Mikey woke up tucked into Raph's bed holding his giant teddy bear, Eggnog, instead of Raph. He stumbled to the kitchen and found nothing but leftover takeout in the fridge. Even the yogurt was gone. He grabbed a box of California rolls and heated them up in the microwave. Mentally, he made a to-do list.

One; go grocery shopping. At the very least they needed some cereal and bread.

Two; text April and see when she can come over again, he missed her.

Three; make sure that Raph isn't back watching Leo.

And four; try calling Draxum again. He couldn't stay off-grid forever, especially after the invasion.

Take it one step at a time, he reminded himself, focus on what you can do right now and work from there. He could text April while he ate and call Draxum before doing the dishes. The microwave went off, yelling at Mikey to get his food. Rushing to grab it, he set the plate on the counter and started eating while standing. Splinter and Raph always tried to coax him into sitting down when he ate alone, but sometimes it just felt better to stand. He shot April a quick text and opened his messages with Draxum. The last one was sent a month ago, something about mystic power surges overseas, the Council, former experiments, and… the Venus de Milo statue? The message was short and cryptic, and Draxum hadn't even seen the ten replies Mikey had sent. Stuffing another California roll into his mouth, Mikey sent another text into the void before setting his phone down. One step at a time, control what you can.

That meant placing an order for groceries the next day and buying plenty of foodstuffs, including enough pancake supplies to feed a small army. It also meant kicking Raph, Donnie, and Casey out of Leo's room, so Splinter could watch him and they could take care of themselves, several times over the next week. Between trying to do that, his hands acting up, sleepless nights (thanks to nightmares and the persisting urge that if his brothers were not in his direct line of sight something horrible had happened to them), and the general fallout of a near-apocalypse, time flew by. Leo went from complete bed rest to being able to walk about the lair in two and a half weeks, thanks in no small part to their rad genetics and faster healing, and all too soon (for Mikey at least) he was given the all clear to finally leave the lair. No one other than April had really left the lair since the invasion. Splinter and Donnie had gone out to pick up takeout a few times, but it never took long. Mikey didn't think that would change anytime soon but was quickly proven wrong.

"I'm heading out," Leo called out to the rest of the lair. Immediately, Mikey scrambled to the pipe entrance.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm heading out. April forgot one of her textbooks here last night so I'm going to run it over real fast." It wasn't anything they hadn't done before, this happened twice a month at least, but something in Mikey broke at the thought of Leo going alone into the city.

"I can do it; you go back to resting— "A hand placed on his shoulder.

"I appreciate the concern hermano, but Donnie and Pops already said I'm good to walk around on my own and between you and me I'm going a little stir-crazy in here. I'll be back before you know it, I'm just going to her house." Leo gave Mikey a last smile and pulled him into a quick one-armed hug before sliding past the waterfall.

Rationally, Mikey knew he would be fine. They hadn't heard from the Foot Clan since the invasion, Big Mama and the rest of the Hidden City were doing their own cleanup and recovery, and they hadn't seen hide or tail of anyone else. It was probably safer to do this now than it was any other time. But Mikey's rationale was quickly buried under his heart currently in his throat. What if something happened? What if the Krang came back? What if Leo got hurt? What if there was an earthquake? Or a fire? Or—

He couldn't keep thinking about it, he couldn't. He needed a distraction, his brothers, anything. Raph would know what to do, he would give him a hug and help him calm down. That was a good plan. Mikey made his way briskly over to the game room. There was his oldest brother, standing in front of an arcade machine. Before he realized he was doing it, Mikey had climbed onto his shell and was resting his chin atop Raph's head, his arm loosely hanging around his neck.

"What's up?" Raph said, still focused on the game.

"Nothin'." The physical contact helped, but he was still panicking about Leo. Thoughts racing a mile a minute, he tried to focus on the game Raph was playing.

"You want to hop down and play with me?" Raph offered after his character died.

"Mhmm." Mikey hopped off his back and pressed the two-player button, starting a new round.

The distraction helped, but not for long. A glance at his phone showed that Leo should have been back fifteen minutes ago. His anxiety spiked again, causing his character to die. He stayed still, staring at the screen. What if something had happened to him? What if he over-exerted himself? What if something happened to his shell? What if he was lost, how would they find him?

"You okay, bud?" Raph said, putting his hand on his shoulder. Mikey blinked his eyes and realized that his character had died. He hadn't been paying attention, and someone had died. "Hey, Mikey, you okay?"

"I'm going to go see Donnie." Mikey turned away from the machine. Ignoring the shock on Raph's face, he walked out of the room.

"Alright, let me know if you need anything," Raph called after him.

Rubbing his arms, he went to the lab. Sheldon gave him no trouble when he asked if he could come in; simply opening the doors with a quiet hiss.

"Donnie? You in there?" Mikey said as he entered the room. Donnie was sitting at his desk hunched over some wires. The scientist pushed his goggles up and looked up from his work.

"Yes. What's up?"

"I— I was wondering if I could see the trackers? The ones you put on us?" It sounded too childish and stupid once he said it aloud. He was fifteen and here he was asking to see Leo's Life 360 because he was scared he was lost.

"Of course." Donnie agreed rather easily, which was odd. Then Mikey blinked and realized that his eyes were watering. He didn't want Donnie doing this out of pity.

Donnie waved him over to the computer screens. A map was covering the screens. There was a collection of small, color-coded faces all sitting around the same spot, labeled "home". Clicking on a search bar near the top of the screen, Donnie typed in "Leo". A small loading screen appeared and disappeared as soon as it came. Leo's icon was moving slowly along the road, along with Aprils.

"He's on fifth street, and looks to be making his way here with April."

"Okay, okay." Mikey took a deep breath. "Thanks, Dee."

"No probles," Donnie said before pushing his rolling chair back to the workbench.

Staring at the screen Mikey watched the icons move slowly toward "home". When they finally reached it, he ran out of the lab. Sure enough, there was Leo and April. Mikey felt his breath hitch as he ran to trap Leo in a hug.

"Whoa! Hey, Angelo, I wasn't gone that long, was I?" Leo said, laughing a bit and hugging Mikey back.

"You were gone long enough," Mikey spoke into his shoulder.

"What about me? I haven't seen you in a while either." April said. Mikey laughed and pulled away from Leo, letter her bring him into a hug.

"I missed you too, April."

"You better have."

If that was the only time anyone left the lair, Mikey could have died happy. But of course, it was only the beginning. Donnie started looking for scrap metal again, Ralph brought Casey on his and Cassandra's patrols, Leo would go to Señor Hueso's restaurant, and so much more. And every time they left, Mikey would find himself in front of Donnie's computer, staring at their trackers.

Mikey tried to leave one night as well. It had been a rough night and he didn't want to bother his brothers for the sixth time that week, so he packed a bag with his spray paint bottles and sketchbook, and grabbed his mask, preparing to find an alleyway to decorate. But once get got to the entrance he paused. What if something happened while he was gone? What if they needed him? What if the Krang came back? What if—

He couldn't do it, he couldn't leave his brothers. He dropped the bag and sat on the floor, resting his head on his knees. It was so dumb. They were ninjas, they could all handle themselves and the Krang were gone, there wasn't any reason to keep worrying like this. Sitting here isn't helping anyone. Mikey pulled his phone out and checked the time, four-thirty in the morning. (How long had he spent debating leaving?) If he started now, he could finally get together that pancake breakfast. Tossing his stuff back in his room, he went to the kitchen.

About halfway through making all the batter, and stirring the blueberry one, Donnie stepped out of his lab. The two froze when they locked eyes.

"Don't tell the others." They said in unison.

Then, after a beat of silence. "Especially Raph," Donnie said. "He's caught me up late too many times this week."

"My lips are sealed if yours are," Mikey said, smiling.

"Good. What are you making?" Donnie walked over.

"Pancakes! Regular, chocolate chip, and blueberry." Mikey gestured to each bowl as he said their flavor.

"Ah, I was wondering why you bought so much buttermilk. Sidetrack, where's your phone?" Donnie said.

"Huh?"

"Your phone, I want to put an app on it."

"Uh, charging in my room?" Mikey watched as Donnie went into his room. He washed his hands and went to follow him, but Donnie came out and handed him his phone.

"Here. You should be able to access it now." Handing Mikey his phone, Donnie pointed at a new app icon. It was just a default map with the name "trackers". Opening up, however, showed the same display Donnie had on his computer screen. Cute little icons and all. "Now you don't have to ask me to log into my computer every time before I leave."

"Thanks, Dee." Mikey couldn't find the words to properly express his gratitude, so he settled for a tried and true method: "You get first pick of the pancakes today!"

"Aha! The strategic gift-giving timing worked! Eat that, Leonardo!" Donnie waved his hands around, grin wider than Mikey had seen in a while.

"What am I eating?" A tired Leo said, walking out of his room. Nightcap half-fallen down his face, he yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh, just the losers pancakes!" Donnie exclaimed.

"Wh- Mikey! Did you promise him first dibs?"

"Sorry Leo," Mikey said, grinning sheepishly, "But first come first serve."

It was later that day. Leo had left about an hour ago, something about a new magician exhibit opening up downtown, and Mikey was starting to get worried. The app was working just fine, but his mind wouldn't leave him alone. Frantic thoughts about what might have happened to his older brother raced through his mind. He's fine. Mikey reminded himself. You can see his location on the app and Donnie and Raph are in the other room. Everyone is okay.

But, just to be sure, he opened the app up for the third time in the past half-hour. It loaded up quickly and he typed "Leo" into the search bar.

No results.

Mikey felt his heart stop. He typed it in again, maybe it had just been a typo, but no results.

Leo was gone.