When Mike came around, it was with a splitting headache just after midnight. He opened groggy eyes, and sat up very slowly. The space was empty for the moment, except for Don lying across the room. He noticed the purple-masked turtle painfully shift his shoulder, and realized he wasn't asleep.

"Donnie?"

His brother's eyes opened instantly. "Mike! You okay?"

"I think so. How 'bout you?"

"Fine. Ready to get out of this bed, that's for sure."

"Don't push it." Mike grunted as he sat up further. "You've been through a lot the last couple of days."

"I second that, " a voice agreed from the door as Luke entered the Lab. "Welcome back, Mike. How are you feeling?"

"Peachy keen."

"Could you be a little more specific?"

"Like somebody's taken a sledgehammer to my skull." He sent the doctor a weak smile.

"That good, huh? Well, you can't push yourself either. You sustained a major shock to your system."

"But I'm okay now?"

Luke nodded. "So it seems. I think you two have given rise to another chapter in your journal, Donnie."

"Your notes had better be good, Doc," Don teased, sounding relaxed for the first time in days.

"Oh yeah, or genius over here will be going through them with his little red pen," Mike inserted, giving Luke a laugh of his own.

The fact that Don felt well enough to joke around was extremely encouraging to the orange-masked turtle, and he meant to take advantage of it.

"I'm glad you guys are coming back to yourselves. I was wondering if Mike got sick just as an excuse to share a room again," Luke offered impishly.

The turtles shared a laugh at that.

Donnie smirked at his brother. "He's got you figured out."

"Who are you kidding? You're the one who missed me."

The tension from the last few days melting away made Mike's head hurt even less.

"You two should probably attempt to eat," the man suggested. "Your Sensei made some soup earlier that just needs to be heated through."

The slight face Don made suggested he didn't have an appetite, yet he agreed to try along with Mike.

Luke left the room, and Splinter was the one who came back a couple of minutes later.

"Hey, Sensei," Mike greeted as he came over. "Miss me?"

Splinter shook his head lightly. "This den is much darker when you are not brightening it. Now relax for a moment, and let me see if I can ease that headache of yours."

The rat finished preparing a fragrant herb wash over by the sink, the scent bringing back years of memories before it was even applied. Mike relaxed so much under his father's ministrations, he nearly felt himself dozing off again.

"Michelangelo," Splinter called him back just as he started to zone out.

Mike opened his eyes again, silently glorying in the moderate improvement of his pain.

"Better?"

The orange-masked turtle nodded, also feeling more subdued than before.

"Good. Try to eat something - then you can sleep." Splinter helped him sit up again and offered him soup in a mug for easy drinking.

The warm broth went down smoothly for Mike, but after awhile he noticed Donnie wasn't so interested. From where he was sitting, his brother still looked a little peeked. Michelangelo glanced at his Sensei, and saw Splinter gazing at the purple-masked turtle too.

The rat got up to check on Don, pressing a hand against his flushed cheek.

"You are too warm. You do not feel like eating either, do you?" he asked him.

Donnie shook his head slightly. "It's good...I just...no, I don't."

"Are you sick to your stomach?"

"No. Just not hungry."

"How do you honestly feel?"

"Not like last night, Master, only light-headed...and yeah, a bit feverish."

"I'll get Luke."

The young doctor took quick stock of him, and then conferred with Splinter.

"He has a low-grade fever right now. I'd like to avoid throwing real drugs at him. I think we should try combating it a little more naturally, unless we absolutely have to apply more hydralin. Any ideas, Master Splinter?"

"There are a couple of things I can do. I will gather what I need," he replied.

The pair fell into the familiar rhythm of working for a couple of hours. Don's slight fever reacted well to Splinter's touch, and didn't rise any more. He and Michelangelo both went to sleep soundly, and rested without any trouble.

Luke opted to take the overnight watch, and ended up spending a large part of the evening reading through Donnie's journal from the beginning. It was an object of intense fascination to him, and not difficult to get through.

Around 5AM Donnie stirred from sleep, murmuring something unintelligible.

Luke got up to meet him with a water bottle, just as the turtle opened his eyes. "G'morning."

"What time is it, Doc?"

"About two hours until dawn. How are you doing?"

"Good, I think." Don accepted the offered drink. "Can I ask you something?"

Luke sat down beside him. "Sure."

"You've been here...five...six days? You're a doctor. Surely you have commitments."

"Well...I'm not on a normal staff right now. I haven't been for a while. I fill in on an 'as need' basis at St. Joseph's. It's all I've been able to handle lately." Luke paused for a long moment, and then went on. "I lost both my parents about six months ago. We were really close, and they were basically all I had.

"You could say I was born with the science gene. My dad was a physicist, and my mom was a chemist. They handled all my education up until I graduated early, and went into Med school. We moved to New York from North Carolina about...five years ago. Then they got on a plane for Africa, and I never saw them again. Truth is, I was supposed to be on that plane with them, but something came up. I was going take another flight, a few days later. Instead, they crashed, and now it's just me."

The turtle ducked his head awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Doc."

"For some reason, it's always been harder to sleep at night than during the day, so I just kept my old schedule for the most part. I guess it gave me an excuse to escape from the world too. Coming here...it's made me feel alive again. I haven't felt that in a long time. I wasn't sure if I ever would."

Donnie reached out a hand toward him, and Luke took it firmly. "I am alive because you are here," he said seriously. "I will never forget this."

"You're not the only one," Luke told him. "Why don't you go back to sleep? The more you rest, the more you'll heal."

"You'll still be here when I wake up?"

"I'm not going anywhere until you're done being my problem child."

Don smiled faintly as he relaxed under the covers again.

When Luke turned, the turtle called out to him again.

"Hey, Doc?"

"Yes?"

"I hope we can be friends."

"We run the same wavelength, you and me. Go to sleep, Donnie. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"I think you mean today."

"Whatever. Hush."