*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.

*Author's Note: I have had several requests to add to this story, so I decided to put a little TMNT 2012-style ending on it. I really hope you like it. A big thanks to all of you who have favorited/followed me and provided me with such kind feedback for both this story and for 'You're Needed Here Now, Donnie' (aka 'YNHND' per my good friend RascalKat). I really appreciate all of your support!

Epilogue – Father Knows Best

It had been three days since Donnie's collapse in the lab and the genius turtle had finally coerced Leonardo into allowing him to leave the confines of his bedroom on account of good behavior, which hadn't come a moment too soon. Being restricted to his room for three excruciatingly long days had left Donatello feeling strangely claustrophobic and he had grown quite convinced that had he been forced to actually serve out his full prison term, he would not have survived the ordeal. Yes, he was well aware that that had been a slight exaggeration on his part, but being cooped up in a small room for over seventy-two hours straight with your family members taking turns babysitting you gave a turtle a lot more time to overthink and overdramatize things.

The point was, Donnie was thankful for his early discharge.

However, his freedom had come with several strict stipulations that he had not been able to weasel his way out of. The worst of the stipulations had been that he was not allowed to step foot in his lab for the entire duration of his original punishment (five days), nor was he allowed to leave the lair under any circumstances. Not even if there were to be a horrific fire, an unforeseen natural disaster, or a global extinction level event. He had made the mistake of asking about such scenarios and his untimely use of sarcasm had nearly gotten his plea bargain thrown out. Luckily, Leo had been in a stunningly forgiving mood during the negotiation process.

Another condition Donnie had had to agree upon before being permitted to leave his room was an alteration to his routine dietary plan. An intake of at least three meals a day had been mandated, with portion sizes to be determined by Master Splinter and Leonardo until further notice. This directive hadn't seemed so bad at first, until Donnie realized that it meant that he had to eat in front of an audience at all times and he was not allowed to be excused from his meal until literally every last speck on his plate had been consumed. Mikey had even gone so far as to try to make him lick his plate clean a couple of times, but Donnie had flat-out refused, determined to keep some of his dignity intact. No further punishment that they could have dished out could have possibly been worse than that kind of humiliation.

In addition to regulating his eating habits, his family had also put inflexible policies in place regarding his sleeping schedule. All electronic devices, miscellaneous gadgets, and written material had been removed from his room in order for him to focus on getting his required full eight hours of sleep in each night. If he did not willingly comply, Raphael had been given full permission to enforce these new policies however he saw fit, and, however Raph saw fit could be most unpleasant . . .

It went without saying that Donnie wasn't all that enthusiastic about these newly implemented rules and regulations. He had already been inquiring about how long they would remain in effect, but no one would give him a definitive answer. His best guess was a week or two . . . possibly longer, depending on how much time it took for him to earn his family's trust back.

But despite his impatience with all of the recent 'Donnie' guidelines that had been put in place without his say-so, he was feeling much better. Not perfect, but better than he had felt in a long time. Yes, it still pained him that April was out of their lives, and, yes, he still felt guilty for what had happened to Timothy. Those wounds cut deep and still very much afflicted him inside, but, for the first time in months, he did not feel as though he was alone with his torment. For the first time in months, he felt as though he finally had someone he could turn to. Someone who understood his pain . . . Someone who could help him through . . .

And that felt good.

From where he was currently standing, Donnie glanced over his shoulder and flashed a warm smile at his oldest brother. The brainy turtle then turned his attention back to his other two brothers with whom he was playing Atomic Robo-X with. Something he had not done for a long, long time. Too long . . .

From across the room, Leo had returned his second youngest brother's smile, keeping the cordial expression in place until Donnie's back was turned to him once again. The eldest turtle's face then fell into a somewhat gloomy frown as he watched his younger brothers from the bench seat that surrounded the sunken area in the main living space of the Lair.

Leonardo couldn't help but to narrow his eyes on his genius brother and the guilt began to eat away at him once more. Even though Donatello had probably gotten more rest and nourishment in the past three days than he had gotten in the last month, he still looked disturbingly frail and skinny. Leo was still worried sick about him.

"What troubles you, my son?" Came the sound of his father's voice, pulling Leonardo out of his dark thoughts and just about giving him a cardiac episode. Once again, Master Splinter had managed to enter the room and walk up right beside him without making a single sound. The old rat's ability to remain virtually undetected was impressive and creepy at the same time.

"I'm not even sure how to begin to answer that question, Sensei," Leonardo said in a voice full of defeat.

Looking down at his eldest son, Master Splinter rested one hand atop his walking staff and held his other hand behind his back. It was a sure sign that Leonardo was about to have some of his father's seemingly infinite wisdom imparted upon him, whether he wanted it or not . . .

"You are still concerned about Donatello," Master Splinter easily surmised as he momentarily shifted his gaze upon his second youngest son, and then, returned his reddish-brown eyes onto his oldest son.

"How could I not have seen what he was doing to himself? How could I have been so blind, Sensei?" Leonardo asked and his shoulders dropped down to better demonstrate his misery.

"Leonardo, you are not responsible for what happened to your brother. That responsibility lies solely with Donatello. Your brother placed far too much burden on himself and chose to neglect his own basics needs. That was of his own doing. You did not force him to make such choices," Master Splinter said flatly.

"But I should have noticed, Sensei. As his leader, I should have noticed that there was something wrong. How could I have missed something so obvious?" Leo asked, raking his hands down his face in frustration.

"Leonardo, being a leader does not mean that you are not allowed to make mistakes. Even the greatest leaders in history have made their fair share of mistakes. What is important is that you learn from those mistakes so that you do not repeat them," Master Splinter said solemnly, but he could still see that his young son was not convinced by his words. His eyes were still full of self-doubt.

"As I said, Leonardo, you are not responsible for your brother's unwise actions. What you are responsible for is helping your brother to get better. Once you realized that Donatello was not taking proper care of himself, you did all that you could to protect your brother from harming himself any further. You acted commendably by ensuring that he was safe and that proper measures were put into place to prevent this from happening again. You learned from your mistake, my child. That is what matters," Master Splinter said, placing a hand on Leonardo's shoulder and squeezing it reassuringly.

Touched by the poignant words of his father, Leonardo peered up at him and his lips curled into a grateful smile.

"I am proud of you, my son," Master Splinter said with a nod of approval.

"Thank you, Sensei," Leonardo said, bowing his head both out of respect and to hide the moisture in his eyes. Feeling a newfound sense of relief, Leo then got up off of the couch and decided to join his brothers around their prized arcade game, claiming dibs on the next turn. He couldn't help but to grin at his three little brothers. He would always be there to help and protect them, just as his father was always there to help and protect him. That's what families were for.

The End