A/N: Agh, I'm sorry for such the late update! If you wish for an explanation I go into further detail on my message board. 

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     The ride in the ambulance to the hospital felt as if it lasted for hours. She sat next to Damian who was lying on a stretcher whining. He had been mumbling to the paramedics that he was fine and it wasn't that bad of an injury. When they tried to apply pressure to the wound he would swat them away and squirm around. They managed to sedate him, at first freaked him out causing him to move and squirm around even further.

     Mar'i had to hold his hand the entire way to the emergency room and whisper pointless assurances into his ear. It had been an hour or so now since he had come out of a minor surgery. She had opted to text her fiancé instead of calling and lying, saying that Sindella was having a breakdown or something and wished for her to stay with her parents for the night.

     She walked through the hospital hallways like a ghost. It was an aimless wander, she wasn't too sure of her destination. Damian was knocked out cold by the drugs they had given him for the surgery. The building was basically deserted. Her eyes studied the long corridor; white walls, white tile floor, bright blinding lights and the smell of rubbing alcohol was the buildings default smell.

     Slowly she made her way back down the corridor and into Damian's room. The lamp in the corner was lit giving the room a dim orange glow. Her chair from earlier was still in its spot next to the bed. Mar'i looked down at her bright yellow rain boots and bare legs. The young woman wasn't exactly appropriately dressed for the hospital let alone the public. Why did she care so much about him?

     Ever since she returned back to Gotham and met him again it's been like fireworks going off inside of her. Leonardo deserved all of her love and devotion yet now she found a part of herself sharing that same affection towards Damian. She had kissed Damian twice, maybe three times now since she's been in Gotham. This city truly lived up to the whispers and tales – Gotham made people do horrible things.

     Normally she would never have thought about any other guy romantically besides Leonardo. Sure there would be the occasional gorgeous model she would work with who would make her think of a few naughty things but never anything romantic or caring. Was it wrong for her to feel this way? She is a soon-to-be-married woman and most of her thoughts are caught up and smothered by some other man.

     Damian stirred slightly in his bed catching her attention. Her gaze flickered up from her bright yellow rain boots to him. The doctor had assured her that with some time he would be back in tip-top shape again. He needed rest, needed sleep, and a hell of a lot of pain medication. It wasn't a simple stab wound anymore, not anymore. Infection. That was one of the worst words to hear in a hospital.

     Not everybody bounced back from infections. If left untreated for too long the infection can spread and end up killing the person. Her boots squeaked against the tile floor as she walked over and reclaimed her seat next to his bed. The young man wasn't as hooked up and attached to as many machines as she was nearing a month ago. That day was still much of a blur for her. Most of her memories had returned but the few days leading up to the Gala were a little messy.

     Whenever she tried to think back to it, to anything during those few days it was nothing but a blur of colours and voices. Her brain was working too hard and too fast to put the recollections together that it all melded together into one swift moving memory. What she remembers most was how she felt. Her emotions in those few days went from ecstatic, to worry, and then to sickly nausea. Given time she would start to remember more and piece what happened back together again.

     She looked back to Damian who looked as still as a corpse. While asleep, especially in a hospital, people looked dead. There was a high chance of being cured and taken care of at Gotham General but there was an even higher chance of dying. Not everyone can be saved and in this city, there was more physical violence than kindness. This whole damned city was being swallowed by an evil not even she could understand.

     After the wedding, she and Leo are to go on their Honeymoon and then back to their place in London. It was still undecided where the two of them were going to head after their marriage. The Bahamas, Mexico maybe? Where did newlyweds usually go for their Honeymoons? Her eyes were fixed on Damian's face waiting to see if there was any sign of life besides his chest rising and falling with every breath.

     The doctor said earlier he could be out for as long as a few hours to a few days. The last thing she wanted was for her to leave tomorrow morning with him still unconscious and alone. She grabbed his right hand and brought it to her lips. "I know you'll be angry, I know you'll be upset with me but please let yourself heal. I cannot lose another special person in my life." She whispered against his warm skin.

     Mar'i sat there for a few more minutes holding his hand against her lips and whispering sweet nothings to the air. As if it were a miracle he began to stir awake. She opened her eyes when she felt his fingers curl around her hand. "Damian." She whispered seeing his glossy emerald eyes staring back at her. At first, he seemed disgruntled and confused. The last thing he remembered was being in his washroom on the floor bleeding out and her calling the EMT's.

     There was a familiar look that flickered across his face when the rest of the memories came flooding back to him. He turned his head to the side, half his face buried in the stiff white pillow while the other half was lit with an orange hue from the lamp in the corner of the room. "I still hate you." He whispered, voice cracking as he formed his words. She gave him her doe-eyed look and within less than a second the corner of his mouth had turned up into a sort-of smile.

     Only a few people in this universe could make Damian smile and turned out that Mar'i Grayson was one of those people. He tried to sit up only to feeling a searing pain in his side resulting in him falling back painfully onto the stiff bed. "You shouldn't be here, you should be at home with your fiancé." He said pulling his hand away from her.

She frowned. "Damian I'm here because I care about you. Waking up alone in a hospital is not a nice feeling." She said continuing to frown at him.

     His brain was all over the place at the moment. The painkillers being fed into his system by the IV in his arm were pretty strong. Damian didn't know whether to smile at her for saying that or yell at her. Instead, he opted for silence and let his eyes study her face. Her long dark hair fell in tangled waves down the sides of her face; peculiar green eyes heavy with dark rings beginning to stain the skin underneath, and her lips although full were cracked from dehydration.

     Damian deduced that he probably looked the same as her. Tired and dehydrated. Although the IV was bringing fluids into his injured body he still felt as if he had been hiking the desert for days without a single drop of water. The inside of his mouth was sticky, tongue dry, and lips cracked. "This place is like a ghost town." She whispered looking towards the open door at the other end of the room.

     The bright white fluorescent lights lining the hallway outside fell into the room. There weren't many nurses and doctors around. It was either considered really late at night or quite early in the morning. Either way, there were few qualified individuals in the building who willingly volunteered for this graveyard shift. "I've seen one nurse walk by in the last fifteen minutes." She said still staring out at the bright hallway.

"Why are you bothering with me Grayson?" he asked.

She looked back at him and furrowed her brows, "So we're on a last name basis now?"

"I've realized that I am not someone who people willingly wish to spend time with. You, however, for whatever bloody reason you seem to return. Like a cockroach." He grumbled, looking down and picking at the edges of the white blanket covering his legs.

     Mar'i let her mouth fall open as she tried to come up with something to say back to him. Did he really just call her a cockroach? The lamp in the corner of the room flickered irritating her eyes. She returned her gaze to the doorway looking out into the empty white hallway. "Is that a bad thing?" she whispered. He heard the way her voice cracked when she spoke. Damian's eyes softened for a brief moment before hardening once again like stone.

     It had been a long day and an even longer night. She was tired, stressed out, and now feeling terrible about herself. The young woman sniffled and raised her hand wiping the stray tears away with the back of her hand. "You know Dam," she paused, "- Mr. Wayne, I have done some things in my life that I'm not too proud of. I've been torn down and put back together again dozens of times. I came to Gotham because I wanted to see the people I regretted leaving behind. I wanted to see you." She confessed, blinking her tears away.

     This was so pointless, he probably didn't care anyway. Damian was broken and she did not think he was fixable this time around. The sad thing was he didn't care. He stayed quiet leaving her to sit there to over think everything. Mar'i stood up, chair squeaking in protest as it was pushed back. "If you keep pushing everyone away like this, everyone that cares for you, you'll live a sad lonely life." She said, studying his face to see if he would react in any way.

     There was nothing in his eyes, no emotion or really anything. It was nothing but a menacing sharp green staring back at her. The young woman couldn't understand him or why she was so angry and sad. His words shouldn't bother her but they stuck like glue to paper. Damian Wayne could be a nasty human being when he wanted to when he needed to. "Melody told me that you needed love; someone to help fix you but I realized something. Would you like to know what?" she asked

     He narrowed his eyes into a sharp glare. It was as if he was mentally throwing daggers at her. Mar'i felt something for him once upon a time. The youngest Wayne was charming, brilliant, and devilishly handsome. "What?" he snapped finally.

"You don't need love Damian, you never did." She hissed, walking out of the room.

     As she walked down the long empty corridor alone she wiped the hot tears from her face. No person has ever made her feel such emotions before. Leonardo has made her angry before, made her upset, made her feel as if she was in the clouds, but he has never had her feeling like this. The angry and injured young man in the room down the hallway, he made her feel this way. She hated it. 

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Skycrystal23 ;)