Insomnia

"Mikey?" Donny said softly as he and his two older brothers stood in front of the sofa which held their nearly lifeless baby brother. Bloodshot baby blue's oh so slowly lifted to gaze upon his siblings.

"Huh?" the sleepy reply came after a long minute.

"We're worried about you bro. You need to sleep," Leo said gently as he placed a hand on Mike's shoulder and leaned down to be at eye level with his sleep deprived brother.

"'m fine,' the orange one mumbled, not even having enough energy to shrug off Leo's hand.

Raph sighed, "Yea right. You can barely speak. You've been on this couch for a whole three days Mikey! You've barely eaten anything, and you haven't gotten any sleep for weeks!"

"'m fine," came the slow, quiet response once more. There was no life in his tone; it was just a phrase – just an automatic response that seemed to work for the past few weeks.

Leo sighed and looked up at Donatello. They locked eyes for a long moment, before Leonardo sadly nodded to him.

Don kneeled next to his eldest brother and held out his hand to his baby brother; inside were two small white pills. "You have to take these Mikey. Do you hear me?" Don said, stressing words to get the message through to Mikey's insomnia-tic brain.

Mikey slowly sat up on his forearms and tried to focus on what Don was trying to show him. He moaned and slammed his face back into the cushions of the sofa when he saw the pills, mumbling something that went unheard by his brothers.

"No Mike. You need to take these. If you don't get some sleep soon you might die!" Don stressed trying to pull his defiant brother off the sofa.

Raph growled, but out of worry not anger, and pulled his sleepy brother into a sitting position on the couch; holding him by his shoulders from behind the couch. "Open up," Raph commanded, shaking his brother slightly. "It's time for bedie bye."

Mikey moaned more fiercely and lifted a heavy hand into Don's, knocking the pills to the floor. "Nnnnooo. . .pillsss. . ."

"Why you little!" Raph started angrily, ready to shake his brother into unconsciousness before Leonardo stopped him with a look.

Donatello pinched the bridge of his nose as he picked up the soiled pills. "Mikey please, be reasonable. You need to sleep and these will help you."

Mikey shook his head, "No! They don't help. . .only hurt." His voice cracking as if he were about to cry.

All three brothers looked at each other with confusion. "What are you talking about?" Leo asked as he sat next to Mikey on the couch.

"I don't think he even knows," Raph chimed in before Mikey could answer.

Leo shushed his temperamental brother and asked again, "Mikey, how do the pills hurt you?"

"Pills. . .sleep. . .bad. . ." Mikey chocked out, shaking his head. "No sleep!" He declared loudly as he tried to stand, but was met with resistance by Raphael who still had his shoulders, Don who held his legs and Leo who trapped his arms.

"It's okay. Calm down," Leo and Don soothed him while tears started to fall down his cheeks.

Raph frowned, "We need to get him to sleep. He's getting worse." Raph unconsciously rubbing his brother's shoulders to release the tension that was held there.

"We know Raph, but what can we do? He won't take the pills, unless we're willing to fully sedate him." Don looked over to Leo. "N-E-E-D-L-E-S." he spelled out since he knew Mikey would freak out if he heard what they were planning, even in his delirium.

"I'm willing, Leo?" Raph said without a moment's hesitation, knowing it was for his brother's own good, and fully committed to holding Mikey down while Don administered the needle.

Leo thought for a moment before taking Mikey's hands in his. "Let me try something first." He said standing up, moving Donatello away from the couch and motioning for Raphael to release their brother. "Come on Mike. Stand up."

Mikey moaned, "Don't wanna."

"I don't care. Come with me or I'll have Donatello poke you with a needle," Leo threatened which seemed to light a fire under Mikey, as he got to his feet and walked with Leo's aid to the blue warrior's room.

Leo sat Mikey on the floor and was surprised to see that even though he was swaying – he stayed upright. Leonardo quickly lit his meditation candles and shut off the harsh artificial light over head. He sat behind Mikey so their shells were touching and crossed his legs. "Meditate with me Mikey. I found it helps me sleep." Leo felt Mikey shift as to get up, but only succeeded in leaning against Leo more.

"Not. . .sleepy. . ." Mikey protested silently, his head dipping to his plastron.

"Why don't you want to sleep Mikey, since I know you're doing this on purpose."

"Mmm. . .no."

"Don't try to deny it. You've never said 'I can't sleep,' you've always said, 'I don't want to sleep."

Mikey mumbled something that on any other day would have probably sounded threatening.

"Answer me Michelangelo. Why don't you want to sleep?"

The blue and orange clad turtles sat in the soft candle light for a long time until Mikey decided to answer his insistent older brother's question. "Mmm. . .dreams.'

"You mean nightmares," Leo corrected, feeling more confident now that Mikey was opening up to him after weeks of forced insomnia. "They have to be pretty bad to have you miss sleep for weeks on end. What are they about Mikey?"

Mikey started mumbling as he shook his head.

"I can't hear you Michelangelo." Leo said, nudging his brother gently with his shell.

"You guys." He said louder.

"What about us?"

"You. . .you all. . .leave me," the youngest turtle forced out as his voice started to waver.

Leo opened his eyes for the first time since he started 'meditating'. "Mikey. We'd never leave you."

"You don't get a choice." Mikey chocked out as tears well up in his eyes again.

Leo could hear the tears in his brother's voice. "We die in your dreams." It wasn't a question, Leo knew, because he's had those dreams before. He knew what havoc those dreams played on his mental and emotional state; he didn't even want to think about what his baby brother must have been going through these past few weeks.

Mikey starts to shake as he nods his head. "It's dark and cold and I'm all alone. The only light is on you guys. You're all just laying there, bloody and dead. You're eyes are still open and you're just staring at me. Even father is with you. Then everything goes completely dark and I know you're all still laying there, staring at me, and I'm afraid to move." Mikey suddenly blurts out as he starts balling his eyes out, holding his head in his hands and rocking back and forth.

Leo gets to his knees and pulls his brother into a tight embrace. "It's all right Mikey. It's okay. Shh. . .it will be all right. We'd never leave you like that."

Mikey suddenly found new strength as he pushed himself away from Leo. "You can't say that!" Mikey shouted as the tears continued to fall down his face. "We're all gonna die, Leo! And I'm the youngest, so I'll be left alone, unless we all die together in some explosion or by Shredder or something," his voice losing its bite as he spoke.

Leo once again pulled his baby brother to him, "Shredder will never kill us Mikey, and even if we all die before you, we'll still be here with you. We'll never leave you. We'll be together forever."

Leo just let Mikey cry himself out until he simply passed out from exhaustion. He was so deep in sleep that he didn't even stir when Leo lifted him from the floor and on to the bed. He pulled the covers over Mikey's frail form and wiped away his tears, taking off his head band in the process. He heard his door creek open and smiled sadly, "Come on in. He's out."

Donny and Raph stood on either side of Leo as they looked down at their baby brother; happy that he was finally asleep, but worried by the dreams that kept him awake.

"You heard?" Leo asked after a moment.

"Yea," the two younger siblings answered in unison.

"He worries about the stupidest things," Raph spat out as he tucked the blankets around the sleeping turtle's form.

"We're worried and angry too Raph," Leo said placing the orange head bad on the bedside table.

"We have to make sure he eats all three meals tomorrow," Donny said as he started to blow out the meditation candles and stacking them on the shelf that Leo had set up for them.

Leo nodded, picking up a still lit candle and placed it in a holder by Mikey's head band. "He will. I'm sure he'll be more like himself after he sleeps tonight."

"Speaking of sleep, where are you sleeping tonight bro?" Don asked as he made his way back to Leo's bedside.

Leo pulled out his desk chair and set himself right next to his sleeping brother. "I'll be right here, just in case those dreams make a return appearance. I did tell him that we wouldn't leave him."

Don and Raph nodded,

"Right," Don said as he quietly ran his hand down Mikey's cheek. "Rest well bro." he said before leaving for his lab.

Raph placed a hand on his brother's head, "Get better bro. We miss you." He whispered, patting Leo's shoulder as he left for his own room.

Leo sighed as he stood from the chair and sat next to his brother. "We'll never leave you alone Mikey. That's a promise." Leo whispered leaning down and gently kissing his brother's forehead.

Thanks for reading. This is what you get during finals week when I'm dead tired. Thank you and good night. R&R!

I own nothing! This is purely fanmade. Not for profit.