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As soon as Jason walked into her hospital room, Marinette knew that she was in trouble. He wouldn't even look her in the eyes - he walked straight to the chart at the end of her bed and started flipping through it.
"Broken arm, bruised ribs, black eye. What the hell happened, Marinette?"
Playing innocent never worked around Jason. He always knew when she was lying, but Marinette still attempted to keep up her alibi. Laughing awkwardly, she said, "You know me. I'm just clumsy."
“A broken arm, three bruised ribs, and a black eye aren't just clumsy. Are you going to tell me what's going on, or I am going to have to force it out of you?"
"Just because you don't want to believe me doesn't mean I'm lying to you."
Jason's eyes narrowed. He didn't believe her for a moment. "Tell me the truth."
Marinette glared right back at him, unfazed. "I've already told you the truth. I'm clumsy and I tripped down the stairs."
"Marinette, tell me what really happened," demanded Jason.
"Stop pushing!" Marinette finally shouted, bringing their argument to a halt. "You're just making this worse!"
The hospital room went dead silent after Marinette's shouted words. "Can we please just go home?" Marinette begged, her tone finally betraying how exhausted she was. All she wanted to do was go home and hide under a mountain of blankets.
Jason nodded silently and left the room to find the doctor. All of the tension in her body disappeared as soon as Jason left the room. Marinette didn't want to lie to him, but there were some things you can't tell your over-protective older brother figure. One of those things was that you got hurt while following in his vigilante footsteps.
"The doctor just needs you to sign the release papers," said Jason, walking back into the room. "Then we can go back to my place."
"I want go home to my apartment," complained Marinette.
Jason rolled his eyes, sarcasm seeping into his tone. "Yeah, so that you can fall down another set of stairs. I think I'll be keeping a closer eye on you, now that I'm back in Gotham."
"No. If you won't take me back to my apartment then I'll find another ride."
"Fine. We'll go back to your apartment, but I'm staying too. You have three broken bones. You'll need help taking care of yourself."
"Fine." Marinette scowled, but handed over the signed stack of papers. "You take these to the doctor. I'll meet you outside. Did you bring the motorcycle or car?"
"Motorcycle." Jason left without another word.
Marinette got ready as fast as she could, desperate to get out of the hospital. She put her jacket on and pulled her hair up into a ponytail. Riding back to her apartment on the motorcycle was difficult, given that Marinette had three broken ribs and only one functional hand, but Marinette refused to give Jason the satisfaction of seeing her hurt.
"I should have never left Gotham," grumbled Jason as they got off the bike.
Marinette sighed, giving the stairs up to her apartment a wary look. "Are you seriously going to start blaming yourself for this?"
Jason grabbed Marinette beneath the knees and picked her up into a bridal carry to get her up the stairs. "You're here in Gotham for four months and nothing happens to you. Then, I take two weeks of vacation to help Roy track down Cheshire, and I come back to find you in a hospital bed."
"Still not your fault."
"How am I supposed to know that, when you won't even tell me how you got hurt."
"It doesn't matter. It's none of your business, anyway."
"Marinette, you're my little sister. Not by blood, but we both know it still counts. When you get hurt, that matters to me." Jason set Marinette down on the couch and took a seat across from her.
"Look, you don't need me to tell you the truth. You're smart. You already know how I got hurt."
Jason sighed, burying his head in his hands. "You were out fighting crime alone. That's how you got hurt." In an instant, Jason's mood shifted to anger. "What were you doing out there! I've told you time and time again - Gotham crime is worse than Parisian crime. Just because you could handle the streets of Paris doesn't mean that you can handle the criminals of Gotham. I should have been there to protect you."
"I'm an adult. I make my own choices and I don't need you to protect me!" Marinette shouted, indignant.
Jason shook his head. "I don't protect you because I think you need protecting. I want to protect you because that's what people do for their families. That's what you are to me, Marinette. You're my family." Jason's voice was nearly a whisper as he choked out the emotional words. "I know that you want to fight crime, and I respect that, but I can't stand the thought of you out there alone. Please, Marinette, let me be there with you."
Marinette stared down at her hands in her lap, the cast of her broken arm seemed to glare up at her. "I understand."
Jason wrapped his arms around the girl he considered to be her sister. "Thank you."
Marinette hugged him back. "You're my family too, Jason. Don't ever doubt that."