Alright, this is the second Secret Santa for dA I'm posting! It's for The-Fourth-Queen, who I believe is on FFNet, too! Their prompt was: Casey wasn't going to come. Everyone's kinda sad. Cue Leonardo hell-bent and dragging Casey to the lair to surprise the others with their 'Christmas gift'. Feel free to decorate Casey as you please. NO Raph/Casey romance slash. This takes place in the 2k12'verse, and it's rated T for language. Please enjoy, and Merry Christmas (since this is probably the only Christmas story I'm posting other than the prompts xD) and Happy Holidays!

December 19th…

Leo groaned, taking his T-Phone out again to see if Casey had texted him.

Nothing.

Casey didn't want to come to their Christmas party.

They'd made a whole gift and everything! It would've been so fun!

"Damnit, Case…" he muttered, getting up from his bed. He was going to see him.

As he opened the door, his eyes widened. What in the world?

"Mikey, why are you tied up? Is someone here?!" he asked hurriedly, going to take the tape off his brother's mouth, not gently.

"Ouch! Nah, Raph tied me up 'cuz I was getting on his nerves. He's mad Casey's not coming too, y'know," Mikey answered as Leo helped untie him.

"Wait, how do you know about that?" Leo asked; he hadn't thought Casey had told anyone except him and Raph, not wanting to bum the others out too soon.

"I, uh, overheard them talking last night. So did Donnie, and… like, everyone in the Lair," Mikey muttered sheepishly.

Leo rolled his eyes. His brother wasn't wrong. "Well, if anyone asks, I'm going out on a run. I won't be back for a while."

Mikey nodded, and Leo walked towards the turnstiles, preparing himself for the cold winter run.

"And I'm gonna try to get through to Casey," he muttered to himself as he ran through the tunnels.

Casey sat in his new apartment, away from his father, away from the sports store, away from everything. It wasn't that nice of an apartment, really, Leo thought to himself. The walls were kinda soggy and they were really thin, and a prostitute lived next to Casey, so when Raph crashed there, he would always complain to Leo about not being able to sleep all night because of the sounds.

Leo knocked on Casey's window, only to have to catch it as it fell forward, letting the cold breeze in. He climbed inside and placed the window back as well as he could.

"Jeez, Case, I don't understand why you'd wanna live here," Leo commented, not politely.

Casey scoffed, looking away from his new arrival.

"Casey, why don't you want to come to the Christmas party on Friday?" Leo asked his friend, sitting next to him on the futon he'd borrowed from Leo, per the turtle's forceful suggestion.

"'Cuz I don't, OK? Why can't you just deal with it?" Casey snapped, not looking at his friend.

Leo blew out of his nostrils, shaking his head. "That's not an answer."

"Stop it, Leo! I don't need to explain myself to you!" Casey barked.

Leo glowered at his friend. "Look, I'm not trying to force you into anything, but we had a whole plan for how we were gonna show everyone our gift! How can you just suddenly not want to come?"

"I said, I don't need to explain myself to you, you freak!" Casey yelled, before his eyes widened as he realized what he'd said. "Oh, crap, Leo, I didn't-"

"You know what, Casey? Stop. I don't want to listen to you anymore. Don't come, I don't care. See ya," Leo muttered, standing up.

"Leo!" Casey called, but Leo was already gone, not bothering to put the window back this time.

Casey stood, going to the window as he grabbed the fallen piece of glass. "Leo!" he called as it started to snow, mind reeling.

"Shit…" he muttered to himself, closing the window and getting back to his bed, sitting down and bringing his knees up to his chest.

Why had he listened to his father…?

Leo grumbled to himself as he trudged through the sewers, shivering from the cold. He should've brought a coat. He shouldn't have went to see Casey at all. They'd been wrong about him. He was just like all the other humans out there.

He stomped back into the Lair, going to the kitchen for hot chocolate. He made it and sat in the pit, turning on Space Heroes. His brothers were off doing other things.

He wouldn't tell them. How could he? If they found out what Casey had said, especially Raph, they'd lose it. He was one of their only human friends. They'd be crushed.

He blew on his hot chocolate and took a sip, but the drink didn't make him feel any better.

December 23rd…

Leo was on a lone patrol, running through the snowy rooftops and not thinking about how cold his feet were. He'd had a fight with Raph, and since he'd grounded them the other night for setting Mikey's room on fire (don't ask), he'd gone out for some air to get away from them.

He, on instinct, ran on Casey's new building, trying not to think about the human within the walls.

As he was about to jump, though, he skidded to a stop, almost slipping off the icy rooftop in surprise.

It was too cold for this. He couldn't deal with the Foot right now. He was cold and he was sad and - shit he didn't have his weapons!

He felt around for his T-Phone, only to realize that was also at the Lair.

"Heh, alright, guys. Let's not get over our heads here. I know you don't want to be out here, either," he tried, to no avail.

They charged at him, and he gulped as he tried to defend himself.

There were 15 bots in all. That wouldn't have been so bad. If, y'know, he'd had his weapons and it wasn't freezing and slippery.

He kicked two, knocking them into other robots, taking down 4. He stole a tanto from one of them and stabbed the next 2 in the throats.

As he was going for another one, though, he felt a deep, cutting pain in his head, and he yelled out desperately in pain.

Casey blinked as he heard a familiar voice from above him.

"Leo…?" he muttered, grabbing a hockey stick and running out into the hallway and going to the roof access.

He opened the door and ducked as Leo was sent barreling into the roof access, and the turtle groaned as the impact on his head caused more pain to his already cut self.

Casey checked out Leo for a second, making sure there was nothing fatal, and then looked at the Foot Bots with narrowed eyes, growling at them. "No one hurts my FRIENDS!" he yelled, charging at the standing bots.

They were all out of commission soon enough, and Casey went back over to Leo, who was still lying down, a thin layer of snow covering his side as he breathed heavily, trying to stop the blood flow on the back of his head.

"Let's get ya inside, bud," Casey muttered, grabbing the turtle with little resistance. He knew the leader wasn't his biggest fan right now, but he had to get him where it was at least a few degrees warmer.

Leo groaned again as he was sat down on Casey's futon. "N-Not… here… You sleep here…" Leo shuddered, his fingertips blue and coated with warm blood as Casey went to get his first-aid kit.

"Doesn't matter now, Leo," Casey mumbled as he knelt in front of the 19-year old, only for Leonardo to lean away from him.

"Why'd… you h-help me…?" the shivering blue-clad turtle asked, a little contempt still in his eyes. "Thought I… was just… a freak…" he groaned as Casey turned him around so he could get to the back of his head.

The human started to wipe away the frozen blood on his friend's head with a warm wet cloth, making the turtle groan his displeasure. He took away the towel and sprayed disinfectant, causing the turtle to hiss. "A-Answer me, Arnold…" Leo growled.

Casey ignored the demand, although the fact that Leo had called him Arnold, his true first name, pointed out to him that the turtle was serious about this. He wrapped his friend's head up, covering his eyes despite his attempts not to, and tended to the minor cuts on the rest of his body.

When Leo turned around to face the human, Casey sighed. "I didn't mean what I said. Honest," he started as he handed Leonardo a towel to get the snow off himself with and try to warm up in the freezing apartment.

"Then why did you say it, Casey? You're lucky it was me; if it had happened to any of the others, they would've gone batshit. Raph would've demolished you, Donnie would've probably dissected you, and Mikey…" Leo sighed, still shivering, although the blue tone to his smaller digits was receding. "Mikey would've had a breakdown. You're one of our few human friends, Casey. And our trust is broken easily."

Casey blew out of his nostrils. "Look, Leo… My dad… My dad found out about you guys."

Leo's eyes widened under the gauze, any sort of argument dying in his throat. "He wh-what?"

It was well-known to the circle of strange friends that Casey's father was abusive to him and his little sister, who was now staying with a friend whenever needed, per request of the friend's mother after discovering the situation and Casey and his sister begging her not to report him to the authorities.

"H-How?" Leo inquired shakily.

Casey blushed madly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "It was a little over a week ago. Me'n Raph were comin back from a patrol, and we were being kinda loud. My dad musta been listening, because he looked out the window and saw Raph running away."

He breathed out, gauging the eldest turtle's reaction. Leo's face was blank, not giving anything away, but he couldn't see Leo's eyes, so he didn't know.

"He confronted me about it later, asked if that's who I'd been with whenever I went out. I said no, but he didn't believe me. He… He beat the truth out of me… I'm… I'm sorry, Leo…" Casey whimpered, tears brimming in his brown eyes. "I… I can't come because… He said he'd make sure my sis stayed with him… Jeezus, Leo, I can't sacrifice my fucking sister!" Casey cried.

Leo nodded in agreement. "I know where you're coming from, Casey, but… You have to come to the party," he pleaded. "The guys are really bummed that you're not coming."

"You didn't-"

"Tell them what you said? No. I told you what they'd do. You don't want it," Leo shuddered at the mental image. "But, Casey… We had a great present planned. You have to come to the party. Everyone'll be so bummed out that we're missing two members of our strange family this year…"

Wet spots gathered on the gauze, and Casey instantly remembered that Splinter wouldn't be there this year. Holy shit, he was so selfish!

"Leo, I'm… I'm so sorry," he whispered, leaning in and hugging his shivering and shaking friend tightly, letting Leo cry on his shoulder. "I can't believe I didn't take that into consideration."

Leo sniffed, shaking his head as he pulled away, wrapping the towel further around himself. "It's… It's fine. You had your own problems." He composed himself a bit, taking a deep breath in and out. "Besides, a drunk guy knowing who we are isn't that big of a deal. You aren't staying with him anymore, and me and the guys can help with your little sister. Hell, you two can stay at the Lair, if you want. Chloe already knows about us," he admitted sheepishly, rubbing his neck.

Casey's eyes widened, and he leaned forward, almost like a girl at a sleepover hungry for gossip. "How'd you get discovered by my sister?!" he laughed.

Leo smiled, telling Casey of the mutagen incident again, and how Raph's pet had mutated and taken the others, leaving him to get a canister of mutagen. He'd followed a little girl, who had bought it thinking it was tea, and had crashed through her window to keep her from drinking the stuff.

Casey's grin looked painful at this point. "Man, I thought she'd dreamed that! That's hilarious!"

Leo chuckled as well. He had made Raph swear to not tell the others, but they'd met her a few months later when she'd spotted them on patrol.

"So, anyway… Are you gonna come to our Christmas party? It can be a surprise! We can present the gift together! Please! Casey, everyone will be so happy!" Leo pleaded.

Casey mulled over it. Leo was right. His dad was just an angry drunk, and casey was old enough now to be Chloe's prime caretaker, if something were to happen.

"OK. I'll go," Casey conceded.

Leo beamed, and immediately stood, letting the towel fly into Casey's hamper, which was across the room. He stretched, rubbing his neck again. He couldn't see very good, if at all, through the gauze, but they were going to finish putting the gift together tonight, with Casey being Leo's eyes.

"We're going to do this! C'mon, Casey!" Leo grinned, and Casey helped his friend towards the roof access so they could get to the sewers, where their unfinished gift was.

"Alright, Casey, we're gonna need to finish these details quick, but not make it look sloppy. You think you can guide me?" Leo asked, grabbing a paintbrush.

Casey sucked in a breath, and let it out, then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so."

Christmas Eve, the Christmas Party

Everyone was in Lair, Karai, April, Shinigami, Mona Lisa and the Mutanimals, not including Dr. Rockwell and Pigeon Pete, of course, and the turtles. The only ones missing were Casey and Leo.

"Where is he?" Raph muttered to himself, pressing the blue button on his T-Phone again and holding it to his ear.

Leo had gone somewhere last night and hadn't been back since, only texting him to say that he was fine and to start the party; he'd be there soon.

They were now a good hour into the party, but it didn't seem complete. They already knew Casey wasn't going to make it, but if Leo didn't come either, it would just take away the holiday spirit.

His grim thoughts were interrupted when he heard the phone pick up. His eyes widened. "Leo?" he asked.

"Hey, Raph. W - I've got a big present here and was wondering if you could help guide me to the Lair?" Leo asked from the other end.

"Um, yeah, sure. Where are you?"

"At our old hiding place from when we were kids. You remember, right?"

Raph made a noise of affirmation. "Alright, be there in like 5 minutes."

He told Don where he was going, as to not cause panic, and left, sprinting to his and Leo's old solitude.

Leo paced, hand on the wall to guide him, as the bandages were still around his eyes. 2 other things were inside the box with their gift, which would add quite some weight, but Raph and he could handle it.

"I demand an explanation- what the hell, Leo?" Raph asked, walking over to his brother. "What happened?"

"Foot Bots. That's not important. I'll tell you later if you help me carry this to the Lair," Leo promised.

Raph narrowed his eyes, lips set in a thin line as the thought. "Fine. But Donnie's gonna fix ya better when we get there."

"Yes, Mother," Leo muttered as he and Raph picked up the box, which was 4 feet wide, 5 feet long, and 6 1/2 feet tall.

"How on Earth does this thing fit through the tunnels?" Raph asked his brother.

"It doesn't. W… I had to assemble the box in here, too. I made sure I kept it in a place where there were no smaller sewer tunnels, only subway tracks, so it'd fit. I'm just not 100% sure that it'll fit into the Lair nicely," Leo explained, tapping the box anxiously.

"It'll be fine. We got a lotta room at the entrance of the Lair. We're good."

Leo smiled gratefully, trying not to sweat as he heard a thump in the box.

When they made it to the Lair, both panting from carrying the good 260-pound box over, everyone turned to look at them. They were surprised to see two panting turtles, one with bandages around his eyes, and a huge-ass box carried between them.

"What the…?" Donnie asked as he came forward, helping them put it down where there was room, after everyone moved out of the way.

"Leo, what happened to your eyes?" the purple-clad turtle then asked.

"Nothing. There's a cut on the back of my head and I just wrapped myself up like this so that I could save time to finish this present," Leo explained calmly.

"Well, lemme treat it so you can see, okay?" Donnie suggested/ordered.

Leo nodded. As Donnie led him to his lab, Leo turned his head back to the party-goers' general direction. "No one better look in there!" he growled, and everyone made sounds of affirmation.

A few minutes later, they came out of the lab, Leo with bandages on only the back of his head so he could actually see.

"OK, so, I'm gonna let you guys in on a secret. I can't keep this gift closed any longer, because not only the gift is in there," Leo smiled dramatically, standing next to the gift, a step stool under his feet so he could reach.

"So, I am going to open it. Here we go." With that, Leo tried to get a good grip on the lid of the box, and painfully lifted it up. "Oh, dear God this is heavier than I remember!" he grunted.

He yelped as the lid flew off the box, and he caught it, falling off the stool in the process. "OW! The hell?!" he ground out.

2 small hands grasped the top of the box from the inside, and a little head popped out.

"...Chloe?!" Donnie asked in confusion.

"Yep! And another one!" Leo exclaimed.

As Leatherhead helped Chloe out, Casey ricocheted out of the box, thinking someone would catch him.

Fortunately, someone did.

Unfortunately, it was Slash, and his spikes hurt.

"Shit!" Casey yelped as he fell to the ground.

"Uh, sorry…" Slash muttered, looking at Raph, who shrugged as he helped Casey up.

"That… didn't go as planned…" Leo sighed, rubbing his forehead. "So, surprise…?" he asked. "Yaay…"

Mikey, who was still gushing over Chloe, came over and helped his brother off the floor. "Well, we got two extra guests! And your huge present! What is it?"

Leo smirked. "It took a long time on mine and Casey's part, but we're proud of it!" he exclaimed, getting back on the step stool and reaching in the box.

"Leatherhead, gimme a boost!" Casey asked, and Leatherhead did so.

The turtle and the human pulled out a large, flat item, covered in a tarp.

Leatherhead and Slash, carefully, helped put it on the floor, where it stood by itself.

"Now, introducing…" Leo started, grabbing one end of the tarp as Casey grabbed the other end.

"The greatest gift…" Casey continued, and they looked at each other with matching grins.

"EVER!" they shouted, ripping off the tarp.

Beneath the tarp was a mural…

Of all of them.

All their friends, all their allies, even Bebop and Rocksteady (who they'd decided to add last minute when they realized there was space for two more), all fighting one collective enemy.

Shredder.

And Splinter was above them, smiling on them in approval.

Everyone, after taking it all in for a few seconds, immediately started gushing about how great it was, and how detailed, and how long did this take?!

Leo and Casey looked at each other with large grins.

This had definitely been worth it.

There it is! I hope I followed the prompt right. xD Please review, and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays again! :D

Shadow