Bruce
Shadowcrest

His alarm went off a little after 3:00. Zatanna had fallen asleep under him with a book half in her hand. Realizing she was probably going to get no sleep that night, he felt a little guilty. He lifted his head up and looked at her as she slept.

Only a little guilty.

"Hey, sleepy," he said, brushing his hand against her cheek.

"I'm not sleeping, I'm reading. This is how I read." Her eyes were still closed as she mumbled.

"Interesting method. I'm due at the Watchtower."

"Okay. I'll be here reading." She turned over onto her side and opened one eye, smiling at him.

"Lazy. See you at the meeting tomorrow night." He leaned down and kissed her for a long moment, wishing he hadn't slept the entire day with her away. She closed her eye again as he gathered his batsuit and walked to the Zeta tube. "Not even gonna give me clothes, huh?"

"No. Too busy reading. Bye."

He arrived at the Batcave and put his suit in the case before heading up to the bedroom to shower and get dressed. It was his night to run ops at the Watchtower while Batgirl was on patrol. She'd seemed tired recently. Keeping up with school, monitoring, and patrol was more than she really needed to be taking on. She insisted she could handle it, though, and he found her almost as difficult to argue with as Zatanna. He only had so much energy to go around.

"Hey, Bruce." Clark turned to greet him when he arrived in the monitoring room.

"Anything happening today?" He took the empty seat and turned to face the computers.

"Nothing too interesting. Diana is back in DC and Ollie and Dinah went home to Star City." Clark walked toward the exit as he spoke. "I'll be in Metropolis. Let me know if you need anything."

Things were quiet for most of the afternoon. He spent the time cleaning up files and organizing some of their records. Around 6:00, he got a message from John Stewart.

- Word from the Lantern Corps. They can't find the origins of the beasts, because they have no origins. Nothing about them matches any biology in the known universe. They're being fed animals to keep them alive, but are weak and fairly useless without feeding on people. Will update when more is found out. -JS

He needed to reexamine the corpses of the dead ones to see if there was something that might have been missed. If they couldn't find where they were from, they couldn't preempt another attack if others came calling.

Black Adam was still imprisoned, unable to summon his powers since Shazam and Zatanna had changed his word. From reports, he sat mumbling to himself all day...trying to find his way back to the strength he had lost.

We need him to talk.

He pulled up Shazam's name on the screen and typed in a message. If he was going to respond to anyone, it would be his mortal enemy.

- Can you be at our meeting tomorrow night? We need your help. - BW

He leaned back in the chair and watched Barb's tracker on the screen. As she headed toward the slums, he connected to her communicator.

"I'm with you, Batgirl. Let me know if you need anything."

Zatanna
Shadowcrest

Constantine had messaged her again. He wanted to meet Tuesday morning to talk. Despite her reluctance, she decided to take Bruce's advice to hear him out; she could always kill him afterward if she found out he was lying to her. He'd wanted to come to Shadowcrest, but she refused to allow it and warned them that if he tried the wards would send him to the middle of Antarctica without any clothes. She wasn't going to let him manipulate her again. Tuesday would be brief. He would tell her what she needed to know and he would leave her alone. If he didn't, she had plenty of backup to help make sure he regretted it.

"Hey, Zatanna," Kate greeted her when she transported to the tower for their Monday night meeting.

"Hey, how's life?" She went and leaned against the computer desk to chat.

"Good. Bruce is in a good mood today. Did you put a spell on him or something?"

"Ah, yes. The always-reliable good mood spell," she grinned. "I don't know. He slept well, I guess."

"Uh, huh. And I'm sure you didn't do anything to help there..." Kate turned back to the screens as Zee punched her shoulder and rolled her eyes. Being public within the League was weird, but a relief. She and Bruce acted fairly normal around each other, but got their fair share of ribbing from the crew. Mainly her. There weren't a lot brave enough to rib Bruce about anything.

"Meeting's starting," she heard his rumbling voice from down the hall and headed toward it. He gave her a quick smile as she sat down behind him and it gave her the same butterflies it always did.

Such an addict.

They started with an update from the Lanterns that made her uneasy. Everything came from somewhere. The beasts they had fought couldn't have materialized out of thin air, but that was essentially what the Lanterns were suggesting. Shazam was also at the meeting tonight, which was not a regular occurrence.

"Shazam, I was hoping you could pay Adam a visit in prison. No one there has been able to get him to talk, so maybe a familiar face will spark something." Bruce was standing at the front of the room, arms crossed as he leaned against the table.

"I can try, but I feel like us having a civil conversation is a long shot. What would we be talking about?"

"See if he'll tell you anything about those creatures. Where they came from, how he got them. Anything at all will help."

"Okay, I'll give it a try. I can go tomorrow evening. Who do I need to contact at the prison?"

"I've already sent them a message. They'll probably remember you," Bruce smirked and turned back to the monitor. "Victor Stone agreed to come off of reserve until we find J'onn. We don't want to be short handed."

"Anything, Zee?" Diana turned to face her.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. It's weird."

"But promising, right?" Bruce asked. "You told me that death would have left some sort of mark."

"It would, but I'm not sure I'd say that it's promising. My knowledge of Martians is limited to my interactions with him, so there's no telling what kind of differences there might be. I'll stick with 'weird' for now so I don't get my hopes up. I'll keep searching."

He nodded and sat back down.

The rest of the members gave updates from around the globe before the meeting came to an end. She yawned as it did and Bruce smirked at her...she had slept so much with him the day before that she was up all night. He didn't seem to feel very guilty about it, so she shot him a fake glare. It just made him smile wider. When she turned to leave the meeting room, he grabbed her arm and pulled her close.

"Dinner? Alfred's making enchiladas for you."

"For me, huh?" She wrapped her arms around his waist. Everyone else had cleared out of the room.

"Yes, very specifically. He said 'tell Ms. Zatara I'm making enchiladas for her'. I think me being there is very much optional." His Alfred impersonation was finely tuned and it made her laugh.

"He's going to make me fat." Seriously, he is. He would cook for her every night if he could.

"I'll help you burn it off," he said in a low voice that half the League members would still be able to hear.

"Okay, I'll meet you there." She reached up and pecked him on the lips before returning to Shadowcrest. After she fed the cat and checked her wards, she transported to the kitchen at Wayne Manor. They didn't normally spend Monday nights together, so she wondered if something else was up, but Alfred insisted it was his idea.

"It's always so nice to have you here. This may come as a surprise, but Master Bruce is not the best talker."

"I heard that," Bruce said as he entered. He leaned over and kissed her on the side of the head as he sat down. "I'm succinct."

"If you say so, sir. You should have been around him as a child. He never stopped talking from the moment he learned his first words."

Alfred loved to tell her stories about Bruce and she loved to hear them. She was unlikely to quiz him on his life, but she was more than willing to let someone else give her all of the dirt. Bruce would pretend to be upset about it and grumble at him, but she could tell he enjoyed the meals together. It made her miss dinners with her father and having a family.

After they had eaten and Alfred had continued with his tales of Bruce-the-child, she yawned and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Alfred, I think it's time we let Zee get some rest."

"Of course, sir. Tomorrow night I'll make something a little lighter."

"It was delicious, Alfred. Thank you," she said as Bruce took her hand and led her toward his room. She was exhausted and collapsed onto the bed when they got upstairs.

"You did this to me."

"I didn't tell you to read all day," he looked at her as he took his shirt and shoes off.

"You made me come here and overeat. It's all your fault. And it's your fault I'm meeting John Constantine tomorrow morning."

He sat down and frowned at her.

"I thought you didn't want to talk to him."

"I...I don't, but you said I should so...I...you suck. This was your idea and you're not getting off the hook. I'm going to listen to him and/or I'm going to kill him." She was too tired to have a fight.

"What time? I'll come with you."

"Hell, no. You'll kill him before I get a chance to. I'll just get what I need out of him and be done with it."

He nodded as he brushed her hair from her neck.

"Let's sleep." He walked to the bathroom and came back in sleep pants. She had conjured up an oversize t-shirt and was already half asleep when he curled up next to her.

So much for burning off dinner.

"Night," he mumbled in her ear. She smiled and snuggled closer as she drifted off.

- Crying. Muffled crying and voices. Not scared. Not in pain. Happy.

She woke with a startled gasp from the realistic dream. Bruce sat up and looked around the room for trouble, so she grabbed his arm.

"Sorry. Just had a weird dream." He immediately looked concerned, but she pulled him back down to lie next to her as she smiled. "Not that kind. Nothing scary just weird."

He furrowed his brow and looked in her eyes.

"Would you tell me if it was?"

"Yes," she sort of lied.

"Liar."

Sighing, she moved forward and kissed him as he continued to frown. She let her hands run over his chest and around to his back. It took a while, but he finally started to relax against her.

"Did you even sleep?" He asked, pulling his head away and looking in her eyes again.

"Yes, actually. Like the dead. You haven't lost your touch."

He laughed lightly and pulled her to lay across his chest.

"Good to know. What time do you meet your ex?"

She winced and glared up at him.

"Don't call him that. We're supposed to meet at 9:00, which means he might show up by 11:00."

"Sounds like a real great guy. Can't believe your dad didn't like him."

His smile was suddenly gone and he looked pissed off. She pushed up to sit and look down at him with her own angry look.

"Why did you tell me to meet him if you were just going to get mad about it?"

"I'm not mad at you. I just don't like the idea of you meeting him alone."

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath to calm herself, she turned and rested her head on her knees. She didn't want to be mad at him.

"I won't be alone. We're meeting at a busy coffee shop downtown."

He was quiet for several minutes before he got out of bed.

"Okay. But if you're going alone, take this." Opening the top drawer on his dresser, he pulled out a small box and handed it to her. "Lucius fixed it. You were a little rough on it the last time."

She opened the box and pulled out the repaired bat beacon. Despite her annoyance with him, she couldn't help but grin. He smiled back and leaned down to kiss her softly.

"Try not to knock yourself out next time." He whispered.

"Believe me, I don't want to feel that knock twice." She got up, walked to her purse, and slipped it inside.

"I made some enhancements to it, so it should have better range now." His face went serious again. "I was almost too late last time."

They hadn't really talked much about their experience in the warehouse and the memory caused her to shudder as she remembered the pain. Two quick strides and he had his arms wrapped around her, lips pressed to her forehead.

"Never again," he murmured. It didn't seem particularly healthy to never clear the air about what had happened, but she was terrified to relive it...especially with his eyes watching her as she did.

"I need to go. See you tonight?" She wanted to escape before they got into more emotional territory. The last thing she wanted to do was be emotional around Constantine.

"Yeah. Be ready. Just sparring tonight."

"Careful. I'm likely to be very punch-happy after this meeting."

"Bring it," he said, with a forced smile. Rather than try to reassure him further, she decided to make a quick exit.

Constantine
Gotham City

It wasn't a good sign that she refused to meet at her place, but he wasn't going to force that particular issue. He would deal with that part later. For now, he just needed to get her attention...and her help.

She could have at least picked a pub instead of a bloody coffee shop.

He arrived at 10:15 to find her with her face buried in a book. Clearly trying to seduce him with her feminine wiles, she had dressed in a bulky sweatshirt and sweatpants with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. She fully ignored him when he sat down next to her.

"This place is miserable," he slurred, looking around at all of the other patrons who were reading and ignoring each other.

"Said the guy who spends his time piss drunk in whatever bar he stumbles into in the morning. What do you want?" She still hadn't looked up at him.

"This isn't an ideal place to talk, love. Isn't there somewhere we can go with fewer ears?"

"No. Talk here or fuck off."

"Charming as ever, Zee. I found the Great Darkness." She still didn't look up. "Anyone home? I just told you I found the fucker that killed your dad and you're ignoring me."

Sighing, she marked her book and turned to give him a cold stare.

"How many times, John? How many times did you lie to me before? How many times did you use me just to get what you wanted? I have no reason to believe you now, and, as far as I'm concerned, I'm looking at the fucker that killed my dad."

"Oh, come on. That's more than a little harsh."

"You want harsh? Harsh is luring me and my father into a trap. Harsh is leaving me to cry in a room with my father's burned body. You want harsh, I'll fucking show you harsh!" Her voice had risen to the point that even the most studious of coffee drinkers looked up from their books. The barista started to walk toward them, but Zatanna stood up and stomped toward the door before she could be asked to leave. Constantine threw some cash onto the table and ran to catch up with her.

"Zee, wait. Damn it, just give me two minutes!"

She turned and faced him so quickly that he almost crashed into her.

"Talk and say something worth listening to before I send you straight to Hell."

"We didn't defeat it. We sent it to another dimension." He spat out before she could vanish him.

"Good. Let that dimension deal with it." She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and turned her back around.

"You know that isn't how it works. If it succeeds in destroying everything in any dimension, we're all buggered." She stood silently for a long moment, staring at the sidewalk. When she looked up, her eyes were less angry and more thoughtful. "You ready to hear me out? We could go back to your place and..."

"No. I'll give it some thought and get back with you. Don't come by." Turning on her heel, she mumbled some backwards words and vanished.

Well...at least she didn't kill me.

Zatanna
Shadowcrest

She'd never studied inter-dimensional travel before, but now was as good a time as any. Calling down book after book, she tried to find something that didn't call it the worst idea known to man. After several hours, she hadn't succeeded.

Okay, so it's the worst idea known to man.

Leave it to Constantine to bring it up. If he was wanting to go fight the monster, it was going to be dangerous. Not just for them, either. It could throw the balance of every dimension off if they had so much as one misstep. Constantine was a walking, talking misstep...the last person she wanted to be paired with on something like this. She needed more information before she decided what to do, and she definitely needed more before she brought it to the Justice League...if she brought it to the Justice League.

Looking at the clock, she realized she had been reading for over three hours. She needed to take a break and regain her sanity for a bit, so she decided to carry out her search until it was time to go to training. Creating a candle circle, she hopped up into her levitation spell. Asshole had taken to joining her lately, curling up in her lap as she floated. It was distracting at first. He had clawed and hissed at her when she tried to shoo him, but she had gotten used to it...enjoying his gentle purring as she drifted through the universe.

Bruce
Wayne Manor

Meetings. Meetings. Meetings meetings meetings. So many meetings. He was ready to scream by the time it was 5:00 and he stopped by the Watchtower. Nothing really needed to be done, but he had to get his mind off of work. He spent time in the tech room, tinkering with some projects he had been working on for months before checking in with the field teams that were on patrol. At 7:00, he headed to the Batcave and checked the reports from Tim's patrol the night before. A little before 8:00, he heard Zatanna arrive and drop her bag on the training mat. She came up the stairs and leaned against his desk.

"Excuse me, sir. I'm here for my appointment."

He smiled and leaned back in his chair. Training nights had been permanently moved to the Batcave. It was the their one (mostly) guaranteed night together a week and they had gotten tired of transporting home from the Watchtower, half-naked and clawing at each other, when they finished practice.

"Feeling punch-happy?" He wanted to ask her what happened at her meeting, but didn't want to risk getting her pissed off. She seemed to be in a good mood and he intended to take advantage of it.

"Not too bad. Could use the exercise, though. How was work?"

"Meetings," he grumbled, reaching forward and playing with the zipper on her jacket. Pulling the zipper down, he looked up at her eyes and ran a finger down her skin as the fabric opened. She was wearing a sports bra and yoga pants, exposing most of her chest and stomach. Her eyes were dark, lips parted as she looked down at him. Training was going to have to wait for a bit. When he reached the waistband of her pants, he slipped his hand into them and down to feel inside of her soft folds.

"How do you expect me to focus when you show up here like this?" He asked, the wetness soaking his finger as he stroked into her. Her eyes were half-closed now and her breasts were rising and falling rapidly.

"Hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty much always this way around you, Bruce," she said, a slight rasp to her voice that went straight to his cock. Leaning forward, he kissed gently along her stomach, feeling her tremble slightly with every flick of his tongue against her silky skin. He pulled her pants down and let his tongue trail down to her swollen clit. She drew in a sharp breath and tangled her fingers in his hair, urging him closer as he let his tongue circle the bundle of nerves. A disappointed sigh escaped her mouth as he pulled back after a few minutes and pushed her pants off of her legs. Leaning back, he pulled his shorts down and grabbed her hand, leading her forward to straddle him in the chair. She lowered herself onto him, arching her back as she took him inside of her. Her moans echoed through the cave as he grabbed her hips and guided her, quickening the pace as she bounced on his lap. She moved herself up and down as he watched her face, taking in the sight of her enjoying the feeling of riding him. Cursing and leaning further back, she finally let her orgasm rip through her as he kept her moving along his cock. Her body trembled as he kept going, not wanting to stop the sensation or the moans coming from her lips. He could feel her legs starting to shake as she tried to keep sliding up and down his length. Leaning his face forward to run his tongue over her chest, he thrust his hips up into her, coming with a loud groan. When he finally fell still, she rolled her head to the side and looked down at him.

"I'm not sure moving training here was a great idea," she said, smirking and panting.

"Yeah? I think it was the best idea we ever had." He pulled her forward and kissed her softly as she caught her breath. "You did all the work on that one."

"My pleasure," she said, standing and lifting herself off of him. "Still needed to burn off that dinner from last night." Once they had fixed their clothing, he grabbed her hand and led her to the training floor.

They sparred for an hour before she started to complain about her legs being tired. He smiled as they headed toward the shower.

"That's what you get for doing all of the work."

After they had cleaned up, they went upstairs where Alfred had made them tomato soup and egg salad sandwiches.

"What made you want to be a vegetarian?" Bruce asked as she sat quietly and ate.

"Nothing in particular. My father was, so it's all I've ever eaten. Don't like it?"

"No, it's fine. Especially with Alfred cooking."

"I'm glad my skills are up to par." Alfred smiled at them as he ate. He made sure that the days without Zatanna there were more meat-oriented, but decided...without consulting him...that her preferences were going to take priority when she was joining them.

"Understatement," Zatanna said with a smile. "I think you should move in with me, instead. I'll weigh 500 pounds, but I'll be happy."

"Reserve my room, miss."

"Careful, he'll do it," Bruce said, gathering the dirty dishes and carrying them to the kitchen once everyone had finished. "I hear his current housemate is a pain in the ass."

"I wouldn't go that far, but he is rather high maintenance. At least my medic skills aren't as in demand lately."

"Just when the current medic goes pavement-diving," Zatanna said, helping clean the dishes. "Thanks for another wonderful dinner, Alfred."

"You're welcome here anytime." He headed off toward his wing of the manor as they finished cleaning. As Zatanna was drying the last bowl, Bruce put his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him. He had avoided the topic earlier, but it was time to grill her on her meeting with her ex.

"How did this morning go?" He kept his voice as casual and light as he could, despite the uneasy feeling in his stomach at the topic.

"Well, once he showed up and I temporarily decided not to kill him, he gave me some things to look into." She put the bowl down and turned in his arms, putting her hands on his chest. Her eyes didn't really give anything away, so he knew he would have to try to drag more info out of her...as always.

"What kind of things?" He asked, keeping his voice neutral.

"He's convinced that the being we tried to stop was just shifted to another dimension." She was staring at her hands as she spoke, probably thinking he would look at her like she was crazy. "He thinks that if we don't stop it there, it will still destroy everything."

"And what do you think?"

"That he's insane and full of shit. But I'm researching it, anyway."

"With him?" Her eyes flashed annoyance as she looked up at him.

"No." Pushing his arms down, she walked over and grabbed her purse. At first, he thought she was going to leave, but she walked toward the stairs leading up to his room. He wasn't trying to act jealous, but he wasn't above the usual knee-jerk reactions of any other male. Jogging up the stairs to catch up with her, he turned her around at the door and pulled her face to his...kissing her until she was running her hands over his chest and down his stomach. When he finally let her lips go, the annoyance was gone from her eyes.

"And you say I fight dirty," she said, setting her purse on the floor and kicking her shoes off. She quickly shed her clothes and pulled his shirt off...slipping into it before climbing into the bed.

"That's stealing. You just stole from me."

"Maybe Batman will come and avenge you," she mumbled, burying her face in the pillow and pulling the covers up.

"It's his night off." When he had gotten ready for bed...without the advantage of magic tooth brushing...he stretched out next to her and pulled her body closer. "You'll tell me if you need help with this, right?"

"Yes."

Despite his instincts, he knew he would have to leave it there...for now, anyway. Trust was still something he was working on when it came to potentially dangerous situations; the last time she hid something from him, she nearly died. As the memories flashed through his head, he tightened his hold on her and kissed the back of her neck.

Never again.