Donatello did not go back to the infirmary right away. He went to his lab. He moved with reluctant feet to the back where sheets swathed much of the back wall. Pulling one away, he ran his hand down the side of a glass container. It once held the mutated form of Timothy, later known as mutagen man. Don's eyes closed, as he thought about the awful way the man, no the boy, had died. It was all his doing. He sighed. "Tim, I wish I can push back time and, and I don't know. Keep you from being mutated? Keep you from getting into the foot? Keep you from getting into the hero work? I don't know. I...I thought I knew so much then, you know? I thought that retromutagen would make you normal! I...I never in a million years thought it would stop your heart like that." Tears started running down his face He wiped them away with an angry swipe of his arm. "I always promise so much, don't I? April, we'll get your dad back. April, we'll change him back. Tim, I will train you. Tim, I will change you back. I will protect everyone. I will be an…...Ugh, I am a fool!"
He got up in a hurry, and wiped his eyes again. "You were a fool! You were an idiot! I tried to keep you from your folly, but you would not listen! Why couldn't you just listen! But...that's no excuse for me killing you, is it?"
He didn't hear the feet approach, he only knew that someone was there when he felt someone hug him from stiffened, then turned to see Mikey, his mask still firmly in place, the tank of air strapped to his back precariously, clinging to him in a death-grip hug. Don tried to pull away, but against all odds, the grip somehow tightened even more, and Don aborted the attempt without a second attempt. Instead, he leaned against his brother's embrace, and dropped his head on his shorter brother's shoulder. A muffled sob tore its way past his mouth.
"Shh...Let it go. It's okay." Mikey soothed, keeping his words short to keep from having another flare-up, but the short words was as full of understanding and compassion as a turtle on a breathing treatment could manage. The two stood that way for many minutes, as Don silently sobbed into Mikey's shoulder, and Mikey held him close, hoping that he could somehow help Don't let go of the guilt that has been haunting him the last two years.