Author's Note: New story! Yay! I've been itching to get this one done since "Journey to the Center of Mikey's Mind", but as usual, real life gets in the way. As a result I forget some of the better plot points and the final results didn't seem to be the way I imagined it earlier. So sorry about that! I really must learn to write down ideas as they come.

Always Our Li'l Mikey

The automatic door slid open to admit Leonardo and he walked into their sleeping quarters as quietly as he could. There were no actual bedrooms inside the Fugitoid's spaceship, since Professor Honeycutt merely disconnects himself for a recharge anytime he needed a rest, but he did his best to accommodate his guests, turning one of the larger rooms for the boys' lodgings and a smaller one for April.

Even from a few meters away Leo could hear the snoring that can only belong to Michelangelo from one of the makeshift bunkbeds. His littlest brother had fallen asleep in the control room by the time the turtles reached the Ulixes after their second run-in with Vrax Belebome. A quick check by their robot aid told his alarmed brothers that Mikey was perfectly fine, that he was merely tired after eluding the Neutrinos all night and helping the rest of the turtles defeat them in his mind.

"After all, this must be as much brain exercise as he gets", Casey had quipped, earning him an elbow on the stomach by April.

Leo, ever the team leader, immediately vetoed a rest for his youngest brother. Not that he was met with any protest from Mikey, who was as good as snoring on the floor, spacesuit and all. Donatello and Raphael were working to peel off Mikey's Astro Suit from his body when Leo left for the small kitchenette just outside the hologram room. There were none of the chocolate drink powder and sugar that Leo had used to make Mikey's night-time drink back in New York, but all he needed to do was focus his mind on the exact concoction, and if there was one thing Leo was very good at, it was focus.

Presently, he found Raph standing near the bunk that Mikey was in, his face devoid from the perma-frown that always seemed to be on his face any other time. A closer look and Leo saw that he was actually smiling in that content way that seemed to be reserved for his brothers (when Raph thought no one is looking) and Spike (when he was actually Spike, that is). Raph turned when he sensed Leo's presence, and gave his older brother a nod of recognition.

"Still sleeping?" Leo asked mildly, peering around Raph to see Mikey's sprawling figure, one leg swung outside the blanket Raph had used in an obvious attempt to cover him.

"Hmmm", Raph responded, the serious look back in place. His eyed trailed to the cup Leo had carried into the room, his nose catching up to the aroma. "Hot chocolate, Leo? I don't think sleeping is a going to be problem for him, especially tonight", he gestured to the dormant figure on the bed. "Kid's all wiped out."

Leo approached the bed and carefully placed the cup on a makeshift bedside table. There was also a stool next to the bed, where Raph had deposited Mikey's orange band. "I know, I know. I just want to be prepared", he said quietly. "You know, in case he's having trouble sleeping."

Raph snorted. "Really, the little snot was drooping all over the control room floor", he said. "You worry too much, Leo. Mikey's gonna sleep fine tonight."

"And yet, you're still here", Leo smirked sideways at Raph.

The latter face turned a shade deeper than his band. "I, uh, I was just pulling up his blanket. You know, make him sleep properly for once instead of like a trapeze artist", he rambled, eyes wandering every which way except for Leo's face. "I was gonna leave after that."

Leo maintained his smirk and stared pointedly at Raph. The latter shifted uncomfortably under Leo's knowing gaze. Finally Raph threw his hands up in defeat, his big brother is far too much like Splinter when he fixed his eyes on him like that. "Fine, I was just keeping an eye on him, all right?" he said. "Just in case he has nightmares and got scared or something."

Leo went to the other side of Mikey's bed. "Well you know what I always say", he said airily. "Four turtle eyes are better than two", he slid onto the foot end of the bed and Raph, smirking, sat across him. For a while Mikey's two older brothers sat in silence under the dim lights, watching Mikey's chest raise up and down gently, the occasional snoring and the small smile on their littlest brother's face.

"Must be really tired", Raph quipped. "He hasn't moved one bit since he swung his leg out of that blanket, and he shifts around in his sleep all the time."

"He fought a lot today", Leo remarked. "It takes a lot of energy to think up all those stuff to help us defeat the Neutrinos. Even with an imagination like Mikey's", the leader of the turtles tried to tug the remaining blankets to cover Mikey's leg, failed and gave up. "He deserves the rest."

"Hey Leo?"

"Raph?"

"We're always going to do this, aren't we?"

"Do what?"

"You, making sure he's not scared of going to sleep", Raph gestured to the sleeping brother between them. "And me-"

"Guarding him so his nightmares won't hurt him. And Donnie will always make sure his stuff is kept neatly away by bedtime so he can find them when he wakes up.", Leo gave his red-banded brother a sideway smile. "Pretty much, yeah."

As if on cue, they heard the door slide open and Donnie's footsteps coming up from behind them. Both turtle turned to smile at the fourth turtle brother. "Just came back from the Gear Room, I've put all his stuff away", Donnie reported, almost automatically. "How is he?" he didn't even seem fazed to the fact that his two older brothers are sitting in the dark and watching their youngest snoring away on the bed.

"Sleeping like a log", said Leo.

Donnie smiled, standing at the end of the bed between his two brothers. "No nightmares or insomnia then?" he asked knowledgeably. Raph shook his head. "Hasn't moved since I put him down", he said.

"I borrowed Professor Honeycutt's scanner", Donnie declared, ever the resident medical turtle. "Just in case those Neutrinos make any second trips."

"I doubt they would dare", Leo remarked. "Didn't he squash those Neutrinos when he caught them?"

"Yep", Raph replied with a laugh. "Squashed the suckers like a bug. You don't mess with Angry Mikey."

"Mikey can take care of himself when he comes down to it", Donnie said confidently. "You know, that imagination of his is actually a pretty cool weapon."

Doesn't mean we're not going to keep him safe, was the unspoken end that none of the three turtles needed to say. They understood without speaking that no matter what happens in the past, present or future, this is how things will be with them, when it comes to their baby brother. They may roll their eyes at him, get so exasperated with his antics or not understand the gibberish nonsense he spouts half the time. But if he is in danger they will cross enemy lines for him, if something threatens him, they would plant themselves firmly in front of him, guarding him even from his own mind.

Mikey is a lot of things. Angry guy. Glutton. Weirdo. Annoying. But as each of the turtles recalled of a smaller version of him sliding down a pizza-box mountain and flinging himself into Leo's arm, shouting "I know you guys would find me!" and "What's the plan, big bros?", they know that whatever else he may be, he's also their little brother. First and foremost.

"He does look like a six-year-old when he's sleeping, doesn't he?" said Donnie.

"Yeah. He looks like-"

"- Li'l Mikey", Raph finished, matching his brothers' fond smiles with his own.

And he'll always be.

Hope you liked that! Reviews and comments are addictive. If there are any criticism (constructive or otherwise) you are most welcome. I do want to improve my writing a lot more!