Hello all, update time!:D And this will have to tide you over for a week or two as I am going on vacation:) But rest assured, I will be back to update this fic!

A giant that thank you to SleepignSeeker, ShamrockClover, dondena, Not Even The Turtle, Heather, BubblyShell22, Miss Anonymous, Little Soldier Mine, helfyrephoenix, I love kittens too, liltikewriter, and a fanfictioner for posting your lovely reviews! They mean so much to me!XD

Also a huge thank you to Amonraphoenix for beta reading this chapter for me, you are amazing!

And now...enjoy:)


Chapter 4

Raphael felt his heart slam painfully against his rib cage at Leonardo's grim pronouncement. "Whadaya mean it's his brain?" he asked stupidly. He of course grasped the concept that something was wrong with their genius brother's mind, but he just didn't understand what had changed in the few minutes it had taken him to calm Donatello down, tuck him in, and exit the room.

They had been dealing with Donatello's feverish hallucinations, his erratic ramblings and his inability to remain alert and aware for long periods of time for over a week now. But at the bleak looks etched across Leonardo and Michelangelo's faces, Raphael's lungs constricted tightly, making it hard for him to take a breath.

"We've been looking at Donatello's symptoms, but his paralysis didn't fit, and neither did his random mood swings," Leonardo explained.

Which of course didn't help because his older brother had yet to get to the actual point.

Michelangelo cleared his throat, pointing to the computer screen. "The fever would explain some things, like hallucinations and confusion, but it wouldn't explain his rapid mood swings or why his mind is unable to stay focused."

Leonardo continued, his voice filling with frustration."We watched Donny go from waking dream to coherent awareness to angry and resentful, to full on hallucinating; all within a matter of moments."

Michelangelo quickly cut in. "But when Donny said his neck was stiff, little alarm bells began ringing in my head." he explained. "I remembered back when Donny had Strep throat and April was looking after him. I remember she said that it was really important to treat the Strep throat properly or else it could get into his brain somehow. Well, not the actual Strep throat. It would cause something else, like a chain reaction, rare but it could happen. Anyway, this thing that could get into Donny's head was called Meningitis, and I remembered it 'cause I was so scared that Donny would get it, because it could kill him and kill him fast. I asked April how I could tell if Donny got Meningitis and she said flu-like symptoms and a stiff neck." Michelangelo gave his head a quick shake. "I was so scared for Donny that it stuck in my head. Donny never got it back then, but..." Michelangelo turned the computer screen towards him. "I think that's what he has now," Michelangelo's voice wavered as he paled.

"Okay, great, we got some-" Raphael cut himself off as he processed all of what Michelangelo had told him. "What do you mean kill him?" he asked, his voice low and shaking slightly.

"The infection attacks the brain," Leonardo explained when it seemed like Michelangelo was unable to gather his thoughts and put them into words. Or it was possible that now that Michelangelo had managed to figure out what Donatello had, he wasn't able to handle the horrific information.

"It's okay, Mikey," Leonardo soothed, rubbing Michelangelo's carapace comfortingly. "We know what's wrong with him."

Michelangelo closed his eyes and shook his head. "No we don't," he whispered miserably.

"We-" Leonardo began but Michelangelo shook his head again, pulling away from Leonardo's comforting touch and leaning up against the brick wall of the hallway.

Michelangelo rubbed his eyes and slid down the wall until he was crouched on the floor. Raphael darted forward, scared that Michelangelo had momentarily fainted, or was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Raphael could feel Leonardo's accusing eyes boring into the side of his skull as he gently placed his hand upon his baby brother's shoulder.

"I'm fine," Michelangelo said in a tight voice, brushing Raphael's hand away. "I'm not freaking out. I'm just... I'm just so tired." Michelangelo dragged his hands down his face again looking up at Leonardo, exhaustion, worry and grief clearly written across his face. "Donny isn't going to make it," he stated bluntly, voice bleak.

Leonardo snapped the laptop closed and knelt on the other side of Michelangelo. "Of course he is, Mikey."

Michelangelo was already shaking his head. "Even if Donny has Meningitis, which we don't even know for sure," Michelangelo put in quickly as Leonardo opened his mouth to object. "There are too many kinds of Meningitis to narrow it down," Michelangelo pointed out tiredly.

"Then we figure it out," Raphael snarled, grinding his teeth together over his baby brother's defeated attitude.

"Raph-" Michelangelo began as he slid up the wall, forcing his two older brothers to stand as well.

"No!" Raphael snapped. "We don't give up on Donny. He never gave up on savin' my sorry ass, so we don't EVER give up on him!"

Michelangelo held his gaze, his features tired and drawn. "I'm not saying we give up on him, Raph." Michelangelo glanced at Leonardo before speaking again, including both of them in what he was about to say next. "I'm just saying that...that we make sure Donny is comfortable and..."

"NO!" Raphael snarled. "I am not gonna go back into that room and give Donny up for dead. I am NOT going to hold his hand and say my final goodbyes. We are gonna save him, we...we gotta save him." His voice lost much of his anger and heat as he choked out the last four words like a heartfelt plea of desperate need.

He was usually so good at holding onto his anger. It was his shield, that part of himself that allowed him to hide all of his emotions and keep everyone at arm's length. He loved his family, his friends, but he hated being vulnerable and letting any of them in, because then that would mean he was open to being hurt. And right now, he felt raw; his very soul stripped bare and on display for all to see.

"No one is giving up, Raphael," Leonardo soothed and he sent a fierce look of determination towards Michelangelo.

"I didn't say we give up!" Michelangelo snapped, snatching the laptop away from Leonardo. "But the meningitis is in Donny's BRAIN. It's probably so inflamed right now that it's the reason he can't move his legs anymore. It's travelled into his spinal column and he's only going to get worse." Leonardo and Raphael both blinked slowly at their baby brother, whose face pulled into a snarl. "I may not understand half of what those medical websites say, but I CAN read," he shot back at their obvious looks of disbelief in his medical assessment of Donatello.

Michelangelo clutched at the laptop and Leonardo gently pried it from Michelangelo's hands, placing his hand upon Michelangelo's shoulder and steering him towards Donatello's bedroom.

"We'll figure this out, Mikey, and you're right. I think that it's important for us to be by Donatello's side and tell him how much we love him," Leonardo began gently, his voice rough with emotion. "But we are not saying goodbye." This next part was aimed directly at Raphael, who scowled darkly. "But maybe it will help Donny try to fight to live."

Michelangelo looked at Leonardo, his eyes filling with the intense need to cling onto hope, but then his face fell, as if knowing that hope was a fleeting intangible thing he could not even see at the moment, let alone grasp.

Michelangelo shook off Leonardo's hand and opened Donatello's door, walking inside the dimly lit room.

Leonardo stopped Raphael from following, his gaze intense. "We will figure this out."

Raphael frowned, but gave a curt nod. He thought for a moment, his fingers straying to his belt. "I'm calling April," he said suddenly turning away from Leonardo.

"Raph-" Leonardo began but Raphael interrupted whatever his older brother was going to say.

"I know they are half a world away, but I have to try," Raphael insisted. "Now that we sorta know what's going on, they need to know and we need to get April back here, 'cause I have no idea if Donny has the meds needed to cure what he has, and if he doesn't, we need April to get them for us," he stated firmly.

Leonardo's mouth closed with a snap as he gave a curt nod. "April probably won't answer," he warned gently.

"Then I'll leave a message," he ground out, pulling his shell cell from his belt and pushing send after he had scrolled over to April's contact information.

Leonardo nodded and turned, walking into Donatello's room and leaving him to talk with April if he could even get a hold of her.

He let the phone ring, April's happy tone inviting him to leave a message. "April, we need you to get home. Donny's sick. We think he has Meningitis and he's been sick for over a week. He's not doin' so good, and we need your help." He tried to make his voice sound firm and strong, but there were small, distinctive hitches and obvious panic that laced his words anyway. "He-" his words abruptly cut off as a horrified shout came from Donatello's bedroom along with the high pitched scream of the heart monitor's flatline. Raphael slammed his phone closed and ran to Donatello's bedroom, his heart in his throat as he took in the chaotic scene in front of him.

Donatello's arms thrashed, Michelangelo and Leonardo were trying to pin Donatello to the bed. Raphael blinked and all of the blood drained from his face as he realized their brother was not in the throes of some horrible nightmare or hallucination, but rather, he was having a seizure, his eyes rolled up into his head, bloody foam dribbling out the corner of his mouth.

Donatello's body suddenly stopped flailing and went frighteningly still as Raphael found the power to move his numb body past the threshold of Donatello's door and into the room.

Leonardo's fingers shot to the pulse point on Donatello's throat and Raphael felt every muscle in his body knot in anxious horror.

"Leo?" he questioned softly as Leonardo gave a quick nod acknowledging that Donatello was still alive as he and Michelangelo pulled away from Donatello's motionless form.

Michelangelo quickly placed the heart monitor back on Donatello's finger, it obviously having flown off when Donatello had begun seizing causing the flatline which had momentarily stopped Raphael's own heart cold.

"Give me the laptop, now!" Leonardo ordered, his voice shaking with fear.

Raphael scrambled to do Leonardo's bidding. He shoved the laptop into Leonardo's hands as his older and baby brother's perched on the edge of Donatello's bed.

Leonardo glanced up. "April?" he asked, his voice trying and failing to not sound hopeful.

Raphael only gave a quick shake of his head, indicating that he hadn't had any luck reaching their friends. He could only hope that they had decided to check their messages every once in a while. Though for all Raphael knew, it was probably the middle of the night in Paris at the moment. Or their phone was dead, or... the possibilities were endless and there was no guarantee that April or Casey would get their message before they came home next week.

Leonardo pursed his lips at Raphael's answer, but refocused all of his attention on the lit screen in front of him. Michelangelo leaned in and scanned the screen as well while Raphael paced back and forth in agitation.

He felt helpless and had no idea what to do. After a few moments that felt like hours, Raphael stopped and walked up to his two brothers, both of whom wore identical grim expressions.

Raphael felt his heart plummet into his chest at their faces, but swallowed, knowing he needed to know the truth, no matter how much it was going to hurt. He spared a quick glance at Donatello who sounded like he was on his last, final breaths. Each intake of air was a wheezing, gasping breath; each expulsion of air a rattle of death.

"Well?" His voice was sharp, cracking like a whip throughout the silent room.

Leonardo started, almost as if he had been so engrossed in what he was reading, he had forgotten there was anyone else in the room. And for all Raphael knew, his brother had been that engrossed. Raphael had scrolled through too many medical websites to count and knew that his brain throbbed after only a few moments of trying to understand the complex medical terminology and explanations.

"Mikey's right," Leonardo answered softly. "There are...there are at least five different types of meningitis. No, that's not even right. More there are five causes of Meningitis."

Raphael felt his lungs constrict in his chest as he tried to push away his brother's words, as if they didn't matter. "So?" he managed to snarl.

Leonardo closed his eyes, as if gathering together the last remaining shreds of his patience, or his sanity; maybe both, maybe neither. But regardless, Leonardo opened his eyes and finally spoke, his voice containing the same note of hopelessness and defeat that Michelangelo's had contained in the hallway.

"So, I don't even know where to start," Leonardo answered, his voice the barest of whispers.

"We start at the beginning, that's where we start!" Raphael insisted, wishing he could grab the laptop and figure this all out himself. Unfortunately, he knew he didn't have the brain power necessary to back up his desire to figure out the whole Meningitis thing, but he had something neither of his brothers possessed any longer...

Hope.

Leonardo opened his mouth, but Raphael cut in before his brother could say something defeatist or depressing.

"We do what Donny would do; not stopping 'till we figured it out," Raphael bit out.

"Raph," Leonardo snapped. "Donny could have Bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic, or non-infectious Meningitis," he patiently explained.

"So? We figure out which one he has."He began to pace again as he thought furiously. "There's gotta be some sort of test..." he knew he was thinking out loud but Michelangelo's words stopped him in his tracks.

"The only way to know for sure if Donny has meningitis is if we do a lumbar puncture."

Raphael frowned. "So, do it."

"Do you even know what a lumbar puncture is, Raph?" Leonardo asked in exasperation, his patience finally shredded to the point of being non-existent.

"Nope. Sounds like we poke him with something," he answered.

"A lumbar puncture is taking a sample of spinal fluid," Leonardo paused. "From his spine," Leonardo reiterated as if Raphael didn't know what spinal fluid was.

"Thanks, Leo, I got that part. I'm not a complete and total moron," he growled. "So, jam a needle into his spine and let's get this shit figured out."

"We can't just...just jam a needle into his spine!" Leonardo stammered out in horror.

"Why the hell not?" he asked, spreading his arms wide.

"Because it could paralyze him!" Leonardo retorted angrily.

Raphael allowed a moment for this to sink in. He rolled it around in his head before giving a slight nod, coming to a decision. "Paralyzed ain't dead. I say do it."

Michelangelo sighed and pulled Donatello's laptop onto his lap as Leonardo sputtered out his shock. "Raph, even if we did a lumbar puncture, that test only confirms Meningitis," Michelangelo carefully explained. "Not the type of meningitis he has. Each kind of meningitis has its own treatment, depending on the cause. "

Raphael closed his eyes spinning and slamming his fist into Donatello's brick wall; shredding a few pieces of paper with mathematical equations that had been taped to the rough surface.

"And according to this, once the seizures start..." Michelangelo's voice trailed off despondently. But Michelangelo had no need to finish his sentence his point was clear; Donatello was living on a finite amount of time.

"I was pretty sure I was a gonner," Raphael whispered roughly. "I hung in that room driftin' in and out of it, watching my blood drip to the ground whenever I would regain consciousness. It never lasted long, not really. The pain would drag me back down and each time my world went black, I didn't think I'd ever be waking up again. But I knew if I died, Leo'd blame himself. So I tried to hang on." He turned and faced his brothers. "Then I heard all of you, when you finally found me. Donny... I remember Donny's voice, his terror, and his absolute certainty that he couldn't save me. At that point, I was good with that; at least I lasted long enough to hear your voices one more time. But you know what? Donny still tried to save me; he tried, and he never gave up, even when I wanted him to." His voice shook with emotion and he found himself wiping away a stray tear with the back of his hand. Raphael swallowed before he spoke again. "So we are gonna figure this out, 'cause if Donny does end up dyin' I want to be able to tell myself that we did everything we could to save him."

He gave both of his brothers a meaningful look, daring either one of them to disagree with what he had just said. Michelangelo and Leonardo shared a quick glance before they both nodded simultaneously.

"Okay." Michelangelo's word came out broken and rough. He cleared his throat before continuing, his gaze focused upon the computer screen. "I think….I think we can rule out bacterial meningitis, since it usually affects newborns, young children…" he trailed off scanning the screen. "Donny hasn't had a skull fracture lately, has he?"

Leonardo shook his head.

"Then we can rule out bacterial." Michelangelo nodded, more sure of himself.

"And I am pretty sure Donny never had the mumps, chickenpox, shingles, some unpronounceable virus name, LCMV-whatever that is- herpes or HIV."

"Great, two down keep going," Raphael encouraged.

Michelangelo glanced up, his face shifting from focused to worried. "What if we're wrong and he doesn't even have meningitis?"

Leonardo opened his mouth to answer but then closed it, shaking his head from side apparently unable to formulate an answer.

"We have to try something, Mikey," Raphael answered his baby brother's question, his voice hushed and strained.

Michelangelo bit his lip and gave a reluctant nod of acceptance.

Leonardo cleared his throat, his voice breaking slightly. "Fungal meningitis usually affects those with a compromised immune system, but…" Leonardo's eyes roved across the screen. "The symptoms are gradual, not all at once."

"Skip it, keep going." Raphael suggested, beginning to pace again.

"Parasitic…" Michelangelo's voice trailed off as he studied the screen. "It doesn't really say. It just lists a bunch of garbally types of infections."

"Next," Raphael snapped, more harshly than he intended. Leonardo gave him a glare and Raphael studiously ignored the look, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other as he paced around the room like a caged animal.

"Non-infectious," Leonardo read out, a frown pulling the features of his face down. "Basically Donny would have to have an underlying condition, like cancer, sarcoidosis or a form of lupus, just to name a few."

"Great, well Donny was as healthy as a horse 'till-"

"-A little over two weeks ago." Michelangelo put in.

It was now Raphael's turn to frown as he stopped pacing and stared at his baby brother. "Whadaya mean over two weeks ago?" Raphael questioned in confusion.

"Donny was having headaches for about a week and a bit before he got sick. His stomach wasn't feeling very well either from the way he was pushing his food around on his plate," Michelangelo answered.

Leonardo and Raphael shared a look that Raphael took to mean that Leonardo had no idea that Donatello had been feeling under the weather.

"So why didn't Donny say anything?" Leonardo asked.

Michelangelo shrugged. "You know what Donny's like. He goes all mother hen on all of us when we are sick or hurt, but when he's sick, he never tells us because he figures that we can't do anything for him anyway. And besides, Donny ignores the fact that he has to eat and sleep most of the time. It isn't unusual for him to ignore that he's sick."

Raphael released an irritated breath of acknowledgement at Michelangelo's words. Donatello took care of all of them, but he rarely ever took care of himself.

He opened his mouth to ask Michelangelo why he hadn't mentioned that Donatello was sick, but snapped his mouth shut as he finished the thought in his head. He knew that even if Michelangelo had mentioned something it wouldn't have mattered. Raphael would have assumed that if it was something serious, Donatello would have mentioned it. And besides this, Donatello was the medic, he was the one who would have known what was wrong, and treated his symptoms accordingly, or at least, that's what Raphael would have believed.

"Okay," Raphael said breaking the heavy silence of the room. "So Donny's been sick for longer than we knew, and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that he doesn't have any of those diseases Leo just listed. So that leaves what?" he asked trying to focus on the task at hand, and ignore the guilt that welled up within him.

He cast a quick glance at Leonardo and knew that his big brother was no doubt suffering the same pangs of guilt in regards to not noticing that Donatello was sick.

"I shouldn't have pushed him so hard," Leonardo mumbled under his breath.

Raphael sighed. "Leo, even if Donny hada said something, he woulda just waved off the fact he was sick. You know it, I know it, and Mikey knows it. Now stop blaming yourself and focus."

"I'm the big brother, I'm supposed to-"

"Blah, blah, blah, we ain't eight anymore, Leo. Give the big brother crap a rest will ya?!" Raphael snapped.

Leonardo glared and Raphael glared right back, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fungal and parasitic," Michelangelo piped in helpfully, trying to pull their focus back to the matter at hand.

"Fine," Raphael ground out. "You said fungal only affected people whose immune systems sucked, right?"

"Yeah," Michelangelo answered. "And I just googled parasitic meningitis and I think we can rule it out 'cause I don't think Donny has been swimming in any warm, fresh water lakes or rivers lately."

"Nope, lakes are kinda cold around here," Raphael agreed.

"Except lately everything has been heating up," Leonardo pointed out. "And it says here that improperly treated swimming pools could also harbour the parasite."

As one they all looked in the direction of their central pool, where all of them had been swimming during the summer.

"But Donny makes sure the water's clean…right?" Michelangelo asked in a small voice.

Raphael shrugged. He was pretty sure Donatello did keep the pool clean, but he couldn't be certain the last time Donatello had cleaned it.

"Okay, so two possibilities. What do we do to fix him?" Raphael asked.

"For the fungal meningitis he would need a course of antifungal medications through an IV, depending on what kind of fungus caused the infection," Leonardo answered.

"Great." Raphael bit out in frustration. Even if Donatello did have fungal meningitis, they still had to figure out what kind of fungus had infected their genius brother. "Next," he growled impatiently, hoping the parasitic meningitis would give them a simpler cure for their ailing brother.

Leonardo frowned deeply and then went a sickly shade of grey-green.

Raphael felt his chest tighten as his skin went cold, pricking with sudden dread. "What? Don't tell me the cure for this one is even more complicated."

"Not more complicated," Leonardo's voice shook and cracked slightly. "In fact, it's very simple."

"Simple? Simple's good, I'll take simple," Raphael tried to keep his words steady.

"In this case, simple is bad. There are drugs that can kill the parasite in laboratory conditions-"

"Great, what's the problem?" Raphael asked, impatience filling his voice as he tried to contain the utter and complete terror that was dancing along his spine.

"It only works in the laboratory. The meningitis is fatal within 1-12 days of infection, even with treatment," Leonardo answered hollowly.


Dun, dun, duuunnnn... Ahhhh evil cliffie!

Congratulations to Little Soldier Mine for calling the meningitis diagnosis, and to anyone who screamed out in their heads or at their computers that this is what Donny had!

I hope you guys enjoyed:)