Donnie finished changing the IV bag before stepping back to give a quick glance down to his brother.

He was still in a... he was sleeping. Yeah, he was just sleeping... for two weeks now.

All things considered; he was doing better. His scratches and bruises were practically gone, and while it was touch and go for a while, his lung was able to heal, much to the relief of everyone. His carapace is on the mend but will likely need to keep the bolts in for a while longer. His plastron is a bit of a different story.

The crack in his plastron was wider, with bits and pieces starting to fall off... so Donnie had to get a little creative.

He fashioned a patch to seal up the crack out of some carbon metal alloy, where he happened to find the material... well his brothers knew better than to ask.

It was a little weird to look at in the beginning, but Mikey insisted it looked cool. In a way it was, but Donnie knew that despite whatever stupid jokes Leo would end up making about it, that it was bound to take some getting used to.

Donnie hesitantly put a hand on his brother's chest, hand tingling ever so slightly at the feel of the cold metal running down the middle of the slider's chest before focusing on the gentle up and down motions of his chest.

At least he was breathing, steady and strong at that. That meant his twin was alive.

He moved his gaze upward, intentionally ignoring Leo's neck for now, before settling his gaze on his head and sighed.

Donnie may be a genius, but he wasn't a medic. That title belonged to Leo.

But he did his best, he did what he could... but he couldn't prevent the gash from scarring.

It was jagged, but not as vivid as Donnie initially feared. Still, it wasn't easily ignored.

It started on his forehead, before zigzagging down, in-between his eyes, stopping just above his nostrils.

Donnie shut his eyes for a brief moment, bracing himself, before finally looking down at his brother's neck.

Leo's neck was by far the worst, and that was saying something when compared to his plastron.

His neck was heavily scarred, with bruises still mottling the surface. The scars were particular, in that they seemed to have been made from squeezing Leo's throat with claws. And although Leo was now on a nasal tube instead of the mask, Donnie was still worried.

Because by now, he shouldn't even need that.

He wouldn't know for sure until he woke up, but he was worried there may be lasting damage to his windpipe. Maybe his vocal cords. If that was the case, then...

Donnie cleared his throat and quickly averted his gaze from Leo's neck, instead his eyes traveled back down his body, taking in his overall condition.

He was starting to get skinnier too, which is what the IV is for. Since he hasn't been awake for two weeks, the IV is now for fluids and nutrition. And pain medicine, as Donnie isn't sure if Leo can feel pain in his comatose state, but he'd rather not risk it.

He may be sadistic at times, but he doesn't want his twin to suffer.

His eyes finally left his brother in order to turn his attention to the equipment currently monitoring Leo's condition while also working to help him live. He's already done this three times today... and it was only about two hours after sunrise.

After making sure the readings were to his satisfaction, he started gently poking Leo on the arms and legs, trying to stimulate him to wake him up.

Nothing.

"Hey Donnie!"

Donnie spun around and nearly tranquilized the intruder before realizing it wasn't just any intruder, it was his brother. His big brother Raph to be exact.

To be honest he was still tempted, but he remembered the last time he tested his tranquilizer gun on Raph. He wasn't amused then and Donnie really doubted he would be amused now.

Raph was looking better, his shell was patched, his wounds have mostly healed, and his eye was just a bit red still. But they all knew the mental wounds would take the longest to heal... in all of them. But Raph, ever the big brother, had a gentle smile on his face. Even if he knew Donnie could see right through it.

"How's Leo?"

Donnie hasn't really talked much since they got Leo home, instead he's resorted to signing.

Donnie shrugged, gestured at the medical equipment, before turning back around to Raph and signing:

"Stable, but no change."

"Uh... is that good?"

Donnie faltered for a moment, mulling that over before he responded.

"It could be worse."

Ah, comforting.

Raph sighed and let his smile falter a little before coming to Leo's other side and laying a hand against his little brother's cheek, gently stroking it.

It wasn't like Leo to be this still, this quiet. It was unnatural for the slider.

Raph sighed again before pulling a chair over to sit at Leo's side. A glance towards the softshell compelled Donnie to pull up his own chair at Leo's other side, though he made himself look busy by checking the monitors. He knew Raph was itching to talk to him, do some touchy-feely crap... but he wanted nothing to do with it. This way, it gave him an excuse not to.

A moment passed before they heard the door opening and turned their heads to see who it was. Mikey, their baby brother.

He looked exhausted and had light, almost faded, zig-zag scars running up and down his arms. At first, they were shaking horribly but Draxum helped with that. Now, they were only bothersome if he got too upset.

"Dad got Casey to sleep..."

No easy feat, as the boy hadn't slept more than a few hours in two weeks. Perhaps not surprising, given Leo's condition. And... everything else going through that boy's head. He may be safe now, but he's definitely got PTSD from his old way of life. The first time he had an actual, hearty, tasty meal with them... they thought his head was going to explode and they couldn't help but wince at his genuine astonishment when April casually gave him another helping of the beef stew. Poor kid couldn't hide his shock, that was the first night he felt full in his whole life.

In fact, that first night was a lot of firsts for him. The meal first of all, then an actual HOT shower, the first time he's felt truly clean and relaxed like that. And then, oh, the warm and soft blankets and pillows.

April had really thought he was about to melt into a puddle of goo. But that didn't mean sleep came easily.

Turns out, growing up in an apocalyptic world makes you a very light sleeper. Go figure.

Every little noise, be it a snore or someone adjusting their positions in the big pile of blankets, Casey would shoot up into a battle stance. And more than once he would wake up throughout the night and not remember where he is initially.

And when morning eventually came, Casey was nowhere to be found. The family panicked for a few minutes, looking everywhere in the lair for their resident future boy before April actually had the brains to check the infirmary.

Sure enough, that's where they found him. Slouched forward in one of the chairs with his head resting on Leo's bed, near his hand.

Since then, April had to go home and explain everything to her parents, and now her family was working on clearing out the spare room in their apartment in order to make into a room for Casey. Until then, he's taken the living room couch, vehemently denying using Leo's room, as he insisted Leo would need it once he awoke. While that was true, that reasoning didn't explain Casey's extreme reaction to the suggestion. Eventually, they coaxed an explanation out of the boy.

Turns out, in his apocalyptic timeline, the only time someone else's room or bed was given to someone else, was if the prior owner had, well, died.

That answer shut down anymore prodding after that.

So, if Casey had finally fallen asleep again, they might want to count themselves lucky and tread as silently as possible.

Mikey made his way over to Raph without another word and quickly climbed onto his oldest brother's shell, laying his chin on his shoulder, tired eyes watching the rise and fall of Leo's chest.

"Don? Is he gonna wake up soon?"

Donnie looked up from his arm where he was fiddling with something on the screen and gauged the sad look on his baby brother's face.

"I-I don't know Angelo... I really don't."

Raph and Mikey's eyes lit up a little at finally hearing Donnie's voice in two weeks.

But it didn't last long. Leo's heart monitor started gently beeping, perhaps signaling he was waking up. They've been connected to these machines enough times themselves in order to be able to tell that.

Donnie leapt up from his chair, his hand hovering over Leo's.

"Donnie? That means he's trying to wake up right?"

Donnie's eyes crinkled briefly when the heart monitor started to speed up, but a bit quicker than he would have liked.

His face turned blank, and he started fiddling with the equipment. Not a moment later and a hoarse whine came from Leo, his hands starting to twitch at his sides.

"He's in distress."

Raph shot up from his own seat, barely catching Mikey in his arms as said turtle lurched forward from the unexpected force.

"What?! What's wrong?"

Donnie didn't answer right away, instead he turned to the IV containing the pain medicine and worked to quickly increase the dosage to the next safe level.

"He's waking up and the pain is catching up to him, but I don't know how much--"

Leo's eyes shot open, his mouth opening in a silent scream as both hands came up to wrap around his neck.

Don noticed what he was doing and quickly tried to pull Leo's hands away from his neck.

"Leo! Hey, hey Nardo you got to stop that--"

But Donnie noticed something too late, Leo's eyes were wide and hazy, unfocused.

Leo was in pain, scared, and confused. He didn't know where he was, for all Donnie knew, Leo may have thought he was still with the Kraang.

Leo's hands squeezed his throat tighter and Donnie snatched his own hands back, instead holding them up in a surrendering gesture.

His eyes met Leo's before quickly glancing at Raph and mouthing something at him.

Leo's hands shook, weak and hoarse sounds struggling to leave his throat as he finally eased his grip. Instead, his hands went back to his sides, gripping the blanket in a death grip before his hazy eyes traveled down to his arms where the IV cords were coming from.

But what Leo saw instead of the cords, were tentacles.

His eyes grew wider and he frantically tried ripping them out.

"Leo, no! It's okay!"

But he wasn't listening, he managed to rip on of the three out before his body jolted suddenly before slumping back against the pillows.

Raph stepped back and quickly withdrawing the needle from Leo's arm where he just administered the sedative. His eyes were wet with unshed tears and his breathing was harsh, Mikey was just behind him, clutching Raph's arm with one hand and using his other to cover his mouth.

"D-Don... ie?"

Leo's voice came out as a wheeze, airy and whistly. And all too hoarse.

But it was the first time he seemed aware of his surroundings.

Don quickly leaned over to peer at him, his own eyes wide.

"Yeah Leo, it's me. You're okay now."

Leo looked up at him with a weary and dazed expression, his eyes fluttering, seemingly fighting to stay open.

It was silent for a second before Leo weakly reached up a hand to his throat and gave a broken whine followed by a wince.

Donnie swallowed.

"Yeah, I know it hurts Nardo, I know. It'll feel better soon, okay? You're probably feeling drowsy now, don't fight it, let go."

But Leo merely looked up at him with a renewed look of fear.

Donnie forced back a wince and laid a hand on his twin's own.

"We'll be here, I promise."

Leo still seemed distraught, but the call of sleep quickly became too much for him and he quickly fell back into darkness.