A/N: Boys' ages: Leo-7, Raph/Don-6, Mikey-4

It was never a quiet night in New York City but as far as nights went in the city, this one was pretty quiet. In one of the many apartment buildings littering Manhattan, four brothers were fast asleep. Their parents didn't make much and could only afford a two-bedroom apartment so the young boys were forced to share a room, but they didn't mind. The brothers always stuck together no matter what and always looked after each other, especially the youngest.

An hour or two after midnight, the oldest son woke up suddenly. Leo sat up on the top bunk and looked around in confusion. As his blue eyes began to adjust to the darkness, he glanced at his brothers. The twins, Raph and Don, were still fast asleep. Raph was on the top bunk across the room, sprawled out as always with his blankets kicked to the bottom of the bed. Don was asleep peacefully on the bottom bunk with his arms tucked under his pillow as he slept on his stomach. Leo looked down at the bottom bunk of his own bed. Little Mikey was curled up on his side, his thumb placed firmly in his mouth.

Leo frowned. Usually the only things that woke him up in the middle of the night were his brothers but they seemed to be just fine. Leo was about to go back to sleep when he smelled something. Smoke! Leo scrambled down his ladder and out of the room. The apartment was already beginning to fill up with dark smoke and from under the door Leo could see light from the flames.

With his vision already clouding and his breathing becoming ragged, Leo ran back to his bedroom. "Don, Raph, get up! Fire!" He ran to his youngest brother's bed and shook him awake. "Mikey, wake up!" He turned to make sure that Raph and Don were getting up. "Come on guys, up!"

Raph groaned as he sat up. "What are you yelling about Leo?"

Leo gathered a sleepy Mikey up in his arms. "There's a fire in the building. We gotta get out of here!"

Raph and Don both woke up enough to realize the severity of the situation and hopped out of the bed. Leo carried Mikey as he led Don and Raph out of their bedroom. The apartment had filled up with more black smoke making it almost impossible to see anything. "Grab hands!" Leo ordered.

He felt Don grab his hand just as Raph shouted, "I ain't holding Don's hand!"

"Just do it!" Leo shouted back.

With some grumbling Raph took Don's hand and felt himself being pulled through the living room. Leo felt along the wall as well as he could with one arm around Mikey and the other hand gripping Donnie's tightly. Leo finally found the window and opened it to the fire escape. It was at that moment when Mikey chose to completely wake up and start crying. "Mikey! It's okay buddy!" Leo said trying to calm him down. "Don, Raph, you guys go down first! I'll follow with Mikey!"

They nodded and climbed out of the window. Once he was sure that his brothers were out safely, Leo looked at Mikey. "Okay Mikey, I need you to be brave for me buddy. I'm going to give you a piggyback ride and you have to hold on real tight, okay?" Mikey nodded tearfully and climbed onto Leo's back. As Leo climbed out of the window he added, "Don't look down buddy!"

The climb down was slow but all Leo could concentrate on was his baby brother hanging perilously from his neck. Sweet relief came with the sound of fire trucks coming up the street. Firefighters got to work below them and pretty soon Leo could hear a deep voice directly below him say, "I gotcha son. You're okay." The weight on Leo's back was removed and he panicked slightly as he started to feel light headed. He felt himself being led to one of the trucks and a warm hand placed an oxygen mask over his nose and face.

Leo was starting to doze off when his mind turned back to his brothers. He started to take the mask off when the hand returned and held it still. "Hold on son. You're okay." When the paramedic noticed Leo glancing around frantically he smiled. "Don't worry. Your brothers are okay too. They're in the next truck getting some oxygen. Nice job getting them out."

Leo only calmed a little. There was still something tugging at the edge of his mind. His vision gradually cleared and soon he had a clear view of the burning apartment building. Something was missing.

A few hours later the boys were sharing a hospital room. They were all still hooked up to oxygen but it was more of a precaution than a necessity. Leo was relieved to hear that he and his brothers had only suffered from mild smoke inhalation but he was at a loss. Tears streamed down his face as the doctor left the room. His brothers were asleep so he was the only one to hear the news. How was he going to explain to his brothers that they were now orphans?