak out anyway. And then they may be gone longer and hurt themselves…

“Ok ok ok.” He clapped his hands together and held them up in front of his face as he calmed himself. “Ok.” He gave them each a stern look. Pizza supreme. They’d gotten so much taller. But he was still looking down at them… so he’d probably gotten taller too. He hadn’t noticed. Much. “Listen. You guys go, stay safe, stay in the shadows please. And come home in three hours. And maybe… maybe like one or two texts just to keep me from stalking you guys?”

“Why you gotta make it sound so creepy?” Raph huffed.

“Don’t worry Padré! We will be super stealthy. Like a ninja do.” Mikey nodded patting his arm reassuringly.

“I will set an alarm to remind us to send ‘we’re still alive’ texts to you at the end of each hour.” Donnie said in his monotone voice that meant he was dividing his attention while still listening.

Leo nodded. These were all good things. They were agreeing to his very reasonable terms. They were being understanding and no one was going to get hurt. It’s fine.

How many times did he and his own brothers sneak up on the surface without getting into trouble? Tons! Really. The times that they didn’t get into trouble were honestly more than when they did. But the only ones that stick out in his mind are of course the shenanigans and fights they found themselves in.

“Alright. I love you guys. Please be good. Remember what I taught you about stealth. And… have fun.” He sighed with a tired smile.

There was a large group hug before the teenagers took off out of the lair, distinctly being a little too loud and rambunctious for ninjas. Whatever. It was cool. He was chill. They were smart and strong and better together. It would be fine.

It took exactly five minutes for Leo to lose his calm.

What if something happened? A lot could happen in just one hour. And even when they sent their ‘reassurance texts’ what wasn’t to say that they wouldn’t be lying just to keep him calm. Leo and his brothers absolutely would have fibbed to Splinter about what they were up to when they had started fighting mutants on the surface.

How long had they been fighting the Foot Clan before Splinter found out?

No.

They wouldn’t lie to him.

He had to trust them.

These were not his brothers. These were his kids. Leo loved Splinter, but it was no secret that the rat was not really involved in their younger years. Leo had been nothing but involved with these three. He loved them and he really thinks they know that.

They better know it. Maybe he should say it more…

They had come to him for help with other little things. Surely, they knew that he would rather they be safe then get upset if they did something stupid to start something.

He was well aware that he was huge hypocrite.

But his stupid mistake caused an alien invasion that led to the end of the world.

They wouldn’t be doing anything that drastic. He knew. Because he still had the key to the Krang portal locked away in his hidden spot in the sewers.

He’d found more parts of Shredder’s armor and hidden them in special mystic boxes as well and hidden them various locations all over the world.

Those were the big things. Right?

What if he had forgotten something?

He’d probably forgotten something…

His phone vibrated.

Donato: Stop worrying. We’re fine.

Under the message was a link to an app. Leo realized that they had only been gone a half hour but the softshell had texted him early.

Aww his little softy.

He opened the link and it downloaded an app to his phone that revealed a map of New York City that had three little dots moving about on it. Red, Orange, and Purple.

Donnie had placed trackers on each of them and given Leo a way to access the trackers. He almost felt like crying. That genius turtle of his. Such a secret sweetheart. He would totally find him some uranium for this.

Well. Maybe not.

But he is more open to considering it now.

It was only after the boys had returned safely and were asleep in their beds after their ‘big adventure’ that really wasn’t too exciting beyond not being in the sewers that Leo had an awful realization.

He had forgot something.

He’d forgotten about Baron Draxum.

Because Draxum in his time had eventually become a weird pseudo uncle figure in their lives, he had forgotten how far the yokai had been willing to go to keep his people safe. To destroy humanity.

Creating more mutants.

The Oozesquitos.

He pulled out his phone. “Usagi. Can you come watch the kids for a few days?”

“I don’t understand why Usagi is babysitting us. We’re not babies anymore!” Donnie fumed.

“It’s only because I’m going to be gone for a few days. Besides. Usagi practically lives here half the time anyway. It’s not like it’s going to be that different.” Leo tried to sound reassuring as he packed some medical supplies away in one of his pouches. Just in case.

“I don’t understand why we can’t come with you.” Raph rumbled. “We’ve been training real hard! We can be heroes and help with whatever it is your doing!”

“I know you guys would be awesome and kick some shell up there. But this is something that I meant to do years ago and… It’s just more than you guys are ready for just yet. I know you guys are good to be by yourselves for now, Usagi is just here in case something big happens and you guys need a little back up.”

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and stopped his packing to look over at Mikey, and realized he had four very concerned pairs of eyes watching him.

“Maybe you need Usagi with you?” Mikey asked softly. “If we promise to stay in the lair and be on our best behavior will you take him with you?”

Donnie and Raph nodded in agreement.

Usagi just remained still and silent, what he did when he was trying to hide his emotions. Which meant that he was worried that Leo was doing something stupid again. Probably.

Leo thought about it. Having Usagi with him would help things go by faster. He had to find Draxum, he had to either talk him out of his insane destroy all humanity scheme or destroy his lab and his Oozesquitos. Quite frankly he had zero hope that he would be able to convince the warring warrior scientist that humanity wasn’t all that bad. The only thing that calmed him down last time was nearly being destroyed by the Shredder and then Mikey working so hard to show him how good the world was and insisting they were kind of like family.

So, he was probably going to be fighting. And depending how that went…

No.

Usagi needed to be with them. If something happened to him… or anything really. The samurai was the only one he trusted to protect them and get them to safety.

If he failed and Draxum won, New York wouldn’t be safe. Some of the mutants that were created from the Oozesquitos weren’t so bad, like Todd, and honestly Hypno and his snake? Bug? Whatever he was roommate weren’t the worst.

But others Like Meat Sweats and those psycho crab brothers that just wanted to like eat everyone? No. It wasn’t worth the chance.

“You guys stay here with Usagi.” Leo said quietly. “I’ll be home soon and then we can go out for pizza.”

He could tell that Donnie was mad at him, Raph was confused and a little hurt, Mikey was worried and maybe a little scared. The all gave him hugs anyway.

Usagi rested his forehead against Leo’s, giving him a tight embrace. “You call me if you need help. I’ll be there. No crazy heroics.”

“You guys worry too much.” Leo tried to grin; he thinks it failed. “I just have one little problem to take care of. Give me a couple days. I’ll be home soon. I love you all.”

And then he was gone in a flash of blue sparks.

A week later Donnie was in his lab, obsessively watching his monitor. There was an alert that sounded to let him know there was a change in performance, but it didn’t matter. He hadn’t stopped looking at his screen. He watched as the tracker he had hidden on his father had stopped moving… then blinked out.

Chapter Text

To the surprise of no one, Donnie had become incredibly possessive of the baby slider.

“Dee. We are a team. Share the baby.” Mikey glared at the camera outside of the softshell’s lab.

“It is currently nap time. Please come back later bro.” Shelldon’s voice replied.

“Donatello! If you don’t open this door right now - !”

“Don’t worry Mike. I called in the big guns.” Raph rested a hand on his shoulder with a small smirk.

“Ooooh. April?”

“You know it. And Case. I told her that we had uh… news.”

Mikey grinned cheekily at the camera. “You’re going to get it when April gets here.”

It didn’t take too long for the humans to come running into the lair. They found the oldest and youngest brother in the kitchen snacking.

“What happened?” April asked, slightly out of breath from running.

“Where is Donnie?” Casey’s eyes searched about.

“Dee’s in his lab.” Raph sat up straighter at the table. “Listen… we found - or uh. Actually. Donnie found him. Not Leo though.” He added in with a sigh. “But it’s – he’s – it’s still something you guys should know about?”

They stared at him blankly.

“What Raph means,” Mikey finally cut in. “Is that Dee was doing his mad lone scientist thing and opened up a portal where he found a baby Leo! Except. It’s not our Leo? Draxum said that he has the same DNA and all that technical science stuffs, but that he’s clearly from a different timeline or dimension or something because… well. He’s… in bad shape.”

“Donnie found a baby that was… hurt?” April had her journalist face on. She was gathering and processing the facts as she was hearing them.

Casey was remaining silent but the frown on his serious face indicated that he was listening.

“The baby is kinda sick.” Mikey hugged his arms close to his plastron. “They, well, Donnie thinks the lab may have been abandoned, but they weren’t taking care of him either way.”

“He’s recovering from neglect and emaciated?” Casey filled in quietly.

Raph and Mikey nodded.

“Can we see him?”

“Oh, we’re seeing him.” April turned on her heel and stomped towards Donnie’s lab.

She paused for a moment to mess with the keypad and the doors hissed open for her.

“Of course, he gave her an override code.” Raph rolls his eyes as they followed their sister into the lab.

The softshell was curled up in his chair with his chin resting on his knees, scrolling through his phone. Next to him was a clearly Genius Built crib that Shelldon was hovering over doing regular scans to make sure the little turtle inside was resting well.

He glanced their way when the doors opened and the way his eyes widened at April’s silent but determined march indicated he knew how much trouble he would be in later. They gathered around the crib to see the slider laying comfortably on his plastron.

“The base of the crib is heated so that he never gets uncomfortable.” Donnie whispered.

“This is… incredible.” Casey took a moment to admire the craftsmanship of the crib once he had seen the sleeping turtle. “This is really amazing Donatello.”

The softshell nodded in acknowledgment.

“When will nap time be over?” April asked her hands flitting about by her sides, obviously fighting the urge to pick up the precious little thing.

“Really anytime now? It’s been four point five hours and we’re going to have to feed him and make sure he gets proper hydration soon.”

“I wanna hold him!” Mikey raised a hand.

“I haven’t gotten a turn yet!” April glared.

As they bickered the turtle squirmed and then his eyes opened. They were a little less foggy, but still not totally tracking anything. They all froze at the sudden movement.

He let out a whimpered chirp.

Donnie responded with an encouraging chirp of his own reaching in and carefully lifting him to his shoulder.

“No fair…” The box turtle muttered.

Donnie continued to start gently swaying and responding to the anxious chirps with clicks and chirps of his own.

Raph couldn’t help but smile down at his brother. The little slider was bringing out the ‘big brother’ in the softshell that rarely surfaced. Last time he’d witnessed it was when Mikey had cracked the edge of his shell from a failed skateboard trick. Raph had admittedly panicked a bit at the sight of his smallest brother’s shell. Leo and Donnie had jumped right in with research and medical care. Once it was clear Mikey was going to be totally fine, and that the twins had it covered the snapper was able to appreciate how well they had handled and how proud he was of them.

He could fight bad guys and protect his brothers, but when they hurt themselves, he tended to panic a little more. As much as they fought as siblings, they didn’t hurt each other. Not seriously. Especially not since Donnie had started making his battle shells.

Speaking of which… he did noticed the tiny battle shell that was very much in the works on the side of the genius’s desk.

The little slider’s shell was… in rough shape. They all had a little bit of concave shells, but their newest brother’s shell was too soft and indented. But he wasn’t sure a battle shell was a good idea… Leo complained all the time that Donnie’s tech was too much weight on his back and wasn’t good for his shell or his spine.

He’s sure that his genius brother has done all the research he needs. Or will continue to do so until he is a million percent sure or whatever.

Little Lee, as they were currently referring to him, was finally calming down. There was a little more of an inquisitive chirp now.

“He wants something.” Mikey peered closer. “Hey little guy… are you hungry?” The box shell was talking softly and it drew the attention of Lee.

“Chirp?”

“Can you say Miiiikeeey?”

“Chiiiirp.”

“Close enough.” The orange banded turtle made grabby hands. “My turn Dee! He just said my name!”

“He absolutely did not.”

“If it’s anyone’s turn its mine.” April glared at the softshell until he nodded.

“Very well. Gently… he’s… not like us.”

“I got ‘im Dee.” She gently cradled the little turtle in her arms. There was a moment of fidgeting and his little arms flailed a bit until one of his hands got tangled in her jacket.

“Hey little guy. This family is crazy, but you’ll be safe and loved.” She gently kissed his forehead.

Once it was clear that there would be no complaints by being held by her, she looked up at the softshell. He looked exhausted. The turtle always had bags around his eyes, but now they were deep purple trenches. He was messing with his wrist gauntlet as always, but he was periodically checking on the baby as well.

“Check in Don.” April murmured.

He grumbled at her before sighing and turning towards his desk to fiddle with something. “Eight… and a half.”

“Shower and bed.”

“I know… but we aren’t past the safety stage. He’s still at high risk for - ”

“Donnie. We got this.” Raph nudged him gently towards his bedroom. “If there is an emergency Shelly will wake you. But us older siblings know how to look out for little ones. Plus, CJ here is practically a pro medic. Mikes will make him some healthy food that is safe to eat and everything. Go take a nap.”

There was a moment where he looked like he was going to argue, but finally sighed and nodded. “Very well. But I demand immediate updates on any drastic changes. Shelldon.”

“Of course!”

He gave the slider one more glance before nodding at the rest of his family and slipping down the hall to his room.

“So… what’s his name?” Casey asked looking closer at the markings, familiar and new.

“We’ve been calling him Lee…” Raph shrugged. “But I don’t think that’s staying.”

April shook her head. “No… it’s too… too similar. He needs to be his own turtle.”

“Yeah, besides. It’s not like he has any name yet really. We aren’t ‘renaming’ him or anything… considering what his capsule thing said.”

“Capsule?” Casey raised an eyebrow.

Mikey pointed out the canister that was on Donnie’s workbench that had previously been holding the infant. “Dee found him in that. It just said Specimen 2.”

Casey investigated the canister closer. “Draxum’s looked at this?”

“Yeah. He confirmed it was ‘one of his’, but he said that this definitely was not one of his experiments.” Raph’s fist tightened for a moment then loosened. “We know that Draxum only experiments with food now. And a bit of mystic stuffs. He doesn’t mess with living test subjects anymore.”

“So, another dimension. Or timeline.” Casey nodded.

“We think so.”

“Master Leonardo didn’t grow his extra stripes until he was older, he said. And your Leo doesn’t have them yet. Uncle Donatello had a theory that Leo’s stripes were part aging and part stress. Similar to how some humans’ hair goes white when they are stressed. After a particularly rough month once Sensei had grown new stripes around his arms. He didn’t even notice… Uncle Mikey and I had to point it out to him.”

“So, you think maybe the only reason that this slider has stripes we don’t recognize from our boy is because his small body has already been under a lot of stress?” April nodded sadly. “I’d buy that.”

“Poor baby.” Mikey shoved his snout closer to the small turtle and churred at him softly, doing his best to mimic the sounds he had heard Raph make before.

He got happy chirps back in response.

“Donnie said we were still at a ‘high risk’ time.” The snapper stepped in. “Let’s make sure we stick to his schedule. Time to get some food in that little belly. We got to get some weight on those bones.”

“Can you teach me how to make his food?” Casey looked over at Mikey.

“Of course! Chef Mikey is always happy to take on students.”

They walked out of the lab discussing the foods that had been deemed safe for their newest brother. When they were out of the room April finally looked away from the small being in her arms and up at Raph.

“I know you would have said something… but I’ve got to ask… Leo?”

Raph shook his head. “We’re not giving up. I know Don was working on something in here earlier today. We’re just taking a moment to make sure the little guy is going to survive. Once we are sure he is stable and out of danger then we are putting everything we got into getting Leo back.”

April hummed and nodded. As she had expected. But she had felt compelled to ask anyway.

“He fell back to sleep already…”

The small slider was breathing short quick puffs of air but was definitely asleep again.

“He’s so weak…” Raph murmured. “If I ever get my hands on whoever did this to him… there won’t be much left of ‘em.”

“Save a piece for me big guy.”

“Of course.”

Chapter Text

“I think we should name him something tough. Like… Bruce!” Raph announced as they watched the baby lay on the water play mat that Donnie had set up for him.

Currently he was wiggling around in the shallow pool of water trying to train his hands to grab onto the toy pizza slices that Mikey had found for him.

“We are not naming him after Batman.” Donnie rolled his eyes.

“I think we should name him Angelo.” Mikey grinned.

“But that’s what we call you?”

“Yeah! Then I’d be Mikey and he’d be Angelo and it would be Mikey and Angelo!”

Both of his big brothers stared down at the box turtle confused.

“We’d be like the Dynamic Duo! Mikey n’ Angelo!”

“Aaannnd another Batman reference. I feel like a DC resurgence is going to be happening again soon.”

“Shouldn’t he have a renaissance artist name like the rest of you?” Casey finally stepped in. He was sitting on the floor next to the play mat lightly sprinkling water over the little turtle’s snout grinning when the slider huffed and moved around confused every time the water fell on him.

“That has potential.” The purple clad brother agreed pulling out his phone.

“Why doesn’t Dad name him then?” Raph turned to look at their father who was in his arm chair but watching the baby rather than his tv for once.

“Lou Jitsu Jr.” Splinter said shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

“Dad’s out.”

“HEY!”

“What about… Davinci?” Casey suggested.

There was a pause.

“I don’t hate it.” Donnie shrugged. “Though we could go another route instead of artists, scientists! Like Einstein!”

“Davinci sounds great!” Raph interrupted before their genius brother went further down that rabbit hole. “We can call him Vinny.”

“I like it!” Mikey flopped on the ground next to the new smallest brother. “What do you think Vinny?”

The slider chirped at the presence of the other turtle so close to his face.

“Papá? Thoughts? Comments?”

Splinter huffed. “I thought I was ‘out’?”

“You’re back in.”

“I think Vincent is a lovely name.”

“Great. Already getting the name wrong. We’re right on track.” Donnie muttered typing on his gauntlet having tucked his phone away. “If you guys are good to diligently watch him, then I am going to head back to my lab.”

“Any leads on Leo?” Casey asked softly.

“I am 72% sure that the dimension that Davinci came from is where Leo is. I’m currently trying to figure out a system to communicate between dimensions. I will update you further when I have more concrete plans.”

Once he was back in his lab and the doors had hissed shut behind him Shelldon flew over and lightly head butted him in a friendly greeting.

“You said 72%... but our last reading was 28%.”

“You are wondering why I used the inverse?”

“For sure.”

The softshell started preparing the portal device to start testing different locations in dimension 196 for traces of Leo’s DNA.

“Because they need hope. And while I don’t necessarily approve of giving the illusion of something that really doesn’t exist, in this case my certainty of this being the right dimension, they need it. But the hatchling – Vinny – is out of his high-risk phase now. Raph and Mikey can look out for him and will be very distracted caring for him giving me more time to work on this. And really Shelldon, while 28% is certainly not a very high percentage, it is the highest we have hit yet. Which almost gives me hope.”

“Leo said that hope was a ninja’s greatest weapon.”

“That’s because my twin is a sap.”

Donnie sighed and carefully leaned back in his chair. “But… he had a point. ‘Hope’ makes people feel more powerful than they are. And as ridiculous as it is… it does work. It’s a placebo effect. They don’t know better, so in their minds they have no reason to doubt it. Besides. I am not giving up, which is another Leo-ism. That stubborn asshole. And before we know it we will actually be at 72%! And then even further than that!”

“Right!”

“Let’s get started Shelldon!”

“Right-o Daddy-o!”

“I swear… I still don’t know what Leo did to your programming.”

“He would never.”

“How long until he can walk?” Mikey was helping Vinny sit up but his balance wasn’t quite ready for it yet.

“Depends.” Raph shrugged. “You were up and running pretty quick. But Don was a lot slower to it. I think it’s all about motivation. You wanted to move, and Dee didn’t really want to unless he was in the water.”

“You think Vin here will be motivated?” Mikey was gently moving the little slider’s arms to make them go through the motions of patty cake.

“I think I know a certain orange starburst that will get him motivated if he doesn’t find it himself.” The snapper chuckled as he reached over and gently reciprocated the little slider’s hand gestures.

“Well, us brothers got to stick together.”

“ ‘course we do.”

There was a somber silence as they both thought of their brother who was still missing.

“We’ll find him.” Mikey whispered. “I know we will.”

“Sure, we will. No doubt.”

“Chirp!”

They both jolted a little in surprise looking down.

Vinny was looking up at Raph and chirping excitedly with a wild baby smile. Mikey peered around to see what was happening and the slider chirped and looked at him too.

“He… he can see us! Raph! His eyes! I think he sees us! Hey Vinny Vinci Vin Vin! Can you see me? I’m your big bro Mikey!”

Raph carefully reached forward and lifted the little turtle to his eye level. “Can you see us now bud?”

“Chirp!”

“Pizza supreme…”

“We got to tell Dee! He’ll want to know!” The box turtle scrambled to his feet and took off down the hall.

“That came back to you so fast…” The larger turtle churred and nuzzled the slider in a playful way.

There was more chirping and light slapping on the snapper snout.

“You are going to be so much trouble.”

There was thundering as his little brothers came flying into the room.
“Hand him over!” Donnie flew over and snatched the baby from Raph’s giant hands. He pulled his goggles down and peered at Vinny’s eyes closely. “Holy banana pancakes… how is this possible? I mean. Obviously, it’s the mutagen. But he heals faster than us? It took Raph’s eye way longer to heal after the invasion. Is it because he was sitting in it for so much longer? Did his Draxum use a different variation of mutagen? Maybe a blood sample…”

“Chiiiirp.” Vinny smacked his little hands against Donnie’s plastron.

The softshell froze before lifting his goggles and offering a small smile. “Right. No more experimenting on brothers.” He shifted the baby to be cradled in one arm like he had seen Raph do earlier. “If he remains on this pace his shell and motor functions should heal quickly as well. We may even get him talking soon.” He looked down at the slider’s grinning face. “Donnie is the best brother. Say that.”

“Chirp Chiiirp.”

“Close enough. We’ll get there.”

“Nuh-uh!” Mikey snatched Vinny away again. “Miiiikey. Mikey is your favorite.”

Raph just huffed a laugh. “It won’t matter.”

“So rude!”

“Whyever not?”

“Because once we get Leo back, he’ll be the favorite.”

“Valid point.”

“No fair… true though.”

“Chirp!”

“We have to go looking for him!” Donnie argued, hands clenched into fists at his side.

“I promised Leo we would stay here as we waited.” Usagi shook his head as he set the table for the dinner that was nearly ready.

“And he promised that he would be back in a few days! A few is like three maybe four! He’s been gone eight days! Something is wrong and you know it!” Donnie was near shouting now; angry hisses and clicks in his tone. He knew that he shouldn’t yell at the person who was basically their second father at this point in their lives. But this was urgent.

Besides, Usagi had always been the patient one, definitely not the softshell.  

“I realize that, Donatello. I am worried as well. But we don’t know where he went or what he was doing. It would be pointless to burn ourselves out searching all over the city, potentially the world, when we know he will come back here.”

There was a breath of silence.

Donnie was clearly hiding something and debating the chances of how much trouble he would get in. Sighing, he finally snapped.

“I know where he is!”   

Usagi frowned and finally gave Donnie his full attention. “What do you mean? How?”

“I put trackers on everyone! He knows that I put them in myself and my brothers. He probably guessed that I had one on him, but he hasn’t disabled it or anything. Unless he somehow planted it on something else… but I’ve been tracking his movements. And he was moving all over the city pretty steadily until yesterday…” His voice softened. “…yesterday he stopped moving. I lost the connection briefly but got it back quickly enough. According to the readings he’s still alive. But… I don’t know why he’s not moving anymore. And if he’s been captured or something… well whatever got him is probably strong. So, we all need to go together to get him!”

The rabbit frowned crossing his arms. He was torn. Everything Donatello was saying was true. Leo was in trouble; of that he didn’t doubt. It had been too long. And even though the slider had gotten better at communicating when he was struggling with something, he still wasn’t great at it.

Usagi was honestly impressed that he even asked him to come over to watch the boys. He hated asking for help, but for the safety of these three teens he would even do that.

If Usagi went searching for Leo the three ninja trained turtles would absolutely follow him. With Donatello having a tracker on their father there was no way they wouldn’t just go without him if he tried to tell them no.

There really was only one option and the softshell knew it from the triumphant grin he was now wearing.

“Prepare yourself and your brothers to leave.”

Donnie nodded quickly his hands already flying about his tech brace.

“And Donatello,” He waited until he had full eye contact. “You will listen to my commands. Leonardo could be in serious danger. We don’t know what we’re up against and it will only make things worse for him and harder for me if you three don’t listen to orders.”

“Understood.”

Chapter Text

With Davinci set up and doing well with his brothers and April and Casey, Donnie had returned to his lab.

He had gotten his fifth warning from Shelldon that he needed to caffeinate or take a nap. And that his robotic son, his own creation, was betraying him and refusing to get him more coffee.

Don knew the drill. After a fifth warning from Shelldon that meant that he didn’t just have time against him, his own appearance was going to give him away.

Something that Raphael would not miss.
And then he would become incredibly annoying about forcing him to take a nap.

He didn’t want to go through that song and dance just now.

“Maybe… maybe a little nap. Just a few minutes. Shelldon set a twenty minute timer please.”

“Sure thing bro.” Why did that sound so sarcastic?

Donnie rested his head on his desk and closed his eyes for what felt like seconds before he felt like he was waking up underwater.

What was this? Why was everything green?

…Donnie?

LEO?!

Why are you here?! You can’t be stuck here too!

Where is here? Leo where are you?

Ah. This is a mind-meld. I see. Hey Dee.

LEONARDO. DON’T YOU ‘HEY DEE’ ME! I am trying to bring you home you incorrigible dumbass!

You… you’re still trying? Of course, you are. Who am I kidding? Nothing stops the great Donatello.

Damn straight. Now, where are you?

Not totally sure. Different time? Different dimension? It’s hard to say… Dee I love you so much and I’m so sorry I may have to cut this short… I’m just so tired…

No no no no no! Leo! Don’t – wait. Green. Is this ooze? Is this… Where are you?

I think… I think I’m an evil scientist’s new test dummy… he’s less nice then when it was you.

I don’t know what you’re talking about. I would never.

Of course not. You would never. I’m so glad you’re ok Dee. How are the others?

Everyone is safe, but we ... we miss you Leo. I miss you.

I miss you guys too. Everyday. I… I wake up every day missing you all so much and go to bed every night wondering what you all are doing with your lives.

Lives? We are looking for you. I am going to bring you home.

Ok. I’m sure you are… but it’s not just me here. I can’t leave…

Can’t leave? What do you mean? Can’t leave why?

Can’t leave them… Sorry Dee… I think… I’m so tired… I’m… I love you guys. I love you all so much. Tell Raph and Mike ok? And pops? Have Raph give April a big giant hug for me. And tell Casey that I’m sure he’ll be awesome.

You can tell them yourself when you get home.

‘course I will Stubborn-tello. Until then though… I love you twin-a-tello.

… I love you too Nardo.

“… I don’t know bros. He decided to take a nap but then he started… you know. Leaking.”

“Ew. Shelldon. Don’t call it that. Its crying.” A feminine voice said near his shoulder… April.

“Don doesn’t like it when I call it that though.”

“But leaking sounds so much worse?” Mikey.

He sighed and stretched siting up. “Why is everyone in my lab?”

“Good morning Donnie.” April leaned into his space. “It’s not everyone you drama queen. It’s just Mikey, myself and Shelly. And we are here because we were awake when Shelldon came looking for help.”

“Help…?” Donnie frowned at them before suddenly scrambling to get out of his chair knocking it over. “WE NEED TO GET RAPH I JUST MINDMELDED WITH LEO. HOLD ON I DON’T WANT TO SAY IT TWICE WHERE IS HE?” He ran for the door with April and Mikey on his heels and Shelldon flying above towards where Raph was.

“Wait. What?”

“WAIT TILL I TELL YOU WHAT JUST HAPPENED! RAPH!”

Following Donnie’s tech to Leo’s location made finding him much easier for sure. There was a little confusion about locations appearing on maps that were actually in the Hidden City rather than New York. Which Donnie swore to adjust later, but they finally were able to find a rather decrepit building that had clearly been taken over by some sort of scientists or researchers. Within there they found a portal to the Hidden City that led to an even creepier lab.

Usagi demanded silence, and the turtles were so far listening and remaining stealthy, but he could tell from Donatello’s flapping hands that the softshell was admiring the setup of the lab they were sneaking into. He had to appreciate that he was keeping his stimming silent though, just like Leo had worked with him. In case of situations just like this.

Of course, Leo would think of everything. He was smart enough to plan his sons’ reactions during potential missions, but couldn’t anticipate himself getting… kidnapped? Surely, he had known this was a possibility…

It seemed like he had to have been taken.

Otherwise, he would have come home…

The rabbit was leading the way through the dimly lit halls, with Michelangelo and Donatello directly behind him watching the shadows on the sides and Raphael guarding their backs.

The ‘mad scientist’ décor was not making Usagi feel great about the condition there were going to find Leonardo in. Donnie insisted that he was alive because the device he used as a tracker could apparently read some sort of vital signs. But he couldn’t promise much more beyond that. Usagi was pretty sure that the softshell was lying to some degree, but he had decided not to push it. So far, the turtles were doing exactly as he asked and he didn’t want to make them think that he was doubting any of them.  

He was sure the teens were noticing just as much as he was, but there were signs of Leo all over. Sword marks were slashed across walls, furniture, and there were piles of broken items that seemed to have been swept up into piles. There also seemed to be plant remains shredded and littered about. Some sort of plant yokai? Or witch using some sort of spell maybe? The part he hoped that they didn’t see, that he definitely didn’t miss was the bloodied three fingered handprints that were littered around.

He heard Raph’s low guttural growl, so maybe it was too much to hope that they missed it.

Leo and he had trained them themselves. Of course, they were doing great.

Too well…

They stepped into another room that was clearly a testing area. Eerie tanks filled with various specimen lined the walls. Some appeared patchworked together, others were just remains of other… hopefully just animals. Even if that was awful too, it was mildly better than the alternative… But he doubted it.

“…Dad…?” Mikey whispered in the smallest of voices.

Usagi spun silently to see where the box turtle was looking.

Please no…

Floating in a large tank of green liquid, was Leonardo. Whole. There was an oxygen mask wrapped around his face and several different kinds of tubes and wires running from his arms, legs, and head. So hopefully alive as well. His body was moving slightly in the green murk, but he was clearly unconscious.

As much as Usagi wanted to rush forward and free him, he held out a hand silently signaling the turtles that they needed to remain still and take in their surroundings.

Whoever had Leo like this may be expecting a rescue to happen. Or just may have security measures anyway. The rabbit had told all of them years ago and repeated himself several times since, that even eight seconds of solid observation could save their lives.

Whoever was responsible for this was enough to take Leo out. They needed to be careful.

This is why he shouldn’t have gone alone.

He felt the tension radiating off the teens, but they remained still as he asked. When he was sure that there was no one else around he dropped his hand and they all rushed forward.

Donnie immediately ran a scan over their father through the glass before he began messing with the electronic device that seemed connected to the tank.

“Don… he’s still alive right?” Raph asked quietly as he looked at the top of the tank as if the snapper expected there to be an ‘open here’ sign.

“Of course, he is.” Donnie muttered as he began tying on the keyboard that had slid out from the tank’s system. “It seems like this machine’s purpose is to keep him stable as it harvests his blood.”

“His blood? It’s not taking too much right?” Mikey pressed his hands and face to the glass.

“No. Its running on a schedule so that he has time to recover between harvests. Because of the mutagen mixed into his DNA he heals and regenerates blood quicker than the average individual, we would too since we have the same mutagen in us, therefore the breaks in between are sufficient-”

“Donnie. Less talking more breaking.” Raph interrupted but not unkindly.

“I am multitasking Raphaella. And one, two, three…”

There was a loud clicking noise that turned into a low hiss as the green liquid began to drain. As the liquid went down, Leo’s body began to lean heavily against the glass. Once it was completely depleted the front panel slid up and allowed them access inside.

Usagi began to reach forward, but was stopped quickly by Donatello.

“Better not, I am not sure how the mutagen will affect you and it’s not worth the risk. We are immune to it, probably, since it seems to be having no detrimental effect on Padré, let Raph carry him for now.”

Instinctively Usagi felt himself wanting to argue. To reach for Leo and feel for himself that his pulse was still beating. But he chose to listen to Donatello, the softshell was a genius after all.

Mikey’s nimble fingers were already detaching all the tubes and wires as Raph lifted their father unto his shoulders.

When Usagi had met Leo, he still had his almost lanky teenage body, there was definitely muscle, but he had still looked so young. The last few years however the turtle really had grown. Not only had he gotten significantly taller but he had bulked up as well, still not as big as Raphael had gotten, but that was probably due to the species of turtle more than anything.

Donnie examined the containers that had been holding the gathered blood, he tucked one safely away in his battle shell. “Wouldn’t it be a shame if something happened to his supply?” He muttered as he opened the remaining canisters and dropped a couple of small devices in each.

“What are those?”

“Explosives. We should get out of here quickly.”

The rabbit wanted to roll his eyes in exasperation. These turtles. Nothing could ever just be subtle. Of course, Donatello had to blow up the lab.

Honestly, whoever this all belonged to probably shouldn’t have access to all of this anyway.

Especially if they are targeting Usagi’s turtles.

Very well. They better move quick.

“I found dad’s swords!” Mikey cheered quietly as he rushed over to a table that had Leo’s gear and the bag he had packed last week.

“Do you think you can use his katana to open a way home again?” Raph asked as he gently shifted their father into his arms to carry him without cutting him on any of his spikes.

“Probably!” Mikey nodded pulling all of Leo’s gear on himself for easier carrying and then drawing one of the katanas.

Normally Usagi would discourage them trying to use mystic weapons like this, but if it created a quick way for them out of this lab and straight home to the lair… then it was worth a chance. It couldn’t hurt to wait just a few more seconds to see if Michelangelo could pull it off.

There were a few swipes with the blade where just dim orange sparks sputtered out.

“My turtles?” A deep voice came from above them.

Usagi looked up to see a tall purple sheep yokai peering down at them from an upper lair of the laboratory.

“Last chance Michelangelo.” He spoke quickly.

Mikey nodded and frowned in his focus. “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home…”

Donnie snorted.

And then there was the portal leading them home.

The box turtle was truly extraordinary.

“Hurry now.” He gestured them through the portal and they were out of the lab before the sheep yokai could respond to their rescue.

Chapter Text

Once they were all back in the lair and the portal was safely closed behind them Donnie demanded that Raph hurry their father to the shower first.

“Until I’ve run some tests on the samples, I collected we don’t know what he was in or may have been injected into him. He needs to be cleaned off first, he’s not showing signs of heavy blood loss, but the fact that he’s still unconscious isn’t good. Let’s move quickly.”

The three of them worked together to bathe Leo and then once he was dried off, they rushed him to the med lab. Mikey was quick to reach into the fridge and pull out the bags of blood that said “LEONARDO” in bright blue marker.

As Raph was making sure their father was tucked in and comfortable on the bed, Donnie began setting up a blood transfusion. He also set up an IV to be sure that he was properly hydrated.

“Why isn’t he waking up?” Mikey murmured climbing carefully into the bed to curl up against Leo’s side.

“We still don’t know what was done to him. Maybe he’s been injected with some sort of sedative.” Donnie muttered. “I’m going to run some tests. Don’t speak to me for a bit.” Then he moved to the corner of the room where there were some monitors and equipment set up for testing.

Usagi realized that for now they simply had to wait, and he let himself drop into the chair that was next to the bed. Raph carefully sat in the remaining one that was on the opposite side.

“He’ll be ok Mikey.” Raph murmured patting the smaller turtle’s head. “We got him and he’s safe now. Anything else that may be wrong we’ll figure out.”

“Of course.” Usagi nodded in agreement. “Your father is a fighter. This isn’t going to be what stops him.”

“And Donnie’s a genius. If anything science-y is needed to help him, well we’ve got the best.”

Mikey nodded but didn’t take his teary eyes away from Leo’s face.

The good news was that Donnie determined that nothing had been injected into Leo. The worst of it honestly seemed to be the significant blood loss from the harvesting. He had tested the blood that had been in the canister he had taken and it didn’t seem anything had been added or altered in it either. There were new scars on his scales and even a chip was missing from the outer rim of his shell. Whatever the sheep yokai had been planning he hadn’t gotten very far, but Leo had clearly been through… some things. The advanced healing that their bodies allowed seemed to have reset most of what was done.

Except for an arm. It had taken the first hour before Donnie noticed and he wanted to scream once he realized it had been overlooked. Clearly their father had broken his arm, and it had healed, but it had healed wrong. They were going to have to rebreak it so that they could reset it correctly.

“I’ll do it, Donatello.” Usagi reassured him.

“But-”

“I am the adult here, and I have experience doing such things. You three have done phenomenally thus far, I can do this.”

It was horrible to watch, but Usagi kept a straight face throughout the process. Mikey closed his eyes and hugged Leo closer while Raph and Donnie stood nearby ready to take over at a moment’s notice.

Leo didn’t wake when they rebroke his arm.

He didn’t even twitch.

He didn’t respond to Mikey’s sobs, Or Donnie’s panicked rambling, or Raph’s stress stink.

He didn’t even grip Usagi’s hand tighter when he held him tight.

Nobody addressed it.

But Leo still didn’t wake up.

The next day they all hadn’t left his side except for small moments and only in turns. Usagi knew that Leo wouldn’t want the kids in here worrying over him like this. He would be insisting that they sleep in their own beds and have regular meals.

But Leo was an idiot sometimes.

An idiot that they all loved dearly and Usagi was not going to tell his children that they needed to leave. It would be pointless anyhow. When they were reaching the next evening Raph stepped away and came back with a huge mountain of blankets and pillows and his special bean bag that doesn’t rip against his spikes.

Together they silently constructed a nest of sorts and Raph forced Mikey to take a nap with him, warning Donnie that he was next.

The softshell scoffed but kept messing with his tablet in his chair next to the med bed.

Usagi made them each some soup that he put in mugs so that they could just sip it easily.

They spent three days like this. Small conversations. And while they may not have had the kindest words, they all knew they came from love only.

“Papa has always been an idiot.” Donnie sighed checking his vitals for the millionth time.

“Dee…” Raph rumbled.

“Seriously. Remember when we were kids and his heater broke?”

Usagi’s ears twitched. “I have not heard this story.”

Raph sighed but smiled as Mikey climbed onto his shoulders resting his head on top of the snapper’s.

“When we were kids Dad wasn’t super tech savvy like Donnie. So, he had uh – acquired – these small heaters for our rooms.”

“Stolen.” Donnie muttered.

“ANYWAY. His had broken at some point. And he never said anything! Or fixed it! Or replaced it!”

“Pops doesn’t like stealing if he doesn’t have to, you know that.” Raph pointed out. “And he was saving the extra batteries for our heater likely.”

“That does sound like him.” Usagi glanced over at the unconscious turtle.

“He started getting less happy.” Mikey frowned. “Like he still smiled and stuff. But he wasn’t who he normally was.”

“I was the one who figured out his heater was broken.” Donnie jumped in. “I went to his room looking for him and found the dum-dum on the floor freezing his tail off and his heater was off. When I tried to turn it on, I realized it had no batteries. They had probably died so he had tossed them away. So, I told Raph.”

Raph nodded. “And then we made a plan! Every night we came up with some excuse to get him to sleep in our room since our heater for some reason never died like his did.”

“Because he gave us all the batteries.”

“Right. I never he saw him change them. But that would make sense.”

“When we got bigger Dee-dee made us the fancy wall heaters so we all stay warm now.” Mikey mumbled falling asleep where he was still leaning on Raph.

“Someone has to keep us all from brumation.”

Usagi nodded. He had been warned about the danger of the turtles falling to brumation. He didn’t remember the specifics but something about their mutation and the natural cycle of a turtle’s winter hibernation would be very bad for the Hamatos. Its half the reason he was so insistent when he was in charge of dinner that they had hot soup.

Leo always laughed and made some hot soup joke that only he seemed to get, but it kept them warm on the inside so Usagi was pleased. Also, these turtles were not the healthiest eaters, it was good for them to get some vegetables in them.

“You’re telling me that you mind melded with Leo?” Raph frowned crossing his arms.

“But did he say where he was?” April asked.

“I told you literally everything I experienced. In detail.” Donnie glared throwing his hands up. “I don’t know more than that!”

“It happened while you were sleeping right…?” Casey muttered, he had Davinci in his arms. The little turtle was playing with his long hair contently. “Maybe for whatever reason because of where he is, he can only reach you when you’re unconscious?”

“Then why hasn’t he tried before?” The softshell was looking at his tech gauntlet determinedly trying to figure out what had changed.

“Well, it sounded like he was in trouble…” Mikey was oddly soft toned. They all looked over at him, he was trying not to look too upset but his arms were wrapped around himself. “You said he was tired right? His words sounded like more than just a ‘see ya later’ you know?”

“He’s Leo. He will be fine. We just need to find him.” April rubbed his shell comfortingly.

“It feels too much like… you know.”

“This is different.” Raph reassured him. “Even though we don’t know where he is exactly, we know he’s not in the Prison Dimension and he was able to communicate with Don. We are heading in the right direction Mikes. Even if it’s taking us awhile to get there.”

Mikey frowned but nodded. “I’m… I’m going to go lay down for a bit.”

They all wished him a restful nap but were quickly distracted with their plans. No one noticed Mikey slip into Leo’s room instead of his own. He paused for a moment when he entered. They all had been avoiding this room a bit. It smelled a bit stale in there. Not the normal underground smell, but just unlived in. Leo’s room often had some sort of scent from his oil diffuser. It changed, from oranges, lavender, and a soft cherry blossom scent. No one ever said anything but they recognized their colors. Even in an olfactory sense. It was another way Leo showed he loved them even if he didn’t always say it.

He found what he was looking for next to Leo’s bed.

His sleeping pills. Extra mutant strength level sleeping pills. The slider claimed they only sometimes helped his insomnia, but Donnie confessed that he knew it was because Leo didn’t always take them. Another secret everyone knew but didn’t talk about. Leo knew that they were aware. Because if he was taking them, he’d be running low on them. Then he would need Donnie to make him a new batch.

Mikey grabbed the bottle and rushed to his own room closing the curtain. If anyone walked by, they may be suspicious of the closed curtain. Mikey liked to make his room as inviting as possible. He’s hoping that they will just assume he is upset and leave him alone.

This was stupid.

But he missed his big brother.

He couldn’t open a portal to him. It wasn’t working right.

But maybe he could mind meld with him like Donnie did.

Therefore, the sleeping pills. He wanted to fall and stay asleep long enough to make a connection. It had to work.

He swallowed down well more than Donnie’s recommended dose on the bottle. It was too much. But not so much that he was worried about lethal consequences. He was probably just going to be really groggy when he woke up later.

No one even needed to know.

Besides. A little nap was good for everyone…. Right?

It was like falling. He hated falling. It made him think of falling though the sky… knowing that Donnie was nearby but too far. Being eventually caught by Raph… but then realizing that they were missing …

Leo.

Mikey?

LEO! OHMIGOSH! I’ve missed you so much! Where are you!? Please come home!

He could hear – he could feel Leo’s laugh. Could he cry in a mind-meld? He was about to.

Mi hermano. I have missed you too Angelo. What has my sunshine been up to?

Up to? Leo! We’ve been looking for you! There is nothing more to do then that! You need to come home right now mister!

That’s all? All this time?

What else did you think we would do? Start a farm? Get in to the chicken and eggs business?

More laughter.

I think you would be a great chicken farmer.

Of course, I would. The best. But that’s not the point!

Actually. I am curious. How did you get here?

Uh… I just… took a nap!

Listen. I know I’ve been away. But you have always been an awful liar. Not as bad Dee. But still. What did you do Angelo?

Nothing! I just wanted to talk to you! Donnie said that he was able to mind meld when he fell asleep so I wanted to try it too!

Dee? … that sounds familiar. I’m in a bit of a haze myself right now. Did something kind of stupid on my end too.

Too?

I know you did something you weren’t supposed to Mikes.

Uggh. FINE! I will tell mine if you tell me yours.

Sounds reasonable.

I borrowed your sleep meds to help me take a nap.

MIKEY! That is so dangerous! Ridiculously irresponsible! You need to wake up and go throw up right now!

What?! Why? You take them all the time!

My dosage is at a high level even for my size because I have grown a tolerance for them. If you took the dose on the bottle that would be too much for you!

… and if I took more than the recommended dose…?

You are so unbelievably grounded.

You can’t ground me! Only Raph and Dad can!

I’m calling a leader grounding.

That’s not a thing! I told you mine now tell me yours!

I went on a mission alone when I probably should have taken backup and got captured by another crazy mad scientist who did not take kindly to me … fiddling with some of his toys.

Your grounded too! You need to stop doing everything alone! When you get home, you are not going to be allowed to be alone for anything!

What about bathroom breaks?

Not even!

Gross. But I understand. I miss you guys too. Now wake up and have Dee look at you.

Mikey was about to argue and demand to know where Leo was, but he felt a tugging. Something was trying to wake him up!

Leo! Wait! Where… where are you?

Mike? I can barely hear you buddy. I love you, mi hermano sol.

“MICHAELANGELO!”

Mikey’s head hurt. And his stomach. His arms felt like lead when he tried to push away whoever was shaking his shell.

“Go’l a-ways.” He mumbled.

“Absolutely not. You are so unbelievably grounded.” Raph’s voice said from right next to him.

“Dats wha’ Leo said.”

“Where do you think he learned it?” Raph grunted lifting Mikey up into his arms.

“He didn’t say where he was though…”

“What did Leo say?”

“He’s alone… and misses us.”

A low growl emanated from Raph’s throat. “Don’t worry. We’re going to bring him home.”

Chapter Text

Usagi had waited on the third night till all the younger turtles had fallen asleep and tried one of his home healing remedies. The same he had tried when he had first met them. It just indicated that Leo was exhausted. But how could he still be so tired three days later?

He knew how to be patient. But it didn’t mean he wanted to do it. Plus, he could see Raph’s poor frown lines getting deeper every day.

He sighed softly leaning forward to grab one three fingered hand into his own.

“Your children need you, my friend. It’s time to wake up…”

Leo blearily opened his eyes. Things were taking their sweet time to form proper shapes. But recognized a bundle of orange and green.

“Miguel?” He saw him curled up on his plastron and clumsily reached around until he found the box turtle’s shell and rubbed it reassuringly. “How’re you kid?” His voice was raspy and dry but he needed to know. Besides talking had always been his specialty.

“I’m physically well, emotionally I am very sad that my father was turned into a science project.” Mikey said in a surprisingly calm voice.

Leo winced. “Sorry bud.”

Man he was still so tired…

“I believe you owe everyone an apology.” Usagi’s voice drew his attention over to him next. It took him a moment to be able to focus on the slightly further away entity.

The rabbit was sitting with his arms crossed over his chest as he raised one brow over at him. “I told you to call me if you needed help.”

“I never actually said I would though.”

“You are setting a horrible example for the boys.”

“The boys are still in the room.” Raph interrupted. “And I am very happy to see you’re ok and awake Pops.” The snapper smiled down at the slider.

“I’m happy to see you too Rafa.” He reached up and rested a hand on the red banded turtle’s cheek, once satisfied he was indeed fine his eyes began to search for purple.

Donnie stepped over to the bed with his arms crossed over his plastron in almost an exact mirror to Usagi’s stance. “There is only one person in this family smart enough to be playing with chemicals and its not you Papá. Don’t ever do that again.”

“Sheesh. I was expecting more ‘oh we’re so happy you’re alive! Look we got your favorite pizza because we love you!’ That sort of treatment. Why do I feel like I’m being grounded?” Leo whined playfully, trying not to wince as he coughed afterward.

“Because you are.” Donnie glared. “You constantly tell us to come to you if we have any problems. Well, we have a huge problem.”

Leo nodded. They had a problem. He would solve it.

“W… what is it…?” Jeez how was he already falling asleep again?

“Padre?” Mikey’s small voice asked concerned.

“Is there … emergency?”

Donnie sighed loudly, but patted his father’s hand still. “No. There is not an immediate issue. You can rest more.”

“-ya sure?”

“Sleep Pops.” Raph rumbled softly. “We’re holding down the fort just fine.”

“G’night to little turtles.”

He heard the playful groans at the nickname before he passed out again.

Next time he woke up it was because Usagi was pulling him into a sitting position and Raph was carefully tapping his arm to get his attention.

“Nee’ s’mthin?”

“You need to eat.” Raph showed him a bowl of what was likely hot soup.

“Hooot soooup.” Leo giggled before nodding off again.

“Damn it.”

This time he woke up to Donnie being the only one in the room.

“Hola Donato.” He rumbled as he stretched trying to wake up for real this time.

“Greetings father.”

“So formal.”

“So pissed off.”

“Ouch. Such language.”

“You mean English?”

“I mean the teenager I just heard.”

“Whatever.”

“There it is again.”

“I’m letting the others know you are awake enough to converse now.” Donnie was staring at his phone.

“Excellent. Can someone bring me a drink?”

“We’ll see.”

Everyone filled the room fairly quickly, Mikey climbing back onto the bed to snuggle into his side. Once they were settled Donnie raised a brow and looked over at Leo.

“Guess they can’t.”

“Nobody loves me.” The slider muttered.

Mikey tutted at him and squeezed him in a big hug. “Not true!” He singsonged.

“Is all of this about ‘the problem’ that was mentioned before?” Leo sighed looking at the serious faces around him.

Nods all around.

“Right. And what is your problem exactly…?”

The three teens glanced between each other before nodding in unison again.

“Pops…” Raph cleared his throat. “We know that you don’t like to talk about it. But you’ve been keeping big secrets from us. About who we are and your past. We’ve tried letting it go… but it seems like maybe its important still. Your ‘super-secret missions’ have something to do with your past right? And you don’t want us to help. I understand that you want to keep us safe… but we have been training under you and Usagi for years… surely you can trust us now?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you…” Leo was mentally scrambling. He was so not awake enough for this.

Seriously. They couldn’t have gotten him at least a sports drink?

“It’s that you don’t have any faith in us?” Donnie huffed.

“That’s not it either! Of course, I have faith in all three of your abilities! You guys would have been amazing without any training, and with it you are an undefeatable team!”

“Then let us help you… Please?” Mikey asked quietly. “We’re a family. And family sticks together and fights together.”

Raph nodded his agreement. “Ya, those were your words Pops.”

Leo sighed and glanced over at the rabbit who had remained silent through this though he was giving everyone a critical eye.

“This is a family matter; I am remaining neutral on my opinion.” He shrugged when the slider caught his eye.

“Nonsense,” Donnie sniffed. “You have practically helped raise us. You are a part of this family just as much as any of us.”

Mikey and Raph nodded.

Usagi’s eyes widened slightly before he smiled at the softshell who was avoiding his gaze. “Thank you, Donatello.”

“Just stating facts.”

“Well. Then I agree with the boys Leo. It may be time to tell them what’s going on. I know it’s not an easy story to tell… but they’ve earned it. And I think they are mature enough to handle it. Plus, if another one of these missions of yours come up they will understand better why they are so crucial.”

Leo groaned dramatically flopping his head back against his pillows. “I hate when you all make sense. That means I have to listen to you. I feel mildly betrayed ‘sagi.”

“You should be used to it by now. On occasion the boys and I are going to agree against your dramatics.”

“I’m not just being dramatic.” Leo frowned but it was still playful.

“No.” Usagi’s nose twitched as he tried not to smile. “However, you do try to use your theatrics to distract others from what’s important at hand that you don’t wish to speak of.”

“It’s not going to work if you point it out to them!”

“I’m on their side!”

“Right. Betrayal. Very well. We will have morbid story time after somebody brings me something to drink. My throat is killing me.”

“I’ll make tea!” Mikey cheered rushing out of the room.

Donnie ran another scan and checked the IV that was still hooked up to the slider. Raph went and brought in a few more chairs and helped Mikey with more drinks for everyone. Usagi just scooted his chair closer to the bed and took Leo’s hand in his own giving him a reassuring squeeze. This was the right thing to do. The boys were old enough.

Once everyone was settled and Leo had a warm cup of blueberry green tea in his hands that he could sip on he finally told the boys everything he knew. They were uncharacteristically still and silent as he told them about his childhood and how he found them. He explained how his ‘missions’ were things he remembered from his past that he was trying to prevent in their future so they didn’t have to go through what he and his own brothers did.

When certain parts made his throat feel extra tight, Usagi was quick to offer soft words of encouragement, never taking his hand away from Leo’s.

There was a long silence once he had finished telling them everything. He waited tensely for their reactions.

“So… you really aren’t our dad.” Mikey’s voice was so quiet. “You’re… our brother?”

Leo shook his head. “Listen. You guys may be an alternate timeline version of my brothers, and you may look similar and have similar characteristics, but you are not them.” He waited until he had each of them looking at them. “I won’t lie to you guys; it was weird at first for me. I didn’t sign up to be a dad. But I am the one who raised you three and I honestly wouldn’t trade that for anything I love you guys like you are my sons. Because you are. I promise you that I have and always will love each of you for who you are. Not who my brothers are to me. The love I feel for them is different. But we are still all family. I don’t want you to ever think otherwise.”

Mikey nodded fiercely and hugged Leo. “Thanks, Padré.”

“Of course, mijo.”

“Yeah. It’s kinda weird knowing we look like your brothers… but families often look like each other, right?” Raph shrugged. “As far as I see it, nothing has changed.”

“Except you’re going to leave us, right?” Donnie’s voice was flat, his face a blank mask.

Leo frowned. “What do you mean?” He knew better than to argue before completely understanding Donnie’s worries.

“You aren’t from this dimension, or branch of time, or whatever it is. I will research that better later. But the point is – you’re not from here. So, you are going to leave us, someday right?”

Leo and Usagi glanced at each other. This was a topic that had come up a few times over the years for them. Leo had nightmares constantly about waking up in yet another universe away from his brothers and his sons. Away from Usagi. Sometimes he was starting over again with baby turtles, sometimes he was just back in the Prison Dimension.

Because it was on his mind often it was something they had discussed. Naturally Donatello was going to realize the possibility of it.

“Donato…” Leo sighed. “I can’t promise you that I know what’s going to happen in the future. But we have contingencies.” He gestured to Usagi who nodded solemnly in response. “If… If I were to suddenly disappear one day then you three will still have Usagi here to watch you. And I swear to you that if that did happen, I would do everything and anything to try and get back to you three.”

“Even if you go back to your home?” Raph asked looking a bit anxious.

Leo set his tea down and reached out for the snapper. Once he had his hand, he gripped it fiercely until their eyes met. “This is my home now. The people in this room are my family. I miss my brothers every day. I won’t lie about that. I hope you three never have to experience the pain of losing a brother. But I love you guys with my whole being. And I don’t want to miss a moment of your lives. If I suddenly vanish… please know that I am fighting to get home to you guys.”

Mikey and Raph nodded, tears in their eyes but relief in their faces. Donnie hesitated, seemingly calculating how much he trusted Leo in this moment, but finally nodded.

“The other option we have considered, is that my brothers may show up here looking for me. And if that’s the case… we’ll take it in stride. But I am not leaving you guys. I am hoping that maybe with two geniuses we could make a portal to travel back and forth. Maybe. Or maybe they will come live here. Or we can go with them. Or maybe… maybe I will just get a moment to say I love them and goodbye. We will figure it out. But we will do it together.”

They nodded and carefully crowded him for a group hug.

“Since we seem to be on a story telling honesty thing here…” Donnie muttered.

They waited for him to finish but he suddenly seemed nervous and looked down at his tech wrist brace.

“Please continue your story Donatello.” Usagi spoke up.

“Uh. Right. Because I am incredibly intelligent and had the capability to do so, I hacked the systems of the guy who had dad locked up and I now realize that this was the same yokai who must have created us.” He glanced over at Leo for confirmation.

When the slider nodded, he continued. “Right. Well, I’ve been looking over the new data that was in his files and a lot of it is rather cliché mad scientist jargon that really just proves that this guy is a villain that we should clearly dispose of. But within all of that I also found files on ‘his’ mutated turtle experiments… I was looking for information on what he had done to our father but I found files on five turtle mutants.”

Raph and Mikey frowned in confusion.

“Five?” Mikey asked.

Leo looked like he was going to be sick. “The other Leonardo. There was one…”

Donnie looked away again. “Y-yes. Apparently, we had a fourth brother. There was a red-ear slider in our original tanks.”

Mikey gasped quietly his hands covering his face as his eyes started to tear up. Raph stared blankly at his hands in his lap.

Leo was staring at his blanket covered legs as his mind tried to recall that night. “There… There wasn’t a slider? There was only three… right? Did I… Did I even look? Did I leave him behind? Oh no… The whole night was such a blur. I’d just fallen out of that portal, realized I was in the past, saw the lab blowing up… saw Spli- Lou Jitsu. He. He only had three?”

Donnie reached out and carefully placed a hand on Leo’s shoulder. “It’s ok. The other slider… he didn’t make it... Apparently this Baron Draxum had found that ‘Specimen Red Slider’ unusable, and marked him as ‘prep for disposal’.”

Leo tried not to snort and roll his eyes at yet another Draxum trying to dispose of him. At least this time it wasn’t off a roof…

Donnie’s voice took on a tight tone. “Did you guys know that specific turtle species can just die from being depressed?” Donnie’s eyes finally looked back at Leo. “Red eared sliders are on that list.”

Mikey sobbed and climbed into Leo’s bed burrowing under his arm and the blankets. Raph and Donnie each reached out and grabbed at Leo as well.

“Please don’t get sad Pops.” Raph murmured.

Leo pulled them into a hug. “Guys. Not to like, make a poorly timed joke-”

“Because you never do that.” Usagi rolled his eyes.

“BUT if I didn’t get depressed when I had to potty train you all, then I really don’t see how it can get worse.”

Donnie’s lips twitched as he disengaged himself from the hug. Raph chuckled sitting back and patting Mikey’s shell who was still burrowed but seemed less tensed.

“On another note… I am really sorry about the other Leo you three. I don’t even know what to say… If I could have saved him-”

“We never knew him.” Mikey said popping his head back out from under the blanket. “At least I didn’t. But I still feel so… so sad.”

“Yeah, I feel bad. But I have no memory of a slider or of Donnie before we mutated.” Raph agreed.

“That we have any memories before mutation is in itself a marvel,” Donnie shrugged. “However, that would be accurate. According to my own memory and the files I found, the slider and I were in an enclosure together. Which is really a bad idea because soft shell turtles can be aggressive and sliders like to be left alone. Therefore, the reason he’s dead is likely my pre-mutated self’s fault.”

“No.” Leo grabbed Donnie’s hand firmly. “No. It’s Baron Draxum’s fault. He shouldn’t have been keeping any living creatures in those kinds of conditions and he should definitely not have been experimenting on them. All these things are his fault. Do I regret that mutated turtles are the product of those experiments? No. I love this family so much. But that doesn’t make up for all the terrible things he has done, and still wants to do.”

“Speaking of which,” Usagi cut in. “What did he want you for?”

“He caught me messing with one of his experiments, more on that later, but once he realized what I was he was very eager to ‘use me’ to help progress something else he had going. I’m always more helpful as a body.” The last part he muttered to himself, but he could tell Usagi heard it from the twitch of the rabbit’s long ears and the tighter grip he made with their hands.

There was a moment of silence as they processed all of the new information.

“I think the logical next step here is family bonding while Papá recovers.” Donnie spoke up.

“Yeah!” Mikey cheered. “Turtle piles, and movies, and blankets and snacks!”

“Why don’t you three get all of that set up while I help the invalid here so he can move to the tv room.” Usagi got up and started disconnecting Leo from the IV.

The teens ran to get all of the supplies arguing as they went who got the ‘good’ blanket.

Usagi watched as Leo seemed to deflate into the pillows after the kids were gone.

“Donatello blew up the lab after we left.”

Leo sighed. “That’s a relief.”

“Did you finish what you needed to?”

“Mostly… the big stuff. I’m just…” He bit his lip and shifted his gaze to the one of the medical charts they had pinned to wall.

Usagi gently rested a hand on his arm. “Yes?”

“I’m drugged and don’t want to accidentally… you know.”

“Be too honest?”

“Something like that.” He huffed a laugh.

“You know I will not hold anything against you unless you are not being true to yourself.”

The slider closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath.

“I feel… I am afraid. I’m afraid now that they know that something is going to happen. That’s the way the universe has always played it. Against… against me. I’m afraid now that they know that they are going to be taken from me. Or that I’m not going to be able to be there for them. I can’t ‘sagi... I can’t lose another family.” He barely managed to choke out the last bit as sobs racked his lungs.

The rabbit gently guided him into sitting up and held him tightly as he hugged him to his chest. “We can’t control the future. We can only do our best to stay together and fight whatever comes for us. You have raised three strong sons. You would be so proud of how stealthy they were in our search for you. Their team work has only gotten better and they are far more advanced in their skills then they ever let you see.”

“Brats.”

“They like when you show off.”

“They are just hoping they’ll get to see me fall on my shell again.”

“It is pretty funny.”

“You’re supposed to be on my side.” Leo grumbled into the blue hoodie that Usagi was wearing. He’s pretty sure it was one of the slider’s old ones.

“I’m always on your side. Even when you make a fool of yourself.”

He chuckled a little wetly at that. Damn emotions. Damn drugs making him emotional. That’s all it was. Probably.

“The kids are going to be looking for us.”

“They’ll give us a moment more.”