More than a month had flown past. The turtles were still laying low. Raphael's recovery was slow. They had returned to their lair about three weeks ago, but the Mutanimals were staying close and dropped in at least once every two days. To Leo's slight annoyance, Slash had been instrumental in Raphael's recuperation. Raphael leaned heavily on Slash's support, which Leo suspected was because the hothead found it too weak or embarrassing to ask for help from any of them. That was what irked him. He was Raphael's brother. Raph should trust him more than Slash! Of course, Raph did the same thing with Casey as well. But why?! Just why?! Why did Raph always trust those two with things that he'd never trusted his brothers with?

Leo discreetly glared at the red-masked turtle over the top of his Space Heroes comic that he was paying absolutely no attention to. Raphael was laying on the floor with Mikey, the youngest completely engrossed in whatever they were watching, and the red-masked sibling looking rather bored. Raph turned to him. Leo wasn't certain, but he had the feeling that Raphael could sense his displeasure.

"Hey, Leo, you wanna—I don't know—talk or something?"

Inside his very rational mind, Leo knew that starting an argument wasn't going to accomplish anything, but his emotions took control and his lip curled. "I don't know. Why don't you ask Slash?" He asked, a very caustic edge to his voice. It had exactly the result he'd expected. Raphael's eyes narrowed to the point where they were practically slits.

"What the shell is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think?!" Leo retorted, his frustration building.

Not even a second after the words left Leo's mouth, Raphael was up on his feet. The hothead's growl made Mikey tear his eyes away from the television and look up at them with wide, worried eyes.

"Guys, just cool off."

They ignored him, of course.

"What do you have against Slash, Leo?! He's changed since—"

"It doesn't matter whether or not he's changed!" Raph took a step back, some of his anger withering to confusion. Leo jumped up and stepped directly in front of the red-masked turtle. "You've been depending almost entirely on him since you woke up!"

"That's what this is about?" Raph asked, incredulously. He truly was shocked. Leo wasn't one to make mountains out of molehills. "Why does that even matter?"

Leo was only getting angrier and angrier. Mikey was backing away in fear as their argument threatened to escalate. He knew that at the first sign of real aggression he'd have to get Donnie or Master Splinter. Yes, Raph was almost fully recovered, but he was still in no condition for an all-out fistfight with their big brother.

"Why does it matter?!" Leo echoed, enraged. Raphael took a step back, though his face was still hard, his lips set in a growl. Leo's fists clenched. "It matters because you trust him more than you trust your own brothers! We're family Raphael! We're supposed to support each other!"

"Oh, like you're so obviously doing right now by shouting at me?! If that's the kind of support you're offering to give then you can keep it and shove it up your shell!" Silence fell over them, broken only by a soft growl coming from the older of the two turtles.

Raph looked up, expecting to be met with a fierce, serrated glare, and he was. But his own glare lifted as he realized that Leonardo's mask was wet and the dark blue eyes behind it were watering. He softened his posture and his tone, stepping a little closer to his brother. "You've been supportive enough through this whole thing, Leo. I couldn't have asked for better support from anyone, big brother."

"You talk to him." Leo said quietly, still angry, but also feeling drained and a little bit disheartened. "You tell him things that you'll never tell any of us. It shouldn't be that way Raph it should be—"

"What?!" Raph snapped, anger returning to his eyes, "It should be a world where I tell you guys everything? Where we have no secrets?" There was a brief pause and he went on. "Everyone has secrets, Leo. Everyone has things that they prefer to keep inside. I can't tell you everything. I haven't told Slash everything either, so whatever this thing is, just get it out of your system! I don't trust Slash anywhere near as much as I trust you. You're my brother and my leader. I will follow you to the ends of the galaxy if the need arises, but you can't expect me to just open up like a book for you to read! This world doesn't work like that, and I'm not that type of person."

"But you do talk to him! You talk to him in a way that you've never talked to us!"

What Raphael said next dropped like a bomb in the stale silence. "Of course I do. For eleven years of my life he was the only one in this place who listened to what I had to say! He knows me better than you ever will, Leo, brothers or not. There are some things that it's easier to talk about with someone outside the family. Slash and Casey, they're the ones I rely on for that kind of stuff."

Leo's voice was an airy whisper. "I won't accept that."

For the first time that Mikey could ever remember, there was absolutely no hint of warmth in Raphael. No anger, no compassion, no fire. Colder than a space vacuum, Raphael straightened his back and stared at his older brother.

"Then you're in for a long, hard battle."

Leo closed his eyes, some more tears escaping and running down his cheeks. He felt as though an icy wind had blown straight through him. Part of him was agreeing with Raph, telling him that he was melodramatic and childish. But the other part was screaming in agony, for it was as he had first begun to suspect back when Slash had told them about some of the things Raphael had said when they were kids. He had failed his little brother. He had failed Raphael, again. Of course he had. It didn't matter how successful or helpful he was to the others in the long run. He always failed Raphael. Every single time. And every single time, he realized his failure too late to truly correct it. Leonardo, the fearless leader, dropped to his knees and hit the ground with his fist.

"No!" He whispered weakly, hanging his head. "I can't—I won't fail you again! H-hurt...I never meant to hurt you, never! Why does it always end like this? Please...please, Raphael...I-I-I want you to let me in so that I...so that I can pay for all the hurt I caused..."

Raphael's face melted and his heart plummeted to the pit of his stomach. "Leo..." He whispered, dropping down beside his older brother and wrapping an arm around Leo's shoulders.

At the first hint of Raph's touch, Leo became a blubbering mess, and threw himself against his immediate younger brother's plastron. "...so I can make sure that I never hurt you again. Just knowing that I've hurt you—"

The younger, red-masked sibling shook his head.

"Some stuff did hurt me, Leo. But in the end, it all made me stronger. Without any of that I wouldn't be me. Family molds us into who we are, big brother. Love, laughs, hurt and all." Raph felt Leo's arms tighten around him and he returned the gesture, glancing over the leader's shoulder at their youngest brother. Mikey looked a little bit spooked, but was beaming at them, teary-eyed. Raphael grinned and shook his head, turning his attention back to comforting his older brother.

Leo needed this. That much, Raphael knew. The leader had been under way too much emotional strain lately. Between his recovery, Mona Lisa's speaking lessons, which according to Donnie were progressing incredibly well, the Mighty Mutanimal's visits to the lair, Casey and April keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity topside, and the ongoing search for more on 'Rouge Knight', Leo was completely overwhelmed. All six of them, including the leader himself, knew it, too.

A loud creak announced the entrance of Donnie and Mona who looked a little nervous. "Is everything alright in here?" The brainiac asked. "We heard yelling."

Raph sent him a pointed glare and Donnie shut his mouth, taking in the scene. Mona Lisa frowned a little bit she went over to the two older turtles and signed to Raph, 'Is he okay?'

Leo, who had heard their entrance and Mona Lisa's approach, immediate tried to pull out of the hug, but Raph wasn't letting go, the hothead seemed determined to keep him in place. "Raph..." he whined.

Raphael ignored him and instead answered Mona's question. "I don't know, but I'm not letting him go until he says he's good."

"I'm good! I'm good! Let go of me, meathead!" He said, wriggling to no avail. Finally he sighed and gave up. Mona Lisa was extremely amused and giggled at his predicament. He turned his head towards her and sent her the most desperate pout he could muster. Mona laughed but signed to Raphael that it was time to let the older turtle go. Leo grunted as he was dealt a swift conk on the back of the head before his sibling truly released him. "What was that for?!"

"For being an idiot. You're my brother, shell-head. You guys are always first in my mind."

Leo smiled gratefully at Raph for the reassurance. But then his more devious side began to emerge. "Really?"

Raph raised an eye-ridge. He could sense the shift in Leo's demeanor. He knew that Leo was being devious again, and that was almost never a good thing.

"Yeah, really."

With a very mischievous smirk, Leo allowed his eyes to drift over to Mona Lisa. His eye-ridges waggled suggestively. He grinned as he saw color creeping across Raphael's cheeks. Donnie and Mikey wore very similar expressions. But then the brothers all realized that Mona Lisa was blushing as well and that the two of them were staring at each other. Matching smirks curled at their mouths and they exchanged knowing glances. Raphael's mouth opened a little and he stammered for a few seconds. Finally he whispered:

"W-Well, I guess...maybe not exactly," he gulped, his eyes never leaving hers for a second, "first..." His voice faded away.

Mona's blush was dark enough to be visible from a mile away. She signed with shaking hands, 'I've got to finish my lessons,' and bolted back into the lab.

As Raph's face returned to its normal shade of dark emerald-green, Donnie frowned at the gouged, grey surface of the lab door.

Mikey was the first to notice the brainiac's strange expression. "Ya okay there, D?" He asked.

Raph and Leo turned to Donnie, making him slightly uncomfortable. He shook off their obvious concern, but the frown remained on his face. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just...I'm wondering about Mona—"

Immediately, their red-masked brother was on edge. "What about her? Is everything okay?"

Don nodded slowly. "Yeah...She's a real fast learner. And I mean real fast. She's already learned more in the past three weeks than most kids do in a full two years of schooling. She can read, write, and speak fairly well, albeit she sometimes has to take it slow."

The brainiac's three siblings blinked, their jaws hanging slightly open.

"I suspect that it's partially because she may have already learned a little before her mutation, but I have been considering doing a couple additional scans of her brain."

"Why?" Raph asked, a little bit weirded out by the fact that they were having a discussion about Mona's brain.

"Well...the other day I found her in my lab."

They all gave Donnie skeptical looks. Leo folded his hands in his lap and looked up at Donnie. "She doesn't like being in the lab alone, though. What was she doing there?"

Raph shrugged. "Probably looking for Don."

"I don't think so." He muttered, staring at the floor. He could feel his brothers' eyes staring expectantly at him so he didn't pause for long. "I think she tampered with some of my physics experiments."

"Mona?" Mikey scoffed. "Come on, dude." He said crossing his arms over his chest and frowning at the purple-masked turtle.

Don held up his hands. "I'm not accusing her of anything. She didn't do anything wrong. They had been tampered with, but not in a harmful way. It was more like someone had just been trying to see what would happen if different adjustments were made."

"Where are you going with all this, Don?" Raph asked, starting to lose patience.

"I'm getting there, Raph." Don said slightly annoyed.

Raph rolled his eyes. "Then get there faster!"

The genius sighed exasperatedly and face-palmed. "Fine. In any case, I think that Mona Lisa has a very eager mind and a large brain capacity. She'd probably really like science. She's always enjoyed watching me work in the lab and so I just thought that maybe I could teach her some basic chemistry. You know, let her fool around a bit."

They stared at him like his head had just detached itself and walked away.

"Donnie, she spent years in a lab in captivity! She's not going to—"

Raph silenced Leo mid-sentence by holding up a hand. "Wait a second Leo, Don has a point. Mona's always curious about everything that she doesn't understand. She likes to examine that kind of stuff. I think you should ask her, Don, you might be right. She might like it."

Leo made a noise of protest and Raphael turned to him.

"I know it might be a challenge for her, but if she likes it then it will be worth it. She likes learning new things, and I wouldn't take an opportunity away from her. Besides, she can't live in the shadow of her past for the rest of her life."

Silence returned as the matter was settled for now. Don cleared his throat. "Uh, just one more thing, Raphael."

"Yeah?"

"Has she spoken to you at all?"

The hothead shook his head. "No." He didn't like the frown that spread across Donnie's face. "Let it go, Don. She knows that I don't care about whether she can talk or not. She'll do it when she's good and ready and if she doesn't, then she doesn't. It's her decision."

"That's not what's bothering me. It isn't just an issue of not speaking to you, Raphael. She doesn't speak to any of us if you are in the vicinity. I suspect—" He cut himself short and turned back to the lab door. "I better get back to the lessons. She's probably waiting." The door creaked after him and shut with a thud.

They stared after him, bewildered, confused, and in Raph's case, concerned.

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Don slowly crossed the room to sit at the table beside her. She was reading aloud, softly, occasionally sounding out the difficult words. When she finished the sentence he placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked at him. "Okay?" She asked, her eyes eager for his opinion.

"Very good." Don answered flatly. He pulled himself up onto the corner of the table. "Mona, I wanted to talk to you about something." He said seriously.

Her soft, brown eyes met his and he sighed, tearing his gaze away. "I'm a little worried. For the amount of lessons you've had, you've grown incredibly proficient in written and oral communication. But you haven't been speaking very much. You talk to me and you talk a little bit to Mikey and Leo. I don't know whether or not you talk to Splinter, but what I'm trying to get at is that you don't talk to Raph."

Mona Lisa refused to meet his gaze when he looked up at her. He frowned. That just about confirmed his hypothesis.

"You're scared of talking in front of Raphael, aren't you?"

She made a so-so gesture. "I..." Don said nothing, offering his silent support and giving her the time she needed to compose what she wanted to say. "I want it to be perfect."

Not certain what she meant by that, he raised an eye-ridge.

"I don't want to speak at him 'til I'm better at it." She confessed softly.

"Raphael doesn't care how well you speak, Mona Lisa. He just cares about you." Don said, patting her shoulder softly. She smiled at him.

"I know. But I want to make him proud. I want to impress him." She said, struggling a little on the word impress.

Don smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't you worry, Mona. Whenever you do decide to show Raph what you've learned, I know he'll be really, really proud of you."

"Thanks, Donnie." She stood and kissed him on the cheek, giggling as he blushed. "You're awesome."

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How was it?