Bruce scowled at Dinah. He knew he was hovering, but there was only so much he knew he could do right now to feel in control. Keeping her, and their child, healthy might be irritating, but was not only practical, it fed a need in him to protect what was his. "I won't have to poke you with a needle if you watch your sugar intake," he shot back.
Perhaps Maria's reaction wasn't a surprise. Her anger, her heightened anger, was something he had accepted as a possibility. The venom, however - still leaning forward, Bruce blinked slowly at her, and it took him a moment to analyze the root of it. He was no psychologist, but there were some emotions that did resonate with Bruce. There was a familiarity to it, though. Something that tightened his spine and set a dangerous calm in his eyes so that when he sat back and crossed one leg over another, seemingly casual, there was an edge to him more intense than if he'd stood up to yell.
"Patronizing you?" he said conversationally, eerily so. "Hill, if I were going to patronize you, I wouldn't be telling you something only four other people know. If I were going to patronize you, you would almost certainly know it, as I'm not particularly known for being subtle when I'm irritated."
He was famous for it, actually. His sarcasm, the harshness with which he could deal with others, how lightly he suffered fools. Something sparked in his eyes, and a new fire entered his voice. "You listen here: I've already got a teenager whose rejection issues I'm going to have to deal with. We asked you here because we want you here. We want you to be a part of this, and frankly, I don't care whether you're comfortable with that, or not. You're family."
The words were out of his mouth, followed by a flicker of surprise that they'd been spoken so easily, and without consideration. Bruce recovered, though, regaining most of the intensity he'd been rolling with. "You're family," he repeated. "So deal with it, just like the rest of us. Need you?" And now there was the slightest note of derision. "Do you think I let people in my life so easily? That I'm humoring you? That I make time for people who don't matter?" Bruce bottomed out his drink and got up to refill it.