Author's Note: Soooooooo...

I'm gonna rant about the misery of 5x10 in my fixit.

Let's focus on the good! We got some protective Brainy, a date (even tho it was cut short), a little hand-holding in the medbay, a hug at the end of the episode, and NIA SAID I LOVE YOU! :D :D

All good things, right? Let's enjoy them. Because we might not get any more Brainia for awhile.

Then again, we might. It all depends what direction the show writers take this. Are they going to deal with Brainy's... thing? Is Nia? Or are they just going to ignore it?

Okay, sorry. I said no ranting about the misery. Let's get to the story.

Summary: Brainy is always gone in the morning and it's a little lonely.

Spoilers: I mention Kara and Mon-El. But only briefly you'll be fineeee.

Monday

Nia woke up to breakfast and a vase of flowers on her bedside table. She smiled at the sight, stomach growling in anticipation. It was still a little surreal to her that she and Brainy were even living together (as of yesterday, actually), and that she'd be able to simply roll over to thank her boyfriend for the treat.

But unlike the muffins, daisies, and Nia's appetite... Brainy wasn't there. Frowning, Nia sat up and reached for the trey her breakfast had been on. There was a note.

Good morning,

Enjoy the muffins. For the sake of your teeth and taste buds, I didn't make them myself. I will see you this afternoon. I hope you have a productive day at work.

Love,

Brainy

Nia rolled her eyes a little, smiling at the frankly unromantic letter before folding it and putting it on her trey. She appreciated the breakfast and the flowers, she really did, but she would have preferred to wake up to a tan skinned, brunet techno-organic instead.

Tuesday

Maybe yesterday was a fluke, Nia thought as she blindly tapped her alarm off on Tuesday morning. Maybe Brainy somehow forgot that it was our first morning together and decided to rush off.

Now that she thought about it... he had never actually explained where he'd been yesterday morning.

But it didn't matter. Today was a new day, and when Nia turned over she was going to see a warm, sleepy Coluan blinking muggily at her with a question of 'why wake up to that song?' on his lips.

Nia flipped over.

Brainy wasn't there. Again.

Wednesday:

"Where do you go in the mornings?" Nia asked, as casually as possible, at dinner on Wednesday night. She had spent another morning waking up in bed alone, and she really needed to figure out what was going on... and if this was how it was going to be for the rest of their time together. "I wake up and you're not there. You're not even home."

"I require much less sleep than the average human," Brainy replied, sitting in his chair with his usual ramrod posture. If Nia was being honest, he looked like he belonged in a royal court, not her kitchen. "I arise quite early in the morning and leave for work as soon as I have consumed something and gathered my belongings."

"Gotcha," Nia said, poking her fork at her food.

"Why... do you ask?" Brainy questioned, eyebrows furrowing.

Nia bit her lip, wondering how truthful she should be. It was true that problems were only dealt with when there was proper communication, but she didn't want to start anything. She'd gotten to get ready with him for bed every night so far, right? Who was she to complain that they didn't wake up together?

"No reason," she lied with a shrug, and Brainy nodded, accepting the answer.

Which is what she'd wanted. Right?

Thursday:

"This is so stupid," Nia grumbled as she glared down at the magazine she was holding.

She and Kara were on their weekly grocery-shopping trip and were currently standing in line at the cash register. Kara was entertaining herself with trying to see which cashier had the most money in their box, but Nia had settled into the slightly more normal activity of reading the magazines put out for that very purpose.

"What's stupid?" Kara asked, pushing her glasses back up her nose. "What're you reading? Did Blake and Gwen break up?"

"Nooo," Nia groaned, before pausing. "Well, okay- I actually don't know. But that's not what I was reading. It's an article called 'the top ten best things about living with your partner' and guess what number 1 is?"

"What?"

"Waking up next to your significant other in the morning," Nia said, before slapping the magazine shut with a deep sigh. "See, what they don't take into account is those of us who happen to live with our significant other and haven't gotten to wake up with him yet."

Kara's mouth fell open a little. "Wait, not even once? You guys have spent, like, four mornings together already!"

"I know," Nia said dejectedly. "He gets up so early that he's gone for work by the time my alarm goes off."

The line moved up a little and Nia turned to put the magazine away. "Have you tried talking to him?" Kara asked, leaning on the handle of her shopping cart. "Explaining that you want to wake up with him some mornings?"

"No..." Nia mumbled. "I mean, I asked where he was every morning, and then he asked why I asked... but I said there was no reason. I don't want to make him feel bad for having a routine."

Kara laughed a little. "Honestly reminds me of when Mon-El and I started dating," she mused nostalgically. "The first night we spent together, I got up at like 4am and saved about twenty people, and then got him coffee and flowers." She shook her head, reaching forward to fiddle with the twenty or so granola bars in her cart. "But then he asked me to be there when he woke up, and so I did from then on."

She shrugged, moving up again and starting to load things from her cart onto the conveyor belt. "I mean, I know that Mon-El is wayyy different than Brainy, and you guys' relationship is different from what ours was. But still. Maybe if you just said you wanted to wake up with him, he'd sleep in a little later?"

Nia sighed, grumbling a little as she bumped her own cart forward. "I suppose," she agreed after a moment. "I just... I want things to go smoothly, you know? At least at first, to just have everything be... perfect, I guess."

"Who doesn't?" Kara said with a shrug, smiling at the cashier, who had most likely been listening to their entire conversation. "But relationships take some struggle and give-and-take; you know that."

"I'll wait until the weekend," Nia decided. "If he's not there when I wake up on Saturday, I'll do something about it."

Friday

Nia normally allowed herself a little extra time to get ready for the day on Fridays. She was always tired by the time the end of the week rolled around, and, though she ended up getting up earlier, she liked being able to laze around in bed.

Also... she was kind of hoping that if she got up earlier, Brainy might still be home.

As soon as her alarm went off, Nia leapt out of bed and hurried into the kitchen. The lights were off. Brainy's shoes were gone.

Nia let out a sigh and sat down at the kitchen counter, propping her head up on her hand. She really had to stop getting her hopes up that things would be different when there was literally no reason for them to be different. It was almost like watching a TV show and thinking that maybe this episode will be different; maybe this episode your ship will be on, even though there's been no talk about it and no reason to think that this episode would be any different than that episode and that episode and that other episode.

Nia shook her head, suddenly wanting to watch TV. She should get ready for work. Tomorrow, she would see if Brainy slept in. He worked on Saturdays, occasionally, but he had the morning off.

Everyone needed a break, right? Even techno-organics. If Nia just got one day a week to wake up with her boyfriend, that would be alright with her.

Saturday

Nia always slept late on Saturday mornings. It was rare that she had to go into CatCo on Saturdays, and so she soaked up her lazy time in bed, shutting off her alarm and letting the steadily lightening room draw her eyes open instead.

This specific Saturday, Nia rolled towards the inside of the bed without opening her eyes. She crossed her fingers, took a deep breath to steel herself against oncoming disappointment, and peeked through her eyelids.

The bed was empty.

Nia laid back against the mattress, the corners of her mouth drawing downward. She heard a door slam and footsteps in the hallway, and a moment later Brainy poked his head into the room, fully clothed. "Good morning, Nia," he said happily. "I took the liberty of getting us a coffee and some scones from the bakery. Would you like to eat in bed?"

Nia let out a deep sigh, gazing up at him. How could she get frustrated or take issue with someone who woke up early on a Saturday morning to do that for her?

The answer was, she couldn't.

"Let's eat at the table," Nia said, pushing the warm covers off of her legs and standing up to head to the kitchen. "No sense in getting crumbs all over the bed."

Sunday

Nia had given Brainy one more day, just to make positive Saturday hadn't been a fluke. But when she awoke to a painfully empty bed for the 7th day in a row, she gave in.

"Brainy..." Nia said slowly as she walked into the living room to find him sitting in the armchair, reading something on his iPad. She slipped onto the side of the chair, draping her arm comfortably around his shoulders. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course," Brainy agreed immediately, clicking the power button on his iPad and setting it on the coffee table in front of him. He turned to her with a bright smile, but she could tell that her question had made him a little nervous. "What is it?"

"I'd like to wake up with you," Nia blurted, unsure of how else to frame what she needed to say.

Brainy frowned, shifting his weight in the chair and blinking a few times. "I... don't understand."

Nia reached over and took his hand, pressing a quick kiss to his knuckles. She really didn't want this to turn into a Nia-has-a-problem-and-Brainy-gets-defensive moment. "Kara and I went to the grocery store on Thursday, and I found an article talking about the top ten best things about living with your partner. Number 1 was waking up with them in the morning."

Brainy tilted his head, listening. He hadn't reacted poorly yet, so Nia felt it was safe to press on.

"Like... you know," she said, twirling her free hand in the air. "That warm, sleepy feeling when you roll over in bed and see the guy that you love lying next to you. And maybe he's awake and has been watching you sleep and he looks at you like you're the most magical, beautiful thing in the world. Or maybe he's still sleeping and you can watch him. Or maybe your movement in the bed wakes him up, and the two of you smile at each other because you realize how lucky you are to have that person be the first thing you see."

"You've... really thought this through," Brainy commented, smiling a little.

"I've had a whole week to do so," Nia replied with a shrug, refusing to get embarrassed about her daydreams. "My point is, Brainy: I'd like that. With you. But every day I've woken up this week you've been gone. The only day you were even home was yesterday."

"I went to get us coffees!"

"I know, I know," Nia said quickly, reaching for his other hand. "And it was so incredibly sweet. But you know what I like more than coffee?"

Brainy squinted thoughtfully. "...Cronuts?"

Nia laughed. "No. Well, yes. But even more than cronuts? I like you."

"You like me more than cronuts?" Brainy asked wonderingly. He glanced around the room. "Well... I like you more than- more than- rewiring the interface of a 21st Century computer!"

Nia raised her eyebrow, trying not to laugh again. "Uh... thanks, honey. But anyway, even more than coffee or cronuts or breakfast in bed, I'd like to be able to wake up and see you. And I totally understand that the number of hours you sleep at night are... kind of outrageously small. But maybe just... one day a week? A Saturday or Sunday? Or a Monday, to start the week right? I'd like to turn off my alarm and roll over in bed and see you next to me."

"I had no idea," Brainy said slowly, his gaze going thoughtful. "As you know, I am not very familiar with Earth dating customs. I can easily rewire my sleeping schedule to accommodate you."

Nia frowned in surprise. Even after a considerable amount of time, there were still things about dating a techno-organic that caught her completely off-guard. "Wait... seriously? Just like that?"

"Of course," Brainy agreed, shrugging. "I have no issue in altering my sleep patterns. Especially if it would make you happier. Besides." He smiled over at her, and it was his turn to pick up her hand and press a kiss to her knuckles. "I would also like to try this... waking up together in the morning."

Nia felt immensely relieved. If they could manage to work through all of their issues as a couple this easily and maturely... well, this was going to be the best relationship she'd probably ever had, romantic or otherwise. "Awesome," she breathed, pecking his cheek and getting up from the arm of his chair. "I can't wait."

Monday

As Taylor Swift starting playing through the buzzing phone on Nia's bedside table, she blinked open her eyes and tapped around on the screen for the off button. Then, though she could already feel the difference in the mattress and the way the sheets were lying, she crossed her fingers and slowly turned over.

Brainy lay with his head propped up so close it was almost on her pillow, curled on his side. His hair had fallen across his face and it was fluttering slightly with each breath he released.

Nia felt something in her chest loosen and melt away. She reached out and tucked the hair behind Brainy's ear, the motion making him blink his eyes blearily open. "Good morning," Nia whispered, smiling.

Brainy smiled back at her, his eyes still cloudy with sleep. Every muscle in his face was relaxed. "Good morning, Nia Nal."

"See?" Nia murmured as she got comfy under the covers again. She had to get ready for work... but that could wait for the time being. "This is so much better than cronuts."

Author's Note: Oops. I know I said I was going to end this with "I will be there when you wake up" but that would require ending the story without actually having a scene where they wake up together.

And that would just be sad.

Soooooooooo I went with this. Yippy! I'm still not really onboard with pre-marital living together but it's sure-as-heck fun to write :)))