Chapter 2: Reunited

The sun peeked out from behind a thicket of gray clouds. April glanced once more behind her shoulder, to make sure she hadn't been followed, and then approached the old warehouse. She gave a solid tug on the rusty door before it gave then she pushed it all the way up. She stepped into the cold dark interior and, while waiting for her eyes to adjust, sensed someone present.

"Donatello?" she guessed.

The other person chuckled. "Correct."

"Door to door service, eh?" She smiled as she finally could see him in silhouette, standing near the elevator. "Not really necessary, you know."

"I know. But Splinter's determined to make gentlemen of us yet … "

April laughed at that. It was true enough.

"So, are you ready for dinner?"

The question was deceptively simple, and they both knew it. It wasn't just dinner; it was an official family dinner honoring Casey and Shadow. April forced a smile. "After you, kind sir."

---

Despite the cause of the day's family reunion, April found herself feeling relatively good. Not exactly happy, certainly not ecstatic, but pretty okay. Don was gently kidding with her, telling jokes to make her smile, and she was spending the afternoon with her adopted family. None of this made her miss Casey and Shadow less, but it did remind April that life still held out something for her.

April's good mood ended the second she stepped into the lair.

The feeling that permeated the lair's atmosphere reeked more strongly than any sewage. The air stank with barely-contained fear and rage.

Leo and Mike sat in the kitchen, talking quietly, while Raph sat in front of the entertainment center, watching television with the sound off. April and Don headed towards the kitchen, but not before Raphael could be heard muttering, "About time."

"Hey, April," greeted Mike, grinning. But his grin didn't quite reach his eyes. His eyes looked sad, tired.

"Hi, Mikey. Hi, Leo."

Leo nodded in acknowledgement.

Don's brow furrowed. Though he'd been gone most of the afternoon, earlier in the morning everything had seemed fine. Not happy—no one expected that of the year anniversary of the deaths of Casey and Shadow—but certainly they weren't like this. He cleared his throat. "Guys, what's going—"

Don's question was lost underneath the sudden explosion of sound from the couch. A howl followed by a loud smash. Then low-voiced swearing.

"Been like this all afternoon," Mike muttered.

Leo turned warily towards the couch. "Hey, Raph? You okay?"

Wrong question. Raphael leapt from the couch and turned away from the now-broken televisions. He stalked into the kitchen. "Am I okay?" he repeated in disbelief, glaring. "Am I okay?"

Leo lowered his eyes. A year ago he might have responded to Raphael's anger with anger of his own, but lately Leonardo felt too tired. Especially considering how much of his energy went towards caring for Master Splinter and ensuring that the elderly sensei got enough sleep, Leo just wanted peace. Quiet. A single blessed moment where he wasn't so acutely aware of death and dying.

"He didn't mean it like that," Mikey offered softly, trying to defuse whatever bomb had just been set.

Raph's eyes cut angrily to Mike before swinging back to Leo. "Wasn't talking to you, Mike."

"Please, Raph," said April, looking down and away. "None of us are okay right now, but please don't do this. Not today."

---

It was then that Raph turned towards April. His eyes grew wide then narrowed down to tight slits, as though he were seeing her for the first time. "Why aren't you dead too?" he snarled. "Huh? How come Casey an' Shadow died, but not you?"

April didn't even know how to respond to that. The barely-concealed accusation shocked her, and everyone else in the room, into a numb silence.

"Splinter keeps saying it's nobody's fault," Raph continued, and strangely, his eyes almost seemed to be pleading with her. "But if it's nobody's fault, who do I blame? Who do I go after?" His eyes fell to the floor. "How do I make it better?"

Leo gently cleared his throat. "Time will make—"

Raph rounded on him. "Shut up, Leo! Not now!" Then he faced April once again. "You was there, and we weren't," he told her, "so I blame you. I got nobody else. Sorry, April." And with that, he launched himself straight at April's throat, his sai drawn and at the ready.

---

It was just so fast. Leo blinked, and Raph had already crossed the room to where April stood. He cursed himself for his failure. When Raphael had first started getting angry, Leo thought, he should have immediately positioned himself between his temperamental brother and the human. But then, who would have ever thought Raph would actually be doing … this?

---

Mike stood in the middle of the room, not directly between April and Raph but to the side. Without thinking, without even realizing what was happening, he reached out and grabbed Raphael's shoulder to stop him. But Raph, fueled with his rage and grief, just threw Mike off him, as though he were swatting away a fly. Mike barely even slowed him down, as Raph finally reached where April stood.

---

April couldn't move. Couldn't breath. For all her self-defense training under Master Splinter, she couldn't bring herself to react because she didn't believe that this was actually happening. The last thing she saw before her eyes instinctively clamped shut were the whites of Raphael's own eyes. Oddly, his eyes looked even more terrified than April felt.

---

Don had on occasion been accused of being emotionless, like the machines he tinkered with. But that wasn't true. Don felt as deeply as anyone, but in the moment, when something needed to be done, he had the uncanny ability to keep his wits about him and do what he had to do. And truth be told, this ability had served his family well over the years.

Just now, he had seen Raph's muscles tense as he prepared to attack. He'd seen Leo lunge, just a millisecond too late. He'd seen Mikey almost bounce off of Raphael, so quickly was Mike's hold broken. Most horrible of all, he'd seen April freeze, paralyzed in disbelief.

And, during that same span of time—no more than a second—Don also saw what he had to do: He could not let Raphael hurt April, nor could he bring himself to hurt Raphael. No, he would never allow harm to come to either loved one.

That left, by process of elimination, one person who could be hurt.

---

Right before Raph's sai had the opportunity to strike, Don stepped in front and delivered a sharp blow to Raph's wrist. It was almost enough to knock loose the weapon, but not quite. It was enough, however, to ensure that neither Don's throat nor heart was sliced open. Instead, Raph's aim was deflected downward and to the left, and Don felt a sharp pain in his side. He gasped involuntarily. Raph blinked at the sound.

Don stumbled forward and grabbed onto Raph's shoulders for support. Raphael held his wounded brother for a moment, still blinking. Then someone screamed "Donny!" from behind, though it was hard to tell whether it was Leo or Mikey, and Raph stopped blinking when he heard the scream. Realization dawned on him.

"Sweet Jesus, no," Raph muttered, trying to back away in horror at what he'd done.

But Donatello held on. He grunted in pain, as both Mike and Leo grabbed his elbows and tried to get Don to let go, to go to the infirmary. He could also feel April from behind him, tugging on his shell. But still Don held on. Finally all three of his brothers stopped struggling and just stared at him. Good. It was about time they listened.

"Raphael," Don began, "this has got to stop."

At the sound of his own name, tears swam in Raph's eyes. "Donny, I'm so—"

"Got to stop," Don repeated. He was beginning to feel light-headed, but he had to make sure he was understood. Unfortunately, Raphael was looking at him in utter confusion. Don shook his head. "Everything, understand? Everything's got to stop."

"Don." It was Leo. Don noted that Leo looked like hell. Which didn't happen very often at all. "You need to lie down for a while."

But Don only glared at his other older brother. "You too," he snapped. "You need to stop too. Everybody's angry. Everybody's hurting. But instead of … of … " Don licked his lips. Damn, he was really feeling weak now.

Mikey linked his arm under Don's, to help hold him up. "Instead of what, Donny?" he prodded gently.

"Helping. We should be helping each other. Comforting. Instead of … hurting." Don allowed his eyes to close. He could feel April's arms move around his neck and could hear her whisper his name, but no one else spoke. Don decided he'd said just about enough. Not to mention that he was losing a lot of blood and was due to pass out any moment now. "Hey, Raph?"

A long pause. "Yeah, Donny boy?"

Don smiled at the nickname. Raph hadn't called him that in years. "Raph, I love you. Don't scare us like that again, okay?"

Raph's voice sounded soft and small when he replied, "Okay."

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Author's Notes: Many thanks to the people who have so kindly reviewed already. I am glad that you have enjoyed this story. Yes, "peaceful" in chapter one was actually supposed to be "peacefulness"—my apologies for missing this mistake. And yes, this is a multi-chapter story. At least three more chapters will follow this one. Thank you for reading