A/N: After weeks of interruptions, illnesses, and other crises, plus having to handle a succubus determined to take Tim's life force, the Bat Family finally gets a vacation, to the Bahamas, but is it the trip of their dreams? Warning some chapters contain explicit mature themes!

Serpent in Paradise

Part 9

Tim was tossing and turning in his sleep. He wasn't having a bad dream, but something was disturbing him. Something was telling him that something bad was going to happen, but he didn't know what. Tim suddenly sat up breathless.

Jason walked up to Tim's door and used the key card to get in. He noticed Tim was sitting up in his bed, breathing heavily. "Tim, are you okay? I came to check on you."

"I . . . I don't know . . . Something."

Jason walked over and sat on his bed. "Was it a bad dream?"

"I'm not sure . . . Just a feeling . . ."

"You seem a bit shaken. Want to stand out on the balcony? The breeze is nice."

"Yeah, maybe the images will come back to me," replied Tim. 'I've had such dreams before.'

"Do you need help or can you get it yourself?" asked Jason.

"My legs seem to be getting a little stronger each day," Tim mentioned. "But I wouldn't mind the help. Went with Dick and Damian down to the dining hall." Tim's stomach decided to growl loudly. "That was this morning. I guess I slept the rest of the day."

"Would you like to head down there and grab dinner? I didn't eat anything yet."

"What about Sasha? She might be hungry too."

'Like I wasn't thinking about her,' Jason thought with a smirk. "I was just going to ask her. I'll be right back."

"Sure." Tim was pleased that Sasha was going to join them. He wanted to ask them a question anyway.

Jason and Sasha came back to get Tim for dinner. They walked together, Jason giving Tim support in case he needed it. Dick and Damian were already in the dining hall. The hummingbirds from this morning were gone replaced with candles and soft light. Tim had to admit seeing Sasha in candlelight reminded him of Adriana. A pang of jealousy hit him when he saw Jason with Sasha, but it was due to the fact he had someone special and Tim did not. Even Dick had Barbara, and Bruce had Selina, sometimes. The only other person who did not have someone was Damian and he was too young. Tim didn't count Alfred, not yet. He kept that part of his life close to the vest. Tim was brought out of his thoughts when Sasha asked him a question.

"What would you like us to get you from the buffet?"

"Anything really," Tim answered. "I could get it myself."

"Nonsense," Sasha dismissed his comment. "We're here to help you. So, what would you like?"

"Surprise me."

"Hey Tim, how are you feeling?" Dick asked as Tim sat down next to him.

"Actually getting better. Got a lot of sleep. Missed lunch though. But that's okay. Sasha is getting me a plate.

"Okay. Damian said something about the caves but I think its too late to go, so how about tomorrow night?" Dick asked.

"Sure . . . I'd love to see them," Tim replied to Dick's question. "I heard they're not like your normal caves."

"I think Damian wants to check out the bats. Do they even have bats here?"

"Before Sasha and Jason picked me up someone left a guidebook in my room. I grabbed it on the way out. Well, let me look." Tim opened to the page about the caves and bats. "It says here that one of the caves has a small colony about 50."

"Wow, only one of them, huh?" Dick questioned further.

"The caves are above ground and the one with the bats is the largest. They are made of corral." Tim described.

"Okay, it's a date," Dick said. "Make sure you get enough rest. Damian has been talking about going with you all day."

"I will," Tim promised. 'Though I wanted to talk to Jason and Sasha. I wanted to ask them a question. It was odd, but I had to know because of the feeling of danger around it.'

Dick smiled, "Okay. I'm going back up for food. I'll be back." Dick got up and headed to the buffet. It was the opportunity that Tim was waiting for.

"Here you go Tim." Sasha placed a plate in front of Tim. She gave him a various fruits and meats and cheeses.

"Wow that looks good." Tim concentrated on his food since he didn't know how to ask his question, so he decided on a different approach. "I bet that was pretty frightening. Glad to see you both made it back in one piece. Are you going to tell Bruce?"

Sasha looked at Jason, here eyes a little wide. 'How . . . How did Tim know?'

Jason stared at his younger brother. "What . . ."

"At the cave you two went to . . ." Tim added and he looked back and forth at them. They had startled looks on their faces. "I had this dream. You and Sasha were in this cave and there were several people there. Most of them were in shadow and there was this box . . ."

"How can he know that?" Sasha whispered to Jason.

"How do you know?" Jason questioned as he waved Sasha off for the moment. He wanted to know what Tim knew. "You weren't there."

"Like I said I had this dream. You and Sasha were in some kind of danger, but I couldn't tell from whom, only that they wanted this big box that was in the cave. And you were hiding. That's why I'm relieved, that maybe it was just a dream. Wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't," Jason replied, his eyes narrowing.

"You mean what I dreamed was real?" Tim followed up.

"Yes, but are you psychic or something because that's not normal."

"I . . . I don't know . . . I have had dreams like that before . . . But no one believed me."

Jason looked at Sasha. Damian was listening, though he pretended to be interested in the guidebook so no one knew he was eavesdropping. Dick brought his food back to the table and took an interest in what Damian was reading.

Tim didn't know whether to tell Jason or not, but he decided maybe he had a right to know. "Before I turned 13, I dreamed that Robin was killed in an explosion, but I couldn't tell where it was or what caused it. I wanted to warn Robin about it, but my Dad dismissed it as just another bad dream. And when Robin disappeared from Gotham and Batman became more brutal as if he was angry at something, I knew . . . I knew Robin died." Tim lowered his eyes to hide the tears. 'I couldn't warn Jason. I felt like it was my fault that he died because I couldn't stop it.' Tim thought. "Jason . . . I didn't mean to upset you . . . I felt you had a right to know."

Jason looked down. 'Tim could've prevented me from dying? I . . . I'm not angry at him,' Jason lied to himself. 'It would have saved a lot of hassle for me coming back from the dead.' Jason tried to hide the anger by dismissing what he was feeling. "It's . . . It's fine Tim." Jason pushed his plate away. "I'm going to go outside."

"Jason . . . Wait . . ." Tim tried to stop his older brother from leaving. 'Damn I should not have told him, but I had to. It felt right.'

'I'm not mad at Tim . . . truly . . . I just need to be by myself. I'm still not at peace with myself when it comes to the topic of my death.'

Tim looked for Jason but he couldn't find him. He hid himself well. 'Why did I go into that? I could use someone to talk to right now.'

Jason hid in the shadows. He would make his presence known later. He could not help notice though that Tim had followed him. He was curious as to why, so rather than dash off, Jason remained hidden where he was and listened when Tim started speaking.

"Jason, I'm sorry. You don't know how much I blamed myself when I learned how you died. My dad didn't believe me, that what I dreamed was real. We had a fight about it. I almost ran away to look for you, but I didn't know where to look. To this day I blamed myself . . . That I could have saved you . . . That's why I made a vow that no kid under my watch was going to be harmed. I didn't want what happened to you to happen to anyone else. Both you and Dick inspired me to be the best . . . Well, you know. I could be. I . . . I better go back inside before anyone else worries. I'll leave you alone."

Jason curled into myself. Tim shouldn't blame himself. 'If I hadn't been so stupid, so arrogant, I wouldn't have been beaten to death by that damned clown.' Tim's words cut into Jason. 'Because of my death, he vowed to protect kids from harm from villains that harm. Did I give him purpose?' Jason listened as Tim went back inside. He needed to shed a few tears before heading back in.

Tim went back to the table and tried to eat, but it felt like ashes in his mouth. He pushed his plate away. "I'm not hungry and more. I'm going back to my room." He left the table and his guidebook behind.

"What's wrong with Tim?" Damian asked.

"I don't know," Dick said.

"I'm to go see what's was going on," Damian stated and he rushed after his older brother. "Tim . . . wait!"

Tim stopped when Damian called my name. He waited for Bruce's son to catch up.

"Why are you going back to your room?" Damian didn't want him to go, but Tim looked so forlorn at that moment.

" . . . I lost my appetite."

"Can I come with you?"

" . . . Yeah . . . I guess so . . . Though I don't think I'd be much company."

Damian nodded. He didn't want Tim to be alone. Overhearing the conversation with Jason, Damian knew that Tim would only sulk and that wasn't what vacation was for. He wanted to keep Tim from falling into that trap. 'Besides, Father did say we need to be keeping Tim occupied so he doesn't think about that Succubus that nearly killed him . . . the bitch.'

'Jason hates me, now . . . I never should have told him.' Tim was thinking. "Maybe we can watch a movie or talk about something else, look up other things to do. I think I left the guidebook on the table back at the dining hall, though I think Dick was looking at it."

"We have an extra one in my room," Damian stated.

"Maybe we can look over the information about the caves and how to get there."

Damian headed back towards his room. He dipped into his room to grab the guidebook.

Tim opened the door to his room and Damian followed him in with the guidebook and started flipping through it to find the page about the caves. Tim threw his keycards angrily across the room. It landed on the bed without doing any harm. "How could I have been so stupid? Why did I have to tell him about that?"

Damian was startled by Tim's actions. "Tim, what's wrong?"

"Jason probably hates me now."

"Why?" Damian was puzzled.

"I told him about a dream I had before I turned 13, about how he died. I could have saved him, Damian. If someone would have just believed me."

"I'm sure he's not mad at you. He would have lashed out at you if he was. He could be upset at the fact no one believed you. They kept you away and his first life came to an end."

"Maybe . . . Or he just didn't want to do it in front of other people . . . His first life came to an end because I wasn't able to save him before it happened. And who believes a kid anyway . . . I didn't have any evidence that it would happen except that damn dream."

"He can't be mad at you, Tim. You tried to get to him, right? To warn him? You cannot be blamed for someone else's actions."

"Yeah . . . I did try . . . But apparently not hard enough. Jason wasn't even in Gotham. He was somewhere in the Middle East . . . I'm still trying to keep the vow that I made . . . And still kids die."

CRASH! Three men burst through the door. They were brandishing guns. They aimed them at the boys and spoke in a language neither recognized.

"DAMIAN, LOOK OUT!" Tim shouted. He launched himself at one of the attackers who was aiming his gun at Damian and knocked over the lamp on a nearby table by the window. One of the attackers struck Tim hard then threw him against the wall. The lamp fell to the floor and shattered. Tim tried to rise and grab against something, anything, but his head was pounding and his eyes were swimming. He ended up grabbing the comforter on the bed and it slid to the floor along with him. Someone hit Tim from behind and he could hear Damian screaming in the background and pleading with the attackers. Tim was dragged behind the bed and a shot was fired. He didn't know anything more.

"TIM!" Damian threw the guidebook that was still in his hand to knock the shooter's aim off. 'TIM! NO!"

The gunman turned toward Damian and prepared to point his weapon again at the fallen and unconscious teen.

"Don't kill him, please!" Someone came from behind and struck Damian. Last thing he remembered was being dragged out of the room before he blacked out.

Continues with Part 10