"I can't believe that we are finally here!" Zatanna was ecstatic about her vacations with Dick in Rome.
"It was about time for us to get another vacation" She clings to his arm. She was wearing a backless lavender summer dress with a white hat and sandals. He was wearing white shorts and a matching lavender shirt with his sleeves rolled up because she loved when he does that.
"Let's go shopping. The stores in here are to die for!"
"Don't you have enough clothes?" Zee stops her tracks cold and look at him in a murderous way.
"Dick, I love you but if you say something as dumb as that again…I'm hexing your mouth away"
"What I was trying to say is that you never have enough clothes, beautiful…he-he-he"
"Better" She kisses his cheek before dragging him to the clothes district.
"How does this look on me?" Dick has lost count on how many stores and dresses, shoes, hats and bunch of clothes that he could not remember the name of, she has tried and every single one, she looked like a goddess.
"Stunning, Zee"
"You said the same about the last dress?"
"What can I say when everything looks good in you?" The lady from the store had to agreed with the man.
"Fine. One more dress and we go to another store" Dick asks for the price of the dress she was currently trying and almost fainted hearing the price. After a couple of moments, Zatanna was out of the dressing room with black dress with a opening that reached up to her mid tight and hugged her curves just the right way.
"What do you think about this one?" Dick gets closer to her with a predatory look in his eyes.
"I think that I didn't know that I was strong enough"
"Huh?"
"You look so sexy and gorgeous. I want to rip this dress off you and make you mine" Zee blushes at her boyfriend's boldness.
"We are taking the dress and the shoes and the bag"
"How are you paying?"
"Debit card" The acrobat beat the magician to answer.
"Right away, sir"
"What are you doing? I can pay for this…"
"I know but that doesn't mean that I can't threat you with something every other time"
"You threat me all the time. I just don't want to spend all your money in something for me…"
"Hey! For the way you looked in that dress…this is a much as gift to me as it is for you"
"But?"
"C'mon, Zee. Let me spoil you" Dick never felt bad about earning so much less than her, it was all the way around, he was happy for her success and wanted nothing more for her than to reach the stars.
"Fine but I'm paying for the shoes"
"Not a chance but nice try" They finally left the store. Dick was struggling to walk with all her bags.
"Zee. Can't you send all this to our room?"
"Huh? Yeah, sorry. Sgab ot ruo letoh moor!"
"Thanks" The sorceress spotted from the corner of her eye a special store. A store that she wanted to go without Dick to surprise him later that night when they were alone.
"Why don't you go a grab something to drink, and I check this store really quick?"
"Sure" They parted ways and Dick went to buy a couple of bottles of water.
"Mommy! Daddy!" He turns his gaze towards a little girl that seems to be lost, looking for her parents.
"Hey! Are you lost?" The girl nods to the nice man in front of her.
"My name is Richard, but you can call me Dick. What's your name?"
"Emma"
"That's a really nice name. Do you know the name of your parents?" She shakes her head no.
"Where was the last place you see them?"
"I don't know. I can't remember" Dick frowns at that. Zatanna finally comes out from the store and sends her surprise to her hotel room before spotting Dick talking to a kid.
"What are you doing?"
"Hey, Zee. This is my new friend Emma"
"Hi, cutie"
"Hi"
"Emma lost her parents and can't remember their names or where she last saw them" The girl looks at the couple quizzically and was about to cry.
"Don't cry, Emma. Here, I have this for you" He pulls a lollipop out of thin air. And the girl happily accepted.
"A lollipop? Really?"
"Bruce's idea"
"Woow"
"Are you a magician?" The little girl pulls Dick's shirt to call for his attention.
"Actually, no. I'm a detective but this pretty lady, she's a magician" Her eyes shined like diamonds.
"Really?" Zatanna did a quick move with her hand and make her hat appear and pull a Nightwing plushie out of her hat.
"This is for you, sweetie" The girl hugs her new plushie.
"What do we do?"
"Let's take her to the authorities" They did as plan but without an answer. Apparently, there was an increase in missing parents and the kids not remembering how their parents looked like or their names.
"This is getting complicated"
"What do we do?"
"I miss my mama and papa" That's when idea crosses the magician's mind and kneels in front of Emma.
"Emma. Would you allow me to see your parents? Can you think of them? Maybe that way I can find them faster" She nods.
"Wohs em reh stnerap!" Zatanna eyes shined for a moment.
"Any luck?"
"No. She can't remember them if I try to push harder, I might hurt her…"
"Sir?"
"What is it?"
"Do you know where my parents are?"
"We are still trying to figure that out"
"Why don't you look like a detective?"
"Because we are on vacation but since this case is important…I guess I need my tools. Do you want to help me out?"
"Yes!"
"What are you doing?" Zatanna whispers at his ear.
"Follow my lead. I need you to do this" He whispers to her ear and Zee smiles at his idea.
"You are so sweet" She pecks him on the lips.
"Emit rof a wen kool!" A curtain of smoke surrounds the the three of them changing their clothes to a trench coat, fedora hat, shirt and tie, high rise pants and shoes. Zatanna's coat, fedora, tie, pants and heels were purple, Dick's outfit was blue, and Emma's was pink.
"Now we are dressed for this. Let's get to work"
"But Dick, we don't have any leads…"
"Actually, we do. Her shoes and pants were covered in dirt when I found her. Likely for playing, she smelled like grass and her hands were purple. She must have been playing in a wine vineyard and there's one no far from here. We should start there" Zee would never be not impressed with his detective's skills and his capacity on noticing even the smallest detail.
"Investigators!" Dick exclaimed a little to excited with the girls following their lead.
"The place looks normal. People are going in and out like it's nothing…"
"Emma. Do you remember this place?" She shakes her head no.
"What about we go in?"
"With her?"
"Yeah. She's safer with us besides…we have a Justice Leaguer taking care of us" After a quick tour through the premises, the couple did detect that something was off with the place. Due to the different clothes of Emma, the tour guide didn't recognize her, but Emma hide herself behind Dick for protection. As far as the tour guide knew, they were a family going on vacation and their daughter loved the detective and decide to dress up for her.
"We better come back later at night. Let's get Emma to the hotel and leave her there just in case"
"Did you bring your suit?"
"No, I was expecting nice vacation and not solving a case"
"Then let me suit us up"
"Wait!" Zee was about to change their clothes, but her boyfriend stopped her.
"What?"
"Nightwing can be seeing in Rome and much less with you. They already took photo of Justice Leaguer Zatanna Zatara and Richard Grayson during your shopping spree"
"I have an idea"
"Why did you put me these clothes?" They were watching the heavy guards around the perimeter of the vineyard.
"What? You look very handsome in that outfit and besides I was your assistant as detective…is only fair you are my assistant now"
"You are enjoying this"
"Totally" Dick was wearing a magician outfit with a black domino mask and his hair was dyed in white.
"We better move" With stealth on their side they manage to infiltrate within the perimeter. Not sure was going on, they knocked with care the guards.
"Okay, Zee on me" Dick took the lead. Zee uses her magic to make her step inaudible to her foes while Dick used his ninja skills.
"This is bad" They reached the out off-limits part, and they found many couples. All of the couple were exhausted, they were connected to some bikes and were doing exercise nonstop, others were stepping on the grapes and other cleaning the place.
"That's it. They are using the couples from the tour to get free labour"
"But what about Emma's memories?"
"The grapes and the wine. They use the wine to confuse the parents and trapped them here while they offered grapes to the kids to juggle their memories of them…"
"They are going to pay for this. All those kids"
"Easy, Zee. We better found who is behind all this."
"But the couples?"
"Try to stay whelmed if we release them now, we won't know who's behind this and this will happen again" Dick took he hand.
"Don't worry. Emma and all the other kids are getting their parents back" She nods to him as their reach another sub-level.
"Okay…who's that and what he's doing?!" The spotted a man that looked like a zombie in a suit with his black skin and was surrounded by even more couples that were lying still on the floor.
"Brother Night. He's getting stronger by taking the souls of this people"
"That doesn't sound good. Zee, can you take him down while I take down his goons"
"I was hoping you would say that" They look at each other before jumping in action. Dick used his card like weapons to knock the henchman and knock Eldon's muscle without much effort.
"Eldon, you are done with this"
"Zatara! What are you doing here?"
"Making you pay for those couples, for those kids!"
"Dleihs!" She covers herself and the unconscious people with her spell from Night's attack.
"Dnas part!" The enemy was being swallow by the ground beneath him and that gave her the chance to reach him.
"Sluos eerf dna og Kcab ot rieht nwo ydob!" The souls got back to their body and in the other side of the city, with Brother Night's out of commission. The kids started to get their memories back.
"We can't thank you enough for saving us and taking care of our baby girl" Alessandro, Emma's father was beyond grateful.
"It's what we do"
"I can't believe that a Justice Leaguer and top show Zatanna Zatara save us!" Sophia, Emma's mother, couldn't hold back her excitement.
"That too. We are big fans of your shows!"
"Thanks, but I didn't do it alone…my handsome assistant was the one who cracked the case"
"Aren't you Richard Grayson?"
"Yeah"
"And what's with the outfit?"
"Well, unlike her…I'm a detective from BPD and have not jurisdiction here if I show my face around, I'd get in so much trouble. The League has good relationship with this city…"
"Well, thank you"
"What if we change that?"
"What do you mean?"
"I run a large company of Detective's that can work with jurisdiction around the world. The pay is really good, you can travel a lot with your partner and we just need to sign a contract of exclusiveness wi-"
"Sorry but the only exclusiveness that I do…is to be her loving partner" Dick pulls Zatanna by the waist and kiss her on the cheek.
"Detective Grayson, stop it" Zatanna giggles with his affection.
"And sorry for getting in the way of your vacation"
"Don't worry about that. We still have more time to enjoy this place"
"Dick! Can you show me again how to juggle?" Emma was tugging Grayson's shirt again.
"Honey. The adults are talking"
"Don't worry. Of course, Em. I was getting boring with all this adult talk, let me show you how is done" Alessandro follow her daughter and the detective to make sure her daughter wouldn't bother the young man much.
"You are your husband are really sweet" Zee turns beet red.
"We are not married…"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I just assume that you were marry but maybe not to the public knowledge because of the show business or some league deal"
"No, It's nothing like that. He can take care of himself"
"Do you live together?"
"Yeah. Like for 8 years now"
"Then marriage is just a formality. I can see that you love him"
"So much" The woman turns their gaze to Dick teaching Emma how to do a cartwheel before Chalant cross looks and he winks at her.
"The way he looks at you…you are very lucky. Not everyone looks at their partner that way after so many years of being together"
"He really is something else"
"And children" She shakes her head.
"Well, I'm sure that you are going to be the best parents"
"How do you know that? I mean we take care of Emma just for a day an-"
"Child. Do you know about the red thread story?"
"When did you buy this?" Zatanna emerges from the bathroom in her brand-new black lingering and nightgown.
"I take you like it"
"This isn't fair"
"What?"
"Why didn't you take me to seeing trying this?! Is not fair" She chuckles at his reaction.
"I wanted to surprise you"
"That word doesn't begin to cut it" He embraces her in a heated kiss and grabs her butt and lift her up as she hugs his waist with her legs.
"You are very brave" Between kisses. He barely manages to make words.
"Using these sexy clothes"
"With your long legs"
"Amazing body"
"Gorgeous face"
"Knowing that I won't be able to control myself" She bites his bottom lip, pulling it slightly, earning a raspy groan for him.
"But I need you to control yourself for a moment"
"What? Why?" He returns the bite.
"Mmm…Baby?" Hearing the tone of her voice. He barely manages to keep it together and stop his attack, but he knew that it must be something important. She is just as horny as he is.
"What is it, Zee?"
"Are you familiar with the red threat legend?"
"The Japanese one?" She nods.
"Sure. What about it?"
"Do you believe in the story?"
"Mmm…where are you going with this?"
"The basis of this legend is that, thanks to the Gods, everyone's little finger is tied to an invisible red string that will lead him or her to another person to which the other end is tied and with whom they have an important story.
According to legend, this is true to all people, regardless of time, place, or circumstance" She pulls away from him and sits on the bed and he follows her.
"Do you think that we are at the end of each other's thread?"
"Yeah. I mean with Diana and Billy we know that the legends of the Greek gods are true so isn't far fetched to think that this one is true as well"
"But you didn't answer my question"
"Zee, I believe that if the legend it's true, we are at the end of each other's thread, but I don't need a story to know that you are my end and beginning"
"I believe that I can use my magic to see if we are connected…but what if we aren't?"
"Then the legend is wrong. No one and nothing will ever make me doubt my love for you" He places one of his hands on her cheek, giving her the courage to try it. He was right, she loved him and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, and nothing is going to change that.
"Laever eht daerht!" It took a few moments for the spell to show the results at first she thought that they weren't connected until a shiny red thread appeared, connecting their pinkies to the other. She could hold her smile and throw herself at his arms.
"See? What did I tell you?"
"You were right but string or not string…you are my destiny" She nuzzles his chest and lays on top of him and stay there with the moonlight lighting their hotel room.
"It was nice to see Emma with her parents. We did a great work"
"Of course. We are the best team; you are a pretty good assistant"
"Excuse me?"
"Yeah. You were a great Watson to my Sherlock. A really hot and sexy version of Watson" She chuckles at his comment.
"You were pretty great with her. You are amazing with kids…"
"I love kids and you were pretty awesome too. You were a Mama Bear; you cared and show a lot of love to a girl that you just met"
"I'm sure that you are going to be an amazing father…" Dick's eyes got wide open with that.
"Zee…" She bites her bottom lip, her indirect worked.
"Do you want to have kids?"
"Yeah. I mean, I know we don't discuss this that much but after spending time with Emma and seeing how amazing you were with her and how wonderful you are with me…"
"Zee" She finally looks him at the eyes.
"I want our family to get bigger too" That was everything she needed to hear to embrace him in a hungrily kiss and straddles him as he takes her nightgown off and flips them around to be on top of her.
"Oh, Dick!" She moans his name as he keeps licking, biting, and kissing her neck at the same he was cupping her breast as she just keeps playing with his hair.
"Are you sure that we are ready for this?" She pushes him a little bit, to ask for the last time.
"I'm sure that I'm ready for whatever comes next as long as I'm with you" The determination and love in his eyes was everything she needed.
"Lleps ffo!" The moon was their only witness of their dance of love.
"Oh my god! I'm so nervous about this" The couple were seated on the floor of their bathroom.
"Can't you use your magic to know what's going on?"
"You were the one that wanted to have this experience like normal people"
"And since when you listen to me?"
"That's a g-"
Beep* Beep* Beep*
"It's ready"
"I know, I heard the beep too!" They stand up in a second. Zatanna took the test but handled it to Dick.
"I can't see! You look at it" She closes her eyes and squeezes his hand.
"Okay…"
Thud* Zatanna opens her eyes upon hearing the stick touching the ground, assuming the worst she hugs him without seeing his face.
"Don't wor-"
"We are pregnant!"
"What?"
"We are pregnant! You are pregnant! We are going to be parents, Zee!" He hugs her tighter and lifts her as he starts planting kisses all over her face.
"Are you sure?"
"100%" Finally, catching up with the news. She cups his face and gives him their biggest kiss to date and could taste the salt from their tears of joy.
"We are going to be parents, Dick!"
"I know!"
"IM GOING TO BE A MOM!"
"AND IM GOING TO BE A DAD!" They screamed with all their might at the top of their lungs.
"I LOVE RICHARD JOHN GRAYSON!"
"AND I LOVE ZATANNA ZATARA!" Still in her arms, she keeps her kissing assault. Pecking his lips without stopping.