Author's Note: Good grief maybe I should start a separate series just for Season 6 episode tags XD Sorry this is coming a bit after the episode came out btw- I had inspiration and then I lost it and then I made myself find it again lol

EPISODE FOUR, MAN! Once again, SOOO much S4 energy! The part where Nia was talking to Brainy about not eating his feelings gave me so many "intestinal inclination" vibes and I just love it.

My one disappointment (as always) is that I really thought they were leading up to a hug. Ah well; I will stay patient and hopeful.

Summary: After getting attacked by the phantom, Nia can't warm up.

Spoilers: Spoilers for 6x04, in case you couldn't predict my predictability lol. You don't need to know the last few scenes though because I ignore them, in case you… I dunno… stopped the episode 3/4 of the way through…?

It had been close to six hours since Nia had used M'Gann's newfound abilities to hunt for the phantom's lair, and she still couldn't warm up.

The cold wasn't so much physical; her skin was perfectly temperate to the touch and her fingers and toes hadn't lost any feeling. But inside… inside it was like there was a little air-conditioning unit turned all the way up, making her bones and the cavity of her chest feel frozen. She shivered and shivered no matter how many cups of hot drinks she drank or how many times she tried to inconspicuously turn up the heat in the Tower.

Seeing Brainy dragged away by the phantoms certainly hadn't helped matters. Her impeccable visual memory was really coming around to bite her as she saw his red-blotched, desperate eyes every time she closed hers, his hands reaching, urging her onward. Everything had happened so fast; in the moment Nia hadn't had a single doubt that they could find the chrysalis and release everyone's souls and save the day like always. But having time to stew over everything now reminded her that, without Kara, 'like always' had been getting less and less frequent. They legitimately could have failed.

If everything had been normal, Nia would have approached Brainy and confided in him about all of this. But he was clearly dealing with his own issues if the amount of donuts he'd consumed that day were any indication. While she didn't think he'd see her as a burden, exactly, she knew that his baggage took priority over her, well… body temperature.

So, she sat on the couch in the Tower and gripped her seventh mug of tea and tried to let the sight of him working in at his computer alone keep her feeling warm.

Eventually, Brainy picked up his tablet and walked over to sit next to her. He didn't say a word, but this wasn't terribly unusual. Part of their patching things up included just trying to act normal around each other again, without any dramatic confessions of feelings or speeches or any angst to work through. Part of it was just sitting together, knees brushing, and existing in the same space.

Nia put her tea down on the table and wrapped her arms around herself, shivering again. She glanced over at Brainy, sitting with his tablet resting on his knees and a calm, contemplative frown on his face. Then she tentatively scooted over and rested her head on his shoulder.

Brainy blinked and lifted his chin, glancing towards her. With her head lower than his, Nia couldn't see the grin that crossed his face, but she did notice when he lifted one arm from his keyboard and brought it across her shoulders to hug her closer.

Nia shut her eyes, breathing him in. As weird as it sounded, she had missed the way he smelled, the warmth of his skin. When they were broken up she could remember moments they'd shared and conversations they'd had, but not how things felt or smelled or tasted.

"Nia," Brainy said softly. "You're trembling."

Nia quickly tried to draw away from him, but Brainy's arm held her firm. "I'm fine," she said, shaking her head. "Just… a little cold, I guess."

"I can retrieve you a blanket," Brainy offered immediately, moving to stand. "There is one-"

"No, no, it's fine," Nia told him, maybe a little too quickly. She grasped at his arm, making sure he didn't leave the couch. "I'm fine."

Brainy squinted suspiciously at her. "I sense that you are not being completely transparent with me," he said, before his face fell. "Is this my… just desserts? For not opening up to you earlier about my donut habit?"

"Of course not," Nia murmured, lifting her head from his shoulder and twisting to look at him. "Brainy. Of course not. I know how much of a learning curve being honest with me is. I'm not going to punish you just because you slip up every once and awhile and fall back into your old habits. I mean, of course I want you to talk to me about what's troubling you, but I'm not going to force you."

"If it makes you feel better," Brainy replied slowly. "I would not speak to anyone about what is… troubling me. It is merely some emotions that I have yet to puzzle out; there is not much I could say on the matter." He frowned. "But there is something troubling you, and if you wish to speak on that I would be willing to listen."

Nia bit her lip, shaking her head a little as she clenching her inwardly freezing fingers in her lap. "It's just been a… long day, I guess," she murmured. "The phantoms rattled me. If we hadn't broken up that chrysalis…"

"I would have died," Brainy finished.

"Yeah," Nia said, voice wavering. "Even with everything that happened with Kara, I guess I just forget how easily something could go wrong in the field."

Brainy eyed her tenderly. He had been looking at her with that same expression quite a lot recently, and Nia wasn't exactly sure what to make of it. It was so soft, so adoring, but there was a sadness and tentativeness to it that made it look… fragile. Kind of like how Brainy was a little fragile now, Nia supposed.

"I wish I could promise you that I would never let anything happen," Brainy said quietly. "But I cannot. Today proved that much."

Nia nodded, and, for felt like the five-hundredth time in the past three hours, shivered. Brainy gazed at her sympathetically, reaching over to squeeze one of her hands. "Is there anything I could retrieve for you?" he asked in a low voice. "To ease your suffering? Or at least make you a bit more comfortable?"

Nia chewed at the corner of her lip, then ducked her head back down to the warm crook of his shoulder. "Just sit here with me?" she requested softly. "Just for a little bit?"

Brainy put his arm firmly around her and lent his cheek on the top of her head. "Nia, I will stay here for as long as you need me to."

Author's Note: Tomorrrowwwww is THE EPISODE OF CUTENESS! I am SO hype for a back-in-time team-up; I can't wait to see what shenanigans our babies get into ahahaha XD

(also, this is chapter 50 whaaaat?!)