Bon Voyage

Cassandra bundled up Morgan in her blue quilted coat, pulling the fur-lined hood over her dark head before lightly flicking the end of her nose. "You ready, kiddo?" she said, straightening up, zipping up her own parka as she did.

"As I will ever be," Morgan said seriously, sounding like a little old woman.

"Well, it'll be mittens and boots here and T-shirts and shorts over there."

"How confusing," Morgan mused.

"I know," Cassandra agreed, "and expensive." She'd had to borrow some of Karen's summer clothes and fork out a small fortune for Morgan's, having to order it online with next day delivery, so they'd be appropriately attired for the tropical environs of Isla Nublar where Jurassic World was based, Cassandra vehemently promising herself she'd forward the bill onto Claire.

"Snowball fight!" Gray yelled from behind them, hurling a handful of snow at Morgan's head, the little girl dodging to the side at the last second.

"Eat snow, suckers!" Morgan yelled back, dropping to her knees and scooping up her own handful.

"We've raised such genteel children," Cassandra said to Karen as she came through the front door, face harassed.

"Have you seen Zach's headphones?" Karen asked, distracted. "Scott's turning the house upside down for them."

"No," Cassandra replied, glancing up as a pretty blonde girl came through the garden gate. "Is this Zach's flavour of the month I see before me?" she then said, brow furrowing.

Karen followed the path of her stare. "Yeah," she said, rumpling up her hair, losing interest. "Those freaking headphones cost a freaking fortune," she complained, turning back to the house. "Zach!" she yelled just as Zach came out, shoulders hunched, followed by his father.

"Keep your cheers down," Scott complained as Zach went over to where his girlfriend was waiting, "we found the fucking things."

A vein ticced in Karen's temple. "What did we say about swearing in front of the children?" she said through gritted teeth.

"What freaking as opposed to fucking?"

"Ah, true love," Cassandra said loudly, making the pair round on her, only to see she was watching Zach say goodbye to his girlfriend. Gray and Morgan were now dancing around them like small devils, making kissy-kissy noises as they did, the teenagers deliberately ignoring their antics, Zach's girlfriend stroking the side of his face as she looked lovingly into his eyes.

Scott glared at Cassandra, having never been fond of his sister-in-law's smart tongue. "Well, don't take all day making your fond farewells," he then hollered over at the teenagers, making Zach roll his eyes, "you've got a plane to catch."

"Dane County Airport is thirty-six minutes away, sixty with traffic," Gray pointed out, pausing mid-dance.

"How many minutes will it take to get your little butts into the van?" Cassandra countered, swinging Morgan up into the air before balancing her on her hip.

"Mommy!" Morgan protested. "Don't carry me! I'm not a baby!"

"No, but you're my baby," Cassandra reminded her, before glancing over at Zach, who was still mooning around. "C'mon, bro," she interjected as Karen ushered Gray towards the van, "you're not going off to war."

Zach rolled his eyes again before hurriedly bidding his girlfriend goodbye, too humiliated to give her the kiss she was obviously expecting.

"Zach!" Karen snapped as she then all but shoved Cassandra and Morgan into the back of the van, the two of them nearly landing on top of Gray. "Hurry the hell up!"

At this admonition, he finally skulked over to the van with hunched shoulders, his girlfriend watching him go, making a big display of wiping her eyes.

"I know it hurts, my sweet young things," Cassandra declared, simultaneously wrestling with Morgan and her seatbelt, "but not forever!"

And the world moves in slow-mo

Straight to my head like the first cigarette of the day…

"Where are we now, Mommy?" Morgan asked, jumping up and down on the spot, making the contents of her rucksack rattle loudly.

Cassandra exhaled sharply, Morgan not even giving her time to appreciate being back on terra firma. "What the hell do you have in there?" she then demanded, clamping her hands on Morgan's shoulders, forcing her to fall still.

"A menagerie," Morgan said cryptically. "Where are we, Mommy!?"

"Costa Rica, kiddo," Cassandra said for the third time, glancing around as she self-consciously pulled down the hem of her oversized grey T-shirt, feeling slightly dazed. The glare of the sun was disorientating after the snow they'd left behind. She'd originally changed into a pair of Karen's shorts and an old ivory camisole, but in the airport bathroom mirror, the shorts suddenly seemed too short, revealing vast expanses of flabby white thigh, whilst the camisole clung almost indecently to her ample cleavage. She'd lost her body confidence after Morgan had been born, having put on a lot of weight during her pregnancy, so she'd donned one of Scott's T-shirts she'd secretly snagged to cover up.

"We're a long way from home," Gray breathed, eyes wide with wonder.

"Sure are, Dorothy."

Zach rolled his eyes, making Cassandra roll her own. "You got your phone, wideboy?" she snapped, rounding on him, making Zach rock back on his heels, startled. "Well, have you!?"

Zach just looked at her as if she were mad, his dark gaze darting wildly around in search of escape, losing his usual cool.

"Wondering why I'm asking, eh? Especially when it's practically attached to your hand? It's cos I'm gonna give you a recap on using it, that's why," Cassandra said, giving him a deathstare as good as his own, making Zach back away. "Rule one-oh-one: when your mom calls, you answer it. It's the little green button, just in case you can't remember. When you see MOM flash on the screen, you push that little green button, okay?"

Zach shoved the hair out of his eyes, trying to recover his dignity. "I know how to use a phone," he mumbled, making Cassandra do a comedy double-take.

She pretended to stagger back, hand flying dramatically to her chest. "Forsooth, he speaks!" she said in a loud aside. "This day is blessed indeed!"

"C'mon, people," Zach muttered, stalking off, Gray and Morgan racing after him, "we're gonna miss the ferry."

"Maybe I want to," Cassandra said under her breath, following them.

Cassandra leaned over the boat rail, red hair blowing wildly in the wind, almost blinding her. The straps of her backpack dug painfully into her shoulders, making her realise too late she'd been overenthusiastic in packing the art supplies. She had intended to make some sketches of the amazing views during the trip over, but so far she'd been too busy alternating between stopping Morgan from falling overboard and chasing after Gray every two seconds, Zach too busy mooning over the various pretty faces that passed by to be of any help to her.

"Why am I here?" Cassandra muttered to herself, pushing the hair out of her face. "Oh, yes, I remember now, because my sweet sister screwed up. Normal people would maybe drop you a text and say, hey, Karen's having a rough time just now, and I was thinking of taking the boys off her hands for a week or so, any ideas? And I would say, what about going skiing? A trip to Grandma's? But oh no, Claire has to organize a secret trip to a tropical island full of dinosaurs that don't have the decency to stay dead and she only bothers to tell you at the last fricking second!"

"Mommy, are you talking to yourself again?" Morgan said, making Cassandra glance down. "Cos I can hear you."

Cassandra impatiently wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand. "I'm a little stressed out just now, kiddo," she said, glancing around for Gray, only to see he had disappeared again. "Zach, where's your little brother!?" she called over, making him look up from where he had been watching yet another pretty face, said pretty face eyeballing him with equal interest. "You're meant to be watching him!"

"I'm here!" Gray said, popping up on her other side. "Where did you go?"

"Where the hell did you go?" Cassandra retorted. "Stop buggering off!"

"Whoa, you're tense," Gray frowned. "What's up with you?"

Cassandra looked out at the water, before exhaling sharply. "I don't really do this kind of thing, Gray," she said, wincing a little, "I'm more of an-art-gallery-and-museum-kind-of-girl. Plus the flying part is still sort of freaking me out too."

"Then why did you come?" Gray said simply.

Because your mother made me, Cassandra thought tiredly. "Because I'm also a-broaden-my-horizons-kind-of-girl," she said with a forced smile, ruffling up his hair.

"You could have just stayed at home," Gray pointed out, not fooled one whit.

"What, and miss all the fun!?" Cassandra said deadpan. "Count me into the chaos."