"Zatanna, please, come sit."
Zatanna couldn't believe her eyes. Sitting right in front of her at the table was her father, and not wearing that stupid helmet either. He was wearing his usual suit he wore as Zatarra. He was so nervous it looked like he couldn't even speak, not believing the woman before his eyes was his daughter. So its a good thing Bruce, long time friend of Giovanni was there to get things started.
"Glad you made it, hope you don't mind that I took this time to catch up a little with an old friend" Bruce said bringing Zatanna over to the table and pulling the chair out for her
"No of course not" Zatanna said not taking her eyes off of her father
"Well I'll leave now, just wanted to say hello, and drop this off for Zatarra" Bruce said dropping an envelope on the table "This is all the documentation needed for all your possessions that we kept, just need some signatures on your part. Also some pictures of the big events over the last five years from Zatanna's life, you know dances and graduation and the such"
"You did all that for us?" Zatanna asked
"An agreement we made long ago" He said with a smile "Have fun"
At that he tuned and walked out of the room. Tim and Barbra walked out and brought two glasses of the wine from the car and a bucket with ice for the rest of the bottle and a basket of some bread and left just as quickly without anything more then a smile.
Zatanna stared ahead and was trying to find out if she had maybe fallen asleep while Artemis and Megan were making fun of her and life was just playing some cruel joke on her. She subtly pinched herself under th tale and when it hurt she cringed a little.
"So, you still do that pinching thing?" Zatarra said with a chuckle
"Daddy?" Zatanna asked
"How have you been darling?" Giovanni asked
Zatanna got up and ran around the table, Zatarra doing the same and they hugged. Zatanna was now crying she was so happy. Zatarra was trying to hold back tears and not doing great at it, but better then his daughter.
"How?" Zatanna said between sobs
"Your friend is very persuasive" he responded with a chuckle
"Dick did this? How?" She asked surprised
"He came to Fate with a deal a year ago or so, Fate denied him on multiple occasions. But he came back again a week or so ago much more determined to get Fate to go for the deal, even said he would fight him for it. Finally Nabu agreed" Giovanni explained
"What was the deal? And he was seriously going to fight Dr. Fate? Is he insane?" Zatanna exclaimed
"He was raised by the Batman, of course he's insane" Tim said popping up behind the two magicians "We have your salad and or soup ready, unless you want us to come back in a little bit?"
"No that's ok" Zatanna said letting go of her father and sittting back down "Wait what was the deal Fate agreed to?"
"Ah yes, well he came to Nabu and asked him to release me and of course Nabu said no. So then he asked if he would agree to a deal where I put the helmet on and became Dr. Fate for missions and then took the helmet off after the mission was over. At first Fate said no and Robin, I'm sorry, Nightwing sweetened the deal by saying I would wear the helmet for a full day every week to keep him company, now that i think about all this, I should be a little mad he was negotiating with my life" Zatarra said with a chuckle "But a week ago he came in very determined and said that he would fight for the deal to go through, and if he lost, Nightwing would take over as Dr. Fate"
"WHAT? IS HE CRAZY" Zatanna yelled
"I thought that new Robin already said that is what happens when raised by Batman' Zatarra said with a smile "Well Nabu saw the determination in his eyes after making this statement, especially in the way he wielded his weapons, and agreed to his deal as long as I put the helmet on for all missions"
"So, does this mean your back?" Zatanna asked "For good"
"Yes, my dear. Unless I am sent on a mission, or it is Tuesday, no helmet" He said proudly
"Why Tuesday?" Zatanna said confused
"Your friend said you are busy most of the day Tuesday so it is the perfect day for me to be Fate for the day" Zatarra replied
"Of course he would know" She said with a smile
"I sense he is more then a friend" Giovanni said with a smile
"We dated for a while, but are just good friends now' She said with a blush
"Why did you two stop dating?" He asked back "From the few times i was able to see you two together through Nabu's eyes, you looked very happy"
"He went to a very dark place after Jason was killed. After he broke up with me saying it was for my safety, I didn't see him for like two months. After the team got through to him, we reconciled, but thought it would be better to stay friends for a while. Then the whole invasion thing happened and we never really got around to talking about it again." Zatanna said
"So is it safe to assume you will be talking about it soon?" Zatarra asked
"You too? Aren't you supposed to be trying to get the boys away from me?" Zatanna said laughing
"The wrong boys" Zatarra said "But you found the perfect boy my dear. Even with magic, I couldn't find any reason to try and steer you away from that boy. And that's not just because he got me out of that helmet"
"He is special" Zatanna said deep in thought
"Anyway, I'm sure it will all work out with him for you, he is crazy about you after all. Why dont we look over some of these pictures while we enjoy our meal" Zatarra said opening the folder
"Sure daddy" Zatanna said
-LINEBREAK-
Dick walked into the kitchen of Wally and Artemis' apartment in his towel after his shower knowing full well that they wont be back anytime soon. He tapped his Bluetooth headphones to get them to work knowing he was still in range of his phone, but that split second his music skipped was all he needed to find out he wasn't alone. He sensed the other person was right behind him and he turned around getting in a defensive stance pulling out a bat-r-and the same time the intruder turned on the lights of the kitchen to reveal... Zatanna?
"Calm down Dick its just me" She said giggling "Did i finally sneak up on the fearless Nightwing?"
"Probably would have if my music didn't skip" He said taking out his headphones and putting the weapon on the counter
"Wait. Where was that?" Zatanna said pointing to the Bat-r-ang and looking at Dick confused
Dick shook his head and lowered the towel enough to show his utility belt
"You showered with that on?" She said surprised
"Second thing Batman taught me" he said making a joke
"Of course it is" she said
"So what are you doing here? I thought you'd be at dinner still" Dick said looking at the clock
"Witch boy started attacking, so per your new agreement, Nabu was needed. Guess we'll see if he holds up on his end of the bargain" She said a little disappointed
"I'm sorry Zee, i was really hoping they wouldn't need him for a while and you'd get a few uninterupted days with him before his day of Fate, Tim's wording not mine." Dick finished with a small laugh "And dont worry about him backing out, according to your dad he made some magicians agreement with him or something that is unbreakable"
"Speaking of which, what were you thinking challenging a lord of order to a fight?" Zatanna asked
"Yeah, not my brightest idea, I had a lot of extra confidence that day for some reason." dick joked
"Thats saying something considering your usual level of confidence" Zatanna said with a laugh
"So why are you here? And how did you get in?" Dick asked
"Well besides the key Artemis gave me when they moved in, i could have just used magic"
"They gave you a key? What they hell? I didn't get one" Dick said
"You never use the door" Zatanna said with a smile
"Good point' Dick laughed
"As to why I'm here, I came to talk to Artemis figuring she'd be back from her mission with Wally by now" She said
"Mission?"Dick said confused
"Yeah, you sent her on it earlier" she said
Dick thought for a second before he realized what she was talking about
"Ooohhh, yeah that was fake" he said
"What?"
"yeah, not giving away anything, she will definately want to be the one to tell you, but that was a throw off" he said
"Great more secrets" she said
"Sorry Zee, had to keep it a secret. Wish I could have been there to see your face though, Bruce said it was priceless"
"Well it was the last thing I expected going into the night" she said blushing "especially since everyone kept telling me it was you"
"Really?" He said
"Well just Artemis and Megan, they kept saying it was how you were going to win me back" she said
As soon as the words came out of her mouth her eyes went wide. She did not want to bring this up for at least a few days.
"Did it work?" Dick asked seriously
"Is that really why you did it?" She asked surprised
"No, of course not. Ive been trying for almost two years to get him to agree. Tim and Barbra kept saying that's why i was trying so hard, but honestly i would have done it even if we never dated" dick said "I just realized I'm still in only a utility belt and towel. I'll be right back and we can finish this conversation"
He left to go the guest room and change leaving Zatanna in the living room. She stared after him for a couple seconds before throwing her purse on the couch muttering a 'screw it' and followed the former boy wonder.
When she opened the door to a surprised nightwing she crossed the room quickly and grabbed his face and gave him a long passionate kiss. She pulled away and stared into Dicks very confused blue eyes.
"It worked"
A/N:
I know its been awhile since i updated and i will try to finish this up soon. I will be starting a new story soon as well so look for that. All those who guessed it was her dad good job, although i feel like i made it painfully obvious. I'm not that happy with the way this chapter came out. After rereading it it feels kinda rushed but I'm just trying to get this story done and its late.
-Dwight Schrutte-
