A/N: I'm sad to say that this is the last chapter for Hand of a Brother. I must say I really like this chapter. Mikey and Donnie has a very close relationship and I believe it would be hard for Don to keep things from Mike. No matter how hard he tried. I've tired to limit the spelling mistakes and errors in this chapter, its a lot easier with a word Microsoft program, hopefully my wish came true. There actually is such thing as Free Comic Book Day. I haven't been but I'm going to try next year.

Disclaimer: Anything you may recongize from this chapter and the previous two do not belong to me. If it did we would have alot more brother action between the turtles.

This is a late b-day gift for my twin sister. We grew up on turtles and Donnie and Mikey were always our favourites characters. Happy 17th!

/ Michelangelo/

One of the only things that seemed to put Donatello's mind at ease was his younger brother's birthday. It was the one day of the year that he could actually step up and be an older brother to Mikey.

Usually he was the young turtle's best friend. Getting into trouble with the pranks they played or sparring together when a more serious tone called for it. Don hardly got to be the older brother to Michelangelo. On rare occasion he would comfort his little brother out of a nightmare or assure him that, no matter what, Leo and Raph loved one another. He was always right beside his best friend playing jokes or making inventions.

It was nice to just be the older brother for a change.

Donnie knew just what to do for Mikey's birthday. Every year it was getting more difficult to surprise the orange turtle, he always seemed to be two steps ahead of them and somehow always found out what they had planned but not today. Don was not going to let Mike find out what he had planned, no matter how annoying he was getting.

"Come on Don, please tell me!" Mikey's voice squeaked with excitement, his brown eyes glowing with anticipation. "Please!"

Don rolled his eyes and knocked his younger brother on top of the head gently, "No. You'll have to wait and see. "

The orange headband turtle let out a snort and crossed his arms over his chest. Donnie knew what was coming; Mikey would stick out his bottom lip and make puppy dogs at him until he game in.

However he was for him this time.

Don tossed a rag towards his best friend and gave a smirk. "Make yourself useful goofball. "He teased as he disappeared back into his lap.

"So not cool, Donnie."

"Its not meant to be cool, Mike." He answered from his den, laughing softly.

Donatello had a hard time figuring out what to do for Mikey's birthday. He'd almost given up when he came across an article in the newspaper.

Free Comic Book Day! One Day Only!

It was prefect. Don knew how much Mikey loved comics and this would be the prefect way to show his younger brother how much he cared.

Of course it wasn't an easy task to keep the event under wraps. Donatello ended up faking a power outage. It would drive him nuts for the next three days but his brother was worth it.

Anything to keep that smile on Mikey's face was worth it.

3 Days Later

The three brothers had gotten up earlier than usual, placing water balloons over the head of the younger turtle. They'd set up multiply surprises for Mikey through out the day. A small way to get pay back for the pranks the orange turtle pulled on a daily basis.

Donnie didn't really care for pranking Mikey, considering he's always helped his brother, but it was tradition and his family was predictable. They did the same tricks each year. No matter how old the brothers got, the others always did the same routine.

In a way he was grateful, it told Donnie that no matter what his family was still strong.

It didn't surprise them when Mikey came down the stairs completely dry with a wide grin on his face. His bandanna was hanging loosely around his neck; his brown eyes glowed with wonder. The younger turtle always seemed to miss everything the older three threw at him. He was impossible to prank but Donnie knew the prefect way to fix that.

His best friend seemed to miss the string at the end of the stairs and hadn't expected the bucket of water and feathers to topple over on to him. He was covered in head to toe in feathers. He looked more like a chicken than a fifteen year old turtle.

"Happy birthday Mikey!"

Pushing the feathers away from his eyes, Mikey smirked and walked towards the group of his brothers, his arms stretched out wide. "Come on guys, doesn't the birthday boy get a hug?" he asked, his voice light and carefree.

"Don't you dare knuckle brain!"

"I don't think that's a good idea Mikey..."

"Haha! We so got you!"

Don turned to look over at Mikey, his head crocking to the side. "What?" It was unusual for Donnie to come and say something like that. They must have expected him to come and say something scientific.

"Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Mikey asked, narrowing his eyes. He walked up to Donnie and poked him between the eyes, his brown eyes watery. "Did you eat him?"

"Very funny Mikey." Don muttered, wrapping his arm around his brother's shoulder in a one armed hug. Seeing as he didn't want to be covered in feathers for the next week and half.

Donatello helped Mikey clean up while their brothers went to get Master Splinter up and down stairs. Their master was getting old and very sick. Don didn't know how long their father had left. If they were to have a storm he was sure Splinter wouldn't last long. They didn't have many materials inside the den and it would be difficult to go and search. He could only pray that Splinter was strong enough.

Moments later the family was all downstairs gathered around the table while they had pizza and gave their gifts to Michelangelo.

Master Splinter laid his frail hand on top of his son's head, "Happy Birthday Michelangelo. " he smiled. The old rat handed the turtle a new pair of dual nunchakus. His older pair had been damaged with the last sparring session he had with Leonardo and it gave Splinter an excuse to go to the surface.

Mikey smiled "Thank you Sensei, "he bowed and then sat between his brothers.

Raphael presented Mikey with a new sketch pad; Leo had chipped in and put together a homemade art set and a drawing book he had found in the junk yard with Donnie days earlier.

Donnie could see how happy his younger brother was getting. The smile on his face looked as if it was glued on and the glow in his eyes seemed to brighten with every passing hour. He couldn't wait to take Mike up top to give him his gift. He had spent the last three days making sure everything was in order for when they did go up. Getting permission from Master Splinter was the easiest part of the whole ordeal. Keeping his brothers out of the loop was a much harder task.

But he somehow managed to do so for the last three days.

"We'd figured you wanted to continue that comic book you were working on. " Leo explained, wrapping his arm around his younger brother in a hug. Raph simply nodded with a small smile.

Michelangelo smiled widely and thanked his family. His excitement was larger than normal. He really didn't care about the gifts, not much. He just enjoyed having his family together. Especially when Raph and Leo weren't trying to kill one another.

The rest of the evening was spent re-telling stories about the past, watching cartoons on their TVs or eating pizza and cake. Mikey did, however, notice how Donnie, his best friend, hadn't given him anything. He wasn't trying to be shellfish. Far from it. It was just something the two brothers did every year. He wondered if Don had just simply forgot or had been too busy to get him anything.

But Donnie hadn't forgotten. He was just saving Mikey's present for later when the time was right, which be any time soon.

"Mikey, will you come and help me with something?" He asked his brother an hour later.

Mikey nodded and stood, swaying slightly as he stood. Donnie expected his goofball brother had finally come down from his sugar rush. "Where we going?" He mumbled.

"It's a surprise."

"Cool... I like surprises. "

Donnie laughed and grasped his brother's wrist and tugged him along through the den and out to the sewers. They were quiet for most of the trip, Mikey's breaths were even and steady, which left no room for Don to worry that the cold weather would affect his younger brother's breathing.

It didn't take them long to get up to the surface. Donatello could tell that his best friend was becoming confused. Don usually never went up to the busy New York streets unless he really needed to, making this trip so much better.

"Uh Don, where are we going?" Mike asked in an innocent tone.

Donnie smirked and answered. "You'll see."

The two turtles stayed close together in the shadows as they made their way through the streets. Half way to the comic book store, Don turned to Mikey and handed in a trench coat and a hat. His brother looked at him strangely but shoved the clothing on anyway. Now covered up, the older turtle led his brother out of the alley toward the Comic Book store.

Just before walking in, Donnie turned to his best friend and smiled lightly. "I know your always complaining that you don't have enough comics. Today is free comic book day, Mikey, which means you, can take as many comics as you want, for free. "He finished with a huff. "Happy Birthday. "

Michelangelo was at a loss for words. He stared at his brother for a moment before turning his eyes up towards the store. "Donnie... this... is great!" He squealed, hugging his brother tightly. "Thank you, thank you, and thank you!"

The next few hours were spent picking out the perfect comics for Mikey's collection. The two brothers even found a book or two for Donnie. But there was one comic that sent a tremble down the purple turtle's spine.

The book was about a pair of brothers that traveled to the future, only to find out how wrong and dark their life to come was going to get. By the end of the comic only one of the brothers went home.

Don couldn't help but think of his adventure into the future. Two of his brothers knew what he had been through; he had told him out of spite. He didn't want to feel alone while he was around them. It had helped him a little but the worst part his travel he hadn't shared. Mikey's destruction had been all his fault and he would never forgive himself for that.

He hadn't even told his best friend. He couldn't. Mikey's childish nature would break him if Donnie would have told him. He wouldn't do that to his brother. Not after what he was going to cause in the future.

"What you think of the comic, Don?" Mike asked, looking at his brother over the Captain America one rested in his hands.

"It... was ok..." Don answered quickly.

"Hey, you ok Donnie?"

Donnie swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to hide his shaking hands in the pockets of the coat.

Mikey set the comic back in the bag and took his brother's hands in his, his brown eyes concerned. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Don went to shake his head but Mikey stopped him. "Don't tell me nothing is wrong. You don't just get shakes for reason Donatello. "He muttered

"It's nothing Mikey..."

Michelangelo pulled his brother out of the store out into the alley, his eyes hard and filled with worry. "Is this about the future Draco sent you on?" He asked, looking into Don's eyes.

Donnie froze. He knew? How was that possible? He had done every possible thing to make sure Mikey hadn't found out. He slumped down against the wall and frowned softly. Today was supposed to be about Mikey's birthday, not the horrible future he was going to cause.

He sighed quietly and ran his hand over the top of his head, "How did you find out?" he asked quietly, swallowing.

It took a moment but Mikey finally joined his brother, his hand resting on his knee. "Leo told me. I mean it wasn't hard to figure out that you were upset. You were up half the night or you didn't sleep at all. When you wouldn't tell me what was going on I went looking for answers.

"I don't understand why you just wouldn't tell me what was going on Donnie. Your my best friend and you can't even share something that with me?" he shook his head, "I'm not going to judge you or anything Don. "

Donnie didn't know how to answer. He could see that not telling his brother was only hurting him more but he couldn't. He was glad Leo had told Mike about his adventure because Don didn't have the strength to look into his best friend's eyes and tell him he was the reason for his family's destruction.

"Donnie, I don't care what happens in the future. At least not right now. "Mikey paused to look into his brother's eyes, "The important thing right now is that all of us are together. Whatever happens in the future can be changed but being brothers is something that we can't change. "

"You don't care that I ruin your life..?"

Mikey shook his head and smiled at his brother. "We all have to grow up sooner or later. Besides you could never ruin my life Donatello. "He reassured him.

Donnie returned the smile and leaned against his brother for support. He may not always get to be the older brother but he would never stop being Michelangelo's best friend.

Fin

A/N: Stay tuned for a fic about Donnie and Splinter!

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