DISCLAIMERS

1. This is a fan fiction based on characters owned by DC Comics. I DO NOT OWN THEM. This is just for fun.

2. This is a femslash story. If you don't like that sort of thing, you won't like this.

"Shouldn't you be keeping an eye on the kids?"

Zatanna Kyle-Zatara smiled at her wife's question as she moved to the kitchen tabletop. "I'm just making coffee. They're watching TV. You know they're safe."

Selina looked at her, frowning.

"They're safe, Selina," Zee clarified.

At that, Selina just grumbled, then returned to her work. Zee shook her head, but decided to let it go. She went to the sink and filled the kettle; eventually, Zee took a glance at Selina sitting at the main kitchen table. The former thief was working on her utility belt - it had been damaged during lastnight's patrol. After she turned the kettle on and the room filled with the slight noise of it boiling, Zee leant over and wrapped her arms around her wife's shoulders. "Besides, I wanted to check in." Smiling again as Selina briefly paused her work to kiss her spouse's arm, Zee continued. "Any progress?"

"I've fixed the worst part," said Selina, as she continued to poke and prod at her belt. "Luckily, the knife didn't hit a smoke pellet, otherwise I'd have been fighting in fog." She was referring to the group of punks she had encountered the previous night. One of them had gone for her with a knife, but the Catwoman managed to avoid it, though the knife still pierced her belt. Selina had spent most of today fixing it.

Zee returned to the kettle and poured two cups of coffee. As she did so, she again glanced at her beloved, something she could never help but do. Selina had resorted to sticking her tongue out as she focused on a particularly tricky bit on her belt. Zee had to stifle a giggle: the Catwoman was so cute right now. Clearing her throat, the magician finished making their drinks and put one of them on the kitchen table. "Here you go, sweetheart. Finish up soon, OK?"

"Uh-huh," came the distracted reply. However, as Zatanna turned to leave, Selina spoke again. "Wait, c'mere," she husked, and quickly pulled her wife down, their lips touching tenderly. After a few seconds, Zatanna forced herself to break the kiss. "I'll be out as soon as I can," Selina smiled.

As she always did after a moment of intimacy, Zee had to actively take a moment to compose herself. She gave a loving smile to Selina then headed back to the living room. Once there, she nearly bumped into one of their daughters. "Freya!" Zee yelped. "Sweetie, careful! I've got coffee here!"

The little redheaded girl seemed not to notice the hot cup in her birth mother's hand. "Mommy, we hafta get Momma!" She had clearly been running to the kitchen when she practically crashed into Zatanna.

Zee stroked Freya's hair. "Momma's busy right now," she said. "You know you're not to see her when she's working." Indeed, the Kyle-Zataras tried to keep their children away from their heroic lives. Not out of secrecy, per se: the quintuplets knew Mommy was a magician in the Justice League, and Momma was a crimefighter at night. But they did not want the children to see the details of their work. In particular, seeing one of their mothers trying to fix a stabbed belt might bring up questions they did not want to answer yet.

"But Mommy," Freya whined, "Momma's on TV! It's horrible!"

At that, the magician frowned. "'Horrible'? Darling, what's wrong?" Freya took her hand and led her fully into the living room. The television was on Live Pause, with the other four little ones - Karl, Lee, Patience and Zack - huddled infront of it. They looked up and glared at Zatanna questioningly. Zee was really worried now. What was going on?

"Show Mommy," said Freya, pointing at the TV. Wordlessly, Patience rewound the station for a second, before pressing playback. Zee looked on confusingly as the television resumed. It was airing an advertisement.

"Coming up after the news, a new documentary covering the life and times of the mysterious Batman! After years of battling evil criminals like the Joker, Catwoman and Bane, we are still no closer to learning anything about him! Who is he? Why does he do what he does? We try and tackle these mysteries along with your host, Vicki V... " Suddenly, the screen paused again.

All five children looked back up at Zatanna. She stood there, still confused. Eventually, Zack spoke. "Mommy, why are they saying Momma's a bad person?"

Oh no. Zatanna's breath caught. She was not expecting this... not now. "I... I... " She had no idea what to say.

What could she say? How could their innocent four-year-olds hope to comprehend how their other mother was once an infamous criminal? That their beloved Momma used to be among Gotham's Most Wanted?

As her babies continued to glare at her, Zatanna felt the need to sit down. Wordlessly, she placed her coffee on the table and sat on the sofa. She pondered what to say. How to say it. What words to use. God... how could she possibly explain?

It was all that stupid TV preview's fault. How behind with the times was that damn station? Selina - the Catwoman - had not been a criminal for years! How stupid were the programme makers?!

But, really... Zee could understand. Though Selina had been on the side of good for several years now, it was not like she advertised it. In fact, she tried to keep her vigilante activities rather low-key. Besides, she was not out every night, like Bruce was. Crimefighting was not her life. Weeks would pass with no action from the Catwoman whatsoever. So Zatanna could understand that, as far as the general public was concerned, the Feline Fatale would always be seen as a villain. That hurt Zee immensely. She felt like going to the TV station and declaring live on air all the good her beloved had done.

"Mommy... " Lee's voice brought Zatanna out of her musings. "Is... Momma evil?"

Zatanna's jaw dropped. How could their children think such a thing? It made Zee want to vomit. "My darlings... " she breathed. "No. God... no. Your momma is the most perfect person in the world." Taking another breath, Zee closed her eyes. She had to gather her bearings. "Babies... come here." Quietly, the five children shuffled towards their birth mother. "A long time ago... " Zee began. "Momma was... was... well... she... " What could she say?

"A... crime'nal?" asked Karl.

Zee stared at her son. "Yes," she eventually whispered. "Yes. But it was a long time ago. A very long time ago. She did some... bad things." Taking a deep breath, Zee could see the look of utter astonishment on the quintuplets' faces. "But... we all do bad things sometimes. Your momma didn't like doing bad things, and she stopped. Now she only does good."

"Momma's... not evil?" Patience asked.

"No, my darlings," Zee said emphatically. "She never was. She just made some mistakes... but it was a very long time ago. We all make mistakes, sweethearts. But when we do, we try and learn from them, and not do them again."

"What made her stop doing bad things?" squeaked Lee.

"Your mommy," came a voice from behind them.

They turned their heads to see Selina standing in the doorway. She had clearly overheard them from the kitchen. Selina gave a loving smile to Zee as she walked upto them. "I stopped doing bad things to be with your mommy." She sat down next to Zee and took her hand.

Freya frowned. "Mommy made you be good?"

"No, no, baby," said Selina. "You see... if I wanted to be with your mommy, then I knew I had to try and stop doing bad things. And I wanted to be with your mommy more than anything. I had to be with her." She paused and looked into Zatanna's eyes, which were welling up. "I have to be," she whispered.

Zatanna was once again amazed at how her wife made her feel. Just when she thought she could not love Selina more... she does this. Zee was the luckiest woman in the universe.

"So you see..." the ex-thief said to the little ones. "Yes, I did to bad things. Yes, I was a criminal. But I'm not anymore. I love your mother too much to not be with her."

And Zee loved her more than she did ten seconds ago.

"But the TV said... " began Zack.

"Now, sweeties," Selina interrupted. "You can't believe everything you see on the TV. TV is mainly made by idiots. Especially the news," she added with a smirk. She leant down and stroked Freya's hair, who happened to be the closest child to her. "Are we clear?" she said to them all. The quintuplets soon nodded their heads. "What's in the past is in the past," continued Selina. "What matters is now, and right now... " she wiggled her eyebrows, "... I fancy some ice cream. Does anyone else?"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaay!" came five excited voices. Before Zee or Selina could react, the children shot to their feet and rushed to the kitchen.

Selina went to stand, but Zee tightened the grip on her hand, making her pause. Selina looked at her questioningly. "Thank you," the magician grinned.

Selina smiled back. "You seemed like you needed help."

"I did," said Zatanna. "They kind of took me by surprise." She then leaned closer to her wife. "But I don't mean just for that. Thank you... for what you said."

"It's the truth," the former burglar insisted. "You should know by now, Zee, that I won't tolerate us not being together. And that's just the way it... "

"Momma!" came a little yell from the kitchen. "What happened to your belt?"

"Oh, crap!" Selina yelped, shooting to her feet and rushing to the kitchen - leaving a watery-eyed Zatanna shaking her head and chuckling...

THE END