Hi guys! Again thanks for your kind reviews. I really liked them. Thanks for caring :)

Reading your comments, I thought you guys wanted an ending to this little story about the stab-incident. So I made it a trilogy. I hope you will like it!

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Healing

With concerned eyes Leo watched the steady rise and fall of his younger brother's chest. It had almost been a whole day since Don had carefully treated the youngest and had told them somebody had to be in the room while Mikey was unconscious - just to be safe. Since no one actually wanted to leave, they all had agreed to stay in the room and watch over their wounded brother together. They had a few conversations, but they were short and felt forced, so most of the time it was just quiet. Not that they had much to say - everyone was busy with their own train of thoughts, which were mostly about the youngest.

Tiredly Leo stretched his back, feeling the tension in his cramped-up shoulders. But that really shrunk into insignificance compared to the tension that hung in the lair. Raph was walking in and out of the infirmary occasionally, only to punch or kick something outside to sooth his anger and worry. After that he came back and sat down, ignoring the glare he received from Leo. Don on the other hand was fidgeting with everything he could find. Problem was, he could not concentrate on anything, so he put down one thing and searched for the next, mostly making a vicious circle.

Leo could only look at it for a short moment, since it made him extremely nervous. Although he wanted desperately to say something about the behaviour of his brothers, he decided against it. He knew it was their way to cope with the fact that they were worried and couldn't do anything to help more. They would probably feel the same about his actions, so he kept his mouth shut, although it was kind of difficult. He sighed, looking at his little brother, wishing he would wake up soon. He knew that once Mikey would regain conscious, all the tightness in the lair would vanish instantly - Mikey had that kind of power and always used it to the fullest.

Suddenly there was a light tap on his shoulder and he turned around, looking into Don's face which had a light smile. "You're okay?"

Leo nodded quickly. "Yes, why?"

"Because I've called you for like four times," Don answered, giving his older brother a concerned look. "Maybe you should get some sleep. I'll call you wh-"

"Forget it, Donnie. I'll stay," Leo said resolutely and he shifted his attention back to Mikey. Don gave a soft amused snort. "No problem, bro." Slowly he walked away, but turned around in the doorway of the infirmary. "I'm going to get some caffeine. Would you like something from the kitchen?"

"No thanks."

"Alright. Be right back." With that Don walked away.

Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Leo glanced quickly around the dim-lighted room. He noticed he was the only one present and he let out a huge tired sigh while resting his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, Mikey. I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have let this happen." He reached out and took Mikey's hand in his own, stroking his thumb gently over the skin. For a minute he sat there until he heard some movement behind him. Turning his head around he saw Raph coming into the infirmary, his face pulled in his usual scowl. Seeing his brother eying him, Raph gave an annoyed grunt. "What?"

Leo shook his head. "Nothing. I thought Don was already back from the kitchen." He gave a half-smile. "You're feeling better?"

Expecting a lecture about his anger and not a concerned question, Raph gave a shrug. "Depends… Is Mikey okay?" he asked with a nod of his chin towards the bed. Although he tried to act casual, his anxious eyes were telling otherwise. Leo looked back at their little brother and laid his hand on Mikey's forehead. "He's doing alright, I guess. Not really much has changed since you left."

Raph gave a small nod. "Kay…"

It went quiet again and at that moment Leo noticed the change in his brother's attitude. The moment he shifted his head towards Raph, he saw the angered fist colliding with the door post with a roar. A little startled Leo took in the outburst and he really hoped the very clear crack he heard was the wooden frame and not his brother's knuckles. "Raph…" he said, his voice sounding concerned and gentle at the same time. Raph balled his fist again, but this time with no intention of hitting something again. Slowly he walked back to his chair and plopped down violently, putting the suspension of his folding chair to the test. From the corners of his eyes Leo saw the bruising forming on his brother's right hand, but he decided not to say anything about it. Raph's knuckles were used to hard and direct punches and he probably had no feeling left in them, so there was no need to worry. Besides that, Raph could take care of himself.

Grateful for not getting an anger management speech, Raph leaned back to make himself comfortable. The moment his back made contact with the back of his chair, there was a barely audible groan coming from the bed. Immediately Raph shot back up. "Mikey?"

Leo had erected himself too and leaned over the cot, seeing his little brother move a bit as he continued to moan. "He's waking up. Can you get Don?" he said to Raph, but did not take his eyes off the youngest. He heard Raph run off without any complaints.

Anxiously he watched Mikey struggling to wake up and he laid a warm hand on his brother's cheek to give him some comfort. "It's okay, Mikey," he said softly and he felt Mikey relax a little under the touch. Slowly his baby brother's eyes fluttered open, clouded with sleep.

"Hey, bro," Leo said with a relieved smile once he saw the bright blue eyes looking into his direction. Squinting his eye ridges in discomfort, Mikey tried to focus on the green-blue blur above him. "Le-o?" he croaked, not really knowing what was going on. Hearing his brother talk, Leo got a bright smile on his face. "I'm here, Mikey."

Slowly taking in his surroundings, Mikey tried to shift to another position, only to send a spike of pain through his side like an arrow. Gasping from the unexpectedness of it, Mikey shut his eyes tightly. Immediately Raph was at his other side, who had returned from getting Donnie. "Careful, bro. Take it easy."

Realising there was someone else in the room, Mikey squinted his eyes open and looked to his other side. "Raph…"

Raph gave soft snort. "Yeah, that's me," he said with a grin, but he changed his expression when he saw Mike was having a hard time to focus. "How are you feelin', bud?"

It took a second for Mikey to answer. "Hurt…" he managed to say. Finally being able to see somewhat sharply, Mikey looked around, seeing he was in his least favorite place in the lair. "Wha' happ'nd?" he asked with some effort. Worriedly Leo put a hand on Mikey's shoulder. "You don't remember?"

Swallowing hard to sooth his dry throat, Mikey thought back. He remembered going out on patrol, then going towards the old power plant when they suddenly were ambushed by some Foot soldiers. Elites appeared and then… "Where's Don?" he asked, looking around worried.

Raph put a hand on his chest to stop him from moving too much. "He's gettin' some stuff for ya from tha lab. He'll be here -"

"- right now," Don's voice interrupted him. With a smile on his face Don walked further into the lab, clearly happy his little brother was awake. "Hey, bro. How do you feel?" he asked, putting some things down on the table. Mikey answered his smile with one of his own, albeit a little forced. "Like I got stabbed," he said in a joking tone. Don chuckled. "At least you can remember." He rummaged through some medical stuff. "How bad is the pain?"

"And be honest, please," Leo added with insincere seriousness, his hand still on Mikey's shoulder. Mikey took a moment to examine his injuries. His side hurt like shell and moving alone sent waves of pain throughout his whole body. Besides that, his head felt like it was exploding. But he was alive and from the looks of it he would be totally fine. "Could be worse," he said in conclusion, trying to give his signature cheesy smile to reassure his brothers.

"He didn't ask that, numbskull," Raph said lightly annoyed.

"Well, technically 'could be worse' is a legit answer to the question," Don said, coming to the bed, eying his little brother closely. "But I didn't meant that."

Mikey looked back into the concerned eyes and gave in. "It hurts," he said honestly. Don sniggered. "That's kinda normal. I would be worried if it didn't. But I need to know if you're in I-need-morphine-pain, or two-aspirins-will-be-fine-pain."

Mikey shook his head slowly. "No morphine. It makes my stomach feel queasy." He tried to stifle a yawn, but the effort itself shot a violent spike of pain through his side. Automatically his hand went to his side and clutched it tightly.

"No morphine, huh," Raph deadpanned, seeing the youngest in pain because of a simple yawn. Mikey eyed him through his squinted eyes and shook his head. "No. Don't wanna get -" He yawned again. "- nauseous." He relaxed a little as the pain subsided and let his heavy head rest in the pillows.

"Don't worry, buddy. I've got more pain medication that work just as well," Don reassured him, walking back to the table he had put his supplies on.

Leo laid his hand on Mikey's head. "Why don't you rest for some time. When you wake up you will feel much better."

Mikey gave small nod as his eyes shut slowly. "You'll stay?" he asked softly. Leo smiled and looked at his other brothers, who gave affirmative looks back. "Yes, we'll stay. Just go to sleep. We'll be right here when you need us," he said, stroking Mikey's forehead. Softly humming his appreciation, Mikey fell asleep quickly.

"Boom! Three of a kind! Beat that, bro!" Mikey called, slamming his cards on the table. Don looked at it unbelievably. "What? Again?"

"Oh yeah! I'm unbeatable!" With a big grin Mikey grabbed the pot, which contained mostly candy and other eatable items, from the middle of the table and slid it towards him. With an annoyed sigh Raph threw his cards away. "Maybe we should stab him or somethin' so he shuts up."

"Raph…" Leo said a little irked as he shoved his own cards towards Don, who was stacking the deck again.

"What?" Raph responded innocently with a shrug. "It was nice and quiet fer three days when he was sleepin'." He threw his feet on the table and leaned his chair back casually. Mikey gave him a foul look. "You're a sore loser, Raph." He grabbed on of the marshmallows in front of him and tossed it to his brother, who evaded it easily. "And yer a bad pitcher."

Almost immediately Mikey got a mischievous grin on his face. "Pitch this!" he yelled and he jumped up, grabbing Raph's chair in the process. Raph flailed his arms around, trying to find some hold of something, but there was just air. Almost in slow-motion his chair fell backwards, taking him with it in the process. "Shell, Mikey!" he yelled angrily as his shell hit the floor with a thud. "C'me 'ere, so I can hit ya!"

Laughing out loud, Mikey clutched his side which still hurt pretty bad, since it was just six days ago the got stabbed, and three days since he was allowed to get out of bed. But seeing his hot-head bro on the floor struggling to get up, he didn't care about the pain. It was just too funny.

Leo and Don shared a look which was a mix between exasperation and relief. It were a hard couple of days, but everything was getting back to normal. Although Mikey was still really tired from time to time, he was feeling way better and he was going to be totally fine in a few weeks. And with that, they were all going to be fine - since they were brothers. And brothers heal together.

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I really hope you liked the ending to this little trilogy. Next week there will be another stand-alone story.

Please leave a review or a comment :)