***Post Perfect Family, During Partners, Pre Legacy***

Dick's POV

Nightwing sat alert against the wall awaiting the signal. He rubbed the side of his neck with his hand and he felt the silver chain pull. His fingers lingered there, feeling the chain and it's invisibly pressing weight, and after a moment he pulled it out of his costume and over his head to examine it.

The thin chain held an engraved silver band that made the ache he was feeling in his chest stronger.

Radio silence for three and a half weeks was nothing before he had officially retired. Now, it was like every day he went without hearing her voice, or the pitter patter of their feet was too long.

He scoffed as he remembered how he initially thought this might be a smallish vacation from the never-ending job he had unknowingly enlisted into.

He rolled the band between his fingers and brought it to his face to read the engraving inside of it.

Boy wonder, partner, lover, & friend. Z.

He read the inscription over and over as if to make sure it were real. A small part of him knew that reading it over and over wouldn't make the current situation better. He wondered though, if when he got home the inscription would still be true, at least to the one who had it inscribed.

He sighed, he knew their relationship wasn't as fragile as that but she'd probably still be mad at him. He ran his finger over it again, pressed his lips to the band, and slid it over his head and around his neck where it belonged.

"I'm coming home Zee, just wait for me." He whispered to nothing and no one.

Just then a flare gun went off.

The signal!

He jumped over the ledge and into action. This was the last battle, the last one standing between him and home.

…

Zatanna's POV

BRRRIIINNGGG BRRRRIINNGG

The alarm was blaring on the countertop next to the bed. Zatanna groaned internally, and debated getting up. She reached over the black haired beauty beside her and slammed the alarm shut.

Just one more minute, she thought to herself.

Just as she began to settle back into the bed, she felt a pair of hands tugging at her arm.

"Mommy, we can't be late again." Wyette reminded her, as she stretched her tiny limbs in every direction.

Zatanna nodded absentmindedly as she turned her body in the other direction to continue sleeping.

The mattress quivered as the eight year old rolled all over the bed and then again as she pulled herself onto her mother's body.

"Nooo Wye, stop…." Zatanna pleaded in a tired voice.

Wyette, with her legs on either side of her mother's body started bouncing.

"Mommy…mommy…mommy" she wailed trying to wake her up.

Zatanna rolled and Wyette lost her balance while bouncing falling back unto the bed with an umph and a ballad of giggles.

Zatanna groaned internally, really, she wanted to wake up and be the responsible parent she knew she should be, but she was exhausted. Between being a full time single parent (due to Dick's covert mission), a stage magician all hours of the night, and home maker, she was coming to her wits end.

They had a schedule, a strict schedule that for the most part they stuck to. Dick brought the kids to school in the morning then went to work, while Zatanna slept in. She picked them up after school and after school programs on odd days of the week, helped with homework, then they would have dinner as a family every night and do basic physical training (only if there was free time), finally they would tuck in the twins and she'd go off and do her show.

Doing it alone was exhausting and even though she should've been pissed at Dick, now all she could feel towards him was longing. He was a homework wizard and even though she loved having physical training time all to herself to teach the twins only magic, it was draining.

Alfred and Bruce were saints, Alfred was never late to babysit during her shows and Bruce even insisted that they spend the weekends in Gotham when Zatanna had back to back shows – which in case you were wondering was every weekend. The kids loved sleeping over at Bruce's, the Wayne manor was so huge they could get lost in it every weekend and still have more to explore the next time.

Alfred tricked them into eating their vegetables without complaint and not to mention their other super powered buddies usually came over like the West and Kent kids. The twins were also obsessed with Damian, though he found them annoying and meddlesome since they practically followed him around the mansion, which made it easier to leave them there, guilt free.

And no one could ever argue Zatanna wasn't a doting enough parent, she called frequently, visited through water mirrors, she even let them be a part of her act on some Saturday nights just to have them with her but some weekends a small part of her wondered if Bruce wouldn't mind keeping them longer.

As she felt Wyette trying to climb her another time she rolled to the other side of the bed. She smirked as Wyette let out another fit of giggles, the sound was like music to her ears, and it even made her want to join in. If there was one thing she couldn't deny, it was that the twins always kept her entertained. It was never boring in the Grayson home.

Ah the joys of being a –

Zatanna shot out of her sleeping position, eyes peeled open and alert, "Where's John?" she asked Wyette suddenly.

Wyette shrugged but Zatanna's fears were already put to rest as she noticed two levitating pieces of toast coming towards her.

John, his disheveled dark hair pointed in every which way, stood there with his black brows furrowed in concentration. With an outstretched arm she grabbed the two pieces of toast, scarcely covered in a fruit jam and looked towards the door.

"That was great hun," she said as animatedly as she could at 6 in the morning before grabbing the toast and handing it to the awestruck girl beside her.

Wyette looked at her toast and then at her brother mesmerized before exploding in a fit of excitement, "Woah! You got it all the way to the bed?!" she exclaimed rhetorically as if she hadn't witnessed the act herself.

Wyette jumped off the bed and ran over to her brother, speaking so quickly that Zatanna barely heard any of it.

Maybe they're speaking in that secret twin language everyone is always going on about Zatanna thought to herself as her eyelids began to droop.

"Mommy!" the twins shouted in unison as it appeared Zatanna had fallen asleep again.

"I'm up!" she wailed as she felt the twins yank at her arm.

The twins laughed in harmony, and Zatanna chuckled.

"Mommy we can't be late again." John reminded her as Wyette had earlier.

Zatanna drew her eyes open then and looked at the eight-year-old children balefully, "You know," she said smugly, "You don't have to go to school. You can always stay home, sleep in and come to work with mommy." She purred.

Wyette laughed and shook her head violently, her raven black locks bouncing out of control with every movement.

"No, we have to go to school to get smarter, daddy said so." he insisted in a firm voice.

Zatanna laughed, "You're smart enough, wise guy." She said as she finally set both her feet on the oak floor boards. "Now go get ready, you don't want to be late."

The twins ran into the hallway and Zatanna walked into the master bathroom. She walked over to the mirror and sighed as she took in her disheveled appearance. A light shone into her eye and she squinted and looked down. Her promise and engagement ring sat in front of the mirror reflecting the light. She picked them up and sighed.

They were beautiful, as beautiful as the man who gave them to her and yeah…..his physical appearance wasn't so bad either, she joked to herself.

She brought the rings to her lips as if she hoped he could feel it.

"I'm waiting for you Boy wonder, hurry up and come back to me. To us." She whispered as she dropped her hand to her midsection for a moment and then walked towards the shower.