Hey all, for those of you who are reading A New and Old Threat (that's what I changed the title too from She Wasn't After Us?) don't worry I am working on the next chapter-even though no one reviewed any of the three chapters that I updated a while ago, I did update them at the same time but still… so anyway enough of me whining and groaning!

So I read Skyward Dreams by Lioness-Goddess and this story just kinda hit me and I just had to get it down before it left me. Oh and this is set when Saki is still Shredder and not in jail (so they are in the old lair) but he doesn't make an appearance…or does he… so without further ado here it is!

Disclaimer-(so I lied this is the last ado) If any of you think I own the TMNT then you must be good friends with the nice people in white coats and well acquainted with a straight jacket! R&R!

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

It was pretty much a normal day in the lair. Mikey was busy trying to beat a new video game. Currently he was one level one…out of thirteen. He had looked it up on the internet to make himself feel better. The game was hard and there was one site for it where people would say what level they were on. The highest was level three. And Mike thought even that might be a lie. He was pretty good at video games and had, in the end, always beaten them, even if it took some cheating. The problem was no one had discovered any cheats for this game. The first day he had gotten it he died twelve times in a row and had made Raph, who had been laughing hysterically at him, try it. Raph hadn't done any better; in fact he had done worse! Don had been drawn out next, by the loud swearing Raph had made and both Raph and Mikey had forced him to try it. He did worse than both of them combined! All three of them had tried to get Leo to try it, even trying to tie him to the couch and duct tape the controller onto his hand but he had refused and somehow sneaked away without having to embarrass himself by not having to play the game. Mikey had had this game for over two weeks now and was getting really frustrated with it.

If we move to a different part of the lair, to Don's lab to be exact we see Don doing, well…Donny science stuff. Only he knows what he is doing but the others can't wait. It is not an experiment but an invention and he has been building up his brother's excitement for a couple of days but refused to tell what the invention was. Now he was regretting building up their excitement for he wasn't sure if he could get it done right. This was one invention that he just might give up on. Now Don wasn't stubborn for many things, or at least didn't come off as stubborn to other's but he was stubborn in finishing things he started, especially if they were in science or had to do with it. The door to his lab was closed and his brothers (mainly Mikey and Raph) had long ago (okay an hour ago) given up trying to listen in. Mikey would make a small giggle and Raph would yell at him and then Don would kick them away from the door (one time he actually literally kicked them) and they would come back in about two hours (so Don had one hour left until they would probably try again).

Now if we move to the dojo we see Raph being Raph and beating the crap out of the punching bag. He was mad, at well a lot of things, but mainly he was mad that Leo had to be sick and not do practice. Of course Leo being Leo had tried to practice but Leo had confined him to his room but that didn't make any difference to Raph. It was unfair that Leo didn't have to practice and they had to. It had been a grueling practice and Raph blamed Leo for it all. Basically he just needed to be mad at something and Leo was the perfect target for his severe dislike. In just a few more hits the punching bag would be torn off his hook. And since Leo was usually the one to repair it-sewing it back up, Raph was able to hang it back up at least-he would get mad because he wouldn't be able to vent out his anger on his favorite inanimate object. His severe dislike of Leo would go to the second stage. And right on time the punching bag flew off the hook and Raph who was so tempted to storm out of the lair but knew he couldn't because they were going to Aprils later just settled with storming out of the dojo to bug Mikey about not being able to beat the first level on his video game.

The last turtle could be found in his room, sicker than a dog (not to be taken literally or to be taken literally:) a turtle, just lying on his bed in discomfort as he wasn't able to fall asleep. This would be Leonardo. The other night all four of the brothers had gone out on patrol but when they were at the furthest point on their patrol loop from the lair it had started pouring down. There had been no action all day, well night actually but of course that was when they heard the scream. Their honor demanded that they help whoever had screamed. Another scream echoed from the alleyway and they all hurried to see what the problem was. They peered down the alleyway. Same old story, bunch of mean looking thugs were surrounding a teenage girl, probably looking to rape her.

Not wanting to waste time, especially in this rain Leo gave the nod and they all hopped down to ground level. Leo came behind the guy who seemed to be the leader as Mike, Don, and Raph went to the sides. When the thugs, drunken, the smell of their breath made Leo wrinkle beak in disgust, moved in the mutants made their move. Raph let out a growl and the thugs turned around, except for the leader who really wanted at the blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty. He didn't stand a chance. Leo violently grabbed his shoulder and whipped him around. Now that he saw Leo he was allowed to attack. The thug didn't even have time to comprehend he should defend himself before Leo punched him. He was out of business. While the others took care of the rest of the gang, about six or seven which Leo knew they could easily beat he went up to the girl. Her shirt was ruffled and muddy but otherwise fine. She cowered at the sight of Leo but surprisingly didn't scream. That's when he realized she was going into shock. He had seen this before and knew how to deal with it, they all did. He turned back to his brothers who had by now tied up the rest of the wannabe gang, and not wanting them to get sick told them to get in the sewers; he would catch up once he knew the teenager was safe. Mikey was shivering and they all wanted out of the cold and easily agreed. Though he knew they would walk slowly for him, probably of Raph's forcing. That's just what Raph did.

It took about six or seven minutes to get the girl to a police station in her condition. Leo watched her walk in and police crowd around her. She was in safe(ish) hands now and Leo could catch up to his brothers easily. He dropped into the nearest manhole and sneezed. He groaned. He had been out in the cold too long, without any clothes, and of course he was cold-blooded. As he got nearer to his brothers (he could hear Raph and Mikey fighting and Don talking geek to himself) he tried to hide his sneezing. He had started sneezing more and more often through the short-ish walk and he knew he probably had a fever.

He snuck up on his brothers and was going to make a scary monster sound at Mike but it turned into a sneeze. It still had the desired affect though; Mikey screaming like a little girl and jumped about ten feet in the air. Raph laughed but Don stared at him weirdly. "Are you okay Leo?" Leo had nodded and tried to hide his wince as thunder roared and a headache flared. Don looked at him searchingly but shook his head and turned to watch his fighting brothers a smile fighting to get on his face. Leo breathed a mental sigh of relief and sneezed, quietly this time. Raph and Mike were being so loud that Don hadn't heard the sneeze but people (if any were crazy enough to be out in this weather-which he knew they were) could probably hear the two youngest. Leo ahemed in that Splinter-like way and they caught on and got a little quieter. Don rolled his eyes at Leo and they kept walking.

They played a family game of Scrabble that night (Don won and Splinter came in close second, then Leo, Raph, and Mike). The game lasted an hour and a half but to Leo it was torture. It was incredibly hard to hide his sneezes and winces at loud noises. His family wasn't stupid though and Splinter finally asked if Leo was getting sick. Leo had of course immediately said NO! a little too defensively and Splinter gave that father stare that said he knew better. It was the stare that could break any of his children into telling him what he wanted to know. Everyone noticed the stare and Raph smirked as Leo wriggled uncomfortable in his seat. Mikey covered his mouth, trying to catch the escaping giggles before they were heard, he was failing…miserably. Don was looking around at everything but his father and master and his older brother, not too obvious…

They stayed in this awkward silence for five minutes before Leo cracked (a pretty good amount of time for the stare) and blurted out "Okay, okay, I stayed out in the cold rain just a little too long and I must be catching a cold…" Splinter nodded knowingly and said, "After the game you will go rest, I do not want you catching pneumonia." Leo nodded, ashamed and the younger turtles all snickered at Leo's (almost) blushing face. Of course his face didn't get very red, being green and a reptile and all but if you looked hard enough you could almost see a pink tinge.

In the morning Leo wasn't better and his cold had turned into pneumonia. It was a small case by Don's expertise and he would be over it in about five to seven days, most likely. Of course from earlier you know that he tried to go to practice but had not been allowed. Which brings us back to present time.

There was about half an hour till the healthy turtles and Splinter would go to April's (Casey would meet them there). There had been some debate about leaving a sick Leo behind but they finally decided that they would leave a shell cell with Leo in case he desperately needed something. And of course Leo was fine with this. Mikey, who had finally gotten mad at the video game he was playing, coupled with Raph's teasing turned off the T.V. frustrated. Currently he was being chased by Raph who he had, with his implacable talent to piss Raph off by simply just smiling, pissed off. They had been at it for ten minutes maybe and not even Raph remembered why he was mad at Mikey. It was just routine and entertainment for him. Mikey was now teasing Raph at how slow he was; he should've caught him by now. Raph just growled and ran faster determined to catch Mikey.

Don, long ago had he stopped on his invention. He knew he would go back to it but he needed a break before he screamed. He was on his computer talking to one of his science-loving IM friends. He was totally ignoring the sound of his fighting brothers outside; caught up in the conversation which he found so interesting (I'm sure his IM buddy thought it was interesting too but if any of his family, besides maybe April had read the conversation they would've just sat there and blinked confusedly).

Splinter sat in his room trying to meditate. The key word, trying. Even he couldn't concentrate with the racket his sons were making. Don at least had a concrete wall (not in the cartoon but there should be) between him and his brothers. Splinter only had the traditional Japanese paper wall between himself and his two noisy sons. Splinter hoped that Leo would get well soon. He was usually the one to break up his noisiest sons. Sometimes Don would do it but only if it suited him. Splinter gave a small sigh as Leo couldn't do it and it was obvious that Don wasn't going too. He shook his head sadly and walked out of his room.

All Splinter had to do was give out a small cough for his presence to be noticed. Mikey gave a wide smile and tried to hide behind Splinter. Splinter though gave his youngest a wary look and spoke "I thought we might go to Mrs. O'Neil's a bit early. Michelangelo; would you call her and ask her if that is alright." It was in question form but it was not a question, as was what he said next "Raphael would you go and kindly get Donatello from his lab and bring him here." His sons nodded and went to go do what they were asked/told to do.

A couple of minutes later three of his sons were assembled before him. Splinter looked at Mike and Mike nodded to show that April approved. "Donatello would you help Leonardo to the couch so that if he cannot rest he can at lest watch some television." Don nodded and went upstairs to fetch Leo who still hadn't been able to get any sleep. Only a few more minutes later Leo was settled on the couch, the T.V. still off but the remote in easy reach and a puke bucket near, just in case. Leo watched his family with glazed eyes as they left; albeit a bit guilty but excited to be going to April's.

Once they were gone Leo was left in a deafening silence. Since he knew he wasn't going to be able to rest it only took two minutes for him to decide to watch some quiet T.V. He reached for the remote and clicked the power button. He stared at the screen; confused. It looked like some sort of video game start screen. As the realization hit him he groaned, not in pain of sickness but for the fact that if he wanted to watch T.V. he would have to get up and switch off the console. He hadn't really even had the energy to get to the couch from his room with Don's help. He wasn't about to get up. He sighed in acceptance. Wasn't this the game his younger brother's had tied him down to try and get him to play it? The one that Mikey complained about how hard it was and he didn't believe the people on the site could get the second level, much less the third? The music was low but interesting and caught Leo's attention. Secretly he had sort of wanted to try it but he wasn't really good at video games, especially since he rarely (okay, never) played them so he had no practice, so he knew he would royally suck. Of course you never know till you try…

Two or maybe three hours later the healthy mutants returned home. Raph and Mikey had exaggerated quietness due to the fact that Don had asked them to be quiet once they entered the lab as to not wake Leo if he was sleeping or to worsen a headache that he probably had. Mikey had a hard time controlling his giggles from his brother's and his act but one look from his father silenced him. Raph had a sarcastic air to him and was sneering.

As they snuck up to the couch to see if Leo was asleep or not Mikey let out a loud gasp accompanied by a small squeak. Raph glared at him and Don put his finger to his beak in the international sign for shush! All Mikey did was frantically point to the T.V. screen and his brothers staggered back in immense surprise. "B-b-b-b-b-b-but he couldn't have! He sucks at games! And how did the game get turned on?" that was Raph. Mikey shrunk into his shell a little bit and his older brothers glared at him knowing he was behind it. "I remember now! I was so mad at the game that I only turned the screen off and not the console. Leo must've not wanted to get up to turn it off…but that still doesn't explain that!" he said, pointed frantically at the screen.

They were talking in hushed whispers and it drew Splinter over. All he had to do was raise an eyebrow in question. Don pointed to the screen. Splinter nodded now understanding. He peeked over the couch and sure enough there was the controller in Leonardo's hand, Leo himself finally asleep. This was the game that all of his sons but Leonardo had tried at and failed miserably. The game had been a topic of discussion for a while at the dinner, (and lunch…and breakfast) table for a time now. Splinter walked to his room to meditate, knowing his son's would eventually put Leo in his room once they got over the shock of the sight.

The screen flashed the words:

Game Over! High Score: 10000/10000!

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

gives contented sigh Personally, I like it! How did you like it? I really, really want to know!

Saki: Ha! I wasn't in it; I didn't kill the turtles…it SUCKED!

Me: Hey! That isn't very nice!

Saki: Well I'm not a very nice person! So there!

Me: shrugs Can't disagree there! smiles evilly

Saki: Why are you smiling like that? STOP THAT!

Me: doesn't reply but kicks Shredder out while he screams and curses

Well whaddya know, he did make an appearance! ;) So…umm, already said R&R at the beginning but I have a question. I know what R&R means but what does R&R&R mean? Lots of authors say it but I can't figure it out…

So anyway, please REVIEW! And thanx (for at least reading and getting this far)!