As he opened his eyes, he glimpsed at his clock. It was well past eight in the morning. Leonardo groaned as he sluggishly pushed himself up to sit on his bed. If Raph could see him now he would mock him for hours, even days maybe. Leo had always been the earliest riser in the group, but ever since their last fight with Bishop, the leader of the now broken team had been lacking his usual stamina. As he flung his legs over the edge of the bed, he noticed they felt lighter. Looking down he noticed his leg cast was no longer in place, but he had no memory as of when it had come off. He sighed, rubbing an eye with the palm of his hand, feeling again that pit in his stomach he had become so accustomed to every time he realized he had suffered from another time lapse. Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door. "Yes Michelangelo."

"Hey, bro. Just making sure ya still alive, that's all." Michelangelo peered in the room. Leo thought it was weird for his younger brother to be the one checking on him, being that Donatello was the appointed worry wart of the family. Donatello. He remembered, then frowned, still confounded at his brother's behavior in his last palpable memory.  

"Still alive, Mikey. Meet me in the dojo in ten minutes for practice. Please inform Donatello." Leonardo stood up shakily as he settled his now healed fracture, the memory of it causing him immobilizing pain just 'a day ago', rumbling in his head. 

"Uhm... Donnie will probably skip practice again, Leo," said Mikey as he rubbed the side of his left arm with his opposing hand. 

Leonardo was slipping on his protective pads, pausing a moment when he heard Mikey's words, then resuming his action, he said, "please inform him he is to come to practice. It is not an option." Mikey gulped, then nodded as he left Leo's room. 

'Leo...' There it was. The whisper. Leo's shoulders jumped up as he felt a light touch grace his cheek. His knees bucked under him a little, making him groan as he remembered his last encounter. "No, not now." Leo thought to himself as he hurried to slip on his last knee pad. He then grabbed his mask and hurried out of the room. 

As he entered the dojo, he noticed that only Michelangelo was present. "Donatello?" Leonardo asked. 

"Leo, just let it go. I thought you guys had agreed to stay out of each other's way." Leonardo raised a brow, not remembering such conversation.

"Who told you this?" His mind was foggy, another symptom he had been feeling since the deadly encounter. 

Mikey fidgeted. "Come on, bro. You guys had an all out brawl in front of everyone two days ago..." 

Leo's eyes were wide open. "Everyone?"

"Yeah. As in April, Casey and moi." Mikey walked closer to Leo, looking inquisitively at his older brother's face. "Ya don't remember?"

Leo swallowed hard, sweat gathering at his palms. "Mikey... I don't know what's happening to me, but I promise I will get it under control."

Michelangelo's face darkened a little. "Hope ya do... Before ya finish breaking this family up." His younger brother's mumble was clear enough for Leo to hear. It hit his heart like an ax to a naked neck. 

Leonardo straightened up, clenched his fists, and decided to ignore that last remark. "Start warming up. I'm gonna go talk to Don." He proceeded towards the brainiac's lab. 

Without knocking, Leonardo punched the heavy metal door open and strutted in. His purple-banded turtle didn't even give a blink to the intrusion. 

"Donatello, you are missing morning practice." He crossed his arms and kept a respectful distance as he addressed his sibling. 

Donnie was looking at slides through his microscope. Without slackening his pace, he took a deep breath. "I'm busy."

Leonardo's eye twitched, anger threatening to burst out. "Practicing is important, Don. We need to stay sharp."

Donatello sat up slowly as his gaze pierced through Leonardo. "Stay sharp?" he growled. 

Leo's eyes narrowed, his aura as menacing as Donnie's. "Don, back down. You have no right to this anger." 

Donatello sprung from his chair, tipping it over with his action, he slammed his fist on the wooden desk making the slides jump and scatter. "No right!? How dare you!?" His beautiful chocolate brown eyes were lit with anger. "My feelings do not fall into your authority's jurisdiction, Leonardo! Trust me when I say if I could shut them down I would have done so years ago! And how was I to realize you would have the audacity to string me on only days after Raphael's murder-"

"String you on!? You came on to me! In the most forceful and disrespectful of ways!" Leonardo shouted back, enraged by his brother's accusations. 

"What!?" Donnie's teeth were clenched tight in a scowl. "You kissed me first in the infirmary!"

Leonardo's tongue was in a knot. Had he really kissed Donatello? His eyes danced in their orbits as he searched his brain for his lost memories, but he found nothing. "You're lying..." Leo said softly. 

Donnie's jaw dropped, he blinked a couple of times. "L-Lying?" His body was shaking as he sat on his desk, bringing one hand to cover his face. "The... The jumps...?" His eyes would not meet Leonardo. "Did that moment fall in one of your time lapses...?" 

Leonardo didn't move. "Don. I loved him. I still do. I would never betray him. Besides... You have always had Mikey. I... I don't understand." Leo's voice started to falter, it had become low pitched as he spoke that last sentence. 

"Leave." 

"Don please. If there's anyone who can figure out what's going on with my brain is y-"

"LEAVE!" Donatello swiped the objects that laid on top of his desk with one arm. Leo had never seen his brother in such a rage. Quietly he started to walk towards the door.

Standing at the metal frame, Leonardo took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. It has never been my intention to hurt any of you. I promise I WILL get to the bottom of this." He took a step outside and turned his head left. "I'm sorry, Mikey. Until further notice practice is to be done individually." His younger brother had been standing outside for a while. Now he knew why his happy-go-lucky sibling had spouted such hurtful words before, and if what Don said was real, he deserved every one of them.