So here's the sequel to Replaced. Hope you all like it! Let me know what you think after! Thanks everyone!

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Raphael had always been jealous of Leo. He still was sometimes, but in their younger years Raph's jealousy had always been directed at the eldest turtle. Sometimes towards Mikey and Donnie as well but mostly towards Leo. Because Leo had Sensei wrapped around his little finger. Leonardo was Sensei's favorite and, oh, how it made Raph burn. Much as he had wanted too, however, Raphael just couldn't hate Leo. He loved Leo. Leo was his big brother. He and Leo competed over everything, including their father's love and affection. But Leo was Splinter's favorite and as the years went by it got harder and harder for Raph to compete, especially taking into consideration that there were two little brothers to deal with as well. Raphael grew to crave any bit of attention he could get from his father be it good or bad. Either way, at least he knew that Splinter noticed him.

Brothers. Raphael might never voice it aloud, but he was so grateful to have his brothers in his life. Whenever he felt alone or unwanted it was his brothers that quelled his doubts. They gave him the attention and affection that he needed. Whenever he didn't get what he needed from Sensei, he sought out his brothers and they gave it to him. His brothers loved him and their love kept him going.

But now, something had changed. Their family dynamic had shifted. Splinter had a new favorite and this time it was someone Raph knew he could never compete with. Karai was Splinter's biological daughter and Raph was only an adopted son. Maybe that was why it hurt so much. Hard as his heart fought to deny it, Raph knew that Splinter would always love her more. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Donnie and Leo were being really nice to him. They'd tried to include him in the family movie night last night, but it had been awkward and uncomfortable and he'd ended up going to bed early anyway.

Morning training was over now and Raph had gone back to his room. He didn't really feel like talking to any of them right now. Besides, he knew that Don would try to talk him into doing those heart tests or whatever it was. Having Donnie do those tests would only get the others worried unnecessarily. It was probably nothing.

Suddenly, voices passing in the hall made him pause.

"Hey Karai, do you want to go pick up some pizza gyoza with me?"

"Sure, you leaving now?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Just let me grab my stuff."

Raphael blinked slowly. Karai was going with Leo? Then that would mean that Sensei would be alone. Maybe he could try talking to his father about his feelings. But—could he really? Sensei wouldn't want to hear him complain about Karai. But he wouldn't really be complaining about Karai. He just...he just wanted to talk to his father. That wasn't too much to ask, right?

The red-masked turtle waited a good ten minutes just to make sure that Leo and Karai were, in fact, gone. Raphael padded softly through the lair to the dojo. He hesitated, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Enter." Splinter said from inside.

He stepped tentatively into the room, rubbing the back of his neck and shifting nervously. The old rat gave him a stern look and Raph's resolve nearly melted away completely.

"Raphael, I was just about to begin my daily meditation." Splinter said, a hint of strict scolding in his voice.

Raph deflated and bowed his head, lowering his eyes to the floor and instinctively retreating towards the door. "Oh. I'm sorry Sensei. I'll just-"

"Was there something you needed, Raphael?"

Yes! Raph's mind screamed. Desperate, wary eyes looked at his father in silence. He chewed on his lip nervously. Did he have to need something to consult his father? That didn't seem right somehow. The sudden feel of a hand on his shoulder made him flinch, then glance up into his father's eyes. Splinter was staring indulgently down at him.

"Sensei...I need..." the words wouldn't come. His throat felt tight. Raph swallowed. He decided that he'd have to show his father what he needed. He surged forward and wrapped his arms around the mutant rodent, pressing his face against the soft robes.

Splinter was so shocked that he found himself unable to move. He stared down at his second son, perplexed by this behavior. Raphael was crushed when Splinter didn't hug him back. It took every ounce of strength in his body to hold back the tears that he desperately wanted to cry. He squeezed tightly one last time and then he peeled himself away. "Thank you for your time, Sensei. And don't worry, I won't bother you again." And then he was gone, leaving behind a very confused and slightly concerned mutant rat.

Perplexed, Master Splinter wandered from the dojo into the main room. He heard the telltale squeak of Raphael's door before it slammed shut. Glancing about, his gaze eventually came to rest upon Michelangelo. "Where is Leonardo, my son?" He asked softly.

Mikey slowly rolled onto his carapace, playing his video games upside-down. "Hmm?"

"Michelangelo!" Splinter snapped loudly. Mikey immediately paused his game and rolled back over, giving his father his full attention.

"Umm...I don't know," the turtle shrugged. "I think he and Karai were heading over to Murakami's for some pizza gyoza."

"And Donatello?"

Splinter received another shrug in reply and he crossed his arms over his chest to show his youngest that he was not amused. Michelangelo sighed. "He's working on some project or something, I don't know. It's just so boring. Everybody's busy."

That made Splinter pause. He gave his youngest son a curious look. "What about Raphael, my son? He did not seem 'busy'."

The mutant rat father watched as a light went on in Michelangelo's head. The youngest turtle smiled mischievously and rubbed his hands together with a falsified cackle. "Yeah! I could pay Raphie a visit! Thanks Sensei!" And then the flighty, over-energized Mikey was gone, sprinting away down the hall.

Splinter watched Michelangelo go, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Kids." He muttered to himself. He was going to return to the dojo, but instead found himself heading for Donatello's lab.

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Mikey cradled a water balloon behind his back with a wicked grin on his face. Oh, this was gonna be epic! He thought as he crept closer and closer to Raph's room. Silently as he could, he turned the handle and pushed it open, peeking tentatively inside. Raph was on the bed! Perfect. Mikey's arm pulled back, ready to make the shot. All he had to do now was...

That line of thought was interrupted as Raph sat up and dropped his head in his hands. The hothead made a rather pitiful whine of distress and his shoulders began to tremble.

Mikey's water balloon throwing arm dropped and hung limply at his side. He watched, his bottom lip pushing outward as his older brother's shaking only intensified. Tucking the water balloon safely away, Mikey straightened and pushed Raph's door the rest of the way open with a gentle squeak.

Raph didn't even flinch. In fact, the red-masked turtle couldn't even bring himself to look up. Whoever it was in his room, they'd caught him in a very fetal position and he wasn't ready to face that kind of humiliation.

Sadness permeated Mikey's habitually joyful countenance and he stepped slowly into the room and fell onto the bed, wrapping his arms tightly around the scarred shell of his red-masked, and currently sobbing, sibling. Michelangelo could count on one hand the number of times that he had seen Raphael cry. Even when they were little, Raph almost never cried. Yeah, he whined and he yelled and he pouted, but he never cried. Or at least...never that Mikey had seen.

Vaguely, in the back of his mind, Mikey recalled mentioning to Leonardo the fact that he'd only seen Raph cry once or twice in the past and Leo had looked at him rather strangely. Hadn't Leo said that Raph used to cry a lot when they were kids? It didn't seem feasible to Mikey that big, tough Raph, no matter how soft he was in the inside, could cry openly. But according to Leonardo, Raph had back then. Key word: then. Now it looked like Raph had been hiding his pain. But what had hurt Raph? What could have hurt his big brother so badly?

"It's okay Raph. I'm here. Mikey's here." He whispered as he rubbed Raph's shoulders in a way that he hoped would comfort his brother. Truth be told, Mikey couldn't bear seeing Raph like this. Raphael was like a pillar of strength, an anchor that held them down and kept them stable. This...this was throwing Mikey off.

"M-Mikey?" Raph asked, disbelievingly. Then, when he realized that it really was his little brother, he drew away rapidly, trying to remove himself from Mikey's grip. But Mikey wouldn't allow it.

"I've got you, Raph. It's okay. I'm here for you, bro. What's up?"

Raphael hesitated. He wasn't really sure that he wanted Mikey to know the truth. He didn't want to upset him. So he shook his head.

A dark frown clouded Mikey's face. "What? Why won't you tell me? Raph..." Mikey allowed his concern to shine from his eyes like a beacon. "Please, Raphie. I hate seeing you like this. Please, tell me the truth."

"I-I'm not sure I want to, Mikey. I-I-I'm really just--not ready to talk about it. Please, trust me on this, little brother. You're better off not knowing."

"But I want to help you!"

"And you can." That made Mikey perk up a little. Raph could tell that his youngest sibling truly was desperate to help in any way that he could and just having that knowledge lifted a huge weight off his chest. He smiled and threw an arm around his orange-masked brother's shoulders. He cleared his throat, his voice still sounding a little strained as he said, "Let's just hang out a little bit, yeah? We can play some games or something."

Mikey smiled as he saw the genuine grin on Raph's face and nodded eagerly. Hearing Raphael's laughter as he dragged the hothead out of the room and down the hall was the greatest reward that Mikey could have received. He laughed along and eagerly plopped down on the cushions in front of the television beside his older brother, handing the hothead a remote. "Here, now let's go!" Mikey whooped as he took the lead and smiled as he heard Raph growl. There was the hothead he knew! He laughed and teased his sibling. "Pick up the pace, Raph! I'm kicking your shell!"

"Hey, I've never played this game before! I'm still learning the controls!" Raph snapped back, clearly a little bit frustrated, but mostly focused on the game.

Mikey's eye-ridges furrowed, yet he was still intently concentrated on winning the race. "What do you mean? I've had this game for months. Been playing it with everyone."

"Not me." Raph responded, the words leaving his mouth unchecked because his mind was currently engaged as he tried to keep his videogame vehicle from crashing into anything. It wasn't until Mikey actually paused the game that he realized his mistake. Aw shell. He shouldn't have said that. Now Mikey was going to be all upset and...

Raphael stared at his little brother's face. Mikey wasn't upset, per se. Raph couldn't really tell what Mikey was feeling. Slowly, the strange, emotionally conflicted countenance turned towards him. But Mikey's baby-blue eyes were not on him. They were unseeing, as though staring beyond him into some other world.

"I didn't, did I?" He said, his voice sounding vacant and stunned. "I didn't even ask."

"It's okay Mikey." Raph said, trying to reassure his brother before Mikey really got upset.

"I played with Leo and Donnie and...Karai...but I never even asked you. We haven't hung out since..." Mikey's sentence dropped off and hung over them like a thick, heavy cloud.

"Since Karai came to live with us." Raph whispered under his breath, the words coming out shaky and uneven. The youngest turtle's eyes began to water and Raphael couldn't stand it so he looked away, but Mikey reached out and pulled him back around.

"Raphie...I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to! Please forgive me!" Mikey shouted, barreling into Raph's side and clinging tightly.

Raphael smiled, blinking away the tears in his eyes. He reached out and snagged his little brother, tickling Mikey's sides and turning the would-be sobs into barely-restrained fits of laughter. He grabbed the freckled turtle into a tight headlock and said playfully, "I forgave you a long time ago, knucklehead!"

Mikey smiled and laughed. Once Raph had finally released him, he pulled his hotheaded brother into another hug. And this time, Raph returned it full force.

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In Donatello's lab, Splinter found his purple-masked son, as Michelangelo had said, hard at work. It looked like Donatello was examining a close-up of an image, though of what, the old rat could not tell. "Donatello." He called softly, and his son looked up.

Donnie briefly looked away from what he was working on to address his father. "Sensei." The turtle acknowledged. "Was there something that you needed?"

Splinter padded softly over to his son's side and looked over the olive-green shoulder to the screen above. "What is this, my son?"

"It's Raphael's last full-body scan, Sensei, from about three months ago. I'm checking for any abnormalities in the chest cavity. Raph's been experiencing acute irritation in the heart region."

The rodent's grip on Don's shoulder tightened significantly and the color drained from his eyes. "What?! What is wrong?!"

"I am not sure, Father. It could be nothing, but Raph keeps refusing to let me do more tests. I just--I just want to make sure that he's alright." The brainiac confessed earnestly, love, devotion and worry plainly clear in his soft, brown eyes.

"I will speak to him, my child. We must convince him to allow the tests."

"Hai, Sensei."

There was a short moment of silence. Splinter's hand pulled away and the rat turned to leave the room, but he paused. "Donatello?"

"Hai, Sensei?"

"If there is something wrong with his heart...can you help him?"

"I don't know, Father. I just don't know." He responded, sounding drained.

Splinter took a deep breath at the painful and very worrisome reply. "Then I hope that it is nothing serious."

After the rat had gone, Donatello resumed his in-depth examination of Raph's previous scans and muttered under his breath. "Me too, Sensei. Me too." His eyes softened and his heart clenched at the thought of losing his immediate older brother to a heart condition.

Splinter emerged from the lab to find Michelangelo and Raphael laughing and playing video games. He smiled and sat in the kitchen where he could hear their laughing, cheerful voices and revel in their happiness and companionship. Much as he wanted to speak with his red-masked son, he would not dispel their happiness in such a tender moment. Leonardo and Karai returned not long after with plenty of pizza gyoza to satisfy everyone's dinner needs. Splinter couldn't help but notice that Raphael was not eating as much as usual and the realization only made him worry even more.

It wasn't until Raphael and the others had all retired to their rooms for the night that Splinter was able to get his son alone to talk. He knocked on the door and entered with little preamble. Raphael, who was laying on his side, didn't react much beyond grunting. Realizing someone else was in the room, Raph muttered, "What do ya want, Leo?"

"I am not Leonardo, my son."

The turtle jolted upright. "Sensei!" He exclaimed, startled, jolting upright. "If this is about interrupting you earlier, I--"

The old rat held up a hand silencing his child. He crossed the room, and took his beloved son's face in his hands. "Raphael, I am not upset with you." His arms wrapped around the turtle, pressing Raph against his robes. Raph's resolve lasted a grand total of two seconds before he gave up and melted into the loving embrace with a relieved sigh, tears stinging at the corners of his eyes.

Raphael muttered something that splinter couldn't quite catch and the fatherly rat pulled away to look down at his son's face. His heart clenched as he saw the tears in Raphael's eyes. With a gentle, loving smile, he softly wiped them away with his fingers.  "What did you say, Raphael?"

"I-I l-love you father."

Splinter sighed contentedly and pulled his son close to him once more. "And I love you, my son."

Fresh tears welled up in Raphael's eyes and Splinter cupped Raph's face, wearing a very melancholy smile. "It pains me to think that you did not know that, my child."

"I've always known Sensei. It's just that--sometimes, there's a part of me that..."

A soft hand came to rest on Raphael's shoulder and the turtle met his father's eyes. Splinter didn't look angry or upset, he looked understanding.

"I know, Raphael. Doubt is in your nature. It is a valuable quality, yet it can also cause misunderstanding and misfortune if you do not share your doubts with others. You have been feeling outcast since Karai's arrival, haven't you, my son?"

"How did you--" A look of wary realization crossed his face. "Did Donnie tell you?"

"No, I meditated on it."

"Oh." Raph said, immediately feeling a little bit more self-conscious.

"I am glad that you told your brothers. I regret that you felt you could not confide in me, Raphael."

The way that Raphael rubbed the back of his neck nervously made Splinter frown. That type of behaviour meant that that wasn't the case. If so, how long had Raphael kept these feelings of exclusion to himself? How long had he been facing the enemy of doubt alone?

"Actually, Donnie sort of figured it out a couple days ago. I didn't want to say anything because I was afraid that you'd--and everyone was so happy--and I just couldn't--"

Splinter felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach as he stared at his most emotional child's distraught face. Raphael had kept his feelings to himself. He hadn't told anyone. The only reason he knew that Donatello had seen through his facade was because the smart turtle had probably confronted him on the subject. Splinter began to tear up.

Oh, my sweet, sensitive little child! Why must you always take the weight of the world upon your shoulders. Broad though they may be, you are young and you should not be troubled so. Yet that is why I am so proud of you. Because you have a heart as pure as gold and it shines through you, a beacon of love and purest devotion. But you cannot bear all that weight yourself, little one. You must share the load. You must let us in. We long to help you, to support you. I long to nurture you and guide you, but I need you to trust me! To trust all of us! How I wish you would only let us in. Beyond your impenetrable walls of anger and toughness there is a core as malleable as aur. I only wish that it was easier to reach.

"My son!" Splinter cried softly, placing a very whiskery kiss upon the forehead of his red-masked son and receiving an awkward cross between a surprised squeak and rather disgruntled yuck from the emerald green teen. He smiled. "Raphael, not every enemy is one that you have to face alone. You have your brothers and you have me. And now you have Karai as well. We are all here for you, my son."

"I know, Father. But I didn't want to hurt you guys."

The rat's eyebrows furrowed. There had to be some way to get Raphael to understand. "And I do not ever want to hurt you, Raphael. But now I have," Raph opened his mouth to speak, but Splinter motioned him to remain silent, "and it shall be quite some time before I find the strength to forgive myself for that, my beloved child."

There was a long pause. Raphael was no doubt absorbing everything Splinter had said. The old rat sat on the bed next to his red-masked child in silence. Slowly, Splinter reached over and wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders. He smiled as Raphael leaned against him and whispered:

"I forgive you, Father."

A deep chuckle hit the air as looked over at his son, who at this moment reminded him of the tiny little turtle with a very feisty disposition that he had known years ago. His turtles had been so adorable at that age. He had plenty of pictures of them, all through childhood, but mostly from about ages seven to ten. Yet there was one album of pictures from when they turned three that he absolutely cherished. The moments that he had managed to capture had been precious. Hmm...perhaps it was time that he showed it to them. Splinter's wistful smile faded as he realized that his son's breathing was rather erratic. True, the turtle had been sobbing not long ago, but his breathing should've evened out by now. Abruptly, the rat was reminded of the other thing he had come here for. "Raphael...I am most concerned about you."

The turtle straightened and raised an eye-ridge, canting his head to one side. "Huh? Why?"

"Donatello shared with me that he thinks there might be something wrong--" Splinter found himself unable to even voice the rest of the statement. His hand rose shakily towards the turtle's plastron and hovered over the area in question.

Raph's shoulders dropped and he sighed. "I'm fine, Sensei. It's not a problem."

"Please, my child, allow Donatello to perform the necessary tests. I do not want to lose you little one." Splinter's hand moved over to his own chest. "I fear my heart would not survive the ordeal."

"Master Splinter, I--"

"Please, Raphael. Let me go with you to see Donatello now."

"Now? Sensei he's probably--"

"Your brother is up working late, trying to assess your condition from past medical scans, Raphael. Please."

The turtle hung his head. How the shell was he supposed to say no when his father was practically begging him to do it? As soon as Master Splinter took him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes, the matter was settled. "Alright. Let's go."

As soon as they entered the lab, Donatello looked up at them from behind his computer, where he was, as Splinter had predicted, still examining old scans. He took one look at Raph and Splinter and his shoulders sagged with relief.

"Thank goodness you were able to convince him." Don said, sounding truly lightened, making Raphael feel guilty that he hadn't realized how much this had stressed his immediate younger brother. "Lay down on the table Raph. I'm going to take some blood samples and get you hooked up to a heart monitor. Then we'll do some scans."

Once all of that was done, Splinter and Raphael watched Donatello flit about from place to place with an air of nervous anxiousness. "Well, my son?" The old rat finally prompted.

Donnie looked surprised as though he'd forgotten his brother and Sensei were still there. "Oh, I'm afraid I won't know for certain until the morning. I need time to analyze the blood samples and examine the scans in depth. I'm sure I'll know by morning."

"Donnie, you don't have to work through the night just for--"

"Raph, whatever's going on with your heart is top priority right now. I've put everything else on the back-burner. If there is something wrong we need to know as soon as possible so I can set about fixing it."

"And if you can't fix it?" Raph asked quietly. He frowned in understanding as both Splinter and Don paled with horror at the blunt question.

"Raph..." Donnie looked worried. Really, really worried.

Raph stood and walked over to his brainiac brother's side, pulling him into a tight hug. "It's okay, Don. We'll get through this. But not all the weight has to be on you. Sensei, all the others and I, we'll all be there for you."

Don hugged back more fiercely than he had ever hugged Raph in his life. "Thanks Raph. I love you, bro."

"Love you too, brainiac."

Splinter smiled at the tender scene, but felt that it was time to step in. He placed a hand on Raphael's shoulder. "My son, I believe that you should at least try to get some sleep. And I do not want you going out to the surface until Donatello has presented us with the results of these tests, understood?"

"Hai, Sensei." Raph sighed, knowing that his father would accept nothing less. Though honestly, knowing the amount of worry he had already caused them, he wouldn't dream of disturbing his family even more so by running off. "But I'm not really sure that I'll be able to get much sleep." He admitted honestly, rubbing his chest out of nervous habit. When he saw that his father and brother were both staring at his hand he realized what he was doing and stopped.

Splinter stroked his beard thoughtfully, then he smiled. "Then I think I have an idea, my son. Let us leave Donatello to  his work."

Raph nodded and allowed Splinter to lead them out into the main room.

"Wait here, Raphael." He said, gesturing over to the cushions in front of the television. Raphael did as told, though he was curious as to what Splinter had in mind.

Moving soundlessly down the hall, Splinter stopped in front of his eldest son's door and knocked gently. There was the sound of shuffling and the whine of a yawn before the door creaked open to reveal a very sleepy-looking Leonardo. "My son, Donatello has performed some tests on Raphael, but it will be some time before the results are complete. Would you mind keeping your brother company for a few hours? I am cancelling morning training in light of these events."

Leonardo yawned and stretched a little. "Tests?" He echoed sleepily, but within a fraction of a second a light bulb had snapped on and he bolted forward. "Raph let Donnie do them?!!" He asked, sounding very frantic.

Splinter nodded. "Donatello and Raphael did not tell me that you were aware of what was going on."

"I am, Sensei. But none of us have told--"

"Hey, what's goin' on? You guys are being super loud." Complained the very turtle in question.

Leo smiled at his brother's crooked mask and straightened it out for the youngest. Mikey just grumbled sleepy pouts at him.

"I was just asking Sensei to cancel morning training tomorrow. Raph and I were having trouble sleeping so we decided to have a movie marathon."

Sleepy, and not fully absorbing the information, Mikey trudged back to his room, muttering back over his shoulder, "Okay. Have fun with that." He disappeared into the dark doorway, but reappeared moments later, minus the sleepiness. "Wait, what?! You guys are gonna have a marathon without me?!" He screeched, offended.

Leo smiled and rolled his eyes. Typical Mikey. "I was just about to ask you to join us, knucklehead. But if you're too tired..."

"Nah, bro. Not at all! I got energy to last all night!" He said enthusiastically.

Shaking his head in amusement, Leo motioned Mikey to go with him. They entered the main room and Mikey bounded straight over to land at Raph's side, which startled the hothead a little more than it should have.

"Hey dude! Leo told me about the movie marathon! So what're we watching?"

The second-eldest sent a careful, questioning look over at his big brother. Leo subtly shook his head. Mikey still didn't know anything about the tests. Alright. Much as Raph felt it was unfair to keep it from the youngest, he didn't want to worry Mikey unnecessarily. In answer to Mikey's question he shrugged. "I figured we'd each pick a movie to watch. Why don't you choose first?"

Mikey looked thrilled and opened his mouth, but another thought occurred to Raph and the hothead added, "But no horror films tonight, okay? Those things give you nightmares and I don't think Leo and I are up to any of that tonight."

Mikey deflated a little, but then a smile lit up his face. Raph fought the urge to face-palm. Mikey was going to make sure that they watched something stupid. Oh well. At least it would time well spent with his brothers.

About an hour later Splinter entered the main room and smiled as he found the three of them stretched out upon the cushions, intertwined. Raphael had his head resting on Leo's plastron. And Michelangelo was cuddling up to Raph's side. It was truly a sweet sight to see. With a smile, the rat father covered his sons with a blanket and whispered a very quiet, "Sleep well, my sons." as he left the room.

The next morning was a doozy. All three of them slept in. Karai noticed the sleeping turtles as soon as she stepped into the room and sent a questioning look at Master Splinter. He smiled. "Raphael needed some company." Then the old rat's face darkened. "Donatello was analyzing some tests, he believes that there is danger of something being wrong with Raphael's heart."

Karai's face hardened. She didn't know Raphael as well as she did the other turtles. And they didn't exactly have the best history of getting along with one another, but now he was one of her brothers. The thought that there could be something wrong with him bothered her. In fact, it perturbed her very deeply.

A cry of "Raph get your arm off of me!" made them glance up to find the turtles stirring. In answer, Raphael growled and wrestled his complaining little brother until the youngest screamed uncle. Leo, awakened by their antics, smiled sleepily at the scene. Mikey motioned them to follow as he headed for the kitchen. "Come on guys, let's get some breakfast."

As he was cooking, Mikey glanced back over his shoulder at his older brothers. "Dudes, we totally should have invited Donnie to join us. We kinda left him out."

"Donnie was...working last night, Mikey." Leo said, warily. The hesitation on the eldest turtle's part was what clued Mikey in to the fact that his brothers were hiding something from him.

"Working on what?" He asked. The silence that ensued only confirmed his hunch that they were keeping something back. "What's going on, Leo?"

Leonardo sent Raph a questioning look that said: do you want to tell him, or shall I? Though he felt it was his duty to tell Michelangelo, Raph couldn't even think of where to begin. So he motioned Leo to do it. With a deep breath, Leo stood and moved over to Mikey. He turned off the stove, just for safety's sake in case Mikey flipped out. Then he put a very gentle hand on his little brother's shoulder. "Mikey..."

"Leo, what the shell is going on, dude? You're a ten and a half on the creeping-Mikey-out-meter!"

"Mikey...last night Donnie did some tests," Leo had to clear his throat before continuing and Raph could see the nervousness in Mikey's eyes, "on Raph." Suddenly, Raph could feel his little brother's worried eyes on him. "He thinks that there might be something wrong with Raph's heart." There was a moment of absolute silence and complete inaction.

That was why Mikey's cry made all of them jump when he screamed, "RAPHIE!" and ran to their red-masked brother's side and latched onto him as though Raph were about to disappear. There were tears in his eyes.

"Hush, little brother. It'll be okay. It's probably nothing. Don just wanted to make sure."

"But what if--"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, we just have to wait.."

Mikey still clung to his older brother, afraid that if he let go, he'd lose him forever. He didn't want to lose Raphie. He couldn't. Raphie just had to be okay. He just had to!! Raph didn't make him to let go and for that he was extremely grateful.

That was when Donatello burst into the kitchen and headed straight over to the coffee maker. He had a very drained look on his face and his eyes were red from lack of sleep. He got himself a cup of steaming hot coffee and finally turned to face his brothers, who were all holding their breath and staring anxiously at him. He sighed and broke eye contact.

"Come with me to the lab."

Everyone gathered in Donnie's lab, worriedly surrounding the brainiac. Leo stood next to Raph, who still had Mikey attached to his arm. Feeling the need to brace himself, Leo did the first thing that popped into his head. He sidled closer to his hotheaded brother and took hold of an emerald green hand. Raph sputtered in shock, but upon seeing the look of desperation in Leo's eyes, he couldn't pull his hand away.

Donnie took a slow sip of coffee and finally muttered. "It's not life-threatening."

Everyone relaxed and let out a breath that they hadn't realized they had been holding. But Splinter was a little more perceptive than his children and he realized that Donatello had been very selective in his wording. "But there is something wrong?"

The tension returned full-force. Donnie nodded and Raph winced as Leo squeezed his hand unbearably tight and Mikey's arms suddenly restricted his breathing. Lucky for him, Donnie noticed. "Let him breathe, for goodness sake!" He said and Mikey and Leo both took a step back. Raph sent the brainiac a grateful nod.

"So what's going on, Don? What's the problem?" Raph asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know.

"Far as I can tell, it's an arrhythmia."

Leo's eye-ridges furrowed. "An irregular heartbeat? But Raph's never had that before. What could have caused it?"

"Any number of things. Trauma, particularly electric shock trauma, which we all know Raphael has experienced. Or perhaps, high blood pressure, which with Raph's ferocious temper, is rather a given."

"So what do we do, Donnie?"

"I'll have to monitor him every so often to make sure that he remains stable, Raph will have to be more careful about avoiding future electric trauma, and we'll all have to help him with the blood pressure bit by making sure he has the right intake of vitamins and minerals. We already lead an active lifestyle, so I don't see that as being a problem."

"But other than that?"

"He's fine. Perfectly normal."

There was a collective sigh of relief, even from Raphael himself. Donnie took advantage of the opportunity to hug the hothead. "I'm so glad that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was terrified. I love you Raphael."

"Yeah, yeah, brainiac. I told ya nothing was wrong."

"There is something wrong, Raph. And it isn't to be taken lightly." The hothead frowned. Donnie stared deep into his eyes. "But it could have been much worse and it wasn't and for that, I'm grateful."

"We all are." Leo chimed in. Karai nodded in agreement, which made Raph raise an eye-ridge, but he just grinned at all of them.

"You saps! I told ya I'd be fine. You guys just worry too much."

"We love you Raph. We have the right to worry."

"Whatever you say, Fearless." Raph pulled his brothers into an awkward hug, which made them smile and Sensei wrapped them all, including Karai who he tugged over, in his arms as best as he was able.

"I love you all, my children."

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