Disclaimer: I don't own TMNT

The two eldest turtles were anxiously waiting for their smart little brother to walk out of his lab with their baby brother and tell them that it was all a bad dream; that Mikey wasn't hurt and that he was going tomake his lunch that he had described so vividly at breakfast.

Donny came out of lab with a solemn facial expression. "He should be fine, but I need to get his body temperature back up to at least normal. Were going to have to take shifts to watch him, because if he drops back down to that temperature his system will shut down and we may lose him."

Leo and Raph just stood there and stared, dumbfounded by what they had just been told. 'This wasn't supposed to happen.' Leo thought. 'He was just suppose to skate, get his comics and then annoy us by telling us about the damsel that Silver Sentry saved, over and over, till Raph chased him around the lair because he couldn't take it anymore.' A tear slid down the fearless leaders face, then he ran away from his brothers and to his room.


Once he had closed his door he slid down the wall and started to cry for his hurting baby brother. The baby brother that he had sworn over and over that he would protect; that he would never let the world taint his pure soul.

His laughter, that would surface without reason, and which he greatly shared with everyone around him; Mikey was the only one that had ever gotten Raph to really laugh. His smiles, that he gave out freely and spread around the room like a disease that you wanted to catch. His creativity and artistry, his drawings and paintings looked so life-like, you would think that it was real and stare at it forever. Leo had to protect that. He had to! If he didn't then there was nothing left to their Michelangelo, just an empty husk of a turtle.


Raph looked at Donny and begged him with a pleading look in his eyes. "Please tell me that he's gonna be ok Don, please!" Raph said as his voice cracked when he got to the second please. He had to know that Mikey was going to get better, that evrything was going to be alright.

"He should be..." "I DON'T TO HEAR SHOULD BE! I WANT TO HEAR WILL BE!" Raph snapped, but then he wished he hadn't. "I can't say that Raph! I want to, more than you'll ever know!" Donny yelled back at him. "I had to fix his leg! I had to stich up his wounds! I want to tell you that it's going to be alright, but I can't! I can't because if I do then something might happen, and then you'll yell at me for making you believe that everything was going to be fine! THAT'S WHY I CAN'T RAPH!"

Donny started sobbing, he never yelled at anyone. He was the level head that his family looked to when something was wrong. 'Is this what it would be like without Mikey? Us always fighting, never being in the same room?' Donny thought as he sat on the floor, his body convulsing from his tears. He thought of all the times that they had all been doing other things. Leo meditating, Raph beating his punching bag, himself working on a project. When Mikey would come in and inturrupt whatever they were doing, and drag them to watch a movie that was on, or eat a meal that he had spent hours making. 'Without him, is that what we would become?' Donny wondered. 'Lifeless shells just co-existing because we have to? Is that what we would become?'

Raph was frightened by what he had just done to his little brother. He sat on the floor next to Donny and wrapped his in a hug. "I'm sorry Don. I should'a never yelled at ya. I'm just scared, I don't want to lose 'im." The tough turtle sobbed as he held tightly to his convulsing brother close, trying to calm him down. "I know Raph, I don't either." Donny managed to choke out as he returned the hug that he had been given. "Go to bed Don, you've done enough for today, I'll watch him then wake you in a few hours, ok?" Raph reassured, letting go of the embrace and helping the tired turtle up. "Ok, but you have to wake me up if anything happens, anything at all." Donny instructed as he was lead to his room. "I promise I will Donny. I promise." Raph said, a soft smile gracing his face as he gently closed the door and went to keep watch over his baby brother that he loved indefinatly.


Raph sat there and watched the slow rising of Mikey's chest. "You're gonna be ok Mikey." Raph whispered to the unconscious form in front of him. He looked to the clock and decided that 7 hours was long enough, and that he'd better go wake Donny. As he stood to leave he turned, placed his hand on to top of Mikey's head and gently kissed his forehead. "You're gonna be ok Mikey." Raph wispered again.


Donny was having a horrible nightmare. He was alone in a dark place, he didn't know where, but there was an ominous feeling to this place. Then he saw something ahead, a figure, but the figure was moaning and looked badly injured. Donny, and all his medical knowlege, ran to help the person, but it seemed that the faster he tried to get to the figure the further away he was. Then the worst thing happened. There was another figure, it stooped down to pick up the moaning, injured one. Thats when his crused dream allowed him to see what he hadn't before.

Raph was holding Mikey in his arms, then he turned to face Donny. His face was tear streaked and he looked genuinely scared, and it was breaking his heart. Raph never looked like that, he was the last one to ever cry and he was never scared, but then he spoke. "Donny, he's dyin', please help me, I don't know what to do!" "I'm coming Raph." Don shouted back to him, and he ran for all he was worth to his family, his brothers, two of the only people he had in this world. However, no matter how hard he tried, he was still getting no where.

But then suddenly, he was making process and he ran desperatly to his brothers. Once he was there Raph was shaking, because he was crying so hard. "He's dead Donny, why didn't you get here sooner? Why?"


"Donny! Wake up!" Raph shouted as he shook him awake. Donny's eyes popped open, and he immediatly sat up, his face and mask stained with tears. He looked wildly around the room. "Don, it's ok, I was just gonna tell ya that it was your turn to watch Mikey." Raph explained, his hand on Don's shoulder. "I can't Raph, not after the dream I just had." Donny exclaimed, breaking out in a fresh wave of tears. He latched on to his big strong brother for safety as he told him about the nightmare. "I was in the tunnel where we found Mikey but I couldn't see anything, then you were there, holding Mikey. You told me he was dying and that I needed to get over there. I tried Raph, I really did, but no matter how hard I ran it just wasn't enough. Then I was there with you, you were crying and you said that he was dead and asked my why I hadn't gotten there." He choked out between his sobs.

Raph was appalled by what he had just heard. "Shh, it's gonna be ok Don. You just get up and mess around. I'll get Leo to watch 'im, you can do it later, k?" Raph soothed his shaken little brother. "Ok Raph, but what about my dream?" Donny managed to say. "It's nothing, don't let it bother ya bro. You did save Mikey, you didn't let him die, that was just a bad dream. You got there in time, and he's going to pull through. I know it." He reassured Don as he helped him out of his bed and out of his room.