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Zatanna Zatara looked out of the window of the car as the landscape slid past. Practically bouncing in her seat with excitement.
She and her Dad were finally going to stay in one place. Put down some roots as he'd said.
They were moving to small town america. To a town called Smallville. She'd laughed when Dad had told her the name of the place.
No more hotels.
No more falling asleep in cars or coach seats.
No more making friends only to say goodbye after a few weeks.
No more people with false smiles because she was the great John Zatara's daughter.
Zatanna could get the proper high school experience.
Go to dances.
Have dates.
Have friends she could keep.
A bed she could call her own.
In a room she could call her own.
In a house she could call a home.
Normal life here I come!
He'd been on the road so long, he'd forgotten how to live any other way.
For the longest time that was all he'd ever thought he could need or want out of life.
He'd been happy living his life, playing increasingly large crowds. Audiences eating out of his hands.
John Zatara was the happiest as he'd ever thought he could be.
And then he'd met Sindella.
And realised he could be even happier than he imagined.
It had been like he had been seeing the world in black and white all his life.
Sindella came along and gave his world every colour and shade a person could imagine.
For a time, John Zatara had the ideal world. A career where he was the undisputed pinnacle of stage magicians. And a wife he adored, who equally adored him.
When she told him she was pregnant he had thought his life doubly blessed.
No crowd, no audience, no applause could compare to the unbridled joy the news brought.
He hadn't even considered parenthood. But then he'd never even considered marriage either.
Sindella had a habit of surprising him like that.
Zatanna had been in the world less than a day when Sindella had disappeared.
It was by far the most painful experience of his life.
He'd fallen asleep with his little girl cradled in his arms. Only to wake up to find the love of his life. The mother of his child missing from her hospital bed.
Now you see me, now you don't. Crueler words were never uttered.
He'd spent so long searching for her, moving from place to place, days blurring into weeks, weeks blurring into months. Looking for a clue, some scrap of information while he played gig after gig.
Until one day he realised years had passed.
His little girl was nearly all grown up.
And because of him and his search for her mother, she was miserable and lonely.
Giovanni Zatara, or John as he preferred, made the most difficult decision of his life.
Looking over at his daughter smiling, he knew he'd made the right one.
Author's Note: If John Zatara had made an appearance in Smallville, in my mind, he would be played by Tom Selleck.