Zatanna
Here or There

Falling. Falling. Fallen. She hit the floor with a thud that rattled through her skull. Voices were yelling at her.

"Get her water!"
"Zatanna?"
"Is she alive?"
"I said get her water!"

Yes, please water please.

She felt the glass touch her lips and started gulping the cool liquid before inhaling half and choking it back up.

"Slow down, Zee. Take it easy. Someone get her a straw or something." The coughing made her body ache more. When the straw made it to her mouth, she drew in a long drink, keeping it down. "More, get her more."

"John?" Her voice was a growl out of her dry throat.

"Yeah, love. You're alright."

"Home?"

"Yeah. Open your eyes already." Someone poured more cool water over her face, making her groan as it soothed her skin.

"Can someone just dump me out in the snow?"

"Yeah, that melted a few days ago," John said, holding the straw to her lips. "Sorry."

"A few days? How long was I gone?"

"Since you shit all over our plan and sent me away? Week and a half. It's Tuesday December 24th. Happy Christmas Eve, love. You ever gonna open your eyes?" She peeked out from her eyelids and blinked into the light of her chandelier.

Real.

"How am I even alive?" She asked as Etrigan stepped into her vision.

"You're alive, as you can see..."

"Etrigan, I swear to god, if I hear one more rhyme, I'm going to bolt your mouth shut," she grinned over at him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," he said, slowly fading back into Jason Blood. She nodded at him as he turned and left the room.

"Can we leave now?" Brother Night glared at her from the corner, flanked by his allies.

"Yes. Thank you for keeping your promises."

"Don't forget yours," Tsaritsa said, following the others out. Ugh, I was trying to. June stayed behind, standing alone in the dim corner.

"You ready to get off the floor?" John asked, helping her sit up.

"Not really. That's the most comfortable I've been in...did you really say it was a week and a half?" He nodded and led her to a chair. "We won?"

"That might be overstating it," Dr. Fate said, removing his tattered cape. "Darkness will always feed on the evil of men. When Alec spoke with it the last time, it predicted an end was coming."

"An end to what?" Boston asked.

"Everything. I assumed that the end was here and fate had made its decision. I fear we only bought ourselves time again. I wasn't going to fight, but..."

"Why did you?" Zatanna asked. He was quiet for a long moment before he spoke again.

"A friend asked for help." With this, he turned and left. She looked to John, but he just shrugged.

"Wasn't me. I thought goldie there was gone for good after the last time. I got Phantom." She turned and smiled at the Stranger as he made his exit. Swamp Thing turned to leave, but she carefully stood and grabbed his arm.

"Thanks for the ride, Alec. And for keeping me alive."

"You fought well...little warrior." She rolled her eyes as he left, followed closely by Boston.

"Alright, I'm off to try to get my body back. Don't think I don't remember what you said, Zee!" Gotta stop making promises.

Spectre lingered another moment, studying her carefully.

"You take too many risks, Zatanna." She wasn't in the mood for a lecture, so she sat back down with a sigh.

"Jim, do you really..."

"Life is precious. Fragile. It isn't just about you now." He faded without another word, leaving her very confused.

"What was that about?" John asked, leaning against the window sill.

"Who knows? He's very preachy." She turned her gaze to June, who was still lurking in the shadows. "I see you took my welcome very seriously."

"I'm sorry. I just thought..."

"That you would be safe here. You were. Thank you for not giving up, June. I owe you."

"You don't. But your friend does. He said he would protect me." Zatanna looked to Constantine who gave her another shrug. "Not him."

Bruce. Her stomach turned as she thought of him...his face as she sent him away. "John, what day did you say it was?"

"Tuesday."

She laughed and put her head in her hands. Of course it is. Still unsteady, she stood and headed toward the stairs. "Go home and celebrate, John. The spell is lifted. June, you can stay until my friend fulfills his promise. Same rules, though."

The house was elated, lighting up as she ascended the stairs and cooling the air down to soothe her skin. "Missed you, too." When she got to her room and opened the door, Asshole came flying at her face, screaming as if he'd been left for a year. She caught the overweight fur ball just before he could smash her nose. "Holy shit, you monster. I know I left you a bottomless food bowl spell, but you didn't actually have to try to find the bottom." He kept screaming at her as she guzzled another glass of water and went to shower, letting her hear it for leaving him locked in her room. Okay, fair enough. Let me have it. There'll be plenty more yelling tonight.

Bruce
Batcave

The beeping woke him up as the drone landed back at the Cave. He'd fallen asleep as it hovered and it returned when the battery ran low. Shit. Grabbing his phone, he dialed June's number as he rewound the video feed from the infrared camera. Her phone rolled to voicemail. Shit! As he scrolled the video footage, he heard a sound from lower in the cave...from the training floor. He glanced at the clock: 7:55. Swallowing hard, he stood and walked down the stairs. When he reached the bottom he saw her sitting there on the weight bench...as always. Wrapping her hands slowly...as always.

"Hey," Zatanna said in a hoarse voice, not looking up. "Ready to start?"

He stood staring at her for a moment before quickly covering the ground between them. Grabbing the front of her jacket, he pulled her to her feet and pushed her against the wall.

"Fuck you," he muttered before crushing her lips with his. She nodded against his mouth. "Fuck you for leaving me."

"I love you," she rasped out.

"No. You don't get to say that. Not until I forgive you," he said, returning his mouth to hers. She clung to his arms and nodded again.

"I'm sorry."

"I know. I love you." She nodded again, pulling him closer. Her body felt thin and fragile, but she was there...alive. He pulled his head back and looked at her. She looked every bit like someone who had been to Hell and back: eyes sunken, skin reddened, and arms weak around him. As he examined her, he could hear her stomach growl, so he sat her back down on the weight bench. "Unwrap your hands."

Alfred picked up the receiver when he called the kitchen. "Yes, Master Bruce?"

"Add another on for dinner. Make it vegetarian, please."

A short beat passed before he spoke. "Of course, sir. Very gladly, sir."

He hung up the phone and turned back to find Zee sitting on the weight bench, fumbling with the tape as her hands shook. She sniffled, still keeping her head down.

"Here," he said as he knelt in front of her. He took her hands and carefully unwrapped the tape, worried her dry skin would tear as he removed it. Her eyes still hadn't met his, so he paused and lifted her chin. She looked terrified. "Hey, it's okay. You're home."

Blinking several times and shaking her head, she seemed to finally focus on him. "Home," she said, nodding again.

He smiled and brushed her hair back. "Yeah. Let's get you fed." It took a few more minutes to remove the botched taping job from her fragile skin, but he finished without drawing blood. When they climbed on the elevator, she leaned heavily against him...still finding enough energy to jump slightly at the clanking and creaking. "Elevator of doom," he muttered, kissing the top of her head. Yet again, she nodded. It was like she was half awake and just responding to his verbal prompts. He walked her to the kitchen, sitting her down at the table.

"Miss Zatara, it is very good to see you back. I can't tell you how worried we've been," Alfred said as he placed a plate of spaghetti in front of her. She gazed at it as if it was a pile of diamonds. Carefully, she reached out and touched a finger to the pasta before picking up her fork and taking a bite. Okay, plenty to talk about later.

They ate quietly, with Zatanna asking for seconds and eating it like it was the best thing she'd ever tasted. Combined with four glasses of water, it was the most Bruce had ever seen her put away in one meal by about 150%.

"Get enough?" He teased when she seemed to finally be finished. She nodded. Talk, Zee. "Okay. I'll clean up and we can go to bed."

"I'm not sleepy," she said quickly. The bags under her eyes begged to differ.

"I am. Come up and be my pillow."

"Can we watch a movie or something?" She carried her plate to the sink, leaning against the counter and nervously tapping her fingers.

"I've never seen you turn on a TV before, but now you want to watch a movie?" She nodded. He cast a glance toward Alfred, who was studying her just as carefully. "Okay...sure. But I might start snoring halfway through." Rather than argue, he decided to get her somewhere comfortable before he tried to find out why she was being so strange. They entered the large screening room that he used about twice a year and she sat down on the couch, pulling her feet up underneath her as she looked around. "What do you want to watch?"

"Anything," she said, "what's your favorite?"

"North by Northwest."

"Okay, that." Okay, that. He grabbed the disc and started the system before turning the lights down. He sat down and pulled her over to lean against him. She was stiff and trembling as she stared at the screen.

"Need anything?" She shook her head. He looked down to see her heavy eyelids warring against her attempts to keep them open. Hoping she would fall asleep, he stayed quiet for the first part of the movie. When he checked again, the eyelid war was still raging on.

"Zatanna?"

"Mm?"

"What happened?" He asked quietly, afraid she wouldn't want to tell him. Whatever it was had her wound up so tight it felt like she was going to snap like a rubber band.

"They think Cary Grant is the spy, but he's not. I thought this was your favorite movie," she said, still looking at the screen.

Chuckling, he ran a hand through her hair. "It is." She looked up at him and frowned. "Never mind. Watch it and I'll be quiet."

She turned back to the screen and put her head on his shoulder. They watched quietly until the end, when he stood up and turned the system off.

"Let's watch another one," she said, still somehow keeping her eyes open.

"It's almost 1:00 AM. I'm tired. Come on." He pulled her to her feet as she huffed and frowned again. When they got to the room, she stared at the bed as if it were her sworn enemy. Ah, fear of sleep...I know this one. Shedding his t-shirt, he tossed it to her and walked to the bathroom. She was still standing in the same spot when he returned, humming quietly as she continued to stare at the bed. He was officially freaked out, but he tried to hide it. "What's the song?"

She seemed to come around a bit at his voice, blinking and looking at him. "Was I singing?" He nodded and reached to take her jacket off. "Coraggio, Ben Mio. Italian folk song my dad used to sing."

"My Darling, Be Brave," he said, translating the title as he pulled her shirt and pants off. He put his t-shirt over her head and she slipped her arms in before finally crawling into the bed, still humming softly. As soon as he stretched out next to her, she latched onto him and buried her face against his chest. He ran his hand through her hair, expecting her to be asleep within minutes. Instead, she kept humming. "You need to tell me what's wrong."

Shaking her head, she turned to look at him. "Not yet." The look of terror was returning to her eyes and it sent a shiver down his spine. The humming resumed as she fought her exhaustion. Okay, time to get creative.

"I haven't told you about my first night on patrol as Batman, have I?" He knew he hadn't. He'd never told anyone other than Alfred. She shook her head, the humming stopping for the moment. "It was a fucking disaster."

She grinned and looked in his eyes.

"I didn't have the Batmobile yet, so I drove my dad's old motorcycle and left it in some bushes. Master of stealth from day one." He took a peek down at her; her eyelids were starting to win. "By the time I got into the main part of the city, I was sweating like crazy. My first attempt at a suit was mainly rubber and Kevlar. Tough as hell, but about as breathable as it sounds." She was relaxing slightly as he continued. "My first grappling gun was a resounding success, though. Shot out of the end and straight down to a car parked across from where I wanted to grapple. Demolished the windshield. I went back by the next day and threw $1000 in the front seat. Felt terrible." She laughed against him, eyes closed now as she listened.

"No bad guys caught?"

"Nope. But I learned a lot."

"What about the next patrol?" She mumbled.

"Almost a month later. Deposited three criminals on the GCPD doorstep. One of the most memorable nights of my life." She nodded slightly before going still. The muscles in her back slowly started to release as she fell asleep. With a sigh of relief, he closed his eyes. They were in for a very long talk the next day, but he was just glad to have her back in his arms.

Zatanna
Not Hell

- Crying. Crying and voices. My voice. "Your turn." His voice. "Feels like it's always my turn."

Her neck and back were stiff, and it felt like she hadn't moved in hours. Lifting her head up, she groaned and met Bruce's eyes watching her.

"Hey." Her throat was still raw feeling. "Laeh taorht dna niks." The pain eased quickly as her spell worked.

"Don't suppose you can put about 15 pounds of weight back on, can you? I can count your ribs." His brow was furrowed as he ran his hand along her back.

"Not really. If I keep eating like I did last night, it'll happen fast enough." He pointed to the nightstand, where a tray of food was waiting for her. "Bless that wonderful man," she said, grabbing a bagel and making short work of the orange juice. "How long was I out?"

"14 hours."

"That explains the aching neck...and back...and head. I feel hungover." She took the glass of water from the tray and drained it, too. The dehydration was going to take a while to fix. The mind fuck even longer. She was sure that when she escaped, the voices would be gone. They weren't. They were still there, quietly nagging in the back of her mind.

- "Weak."

"Are you ready to tell me what happened?"

"No," she said quickly. She didn't want to relive any of it, especially with the voices still gnawing at her subconscious.

- "Fool."

"Zatanna, you can't just show back up after a week and a half and not explain things." His voice was already growing louder.

"Fine. I'll leave then." She stood, threw his shirt off, and started gathering her clothes. Slamming the bathroom door, she got dressed and looked at her ragged face in the mirror.

- "He doesn't love you."

"Zee?" His voice was quieter now on the other side of the door. "I'm sorry. Come back to bed."

"I slept for 14 hours, I don't need more," she lied. She felt like she could sleep for 14 more days and, to her relief, the voices hadn't followed her into her dreams. An angry lecture likely wasn't going to help drive them away, though. Opening the door, she slipped past him and grabbed her jacket. Before she could leave the room, he had her by the waist, pulling her back against him.

"Stay. I just spent over a week thinking I'd never see you again. Please stay." His lips were under her ear, brushing the same sensitive spot he always used to break her resolve. "Stay with me, Zee."

"I don't want to talk yet." Or ever.

"Okay. Just don't leave me." His voice was low and his grip around her waist was tight. Trying to calm herself, she turned and pressed her forehead against his chest. "I love you," he whispered. Remembering his rule, she simply nodded, wondering if he could ever really forgive her. She didn't deserve to be forgiven. If she had failed, their last memories of each other would have been her betraying his trust and sending him away.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. He pushed her back and kissed her softly, lingering on her lips as he walked her back to the bed. She stood in front of him as he sat down, pulling her close and hugging her. "Don't you have to work?" She asked, running a hand through his hair.

He shook his head. "Not today. Have to patrol tonight, though."

She nodded. As the room fell quiet, the whispering in her head returned. He looked up at her as her body tensed, his eyes studying her face as his jaw tightened. "I'm hearing things," she said quietly, trying to remember the words to Coraggio, Ben Mio again.

"Is that why you keep humming?"

"Was I doing it?"

He nodded slightly, looking at her with fear in his eyes. "And why you wanted to watch a movie?"

"Yes. Quiet is bad." She closed her eyes and tried to shut out the noise. Alfred knocked softly at the door.

"Come in," Bruce said, still holding her to him.

"Merry Christmas, Ms. Zatara," he said. It hadn't dawned on her that it was the 25th yet – no wonder he wasn't at work. She hadn't celebrated the holidays since her father died, so the day just ran into all of the others.

"Thank you, Alfred. Merry Christmas. And thank you for breakfast."

He handed a small, wrapped present to Bruce. "You're welcome. Dinner will be at 5:30 before Master Bruce goes on patrol."

She turned and sat down on the bed as he left the room. "Merry Christmas. I didn't realize what day it was. Aren't you going to open it?" She asked, pointing to the gift.

"It's not for me," he said, holding it out to her. "I didn't know if you celebrated."

"I haven't in a long time. You didn't need to get me anything."

"I didn't, really. Open it." He set the gift on her lap. Picking it up, she unwrapped the paper and opened the small box. She pulled out a stack of photos of her family. Her father, mother, and her...all together and happy through the years. "The other Bruce helped me out."

She nodded as she flipped through them. Her mother and father were beautiful and smiling, looking at their daughter with love and pride.

- "That isn't you."
"I know."

"Know what?" Bruce asked. She silently cursed herself for not controlling her mouth; freaking Boston out was bad enough.

"Nothing. Thank you, Bruce," she said, leaning over to kiss him softly. His hand ran along her back as he kissed her, pulling her closer. "I didn't get you anything."

"You came back. All I needed," he said, kissing her again and pulling her onto the bed to lay across his chest. "Did you get to see them again?"

"Not really. I walked in and sent them away. They probably didn't even know it was me."

"Bet they did," he said, stroking her hair. "You're kind of a shitty liar."

"Because I hate doing it."

"Good," he chucked. "I'd rather you not get better at it."

"I'm sorry I did."

"You don't have to keep apologizing, I know you did what you had to."

He was being more understanding than she expected, but she wondered how genuine it was. "You haven't forgiven me, so I'm going to keep apologizing."

"Zee..." His hand went under her chin and lifted her head until she looked in his eyes. "I forgave you as soon as I saw you sitting in the cave."

"So can I say it now?"

"I wish you would."

She moved up and pressed her lips to his. "I love you, Bruce Wayne."

He smiled against her mouth. "Two presents? You shouldn't have," he said, rolling over and moving on top of her. For the first time since she'd been back, she felt comfortable as he nuzzled his face into her neck and breathed in her hair. Still, the silence started to claw at her mind. As she felt her body tense again, he suddenly started humming. She smiled as his low, smooth voice drove the evil in her head away.

"What's the song?"

"Never Been to Spain," he said before resuming the tune. It was definitely a departure from Italian folk songs, but it did the trick.

"That's a good one." They laid there for another 30 minutes as he went through a list of old rock songs. He was clearly a fan of the classics. Alfred called to the room shortly before 5:30 to let them know that dinner was ready. "Thank you," she said as they got up and got dressed.

"Do you need me to get someone to cover patrol?"

"No, it's okay. Let them enjoy Christmas. I'll try meditating."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"I'll hum," she said quietly, pushing past him and out of the room.

Selina
Gotham City

Locks are pretty useless if you know what you're doing. If you're not going to invest in a good security system, then you might as well just leave the front door hanging open. Sean Jensen didn't have a good security system. All he had was a simple deadbolt and a small, dirty house at the end of a dark street.

A bit obvious, if you ask me.

Most people were happy to ignore the monsters who lived among them as long as they hunted elsewhere. Selina hid in the shadows of the living room. If he held to his usual pattern, he should be arriving home at any time. She had already searched the place, but hadn't found anything incriminating...and certainly nothing worth stealing. It was unlikely he had been bringing his victims back to his house, so it was going to require a bit of interrogating to find anything out. The key entered the lock and the short, average-looking 27 year old man entered the room and flipped on the light switch.

"Hello, Sean," Selina said, snapping her whip around his neck as he let out a scared yelp. With a quick yank, he was on the floor, squirming like an animal as he fumbled at the impromptu noose. "Uh uh," she said, putting her boot on his chest and pulling on the whip to tighten it. "We need to chat a minute."

"Catwoman?" He choked out, still trying to work the whip loose. "What do you want? I don't have anything!"

"Well, that's clear enough. I'm not here to steal from you. I'm here because you've been a very bad boy."

"What are you talking about? Is this about my gambling debt? Did my mom send you?" He was already blubbering, tears rolling down his cheeks as he squirmed.

"Do I look like the damn IRS? I'm here about the girls." She pulled up on the whip again, bringing his head off of the floor before dropping it back down.

"What girls? I don't know what you're talking about!"

"The girls you killed, Sean. Tell me the truth or I'll hang you from the ceiling fan and let you suffocate."

"I've never killed anyone! Are you insane?" She pulled on the whip again. "Ah, please! Stop!"

"Tell me the truth!"

"I am. Please. Please, I'll do anything. I can get money from a friend or something. I don't have any jewels."

"I already told you, I'm not here to rob you. I know what you've been doing and I'll find a way to make you pay, you sniveling piece of shit." She released the whip from his neck and backed toward the door as he coughed and gagged. Things hadn't gone quite to plan, though he certainly seemed intimidated enough. As she backed out of the house and disappeared into the night, she knew confronting him had probably not been the best plan. He put on a good show of being the innocent weirdo at the end of the street. She was clearly going to need a better strategy.

Time to think like a detective.

To be continued…