A/N: Here's the next chapter, still don't own them, :(, but we can still play, right? Right?

Anyways, this one is just a bit of fluff/brotherly interaction before we get to the Karai butt-kickin' parts…I know you can't wait for that…but here you go in the mean time. Next update will be, hopefully, before the end of the month. Thanks everyone of reading and reviewing!!

On to the story!

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No matter the differences between them, brothers are brothers. ~ Sarah MacLean

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After a heated discussion that solved nothing, Raph stormed off to his room, not wanting to listen to any more arguments on why they should wait to go after the Foot. As far as he was concerned, they had waited long enough already. Any more waiting seemed pointless, and Raph did not do well with waiting for no apparent reason.

Raph slammed the door to his room, moving to his stereo to turn on some music, trying to drown out the buzzing in his head from his anger. Six months ago, this level of anger would have driven him out of the lair, topside, to beat up some punks until it faded back into manageable levels. But, he was determined to prove to himself that he could control this, and not let his family down by acting like an out of control hothead. After turning up the sound to a level just under ear-splitting, he laid back in his hammock, trying to calm the red haze of fury he was feeling.

At this point he could not tell if he was angry because Leo wanted to wait while he wanted to do something now, or if it was from the Foot getting away with this type of behavior against his family for so long without anyone calling them on it. Every major injury, every hardship his family had faced for the last ten years could be blamed on the Foot clan and Raph was more than feed up with it. He was of the opinion that it was past time for them to get the justice they had more than earned and rightfully deserved.

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The slamming door followed by pounding music woke Don from a fitful sleep. Opening his eyes to take in his surroundings, he was not surprised to find April and Casey still sitting to either side of his sick bed. It looked like he was not going to be left alone for a while, yet. This did not surprise him in the least. After the scare that they had experienced, he would be surprised if he would even be allowed to take a shower by himself for quite some time.

Realizing what had woken him, he turned to April. "What's going on with Raph?"

April would not meet his eyes. "I don't know, Donny. Your brothers went to talk with Master Splinter about twenty minutes ago."

"Oh, okay, then…" Don looked up, seeing Mikey enter the infirmary. "Hey Mikey, what happened with Raph?"

"Nothin', bro," Mikey said with a smile that didn't quite make it to his eyes. "You know Raph, he's just in another funk." April stood from where she was sitting, and Mikey took her place as she and Casey left the room, leaving Don and Mike alone to talk.

"Mikey…"

"Relax, Don, it's nothin' you need ta be worrying about right now. You just need to concentrate on getting better."

"Please don't lie to me, little brother," Don said with a sad smile, taking Mikey's hand. "I may be laid up, but that doesn't mean I don't want to know what's going on with my family."

"You always could see right through me, huh, bro," Mike gave a great sigh, finally meeting Don's eyes. "Raph wants to go after the Foot, like, yesterday, and Sensei and Leo wanna wait, gather info, and stuff, first."

"WHAT?" Don nearly came off of the bed in surprise. "Has he lost his mind? What if he gets hit by those same darts that got me?" Don's raised voice could be heard throughout the lair.

"I know, right?" Mikey replied, gesturing with both arms to show his agreement with that horrible plan. "But you know Raph, he's itchin' to get retribution for ya, and he don't wanna wait no more, that's for sure." Mike dragged his hand across his eyes. "Man, you shoulda seen it, it was like WWIII in the dojo, just now…I'm just surprised he stayed here in the lair, and didn't storm off topside like he usually does." Don tried to sit up by himself, reaching for Mikey's hand again, but could not find the strength.

Leo opened the door to the infirmary, concerned about the raised voices he had heard. It had sounded like Donny was yelling about something, and he was worried that something had happened.

"Is everything okay in here?" Leo asked, poking his head through the doorway. He could see that Mike had one of Don's arms clasped in his hand, helping him sit up against some pillows Mike had placed behind his brother.

"Yeah, Leo, we're good," Don said looking at Mikey's drawn face. "We were just talking. Mikey's catching me up on what I've missed."

"Oh, okay then, if you're sure everything is okay," Leo looked like he didn't want to leave the room.

"I'll talk to you in a bit, Leo, okay," Don added, seeing from the look on Leo's face that he really needed to talk to him. "Let me just talk to Mikey for a minute."

"Alright, Donny, I'll see you in a few then." Leo shut the door, leaving the two brothers in silence once again.

"Thanks, Donny."

"No problem, Mikey, that's what I'm here for." Don said with a knowing smile, glad he could help his youngest brother, even if it was only by a little bit.

Mikey pulled his hand out of his brother's grip, and put his elbows on his knees, lowering his head into his hands. "Donny, you don't know how much we need you around here. While you were out, Leo was so broody, and Raph was the only one who really stepped up to help you get better, other than April. You'd a been impressed, I think. He really didn't let his anger interfere with taking care of ya. I don't know what all kind of stuff you've been teachin' him lately, but I think he was really channeling you. Runnin' tests and checking ya over…I just wish I could've been able ta help like he was…" Mikey trailed off, not able to look at Don's forgiving face.

"Oh, Mikey," Don sighed. "Just being you is enough to help me get better, bro. All I need is your smiling face to brighten my day, who else around here is going to make sure that I don't take myself too seriously?" Don smiled knowingly at his younger brother. "Don't think that you aren't able to help me, please…If it means that much to you, when I'm up and around again I'll teach you some of the advanced first aid so you will know how to help next time."

"Thanks, Donny," Mikey breathed, thankful Don was taking his concerns seriously, instead of laughing them off, like he thought he would. "That means a lot to me, that you're willing to try and teach me some stuff."

"Mikey, you are way smarter than you give yourself credit for, don't sell yourself short, okay?" Don smiled at his youngest brother, thankful that he was able to help him feel better about things, so easily. "Now, that we have resolved that dilemma, do you mind telling me how long I was out for, no one will give me a straight answer."

Mikey looked anywhere but at his brainy brother. "I…you…that stuff in the darts…I guess you know you were in a coma, and on life support, right?" Mikey rubbed the back of his neck, really not wanting to be the one to tell Don this.

"Yeah, I gathered as much," Don nodded his understanding. "But how long, Mikey, please, I have a right to know, how long was I out? I'll find out as soon as I can get out of this bed, you know that. Please, just tell me, I won't get mad at you, I promise."

"Okay, I guess it won't hurt to tell you," Mikey looked like someone was asking him to burn his comic book collection. "Thirty-three days, Donny, for more than four weeks, you were in a coma we were beginning to think you were never going to wake up from. It was horrible, seeing you there, not even able ta breathe on your own…it was agony…" Mikey stopped in the middle of his thought, seeing how pale and blank his brother looked. "DON, Donny, answer me!! Don't do this to us again!!"

Donatello could no longer respond to his brother, he was so deep in his own thoughts, staring straight ahead with unseeing eyes, not even blinking. Over a month, wow, I knew it had been a while, but…wow, it's amazing that I even woke up, much less, am nearly fully functioning again. Don could not stop the thoughts running rampant in his head, statistics and medical facts flashing in his mind's eye. Grade VI coma, coupled with loss of respiratory function, and staying unconscious for so long, I should be a vegetable, not that I'm complaining, I guess.

Mike was doing his best not to panic, as Don was not responding to his loud pleas for his attention. As he was edging closer to hyperventilating, Raph and Leo crashed through the door, summoned by Mikey's frantic sounding screams.

"What happened?" Raph demanded, pushing Mike back into Leo's grasp, so that he could check over Don.

Leo took Mikey by the arm and helped him sit in a chair, and tried to calm him down, and keep him from passing out. "Mikey…Mike…breathe, bro, come on now, deep breaths, that's it," Mike's breathing evened out as Leo helped him calm himself. "Now, can you tell us what happened, exactly?"

"We were just talkin' and then he looked like he was spacing out, and now he's not answering me, is he gonna be okay?" Mike said in a rush, all in one breath, bent over sitting in the chair, trying to remember how to breathe properly. Raph nodded to show he understood Mike's ramblings, turning to fully focus on his sick brother, tuning out the rest of their conversation so that he could concentrate.

"What were you two talking about?" Leo asked quietly, after doing a quick breathing meditation, trying to stay calm himself.

"Not much, just how when he gets better he was gonna teach me some more first aid stuff and I told him how long he'd been out for, do you think I shouda waited to tell him?" Mikey asked, also keeping his voice down so as not to disturb Raph while he was trying to help their brother. Mikey looked over at Don's prone form. "Did I make him have some kinda relapse or somethin' like that?"

"I don't know, let's wait and see what Raph finds out once he's done checking him over." Leo pulled up another chair for himself, so that he could stay out of Raph's way, but still be in the room.

Don's thoughts were quickly beginning to run in circles as he asked himself the same questions over and over again, without knowing what the answers were. I should be dead. There is no way I should have recovered from a coma like that. What in the world was in those darts? What kind of chemicals did the Foot get their hands on now? I hope they're not going to try and sell it on the black market or anything that would royally suck. A month is more than long enough for any drugs half-life should last, why was I out for so long? Did April and Raph find some sort of antidote to bring me back, or what? Guess I just need to ask Raph or April, whenever they come to see me again. Probably going to be April instead of Raph. From the way Mikey was talking, Raph is not going to be in the mood to talk to anyone for quite some time. Wait…Mikey…hang on, wasn't I just talking to Mikey… Don came out of his self musings to a scene of chaos, Raph frantically checking his vital signs, while Mikey and Leo sat in the far corner whispering to each other. Ten bucks says they're talking about me. Okay, time to face the music for spacing out like that, bet that worried them to death, with me just waking after over a month…that still seems unreal, but…

"Hey Raph," Don whispered, trying not to shock his hot-headed brother by his sudden awakening.

"Donny, how are you feeling?" Raph asked rapid fire questions, not giving Don a chance to answer. "Any light-headedness, nausea, dizziness? Can you remember what happened? Are you feeling faint? Do you have a headache, still?"

"Whoa, bro, I'm fine," Don raised both hands to ward off the barrage of questions. "I just spaced out there for a second, I feel fine, really." He reassured his brothers, seeing their disbelieving looks.

"Don't DO that to us, Donny," Mikey practically bounced back over to Don's side.

"Yeah, Don-san, you scared us half to death." Leo patted Don's hand in reassurance. "We just got you back; we can't handle losing you again so soon, even if it is only to your own thoughts."

"Well, yer vital signs seem normal; I guess yer okay, fer now." Raph looked at a loss for what to do now that he wasn't needed. He had not planned on coming to talk to Donny so soon after the fight in the dojo with the rest of his family. He really wanted to get back at those that had dared to hurt his brother, but he knew that Don was not a big fan of retribution, like he was, and he did not want to argue with him about what did and did not need to be done to those responsible. Because he didn't know how to talk to Don about his feelings about all this, Raph had planned to avoid him, at least until he could figure out what to say. "I guess I'll talk ta ya later, Donny," Raph edged towards the door, hoping to escape back to his room, "Holler if ya need anythin', okay?"

"Okay, Raph," Don could see that Raph was not ready to talk to him yet, for some reason, but he knew Raph would come to him when he was ready to talk about whatever it was that was on his mind. And Don knew better than to push Raphael to talk before he was ready. "I'll see you later."

"Right, okay then, see ya," Raph made good on his escape, heading back up the stairs at a slow pace, mind buzzing with all that had been happening.

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