She was still having the nightmares. Any idiot could see it. The way she'd lost that spark of contempt, and flinched every time she thought she'd missed a block. Technically she'd been physically dead, and hell…if help hadn't been there at the time, she probably still would be, and maybe in part, that was what disturbed her so much at night. Connor knew what she suffered in sleep, he'd heard her call for help over and over. Heard her scream as if she was still being hurt even now.
It always ended in the same way. He couldn't take the pressure, not just laying there and doing nothing. Ollie chose to take the easy way out. He hit the streets and patrolled, not daring to come home and hear his failure through her unconscious thought. But for the Buddhist bowman it was different. He didn't really know what it was he felt for Mia, it was somewhere between a mixture of brotherly love and something else. A feeling he'd honestly kill for, if it meant she'd be safe.
So every night he followed the same ritual. He refused to sleep, to abandon her in any way until she was calm once more. He'd just sit there, perched on the end of the bed holding her against his chest while she tried to escape from tormented sleep. That was the thing about his surrogate sister, she didn't like emotion, not in the slightest, everything she ever felt, she had to do it alone. It was like a right of passage, a need to prove she was stronger than all the things life through her way.
She wasn't though.
She was just as upset and hurt as everyone else. In the end, Connor fell asleep with her leaning against him. The only spark of waking truth being when she stirred in his arms. The way she shivered, and almost pulled away tugged at his heart strings. He wanted to help, he really did. But she was too stubborn to let him in. Speedy was too stubborn to let anyone in. She reminded him of Roy, perhaps she was channelling a lot more of Ollie than she'd care to admit too.
He wasn't going anywhere.
Releasing a small breath of relief as she shuffled in closer to him once again, the arhce rbent his head lightly to brush the faintest kiss on her forehead. "Pancakes?" It was the other part of the ritual. Ignoring what was going on, and just pretending the day was as normal as any other. Mia played along, and he had no right to question it. If she wanted to cope, this was how it had to be done.
"Yeah, pancakes sound good to me Big bro."
One day they'd get around to telling each other how they felt, but for now; this was as good as it gets.