Meaning: Brightness, legacy


The pale moonlight shining through their bedroom window cast an almost divine aura over Zatanna's seemingly flawless skin. Dick smiled before reaching over to gently caress his wife's raven hair. "Have I ever told you you look like an angel?" The magician rolled her eyes.

"I get it. You're in love with me." He smirked, slowly leaning in for a kiss.

"What gave me away?" She closed her eyes and grinned, eagerly awaiting the familiar sensation of his lips on hers, but before they could finally connect, the sound of the bedroom door creaking caused both of them to gasp sharply and sit up.

Fortunately, it was just their daughter standing in the doorway, dressed in her favorite Wonder Woman pajamas and rubbing her eye with one hand while the other tightly clenched the arm of her Batman plushie.

"Mommy?"

"Hey, Mary. Why aren't you asleep?" The five-year-old shrunk into herself, meekly scratching her arm as if she was too embarrassed to say anything.

"I had a nightmare." Her father immediately gestured for her to come to them, and Mary somewhat eagerly hopped onto their bed, crawling in between her parents as Zatanna embraced her petite form and Dick rubbed her hair, careful not to ruin the pigtails Aunt M'gann had spent so long perfecting yesterday.

"What was it about?"

"The mean girls at school." Dick and Zatanna locked eyes and frowned. Ever since those bullies started picking on her a few days ago she'd been self-conscious about every little thing she did around the house, from the way she dressed to even little things like her posture and how she walked.

"Baby, you know you don't have to listen to them."

"You're perfect just the way you are. If they say anything, it's because they're jealous." The little girl bit her bottom lip, and Dick noticed her squirm under their gaze, her emerald eyes almost flickering under the light breaking through their window.

"When did they start?"

"When I showed everyone my family tree." He remembered that assignment. They spent hours working on it together since she wanted to make sure she got everyone, even her surrogate uncles and aunts from their team. "I-I had to tell everyone that I didn't know wh-what happened to Daddy's parents or Mommy's mommy, a-and after the class the mean girls laughed at me. Th-they said Grandpa w-was a fake grandpa a-and I didn't have real uncles or aunties, a-and then they said I would be alone wh-when I grew up, and, a-and, and…"

Mary's lip began to quiver as tears spilled out of her eyes, and Zatanna quickly pulled her into her arms while Dick wiped her face clean with his palm. "You know they're just jealous they don't have families as cool as you."

"Yeah. I mean, who else gets to see Wonder Woman and Red Hood for Christmas? Or go trick-or-treating with Robin and Batgirl?"

Mary giggled lightly as Dick tickled her chin, and Zatanna leaned down to kiss her forehead as she parted strands of hair out of her face and behind her ears.

"You know, Mommy used to get bullied a lot, too." Mary looked up at her with shock written all over her face. Who in their right mind could ever bully her?

"You did?" Zatanna hummed.

"When Mommy's mommy died, all the mean girls would come and laugh at her. They would say these super mean things, and Mommy sometimes wanted to go home and cry."

"What did you do about it?" She bopped the younger spellcaster on the nose, causing the girl to snicker.

"It took her a while, but Mommy finally found out that they were only saying those mean things because they were mad that they would never be as pretty or smart as her. And you are just as pretty and smart as your mommy. In fact, I think you're even better."

From behind, Dick smiled and gently draped his own arms around Zatanna to engulf them both in a group hug, using his own body heat to keep them both warm as Mary closed her eyes and leaned into her mother's chest.

"Thank you." The adults locked eyes once more and smiled.

"Anytime. Now go to sleep or I'll sell all your toys to Uncle Wally."

Mary giggled before peacefully falling into an undisturbed slumber, and Zatanna leaned forward to finally plant that kiss on Dick's lips. He smiled back at her as she pulled away.

"You're a pretty great mom." She smirked, gently rubbing their noses together and pressing her forehead to his while he breathed out a laugh.

"I learn from the best."