Knocking the rest of the barn down was easy enough to do. Donny used a grapping hook and a well-aimed throw from a safe distance to get a rope to one of the still standing walls. He took the other end of the rope and tied it to the truck. When everyone was clear, Casey eased the truck forward, pulling the wall down. As that wall fell, the others weren’t far behind and the fallen structure was safe to approach.
They sorted through the wood and building materials to see if any of it was salvageable. It wouldn’t be used to build a new barn, it was no longer sturdy enough, but it could be used to build furniture and the rest could be used as firewood.
The damage to the house, beyond the lost shingles, was minimal. One window was broken and the room was soaked but it wasn’t too bad. Mrs. Jones hung what she could out to dry and Casey drove into town to buy a replacement window.
Even though everyone told Raph that he could take it easy, he insisted on helping. He climbed up on the roof with Casey and helped replace the lost shingles. Leo could see how much Raph’s body hurt him, how his aim was still a little off, and how tired he would become, but Raph pushed through it. He was determined and Leo had to admit that it lifted his spirits to see it.
They stayed out at the farm for another week to help with the cleanup and repairs. When Cid showed up to help with the barn, he told them that he had some friends coming to help. That was the cue for the Turtles to leave.
April drove them back to New York, entering the city just after night fall. Raph had told her where to go and she drove them to visit Raph’s friend, Mrs. Morrison first. April parked as close as she could get and the four Turtles and Splinter hopped out. April opted to wait in the van with Leatherhead and Snow.
Raph did a special knock on the door then waited. Lights came on and the door opened. “Raphael? Where have you been? I was so worried.”
“I got hurt Mrs. M,” Raph replied and moved in for a hug. “It was bad but I’m okay now.” Leo panicked for a moment and then realized that Raph had been coming to see this woman for a few years. She had to have known that he was a mutant turtle by now.
When Raph pulled away, Mrs. Morrison’s hands drifted up to his face. “Oh, sweetie. Come inside. I’ll make us some tea and you can tell me what happened.”
“My family’s here,” Raph said, reaching up to grab her hands. Holding on to her with one hand, Raph reached out and took a hold of Splinter’s with the other. “This is my father.”
“Pleased to finally get to meet you,” she smiled, shaking Splinter’s hand. “Please, come in and have a seat.”
“The pleasure is mine,” Splinter replied before entering her home.
One by one Raph pulled them all forward to introduce them before they walked inside. From the look on Mrs. Morrison’s face, Leo could tell that she knew who each of them were. It left him to wonder what Raph had told her about them.
Mikey immediately gravitated towards Mrs. Morrison’s cat while the others found a place to sit. They allowed Raph a few minutes to talk with her, their hands remaining clasped together the whole time. Every so often, Mrs. Morrison’s hand would come up to touch Raph’s face and not once did Raph flinch at her touch. In fact, he tended to lean into it.
Leo placed his hand on Raph’s shoulder, “We don’t want to keep April waiting for too long.”
“Okay,” Raph nodded and then said his goodbyes. Leo could see how much Raph had grown to love the old woman and how much she loved him in return. It was almost like Raph was keeping a secret grandmother from them for all this time and Leo was a little jealous of it.
They piled back into the van and April drove them to her place. Donny had secured the tunnels leading from her place to the lair and it would be the safest route for them to get back home. April didn’t stay long, choosing to head back to the farm so she could be there to help with the cleanup. She only stayed long enough to let them in and then locked up behind them.
It was always the same whenever they were gone from the sewers for an extended period of time. The smell took some getting used to.
Leo had lost count the number of times they had to start over. After the near destruction of the reservoir pump station by the Foot and Hun, the Turtles had to find yet another place to call home.
They managed to find an old subway station from the early nineteen hundreds, complete with a rundown subway train. The station was large and looked like was meant to be more than just a place to get on and off the train, with a few retail areas. It had the beautiful architecture and lighting fixtures that were usually sought out in that time and even a mosaic but the station was also incomplete.
Leo remembered how Donatello had worked himself ragged putting up security in the new place while the rest of them worked to clean it out. Donny had hacked the city database and did his best to wipe clean any record of the place ever being built. He said it had been a big endeavor taken on by a business man who bit off more than he could chew. It had been pretty much forgotten.
Then they spent the better part of a month sealing it off and adding hidden entryways. Fortunately for them, the entryway from the streets had been knocked down and filled in long ago. Toilets were removed from the restrooms and showers were installed. Donny had even managed to get a hot tub that he had found at the dump working again.
One train car was converted into a kitchen and the one next to it was made into a dining room. The retail spaces were converted into bedrooms and the ancillary spaces were gutted and converted into a new lab for Donny and a living room on the higher levels, and a dojo with Splinter’s room on the lower one.
They had barely had time to enjoy the fruits of their labor before Raph got hurt. Since they had decided to stay at the Foot headquarters while Raph healed, the new lair had remained unoccupied for nearly a year, though Donny and Leatherhead did frequent it from time to time.
As soon as they entered the lair, Donatello headed straight for his lab, mumbling something about getting back to a project he had been working on. The rest of the words that followed were technical jargon that Leonardo didn’t understand. Leatherhead followed, carrying Snow in his arms.
Leo’s eyes fell on the unused train car. Maybe if they started working on it they would be able to convert it in to a small room for Snow before her first birthday. It would be far away from Donny and Leatherhead’s room, which was in the lab, but close to the other bed rooms. He would have to swing the idea by Donny later.
Raph went into his collection room which was right next to his bed room. Leo had an idea of what was in Raph’s collection but he had never actually been in the room. He knew it was full of things fit to give a princess, something Raph had started when they were kids, back when he believed they were cursed. A lot of the things he had collected had been lost over the years but any time they had to move he would go back and managed to salvage a few items. It was sad knowing that he would never find anyone to give them to.
Leo headed to his room to meditate, ready to find his routine again. The door was open and, when Leo entered he found Mikey sitting on his bed. His blue eyes locked on to Leo and he pleaded, “Can I sleep in here with you tonight?”
“Sure,” Leo answered, closing the door behind him. He didn’t really want to be alone anyway.
The next morning Don was late for training so Leo was sent to get him. He headed up the ornate stairs to Donny’s lab. The reinforced steel doors were closed but when Leo tested the handle, it was unlocked.
“Don?” Leo called out but kept his voice low. He didn’t want to wake Snow if she was asleep.
“In a minute,” Don answered.
Leo sighed. He hated having to put his foot down with any of his brothers, particularly with Don. He knew Don worked hard to keep them safe but he couldn’t use it as an excuse to fall behind in his training, especially not with how dangerous New York had become.
“No, Donny,” Leo said as he made his way to the back. “You’re fifteen minutes late as it is.”
Donny was sitting at his desk. All three computer monitors were on with multiple windows open on each. Whatever Don was working on, Leo couldn’t decipher it. “Late?” Don turned to look at Leo. “It’s morning?”
With a heavy sigh, Leo’s hand came up to pinch the bridge of his beak. “Did you sleep?”
“I did for a bit, yes,” Donny answered as he stood up. “Snow woke us up at some point for her nighttime feeding. While I was feeding her, I figured something out. After I put her back in her bed I went to work.”
Leo looked around the room, “Where are Snow and Leatherhead?”
Donny shrugged, “She woke up again a little while ago. Leatherhead took her to get something to eat and some tummy time. They’re probably in the living room by now.”
“And you should be in the dojo,” Leo added, crossing his arms. “What are you working on anyway?”
“Um…,” Donny hit a button that closed all the windows. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
Walking around Leo, Donny made his way out of the lab, “We’re late for training, right? Better get going.”
“Right….” Leo watched Don rush from the lab. What could he be working on that would distract him so much but that he didn’t want to talk about? He was usually open about his projects, answering any questions with longwinded answers that made the one making the inquiry regret they ever did. Was it personal, a surprise, or was it something that he knew he shouldn’t be doing?”
After one last look around Don’s lab, Leo made his way out and down to the dojo. By the time Leo entered, Splinter was finishing up a lecture on how Donatello should keep better track of his time. “If you let yourself get too exhausted, you will start to make mistakes. And mistakes in our lives can have disastrous results.”
“I understand, Master Splinter,” Donny said, keeping his head down as he remained kneeling on the floor.
Splinter glanced up at Leo then nodded to Donny. “Let us begin.”
They started with their usual warm ups of yoga and simple katas then moved on to more complex sequences. For the first time in months, Raph joined them and managed to keep pace though he was sweating and grunting much more than the others.
Leonardo had already spoken to Splinter before training and had volunteered to be the one to spar with Raphael. Donatello and Michelangelo would go too easy on him, only managing to enrage Raph by damaging his ego. Leo was going to take the opportunity to help Raph improve by striking at his weaknesses. He knew it could backfire but he was willing to risk it.
Raph was there to help Leo back when he was recovering from Shredder’s attack. No matter what, he was determined to repay Raph for it. What Leo had suffered at the hands of the Foot may not have been as bad as what had happened to Raph but he understood best what Raph was going through.
Raph had spent the time he was alone in the barn trying to recoup some of his lost muscle mass. There was some improvement but he was nowhere near where he was before. He was still weak compared to his brothers. As he was, he would probably be able to take out a common street thug using skill alone. However, there was no way he would be able to hold his own against a trained fighter.
He no longer had the strength or endurance that he used to have and it showed.
When they finished with their katas, Splinter had Raph and Leo sit off to the side and instructed Donny to spar with Mikey. It was apparent that Donny was sleep deprived in the way he fought and the openings that he left for Mikey. After his fourth time of landing on his face, Splinter called a halt to their match.
“Maybe tonight, you will make sure you get adequate sleep,” Splinter chided as Donny pulled himself up off the floor.
“I think I will nap after training,” Donny stated with a stifled yawn as he moved over to kneel.
Leo and Raph were up next to spar. It was clear that the brief rest was beneficial to Raph and he looked eager to fight. They stood facing each other. It was decided that Raph would be eased back into fighting and would start out in simple hand to hand combat.
Standing with his hands up and balled into fists, Raph took his stance while Leo kept his hands down to his sides. They waited for the signal to start. “Begin,” Splinter ordered and Raph lunged. He was stiff from months without fighting, his body wasn’t moving the way he wanted it to and his frustration showed.
Leo could see the determination in Raph’s eye. He didn’t want to be the weakest fighter or for his brothers to feel the need to protect him. He wanted his role back as the protector, the muscle, the tank. But he wasn’t. Not yet anyway. Leo had no doubt that Raph could recover, stronger than ever but he was far from it.
Leo evaded Raph’s attack with a step to the right and into Raph’s blind spot. Raph hadn’t had the chance to adjust his fighting technique for the loss of his left eye. Leo was going to push him until he learned how. He refused to mollycoddle his brother in this. Their ability to fight was their way to survival. If Raph couldn’t fight, no matter how hard they tried to protect him, he would not survive.
Leo landed a punch on the sensitive bridge of Raph left side, just above the scar. He could have hit the injured spot but he made his point and Raph knew it.
Raph dropped down to try to sweep Leo’s legs out from under him. A simple backflip got Leo out of range and to safety. As soon as he was back on his feet, Leo shifted his weight and lunged at Raph just as his brother was standing back up.
“Take it easy, Leo,” Donny pleaded from the sidelines and it ignited an unexpected fire in Raph. Instead of trying to dodge Leo’s attack, Raph turned to meet Leo head on. Raph needed to show them that he was still strong. Leo needed to show him that he wasn’t.
Leo didn’t hold back. It wouldn’t help Raph to let him win. He still wasn’t ready to leave the lair and Leo wasn’t going to let him believe that he was. As much as it pained him to do it, Leo collided with Raph. Raph managed to take the blow and they locked hands. They grappled for a moment but it didn’t take long for Leo to throw Raph to the ground.
Raph got up, springing into Leo from below. He had put a lot of force into the blow, but it didn’t knock Leo down. Grabbing hold of Raph, Leo shifted his weight and, using Raph’s momentum against him, threw Raph to the ground again.
Out of desperation, Raph struck. Leo evaded it then countered it, sending Raph to the floor once more.
“That’s enough, Leo,” Donny cried out. Leo chanced a glance at his brothers. Mikey was glaring at him, his bottom lip quivering and his eyes were wet with unshed tears. Donny looked ready to attack and probably would have if it weren’t for Splinter, whose hand was on his shoulder, holding him down.
Raph pulled himself off the ground. His body shook and his chest heaved. Leo stood ready for another attack. Raph glanced over at him then looked away. Was that a tear?
“Thanks, Leo,” Raph said, wiping the back of his hand across his beak and checking it for blood. “For not holding back.”
Leo dropped his stance. “I knew you would appreciate it.”
“Yeah.” Raph took a deep, staggering breath. “I will beat you one day.”
“I know you will.”
They didn’t move for a moment then they turned face each other once again. It was embedded in them. It didn’t end until Splinter said it did. “That’s enough,” Splinter said softly. It was masked but Leo could hear the pain in his father’s voice. “You are all dismissed.”
Mikey was on his feet in and instant. He pushed past Leo to get to Raph and grabbed his hand. “Let’s go soak in the hot tub. It will do you some good.”
“Sure, Mikey,” Raph mumbled and let himself be pulled away. As they passed, Raph looked up and gave Leo and slight smile to let him know that he was okay. Leo let out the breath that he didn’t realize he had been holding, relieved to know that he had made the right decision.
As soon as they were gone Donny stood, “Did you have to be so hard on him? Were you trying to break his spirit?”
“Going easy on him would do him more harm than good,” Leo argued. “Splinter and I agreed that it was for the best. I don’t want to hurt him, Donny. But he needs to know that he’s not ready to go to the surface yet. If he were to go up now…, even with all us to protect him… he would be killed. I would rather hurt his feelings than lose him.”
“Yeah,” Donny sniffed and wiped his eyes. “I guess you’re right. I wouldn’t have been able to do it, though.”
“I would never ask you to,” Leo said, placing his hand on Donny’s shoulder. “I’ll handle the hard stuff with Raph. Now, you go get some rest.”
Don managed a breathy chuckle, “Gladly.” He gave Leo a reassuring squeeze on the arm then left the dojo, shutting the door behind him.
Leo let out a ragged breath and fell to his knees. The morning had been emotionally draining and he was glad that it was over.
