AN: BlingThing: Ahah! I know at least one turtle who wouldn't be afraid to ask. But none of the turtles would dare to use the serum on Splinter…

Techno Dawn: Yes, Splinter wants to do his best as a father, but he doesn't feel especially competent as far as cartoons are concerned. And it's true that he has been softer on Donnie, but it doesn't mean that everything will be easy for that turtle…

Nightshadegirl: Yes he will! Poor Mikey. At least it's still watching TV.

Starfire201: You're entirely right. Leo and Raph didn't intend to sideline their brothers, they were just too afraid and ashamed to tell them. Donnie really should have been quiet! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Hawkfeather: Aww, don't worry about it. I appreciate that review all the more! And turtle hugs are indeed needed. Hmm… *whistles innocently*

Where Amends Are Made

When his sons entered the dojo for their evening training, Splinter could immediately tell that things weren't settled between them.

As they knelt in front of him, all four of them avoided his gaze. Michelangelo was stealing forlorn glances at Raphael and Leonardo. Raphael was frowning at nothing in particular and Leonardo's face was so expressionless that his father had no idea what he was thinking. Donatello's face was more readable. The purple-clad turtle looked sad and kept his head down.

Splinter inwardly sighed. After everything that had happened, he hadn't expected them to be light-hearted, but it still saddened him to see his sons unhappy.

As the training session unfolded, the atmosphere grew more and more awkward for the ninja master. Although his sons followed his every instruction, it was plain that their hearts weren't in it.

Raphael vented his frustration by punching and hitting harder than usual, and Splinter decided to pair him exclusively with Leonardo for this session, as a safety precaution.

Leonardo didn't look at his father for the entire session, and although he applied himself to perform the moves Splinter instructed his students to the best of his abilities, it was obvious that his mind was wandering miles away.

Donatello was apparently unable to focus and he tripped on his own bo staff once, something that hadn't happened in years. However, none of his brothers made fun of him or commented the fall, and he just picked himself up sadly.

Michelangelo was the most painful to watch. Splinter spotted him more than once trying to fool around when he thought that his father wasn't looking at him, in the hope of cheering his brothers up. Intentionally or not, they completely ignored him, and it made Splinter's heart ache to see his orange-clad son's defeated expression each time he failed to get their attention.

Finally, Splinter could have no more, and he cut the session short before sending his sons to bed. None of them complained.

When he retired to his own room a few hours later, Splinter hoped that tomorrow would be a better day.

%%%%%

Raphael couldn't sleep. He kept tossing in his hammock, finding no comfortable position. His mood was constantly switching between plain fury at Donatello and Michelangelo for intentionally tricking him into revealing his deepest feelings to everyone and accidentally leading him to tattle about Leonardo, and deep concern about the latter turtle, and it was driving him crazy.

He eventually gave up and stood up to check on his blue-clad brother. He tiptoed in the empty corridor between their rooms and stopped in front of his brother's door. He hesitated for a while. Should he try to open Leonardo's door? He didn't want to wake his brother up.

"What do you want?"

Leonardo's voice made Raphael jump, before he chided himself. He shouldn't be surprised that Leonardo would be awake too, nor that he would have sensed his presence.

"Nothing, he grumpily answered, keeping his voice low. "I was just passing by. On my way to the bathroom."

"The bathroom is in the opposite direction."

"Is it? I must have been confused, then. It's dark."

Raphael heard a sigh, the sound of blankets being shuffled, and a few seconds later the door opened. Leonardo sounded exhausted, but there was the slightest hint of amusement in his voice when he answered his brother.

"Since when does the dark bother you?"

"It doesn't bother me. It confuses me. But as I'm here, and you're here, and neither of us is sleeping, why don't we have a little chat?"

"About what?"

"About the fact that you didn't tell anyone anything about what Donnie and Mikey did. Or didn't talk to anyone for the whole evening, for that matter."

"I've got nothing to say about it."

"Liar."

Leonardo rolled his eyes.

"I've got nothing positive to say about it."

"That's better, but still not enough."

Leonardo muttered something indistinct along the lines of "Stubborn hothead." Raphael smiled and took it as his cue to enter.

Leonardo laid down on his bed, leaving room for his brother. Raphael made himself comfortable before speaking again.

"I'll begin. I'm mad at them both. Right now, I want to punch them until they beg for my mercy in at least twenty different creative ways, including an ode to my greatness."

Raphael heard Leonardo stifle a laugh and inwardly congratulated himself.

"I'm pretty sure it's a very bad idea. Though I might enjoy watching it."

"You'll be welcome. And now that I've told you about my evil plans of revenge, it's your turn."

"I have no evil plans of revenge."

"What a shame. At least, tell me how you feel about their little prank."

Raphael felt Leonardo stiffen. He knew how hard it was for his brother to share negative feelings. Raphael could relate to that, sharing any kind of feeling was hard for him. However, he had no intention of letting Leonardo deal with that mess alone. He waited patiently, moving in an indifferent way so that his hand accidently landed on his brother's shoulder.

"Okay," Leonardo whispered reluctantly. "I feel betrayed. I would never have expected that from Donnie and Mikey."

"You and me both."

"It… it really hurts. To know that they didn't care about what I would feel."

"Same here."

Both brothers sighed. After a while, Raphael punched Leonardo's arm lightly.

"See? It wasn't that difficult."

"You're one to talk," Leonardo said wryly. "But… thanks, anyways."

"Don't mention it."

A comfortable silence stretched. Raphael was about to fall asleep when he heard a knock on the door.

"Yes?" Leonardo whispered.

The door opened. It was pitch black, but neither Leonardo nor Raphael needed to see to recognize the turtle standing awkwardly there. He was betrayed by his light footsteps and the way the door frame cracked when he leaned against it.

"What do you want, Mikey?" Leonardo asked in a neutral tone.

"I… I had a nightmare."

Michelangelo's voice was a mere whisper.

"Why don't you go to your favorite partner-in-crime, then?" Raphael grumbled.

Michelangelo jumped.

"Raph? You're here too?"

Then the meaning of Raphael's sentence hit him and he uttered his next words in a trembling voice.

"I'm sorry, guys. I'm so, so sorry. Please forgive me. I don't want to lose you!"

The mattress lifted, Raphael's only clue that Leonardo had got up.

The next second, Michelangelo was bursting into tears, muttering continuous apologies. From the way his voice was muffled, he must be buried in someone's embrace.

"Shh, Mikey," Leonardo whispered. "You won't lose us."

Raphael sighed. It wasn't fair if Michelangelo was crying. How was he supposed to stay mad at him?

He got up and embraced his two brothers.

"Of course you won't, Mikey," he grumbled. "You idiot."

"I-I dreamed that you would never forgive me nor speak with me nor look at me again," Michelangelo told them, sobbing. "A-and I knew that I had deserved it, but it s-still hurt so much."

Leonardo moved to his bed, pulling his brothers along. He leaned on his pillow, Michelangelo huddled against him with Raphael on the other side of the orange-clad turtle.

"Oh, Mikey," Leonardo told him gently. "We would never do that to you."

"Then you're not mad at me?" Michelangelo sniffed hopefully.

"Not anymore," Leonardo sighed. "Though I'll admit that I have been."

Raphael said nothing, but he squeezed his brother hard.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," Michelangelo whispered again. "It was supposed to be a fun little prank."

"What were you thinking, Mikey?" Raphael reprimanded him. "It's not fun to feel robbed of one's freedom to speak."

"You know I never think things through."

"You're saying it like it's something to be proud of," Leonardo remarked.

"It usually is," Michelangelo answered sleepily. "Can I stay with you tonight?"

"Of course. But please avoid pushing me out of my own bed."

Michelangelo let out a small laugh.

"I'll try."

"Do better than that," Raphael threatened him playfully. "Or I will punch you."

"Yay, Raph is staying too," Michelangelo yawned.

Raphael smiled and curled up around the already sleeping turtle while Leonardo pulled his blankets so that the three of them were neatly covered. The red-clad turtle was rejoicing in his brothers' presence and carefully avoided thinking about the fact that one of them was missing.

%%%%%

Donatello was having a difficult time. He didn't know how to tell his brothers how sorry he was for what he had done, and he was almost jealous of Michelangelo, who had somehow managed to make his peace with them during the night.

They didn't make it easy for him either. Raphael was sending him furious glances each time he had to do Donatello's chores, and Leonardo was more withdrawn than usual, disappearing for hours in his room to do his extra homework. Donatello wanted to offer him his help, but he was afraid of being rejected.

So he focused on his essay and its translations, which ended up much longer than necessary. When he handed Splinter the two thousand pages, handwritten because Splinter had confiscated his computer, his father thanked him with a face that Donatello didn't quite know how to interpret. It was almost as if the giant rat suddenly regretted having given him that punishment.

Then the purple-clad turtle busied himself with every repair that their lair needed, and quite a few that weren't needed at all. He tried to make his brothers' life easier by inventing more efficient cleaning products, but chemistry had lost its appeal to him.

Training sessions were painful too. Raphael was going as hard on him as he could without awakening their father's wrath, and Leonardo was fighting almost mechanically, which was painful to witness. At least Michelangelo managed to get a smile out of the blue-clad turtle from time to time.

Even watching educational channels with Michelangelo wasn't as fun as it had been. Donatello thought about the situation, and the more he thought about it, the less he knew how to get back to normal. He wanted Raphael to tease him about his so-called useless research before pleading with him to fix his headphones, and to smile at him when he was winning their fights. He wanted Leonardo to ask him questions about his latest invention and to help him in the dojo. He wanted to sit with his three brothers to watch Leonardo's favorite cartoon, to see the blue-clad turtle so engrossed in his show that he would unconsciously imitate Captain Ryan's moves from the couch, to hear Raphael tease their brother about it and to feel Michelangelo's weight on his shell when the suspense would become overwhelming.

One evening, he confided in Michelangelo.

"I don't know what to do, Mikey. I don't know what to tell Leo and Raph so that they won't be so mad at me."

"Why don't you just tell them how you feel? That's what I did."

"I don't think they will believe me. They don't trust me anymore, and I can't blame them."

"You're worrying too much. Why would they think that you're lying?"

"Because you can never know if somebody is telling the truth or not…Except…"

"Uh?"

"Never mind. Thanks, Mikey."

Donatello rushed to his father's room and cleared his throat before knocking. The painted screen slid and his father appeared.

"Yes, Donatello?"

"Father," Donatello asked with a pleading voice. "I need your help."

%%%%%

Leonardo and Raphael were in the middle of mopping the floor of the living room when Donatello burst out from the dojo and stood in front of them, a strange expression on his face.

"I'm sorry."

His brothers exchanged a glance.

"You already told us so," Leonardo said quietly.

Donatello took a deep breath before going on.

"I was so curious and so proud of my truth serum that I didn't think about the consequences, and especially about how you would feel. I've been stupid and careless and insensitive."

Raphael blinked.

"That's… true."

"I've been trying to tell you how sorry I am, but I couldn't find the right words. I want you to know that I deeply regret what I have done, and that I love you so much and that it hurts that you're sidelining me, and that I tried to help you with your chores but I couldn't invent anything but I really wanted to, because I know how hard it can be to scrub the shower after one of us has been scavenging and…"

"Donnie, are you alright?" Leonardo finally interrupted him. "You're rambling."

"No, I'm hurt and sad and guilty and..."

"Dude, did you take some of your own serum?"

The three turtles turned around to see Michelangelo, wide-eyed.

"Did you?" Leonardo asked with concern while Raphael gasped.

"I did. It was the only way I could be sure that you would believe me and I really, really need you to believe me. And now, you can ask me a-anything, and I will have no choice but to answer."

"Donnie…"

"I know we won't be even, but I hope that it will help a bit and…"

"Donnie!"

Leonardo reached for his purple-clad brother and grabbed his shoulders, letting his mop flop to the floor.

"I want you to shut up and listen."

Donatello closed his mouth and looked at his brother with a pitiful expression. Leonardo's eyes were shining with conviction.

"It's true that I have been mad at you, but now I just want to have you back and I was wondering why you hadn't come to us yet. You're our brother, and brothers forgive each other."

Leonardo hugged Donatello, who sniffled against his shoulder, his head bowed because of the height difference.

"I'm not going to use the occasion to learn anything that you don't willingly want to share with me," the blue-clad turtle firmly said, stroking Donatello's neck soothingly.

"That's very magnanimous of you, Leo," Raphael said. "But I think I will."

Donatello watched him with sad eyes, and Raphael sighed before patting his shell.

"What Leo just said for the brotherly part, though."

Leonardo rolled his eyes.

"Aww, how cute!" Michelangelo exclaimed before launching himself on Raphael, who grasped the first thing within his range to keep his balance, aka his brother Donatello. The four turtles landed on the floor, Michelangelo laughing happily on top of them. Raphael groaned. Why did he have to land on Leonardo's discarded mop?

"And I think I will use this occasion too, brother mine," Michelangelo exclaimed. "It's only fair that I learn about your secrets too."

Donatello smiled. He would pay any price to have his family around him again.

"Why? Did he use his serum to blackmail you?" Leonardo's eyes widened. "That would explain your sudden taste for scientific shows!"

"Then we will learn about Mikey's secrets too," Raphael said with satisfaction from his place at the bottom of the turtle pile. He smiled evilly at Michelangelo's horrified expression. "This is going to be a good day after all."