Okay...people are probbably getting really anoyed with me, right? I can hear them all saying, "MAKE UP YOUR FREAKING MIND!" Okay okay, so I'm now working on three TMNT fanfics. (Well, 2.3. Reason is done. I just have to edit it.) Anway, this story has been sitting on my computer since I first watched the newest movie. It's also the prequel to my other TMNT fic Shades of Green. What can I say? I love writing! LOL! Maybe I should rethink majors, eh? Only if Psychology allows me to write freelance. Oh, well. Anyway, I'm such a geek, huh? LOL!

Disclaimer: Um...yeah. I don't own TMNT!

Thicker Than Water

"Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and an be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face." -St Francis of Assisi

Chapter I: Wrong End of a Bullet

"Stop being such a hothead, Raph." Leo growled, "You almost got Donnie KILLED!"

"Way to blow things out of proportion again, Leo." Raph growled, "Don was just fine."

Huffing, Leo stated, "Yeah, thank God Mickey was there to fix your mistake!"

The sewers echoed with their onslaught, and the two youngest exchanged worried glances. They were walking home from a simple Purple Dragon rumble at the docks. Successfully the brothers stopped another illegal shipment of guns and drugs. Now the police were there, and the brothers walked away from their victory.

Well...victory would be a relative term here.

Doing what he did best, Don worked on the ship's engine to create sabotage. Raph was ordered to watch Don's back while he worked, but the red banded brother was sucker punched by some punk. With his pride bruised and his rage ignited, Raph left Donnie to give chase to the punk about fifty feet away from the ship. Gunfire sparked around Donnie and the engine, and he feared the bullets would hit the gas tank.

Thankfully Mickey somersaulted to Donnie's aid. His swinging numb chucks resulted in the end of the danger. Still Raph followed his quarry well away from the heart of the battle, and Leo watched it all.

Now they were arguing, yet again. Don sighed in pain as he covered the wound only he and Mickey were aware of. If Leo knew Don was injured because of a Raph mistake, he would blow into full rage on Raph. No one wanted that.

Still, it was bleeding pretty badly even with the makeshift bandage Donnie created with a punk's discarded coat and a trash bag. Every other step, Mickey's eyes shifted to Don's arm then to his face. Don appreciated the concern, but if they could avoid further conflict; Donnie was more than tempted by the offer.

"Oesday urthay?" Mickey asked in whispered pig Latin. It was a funny hobbies of the younger brothers that both elders.

Don shock his head, "Otnay adbay."

Okay, Don rationalized, that was a lie. His arm was on fire, and he was doing his best not to hiss or whimper while breathing. It wasn't the first time receiving a bullet wound, nor would it be the last. Despite all this, it hurt like hell. He needed to get to the lair now.

"What's taking you guys so long?" Leo demanded impatiently a few yards ahead. Worriedly, Mickey looked to Don for permission to tell them.

Shaking his head, Don shouted back, "Sorry, Leo. We're coming!" Concentrate on breathing and get home. Don't think about that pain threataning to shred his arm apart.

Darn fuzzy vision, Don cursed to himself. Thankfully they were close to home, and the two passionate brothers were lost in another argument. Mickey was another story though. Any moment Mickey would have Don slung over his shoulder, yelling for Leo, or worse…saying those two words.

Donnie's hurt.

Finally! Home! Oh by the powers that be, Don was happy. Walking well on his own, Don said nothing and nearly ran to his lab. Mickey followed, and no one was the wiser.

"For the my smartest brother, Donnie." Mickey cursed as he ran to the first aid kid, "you can act so stupid sometimes."

"Known to happen." Don laughed between clenched teeth, but Mickey didn't laugh. Call the police! Don made a joke and Mickey was not laughing; not even entertaining a smile.

Hissing, Don removed the tightly wound shirt and plastic, black sack from his fore arm, and Mickey almost dropped the white box. Blood everywhere, and that was no exaggeration. The wound was little- deep but little, but he was hit at least fifteen minutes ago.

"M-maybe Leo…" Mickey grew a few shades pale as he stammered.

Shaking his head, Don smiled, "Had worse. Let's not give Leo more reasons to yell tonight, right? I'll do the work, Mickey. You just need to be here to finish the work in case I pass out."

"How comforting." Mickey deadpanned. "I'll do it, Donnie. I've done this before remember. I'm just worried about you."

Don breathed in knowing there wasn't much time before his wooziness would overtake consciousness. Mickey opened the box and laid out the surgical instruments. Thanks to a month of hard study and a lot of real life situations, all brothers were skilled at first aid. They had to be.

After giving Donnie two suxamethonium chloride tablets, Mickey began to work. Washing his brother's arm with alcohol, Mickey watched Don buck in the chair and almost scream. Okay, new plan. Mickey took Donnie's pillow of the queen size bed and unsheathed it from the pillowcase. Using the light blue pillowcase, Mickey made Donnie a gag with two purposes.

Back to work. Mickey washed the scalpel and tweezers with the rubbing alcohol. After examining the wound, Mickey breathed. Not too deep that they had to cut anymore. Don was now loosing conciseness.

"Sorry…Mike…" Don whispered as his head nearly snapped back. Checking the pulse below the thumb, Mickey breathed again. So far so good.

Picking the tweezers, Mickey used his fingers to open the wound a little more. Blood spurted from the wound and dripped to the forming pool below.

"One…two…three…" Mickey psychological prepared for it, and punched the tweezers into the dark crimson whole. There was a definite clank where metal hit the bullet, and Mickey was thankful not to have to search. He had to search for the bullet last week in Raph's leg, and it took fifteen minutes and fifteen tries.

Easily, too easily, Mickey plucked the .44 Magnum bullet from his brother's flesh. After checking Donnie's vitals again, Mickey quickly wrapped the arm tightly in white bandages.

"Not really camouflage, Donnie-boy." Mickey sighed, "How are you going to hide this from the others? You can really say you slipped and fell on a stake knife, can you?" Looking at Donnie's still closed eyes, Mickey laughed, "What? Giving me the silent treatment? How cruel!"

After cleaning up the blood and instruments, Mickey had to sling Don from the chair softly to the bed. Yawning, Mickey noted he was not only tired but heavily exhausted.

"What I wouldn't do for you guys." Mickey muttered sitting on the edge of the bed. Thankfully the whole surgery lasted only twenty undisturbed minutes. That was odd, Mickey noted. Where were the others?

As if waiting for that thought to cross Mickey's mind, Raph opened the door, and slammed it behind him. Glaring up at him, Mickey said, "Simply shutting the door is just as effected, Raphie."

"Drop it, Mickey. Fearless is talking to Splinter right now." Raph glared at the door as if it was said fearless leader. Then looking down at the bed. "What's with Donnie?"

"Sorry, the psychologist is out. Would you like to leave a message?" Mickey laughed.

Raph's eyes opened just a little more seeing the bandage hand resting on the blue blanket tucked around Don's chest.

"What happened?" Raph demanded the younger.

Mickey looked down at Donnie, and answered, "You owe Don a beer or at least ten bucks, dude. He just took a bullet for you, and I mean that literally."

"Whoa! Don got SHOT!"

"Yes!" Mickey barked back. "Yelling like that will ruin the great professor's plan."

"Plan?"

Rolling his eyes, Mickey sighed, "Don got shot tonight while sabotaging the ship's engine. This happened after you LEFT HIM! While Leo was chewing you out, Don was hiding his wound so you wouldn't be in more trouble than you already are. I had to play doctor and gag him so he wouldn't scream and give it all away."

Raph stood there blinking, and a guilty growl erupted from his throat. He looked directly at Donnie's sleeping face. "Idiot."

"Oh Raphael, you have such an eloquent way of showing your appreciation. Tell me, is there anything else you'll need?" Holding up the discarded, bloody bullet, Mickey asked sarcastically. "Should I make this into a necklace?"

Ignoring Mickey, Raph asked. "How is he suppose to hide that?" He pointed to the injured arm in question.

"Don't know." Mickey said, "He didn't give a detailed, step-by-step plan while he was bleeding to death. How rude, huh?"

"I screwed up…didn't I?" Raph muttered. Finally he looked as guilty as the situation called for.

Mickey sighed. Raph would either angrily deny accusations or accept his guilt to high levals of self-loathing. There was no midpoint. Leaning a little, Mickey pulled Raph's arm. "Why don't you tell him yourself."

Raph sat down in front of Mickey on the edge of the bed. "Why, Mike, Donnie's knocked out with SD, right?"

Nodding, Mickey rested his head on Raph's shoulder. "Yeah, but remember that time when Leo was beat-up by the Shredder and we didn't know if he would make it. We took turns talking to him, right?"

Raph laughed- genuine and real. "You oddball."

Before Raph could speak one word to his unconscious brother, Leo opened the lab door completing the turtle clan. Raph and Leo glared at each other, and the Hallmark moment went down the sewer.

Leo's glare left Raph and loomed over Donnie's arm. Oh…shell, Mickey cursed.

"What happened?" Leo demanded. His voice held that leadership tone too well that Mickey wondered if he should salute him like a Nazi before answering. Well, what could he say. Um…Donnie forgot he had a bullet lodged in his arm until he was continently inside the lab? Strange, huh?

"Donnie got shot." Raph stood and answered firmly, and Mickey jumped. Raph couldn't have put it more bluntly, and Leo's eyes narrowed. Like a timber box, Donnie's plan went to the flames.

Mickey stood, "Before you guys go into another shouting match, why don't you do it away from the injured, okay? Don wasn't going to show his arm because he knew you guys would just fight more. He was trying to prevent more fighting." Mickey was surprised at how calm he was acting between his two eldest brothers. There would be need for a victory dance later.

"Master Splinter needs to know." Leo said slowly, "I'm not going to yell at Raph anymore, Mickey." Point for Leo. "but" he looked at Raph, "this is all your fault." Foul on Leo.

Raph grimly growled, "I know that, Leo. How many times do I have to apologize."

"Until you learn your lesson."

"And what lesson would that be again, Fearless? You've only told me half a million times by now!"

"Obviously, it's not getting through that thick skull of yours!"

"I'll show who has a thick skull!"

Mickey sighed, sitting next to the unconscious turtle who hid a bullet to prevent what was happening.

"Next time, Donnie." Mickey sighed, "Don't get accidently caught on the wrong side of the bullet, okay?"

Fun times with family, huh? This both makes me miss my older siblings and wanting to rat on them. LOL! Poor Don, he was just trying to help. Anyway, thanks for reading!

-Weezellee