"Ow! Donnie watch where ya poking that thing, wouldja!"

"If you'd sit still it wouldn't be a problem."

Raphael squirmed in the wooden chair he was sitting in. "If ya didn't poke so hard-"

"Sit still Raph!"

Raph obliged finally with grumbling complaints muttered under his breath. Don readjusted the injured arm in his grasp. He let out an exasperated breath. "Finally."

Donnie threaded the needle through Raphs arm again and his brother made a face of discomfort. He didn't flinch though. He grumbled. "I swear you're doin' it on purpose."

"Doing what?" Donnie asked, tugging the thread through with maybe a little too much force. "Graciously offering you my service to stitch your arm so you don't bleed out or die from sepsis? Then yes. I am doing it on purpose, and thank you for noticing."

Raph growled.

Leo, who was seated across the room dabbing a cotton ball with peroxide at a lengthy but superficial wound running up his calf, gave a light laugh. "You better watch it, Raph. Donnie's the one with the needle, bro."

"Yeah, well, I got my own needles right here," Raph said gesturing with his free arm to the sais tucked into his belt.

Don huffed. "Just be grateful I didn't have Mikey do your stitches. He's supposed to be practicing those."

"Practicing them?" Leo asked from across the room.

Don nodded. "I've been teaching him some basic medical procedures. I thought it might be useful."

"What kind of procedures?" Leo asked.

"Right now we're just reviewing stitches, open wounds, setting bones, etc. The kind of stuff we already mostly know how to do." Don said. All of them were trained in basic first aid. "But I'm hoping to get him to learn some more intricate things, like surgeries."

"Surgery?" Raph sputtered. "From Mikey? Ya gone nuts Donnie?"

"Yeah…" Leo said. "I think I might be with Raph on this one."

"Well, if I get hurt, I can't exactly do surgery on myself," Don said. "I know Leatherhead's not far if we need him, but if there was an emergency and I was hurt, someone needs to know what's happening."

The two of them pondered Don's words gravely in a few moments of silence. Leo spoke up. "You do have a point, Donnie. But...why Mikey?"

"Logic. Statistics." Don said. "Mikey gets the least injuries out of you three. Therefore, he's the least likely to be incapacitated if I need surgery. It's not really smart for my surgeon to also be bleeding out from their own wounds while doing surgery."

"That… makes sense," Leo said. Raph grunted in some form of begrudging agreement.

Don shook his head. "Honestly, he's not doing too bad. He has a steady hand, an artist's hand really. At this point, he's probably better at stitches than I am."

"I don't care if that bonehead becomes a certified brain surgeon," Raph said. "No way I'm letting him come near me with a needle."

"How have you been getting him to learn?" Leo asked, ignoring Raph's protests. "Mikey only really focuses on things he likes, Donnie, and I know practicing medicine isn't on that list."

A sly grin crept onto Don's face. "It's a little thing called bribery."

"Bribery?" Raph spoke up. "Oh, I gotta hear this."

Leo nodded. "What do you mean Don?"

"Mikey may statistically be the least likely to get hurt on a mission," Don explained. "But he's also the most likely to break items in the lair. Especially personal items. Items that require my assistance to fix."

Leo shook his head, a smile turning the corners of his mouth. "Donnie, you wouldn't!"

"Oh yes, I would," Donnie said. "I got tired of fixing his things all the time. So, I told him if he broke something and wanted it fixed he was going to have to pay me back. In study time."

Leo laughed out loud. Raph grinned wildly. "I know we say it all the time, but Donnie, yer a frickin' genius!"

Don smiled wryly. "Honestly, I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier. I feel like it's teaching him some responsibility too. I haven't been fixing as many of his things as I have in the past."

"That's great Don," Leo said. "But how's it actually going? Is he learning anything?"

"Oh, yes. He's already memorized my full cabinet of medications. His memory's amazing." Don said, gesturing to the locked cabinet in the room that held the stock of expensive medicines. "I forgot how much of a quick learner he is when he focuses. It's just like what Sensei's always saying. If he'd honed his potential and focused-

"-he would be capable of amazing feats." Leo finished for Don. "I know Donnie. Sensei's been saying that for years. You know, sometimes I can't tell if Mikey just doesn't want to make the effort, or maybe he doesn't actually believe he can."

"I think it's a little of both," Don said. "Mikey's always been a slow reader, but he's never been a slow learner. But I think he correlates his reading speed with his intelligence. Well, that and his struggles with focus and hyperactivity. None of those things boost his confidence in his intelligence. So, he tends to give up when something is a little difficult or takes some time for him to understand. He thinks he's not smart enough to figure it out."

"Man, I think you've been spending too much time around Mikey, Don," Raph asked. "Yer readin' him like a book."

Don shrugged. "It's just something I've started noticing because I've been teaching him. I never recognized it until now. He gets frustrated and gives up because he lacks confidence."

"He was the same when we were kids," Leo said. "Remember how he was always behind when we were homeschooling with Master Splinter? It was a nightmare trying to get through our lessons when Mikey was crying every thirty minutes because he 'didn't get it'."

"Except art," Raph spoke up. "That bonehead always rubbed it in our faces when he got the best grades in calligraphy."

"He gets a taste of praise and it goes straight to his head," Don replied. "Remind you of something else?"

Leo's eyes quickly glanced outside of the lab, searching for any flashes of orange within earshot before lowering his voice to answer Don's question. "Battle Nexus Champion?"

Don nodded in conformation. "Battle Nexus Champion."

As if on cue, a loud knocking came from the other side of the door. "Donnie!"

Raph groaned dramatically. "Great, you two with your big mouths."

Don sighed, pausing in the stitches he was giving Raph. "Come in, Mikey."

Mikey came in, but not flaunting around proclaiming he had heard his name being called. Instead, he looked rather sulky.

"What is it, Mikey?" Don asked.

"The remote," Mikey said, holding out the television remote he had in his hand. "I tried changing the batteries but it's still not working."

"And?" Don asked calmly."

Mikey took a deep breath. "Can you fix it?"

"Yep," Don said, turning back to his work on Raph's arm. "You know where the book is. I want you to read the next section. "

"But Donnie!" Mikey protested. "I didn't break it! It broke itself!"

"You want to use it so you need me to fix it. It doesn't matter who broke it." Don said. "You know the drill, Mikey."

"But Don-"

"You have 45 minutes then I'm quizzing you." Don cut him off with finality. "Set the remote on my workbench."

Mikey let out a dramatic groan then set the remote on the workbench before dragging his feet to the bookshelf Don had in the corner of the room. He grabbed what seemed to be a random book off the shelf and marched over to Don's desk and sat down. He opened the book with a heavy sigh. "I hate this."

Raph let out a chuckle. "Have fun, Mikey."

Mikey sent him a pouting glare.

"Don't think you're off the hook, Raph. Or you Leo." Don said, addressing both of his older brothers. "I have plenty of books for everyone to read. Mikey's just been a test run for you two. Just because I wanted him to learn first doesn't mean you shouldn't either."

Leo let out a defeated sigh. He didn't sound too upset. He wasn't one that broke things often and he actually enjoyed learning almost as much as Donnie did. However, Raph's face of amusement quickly morphed into one dread. Besides Mikey, he was the one most likely to break something in their home and he had almost as much love for books as Mikey did. "What?"

"You heard me," Don said.

Mikey laughed from his spot at the desk. "In your face Raph!"

"Study Mikey," Don commanded with exasperation. It wouldn't be the last time he'd have to refocus his brother in the next 45 minutes.

Raph shook his head, denial still written all over his features."Ya can't be serio-Ow! Don!"

"I'm as serious as Splinter is about his soaps," Don said. "And I said stop moving, Raph!"