Leo sighed as he stroked Digital's arm. She had passed out three days ago, and she still hadn't awoken.
Everyone knew she was stressed spiritually. She couldn't take the trauma and the new found separation anxiety from her father. Leo thought it was cute how she wanted to be with Donnie all the time, but it was very bad as well. When she had the anxiety attacks and practically screamed for Donnie was terrifying.

"How could you have wanted to get rid of her?" Mikey asked as he entered the lab.

Leo sighed. "I was a stupid teenager who was being selfish about being discovered. I was terrified that she would alert someone down here, and we'd be discovered, but she's changed us all for the better."

Mikey nodded gently. "That's darn straight," He looked back to Digital and a sad look plastered his face.
He stroked her forehead gently. "We'd be lost without her," Mikey looked around the lab. "Where's Donnie?"

Leo sighed. "He's back in the testing part of the lab. He's checking out Digital's brain waves, y'know, how fast her thoughts are whirling past her, and how stressed her brain is."

Mikey blinked. "Isn't brain stress pretty bad for her right now?"

Leo tilted his head to the left and brought it back up as if a side nod. "Yeah, pretty much. With her trauma, too much brain stress could cause more medical problems. Possibly seizures."

Mikey growled lightly. "Stupid Shredder. Why didn't he take me instead of Digital and Donnie?"

Leo's eyes grew concerned at that comment. "Watch it, Mikey. I don't want to hear you say that. Things happen for a reason, and, though we may not know why, just know that there is always a reason."

Mikey stomped gently on the ground. "Yeah, well, whatever this," Mikey outstretched a hand to Digital on the lab bed, "reason is, I hate it!"

Leo sighed. "We all do, Mikey."

Digital groaned lightly in her sleep, and Leo began to stroke her arm once more. "Sh, Digi, open your eyes," Her breathing became labored and her face scrunched up in pain. She made noises of obvious discomfort, and her skin paled a shade. "Donnie!"

Donnie ran, well, hobbled, in on his crutches from the other side of the testing lab. His eyes fell on his pained, struggling, daughter. He sighed and moved to place a breathing mask on her. He sat next to her on the bed and began to stroke her forehead. "Sh, Digi. Just breathe. In, out, in, out." Mikey looked to Donnie who appeared calm and worn out. "Don, what happened?"

Donnie yawned lightly. He hadn't been getting the proper sleep his healing body needed. With Digital's health needing almost constant, vigilant, monitoring, and the nightmares that plagued both of their minds, he kind of pushed all thoughts of rest aside. "Her brain is too hyperactive than it should be in her condition. She needs rest. She needs to calm down. She needs to learn that we are here to help her, not hurt her. All of her panicing caused her to go into a panic attack. She can't sense who we are right now because she can't see, she can't hear, and she more than likely won't remember any of this when she wakes up."

Leo rested an elbow on the arm rest of his chair and placed his chin in the palm of his hand. "So your saying she can't hear us right now?"

Donnie nodded gently. "That is correct. She can still have nightmares like a normal sleep, which makes comforting her a bit harder. But all we can do, is try to keep gentle hands on her. Hold her hand gently,
stroke her arm, forehead, or hair. That's all we can do to make her know that we're here."

Mikey nodded. "Understood, D." Mikey made a move to leave the lab, but one of his brothers stopped him.

"Mikey, where are you going?" Leo asked.

Mikey didn't turn back to face him, he barely knew what to say. He, himself, didn't know what he was doing, though he felt he had an idea. One that could kill him. One that Splinter would be very disappointed by. But it was one that would keep his family safe. "Just to my room." They said nothing more after that. Mikey moved to his room and looked around his walls. Why? That wasn't even clear to himself. He wasn't one to kill. Everyone knew that. It would be a shock to everyone if he did so. Quite frankly, Mikey hated the sight of blood. He almost fainted at the sight of it.

But he couldn't let the Shredder off the hook for this! Shredder hurt his family in more ways than one! He didn't even want to think about murder though. If he left and did this, wouldn't that classify him as a murderer? Even if Shredder was a murderer himself, Mikey didn't want to have the same title as him. Mikey looked to his nunchaku that lied on his bed table. If he pressed a button on the side of it, it would extend into a kusarigami. A longer chain with a blade at the end. A piercing shar blade.

He shook his head. Not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But one day Shredder will push him to far. And when that day comes Mikey would unleash a side no one had ever seen of himself. A side he had never seen of himself. But sometimes, desperate calls called for desperate measures.

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Raphael continued to pound ruthlessly on the punching bag, sweat trailing down his face. He didn't know how else to deal with the pain he felt for Digital. He didn't know how else to deal with the anger he felt towards Shredder. He just didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to deal with such strong emotions.

She hadn't awoke for three days, and, though he wouldn't admit it, he was scared. He had seen what her traumatized mind was like. And it was terrifying. She screamed at everyone who wasn't her father in fear of them going to hurt her. Everyone knew that they had to give her time, but Raph didn't know if he could wait much longer, and it hadn't been that long.

He yelled as he sent blazing fists to the punching bag, finally knocking the punching bag off of its hook. A certain turtle watched him from the dojo entry way as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Raph, what are you doing up?"

Raph growled at the other turtle. "I don't understand how you can sleep while Digital is like this!"

Mikey yawned and rubbed his eyes. "I can't. Why do you think I'm up."

Raph growled as he picked up the punching bag and placed it back on the hook. "What about the others?"

Mikey looked out the door. "They're in the lab. Leo forced me to bed, but I couldn't sleep if my life depended on it. I'm too worried about her. So for the past three hours I've been researching trauma," Mikey sighed. "Not like I could understand any of it, though."

Raph sighed and threw an arm over his dyslexic baby brother. "Don't berate yourself, Mike. It's not your fault. It's how you were made, and we all wouldn't trade it for anything."

Mikey smiled gently. "Woah, Raph got all soft for once."

Raph growled and punched Mikey lightly on the arm. "I'm not soft!"

Mikey smiled a bit wider. "Whatever you say, Raphie!"

Raph growled and smacked Mikey on the head. He moved from his brother and to the dojo exit. He looked back at Mikey. "I'm goin' to the lab to check on Digital. You comin' with?"

Mikey nodded gently as he neared Raph. "As long as I don't get yelled at by Leo, sure." Raph and Mikey made their way to the lab and found Leo holding Digital's hand as she panted and sweat. Leo's eyes immediately fell on Mikey, and his eyes narrowed.

"I thought I told you to go to sleep."

Mikey looked nervous. "Y-You did, but...uh...I uh-"

"Leo, ya don't honestly expect any of us to get any sleep while Digital's like this, do ya?" Raph interjected.

Leo thought it over. "Well, no, I guess not."

"I just want to make sure nothing bad happens to Digital. She's our niece, Leo. I couldn't sleep. She's on my mind too much. I researched trauma instead for the past three hours." Mikey confessed. He looked to Digital and began to stroke her arm.

Leo sighed. "I guess none of us were going to get much rest anyways. It's not like I can send braniac to bed, anyways. I told him we'd wake him up if anything bad happened, but he still refuses. But it's not like I can force him to. He's her father. It would be torture to force him away from his daughter. I just couldn't do it."

Raph sighed and placed a hand on Leo's shoulder. "I can't blame ya, big bro. It's heart wrenching for us all to see her like this, but for Donnie to be her father and doctor? Talk about upsetting." Then, slowly, Digital's light blue eyes began to open. Mikey's eyes brightened immediately when he noticed the movement from the ten year old. "Hey, Digi," He said as Digital began to sit up. "How are you feeling?"

Donnie immediately hobbled over on his crutches when he noticed on the monitors that his daughter had awoken. He knealt in front of his daughter as she craddled her head in her hand. "Baby, does anything hurt?"

She closed her eyes gently. "My head hurts a bit," She moved her head to look at her father in the eyes, but her head stayed craddled in her hand. Her eyes scrunched into a look of confusion. "Who are you,
exactly?"

Bum, bum, bum! Did you like it, love it, hate it? Let me know. Your opinion matters. :)