Can be seen as a follow-up piece to Never Alone of Brotherly Bonds, but if you haven't read those, this is also quite capable of standing on its own. So you don't have to have read that one to get this one.

But if you haven't read that one, I should tell you, this takes place Season 3 of the 2012 series when they are at the farmhouse. Post Race with the Demon, at which point, Donnie and Casey have become real close friends and have started fixing up the Party Wagon, virtually excluding Raphael from the entire process. Leo and Raph have formed a close bond. This happens kinda after the turtles return from their Vision-Quest, before they head back to New York, so Leo is no longer limping.

I think that's probably a little more than you need to know, but just as explanation for people who haven't been following the show, or who needed a quick recap.

-----------------

Donatello had been out in the barn working with Casey Jones all day. It was five o'clock when Leo finally came out to check on them. Those two were at it again, bickering away as they poked around deep in the engine of the party wagon.

"Hey, you two," Leo said, sitting down with a grunt.

Don turned to his brother, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. Leo smiled when Don's hand streaked grease across his head.

"Hey, Leo, what's up?"

"You've been out here all day, Don. Don't you think you should come in and spend some time with the rest of us?"

"Sorry, Leo, but we really can't, we've got to get this done."

"If you'd let Raph help, I'm sure the three of you could get it done tomorrow." Leo suggested.

Don sighed. "Leo, Casey and I have got everything under control."

Casey cursed as he cut his thumb. The two turtles turned to him.

"First-aid kit?"

"In the back."

Casey nodded, holding his injured finger tightly and rushing to the other end of the vehicle.

In a hushed tone, Leo said, "Donnie, did it ever occur to you that maybe Raphael wants to help?"

"Leo..." Don sighed.

"After everything that's happened, Don, we need to support each other."

The brainiac nodded. "I know, and we do."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Don blinked, not quite sure what Leo meant, but he didn't like what was being implied.

Leo stared past Donatello at the human bandaging his injured finger several feet away. "Then you could stand to make some improvement." He stood and left without another word, leaving his younger sibling staring after him.

------------------

Leo paused at the door of the room he shared with Raphael. The red-masked turtle had been in there all day, and Leo hadn't been able to convince him to come out.

He sighed and didn't bother knocking. Knowing Raph, he'd probably hear Leo's step lingering outside the door.

It surprised the eldest when Raph didn't acknowledge him with the usual grunt. Raph was sprawled out on the floor, with a pencil in his hand and a sketchbook laid out in front of him.

Leo blinked a few times and canted his head. I didn't know Raph drew, he thought. He stepped around the hothead to get a better look at the drawing Raph was working on. He gasped and took a few rapid steps back in alarm. Raph's pencil hit the floor and the hothead turned to his older brother in surprise.

One of Leo's hands rested on his katanas as his eyes remained fixed on the sketch. If he didn't know better, he'd think it was about to pop off the page and come after him. His arms trembled a little.

Raph stared at his older brother anxiously. "Leo, what—" he looked down at the open sketchbook and made the connection. He sat in front of the book, blocking Leo's view.

Leo snapped out of it and stared at his immediate younger brother for a moment. His hand came away from his katanas and his posture loosened.

After a minute or two, Raph said, "Sorry."

Leo looked at Raph's face.

"I didn't know you were there."

There was still no visible reaction from the elder sibling.

Raph sighed. "I'll put it away."

"No."

Raph was surprised. He waited for Leo to give him a reason why he shouldn't.

"Can I see it again?"

"Are you sure you want to?" Raph asked, cautiously, trying to size up his older sibling's current mood.

"I'm prepared now."

"Whatever you say, chief." Raph handed the book off to his older sibling.

Leo took it with a grateful nod. A deep frown spread over his face. The image was an extremely disturbing one.

Raph, who was watching carefully, noticed Leo's unease.

"Maybe this isn't the time." He said. He reached out to grab it, but Leo turned away from him. Raph got the message: Leo wasn't giving up until he was done.

"How do you get so much detail? It's not like you had him sit and pose for you. At least, I sincerely hope you didn't." Leo joked weakly.

Raph grinned, replied sarcastically, "Of course, Leo. I just told him 'sit here while I do your portrait' and then when I was done he just let me go cause I did such a nice job. Or, even better, he corners me and says 'I will kill you, turtle! But first I want to commission a portrait from you to hang on the wall of my lair.'"

Leo really laughed at that. After his laughter had died down, he marveled once again at the intricacy of his brother's work.

"You think it's that good, huh?" Raph asked, raising an eye-ridge at the look of complete enthrallment on Leo's face.

"Good? Raph, that's a severe understatement." Leo shivered at the coldness of the eyes. They struck almost as much fear into his heart as the real thing.

"Took all day, but I think I finally got it right this time."

"Why do you think I practically jumped across the room?" Leo remarked, marveling at depth Raph had achieved with the shading.

"If it bothers ya, Leo—"

"No, I think I've gotten over it. But I half expect it to come jumping after me."

"C'mon, Leo, it's not that good."

Leo shook his head from side to side. "Raph, are you kidding?!"

Raphael shrugged it off.

"You could give Mikey a run for his money."

A weird look crossed Raphael's face. Leo raised an eye-ridge.

"What?" Leo asked.

Raph looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Mikey painted that mural on the wall of his room, remember?"

Raphael actually laughed.

Leo's eye-ridges furrowed in confusion. "What's so funny?" He asked.

"The mural on Mikey's wall?"

"Yeah?"

"I painted it." Raph said with a smile.

It took Leo a few seconds to comprehend the sentence. "You did?" He stammered, a bit shocked. Mikey had paraded around telling everyone that he painted it.

"Yeah. The little knucklehead found my sketchbook. He held me over a barrel. Told me that if I didn't help paint a mural on his wall, he'd go parading around the lair with my book under his arm, showing them to everyone."

Leo blinked. "Help him?"

"Yeah, he designed it. I painted it specifically for him, just the way he wanted."

Leo didn't understand. Why was Raphael so eager to hide his talent? "It's a gift Raph, you should be proud of it."

Raph scoffed. "Are you kidding? Casey would probably laugh his head off. And I know how Don feels about artistic endeavors." He said sullenly.

Leo canted his head. "What do you mean?"

The hothead looked at the floor. "It's nothing."

"You can tell me." Leo urged. He gave his younger sibling a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"It was a long time ago, no point talking about it now."

Leonardo gently sidled up against Raphael's shoulder and nudged him gently. Keeping his gaze glued to the floor, Raph leaned gratefully into Leo's support.

"When we were nine I used to draw all the time. With Mikey or you or whoever was willing to do it with me. I'd use pens, pencils, crayons, charcoal, whatever was on hand." Raphael paused and looked away.

Leo leaned comfortably against Raph and rested his head on Raph's shoulder. Raph tossed him off with a little grunt, but when Leo settled back in the same position, he conceded with a drawn-out sigh of annoyance.

"One day I asked Donnie to draw with me. He said that drawing was just a waste of time. He told me to grow up and do something useful."

Leo's arms wrapped around Raph's shoulders, "We all know that Donnie can get snappy when he's in the middle of something, Raph. Just because he said that, doesn't mean that—"

"I know."

Leo looked back down at Raph's sketchbook. He turned the page. What greeted him was an abstract image. A dark, swirling vortex. He turned another page: a stormy sky with lightning flashing. He leafed on through a few more pages. Most of the images were dark, filled with swirls of black, purple and dark blue. His fingers slowed as he saw a corner of the image on the next page. It was another portrait of Shredder, penned in black and dark red ink. Looking at it was hard, because it reminded him only too keenly of his injuries and the battle that had preceded them. He quickly moved on.

He canted his head. A green figure with its arms outstretched was suspended mid-air against a night sky. Raph leaned over Leo's shoulder and looked at it.

"I call it The Fall."

"What is he falling from?"

"Wrong question. You should be asking where he's falling to." Raph said softly. He nodded forward. "Turn the page."

Leo did as Raphael instructed. The next image only made him blink more rapidly. This time the green figure was sprawled out in the midst of a swirling darkness.

"I'm not really sure."

Raph shrugged. "Neither am I. Originally, it was supposed to be the ground. Instead it ended up being more like a black hole."

"I'm glad it isn't the ground. This way there's life in it. Interest. One wonders just where he's going."

"Don't look too deep into it. 'S just a drawing."

"But you put something into it, a part of you."

"Why do you think they're so dark?" Raph asked, not expecting an answer.

Leonardo didn't even try to give one. He recognized a rhetorical question when he heard it. His eyes briefly scraped the surface of his brother's face. Raph obviously didn't want to be easily read.

"Does it help you channel your anger?" Leo asked, nodding at Raph's sketchbook.

Raph sighed and looked away. "I don't draw when I'm angry. That's just a waste of paper."

"But it is an emotional release?"

"Guess you could call it that. I got a lot of things inside that just gotta get out, ya know?" Raph said. "Everybody's gotta have some type of release."

"I understand, little brother. We all have our methods. You release your emotions through art, I train, Donnie and Casey—" Leo was suddenly sorry he'd even said those last two names. The slightest mention of Donnie and Casey had put Raph back into a dark mood. "Uh...Raph?" Leo asked when his brother didn't respond for a few moments.

Raphael's facial expression had changed from saddened to something more thoughtful. His eyes drifted away from his brother's face.

Leo took a small step forward, but Raph had completely turned away.

"I think I understand."

Leo canted his head.

"You're right, Leo. Everyone copes in different ways. Casey and Don, they fix cars. Something they know a lot about. They don't wanna deal with all the crap you and I have weighing us down right now. So they've pulled away. Made a nice little world where they think they can hide from everything and everyone, even their family."

Big, blue eyes blinked blankly. Leo's eye-ridges rose. "You know, little brother. I think you just might be right." He said, bringing his hand to his chin.

Raph's contemplative look broke and he stared flatly at his big brother. "Really?"

"What?"

"You even pose like Captain Ryan. Seriously, Leo?"

"What?! I'm not posing, it's a comfortable thinking position!" Leo said defensively.

Raph rolled his eyes. "You're such a dork, Leo."

"Space Heroes is a great show! If you gave it half a chance, you'd really like it. Seriously, if you'd just sit down and watch all the way through an episode with me-"

"That's what you said last time, Fearless. Well, I watched an episode, and I ain't impressed."

Leo glared and crossed his arms. "You were blasting music from your boombox the entire time. You couldn't even hear a word of what they were saying."

"I don't have to. 'Brazenly go wherever we want', something goes wrong, the whole crew freaks out, we're all gonna die—SLAP—Captain Ryan saves the day, we all fly away in our happy space ship. Not much to it, Leo."

The eldest turtle huffed. "I don't know why I even try to have this argument with you."

"Me neither, considering you always lose."

Lips pulled in a straight line, Leo ground his teeth. He turned away from Raphael with a grumbled of, "Can't even listen to reason." He started to leave when he got pulled back. Sensing a change in the atmosphere, he faced Raphael. His younger brother's face was soft and earnest.

"Leo...I wanted to, uh, well, to say—you know—for all your support lately." Raph bowed his shoulders and tucked his neck a little further into his shell, making him seem even smaller than he already was.

Leo punched Raph's scarred plastron affectionately. "Don't worry about it, little brother."

Raphael rubbed the back of his neck and bounced from foot to foot nervously. "I, um, I kinda sorta made you something to say, well—you know—so..." Raph pulled out a poster-sized sketchbook.

One of Leo's eye-ridges shot up. Where the heck had Raph gotten that from?

As though reading his brother's mind, Raphael said, "April said that whoever had this farmhouse before was a kinda part-time artist. There's a whole bank of stuff like this in the attic. She said I could take some."

Curious, Leo drifted over to Raph's side as the hothead lay the book out on the floor. Raph started to flip quickly through the few used pages, but Leo made him slow down. They were mostly landscapes, but they were just as fine as the rest of Raph's work. Raph tried to skip a page. Leo nudged him.

"Let me see that one."

"It's—it's not finished yet."

"Raph, please?" Leo asked sweetly.

Raph yielded. Turning the page, Leo's excitement flew out the window. The detail work on this one was exquisite. Looking down through a window upon a dirt path leading to a small, broken-down garage. Coming through the garage shack's open doors, were a greasy, but happy-looking pair of friends. Donatello and Casey Jones, smiling like they'd just been told the punch-line of a great joke.

Rising to his feet, Leonardo drifted over to the window and looked down. It was the same viewpoint. At this very moment, he could see through the open door and catch the faces of his brother and their human friend in the dim light. He turned to look back at Raph, to say something...anything, but his brother had already moved on. The page had been turned.

Leo started to return to Raphael's side. His eyes bugged out of his head. With a smile a mile wide, he tackled his younger sibling to the floor in a hug, before jumping up and excitedly running around the poster-sized sketchbook, squealing and giggling like a little girl.

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Ohmygosh! OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh!"

Raphael sat up and smiled at the sight of his big brother, reduced to such a childish state of glee by something like this. Next thing he knew, he was flying up off the ground. Leo had lifted him up. Like literally into the air. He squirmed uncomfortably and Leo plopped him back down.

"Thank you! ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou!"

"You're welcome to the sixth power." Raph grumbled, grunting as Leo smothered him in a hug.

Leo jumped up and kissed him loudly on the top of his head.

Raphael gagged and shoved Leo away. "Get the fuck away from me!" He exploded, rubbing furiously at his scalp. "You ever try that shit again and I'll skin ya, Fearless!" He threatened.

Leo's bouncing excitement barely even dulled at his brothers' outburst. He yanked Raph into another hug. "You are the coolest brother in all existence!" He said.

"It's not that big a deal." Raph grumbled, still rubbing his head.

"Not a big deal?! Look at it! Look at it!" Leo exclaimed, dragging Raph over to the drawing.

"I don't gotta look at, I drew it, Fearless."

"It's awesome." Leo said, sounding star-struck.

Raph grinned. "Not exactly my cup of tea, but I did my best." He almost yelped as he found himself trapped in another hug.

"You're the best, Raphie."

"Shutup, Leo."

"You really are, though. You're awesome, bro."

"Thanks big brother." Raph whispered, finally returning the embrace.

Leo yanked away after barely a millisecond had passed. "Help me put it on the wall."

Raphael laughed.

Together the two turtles taped the poster-sized drawing to the wall.

In Space Heroes font along the top were the words "Congratulations Cadet". A larger-than-life Captain Ryan stood to the left in all his glory, holding in his hand the insignia presented to all members of the Planetary Alliance. The key members of his crew were scattered throughout the background. Directly across from the Captain, stood Leonardo, saluting as he received his 'badge' from the hero he loved the most.

-------------------

Casey and Don didn't make it to dinner, so by the time they finally did go in to eat, both of them were starving. They found a note on the fridge. Don pulled it off and read it. His mind completely boggled by the language of Mikey, he had to read it again, and finally a third time.

Hey dudes! What's up? It's like way nighttime and you guys are still hacking away in the garage. Leo said not to tell you dinner was ready. Said you'd come eat whenever ya wanted to. So yeah, there's stuff in the fridge. I'm goin' out to the woods with Leo and Raph. April's gone to bed so don't get super loud. Big blue says we might camp out, so don't freak out or anything if we don't come back tonight. Apparently Raph's found some great place for skipping stones and we're just gonna hang out and stuff. They're even letting me bring the marsh-mellows. Sorry you missed out, dudes.

-Mikey

Don's first thought upon reading Mikey's note was: I really need to teach Mikey how to spell marshmallows.

The second was: My brothers just went camping without me?

And the third was: My brothers just went camping without me.

He handed the note to Casey, who seemed to have a similar reaction, but he was more...angry.

"What the shell? They just went camping without us?! Not cool, man. Not cool!"

Don opened the fridge and pulled out some cold leftovers. "Yeah, but I guess—we have been telling them we were busy."

"Still, they should have asked us first."

"—Casey, do you think I've been...neglecting my brothers?"

"What?" Casey asked, confused.

"It's just that, when Leo came in earlier this afternoon, he said that we needed to support each other."

"Yeah. So?"

"Well, I—don't know. I guess...I guess I just feel like I've let them all down. They need me and I've been spending all of my time with you." he quickly added, "No offense."

Casey held up a hand and shook his head. "I get it, dude, no sweat."

"Do you think we've been ignoring Raph too much?"

"Raph?" Casey parroted, taking the tupperware of leftovers from Donnie's hands, grabbing a fork from the drawer and proceeding to chow down.

Don crossed his arms. "Yeah, Raph, my brother, your best friend?"

Casey looked up. "Huh? Dude, you guys are all my friends."

"C'mon Casey, we all know you and Raph are more alike than two knives in a silver set."

Casey laughed and shook his head, speaking through his food. "Nah, not really. Sure we're similar, but we're kinda too alike, ya know? I'm honestly feeling kinda closer to you right now. 'Sides, Raph and I don't really see eye to eye anymore. He changed after the whole Leo thing, got all serious and stuff. Guess it's just cause I wanted to push it all out. Ya know, the whole outta sight outta mind thing, but Raph just kept bringing it back, and I couldn't take that. Just wanted to forget about all that serious shit, just for a minute, ya know?"

Donatello blinked. Pieces slid into place that he'd assumed weren't even parts of the puzzle. He, Donatello, had unintentionally stolen his brother's best friend. And it made him feel like the biggest shell-brain on the face of the planet. Raph was so worried about Leo he could think about nothing else. Casey and Raph drifted apart. And it was then that Donnie and Casey had found an odd bit of common ground and now...

He'd stolen Raph's best friend. And he felt awful. No wonder Leo was pushing him to let Raph help with the Party Wagon, or just...anything at all. Raph was probably lonely. He probably needed someone to blow off steam with. Knowing Raph, he'd bottled up all of his rage and devastation at Splinter's loss and buried it deep down in his heart. Not to mention the aftermath of Leo's injury.

Shell, what had he done?

Casey and Raph would become best buds again, of that Donatello had no doubts, they were just too alike not to, but how was he ever gonna make up for all the ignorance and pain that he'd put Raph through? The new and improved party wagon was pretty much complete. All it needed was a new paintjob and—

A new paintjob. That was it. Raph could help them paint the Party Wagon, but would Raph even want to help them?

"Casey, what if we have Raph paint the Party Wagon?"

Casey sat up straight and stared at Donnie like he'd grown another head. "Raph?"

"Yes, Raph. He could do it."

"Seriously? Raph?"

Don glared. "Raph's always been a great artist."

"C'mon, Don, I had some seriously wicked ideas for some pin-striping that would have been totally metal, dude." Casey whined.

Donatello growled. "I want Raphael to do it. Please, Case. I don't want him to think I don't appreciate him."

Casey Jones huffed and sighed. "Fine. Let Raph do it."

Don smiled, happily, looking forward to being able to tell his brother in the morning.

As it happened, Donatello's brothers didn't return home until almost noon the following day. Donnie and Casey were in the kitchen when Leo, Mikey and Raph came in from the back porch, talking animatedly about their trip.

Casey sent Don an understanding look and announced loudly, "I'm gonna go see what Red is up to." He left the way the other three turtles had come, the old screen door slamming loudly behind him. The other turtles didn't even seem to notice his departure.

Mikey was flaunting his title of stone-skipping champion in his big brothers' faces and they were smiling at him. Raph growled and pounced upon the unsuspecting young turtle, catching him in a headlock. Mikey yelped.

"Hey, no fair, Raph!"

"Just cause ya can throw rocks better than me and Leo don't mean you've got the edge little brother. Now whatta ya say?"

Mikey rolled his eyes. "Raphael is all wise and powerful—"

"Alright Mikey, that's enough for today." Raph said, letting Mikey go.

The youngest locked onto Donatello and honed in like a homing beacon.

"Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, Donnie, Donnie!" He exclaimed, excitedly. "I beat Raph and Leo at skipping stones! I won! I won!"

Don smiled. "Are you sure they weren't going easy on you?"

Leo and Raph smirked at each other.

Suddenly, Mikey's face wrinkled up and he turned to his big brothers, "You wouldn't...you didn't, right? I won cause I'm awesome, right?"

Leo and Raph smiled and shook their heads. "Naw, Mikey. Much as Leo and I hate to admit it, you kicked shell."

Happiness restored, Mikey broke out into a victory dance. Raphael sighed and covered his eyes.

"Sometimes I can't believe I'm related to you guys."

Leo and Mikey looked at each other and slid over, tossing their arms around Raph's shoulders and trapping him in a two-sided hug.

"But you'll always love us, Raphie." Leo said.

"Yeah, what's not to love?" Mikey joked.

Raphael snorted. A chill traveled down the back of his shell when a cold, three-fingered hand rested upon his shoulder. He craned his neck to look at Don standing a little bit behind him.

"Raph..."

An awkward silence settled over them. Don smiled, wanly, trying his best not to let the silence get to him. "Raph—" he began again, clearing his throat, "I, well, um..." Donnie smiled at his brothers and wrapped his arms around them as best he could. His eyes began to water and his lip trembled. Like they could feel Donatello's distress, his brothers' love surrounded him on all sides, and when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that he was now in the center of a three-way hug.

"I love you guys." He whispered.

Mikey's arms pulled away from Leo and Raph and he stepped forward to hug Donnie tightly. The two older brothers pulled back a little.

"We love you too, D."

Don sniffled and wiped away the tears from his eyes. "I'm sorry. I've been ignoring you guys and I—" The second his eyes met Raph's his mouth went dry.

Leo looked from Don to Raph and gathered the threads of the situation. He turned to Mikey and grabbed the youngest by the arm. He looked at Don and said, "We'll be right outside if you need us, but we'll let you work this out yourselves."

Don nodded. His hands were quaking. He had no idea how Raph was going to react. Right now the hothead looked halfway between hugging him and hitting him. Raph's footstep echoed, stopping not a full foot from his younger siblings'. An emerald-green hand rose and Don braced himself for impact. It landed softly on his shoulder. Donnie blinked and managed a tiny smile.

Then, Raph's other hand came up and slapped him across the face. He swore loudly. Raph's green eyes flashed.

"You deserved that."

"Doesn't mean I can't hope it isn't super painful," Don grumbled.

Raphael turned his carapace on his brother.

"Raph—" Donnie called.

Raph turned half-way back around.

"What I told the others...that goes for you, too."

"Uh-huh."

"I mean it." Don glared.

"I know you do," said Raph.

"You don't act like it."

"Apologizing doesn't magically make things better, Don."

"I want to commission you."

Raphael's snout wrinkled. One of his eye-ridges shot up to the top of his head. "Excuse me?"

"The Party Wagon needs painting. Think you can you handle it?"

Raph's lips curled back. "I'm not an artist Don. I don't take commissions. You told me to give it up when we were nine, remember?"

"Maybe it just took me eight years to get the courage to admit I was wrong."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Raph asked, growling.

"Since when have you ever listened to anything I tell you to do, Raph?!" Don shouted, getting angry at his stubborn brother for being so damn unreasonable. "Quit acting like a baby! Stop whining and crying and get up off your shell and do something!"

"Alright, ya know what? I've had it! That's it! I'm tired of being yur and Casey's whipping post! I'm not doing you anymore favors and I'm not gonna paint the Party Wagon!"

"Oh yes, you are! I had to fight Casey to get you this job, you're not backing out of it, Raphael!"

"You can tell Casey Jones, he can do whatever the fuck he wants, cause I'm not touching it!"

Leo and Mikey burst back in, concern and annoyance etched on both of their faces.

"What the shell is going on in here?!" Leo asked, storming in to take the position of a protective wall between Don and Raph, who were too close and too aggressive to be safely left alone.

Don and Raph went right on arguing.

"You're right, Raph. I just don't understand you. I'm trying to patch things up! I'm trying to do something good for you, here! I fought to get you this opportunity and now you're pushing me away! I don't understand and I don't think I'll ever understand! Your temper is tearing us apart and just completely—utterly irritating! You've always been bad, Raph, but this is just—you're out of control!"

Raphael laughed bitterly. Leo shot him a worried glance.

"Yeah?" Raph asked, his voice more acidic than vinegar. Raph's shoulders drooped. "Maybe losing my best friend has something to do with it."

Like a windswept dandelion, Donatello's fight fluttered away. Guilt pooled in his stomach. "Raph, I didn't mean to—"

"My fault, Don. Just let it go." Raph turned his back on them all and stormed out the kitchen door muttering, "I'll be in my room."

Mikey's bottom lip pushed out. He reached into the drawer and took out a stained piece of paper. Leo, attention diverted to the youngest, asked, "What's that, Mikey?"

"Recipe for strawberry bread." Mikey murmured.

Leo smiled and hugged his little brother. "That's Raph's favorite."

Mikey nodded.

"I'm sure he'll love that, little brother." Leo said soothingly, nudging Michelangelo into action. When the youngest was gone, Leonardo looked at Don and frowned. "Donatello."

"Yeah, Leo?"

"Go talk to him." Leo ordered.

Don sighed. "He's mad at me. Don't you think you should—"

"I think you'd be surprised how fast Raph's anger burns out, Don. Please, go talk to him. I can't run a team where two of my team members refuse to speak to each other."

"Alright." Don said shakily, starting to leave the room, hoping that this conversation wouldn't end as loudly as the one just a few seconds earlier.

"Raph's still hurting, Don. Be careful."

"I will." Don nodded, determinately.

Don paused outside the door to Leo and Raph's room. He knocked softly before he entered. Raphael was sprawled out on the floor. A sketchbook lay out in front of him on the ground and he seemed to be shading something. Don took a step forward, and then a few more. Raph still didn't acknowledge him. Getting a peek of Raphael's current work, Donnie stilled. In the image, a lone sai lay on the ground atop a bed of what appeared to be hand-wrappings splotched with blood. The image made Donnie shudder. Biting his lip, he stepped closer and closer, until he was certain his feet were in Raph's line of sight. Raphael looked up at him, but instead of the anger Don expected, Raph seemed emotionally subdued.

Don knelt down next to his brother. He looked at the sketch in progress. "Looks good...really good."

Raph looked away.

"I mean it."

"I know ya do. I'm just not used to people seeing my stuff, ya know?"

Donnie frowned a little. He reached out and put a hand on Raph's shoulder, once again, trying to ignore the way his brother flinched at the touch. "Raph...I—If you don't feel comfortable repainting the Party Wagon, you don't have to. I'll—"

"You said you had to fight?"

"Huh?"

"For the party wagon. For me to repaint it?"

"Oh, yeah. Casey wanted to do it. Insisted upon the two of us doing it ourselves. But I'm not very artsy, Raph. Blueprints are pretty different from graphic design."

"It ain't that big a stretch, Don."

"Still, I knew you would be a better choice. And I thought you'd like it. I thought maybe it could help make up for the way Casey and I've kinda been blowing you off. Look, I'll just tell Casey that he can—"

"No. Don, I—I'll do it."

"You sure?"

Raph grinned. "Sure. You two dorks think knowing your way around an engine block is impressive. When I'm done with her, that old hippie van is gonna be coolest thing on wheels."

Don smiled, feeling at ease. "Thanks, Raph." He slid over and hugged Raph. The hothead shrugged him off and started looking around.

"Where did I leave that giant sketchbook?" the hothead asked himself. He saw it tucked between the wall and his bed. "There it is."

Donnie also looked around and found a new poster adorning the wall of his big brothers' room. He blinked once, twice and thrice. How the shell had Leo gotten—

He turned and saw Raph pulling a poster-sized sketchbook out from behind the bed. A smile stretched across his face.

"Wow, Raph. I didn't realize you were such a big Space Heroes fan." Don remarked, trotting over to examine it more closely.

Raph growled. "You know I'm not. Did it for Leo."

"Obviously."

When Don turned back around, he did a double-take. Raphael was once again sprawled on the floor, the poster-size sketchbook open and his hand dancing across the page. He'd divided it neatly into four sections. Don drew closer and watched as Raph sketched out the Party Wagon from four different angles: front, back, and both sides. Once the base was done, Raph began penciling in details. He paused and looked up at Donnie.

"So, what do you want?"

"What?"

"Yeah. What, Brainiac?"

"I don't understand."

"What do you want on it?" Raph clarified, annoyed by Don's inability to comprehend his meaning.

"Well...I thought I'd leave that up to you." Don said, softly.

Raph stared for a few minutes. "Full creative freedom? You really think that's a good idea?"

"What's the matter, Raph, can't handle it?" Don teased. He frowned when Raph's eyes actually dimmed a little.

"I—"

"I know you can, bro. You're awesome. Just do whatever feels right."

Raphael nodded, chewing his lip in thought. Don watched in fascination as his most closed-off brother's face became a summersault of emotions. Raph's pencil darted across the paper faster than Donnie had ever seen before, pouring out ideas and emotions in a medium the smart turtle had very little experience with, but he didn't need experience to see at once: his big brother was a natural. Piece by piece, line by line, layer upon layer of detail was brought to the forefront. Raph tore the page from sketchbook and started another one, drawing the Party Wagon from above and at different angles to cover nearly every inch.

While Raph worked on that, Don looked at what his red-masked brother had so far. "So the roof is made of pentagonal and hexagonal shapes. Like our carapaces?"

"Yep." Raph responded.

"The body is yellow."

"Mm-hm."

"What's this here? On the right side. You have this space sectioned off with the letters R.F.E. What's that stand for?"

"Reserve for Experimentation."

"What's that mean?" Don asked.

"It means I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it'll work or not."

Don smiled. "You can do this, Raph. Don't second-guess yourself."

Raph grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks Donnie."

"Anytime, bro. Anytime."

-------------------

The next day, Raph enlisted the help of his brothers, April and Casey. Though Casey grumbled a little at first, once he'd seen Raph's plans and made some recommendations of his own, some of which Raph even agreed to implement, the human teenager gladly pitched in. Then, after all of that was done, the three turtle brothers and two humans watched in astonishment as Raphael armed himself with paint cans and started to airbrush a design on the door of the Party Wagon. When he was done, they stared in awe. A green female figure, with blonde hair, wearing form-fitting brown bathing-suit-like attire and a striking red mask leaned leisurely back against a big, black, old-school bomb with a lit fuse. White, flowing text entitled her: Venus.

"That is so metal!" Casey exclaimed, throwing an arm over Raph's shoulders.

Donatello smiled. He couldn't have said it better himself.

When they all came together in a group hug, Donnie couldn't help but laugh at the horrified expression on Raphael's face when they trapped him in the middle. He had the best brothers ever.

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This one took forever and I'm still not really sure it was ready, but I guess that writers never really feel a piece is really ready. There's always something they wish they could tweak, even when all's over and done with.

Well, how was it? Review Please!