Donnie narrowed his eyes as he scanned his sleeping twin's vitals; he still readied himself to leap into action at the first sign of a downswing, no matter how many times he saw none. He wasn't going to let himself relax until Leo was well on the way to recovery… until the genius knew there was no chance of losing his other half.
The sound of soft, light footsteps reached Donnie's ears, and he turned to see Mikey watching with anxious, inquiring eyes. Turning his wrist gauntlet off with a few taps of a button, the softshell moved toward his younger brother and gestured toward the doorway.
"Come on, we shouldn't wake Leo," he whispered. "He needs the rest."
Mikey followed without question, and once they were standing in the doorway the youngest turtle spoke in a soft tone.
"So, he's still okay?"
Donnie allowed himself a slight smile.
"As much as the situation allows. The fever is almost gone, and his vitals are nearly back in normal range."
His smile widened a little as Mikey released a quiet sigh of relief, but then the box turtle's face grew uneasy again.
"Any idea when we… can get his leg checked out?"
The mention of that took some of the wind out of Donnie's sails. He glanced back into Leo's room, pressing his lips together.
"It could be a few weeks, at least," he murmured. "It depends on how soon he's strong enough to be up."
When he looked back at Mikey, the younger turtle was tapping his index fingers together as he looked at the ground.
"Do you…"
When his voice trailed off, Donnie waited; he was pretty sure his brother didn't need prodding. Sure enough, Mikey finally looked up with those wide, teary eyes that broke the heart of anyone he aimed them at.
"Do you think it's… gonna be bad?"
Donnie usually didn't bother even thinking of trying to lie, because he knew as well as anyone else how awful he was at it. But one of the few things that made him consider it was the prospect of upsetting the baby of the family.
"I don't know, Michael," he finally said. "I know that I do not like how Draxum is clearly not telling us the whole story. It may be he doesn't want us to worry, but that alone is concerning."
"Yeah," Mikey murmured. "But if it is bad… Leo's gonna take it hard. He's still dealing with stuff from the Krang invasion, and then this."
Donnie hummed, only half aware of his fingers tapping. He knew Leo would never admit it, but what happened with the Krang had left deep scars in him… and everyone knew now that he'd been struggling with self-esteem long before that. In all honesty, Donnie was as worried as Mikey about how his twin would deal with another potential blow to his confidence. But before he could say anything, Leo's tired but somewhat amused voice came from his room.
"I'm right here, y' know."
Donnie saw Mikey jump at the same time he did, but quickly schooled his features before turning to walk back to his now awake twin. Mikey followed with quick, eager steps and his voice was back to cheerful.
"Leo!"
The slider grinned before lifting his arms with dramatic flair.
"Angelo, affection," he whined.
Mikey beamed happily as he moved to oblige, and Donnie rolled his eyes but couldn't resist an amused half smile.
"Glad you're feeling energetic enough to be annoying," he said. "But other than that, can you rate your pain?"
Leo shifted, his arms still around his younger brother, brow creased in concentration.
"Hmm… three, I guess, maybe four."
Donnie nodded, lips pursed in concentration as he typed on his wrist gauntlet.
"That's good, we lowered the painkillers some more this morning."
"Ohh… so that explains that funny tingle in my leg."
Donnie looked up from his gauntlet. Even though Leo's voice was light and teasing, what he said made the softshell feel more concerned than anything. Mikey looked concerned himself for a moment, but then smiled and poked Leo's cheek.
"Aw, don't worry, bro," he chirped. "It'll get better."
Leo smirked and rubbed a hand over the younger turtle's head, prompting him to close his eyes with a happy peep.
"Sure it will, if Dr. Feelings says so." He looked up at Donnie. "You second that opinion, Don Tron?"
Donnie snorted, though his attempt to look annoyed was somewhat hampered by the small smile on his face.
"Sure, he's the doctor and not me." He typed a few more keystrokes on his gauntlet. "But yes, I concur. We'll probably be able to start working out a physical therapy schedule soon."
"Yay," Leo deadpanned. Turning off the screen from his gauntlet, Donnie directed a frown at his twin. Genuine annoyance made this one a little more authentic; for all his expertise as the Mad Dogs' official medic, Leo was a notoriously terrible patient. If he wasn't trying to get up when he was supposed to be resting, he was whining about how bored he was or everything he wanted to do instead.
"I better not be hearing any complaining from you either, Nardo," the softshell warned. "At least try to be grateful you didn't end up a turtle shaped smear on the floor we pried you off of."
Though he didn't mean to, Donnie couldn't stop his voice from growing sharper at the end of his statement. And from the look on Leo's face, the slider had noticed. Rather than the snide comeback he would normally respond with, Leo's words were clearly genuine.
"Easy there, Don… I am, I really am. I'll be good, I swear."
"Glad to know it," Donnie said with a nod. "And just so you know, I expect that to extend to medication."
Leo let out a sigh but held up his right hand.
"Scout's honor. Just wish some of those pills weren't so big."
Mikey patted the slider's head.
"At least they're tasteless, bro."
Donnie felt a half smile tug at his face as he headed out of Leo's room, thanking the stars that they had their cheerful, positive little brother. Heaven knew without him they'd have all gone insane years ago. Entering his lab, he went to prep the medication. Out of sight of his brothers, though, all his more concerning thoughts began swirling through his head again.
Though none of them had wanted to bring it up yet, there wasn't just Leo's condition to be concerned about. They still had no information regarding the reappeared Shredder, whoever it might be. Whenever he wasn't caring for Leo, Donnie had been watching security feeds and tapping into police broadcasts, filtering through them for any scrap of information, but other than the usual sightings of Kraang-infected, there was no major activity. But that fact seemed far from good and more ominous.
What are they up to?
Personally, Donnie had an uneasy feeling that the Foot was keeping under the radar because they were looking for them. The lair was still secure, thankfully, but with their topside activity so limited it might be difficult to help Leo recover. Not to mention the danger of getting into another major battle with a turtle down.
Letting out a sigh, the softshell focused on making the last adjustments to the dosages. Normally he wouldn't be in serious doubt as to his family's ability to face this threat… heck, they stopped an alien invasion! But that victory came nearly at the cost of Raph, then Leo. They could help the slider recover now, like they did then; Donnie knew that for sure. But getting ready to face another Shredder?
That was going to be the hardest struggle, for all of them, and the genius couldn't suppress a nagging fear that it might prove too much this time.