This story was last updated on the 23rd of April 2016… whoops.

Also thank you baky for pointing out the faulty upload of this chapter!

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Uploaded: October 2018

Leonardo stirred his green tea while he waited for his brothers to join him at the kitchen table. He had put on a pot of coffee for Raphael and Donatello, and Splinter was watching the children so that the brothers could have a discussion more easily. Mikey, surprisingly, was the first to join him. He grinned at his older brother and grabbed a large bag of chips from the cupboard.

"Don't eat that all on your own," Leo said. "It's not good for you."

"It's made from potatoes. That's a vegetable. Vegetables are good, therefore so are these." Mikey argued.

"Not quite, Mikey," Don said as he joined them. He pulled two clean mugs from the sink and dried them with a tea towel before setting about making Raphael and himself a cup of coffee. "While potatoes are vegetables, nutritiously speaking they act like more of a starch and even then, potatoes and potato chips are vastly different. Chips are cooked in a lot of saturated fat and oil which makes them high in LDL cholesterol, which in itself wouldn't be as bad if they weren't also covered in so much salt which can also lead to a rise in blood pressure."

"Dude, sorry but I already lost interest," Mikey said as he threw a handful into his mouth.

"Why do I even bother?" Don murmured as he took a seat and blew the steam off of his coffee.

Raphael joined them then, with a sheen of sweat over his skin and a towel draped over his shoulder. He grabbed the coffee that Don offered him and leant against the column of the kitchen. He took a long sip and sighed before settling into the inevitable conversation.

"So, Nicholas." He said. "What's happening with him?"

"I gave him my word that we would see him again," Leo said.

"I was hoping to retrieve some more books like the ones that Nicholas gifted. They were really insightful." Don said.

"I want to go, too," Mikey said quickly.

Raph snorted. "So you've all made up your minds."

"We're not going if you don't want to, Raph," Leo said. "No matter what has or what will happen, family comes first – and that means the five of us."

"Eight, now," Don pointed out, "with Bonnie, Jasper and – Yoshi, was it?"

Leo nodded.

"The eight of us." He amended.

Raph looked into his cup of coffee as though contemplating it. He gulped the rest down and put the emptied mug onto the counter.

"Fine, whatever." He groused. "If you guys wanna go visit him in La-La Land, then we'll go visit him in La-La Land. I just don't like this. Something about it all feels off."

"That's not unusual in a situation like ours," Don said. "The existence of Nicholas and our supposed pasts put a lot of what we've believed our whole lives into question. The foreboding feeling is just a part of adjusting to a new way of thinking."

"Yeah, well, if that's all we needed to talk about, I'm gonna go back to my punching bag." Raph prompted.

"I will give the number a call and see if I can organise something for tomorrow night," Leo said.

The brothers all dispersed. He watched as Raph returned to his punching bag in the dojo and as Don and Mikey went to the lounge to help Splinter with the caretaking of the children. It was early in the morning but Leo hoped that he would be able to catch up on some sleep that night, as his children had previously kept him very awake and very busy.

Pulling himself out of his reverie, Leonardo stood and pulled out his shell cell to phone the SAP number that he had been left with. The line picked up after two rings.

"Terry Rosemond speaking." Came an automatic, stoic voice.

"This is Leonardo."

"Leonardo." The voice picked up an octave, "The terrapin, correct?"

"Yes," Leo said. "The note said to use this number for when my brothers and I were ready to see Nicholas?"

"That is right," Terry said. Leo could hear the sound of paper shuffling and a faint 'Wave, stop it'. Terry cleared his throat, "How soon would that be?"

"We were thinking tomorrow night," Leo said. "Would that be fine?"

"Of course," Terry replied. "We could meet in Queens near the Queens Colleges' Department of Computer Science. It's just off Melbourne Avenue – near Main Street and the Long Island Expressway."

"I know it." Leo said, and added, "It's a very open space."

"Next to it is a place called Alumni Plaza. It's open six until seven on weekdays and closed on weekends. There is a garage near the alleyway. It will be easy enough to spot and easy enough to get to unseen. It has a yellow cross over it. Wave and I can wait for you there between sundown and sunrise if that suits?"

"It does," Leo said. "I will see you then."

The call ended with a resounding beep. He tucked the shell cell back onto his belt and walked to the rest of his family in the lounge room. Yoshi reached his arms out for him expectantly. With a soft smile, Leo picked him up.

"We will be seeing Wave and Terry in Queens. They will meet us by the Queens Colleges Department of Computer Science." Leo stated. He didn't miss the smile that caressed Yoshi's face at the news.

"Oh, no, Leo – I think Don's eyes glazed over." Mikey teased, "We might have to leave him out on this one."

"The Queens College recently received a grant for their computer science department," Don said. "They're meant to be getting all kinds of new equipment built in."

"We're not going for the college." Leo reminded.

"I know," Don said quickly. "I was just thinking that maybe we could spare a minute to drop by and have a peek?"

"Maybe," Leo said. "We will have to see what happens."

He sat cross-legged on the mat with his children and gently put Yoshi down. Jasper giggled at this and leant over to wrap his arms around his brother. Yoshi squirmed but didn't pull away; he instead reached for his puzzle pieces and began to assemble it once again: it was the same flower-puzzle that Wave had gifted to him.

"Maybe we might also have time to pick up a new puzzle," Leo said. "What do you think, Yoshi?"

"I'd like that." The boy murmured and a hopeful look filled his eyes.

"So it's settled, then." Mikey grinned. "We're all going to go visit Nicholas tomorrow."

TBC…