For some reason, this chapter became the Mike and Raph banter hour. Not sure why. But it was fun to write. Thanks always to those who review and Cyn in particular who bugs me almost as much as I bug her.

Somehow, Splinter managed to arrive before his sons down the hall and to the bathroom to see what the shouting was all about. By the time Leonardo and Donatello got there, the sensei was trying to track down the bleeding and hopping around Michelangelo.

"I told you to move it to the left!" Raph said.

"You didn't say MY left or YOURS!" Mike shouted still jumping around trying to stop the pain in his hand.

"We were facing the same fuckin direction!"

With Mike's yelling and Raphael's replying, it was difficult for anyone to hear the rat speak. He needed to see the amount of damage done. His eyes had already quickly scanned the area for a missing digit. Finding none, he hopefully assumed Michelangelo had been exagerrating.

"Michelangelo! Stop moving and show me your injury!" He finally raised his voice which caused all movement to stop. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves and approached his son to assess the damage. His heart did the strange skip beating it always did when one of his sons was hurt.

Mike had his injured hand gripped firmly in the other and he reluctantly released it to show his father.

Donatello side stepped to get a look and rolled his eyes. "Mike, you were screaming that Raph cut your thumb off."

Mike hissed at Splinter's gentle examination. "Well, it FELT like it."

"Wuss," Don and Raph mumbled together.

Splinter gave them all a look that demanded silence and turned Mike's hand inspecting the injury. A nail that Raphael had been hammering must have somehow slipped and grazed Mike's thumb. It was bleeding and a small piece of skin was missing. But it was nowhere near the damage that Splinter had feared when he first heard the yelling.

The ninja master got a clean towel from the closet and wrapped Mike's thumb tightly.

"I don't need stitches do I?" Mike asked warily. For some reason, injuries in battle never hurt quite as much as accidents around the house. Maybe because of the adrenaline. Or maybe because you were concentrated more on not getting killed by the swords slicing through you, than on the pain they caused.

Splinter gave his son a smile and shook his head. "No, Michelangelo. The wound is superficial. We will clean and bandage it and it will heal well on its on. Or rather, Raphael will clean and bandage it."

"Me?" Raphael said.

"Raph?" Mike echoed, looking even more nervous now. "What about you? Or Donnie?"

"Raphael is quite capable of cleaning and dressing a wound, Michelangelo," Splinter told him calmly. "And this is his duty for the day."

"Yeh but his bedside manner sucks!" Mike wasn't quite as calm. "The last time he bandaged a cut on my face, he wrapped my mouth too."

"Had to make sure I bandaged the whole wound," Raph defended.

"It was on my forehead!" Mike countered wincing as Splinter applied more pressure to his thumb.

"Quietest night of our lives," Leo muttered to himself.

Splinter sighed. "Enough, Michelangelo. Raphael will do an adequate job, I am sure." He took Mike's free hand and wrapped it around the cloth. "Keep pressure on it to stop the bleeding."

Raph sighed dropping the hammer to the floor (Don winced) and dragged the protesting Mike into their medical infirmary.

Don kneeled down beside the bathroom door to collect his tools, intent on hiding them before Raphael returned.

"Donatello," Splinter said with a warning tone.

Don sighed and got to his feet once again leaving his tools for the hands of an amateur fix-it man. Nodding, Splinter retreated to the kitchen for a cup of hot tea. He could no longer detect the odor of gas in the room. He would light the pilot before one of his sons burned down their home with another attempt at it.

Even through the closed door of the infirmary, the two turtles in the hall could hear shouting.

"Hold still, Mike. I'm gonna spill this shit everywhere."

"Not the iodine! NO! Not the peroxide! Not BOTH! OW!"

"Shut up, Mike. You don't know what's on them nails. Donnie coulda been experimenting with germ warfare for all we know. And I ain't getting yelled at for you dying."

"Hate to think that MY dying would inconvenience you so much. OW!"

Leo shook his head ignoring Mike's continued "ows" and looked to his brother. "You alright, Donnie?"

Don ran one hand down the doorway thinking of how he would fix it. He blinked and looked over at Leo. "Yeh. I'm fine." He brushed off his hands and stepped away from the bathroom. "So, about this plan of yours…I don't think so. I don't see how getting into a fight with Mike and leaving the lair is going to show him anything."

Leo glanced around quickly, well aware of how acute his sensei's hearing was. He pulled Don into the dojo and closed the door. Don sighed and folded his arms.

"Mike thinks being leader is all about telling people what to do," Leo said. "He doesn't realize that I'm responsible for all of you. Raph constantly ignores that little fact every time he disappears on one of his little solo adventures. If you hide out for a little while and Mike can't find you…he might see it's not all fun and games."

"Yeh and Splinter pounces on me as soon as I walk in the door," Don said. "No thanks."

Leo shook his head. "No Donnie. I know Mike. He won't even tell Splinter. He won't want to look incompetent. We'll go looking for you. We won't find you, and Mike gets a dose of leadership reality."

"Why don't YOU hide out?" Don asked. There were just too many ways this could backfire on him. He wasn't willing to risk it so that Leo could teach Mike a lesson. No matter how much Mike annoyed him.

Leo smiled. "I'm not the rebel for the day."

Don opened the door. "Well this rebel is staying out of trouble. Find some other way." He walked into the hallway smiling faintly. He had actually said no. Turned down a request. That felt good.

He had to jump back as Mike slammed out of the infirmary. His thumb was sticking up in the air wrapped with about five gauze layers too many. He glared over his shoulder. "Next time you need a shot, I hope Don uses a dull needle."

"Next time I'll hit you in the head," Raph shot back while cleaning up his first aid mess. "Least it's not something you'll ever use!"

"Yeh well in that case, someone should use a hammer on your…oh…hey Donnie." Mike realized that he nearly ran over his brother in his hurried attempt to get away from Raphael.

Don smiled. "Mike, you look like your hitchhiking."

Mike shook his head. "Blame Raph. He doesn't know what he's doing. How am I supposed to do leader stuff like this?"

"Mike, you cut your thumb. You didn't amputate your hand. Even then, LEO would still find some way to do his duties."

"Don't you have chores to do?" Mike grumped. Ok, so maybe it wasn't a life threatening injury, but it was still throbbing and it made him a little grouchy.

Leo walked out of the dojo before Don could reply to Mike's reminder. "Hey, Mike. I noticed that some of the weapons need sharpening. You might want to take care of that today."

Mike pretended not to hear. "What's for lunch, Leo? I'm starving."

"Hey, Raph," Don said as his brother walked out of the infirmary. "Don't leave my tools laying out like that. They'll get ruined."

Four brothers looked at each other. Each one had something to do. Something that they didn't really want to do, but they weren't sure how to get out of it. This exercise was becoming more of a hassle by the minute.

"My sons? Is something wrong?"

They all turned to Splinter and stared at him. Each was considering how best to get their sensei to call off this assignment. Splinter in turn stared at each of them. His gaze told them their protests were best left unsaid.

He chuckled quietly to himself as they all muttered about "something to do" and walked off in different directions. It wasn't quite noon yet, but the day had already been somewhat productive.