This is the final chapter. Thanks are at the end. TMNT are the property of Mirage.
Leo woke up, sweating and breathing hard. He'd had a brief, vivid dream again- he refused, absolutely refused, to voice even to himself the term "nightmare"- of the battle with Bishop. He'd had several since they'd first awakened several days after being brought home.
Shakily he pushed himself up into a sitting position, and reached over for the glass and pitcher of water that had stood there since the first night. His arm had been unwrapped earlier to "let the air get to it," as Don had said- which made no sense as Don kept nagging him about keeping it covered to "keep the germs away".
Across the narrow way, Raph was leaning back on his pillows, doing nothing in particular.
"Another dream?" he asked, as Leo poured himself a glass of water, trying not to spill any. His arm was still weak, and even holding the glass was tiring.
"Yes," he acknowledged, taking a small drink. "I'm tired of dreaming about it."
"Me, too," Raph said, closing his eyes, remembering his most recent one. "I mean, I know it's mainly 'cause we're so bored. We've nothing to do except eat, sleep, and remember."
"Yeah. I keep trying to forget it, to let it go. We were right to do what we did," Leo reassured himself once again. "We may have disappointed Sensei, and Don and Mike may never understand, but we were right."
"I know. But it was gruesome."
"To say the least. I mean, I thought Victor had said that Bishop hadn't found a way to regenerate important organs, yet the more I think of that battle, the more I think that, if he had escaped, he would have healed."
"Yeah, Don was thinking that, too," Raph said. "Only he didn't say it around Mike. He didn't want him to think that Victor could have lived or anything. Poor guy," he added as an afterthought, and Leo could sense that he meant Victor as well as their brother. Mikey had not handled the loss of this strange created being very well. Only the injuries and critical condition of his brothers had kept him from dwelling on it. Now that they were healing and out of danger, though, Mikey had been brooding at times.
"Man, I am bored," Leo said, after a few minutes.
"I am so bored it isn't even funny," Raph sighed in agreement.
"I so want out of this room! If only they'd let us up to watch TV- that would be something!"
"I know. Do you think Sensei is punishing us by insisting we're still too weak to sit on the couch?"
Leo looked at Raph, thinking this over.
"You know, it would be just like him. I think, no matter what he's said, he hasn't forgiven us for what we did."
They both sighed, thinking of the list that Mikey had snuck in one day and showed him- Reasons for Your Punishment. On the other side was a list titled Possible Punishments. Neither one could remember if any of the seventeen suggestions on the list included "perpetual bed rest".
Their brothers were gone for the day, out having fun with Casey and April. They were riding their motorcycles out into the country for a picnic and general good time, leaving two bored brothers in the tender care of their father.
Splinter was a regular prison guard- they didn't dare sneeze without his questioning them about the reason. He was on them for any little movement, any little sound. It was like he was looking for reasons to give them more medicines to ward off illness.
"After all," he had said one night, smothering them in extra blankets because it was raining topside, "your resistance is low. I do not want either one of you catching cold."
"But Sensei- we're down here, away from the rain," Leo had tried to protest, but the stern look he had received silenced any further comment.
They sat quietly for several more minutes, sighing, fidgeting, and staring at nothing in particular.
"I really need to go to the bathroom," Leo said.
"Me, too."
"Race you!"
"You're on!"
"Let's see how close we can get to the door this time before Sensei catches us."
"Bring it on, Bro!"
"Okay- ready- set- go!"
They both sat there, staring at the door for about three minutes, each trying desperately to get off the floor.
"Yes! I'm going to win!" Leo said, managing finally and with great effort to get to his knees. He grinned in short-lived triumph.
"I'm right behind you," Raph challenged, getting to one knee and one foot, about to stand. With a loud groan that sounded more like a victory cry, he got to his feet before Leo.
"Ha! Eat my dust, grandpa!"
"I'll be in the bathroom before you make it to the door," countered Leo, as he, too, made it to his feet, and managed to take three very wobbly steps before he had to stop and get his balance back.
"Outta my way, I'm burning up the ground!" Raph made it five paces past Leo before over-balancing and going down on one knee.
"Loser!" Leo taunted him, edging past his struggling brother. But Raph regained his standing position, and was almost dead even with Leo ("I'll push you down!" "I'll take you with me!") when the door suddenly slid open.
"What is going on in here!" Splinter stood framed in the doorway, hands on hips, tail lashing his disapproval at their being out of their beds. Again.
Both brothers froze, and then looked at each other. They looked back at their father, trying to judge just how much trouble they were in.
"Nothing," they said in unison, as if they were naughty little turtle tots busted in the middle of swiping cookies.
The look on Splinter's face kept them frozen to the floor; though they wobbled a lot, trying to stay on their feet.
"Get back in your beds, now!"
"Uh, we would, Sensei, but we're afraid to move," Leo said, trying not to smile- or fall over.
"Yeah- yeah, let us get our balance first- we don't want to fall over like dominoes," Raph said, trying to keep from falling into Leo. He was having a difficult time, trying to keep from bursting out laughing at the entire situation while keeping on his feet.
Splinter continued to stare at them sternly, hands on hips. His look spoke volumes, and the message was being read loud and clear by the two.
"Please- Sensei, before we go back to bed, we both need to go to the bathroom," Leo said. "Besides, how are we going to get our strength back if we don't exercise a little?"
"Please, we will go slow and steady, like the Tortoise," Raph added his plea, trying to appeal to their father with one of his favorite story references.
Splinter, still staring sternly at them, to their surprise called in Leatherhead.
"Ah, my friends! It's good to see you both on your feet," he said, grinning warmly at them.
"Hey, L.H.! Nice to see you!" Raph grinned back, waving furiously- and lost his balance, falling into Leo. He ended up in a pile with him on the floor.
"Great," Leo said, unable to get up. "Now I'm stuck on the floor and I still have to go to the bathroom."
"Sorry, Bro, I was just being friendly with L.H.," Raph apologized sincerely, as Splinter and Leatherhead helped first one and then the other to stand.
"I hate to impose on a guest, Leatherhead," Splinter said politely, "but could you assist me in taking my foolish sons to the bathroom and back to bed?"
"Aww, couldn't we sit on the couch for an hour?" Raph frowned, no longer feeling the humor of the situation. "Please, Sensei! Just for one hour?"
"Are you still mad at us, Sensei?" Leo asked seriously. "Are we being punished for what we did?"
"Nonsense! You both need much rest. You have no idea how badly you were injured. The Master Healer says you must avoid strenuous activity for at least three more weeks."
Both turtles looked at their father in horror!
"Three more weeks?"
"At least," Splinter emphasized the word to drive the point home. "Now, let us make this urgent trip."
Leatherhead supported both of them, and Splinter followed them to the bathroom.
"Could we at least do this one at a time and on our own?" Raph pleaded, turning anguished eyes upon his father. Splinter hesitated, considering the request. Then he nodded.
"Very well, but the door must remain open."
His father led in Raph first, who then left him alone. He couldn't believe how grateful he felt that this part of his ordeal could finally be taken care of without a spotter.
Leo had a similar experience, and they both laughed at the fact that they were so relieved to finally do something private in private.
Then, to their utter delight, Splinter had Leatherhead guide them to the couch!
"I suppose it will not hurt you to sit up for a while," Splinter told his happy sons, as they were settled on the couch. "And it will be easier for me to keep an eye on you, lest you try to escape again."
"Yeah! Finally! I feel like I've been set free!" Raph rejoiced, ignoring his father's observation.
"This is beyond great!" Leo agreed, and the two of them were so happy- until Splinter, who had made a quick trip into the bedroom, cocooned them with blankets and surrounded them with pillows.
"There," he said, studying the pair with a critical eye, satisfied at his handiwork. "Now, you may watch some television while Leatherhead and I continue our visit. Would you like something to drink or eat?"
"No, thank-you, Sensei," they both said, fearing that they would receive the dreaded fare of broth and orange juice.
Splinter left, and they stared at the remote control that lay between them on the couch.
"Can you reach it?" Raph asked, after a few minutes.
"Nope- not yet- I'm too tucked in."
"Me, too."
Eventually, Raph managed to work a hand free, and the TV was finally turned on.
They were so glad to be up that Leo didn't complain when Raph picked a show that he, personally, didn't care to watch. It was just such a relief to be out of that room! He felt as if he'd been away from home for a long time, sitting there while the TV blared.
Raph, aware of his brother's gesture of not complaining, gave the remote to Leo a half-hour into the show.
"Here, Bro, your turn," he said, grinning.
"You won us our bathroom freedom today, so you keep control of the remote," Leo insisted. "I'm just glad to be sitting up on the couch and out of that room!"
They looked around the Lair, eyes taking in every single piece of furniture, every bit of equipment, every aspect that they could see from where they were seated. They both gazed longingly in the direction of their own bedrooms, and wished with all their might that they could make it up the stairs. It had been so long since Raph had slept in his comfortable hammock, and Leo missed his own things just as much.
"Do you think we'll ever get to go back to our own rooms?" Raph asked sadly.
"I hope so, Raph, I hope so," Leo responded wistfully. Then they both cracked up laughing at the entire situation.
"I don't care, I would do it again, even if it meant being a permanent invalid," Leo finally said, growing serious. "I would spend the rest of my life like this if I had to, if it meant that Bishop was gone for good."
"I hear you, Bro," Raph responded. "It was worth the price. Even if Mike and Don stay angry forever. Even if Sensei uses all seventeen punishments in response to his fifteen reasons."
They sat there, watching TV but not really watching.
Splinter found them both asleep on the couch.
"Foolish sons," he allowed him self to smile.
Leatherhead had left some time ago, and he had come to find out why there was only the sound of the TV. Seeing them asleep, Splinter decided to take this opportunity to change their bedding and air out the room. It was high time, and he was quite busy with sheets, blankets and such.
He looked around this room, where the three of them had been staying since they'd gotten home, and it surprised him that he had tears welling up in his eyes. He could still see in his mind how they had looked, standing in the midst of that carnage, the blood coating them like a second skin, the body of Bishop lying before them like some horrifying victory.
He shook off the memory, and returned to the living area.
They seemed okay, sleeping on the couch, so he decided to wait until their brothers got home to take them back to bed.
He sat quietly on the couch between the two, turning off the TV, watching them sleep. He marveled again at the lengths they went to to defeat Bishop and his "super-soldiers"; to "protect" this family.
He still could not decide if they were right in not including their brothers in that suicide venture. He had always stressed the importance of family and teamwork.
"You must always be as one," he said to the four young turtles. They had just finished their first real weapons training that day, and they were still excited at having finally been allowed to use the real things. They sat in front of Master Splinter, trying their best to calm down enough to meditate, but the thrill of that first training had not worn off yet.
"I don't know, Sensei," Raph said. "How can we be as one when we all got different weapons?"
"He means teamwork, shell-for-brains," Leo replied, smug and superior- and Splinter smacked him on the head for being disrespectful to his master and his brother.
"I believe he was addressing me, Leonardo!"
Leo bowed quickly and in shame.
"Sorry, Sensei."
Splinter eyed them all carefully, and then addressed himself to Raphael- yet the message was to all four.
"You must always be brothers- to be at one means to remember this," he continued. "You four are different from the outside world. You must never, no matter the circumstances, no matter the reasons, forget that you are brothers. You must be at one with each other- even if you are separated by fate, by time, or by death. Enemies can destroy our bodies, but we must never let them destroy our bonds. We are family. We are as strong as the world if we remember this."
They nodded in agreement, and swore that such a thing would never happen. But they were young, and didn't quite understand, and besides, they'd gotten to practice with the real things today!
Splinter once again thought about what Leonardo and Raphael had done.
Teamwork and Family.
He could understand how, in this particular case, the two did not go hand in hand, at least to the thinking of Leonardo and Raphael. He may not agree as to how they left their brothers out of this battle, but he could understand to some extent why Leonardo and Raphael had done so.
He sat quietly on the couch, meditating on nothing much, as his sons slept peacefully.
It seemed to his mind that they were more peaceful now than they have been these past few days.
Perhaps he was punishing them by making them stay day in and day out in his room. He certainly still felt anger at them whenever he recalls that terrible day.
He also had to admit, that their recent attempts to escape had made him secretly laugh.
It wouldn't do to tell them this, however.
He recalled their first escape attempt, barely a week after they'd awakened from their comas with the help of the Master Healer. With bandages still seeping blood and such, they were slowly and painfully crawling on hands and knees to see who could get to the door first. He had entered the room just in time.
"What have you to say for yourselves?" he had angrily asked.
They had looked at each other, then at Splinter.
"Goo-goo?" Raphael had replied, and Leonardo had collapsed on the floor, laughing so hard that he couldn't get back up.
And he admired their ability to laugh at even the most tedious things that they have had to endure, like the treatments of the Master Healer, and the three different medications to be taken five times a day, and the pain of having wounds cleaned and rebandaged, and the removal of stitches, and the broth and orange juice- and being escorted to the bathroom, and watched on top of it.
So he got up, and prepared them something special to eat that did not involve broth and orange juice, and gently woke them from their naps.
"It is time for your medications, my sons," he said, as they sleepily rubbed their eyes, confused for the moment on their location.
"Hey, it wasn't a dream!" Raph winked at Leo. "We finished our race! We really did make it to the couch!"
"I wonder who won?" Leo grinned back.
"Oh, me, naturally," Raph bragged, nodding in confidence. "I beat you to the bathroom as well, slow poke."
"In your dreams."
Splinter, handing them their medicines in various bowls, merely shook his head.
"When you have finished, I have fixed you something to eat," he said, and was amused by the looks of surprise on their faces when they saw-
"Real food!" they shouted in unison.
"Yes, my sons, as you say, 'real food'," he smiled. "Do not eat too fast, and do not think that this is the end of the broth. The Master Healer agrees with me regarding the broth and orange juice, but he said once you were more and more up and around, that you may start eating more solid fare."
They happily ate every bite, and washed it down with grateful glasses of milk.
Splinter finished cleaning the bedroom, and then cleared the dishes away. He rejoined them on the couch.
"We will start training tomorrow," he said, startling his sons with his decision. He had not been very honest with them- the Master Healer had said that once they started willingly getting up, to let them.
But Splinter still held in his mind the image of how close they came to dying, and he had been locked into what Raph called "mother hen mode" from the moment they had gotten home.
"What do you mean, Sensei?" Leo asked, daring not hope for too much.
"I mean, we will start rebuilding your strength slowly," he said. "We will start with simply walking. Donatello and Michelangelo will start taking you for walks, so you can get use to being on your feet again. We will also start you on the basic weights, to strengthen your arms. This may seem boring to you, but it is the best way to begin. I trust I will have no trouble with either of you- otherwise, I might decide that you need more bed rest."
"Oh, no, no problems from me, Sensei," Raph swore, crossing his heart. "Leo might act up- you know how impatient he gets, but I would never-"
"You'll be the first to crack and try to lift more than you're told, or challenge Mikey to a race," Leo scoffed knowingly. "Everyone knows that I will be the one to do exactly what Sensei says."
"Wanna bet?"
"What stakes?"
"Loser has to stay in bed one extra day past our discharge."
"You're on!"
"My sons, must everything be a competition between you two?"
They looked at each other, and they looked serious with a memory.
A memory of one incident where there was no competition- just teamwork.
Splinter guessed their thoughts, and regretted saying anything. But there was no going back, and he ignored them, making himself busy fluffing pillows and readjusting blankets.
"I will set the forfeit," he decided. "Not you two. But if it helps you to heal by competing, then I will not interfere."
"What's the forfeit?" Leo asked, curious as to what Splinter would require of the "loser".
"It is a secret," Splinter replied with a smile. "Will you be willing to compete, not knowing what the forfeit for the loser will be?"
A brief silence, as both sons remembered the battle with Bishop.
They had known the forfeit for that venture- death for the loser.
Then they nodded in unison.
"We'll accept whatever you set as the forfeit, Sensei," Raph said, and Leo agreed.
"Very well. Now, I must insist that you return to bed. However, I will allow you to begin your training by letting you walk on your own- with my help only. This means one at a time, I am afraid. Who will be first?"
"I'll go," Leo volunteered eagerly. "Raph needs to rest a little more before he makes the attempt."
"I'll go," Raph immediately insisted, making a mighty effort to stand up before Leo could. "Gramps here is still breathing hard from lifting his milk glass."
"Raphael will be first," Splinter decided, before they could carry it further. "That means, Leonardo, that you will have some extra time sitting up. It will be a while before I can return for you."
"Hey! Wait, I changed my mind," Raph, realizing that he would be in bed first, and Leo would still be "free" for a few more minutes, tried to back out, but Splinter already had him by the arm, slowly guiding him towards the dreaded room.
"See you in a few hours, Raphy boy!" Leo cheerfully waved.
"Raphael, slow down! I cannot carry you if you fall!"
"Sorry, Sensei."
In spite of going first, Raph was rather pleased that he made the walk with little support from Splinter. The further he went, the easier it became, and when he reached his futon, he gratefully sank down with a muffled groan of triumph.
Leo had a little more trouble than Raph, but he would rather die than tell him that he fell getting up from the couch. He had been so eager to prove to Sensei that he was more than ready to start training that he forgot he still was having balance problems. But he, too, found the going easier as he went, and his reaction to reaching his futon was just as heartfelt as Raph's.
"Now, I must prepare dinner for the others. They will be home soon. I promise that I will not bring you broth for your dinner. But you will still need to take it before bedtime. In the meantime, it would not hurt either one of you to take a nap. But I will settle for your staying in bed!"
"We promise, Sensei," Leo said.
"We really do," Raph said, and this time they really did mean it. They did not want to risk Splinter changing his mind about tomorrow.
They sat quiet for a time after he left, each lost in his own thoughts.
"Raph," Leo finally said, hesitantly. "Raph- when you think about that night, do you find yourself feeling- regret? Not regret for killing Bishop; just for the way we went about it."
"Yes," he said, thoughtfully. "In a way, I do regret it. But like you said I don't regret for one second that we put an end to that bastard. Why? Are you having second thoughts?"
"No. I just think- I just think, is there something wrong with me for not regretting killing him? Is there something wrong with me, that I feel no remorse for ending a man's life?"
"Yeah- I hear ya. I understand. But what's done is done, you know? And the only reason we keep dwelling on it is because we haven't had anything to do."
"You're right," Leo agreed. "Man, I hate to admit it, but I could really take another nap at this point."
"Me, too," Raph laughed, and they did not compete to see who could go to sleep the quickest.
And their Sensei, coming in fifteen minutes later, was gratified to see them both sound asleep.
The End
And that, my dear friends, is the end of that story! I am sad to be at the end, but new stories are waiting to be written. Thank you to everyone who read and stuck with me on this project. I wish to specially thank Somellamafreak, Doppleganger33 (I hope I remembered the right number), Splinter/Terran, and Machias Banshees for some of the most insightful and helpful reviews! I know I am forgetting others, and I apologize but I am at school and don't have my list with me. I am grateful to you ALL! Thanks again!