Fear

"Come on, guys. Let's head home now, it's getting late." Leonardo leaned over the side of the building, scoping out the nearest manhole cover below.

Behind him, Raphael groaned. "Already?"

"Yes, Raph," Leo replied. "We've already finished our nightly patrol, and the city is safe, for now. Let's go." Without waiting for Raph to argue with him, Leo leapt down the fire escape, landing on the road of the alleyway between the two buildings.

Donatello and Michelangelo followed close behind him, Raph reluctantly trailing after them.

Leo lifted the cover to the sewers, allowing his brothers to enter before him. He then jumped down himself, swiftly covering the manhole at the same time. Leo's hands landed on the top bar of the ladder, but his feet slipped on the slick bar beneath him. Before he could tell what had happened, Leo had fallen hard on the hard sewer floor, landing on his shell.

"Ow…"

Donnie turned around when he heard the noise. He rushed back to Leo's side, kneeling down next to him. "Leo, are you alright? What happened?"

Leo gave a small laugh. "Oh, the stupid ladder was slippery and I fell. I'm fine." He moved to get up and Donnie suddenly gasped.

"Oh my gosh! Leo, you're bleeding!"

"Huh?" Leo examined himself. Sure enough, there was a long gash on his leg that was bleeding profusely.

Donnie looked over the ladder that Leo had fallen from. He found that the edges were worn and sharp, as well as very rusty. "This must have been what cut you. I'll need to tend to you right away. This is no simple scratch, Leo, this is serious."

Leonardo stood, swaying for a moment. "It's nothing, Donnie, I promise. It doesn't even hurt! Well, not too much."

Donatello shook his head. "No, Leo, this metal is rusty. If it gets into your blood stream it could kill you." He began to lead Leo down the corridor, towards the lair.

Leo's eyes slightly widened. "Um, o-okay… How do we stop it?"

Donnie shuddered mentally, dreading what he had to say. "Well… we're going to have to give you a tetanus shot." He spoke quickly and softly, half hoping Leo wouldn't understand. He didn't have a problem with giving shots. The problem was with Leo.

"A tetanus…shot?"

Mikey and Raph were waiting for them when they got home.

"Finally! You guys took forever." Michelangelo stopped whining immediately when he saw Leo's leg. "Whoa, what happened to your leg?"

"Yeah, Leo," Raph poked him in the shoulder. "We leave you alone for one minute and you go off and get hurt!" he laughed. "That's why I should be leader."

Leonardo didn't respond. In fact, he looked completely out of it. His eyes were wide, and he was shaking.

"He slipped on the ladder," Donatello explained. "And cut his leg on the rusty metal."

Mikey gasped dramatically, while Raph only laughed again.

"Feeling a bit clumsy are we, Leo?"

Donnie pushed the two of them out of the way and supported Leo towards his lab. "I'll need to fix him up in my lab. You can come in when I'm done bandaging it." To himself he added, "I'm sure I'll need your help…"

"Donnie, are you sure this is the only way?"

"Yes, Leo."

"Are you positive? Because-"

"Yes, Leo."

"You couldn't give me medicine or anything like that?"

"This is medicine, Leo."

"I mean, like, medicine I can drink?"

"NO."

"Are you sure?"

Donnie looked up from where he had been mixing the ingredients necessary for the tetanus shot. Leo was lying on the lab table next to him, which was currently a make-shift doctor's table (Donnie refused to call it an 'operating' table, for Leo's sake.)

"Yes, Leo, I am absolutely positive that this is the only way to stop you from dying. And, no, there is no possible way that you could consume anything to make it better, and I am SURE that you are going to have to act like a leader and take this shot, because there is NO. OTHER. WAY." Donnie was standing now, breathing heavily, frustrated. A look of guilt suddenly crossed his face, and he sat back down. "Sorry, Leo. Just try to be calm, okay? It won't hurt that bad, I promise."

Leo gulped, but managed a small smile. "I'll do my best…"

Donatello finally finished preparing the shot, and he stood, moving to Leo's side. He set the syringe aside, and cleaned Leo's upper left arm with an antibacterial solute. He picked up the syringe with one had and firmly gripped Leo's arm with the other.

Leonardo pulled away, flinching when he saw the size of the needle. "D-Donnie! That is a big needle!"

Donnie sighed. "Not all of it is going to go past your skin, okay? Just enough so it can reach your bloodstream."

Leo bit his lip. "O-okay…"

After securing his arm again, Donnie instructed, "Okay, I'm going to need you to stay steady, and relax your muscles alright?" Leo nodded. "Once the needle is in your skin, you can't move, got it? Otherwise, you may end up damaging the nerves in your arm, and that really would hurt. So, take a deep breath, be calm, and let me do this. It won't take long, I promise."

Leo's eyes widened as Donnie brought the needle to his skin. Before he could push it in, however, Leo suddenly tensed, gasping. He rolled onto his side, and Donnie stepped back, startled. "W-WAIT! Donnie!"

"WHAT?" Donatello was more than slightly irritated. Leo was his oldest brother, not to mention the leader of the brothers. He shouldn't be freaking out over a stupid vaccination!

"Didn't you say Raph could come in?"

Without saying a word, Donnie stomped out of the room. He quickly found Raphael in the kitchen, feeding Spike. "Raph," Donnie grabbed his attention. "Leo needs your comfort and support, as well as a good smack over the head."

Raphael looked up, confused. "What? Why?"

"I'm giving him a shot."

Raph grinned, laughing sarcastically. "Aw, does the poor guy need someone's hand to hold?"

Donnie sighed. "Yeah, yeah, just go."

Leo's expression became downcast as he saw the look on Raph's face when he entered the lab. "Don't start, Raph."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted me here. 'Cuz you're too much of a baby to handle a simple shot."

"Just like you're too much of a baby to handle cockroaches?"

Raph growled. "Don't start, Leo."

Donnie cried out in exasperation. "Just hold him down so I can vaccinate him!"

Raph looked up thoughtfully. "Why don't you just knock him out?"

"Because," Donnie said quickly. "I only have a limited supply of anesthetics and I'm not going to waste them on something stupid like this!"

Raph cracked his knuckles. "I could have him out cold in a couple seconds."

Leo covered his head. "No!"

"Quit it!" Donnie snapped. "Let's get this nightmare over with."

Raphael grabbed Leo's shoulders and pressed him onto the table. Leo glanced up in fear. Donnie regained a firm grip on his left arm and brought the needle to his skin.

"W-wait, Donnie!"

Donnie stepped back once more, on the verge of ripping Leo's throat out. "Okay, this isn't working! Leo, I want you to hold Raph's hand and close your eyes. DON'T LOOK. Got it?"

Raph smiled and grabbed Leo's hand. "Baby," he whispered.

Leo shivered.

Once again, Donnie gripped Leo's arm. He placed his elbow over Leo's plastron, restricting most of his moment. Without hesitating this time, he stuck the needle into Leo's arm.

Leo tensed, and his eyes flew open. "Uh, D-Donnie! That hurts! You promised it wouldn't hurt!" He squirmed a bit, and Raph placed his other hand Leo's shoulder, pressing down to hold him in place.

"If you'd stop moving, it wouldn't hurt as much!" Donnie yelled. "And I told you not to look!"

Mikey suddenly walked in, unnoticed by the others. He looked over the situation with extreme confusion before walking out slowly.

"You lied! You did put the whole needle in my arm!"

"STOP LOOKING!"

All this time, Raph was chuckling to himself. When he saw the look of terror in Leo's eyes, however, he stopped and gave his older brother's hand a reassuring squeeze.

After what seemed like an eternity (to Leo), Donatello finally pulled the needle out of his brother's arm.

Leonardo went limp on the table and let out the breath he'd been holding, and he let go of Raph's hand.

Raphael shrugged and made to leave. "Well, I'm outta here."

Before he could leave, Leo called out, "Thanks, Raph."

"Yeah, whatever." As Raph turned to leave, he allowed a small smile to creep onto his mouth.

Donnie cleaned the needle's entry point with more solute, checked and rechecked the bandages on Leo's leg, and then pointed towards the doorway. "Okay, you're good to go."

Leo looked up at him and smiled. "You know what, Donnie?"

Donatello's eyes narrowed. "…What, Leo?"

"That wasn't really as bad as I thought it was going to be."

THE END

A/N:

Donnie: -_- Why…

So, yeah, this is my first Ninja Turtles fanfiction! Comments are very much appreciated, as well as constructive criticism on how I could have made them more in character. I tried not to make Leo OoC, but it was kinda hard with a story like this .

Anyway, I don't own anything or anyone in this story, they all belong to Nickelodeon.