The first few days without Big Mama at the hotel went swimmingly. The staff knew what was up and went about their tasks like any other day. Godrick helped Leo every step along the way. Paperwork was handled by Suzie and Godrick, but then they had to depart for the Battle Nexus.

He would never admit it, but he was quickly getting in over his head. A constant recurring thought that ran through his head was, “If Mama can run this hotel and Battle Nexus single handedly, then I should be able to run thee hotel until she comes home.” The fact that he was a twelve year old was ignored as he put expectations on himself to be the best hotel manager ever.

He had late nights and early mornings doing paperwork and walking around the hotel to check for anything out of place. The Samantha lady stuck around after the wedding and was staying in one of the family rooms. She claimed that her family and his “friends” would be joining her in the next few days, but Leo still had his reservations. Still, he didn’t want to make waves with her.

His brothers were worried about him and dragged him to a turtle pile to sleep most nights. Leo pretended to sleep until he could confirm they were sleeping and then continued to work until he was sleepy. Leo worked himself like a dog, hoping he was doing as good a job as his mother would expect of him. The last thing he wanted was to show he was incompetent and disappoint his mother.

Suzie returned from the Battle Nexus without Godrick since he had to gather new contestants for the arena. She quickly noticed how badly Leo was working himself and could see the burnout taking a heavy toll on her little brother. She took a weighted blue blanket from his bedroom and swaddled him in a baby bjorn so fast he didn’t know what happened.

“Suzie?”

She smiled at him and secured him to her back.

“Sleep, little brother. Suzie can handle this.”

Leo nuzzled her cheek and retreated into his shell. That actually worried her. In all her life, she had never seen Leo go into his shell. Not once! She sent a text to their moms, hoping she wasn’t interrupting the after marriage….”activities.” Cue full body shudder and subsequent gag. She moved Leo to her font so she could rub his back while she worked.

She went through the paperwork Leo was doing and noticed the approval form with a horrendous signature instead of his beautiful loopy scrawl. He had to have been delirious to have signed it. Poor baby, she rubbed his back and gave him a little hug. It was a contract thinly veiled as an approval sheet. Someone was trying to trick Leo into handing over half of the hotel’s profits. She tore off Leo’s sloppy signature and sent a picture of it to her moms and Godrick.

Whoever this person was was extremely ballsy to attempt it while Big Mama was away and stupid to think it would work. A rip in the space next to her had Suzie panic and hold Leonardo close to her, growling.

Big Mama and Abigail rushed through the portal. Abigail examined the contract while Big Mama took Leonardo. He had yet to leave his shell.

“Baby-shell? Are you awake?”

“M-Mama?”

Leo’s head poked out of his shell and his forehead got kissed.

“Has it been two weeks yet?”

Leo tiredly rubbed at his eyes.

“Don’t worry about that baby. Let’s go put you to bed.”

Abigail smiled at her wife and son before turning to Suzie.

“What happened?”

Suzie explained what she walked in on and her concerns.

“I see. Well, thank you for helping him when you could. I’m sure he’s gonna be sick when he wakes up, but it shouldn’t be too bad. I am worried. I’ve been around that boy since he was an infant. He’s never gone into his shell like that. I hope he’s okay.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much.”

Abigail and Suzie jumped and turned to look at a stumpy rat man standing behind them.

“Why not?”

“When my boys go into their shells, it usually means they’re overstimulated and need a break from sensory input. Purple had sound canceling headphones, sunglasses, and that weighted hoodie; if those don’t work he plays quiet classical music and hides away under his blankets. Orange likes to play pranks and then hide in his shell afterward to avoid consequences and Red is too big to fit in his shell.”

“That doesn’t help. Each of the boys has their own reasons for hiding in their shells! You never spent enough time around Leonardo to know what’s wrong, so don’t pretend you do.”

Abigail was mad at the washed up movie star turned rat, thinking he could diagnose Leonardo’s problem without ever actually speaking to him about anything.

“You are a good mother Ms Abigail. Blue is lucky to have you. I am going to the kitchen to prepare tea and soup.”

Splinter left the room as silently as he arrived. Big Mama left Leo’s room with her mystic energy lashing out.

“Suzanne, thank you for helping Leonardo. I want to see the contract he almost signed.”

Abigail gave the paper to her beautifully angered wife and watched her read through it.

“It was electronically printed so it didn’t bind his soul to the contract, but it also doesn’t give me any trace of the sender's energy or soul. You did the right thing informing us about it.

“What does this mean for Leo?”

“Whoever sent this is smart and will likely try again if they think I’m not here. I have an idea on how to lure them out. I need Donatello, however, for it to work.”

From his place outside the door with his brothers shared a confused look.

“What are you three doing?”

Maria stood behind the turtle stack and waved her hand. They were instantly weightless and floated in front of her. They were fascinated and speechless until They realized they were floating in front of Big Mama.

“That is convenient timing. Donatello, would like to go on a super secret, undercover operation?”

“What do I get outta of it?”

“Clever tot you are. Name your price. Within reason. I’m not getting you uranium.”

Donnie thought hard with plenty of input from his brothers.

“I want a new tool kit and my own lab!”

“Done. Sweet-wing, be a dear and get him ready. Suzanne, contact Godrick and Samantha.”

<~>

“GoGo, hurry up!”

Leonardo ran ahead of Godrick toward the back doors to the pools. He wore a plain lilac t-shirt and his indigo swim trunks. Godrick was dressed similarly with a concealed knife under his black shirt.

“Young Master, slow down. You’re going to trip over yourself.”

“Leo! Leo!”

Identical fox-faced young men rounded the corner and ran toward the small child. Godrick quickly prevented them from getting closer.

(Jack) “Woah, hey Godrick! Long time no prank!”

(Daniel)“Been a while big man!”

(Godrick) “Jack. Daniel. I haven't seen you two since you left. Have you returned with your mother?”

Leonardo looked between the two boys as a human walked through the lobby.

“Leo!”

(Godrick) “Nathaniel.”

Godrick greeted the human boy. It was strange. Nathaniel never showed up without April and almost never made an appearance.

(Godrick) “Is your sister with you?”

(Nathaniel) “What, yeah. She wanted to talk to Nexus. So Leo, what’s new?”

Nathaniel was acting differently from when Godrick last saw him. He was more confident. More talkative. More arrogant. Jack and Daniel frowned at each other and watched the shaky conversation being led by the human kid. He was Leo’s age, but the complete opposite of their old friend.

Godrick was picking up on annoyance and frustration when the youngest O’neil child was trying to stir the conversation to the hotel.

(Nathaniel) “So, your mom got married?”

“Y-Yeah! Yup! Mama got married to Abigail! I planned the whole wedding! Mama and Abigail put me in charge of the hotel while they are on their honeymoon.”

(Nathaniel) “What do you do being in charge of the whole hotel?”

“I sign approval form, contact venders, make sure the guests are happy -”

(Nathaniel)“Cool, cool, super interesting. What approval forms did you sign recently?”

(Godrick) “Young O’neil. That is classified Nexus information that you are not entitled to.

(Nathaniel) “Shut up, I’m not talking to you.”

(April) “Nathaniel Maxwell O’neil!”

April stomped toward her brother and gripped his ear.

(April) “Sorry about him, GoGo. He’s been spending too much time with our birth giver.”

(Godrick) “It’s no worry April.”

(Nathaniel) “Don’t badmouth mom! She’s better than you and better than these freaks! As soon as he signs the contact mom sent, we’ll be loaded!”

(Godrick) “Did you get all that, Mum.”

“I did indeed. Samantha darling, you can drop the illusions.”

Jack and Danny smiled and waved at their mom as she dropped “Leonardo’s” appearance to reveal Donatello in Leo’s clothes and a separate concealment around herself, Big Mama, Abigail, Suzie, and previously April.

(Big Mama) “So you spent the last year living with your mother.  She convinces you that the Nexus family has too much money and will be more than happy to give more than half of our profits to you and your mother. So you both hatch the brilliant ploy to manipulate my son when he is busy running the day to day operations, to sign a badly written contract. Am I correct?”

Godrick lifted Donatello into his arms and covered his eyes. Big Mama dropped her human disguise to continue to berate the human child. Better her than April. She was fuming and ready to tear her brother a new one.

(Big Mama)“April, do you have anything to add?”

(April)“Absolutely I do. I’m telling Dad to enroll you in a military school.”

(Nathaniel)“You can’t do that!”

(April)“The hell I can’t! Donnie, I swear if you repeat anything I say, your next. What you did was loathsome and underhanded! Dad did not raise you this way! We live with Dad for a reason! Why would you want to follow a meth and coke addicted scam artist?!”

April was spitting fire and dragging her brother out of the hotel. Big Mama smiled vindictively.

(Big Mama)“Jack, Daniel. I have a job for you two.”

<~<~>~>

“What got into your head?! I told you not to listen to her so called brilliant ideas!”

Nathaniel was sitting on a couch being screamed by his father and April. A pounding at the door ripped their attention away from the brat on the couch. David O’neil opened the door and returned looking even more furious with a police officer carrying a laptop.

“He’s right here. Can I ask what he did now?”

“It’s better that you see it, rather than hear it sir.”

The police officer opened his laptop and hit play. A high definition video clearly showed Nathaniel in a liquor store shoving bottles into a black duffle. It looked awkward but the video showed him taking four different bottles and handing them off to none other than his mother and leaving.

“Mind if we search the kid’s room sir.”

“You go right ahead.”

“That’s not me! I don’t drink, I’m twelve!”

“Boy, shut your mouth if you know what’s good for you.”

April knew immediately what was going on. While she wasn’t happy about it, she was aware Big Mama was helping her “military school” argument.

“Dad?”

“Not now baby girl.”

“Here we go. Care to explain yourself young man?”

Nathaniel also knew what was going on. There was no way to get out of it. He’d been played and there was only one other human who knew and she wasn’t going to be standing up for him anytime soon. He had one hand left he could play and it wasn’t pretty.

“My mom forced me to. She said she’d sell me to human trafficking if I didn’t help her.”

He had fake tears build up in his eyes, and he could see the empathy and concern on the policeman’s face.

“I’ll have some men pick up your ex wife sir. I’d consider a boarding school to undo any damage she caused to your son. If you want, I can set him up with a psych eval. To gauge said damage.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep the boarding school in mind.”

<~<~>~>

Big Mama sat at Leonardo’s bedside as Jack and Daniel quietly entered the room.

“Mum, we did our job. We made sure to stay in front of the security cameras and plant the goods in the kid’s bedroom.”

“Thank you boys. When Leonardo is better, I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you both. Go catch up with Suzanne and Leonardo’s brothers.”

“Alright Mum.”

The boys were confused by “Leonardo’s brothers” but they were excited. They were like overgrown puppies and not the cunning mischievous fox twins they were.

“Ma…ma…”

“Shhh. Mama’s here Baby-shell. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Did I do good?”

“Yes Baby-shell. You were a great manager in my stead. I’m so proud of you.”

Leo’s flushed face had a big dopey grin as he went back to sleep.

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