Sleep Tight

Summary: Don has a tendency to run himself into the ground. Good thing his brothers are there to catch him before he collapses from exhaustion.

Don's work room was the equivalent to an entirely different world, one where wires and circuit boards ran free – and one that Donatello was easily lost in. His desk alone was covered in a thousand different projects, the schematics for a million other ones, and the broken bits and pieces he'd collected to fix or create them all. Broken pencils and crumpled plans were haphazardly strewn about in various places as well, wadded up papers hiding under measuring tools and clumps of loose wires and scrap metal – even the counters surrounding his desk looked like a battlefield; however, Don's brothers were fairly certain that the only battle being lost was the waging between the young scientist and his need for sleep. Even seeing as how Don had only left his room for the essentials, like using the bathroom and grabbing coffee and some food, the turtles had noticed the dark bags that were starting to form under Donnie's eyes. Despite that, whenever they expressed their concerns, the tallest of the group assured them that he was fine.

Yet, that claim was starting to seem like bullshit.

Michelangelo might not have been the most scientifically gifted mind, but even he was able to deduce that something was wrong with Donnie when he followed Leo and Raph into the kitchen to find their brother pouring himself some coffee….Well, trying to.

"Uh, you okay there, Don?" Leo asked hesitantly, taking a tentative step forward as badly hidden worry leaked from his voice. His eyes were locked on Don as he continued to empty the contents of the coffee pot into the over-flowing mug, the searing hot liquid rolling from the cup and onto the counter, his eyes hooded and somewhat distant…even when the liquid lava of his caffeinated drink ran onto the floor and landed on his skin, the turtle merely blinked and looked down.

"Ow," he said halfheartedly, blinking a little as if to wake himself up – which is when he noticed the three other turtles staring at him disapprovingly…except Mikey, who was staring wide-eyed at him.

"Dude, didn't that hurt?" the youngest turtle asked, pointing down at the spilled coffee that Donatello was still standing in.

"Huh?" Donnie asked sleepily, eyes falling down to see what he was standing in, "Oh, yeah." He mumbled, taking a step-back, "Yeah, I'll be right on that." The purple-masked turtle was interrupted by a yawn, and he swayed a bit on his feet.

"Actually, I think the only thing you should 'be right on' is your bed." Raph snapped, crossing his arms as he cocked his head, "When's the last time you slept, anyway?" he asked, his voice hard.

Don faltered, his rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands before recovering and giving a weak smile, "Um, today…is what day again?" he mumbled, that last part mostly to himself.

"What have you been doing, Donnie? You've been cooped up in your room for – " Leo paused, feeling a shame slice at him when he realized he hadn't been keeping track, " – er , for a few days, at least."

Don's eyes wavered, and leaned over to grab his coffee mug. Normally Don moved more fluidly than any of his brothers, but in his state of exhaustion he clumsily sloshed the contents of the cup around before finally getting a proper hold on it and then stared at Leo with faux vigilance, "Mmm…I've been workin' on lots of stuff," Don answered, "Like, the wiring system in the lair has been faulty because of a recent problem with a broken pipe valve. Plumbers came down and fixed the pipe by removing a generator I'd been powering with the running water…must have thought it was causing the problem or something. Oh, and I'm trying to see if I can recreate a power source for the Shellraiser, but before I do that I need to…to…" Don's voice trailed off, his brows furrowing as he tried to force the thought out.

Leo interrupted him though, "Sleep, Donnie. The word you're looking for is 'sleep'."

"No, I'm okay guys, really," Don reiterated his famous mantra of the past few days, but the tired look to his eyes was far more noticeable now.

"Dude, the bags under the bags under your eyes have bags," Mikey retorted, "And I'm pretty sure they're packing carry-on luggage too."

"I'm fine."

"You just poured an entire pot of coffee into one cup…and the counter, and the floor." Leo deadpanned.

Don looked down, and then back to face his brothers, "I just need to drink some coffee, and I'll be up and running."

"Donnie-" Leo tried again, stepping forward a bit, but Don cut him off with surprising force in his voice.

"Don't 'Donnie' me, Leo," Donatello barked angrily, his tired eyes lighting up with frustration, "You may think that I have time to rest, but all of you keep forgetting that we're in the real world now! We have Shredder – the guy who kicked all of our shells – coming after us, the Kraang portal is operational, I can barely trace it's energy signature to figure out how often it's being used, and I have to run a diagnostic on the water supply to make sure the mutagen isn't going to kill everyone, and I still have hundredsof encrypted files to crack from that storage disk Mikey found, and even if I do get in, I have to read them – and then…And then April's involved…somehow," The strength in his voice sapped out of him, the outburst stealing whatever energy he'd managed to build up, "Oh, and then there's Timothy, and he's staring at me while I work…and I keep telling him I'll get to him but…And then there's something else…always something else…" Donnie trailed off, taking a sip of coffee as he rubbed one hand against his temple in an attempt to wake himself up.

The other three brothers exchanged looks – they hadn't noticed how bad things had been going with their genius turtle. Donatello never got really angry. He may have snapped sometimes, or even gotten annoyed, but genuinely angry? That wasn't him at all…and honestly, he looked like a zombie. His bloodshot eyes were half-lidded and his face was almost expressionless as he clung to the cup of coffee like a life source. His skin was looking a bit paler, and somehow he looked even skinnier than he was.

Suddenly Don looked up, seeming to catch himself after his mini blow-up, and he looked up apologetically, "I-I didn't mean to snap at you guys," The purple-banded turtle muttered.

"It's okay, Donnie," Leo said, walking over to his brother and putting an arm around his his brother's shoulder, trying not to let himself notice that it did seem a bit thinner than before, "Here, let's get you to bed."

Donnie shook his head abruptly, but the movement was more sluggish than he probably intended for it to be, "Didn't you hear what I just said? I can't."

"Okay, fine," Leo granted, "You can go back to work if you want-"

"Have you lost it, Leo?" Raph countered angrily, but Leo shot him a look that clearly said 'I've got a plan, shut it'.

"Fine," he mumbled, "Whatever."

"Thanks," Donatello murmured to Leo as he weakly tried to wriggle out of his brother's grasp and head back to his room, but his brother held him firm.

"Ah-ah-ah," Leo smiled slyly as he shook his finger in Donatello's face, "First you have to watch an episode of Space Heroes with me."

Donatello sighed, but his sleep-deprived mind couldn't come up with anything. Plus, the caffeine wasn't really doing its job…"Fine," he agreed, "But then I'm going back to work."

The end credits of Space Heroes echoed through the darkness of the common room, and Leo and Raph were the only ones awake.

It was halfway through the show that Donatello had passed out, eyes sliding closed and face going slack after struggling against it for almost fifteen minutes. Leo had to admit, his was slightly impressed with his brother's endurance, especially since Leonardo had been trying to wear him out throughout the program.

"How do you think that would work, Donnie?" Leo had asked, pointing to the teleportation machine Captain Ryan had just set up.

Donatello yawned, but he couldn't help himself as his brain churned through the possibilities, "Er…it'd have to deconstruct someone's atomic structure and reform it correctly…or maybe digitize their matter and send it via radio wave…"

"Hmm, is that possible?" He'd pressured, noting with pleasure that his brother's eyes were starting to glaze over.

Donnie's face faltered, his eyes drooping and his weight falling heavily into the couch while fighting against sleep, "I – uh – I…don't…"

"Is that scientifically possible?" Leo asked again, and Don frowned.

"…Mmm…Uh," his head lolled back, resting on his shoulder, "..need a minute to think, rest my eyes…" he'd slurred out pathetically, his body slumping further into the cushions.

Leo smiled down at his sleeping brother, and then turned to eyes Mikey, who had also fallen asleep on the other couch a few minutes ago, before he finally looked at Raph.

"Good job, Bro." Raph said unexpectedly as he glanced at Don, "I wouldn't have thought anyone could trick our resident genius."

Leo shrugged, as he stood up and stretched, "Our sleep-deprived little brother who didn't feel hot coffee spilling on him? I don't consider that much of an accomplishment," he smirked.

Raph nodded before gesturing to Donnie, "I see your point…I didn't realize he was that…I guess I didn't -"

Leo frowned, "None of us did. But I guess we should have seen it coming," he admitted, "I mean, loading himself up with work is how Donnie deals with stress. We all know that."

"He just gets lost in that over-sized head of his," Raph growled, "That's the problem."

"Yeah, we just have to watch him more carefully…Here, let's get him to bed. Sleep won't do him any good if he gets a stiff neck in the morning."

Raph nodded, "You get Donnie to bed, and I'll grab Mikey."

"Deal." Leo agreed.

Raph nodded, turned the youngest brother and slun his sleeping form over his shoulder. It was almost cute when Mikey snuggled against Raph's shell, but Leo didn't say anything – Raph was too much of a tough guy to acknowledge it. Even if he did start to rub Mikey's shell as he walked off with him.

Leonardo turned back to the second youngest brother, carefully sliding his hand between his shell and the couch so as not to wake him. He slung his other arm under his legs, lifting him up bridal-style. Despite Donnie being taller than him, Donnie was still lighter than Leo – at least enough for him to pick him up. He gently walked across the room, down the hall, and awkwardly opened the door to Donnie's room.

He wasn't all that surprised to see Donnie's room was a mess. Though his brother was generally clean and tidy, he'd always had a nasty habit of letting his stuff pile on around him when he had a project. His floor was covered in crumpled schematics that Don had apparently deemed worthless, a few broken rulers, and even a few nuts and bolts scattered around the floor. His famous laptop sat open on his desk, the faint blue screen dousing the room in faint light and illuminating ten or twenty objects that ranged from a few broken pieces of the shell raiser to some overly-advanced piece of Kraang tech.

"Geez, Don," Leo whispered, stepping over a discarded blow torch, "We seriously need to get you a new hobby." He mumbled, setting the turtle down on the bed.

He turned to leave, weaving his way through the minefield that was Donnie's bedroom floor – he'd almost made it too, but he instinctively cringed when his foot collided with a crowbar and sent the metal clanking loudly across the room. He turned just in time to catch sight of Donnie shooting up, eyes wide but utterly unfocused. That's when Leo realized – Donnie was still asleep.

"Wha-?" He the taller turtle fumbled out weakly, barely propping himself up with his elbow, "Leo?"

"Er, no?" Leonardo suggested softly – I swear to shell, if that guy gets back up… "It's okay, Don. Just go back to sleep, alright?"

Donnie blinked at him blearily before nodding, moving his head like it weighed a million pounds before plopping down, slurring about something to do with making the Shellraiser run on pizza and Mikey eating their fuel source.

Leo smiled, nodding like that made perfect sense as he shut the door to Donnie's room to leave his brother to rest.