No more countdown to death! WOOHOO!

As Rose Petals Fall

Chapter 35:

Walking, Sweets and Revenge

You can imagine the frenzy the media got into when it was revealed Dick Grayson had miraculously survived his coma. But it came with a cost... he could no longer write. He knew all the letters and numbers and etc in his head but his hands just didn't have the dexterity to hold a pencil anymore. He also didn't have quite the same passion for mathematics than before. But, since these were two minor parts of his life, Dick pretty much woke-up the same person as he was before.

He was a bit weak from it all so stuck to sitting back in an motorized wheelchair. His optimism and positivity were re-emerging but he remained a bit forgetful. Dick did have short-term amnesia, which was normal for coma patients, but that was only temporary and Dr. Lance was helping him along with remembering the bits and bobs he'd forgotten. There was one thing that hadn't changed... he was still in love with Zatanna. They spent nearly all of their time together, just talking or laughing or helping the other through basic check-ups.

There was just one more task... walking. Zatanna hadn't walked yet but the doctors said her bones were strong enough and her muscles were healthy. She stood at the end of the duel railings and supported herself against them. Dick was sitting in his motorized wheelchair at the end.

"C'mon, Zee! You can do it, babe!" he said.

"Did you just call me 'babe'?" Zatanna asked, smiling at him.

"I'll get you freshly made cookies if you do this!" Dick tempted her.

"Ooh! Now that's a goal!" she exclaimed.

Steadily, she slid her real foot forward and put pressure on it. She hissed but continued on by dragging her prosthetic leg up from behind her. Zatanna hissed in pain again but she successfully completed one step. Now came the really hard part; she moved what was left of her right leg forward and it moved the fake leg into a bent position at the knee joint. Awkwardly, Zatanna leaned forward and lowered her right leg so its prosthetic foot landed in front of her real one. With beads of sweat on her forehead, she put pressure on her prosthetic leg and screwed her face up in effort as she followed it up with moving her real one onwards.

"One more step, Zee, and you'll have done three! C'mon, you can do it!" Dick encouraged her.

Zatanna smiled at him and summoned the strength to put pressure on her real foot. She lifted her prosthetic leg up and moved it forward. She leaned onto it and hissed with pain before falling to her knees. Zatanna looked up at Dick and they smiled at each other.

"Three steps! Do I get cookies now?" she asked, panting.

Dick looked at her with shock before smiling at her and sliding out of his wheelchair. He crawled over to her and they smiled at each other.

Yes, Zatanna did get her cookies. She sat at the café table as she dunked her cookie into a glass of milk. She had quite the sweet tooth and she could be very vicious if you kept her away from her treats (seriously, never get between her and her sweets). Dick was drinking a banana and mango smoothie as he watched her eat. He loved the glint in her eyes whenever she had deliciousness in her. The two of them were quite a strange pair but they were also the perfect match.

"So, we've punched death in the face. What now?" Dick asked.

"Well, I guess we should try to readjust to normal life," Zatanna said, slurping up the milk.

"Ah, but my life has never been normal," he said, pouting "So... are you going back to Italy?"

"Nah," said his girlfriend "Dad says it'll be best for us to stay in America,"

Dick couldn't help but be happy about that. They said long-distance relationships never worked out and he didn't feel ready to put their young love to that test. Zatanna looked at the relieved look on his face and she reached over to take his hand.

"I love you, babe," she said, smiling as she used the cliché pet name.

"I love you too," Dick said, putting his hand over hers "Now, let's go get revenge on that annoying reporter who's been messing with our lives. You know, the one that revealed I was in a coma,"

Zatanna grinned and nodded. They hated that reporter with a fiery passion and they had tracked down the idiot's name... G. Gordon Godfrey.

Godfrey was returning to his dressing room when the door slammed shut behind him. In the mirror of his dressing table was the reflection of two teenagers he wasn't too fond of. Both sat in their wheelchairs with a smug expression on their faces.

"Hello, G.G," Dick said "Harassed anyone's paraplegic girlfriend lately?"

"Grayson! What are you doing here? Get out!" Godfrey exclaimed.

"Sorry but we're here to hand this over to you," Zatanna said and she passed him a piece of paper "We hereby sue you for harassment,"

Godfrey looked at the document and laughed. He scrunched it up and ripped it several times before throwing the pieces at Dick.

"You've got to be kidding me! You two brats can't even drive yet! And you're trying to take me to court? No one would take you seriously! If anything, I should sue you for assault!" Godfrey laughed at them "Now, why don't you two take a lollipop and go home! Unless you want to give me an exclusive on your so-called miraculous recoveries,"

Dick and Zatanna looked at each other.

"Are you saying you really did harass Zatanna?" Dick asked "As in, Zatanna Zatara?"

"Ha! Sure. I, G. Gordon Godfrey, harassed Zatanna Zatara by grabbing her wheelchair and demanding she answer questions for me," Godfrey snickered "Good luck proving I just said that!"

Dick and Zatanna smiled and Zatanna took a camera out from under her wheelchair.

"We don't have to. It's all right here and don't bother trying to destroy the memory card. Dick here hacked into your dumb shows camera feed so anyone watching just saw you confess to harassment. Including our lawyer who's watching from her office," she said.

"That's entrapment!" Godfrey declared.

"We'll see you in court, G.G," said Dick as he held the door open for Zatanna to leave.

They left the reporter alone and held hands as they wheeled along. In truth, it wasn't quite over for Dick because he'd need to have radiotherapy to help prevent a relapse of his tumors. The doctors said that this time there was absolutely NO anomalies that could be another tumor so it was safe to say Dick was in the all clear.

Zatanna looked over at him and smiled. If it wasn't for him, she was pretty sure she wouldn't have had the strength to survive. He saved her life and she saved his. He never would have gone through with the surgeries without her. Sure, he was in a coma for a while but now he was cured. Dick came to a stop as they exited the T.V studio and Zatanna looked up at him. He reached down, cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. She melted against the side of her chair at the gentle passion he conveyed to her made her cheeks burn and her heart race.

"I love you, Zatanna Zatara," Dick said as he pulled away from her.

"I love you too, Richard John Grayson the 2nd," Zatanna said, dreamily looking up at him.

There, an even 35 chapters. Next is the epilogue and then comes my surprise! YAY! Anyways, please review! Review and I'll... give you all cookies! Here...

(::) (::) (::) (::) (::)

Does that look like cookies with four chocolate chips each?