The night's performance had gone off perfectly.

In fact, the massive audience was so wildly excited that she'd had to do seven call backs.

Seven.

Each time she'd given them smoky flirting teasing, wryly clever play and another fantastical illusion that left them gasping in mesmerized awe and then roaring for more.

The air itself had seemed to shake.

And the Power in her had responded with its own primal joy.

Most of what she did on the stage was genuine trickery—sleights, props and clever use of lighting, angles and smoke. Computers and lasers added to the optical manipulations she carefully built and enhanced the performances to mass entrancing soaring heights.

Modern stagecraft for the modern magician.

But she was Magi and the natural born Power in her could not be denied entirely.

So there was always some true magic mingled mysteriously throughout her performances.

Tonight there had been more than most. Far more. Truthfully, it had actually shocked her. Apparently, Central City and Power had a natural affinity for each other and her skin still tingled and her winter pale eyes still flared electric with the sheer magnetic whirlwind of their mystical explosively hot tango.

Ironically enough, it had nothing to do with Ley Lines or Places of Power or a convergence of magic users or anything else that normally sent a tsunami of Power rolling out through a mundane city.

This time it actually had everything to do with the mundanes themselves.

Central City had one of those perfect combinations of immensely high numbers of young families, students and children.

Zatanna shook her dark head in delighted amazement that almost bordered reverence as she stared out over the city from her hotel balcony.

In fact, only Provo managed to pull a higher Power level than Central in the States and that was entirely to be expected.

She leaned further out on the wrought iron railing, still not truly feeling the night's crisp chill edges. She hadn't changed yet out of her stage clothes, though she had left her top hat inside on her bed, and the silk and wool she wore kept her warm enough though she could see her white breath in the moonlight.

Zatanna smiled with more than a touch of regret.

She missed sharing nights like this with her father.

Zatanna let the night wind play with her long black hair and caress her skin.

She shook her head ruefully.

Hell, nights like this she missed sharing even with Constantine.

But for all her work in generating fantasy, Zatanna was a pragmatist. Albeit a usually more cheerful one. Tonight had been beautifully amazing and though she missed them both deeply, there was more peace than pain these days. Somewhere along the way, she had grown oddly content with her more solitary life.

It helped that it ultimately hurt less.

Zatanna wrinkled her nose as she eyed the cold grey white moon.

And now it was past time for a very late dinner for one.

She propped her chin in one white gloved palm, trying to decide what she was in the mood for. Something intensely spicy and deliciously foreign perhaps, she'd had too much nice but blandly repetitive room service and fine dining restaurants of late.

Hunan, maybe. Or Isan. Hmm, Senegalese?

An outrageous piercing wolf whistle was aimed at her from the street below and Zatanna's black lashed eyes narrowed and her red lipsticked mouth quirked in dangerous dark amusement as she leaned over the balcony railing to see what fool was seriously tempting her to dump his ass in Siberia.

A young man in an old S.T.A.R. Labs hoodie, torn jeans, and a nearly destroyed pair of Converse knock-offs waved both arms at her excitedly, giving her a huge devil-may-care grin from beneath wildly messy red hair. "Hey, gorgeous!" He suddenly struck a melodramatic pose. "'But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?'"

Zatanna couldn't help it; she burst out into warm laughter. "Wally!"

"Hush, woman! Can't you see I'm working it?"

She laughed harder. "Wally, what are you doing here?"

"Uh, trying to get lucky?"

Zatanna had to put her head down on the cold metal railing, she was now laughing so hard.

"Hey!"

She got it mostly under control, glad that her dark exotic cosmetics were now magical in nature and so no longer ever in danger of running even with tears. "Tropsnart yllaW ot ym ynoclab!"

Wally reappeared beside her and gave her an exaggerated suggestive waggle of his eyebrows. "See, education gets you the hot chicks."

That got her laughing all over again and she stepped forward and hugged him tightly, smelling his old familiar scents of cheap laundry detergent, cheaper greasy fast food, and that peculiar hot air tang that came with his constant use of the Speed Force. She found herself relaxing completely. He had that effect on most of the women in the League. Even when he made them absolutely crazy with his stupid cheesy jokes or constant ridiculous flirting, he was just comfortable. "I've missed you, Goofball."

"Missed you, too, Zee."

They pulled apart and Zatanna tucked her arm through one of his so she could nestle and they leaned against the iron railing together. She found the incongruity between them fascinating, her with the elegant and seductive stage costume of silk and wool and black leather beside him with his worn mundane street clothes.

"So, what brings you here, Wally?"

"Doing the sensitive manly thing and checking in on one of my sexy ladies."

"Incredible." Zatanna groaned and shook her dark head in disbelief. "You just found out I was in one of your Twin cities, didn't you?"

He wrinkled his nose sheepishly and his ears turned pink. "Well-"

"Wally! I've been here a week now. Complete with billboards, massive media blitz, and sold out back-to-back shows. How could even you possibly miss this?"

"What can I say? I'm the Fastest Man Alive not the World's Greatest Detective. And, you be nice or there will be no cuddling later."

"Tempting a Magi is unwise."

He grinned and shoved her a little. "Nice, I said. Speaking of which, I'm hungry. Time to feed your handsome man."

"I was thinking hot," she warned, to be fair.

"That is also true."

Zatanna snorted and poked him in the ribs with one finely manicured finger. "I was talking about the food, Wally!"

"Zee, I eat at plastic fast food places and the Tower cafeteria on a regular basis. I'm pretty sure that means I can eat anything now including radioactive waste without a problem."

"You've . . . never actually eaten outside the States, have you?"

"Why would that make a difference?"

She sighed and patted his arm in fond pity. "The Magic 8-Ball says: 'Outlook not so good', my friend."

"You can totally resuscitate me if I need it."

"Wally, Power Girl called some of these dishes 'nicely incendiary'. You're not going to need resuscitation; you're going to need resurrection."

"Oh . . . crap." His eyes widened in growing horror.

"Exactly."

"Then can I at least die in your arms?"

Zatanna sighed. "I give up. Sure. I have a number of incantations that could make excellent use of a freshly dead man and his newly released immortal soul."

"Huh. Is it weird that I found what you just said . . . kind of a turn on?"

"You are insane." But she leaned forward then quickly before logic or reason or plain common sense could change her mind and brushed a profoundly gentle kiss against his cheek. His aftershave smelled good she noticed. "Thanks."

Wally blushed hard and cleared his throat. "For what? Just so I can, you know, repeat the whole kissing provocation thing at some future point, of course."

"Just . . . for showing up tonight." Zatanna said softly, blushing a bit herself now in spite of the night's chill. "I . . . it's been a while since I had the company."

"Hey, anytime, Zee." He said quietly, almost shyly.

The two of them looked at each other.

Then Wally grinned impudently and rocked back and forth on his heavily worn heels. "So . . . since you're taking me out to eat, does this count as a date?"

She felt a mystic ripple of . . . something . . . pass through the ether at that moment. And Zatanna suddenly realized what was happening. The city was still strongly seeped in the great magic of earlier and Power had again naturally responded to her. This time to her Magi heart's quiet contemplation of loneliness.

She knew what this was now. Magic had recognized a wish. She was being given a moment to change everything. A gift granted to realign her own stars so she could have something of what she had previously lost.

Someone to share nights like this with.

Her Sight felt shivery and she wondered mildly what she should choose now that she could.

But as Zatanna stood there in the deepening chill night looking at him, she quietly found to her honest amazement that she truly was still oddly content in her more solitary life now and she realized she really did prefer he simply remain the entirely comfortable goofy flirtatious but sweet friend.

Her father had always said that just because you were given a chance, didn't mean you had to take it.

Sometimes what you already had was actually enough.

And wisdom came from knowing when you did.

Zatanna felt peaceful as she sent heartfelt mental thanks out into the night and let the moment pass and the magic dissipate unused. She gave him a mischievous warning stare.

"Wally, you do know that I vanish things for an actual profession, right?"