The Rising (final book of The Call series) ~ TMNT Fanfiction

Chapter 16: Urgent Care

Nobody is home when I wake up. This doesn't surprise me, but it does disappoint me. I miss seeing my family. I feel like ever since I was rescued, my family has slowly started to fall apart again. We can't seem to stop doing that. It happened when Dad left, and then we grew back together. It happened against when Benj died, but then we started to mend. And now it's happening again. I want to do something about it to fix it, but I just don't know how.

I've been sitting at the dining table for ten minutes trying to will myself to eat when there is a knock at the door. When I look through the peephole and recognize the person on the other side, I open it up.

"Leo," I say. "I didn't know you were coming yet."

"I sent you a text a little bit ago to let you know that I'd be here."

"Sorry," I say, letting him in. "I haven't checked my phone."

"It's alright," Leo responds and then he watches me. "How are you feeling? Have you eaten?"

I sigh. "No, I haven't."

"You need to eat. Do you want me to try to make you something? I've gotten a little bit better at cooking," he says, and he smiles a little bit when he says this last part.

I try to smile back and then shake my head. "It's alright. It's sort of been hard for me to eat much with the pain."

"You still need to eat," Leo insists. "I know it doesn't sound like the most fun right now, but you need it, Lex." When I don't say anything in response, he moves towards the kitchen. "I can try to make you something for breakfast. Mikey taught me how to make scrambled eggs. I've made them for him a few times, and he says that they aren't bad. Granted, Mikey will eat absolutely anything, so I'm not sure if—"

"Leo, it's alright," I say, laughing a little bit. "You don't have to do that."

"Sit down. I'm making you breakfast," Leo insists. "This is non-negotiable." He stares at me until I sit back down at the stool by the island and then he starts pulling things out of the fridge to make eggs.

I watch him while he does it and it feels like all the pieces that have been scattered around are finally finding their places together. I love Leo and I haven't stopped loving him, but there is something special about how things have been the last few weeks. Actually, longer than that. Even though Leo and I aren't really back together yet, he doesn't complain or treat me less than he ever did while we were dating. He told me that I can take all the time that I need and that he will be there whenever I'm ready to patch things up completely. That has meant no kisses, no prolonged hugs, no cuddles, none of the things that we did when we were dating. It's almost exactly back to how it was before we were even dating, with a few small differences.

Like the fact that he still tells me that he loves me, for example. Or the fact that I now have detailed memories of him: he and I cuddling in my bed while I drift off to sleep or late movie nights together where we end up making out for the latter half of the movie. These are definitely not the sort of memories that I ever had with Leo before we started dating.

While I watch him move things around in the kitchen, I realize that so many times, the most wonderful of individuals are hidden away. I never would have met Leo if the Dark Angels hadn't attacked me last December. I never would have known how kind and compassionate and loyal he is. I never would have known what it felt like to be loved in this kind of way. I know that my family loves me and my friends like Mallory and Noah. But this diligence and love that Leo has...I don't know, I've just never felt anything like it before. I pushed him away for months, and he never loved me less for it. Somehow, it seemed like he loved me more. And I just can't comprehend that.