Content: Maeve's birthday rolls around and brings up some painful memories for Nia. 

Nia had managed to get through half her day without realizing. She'd gone through her entire morning routine, arrived at work, and made some good progress on her latest article, all while being blissfully unaware of what day it was. She was forgetful like that; it was why she set alarms for everything. The alarm she'd set for this particular occasion went off right at the start of her lunch break. Upon hearing the buzz, Nia's first thought was that Brainy was trying to call her. Perfectly normal. Instead, the words "Call Maeve" greeted her as she retrieved her phone from her purse. It was her sister's birthday. Her newly estranged sister's birthday.

Hastily, Nia silenced the alarm and moved to shove her phone back into her bag, but something stopped her. She really did want to call Maeve and pretend things were normal, but they weren't. Not a single word had been exchanged between them since their mother's memorial service; since Maeve had declared that Nia was not a real woman.

She understood why Maeve was upset; the powers she'd trained her whole life to receive had chosen Nia instead, and then Nia had lied about it. What she didn't understand was why Maeve used her anger as an excuse to invalid her sister's identity. To revoke the support that had been so vital during Nia's transition. Nia shook her head and stowed her phone away. It didn't matter why. What mattered was that Nia wasn't going to call the sister who had responded to an attempt to spare her feelings with downright cruelty. No matter how much she wanted to repair their relationship, it was not Nia's job to seek out an apology from Maeve. It was either coming or it wasn't, and considering how much time had passed, it probably wasn't.

For the rest of her work day, Nia tried in vain to get her mind off of her sister. Her concentration was pretty screwed at this point, so progress on her article had all but stopped. No matter what she tried, her thoughts always managed to circle back around to Maeve. To how they were probably never going to fix their relationship if neither of them took initiative. But you shouldn't have to, she told herself over and over, it's her responsibility to make it right.

Needless to say, Nia got absolutely nothing done between the alarm going off and the end of the day.

By the time she got home, she was considering a nap so she wouldn't have to think about anything for a while. She had a couple of hours before Brainy was due to be home. With any luck, she'd feel better afterwards and be able to make up what she hadn't been able to accomplish at work before bed.

Upon opening the door, however, Nia was surprised to find that Brainy was already home. Perhaps it was one of the DEO's rare slow days. She knew Alex would sometimes send him home early in order to give him in the breaks he never gave himself. Of course, he was still on call, but it was better than nothing.

"Nia Nal," Brainy, perched neatly on the couch, smiled over his shoulder at her. "How was work?"

"Are you watching Dateline?" Nia asked instead of answering his question. She'd suggested it to him weeks ago, but things had been busy at the DEO and he hadn't had the time nor the focus to watch much tv.

"Ah," Brainy glanced back the screen. "Yes. As per your recommendation. I find it quite frustrating."

"Really?" Nia inquired as she walked around the couch to take a seat beside him. Perhaps some quality time with her boyfriend was just what she needed to cheer up.

"I was able to identify the culprit quite early on." Brainy replied, casually slipping an arm around her. She leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. "It wasn't difficult, and yet these detectives haven't a clue." He gave a little huff of annoyance, and Nia chuckled at him. God, he was cute.

"It wouldn't be a mystery if everyone caught on right away." She pointed out, only slightly teasingly. "We can't all be twelfth-level intellects."

"But the evidence is all there." Brainy protested. "How can anyone not see that it was his wife?"

"Spoilers!" Nia lightly thumped his arm and he fell silent with a small sigh.

For a few minutes, Nia thought that the show might be able to distract her, but that hope was quickly dashed. She couldn't focus on the unfolding mystery - although Brainy had been right in saying that the culprit was incredibly obvious - when her sister was still lurking in the back of her mind. Fortunately, however, she'd been both blessed and cursed with the ability to fall asleep anywhere, and she was already kind of tired. She'd nap to get her mind off everything, and hopefully she'd feel better once she woke up.

Falling asleep took no more than five minutes. Snuggled up against Brainy, it was easy to let herself drift into the dreamscape.

It presented itself in a way with which she was not familiar. All around her, there was nothing but dark, empty space. It seemed to be open, but Nia felt as if there were invisible walls on every side of her, closing her in, preventing her from leaving this one spot. 

"Hello?" She called out, listening to her voice echo. No answer came. 

All in all, not the worst dream she could've found herself in, though it did kind of defeat the purpose. She'd gone to sleep so she wouldn't have to think about anything, and now here she was, alone with her thoughts. Maybe this was the dreamscape's way of telling her that she needed to deal with this rather than just ignoring the problem. 

But what was there to deal with? She still wasn't going to swallow her pride for Maeve's sake. Not this time. 

You weren't supposed to get the powers.

What the hell? The dreamscape had never spoken to her directly; certainly not to tell her something like that. 

"What?" She asked, not entirely sure that she'd heard correctly.  

When are you going to stop playing hero?

Was that... Maeve?

"What are you talking about?" Nia called. 

Why couldn't you save Mom?

Nia froze. That was definitely her sister's voice. 

"Maeve?" She asked tentatively. "What's going on?"

Why couldn't you save her?!

The scream startled Nia back into the real world. She jolted upright, eyes wide and heart racing. 

"Nia?" Instantly, Brainy's hand found her shoulder, squeezing gently. 

"I'm fine." She muttered. "It was just a dream."

He gave her a look, and she realized how odd that must sound coming from her. 

"A normal dream." She corrected. "It's fine." 

"Regardless, it seems to have caused you distress." Brainy observed, his voice soft. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"We don't have to."

"I know that we don't have to." Brainy replied, removing his hand from her shoulder. "I asked if you want to." 

Nia let out a sigh. She didn't particularly want to get into it, but maybe this was how she was supposed to deal with it. Going to Maeve to directly was out of the question, so talking about it with someone else would be the next best thing. 

"It was about my sister." She said vaguely. 

"You don't talk about her much." Brainy remarked. "I assume there's a reason for that?"

"Yeah," Nia replied. "I told you about how my powers were passed down from my mother. All our lives, everybody assumed that Maeve would get them because my mom had a dream when she was pregnant with Maeve that her daughter would inherit the powers."

"But your mother had two daughters. Once you came out, did nobody think that perhaps you would be the next Dreamer?"

"We'd already spent so long thinking it would be Maeve. Even I didn't consider that it could be me. I didn't even want it to be me." Nia looked down at her hands, recalling the feeling of fulfillment she got from using her powers. They were so much a part of her now that she could hardly believe that she'd spent so long trying to get rid of them. "Maeve didn't want it to be me either." 

"She didn't react well?"

"No, she didn't." Nia's voice cracked, and she took a moment to compose herself so she wouldn't start crying. "She told me I shouldn't have gotten them because I'm 'not even a real woman'." 

"She said that to you?" Brainy straightened, his voice as angry as it was disbelieving. Nia gave him a little nod.

"We haven't talked since." She sniffled, her voice growing thick with emotion as her eyes grew wet with tears. "Today's her birthday, and usually I'd call her and we'd catch up, but I can't just call her like everything's normal. A-and it hurts, y'know? We've always been so close, and I hate not being able to talk to her." 

"I'm sorry." Brainy said softly. Slowly, gently, he wrapped his arms around her. 

"It's not your fault." Nia mumbled, leaning into his chest. 

"I know, but you're in pain," He said. "And for that, I am sorry." 

"It'll be okay eventually." This was the thought that Nia was choosing to cling to. At some point, one occasion or another would force her and Maeve into the same room, and once they were together, they'd work it out. They had to. She couldn't for a second allow herself to believe that she was going to be permanently at odds with someone who had been her best friend for so long. "Doesn't make it any easier, though."

"Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"You're already helping." 

He tightened his hold on her slightly, and she relaxed against him, sighing as he began running his fingers through her hair. Despite her fractured relationship with Maeve still weighing heavily in her mind, being here, tucked safely against Brainy's chest, made Nia feel like things were okay. And they would be. She wasn't sure how or when, but someday, things would be okay again.