So, I had some vague ideas about extending this one-shot into a two-shot a while ago, but that never came about. At some point after finally finishing my other story, Far From Perfect, I ended up stumbling across this again, and then the gears started turning, and then this happened. Surprise!

There will be a third chapter to wrap it up- don't worry, I would NOT end a story the way this chapter ends.

Anyways, I won't be going back and describing Mikey running away (I tried that and it kind of ended up going nowhere) but this chapter and the next will be about him coming back. I hope you enjoy them.

I don't own TMNT.

Raphael couldn't decide if he should hit him or hug him. On one hand, Mikey had come back after six months of isolation, and it was only natural that he should be welcomed with warm hugs and fervent questions. But on the other hand, the little twit hadn't even left so much as a note. How could he just leave like that without even saying anything? Well, it turned out that he didn't have to decide, because the moment his youngest brother's gaze found him, a huge trademark-Mikey grin lit up his face.

"Raphie!" Mikey barrelled at him and wrapped his older brother in a tight hug. Raphael grunted at the impact and grinned a little lopsidedly before he returned the hug just as tightly. A small part of him still couldn't believe that his baby brother was home, and wrapped securely in his arms. Ever since Leonardo announced his phone call with Mikey, Raph had been nearly sick with anticipation of seeing his brother again.

"Have you gotten taller?" Raphael teased as Mikey bounced back and stood in front of him. "I think you mighta outgrown Leo."

"No way Mike," Leo objected, coming into the lair with Mikey's new cat friend, Klunk, in his arms. "There is no way that the baby brother outgrew the oldest." Mikey dashed over to Leo and carefully skimmed his hand over the top of his head, measuring himself against Leo. When his hand went over Leo's head, the youngest grinned.

"I'm totally taller than you Leo!" Mikey crowed. Leo just pouted and glared at his younger brother while Raphael laughed. Not much has changed after all, he thought warmly.

"So...uh...how'd the trip go?" Raphael asked cautiously after a moment. The laughter died down a bit and the mood took a heavier turn. Mikey's smile froze on his face.

"It was fine," Mikey replied, trying his best to appear nonchalant. "Klunk peed a little in the van, but that wasn't so bad. And uh, Leo helped a lot after I got into the city." Mikey turned to look at the aforementioned brother with a slightly sheepish expression. "It's been a while and I got a little lost."

"Yeah, you forget a few things when you've been gone for six months," Leo replied a bit stiffly, almost accusingly. Mikey withered a bit at his older brother's tone and didn't notice the angry look Raph threw over his shoulder at Leo.

"Well, I'm just glad you're back," Raphael proclaimed. "I'm sure you're hungry, let's go to the kitchen and grab something to eat." The red-banded turtle motioned for his two brothers to follow as he turned to the kitchen.

"Dude, when did Raph get nice?" Mikey leaned over and whispered to Leo as they trailed behind him.

"I guess since today," Leo said a bit tensely. Mikey bit his lip a little, wondering for a moment if he would dare to ask other, more sensitive questions. It took him too long to make up his mind however, because Raph was already pulling out pizza before he could say anything.

"Here, we've got some cold pizza - do you want hawaiian or three-meat?" Raphael asked, pulling out two boxes.

"Uh, three-meat," Mikey decided without much thought. "Hey, where's Donnie at anyways?"

"Probably still in his lab," Raphael rolled his eyes. "I'll go tell him you're here." Raphael tossed him the pizza box and drifted off to find Donnie. Mikey tried not to show it, but he was secretly hurt that Donatello hadn't been there to welcome him with Raphael. Apparently he still wasn't very good at masking his feelings, because Leo noticed it in an instant.

"Donnie was going to come out to greet you with Raph, but I think he fell asleep," Leo apologized. "He hasn't been able to rest very well the past few days."

"Oh," Mikey replied, poking at his slice of pizza with a fork. "Because of me, or…?"

"I think so," Leo shrugged. A few seconds later Raphael came back into the kitchen with a still-waking-up Donatello in tow.

"What? What'd I miss?" Donnie asked blearily, blinking rapidly at the sudden brightness of the kitchen lights. As his pupils adjusted to the light, the turtle's eyes focused on Mikey, who was sitting on one of the stools and had a huge smile plastered on his face.

"D!" Mikey shouted, jumping off his stool and running forward to plow into his older brother with a forceful hug. "Dude, I missed you like crazy!"

"Oh, Mikey! Yeah, I missed you too," Donatello laughed stiffly, giving his younger brother a small pat on the head. His eyes darted around rapidly till they suddenly locked onto the pizza on the table. "I'm starving, let's eat." With that, Mikey disentangled himself from his hug and sat down at the counter with a little bounce, smiling broadly and shoving a piece of the pizza in his mouth with a small hmm of approval.

"Dude," Mikey said, turning to Leo and causing him to jump a bit at the adression. "Your pizza's gonna get cold if you don't eat it right away!" The freckled turtle burst into laughter at his own joke. "Get it? Cause it's already cold…?" His three brothers chimed in with high-strung chuckles, and Leo began to absently twiddle with his fork. The laughter didn't last long and it quickly petered into silence once again. Mikey glanced around at his older brothers, who all had their eyes cast down at the table.

"Good pizza, right?" Mikey chimed in a few minutes later. The three of them nodded their heads and let out a chorus of quick agreements. Mikey smiled at them, but as he moved take another bite, the smile faltered a bit.

"So...how's the weather been down here?" Mikey asked after another few minutes of silence.

"Good," Leo said, not meeting Michelangelo's eyes. Donatello and Raphael hummed in agreement.

"Oh, well, that's good," Mikey said, staring downwards and drawing little swirls in the sauce of the pizza with his fork. "There was this crazy storm up in Maine last month, and Klunk was pretty freaked out. There was like, hail and stuff."

"Mhmm," Raphael nodded his head a little.

"...So Donnie, how have you been?" Mikey questioned, clearing his throat a bit.

"It's going good," Donatello said, looking up quickly, as if caught off guard.

"Oh, uh, that's good," Mikey replied hesitantly, frowning a bit. Mikey chewed on his lip and glanced between all three of his brothers. "So...um...can I ask you guys something?"

"Of course!" Raphael replied far too quickly. "Anything." Mikey ducked his head a bit and picked at the crust of the half-eaten slice of pizza, frantically trying to find the best way to ask his rather sensitive question.

"I was just wondering if...well, if you'd…" Mikey cleared his throat, but his next words still came out as barely a squeak. "If you'd found sensei." To his utter surprise, none of them tensed up or got a sad look in their eyes. Instead, the three oldest brothers shared confused glances.

"Found him…?" Leonardo trailed off suddenly, his eyes widening. "Oh."

"Wait…" Donatello turned to look at Leonardo incredulously. "You didn't tell him?" From the other side of the counter, Raphael was in utter shock as he gaped at Leonardo.

"You were gone before we came home...you don't know…" Leo said quietly, his eyes filled with guilt. "Mikey, sensei didn't die. He's here." Mikey's heart stopped. "I know I should have told you, it just slipped my mind-"

Just like that, Mikey was suddenly sprinting out of the room.

"What the-?" Raphael whipped around to stare as Mikey charged into the dojo, his breaths quick and shallow. His thoughts were in a frenzied flurry as he slid open the paper divider so quick and hard that it nearly tore. Just as he stepped into the dojo, a large and furry figure stepped out of the bedroom and into the dojo.

"What is it-?" Splinter demanded, thinking that one of his sons was coming to him with urgent news, but the second he saw the youngest, freckled turtle standing there in an old worn-out hoodie, he grew silent.

"Sensei-" Mikey choked out, meaning to say more, but he ended up saying nothing and instead rushing forwards to fling his arms around Splinter's shoulders and squeeze him as tight as he possibly could manage. Splinter wasn't hesitant to return the gesture as Mikey nestled his chin in the crook of his father's neck. The small, rodent arms wrapped around his frame were so familiar and so soothing. He never wanted to let go of his father again. It appeared that Splinter felt the same way, based on how tightly he was holding Mikey. At the doorway, the other three brothers were hesitantly lingering and watching the scene unfold.

Splinter was the first to let go, and it came with a hint of regret. The rat took a step back and gazed down into Mikey's baby blue eyes. They were so full of happiness, and so he found it odd that there wasn't a smile to go with them. That's when Splinter caught the beginnings of tears glistening in the corners of his eyes.

"How did you…?" Mikey began, but his words quickly died on his lips and he just continued to stare at his father, as if he believed if he took his gaze away for a moment that Splinter would be gone. Splinter only shook his head, thinking of everything Mikey had missed.

"We have much to discuss," he said seriously, placing one paw on his son's shoulder. Mikey's eyes flitted downwards.

"Can we talk later…?" Mikey asked timidly, shuffling his feet. "It'll take a long time to explain everything, and uh, I'm kinda tired." Splinter was a little surprised at the request, but quickly forced a soothing smile on his face.

"Of course Michelangelo," Splinter said. "Perhaps tomorrow then."

"Thank you sensei," Mikey gave him a polite bow - the eyes of his brothers widened at that. Mikey always had good intentions, but never good manners. Seeing their baby brother treat anybody with the politeness and courtesy he displayed now seemed so...not like him.

"Maybe things have changed," Raphael muttered.

. . . . .

Mikey flopped down on his bed and let out an over-dramatic sigh. The mattress sprung satisfyingly under his back and he allowed himself a small smile. Meanwhile, Klunk was scoping out the entire room with an air of suspicion.

Mikey was happy to see that his room hadn't been touched. There were still old pizza boxes stashed under the bed, comic books strewn all over the floor, and that dorky cardboard cut-out of Chris Bradford in the corner (why he never got rid of that, even Mikey wasn't sure). Although, now that he took a closer look, his room needed some desperate cleaning. The smell of decaying pizza wasn't particularly pleasant. I mean, it was probably still edible. But he wasn't used to the smell anymore, and even if his iron stomach could digest it with ease...he probably should throw it. Yeah.

Mikey gathered up all the pizza boxes from on the floor and under the bed in his arms, then stuffed them into the large (and empty) trashcan he kept in his room. Funny, he couldn't remember ever using this, even though it had been there for years. It was a testament to his poor cleaning skills.

"Sorry pizza," Mikey sighed, a little bit regretfully. "I meant to eat you."

Mikey spent the next half hour throwing away things that he figured he didn't need. Huh, he couldn't remember ever cleaning his room either. Mikey felt a little bit of realization dawn on him.

No wonder his brothers had always hounded him about how gross his room was.

Mikey sat down on the bed and frowned worriedly. Raph had seemed happy enough to see him. Leo was...confusing. One minute he was laughing along with him, the next he was strangely silent and a bit bitter. Donatello - well, he had hardly talked at all, and his welcome hadn't been very promising. He was probably just still tired, Mikey tried to reassure himself, but it didn't do much to loosen knot in his stomach. Or maybe not...

The moment he began to doubt his brothers, he scolded himself. That's stupid, he thought with a huff. You heard Leo on the phone. He was crying because you finally picked up. He was frantic and desperate for you to come home. And Leo's a horrible liar. So calm down and stop seeing things that aren't there.

"Don't go lecturing me about how to be a good brother!"

Mikey's head perked up at the decidedly gruff voice of Raphael outside the door. Curious, the orange-banded ninja crept to the door silently and pressed his ear against the crack.

"What did I do wrong?" This time it was Leo speaking, and Mikey frowned. His older brother usually had a calm and commandeering voice, but it sounded angry and upset and a little vulnerable now. That immediately set off Mikey's internal brother alarms.

"Like you don't know!"

"Are you still going on about that search-"

"Shell yeah I am! You knew where he went, but you turned back!"

"Raph, it was horrible outside. I would have never made it back if I had stayed out any longer, the storm would have gotten me lost."

"I would have kept going-"

"Well maybe I don't care what you would have done, because you're an idiot!"

Mikey's heart thudded rapidly in his ears. He knew exactly what they were talking about- the evening after he had left, a horrible storm had blown in. He had been following a highway north, hoping to hit a town soon so he could salvage some supplies from the trash bins - just like a raccoon, dude! - but then the storm had come. He had hunkered down under the shelter of a pine tree till it passed - which admittedly, was not as cool as it sounded. Mostly just wet and uncomfortable. Also there was a lot of animal poop under the tree. Either that or pine cones, it was sorta hard to tell at the time. But from the way it sounded, Leo had been hot on his trail...and then had turned back. What if he had kept going? Would he have found me? Would I have gone home..? Mikey was snapped out of his contemplation by the angry yells from outside the door starting up again.

"Shut up Leo! Admit it, if you had just kept going we could have had Mikey back in days instead of months!"

"You're one to talk! You were the one always yelling at him - you're probably the reason he ran off in the first place!"

There was a sudden silence on the other side of the door. Mikey's eyes were huge and he felt guilt clawing up inside him - if he hadn't been so stupid and ran off then they wouldn't be fighting like this. He didn't want to think about how many times this same fight had occurred while he was gone. He hadn't even considered that his absence could have such horrible consequences on his brothers relationships with each other.

"Take. That. Back," Raphael hissed dangerously from the other side of the door. "If it was anyone's fault, it was yours, oh-high-and-mighty-Leonardo!"

"There's no way you can pin the blame on me-"

"You were always ignoring him! Is it any coincidence that you two were hardly paired up together on missions? You always put him with me or Don! What's up with that, huh Leo?"

"Raph, you're being stupid."

"You know what, frickin' whatever. But if you wanna come and tell me that I need to be a better brother again, how bout' you save it for the mirror."

Both of them stormed off in opposite directions, leaving Mikey to sit by the door and wonder if it might have been better if he hadn't come back at all.