Stronger

Chapter Fourteen

   Mikey yawned and opened his eyes, rubbing them against the light in the lair. Exhaustion crept into his bones and he lay there limply, lightly remembering the adventure he had yesterday. It had been short, but disastrous to that world.

   He shifted and pushed the thought out of his mind. His brothers were worth it. He could not imagine living without them, now or ever. They had been together for too long. Shared memories too precious to only ever dream about again. Sighing, he turned his head to where Raph was, wondering how his oldest brother was faring.

   He jerked to a sitting position, gasping as he stared at the empty couch. "Raph!" Scrambling to a stand, he raced around the room.

   "Over here, Mikey!"

   Hearing his brother call out, Mikey spun around and raced to the lab, where he was greeted by the sight of his oldest brother peering out of the doorway, smiling at him. He exploded into his brother's chest, hugging him for all he was worth. Happy tears raced down his freckled cheeks as he felt his brother's arm around him.

   "Hey, what about us?"

   Gasping again, he turned and leapt joyfully at his other two brothers who were also awake and smiling. They staggered back at his force.

   "Oh my gosh, you don't know how long this week has been!" he told them, gazing at each of his brothers with wide eyes.

   Leo chuckled, pulling him in, and Mikey's heart soared. He had thought he would never get to hear that sound again. "What exactly happened though?"

   "Yeah, what happened to us?" Donnie asked, smiling at him. "All I remember is being uncomfortable and hot."

   "Well, after you got pains in your chest, Leo," Mikey started, watching his slightly older brother. His face deepened as he remembered that time and Michael continued. "All of you got sick. I tried to heal you guys, but for a week nothing worked. And yesterday Raph stopped breathing, so I went out to try and find another type of medicine. Finally, I met a guy," he said slowly, laying out his lie, "and he said that he had a medicine that would help you guys if I paid him a lot of money. I was desperate, and so I gave it to him. But it worked! I mean, look at you!"

   Raph patted his head. "You did well, Mikey. I just hope we are done with this illness for good."

   Mikey gave him a wobbly smile. "Yeah, I hope so too. Are you guys hungry?"

   "Now that you mention it," Leon said, rubbing his stomach, "I could eat a whale."

   Laughing, he skipped to the kitchen where he started to put together a soup. But as he watched his brothers settle around the couch, a slight crease in his forehead appeared from time to time. Privately, he wondered why his brothers seemed fine, even though Brief warned him not to skimp on the medicine. Mostly so Mikey would feel compelled to continue working for him, but also because the way he said it made Mikey think that Brief put in how much would keep them alive, but not heal them completely. Nobody ever healed that quickly after a week of being sick, and he wondered what was up.

   His brothers did not notice his worried glances at them. They were more focused on stretching and warming their cold muscles, laughing at each other as they played jokes and traded good-humored insults. He wished he could join the light-hearted fun, but his mind knew he had lied to them all about something he knew they would be furious about.

   Well, Mikey decided, they could sacrifice themselves. I am not about to.

   When the light soup was ready, he ladeled it into four bowls. "All right guys! Supper is done!"