AN: I am so sorry that I didn't get this written sooner! I've been so busy with getting caught up on my story The Birth Order Effect that I would just run out of time. Huh, anyway, I've finished it now! Originally, I wasn't going to tell you which brother that Mikey comforts, but the nature of this fic will give it away anyway. It's a SAINW fic, so you can just guess. So, no, this one is not a chibi. Before I forget, thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed, or just plain read this story! They all mean a lot to me. And, yes, this is the final installment. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I have no rights to the turtles, probably because I wasn't even born yet when they were first created. But I'm saving up! Hm, yeah, no, I do not own the TMNT or any other characters affiliated with the series. Also, I do not own the SAINW plot line, probably the saddest and most toned-down cartoon episode I've ever seen (considering what happens, ya'll know what I'm talking about). All I own is the idea!

Physical Affection and Not-So-Common Sense

"No way, dude!" Mikey exclaimed, throwing himself backwards as he told his tale. "Mine was totally the best! You just rode around on a stupid bike with some dude named Hawk."

"Falcon!" snarled Raph. "And, you went to some messed-up dimension where we're even more of freaks!"

Leo sighed, rubbing his temples. "Will you two stop arguing? You're giving me a headache."

"But, mine was cooler!"

"Shuddup, shell-fer-brains!"

Donnie sat cross-legged on his mat in their meditation room, wringing his hands nervously. The adrenaline rush from the battle with the Ultimate Drako and accompanying goons had distracted him from the inner turmoil he was currently experiencing. As much as he tried to convince himself that it shouldn't have bothered him, he kept running over the last battle with the Shredder over and over in his mind. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't accept the fact that there had been no other way.

Splinter had gone to bed long ago, sternly ordering his sons to be quiet as they exchanged stories. His brothers had all gone to faraway places that were different enough from home to allow them to detach themselves. Yeah, Leo had been fighting for his life most of the time, but the blue-clad turtle enjoyed the rush of battle and the matching of wits with an opponent. Mikey had clearly loved being the sidekick to their superhero counterparts, although Donnie felt as if he were holding something back—what, he had no idea. And, he hadn't seen Raph get this excited about anything since he had taken out the ShellCycle for its first test run.

Donnie couldn't help being jealous. Why was he, of all his brothers, sent to some nightmare alternate dimension/possible future where the Shredder had stripped the world of everything good and his alternate "brothers" had lost their lives due to some idiotic plan of his? It was enough to make Donnie's head spin.

No matter how many times he told himself that his alternate brothers had known the risks, what they were getting into, and the fact that they would probably not return. No matter how many times he argued that there was no other way, the Shredder had to be stopped, and that life was no longer worth living in that dimension. He lectured himself all he wanted, but it fell on deaf ears and a numb brain.

His alternate brothers would never taste the freedom they had finally won. April was now alone in the world, and Donnie had been ripped away without even getting the chance to say a proper goodbye. He had had to witness the death of the three beings he had thought were the only constants in his life, and then was forced to be face-to-face with those exact same three beings in his own dimension.

He wanted to sleep, for it was nearing three a.m., but he was afraid that if he left, his brothers would disappear. And that the nightmare he had been forced to experience would come true and he would be alone in the world. What if that was the future they were destined for? What if someday the exact same events would unfold and the future Donnie would return only to find everything had been lost? What good was a world without Shredder if it was also a world without his family?

Donnie hadn't even realized he was crying before the tears were spilling down his cheeks and the room had suddenly gone silent. He opened his eyes and was terrified when he found the worried gazes of his three brothers on him. Leo had that typical Leader look that was also coupled with the concern of an older brother on his face; Raph looked like he was going to rip the head off whoever or whatever had made his "little brother" cry; and Mikey looked confused but concerned.

"I'm fine," Donnie choked out, trying but failing to stem the flow of tears trickling their way down his cheeks. "Really, guys." His words were soft, and his brothers would have been incapable of hearing them if it weren't for their heightened ninja senses.

Donnie buried his face in his arms, breathing heavily and ordering his obstinate brain to slow the tears. He was so caught up in his inner battle that he hadn't even noticed someone had wrapped his arms around him and was currently holding him close. He didn't even need to open his eyes to know who it was, turning and pressing his face into said brother's shoulder.

Mikey glanced up from where he was holding his immediate older brother and looked pointedly at the two oldest turtles. Leo looked like he wanted to argue and Raph's eyes hardened, but they understood. If anybody could get the genius turtle to open it up, it was Mikey. People found it hard to lie to the orange-clad turtle.

Silently, they stood and left the room, pulling the door closed behind them. Donnie hadn't even noticed, too caught up in trying to coach himself into acting his own age. Something must have alerted Donnie to the absence of the other two presences, for he suddenly stiffened and pulled away from Mikey's embrace. "Where're Weo and Raphie?" Donnie's words tended to slur when he was upset, and he was reverting back to their childhood nicknames.

Mikey smiled. He remembered how much trouble Donnie had had pronouncing his L's correctly when they were young. He'd called Leo "Weo" until they were nearly eight and the purple-clad turtle had sat down and spent hours forcing his tongue to make the right sounds. Apparently, Donnie was out of it enough if he had let his tongue slip like that.

"It's okay, Donnie," said Mikey softly, scooting over to his brother and laying his hand on his thigh. Mikey had found that keeping constant physical contact with somebody under stress could really help. Often, that person felt alone and needed that touch to keep them anchored to the real world. Donnie looked as if he were drifting in the middle of the Pacific without a life raft and that he was on the verge of giving up and sinking beneath the waves.

And Mikey was not about to let that happen. "You never did tell us where you were sent, bro," he murmured quietly, remembering with unease the way his brother had reacted when he had first been reunited with him and Raph. He had said something about Mikey's arm. "Where did you go?"

Donnie shook his head and turned away from his brother. "Weave me awone!" he cried, grunting in frustration when his tongue refused to shape the "L" sound correctly.

Mikey sighed and scooted even closer to his brother, wrapping his arms around his neck and shoulders, leaning forward to rest his head in the crook of his brother's neck. "You and I both know you don't want to be alone."

Donnie took in a shaky breath before shaking his head and glaring down at his tightly-wrought hands. "I have nothing to say to you, Michelangelo," he said softly, using his brother's full name as he often did when he was tired.

Mikey knew that tone, the one that his brother used when he was on the verge of pummeling him, but he didn't care. His brother needed him, and he had never been one to leave anybody drifting. "You can kick my shell all you want, bro, but I ain't leaving."

"I'm not," Donnie corrected softly, practically mumbling the words. "How many times do I have to tell you that 'ain't' isn't a word?"

Mikey smiled and tightened his hold, snuggling his head uncomfortably deep into his brother's shoulder. "How many times do I have to tell you that keeping all your emotions bottled up isn't healthy?"

Donnie frowned and tried to twist around to glare at his brother, but found that to be quite impossible. "You're sounding amazingly philosophical today," he observed.

Mikey shrugged and shifted his position so that he was sitting beside his brother, opting to lay his head on his brother's shoulder instead. "Oh, ye of little faith."

"You're a pain in the shell, Mike, ya know that?" grumbled Donnie, even though he was fighting the urge to throw his arms around his brother and bawl out the whole story.

Mikey could tell that the other turtle was on the verge of breaking and decided to cinch the deal. "You're stalling." Without warning, he stood up and plopped himself on his brother's crossed legs, folding his arms over his plastron and glaring down defiantly at his brother.

Donnie sighed and shifted. "You're fat, you know that?"

"You're still stalling."

Donnie groaned and buried his face in his hands. "I really don't wanna talk about it, Mike."

Mikey shrugged and shifted so that he was sitting facing front, his shell to his brother, and leaned back against him. "Tell me somethin' I don't know, bro."

Donnie glared down at him, a hard thing to do since his brother's head was once again resting in the crook of his neck. "You're not going to get off me until I tell you, are you?" the purple-clad turtle grumbled.

Mikey flashed a grin up at his brother. "I always knew you were the smart one, Donatello!"

Donnie rolled his eyes before forcing himself to relax, doing so by closing his eyes, counting to ten, and inhaling and exhaling several times. When he felt he was ready, he began to speak in a low voice, sounding as if he had aged thirty years. "It was either an alternate dimension or a possible future," he muttered, unconsciously resting his cheek against his brother's forehead. "I don't know which, but I guess it doesn't matter. Things weren't going so well." He paused, but an elbow to his plastron encouraged him to continue. "Things hadn't been going so well since—the Shredder . . ." He trailed off, and Mikey sighed in annoyance.

The younger turtle sat up and draped his legs over his brother's left thigh before tightly wrapping his arms around Donnie's neck and looking his brother in the eye as if to say "Go on." Donnie watched him blankly for a long moment before nodding unconsciously and shifting ever so slightly, managing even though he had a heavy turtle on his legs. "The Shredder had taken over." He heard his brother's sharp intake of breath, but he knew he couldn't stop again, or he wouldn't be able to bring himself to continue. "The Shredder had taken over, and the world was a dismal, horrible place. The sky was blood-red, and the buildings were all burned and blackened, skeletons of what they had been before. Foot ninja swarmed the streets as police officers, and these TV message things kept saying 'The Shredder knows and sees all' and 'Serve the Shredder.' It was horrible! And then, you—you showed up and—and, something had happened to you, I don't know! You only had half of one arm and—and you were so cold and heartless, like the life had just been sucked right out of you! And Leo and Raph weren't even speaking to each other because—because Splinter had—had"—It was pure torture to continue, but he forced himself—"Splinter had died protecting us and Raph blamed Leo and everything was just horrible! And—and April was, like, in charge of this thing called the Resistance that was fighting the Shredder; but Casey was dead, and Hun and Baxter had, like, fused into one being, which was really freaky, but I guess it was a good thing because Stockman had invented this battle-suit thing, and I used that to fight the Shredder, but it didn't do any good 'cause you all died, and it was all my fault, and I'm sorry!"

At that point, Donnie broke down into tears, and Mikey tightened his hold, shifting his position so that he could hold his brother, the older turtle burying his head into his neck. Mikey had only caught about forty percent of what Donnie had said, since he had been pretty much rambling toward the end there, but he had gotten the gist of it. Drako had sent him to some horrible place where Shredder was in charge, humanity was enslaved, and something had happened to their alternate, future selves that had ended in their deaths and that Donnie blamed himself for.

Mikey couldn't imagine experiencing something like that, and he couldn't fathom what his brother was going through right now. Donnie was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. Mikey was no doctor, but he was pretty sure that wasn't a good thing. He was starting to wish that he'd let Leo handle this situation. The eldest turtle was far more diplomatic than he was, and tended to always know the right thing to say at the right time. At least Raph wasn't here, though. He'd just want to go out and tear Drako limb from limb, not that Mikey wasn't tempted to do so himself, but he had a bigger problem to deal with.

He was slowly but surely losing one of his brothers, and he had no idea how to handle it. He wasn't even sure if words would be enough to pull him back, but he had to try. Suddenly, he glanced down at his arm and got a stupid idea. "Look, Donnie!" The purple-clad turtle jerked up and stared as his younger brother held up one of his arms and shook it in his face. "Both arms! Isn't that something?!"

Donnie stared at him. "What are you doing?"

"And, you won't believe it, but Master Splinter's just on the other side of the room, probably sipping a cup of tea and listening to us! Turning in early, my foot! I'll bet he just says that to spy on us!"

Donnie wasn't sure if he was supposed to laugh or scold him. "Seriously, Mike, is this going somewhere?"

"And, wouldn't ya know it, but Leo and Raph are on the other side of that door too! Probably sitting and watching TV, muted of course, trying to pretend that they don't want to rush in here and demand to know what's wrong with you! And, oddly enough, they're both very much alive, and they don't hate each other! Well, not as much, at least. But, they aren't feuding!"

Donnie was really too confused at that point to recognize what his brother was doing, but he had just realized he'd left something out. "I left, Mikey," he interrupted.

That stopped the orange-clad turtle in his tracks during his dramatic tearing apart of the reality that his brother had witnessed. "Huh?"

"In that place," Donnie replied softly. "I had left, Mikey. Thirty years before, I disappeared, and that's why everything went so wrong."

Mikey stared at him. "You're kidding, right?" He was met by a blank stare and an unamused face. "Just saying, bro. Are you really trying to tell me that it was your fault that the Shredder took over and enslaved the earth?"

"You all fell apart after I left," Donnie grumbled. "Don't you get it?! It was my fault!"

"I take it back, Donatello," Mikey said abruptly, sitting up so he was facing his brother dead-on. "You ain't the smart one."

"Michelangelo—"

"Don't get me wrong," Mikey smoothly interrupted the beginning of the warning. "You're good with machines and stuff, but when it comes to common sense, you're as naïve as the rest of us."

"What are you—?"

"I mean, seriously, Donnie. If we all fell apart after you left, which, by the way you would never do because you're too dang loyal, that was our fault, not yours. If we were so frickin' dependent that we couldn't even function without you there, then that had nothing to do with you. You didn't sever my arm. You didn't enslave the world. AND YOU SURE AS SHELL DIDN'T GET US ALL KILLED!" Mikey had to take a deep breath because Donnie was giving him an unbelieving look.

"Look, bro," Mikey continued more softly. "I didn't mean to yell, but you have got to stop with this guilt trip. Shell, I thought that was Leo's department!"

"I heard that!" was heard from outside the door, muffled but audible.

"You were supposed to!" Mikey called back before returning to his still-distraught brother. "Bro, you've gotta stop this. It isn't healthy, and, frankly, it's kinda annoying." Donnie stared at him in bewilderment, a question in his eyes. "I mean, it wasn't your fault! Any of it!"

After a long moment, Donnie finally spoke, his voice still quiet but stronger than it had been before. "You're right, Mikey. I'm being stupid." He inhaled sharply and met his brother's gaze. "I guess . . . logically, none of it was or even could have been my fault." Mikey nodded his encouragement and gestured for him to go on. "And, I suppose it's kinda silly anyway. I mean, you guys and Master Splinter are still here." His face hardened in determination. "I still have my family."

Mikey's face split into a smile, and he leapt up, reaching down to haul a surprised Donatello to his feet. "See, I knew I'd make you see the light!" Donnie's eyes narrowed, and he reached out to playfully thump him on the back of the head.

"That's the bro we all know and love!" Mikey tackled his brother in a hug before shoving him out the door. "Now, get out! Our big brothers are probably eavesdropping on everything we say!"

"You actually know what that means?" asked Leo in disbelief from the other side of the door. Mikey reached out and swung the door open and chuckled when Leo and Raph scrambled away, trying to look as if they hadn't been spying.

"That's low, dudes," Mikey chattered as he led his purple-clad brother out the door by the hand. "Spying is so not cool."

Raph growled low in his throat, and Leo was about to say something when he was nearly tackled by a certain green-and-purple blur. "WHOA!" he cried out, just catching himself and his trembling brother. "Easy there, little brother!"

"He had a breakthrough," Mikey murmured to his red-clad brother as he watched Leo murmuring to the leech attached to him.

"I c'n see that," muttered Raph. "How come he gets a hug?"

Mikey's grin widened, and Raph immediately realized his mistake, slowly backing away with his arms held up. "No, Mikey—"

"Aw, Raphie!" Mikey giggled before leaping at his brother, who hollered some not-so-nice words and took off running.

Donnie stopped clinging to Leo and trembling the minute they disappeared from view. "As much as I love those two," he laughed, pulling away from his oldest brother, "I've gotten about all of the craziness I can handle."

Leo laughed as he strode away and flopped down on the couch. "Tell me about it." He managed to look only mildly surprised when his brother suddenly hurried over and plopped himself down on his lap, wearing an evil grin that made him uncomfortable. "Um, can I help you?"

"So, Leo," Donnie began, his evil grin widening, "I've been meaning to ask you . . ."

AN: Evil Donnie, I couldn't help myself! Yay, this story's finally done! I thought I might have to change the rating to T after writing this, but I think I managed to keep it K+. Feedback is always loved and appreciated! And, yes, I realize that this is not a nightmare fic, but the point of this four-shot was to explore the different ways each brother would comfort another, so it didn't really matter. Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this last chapter! I wonder if Raph might not appreciate that I had him being chased for once? Oh, well! Good thing they're not real!

"ZAIRIHANNAH!"

Huh, spoke too soon. Bye now!

*Edited 7/20/14—P.S. I received a number of reviews for this chapter asking me about the last part of this story. I didn't know I could reply personally to reviews, so I never addressed them. I'm addressing them now. They all asked: "What did Donnie want to say to Leo at the end?" The answer: "I've no clue. I was just having Donnie trying out the 'Mikey Method' at the end of the story because I thought it would be funny." I hope that clears it up!