Archive of Our Own ^beta

Donnie looked over at his twin as he stared outside at the rain falling down the window.

His eyes were blank while he zoned out, not actually seeing the rain as he stared out into space. At certain angles, the brother that liked to wear blue looked like he did before the accident. Mikey was cuddled up against Leo’s side – the side with the arm not in a brace – as he dozed.

Leo doesn’t remember the accident.

But that’s probably a good thing.

“You are conversing with Donatello,” Donnie said his usual greeting into his phone as he tugs his favorite purple sneakers on his feet. His dark dreadlock that were held back by his purple bandana brushed against the phone held between his ear and shoulder.

“Hey there, ‘Tello,” Leo greeted and Donnie could hear the smile in his voice. “I got the munchkin and we’re on our way to the farmhouse.”

“I’m not a munchkin!” Mikey indignant voice echoed through the phone, making Donnie smile at the offence Mikey was projecting in his voice.

“Grow a few more inches and then we will re-discuss that,” Leo said to Mikey. “You’re on Bluetooth, by the way, before you or Raph gets on my case for driving and using the phone.”

“Ah, I know that you would never do that with Mikey in the car,” Donnie told him as he stood up and used his hand to hold the phone to his ear instead of his shoulder. Purple kinesio tape in blocky rectangle shapes covered his shoulders to match the ones on his thighs. “Raph and I will be picking up April from her school, and then we’ll be on the way.”

“What about Cass and Casey?” Mikey chirped his question out.

“Cass said she was going on their way from hockey practice about an hour ago but Casey forget something so they had to double back,” Donnie looked over at the clock, “about twenty minutes ago.”

“And the father figures?”

“They said they would be leaving in about an hour from the movie set.”

“Cool, so we’ll be getting there first,” Leo said aloud. “I still can’t believe that it took us this long to bring Casey out to the family farmhouse! Like, the city is nice and all but it is so relaxing to take a break out in the country side.”

“Well, it’s kind of difficult for us to have gotten him out there before when we only found out two years ago that Cass has a long-lost little brother,” Donnie huffed as he grabbed his picked his usual purple hoodie off its hook as well as Raph’s distressed white one.

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo said and Donnie could hear the eyeroll in it. “Well, anyways, I just wanted to let you know that we were on our way. We’re gonna hang up now so I can focus on driving. There’s a bit more traffic than usual.”

“Drive safe,” Donnie flippantly told his twin. “Mikey, make sure you don’t have your feet up on the dash.”

“Aww, c’mon,” Mikey groaned.

“You heard the man,” Leo told Mikey and Donnie could hear the small thump as Mikey’s feet probably hit the car’s floor. “He just wants you to be safe. Your legs could get crushed if they’re up there and we get into an accident.”

“Ah, you drive too good for us to get into one,” Mikey giggled as he hyped his brother up. “Anyways, bye Dee! Love you! We’ll see out there!”

“Bye Don Don,” Leo said. “Love ya.”

“Bye, you two. Love you, too,” Donnie said back as he pulled the phone away and hung up. “Raph! You ready?!” Donnie yelled up the stairs of their two-story house.

“Raph’s ready,” Raph answered back as his large form stomped down the stairs. Donnie handed over the white hoodie and his big brother slipped it over his head. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Donnie said as he shrugged on his own hoodie. He grabbed the keys off the hook and twirled them around his finger. “Do you want to drive or want me to?”

“I’ll drive,” Raph smiled as he caught the keys that were tossed over to him. “You’re a better co-pilot for getting out there anyways.”

The two older brothers of the four stepped out of the front door and Donnie turned to lock it while Raph went to start up one of the family cars. It was a large green jeep that the brother’s affectionately called the ‘Turtle Tank’ as a tribute to its color. Mikey even went the extra mile to put a turtle shell car decal on both front doors as a way to spice it up.

Leo had taken one of the other cars to pick Mikey up from his gymnastics class and then head over to the farmhouse. That one was an older truck that they called the ‘Party Wagon’ with the same accents that Mikey put on the jeep. He thought it would be fun if they marked all the family vehicles like that as a way to easily identify them. Donnie didn’t see the point of that as they could easily tell if the car was theirs if they looked. Mikey just rolled his eyes at Donnie’s comment and continued placing the decal on the truck.

A ding from his smart watch had him looking down to see a notification from his older sister. She was technically their step-sister from Draxum’s previous relationship but they had grown up together. They were as close as blood siblings and considered each other so. The four boys were from Splinter’s previous relationship with their mother, Big Mama, but she soon died after Mikey was born. Casey and Cassandra were the two newest members of the group. Cassandra had been adopted by the fathers when she was just shy of 13 years old. They had found out that she had a younger brother two years ago and last year they were able to legally adopt him as well.

[Out of class now. Ready when you are] – Big Sis

Donnie texted back that he and Raph were on the way as he climbed into the Turtle Tank. He reached over and pulled on his seatbelt as Raph turned the key in the ignition. Donnie plugged his phone in to play his music while Raph pulled out of their driveway and started their drive to pick up their sister. He took a peek at the backseat to make sure the duffel bags that contained everyone’s stuff for the long weekend was there – even though he made sure he was physically watched all of them load their color-coded bags in there earlier in the day.

It never hurt to be prepared.

Donnie knows that Leo doesn’t remember that phone call.

The purple twin saw movement out of the corner of his eye to see Raph standing in the doorway of the glass sunroom they were in. Raph’s eyes were firmly on the two small forms of his youngest brothers that were huddled together in the wide lawn bench. A thick blanket covered them and made them look even smaller. The shadows of the rain reflected down on the somber expression that took of his brother’s face. There was a certain raindrop shadow that when it trailed down, you could almost pass it off as Raph crying.

Raph shook himself out of the hole he had started falling into and stepped into the room. He made his steps quiet but audible enough that he wouldn’t startle Leo.

He reached out to ghost a finger over Mikey’s curly hair before pulling his hand back, as if he was afraid Mikey was glass that would be broken if he was so much as grazed.

“Why is there so much traffic?” Raph groans as he slowly inches the Turtle Tank forward.

“Probably a bunch of rubber-neckers,” April responds as she types away at her phone in the back seat. A ding comes from her phone and she hums as she reads it. “Casey says there was an accident. That would explain all the cars.”

The loud shrill ringing of an ambulance screeched through the air as it sped down the shoulder past their car, shaking it slightly.

“Must be pretty bad,” Donnie remarked as he strained his neck to look farther. The car in front of them moved forward a considerable amount, letting them move up and get closer to the scene. It was hard to see what was going on as the dark of night had taken over; and the red and white lights of the emergency vehicles flashing in their eyes made it hard to see the wreckage. “It’s going to make us late.”

“Leo is so going to gripe about us arriving so long after them,” April chuckled.

They inched closer to the four-way traffic light where they needed to turn. There was a cop standing in the middle of it as he directed traffic, the flashing lights highlighting his figure as he waved the LED traffic wand. They had to take the left turn which is where the accident had apparently taken place.

With the flagger waving the wand in his hand, Raph slowly turned the wheel to drive the car across the square and follow the line of cars that also had to go down that road. There was a car on the shoulder of their side of their two-lane road. It was a vehicle of considerable size, rivalling that of the Turtle Tank. The front of it was caved in as if it crashed into something at a very fast speed.

They could see someone a bit farther ahead yelling as he leaned against the cop car while being arrested.

“I’m going to guess he caused the accident,” April muttered as she turned her head to look over at the emergency vehicles blocking their view on the other side of the road divider. The other side of the road was completely blocked off with no traffic coming down in. Between the gaps of the firetrucks, ambulances, and police cars, they could see an older looking truck flipped on its top in the ditch lining the road and the broken glass and metal that littered the street. There was a singular dented door laying in the middle of the street.

Donnie turned his head in morbid curiosity, trying to get more details out of the accident that was to this scale. He couldn’t make out the color of the flipped truck from the darkness of the night and the emergency lights flashing on it. April leaned forward from her seat to in-between the two front seats and squinted to see out the front windshield.

“Hey…isn’t that Cassandra’s car up there on the shoulder?” she asked as she pointed to the car on the shoulder behind the police cars on the other side of the road.

Donnie didn’t turn his head to look like Raph did as they moved forward and he got to see the wreckage in clearer view. There was a team of rescue personnel in the ditch on one side of the vehicle and Donnie realized that they were still working on getting someone out of it. His eyes grazed over to the broken off door that laid innocently by itself in the road.

And he let out a strangled gasp when he saw the familiar turtle shell symbol it.

“Pull over, Raph,” Donnie demanded as he ripped off his seatbelt and reached for the door handle, fumbling with it. “PULL OVER!”

“Okay!” Raph yelled back in a panic as he sharply twisted the wheel to bring the jeep onto the shoulder by the police car. Donnie finally got his grip on the door handle and wretched the door open. He didn’t explain anything to his two older siblings as he ran across around the front of the car. Cars honked at him as he rushed out into the street but he paid no attention to them.

Donnie hopped the divider and tried running into the chaos of the accident when he was caught by a police officer. “Woah there, big guy,” the officer said to him.

“Where’re my brothers?!” Donnie demanded as he looked around the scene.

“Are you related to the victims?” the officer blinked at him and set his lips in a grim line.

“Yes!” Donnie practically screeched at the officer as he tried to look around him at the scene. “They’re my little brothers! Where are they?!”

The officer regarded him with a hard look for a second that said so many apologies before his shoulders slumped and he guided Donnie towards an ambulance. “Let me take you to the older one. You…shouldn’t see the younger one yet.”

“Why?!” Donnie demanded as he feared the worst. He could hear Raph and April approaching behind him, telling another officer that they were also siblings. “What’s wrong with Mikey?!”

The officer turned his head towards the wreckage in the ditch and Donnie was quick to piece together that it was his baby brother that they were still working on getting out of the smashed vehicle. “No,” Raph gasped as he took a step forward but was caught by April. Raph looked over at her and she shook her head at him, telling him to let the professionals handle it.

The officer tugged on Donnie’s arm to continue leading him towards one of the ambulances with their backdoors open. He could spot Casey standing at the side of a gurney as he held the hand of the person laying there. There was blooding staining his hands and arms while his shirt looked like someone used it as an art project.

Donnie let out a pained whine at the sight of his injured twin laying on the gurney.

He tripped once as he made his way over and took in the sight of Leo laying there, Casey looking over at him with a pale face. He was still as the paramedics strapped him down and checked him over. There was a deep gash going through his left eyebrow and his right arm was a mess of blood, glass, and bruises. There was scratches covering him all over the place and even more blooding leaking out.

“Oh, Leo,” Donnie sobbed as Casey placed Leo’s hand in his.

“Are you family?” one of the paramedics asked in a clipped, professional tone.

“He’s my twin,” Donnie answered without taking his eyes off of Leo.

“He’ll ride in the ambulance instead of me,” Casey told them as he stepped away to not be in their way as they worked on the injured boy.

A loud yell from the side had Donnie and Casey looking over. Donnie could see Raph standing near the other ambulance with April holding his hand tightly. Cassandra, her hands and arms also covered in blood, was standing near the group around the truck with a horrid expression on her face.

The group shifted and Donnie felt like he wanted to throw up.

One of the rescuers carried a bloody Mikey limply of the ditch in his arms as his mangled right leg hung lower than his other leg. A tight tourniquet was wrapped just below the middle of Mikey’s thigh, trying to stop the blood that was leaking like a faucet out the leg. It looked like the bone was pulverized, with pieces of it sticking out through the skin with sharp edges.

What was worse was seeing Mikey’s half-lidded eyes as he took in everything around him.

Raph let out a loud sob as Mikey was carried over to the other ambulance and laid down on the gurney. The paramedics were quick to swoop in and start checking over the small boy. Scratches ran all over Mikey’s face but were mostly concentrated on the right side of his face. In fact, the whole right side of Mikey was a mess like Leo’s was.

They were quick to secure Mikey and load him into the ambulance, Raph climbing in with them. He tossed the car keys to April after saying that she would meet them at the hospital.

Cass came forward to pull Casey back towards their car as Leo’s paramedics started loading him in his ambulance. Donnie took one last look at the ambulance carrying Mikey as the doors closed, his last look was Raph hunching forward to brush his hand against Mikey’s curly hair, the boy leaning his head into Raph’s large hand.

Donnie climbed into the ambulance and took a seat next to Leo’s good side as they started driving off towards the hospital.

It was a drunk driver that almost killed his younger siblings.

He had run straight through the light even though the left-turn lane that Leo had been using had the full green light to go. He had smashed straight into Mikey’s side of the truck, sending it flying from the force the drunk driver hit them with. They rolled in the air before landing on the driver’s side on the concrete divider, crushing in that side of the truck’s roof. It had bounced off the divider and rolled again before stopping on its top to leave the truck upside down in the ditch on the other side of the road.

There had been no other cars waiting there at the light so no one else was thankfully hurt as they rolled through. There was another car who watched the accident as they approached the light further back and they was able to record it thanks to their dash cam, and had been the one to call for emergency services.

And that someone was Cassandra and Casey.

They had been on the road coming from the farm house to head to the closest grocery store to grab some hygiene items that Casey forgot to pack and some snacks. They had recognized the Party Wagon immediately as it took its left turn, the turtle symbol making it very easy to recognize it.

They had been filled with dread when they watch the Turtle Tank sized vehicle crash into the old truck, sending it flying in the air before it landed on top on the concrete divider. The driver’s side front door, Leo’s door, had ripped off while the rest of the truck rolled around the road before falling right into the ditch with its wheels pointed towards the sky.

The paramedics were quick to arrive but it had felt like forever as Cassandra tried to pacify a distraught and confused Mikey. With Leo’s door gone and Casey’s first aid training, he took the chance of pulling Leo of the truck. He laid him out on the grass that was being stained red under him.

Mikey had his leg up on the dashboard when the accident happened.

It was crushed between the metal that was forced inwards from the other vehicle hitting his side of the truck and the air bags going off. He was stuck in there without the proper tools and Cassandra had tried her best to calm him down while they waited for help to come.

It was something that neither Casey or Cassandra ever wanted to go through again.

When Casey had texted April saying there was an accident, he failed to add on the end saying Leo and Mikey were the ones in it. He had waited until the paramedics had finally arrived and took Leo to be helped. Only then, when he knew Leo wasn’t in immediate danger without someone there to have their eye on him, did the the adopted brother feel safe enough to send the text to April. He had been so flustered and shook from witnessing the crash that his mind had only been able to produce the text saying there had been an accident.

Donnie saw Leo blink to himself, awareness coming back to him, and turned to his two other brothers. It showed the scar that once leaked so much blood that Donnie thought his twin was going to die right then and there.

“Don’e?” Leo slurred as he blinked his eyes open at the ceiling.

“I’m right here,” Donnie gulped as he reached forward to grab Leo’s non-mangled hand. He sat on the side where he wouldn’t be in the way of the paramedics working on his younger twin. “It’s going to be okay.”

Leo painfully turned his head to face his older twin and he could see the gash bisecting Leo’s left eyebrow. One of the paramedics placed a cloth to the wound to prevent the blood from getting into his squinting eye. Leo’s eyes were fuzzy as he tried to piece together why he was in a shaking vehicle and why he was injured.

“Di’…di’ som’ting hap’n?” Leo croaked out as he squeezed Donnie’s hand just a fraction harder.

“Don’t worry about that right now,” Donnie told him as he took one of his hands to brush Leo’s blond locks back from his forehead, not caring about the blood and sweat he was getting on his hand. “Everything will be just fine. You and Mikey are going to be just fine.”

Leo’s eyes widen a fraction as he remembered his baby brother and looked around the small cabin for the brother that claimed his life color is orange. “Wher’s he?” Leo slurred as his eyes grew heavier.

Donnie gulped as he remembered the bloody form of his baby brother being loaded into the second ambulance, Raph barely holding himself together as he climbed in the vehicle to ride along with them.

“I’ll tell you later,” Donnie murmured as he petted Leo’s hair in the way that he knew made Leo sleepy. “Just go back to sleep and I’ll tell you when you wake up.”

Leo struggled to keep his eyes open but the condition of his body forced him to go back to sleep. Donnie watched as Leo’s eyes slid shut and he breathed out the shaky breath that he was barely holding back.

Leo had gotten the worst concussion possible from when the truck rolled into the ditch.

Without the door there to protect him, his head had smashed against the pavement on the way and it was honestly a straight miracle that he was still alive. It made remembering certain things hard for him, especially the day of the accident and the following week in the hospital.

The only reason he wasn’t flung out of the truck was the seatbelt that held him firmly against his seat.

The entire day of the accident was completely erased from Leo’s mind. He didn’t remember absolutely anything from it. He could remember bits and pieces of his first couple days in the ICU. It took a week for him to remember most of the day and two full weeks before he could fully remember what he did the day before.

The twitching of a finger had Donnie looking up from where he was hunched in on himself.

He stood up quickly from his chair and grabbed Leo’s good hand, looking down at him. “Leo? Are you awake?” Donnie gasped out as he held his breath. He could see his short father and tall step-father join Donnie on the other side of the bed. April was holding Mikey’s hand at the bed sharing the room and her eyes were filled with watery tears as she looked over.

It took a moment but Leo’s eyes scrunched before peeling a sliver open. His blue eyes sluggishly dragged themselves from staring up at the ceiling to see his older twin’s purple eyes looking down at him with tears. “D’nie?” Leo mumbled as he tightened his hand that was being held. “Wher’m I?”

“You’re in the hospital, my baby blue,” Splinter whispered as he raised a hand to lay on Leo’s cheek. The feeling made his eyes leave Donnie and carry over to his father. He could see the tears falling out of the corner of his eyes and behind him, Draxum wasn’t that far behind. “You and Michelangelo were in an accident.”

Leo’s eyes widen when he heard about his little brother. He tried to push himself up as he looked around the room. “M’key,” Leo mumbled as he was pushed back down with gentle hands. “Wher’s he?”

“He’s over here,” April answered, her voice alerting Leo where she and Mikey were on the other side of the room.

Leo turned his head with what little energy he had, the bandage wrapped around his head making a soft scratching noise against the hospital pillows. He gasped when he saw his brother wrapped up in white bandages, making his already small form look even smaller in the hospital bed.

Loud rapid beeping alerted the group has Leo started getting distressed when he looked over the shape of Mikey’s body hidden under the white hospital issued blanket.

“M’key,” Leo called out pitifully as he reached his left hand towards his brother. “M’key…wake up!”

“Leonardo, you have to calm yourself before you hurt yourself,” Splinter firmly told his son as he tried to hold him against the bed.

Donnie grabbed Leo’s hand from where it was in the air and dragged it back to the bed. His lips were pressed in a hard line as he watched Leo cry in his confused and pain-filled state. “Please, ‘Nardo, you have to calm down.”

“M’key…’m sorry,” Leo sobbed, his eye lids growing heavy as his body was demanding him to go back to sleep. “I’m so sorry,” Leo got this sentence out fully before his eyelids rolled back up into his head. The hand Donnie was holding went limp as Leo’s body forced him back to sleep, trying to heal itself.

Splinter rested his forehead against his son’s as he quietly cried. Draxum rubbed his husband’s back in comfort even when he looked like he was dying a bit on the inside.

Donnie turned his head away to look at Mikey, most specially the lump at the bottom half of the bed that the blanket covered.

Donnie looked at the lump at the bottom half of the chair that the blanket covered. Raph shook Mikey awake, his little brother blinking to himself as he was brought out of his doze.

“You ‘n Leo have a doctors’ appointment,” Raph told him as he turned around to grab the wheelchair a few paces away.

“’kay,” Mike yawned as he stretched his arms above him, pulling himself out of his spot against Leo.

Raph came back over, pushing the wheelchair by its handles, as Mikey peeled the blanket off of him. It showed off the singular leg and the stump where his old leg used to reside. Without waiting for anyone as the wheelchair got close enough, the ex-gymnast stood up on the one leg and pivoted to plop down in his seat.

Raph sighed as he pinched his nose bridge. “Mikey, what did we tell you about waiting for us to help you in your chair?”

“Oh c’mon, Raphie,” Mikey groaned as he situated himself in the chair. “It’s been months now and I have to get used to getting around with only one leg.”

“He has a point there, big brother,” Donnie piped in, making Mikey beam and Raph frown at him. “He’s due to get his prosthetic leg soon but there will be times that he won’t always be able to use it.”

“Thank you, Dee,” Mikey chirped as he was proven right.

“Thank you, Don,” Raph drawled as he was proven wrong. “Alright, let’s get you loaded in the van. Do you want a snack before we go?”

“Snack! Snack! Snack!” Mikey chanted as he pumped his scarred arms in the air, Raph grabbing the handles to push the wheelchair out of the sunroom and towards the kitchen.

Donnie turned to Leo who watched Mikey leave with a broken look on his face.

“It’s not your fault,” Donnie told his twin something that he had repeated numerously everyday since the accident. Leo had still yet to believe it and the older twin was making it a point to tell him until he finally believed it.

“I should have had him take his leg down from the dashboard,” Leo grunted before he frowned to himself.

“Perhaps you did but Mikey had to put it up there to tie his shoe,” Donnie offered as he got up from his position to sit next to Leo. “You don’t remember so you shouldn’t blame yourself.

“Mikey remembers though,” Leo mumbled as he shifted to rest his head against Donnie’s shoulder. “He won’t tell me anything about it.”

That was true.

Mikey remembered everything from the day of the accident. From the phone call to turning at the light to the feeling as the other vehicle smashed into their side.

To the feeling of the metal crunching in on his leg.

To the glass breaking and flying through the air to slash across their skins.

To Leo flinging his right arm over Mikey’s chest to try and protect him.

To the air bags deploying, breaking the bones in Leo’s arm, and crushing Mikey’s leg even more than it was already crushed from the caved in door.

To the twin screams of pain and fear as the two brothers rolled around in the air.

To landing on the concrete divider and Leo’s door ripping off.

To the sound of Leo’s head slamming against the pavement which somehow stood out above all else.

To the truck rolling before falling a short distance into the ditch on the other side of the road.

To hanging up there upside down as blood dripped down his face.

To turning his head and calling out painfully for his still brother who had a gash that spilled blood out like a busted sink.

To Casey and Cassandra arriving on the scene, sliding down the incline of the ditch with matching expressions of horror.

To Casey pulling his brother out while he was stuck in the truck.

To Cassandra trying to calm him down while yelling for help into her phone, reaching in to caress Mikey’s cheek and wipe away the blood that spilled down into his eyes.

To the flashing of red and white lights finally arriving on the scene.

To watching Leo being lifted into a gurney by paramedics, the grass under him showing a perfect outline of his body made by his own blood.

To the rescuers having to push Cassandra away so they could get Mikey out.

To the pain as they pried Mikey leg out of the its trap of air bag and metal.

To being pulled out of the totaled truck and carried out of the ditch by the rescuers.

To seeing his older siblings watching him from the ambulances and Leo staying unconscious on his gurney.

To being placed on another gurney and strapped down as they tried to stabilize the boy.

To being loaded into the ambulance and Raph climbing into it with him.

To Raph petting his hair and leaning into his hand as unconsciousness tugged at him.

Mikey remembered everything.

And Donnie thought that was probably a bad thing.

The only reason that he knew was from when Mikey would wake up screaming from nightmares the plagued him after the accident. His dreams would replay the incident almost nightly for the first month after the incident. Loud sobs would alert them and one or more members of the family would run to his room to help him. Mikey used to run to who he needed comfort from when he had nightmares but after the loss of his leg, that wasn’t viable anymore.

Donnie or April would usually run to Leo’s room to talk him down from his own panic attack as the guilt of Mikey being in an accident so bad that the doctors said there was no chance of saving the leg under his watch would eat him alive. For the first couple months after the boys came home from the hospital, no one was able to sleep through the night between the nightmares or the pain that would attack the two brothers.

One late night, after calming Mikey down from his flashback as April took care of Leo, his baby brother talked to him. Raph had finally left after Mikey was no longer in distress and he asked Donnie to stay with him. The fathers had to go back to bed as they had court in the morning against the man that almost killed two of their sons. The adopted siblings, Casey and Cass, were also sent to bed as they had back-to-back appointments with the therapist in the morning.

“Is Leo okay?” Mikey quietly asked as he leaned against Donnie’s shoulder.

“He will be,” Donnie answered carefully as he wrapped an arm around Mikey’s shoulder. “Just like you will be.”

Mikey hummed non-committedly as he fiddled with the wrappings around his stump. They sat there for a few moments before Mikey made a small noise and wet his lips. “Does…Leo remember anything about it?”

“No,” Donnie shook his head. “His head injury was bad enough that he forgot the entire day and most of the first few days in the hospital.”

“That’s good,” Mikey nodded to himself. “Well…not the injury part but the part where he doesn’t remember it.”

“Do…how much do you remember of it?” Donnie asked hesitantly as he looked down at Mikey with a fearful eye.

“…all of it,” Mikey whispered as he stopped messing with the wrappings. “I remember everything.”

With some gentle prodding and swearing to not tell anyone else, Mikey told Donnie what he remembered.

And he never told Leo no matter how much the brother begged.

Truthfully, Mikey wasn’t going to tell anyone what he went through as he didn’t want to spread his trauma over to them. Donnie had to play it off how much the memories Mikey shared with him had shaken him to his core. He didn’t want Mikey to blame himself by sharing what happened so he hid his emotions down deep.

But there would be nights where he would stare up at his ceiling and instead of sleeping, would replay the events from what he was told. Even now, almost half a year after the incident and being told, simulations of the accident would play out in his mind.

What if it happened on a different day?

What if it was on a bridge?

What if they were thrown into water?

What if the weather was bad and it was snowing or raining?

What if Leo was alone in the car?

What if Casey and Cassandra weren’t there?

What if Mikey had to hang in that truck all alone as he bled out next to an unconscious brother?

What if they were on the remoter roads that lead to the farm house?

What if it was a hit-and-run and no one knew they were there?

“Donnie?” Leo laid his hands on Donnie’s face to bring him back to awareness. “Did you get lost in your thoughts again?”

What if anything else had been different…would his brothers still be alive?

“Sorry,” Donnie smiled apologetically. “There was a lot of noise going on in my head. But back to what you said, I don’t blame Mikey for not telling you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo rolled his eyes and dragged his hands off Donnie’s face. The movement made his large scar twitch and he reached down to scratch at the arm in the brace. “Because you said ‘there is no use in remembering something that the other member of the party doesn’t want me to remember’ and I still think that’s a load of crap.”

“Maybe when your therapist thinks it’s a good idea, then Mikey will tell you,” Donnie shrugged as he stood up and stretched his arms out, fixing his goggles that fell down slightly on his head.

“Whatever,” Leo huffed before giving Donnie a smirk. “Hey, Dee, am I still pretty?”

Donnie rolled his eyes with a smile as he held a hand out to his twin.

“Hey,” Leo called over to Donnie who was typing away at his laptop at Leo’s bedside.

“Yeah?” Donnie called back as he turned away from the laptop to his twin that was finally gaining his lucidity after weeks of confusion.

“Am I still pretty?” Leo asked with a wiggle of his eyebrows, the heavy pain meds he was under making him feel loose and loopy.

Donnie huffed a chuckle as he shook his head and turned back to the essay he was working. “Of course,” Donnie smiled. “So pretty.”

“Victory,” Leo laughed as he held his fingers up in a V.

Leo grabbed Donnie’s hand and the purple twin helped the blue twin up.

“Of course,” Donnie smiled. “So pretty.”

Leo was pretty self-conscious of the scar that marred his face so Donnie made sure to never tease him when he asked that question. It was played off as a flippant inquiry but Donnie could read the serious need of approval loaded in it. Getting a good answer, Leo’s smiled beamed and it made Donnie feel so much better.

Hoisting an arm around Leo’s shoulder, Leo copied him, and the two twins made their way out of the sunroom to join the other two siblings in the kitchen. Mikey held up his pop tart and Leo squawked when it was the last pack of his stockpile.

Raph just shook his head as Leo tried to get the one still in the foil from Mikey’s lap but the orange brother just placed the half-eaten one in his mouth and grabbed his wheels. With practiced ease, Mikey spun the wheels and raced away to avoid his brother to keep the stolen pop tart.

Donnie looked at his two brothers in quiet contemplation.

Things were getting better but they could have been so much worse.

“Donnie?” Leo whispered to not wake up Mikey and Raph on the other side of the room.

“Yeah, Leo?” Donnie whispered back as he laid in the hospital bed next to Leo. The blue twin had refused to try and sleep unless one of them was in the bed with him, which left Donnie being the one to take one for the team.

“I was so scared,” Leo admitted. “That’s what I remember from the accident.”

Donnie was quiet as he took that little piece of information Leo gave him. He wondered how much fear Leo had been feeling that it was the only thing that remained in his memories.

“I was, too,” Donnie murmured to Leo has he grabbed his good hand and squeezed. “I was so scared when I saw the crash.”

Raph shuffled in the chair he claimed as his own in his sleep and Donnie dragged his eyes over to the family that was camping out in the room. Their fathers had paid for a private room for the brothers and was able to convince the nurses to let them all stay for the first few days of the boys in the hospital.

They had taken Mikey’s leg yesterday, a few short hours after the near fatal crash, and if they hadn’t been there during Mikey’s breakdown, they would have had to sedate him.

Leo was there to witness the breakdown but he doesn’t remember it, just like most of that first week.

“Alright, let’s go!” Raph declared as he grabbed the wheelchair handles and pushed Mikey out of the kitchen.

“Adventure!” Mikey cheered as he stuffed the last bit of stolen pop tart in his mouth.

“If you call going to the doctors an adventure,” Leo huffed as he shrugged on his blue hoodie and grabbed Mikey’s orange one for him.

Donnie brought up the rear as he locked the door behind him. He turned to see Raph helping Mikey into the new van they had gotten to handle Mikey’s new handicap. There was a turtle shell symbol on the both front doors.

The new ‘Party Wagon’ or, as Donnie called it, Party Wagon V.2. was the perfect car for getting all the brothers where they need to go. Ever since the accident, none of them drove anywhere without the others unless it was necessary.

Even if Leo’s mind didn’t remember the accident, his body did. Both he and Mikey were impossible to get into a car the first few weeks after the accident but they were getting better. They would flinch anytime a large vehicle was a bit too close to them but it was better than when they would break down just sitting inside a car.

Donnie was just thankful that he still had little brothers here to help through their problems.

“What are you waiting for, you slow poke?” Leo smirked as he leaned out of the window of his seat. Mikey sat next to him and Donnie knew that his wheel chair was folded and loaded in the backseat behind him. A back-up pair of crutches were stored in the trunk in the event that Mikey wasn’t able to use his wheelchair.

“Ah, I’m coming,” Donnie grumbled as he open the passenger door and climbed in. He plugged in his phone to play his music and loaded up the GPS to direct them to the doctor’s office.

“Whoo! Adventure!” Mikey cheered as he waved his fingers in the air.

“Adventure,” Donnie cheered along dryly as he looked in the back to make sure his two precious little brothers were buckled in.

Maybe April was right about Donnie turning into a mother hen like Raph.

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Raph smiled softly as he put the car in drive and drove down the pathway leading to their house.

“Yeah, a circus show,” Leo snickered as he scratched at the brace covering his arm. It hide the multiple of scars that he gained as he tried to protect Mikey.

Donnie let himself zone out as his three brothers chatted to himself and zoned out to the scenery passing by him. He almost lost half of their quartet of brothers in one swoop of the 30^th of that hot summer month.

He had been so scared when he saw the crash.

“Hey, want to play I spy?” Leo grinned as he tapped Donnie shoulder.

“I do!” Mikey exclaimed.

“I spy something…green!”

“Is it that tree?”

“No.”

“That tree?”

“No.”

“That tree!”

“It’s not a tree.”

“Hmmm….” Mikey hummed as he looked around for what it could be.

Donnie could see the slight fear in Mikey’s eyes as he spots a car the same shade as the vehicle that crashed into them. Leo didn’t flinch in the slightest as he didn’t remember what it looked like.

Donnie knows that Leo doesn’t remember the accident.

But that’s probably a good thing.