"Hey, Zatanna!"
Zatanna takes a deep breath as she hears a very familiar voice as she gets her things out of her locker.
"Hi, Ethan"
She doesn't take her gaze from the inside of her locker, in which, she had a photo of her with her boyfriend, Robin.
"You heard that guys?! She knows my name"
The guy brags to his group of friends in victory.
"Of course I know your name"
She answers in happily singing tone and the guy puff off his chest with pride.
"You are the only senior in the Math I class for freshman"
She closes her locker rather abruptly. She was holding her books while wearing Robin's (her) jacket. The other guys laughs at Ethan's expenses.
"Sorry for that Zee"
"It's Zatanna for you Eugene"
"Why? I've seen your books and some other stuff with Zee or Z on it…isn't that your nickname?"
"It is but ONLY MY BOYFRIEND CAN USE IT"
Eugene gets pushed by the side by Matt, a sophomore.
"But what gives? He isn't here and I am here…what does he have that I don't?"
The magician arches her eyebrow.
"Look…mmm…"
"Matt"
"Right, sorry. Look Matt, we just have a break of 15 minutes, it's not nearly enough time to name that list and I'd need to skip all my classes from here to college and that MIGHT cover the tip of the iceberg"
The rest of the boys starts mocking Matt.
"Everyone here has been blown up by her! I don't know what are you laughing at!"
Everyday it was the same. One guy or group of guys will try to shot her shoot at the raven beauty only to be sass away. She tried to be nice at the beginning since no one knew she had a boyfriend but she started to get more harsh as the time goes by. Today, Zatanna, was on the verge of collapse, she had another bad day regarding her guilt towards Fate and she couldn't wait for the school day to be over and bury herself in the wings of her bird.
"Hey! I think-"
Frank, another guy, was ready to try to hit on the magician, Zatanna eas seriously considering turning every guy there into chickens.
"I think that you are leaving her alone for good and now!"
A large figure appears behind Zatanna and walks to get in between the sorceress and the group of guys.
"What's your problem, Kent?"
"Yeah. You have no business here!"
"Why don't you go with your girlfriend and let us be…"
The guys would usually fear the half-kryptonian but they felt brave and safety in numbers. No matter how strong or intimidating Conner were, there was no way that he would take all of them down, that's what they thought.
"It's my problem because I want it to be my problem. She's my friend and so is her boyfriend. SO. BACK. OFF."
The group of guys flinched with Conner's gaze. They thought that he would fry them with some heat vision.
"What if we don't want to? I'm sure that she loves the attention and I'm sure that I'm mellowing her down"
"Not even in your wildest dream"
The sorceress answers getting next to Conner.
"You heard her. Go away, NOW! Or else…"
Conner clinches his fist and Zee fears for the worst, maybe it wasn't a bad idea to turn them into chickens to save them from the ass whopping.
"You heard the man. Don't bother him or Zatanna ever again. And I don't know what are you trying here…clearly she's way out of everyone's league and Conner can take every single one of you without breaking a sweat"
Mal Duncan gets into the scene. He wasn't Conner's best friend or anything but their girlfriends were and he didn't want to half of his team being on the bench for the rest of the season.
"Fine…whatever"
Mal Duncan escorts his team back to the gym and the other guys just parted ways, leaving the kryptonian and the homo magi.
"I can handle myself, y'know?"
Zatanna tells the kryptonian with mischief in her voice.
"I…I…"
Conner rubs his arm awkwardly, thinking that he might've over step.
"But thank you. I didn't feel like dealing with them"
Zatanna hugs her friend. Conner took a couple of seconds to hug her back.
"You welcome"
"That was so sweet, Conner!"
Megan appears to kiss her boyfriend's cheek.
"I'm sure that Rob is going to appreciate that as well"
Zatanna smile seeing the happy couple and misses her boyfriend even more.
"What about we double date later on the week? I don't feel so good today but maybe on the weekend…?"
"That sounds perfect. It's almost time for practice…do you want to come?"
Zatanna knew that the question was for her and not for the kryptonian since he didn't have much of a choice.
"No, thank you. I want to call Robin and CC"
"Alright. Say hi for me"
"Will do"
"And Conner?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks again"
"No problem and don't doubt calling me if they give you trouble again"
Present
"It's Conner…we lost him"
Zatanna's eyes stars watering and her bottom lip quivers.
"What?…how?…why?"
Dick holds her closer and hugs her tightly.
"There was a bomb in Mars. He sacrifice himself to save the martians. He was weak for the lack of sun and the bomb had kryptonite"
"D-d-do we k-know…"
"Apparently, it was Megan's brother"
Zatanna wanted to keep asking question but her brain wasn't functioning correctly, she was still trying to sink in the information she just got.
"I…I…"
Finally, the magician breaks down and starts crying her heart out. The only thing Dick could do was to hold her closer and tightly, rubbing circles on her back and kissing the top of her head. Meanwhile, Zee's mind was at war; she was grieving her friend, wondering about Megan, about Artemis and her pregnancy and how that might affect her but above all…her mind wondering what would she do if she was the one losing the love of her life.
"That's it. Let it go, Zee"
Not wanting to disturb the sleeping babies, Dick pick Zatanna up and carried her bridal style to their room. He knew that deep down, Z was holding herself for their kids.
"Are you feeling any better?"
Grayson caresses her cheek, it has been sometime since he delivered the news and Zatanna was starting to calm herself. She curled up into a ball on top of him. Dick wiped her tears away with his thumb and with his kisses.
"A little…are Mary and Johnny?"
"They are okay. They haven't wake up"
Zee took the chance to bury herself more into her husband. Seeing her like that, broke Dick's heart. It brought back bitter memories from when she lost her father to fate, Jason and Tula's death and when Artemis faked her death.
"Dick…"
"Ye-"
The magician interrupts him by taking his lips in a desperate kiss. That's when Dick realized that Zatanna's mind went overdrive and put herself on Megan's shoes.
"I'm here, Zee. I love you so so much"
"And I love you a million times more"
"I love you zeellion times more…"
They lie down, knowing that it was matter of time before John and Mary started the mayhem. She readjusted herself and placed her head on his chest, hearing his heartbeat and relaxing with each beat.
"I love the sound of your heart…it's so relaxing"
"I mean…it's yours after all"
"Good"
"I was thinking that maybe after Conner's funeral and hologram-"
"Yeah?"
"What if we take a little trip the four of us? Let's clear our minds and enjoy life. Enjoy each other's company and make more memories with John and Mary"
"I enjoy your company anywhere or else I wouldn't be Mrs. Zatara Grayson but I love the idea"
"Alright. Let's go after everything is more or less settle and your dad is back. Maybe we should leave Pocus with him so he doesn't feel alone"
"Do you think it's a good idea? Pocus has been a tremendous help with them. She calms them down and protects them for anything"
"She took her job as sentinel and big sis too seriously"
"We raised her good"
Cries* Wailing*
"Duty calls"
"Are you okay? I can feed them with the bottle and the milk you already pumped…"
"No. It's okay, you know that I love feeding them but…"
"But?"
"Carry me there and don't let me go. We can find a position in which the four of us are as close as possible"
"I don't know Zee. Out babies are really Chubby now. They are way too big and full lov-"
He looked down to her big beady blue eyes.
"But we can manage. We always do"
"That's my man"
Dick picks her up and makes their way to the nursery room.
"And Zee"
"Yeah?"
"I'm not letting you go, EVER!"