Short and sweet. Enjoy!

This one takes place after the latest episode: Mutant Gangland

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Knock. Knock. Knock.

A heavy, forest-green eyelid lifted, and a blue eye glanced through the darkness towards the backlit surface of his door. Ugh. What now? As if this day hadn't been long enough. Raph's stroke of 'independence', Donnie getting captured, an evil mobster who aimed to wipe mutant-kind off the face of the planet...What could possibly be going on that was so important as to warrant the interruption of a much needed sleep? He thought, his feet carrying his sleep-heavy body to the door.

Knock. Knock.

He opened his mouth to ask who it was and what they wanted, but the culprit beat him to it.

"L-Leo? Are you awake?"

He sighed and pried open the door.

"Am now," he said. A small tinge of annoyance colored his thick, sleepy voice.

Michelangelo face turned guiltily to the floor. "Sorry. I shouldn't have—"

"Well, I'm up now," Leo yawned, fighting to keep his eyes from closing. "Say what ya need to say, Mikey."

The youngest turtle rubbed his arm and shifted his weight, never looking up from the lair floor.

"I—I couldn't sleep." He whispered.

Leo's eyes opened fully and his back straightened. Tired or not, his brothers came first. His right hand reached out and tilted Mikey's chin up. Mikey still wouldn't look at him.

"It's okay, little brother. You're safe." He cooed, softly. Mikey's eyes were still closed. Leo leant down a little, "C'mon, Mikey, let me see those baby blues."

Mikey sniffled. He looked up at his big brother's gentle, comforting face and his baby-blue irises drowned in tears. A cross between a sob and a relieved sigh left his mouth.

The next thing Leo knew, he had a hundred and fifty pounds of little brother clinging to his plastron. He hushed Mikey's sobs and led his younger brother into his room, sitting the youngest down on the bed. The hall light pouring in through the open door was enough for him to clearly see Mikey's face.

"Mikey?" he asked softly, probing for an explanation.

"L-L-Leo...I'm scared."

His arms wrapped tightly around Mikey's shoulders.

"You don't have to be scared, little brother. You're safe now." Leo rattled off, remotely, sensing that Mikey was spooked by their latest escapade. "It's okay. We're all safe."

"For now."

Leo's eye-ridges drew together sadly. He sighed. If only he could disagree.

"So you know it, too! You know it and you still say it's okay." Mikey sobbed. "This time Raphie almost got killed, Leo. Donnie could've been dissected!"

"We're family Mikey. As long as we look out for each other, we'll be okay."

"But what about when he comes back, Leo? He's gonna come back and he's gonna wanna kill us even more!"

Leo's face stiffened. "We'll get there when we get there, little brother. But as long as we have each other, we'll come out on top."

Mikey shook his head wildly from side to side. "L-L-Leo...I was s-so s-scared. When he said one of our b-brothers was d-down—"

"—I know," said Leo. His grip tightened. "I was, too."

"B-but you were so—"

"Just because I didn't show it, doesn't mean I wasn't scared, Michelangelo. I can't lose you—any of you, but I had to prioritize. First I had to get us out of there. I couldn't plan a rescue until we were safe."

"I couldn't do that." Mikey said, shaking.

"That's why I'm the leader, little brother."

Mikey's sobs turned to sniffles. Leo rubbed his shell comfortingly.

"How could you be so sure, big brother?"

"What?" Leo asked, not completely understanding.

"How did you know they'd be okay? That we'd all—you know..."

His dark blue eyes stared down into his little brother's lighter ones. "I know my brothers, Michelangelo. I know what they're capable of, and the one thing I know, more than anything, is that my little brothers are strong enough to beat anything. I believe in Don, Raph and Mikey."

Leo pulled back, his eyes glazed over.

Mikey watched, in awe. Unshed tears blurred his vision. "I believe in Leonardo."

It was as though the sound of Mikey's voice pulled Leo back from the land of thought. His lips curled into a smile.

"Thanks, Mikey," he whispered.

They shared a brief silence. Leo carefully watched Mikey's face. He could tell that wasn't all of what bothered the other turtle. He leaned back on his bed and glanced up at the ceiling, allowing his mind to wander again. If Raph's injuries had been any worse, he may never have made it back to the lair at all, and if they'd been any later rescuing Don, the genius might have been...

Leo didn't even want to think about it.

"How can they call us monsters?" Mikey's voice cracked.

Leo glanced up at Mikey, who was still sitting on the edge of his bed. He sighed.

"All they see is our bodies, little brother. They don't realize that we're living, breathing, thinking creatures."

Mikey sucked in a breath and shook his head. "No, Leo, you're wrong."

The blue-masked turtle propped himself up on his elbows, to get a clearer view of Mikey's expression.

"They just don't care." Mikey whispered.

The silence proved the younger brother right. Leo looked away.

"They're the monsters, Leo."

"I know. I only wish we could convince them otherwise."

"It isn't worth it." Mikey spat, venomously.

Leo's eye-ridges rose in surprise.

"Anyone who'd just kill something because it's different doesn't deserve to live."

"That's not our call to make, little brother." Leo said, softly.

"It should be somebody's!" Mikey argued, tears of pain and anger pinching at the corners of his eyes.

"Then how would we be any better than they are?" he asked.

Mikey's shoulders fell and the tears ran down his face.

The sight of his little brothers crying always made Leo feel like he'd failed them. A tear of his own escaped him. "I'm so sorry, Michelangelo. I know it hurts."

"I wish you could make it go away."

More tears gathered in Leo's eyes and he choked out, "Me too, little brother, me too."

The forest-green turtle sat up and tugged Mikey closer. Mikey lay his head on Leo's shoulder.

"You know what Master Splinter said, before? About the foi—the foyoy—the faoyaoy—the foylies?"

Leo snorted and flicked Michelangelo between the eyes. "Foibles."

"Yeah, those."

"What about them?"

"You really think—if there hadn't been danger—Raph might not 've forgiven Donnie?"

Leo frowned. Not long before he'd fallen asleep, he'd wondered the same thing. He shook his head.

"I don't know for certain, Mikey, but I think Raph would have come back. Don might have had to get down on his knees and beg, but I think Raph would've forgiven him...eventually."

"What about what Splinter said?"

"Splinter said a lot of things today, Mikey."

The youngest pulled his head in a little closer to his shell.

"He said nothing lasts forever...not even family." Mikey's face was filled with pain. "Leo, we'll never stop being brothers, right?"

"Never." Leo said with certainty. Determination flooded his ocean-blue gaze. "Never in a million years. We'll always be brothers, no matter what happens. I promise, Michelangelo, I'll always be there for you."

Mikey pressed into his brother's side. "Thanks."

Leo smiled. "That's what brothers are for."

Mikey hummed. "Big brothers are awesome."

"Bet your shell, we are."

They both looked up. One of Leo's eye-ridges rose inquisitively at the sight of his red-masked sibling.

"Why are you still up?"

"Kinda hard to sleep when you two are in here sobbing your guts out." Raph said, having a seat on the bed, leaning into Leo's other side.

Leo rolled his eyes.

"'Sides, the brainiac just released me from the lab."

"The lab?" Leo echoed, concerned.

Mikey rested his heavy head on his big brother's shoulder. His eyelids were getting very heavy...

"Thankfully, it's just a mild concussion," Don's voice supplied.

Leo turned his head to see the genius brother standing in the doorway. He spoke to him over Raph's head.

"You're sure?"

Don nodded. Leo's shoulders relaxed. His attention turned back to his other two little brothers and realized both were now leaning heavily against him, emitting soft, even snores. He looked back at Donnie.

"I appear to be trapped."

Don smiled when he saw what Leo meant. "Looks like it. Is that a bad thing?" He asked.

Leo laughed and shook his head. "Not at all, but I'm not so sure how much sleep I'll be able to get like this."

Don walked soundlessly over to the bed and sat down, also leaning into his big brother. "In that case—I'll make it even harder for you."

"Gee, thanks." Leo said, rolling his eyes, but inside, his heart had never been more glad. He was just starting to settle into a light sleep when he sensed something off. He reached down to Donnie's forearm and found the source. Don's hands were shaking.

"Donnie, You okay?"

"Y-yeah, Leo. I guess I'm still a little shaken."

"And also shaking. Is there anything I can do?" Leo asked, genuine desire to help his brother expressed in his tone of voice.

Donnie shook his head from side to side, and the shaking of his hands intensified. He hiccupped. "I—hic—I j-just didn't know what to d-do, Leo. Raph left and it was all my fault and when I was talking to him, he wasn't going to come back. He said he wanted nothing to do with us—with me. It was all my fault."

"Donnie it wasn't just you, we all—"

"No, Leo. This time it was me. He was so adamant about never coming back, but then—when the missile hit the party wagon—he was so worried about us. He was scared, Leo. I could hear it. He was terrified. Even after all the things I said, even when after he'd quit, he still cared."

"Of course he did, Don, because Raph just quit the team. He never quit being your big brother."

"Seeing him go down like that—it scared me, Leo."

Leo squeezed Don's forearm. He wanted to turn so he could hug the brainiac, but his two snoring brothers rather limited his sphere of movement. Donnie understood.

"When Vizioso said one of my brothers was down, I was scared, too."

"I'm sorry, Leo. If I hadn't said that stuff to Raph in the first place, we never would've—"

"You don't know that Don. Let it go. Raph's forgiven you. Now you gotta forgive yourself."

"How can I, Leo? We almost lost Raph!"

"We almost lost you, too," Leo reminded him.

"So?! Leo our family almost fell apart because of something I said!"

"Donnie, we're brothers and we're a team, we cover each other's mistakes. Yeah, you two had a few issues, but you sorted them out. Everything's okay. You learned your lesson."

Donnie looked away. His hands had stopped shaking, but his lip still jutted out into a frown. "Yeah, but how do we forgive each other, knowing that we might have been seriously hurt because of the things we said?" He whispered, looking at Raph's sleeping face.

Leo sighed. "It isn't easy. But I'm sure our resident hothead would be glad to help straighten things out for you."

"With the regular dose of noogies and headlocks included, I assume."

Leo smiled. "Of course." He was happy to see a smile back on Donnie's face.

With a contented sigh, Donatello finally relaxed. "I'm sure glad I have such awesome brothers," he said.

Leonardo smiled and made himself as comfortable as he could, the heavy pull towards sleep returning. He yawned, and his face settled into a dreamy grin. "We're so glad to have you," he said. He watched Donatello drift off to sleep smiling. 

Finally feeling everything was once again right with the world, Leo allowed himself to relax. Just as he closed his eyes, before drifting off to sleep, he added, to himself: I love you, little bros.

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How was it?