Disclaimer: I don't own the TMNT.

Song for this Fic: Perfect as performed by Blaine and Kurt in Glee (I liked their rendition)

Leo and his brothers are 30 years old.

**Warning** This fic contains something that may be disturbing to some. Please if you choose to read do not flame this fic but rather comment concerning the quality of the writing.**

Chapter One: Bitter Sweet

Hidden: conceal from sight; prevent from being seen or discovered: Where did she hide her jewels? 2. To obstruct the view of; cover up: The sun was hidden by the clouds. conceal from knowledge or exposure; keep secret: to hide one's feelings.

Leo's POV

I buried my father a month ago.

The only person in our little family that knew my secret; a secret I sometimes can't even face.

He disapproved, but I think towards the end he accepted it.

My hands shake as I gather up some of his scrolls and carefully wrap them before gently easing them into a box.

The pain of that loss. The pain of the amputation of someone who loved me, trained me, and raised me from a child. The loss of a parent has left a hole in my heart. A deep ache has settled there. A loneliness and feelings of misdirection have taken hold.

I half think I would have floated away if it hadn't been for one person in my life. One person my family never knew of who I hid from them with a passion. I kept that person very much out of sight.

Someone who stood at my side despite my father's disapproval and dare I suggest…disgust?

I personally don't know if my father found my presence unappealing after he found out, after I told him, but I do know the tight bond between us, had frayed a great deal and slowly slipped from our fingers in the ten years since he learned my secret.

In my slow, almost monotonous, motion of gathering my father's small knick-knacks and carefully wrapping each one in paper almost lulled me into a trace.

Pick up. Wrap. Place Carefully in Box. Repeat.

In fact I was so focused on this task and my thoughts that I didn't hear that one person enter the room.

I was so engrossed that when a soft voice spoke my name and snapped me from my musings I jumped slightly.

Some master ninja, I just got snuck up on.

I frowned at the slightly angular face, softened by a faint smile that never seemed to leave his lips that peered out at me from the edge of the door.

He was leaning on the doorsill, his dark brown, nearly black curls twisting against his cheeks.

He hadn't added gel or mousse or whatever he called it to style it yet today.

Dark-sapphire-blue eyes scrutinized me slowly, trailing across my frame and settling with a slightly worried look on my own golden-brown gaze.

"You ok?" he whispered.

Somehow, without fail, his voice never ceased to send a chill across my skin.

I sighed before replying, gathering my thoughts.

"I think so yeah," I murmured.

"Come eat," he said with a soft order, it wasn't pushy, but it was firm.

I held his gaze a mere moment before he darted back to the kitchen to wait for me.

He was annoying like that, when he wanted to look after me, there wasn't much room for debate, most of the time I didn't mind.

I finished wrapping the item I was holding before gently setting it inside the box and rising to my feet, joints popping in protest from sitting in the same position for so long.

As I stepped into the main expanse of the Lair I could hear him humming something in the kitchen but besides that, the oppressive silence of an empty home.

I had sent my brothers, April, and Casey to the farmhouse nearly a week ago, while I stayed behind to pack away my father's things and make the Lair seem more welcoming to those who had felt a deep loss.

I had needed to think, to decide, to rationalize what I wanted to tell or not tell them.

After the second night by myself I had called him to stay with me while they were gone. The silence was overbearing in the empty Lair seeming to drag me under a dark cloud, and I had needed his inexplicable ability to make me smile.

My thoughts were again broken by the soft sound of my own name and I turned to look at him.

Blue-eyes smiled softly, giving me a comforting look.

My father was probably rolling in his grave…I felt a shudder pass through me.

"Hey," his voice was gentle as he approached me, a smooth skinned hand brushing my elbow, running down my forearm, before taking my hand.

I gripped his slender hand.

"What if they hate me for this?" I hear myself ask.

His other hand took my chin and turned my face towards his, locking our gazes together.

I could drown in those eyes…

"They won't," he stated firmly.

"But what if they do," I breathed, my breath hitching in my throat at the thought of them rejecting me.

He smiled a soft, sympathetic, smile.

"Then they don't deserve you," he replied.

A/N: Alright everyone. This is going to be an interesting ride…and experience, especially for me.

Please Review for me!