A/N: Hi guys! Sorry for the long wait. Thanks for being patient with this story, I appreciate it :)!

Also: Please don't hate on Leo! There is a reason he's all angsty, haha.

Leonardo exhaled unevenly as he drew his hands to his head. He massaged his temples with an expression of sorrow. After two hours of attempting of meditating… nothing was working. His legs shook with uncertainty under him. The creamed mats below him gave a squeak from his movements.

Every moment he closed his eyes, voices swarm in his head, voices of their argument. The tension between him and Don before Donnie's capture, kept bubbling in his thoughts. It was the last thing he said to him. The purple clad turtle's mind was busied with the recent argument, and Leo was beginning to assume that argument distracted Donnie to not see the Foot. It was not the best idea to think about what happened to his little brother during that week, but it was something that kept Leo thinking about.

His siblings were enraged at him although they reached an agreement about saving Donnie after the snow blizzard. The fact is, the storm never settled down, and the desire of saving Donnie was idle. It was either Donnie or the entire team, and Leo–being leader–had to engage in drastic measures. —Leaving one behind to protect his two remaining brothers.

He didn't expect Mikey to rebel; he didn't expect Donnie to still be alive, and merely have a few scars… but his head. His brain, was the dilemma. An injury that may take months, or even years to heal, and Leo was being cynical about it. Donnie was brilliant; Donnie was mature, and he wouldn't be in this state if he just listened to his big brother.

The point is, Donnie nor he could've apologize. Don didn't talk at all, and if Leo spoke to him, he wouldn't comprehend him. He was… his brother was stupid, and he didn't desire to acknowledge the fact he was.

The argument bubble and burned in the back of his mind, and Leo closed his eyes at the thought of it. It was hardly two weeks since, but it felt like just this day when they began to argue, again.

"Where do you think, you're going?" Leo asks in a rather annoyance tone, he closes off the exit of the lair as he taps his foot repeatedly. He shivers as the winter blew in the sewers -it was going to snow tonight per the news.

"I have to go to the junkyard, Leo." Donnie says hastily, setting his Bo staff in his sheathe. Leo had prohibited them after he had watched the news, but he needed to go to the junkyard, he had to get something.

"Whoa -what happened to that meeting we had this morning? The 'we can't go out since it's going to snow' speech? I didn't do it to bore you guys to death, Donnie." Leo now crosses his arms as he heaves a sigh. He acknowledges him and Don been on the sensitive side lately, one short word could make an entire argument. Leo was starting to doubt himself towards who has the anger problems, Don or Raph?

"You don't understand, Leo, I have to go. -Plus, in my estimates I have two hours before the storm hits!"

"Donatello, I said no! It's not safe!" Leo yells out, and his face is practically wrinkled in anger.

"Leo I promise I won't be there for more than two hours. We may be cold-blooded but we still have human DNA in our system... I still have a lot of time before it really does gets cold." Donnie pinches the bridge of his nose, sighing wistfully. "I know what I'm doing, Leo." He pronounces his brother's name slowly, but he's trying to keep his cool. "Please just listen to me…"

"You are not going because I'm the leader!" Leo brings out the precise, ignoring his brothers plead; "You can't go against my words, Donatello." His face wrinkles to a scowl, his shoulders squaring like it usually does when he gets in a fight.

The "I'm the leader" have melt Donnie's cool, and his brown eyes flickers in anger. It was the second time in their infamous arguments he has use that as a counterargument. He finds it ridiculous. Don steps close to Leo and all Leo knew was being hauled up by his younger brother by his belt. Both their faces were disdain, eyes narrowed and faces inches apart.

"I'm going." Donnie's voice lowers which was unusual in Leo's defense. He never lowers his voice until he was genuinely furious, but that didn't scare Leo. Instead of cowering like a child, Leo slaps Donnie's hands away from his belt, his feet brushing the pavement.

"I said no, Donatello." Leo lowers his tone as well, his caerulean eyes narrowing.

He wasn't prepared for that shove Donnie just did, fists clenching angrily together. "I'm leaving!" Donnie repeats one last time, his voice straining from yelling and then he turns to enter the sewers.

"Fine!" Leo yells out, remarking that Don doesn't turn around; "Go then, but if you come back all sick I'm not taking care of you!"

He is aware of a paw on his shoulder to discover his Sensei looking worriedly at Leo, soon after at the sewers. He doesn't communicate for a good few minutes until Leo tense under him; "Meditation." Splinter says softly and Leo nods in a solidified agreement.

Leo slowly stood up; mediation is no help. Meditation was the only way to clear his mind from this whole incident and he was having trouble doing something he learned as a kid. And as he kept taking short steps, Leo could hear the television on. He looked at the clock that's hanging up on the dojo, it's three in the afternoon, the regular time Raph or Mikey takes Don to watch some television.

T.V. sounded good right now, it was what distracted him if meditation couldn't. But knowing Mikey who wants to encourage Don to relearn everything, they're probably watching Clifford the Big Red Dog. Leo grimaced at the thought of that old cartoon, he would rather watch Space Heroes.

The leader truffle a groan, but before he could walk out of the dojo, he could hear Mikey's muffled voice reverberate through the dojo. Leo waited a few seconds, before Mike repeated himself, this time more distinctly.

"Guys! Donnie's reacting to what I'm doing! Come here!"

Maybe meditation should be moved to the side for now.

Leo slowly walked out, questioning what 'development' Donnie has carried out since the current two weeks he came home. The last time Mikey yelled that Don was acknowledging what he was doing; Donnie simply offered a nod or a shake to the head. Leo rolled his eyes, Donnie probably didn't understand a thing and just aimlessly did so.

Once he showed up in the capacity, Raph was already gathering by Donnie, an enormous grin on his face. It wasn't forced like he usually does. It looked like Raphael was talking to Spike, his features soft and happy.

"What improvement did he made now Mikey?" Leo asked, not all too happy. His shoulder's slouch with a coerce smile that Leo was the master of pulling off. Even Splinter could fall for that fake smug, and it was something Leo was thankful for. He didn't need to go into any problems…

Mikey, who's shell was faced away from Leo, turned around, with a grin like Raph. "He's laughing."

Leo's appearance was everything but a smile, his forced smile turned to a frown, dull blue eyes met bright ones. "I'm going to my room." He told him; suddenly uninterested on Donnie's progress.

Mikey's mouth was fastened to a tight frown; he wasn't going to argue with Leo, he didn't do anything improper to upset him. Mike sighed wistfully, Leo was acting like how he did in Northampton. Broody and distant, and Mike wasn't going to argue, well not for now.

"Alright." He spoke delicately, observing his brother turn to his heels and watched him leave.

He turned his head to Don, who rose from the old couch and took a fast stride to where Leo went. It wasn't quick as Donnie probably wanted to go, but it was the best his battered body could do. Mikey, on the other hand, for several seconds, looked dumbstruck as he examined his immediate older brother limp in the hall. His blue eyes wide, shined with upcoming terror towards his brother's safety.

Donnie never acknowledged Leo before…why now? Mikey asked himself but had no time to think about it as he stood up and hastily rushed to where their rooms were. Mikey watched with a horror-stricken mind as Donnie tried grasping Leo's wrist and Leo, face twisted in what appeared like loathing, shoved him away from his doorway and slam the door shut.

Donnie blinked, and so did Mikey, at the harsh noise. Mike cautiously approached Donnie, who sat on the ground and clasped his purple mask tails and gave them a pulling – as if they were putting him comfort.

"Hey, uh, Don. Do you mind going to Raphie for a sec?"

Mikey set a hand on his immediate older brother's shoulder, softly massaging his muscles; fragile, weak yet tense. Within his youthful eyes, above tired bags that yearned for sleep but refused to take rest, a small yet delicate smile caressed through freckled cheeks.

Hazel met baby blue — sorrow met sympathy. Donatello's eyes glistened as tears liquidated in his gaze but refused to leave their corners. His mouth gaped slightly, his breaths hitched sorely, as if a million words that yearned to be heard choked in his throat and congested within his mind — his broken, damaged, fragile mind.

Mikey tried to keep the tiredness from his eyes but his reassurance faltered. His anger towards his eldest and most stubborn brother bled through his mask of brotherly comfort. Donatello looked away, ripping his eyes off the orange clad turtle and cringing at the throbbing pain that his stitches bore from the pressure. The weakened turtle shut his eyes tight and grit his teeth, his once hidden tears revealing themselves and streaming down his pale cheeks. Mikey bit his lips, pursing his expression out of guilt.

"What's going on?"

Raphael appeared from the corners of the hallway, staring at the two brothers. His fierce, emerald green eyes were touched by curiosity and concern.

Mikey stared at his older brother with a worried look — a sound and blinking gaze that hid a wild frustration.

"Uh... Nothing, dude. Hey. Can you do me a solid and take Donnie with you? Pleeeaaassseeee! Hook a turtle up!"

Mikey gave Raph the cutest, most pitiful puppy eyes he could muster from his arsenal of puppy dog expressions — a special skill and collection of adorable pouts gained from being the youngest of a bunch of four brothers. He folded his hands together sweetly and brought them up to his chest.

Innocently, he smiled; made an impeccable grin that made Raph swore he saw an angel halo above his head.

His genuine concern turned to a glare of pure annoyance — a sensation that Raph got around Mikey a bit too often.

"Alright, alright you big doof — I'll do it! Jeez. Ya don't have to give me the puppy eyes!"

He would've practically yelled if there wasn't a cowering Donnie sitting in the corner.

"Aw! But you love the Puppy Dog Pout!"

He mused, obviously having fun with his little taunts. Raph, however, couldn't say the same for himself.

"It was cute when we were five but now it's just annoying. Now get Don over here before I decide to slap your face."

He said to him in a sharp tone. Then, with a hint of joy, he grinned at his youngest brother, his eyes lighting up with the same joy he had the first time they had left the sewers. For a second, the red clad turtle chuckled at his little brother's lighthearted joke and Mikey, noticing the effect, smiled back.

"I knew you still loved it."

Even with all this tension, they were still able to act like teenagers. The thought gave them a bit of joy — a bit of hope.

Mikey turned his head over to Donnie, his eyes brightened with a soft smile curled to his lips.

"Come on, Don. You gotta go with Raphie. Don't worry about it, bro. He'll take care of you."

He reached out his hand for his purple clad brother to take. Donatello could only stare at his outstretched fingers as if there was a ticking time bomb in its palm. With hesitation, he reeled back, curling into a secure ball with his knees covering his face and body.

Mikey sighed as he pulled his hand away, staring at Raph once more with a softer expression glistening in his eyes.

Raphael blinked at the turtle.

"I'll take him."

"Leo! What the shell, dude!" Mike slammed the door in a familiar fashion as Leo did to Don. That 'thud' which rang Mikey's ears, and remembered his big brother's brown and sad eyes. Donnie and him were the master at pulling sad pouts. Mike has done it for his brother's not to get angry, but, Donnie did it because he was hurt. Donnie didn't deserve to be treated that way and Mike was not going to let that happen again.

"He was interrupting my meditation. I needed to—"

"Meditation, Shmeditation. You don't do that to your brother! Not cool, dude!" His arms waved around to prove a point, a small pout on his lower lip appeared.

"What? Slamming the door on his face? He isn't going to understand me if I tell him to leave!" Leo yelled, standing up from the rugged floor. He jabbed a finger on Mikey's chest, his face scrunched up in anger.

Mikey took a deep breath, his fingers rubbing in between his eyes. The bright blue eyes narrowed with such anger that Mikey swore he couldn't breathe.

"He understands Leo! He understands exactly what you did! You slammed the door on him, he started to—you made your brother cry Leo!" He inhaled sharply, arms crossing over his chest.

"Donnie needs all of us. You probably hate him, but Donnie doesn't hate you… heck, I'm sure he forgot about your little fight!"

"Look Mikey it was his fault that…"

"Leo for the last time: it wasn't his fault! Did you think he wanted to get captured?"

"Well, if he wasn't so reckless, he wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place! Mikey. Why are you taking this seriously? You never take anything seriously!"

"Because he's my brother!"

"He's my brother too!"

"Well, it doesn't feel like it! He has a huge scar on his head and he was close to death and all you could do is yell at him for going out in the first place! I'm surprised you didn't nag at him while he was having a seizure! Dude. I don't wanna sound like Raph but you're letting this Karai thing get to your head. How about instead of acting like a leader, you should act like a brother instead!"

"Karai's our sister!" Leo said in defense, and his voice is exasperated to get his point across.

"- And Donnie's our brother! I'm not going to lie here, Leo. I care about our sister too. – But, Donnie, he's been with us since we were babies, dude! I miss Karai, but Donnie is our Donnie. He's our brother… He always has and we've grown up together, Leo. I know how you feel about our sister being currently missing, but taking it out on Donnie isn't going to help." Mike's tone lowered, but kept his eyes are ablaze.

Leo grimaced, but doesn't answer, he doesn't need too.

"Leo… the only reason Donnie went to the junkyard was for our sister. He – He told me that he needed a piece, and as much as he knew you were going to be upset about it, he wanted to make you and Sensei, and us, happy. I should have gone with him, but instead I wanted to stay in the warm and goof off while Donnie was in the cold. It was a sacrifice he did, and we should appreciate it more than what we're doing right now. He told me he was close coming up with the cure, and if only we went with him, this whole being captured and brain damage wouldn't have happened." Tears began to form on the youngest, but Mikey wouldn't end there. There was so much to express, so much to fix…

"Mike–," Leo quietly struggled to interrupt, not clear what to do. He was dumbstruck, mouth agape. His little brother was right. If he or Leo went with him and fought by his side, Donnie would be normal… his brother would be safe and be in his lab cooped up doing who knows what.

"You didn't see how he couldn't eat because his body rejected it, or how many times he was frozen in fear because he saw me holding a knife to cut some veggies. You didn't see his face every time the stitches on his head would ache and how he would cry in pain…" Mikey took a solemn breath. The tears rolling down his cheeks, but he didn't have the strength to wipe them.

"Stop making a big deal out of something so small. Donnie loves you – and if he talked, he would probably tell you that. I know Donnie not talking isn't his only problem; he acts like a child, I don't know if it was because of the seizure or the brain damage, or – or both. All I know is that Donnie has a long recovery, and he needs his big brother. Can you just pretend, make Donnie happy just for once? Please, that's all I ask."

The dread of silence loomed in the atmosphere, and before Leo manage to respond, Mikey had departed his room. All that's left is Leo and his thoughts.

"Donnie! Ergh! –Hey Leo!" Raph opened Donnie's bedroom door further, gazing at his brother with exhaustion. Leo paused, letting a few seconds' trickle before he turned around to face Raph with a deep breath. He wasn't in the spirit for another round of fighting

"Bro, can you put this chemical in Donnie's lab? Brainiac here almost dropped it on himself while trying to reach it." Leo reached for the substance as Raph handed it to him. His head turning to meet Donnie laughing. It was all bubbly and innocent, like a toddler laugh. Donnie rarely laughed when he was... normal. Seeing him laugh was almost alien to him. Donnie chuckled, a lot, but laughing really wasn't his thing. They were too busy to even laugh with the situation they have at hand...

A smile spread across the hothead's face; "thanks." He declared bluntly, and Leo turned to look at Raph with a firm nod. The turtle in red got up from the bed and shut the door close to have some privacy with his wounded brother.

Leo shot him a smile, sulking with the compound on his hand. He steered away from his brother's room and went to the close labs. He shuddered, the usual opened and use lab was vacant and abandoned.

Leo opened the laboratory door in haste, the test tube of mysterious pink, dissolved substance held in his fingers. He was cautious as to keep Donnie's strange concoction away from his reptilian skin. He pushed the large barricaded doors in front of him. Skin on steel — pride on guilt — there had never been an emptier feeling. As the door reeled away from his darkened green fingertips, the dull and darkened atmosphere surrounded him.

He squinted his eyes slightly to make out the figure of his surroundings. Ever since the incident, Donnie's mechanical haven has been lay a waste with its abandonment. With its caretaker and inventor out of commission, its once lively machines now wasted on the concrete flooring, rust starting to form on their silver lined edges. The chemicals which once bubbled with Donnie's scientific pride and achievement now lay dead and dull in their containers.

The surgery had left the lab into a permanent ruin. Leo could only feel as empty as the abandoned lab he had entered. His tired eyes were colored as dull as the broken machine parts that were scattered on the floor.

The leader entered, careful not to step on anything that may have been left behind by his brothers. A cold shiver crawled sinisterly up his spine and course through every patterned edge of his shell.

He looked around, eyes scanning for a place to set the test tubes so that Donnie couldn't set hand on them. In his findings, he ran into what appeared to be notes — blueprints and notations that made no sense to anyone other than Donnie.

In his curiosity, he tried to decode the variables and terms that Donnie had scribbled on the line paper but to no avail. Each set of notes had a date, time and its own data to present to keep track of the terrapin scientist's work.

A number equation with variables he couldn't comprehend and some odd but very detailed drawings of the brain worm later, he found something that peaked his interest; Donnie's journal entries.

They seemed to be in a diary like format by the way they were all written with dates that were only recent, all starting from the day Karai was horribly disfigured and mutated.
Leo sighed to himself, rubbing his eyes from tiredness as he scattered for the earliest of records.

11/ 03 / 15; 10:02 PM

We had her. Leo and Splinter were finally happy. And now I have to find a brand new retro mutagen that matches the chemical formula of the concoction that Professor Stinkman used in his batch. (Actually, he barely had any credibility to begin with so I don't know is he deserves to be affiliated with the "Professor" title. But, then again, it's just a sarcastic remark so I guess it makes no difference and I'm babbling again... Man I've been awake for far too long.)

It's bad enough seeing Master Splinter miserable with her daughter taken from him again but Leo isn't helping me with this either. I already feel guilty for her mutation and I don't know why. There was nothing I could do to subvert the inevitability of her mutation and it was Shredder who cut the chain to her cage anyways. I don't get it. Why am I getting like this? Doesn't matter anyways... I need to work on this cure for Karai and I need to do it quick before Leo's constant nagging drives me to the brink of insanity...

In dispute, Leo flipped to a few pages. He watched as he did that the small diary was filled with notes about chemicals, and there was small, but capitalize "FAIL" on some of the calculations. Stopping to a page with a chunk of paragraphs, Leo's heart skipped a beat as he read on.

11/18/15; 3:02 AM

'Failure— just another failure. I've had some shit luck with some of my experiments before but none this... awful! At this rate, I'll never find this cure for Karai— especially under this pressure. I don't even like Karai all that much and I certainly don't want to spend this much of my time and effort to heal her of her mutation but, with Splinter and the rest of the guys counting on me and with all of Leo's insanely provocative silent treatment, this cure is literally driving me crazy. I know he's mad but he just won't talk to me.

Sure, Leo and I never really got along sometimes, in fact he doesn't really pay much attention to me unless he needs something built or fixed since he spends so much time on Raph's case, but he never had anything against me— at least not until now. Maybe he hates I don't know. This is frustrating. Karai's mutation is oddly unique. Without proper blood samples of any indication on the chemical concoction added to the mutation, this is going to be far more difficult than I initially hoped.

I started going to the Periodic Table to search if any elements shared the same effects when combined with the mutagenic formula I've created in the past but there's virtually nothing about Karai's mutation that could indicate to a specific element. Whatever chemicals Baxter put in the mutagen had to have come from Earth unless they have access to some sort of rare alien metal I don't know about. I can disqualify all the basic liquids and gasses like Helium, Hydrogen, Oxygen and Boron. But it's hard to eliminate some elements from here... I'm taking my research into the Rare-Earth Metals for the answer but there's no guarantee that I'll even have the correct formula. I'm going to run some tests now... hopefully, they'll give me some sort of progress.'

11/20/15; 12:03 AM

I fought with Leo again.

Leo found himself flipping over the same page continually. Everything else on that page is more technical stuff he didn't understood or could pronounce it at all. He wasn't as interested with the huge terms as he was with Donnie's personal responses.

He gazed at the short response one more time before impulsively going to the final sheet; the last piece Donnie recorded before his capture.

12/01/15; 5:27 AM

'Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Failure. Damn it... Why can't I perfect this cure? Why can't I do this one little thing for Splinter and Leo? I'm such an IDIOT. I've been working on this cure for weeks and NOTHING. There's no one to turn to for help since no one studies the mutagen like I do and, if I can't do it then who can? This is turning out to be a disaster the more I work and I'm fully aware that the stress and frustration is terrible for my own health — mentally and physically. But I can't give up now — not with Leo on my back and clinging on like Shredder clings to his vendetta over Splinter... okay bad analogy but Leo's making this job at least 1.89 hundred times more stressful than it needs to be.

He's BEYOND angry with me through no fault of my own and he does absolutely nothing to help me with this cure that he wants too much. We've already had a fight — and an ugly one at that — and his little "try harder" statements aren't exactly helping... I can't concentrate on anything and I've been up for far too long, not even coffee can bring me energy to train and fight the Shredder or the Kraang the day after. I don't even want to think of those two right now. All I know is is that I've been trying way too hard to find this cure — harder than Leo train, if that's possible. He obviously doesn't understand the kind of pressure I'm under but I at the least expect him to empathize since HE himself is pressured every single day of his life to NOT fail as a leader.

I don't know if that makes the situation better or if it just makes Leo a huge hypocrite and a bigger pain in the shell — I'm leaning more towards the latter. I'm such a useless brother but I've poured so much of myself into this — I'm NOT going to give up now. Mark my words, I'll finish this cure no matter what. I'll make Sensei happy, I'll finally relieve the tension in my family, I'll have a sister again and I'm going to make Leo happy again... Just wait. I'm going to make Leo proud if it's the last thing I do.'

It was the second time today that left Leo's mouth agape. Not plainly did he overlook his brother, but he lashed out at him. It wasn't him at all, and he acknowledged it was becoming an issue. His own little brother was taken into his own rage for Karai that he didn't understand how serious he was hurting him… where he should be helping him instead.

Mike will not ever allow him near Donnie for his impulsive actions.

The book fell with a 'thud' by his feet, but Leo didn't pick it up. He left the lab in a flurry. He must make up to Donnie, somehow…