Leo watched April, Leatherhead, and Donnie as their conversation progressed, watching as his second youngest brother's tension eased and he relaxed more and more.

Donnie seemed more comfortable around Leatherhead now and Leo chalked it up to the topic of their conversation.

The leader in blue only caught a few small snippets of what they were talking about, but what he did hear made no sense to him, so he eventually tuned them out.

Leo was more than content to sit at the table beside Master Splinter and watch the comfortable chaos of the Lair.

Raph, Mikey, and Casey wrestled playfully on the ground in front of the T.V. and Leo watched them to make sure that neither brother accidentally hurt himself. He should have stopped them from starting the fight in the first place, but it would have been three against one and Leo had no hope of winning that fight.

Leo glanced back at Donnie.

He had seen Donnie and Raph working on the bike, had seen them talking, but hadn't wanted to intrude on what he perceived as their moment.

Donnie and even Raph, who he had never seen so calm, worked peacefully on the bike. Until Mikey went and ruined it.

Leo shook his head. How his brother could ruin the moment he didn't know know but it frustrated him to no end.

Leo didn't want to admit it, but his envy of how easily Raph had connected with Donnie tugged at him. Leo had been hoping that when they brought Donnie home, he would feel a sense of familiarity and the family would be able to mend what had been broken, but how could they do that when none of them besides Raph, April, and Leatherhead had even managed to pull Donnie into a conversation?

As if he could hear his thoughts, Master Splinter pulled out their age old chess board and Leo helped to put the pieces in their correct places, neither of them saying a word.

Their chess games were often ones of deep, strategic planning, and this one was no exception.

After twenty minutes, Master Splinter declared checkmate and Leo sighed and began putting the pieces back in place.

"What troubles you, my son?" Splinter asked him quietly.

Leo let out another sigh.

"I'm glad that Raph got Donnie to come out of his shell. I am," Leo hesitated. How could he phrase it without sounding ridiculous? "It's just that, well-"

"You don't know how to do the same." Master Splinter finished for him, more a statement than a guess.

Leo nodded mutely.

Master Splinter seemed to think about this for a moment before glancing at the two turtles in question.

"Raphael appealed to your brother's curiosity with his vehicle and they shared a love for it." Master Splinter informed him. "If you wish to connect with him, find something that you share with one another. Mrs. O'Neil and Leatherhead seemed to have found something they all share."

As his father pointed this out, they both looked to where the trio were still debating happily, his brother smiling widely and seeming just as much at ease as he had been in the garage with Raph.

"Okay, but what?" Leo asked, more to himself than anything. "Sensei, I- I don't really know what Donnie likes."

His father smiled sympathetically at him and Leo had the sudden realization that the feeling of his brother being a stranger to him had to be unimaginably worse for his father. It was one thing to not know your brother well, another thing all together to be completely alien as a father to your son.

"Then you will have to experiment, my son." Master Splinter told him, then motioned to the already prepared chess board in front of them. "Why don't you invite him to play?"

Without giving him a chance to actually respond to the inquiry, Master Splinter stood up and made his way toward the kitchen. Leo heard the sounds of running water and rummaging for a pot and Leo knew his father was preparing his tea.

Leo hesitated.

Would Donnie even be interested in playing? Would he not know how? If he didn't, he or Master Splinter could teach him. Leo doubted that Donnie really had the time to play chess when- Leo stopped the thought before it could take root.

Leo swallowed his hesitation and looked at Donnie.

"Hey, Donnie." Leo waited until his brother's eyes settled on him. "Want to play a game?"

Donnie seemed to consider this and hesitantly glanced at Leatherhead and April before giving him a slight nod and kneeling where Master Splinter had been.

"Have you played before?" Leo asked.

"Yes." Donnie answered, looking over the pieces to ensure they were all in their rightful spots.

"Who'd you play with?" Leo asked as he made the first move.

"Myself mostly. When we were younger, Karai would challenge me." Donnie answered him, making his move, oblivious to his eldest brother's surprise.

"Karai?" Leo repeated, unsure if he had heard the statement correctly.

Donnie nodded, almost entirely focused on the game and Leo decided to ask about that later.

"Be careful over there, genius." Leo heard Raph warn from behind him."Leo doesn't really lose that game, 'cept to Sensei." Raph informed him and Leo grinned at his second youngest brother to encourage the statement.

Donnie merely shrugged. "Neither do I."

Leo happily accepted the challenge and they began in earnest. Leo didn't expect the the thoughtfulness that was in each and every move his brother made. The strategy that his brother applied was bold, but clever enough to work as was clearly apparent when Donnie gleefully called, "Checkmate."

Raph glanced up and let out a loud gruff laugh at the surprised look on the leader's face.

"Ha! Hey Mike, Fearless got beat!"

"Go back to beating each other." Leo muttered and turned back to a smiling Donnie. That smile made his defeat all worth it. "Best out of three? I'm not letting you win this time."

Donnie let out a snort of laughter and they began again.

Donnie won the next three games of chess as well until Leo aggravatedly threw up his hands in defeat.

Donnie gave him a grin before motioning again to the game, silently asking if he was going to continue.

"That's never going to get old." Raph grunted happily.

Donnie glanced up at him with a small grin on his face before tilting his head down again, as if he couldn't bare to look any of them in the eye for long.

"So you're good with games?" Raph asked.

Donnie nodded slightly. "Er- yeah. I played a lot with-" Donnie swallowed and tried again. "I played a lot when I was younger." He finished. "Chess, cards, a lot of strategy games."

"Cards?" Raph repeated, a small smirk on his face.

"Yeah."

"Know how to play poker?" Raph asked.

A small shrug. "Yeah, I've played."

Raph wasted no time in grabbing his deck of cards and started shuffling them.

"You guys up for a game?" Raph asked.

It wasn't unusual that Raph were to challenge them to a poker match, but this would be their first game with Donnie and none of them could resist.

They all conceeded, Donnie quietly agreed as well, and they gathered themselves around the little table and began.

Raph won the first game with a royal flush, and the second by fooling them into folding.

It was his usual strategy- to directly challenge them and force them to fold, though he always refused to do so himself, no matter how bad the hand. Leo was the opposite. He was more strategic in his moves, knowing when to fold and when to push. Mikey didn't have a poker face to save his life, therefore always giving away any good or bad hand he had. Donnie's expression was unreadable as always and he too seemed to know when to fold.

On the third round, they could all see the small smirk that had formed on Donnie's face.

Donnie won the third round.

And the fourth.

And the fifth.

They got to the eighth match- with Donnie winning each of them- before it finally dawned on them.

"Now you wait a damn minute!" Raph thundered as it suddenly hit him how his brother had managed to beat them all so effortlessly. He leveled a glare at his now sheepish looking immediate younger brother.

"Er- yes, Raphael?" Donnie asked in a quiet, 'trying to contain laughter' voice.

Raph knew that voice from when Mikey was trying not to burst out laughing when he pulled a prank.

"You're counting the cards, aren't you, Brainiac?" Raph demanded.

Donnie grinned sheepishly.

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to realize. I thought Leonardo would notice first." Donnie admitted, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Counting cards?" Mikey repeated. "How do you count that many cards? Aren't there like, eighty in there?"

"Fifty two, Michelangelo." Donnie corrected.

"Oh." The youngest murmered. "Wait, how do you count all of them?"

"Um, I just remember which cards have been played, Michelangelo." Donnie explained with a shrug.

"You remember them?" Raph asked. "There's no way you remember all of 'em."

"I do." Donnie confirmed quietly, somewhat shying away from them.

"But how?" Leo asked, confused at his brother's claim.

"I- well, uh-"

"You have a photographic memory, don't you?" April asked from the other couch, her eyes narrowed at the turtle in question.

Donnie nodded, seeming uncomfortable talking at the moment.

"What's that?" Mikey asked the stunned room.

"It means he remembered everything he sees." April answered, smiling widely at said turtle, who chose this moment to busy himself with the cards.

"No way!" Mikey exclaimed. "So, do you remember us?"

Donatello cocked his head, obviously confused.

"Of course I do, Michelangelo." Donatello answered slowly.

"As kids?" Michelangelo asked, the hopeful look on his face all too obvious.

The others then looked to Donatello for confirmation, hopeful despite themselves.

"Er- uh, no, Michelangelo." Donnie answered quietly as they deflated. "No, I don't. Sorry."

The room stood still for a moment, no one knowing how to continue the conversation.

"We didn't think you did." Leo said quietly, trying to diffuse the sudden tension. "Just... Had to ask."

Donnie was staring hard at the cards gripped in his hands.

"But, if you have a photographic memory, why don't..." April began, but one glare from Leo cut her off.

It was a good question though. If Donnie supposedly remembered everything he saw, why did he have no memory of them?

Donnie seemed to be thinking along the same line, but it seemed he had no better answer than they did.

"That is irrelevant.'' Master Splinter said, trying to bring back the playful atmosphere as before.

"Come on, Raph deal us in." Leo said too quickly, eager to regain some of their calm.

They restarted the game, though not as eagerly as before.

Mikey, Leo, and Raph ignored the fact that Donnie was do easily capable of winning, choosing instead to fo.cus on the game, each brother trying to pull Donnie out of his head.

Donnie didn't appear to be really engaged in the game anymore and the others won several rounds without so much as a comment or two from their second youngest brother.

Leo and Raph shared a look and Leo debated whether or not he needed to ask his hot-headed brother to talk to him, since somehow the two had connected better than anyone in the Lair.

The game didn't continue for very long after that and Leo saw Raph head in the direction of the garage and Leo was disappointed to see that Donnie didn't follow him.

Leaving Donnie with Mikey in the living room, Leo followed his red banded brother into the garage, one part of the Lair that he was rarely found in.

"Raph?" Leo voiced when he didn't see his immediate younger brother anywhere in sight. He was about to call out again when he heard a faint thump noise and found his brother beating a dummy like it had insulted him.

Leo caught sight of his knuckles and grew worried about his brother's previous injury.

"Rap, you're gonna-"

"Don't you start on it, Fearless." Raph grunted, cutting him off. "I already got told off by Don."

"Good, maybe you'll listen to him." because god knows Raph didn't listen to him.

Raph merely glared in return, not speaking.

Leo cleared his throat.

"Could you, uh, could you talk to Donnie?" Leo asked hesitantly. "He, well, he's talked to you more than the rest of us. Could you get him to talk?"

Raph sighed, rubbing his knuckles as he stepped away from the bag. "I don't know, Fearless. I mean, how can he not remember us? I get that it was a long time ago and all, but even I remember some things about him!"

Leo nodded. "I know. I think he realizes something's up, which is why I wanted you to talk to him."

Raph tilted his head. "Why can't you talk to him?"

Leo shrugged, not liking the way this conversation was going.

"You have a better repour with him. He's talked to you more than he has me and Mikey." Leo answered, trying to pass it off like it didn't bother him.

Raph accepted this with a sigh and looked back at his eldest brother as he made to leave.

"Leo?"

The eldest turtle turned back with a questioning look, concerned with the tone his younger brother had used.

"He's gonna be okay, right? Don?" Raph looked down as he said this, not meeting his older brother's eyes.

"Of course he is." Leo answered immediately, not understanding why his brother had asked. "Leatherhead said his plastron will probably have some scars but it'll heal with time."

Raph just shook his head. "In his head, Leo." Raph awkwardly pointed at his forehead, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation. "He's not... all there all the time."

Leo bristled.

Donnie was fine! Who was Raph, the most volatile of the four, to judge one's sanity? Donnie had some oddities, sure, but he was fine. Donnie wasn't insane or anything- why wouldn't he be fine? There was nothing wrong with him!

"He's fine, Raphael." Leo spat coldly, refusing to entertain the thought further. "He's fine."

Leo turned to leave, the thought of his brother's sanity still plaqueing his mind.

Mikey watched as Leo walked off in the same direction that Raph had gone in, then glanced back at his immediate older brother.

His brother was studying the floor like it was going to talk to him- which Mikey thought would be sooo cool. But the look on Donnie's face definitely wasn't cool. He looked... Sad was the only word Mikey could use to describe it. Mikey hated to see either of his brothers upset, but he hated it even more to see his immediate older brother so upset over something that he had caused.

Mikey hesitated. He wanted his brother to be happy again, but he didn't really know how to do it.

Mikey thought about it for a moment, then jumped off the couch and strode over to the T.V. and started looking over their array of movies that they had gathered over the years. Most of them they had acquired from April and Casey.

"Hey Don." Mikey called, looking back at said brother.

"Yes?" Donnie asked, looking up from the floor finally.

"Wanna watch a movie?" The youngest asked, motioning to their stack.

Donnie bit his lip but conceded with a nod.

"Awesome!" Mikey grinned. "I'm gonna show you the some of the best movies of all time bro!"

Mikey happily picked out an old Star Trek movie, thinking that his brother would appreciate the science-y parts of it.

Mikey grabbed the remote and sat beside his brother, trying to ignore the way that he cringed away when he got near.

"You're gonna love it." Mikey promised with a grin at his older brother. "I swear, it's one of the best, D."

Mikey ignored his brother's silence and started the movie, asking his brother to clarify the things in the movie that he hadn't understood, even though his brother had never seen the movie before.

Donnie slowly began to relax as the movie continued, freely giving him facts, telling him when something in the movie was factually incorrect. Mikey would counter it by feeding him jokes throughout the movie, and then was soaring when his brother would laugh at them.

After the first movie ended, Mikey was all too eager to put in the second one.

Mikey put his brother's memory to the test by having him imitate every line that Spock spoke- which he amazingly did- at which Mikey would counter with an improvised line of his own.

The others left them alone for the most part and allowed them to watch their movies in peace, none of them wanting to intrude on what they saw as a private moment.

Leo had come back into the room all worked up, expression closed off, only to then meditate with Sensei when he saw the two youngest sitting on the couch.

Raph poked his head in not that long after to check on them and then left when he saw them imitating the characters from the show.

Mikey stifled a yawn halfway through the third movie, feeling his eyelids grow heavier and heavier.

This is the good life, Mikey thought as he suppressed another yawn.

Donatello couldn't deny that he was truly beginning to enjoy the movies that Michelangelo had shown him. Sure, they weren't entirely accurate, but the thought of interspace travel intrigued him. He found that he liked Michelangelo's company more and more as the movies continued. He was definitely the most chaotic of the three turtles, but he was also funny and Donatello liked that he kept asking him questions and liked his complicated answers.

Donatello was far used to being ignored when he spoke or chastised when his responses weren't what they had wanted and so it felt good to be able to tell Michelangelo things and for him to like the response.

Donatello was pulled from his thoughts when he felt something land hard on his shoulder. He fought the instinct to jump away and realized that it was only Michelangelo.

He had fallen asleep and his head had lolled onto his shoulder, unaware that he was not a pillow.

Donatello at first attempted to move off the couch and onto the floor without waking the younger turtle, but the mission ultimately failed when Michelangelo's arm wrapped around him in a hugging fashion, keeping him securely in place.

Donatello briefly felt panic flare in his chest at the contact but pushed it down. He's asleep for shell's sake, Donatello thought to himself. He sighed and shifted in order to get more comfortable with Michelangelo now resting almost entirely on him as he rested his head against the arm of the couch.

Donatello couldn't help but study Michelangelo as he laid there.

He could plainly see, much more clearly now, how this could be his brother. If it shocked him the first time he realized it, it froze him now.

His brother.

The words played on repeat in the back of his head.

His brother.

Not just his brother either. His younger brother. His one and only little brother.

Donatello shifted so that he was holding his brother closer and smiled.

He had brothers. He had a family. Though he realized that he had yet to truly accept this fact, he knew that when he did, he would be able to see them as his kin. He hoped so, at least. He hated the feeling of being estranged from them. Hated the feeling of knowing that he should know them, but being so alienated from them at the same time.

Donatello smiled down at his little brother and reached over to give the hand that wasn't holding his side a squeeze.

Mikey, he thought. His little brother.

Donatello fell asleep on the couch that night holding his little brother with a small smile on his face.

I'm so happy to show some Donnie-Mikey bonding. I hope that I did decently with it. Yes there has been and will be fluff for some chapters. Thank you for staying with this and I hope you continue to stay with this story!