My once in a blue moon post!

The brothers all ended up back in the house, Leo on the floor with his head down and the younger turtles all on couches.

Splinter walked in, and Raph immediately stood up, leading Leo out without sparing Splinter another glance. Mike and Don turned away from their father, not saying a word.

Splinter pursed his lips, eyes narrowing. "My sons?"

Mike glanced over, more out of instinct than anything, but immediately looked away again.

Splinter glanced up the stairs, where Raph and Leo had gone, then turned to Don. "What is the meaning of this?"

Don glanced at him. "Ask Raph," he stated simply.

Splinter squinted again, but went up the stairs. Don and Mike looked at each other in worry, then followed behind silently after a minute or so.

Raph and Leo were both on the floor of the room, Raph murmuring lightly in Leo's furry ear, stroking his fur lightly. When the rat made himself known, Leo whined lowly, ears flattening against his head as he pressed closer to Raph.

"Why'd you lie to us, Master?" Raph asked in a small tone, thick with emotion.

Splinter looked down in shame, sitting down across from his sons. "I… I did not want to worry you more-"

The old rat was cut off by Raph's growl, almost matching that of what Leo was capable of. "Ya wanna know how that worked? Leo lost it in the barn. And we weren't prepared for it, because there was no way Leo could possibly be gettin' worse, right? You yaself said that he was fine. And we believed ya, because why would you ever lie about somethin' serious like dis?"

Splinter shrank back a bit, and Raph seethed as he got that off his chest, heavily breathing. "We…" He gulped, eyes glimmering. "We trust ya, Father. We always have, and we always want ta. So, ya… You can't lie like that."

Leo snuggled further into Raph comfortingly.

"I… I know, my son. I apologize. To you, your brothers, and… and Leonardo, wherever he is," Splinter choked out, tears glistening in his eyes, as well.

Leo didn't make any move to the rat to show he forgave him, and Raph gently nudged him forward. Leo whined a bit, but rubbed up against Splinter, and the elderly teacher pet his head. "Thank you for your forgiveness, my sons. I promise I will update you on his condition from now on."

As Raph nodded, though, Splinter continued. "But…"

Raph groaned, and Leo snickered into his front paw.

"You all must take better care of yourselves. You and Michelangelo need to sleep and eat normally, and you must spend more time with Leonardo so he does not get out of shape, and Donatello can not spend 20 hours a day in the barn. He must sleep and eat more, too. I'd appreciate if you all spent some time together, as well," Splinter told the red-masked turtle.

Raph squinted, then nodded. "Fine. I'll tell 'em."

Splinter nodded in gratitude. "Thank you, my son. Now, let's see what will be done for supper. Hopefully Ms. O'Neill or Mr. Jones have started something."

Leo sighed in relief as Splinter and Raph left the room, leaving him to lay down. He hadn't heard exactly what they'd said, but the puppy had a good feeling, so it must have been beneficial.

The puppy returned to him and WereLeo as his body fell asleep, yapping excitedly about something or another.

"Come here! Come on!" Leo called, hands out as far as they could go with the chain. The puppy happily came over, and his chains formed close enough to Leo that they could sit just about a foot from across from each other and touch if needed.

WereLeo growled at them, but Leo paid him no mind. "So, how was today? Something good must have happened."

The puppy nodded frantically, immediately trying to explain, but no words came out.

"Hey, hey, try and gesture it! I heard something about a deal, so that means my brothers are gonna do better, right?"

The puppy nodded again, tail wagging happily.

"Okay, so… How about we start with Don. He'll be… Sleeping more, hopefully?" Leo asked with hope in his voice. At the puppy's affirmation, he continued. "And he will… work… less…?"

The puppy gave a sound of affirmation, and Leo smiled brightly. "Okay, great. Now Raph and Mike I'm gonna group into one. They've been mostly just generally depressed, right?"

WereLeo growled lowly, but Leo ignored him once again. The puppy, on the other hand, lowered his head a bit.

"Anyway…" Leo sighed, leaning forward a bit to look the puppy in the eyes, "they'll be eating more, and hopefully sleeping?"

The puppy nodded happily, leaning forward to touch his head to Leo's. Leo smiled and closed his eyes, happy to have just this contentment, even if only for a few seconds.

Of course, it couldn't last.

WereLeo growled once again, and Leo looked over. His eyes widened and he saw the werewolf free of his bonds, and he screamed as it disappeared.

Raph looked up the stairs as he heard a loud, familiar growl. "Guys," he whispered at the table, and everyone looked at him. "Get outside. Bring a weapon. And stay silent."

They all nodded, and April grabbed a frying pan and Casey grabbed one of his baseball bats from the bag he'd left in the kitchen, and they all filed out of the house as quietly as possible.

"GRRRRRrrrrrrr…"

The sound sent shivers down the red-handed turtle's spine, and he silently led them all to the woods.

"Plan. Plan plan plan, we need a plan…" he muttered, pacing back and forth.

They heard claws scraping on the floor of the house, and Raph started to panic. "Ideas?!" he finally demanded.

"Well, what did you guys do last time?" April asked him; she and Casey had been informed of the situation minutes before.

Raph looked about to answer, but Mike cut in. "I'm, uh… not sure that's going to work every time. It usually only works once in cartoons or movies."

Raph stared at him, ready to say something about this not being a cartoon, but his instincts hit him and he pushed Don out of the way of an attack just in time.

The werewolf grinned at him as he landed on four feet from his lunge. His fangs glinted in the moonlight, red eyes glowing.

Raph motioned everyone behind him, ready to take anything Leo was going to dish out, and they all moved silently, dumb from fear, both for Raph and Leo.

"Leo, listen ta me," Raph started, because dammit if he wasn't going to try to get through to him just one more time… "This… This thing ain't you. Shredder infected you, gave you that weird colla'-"

He didn't get to finish; WereLeo lunged at him with flashing speed, and April screamed as Raph hit the ground, he and his infected brother rolling around.

He didn't have the strength or speed Leo did, but Don had a tranq gun in the barn somewhere, he knew that much.

"Don! Get the-" He was cut off as Leo slashed him across the face with his claws, leaving two shallow but long cuts across his entire face, barely missing his eye.

I'm sorry these are taking so long, but I'm... distracted. I'm putting up a One-Shot soon, tho! Review?

Shadow