Don yawned noisily and walked into the kitchen. A quick glance around the room told him that Raphael was the only other person in there, but, at the moment, Don was too tired to care. After the initial shock of finding out about Oyuki--and the three cups of coffee that accompanied the subsequent burst of conversation on the matter--he had found it impossible to get any sleep for several hours. That hadn't been such a bad thing, it turned out, since it had given him the opportunity to do a little more research into something that had been troubling him since Mike had gotten back from wherever he and Oyuki had run off to. Still, now Don wished he had waited to do the search until morning -- at least he wouldn't have gotten a backache from sleeping hunched over in his computer chair.

"Mornin'," Raph said between bites of cereal.

Don sat down, resting his head on the kitchen table."It's still morning?"

Raph looked up at the clock. "No, not really." He glanced at Don. "You fall asleep at the computer again?"

"How'd you guess?"

"You have keyboard prints on your face."

Don grunted and propped himself up on his elbows. "I really, really wish we could have a normal life around here."

"Good luck with that," Raph said.

Mike stumbled into the kitchen and walked to the sideboard, giving his brothers the barest of glances as he went past. He poured himself a cup of coffee, then drew in a quick breath. His arm jerked to the side, spilling some of the drink onto the sleeve of his leather jacket, and he hastily set the cup down and grabbed the edge of the sink. Mike stood with his back to the table for a minute, then brought a fist up and slammed it down on the sideboard.

He picked up his cup with a shaky hand and turned around, putting on forced smile. "Hey," he greeted his brothers tersely.

Don eyed him. "You should cut down on the caffeine."

Mike sat down at the table and took a drink. "Why?"

"It's not good for your heart."

"You weren't worried last night."

"Yeah, but we all kind of needed it last night, too," Don said. "Regardless, it'd be best if you only have one cup right now."

"I'll be fine," Mike said, taking another sip. "Where's Leo?"

"Still in bed, probably," Raph said, finishing his cereal and pushing the bowl away.

"Nope," Mike said. "I went by his room. He wasn't there."

Almost in response, the front door to the lair squeaked open.

"Speak of the devil," Raph said, grinning as Leo stepped into the kitchen. "Where'd you take off to?"

Leonardo removed his coat and tossed it on the back of a chair, then sat down. "I stopped by to see how the ladies are doing."

"And?" Mike pressed, staring at him over the edge of his coffee cup.

Leo absentmindedly rubbed his hands together. "They're fine," he said, then paused for a moment before nonchalantly clearing his throat and going on. "Oyuki got a little dizzy, so April is taking her to the hospital to have her checked out, but other than that…"

Mike set his cup down and drew his eye ridges together. "Just because she was a little dizzy?"

"Yeah… pretty much."

Mike shook his head vigorously. "No, I've been reading that book… dizzy is normal. You don't go to the hospital for dizzy."

Leo sighed. "She slipped in the bathtub."

"Is she okay?" Mike asked quickly.

"She's fine."

"You're sure? She didn't land funny or anything, did she?"

"Land funny?" Raphael asked.

"You know, if she landed the wrong way she could…" he looked at each of his brothers in turn, then gripped the side of the table tightly. "No, you're right. I'm sure she's fine. I'm just…" he started to bring his hand to his chest, but lowered it and grabbed his coffee cup, instead. "I'm just being stupid." Mike took a last drink and stood up, walking to the sideboard and putting his cup into the sink. He turned back around towards the table and flexed his hand into a fist, holding it a couple inches away from his plastron. He looked at his brothers again and straightened out his fingers, but his hand was shaking. "I was thinking that… well, I was going to go over there in a while, but I guess I should wait to be sure they're home, huh?"

Don stood and grabbed a bottle of aspirin off the top of the refrigerator. "Here," he said, holding it out to Mike. "Take one."

"Why?"

"For the pain."

"I'm not in any pain," Mikey said unconvincingly.

Don didn't lower his hand. "Then to stop the pain before it starts."

Mike stared at him for a moment, then took the bottle and shoved it into his jacket pocket. "I'll hang on to 'em."

Don nodded and turned to the others. "Sorry to leave the party so soon, guys, but I have work to do," he said, walking towards the living room.

"Hey, hang on a second, Donny," Leo said, standing up. He joined his brother at the door. "I've been meaning to talk to you about…" he paused and looked back at Mike. "About the thing that you installed on the other thing."

Don shrugged and the two of them stepped out of the kitchen. "What thing?" he asked.

Leo came to a halt and grabbed Don by the arm. "Did you see the way Mikey was holding back in there?"

"That's why I gave him the aspirin," Don said, heading for his room once again.

"What?" Leo followed him. "What the hell good is aspirin going to do?"

"It helps."

"Helps what? That's like…" he glanced at the scar on Don's arm. "Like putting a Band-Aid on a bullet hole."

"It thins the blood and keeps platelets from sticking to the walls of blood vessels," Don said, sitting down at his computer. His fingers started flying across the keyboard. "I'm not a doctor, Leo. All I know is what I've read. And everything says it helps. Some of what I looked up even says aspirin may be better than nitroglycerine for angina."

"Really?" Leo's eyes widened in surprise, then he shook his head. "Wait a minute. What's angina?"

"Basically, it means his heart isn't getting enough oxygen."

"And you're sure that's what Mikey has?" Leo asked.

Don nodded. "I'm just judging by the symptoms we can see. It's not like we have an EKG machine sitting around down here so we can get a good look at what's going on in that chest of his." He looked up at Leo, then back at the screen. "Maybe I should have said something before, but I've been worried about him since he got home." Don motioned towards the monitor and began to read out loud. "Angina can often be described as stable or unstable. Stable angina recurs in a regular or characteristic pattern, and the level of activity or stress causing the angina is somewhat predictable. Unstable angina is chest pain that occurs at rest or with less and less exertion; the pain may become more frequent and severe and last longer." Don took a deep breath. "Unstable angina is a warning sign that blood flow to the heart has become more impaired. Complications of unstable angina include progression to an acute myocardial infarction."

"A what?"

Don looked over his shoulder at his brother and frowned. "A heart attack."

Leo felt himself jump. "Damn it… hasn't he been through enough already?"

"So far the pain has done what angina does -- it's come and gone," Don went on, facing the computer again. "The problem is that he keeps on acting like it isn't bothering him, but one of these times it might not just be angina… and by the time he figures that out, it could be too late."

Leo gripped the back of Don's chair tightly. "Does aspirin help... I mean, if it was a heart attack, would it do anything?"

"It works within fifteen minutes to keep blood clots from forming," Don nodded. "It's not a miracle drug, but it could save his life if he takes it soon enough."

Leo pursed his lips. "You should tell Mikey. He's the one that needs to know all this."

"Yeah, well... have you tried talking to Mike lately?"

"Yes."

Don rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah... I forgot."

Leo patted him on the shoulder, then turned and walked towards the door. "I'll let you get back to work now."

"What work?"

Leo looked at him. "The work you left the kitchen to do."

"Oh," Don said, smirking. "Actually, I was just going to take a nap. I'm beat."

Leo grinned and walked out, shutting the door behind him, then made his way through the living room, bound for his own bedroom.

"Did you get the thing installed on the other thing all straightened out?" Mike's voice came from the couch.

Leo stopped and looked over at him. "Yeah… all fixed."

"That's good." Mike lifted a shaky hand and wiped beads of sweat off his forehead.

Leo stepped closer to his brother. "It's pretty hot in here," he said. "You think that maybe it'd be best for you to take off the jacket?"

"I'm fine."

Leo nodded. "Did you take the aspirin yet?"

"Nope."

"You should."

"Why?"

Leo sighed. "Maybe you should talk with Donny," he said. "I think he can explain it better than me." He continued towards his room.

"What were you really doing over to Oyuki's place?"

Leo turned around and looked at Mike again. "What do you mean?"

"You didn't really go over just to see how they were doing, did you?" Mike looked over his shoulder at Leo. "Did you go to talk about me again?"

"I just wanted to check on them."

"Oyuki mostly, right?"

Leo sighed. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about her," he said. "I know you are, too, but…"

"But I'm too damn stubborn to get off my ass and go talk to her like I should have done hours ago," Mike said, linking and unlinking his fingers nervously. "I'm just... scared as hell to try."

Leo walked back to the couch. "I'll go over there with you later, if you want," he said. "We all will."

"That might be a good idea," Mike bit his lip and looked up at his brother. "Sorry about the sparring session last night. I guess I kind of lost my cool," he grinned slightly. "But I did enjoy punching you in the head."

"Yeah," Leo said, chuckling. "I enjoyed knocking you on your ass."

"I deserved it."

"So did I, I guess."

Mike squinted at him. "You guess?"

The two laughed. Leo loved his brother's laugh. It had been so long since he had heard it that he had nearly forgotten just how much it meant to him, how bright it made the world seem.

Mike stopped laughing and rotated his left shoulder. "Damn it..."

Leo's own smile vanished suddenly. "Is your arm alright?"

"You twisted it pretty good last night."

"I twisted your right arm."

"Whatever."

The problem is that he keeps on acting like it isn't bothering him... Don's words echoed in Leo's mind, ...but one of these times it might not just be angina… and by the time he figures that out, it could be too late. Leo shook his head and patted his brother on the knee. "Well, go talk to Donny when you get the chance," he said, trying to make it sound like casual conversaition. "And why don't you go ahead and take one of those aspirin for that arm."

Mike shrugged. "In a while."

Leonardo stood and turned away. Before it's too late.