[A/N: These next three chapters will be a bit shorter then the others, and a lot more cheerful. You can see them as filler episodes in the story about Leo and Karai, because they don't have much plot development. Their purpose is more or less to give you guys a picture of how the brothers deal with Leo's departure and how they developed love lives of their own! Don't worry about the lack of Leo and Karai, they will have their own chapters soon enough! Hope you enjoy!]

A Song For Her

The metal in the locker door was cool against his forehead. For once in his life, Donatello did not enjoy school. The past weeks had been rough on him; on all of them. The house was so quiet without Leo and now there was nobody to stop Raph from throwing himself into fights night and day. He had hardly been home at all. And when he DID show up he just grunted, patched himself up, ate everything he could find and left again. Don wondered where he had slept that night. He hadn't been home.

Don locked himself in his room, coming out only for food and school. He hadn't talked to anyone for more then a week. His family left him alone, knowing how he preferred to deal with hard times. Nothing keeps your spirits up like drowning yourself in research!

Still, he was done with his project now, and the disappointment he felt for his brother's departure had faded into a dull bruise on his heart. Time to get back into the world again. He knew the first person he wanted to see.

He rounded the corner and smiled as he swathe back of her. Sidney always looked so good in dark blue. He touched her shoulder and beamed at her.

"Hey. Do you want to do something after school?"

To his surprise, she inhaled deeply, like she was trying to hold back a scream. Then she smiled, a false, way-to-wide grin and replied in a much-too-cheerful tone.

"I know something you can do all by yourself!"

"Eh?"

He drew back at she glared at him and spat,

"Go kill yourself! It's FUN!"

She slammed her locker shut at the last word and marched off with angry steps. Don had no idea what just happened.

"She's mad at you. Did you notice?"

Don sighed and turned to face his little brother and found not only him but a grinning Susie as well. Mikey was doing much better, his leg healing at a rate that made the doctors look twice at the charts whenever he came in for a checkup. Still, Susie had offered to help carry his books until he had free use of his arms again.

"Yeah. Now I only have to figure out what I did."

"Dude, you didn't talk to her for two weeks!"

"I didn't talk to ANYONE!"

Susie shook her head. Boys. They never understood.

"She's your girlfriend. You're supposed to make an exception!"

Don grunted loudly and fell back against the lockers. Suppose ignoring a girl for fourteen days would piss her off. She wasn't used to him like his family was. She couldn't have know that he didn't mean any harm by it.

"So, what are you gonna do, bro?"

Don looked up at Mikey. His whole body seemed to signal that he was ready to do anything to help. Count on Mike to come to your aid you when you're in a pinch. Even when hanging on his crutches he seemed like he was ready to take a dive from the roof down into the school's pool if it would help his brother. Then again if the bet was high enough; whatever floats your boat.

"I have a new project."

"Oh? What's it about this time?"

Don smiled. As much as he appreciated his brother's help, he had gotten into this mess on his own. For it to count, he had to fix it on his own. Tough but logical.

"I call it Operation Win her back! Wish me luck, bro!"

Mikey laughed and high-fived him as they parted, and Don's brain did what it did best; it formed plans.

"Just forgive him! He's always like that. He didn't talk to anyone! He never does when he gets like that."

Sidney made a face at the other girl and unwrapped her baguette from the plastic. Curse exams. She was too tired in the morning to make lunch, so she had to buy it at school. Coral, on the other hand had what she always had; leftovers from the restaurant. Though only having her left arm at her disposal made it hard for her to use chopsticks.

"That is beside the point. I'm mad at him, so I won't forgive him."

"That's childish! You know he cares a lot about you!"

"I just wished he had told me he wouldn't be responding for a while before he shut everyone out. I was scared something had happened to him before I talked to Mikey."

The beef still managed to slip away from the Asian girl's attempts to catch it, but she was dead set on not going hungry. Even when arguing with her friend she managed to focus most of her energy upon making her left hand move as she wanted it. She was used to mind-battling Karai, damn it! Sidney was child's play!

"But he's fine and he's sorry! What more do you want from him? He actually managed to fill your locker with lilies! I still have no idea how he did that."

"He's friends with one of the janitors, Mr. Layne."

Coral looked up with a sheepish expression.

"Oh… Yeah that would seem like a doable plan."

The piece of meat that the girl had finally managed to get hold on slipped and landed on the rice with a small splat. The long-haired girl whined like a dog and stared at it.

Sidney finally took pity on Coral and took the chopsticks and the box of food and pulled it to her, switching it for her own lunch. Coral looked up at her and grinned.

"Thanks! Guess I should stick to finger-food for a while huh?"

"Would seem like a good idea, yes."

"Forgive him."

"I will."

"When, in two weeks?"

Sidney looked up at her, then back at the food, taking a bite.

"Damn it Sid! He will be in pieces by then!"

"Ought to teach him not to ignore me like that again."

Coral took a bite of the sandwich, muttering about evil girlfriends. Sidney smiled a devious smile and handed her a napkin for the tuna spreading over her cheeks.

"Note, my dear friend, that I'm only ignoring him. I have yet to break up with him."

Coral sighed, swallowed, and wiped her mouth.

"I'm glad I'm a girl sometimes. I'll never have to endure trying to figure out the ways of a girlfriend."

Sidney snorted and took a bite.

"Lucky you."

The West hallway was almost empty when Sidney went to leave her books in her locker after the last lesson. It was no sport spotting the grumpy figure leaning against the wall.

"You look like hell."

"Stop making life harder on Donnie. He sure as hell don't need it right now!"

Sidney rolled her eyes at Raph and swung the little door open.

"I don't like being ignored."

"I don't like broccoli or having to change my underwear every day but hey, guess what!"

She glared at him before starting to pack her bag. Another night of studying and then she was done with all the tests.

"This is between your brother and me. Nobody asked for you to interfere."

Raph pushed himself upright and leaned his elbow against the locker next to hers. Anyone who didn't know Raphael Hamato would be scared by the predatory move, but Sidney knew him well enough to know it would take a lot more for him to hurt a girl.

"Ah, but you see, dolly, Don's my BROTHER, and anyone who makes him feel bad I make 'em pay up."

Sidney snorted and slammed the locker shut.

"And yet last I talked to Mike he said that he almost felt like an only child now-a-days. Wonder what his reliable big brother has done to remedy that."

Raphael's eyes widened and then narrowed in rapid succession as he leaned his back against the hollow surface, his hands in his pockets, shoulders by his ears.

"I can't… Do it like Leo does. I can't keep 'em together like he did. I have no idea what to do to make them feel okay."

"No one's asking you to be Leo."

His eyes went dark, shoulders slumped, his voice full of self-disappointment.

"Of course not. They know I can't make it."

She didn't really know what to say. She could tell him that he was wrong, but she doubted he would listen. She hated wasting words on people who didn't listen. She knew someone who was better at handling the moping thug.

"Give this to Coral for me will you?"

He looked a bit startled at the empty lunchbox in her hand. The change of topic reminded him of something, though.

"How's her arm?"

"She's got a pocket full of painkillers. Her arm is fine. It's the rest I'm worried about."

He sighed and took the box. He hadn't talked to Coral since he had visited her at the hospital. He had realized something quite unnerving that day.

"I'll give it to her."

"Thank you. Though I don't know how she'll react to that black eye of yours."

"She's used to seeing me like this."

Sidney doubted that. He looked deflated, like a zombie. He wasn't even putting up a fight.

"I hardly think so. Don't worry about Donnie. I'll forgive him."

"He won't last two weeks."

She smiled at him.

"Maybe he will if his big brother supported him instead of running around getting beat up."

He glared at her as she turned her back and walked away. She remembered what Coral had said about them being more than brothers. Leo's leaving had been a bit like chopping off a leg from a table. It could still stand but it just didn't hold up as well as it had before.

"I hope he comes back soon."

No one would ever blame Donatello for being a quitter. He managed just fine to stay out of Sidney's way for four days, but everywhere she went she was reminded that he was sorry. She was starting to wonder just how many lilies he had bought. Not that there where mountains of them at every place, but they where in her locker, on her desk, on her doorstep when she got home, in the basket on her bicycle in the morning. He had even sent some to the church where she had choir-practice. It got harder and harder to be mad at him.

Friday was different, though. Her bike was empty, just like her locker. She actually started wondering if he had given up. It hadn't been a week yet. Part of her doubted it, but lunch passed and there was no sign of him anywhere. She was just about to give her hopes up when Susie came out of nowhere, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her off.

"Where are we going? Class is about to start!"

"You have to see this! That guy's insane!"

Her heart almost stopped. She could only guess who she was talking about and calling him insane could not bode well for whatever he had done now. To her surprise Susie pulled her up the stairs, tugging her up to the top floor. Sidney got more and more worried and confused. Whenever they would pass a hallway on the way up she could see students hanging out the windows and she heard the faint sound of music.

They finally got up on the roof, Susie did not want to waste a moment but ran over to the place where Coral was standing. For some reason, Sidney was sure that if she had been able to move both hands, she would have been clapping. As it was now, she just grinned and waved her over to the fence facing the north part of the schoolyard. She walked over and looked down, the music loud in her ears now. She couldn't help but to smile. It was really hard to be angry at him now.

The north part of the schoolyard was the part that was the most neglected. It was just asphalt and a couple of wooden benches and tables firmly anchored into the ground. There was little light and often windy.

But today it looked different. The grey ground was replaced by a huge mural of colors. Mostly it was surprisingly accurate drawings of flowers, but also birds and nice sceneries, as well as abstract colorful shapes. It was all done in chalk as far as she could tell, but that was not the end of it.

On one of the large wooden tables almost in the middle there was a familiar figure with dark short hair seated. In his hands he held a guitar and in front of him was a microphone. She smiled a bit at the sight of the two persons behind the table, one seated at a drum set and the other sitting on one of the speakers. The music was almost overwhelming.

She didn't know that Don could sing too.

"HE-EY JULIE-ET!"

She smiled. Must have been to hard to find a song with her name.

"I think, your fine!

You really blow my mind!

Maybe!

Someday!

You and me could run away!

I just want you to know…

I wanna be your Romeo!

He-ey Juliet! Hey Juliet!"

Susie bumped her a bit, Coral poked her from the other side.

"Okay, okay. I'll forgive him. Must have taken him forever to make that!"

"All night! And he didn't want any help at all!"

She smiled even wider and took up her cell phone as the last tunes faded away. Shouting would do little good, mostly since the entire school seemed to be cheering for more from the windows.

She saw him interrupt himself in the middle of waving and take up his own cell. Then he looked up, finding her at once. He must have asked the girls to take her to the place where she would have the best view. She could honestly see his big smile as he made an "Okay" sign in the air and then moved on to unplug the guitar.

"What did you say?"

Sidney looked at Susie with a soft smile and turned her back on the fence.

"Just to remember to pick me up at my locker after school so he can take me to practice. Nothing much."

With that, she left her friends and walked downstairs, mingling into the crowd. She was a bit sad that the mural would probably wash away during the next rain, but then again, it somehow made it even more special. It was simply impossible to be mad at a boy who would spend an entire night painting a field of asphalt just so his girlfriend would forgive him.

Sure enough, he was standing by her locker at the last bell. He had dark circles under his eyes and colorful stains all over his clothes but he was smiling like a sun. She kissed him on the cheek and held up a finger to his nose.

"Never ignore me again. Next time your shutting out the world you bring me with you. I'll help you with whatever project you're working on."

"Okay! I promise."

She giggled and kissed him again.

Who said that nerds didn't know how to treat a girl? Whoever had listened must be kicking themselves in jealousy by now, 'cause Sidney knew of no jock who would go through all this just to be forgiven.

Even when he messed up, Don was the perfect boyfriend.

[A/N: the song is "Hey Juliet" by LMNT, that i actualy found due to a typo when i was looking for TMNT pictures! life is funny sometimes! XD Comments make me so happy!]