Rival?
The night passed uneventfully. Brainiac woke up; it was very early morning he realized. He glanced over at Nightwing who was smiling peacefully in her sleep. The only evidence anything had happened last night were the tear-stains dried on her cheeks and the fact he was currently lying next to her. His thoughts wandered had she really told him she loved him or was that just a dream?
He heard footsteps in the hall, not wanting to be caught in this compromising position, he jumped off the bed and flung himself in the chair that for once had sat, abandoned. He turned the switch on his invisibility belt and watched.
He saw the door gently open and Cham came in leading an extremely handsome boy wearing jeans and a tee. The boy gave a soft cry and ran to the side of the bed. He gently took Nightwing's hand and kissed her on the cheek. She mumbled and woke up much like the way a hamster does; her eyes fluttered open, closed again and opened for good.
She caught sight of the boy and she gave a delighted cry. She threw her arms around him and began sobbing. "I-I-I thought you were dead!" she said through her tears "I thought I'd lost you" tears began streaming down his face as well, "I thought I had lost YOU" they looked at each other with so much love that Brainiac felt jealousy surge through him.
"When I heard you had been captured I tried to find you. I couldn't believe you were still alive. I thought they had taken you too…" he trailed off and just gazed at her face as if committing it to memory. She flung her arms around his neck "don't ever leave me again" she said "I don't plan on it" he said to her. "I'll always take care of you Saraya, always and forever. Just like when we were kids" she began crying into his shoulder.
They both turned to Cham who was watching them with happiness. "Where did you find him?" Saraya asked him eyes shining with joy. Cham smiled, "well" he began "I remember you telling me about everything that happened that day and you said you didn't know if he was dead or alive so I figured I'd find out for you" he finished with a satisfied smile.
She tried to get out of her bed but stumbled and would have fallen had the boy not caught her. She looked up at him and smiled. Brainiac felt sick to his stomach. With the help of the boy she staggered over to Cham and threw her arms around him kissing him on the cheek. "I don't know what I would do without you" she told him happily leaning into the boy who was at least a half foot taller than her.
"Go back to bed" the boy told her. "Now that I'm here I won't let anything happen to you. I'm not going to lose you for real this time" he made his way over to the chair Brainiac occupied. Brainiac jumped up and walked to the door. He glanced back in the room to see the boy leaning close to her and she was talking animatedly. He watched until she fell asleep as the boy was stroking her hair.
Brainiac had had enough of this. He walked out the room without a backwards glance. He didn't hear the boy lean forward and whisper to Nightwing "sleep now, sister, I'll protect you"