Raph had been pacing around the lair since he and Donnie had returned from their patrol two hours ago. During their patrol, they had been ambushed by some Foot soldiers. Nothing that they couldn't handle, but enough to get Donnie injured. Some Foot hit him straight in his bad knee with a bo staff (see 'Donnie's fall'), which almost made Don pass out. His knee normally didn't give him any problems, but it had never completely healed. Every once in a while, it would start to hurt again. And definitely after a heavy blow from a ninja. Raph had quickly taken care of the other soldiers and then helped Donnie walk home.
"Are you sure I shouldn't carry you?", Raph asked while they were limping through the sewers "It's faster and you wouldn't be in so much pain"
"No thanks, Raph", Donnie answered "I'm good. But if you already want to go ahead, I won't stop you. I'll get there eventually".
Raph stopped and smacked Donnie on the head: "Idiot! No turtle gets left behind! That's our motto! If you really believe that I would leave one of my brothers behind, I don't get why we still call you brainiac!" Donnie grinned at Raph's reaction. He didn't really think Raph would leave him, but sometimes it just feels good to hear him say it for himself.
Finally, they got into the lair. Mikey came running up to them, yelling about some new skateboard stunt, but stopped immediately when he saw Donnie.
"Dude!", he yelled as he ran to support Don's other side "What happened?".
"Ambush by the foot, blow to my bad knee by a bo staff", Donnie explained.
At that moment, Leo came out of the dojo: "Let's get you to the lab. I'll get Splinter."
As soon as Donnie was seated, Splinter sent the other turtles out of the lab so he could work in peace.
Ever since then, Raph had been pacing and driving Leo and Mikey crazing. Leo sighed and walked up to him: "Raph. It's not your fault, it could have happened to you as well. He just never fully recovered from his fall."
Raph shook his head: "I should have been next to him… I should have protected him… I'm the protector! He's the brainiac! The protector should protect…"
Leo sighed and walked back to Mikey, who was sitting on the couch: "It's just a waste of time, trying to talk to him now. Let's try again when Donnie is back."
Mikey looked at Leo and then back at Raph. Suddenly he got an idea. "Leo", he said with his cutest voice and his best puppy-eyes "I need a favour…"
"No", Leo said "whatever it is, no! I now that look and I already know it won't end well for me!"
"Pleeeeaaaaaase?", Mikey asked again. Leo tried to look the other way, but finally couldn't resist anymore: "Fine! What do you need?"
Mikey started to glow and whispered his plan in Leo's ear. Leo's eyes grew: "NO! No way! That's practically suicide!" Mikey put his puppy-eyes back on: "But you promised!"
"Okay", Leo submitted "But if I die, I'm holding you responsible." Mikey jumped up and pulled Leo over to his bedroom.
About 5 minutes later, Leo came out of the room and walked over to Raph. Raph stopped pacing and looked at his older brother: "What do ya want?" "Not much", Leo answered "Just… having a conversation. So… how's the weather topside?".
Raph eyed Leo with a suspicious look and looked behind him: "What are you up to?"
"Me?", Leo asked with a small grin tugging at his lips "nothing".
At that moment, Raph's shell was hit with a big water balloon. "Yeah! Right in the shell!", Mikey yelled.
Raph turned around and saw Mikey standing behind him with about 5 water balloons in his hands. "Mikey…", Raph said with an angry voice "If you do that, you'll die!". "I'll die anyway, so who cares?", Mikey replied with a big smile on his face as he threw the next balloon. As soon as Raph started to run to Mikey, he got hit from behind. He turned around and saw Leo standing there with another 5 water balloons. "A conspiracy…", he muttered "nice work. But I'll still kill both of you!". The next 10 minutes were made up out of screaming from all 3 of the turtles and splashing water.
When they were out of water balloons and Raph almost caught them, Splinter's voice rang through the lair: "That is enough!". The turtles stopped running and stood straight. Splinter stood next to Donnie in front of the lab. Leo spoke up: "Sensei! How long have you been standing there?". "Long enough to see what you are doing", Splinter replied with a small grin "Leonardo and Michelangelo, clean this up. If you need me, I'll be in my room." Donnie was walking on his crutches again and walked over to the kitchen with Raph close behind.
When they both sat down, Raph sighed: "So… how are you?". "I'll be fine. A week on crutches and no training.", Donnie answered. Before Raph could say anything else, Donnie interrupted him: "Raphie, listen to me. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. And don't you dare to say otherwise!". Raph sighed and gave Don a small smile: "Was it that obvious?" Donnie nodded and smiled. "Fine. If you're happy, then I won't blame myself. This time", Raph replied.
After that, Raph stood up and went back to the living room where Mikey and Leo were almost done cleaning. While Leo went to take the cleaning equipment away, Raph walked up to Mikey and put his hand on his shoulder: "We need to have a little talk."
Mikey gulped: "Should I prepare to run?" Raph shook his head and smiled: "No. I just wanted to say: your little plan worked. I feel better indeed".
Mikey looked confused at first, but started to smile after a little while. Suddenly, Raph pulled Mikey into a friendly headlock and started to tease him about his throwing skills.
What they didn't know, was that both their brothers and Splinter were watching them from a distance.
"They just match together…", Leo said with a smile.
"Like you and me", Donnie completed the sentence with the same smile.
Author's note: Hi! Sorry, it's been waaay too long! Stupid schoolwork! Anyway, a story on request. I hope I did a good job :). I'll try to update more frequently, but there is no guarantee…
Thanks for reading! :D
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Sweetheart91597
