Author's Note: It's time for another one-shot! Breaking away from the Turtle Dove verse and going to canon, I wrote one for after "Mutant Gangland" involving Donnie and Raph. I've read a few one-shots that, well, acted like Raph had no fault in what happened, and I find myself disagreeing with that. If anything, both Donnie and Raph were at fault for what led up to the attack from the mob. But that's just me. Anyway, enjoy a little heart-to-heart between the brains and the brawn of the team!

Summary: Raph has a talk with Donnie after Don Vizioso's attack, and realizes that perhaps he crossed the line a few times that night.

Despite the dull ache flooding his muscles, Raphael found it hard to rest. He knew that being too tired to sleep was a real thing, but he wasn't even that tired. Not even the fight from earlier that evening or being mercilessly stomped on made him that exhausted. Maybe he just wasn't in the right position on the bed. No matter how many times he tossed and turned, however, sleep wouldn't come. Why was it so hard to just get a good night's rest after today?

Then it hit him: he couldn't sleep because he couldn't stop thinking about today.

Raph summarized the events of the day in his head like an old reel of film. He and Leonardo once again sparred in the dojo, and he decided to play dirty by tossing away his weapons, pinning Leo to the floor, and attempted to yank his leg out of its socket. Master Splinter reprimanded him for going too far, but Raph countered with an argument relating to recent events. Shredder was still alive, so he decided they needed to be 'serious' with their training. Donnie made fun of him, and Raph decided to leave the team for good after saying the same thing twenty-six times. That led up to him being attacked by Don Vizioso's goons and Donnie and Mondo Gecko being kidnapped; perhaps to be test-subjects for the Don's new anti-mutant weapons.

Donnie and Mondo were rescued and they enjoyed a peaceful evening with the Mutanimals…so why couldn't Raph stop thinking about it? They beat the Don and his thugs, and they all came home in one piece. He should've been able to put the day behind him and focus on sleep. So why couldn't he?

Probably because the whole thing was YOUR fault.

The red-masked turtle sat up on his bed with a grunt. The thought left a sour taste in his mouth, and he didn't know whether to accept the self-directed accusation or deny it. He replayed the events again and found himself sinking inside. If he hadn't taken Donnie's insult to heart-after he insulted his brothers so many times-he would've never left the lair. Donnie and Mondo wouldn't have gone to look for him, then they wouldn't have gotten taken and had who-knows-what done to them. None of this would've happened if not for his stupid temper.

Raph got up from bed and exited his room to get a glass of water. The door to Leo's room remained closed, indicating he was asleep, and he could hear Mikey's snores from his ajar door. Donnie's room was closed, but that didn't necessarily mean he was in there. If anything, his brainy brother could be asleep in the lab. He walked out of the hall and towards the pit of the lair, but stopped.

There was Donnie, sitting alone in front of the almost-mute television. Raph could definitely see Donnie staying up to tinker with something in his lab, but watch TV? That was a Mikey thing, or even a Leo thing…not a Donnie thing. It was enough to tell Raph that Donnie had a lot on his mind that didn't involve science or April. His desire for water long-gone, the red-masked turtle silently trekked to the pit and took a seat next to his brother.

"…Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

Donnie glanced at him in surprise, but shrugged and turned back to the TV. "The lab was too quiet. Figured I'd just stare at the TV until I dozed off."

Raph didn't buy that explanation. He wouldn't directly accuse Donnie of lying to him, but he find a different approach to get to the real problem. "Today was something else, wasn't it? At least you blasted Vizioso into space."

Donnie didn't laugh at the joke towards the mob boss. Instead, he cast his head down and quietly mumbled, "…They were going to dissect us, Raph." He ignored Raph's look of surprise and went to fiddle with the tails of his mask. "You saw me and Mondo…we were tied up on a bed, and one of those twins attempted to cut my legs off. So that's a little more than 'something else'."

Raph sighed and swallowed a lump in his throat. This wasn't something he liked dealing with, not because he had trouble admitting his faults, but because he feared he'd say the wrong thing and end up burning more bridges than fixing them. Since the incident when Slash first attacked them, he often feared speaking at all, lest he say something that could end up killing his brothers. However, he did say something that almost killed himself and Donatello…he wanted to quit his family.

"Donnie, none of that should've happened." Raph gruffly acknowledged, a tired hand rubbing the skin between his eyes. "You shouldn't have been put in the middle of one of my temper tantrums. If I was smart enough, I would've just went to my room and cooled off. It's just…when you said that in the dojo, it just really struck a nerve, you know?"

Donnie narrowed his eyes and snorted, "What, you can't take what you dish out?"

Raph wanted to snap back that Donnie's jab wasn't true, but that would just make him a hypocrite. Sure, he could count the insults Donnie and the others fired during their issue with the then-Vic, but those were for training purposes, and more than likely said just for the sake of training. Outside of training, Raph made constant jabs at his brothers-Donnie being the most frequent target-but never expected them to give it back to him.

"Waah, nobody appreciates me! Back on the 'everyone loves Leo' routine? Get some new material, you big baby!"

Considering all the insults he gave Donnie over his weapon and his crush on April, Raph figured he had the insult coming. Donnie was never the best one at insulting someone, but perhaps his brainy brother grew enough of a backbone in recent times to give him a taste of his own medicine. Especially when he insulted Raph over his sense of inferiority towards Leo. For Raph, it was a low blow, harder than any time Donnie brought up how Mona Lisa betrayed them to Dregg.

"You're right." Raph murmured. "It's not right for me to get mad when I made fun of you guys more than enough times. I'm…" He took a deep breath and muttered out the words, "I'm sorry for overreacting."

Donnie didn't know whether to believe the apology or not. Raph was the type of person who would apologize for something, get better for a few weeks, and then something would happen to revert him back to his old behavior. He'd give his brother credit for truly trying to change; Raph better communicated his issues with the family instead of confiding secrets to a pet. However, apologies and sticking to them…not one of Raph's strong-suits.

"You have to admit, Raph…when you say you're going to quit the team about twenty-six times, it's hard to believe that you'll actually do it. I don't even know if this is a team you CAN quit." Donnie hugged his knees to his plastron and kept staring at the TV in silence. However, only a minute later did he sigh and say, "But I still shouldn't have said that to you. I know you're insecure when it comes to Leo, and I shouldn't have targeted that. I'm so sorry, Raph."

Raph shook his head and turned the TV off with the press of a button. "No. That was your way of making me get my act together. I've just been, well, worried." He chuckled when Donnie looked almost shocked. "Yeah, I can't believe it, either. But since we know Shredder's alive, I just want to make sure we're prepared. He's not gonna pull any punches, no matter what shape he's in. I just felt like we were going soft."

"And getting us serious meant trying to rip Leo's leg out of its socket?"

The red-masked turtle immediately ducked his head down. "Okay, I was going too far there. You're right…getting serious about the bad guys isn't an excuse for me to take it out on you guys. So…I apologize for that, too."

Silence once again fell between them. Raph suddenly got to his feet and decided to go back to bed, hoping Donnie would follow suit instead of depriving himself of sleep. Dwelling on everything they did wouldn't make the problem go away, and he hoped sleep would finally come to clear his head. But right when he got to his feet, Donnie's voice stopped him.

"After you left, Sensei said something that bothered me." Donnie tightened the grip he had on his knees, his fingertips causing the skin to turn from green to almost white. "He said that family isn't forever. I know he's right when he said that he won't be around forever, but it's not like I was trying to break up the family. But he acted like you were leaving forever because of something I said…"

Raph immediately sat back down, anger in his expression and body language. "Sensei's wrong! If there's anyone he should be mad at over that, it's me! Sure, he won't be around forever, but that doesn't mean we won't be brothers anymore. If Sensei thinks we're gonna break up over me having a bad temper, he doesn't know what he's talking about!"

"Raph…he's just worried over this stuff with Shredder. There may even be something he knows and won't tell us." Now, Donnie looked extremely worried, and he looked at his brother with the saddest expression he could muster. "Do you think he's going to die?"

Raph found himself looking away, not having a concrete answer for that. It made him want to burst into Splinter's room and confront him for what he said to the others, but that could wait until morning. Besides, whether he liked it or not, Donnie needed him here right now. "I don't know. I do know one thing, though…nothing's gonna tear this family apart, not even a stupid insult. We're stronger than that."

To his relief, a small smile came upon Donnie's face. The purple-masked turtle spoke with a sense of relief, "Next time, I'll be sure to watch what I say."

"No need, Donnie. Don't be worried about hurting my feelings if I'm doing something stupid." Raph assured him. "Be honest with me, even if you have to make jabs at me to do it. In return, I'm not gonna make a big deal out of dumb stuff and threaten to walk out. I just said that 'cause I wanted to hurt you."

Donnie went on to hold his hand out, a hopeful smile on his face. "So…we're good?"

Instead of a handshake, Raph grinned as he pulled his brother closer to give him a one-armed hug. "We're more than cool, Donnie." Still holding Donnie, he got the both of them to their feet and slowly led him to the bedroom hallway. "Come on, we both need some sleep. It's been a long day."

That night, after returning to their rooms and getting back in bed, Raphael and Donatello were finally able to fall asleep with ease.

All right, and that's done! I'll be back to writing the next chapters of Turtle Dove II and Turtle Dove Tidbits, but also be looking forward to my story about Dark April and another story involving Donnie and the Aeon Crystal...and boy, will it be surprising! I'd like to give a couple of shout-outs to CJtheStoryteller and Kamechan98 for their input on my recent ideas; thank you both so much!