Disclaimer: If I owned an opossum I would name him Ottie, or Frank, but I own nothing of the sort or any related turtle incidents

"HELP!"

"Mikey?" Leo screamed as his baby brother called out, he bolted from his room and ran out into the center part of there home to investigate why his brother had called out as if his life depended on it.

What I saw made me freeze in place, there in the center of there home laid a green heap that wasn't moving.

I also hadn't been the only one alerted to this, as I ran forward the others came rushing out as well to find the problem.

My youngest brother laid in a heap with no outward sign of injury, no blood pooling on the floor or some mad ax murderer hovering over him, but that didn't slow my approach to him.

We all converged on him so fast that we practically trampled him.

Donnie was smaller then both me and Raph, but he still somehow managed to wriggle in between us to check the situation out. "Well, I don't see any blood, no bruising, his breathing looks normal from what I can tell. Maybe if I-"

"He's dead," Raph wailed, close to panicking at this point, "our baby brother died. Oh god, whats Master Splinter guna say?"

True, our Sensi had chosen a poor time to make his monthly weekend visit away, but he should be back soon. I was in charge, and at thirteen, I knew what my responsibility to this family was. "Calm down Raph, and stop being so dramatic. Donnie says he's going to be fine, then he's going to be fine."

My words on the outside might have seemed calm cool and collected, but on the inside I was out right panicking.

In a fit of panic, Raph lunged forward and grabbed Mikey by the shoulders, shaking him around and saying, "Wake up! Get up know, or I swear I'll kill you."

The oxymoronish sentence finally did the trick however, as Mikey's eyes flew wide open and he yelped in shock.

"Raphie, quit it. I'm okay, stop shaking me."

So many emotions flew threw me at once that I couldn't decide which to act on first. Relief that my baby brother was okay, annoyance that he was faking it. Anger at Raph for acting so irrationally, proud that I'd managed to handle the situation without getting out of hand. So many other things that I had yet to think about.

I finally settled on annoyance for now, I'd go and work on the others later. "Michelangelo, how could you? You nearly gave us all a heart attack? What were you thinking? I don't know what's worse, this stunt or the one you pulled last week."

"Shesh guys, lighten up," Mikey muttered still rubbing at his sore head. "It was just a joke, you guys really need to live a little."

My knuckles clenched tight and I sucked in a deep breath before continuing, "How am I supposed to keep living when my heart has stopped three times in one month because of you."

For the first time his smile wavered and it was starting to sink in how mad he was. I watched him glance around the rest of the room staring at his other brothers. "Come on guys, at least a chuckle?"

None of us was going to be so forthcoming.

Yet, those baby blue eyes, swimming with bright mist. The hurt expression on his face, the inner urge within him to simple see a smile on his brothers faces.

"No, don't you dare Leo," Raph snapped glaring at me. "You can't let him off for this. Ground him to the dojo till dad gets back."

"Cool it Raph," I snapped, "Sensi left me in charge, I'll decide how to punish him."

Raph said something he'd never have said if our father had still been home, then stormed off.

With a deep sigh I looked back down at him and muttered, "Go to your room for the rest of the weekend, stay in there except for meal's and bathroom breaks, and I won't tell Sensi."

A huge smile broke across his face and he rushed up to me, cuddling right up to my chest.

"Thank you so much Leo, you won't regret this. I promise I won't do anything like this again until next month."

"Mikey!" I wailed as he scampered to his room.

A room full of his comics, toys, and a hidden stash of junk food.

Donnie was already bored with the conversation and trotting of towards his stuff. I knew he was currently trying to build something, but last time I'd asked he'd used really big words so I'd faked interest until I could sneak away.

A trick worthy of Mikey if I did say so myself.

I slumped down the wall beside him letting out a slight groan of irritation, then covered my face with my hands.

All was silent for a while until Don broke the silence, "You know what I find the most interesting about him?"

"Not really, but I'm sure your going too tell me anyway."

"How useful he is, without even realizing it."

I splayed my fingers out and peaked out from behind them, truly curios about this. "You have my attention."

He didn't immediately answer, but instead continued tinkering with his toy for a few minutes before answering. "Well, put it this way. If he hadn't pulled a stunt like this back when we were five, I never would have gotten interested in the medical field. A lot could have gone wrong in our life because he likes his little jokes."

"His little jokes are going to be the death of me." I stated.

"Maybe," he conceited, "but at least he thinks you'll be smiling while you die. That's got to be some comfort."

"So, you think you'll be going easier on him now?"

"Nope."

"Fine, I suppose I'd be worried if you said yes though."

Short? Yes. Did Mikey learn his lesson? Not really. Apparently Mikey didn't really learn his lesson, or it didn't stick and faded over the years, cause he did do it again later. But at least not as drastically.

R&R