Zatanna
Shadowcrest

For the first time since Mexico, she had a dreamless sleep. She had grand intentions of wearing Bruce out the rest of the night, but as soon as they slid into bed and curled up, they were both asleep. The house didn't mind him being there, even cooling the bedroom a few degrees so they would be comfortable cuddling. It was mid morning when he woke her, his voice finally bringing her around.

"Zatanna?" He sounded concerned.

"Mmm, what's wrong?" Her brain was half awake.

"Do you have a cat?"

"Asshole." He looked down at her, confused. "Oh, not you. It's his name."

"Why?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Why do you ask?"

"He's glaring at me."

"That's just his face," she mumbled, burying herself back into his chest. It was the first time she had woken up in his arms and she loved the feel of his body against hers. Just as she was about to doze off again, the cat shoved his head between their bodies and stretched out, purring.

"Yep, there it is," Zee said. "Weird...he usually hates everyone."

"Lucky me," Bruce replied, not sounding overly thrilled.

"Go away, cat. I'll feed you later. And if you don't, I'll kiss you and baby talk for half an hour."

Asshole looked up and hissed at her before hopping of the bed and leaving the room.

"Why do you have a cat you don't like?"

"The house let him in. If the house wants a cat, it gets a cat," she replied, matter-of-factually.

He laughed and ran his hands through her hair. "You slept."

"Mmm hmm. Did you?" She still had her face pressed to his skin, not wanting to lose his warmth.

"Yeah. Brandy and sex...guaranteed sleep combination."

She smiled and finally looked up at him. He seemed more relaxed than she had ever seen him.

"Glad I could help." Her mind drifted as they laid there, his hand still stroking her hair, eyes half closed. Despite her best efforts, she began to think about her visions. She wanted desperately to tell him...tell anyone. It felt like she was hiding something vital - keeping a secret that could impact more than just her. He would hate her if he found out what she was keeping from him, but she knew that telling him was not an option. As her mind warred with itself, her expression must have changed, because his hand finally went still and he looked into her eyes, brow furrowed.

"Zee? What is it?"

She swallowed hard, trying to will her voice to sound steady. "Nothing. My mind was just wandering."

"To where?"

Think of a good lie. Don't make this worse.

"Mexico." Not the best choice to keep him relaxed, but also not entirely untrue. She was a shitty liar.

He studied her face for a moment before nodding and resuming his hair stroking.

"I'm sorry you had to be there. No one should have to see that." His lips pressed to her forehead and she sighed, relieved that she had gotten away with not telling him what she was really thinking. Deciding eye contact was dangerous, she kissed his chest and pulled him closer. Even knowing what her future held, she naturally felt safer in his massive arms. She dozed back off, wanting more of the dreamless sleep while she could get it.

Bruce
Shadowcrest

She was lying. He wasn't sure about what, but her face gave her away. Years of interrogation and intimidation had trained him to find every tell a person had. Increased heart rate, dilated pupils, faster breathing, muscle tension...they were all clues. The look on Zatanna's face before he had spoken was one of fear and sadness. His instinct was to pressure her to tell him what was really wrong, but he decided it wasn't the time or place. He also didn't want to ruin a rare quiet moment for either of them; his life never allowed for many.

Her breathing had returned to the slow, even pace that indicated sleep. He still had a million things to do, but couldn't bring himself to disturb her. The steady in and out of her breath and the feel of her soft body against his lulled him back to sleep.

It was after noon when his communicator finally roused him. Barb had the results of the comparison between the shipping manifest and the diary; she wanted to meet him at the Batcave at 3:00. Yawning and stretching, he rolled onto his back only to be faced with glaring cat eyes again.

"I won't kiss or baby talk you, but I will skin you alive," he growled at the sour-faced fur ball. Asshole turned in a circle and curled up on his stomach, purring. "Dammit."

Zatanna's laugh made him turn his head.

"He finally found his dream man," she said, grinning at him with her eyes half open.

"I guess I don't speak cat. Is he going to bite me if I move him? I need to go to the bathroom."

"Maybe. But you're on you own, because he'll sure as hell bite me." She was clearly getting a lot of enjoyment out of his reluctance to take on the tiny creature that had claimed him.

Carefully scooping up the purring mess, he slid out of the bed and went to the bathroom. When he returned, Zatanna was sitting up and scratching behind the cat's ear, clearly more fond of him than she let on.

"I have to leave. Barb has some information on Maroni I need to review."

"Okay. Need help?" She offered, still looking drowsy...or hung over.

"Not that I know of. I'll call you if some hocus pocus is required."

She nodded before getting up and hugging him. He kissed the top of her head and tried to pull away, but she held on to him.

"Thanks for staying last night. I slept better," she said quietly.

"Haven't been sleeping?"

"Too much noise in my head."

He pulled back slightly and raised an eyebrow. "Most people would take that the wrong way."

"Oh, I'm definitely insane. At least, that's what everyone tells me," she said, finally letting him go and walking to the bathroom. "Let me know if you need anything. And don't climb out the window, someone might see and call the cops."

Batcave

"They didn't inspect the crates?"

"Nope," Barb replied. "My guess is that they were paid well to ignore them. The manifest lists them as 'organic material'."

"Any correlation with the diary?" He asked, hoping for something to go on.

"Maybe. Let me show you." She walked to the table where the diary was lying open. "This address here. It's the only one that isn't a business or a residence. It's an empty piece of land northeast of Cairo, not far from the port."

"Satellite photos?"

"Working on that. Also trying to get access to a drone in the area to run infrared."

He thought for a moment. "I could fly the Batplane there. Canvass the site."

"Well, that's a terrible idea," she said, giving him a look that made it clear she thought he was an idiot. "It's Egypt. They'll shoot you down."

"I have stealth."

"No. Just let me do my job, Bruce. If I can't find anything, then we'll talk about a suicide mission."

Reluctantly, he nodded in agreement with her plan. He knew he needed to be reigned in at times, but it would be easier to just go there himself. Then again, avoiding an international incident was probably a good call.

"Let me know when you have the drone. I want to be here."

"Yep!" She returned to the computer with a smile. Piece by piece, the puzzle was starting to come together.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed Kate.

"Hey, boss. Figured you would be tracking me down soon. I have some info on that ink. It's from ancient Egypt."

"Did you just say it's..."

"Really freaking old, yes," she said. "Like, first century BC old. It has a copper compound that hasn't been used in centuries."

"So now we have an ancient Egyptian writing in a diary, having it hexed by a magician, and giving it to Sal Maroni," he said, rubbing his temple.

"Looks that way. And an ancient Egyptian somehow shipping something from Aqaba to Gotham with the help of said magician and Maroni."

If he wasn't so frustrated, he would laugh at the statement.

"Thanks Kate. We're making headway. Bring everything you've found to the meeting tomorrow."

Hanging up the phone, he walked to the elevator. His hangover was catching up with him and he needed something to eat. He thought about the night before on the ride up. Once they had crawled into bed, they had both passed out...not what he had intended when Zee asked him to stay.

Too much good brandy.

Sleeping until afternoon wasn't in his original plans, either. As the elevator reached the manor, he was already thinking of ways to make up for it.

Damn addict…

Zatanna
Shadowcrest

"I think you should end with the tiger trick."

"I've done it so many times, Jen. People will get bored with it if I do it over and over."

"I think you should use real magic and make our lives 96% easier," Sophie yawned, tired of the planning session.

"Nope. Defeats the purpose. There's no challenge in that for me and you know it. Look, let's regroup tomorrow. Try to think of something new or something we haven't done in a long time that we can tweak and make even better." Zatanna hugged her friends before they left for the day. The theater was still under construction and they would have to plan and practice at her house until it was ready for them. She was thrilled to have something to think about other than the League. The girls always made her feel better and were blissfully ignorant to all of the horrors that lurked around every corner of the world.

"Gnikrow sehtolc." There was a meeting that night for updates on Maroni. She hoped they had made some headway...preferably headway that didn't require looking at autopsy photos. No longer hesitant to use her magic around Batman, she teleported to the Watchtower early enough to sit in her usual spot near Diana. When she walked into the meeting room, her heart dropped when she saw Nightwing had arrived first.

"Hey, Zee," he said, with a stiff smile on his face.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" She didn't feel like beating around the bush with pleasantries.

"Just wanted to be in on the updates. Got a bad feeling about this whole thing."

"When was the last time you had a good feeling about anything the Justice League deals with?" She reluctantly went to her chair and sat, refusing to retreat from the room until a buffer of people arrived.

"This is...different. Don't tell me you can't feel it." He was staring at her and it was making her uncomfortable. She hated that she couldn't read his eyes behind his mask, and she had to fight the urge to read his mind. Before she could respond, Dinah, Ollie, Barry, and Diana walked in, chatting and breaking the tension in the room.

"Dick? What's going on? Not used to seeing you here," Ollie said, shaking his hand.

"Oh, just hanging out with the cool kids for the evening. Don't mind me."

"How's Blüdhaven?"

"A fucking mess, as usual. But it keeps me busy." He kept casting glances toward Zatanna, who was doing her best to ignore him. Diana sat down and turned to give her a look to indicate she knew exactly how awkward the next hour or so would be. The rest of the team filed in, chatting and greeting Dick as an old friend. Jamie came to sit next to Zee, clearly excited to be in a meeting with the League. Bruce entered last and quickly sat down, not making eye contact with anyone.

"I see we have an extra guest here tonight. Thanks, Dick, we need all the help we can get," he started, focusing on the screen and pulling up the results of Kate's and Barb's investigations. J'onn was happy to help in researching the mineral found in the ink. He had also called in Kimiyo Hoshi to give a medical doctor's thoughts on Maroni's corpse. Dr. Light didn't work with the League often, but she was a useful resource for any medical needs.

They reviewed the information Barb had found on the shipment; the satellite photos were promising, showing tire tracks and footprints that indicated recent activity. She was still trying to get access to a suitable drone. It wasn't exactly something you could buy at the local store...at least not one equipped with the gear they needed.

"Keep trying, but I'll have Lucius work on something in case we have to resort to our own tech," Bruce said before moving on to Jamie and Clark's efforts in Mexico.

"I was hoping some locals had been hired to help at the shack in some way, but no one fessed up to it," Jamie said nervously. He glanced toward Zee and she gave him a small smile and nod, relating to feeling overwhelmed in the big room surrounded with the world's most powerful beings. "They did say there was a black car that would drive past the outskirts of town and to the north every single day at at the same time. The windows were tinted, so they couldn't give a description of the occupants, but..." He cast a glance to Clark, who took over.

"But we found some tracks and I was able to follow them most of the way to Guadalajara before they were obscured in heavier traffic. We're pulling surveillance videos along the way to see if we can track it through the city. It might give us something."

"Good. Clark gathered evidence at the shack, but there wasn't a lot left behind or that wasn't ruined by the heat and the...condition...of the floors and walls." No one needed to be reminded of the state of the shack when they had found it. "We're making headway, people. Let's keep working. We'll figure this out."

"Hopefully before they use whatever's in that shipment," Dinah spoke up, verbalizing what everyone else was thinking.

"Right. I'll send out a message if Dr. Light finds something before next Monday."

As the official part of the meeting finished, everyone stood and started to talk. Zatanna stepped close enough to Bruce to whisper without being obvious.

"You couldn't have warned me he was coming?"

"I knew when you did. He just showed up," he said, still looking at the monitors. She nodded and stepped back before Dick could notice they were talking. Putting her hat and jacket back on, she walked out of the meeting room before she heard his voice calling for her.

"Zee, wait," Dick grabbed her arm and led her down the hall and away from the chatter of the team. "I wanted to talk a minute."

Taking a deep breath and leaning against the wall, she tried to keep her knee-jerk anger toward him under control.

"Okay. What is it?"

"I'm sorry," he said, looking at his feet. "For coming by your house and telling you to stay out of things. I just..." His voice trailed off, eyes still cast downward.

"Just what? Don't think I can handle it?" The anger was trying to surface. She was beginning to forget what it was like to feel anything else around him.

"No! No, that's not it. I just worry about you. I worry that something will happen to you."

"It's the job, Dick. You do the same thing every night you go out in Blüdhaven. And it isn't your job to worry about me," she said, keeping her voice calm but firm.

"It used to be. I wanted it to be. I still want it to be, Zee, I..." He looked up at her for the first time and her heart twisted in her chest.

"Don't. Just don't." She tried to push past him, but he held her arms and kept her against the wall.

"I still love you." His voice was barely audible.

"Stop. It doesn't matter." She knew he was only acting this way now because of the headlines with Bruce and she wasn't going to play his game.

"How can you say that?"

"You know exactly how! You're the one who went off and found someone in Blüdhaven to fuck as soon as you had a chance while I waited at home for you! Don't you dare act like you give a shit about me, Dick Grayson!" Her voice had risen to a scream and she could feel eyes on them. Casting a glance back toward the meeting room, several of her teammates were looking their way. Her eyes caught Bruce's and a wave of dizziness suddenly hit her.

What a fucking mess you've made of things.

She needed to leave...escape the humiliation. Shoving Dick away, she threw her hands up and vanished, rage supplanting her need to use backwards speech.

Bruce
Gotham

He didn't think it was over and he was right. Now everyone on the Watchtower knew what had happened between them. Furious at Dick for showing up just to cause a scene, he told Tim to take the night off so that he could patrol. He didn't want to be home and he didn't want to risk having enough free time to track Dick down and punch him in the face. From what he could tell, he had only come to the meeting to corner Zatanna and they didn't need distractions in the League right now...or ever.

Bruce hated being angry with Dick. He was his son...part of his family. They needed to clear the air before things got worse, but he didn't know where to start. Being honest about Zatanna would probably make things worse. Lying would just lead to more distrust. There wasn't going to be an easy out.

He shook his head, trying to focus on his work instead of the drama he had created for himself. Pulling the Batmobile over, he grappled up 20 stories to a nearby rooftop so he could survey the area. It was a quiet night...for Gotham, at least. He closed his eyes and listened - the thrum of the city around him calming his nerves.

"It's pretty up here." Zatanna's voice made him jump three feet in the air. She was sitting on the ledge, still in her costume.

"What the hell, Zatanna?" So much for calm nerves.

"Sorry. I wanted to find you and apologize. I lost my cool on the Watchtower." Her voice was low and she was staring out over the skyline. He walked closer to her, stopping a couple of feet from the ledge and closing his eyes again.

"I never knew what happened," he said, wanting to know more, but not wanting to run her off.

"No one did. I never told anyone."

"Your father?"

"Oh, especially not him. He would have killed Dick," she said, still facing away. "I don't hate him, you know. He made a mistake...he's young. I just can't seem to stop being mad."

"After your father died, I thought you two had reconciled." He knew he was wading into emotional territory, but she was so closed off that he didn't want to pass on a chance to learn more.

She was quiet for over a minute before she began to speak again, voice barley audible over the breeze. "I tried. I needed someone to make me feel...real...alive. My dad was all I had and when...if I hadn't..." Her voice trailed off.

"I guess I've never known much about what happened there, either."

"I was a fucking idiot and listened to an even bigger idiot. It got my father killed."

He finally opened his eyes and looked at her, not sure what she was saying.

"What do you mean?"

The bat signal suddenly lit up the night sky.

"It doesn't matter," she said, standing up and looking down from the ledge. He knew she could levitate or fly or float if she wanted, but he was still uncomfortable with her precarious stance. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her closer to him (and further from the ledge). She looked at him for the first time. "What's it like? To see that light and know they're calling for you to save them?"

"It makes me think what I do is worth it somehow. Even when it feels like I'm fighting a losing battle...if I can save one person..." She nodded as his voice faded out.

"I'm sorry. About the Watchtower and for showing up here. I guess I didn't know where else to go."

"Nothing to apologize for," he said, disappointed that he wouldn't be hearing the rest of her story. "Except scaring the shit out of me."

A small smile pulled at the corners of her mouth. "Payback for all of the times you've done it to me. Be safe tonight."

"Always."