So, I got all my files off my old computer. Something long overdue. Amongst them, I found this little jewel. 

Bit of backstory. This was originally meant to be the follow up to Never Alone in Brotherly Bonds, but I think I began writing 'A Form of Release' and forgot about this entirely. Turns out that it fits rather nicely between the two.

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There. Another day's work completed. Raphael smirked as he straightened and put his hands on his hips. Ha! Take that, chores!

He heard Casey's voice not far away and he turned, about to ask the human if he wanted to hang out. Green eyes slid over to the hockey-obsessed teenager and Raph's smirk dimmed.

Casey had his arm around Donatello's shoulders. "Donatello, you are the turtle!"

Raph's shoulders drooped. He headed off in the opposite direction, towards the woods. Casey and Donnie had become fast friends after the whole mutant car incident. And it left him feeling rather...left out. Casey had been his closest friend since Spike was mutated, and now...well Raph was alone once again.

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The next day, Raph managed to get in the garage and watch for a bit as Donnie tried to figure out what was causing the party van's issues this time. After a long silence he finally asked:

"What about the air to fuel ratio did you—"

"Of course."

"And the lines are all—"

"They're fine."

"What about the hoses and belts are they all—"

"Yes of COURSE they are."

"Geez Donnie, I'm just trying to—"

"Well I don't need or want it, Raphael! Could you just leave?!"

"Whatever you say."

The response surprised Donatello. He was expecting...well he was expecting pretty much anything but that. Raph didn't even yell. Hmm. I'll probably have to apologize to him later. Don thought, sighing frustratedly as he turned back to the temperamental engine.

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Leo was smiling at Michelangelo as he watched the youngest flitter about in the kitchen making breakfast. Mikey had always been good with food, even though his little flavor experiments sometimes went a little too far. Mikey stopped dead and Leo's head snapped to the right as their hotheaded brother came into the house, the screen door slamming behind him with a bang. Leo smiled. "Raph, come, sit. Mikey's making breakfast."

Raphael didn't even look at them. "I'm not hungry." He said lowly, walking past them and straight out into the hall where he proceeded to march up the stairs.

"I'll go talk to him." Mikey said softly, reaching back to untie his apron, but as the French toast on the stove threatened to burn he had to leap back and turn them over. Leo put a hand on his shoulder.

"You make breakfast. I'll go." He carefully limped his way up the stairs. When he was about halfway up, there was a loud thud and he quickened his pace. He flung open Raph's door without so much as a pause.

Raphael was seated with his carapace pressed to the wall and his knees pulled in to his chest. He rested his arms on his knees and lay his head in his hands. His expression wasn't sad, but it wasn't angry either. It was blank.

"You okay?" Leo asked, grimacing as he noticed a fresh, fist-sized dent in the wall.

"I don't want to talk about it," came a muffled reply.

"I wasn't going to make you."

Raph said nothing. Leo slid down next to him. Their shoulders were touching. Leo wanted to put a hand on Raph's shoulder but he didn't dare risk upsetting the hothead further. His heart sank a little as he stared at Raph's blank expression. Slowly, Raphael met his stare with a desperate look.

"Leo, please, can you just—I need some time."

Leo gave in to his instincts and threw an arm over Raph's shoulders and squeezed tightly before standing up. "Take as long as you need."

Raph smiled wanly at the eldest, but the pain in his eyes was still abundantly clear.

Outside, Leo sighed and carefully hobbled down the stairs. When he returned the kitchen, Mikey looked up, hopefully. Leo shook his head and the youngest deflated. At that moment, the door flew open and Casey Jones strode into the room.

"Hey guys! Mikey, what's for breakfast?"

"Pepperoni scramble." Mikey said jovially, pasting a fake smile on his face.

"Cool. Two bowls to go, I'm gonna take one out to Don and we'll eat in the ol' barn."

Those words snapped what little was left of Leonardo's patience.

"No, you won't. Or at least, Don won't." He said coldly.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means that if Donatello can't at least spend half-an-hour with his family for breakfast, then he isn't going to eat at all. You go back to the barn and you tell him to get his shell in here!" He couldn't help the bit of harshness that seeped into his voice.

Casey wisely decided not to protest any further and ran off to fetch the turtle in question.

As far as Leonardo was concerned, he'd been too indulgent for too long. Too silent, too, for that matter! Don and Casey actually getting along with one another was all fine and dandy, but it seemed that those two interpreted 'getting along' to be something that excluded them from the rest of their family members.

Leonardo had felt the same way when Casey Jones had first entered the picture. Raphael, who was already—in Leo's opinion—the most emotionally closed-off of his three siblings, was even more so after meeting Casey Jones. Casey was an emotional outlet for Raph. Leo had realized that. After losing Spike, it was what the hotheaded turtle had needed, and so Leo hadn't objected as much as he probably should have.

But now, they were here at the farmhouse. So much had happened. It pained Leo to think of the agony his brothers must have been in waiting for him to wake up. Raph had needed someone more than ever then, and from what Leo could tell, Casey Jones had drifted away from the hothead. Raphael had been alone. Raph didn't do alone very well. Especially not when they'd lost their father, their city and practically their older sibling in one fell swoop. Leo hadn't really known how badly Raphael had been affected until last week, when Raph had confessed to him by the pond.

Casey and Don were hurting Raph. Unintentionally, of course, but Leo was beyond the point of caring about that. Again and again, those two reveled in the friendship that they'd found in one another. Honestly! Bragging about modifying the turtle van! Constantly complaining about all the work that they had to do. It bothered Raphael. Leo could see that. The garage had become their private club and Raph longed to gain admittance. They wouldn't let him help.

Every day there was new project that they would discuss in detail at dinner when everyone ate together. And every night for the past week, Leo watched Raphael listen to every word with rapt attention and complete comprehension. Leo noticed Raph biting his lip, holding himself back.

Then finally, two nights ago, Leo finally decided to do something about it:

"—so we replaced the sparkplugs, but speed is still an issue, it's not responding the way it should. We'll have to check the alternator and the sensors."

Raphael bit his lip.

Leo raised an eye-ridge and remarked, "I don't think Raph agrees with you there, Casey."

All eyes were suddenly on Raphael. Casey sent the red-masked turtle an affronted glance. The small flash of anger in Raph's eyes made Leo grin a little. There's the hothead he knew.

"You should check the catalytic converter. If the sparkplugs were extremely deteriorated it could have led to a problem with—"

"Not necessarily, Raph. It could be anything along those lines, including a faulty sensor or something. It's an old vehicle, but Mr. O'Neil seems to have kept it up to standards." Don interrupted, speaking haughtily and, in Leo's opinion, patronizingly.

Raphael deflated and lowered his eyes to the table below, shifting uncomfortably. "Didn't say it wasn't. Only said you might want to check."

"No sweat! Donnie and I will check whatever needs to be checked and get it taken care of. Not only that, we'll make it ten times cooler than it was before!" Casey said with a grin.

Don smiled and nodded.

Raph stood, jostling the table a bit in his haste. "I'm on dish duty tonight. Might as well get started."

"I'll dry," Leo stated and stood as well, limping into the kitchen after the hothead.

At the sink, another conversation began.

"What the shell do you think you're doing, Leo?"

"I was just trying to help Raph, if you want to prove yourself to them, you better speak up."

"And who said I had to prove anything to those bozos?"

Leo huffed and grabbed Raph's shoulder roughly, turning him around, "I didn't say that."

Raph lathered up the dishes and ignored him.

"Raphael you can't deny that you want them to let you help."

"So what? They don't want my help. Let it go, Leo."

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that the way those two have been acting doesn't bother you."

Leo frowned when Raph refused to acknowledge him.

"Of course it bothers me."

"And the way they treat you? How does that make you feel?"

"Like garbage."

Leo's head shot up so that he could stare Raphael in the face.

This was another thing Leo wasn't sure he'd ever be able to get used to: Raph's forthrightness. It had stunned him at first, and still did every time it surfaced, but more than anything, it worried him. Raphael was his brother and teammate. The fact that he made such candid admissions to Leo made the blue-masked turtle feel deeply honored that his brother trusted him with such things. Slowly and warily, so that Raph could see it coming, he tugged the hothead into a loose hug.

Raph briefly allowed the embrace before gently nudging the older turtle backwards. He yawned and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Look, don't worry about it, Leo. One of these days they'll need some kind of help and I'll bet I can just jump on in. They still haven't gotten over the thrill of having new friends, that's all."

"And you think that they'll just go back to the way they were if you just let them be and don't even point out the fact that they're neglecting their family duties?"

"Yeah, sure they will."

"I don't think it's going to be that simple."

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Welp, how was it?

P.S. This is the first of several chapters of Brotherly Baggage that were mostly/partially written that found in my folder on my old computer, so you can expect more to come over the next few days. I don't want to post them all in one day, but we'll see. If I get super excited about a chapter, I might not be able to help myself.