Pheonix09 wanted me to do another chapter of "Heartbeat", so here it is! :)

NOTE: There will probably be grammar mistakes which I will fix later.

"How are we feeling this morning, Raph?" Donnie gently lifted his older brother's head as he adjusted the pillow a bit. It had been a week since Raph's dramatic near-death experience, and he was still feeling very weak and tired in his body, always being attended to by Donnie.

"Mmmm," Raph mumbled, looking up at the doctor of the family with slightly opened emerald eyes.

Donnie shook his head and crossed his arms. "Raph, I'm gonna need a more specific answer."

"I'm fine, okay?" Raph snapped. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"First I need to check your temperature," Donnie placed his hand on Raph's forehead and placed an electrical thermometer in his mouth, much to the bedridden Turtle's annoyance. He took it out after it beeped and read the temperature on the screen. "98.6. That's good. Are you aching anywhere in your body, Raph?"

Raph nodded. "My side still hurts a little."

"And it will for a couple of days. You just need to take it easy for a while."

"Ain't gonna argue with that," Raph sighed as he closed his eyes. Donnie gently patted his knee before leaving the room. It was time to check up on his other patient.

"What can you make out, Mikey?"

The youngest Turtle sat on a metal chair in Donnie's lab and was doing an eye test, reading off the Snellen chart that hung on the wall. In the last couple of days, Mikey's vision slowly returned, a transition from complete darkness to blurriness. It was a huge relief for everyone, especially Raph, who was ecstatic over hearing the news.

Mikey squinted his eyes and read the chart. "Uh...I can definitely see the big E on top. Then the F and P on the second row."

"Okay," Donnie pointed to the third row of letters with his ruler. "How about the next row?"

"Uh...T...O...Z?"

"Good! And the next one?"

"L...T...C...O?"

The row actually read L, P, E, and D. "Close, but not exactly." When Donnie noticed Mikey bow his head and slump his shoulders in defeat, he walked over to him and patted his shoulder. "That's great progress, though. You're getting better everyday, Mikey."

Mikey looked up at Donnie, who looked like a green and purple blur from his perception. "But when will I be able to see clearly, Donnie? I miss watching my favorite shows and reading my favorite comic books," he whined.

Donnie's heart ached for his little brother and he soothingly rubbed his shell. "It'll take some time for your eyes to completely heal, Mikey. Just...try to be patient, okay?" What else could he say?

The youngest Turtle nodded, though he still had a forlorn expression on his face. Hopelessness was also there. Donnie saw it and his heart shattered even more, if that was even possible.

"Mikey," he leaned close to his brother's face and gently placed his hands on both of his shoulders. "You will see again. I promise."

"What if I don't get better?" Mikey's voice was small and cracked slightly.

"You will," Donnie insisted. "And you know how I can be so certain? It's because you're amazing. You're too amazing to let something like this keep you down."

For the first time in days, there was a glimmer of hope in Mikey's eyes. "Really?"

Donnie wrapped his arms around Mikey and held him close, resting his cheek on the dome of his head. "Really."

And he believed it, too.

Another night without sleep.

Leo dragged himself into the kitchen and plopped himself down in a chair, leaning over the table and resting his head in his arms. The nightmares just wouldn't go away and continued to haunt him.

Mostly they were about him failing to save Master Splinter. He'd watch helplessly as his father and Sensei was stabbed and then thrown off the building. The horrible scene kept replaying in his mind every day while he was awake and while he slept. Sometimes, the dream would end with him kneeling over Splinter's body, which would transform into Raph's, blood pouring out of the wound in his side and all color drained from his usual emerald skin.

He nearly jumped out of his seat when he felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder. He whipped his head around to see Donnie looking down at him with sad auburn eyes.

"Your eyes are bloodshot and you have dark circles," he quietly told the leader. "Couldn't sleep?"

Leo sighed and shook his head. "No."

"Leo, you're slowly killing yourself with this insomnia," Donnie went over to the kitchen counter and prepared some coffee for both Leo and himself.

"You're not getting enough sleep, yourself," Leo mumbled.

"Yeah, well, I'm the doctor of this family," Donnie said as he poured the coffee into two cups. "It's my job to take care of you guys whenever you're sick or injured, even if that means sacrificing a little sleep. Besides, I already have two patients to worry about. I don't want to have to take care of a third one."

"Well, how am I supposed to make the nightmares go away, Donnie?" Leo snapped. "I've tried everything! Even meditation doesn't help!"

Donnie placed the two cups on the table before taking a seat next to Leo. "You and I both know what you need to do."

Leo tensed. He wasn't ready for that yet. "I can't," he said as he reached for the cup of coffee.

"You can't," Donnie crossed his arms, "or you don't wantto?"

Leo only closed his eyes before lifting the cup to his lips.

"Why do you always have to question my decisions, Raph?!"

The hotheaded Turtle rolled his eyes and huffed. He wished that Leo would just shut up and leave him alone.

They all had just returned home from a mission. A mission that ended in disaster thanks to Raph's temper and rebellion against his leader. Leo scolded him the entire trip back to the lair, and he was beginning to get a headache.

As usual, Mikey stepped in to try to ease the tension. "Hey, bro, it wasn't that bad," he playfully patted Leo's shoulder. "At least nobody got hurt."

Leo instantly glared at Mikey, who sank his head back into his shell. "But somebody could've gotten hurt," he growled as he turned back to Raph, "and it would've been your fault, Raph."

Raph groaned and threw his hands up in the air in annoyance. "Look, I'm SORRY, okay?! I screwed up! There! I admitted it! Happy?!"

"You always apologize for your mistakes," Leo shook his head, "but you never really learn from them."

"Well, excuse me, Sensei," Raph spat out the last word as though it had a bad taste in his word.

"That's right," Leo roughly poked Raph's chest with a finger. "I am the Sensei now, and as your Sensei, I demand that you show me a little more respect and place the safety of your teammates before your pride."

Raph narrowed his eyes hatefully at Leo and slapped the finger away. "I don't care if you are the Sensei," he snarled. "I'm not gonna let you boss me around like this. You're not my father, and you never will be."

Donnie's jaw dropped to the floor and Mikey slapped a hand over his mouth in absolute shock.

Leo, on the other hand, was beyond ticked by Raph's spiteful remark. He clenched his hands into fists and gritted his teeth. "You're right," he said in an eerily calm voice. "I'm not Father, and I'm going to do something that our father never would have but should've done." He then pointed to the exit.

"Out."

The whole room got silent. Raph stared at Leo with wide, disbelieving eyes. He forgot to breathe. "...What?"

"You heard me," Leo repeated unsympathetically. "Out."

This time, Donnie stepped in. "Leo, wait. Aren't you overreacting a bit?"

"Yeah, bro!" Mikey said. "Kicking Raph out? That's crazy!"

Leo didn't look at his other brothers and focused only on Raph. "I'm done trying to reason with him, guys. This was the last straw. He wants to endanger other people's lives? He's more than welcome to do it outside the lair."

Raph studied Leo's face, hoping to see if this was some kind of cruel joke.

He quickly realized that it wasn't.

His hurt expression slowly transformed into that of anger. "Know what?" he whispered venomously. "Screw you. I'm out." He stomped toward the exit, but not before knocking over the pinball machine in a fit of rage. The loud crashing sound caused the others to flinch, and they watched as he jumped over the turnstiles and disappeared into the tunnels.

Donnie and Mikey both turned to Leo. Their leader shook his head and headed for the dojo. "He'll be back," he simply told them.

But he never did come back.

Later that night, Raph was ambushed by Tiger Claw and his men and was held hostage. When the others found out, they immediately went out to rescue their brother, but things quickly went from bad to worse. Raph was mortally wounded and Mikey was blinded in the heat of the battle, and they spent hours in the cold, huddled together on the dock. Raph was near death by the time Leo and Donnie found them.

And it all happened because of Leo's poor leadership and harsh treatment toward Raph.

Ever since then, every night, while Raph slept, Leo would sneak into his bedroom and listen to the steady beeping of the heart monitor, just to reassure himself that his little brother was still alive. But during the day, Leo would only say "hi" to him as he passed by the door every now and then. But he couldn't directly face him. Not after what happened that horrible day.

Because he blamed himself.

Whenever Donnie would urge him to go talk to Raph, Leo would excuse himself out of the room or quickly change the subject. The fact was he was too scared to face Raph. He was scared that Raph would say that he hated him for kicking him out and letting him be captured in the first place. Even though he knew that he deserved it, Leo couldn't find the courage to go into Raph's bedroom while he was awake.

But one night, as Leo slowly cracked the door open to check on Raph, he was surprised to find him sitting up on the bed and wide awake. He quickly turned to leave when he was stopped by Raph.

"Leo, wait."

Cursing under his breath, he opened the door all the way and faced his brother. "Y-Yeah, bro?" he nervously said.

"I want to talk to you, Leo," Raph sternly said as he crossed his arms. "I've been wanting to talk to you for the last couple of days, but you'd either run off or wait until I was asleep to come see me."

Leo swallowed and stepped into the room. "I know. I'm sorry." He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, folding his hands and looking down at the carpet. It was awkwardly quiet for a moment before he glanced over at Raph and said in a quiet tone, "So...what do you want to talk about?"

"I know what's been been eating you," Raph said. "You're still blaming yourself for what happened to me, aren't you?"

"It was my fault, Raph," Leo sadly said, still looking down. "I was being an insensitive jerk and totally acting like a tyrant. I could've handled your temper a whole lot better but instead I pushed you away. I've failed both as a brother and a Sensei."

He jumped when he felt a hand slap the back of shell, but he still didn't turn to look at Raph. The hand still rested there and began to soothingly rub up and down. That one gesture was enough to break the barrier that held back his emotions and the tears began to build up in his eyes.

He shook Raph's hand off his shell. "Raph, stop," he croaked. "You don't have to pretend to forgive m-"

Leo was cut off by Raph's sudden hug. The younger Turtle wrapped his arms around his brother's neck and pulled him closer to his plastron (or at least as close as he could since he was still very weak). Leo's body started to tremble even more and the tears now cand down freely.

"Don't..." Leo choked, "don't you hate me...?"

Leo felt Raph shake his head against his cheek. "Not gonna lie, though," he said. "There were times where I came very close to hating you, especially right after you kicked me out. But I could never bring myself to hate you, bro, no matter how hard I try." He pulled away and leaned back into his pillow, a warm smile on his face. "And quit beating yourself up over what happened. I'm still here, aren't I? You and Donnie saved me."

A tearful smile formed on Leo's lips and he reached over to take Raph's hand, giving it a squeeze. "And you protected Mikey and kept him warm and calm. I honestly don't know what we'd do without you."

Raph gave him a cocky grin. "You'd all be lost without me."

"So you two finally reconciled."

The both turned to find Donnie and Mikey standing at the doorway. Donnie smiled at Leo as he guided Mikey to the bed. "I'm glad. You needed it."

Raph smiled gently at Mikey as the youngest Turtle sat down on the bed between him and Leo. "Hey, Little Brother. Your eyesight getting any better?"

For the first time since the incident, Mikey smiled his usual bright smile. "Every day, bro. I can actually make out your ugly mug now."

For a brief moment, Raph had an irritated look on his face, before he smirked and suddently grabbed Mikey in a playful choke hold, giving him a noogie. Leo smiled fondly at his two younger brothers then at Donnie, who smiled back.

They were finally healing together as a family.

It was their first night in the lair. Splinter laid each of his little ones in separate baskets with warm, soft blankets that would serve as their beds. He kissed them on the forehead and tucked them in before shutting off the light and leaving the room.

But they had never been separated from each other before and none of them couldn't sleep. Mikey and Donnie whimpered. Raph tossed and turned in his bed. Leo nervously sucked his thumb. Finally, Mikey couldn't take it anymore and crawled over to the basket nearest to him, which was Raph's. He snuggled next Raph and laid his head on his plastron, listening to the comforting sound of his brother's strong heartbeat.

Soon, Donnie crawled out of his own basket and joined them, resting his cheek on Mikey's chest and listening to his heartbeat. Leo was the last to crawl in and he let Raph rest his head against his plastron so that his little brother could listen to his heartbeat while he, himself, listened to Donnie's.

Within moments, they fell asleep together, the rhythmic beating of their hearts serving as their lullaby.