"Hey, um, Donnie, you, uh, you called me in?" Raph shuffled his feet awkwardly; usually, he was with his two brothers when he was with Donnie, but Donnie only asked for him. It was weird, they were in what used to be the garage, but he watched as his younger brother fixed what looked like a motorcycle.

Donnie sat up, hands filled with grim and sweat beating down. "Hey Raph, glad you can make it."

"Uhh yeah, it's not like I don't live here," Raph said dryly, rubbing his elbow pad.

Donnie rolled his eyes, "you know what I mean."

"Yeah, why did you call me in to watch you?" Raph said, not in a sarcastic tone, though he never really watched his brother work on anything; it's been about a week and a half since they "fixed" their universe, so they were all still adjusting. Although, now that he thought about it, he didn't know what Donnie did; he just went into hermit crab mode and then came up with some remarkable inventions.

"No," Donnie said shyly, "um, I wanted to see if you were up for helping me fix this old thing."

"Me?" Raph asked, shocked, and Donnie stood up from the ground.

Raph never realized how tall Donnie was until he was face to face; compared to him, it looked like Donnie was 6 foot tall, similar to Sensei, but he knew there was no way he was that tall.

"Yeah, of course, we used to do it all the time." Now it was Donnie who was rubbing the back of his neck, shyly, Raph noticed. He was kind of shocked. Did he use to work on motorcycles?

"I think your Raph did, bud, I never –" he swallowed shakily; the look his brother gave him just looked defeated; he didn't even have to finish his sentence.

"I get it." Donnie said dryly, turning his attention to the motorcycle; he slowly shook his head; "I forgot, I'm sorry."

"Don't be." But, Raph said immediately, "I can-I can try."

"It's okay; it'll take forever to get it done if I have to teach you. I was thinking to have it ready by tonight; I know Leo is thinking about patrolling, but maybe some other time." He gave him a lopsided smile, and even though Raph didn't know his brother as well, he knew he was upset. But Raph didn't know how to comfort him; he knew what buttons to push Leo and Mike, their limits, what upsets them, and how to comfort them. Of course, being the middle brother, he got along with both. But Donnie, he was a stranger to him.

He didn't know him. To Raph, Donnie was just a tragedy in his life, not someone who has feelings and is their person. It was tough to see similarities between his dead toddler brother and his twin.

But this Donnie was overly complicated with his fancy science words and geekiness; it made him unique, but the bags under his eyes were becoming more noticeable, and Raph wasn't sure if that was normal for him.

"Are you sure? I'm a fast learner." Of course, that was a lie, and Donnie knew that no matter if he didn't realize this, Raph, he probably never touched a car or motorcycle in his life.

"It's okay, Raphael."

Raph nodded, licking his lips, and pursed his lip in thought. "Fine, but I'm here if you need me."

Even when Raph left the lab, Donnie stared longly, wishing that Raph somehow gained his memory back. He hoped somehow that his hotheaded brother, who was known to throw punches first and ask questions later, could just burst in and help him with his mechanics. That's how they bounded; despite not having much in common, they would always be in the lab at 2 am working on the Shellraiser or Raph's motorcycle.

Now, this Raph, despite not watching him fight, can see how this Raph is gentler and more calculated. He hasn't argued with anyone; he hasn't punched or hit Mikey nor given attitude to Leo like - like he respected him.

My Raph would never… Donnie snorted in thought, he never saw the day, but their world was different. They had to grieve at age 5; Donnie started losing people when he was 15. Such as metalhead Timothy, and now a year ago, their father. But, by then, their personalities and mindset had already adjusted; they were able to grieve, debrief and move on. But at age 5? That was the beginning of their whole life.

Donnie looked at his scarred hand, something he's been doing more often when these brothers came. If the Shredder didn't change and tampered with time, his brothers wouldn't have to go through with what they did. They wouldn't have to stick together like glue, thinking another may die.

And it shows how the tragedy affected them, how they bond, how they talk. His brothers were constantly arguing, almost abusive and toxic, while these guys don't show an ounce of that.

Donnie shook his head, trying to get his mind back to the motorcycle. He wanted it to be done before tonight; it would be their first patrol since these brothers came.

Patrol wasn't a usual thing in Leo's book.

They would go out to fetch some medication, food, and other necessities to survive. They don't patrol for the fun of it, and sure they've gotten wrapped up with some bad guys, but it was never voluntarily. Their father sheltered them, well, according to Donnie, because for him, a patrol was an everyday thing. Leo finished wrapping his Katana handles, placing them on his sheath, and as it rattles from walking out of the dojo, his brothers were all sitting in the living room, except for Donnie.

"You guys ready?"

"Yeah, bro." Mikey answered excitingly, "you know how I feel being stored up in here."

"It's just a patrol, guys; make sure everything is safe and go home; we're not looking for trouble." Leo reminded them.

"Fine with me," Mike answered, but he knew how Raph constantly itched for a fight.

"And where's Donatello?"

"I'm right here," Donnie said, coming out of the lab with some device that they didn't recognize.

"What is that dude?"

Mikey asked, holding the handles of his nun-chucks. On the top of it were two whisks, while a glowing green GPS was on the center.

"It's to track down, you know, mutagen." But Donnie said plainly, "about a year or two ago now, we… messed up, we couldn't contain the mutagen the Krang tried to release, and the mutagen ended up spreading from the whole city. So since then, it's been our job to clean it up and to contain or stop mutants that got exposed to it."

"Wow," was all Leo could say, "sounds like a mess."

"Yeah. And it's just been hectic since."

Leo didn't expect to be fighting today. Donatello made it seem like it was just a day to go out and make sure nothing was wrong, but tonight the villains wanted to show themselves.

They were in some warehouse; these villains were a mutant Dog and Fish with a group of the Foot clan; Leo and his two brothers only fought with the Foot. But they had to act cool; being lost and confused wouldn't help this fight.

"So, these guys are the mutants you talked about?" Leo asked Donnie, and his brother gave a half shrug.

"I was going for more of mutants that meant no harm and couldn't control their new body, not actual henchmen of the Shredder." Donnie tucked his GPS as the crowd of Footbots swarmed the warehouse. He pulled out his bo, as his brothers did the same with their weapons.

"This will be fun," Raph said, spinning his Sais.

"Look what we have here," Rahzar said, carrying loads of mutagen in a tiny backpack that the glowing liquid was poking out.

"And we thought you guys were going to miss the fun." Fishface said, cracking his fish hands. He gave a devious grin as Raph charged forward.

"Eat this, fishy." He threw a punch at him, dodging the metallic leg as it swung at him.

Donnie watched from afar, spinning his staff. Rahzar was eying him, and despite the lack of training this week, Don didn't seem to falter.

"You're gonna fight, turtle?" Rahzar asked, dropping the bag of mutagen on the ground as he came forward.

From a distance, the clanging of Leo's and Mikeys' weapons echoed through the tiny warehouse as they dealt with the Footbots.

"Of course," Donnie answered; he pulled out his Naginata.

Everything felt in unison until Donnie felt a smack on his bicep.

"Ow, Mike," Donnie rubbed his arm, as Mikey swung his nunchucks away from his brother; "watch where you're going."

"Sorry, bro," Mike had his nun-chucks under his pits as they were cornered with Footbots, "didn't see you there."

"You guys need to make more room; we're not fighting each other," Donnie told them, trying to make more room for their fight, but each time a bot went down, more seemed to come.

"We're getting used to your fighting style," Mike spoke softly as he watched Donnie charge in the group of bots.

"Hey!" Donnie ducked as Raph Sai swung at him, "Raph!"

"Sorry, bro." That was all Raph had to say, "it's a bit too crowded."

Donnie shrugged, sighed loudly, and swung his bo at the bots. They were all going down one by one. But, it was a good feeling, they were winning. A little bit sloppy, but not too shabby.

The mutants were being dealt with mostly Leo and Raph, Mikey, and he dealt with the excessive amount of Footbots.

He couldn't catch his breath; he saw something at the end of the warehouse; the shadow looked familiar. "Hey Mike, you got the bots; I'm gonna check something out."

"Uhh, yeah, I can hold them off for a bit, but you better hurry."

Don nodded and ran towards where his two brothers were.

"Do you guys see that too?" He ducked from the wave of bots and slashed them with his naginata.

"No." Both brothers shook their heads, more focused on their fight than Donnie's imagination.

Donnie bit the inside of his cheek. He crept closer to the end of the warehouse, where he saw the shadow. "I swear, I thought, I saw –"

"Donnie!" He heard but was already airborne. Fishface came out of nowhere and was kicked right on the ribs.

He fell on the concrete, shell first, but his head still made an impact with the concrete. He was going to feel that in the morning.

Donnie held his head with the palm of his hand. "I'm – I'm fine." He wanted to say he was more embarrassed, but Fishface was right above him, jaw unhinged, ready to inject him with his venom.

"Look out!" Raph managed to pull him away and shoved a Sai on the Fish's water tank. Fishface immediately put his hands on his throat, struggling to breathe.

Raph pulled Donnie up, immediately since they weren't out of danger yet. Donnie got on his feet with little to no dizziness.

"Dude, that Fish was right on you; how'd you miss him. Are you okay?" Raph asked, spinning his Sais defensively as a few bots crept towards them.

"He-he was?" Donnie asked; he was doing so fine; he just thought the shadow was -

"Are you sure you're okay?" Green eyes dabbled in concern; he was only able to glance at him for a second before having to go back into the fight with Rahzar.

"I'm great," he sighed, "I just got distracted."

The fight was a little bumpy for them, they were able to get the mutagen off the hands of the mutant, but there was unsaid silence during the walk home. The wave of bots simmered down, and the two mutants were tied up in the warehouse, probably would be out of those ropes in the morning.

The walk home was primarily silent, Raph boasting about how good he did in the fight and Mikey showing off his moves. Leo watched as Donnie silently held the mutagen as they went into the lair.

"Donatello," Leo approached him, hand on his shoulder; "can we talk in private?"

Donnie hesitated, "…yeah, let me put the mutagen somewhere safe, and we can go to the dojo."

In the dojo, Donnie shifted uncomfortably; Sensei did the same thing to him, before being scolded for his mistakes.

"What were you thinking?" Leo asked all of a sudden. "You could have gotten seriously hurt if it wasn't for Raph who saved you."

"It was a mistake." Donnie replied bluntly, "and you guys were all over the place today, uncoordinated, and bumped into me several times."

It was a good enough conversation for Leo to change the subject about their sloppiness: "We're not used to a fourth." He said nonchalantly like Donnie was an obstacle and not their brother "we will fix that, it was our first day fighting together, but now we know what we have to work on."

Donnie nodded, thinking he would get away with what happened earlier.

"Look, we can fix that, we know what we need to work on, and we can start practicing in the morning, but for you… to zone out. That's not okay."

"I didn't zone out," Donnie snapped, wanting to get up and go, but Leo was technically his Sensei; he couldn't disrespect him.

"Raph told me what happened. What were you thinking? If that Fish bit you, you wouldn't be here right now." Leo put his hands to his head, pacing back and forth. "We can't lose you again."

Donnie sighed wistfully, glancing down on the mats like they were suddenly fascinating.

"Well?"

Donnie couldn't answer, it sounded stupid, but Leo was waiting on a response.

"I saw the Shredder." He reluctantly made eye contact, seeing the blue eyes widen and then back to his brows being furrowed in a frown.

"Donnie, I know you're having a rough time adjusting to us, but the Shredder is gone; Renet vanished him to the unknowns. Now, are you sure you saw him?"

Donnie went back facing the mats, his hand scratching the back of his neck. "I-I don't know; I was only able to catch a shadow before Fishface got me." His voice shrunk, and Leo took a deep breath.

"Maybe…maybe you should step the next one out," Leo told him, hesitating but thinking it's for the best.

"What?" Donnie dropped his arm, looking back at Leo again. They went out once, and now he was being banned.

"You're not sleeping; you stay in your lab all night, it's not good to put you on the battlefield if you are distracted, and we can't have you getting hurt."

Donnie shook his head, his tongue pushing the inside of his cheek from looking hurt. He can go days without sleep, but he never hallucinated. He swore he saw him.

"Fine." Donnie got up, adjusting his knee pads, and dusting off the dust he got from the mats. "But don't expect me to come to practice tomorrow."

He walked off, hoping Leo would change his mind and stop him. All he sensed was Leo's glare from behind him as he stalked off.

Leo watched Donnie walk away, waited a minute until he dramatically hunched over, palm on his head. "So much for that, Leo," he told himself, being thrown as Sensei wasn't easy for him. But he couldn't risk his brother getting hurt or worse. They didn't go through all that with Renet for nothing; he had to protect his brother;

even though it seemed like Leo was pushing him away.