It was just past two when her cell phone screen lit up. The light was followed by the obnoxious yet familiar ringing. Her eyes shot open and she stretched her left arm out and blindly patted around her bedside table for the device. Leo mumbled something incoherent against her neck; he was pretty tired as well. They had been up late beginning the wedding planning.

     He was adamant about getting a professional wedding planner which she immediately disregarded the idea. They met somewhere in the middle, she would decide the design and style and the planner would do the rest. Her mind was tired and groggy and when she finally grasped her phone she didn't hesitate to answer. "Hello?" she mumbled before yawning.

"Mar'i, Mar'i please I need your help." Damian's voice pleaded softly.

     All of a sudden she was wide awake when she heard his voice. His usual cocky tone was replaced with whimpers and soft pleads. The young woman sat up swinging her legs over the side of the bed. Leo had his arm still draped around her waist. She could feel him tiredly tugging on her trying to coax her back to bed. It had been a little over a week and a half since she had last seen let alone spoke to him.

     Mar'i was supposed to go back to check up on him but whenever she called to say she was coming over he would snap at her and say he was fine. The both of them were incredibly stubborn, however, wedding planning came up and she sort of left him to his own devices. "What's wrong?" she whispered; already out of bed and walking to her closet.

He sniffled. "I tore my stitches a few days ago, tried to fix it myself but it got worse. Just please," he held back a sob, "- please I need you." He cried.

     Her whole world seemed to freeze around her. It took a moment for her to process that he was actually crying. Damian did not cry, not even if his life depended on it. He was the type of person to bottle up all of his emotions until he absolutely imploded on himself. She looked down at her attire and shook her head. The long t-shirt she was wearing would have to do. Her hand reached into the closet pulling out one of her sweaters.

     The phone was pinned between her ear and her shoulder as she slipped her arms into the sleeves, zipping the sweater up once it was on. The room was suddenly filled with light and when she turned she could see Leonardo sitting up in bed. He was rubbing his tired eyes, hair sticking up each way, and blankets pooled around his waist. "What on Earth are you doing up at," he yawned and looked at the alarm clock on his side table, "- two-fifteen in the morning?" he asked.

"Family emergency, I'll be back later but I just have to go." She mumbled moving towards their bedroom door.

"If it's truly a family emergency love I believe I should come with you." Leo said beginning to slide out of bed.

     Her eyes widened and her hand froze on the door handle. She turned her head, "No!" she blurted out. Leonardo stopped and raised an eyebrow. There must have been a million thoughts running through his head at this point. "I'm sorry but it's a private emergency, you've had plenty of those. I'll call you later." She said quickly. He barely heard the end of her sentence she was out of their bedroom so fast.

     A hiss escaped her lips as she ran into the coffee table as she ran through the living room. It was dark and the natural lighting from the city coming in from the large windows didn't help much. If anything it helped the objects hide even better in the dark. "I'm leaving now, where are you?" she asked while pulling on her yellow rain boots.

"Bathroom floor." Damian mumbled in response.

     She ran down the hallway and clicked the elevator button about ten times. The elevator was either on the bottom floor or time was moving too slow for her. "Shit." She cursed, dashing away from the elevator to the end of the corridor and pushing open the heavy metal door that led to the stairwell. She peered over the railing and looked down at the endless flights of stairs. Just staring at it gave her brain a little pinch.

     By the time she made it down the stairwell, she was quite out of breath. The front doors of the apartment building burst open as she hurled herself out onto the sidewalk. Luckily there weren't many people out at night. The only people she had to really look out for were thieves. "Damian you need to stay on the phone with me, how bad is it?" she asked trying to keep him talking as long as possible.

     The woman's heart was racing behind her ribcage like a racehorse eagerly waiting in its stable for the race to begin. There was no time to stand there and wait, hope that a taxi would show up. His apartment building was only a block away from the one they were currently staying in. Toni's apartment, where she used to stay, was a block away from Damian's in the opposite direction. "Pretty bad." He replied, his breathing heavy and ragged.

     She could make it. There was no doubt in her mind that she couldn't. The run was tiring and she must have looked like a fool running in yellow rain boots with no pants in only a long t-shirt and sweater. It had been a three-minute sprint to his building and luckily the elevator was on the bottom floor for her to take up. During the run over she had asked him to tell her about what he did today, anything to keep him talking.

     The extent of the newly formed injury was still unknown to her. For all she knew he could just need another stitch up and then he'd be fine; in her mind though she knew that he should have healed by now. "Damian I'm almost there," she took a much-needed breath, "- keep talking." She breathed out. The elevator doors slid open and now she was speed walking down the long corridor.

     There was a new dilemma she faced once she reached the front door of his apartment. How was she going to get inside? Mar'i had no key and he told her he was all the way in the washroom on the floor. "Doors locked how do I get in?" she asked in between breaths.

"Twist the doorknob twice to the right and once to the left." He mumbled through the phone.

     On any other given day she would've called him crazy but right now she would take anything he said. She wrapped her hand around the knob and did as he instructed, to her amazement it actually opened. "Wow." She breathed out as she opened the front door. Mar'i heard him let out a low chuckle over the phone. She hurried through his apartment and down the corridor to the washroom.

     The light was spilling out into the hallway, she could hear him sniffling. She ended the phone call and approached the washroom peering inside. Damian was on the floor leaning up against the wall; his white t-shirt was stained red from the blood seeping out of the wound on his side. "You're so stupid." She knelt down next to him and looked him over. She pulled his hand away causing him to whine and look away from her.

     Gently she pushed up his damp t-shirt to get a better look at the wound. There was blood everywhere. "Damian it's infected." She whispered while gingerly moving her hands around the wound. Her hands were stained a deep red, stained with his blood. "I'm fine, I just –" she grabbed him by the jaw and turned his head to look in her direction.

"Listen to me, you aren't fine!" she yelled.

     He was so difficult to work with. Sometimes he was even too stubborn for his own well being. There were tears welling in his eyes, face bright red, and cheeks puffed out in frustration. Damian both wanted and needed to do everything for himself. "Why did you call me?" she asked softly. Her voice was what he imagined an angel or a goddess would sound like. The way she spoke to him was as if he were the only thing that mattered in the entire universe.

     Mar'i twisted around and grabbed a nearby towel and proceeded to press it against the infected wound that continued to bleed. "Because I knew you could fix this. If anyone else knew if father knew he'd kill me." He whispered.

She shook her head. "Damian I can't fix something like this I'm not a doctor." She reminded, hastily reaching for her phone.

     Just as she was unlocking it, the screen becoming smeared with the blood coating her hands, he grabbed her wrist. "Mar'i don't you dare." He hissed. Although he wanted to seem threatening the tears in his eyes said otherwise. Mar'i stood up and pulled her wrist away from him, taking a step back out of his reach and dialing the paramedics. He wanted so badly to stand up and snatch that phone from her to shatter it.

     However, this wasn't a superhero movie he couldn't move. The pain from just breathing hurt so bad he wanted to scream. He could already hear the news coverage in the morning and his father nagging him. "Mar'i please." He whispered looking out to her pacing in the hallway. Mar'i turned her head and looked at him. It hurt her seeing him like this. Melody was right, he was so self-destructive. She shouldn't have listened to him; she should have taken him to the emergency room as soon as it first happened. Now because of her stupidity and letting him mess with her mind, he was hurt far worse.

     There were tears in her eyes so she looked away from him and simply stared down the dark corridor. The lady on the other end of the line informed her that the paramedics were on their way. They would be here to help in a few minutes. She stepped back into the washroom and knelt down next to him once again. "I hate you." He hissed, looking away from her painfully. He closed his eyes letting the tears spill down his cheeks, following the same tracks as before.

"No you don't." she whispered, gently touching his arm for some sort of comfort.

"You don't hate me, you can't hate me because I'm the only person in your life that can begin to comprehend what you're feeling." She continued.

     In the distance, they could both hear the sirens of the emergency vehicles rushing their way. They would be here soon and they would save him. The lady on the phone was explaining that she needed to keep him talking, keep him occupied. With the amount of blood, he was losing from the open wound he wouldn't be conscious for much longer. "Damian look at me." She moved her hand up from his arm to his face to gently pull it towards her.

     He looked so scared and so vulnerable. There was something that bubbled in her chest and tugged at her heart when she was around him. Damian Wayne never failed to make her feel a roller coaster of emotions but this feeling was always different. It was difficult to pinpoint exactly what this emotion or feeling sprouted from but it was new. No one ever before had sparked this feeling in her beside him.

     Damian opened his eyes and stared at her. It was gut-wrenching to see her so upset and to see her crying. He raised his hand and brushed away the tears rolling down her face. Mar'i sniffled and smiled at him. The young woman hadn't realized that she had begun crying until he was wiping her tears away with his thumb. "I called you because I thought I was dying, I was going to say goodbye." He confessed.

     Hearing him say that seemed to knock all of the oxygen from her body. Would he rather die than get help from a doctor? Something seemed to consume her, fill her veins like a drug. It couldn't have been adrenaline. No, it was that feeling that was previously bubbling inside of her chest. It made her dizzy and slightly out of her mind. She dropped her phone letting it clatter to the tile floor beside them. "Don't ever say goodbye." She whispered.

     Then she drew in a deep shaky breath and kissed his forehead. He closed his eyes and memorized the feeling of her lips against his skin. There was a sudden loud knock at the front door. She pulled away from him and stood up rushing out of the washroom and heading to the front door. It was the EMT's, she couldn't be more grateful. "Please tell me you can help him." She said leading them down the hallway.

"We'll do the best we can ma'am." The taller paramedic said.

"That's all I can ask for." She breathed out.  

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A/N: Sorry for lack of updates, I'm working on a few new writing projects that I think you will all enjoy though.

Skycrystal23 ;)