"Shhh."

"Huh? Oops."

Raphael blinked his eyes, feeling disoriented. He realized that he was sitting with his head again resting on Donny's bed, and he sat up, looking at his other two brothers.

Mikey looked sheepish. "Sorry bro, I forgot you were snoozing."

Raphael blinked again and shook his head, trying to clear it of the fuzzy didn't-get-enough-sleep feeling. "Time 'zit?" he slurred.

"Just after six pm," said Leonardo, removing the cloth on the sleeping-Donny's forehead in order to rewet it.

Raph took the chance to check the status of his brother's fever, finding it unchanged. "How long's it take for the penicillin to start workin'?"

Leo shrugged. "I'm not sure."

"At least he's sleeping better," said Mikey, gesturing towards Donny, at the fact that he was no longer restless.

"Probably thanks to the painkillers," Raph said, stretching with a groan. He blinked when a dish appeared in front of his face.

Michelangelo grinned when Raphael took it, the red-banded turtle's stomach growling.

"Thanks," Raph mumbled around the sandwich.

"No prob, bro."

The turtles ate in silence, staring at Donny the whole time.

"Did he wake up while I was sleepin'?" Raph asked.

"No," said Leo. "We'll have to wake him soon to give him his pills, though. We should change his bandage too."

Everyone nodded, but after they ate, no one really moved to do it…not wanting to see the ugly mark on their brother.

Raphael reached forward first, seeing it as his responsibility, since it was essentially his fault that Donatello had been shot.

The stitches were holding well, but the wound was red-rimmed around the edges…evidence of trauma, Raph hoped, rather than infection.

To his dismay, Donatello suddenly winced and inhaled sharply, his eyes squeezing shut tighter.

"Donny?" Raph said, instantly removing his hands.

The injured turtle opened his eyes. "Ow," he gasped.

"Sorry."

"How you feel Donny?" Mikey asked.

"Okay," Donny lied. He blinked his eyes, looking exhausted.

"Hungry?" Mikey asked.

Donny shook his head.

"Bummer."

Raph rolled his eyes, knowing that Mikey wanted to airmail Donny each spoonful again. He suddenly realized that Donny's wound was still exposed, so he reached forward again and resumed the bandaging.

Donny was silent through it, his only outward reaction being a tight squeezing of his closed eyes.

Raphael finished, and patted Donny's good arm. "Still awake, bro?"

Donny nodded slightly, eyes still closed.

"It's time for ya pills," Raph told him.

Donatello groaned at that, not wanting to move.

"Come on, dude, you'll feel better," said Mikey, opening the bottles.

Raphael carefully sat their injured brother up, taking the pills from Mikey and a glass of water from Leo.

Donatello's head lolled alarmingly, the turtle making no effort to move on his own.

A stab of fear shot through Raphael's chest. "Donny? Ya okay?"

It took a few seconds for Donny to answer, his brain spinning even with his eyes closed.

"Whadya mean 'no'?" Raphael said. "What's wrong?"

Donny didn't even realized he'd said that. Sound around him suddenly became muffled and his awareness dimmed, before he abruptly became aware of his brothers' panicked voices.

"Donny! Wake up!"

"Don't do this to us, Donny! Open your eyes!"

"Donnnnnnny!"

Startled, Donatello's body jerked and he opened his eyes. He heard his brothers all gasp, and the grip on his hand tightened.

"Donny," Raphael said, sounding nervous. "What happened?"

Opening his mouth and closing it again, Donny was too groggy and confused to answer. His eyes started to close against his will.

A strong tug on his hand made him reopen his eyes, and he blinked at the three scared faces above him.

"Talk to us, bro!" said Mikey, his voice shaking.

Donny frowned, trying to figure out what had happened.

Leonardo, the most perceptive of the other three, could see that their injured brother was thinking. "You seemed okay until we sat you up."

The memory came back to Donatello, and he realized what had happened. "Blood pressure," he mumbled. "Too low. Fainted."

The others looked at each other. Donatello had lost a great deal of blood, and they'd each inwardly feared that the heavy blood loss would take their brother's life.

Years ago, Donatello had tried to come up with a method of storing pints of their own blood, in case of such emergency; turtle-to-turtle blood transfusions wouldn't work with them, for the mutagen had affected each of them differently and none of their blood matched each other's.

Unfortunately, the mutagen also gave stored blood an extremely short shelf-life, so storing it had become impossible. IV lines were just as impossible, as their veins weren't visible beneath their thick, green skin. When one of them lost a lot of blood, a long rest was the only prescription.

Donatello's eyes had slipped shut again, so Raphael shook his good arm. "Donny," he said. "Ya sayin' ya BP is too low? After two days? But wouldn't ya blood have been increasin' all this time?"

"Lost so much…taking too long," Donny said, eyes still closed. "Causing…organ strain."

"Is there anything we can do?" Leonardo urgently asked.

Donny didn't answer.

"Dude," said Mikey. "You're scaring me so much, you're giving me organ strain!"

"Sugar," Donatello said, as if Mikey hadn't spoken. "Salt. Iron."

At that, Raphael dashed out of the room and ran into the kitchen. "Salt, sugar, and iron. Salt, sugar, and iron." he mumbled as he looked in the fridge and cabinets. "What the heck is iron in? Mikey!" he yelled. "Get in here!"

A few seconds later, the orange-banded turtle ran in.

Raphael threw two boxes of macaroni and cheese at him. "Cook these!" He grabbed a cup and took a bottle of lemonade out of the fridge, opened it, and dumped sugar inside before shaking it up as he left the kitchen.

When he went back into the lab, Leonardo was covering Donatello with another blanket. "He's cold," he told Raphael.

"He's about to get colder," Raph replied, holding up the bottle of lemonade. "Come on, Donny, here's ya sugar."

Donny blinked open bleary eyes.

Raphael sat on the bed and slid his arm under his brother, lifting him up more slowly than earlier and only high enough to drink. "Okay?" he asked, hoping Donny wouldn't pass out again.

"Yeah," was the whispered reply.

Leonardo took the lemonade and poured it into the glass, before handing it back to Raphael.

Donatello felt like he was floating. The intense pain still gripped his body, but it somehow seemed far away. Half of his brain knew that his condition had become critical, while the other half just wanted to go back to sleep.

The cup suddenly touched his lips, but it took a few seconds for him to realize what he was supposed to do. The extra sugar in the lemonade made it taste so much better, just how he liked it. Who put more sugar in this? That was nice of them.

"Keep drinkin', Donny, that wasn't enough," Raph's voice suddenly said.

No thanks; I'm all set, Donny thought to himself.

"Come on, Donny," said Raphael.

"Why?" he asked aloud. Because you're hypoglycemic, you idiot, his mind said. "Oh," he replied.

Leo and Raph shot each other puzzled looks, but Raph shrugged and kept pouring the drink down their brother's throat. Once the cup was empty, Leonardo refilled it, and they were glad to see that Donny kept drinking it.

A few minutes later, Mikey came in with a huge bowl and put it on the nightstand. "Look what we got for ya, Dude! Mac & cheese with spinach! Yum!"

Donatello opened his eyes, the sugar already doing its job.

Raphael grabbed the spoon and scooped up some of the food, holding it before his brother's mouth. "I ain't gonna goof off with no airplane, Donny, so just eat it."

Donatello couldn't help but grin slightly. Obediently, he ate, but it wasn't too long before he got full.

Raphael held the spoon before his brother's mouth, but Donny made no move to eat it. "Donny? Still awake?"

Donatello's eyes fluttered open.

"That wasn't enough, bro. Open up."

"Full," Donny whispered.

"Tough," Raph said, shoving the spoon inside his mouth.

Donatello chewed, before opening his eyes and giving his brother a glare…or trying to, anyway.

Raphael smiled. "That's better."

Mikey chuckled.

Raphael scooped up more mac & cheese and prepared to shove it into Donny's mouth again, but suddenly there was the sound of a loud crash, startling everyone.

Unexpectedly, the lights went out, plunging the four turtles into total darkness.

TBC