What am I

The Moment of truth Part 7

Donnie had slept a while through much of the last day with the help of some sleeping medication, he'd been awake long enough where he felt happy to proceed with the first of the procedures it was Raph's turn first, he was ready and Donnie with April assisting him, he ordered Leo and Casey to wait in Leo's bedroom so they didn't distract him.

Raph was put under sedation and Donnie used a needle to bore into his brothers head and removed a tiny spec of the tissue he needed, despite the fears to the contrary it went well and Donnie got what he needed. 

Raph was put into recovery while April monitored him Donnie went about putting the brain tissue into the petri dish and using the Kraang replicator tech he now had began growing the cells he needed ahead of the transplant for Mikey. 

As expected Raph didn't wake up immediately but Donnie knew this would be the case so got on with the next phase trusting April to monitor his red banded brother, the technology worked so fast in two hours he was ready to commence with the next phase the transplant itself. 

Donnie was nervous about this, he knew the theory of what he had to do but doing it was something else entirely, he had to open his brothers head, remove a section of skull and transplant the brain tissue carefully he had extracted and grown. He look a deep breath and as he did the first part in removing a piece of skull, he had to force down his anxiety, he felt sick, this was his only baby brother & he saw the missing part of his brain it was only the tiniest section but it was enough & knew his life was on the line here and the hopes of his whole family rested on Donnie's shoulders, he hoped he was right in this action but focussing on what he needed to do rather than think about the emotional implications helped to steady his trembling mind and hands. 

A long term solution to stress he often used be practical rather than emotional and he'd never been as stressed as now!

Soon though it was done, the tissue was planted, Mikey's skull put back in place with a metal plate for added protection below the skin and Mikey was put back under the scanner and Donnie began to reduce the sedation and now all Donnie could do was watch his progress and monitor him as he was recovering. 

Checking on Raph's vitals he was happy they were good and Donnie was happy with how it all went. All they could do now was wait and that seemed harder than the procedure itself.

Once the surgeries were done April called in Leo and Casey who immediately joined them as the four friends began their vigil, hoping the two would soon wake up. Though Donnie expected Mikey's recovery to take a lot longer than that of Raph's and warned the rest of them of what to expect. 

48 hours had now passed and as Donnie had finally lapsed into a reluctant slumber along side Mikey's cot as it was ticking into the third day, Raph began to twitch as Leo stood over him nursing him in a role reversal to when he'd awoken from his own coma.

Raphael's eyes fluttered open and he began to regain his bearings, he lacked memory at first but soon it all flooded back as he began to sit up he was disheartened by Mikey being still unresponsive he was 'the patient from hell' as April called him, he didn't want to eat he just wanted to sit with Mikey and made it difficult to care for him. 

Casey awoke hearing movement around him and was relieved to see his best mate back in the land of the living, and felt a pang of guilt for the hard time he'd given Donnie as he looked over at the purple cladded turtle with bags under his eyes which despite his mask was obvious to everyone & who snored slightly sleeping upright in a chair next to Mikey who in turn laid there silently with his head bandaged, they were taking care to keep their voices down as not to wake Donnie he needed all the rest he could get and hadn't slept in days.