Chapter 1: Routine

Despite being completely worn-out Leo didn't sleep at all that night so when he heard the other kids in the hall preparing for school he was officially exhausted. Donnie of course was the first of them to officially stir though, which wasn't unusual as the kid seemed to run on pure determination and coffee instead of sleep like the rest of humanity.

"Come on Mikey." Don yawed as he rubbed the tiredness from his eyes before turning to give the bed next to his a look. "Mikey, get up!" He ordered dryly. "We gotta go to school."

"5 more minutes." Mikey muttered sleepily and Leo couldn't help but smile as the familiar banter began.

"Yeah and in 5 minutes you'll want 5 more minutes and 5 minutes after that you'll want another 5 minutes and so on and so on." Donnie stated impressively without getting tongue-tied, as he made his bed while simultaneously kicking his little brother's to wake him up again.

"Honestly Donnie, didn't anyone ever tell ya 'normal kids don't like school?'" Raph asked as he too rolled out of bed, prompting Leo to finally sit up as well.

"That's no excuse not to better ourselves." Donnie insisted as he finally managed to pry the covers from Mikey's hands and throw them back, which caused the poor kid to literally hiss before scurrying under his pillow in an attempt to escape the dreaded morning sun.

"Your turn." Donnie proclaimed toward Leo as he finally gave up and headed for breakfast.

"Come on, Mikey." Leo stated calmly, digging deep into his big brother well of patience as he attempted to pull away the pillow, but it took the poor guy at least another 3 minutes to eventually drag Mikey to the hall and another minute and a half to convince him that he had the strength to walk on his own which in turn made them both late to breakfast.

So unfortunately by the time they got there the food had all but been absorbed by the other kids, leaving them with a messily bowl of fruit to share between the two of them. But thankfully Donnie and Raph thought ahead and saved them some of their own, so the hunger would be bearable 'til lunch.

"Hey Don?" Leo asked as he absent-mindedly reached over to stop Raph from strangling the life from Mikey who had managed to expertly pierce a piece of food on the end of Raph's spiky brown hair; using only the flinging power of his fork. "You okay?" He finally added.

"No!" The poor kid moaned clutching at his head in pain as his migraine returned with a vengeance. However before anyone could say anything else he suddenly grabbed his mouth and ran from the room.

His brothers quickly made to follow him, glad that most everyone was already gone, as kids tended to be rather cruel when it came to making fun of someone for their misfortune.

"Hey, take it easy." Raph insisted as he knelt down to pat his brother's back who continued to empty his stomach into the toilet.

"Mike, go tell Mrs. Addy." Leo ordered and the little guy promptly disappeared to perform the task. "Gees, where did that come from?" He added more to himself reaching down to push Donnie's hair out of the way as he threw up again.

"Oh dear, what's happened?" A woman stated as she entered the bathroom with Mikey in tow.

Mrs. Addy was a grumpy, slightly overweight woman in her 40's, with color died hair that didn't successfully hide the gray underneath, a face that only possessed a few laugh lines and a scowl that came way too naturally to make anyone that had to see her on a daily basis feel comfortable.

But despite all that she was good at her job and meant well.

"Poor thing, you must have gotten that bug that's going around." She proclaimed reassuringly as Donnie finally finished his – business and leaned back against Raph's chest to take in some air. "Let's get him into bed, doesn't look like he's going anywhere today." She ordered, earning a groan from the teenager as she left to make a phone call to the school.

"Honestly Donnie you're the only person I know that can make that sound terrible." Mikey joked as Raph hauled him back to their room.

"I'd rather go to school than be sick." Donnie countered honestly.

"True."

"Okay come on." Mrs. Addy interrupted a minute later while she maneuvered the phone to her other ear. "The rest a you are going to be late. Now get out of here." She ordered sternly.

"But –" Mikey started again only to be promptly interrupted.

"No 'buts.' Out!" She commanded pointing toward the front door before leaving them to say their goodbyes and escape from the building before the woman attempted to beat them off with a broom.

…

"Where are you going?" Leo demanded of Raph just before their 4th period when his brother closed his locker and started heading toward the main doors.

"Playin' hooky." He declared with a grin.

"Oh no." Leo complained. "You're already in enough trouble."

"Will ya relax mom, it's my free period, I was just gonna go check on Don." He countered truthfully.

"It's not like they don't know how to take care of sick kids Raph, he's fine."

"Yeah well they've never had ta deal with Donnie before. You know how he gets, if someone's not there ta make sure he sleeps; he's just gonna spend all day playin' with his gadgets."

"He's got ya there bro." Mikey put in as he closed his own locker causing Leo to sigh.

"Fine, go. But you better be back before next period." He ordered as his slightly younger brother started walking away, only earning himself a simple wave over the shoulder for his trouble.

"Why do I bother?" Leo asked no one particular before reaching out to grab the back of Mikey's hoodie as the dipstick attempted to escape as well. "And where do you think you're going?"

"I was just –"

"Going to your next class." Leo finished sternly as he steered the little twit in the other direction before kicking him lightly in the rear to get him moving.

…

Raph made sure to sneak about so no one saw him enter the orphanage again, only to find that it was more or less empty, leaving him to laugh lightly to himself as he had always wondered what they did when the kids weren't around.

'They're all probably out getting' massages or somethin'.' He thought to himself as he walked to their room, however upon entering he quickly noticed that something or rather someone was missing.

"Damn it Donnie." He swore at the wall before heading back out to check the halls for his sibling. However upon discovering that the bathroom as well was void of one smart-ass brother he became a little more than mildly annoyed.

He was about to head back to the room and look for clues to his whereabouts when something caught his attention at the far end of the hall and he quietly made his way toward it to have himself a look-see.

"Has that always been there?" He asked the door around the corner; which was emitting a strange purple-ish light from the window, making it look like one of those photo maker rooms, not that he had ever been down this way to know for sure if they had one.

He was about to check it out when a door opened somewhere nearby and he quickly ducked into a closet as another caretaker known as Miss Conway headed for the front of the building, reading something in her hand in a generally distracted fashion which allowed Raph to quietly sneak back out and down the mystery hallway.

As he neared the door a rather sudden pain flared in his temple and he absentmindedly reached up to rub it away, though he remained unconcerned as it had become a usual thing to happen since they'd moved to the city. However as he got right up to the window and made to look inside; something suddenly nagged at him that he really shouldn't be there.

However he only stubbornly shook off the feeling and quickly took a peek inside the room only to find a couple more caretakers who he'd rarely seen but knew as Mrs. Campbell and Mr. – K something.

But when the man moved aside so Raph could see what else was inside his heart stopped. For in the center of the room was what could only be described as an operating table - and Donnie was the patient.

Well that escalated quickly … o.o

Chapter 2: We Can Run {Coming Next Thursday}