"What a grand

and beautiful force

the immense

and wildly unappreciated

power of

human touch." –Atticus

Chapter Note: I'm back! Sorry about the wait but I hope you like this one. A little bit of Nia whump and Brainy being his usual supportive (and worried) self. Hope you all enjoy! Trigger warning in effect for xenophobia and homophobia in regards to the Children of Liberty being a horrible group of people.

As soon as her alarm went off, Nia knew she wouldn't be able to go into work today. No amount of painkillers could numb her entire body enough for her to function comfortably at work.

Stupid Children of Liberty…

One would've thought with all that happened with Ben Lockwood and Lex Luthor that they'd realize it would be smarter to just pack up and go home but they still seemed determined to rid Earth of all the "roaches".

There'd been two girls walking with hands laced together; one a human with dark hair and the other with beautiful glimmering lavender skin and pale hair; probably on a date, when four men in masks pulled their truck onto the sidewalk and cornered them.

The dark-haired girl immediately shielded the other, her expression fierce, and the sight had reminded Nia of her and Brainy's first meeting and the image of the men charging at him with baseball bats had her jumping in without a second thought.

The men had been laughingly underprepared for her at first, none of their hits coming remotely close to connecting as she wrapping tendrils of dream energy around them and sent them flying back. Then the images streaked through her mind…

The flash of headlights. A thud. Screaming. Blood spreading across the asphalt.

With only seconds to react, she'd thrown up pillars of blue light to stop the truck, the force of the intended impact sending her flying and skidding across the road and into an alley, her body slamming into the side of a dumpster.

The girls had rushed over with identical expressions of horror and concern.

Nia had waved them off with a pained smile as the truck squealed away, making sure that the girls were safely on their way and somehow managing to stumble back to her apartment and collapse into her bed.

She looked down at the costume and was suddenly glad Yvette worked early on Mondays because she did not want to try to explain something as big as her being a masked superhero while smelling of stale water and trash.

Gritting her teeth, she got out of bed and moved stiffly to her bathroom, wincing as every step sent a fresh wave of throbbing pain over her, and braced herself against the sink and grabbed the medicine from the mirror cabinet.

Swallowing two pills dry, she went back to her room and picked up her phone.

Kara picked up on the first ring, "Hey, Nia!"

She lowered herself back down on the bed, "Hey."

"What's up?"

"Can you tell James I won't be in this morning?"

"Yeah, of course." The frown could be heard in her voice, "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Patrol last night was really draining and I'm exhausted." She hated lying but didn't really feel like dealing with Kara and Alex and Brainy hovering over her and telling her that there was a reason no one (with the exception of Kara) went off alone. "I figured it would be better if I just took a day."

"Did something happen?"

"No. I was just up later than normal and didn't get too much sleep the night before."

"Bad dreams?"

"No, nothing like that. Just an article deadline is all." It wasn't exactly a lie. She did have an article due that night but she'd made the point to turn it in before she'd gone out. Keeping up appearances and all that… "That piece on Lockwood's son, George?"

"Oh, I've been looking forward to reading that!" Kara's enthusiasm was genuine and the attempt to distract her friend seemed to have been successful, the earlier worry no longer in her voice, "Alright, well, do want me to bring some food by after work?"

"Yeah, that sounds good!" she forced herself to sound excited even if she was already wondering how she could hide her injuries from a persistent Kryptonian and decided she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

"I will see you later then."

"See you later, Kara." She set down her phone, glad that she'd taken one worry off her plate. "Now that that's been taken care of, I just need to…" She thought of the discreet zipper going halfway down her back and nearly groaned at the thought of twisting her body in the position she needed to reach it, "get out of this costume. Great."

She searched the room for something to help her out and she ignored the voice in her head that sounded eerily like Brainy that kept telling her that it would be unwise in her current condition to remove her costume without the assistance of another person…

Her head fell back with a sigh. Brainy… "Crap."

Nia didn't need precognitive dreams to know that he wasn't going to let her out of his sight anytime in the near future. She knew the look he would give her with the tight lips and the furrowed brow.

No doubt he would be coming over as soon as Kara told Alex (which was probably right now), regardless of whatever he'd be doing in that moment, bursting through her front door (or window) with said expression on his face.

There was no use in trying to hide anything. She wouldn't have the time.

So instead, she got to her feet and pulled out a set of pajamas to change into before walking back out into the hallway and was halfway to the door when the knock sounded, Nia making her way over and opening the door, "Hey Brainy."

"Kara told me you took the day off from work and I decided to come by because you haven't missed…" he stopped abruptly, taking in her bedraggled state, and frowned. "You're still in your costume."

"Yes, I'm still in my costume." She moved to shut the door and felt his gentle hand stop her.

"You're injured."

"I…" she closed her mouth, knowing it would be pointless to argue, and leaned into his hold, "Probably just some bruising." Nia saw his doubt, and blushed at the suggestion that left her mouth, "But I need help taking this off so, you can be the judge of that."

Nodding, he helped her back to her bedroom.

Nia had never been more thankful for his single-minded focus than in that moment, ignoring the somersault her stomach did as he brushed her hair to the side and pulled down the zipper before helping her out of her uniform with quick efficiency.

Wearing only spandex, a sports bra and white camisole, Nia was positive this was the most undressed she'd been in anyone else's presence since Maeve. Her chest ached at the memory of her sister and her face burned as his hands innocently brushed the back of her calf pulling off her costume, his eyes full of concern.

He grimaced at the smell, but folded her uniform over the chair and continued.

She was quiet as he took her vitals, his touch light as he examined the bruises that dotted the skin of her legs, her arms, her shoulders… Nia managed to ignore the trails of heat he was leaving in his wake, only to jump when he squeezed her hand to get her attention.

"I need to lift your shirt to examine your ribcage."

"Uh, yeah. Okay." Nia didn't think her face could get any redder, "You do that."

He cleared her throat as he lifted the hem and Nia saw the large bruise that covered her left side, where she'd slammed into the dumpster. Brainy's hands began to shake. "Nia. I…" he dropped the shirt and looked up at her, "what happened?"

"Children of Liberty were harassing these two girls. I pushed them back and I saw…" she shook her head as the images came back. The flash of headlights. A thud. Screaming… "They were going to run them over so I put up a barrier but the impact threw me back and-"

"The girls?"

"They got away." She nodded, "But so did the men."

"You are alright and so are the girls." Something moved behind his eyes, too fast for her to read clearly as he cupped her face in his hands, "Those men will be found and dealt with in time, Nia Nal. I promise you that."

She kissed his palm, "I know."

He blinked, cheeks darkening.

Nia laughed as the realization of their positions hit him, his eyes looking everywhere but at her as he straightened, hands wringing nervously. She pushed herself up, and hoped he couldn't hear her gritted teeth as she did so, "Brainy. Brainy, look at me."

He stopped.

"It's okay. You were just checking my injuries." She could see his panic and smiled warmly, knowing exactly why he was so freaked out. "You didn't do anything wrong, alright? I asked you to help and you did. Okay?"

Brainy nodded.

"Now I'm going to go take a bath. Can you put in Empire Strikes Back?"

He flexed his hands, "Yes, of course. I can do that."

"Okay." She smiled, "Let the others know?"

He nodded, already pulling out his phone and Nia knew it would only be a matter of time before everyone piled into her apartment for an impromptu movie night, but Nia wouldn't have it any other way.