A/N: My stories have this habit of getting longer when I actually start writing them out. Hope you guys don't mind ;-)

Bree was too shocked at what she had just witnessed to notice that she was being guided out of the room, at first. A pained, grunt-like noise snapped her out of her daze. She had just passed the turtle and her step faltered at the sound. It took her a fraction of a second to realize that it wasn't just physical pain coming from him. She looked down at him and met his gaze. Her arms were grabbed forcing her move, but she did manage to get a glimpse at the turtle and what she saw stunned her. His eyes were full of pain yes, but she also spied anger and fear hidden in his deep brown eyes. It was rather frightening. She decided that she would not want to be the focus of those emotions if he was able to act on them.

Once out of the room, Bree was escorted down a series of seemingly never ending hallways. She was surprised when their destination turned out to be an exam room one would find at a typical doctors office. Apprehension immediately flooded her. She heard the door click shut behind and when she turned around she saw that only one guard had followed her in.

He took her by the arm and pulled her over to the bed in the middle of the room where a pair of scrubs were laid out. The guard gestured to these as he spoke,

"Change. Now." He growled.

"What? Why –"

"Shut up and change. You have two minutes." With that the guard walked back to the door, but didn't turn around.

She had a feeling that no one was concerned about her modesty, but still she hesitated.

The guard narrowed his eyes, "If you refuse, I'm sure I could find some volunteers to help."

That thought scared her.

"N-no, that won't be necessary." She said as she turned her back to the guard and started to remove her clothing.

Once she had stripped down to her under garments she reached for the scrubs.

"Everything off." His command startled her and she looked over her shoulder at him.

The look on his face as well as the bulge in his pants, told her that he was enjoying the show. Knowing that she didn't really have a choice, she complied and donned the scrubs as quickly as she could. As soon as she had finished, the guard knocked on the door. When it opened, in walked a team of what Bree presumed were doctors. Her apprehension went from medium to very high, bordering on outright panic.

Donatello was beyond frustrated as all he could do was watch as they took her away. Bishop made it clear that she is replaceable in this experiment so they won't think twice about killing her. Pain, guilt and anger were currently at war within him, each vying for dominance. He roared, the sound laced with those pent up emotions. The action was so unlike him, more reminiscent of his red banded brother that he actually expected to see him when he finally opened his eyes, but all that he saw was the never ending darkness they always left him in.

Donatello realized he had to get it together if he was going to plan a rescue for both himself and Bree. No more losing control…that was Raphael's thing. He needed to start using his greatest strength, his intellect. But first he needed to take care of his shoulder. The pain from its dislocation was clouding his thoughts. He knew from his earlier search that there were no window or door frames for him to use to help put it back in place. His only option for now was to manage the pain.

Donatello carefully maneuvered into the lotus position, cradling his arm against his plastron to prevent it from jostling. Once he was as comfortable as he could get he hesitated in starting his meditation. He needed to go deep enough to control his pain but not so deep as to reach the astral plane. He was sure his family was monitoring for him to appear there. It was a fine line that he did not want to cross. Too many questions that he did not and could not answer. He would just have to be cautious and keep control on how deep he went.

The pain made it more difficult to clear his mind so it took a little longer than it usually does but soon Donatello could feel the pain being pushed from his mind and he could finally relax. His mind hovered in that 'sweet spot' for a while.

Donatello lost all sense of time but retained an awareness of what was going on around him. It was times like these that he truly understood why Leonardo spent so much time meditating, it was so peaceful. He enjoyed meditation and found it just as relaxing and enjoyable as his older brother did, but he never had the time to do it often.

So captivated was he by the tranquility he felt, he unintentionally relaxed even more. It was when he suddenly felt another presence tug on his consciousness that he realized he did exactly what he did not want to do. He mentally turned away from the pull, resisting it, but whoever it was would not let him go. They were trying to pull him deeper in to the astral plane. Donatello fought it, but he was too tired and too weak to resist for long. The next thing he knew, he was enclosed in what would have been a bone crushing hug had they been in the real world.

Sobbing sounded in Donatello's ears as the one who held him shook with emotion. It was one of his brothers. Donatello knew in an instant who it was. He sighed as he brought his arms up, returning the embrace.

"It's okay Mikey." He reassured his brother.

They separated and Michelangelo wiped the tears away and gave his brother a hurt look.

"Why'd you run Donnie?" He asked.

The purple masked turtle didn't know what to say. He couldn't tell him the truth, it would only hurt him. He pinched the bridge of his nose as his brother continued to try and get him to answer, until Donatello could stand it no more.

"BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU!" He shouted.

The look on his baby brothers' face made him deflate as his anger left him instantly.

"Mikey, I'm-" The feeling of more minds joining them cut him off.

Great. Now the others have found him too. He should leave now before they got here. Michelangelo could tell them that he was alive at least. It wouldn't satisfy them but at least they would know. He made his decision. He started to pull away but was forcibly stopped.

"Oh no you don't Donnie!" Michelangelo said, determination in his voice.

'When did Mikey get this strong?' Donatello thought as he felt himself being held, not able to leave the astral plane.

When he opened his eyes once more he was met with his entire family staring back at him.

Dread consumed him for a moment before his resolve hardened along with his facial expression. In the most commanding voice he could muster he practically shouted at his family,

"You have to let me leave, NOW! I can't stay here. I didn't even mean to come…I didn't want to." The last sentence came as a whisper.

His brothers wore matching looks of shock on their faces.

It was Michelangelo that broke the silence first.

"Then why-" A look of comprehension turned to accusatory from the orange masked turtle, "You're hurt, aren't ya?"

"Yes." Donatello saw the unasked questions and went ahead before they could ask them,

"No I don't know where I am. Yes I know has me but I am not going to tell you-"

"How the shell do ya expect us ta save yer sorry butt then, huh genius?" Raphael angrily interrupted.

"I don't." Donatello replied, once again shocking his brothers.

"My son…"

Hearing his father's voice almost broke his resolve, but Donatello gathered what little fortitude he had left and looked his father straight in the eye.

"I am in no way giving up but a rescue would only make things worse, believe me. I already mead my choice and I'm sticking with it."

Leonardo who up until now had remained silent suddenly came to a realization.

"You knew!" He accusingly looked at his purple masked brother. "When I called you that night, you knew you weren't going to make it home didn't you?"

"Yes." Donatello couldn't lie to his oldest brother again.

"Why did you lie to me? We could have helped you then Donnie!"

Donatello was barely keeping a lid on his anger. It threatened to boil over at any second…

"No you couldn't." He replied in a steady voice. "I was already caught when you called Leo. He knew that you would come to my aid if I didn't answer, so he offered me a deal I couldn't refuse."

There was silence after this revelation from Donatello as he and Leonardo continued to stare at each other.

"You had no right to decide that for us Don-"

"You are such a goddamn hypocrite you know that?" Donatello spat, losing the battle with his temper. "You're not the only one allowed to be self sacrificing Leo!"

His anger immediately deflated after his outburst, but he meant every word he said.

"Do not bring me here again. I will find a way out and I will see you guys again. Please trust that I can do this!"

Master Splinter approached his gentle son, laying a paw on his shoulder, "We do trust you Donatello and if you think this is best we will do as you ask…at least for now."

"Thank you sensei…father."

He looked to his brothers and gave a nod, not trusting himself with any more words.

"Hurry back to us Donnie!"

"Ya betta come home soon Einstein, or I'll come in afta ya!"

"See you soon, little brother."

He acknowledged their encouragement and with one last smile he pulled his mind away from the astral plane and back into his body.

The sudden influx of pain shocked him and he gasped for air just as the door began to open. Through the fog of pain he recognized the perfect timing of his return to the real world. One more minute and he would have been caught. The consequences, he was sure, would have been severe if Bishop found out he had been in contact with his family. He vowed to himself that he that they would stay safe, no matter what.

A/N: Yeah I know I said no brothers in this fic, but this is the ONLY time, at least until the end, maybe. I'm hoping to get things going at a faster pace next chapter, but we'll see what happens! Hope you enjoyed!