"Master Splinter."

The old rat looked up into the eyes of the large mutant who had been waiting just outside the door to the lab. He returned the greeting. "Slash." The dark, spikey-shelled turtle shifted nervously. Splinter knew what Slash wanted to ask. He also knew the answer. "I'm afraid Raphael is asleep." He said softly.

Slash nodded. Before Master Splinter could walk away he asked, meekly, "Can I sit with him?"

After a brief moment of careful consideration, the rat master nodded. Slash flashed a grateful smile and stealthily crept into the lab. He was pleased to find Raphael in a state of peaceful slumber. He couldn't help but smile at the light scowl that creased Raphael's brow. The bulky turtle pulled the reinforced metal frame chair, which Rockwell had constructed specifically for him and Leatherhead, out from the corner. Once he was settled, Slash leaned forward and put his arms on the table, being careful not to disturb Raphael. He stared at his oldest friend with a frown on his face.

Most of Raph's superficial injuries had healed. But Slash could still remember where each and every one of them had been. Of course he, like the others, had not been able to see Raphael until Donatello and Rockwell had given the all the clear. And he had waited most impatiently until all of Raph's family finished before he himself had gone in. When he finally had...

Tears came unbidden to his eyes and Slash dropped his head into his hands as he choked back a sob. He had never been so afraid in his entire life as he had when he saw Raph that day. You have to understand that he, Slash, had watched Raphael grow up. He had been there since the hothead was just a tiny little tot, when he, already a full-grown turtle, was too big to sit on Raph's shoulder as he had in more recent years. For eleven years he had been Raphael's closest confidant and best friend. And seeing Raphael in such a horrible condition left Slash feeling like a failure. He remembered all the times that Raphael risked his health and wellbeing to save him, both before and after his mutation.

Slash sat there, in that chair, staring at Raphael's sleeping form, with clouded eyes. Memories. So many memories.

At age six...

"My name's Raphael. I promise I'll always look after ya!"

At age seven...

"I'm sorry Mikey painted your shell, Spike. Don't worry, buddy, I made sure he'll never do it again. I told Master Splinter and he's gonna make Mikey clean the dojo."

At age eight...

"Oh, sorry Spike! I didn't mean to wake you. What's that look for? I'm just going out to play with Leo! I know it's past our bedtime, but Leo doesn't have time to play with me during the day. And if we did play during the day we'd have to share with Donnie and Mikey. Trust me, Spike, it's better this way!"

At age nine...

"Spike, is there something wrong with me? It seems like no matter what I do I'm just not good enough for anyone around here. Sensei's always yelling at me in training. I'm trying my best. But they don't get that." He paused and looked down at Spike. Spike looked up at him. "You're right Spike! I'll just have to show them! I'll be the strongest, toughest ninja there ever was!"

At age ten...

"I know it sounds stupid, Spike, but I miss my brothers. I miss playing around the way we used to. I miss...well I miss...I miss Leo, he spends so much time training I don't think he even notices me anymore. I miss Donnie, he's always too busy doing sciencey stuff to talk about cars and super cool engines." Raph sighed. Spike looked blankly up at him. Their eyes met. "Mikey? Yeah, you're right Spike. Mikey's still the same. Let's go see what he's up to."

At age eleven...

"Sorry I'm late, Spike. Leo and I spent the whole day skating in the tunnels. It was awesome! Don't tell Leo I said this, but he spends so much time training that I forget how much fun he can be."

At age twelve...

"I made a mistake in training and they all laughed at me. I got so mad I hit them. I didn't mean to hurt them! I was just so mad and I couldn't stop and—Sensei yelled at me. Leo did too. They don't understand! I try to tell them, but they won't listen." Raphael hung his head and sat down on the bed, looking up at Spike who was standing on the bed by the pillow. A few tears rolled down his cheeks but he wiped them away with the back of his hand. "I wish they could listen like you, Spike. I wish they could understand." Raph lay down, resting his hand on Spike's shell gently, holding the normal turtle close as he silently cried himself to sleep.

At age thirteen...

"Oh man, Mikey is so close to getting a beat-down! When is that little varmint gonna learn that stop means stop? I told him to back off and leave me alone, and what does he do? He doesn't leave me alone for a second! He keeps annoying me and getting in my face!" Raphael fumed for a little while, but he soon calmed down enough to notice that Spike had been watching him pace up and down the room. He smiled at his little friend. "Thanks Spike. I'll go back out and try talking to Mikey now."

They young turtle returned about ten minutes later, stiff-lipped and teary-eyed. He fell back onto the bed listlessly. Slowly, he looked over at Spike. "Mikey was mad. He doesn't wanna be my best friend anymore because I yell at him all the time. I know I yell a lot but he never took it personally before!" He shuddered and rung his hands nervously. "I'm not a bad brother...am I?" Spike just stared. Raph's eyes watered. "You'd tell me the truth, wouldn't you, Spike?" Spike hesitated, making eye contact with Raphael, then he chewed on his leaf. Raph let out a sigh of relief and smiled dimly. "I'm glad. You're a really good friend, Spike."

At age fourteen...

Raphael set Spike down on the kitchen counter before he turned to glare at the back of his older brother's shell. "Leo."

"Yeah Raph?" Leo asked, a little bit worried. Why was Raph so mad?

"Mikey says that you fed Spike this morning."

Leo blinked. "Yeah." There was a short silence. He asked slowly, "Was that okay?"

Raph straightened, trying to look even more intimidating than he already was. "NO! IT WAS OBVIOUSLY NOT OKAY!" He yelled, making Leo wince.

"Jeez, Raph, I'm sorry, okay? I was just trying to do you a favor."

"Yeah? Well next time pick something else! I feed Spike! Got that? Me! Nobody else!" Raphael fumed.

Leo was now frustrated and confused. "Stop acting like a baby, Raph. It's not that big a deal!"

"Of course it isn't a big deal to you! You don't understand me! But Spike is my pet turtle, so he's my responsibility!"

"Oh, so Spike knows you better than us?! He's a turtle, Raphael!" Leo shouted, getting in Raph's face.

Raphael growled. "So are we!"

Leo sputtered for a few moments, his cheeks flushed as he struggled to come up with a retort. "Spike is just a dumb animal, Raphael! He doesn't understand a word you say and he doesn't understand you!"

Raph drew back and retrieved Spike, struggling to hold back the tears. "No! No! You're wrong Leo! And one day you'll be sorry!"

At age fifteen...

"You know, Spike, if my brothers weren't always holding me back I bet I could be best ninja ever! But they're always making me angry and getting on my nerves. How am I supposed to do well when they're being such pains?"

At age sixteen...

"I know you're a little worried about me. Look, I'm not gonna lie to ya. We've never gone into a fight like this and I don't know what's gonna happen. But ya don't have to worry. I will make it back. I love you, man."

Slash's eyes brightened as he returned to the present and stared down at Raphael. He smiled affectionately at his old friend. "I love you too, Raph, Brother...Rest well." The big turtle whispered. He stood and made his way over to the door, turning back one last time to reassure himself that Raphael was out of danger, before slowly leaving the room and closing the door softly behind him.

Once outside, he took a deep breath and murmured. "I'll always be there for you Raph. After all, I made a promise."

At age six...

"You're always there for me, aren't you, buddy?" Spike chewed on his leaf and Raph smiled.

It was late, and the young turtle was tired. With a big yawn Raph mumbled sleepily, "Ya promise?" Raphael's eyes closed and he was out like a light. He didn't see Spike as the normal turtle chomped down on the lettuce leaf without the slightest hesitation.

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"Sensei, is Raph asleep?" Leo asked as his father joined them in the main room.

The old rat nodded. "Yes. Slash is keeping a silent vigil."

Leo's eyes clouded over a little as he nodded. Whatever his thoughts were, they were rudely interrupted by Donnie and Mikey talking loudly.

"You said you'd never mention it to anyone!" Mikey whined.

Don's smirk was disturbing, to say the least. "Oh, like you said you wouldn't tell April about my flow chart?"

Mikey had 'accidentally' blurted to April the fact that Donnie had constructed a 'How to Spend More Time with April' flowchart a few days ago. Fortunately for him, Don had been too worried about Raph to care. But now...the brainiac was more than ready for a little bit of payback.

The purple-masked turtle turned to Mona Lisa, who was gnawing distractedly on a carrot as she wondered what to do with the rest of her day. Leo had called Casey and April and the two humans were going to come by later to see Raph. But that still left roughly three hours of free time for her. What to do, what to do? She slowly looked up and realized that Donnie was staring at her. Something was off. The brainiac looked as though he was about to do something devious. And Mona wasn't sure she wanted to be an accomplice in any more turtle pranks. "Donnie?" She asked, hoping that the turtle would explain himself.

Donatello blinked a few times after she said his name. She'd been speaking a little bit here and there over the past two weeks, but he still wasn't quite used to it yet. Mona's vocabulary was very limited. Every once in a while she would repeat words that they used, but he didn't really know how many of them Mona Lisa was actually able to retain. All he knew for certain was that she knew all their names. She still had a little bit of trouble saying 'Sensei', but she could say Splinter pretty well. Oddly enough, Mikey was the name she pronounced best. Don suspected it was probably because the youngest was the most annoying and kept pestering her about getting it perfect. Mikey seemed to have an overwhelming desire to teach her how to say booyakasha, but Don had tried to tell the youngest several times that Mona just wasn't ready for that yet.

Speaking of Mikey...oh yes, he was in the middle of getting his baby brother back for telling April about his flowchart. Preferably by telling everyone about Mikey's incident with the—ah yes, Don chuckled to himself. Mikey will never blurt out one of my secrets ever again!

"Mona, would you like to hear about the time Mikey—"

The lizard mutant shook her head. "Not now, Donnie."

Everything froze. Donnie stared. "Mona..." His shock shifted into a brilliant smile. He grabbed her hands and squeezed them tightly. "Your first sentence!" They both turned to the others who were still in shock. Donnie was flooded with excitement. "Guys! Guys! Mona said her first sentence!"

Splinter was the first one to respond. "Congratulations, my child, I am very proud of you."

Mona pulled her hands away from Donnie and hugged Master Splinter. She looked him in the eyes and it was obvious that she had to use all her concentration to say, "Thanks Splinter."

Mikey and Leo slowly came to their senses and went to congratulate her. Leo beamed proudly. "Just wait till Raph hears about this. Wait...did any of you guys tell him she could talk?"

They all looked at each other and turned back to the oldest turtle with blank expressions. Leo grinned and shook his head. "Well, I guess Raph is gonna have a lot of surprises in store for him when he wakes up."

They smiled back. Mona nodded. Slowly, she extended her arm so that her hand was high above her head. She glanced over each of their faces nervously. Leo, Donnie, Mikey and Master Splinter were all staring rather indulgingly at her. She cleared her throat and did the best she could: "Boo-ya-ka-sha?"

Mikey had tears of joy in his baby-blue eyes. Healmost knocked her over with his zealous hug. "Yeah boy! You are the bestsister ever! Come on, everybody! High-three, or four, or however many you got!"He ordered, adding his hand in beside Mona Lisa's. Leo and Donnie smiled anddid as their little brother commanded.

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Well, how was it?