Despite his solo performance ruined by his brother's carelessness, Leonardo Hamato tried his best to remain optimistic. After his argument with Raphael, Splinter sent Leo off to his dressing room to calm himself. As he stayed in his private chambers, the club went into the process of closing early - a shame in Leo eyes for he pitied the unlucky people who weren't blessed to hear him sing tonight. However, he knows his father is doing what is best for the family business. Plus, his brother, Raphael, will finally get his long awaited punishment.

"He's been having it easy for waaaay too long," Leo says to himself as he relaxes in his blue velvet chaise lounge, "Father is probably scolding him right now. He's gotta be at his last straw with him. Maybe he'll cut him off or something worse," he snickers. "It's what he deserves..."

Yet despite the situation being handled, Leo couldn't help but still remain unsatisfied. He was unable to express his musical talents tonight. Hear his adoring fans cheer his name as they begged him for an encore, a sound he loves hearing every night. It disappointed Leo greatly, but he knew how to keep his mind off of it and cheer himself up.

"Reading about me!!" Leo proudly says as he pulls out the newspaper, "Now, let's see..." He starts flipping through the pages as he sits up, "Usagi's dumb review about me. Ignore! Burlesque club? More like a brothel! Comedy club? A dime a dozen! The women's rights movement? Hmm, maybe later," He continues flipping through the pages of the newspaper, going faster with every turn, desperately trying to find any mention of him, but nothing.

"Ugh! There's really nothing about me in here?! Has the world gone mad?!" He then flips to the last page. There he sees a small ad in the corner of the paper on the back, almost easy to miss, but it caught Leo's eye. He squints, trying to make out what the ad had to say.

"The Witch's Brew" the ad reads, "Run by shop owner Shinigami, this talented woman can offer you mystical guidance and wisdom with her tarot cards and palm reading skills!"

"HA! I always knew she was a witch!" Leo laughs confidently, "So that's where you ran off to. Pathetic..." he tosses the newspaper to the ground, falling back down to recline on his lounge sofa. No reviews of him to admire, and since the club closed early, no more performances for him tonight. Leo takes a deep breath and exhales, "They must have everyone out by now..." Leo thought as he sat up once again, "Might as well talk to Leatherhead and prepare for tomorrow's show."

Leo leaves his dressing room and exits from backstage to the main room, now vacant, but still damaged from the chaos that happened a few hours prior. A few of the band members were already cleaning up and repairing the mess, while he noticed Casey cleaning at the bar with the new girl, April. There was Renet waiting for Michelangelo with a bouquet of flowers, like she does every night Mikey performs.

"Typical..." Leo chuckles. He then spots Leatherhead in the main room helping clean up the mess, and quickly rushes up to him.

"Leatherhead! There you are! I need to speak with you."

"Oh!" Leatherhead was surprised by the young turtle's sudden appearance. "What do you need, Mr Hamato?"

"I wish to discuss with you my opening act tomorrow night."

"Y-Your opening act?" Leatherhead repeats, rather concerned.

"Yes. Are you deaf?" Leo huffs before he continues, "So I think I'll be singing my most popular song, Feeling Good, for my opening, then later I'll do-"

"Uh, Leonardo, didn't your father tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Well, umm...," the giant alligator began fidgeting with his hands, nervous to tell the young turtle the news, "Y-Your opening act will be postponed, uh, to make room for Raphael's solo tomorrow night."

"WHAT??" Leo shouted with a furious twitch in his eye.

"Now Leonardo, you have to understand this was your father's choice," Leatherhead tells the young turtle calmly.

"So after what happened tonight he's actually letting this slide?!" Leo asked, exasperated. "This is ridiculous!"

"It was just a mistake and the solution is being fixed," Leatherhead tries to explain to him, "Here's no need-"

"No! There needs to be consequences! I'll just talk to him myself!"

"Please, Leonardo! This isn't necessary!"

Ignoring Leatherhead's plead, Leonardo stormed out of the main room of the Dojo, returning backstage. Leatherhead chased the young turtle through the backstage door and soon into Mr Hamato's office.

"Are you kidding me, Father?!" Leo shouts as he furiously stomps into Splinter's office. "After months of refusing to sing, skipping rehearsals, ditching his performance to flirt with customers, starting a scene in our club, AND ruining my solo, you're still going to let Raphael perform tomorrow night?!"

"I'm sorry, Mr Hamato," Leatherhead says nervously as he enters the room carefully, trying not to let his massive gator body knock over anything nearby, "I tried to explain this to him but-"

"It's fine, Leatherhead," Splinter says as he goes over the papers on his desk, "While I handle this could you do me a favor and bring our new cigar girl, Ms O'Neil, to my office? I wish to speak to her."

Leatherhead nods and quickly exits the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Leonardo alone to talk with his father.

"Leonardo, I do not understand why you are so upset with this decision," Splinter starts, "You were perfectly fine with Michelangelo taking your place performing the opening number tonight."

"That's different!" Leo explains, "Mikey never disobeys you or ditches rehearsals so I let him do the opening because he wanted to impress Renet. Raph however does and you're letting him get away with this!"

"Leonardo, listen to me," Splinter said strictly, "Raphael is not getting away with anything. Your brother and I came to an agreement. I expect you to respect my decisions."

"I do respect you, Father! My concern is if Raph will respect yours! You actually think he's going to go through with singing tomorrow night?!"

"I have faith that he'll cooperate."

"But what if he doesn't?!" Leo shouts.

"Calm down, Leonardo!" Splinter says, his patience was decreasing.

"How can I calm down?! Raph has had it easy for far too long and you know it! If I were in charge of this place he would've been fired years ago!"

"You know you don't mean that. Raphael is your brother. You wouldn't fire your family."

"I would if it meant saving my business..." Leo mumbles.

Splinter sighs, "This is the kind of stuff I'm worried about when I retire... Leonardo, you know I will be entrusting the family business to you once I reach my retirement, but my options might change if you continue with this kind of attitude."

Leo huffs, "Who else is there to take your place? You think Raph cares at all about this club? Donnie doesn't even have the confidence to do a solo, so I doubt he could run a business. The only other option is Mikey and he's too young and naïve to know anything!"

Splinter glares, not happy with his son's obvious growing ego and comments about his own brothers, "Perhaps I'll just hand the business over to your sister when she-"

"Karai isn't coming back!" Leo interrupts, "Face it. I'm the only option you got!"

Before Splinter could continue his conversation with his distraught son there was a sudden gentle knock at the office door.

"Come in!" Splinter says, quickly calming himself from his stressful conversation with his oldest son.

The door carefully opens and enters April, seeming rather concerned and nervous to step inside her boss's office. "Um, Mr. Hamato?" her voice was cautious and rather timid, "Leatherhead said you wanted to see me?"

"Ah, yes, Ms O'Neil. Please come in," He looks at his oldest son as April nervously enters the office, "I believe you haven't met our new cigar girl yet, Leonardo?"

Leo looks at his father as he gives his son a kind smile, signaling him to be on his best behavior after his sudden outburst. Leo then takes a deep breath, calming himself, and turns to look at April. He gives the redhead a charming smile as he presents himself to her as the perfect gentleman the papers know him to be.

"No, I don't believe I have," He gently takes her hand, "It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. O'Neil, and may I say that I'm honored to know that a lovely jewel like yourself is one of my biggest fans." Leo then leans down and softly kisses April's hand, causing her to blush.

"W-Well, I-I-I wouldn't say I'm your, um, biggest fan," April stutterned. She was so overwhelmed by Leonardo's flirtatious actions, "I'm sure there are bigger fans out there- Not saying I'm not a fan! J-Just that I'm not some crazy stalker or something! Hehe..."

"Leonardo, may I speak with Ms O'Neil alone?" Splinter asked.

Leo looks at his father, a little surprised by his father's request for he thought he would stay during this discussion of April's first day. Leo bows toward April, then nods and leaves the room, leaving his father alone with the cigar girl.

April looks at her boss as he sits at his office desk, giving her a look of intimidation.

"Um, look, Mr Hamato before you say anything. I know I messed up and I take full responsibility for what happened at The Dojo tonight. I want you to know how I acted is not who I really am, so if you please give me another chance I can show you-"

"I'm not going to fire you." Splinter tells her.

"...Y-You're not?"

He shakes his head.

"B-But it's my fault for what happened with Raphael. I was the one who got him riled up and started a scene-"

Splinter interrupts again, "Yes, you were a part of the situation, but Raphael has been doing this for a while now and karma has finally gotten to him. So I thank you for being his wake up call," April looked at her boss confused as he continued, "Still I can't ignore that you, in some light, are responsible, I can't just let this slide with you."

"So... I am fired?" April asked.

"I'm giving you a warning for now, but since you were involved in my establishment becoming a wreck, I'm having you clean up the more major messes, and I entrust you to close up."

"After hours?!" April asks, "So it's just me? Alone?!"

Splinter shrugs, "I consider this fair considering you are partially at fault for what happened. I don't wish to fire you, I already struggle finding a suitable new waitress so I can't afford looking for a replacement so soon, but I can't let you simply walk away from this thinking there will be no consequences," he goes to his desk drawer, opens it, and pulls out a pair of keys. He hands them to April and says with a stern glare, "Don't make me regret this decision."

April nods nervously and takes the keys. Splinter then tells her she's free to leave and quickly April heads out the door. Still waiting out in the hall was Leonardo, who overheard everything.

"Wow," Leo says entering back into the office. "First Raph gets away with what he did and now you're trusting the new girl to close up The Dojo by herself? Have you been drinking again?"

"She won't be alone," Splinter told his son, going back to reviewing his papers on his desk, "I know Donatello will be staying after hours as well, so he'll be there to make sure she doesn't screw up."

"We'll just have to see..." Leo says, "Why does Donnie always stay after hours anyway?"

"I believe it helps him with his nerves, as that's what he claims. He enjoys the peace and quiet. I can't argue with him and his bizarre choices. It's better than him going out and getting into trouble," Splinters explains, "That reminds me. Where are the rest of your brothers?"

"I saw Renet Tilley on my way over here, so she and Mikey must be going out for date night again," Leo tells his father.

"Oh! Wonderful! Their courtship is always good publicity for both our business and the Romero Theater!"

"Such a shame though that she chose him over me..." Leo mumbles in a joking, but over confident tone, "It would've made Ms Tilley's image far more greater if I was the one courting her."

"Yes. Yes. I know," Splinter said dismissively, "but if you were deemed as 'unavailable' then who would attract the female customers in?"

"Raph seemed pretty comfortable doing that task tonight with those broads..." Leo snarks, "I still can't believe you're letting him sing tomorrow night after what he did."

"Sometimes you have to do certain things to make your business thrive. Running a business is not easy. Your mother and I made many sacrifices to get to this place and I've done my best to continue her legacy here after her passing..." Splinter went quiet for a moment, reliving memories of the past of him and his wife. Out of respect, Leonardo was silent as his father quietly mourned, knowing the memory of her is hard for anyone in the Hamato family. He misses her. They all miss her. Soon Splinter left his daydream of old memories and continued, " "Well then," He clears his throat and gets up from his office chair, "Shall we call it a night?" Splinter asked his oldest son.

Leo nods, "Should we go get the cake-eater too?" he jokes.

Splinter thinks for a moment. Last he saw his son, Raphael, he was bitter from their arrangement. There's a possibility he could still be upset and not wish to talk with him or anyone for the rest of the night. It was best for now to leave him be.

"No," he finally answers, "He's already upset about our deal. When he's ready to come home, he will."

Leo shrugs, not agreeing with his father's choice to let his brother sulk, but he can't argue with him. Together they walk out of his office into the main room of the club. The Dojo was vacant, the band had already packed up and left for the night, Casey left the bar cleaned and polished, and Slash was gone as well. The only one left in the main room was April sweeping the floor.

"Have a good night, Ms O'Neil!" Splinter says as he and his son head out the door.

"O-Oh!" April says, surprised by his words. "Ha-Have a good night, Mr Hamato!"

With those words said, Mr Hamato and his son, Leonardo, left The Dojo for the night, leaving April O'Neil alone in the establishment. As for Donatello Hamato, he enjoys staying after hours for personal reasons of relaxation. Unknown to them both that the other is present in the closed jazz club for the rest of the night.