"Woah, woah! Chill out, bro!" Raphael breathed a terse sigh of relief as his brother poked his head out of the hallway and into the lamplight. "Guess I shoulda told you I was comin' in."

"No kidding." He put his sais down and swung his legs over the couch. "What's got you?"

As Michelangelo shuffled over, Raphael noticed the look on his face. He was pale, his pupils pinpricks in a massive blue backdrop. The youngest turtle's mouth hung open slightly, and his lids were heavy with sleep. "Had a nightmare," he said. "Those zombies that were chasin' Leo and got Splinter, they got us and-" And cue teary eyes. "Can I sleep here, Raph?"

Raphael didn't even have to think. He pulled his legs up under him and patted the other side of the couch. "C'mon up." Mikey climbed up beside him, arms wrapped around his knees. "They're not gonna get us, little bro. It was just a bad dream."

"But they got Splinter! He's - he was, like, the best ninja ever. We're toast, even if we've got a bigger team."

"Mikey." Raphael's voice was firm. "You gotta come back, bro. Where's that optimistic jokester, where's the guy who knows we'll be fine?"

He placed his hands on his brother's shoulders, shaking him a bit. "Where's the guy who shoved pizza down the back of my shell?" Mikey cracked a smile. "There you are, there we go! Remember that time you filled Donnie's computer box with jell-O on April Fools' Day?"

The younger turtle laughed, though it was short. "Yeah, dude, he was way mad." He was looking down, though, having developed an extreme interest in his knees.

Raphael gave him a smile, nodding in encouragement. "Come on, dude, you can do better than that. Let's hear one of those I-just-threw-a-water-balloon-at-Leo cackles!"

This time it was a louder, fuller laugh, one that Mikey couldn't stop for at least three minutes, ending in his voice crackling, and in the midst of a final chuckle he collapsed into Raphael's plastron, his shell heaving and his body trembling. He came up for air, looking at his brother with big, watery eyes. "I-I can't, Raph, I can't."

"What do you mean?"

"I ca- I can't do it without Splinter, Raph," he stammered. "How can I do it without Splinter?"

Raphael quickly wiped a stray tear off Michelangelo's cheek before it fell. He bit his lip, pausing before speaking. "Mikey, you've got us. We'll... we'll be okay."

Mikey was quick to shake his head. "It isn't the same! How are we going to do this without him? He- he was our dad, and..."

"C'mere." Raph wrapped his arms around his brother, bringing him in closer and resting his chin on the smaller turtle's head. With a sigh, he murmured, "I know, Mikey... I know." After a silent minute or so, he pushed Mikey back a bit. "He was, Mikey, and I miss him as much as you do. We all miss him, but... he wouldn't want to see you like this. He'd want to see you like he knows you are- strong and brave. 'Cause you're pretty brave, Mikey. Sometimes you're even braver than me."

"Ye-yeah, when there's a cockroach or a bug or somethin'... you big baby." A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Raph jerked his head back in mock offense. "Hey, what's with the insults?" he laughed, giving Mikey a vigorous knuckle-noogie. "Come on, now. It's way too early for anyone to be awake." He paused a moment. "You wanna sleep here tonight?"

"That'd be kick-butt!" Mikey curled up on the couch beside his brother and Spike, burying his face in the back of it and, after a while, falling asleep. And Raphael noted that, for the first time since this had all started, Michelangelo fell asleep with a smile that brought up his cheeks so that one could see it, even from behind.