Where We Collided || ROTTMNT ||

Down Time

Splinter sat across from Lou with a cup of hot, steaming tea in his paws. The Dojo was quiet, except for the steady breathing from Leo, who was sleeping under a blanket near them. His fever still ran high, but he was out of danger. Splinter had made sure of that, and Lou had watched him intently as he had cared for the other's son.

Lou, too, held a cup of tea in his hands, and they sat in silence as they drank their beverage. It was a peaceful silence, but Splinter felt like Lou wanted to speak with him about something important. Yet, he didn't know what that important something might be. Sure, he had a vague idea, but he wasn't about to fully guess what his counterpart wanted to get off his chest.

"Thank you," Lou finally said after a few more minutes of silence.

"It was no trouble," Splinter replied politely.

Lou shook his head, and he bowed deeply. "No, it was trouble. You had to take care of my sons while I was off lost in the city. I should have been here for them," he said.

"Believe me," Splinter said, a small smile playing over his face. "I did not mind looking after them."

Lou seemed to believe him and straightened. He smiled at Splinter, and then looked over his shoulder at Blue. Splinter realized he hadn't heard the other rat call them anything but Blue, or Red. He wondered if...

"Did you name them after colors?" Splinter asked, knowing it was blunt and rude, but he couldn't help himself.

"I did," Lou answered, a melancholy look on his face. "They each had a colored scarf when the first winter came along. I named them accordingly. They named themselves about five years later, I think. The first two years are a bit of a blur for me to be honest. I was still going through my own mutation..."

Splinter listened intently, genuinely interested in what Lou was speaking off. It wasn't often one could converse with their alternate selves of course.

"I wasn't such a good father in the beginning, but I think I'm becoming one now. I've trained them in Nimpo for about three years now, and they excel," Lou continued. "Since defeating the Shredder, Blue took the lead for a little while, before deciding Red could do a better job, and becoming the face-man again."

Splinter nodded sagely. It was apparent that Leo had been leading the team for perhaps a little while, but he didn't seem like the type to want to lead. Raph seemed far more into that.

"I think it was when I brought home a book about art in the seventeenth century that they chose their names," Lou said with a small smile, looking into his now empty tea cup.

Splinter smiled too. "I chose their names from a book."

Lou turned to look at him and his beady eyes were filled with emotion. Splinter refilled his cup.

"I believe your sons are a little younger than mine," Splinter said, diverging from the topic at hand.

Lou frowned, saying nothing for a moment. He looked at his son before taking a sip of his new tea and looking at Splinter with a questioning look.

"My sons are all 25," Splinter clarified.

"Ah," Lou said, understanding. "Then they are indeed younger. Red is my oldest, he is 19 right now. Blue and Purple are 18 and Orange is 17."

Splinter raised a brow. "My sons were about that age when the Shredder started his attack. They were 15 at the time, actually. We spent four years getting rid of him, they even went to space for it."

Lou's eyes glinted. "Space you say, my boys would be delighted."

His smile was wide and his happiness infected Splinter. He couldn't help but smile wider as well and took another sip of his tea. However, their talk was shortly interrupted by Leo, who groaned as he awoke from his fever dreams.