WARNING: Read at your own risk. This chapter contains very heavy language and a bit of violence, so if that's not your cup of tea, then I advise you to skip to the end or message me and I can give you a basic summary. If not, then please enjoy. More description at the bottom.

Angry wasn't nearly a strong enough word or feeling to carry the weight that grew in the pit of his stomach. No. Raph knew anger. It was stubborn and mostly idiotic and a burning sensation that made you do dumb things because of even dumber reasons. It was irritation and exhausting and only drove you so far before you crashed and burned with regret and more rips in the problem then when you started out with.

No.

He knew anger.

Because he wasn't angry when his baby brother came home with bruises that should never be on a kid like Mikey's skin. He wasn't angry when he found out that the bastards responsible were some Purple Dragon scum and some asshole who just loved being on the top of Raph's murder list. He wasn't angry when said scum bag assholes made his little brother feel like he was the one at fault and needed to apologize for it. He wasn't even angry when later that night, he woke up to find his little brother puking his guts out and running a fever so hot, it could burn flesh. Having to stay home sick the next four days because that's just how damaged the poor kid was. And not even, not even, the next morning as Donnie and Leo and him drove to school, when Leo had confessed what he had found in Mikey's sweatshirt pocket, did he conclude just exactly what it was that he felt.

Because, oh no, this wasn't anger.

This was pure, white hot, unadulterated murderous rage.

Raph had only ever felt this sort of resentment before, and after the incident that caused, Raph had sworn to watch his temper from then on out. If you were one of his brothers for the past 9 years, however, then you'd might be flexible with the word 'temper' and just how well Raph was able to manage it on a daily basis. Give him a break. You've never had a 'I'm so perfect and the obvious favorite' older brother, an 'I'm so much smarter than you and I make it a daily mission to prove it to you' younger brother, and a 'I know exactly how to push your buttons and send you over the edge so I abuse this power while laughing and being the most annoying thing on the freaking planet' baby brother. You'd be surprised with just how easy it is to lose it and smack a head or two out of irritation.

But this. This was too far. And no amount of comfort from anyone was going to erase this painful rage so easily.

Of course, everyone was trying to manage in their own ways. Trying to heal. Trying to forget one of the biggest nightmares to happen to this family yet.

The first night was spent in restless sleep. They had all spent the night in the living room, sleeping on a make shift fort made of every single blanket and pillow on the property, none of them wanting to leave their baby brothers side for a second. Leo's suggestion. And Raph had never been more on-board with one of his older brother's ideas. But it was quickly cut short when Raph awoke to the sound of Mikey emptying the contents of his stomach, so violently it made Raph's heart lurch with sadness, and Leo's soothing voice doing his best to calm and comfort the littlest Hamato. It wasn't until Donnie woke up and deemed him with a fever did Raph finally think 'screw it' and stayed up with the rest of his brothers until Sensei had kicked them out of the bathroom so that they could get some shut eye before school that morning. Obviously they didn't sleep a wink.

That morning, Sensei canceled his classes for the dojo so that he could watch over the now bed ridden Mikey, having practically dragged him away from the toilet despite Mikey's plea to stay. 'Just dump me in the bathtub. That'll my final resting place. Right next to the rubber turtle toy and the extreme bubble, bubble bath soap.'

It was only after Sensei assured them all that Mikey would be fine while they were gone and the smallest of reassuring smiles appear for a split second on the blonds face did Raph and his brothers leave for school. The ride to the high school was done in almost a painful silence. All of them, no doubt, having the same horrid thoughts on their minds.

And of course, Leo had to make it worse. When he told Raph and Donnie about the vandalized picture he found in Mikey's pocket, the words it had scribbled on it, Raph thought he was going to tear the 'oh shit' handle right off the car's roof. How dare they do something like this to his baby brother. How. Dare. They. They were going to pay. Big time. And Raph was absolutely not afraid to go to jail for the kind of vengeance he was thinking of.

That entire school day was spent in a blur. He vaguely remembered Casey trying to talk to him, having most likely gotten the scoop from April who had more than likely gotten it from Donnie. He was somewhat aware of his physics lesson with Mona, her having to snap her fingers before his face every five seconds to keep his attention. She had obviously concluded that something was wrong and tried to get the information out of the red head.

But Raph wasn't in the mood to talk. He'd talk after all of this was over.

For know, he was in the mood to act. Act violently and without morals. With his fists.

The end of that first day couldn't have come soon enough, and with it being a Friday night, Raph wanted nothing more than to hang out with his youngest brother. But it quickly became clear to all the Hamoto boys that Mikey was just too sick to do anything, having to be quarantined in his room until his fever broke, which the freckled faced dork had apparently complained about all day(despite how beaten and sick the kid was) until Sensei gave him some medicine that knocked him right-the-heck-out.

That night, and for the rest of the week, Raph's family became something like a dull TV show on repeat. Sensei meditated in the dojo, alone, and only came out to either eat or check up on his youngest son. Leo kept him self busy. Either doing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, or vacuuming every square inch of the damn house. You'd think it was because he was some kind of neat freak who needed something to do other than train of watch some crap cartoon. But Raph knew the real reason.

Mikey hated the silence. Always had. The kid hated it when things were too quiet. Too still. Too, well, un-Mikey like. So leo did his best to do just the opposite. Being as loud as possible while he went to work, even singing loudly and really off key as he went along (annoying the heck out Raph) sending a message to the sleeping Mikey that was as clear as day.

You're not alone. We're here. We're right outside the door.

Donnie was the only one that kept a sturdy eye on the kid, and while he wasn't aloud to stay in Mikey's room while he slept, the genius made sure to check up on him every 30 minutes. Checking his fever, making sure he had fluid in his system, making sure Mikey kept the fluid in his system and didn't up-chuck it like he did with every attempt at solid food. When he wasn't playing doctor, Donnie was researching everything he could on fevers and colds, making sure he was doing his absolute best to help his little brother.

Mikey barely left his bed, and the few times Raph saw him out of his room was when a flash of blond curls would rush past him into the bathroom, puking up what little he had in his stomach that Donnie most likely forced down him. Otherwise, he kept in his room, sleeping off the injuries and sickness and fever the best he could. Not laughing. Not smiling. Not bouncing around the house with that seemingly endless energy of his and driving Raph crazy with the pranks and water balloons to the face.

And that made it all the more easier for Raph to do his part.

Because what his brothers and sensei did were great. Really, they were. They kept Mikey safe and warm and protected in the house. That was their duty.

Raph's duty, was to take that protection to the streets.

Sunday morning. Like, early Sunday morning. We're talking three AM early, Raph snuck out of the house in a large, black hoodie to protect him from the rain and with his football duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Which was pretty easy to do. He'd done it loads of times before when he was younger and from personal experience, he knew everybody would be sound and asleep by the time he came back.

Back from tracking down the bastards that hurt his baby brother, and making them feel as much pain as the poor kid did, only ten fold. Which, ergo, was a whole freaking lot.

First stop, the dumb-ass that started this all.

Daniels.

Raph knew exactly where to find him. Mostly because he arranged the meet up. It wasn't hard to grab one of the jerks lackies and send off the message.

3:30 AM.
Parking lot behind the shut down skating park.
Be there.

That was it. No other requirements. No other demands. He could bring however many of his goons he had. He could bring any weapon, a gun for all Raph cared, it didn't matter. All that mattered was Daniels showing up in all his Jack-assiness glory.

And boy, did he not disappoint. Daniels no doubt knew that Raph was looking for a fight, so he didn't hesitate to bring the Calvary. Eight dudes in all. All wielding either baseball bats or playing around with handheld knifes. All of them considerably bigger than Raph. Few of them, Raph noticed almost instantly, were flashing tattoo's on whatever flesh they dared exposed during the heavy rain storm. Notably, Purple Dragon tattoos. Had to give it to Daniels. He knew exactly what to do to piss Raph off in all the worst ways.

Daniels, who was lazily slouching against a wall, noticed Raph first as the red head jumped the fence and walked towards them. He waited until Raph had stopped just a few feet away before he opened his stupid mouth.

"Alright Hamato, I'm here. What do you want to do?" He asked, snickering before he gave Raph the chance to answer. "Oh wait, that's right. It probably has something to do with that little sniveling brat of yours right? What was his name? Marcus? Mitchell?"

A few of the guys around him, Raph recognized them as some of the high schoolers Daniels usually had with him when fights between him and Raph would break out, grunted laughs. Feeding off the lazy support of his friends, Daniels dared to take a few steps towards Raph, showing off that disgusting smile he remembered Mikey telling him about. Raph gripped the strap of his duffle bag.

"Oh, I remember now. Michelangelo, right? Stupid name, if you ask me, but I guess it fits the theme for your family. A stupid name for a stupid kid," he stopped and continued to smile that sadistic smile, his words colder than the temperature outside. "Speaking of the stupid kid, how is he? My friends told me that they sadly had to end their little party early cause of some woman screaming bloody murder for some cops. Which sucks, being interrupted before they even had a chance to do some real damage, but I guess they made sure to give the kid some party favors he wont be forgetting any time soon."

Raph could start to feel the blood pumping in his ears. He didn't move, didn't want to give Daniels the satisfaction of seeing him react, but he felt like his heart was trying to swim through concrete. Real damage. Mikey had came home with so much bruising and scars that it was a miracle he didn't wind up in the emergency room. And these thugs had the intentions of doing worse things to his baby brother. Hurting him even worse. If Mikey hadn't been saved by that lady screaming, he could have actually ended up in the hospital. If Mikey had been left alone to those guys for even a second longer...

Raph dropped his duffle bag, letting the heavy thump be his only response as he stared at Daniels. Daniels didn't hesitate to stare back.

"Which I guess leads us to being here. So tell you what I'm going to do. Since I'm so nice, and I feel you Hamotos have learned your lesson about knowing your place, I'll give you two options." He pointed behind him, his gang starting to straighten up and size up Raph as he continued to talk. "You can apologize, for yourself and for that shitty brat of yours, for being the biggest pain in my ass since student entrance exams and from now on show some respect."

Daniels then walked back slowly, never dropping Raph's gaze as he spread out his arms, gesturing to the people at his sides.

"Or we do what we came here to do, and you end up like that piece of orphaned trash you call a little brother."

In all honesty, the first part of the fight was a blur. Raph remembered seeing red. He remembered dropping to his knees and grabbing his pair of Sai from his duffle bag. He remembered charging.

He wished he remembered beating the ever living shit out of everyone there. I guess that's the thing about rage, it blurs out the details of a situation and just leaves you seeing the main goal of your anger.

Pieces of it were there, fragmented memories of dodging knifes, fists colliding against faces, breaking noses and bats against backs. He didn't need to use his weapons, which he was silently thankful about. He never intended to use them in the first place, they were more for an intimidation use then for actual damage, but he'd be lying if he said that no one left the fight without a few cuts made in the scuffle. Despite how infuriated Raph was and how much he thought about it, however, he wasn't about to take a life. Especially since that wasn't point of him being there.

Revenge wasn't the reason Raph wanted to see Daniels.

Though, it was a nice side benefit.

What Raph did remember, though, was breathing heavily as he stood over the moaning bodies at his feet. Some were bleeding, some were unconscious, all of them were down for the count and weren't going to get up any time soon if they knew what was good for them.

Everyone but Daniels.

He somehow made it unscathed in the fray, standing up with his back against the wall, not really looking terrified but obviously surprised by just how little his back up actually helped him. And whether it was his pride or nerves that kept him from bolting away cowardly, Raph never found out or cared enough to wonder about it. All he cared about was that Daniels was there. Just the two of them now.

They stood there, eyeing each other as Raph caught his breath. His drunken adrenaline rush wearing off and turning into a vivid hangover. He could feel every muscle pulsing, his arms felt like a thousand pounds, weighing him down like they had just gone a hundred rounds with Joe Louis. His mouth tasted like iron and he was about 60 percent positive he remembered getting hit in the jaw sometime during the fight. He probably looked a whole lot worse than he felt, and he was sure that the pain would hit him eventually, but at that moment it was the least of his worries.

His job wasn't done yet. Pain could wait.

"Daniels," he growled for the first time that night, making his way towards the jerk with a determined stride. He pocketed his Sai in his back belt loops so that his hands were free, half because he so needed to clench them into fists, the other half because he wanted the satisfaction of dishing out what he was about to do with his own hands. Daniels stood his ground, snapping out of his stunned stupor and puffing out his chest, ready to fight Raph head on.

Raph never gave him the chance.

Daniels sent out the first fist, watching it collide with nothing as Raph dodged it with ease and grabbed it, twisting it behind Daniels as he slammed him head first into the wall. Before the bastard could regain his senses, Raph was already grabbing him and kneeing him in the gut so hard, he was sure he sent all of the air out of Daniels system. Raph had fought with Daniels before, however, and he knew that the idiot wasn't going to go down without a fight. Daniels caught himself just in time to maneuver himself out of the way of a kick, trying to send another fist Raph's way, but Raph was already on a frenzied roll. He ducked under it, watching it this time collide with the stone wall of a skating ramp behind him.

Daniels immediately recoiled back in pain, giving Raph the opportunity and the satisfaction of punching him right in the nose. Blood immediately exploded out of his nostrils, but Raph didn't notice as he grabbed Daniels arm and flipped him over his back, sending him onto his stomach with a sick smack. The next second, Raph was on top of him, pulling Daniels' arm painfully behind him as Raph dug his knee painfully into the high part of the jerk's back.

Don't get Raph wrong, beating the crap out of Daniels was always high on his to-do list, but it wasn't what he came there to do. Bending over lowly, practically hissing in Daniels ear, Raph talked in a tone that only Daniels could hear.

"Listen good you slimy lowlife, 'cause I'm not gonna repeat myself," he breathed, tightening his grip around Daniels, making sure the only thing the thug could do was listen to him. "I'll fight you. I'll fight you any day of the week. Name a time and place and I'll show up. I don't care what your reason or excuse is. I don't care what even happens or how much backup you bring or even if you shoot me. I proved that here tonight, like I always have. I don't care what happens to me. I will fight you."

Revenge was fulfilling in it's own way, but it wouldn't solve the problem. Raph could have just punched the light's out of Daniels like he did to his goons, but the message wouldn't have gotten across. It wouldn't have stuck. Raph had to make sure this never happened again. Never in his life time.

"But the second you bring my family into this, is where you cross the line. I don't care what beef you have with me. That beef stays between you and me. Not with your shitty backup. Not with the police. Not with my family. Just you and me."

He never wanted Mikey to come home hurt ever again.

Because that was pain Raph would never be able to live with.

"So you don't talk to my family. You don't look at them, think of them, dream of touching them, sick your attack dogs on them like the worthless coward you are. Ever. Again. I don't want you or anyone of your brother's thugs anywhere near my family from here on till the end of your pathetic life."

The rain never stopped poring down on them. The cold never sinking into Raph's skin. He couldn't be bothered with it right now. There was only one thing on his mind. The thing that was always on his mind.

Protecting his family.

"You ever talk to my brother again, ever tell him those things you said again, I'll send you to the hospital so fast, you'll have to breathe out of tubes until the day you die. And so help me, if there is a next time, I will find you. I will hunt you down and I'll make sure you skip the hospital trip. You touch my brother again and I will. Put. You. In. The. Ground."

He twisted his arm again, pulling it to almost the breaking point until Daniels whimpered in defeat, making sure he had Daniels full attention.

"Do I make myself clear? You and everyone else. Stay away. For good. Understand?"

There was a pause, and maybe it was the last of his adrenaline rush leaving his system, making him notice things more clearly as he felt like it was taking forever for a response. But finally, and very slowly, Daniels nodded his head.

Raph will never be able to tell you how or why, but he knew it was truthful. It was sincere. There was no pride in it. No false confirmation. No egotistical retort. If Daniels had opened his mouth, Raph knew he would have probably felt the urge to slam the jerk's head into the concrete. But there was something in his nod that signaled defeat. It was pathetic and humbling, but Raph had done his job. He got the message through, and Daniels was hearing it loud and clear.

Raph slowly let go of Daniels arm and rose off of him, ready for any sort or retaliation, but Daniels just laid there. Still and silent and utterly defeated. Just the way Raph liked him.

He walked back towards his duffle bag, threw in his pair of Sai before zipping it up and throwing it over his shoulder once again. He made his way to the fence encompassing the abandoned skate park, jumping it with a little difficulty, before he trekked his way out of the downtown area and back home. Never once looking back. He didn't need to. He did his job.

It was now 4:45 in the morning, and before making it all the way home, Raph made sure to stop by a 24 hour grocery store to change clothes. He knew he looked liked hell, was sure starting to feel like it, and he had made the mistake of coming home after a fight before. More often than not, someone had noticed his presence, or lack of, and waited up for him to get home. Waiting for him at the door with a lecture and a med kit. And after the weekend his family had already gone through with one of the boys coming home bruised up, Raph wasn't about to make it any worse.

But when he looked in the bathroom mirror, he realized that was easier said than done as he glared at the sizable cut over his left eye and the bruise now forming over his jaw line. Great. Just fucking great.

He did his best, he really did, to clean himself up as best he could. He washed all the blood off of him, some was his, some wasn't. He changed into clean, and more importantly, dry clothes. Thank you waterproof duffle bag. He even tried to do his hair and put deodorant on to at least make himself somewhat presentable. He wasn't quite sure who'd be up to greet him when he got home, but it was safer to take no chances. As he exited the store and pulled out an umbrella to make sure he stayed dry, he just hoped it at least wasn't sensei. He could deal with Leo's lecturing and Donnie's constant sarcastic pestering, but sensei would take it a whole 'nother step farther and actually punish him. He was willing to take it, or course, he knew the risk as soon as he left the house and was ready for it to be handed to him without a second thought or rebuttal. Still, if he didn't have to deal with it, he'd just as easily take that root.

However, when he walked through the door and into the still dark house, he was surprised to see a blond head sticking out over the top of the couch. Someone he didn't suspect to see in the slightest.

"Mikey?" Raph asked quietly, and was even more surprised when he noticed the head turn his direction, bright blue eyes seeming to glow in the dark as they stared at Raph. Completely wide and awake and not in bed sleeping where they should be.

"Raphie. You're back," Mikey squeaked back quietly, his voice raspy like he hadn't used it in weeks. "I was wondering where you went."

Raph quickly closed the umbrella and dropped his bag next to the door, making his way towards his youngest brother as quietly and stealthily as he could. Easy for a ninja. "Mikey, what are you doing up so early? You should be in bed sleeping."

"You're one to talk, mister sneak-outta-the-house. Besides, I'm tired of sleeping. That's all I've done this week. Sleep sleep sleep. I'm sick of it. Literally and figuratively," Mikey tried to force a laugh, but it just came out as a sheepish cough. He was wrapped up in his orange comforter, leaning the back of his head on the couch frame as he was sunk between two couch cushions. He scooted over without hesitation, however, as Raph came over and sat himself right next to him, Mikey immediately sharing his blanket with the red head.

"That doesn't mean you should be up and about though, lame brain. You're still sick. That's just what sick people have to do to get better, like it or not," Raph said, kicking off his shoes so that he could get even comfier on the couch. Mikey scooched himself closer to him.

"You sound like Donnie, just less smart sounding," Mikey grunted, his face halfway covered by his comforter.

"You're lucky you're sick because that wasn't very funny," Raph tried to joke, but Mikey didn't look up at him with the quirky grin he usually had.

"Wasn't trying to be funny," he answered simply, yawning before sinking further into the couch. "Besides, I couldn't sleep."

Raph rested his arm along the frame of the couch, letting his eyes close as he caught the contagious yawn. "Why not?"

"Too quiet." Mikey responded after a long pause, catching Raph's attention.

"Too quiet? How could it be too quiet? Doesn't Donnie check on you like, every hour? And Fearless is loud enough to wake the whole goddamn neighborhood. How is that too quiet?"

"That's exactly it though Raphie," Mikey interjected quickly, keeping the same quiet level but forcing a stubborn tone to it.

"Donnie is clock work. He comes into my room constantly and wakes me up, whether he means to or not and checks to see if I'm ok. Leo's been noisy all around the house and the dojo, so that no matter what he was doing, I knew exactly where he was. And dad makes it a point to always give me medicine and to make sure I drank and ate something, before he goes off again, so I at least got to see him."

"I don't get it. That wasn't noisy enough for you? You didn't like any of that?" Raph frowned in the dark, his brain too tired to connect the dot's Mikey was leaving for him.

"No, of course not, I loved it," Mikey answered back quickly and quietly, and like usual, you could feel the words to be true. "I appreciate everything they've done. I- you know I hate it being quiet. and I hate being alone. But they never made me feel like that. I'm sorry they have to go through so much trouble because of me, but that's not the issue here. It wasn't about them being too noisy or not noisy enough."

"Well then, shit dude, what's the problem?" Raph could feel his irritation start to rise up, but he made sure never to raise his voice higher than Mikey's.

"Raph, it was you. You were too quiet."

He said it in the most silent of squeaks, but it made Raph jerk his head so violently, Mikey might as well have shouted it. The sudden movement caused Mikey to slide over and rest his head on Raph's shoulder, obviously to sick to care anymore. Raph stared down at him with wide eyes.

"What?"

"You were too quiet Raph. I never heard you walking around the house. Didn't hear you yell or laugh. Barely saw you. You never even made an effort to come sneak into my room. Which, for the record, hella rude," Mikey sighed, lifting his comforter up to his nose. "I got worried. I wondered what you were doing. I worried if you were mad at me or something. So I snuck out of my room the moment I heard Donnie snoring and came looking for you. Only to find that your bed was empty and your Sais were gone."

Raph could feel his his heartbeat quicken, and he hoped that Mikey wouldn't be able to notice. He was so busy trying to make sure Mikey never got hurt by those scum bags again, he didn't even think to do any of the things Mikey had mention. Didn't think to check up on him. To make sure he was ok. He was sure that protecting him from a distance was what he needed to do. He didn't think that doing that in the process, would actually hurt his little brother.

Being an older brother sucked. He could never do it right even when he tried. How the hell did Leo do it and make it look so easy?

"Ahh man Mikey. I- I'm sorry buddy. That's not what I meant to do at all. I just- ahh shit bro, I'm sorry. I was just- focused on other things," Raph said, but quickly shifted so that he could place a reassuring hand on top of Mikey's mop of curls. "But trust me, Mikey, the last thing I meant to do was make you worried."

"It was too late for that when you came home looking like you lost a fight with a punching dummy," Mikey responded a little harshly, but finally looking up at Raph with those freaking blue eyes. Filled with all the concern and pleading in the world. "What did you do?"

Raph paused before answering, not wanting to look away from Mikey so as to shut him down, but not about to give into what he'd been up to. "Nothing important buddy. Promise. I just had to take care of something, but it's over now. It's all over. Nothing to worry about."

Mikey didn't look the least bit convinced, giving him that dead pan stare that always seemed to be permanently plastered on the brainiacks face. The "you really expect me to believe that load of crap? Are you serious? Do you know how high my I.Q is," look that always ticked Raph off because it was really hard to lie to a face like that.

"Why did you bring your Sais then. Huh?"

Raph paused, shifting in his spot so that he was leaning towards Mikey. "I never used them."

The answer didn't seem to fully satisfy Mikey, as he turned his head and shifted his own body closer to Raph. "Did anyone get hurt? Like badly?" He practically whispered, and Raph felt his heart leap into this throat.

"No," he finally answered, leaning his head over and resting in on top of his brothers. "Ego's, maybe. But I didn't do anything stupid. Not this time."

For some reason, this got a soft chuckle out of Mikey and it made Raph smile despite the serious tension from their conversation. "Yeah right. That's not very reassuring. How'd you get that bruise on your cheek then, huh? You look like crap."

"Says the guy who literally looks like he's about to keel over any second," Raph joked, poking Mikey on the side of his cheek with the arm draped across the couch frame. "Would you believe me if I told you I fell down some steps at the gym?"

Mikey laughed, and even though it was hushed, it didn't lack any of it's warmth. "That's about the lamest excuse in the book, dude. That sounds weak. You need something more awesome, like a squad of robot ninja's stole your pizza that you were getting me."

"I'm not trying to make it sound awesome, I'm trying to make it sound believable. Which that wasn't either of them."

"You wouldn't get me a pizza, even though I'm sick?"

"I was talking about the robot ninjas, you moron."

"That's cold dude. But gimme a second then, my brain's still trying to wake up from being all bleh for the past three days. I'll come up with a great excuse for ya."

"No aliens, and I swear on every comic book I own, Mikey, if you say anything that has to do with me fighting a cat and losing, I'm gonna wake up Donnie and have him march your butt back to your room."

Mikey feigned horror, but smiled anyway as he snug in closer to Raph. "Fine. But now it's going to take me a little longer to come up with something with half of my artillery gone."

Raph closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. "I'll give ya all morning. I'm not going anywhere."

They talked for a little while longer, before finally falling asleep again. Donnie found them on the couch when he realized that his patient has escaped, but didn't bother to wake them up as he simply grabbed his own blanket and joined them. Leo eventually woke up as well, but instead of going back to sleep, he just made a cup of coffee and smiled from his spot on the couch when their father finally entered into the kitchen for his morning tea.

The house stayed silent well into the morning, but it was a comforting silence. A calming silence. A peaceful silence.

And none of them ever noticed the rain finally stop.

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO WAS SO PATIENT AND ACCEPTING OF THIS CHAPTER AND WILLING TO WAIT FOR IT! I HAD BEEN WANTING TO WRITE THIS FOR THE LONGEST TIME, BUT I COULD NEVER GET PASSED THE FIRST COUPLE PARAGRAPHS. I FINALLY GOT IT DONE THOUGH, AND I'M SO THANKFUL FOR THE WARM AND SWEET RESPONSE I'VE GOTTEN FROM THIS FIC! YOU'RE ALL SO GREAT AND YOU MAKE ME KEEP WANTING TO WRITE MORE. SO I WILL, AND I HOPE YOU GREET THOSE FICS WITH AS MUCH WARMTH AS YOU'VE SHOWN THIS ONE.

I WILL ALSO BE WORKING ON SOME OTHER FANFICTION AS WELL, BUT I'LL TRY TO SPEND AS MUCH TIME AS I CAN WITH THE NEXT ONE, I HAVE PLANNED, SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THAT ONE. ALSO, THE FINAL DECISION HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL I CAN GET A SOLID WRITE UP FOR WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH IT, BECAUSE THAT FIC IS REALLY SPECIAL TO ME AND I WANT TO DEDICATE AS MUCH HEART AND LONE INTO IT AS I CAN.

ANYWAY, THANK YOU SO MUCH DARLINGS! LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! LOVE YOU LOTS! SEE YOU SOON! =D