Jason's attitude had always been an... acquired taste, he needed to be around people who had a thick skin. And who could take the occasional punch since he'd always had a short fuse and trouble checking his emotions. The fights could go from horseplay to a drop down, drag out in a matter of minutes and whoever was in it had to roll with the punches. Even when he was a kid it was like his emotions were on a tightwire and he toed the line, he'd tilt to one side in an explosion of screaming, cursing and threats. Only to pitch to the other side after all was said and done begging for forgiveness and not to be kicked out and that he'd try better. After he died all bets were off the table, it was a wonder if even Jason knew what he was doing those first few months after the Pit. After years of chasing and fighting and shouting matches and talking Jason was finally at a somewhat balanced level. He didn't kill people indiscriminately anymore, he used less lethal methods, unless it conflicted with what he considered his moral compass.

It seemed his attitude and violent outbursts dwindled even more when Marley came into the picture, the tiny woman who pulled a simi-criminal into her apartment and bandaged him up. She was someone who had caught Jason's attention in a way not related to sex, or violence, she was someone who seemed to calm his mind. Marley was in many ways a blessing and a curse for Jason, she was good for him in more ways than she would probably ever know. And was bad for him in just as many, he had become fixated on the small woman, wanting to be around her. He'd had very few people he'd ever called his friends and she was the only one not able to protect herself from, well, anything. Marley was the most fragile thing in Jason's life, and he felt the need to protect her, be it the outside world or even the BatFamily. Him and Bruce have had more than a handful of disagreements about Marley and where she stood in Jason's life and if she should even be a part of it in the first place.

The first time Bruce had brought that particular thought into a conversation, it didn't go well at all. Jason had nearly taken his head off and flipped over the kitchen table before storming out of the manor. He had stayed away from the family for almost a week, until Alfred had called him, telling him that he was coming to dinner, that was the end of that. Bruce had sent all of them a file on her, after he'd found out about her, something else Jason hadn't appreciated and told Bruce as much when he'd stopped by for the weekly family dinner. Marley was an intriguing person, at first glance she didn't seem like someone Jason would talk to, let alone like so much as to cause as much conflict as it did. She was tiny and lithe with wavy brunette hair, dark brown eyes hid behind wire framed glasses. Round faced and a soft smile and a kind heart, if the incident with Scarecrow was anything to go by. Along with a mean streak, the way she had cussed out the cop at the barricade only to gather the small girl on Robin's knee into her arms as she cried.

Then she had given Robin a sweet smile, before she'd kissed him on the side of his head, then gathered her wits enough to talk to the little girl like nothing was wrong. After that it started to become more apparent as to why Jason cared for Marley as much as he did, she was soft. In a way no one in the Family was or could be, not even Babs, Marley hadn't been touched by their world. She hadn't been drowned in the bitterness and loss of what they did; she was free of the things in their pasts that made them into who they all were. She was someone he could go to and not have to worry about her questioning him about hero things as Jason. And he could go to her as Red Hood and talk to her as she patched him up and he wanted to keep it that way. It seemed Robin had taken to Marley as well, he'd probably never admit it, but he'd started taking time out of his night to swing by her place and check on her. Be it standing on the building across from her's and scanning the area or actually breaking in to talk to her briefly, last time he'd come away with a Tupperware container full of cookies.

It seemed she had more sides to her than they'd originally given her credit for if the current problems were anything to go by. She seemed to like Red Hood well enough but she also seemed to hold trepidation since what had happened, and she couldn't really be blamed. Taking into consideration what had happened and Jason's checkered past, if she'd taken this all in stride, well Dick would be worried about the girl and if Jason should be around her. Her reaction was normal, it was what he had expected from her, Jason was too close to the situation he was mixing up both of his lives with her. She didn't know he was Jason and Red Hood, Marley knew them as two completely different people, not as the same huge dork. Sadly, as was Jason's way he was letting his emotions get the better of him and control his actions and Dick hoped he didn't do anything stupid regarding Marley.

He was already causing trouble in the hero business, hence the reason Dick was even out here looking for him. This was his night off, he should be sleeping for ten hours then going back to finding Imposter, not running all over Gotham looking for his errant brother. Bruce had pushed the scolding off on him, knowing that if he went it would just boil over into another argument about how Marley was better off without Hood. Dick saw Bruce's side, Marley was safer not being around Hood or really any of them in uniform, that she could be a target. He also saw Jason's side, she was a tiny, cute single woman in Gotham she was a target regardless, he'd been there the night Jason had saved her. Dick also saw that Marley was good for Jason, whether Bruce wanted to admit it or not and she could be good for Damien too. Dick was many things but an idiot wasn't one of them, his brothers needed someone like Marley, if he was being honest with himself they all did. Tim was the most well adjusted of them, then he'd say himself and Jason, Damien and Bruce tied for emotion constipation levels of ridiculous proportions.

He shook his head at dropping all this on Marley's shoulders, Jason would never let that happen, he'd keep her away from them as long as he could. Dick smirked at the idea of somehow getting Marley to the manor and filed that plan away, for after all of the Imposter business was over. As his feet hit the roof of an old paper printing factory he saw a flash of red, turning towards it he saw Jason come into view, sitting on the edge of the building under a gargoyle. Making his way over Jason looked back at him over his shoulder, then flicked his cigarette over the edge of the building.

"Did you have to break his knee?" Dick opened with his straight to the point question, he was tired.

"I told him not to run." Was Jason's easy reply.

Dick pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is the fifth complaint we've got from Gordon in as many days."

"So what, they're not dead are they?" Jason snipped, glaring out at the city.

"No, but your backpedaling." Dick sighed.

"The fuck are you talking about?" Jason looked over at him, a thin black brow lifted.

"Since all of this with Imposter started, you've fallen back on more… brutal means." He tried and he saw Jason's eyes narrow.

"I haven't changed anything I've ever done."

"You have, you might not have noticed but she's changed how you act." Jason's face twisted into a scowl.

"Bullshit." He twisted around planting his feet on the roof of the building and standing.

"Jason she has. You've severely injured less people from the time you two met, up until the Imposter showed up." Dick paused weighing on if he wanted to ask the question or not. "Does her being afraid of Red Hood bother you this much?"

Jason's whole body stiffened and Dick regretted the question but there was nothing he could do now but ride out whatever Jason threw at him. Then he seemed to deflate like a balloon losing a steady stream of air, grunting he spoke.

"It doesn't matter." Dick blinked.

"It does, if you care about her-" Jason cut him off.

"No it doesn't, if she'd believe I'd do this then she's not who I thought, she'll never see Red Hood the same after this." He said as his hand dug into his jacket pocket.

"I don't think that, she seems like a smart woman." Jason let out a bark of laughter.

"If she was smart she'd have left me on the fire escape." Dick's eyes narrowed on his brother.

"That's not funny, she helped you."

"She's an idiot." Jason bit out, his fist tightening on whatever was in his pocket. "That's why I got this, because she's a soft hearted moron and I don't want her to get hurt." Jason pulled a thin box from his pocket and held it out to him. "Here take it."

Taking the small box from Jason's hand Dick pulled the lid off and looked at its contents with confusion, it was a small oval locket about the size of a nickel. It was all silver, chain and all, no etchings or frilage on the locket, just a nondescript necklace.

"Okay, this is?" Dick lifted the necklace from the box holding it up and giving it a shake.

"I called in a favor, it's got a tracker in it." Dick's face must have twisted into something because Jason bit out. "Not like that, Jesus, I'm not Bruce, it's a location tracker, there's a switch inside it for if she gets into trouble one of us can find her." Dick clicked the small latch on the locket and the front opened to reveal the tiny pin hole button.

"This is what you got from Roy?"

"Yeah, nosey shit asked who it was for."

"You tell him?" Dick asked a smirk on his lips, Jason snorted.

"Hell no, didn't want him trying to find her, you know how he gets."

"Are you going to give it to her?" Jason ran a hand through his hair before sighing out his answer.

"No, I don't think she'd want anything from me, you give it to her." He said looking off to the side. "Tell her it was your's or Demon Spawns idea."

Dick opened his mouth ready to try and talk his brother into taking it to Marley himself but thought better of it, insted. "So, she just presses this button and it sends out a signal, how far does it reach?"

"It'll cover all of Gotham and Roy said he could get his people to expand the signal if she's not here."

"That is good, especially for something this small shoved into a locket." Dick was thoroughly impressed, Oliver's people were good, Babs would be so jealous.

Closing the locket face and putting it back in the box Dick tucked it into a pocket on his belt. "Okay, I'll give it to her." He didn't know how well she'd take him giving her a tracker necklace, but he'd try, maybe take Damien with him, have him give it to her.

"Thanks." Dick nearly gave himself whiplash looking over to Jason at the word, Jason's face twisted up as Dick looked at him. "What fucker?"

"It's just I forget you have manners, sometimes." He got out, shocked that Jason had thanked him.

"Fuck you, Goldenboy." Jason pulled his helmet on. "We both lived with Alfie, if he instilled one thing on me it was manners, jackass."

Dick snorted. "Yeah, I see that." He watched as Jason adjusted his helmet. "Try not to break any more body parts or joints this week, okay?"

Jason looked back at him. "I make no promises."

Dick watched as his brother walked away across the rooftop, the small box in his belt felt like it weighed a ton. Running a hand through his hair he sighed heavily, well, he didn't need sleep anyway.

XXXXXX

Marley was upset.

She was upset because she felt bad, and it pissed her off because she had every right to be mad about this. She'd had five days to go over what had happened between her and Jason from her finding out he was fucking Red Hood to her yelling at him and kicking him out as she held back her sobs. It was a lot of emotions for her to wade though at the time and she'd sat against her front door for almost a half hour before she got up and made her way to bed. She didn't even remember falling asleep. She woke up in her clothes from the night before and stared at her ceiling. Jasper got her out of bed when he had meowed for his breakfast and she'd made her way through her day until she got home that night. She'd sat on her couch and started to go through the events of the night and cataloging everything.

She finally came to the main reason for her burst of anger, (forgetting about the potential fact that he, maybe torched a wearhouse) that in the simplest terms she felt betrayed by Jason. She had thought that they were friends, that they had some kind of close bond and yes, two days into her piecing together her anger she considered that he was a vigilante. That he obviously couldn't go around telling everyone and their mom that he was Red Hood, but she shouldn't count, right? They spent a lot of time together hanging out at her apartment and at the Poodle, he had met Karri and had spent time with the twins, arguably two of the most important and precious things in Marley's life. He'd gone out to eat with them and had taken them to Haunt in the Heights, had bonded with Declan and Layla adored him. Marley had told him about one of the worst desisions in her life, in her stupid ex and how he had treated her. That Trevor's actions had admittedly messed her up making her think poorly about her self worth for a few months. She still had issues with trusting people and she took her friendships seriously since she had very few, Karri was her best friend, since she had been her first friend in Gotham.

Marley had even helped him through one of the most physically and metally vulnerable things that someone could go through. Panic attacks were something deep and personal, something most people didn't want anyone but loved ones and trusted friends to see or help with. Jason's was pre marked with him choking her and even then she had pushed it aside to help him, they had sat on her floor as she talked to him and he played with her fingers and picked at her sleep pants as he calmed himself down. After they had sidestepped the whole ordeal Marley making coffee and brushing off his concern about the bruises that were starting to show up on her neck, that she still had. Marley just didn't know why she wasn't good enough to know, did he not trust her enough was she really not his friend?

The fact that she started to remember him asking her pointed questions about Red Hood wasn't dissuading the idea that he was only using her for an ego trip. That he had asked her about how she felt about him, and why she liked him, like he was fishing for compliments. The whole ordeal had shifted her opinion about Jason and she hated it, she really did, but she didn't know if she could trust him now. The girls at the Poodle had noticed her sulking and had wormed the reason out of her, she'd told them that her and Jason had gotten into an argument about him lying to her. Kimmy had bristled at the story and snarled and ranted about him being a 'jackass' and she'd tell him about himself if he ever showed up at the club. Then proceeded to yank Marley into a hug and tell her that she deserved better, Marley had told her that it was fine and she wasn't sure where their friendship was at or if they even had one anymore.

Marley had started getting rides from her coworkers, mainly Marcus and Karri since she didn't want to speak to Jason or be in his presence until she got all of her thoughts and emotions in check. She'd asked Marcus to drop her off tonight and he had stopped in front of her building telling her that 'He was sorry she and her boyfriend had a falling out, and she deserved better.' As he patted her knee.

Sighing she leaned back into her couch running her hands down her face, a short tap at her window followed by two more quick taps had her head lolling towards it with a small smile. Robin had started to make it a habit to stop by her place a few times a week and 'check on her.' She honestly thought he only stopped by to see and pet Jasper and get sweets. Since her cat always ended up in the boys arms and he always left with some sort of baked good. Marley really didn't mind, she didn't like the idea of the boy being out fighting crazies in the middle of the night. She figured the more time he spent with her in her apartment the less he was out there risking getting hurt. Marley hadn't brought it up, over the visits she had learned he was a prideful little boy and she knew if she said something about it he'd stop coming by. So she would keep her discomfort to herself and take solace in the fact that she kept him off of the streets for at least a half hour.

Shoving to her feet Marley made her way to her window and without looking reached behind the curtain and flipped the lock and pushed the window up. Walking to the kitchen she called out the boy, hearing the curtain shift as he climbed in.

"I made snickerdoodles and fudge, which one do you want?"

"No wonder he stops by so much free sweets."

Marley jumped at the voice that was decidedly not Robin, and spun to take in who was standing in her apartment. Letting out a shaking breath she took in the blue and black clad form of Nightwing he stood next to her window still and rubbed the back of his neck as she looked at him.

"Er, hi." He gave a small wave.

"Hello, you're not who I expected." Marley said and pointed at her kitchen table. "You wanna sit?"

"Sure."

Marley turned and walked into her kitchen and grabbed the tupperware of cookies and fudge from the top of her refrigerator. Turning back towards her table she saw Nightwing was already sitting with his chin propped in his hand scanning her kitchen. Marley bit back the snort at the complete absurdity of the sight, sitting in his blue and black suit escrima sticks strapped to his back looking completely out of place in her cream and tan kitchen. She set the container down before sitting in the chair across the table from the man, waving her hand at the sweets.

"Go for it."

"Thanks." She watched as he opened the container grabbed a cookie and took a bite then promptly grabbed two more.

"Robin needs to start sharing." Marley didn't hide her snort of laughter this time.

"I'm going to have to start a bakery for bats at this rate."

"I wouldn't complain." Nightwing said with a smile Marley watched him finish his first cookie.

"So where's Robin?"

The hero looked up and she met the white lenses of his mask. "He's fine, Batman needed him for something so I stopped by instead." Marley pursed her lips at the information looking at the tupperware.

"Oh, okay."

"Don't worry, Robin's a strong kid." Marley looked up at Nightwing. "He knows that you like keeping him here so he's not on the streets." Marley floundered for a reply and Nightwing laughed.

"It's only natural, he's a little boy."

"He is but he's capable and he's never alone."

"I still don't like it." She huffed, Nightwing didn't say anything and she looked up to find him staring at her. "What?"

"I see why Hood likes you so much." Marley forgot how to breath at the mention of Jason and clenched her hands into fists.

"Yeah, well I'm not feeling the same about him right now." She got out.

"It wasn't him." Marley's head snapped up at his words. "Honestly he was out of the city for something else, it's someone we're calling Imposter."

"So he, he didn't kill those people?"

"No, he didn't." Marley felt a weight lift off her, Jason hadn't killed them, she hadn't wanted to believe it, for him to not have fallen back to who he was.

"That's...good."

"You don't sound so sure there."

"It's a lot to take in, I've thought for the past week I've been helping a murderer." No it seemed he was only a liar.

"Nope just a bonehead." He said. "Oh, right, I got something for you." Marley watched as he reached into one of the pouches around his waist and pulled out a small box and set it on the table and slid it to her.

"What is it?" She eyed the small box.

"Open it."

Marley eyed the hero then the box with a sigh she grabbed it and pulled the lid off and looked inside, her brow drawing down in confusion. "I, um, thank you but I can't take this." She didn't want presents from him.

He seemed to catch onto what he was thinking. "No! It's not like that, it's a tracker." Marley looked back to him, her eyes going wide as she shifted in her chair, catching his wording Nightwing ran his hand down his face.

"I told him that me doing this would be weird." He sighed. "It's a location tracking necklace, it's manually started by you. There's a button inside the locket, if you push it we'll be able to find you if something happens to you."

Marley clicked the locket open and looked at the tiny button, it was a pinhole the reset on a router she'd need something to set it. This was a lot of effort for her and it confused her as to why she was being given something like it. "Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why would you give this to me?" Nightwing smiled at her before he answered.

"You're Hood's friend, something not many can say and Robin's taken to you also and that in itself is a miracle. You're important to them Marley, so you're important to the rest of us now too, Me, Red Robin and Batman." As he spoke Marley looked at the plain locket and wondered.

"Do you have people who know you as Nightwing and the man behind the mask?" She glanced up and saw Nightwing staring at her, his brow pulled down.

"A few." Marley hemmed at his answer, her eyes dropping.

She played with the chain of the necklace as she thought of her next question. "What would you do.. if someone you've been friends with lied to you and it was huge, like almost life altering?"

Nightwing was quiet for a long while as he thought over his answer and Marley set the box down and looked up. Nightwing was leaning against the table, his arms folded looking at her.

"First, I'd ask myself why they lied. Then I'd ask if my friendship was more important than the lie that was told." His eyes landed on something over her shoulder, he stood and she followed suit. Looking down at her Nightwing sighed reaching out he pulled the necklace from the box, fingers undoing the clasp he took the four steps between them. Stopping her locked the necklace around Marley's neck, pulling her hair out from under the chain she felt the cool metal of the chain against her skin.

"Keep this on, okay?" His fingers plucked at the chain, Marley looked up and opened her mouth but was cut off. "If not for Hood then for Robin."

"Okay."

"Good, I have to go, gotta finish my patrol." He said, turning to leave.

"Wait." Marley grabbed his wrist and he looked down at her. "You should take some fudge for Robin since he didn't get to stop by."

A soft smile lit Nightwing's face as he agreed, Marley grabbed a small ziplock bag and filled it with fudge and a few cookies. Handing it to Nightwing who tucked it into one of the bigger pouches at his hip, he looked at Marley, his head tilted slightly. Shaking his head he ran a hand through his hair before waving his goodbye and leaving, following Marley shut her window and locked it. Getting ready for bed Marley's fingers fiddled with the locket thinking of taking it off, shaking her head sharply she fell into bed and went to sleep.

XXXXXX

Jason knew he shouldn't be here, but he kind of had to stop by eventually even if he was going to get chewed out, he had to pay his tab off. God damn he'd never been more nervous to walk into a fucking building before, it was full of women and bouncers he could easily beat the crap out of. The fact that the women in this building were Marley's friends and would know that something had happened between the two of them and would undoubtedly take her side. His feet paused at the edge of the sidewalk as he looked at the garish neon sign of a poodle in a mini skirt holding a peppermint stick. He watched as a few other men walked past him and into the club, Jesus, he was acting like a pussy, shaking his head he made his way to the doors and pushed them open. As he stepped in he saw who the main door bouncer was, Mal looked at him, a questioning brow lifted and Jason glared at the other man before he stomped past. Getting to the halfway point of the bar he saw Kimmy and Jazmin talking then Kimmy waved rapidly and Marley walked to them and laughed at whatever was said.

Jason's hands fisted at his sides, she wasn't supposed to be here, it was her day off, did she trade with someone. He didn't want her to see him, she didn't want him around her any more, he clearly recalled her practically screaming it at him as she slammed his helmet into his chest. Fuck he could pay his tab some other time he was about to turn tail when he looked back to the three women and saw Kimmy glaring at him. Shit. She elbowed Jazmin and pointed, the other woman following her finger, seeing him her smile melted away and she turned to Marley and ushered her away. Kimmy locked eyes with him and crossed her arms under her chest and shifted her whole posture, it was a challenge. He accepted, Marley was gone so he could pay his tab and get the fuck out, making his way to the bar Kimmy's face twisted into a deadly scowl. Stopping at the bar he looked down at her, she puffed up as he looked at her.

"You have a lot of nerve!" She hissed jabbing her finger at him.

"I came to pay my tab and I'll leave." He pulled a fifty from his pocket and held it out.

Kimmy snatched the bill from his fingers and grabbed the notebook they used for the tabs flipping though it found his grabbing a pen. She scribbled his name out then viciously hit the buttons on the cash register. Pulling out his change she hit the drawer closed with her hip and slammed his change down on the bar.

"Get out." She growled as he grabbed the money. "I can't believe I ever thought you'd be good for Marley." With that she turned and walked away to the other end of the bar.

Jason made his way through the club and he agreed with the blond he wasn't good for Marley he wasn't really good for anyone. As he made it back to the front doors of the building he passed by Mal again who cocked his head slightly, Jaosn ignored him and shoved the doors open. He was a few steps down the sidewalk thinking of where he was going to patrol once he grabbed his gear.

"Jason!" Stopping at the call of his name he looked over his shoulder to see Karri, walking towards him, with Mal in tow, great.

"Karri." He said and waited for the screaming her telling him he was a shitty person and how he didn't deserve Marley in any since.

Reaching him she looked back at Mal. "Mal, honey I've got this go ahead back to the club."

"I don't think that's-" Karri cut him off.

"It's fine, he won't hurt me, I know him." She said and Mal looked torn but eventually turned and made his way back to the club and stood outside the doors, Karri let out a breathy laugh.

"You gonna yell at me too?" Jason asked.

"No." Her answer shocked him. "Not really, but I do want to talk to you, now I'm not going to ask what happened, Marley said it was an argument about a big lie." It was a pretty big fucking thing, he blabed her was Red Hood and she took it way worse than he thought she would.

"Yeah." He sighed.

"I know you care for Marely, maybe not in the way I want you too, but you are her friend and Marley takes friendships seriously and when she found out you lied to her, it hurt her deeply. I'm sure you've noticed how sensitive she is, right?" Yeah, he'd noticed she'd made him watch the Fox and the Hound and she cried when the old woman let the fox go, saying it was sad because they were all each other had.

"Yeah, she is pretty sensitive."

"I love Marley, she's my friend, my best friend actually but she makes it hard for people too, so I doubt she's blameless for this fight. I'll ask you one thing, Jason." Karri looked him in the eyes.

"What?"

"Are you sorry?" He blinked slowly. "About the lie, about hurting Marley?"

He thought about it, the way she had curled in on herself as she talked to him that night how she bit back tears, then the sound of her single sob from the other side of her front door.

"Yes."

"Are you willing to try again, being her friend?"

"Yes." Karri smiled at him.

"Good, I'll talk to her."

"You will?" Karri was, she was helping him.

"Jason you're a sweet boy, I like you. Marley likes, you're a good friend, sometimes, Marley lets her insecurities get to her."

"I, thank you Karri."

She hummed. "Jason."

"Yeah?"

"You only get one, don't hurt her again, okay?" She told him with a sharp smile, he liked this woman even more now.

"I won't." He'd try his damnedest not to at least.

"Good, alright I gotta get back to work, sweetie." Karri reached out and patted his cheek before she walked back towards the club.

Jason watched her until she walked through the door, Mal following her. Reaching his bike he sat on it and pulled his helmet on and couldn't stop the smile at the idea of Karri getting Marley to listen to him. So he could actually explain everything to her without her yelling at him and cutting him off, hopefully she would listen. Jason already missed hanging out with her, being around her, he wanted her to not hate him anymore. For now though Jason would be content with his own form of therapy, beating the hell out of scumbags.

XXXXXX

So I feel I should explain Marley's reaction to Jason being Red Hood. I took what I believe would be a more realistic approach to what I think would be a more accurate reaction. I've read a lot of stories where the protagonist finds out Dick/Tim/Damian any hero really, lied to them about their identity and their just like, '~Oh, you, you've totally lied to me about this forever even though we're best friends/dating, but it's all good~'

I just don't see most people taking it so well. I know I wouldn't, we as readers know who they are and know why they can't say anything. People like Marley, all they see is a friend who's lied to them for a long time and wondering why they didn't think them good enough to know. Anyways, I just wanted to explain a little bit to why she lashed out the way she did.

Stay safe, everyone.