"Danielle - I have a proposal for you."

Danielle Moran, college freshman, weather buff, and a mile in over head, stared at the magician. Zatanna peered into her top hat. No star of the stage. No hero, battling darkness. Just someone, with regrets.

"I wanted a bit of privacy. We don't have much time."

The hat was just in the way, now. She tossed it on the bed behind her.

"Not that I have done anything today, to earn your trust."

Danielle blinked.

"Just say the word. And I'll take you back. But please. Hear me out first."

A hoarse whisper escaped from Danielle.

"A…deal?"

Zatanna tilted her head. "It isn't quite like th-"

Danielle stepped within inches of her face. Glared at her. Astral plane or no.

"The most amazing person. I'll ever meet. The most amazing story. I'll ever hear. And I'll never know it," she hissed.

She looked ready to throw a punch. Zatanna looked ready to take one.

"So tell me, Zee. What can you offer me?"

The reply came, soft and gentle.

"It's not what I can give you. It's what you can give Kara."

Danielle slowly sighed. And nodded…

Six years later, Esther was chatting, in Creole, with a cousin. The smell of chicken on the grill wafted though the yard. It was 7PM, on a muggy night in July. Her wedding was 20 hours away.

She felt the crowd part behind her. Turned around. Saw Danielle, with a frazzled looking Kara Danvers. And laughed.

Hugs ensued. "I'm so glad you came!" She laid a hand on Kara's shoulder. "Danni wasn't sure you'd make it. Not even last night. How was your flight?"

Kara shrugged, and adjusted her glasses. "Oh, a layover or two more than I hoped." She looked around the crowded yard. "So, where's Eduardo? The lucky guy…"

Zatanna got to the point. "She lost her world, Danielle."

A small voice. "I…know that."

"Yes. We both know it. But we didn't see it. Live through it. Only Kara did. No one else."

Which begged the question.

"But, what about - her cousin? Didn't they leave together? Isn't she…younger than him?"

'Zee' conceded. "Good questions all. Ones she'll be happy to answer. That, and so much more." She shook her head. "Just not today."

The bride-to-be had a moment to herself. Danielle asked to meet her downstairs, for a quick word. Kara was waiting. To ask a favor.

"Esther, I would appreciate it, very much, if you didn't mention National City this weekend."

The nurse raised an eyebrow. And noticed Danielle, planted in the doorway, facing out. Like a 5'2" bouncer.

"Any reason?"

"Just don't want to be grilled about plots and creatures and space operas. It'll all be there, when I get back."

Esther smiled. "But you've got Supergirl looking out for you. Can't be all bad."

"What she lost? She has to deal with, Danielle. At her own pace."

The magician smiled to herself. "I'm asking you, to let a stranger turn the dials on your weekend. Your memories. Your life." Danielle narrowed her eyes.

All business now. "I'm asking you, to give Kara, a little time and space."

The Moran family motto? Never take a first offer.

"You're asking for what you can just take."

Zatanna shook her head. "I've done that enough. No - this has to be your decision."

Danielle didn't flinch.

"How little?"

Kara listened, wide-eyed, as Esther told stories from her home, Gonave Island. How slaves hid from the French colonists there. How some Polish-American jarhead, assigned to Haiti in the 1920's, rescued the island's Queen. And was proclaimed King Faustin II, for his trouble. Until the Marine Corps shipped him out. Supposedly.

Even Danielle had heard it all before. But many looked their way, as Kara laughed. Esther shrugged. "Good story. Maybe they agreed on it, from the beginning. To forget what a dry, barren place it was. Is."

Kara shook her head. "Dry, maybe. Not barren."

The 'Mistress of Magic' seemed thoughtful. "No one's fate is written, Danielle. But, I think, the day is coming. When Kara sees something, that has to be done. Something that can't be waved off. Explained away. Something only a 'Daughter of Krypton' can do."

Graves Light stuck its neck out into Boston Harbor, about 9 miles from downtown. It was automated long ago. The owners made it out there, a few times a week. They weren't there now, at 2AM, feet dangling over the ledge.

"Wow," Danielle mused. "We're trespassing. On private property. I'm a bad influence on you." Kara grinned.

Danielle talked about her brother's (mis)adventures, as a magician. He hadn't been invited to the Magic Castle, just yet. But he was trying.

She turned to Kara. "I won't ask for the dirt, on…" She waved a hand. "Stuff I don't need to know. But, anything closer to Terra Firma you can talk about?"

There was.

The sister, who came out.

"I - hope she makes someone happy."

The friend, from another universe.

"…Tell him I said 'Hi'."

The co-worker, who retired.

"The Peace Corps? Damn." Danielle peered into the murky night. "Godspeed, Donna."

Donna Martinez ran her fingers through the leaves, at Caswell State Forest. Kara's arms were gently wrapped around her. Just as well it was after dark. Easier not to think about the ground 100 feet below, when you can't see it.

Her flight was in 12 hours.

"I don't suppose you'd…" Her voice cracked. "…like to come?"

She heard Kara sniff.

"Sorry. Laundry day"

Danielle closed her eyes, feeling the water droplets on her cheeks. Until she sensed a light around her. She opened her eyes, and saw an impossibly full moon. Light bounced off the clouds below. She let go of Kara's hands. Her arms hung limp.

"When she is ready for that? I think, she will be ready for you."

The air was very dry up there.

"I don't deserve this."

"Danni - ".

"Hush." She looked at the clouds below her feet.

"You can be ready for her. If you wish."

"It wasn't fate that brought us together, Kara. It was a lottery. You could have been across the hall, or on another floor. Someone I barely knew, or never met. Dumb luck, that's all. I don't deserve this."

Danielle unleashed a laugh that seemed to echo off the clouds.

"But I'll take it!"

They both looked up, at Luna...

It couldn't be that simple. Could it?

"I'll…remember," Danielle said simply.

"Yes. Everything."

She noticed how the dorm room 'wall' gently curbed, in the distance.

"This too?"

Zatanna nodded.. "This too."

"And what's my end? Of this sweet deal?", Danielle asked sharply.

The magician held up two fingers. "Two things."

Too good to be true. Her hands started to tremble. The girl's eyes widened.

Sirens blared outside the apartment window, for the umpteenth time. Danielle sunk her head in her hands. The radio station tried to keep an even keel, over the disastrous day Boston was having. The frilly bridesmaid dress made her look as useless as she felt.

"Oh, God. What now, Supergirl?" The wedding was less than two hours away.

Kara clicked her tongue, as she looked out the window. The boots and cape were stashed away.

"Four way intersections. Lights are all green."

Even Danielle heard the distant sound of screeching brakes. And a collision. They both winced.

The name had already gone viral: 'The Hack Heard Round the World'.

Zatanna held up an open palm. Gently shook her head. "This isn't a deal with the devil."

Danielle evened out her breathing. And waited.

"This weekend. Don't cling to it. Bury it. It will be your's, Danielle. All of it."

She gave the magician a sidelong glance. "And part two?"

"Kara. Go to her."

Danielle's patience grew thin. "And do what?"

A shrug. "Give her a hug and a kiss. Swing a baseball bat at her skull." Danielle snorted at that one.

"Both. Neither. Just do it in person." A hint of a smile. "And not a text."

Rumors flew through the air. Bank balances showing zero. 911 operators seeing the 'blue screen of death'. Intergang making ransom demands of the Governor.

Or was it Cadmus?

Danielle finally returned a text. To her father:

still here :)

And asked Kara the big question. "Are your friends riding to the rescue?"

Kara sighed. "No. Lots of turf battles in government, the last year or two. Cyber crimes are handled elsewhere."

Actually, that wasn't the big question:

"Are you riding to the rescue?"

She studied the floor. "I promised Alex that Supergirl would leave any trouble to the locals. Unless it was a killer comet or something."

She tried a smile. It fooled neither of them.

"She thinks I'm tempting fate, just being here." An emergency broadcast alarm screeched from Danielle's phone. "Maybe she's right."

"I hate that sound," Danielle grumbled, as she checked for the announcement. "You'd think the world was coming to an - Ohh!"

She barely kept from dropping the phone. Regained her composure, and showed Kara the message.

THE POWER WILL GO OUT IN TEN SECONDS

HAVE A NICE DAY

A soft 'woomf' sound. Good as promised. In the dim and quiet apartment, Danielle hurled her phone against a wall.

A blur of motion. And there stood Kara, laying an intact phone on an end table.

"It doesn't help, Danni."

She glared at Kara. "No. But it sure feels good, right now."

A knock. They both gasped at the sound. Kara took a quick look at the door, and slipped the glasses back on.

"It's okay. It's Esther."

Danielle stared at her. "Esther. Here. 90 minutes before her wedding. And that's okay how?"

Danielle's hands balled into fists.

"I have so many questions. And she doesn't want to go there."

"She would. For you."

Zatanna spoke the last words kindly. It just made it worse. Danielle's eyes welled.

"Yes. She would. No matter how much it…"

Zatanna nodded.

Esther stood before them, breathless. Muttered something to herself in Creole. Rolled her eyes, and smiled at them both.

"Guys. I know."

They both tried their best poker face.

"That we're a couple?", Danielle deadpanned.

The three cracked up. The smile stayed on Esther's face, as she stood on tiptoe, fist held heroically high.

Danielle sighed. Kara kept a steady gaze.

"I know bodies," Esther explained. "Sweaty, smelly human bodies. At home. At work. The kind of things I didn't see in you, Kara. On a hot day in July, last year." Kara looked aside.

"And…my co-workers are about to get sweaty and smelly, themselves." A cold fury came over her.

"The hospital's AC has been shut off. Held for ransom. By knuckle draggers with laptops!" Danielle sucked in a breath. "Gods," Kara muttered.

A look of humility came over the nurse. "I know you have to fly under the radar, so to speak. There's nothing she can do. But is there something…you can do?"

Kara slowly took off her glasses. "I think so." She glanced at the old-school telephone on the wall. They took the hint. Danielle hustled Esther out the door.

"Wait." They stopped and turned around. Kara smiled.

"Just burn me a copy of the wedding video." They nodded, and were off.

Kara dialed a special number.

"Barb. It's me." She sighed.

"Yes, Oracle. Sorry. I'm in Boston. How can I help?"…

Zatanna gave the girl a caring look. Almost motherly.

"It won't be easy. Not for her. Or her friends."

Danielle seemed to think it over. "Well, in that case, forget it. It's the safe and boring life for me."

Zatanna smirked.

The 60-something woman took the young lady's hand. "Oh, Madame! How could you stand it? Stuck in that elevator for 2 hours?"

A tired looking Kara Danvers shrugged. "Couldn't be helped. I'll give my apologies to Esther, when she has a moment."

She tried not to down the glass of wine in one gulp. As she was slicing into her cold chicken, Esther's aunt asked, "And where are you from, Miss Kara?"

"I grew up in Midvale. But enough about me…"

Danielle hesitated. Her eyes darted from side to side.

"A little time, and space," Zatanna repeated. "I think you both need it right now, Danielle."

The girl locked eyes with her. "I want to ask - what did the breeze smell like? What stories did they tell? What did they do right? What went wrong?"

The 'Mistress of Magic' was getting desperate. "Danni, you will! And she will. In time."

Danielle couldn't resist one last jab. "Thought no one's fate was written."

Touche. Zatanna smiled. "Best guess."

A second later, she grunted in pain, eyes shut tight.

"Zee?" Then Danielle noticed something. That tiny little, ice cream headache she could feel. It was getting worse, by the second.

The room started to darken. Zatanna opened her eyes.

"I kind of need an answer, Danielle."

In the supply closet, Danielle went over the headlines on her phone, for the 3rd time. About the team in Markovia, that unleashed the malware on Boston. Locked in a toolshed, when the police arrived. All the hard drives waiting patiently, yards away. Hired hands, of course. But it was a start.

And just a 9,000 mile round trip.

"Mmm. Guess they'll be looking for us soon."

Danielle looked up at Kara holding Esther, slowly spinning, a foot beneath the ceiling.

"Not us, Mrs. Martinez. Just you."

Esther opened her eyes. Sighed. "I…suppose."

And down they slowly went.

The whole 'brush with oblivion' thing gave Danielle a second wind. She got into Zee's face. Spoke in the clearest voice she could muster.

"I'm not happy about this, Zatanna Zatarra." Then, her face softened.

"But I can live with it." She closed her eyes. Took a deep breath. A step back. And extended a hand.

"Deal."

Danielle and Kara hugged on the rooftop, back in JP. A cloudy night. Good for flying unnoticed. Danielle could only nod. Kara quietly took off.

The cape was the last thing she saw.

She could feel it slipping away. The floor. Her mind. But not before one last question.

"What's her…real name…Zee?"

Danielle heard a sigh. "She will tell you that her-…Kara. Kara Zor-El. That is her real name. Well, her other name."

Danielle struggled to form the word. "K- Kara?"

"Yes. Go figure."

A faint "Mmm" was all she could manage.

The star of the stage drew down the curtain.

"But to me, she'll always be: Kara Zor-El."

"The Girl Who Lived."

Danielle smiled.

For some reason.

THE END

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