Another brotherly moment! Awww, I just love fluffiness... sometimes ¬¬

Review and enjoy. Oh! And don't forget to visit Dondena's fic "Captive Freedom", co-writed by... your beloved author: Who

I don't own the turtles :(

NIGHTMARE

Midnight; the lair was quiet, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. It was a quiet night.

Suddenly, whimper sounds coming from the prankster's room. It wasn't a quiet night after all.

Michelangelo rolled on his bed, sweat covering his forehead and tears soaking his bandanna. He woke up violently trying to control his breaths; only darkness around him. The young ninja rubbed his eyes, wiped the tears away and left his room.

He had the same nightmare every night and with Leo in the Ninja Tribunal for a month, Mikey had no one to talk about this; Don was too focused on his new inventions and Splinter had left with Leo.

And Raph?

There were two things that made Mikey doubt about telling his hotheaded brother about this nightmare: one, Raph would probably mocked him about his 'weakness' and 'childishness'; two, Raph was the reason of his nightmare.

Mikey walked slowly through his brothers' room just to check if they were there. Don was already in sleeping in his bed; well… if for 'sleeping in his bed' we mean having the keyboard of his computer glued on his face. Mikey chuckled a little at the scene and moved on to the next room.

Leo's room? No, not to Leo's room! Though he liked to break the rules as much as Raph, Mikey never broke the 'Never, ever… go to Leo's room when he's out' rule. He didn't know why but he felt a cold and weird vibe that reminded him not to go there.

Next room then.

Raph's room. The hammock moved slightly, but to Mikey's horror… no one was moving it.

"Aww shell!" Mikey thought. He went downstairs as fast as he could.

"Please Raph; be in the living room, in the kitchen or wherever in the lair but please: Be. In. The. Lair!"

The orange masked turtle looked every place in the lair but Raph wasn't there. He went out and searched in the tunnels, on sign of his brother. Mikey got back to the lair and paced nervously.

"Why tonight, why? Stupid Raph and his stupid 'little late night walks'…" Mikey muttered nervously as he paced.

It was 2:20 am already and there was no sign of Raph; Mikey was falling asleep but he couldn't do it until Raph was home… and safe. He moved to the kitchen and decided to try coffee. He didn't like it so much but he needed to be awake no matter what.

"Well, if this thing works for Donnie…" Mikey thought as he filled the coffee maker. Once the coffee was done, Mikey hesitated before giving it a sip; the taste was weird but good.

3 am. Still no sign of Raph and the coffee wasn't really working on the orange masked ninja. Mikey pulled out his cell and called his hotheaded brother.

"C'mon dude, where are you?" No response. Mikey rested his head between his crossed arms which were in the table, sighing heavily. He started to feel asleep by the minutes; finally… he gave up and closed his eyes.

And there was again, in front of him… the smell of death, the screams, the evil laughter, and the devilish eyes looking at him. Then, a limp form behind him, lying in a pool of blood… whimpering, suffering, dying. Mikey ran and tried to reach the agonizing body but once he got there… the body was gone. All he could see now was blood and two well known now bloody weapons… a pair of sais. Mikey sobbed on his dream but froze when he heard his name.

"Hmm… weird" He thought "I've had this dream many times before but no one was calling me"

"Mikey…" the voice called again, insistently. He could feel a hand moving him.

"Wake up, ya knucklehead!" Mikey woke up immediately at the sound of the familiar grumpy voice.

"Heh! About time, huh?" Raph could say before Mikey got up the chair rapidly and captured him in a bear hug.

"Raph! Bro, don't scare me like that again!" Mikey said tightening his embrace.

"Hey! Get off me!" Raph complained as he struggled trying to free himself of the grip.

"Why did you leave the lair? I was dead worried!" Mikey said in an accusing tone.

"Tch, and I thought Leo was the mother hen here" Raph said mockingly.

"Answer me!" Mikey insisted looking firmly at Raph's eyes. The red masked ninja noticed his brother's eyes were glassy and had a few tears on his cheeks.

"You ok, Mikey?"

"LIKE SHELL I'M OK! You're in charge here until Leo comes back and this is how you take care of us? Leaving the lair? Without telling us? WITHOUT TELLING ME?" Mikey almost yelled at his tempered brother how looked at him with a confused gaze.

"Mikey, I just left for a couple of hours"

"It's 3 o' clock! And why the shell you didn't answer your damn phone, huh?" Mikey said angrily losing the grip from Raph.

"The battery…" Raph answered but was cut off again.

"Do you have the remote idea how worried I was?"

"Mikey, if ya just calm…"

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" Mikey yelled.

"Please, let me…" Raph said with all the little patience he had.

"Explain? Huh? How are you gonna explain that?" Mikey replied again. Raph got tired of the silly argument; no one, even Leo cut him off while he was talking.

"That's it! I'll go to mah room until ya lemme talk!"

"Oh no! You're not getting away with that so easily!" Mikey said and grabbed Raph's wrist.

"Mikey, lemme go!"

"NO! YOU'RE GONNA LISTEN TO ME!" Mikey yelled angrily and tightened his grip.

"Mikey, I'm warnin' ya! Lemme go!" Raph struggled.

"NO!"

"YER NOT MY MOM TO CONTROL ME; LEO CAN'T DO IT! SO, WHAT MAKES YA THINK I'M GONNA LISTEN TO A CHILDISH SHELL-FER-BRAINS INSTEAD!" Raph pushed Mikey with his free hand against the table. Mikey lost his balance and fell down supporting his weight with his left hand. The sound of glass breaking followed by a scream of pain was the only thing that made Raph realized what he had done. Mikey was clutching his hand and crying in pain, looking horrified at the big piece of glass stocked on his palm.

"Aww shell! Mikey, I-I'm sorry, I…"

"What's happening in here?" A sleepy voice entered into the scene.

"Donnie, Mikey… he…" Raph tried to explain nervously.

"Oh my… what the shell happened here?" Don asked as he saw the mess and Mikey's bleeding wound.

"D-Donnie?" Mikey said sobbing.

"C'mon Mikey, I'll take care of that" Don said helping Mikey to get up.

Raph froze in the place. He had hurt his baby brother. Sure he had hurt his eldest sibling before but he never hurt Mikey went they argued; he was Mikey's hero. Mikey had been hurt by his hero. Raph slumped heavily on the chair clutching his head and staring at the bloody glass pieces. Meanwhile, in Don's lab, Mikey remained in silence as his genius brother cleaned his wound and bandaged his hand.

"This might sting a little" Don prevented as he rubbed the alcohol soaked cotton. Mikey didn't complain or even winced at the touch.

"Hmm… you always scream like shell when I use this"

"Uh? Sorry I… you were saying?" Mikey said randomly.

"Are you ok Mikey?" Don asked in concern.

"I'm fine. Sorry for waking you up Donnie"

"I heard lots of yelling down there, you sure you're ok?" Don insisted.

"I'm ok Don, really" Mikey convinced his genius brother with the best happy face he had in that moment.

"Ok, if you need something I'll be in my room" Don said leaving the lab.

"Ok, eh… Don?"

"Hmmm?" Don stopped.

"This time, you might wanna use the bed instead" Mikey teased him.

"Y-yeah… hehe. Good advice, night Mikey" Don said feeling a keyboard pattern on his cheek. Mikey left the lab a few minutes later and made his way to his room.

Once inside he refused to sleep, he still remembered his nightmare. But his senses betrayed him and soon he was asleep again… fighting the nightmare by his own without success. The tears rolled down slowly but this time… something wiped them away making the young turtle to wake up immediately.

"Raph?"

"Hey… sorry if I scared ya" Raph said.

"It's ok" Mikey sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Er… how is… ya know…" Raph asked hesitantly as he saw the bandaged hand.

"Donnie took care of it; I'll be ok in three days"

"I'm sorry Mikey; I shouldn't have yelled at ya and… pushed ya" Raph apologized avoiding Mikey's gaze. He felt really embarrassed for that.

"Don't mention it"

"You were having a nightmare, right?" Raph changed the topic for Mikey's disgrace.

"Must've been a really bad one" Mikey nodded.

"Mind if ya tell me?"

"It's nothing Raph… just… the same thing" Mikey now avoided Raph's gaze.

"You being chased by carnivore pizzas?" Raph asked him remembering Mikey's last nightmare.

"Eh? No! Not that one" Mikey answered a little angry. Raph could only chuckle a little.

"Ok, ok… then what was this nightmare about?" Mikey remained in silence looking at his wounded hand.

"Ok, if ya don't wanna tell me… I guess I'll have to guess, something or someone was chasing you?" Mikey shook his head 'no'

"This wasn't about you, right? So, it was about… us?" Mikey nodded.

"All of us?"

"Kinda" Mikey finally talked.

"One of us, then?" Mikey nodded again. He felt the tears stinging his eyes again, wanting to run free.

"Who?" Raph really hated the interrogation thing unless it was an enemy instead so he would have the answers on his way and he would enjoy it. But this was Mikey and his little brother could be as stubborn as him when he wanted.

"Who was there in that nightmare of yers?

"You" Mikey answered hesitantly.

"Something bad happened to me?" Raph asked again.

"There was… so much blood… your body was there, lying still… I tried to run to help you or… at least to see you one more time but… when I…" Mikey let out a sob.

"It's ok… keep going" Raph encouraged him rubbing his shell.

"When I got there you weren't there… your sais were all bloody and… and… I'm sorry, I…" Mikey started to cry again, muffling his sobs with his hand.

"So that's why ya were all worried and moody down there, huh?" Mikey nodded.

"When I went to your room, you weren't there so… I got scared"

"I'm sorry for that. I went with Casey for a couple of hours; he went back to his place at 1:10 but I stayed out looking at the city and… well, I guess I lost track of time" Raph explained.

"You weren't fighting?" Mikey asked in surprise.

"Nah! Not in tha mood. So… what about ya? Feelin' ok now?" Raph said sounding friendly.

"Yeah, a little. I didn't want to act like Leo but…"

"I know, I know. Ya were worried… I guess now I understand why he acts like that every time I go out and come back late" Raph chuckled.

"Yeah… at least he didn't end up with a wounded hand" Mikey said chuckling.

"But with a black eye instead" Raph completed the phrase. Both turtles laughed at the comment.

"So… do ya think ya can sleep alone tonight?" Raph asked.

"Unless you wanna bunk here…" Mikey said teasingly knowing how hard was for his red masked brother playing the comforting brother role.

"Or maybe ya don't need company so I guess I'll just leave ya sleep… alone" Raph teased back and started to stand up.

"NO! Please Raph!" Mikey jumped out of the bed catching Raph's arm.

"So lil' Mikey need company after all" Raph said smirking smugly.

"It'll just for tonight, I promise!" Mikey begged. Raph sighed heavily and laid down beside his baby brother.

"Happy now?"

"Yeap! Night Raphie" Mikey said snuggling beside Raph. The red masked ninja growled at the nick name.

"I told ya like a zillion times, don't call me like…" Raph stopped his complain when he noticed Mikey was already asleep with a big smirk on his face.

"…*sigh*… lil' brothers" Raph smirked and closed his eyes.