CLIMAX!


As Rose Petals Fall

Chapter 28:

Two Letters

...The next day...

When Zatanna opened her eyes that morning, she was met by the sight of a dozen roses on her bedside table. She smiled as she sat up and picked the bouquet up to sniff. Happily, she saw a letter within the flowers and took it out to read. What she read terrified her:

Dear Zatanna,

Over the past few months you've made me so happy. Now you're in remission and I can't help but feel like the memory of me will only cause you pain. So, I decided to do something drastic. I'm going into surgery to have my tumors removed. If it kills me, well, I only had two months left anyway. But, it could save my life and if I live then you won't be burdened with the memory of my death. I'm going into surgery at 9 a.m. but I just wanted to tell you something...

I love you, Zatanna Zatara, and I have since we first met.

With love,

Your Dickie-bird

XOXO

Stunned, Zatanna dropped the roses and they fell to the floor. They say being willing to die for something was the ultimate act of loyalty and love but it wasn't... being willing to live was. Dick was willing to live just so she wouldn't be burdened with his death. Zatanna thought back to the day she first met him and remembered how he had said surgery was too dangerous. He had put that the surgery was to commence at 9 a.m. but one look at the clock told her it was only 8:54.

"Diana!" Zatanna yelled, frantically pushing the nurse alert button "Diana!"

She had to see Dick before the operation. She had to tell him she loved him too! She had to... she loved him. Hurriedly, Zatanna pulled on her prostetic leg and tried to shift herself into her wheelchair. When Diana entered, she frantically asked what was happening but all Zatanna said was...

"I've got to see Dick!"


Dick lay back in his bed as they took him to the operating theater. They'd removed all hair on his head and all he had on top was his beanie. His stomach was doing backflips but not because he was about to go into brain surgery. It was because he left his girlfriend a letter telling her he loved her.

"Dickie-bird!"

He looked up to see Zatanna coming his way at high speed. She was pushing her wheelchair along so fast that the wheels were giving her burns on her fingertips. Diana was lagging far behind. Zatanna came to a crash/stop by Dick's bed and she grabbed his arm.

"Dick..." she sobbed and took his hand "I love you too!"

Dick leaned out of bed and hugged her. Zatanna threw her arms around him and cried.

"I love you, Zatanna," he said, rubbing her back "Everything's going to be okay... I promise,"

"You promise?" Zatanna whimpered.

Dick kissed her and she kissed back. They wrapped their arms around each other the best they could at that angle and held onto each other. Sadly, they had to let go and Zatanna sat in her chair, helpless, as her boyfriend was taken into surgery.


Zatanna didn't speak for the rest of the day. Her heart ached for her boyfriend. She was laying in bed that evening when Diana entered with a bouquet of asters.

"These were at the front desk for you," Diana said, quietly but got no response "The delivery man said they're from a Richard Grayson the 2nd?"

Zatanna instantly sat up and took the bouquet of flowers from her nurse. Within the daisies was a letter timestamped for earlier that morning. She sniffed the red-and-yellow asters before opening the letter.

Dear Zatanna,

If you're reading this then I'm still in surgery. I want to tell you that things may not have worked out this way but fate made it so. When I was 14 and had my first tumor, the doctors did an MRI to take a look. On the image there was an anomaly but they didn't look into it. That anomaly was a second tumor that, had they removed back then, would have prevented my relapse and I wouldn't have spent my adolescence in hospital. But that also meant I wouldn't have met you and I wouldn't trade our time together for anything in the world, not even for a miracle cure.

Remember to live your life, Zatanna.

With love,

Dick

Zatanna held the latter in her hand and she sobbed. She curled up into a ball and cried, tears running down her face. She couldn't help but rock as she either cried into her knees or threw her head back. The last time she felt so miserable was when her mother died...