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 18

"Which direction is Fortune Island?" asked Tim.

"Just south of here," Samantha pointed, directing Tim.

Tim turned the boat so it was pointing south and headed across the water. "How far is it?"

"Maybe an hour, hour and a half tops." Samantha sat down rubbing her wrist. It was hurting.

"That's what I figured originally," Tim looked where Samantha was sitting. "Are you okay, you're holding your wrist."

"I'm fine." Samantha gripped her wrist tighter.

"Look, I can tell you're lying," Tim said. "I was trained to notice such things. If you're hurt, I know someone who can help."

Samantha looked away somewhat ashamed and held out her wrist. 'It doesn't' matter. He probably already saw the scars earlier when we were in the shower.'

"How did you cut your wrist? That will get infected if it's not taken care of." Tim suspected she'd been cutting herself when he saw the scars, but he reframed from asking her. He wanted to at least save her dignity.

Samantha reached into her pocket and pulled out a razor blade. "With this."

'Oh shit . . ." Tim's eyes narrowed. He had to do something fast. He knew what the next thought might be, if she hadn't tried it already. "Look, cutting yourself isn't the answer. I should know."

"It helps dull the pain a bit dealing with Devlin and his men," Samantha confessed. "I shouldn't have to live like this anymore. I don't want to."

"And you won't," Tim said. "Look, I got to a point where I thought my life was over. I was making a lot of mistakes. I couldn't do what I wanted to do because I kept getting hurt and it was taking far longer for the injuries to heal, not to mention my family was being a little over protective. I almost made the biggest mistake of my life. And I would have been hurting more than just myself."

"Tim I don't have anyone else," Samantha argued. "Who would I hurt by removing myself from this world? Absolutely no one." Samantha could feel the tears build up.

"What about your parents . . . Siblings . . . Cousins . . . Aunts and Uncles . . . Friends . . . And . . . Me." Tim added that last one because he was starting to care for her and not for obvious reasons.

'I would hurt him if I died? No one ever said that before.' Samantha had a surprised look. "I don't have family."

"But you told me about your parents."

"I don't even know if they are still alive. Early on, Devlin said he would kill them if I didn't do as he said."

"Maybe Devlin was bluffing. They could be alive," Tim added.

'Was it possible?' Samantha thought. "Maybe when we get to the island, I should stay and look for them."

"You never know," Tim said. "Well, we should be coming up on the island right now."

Samantha sighed heavily, "I guess once we get there we're going our separate ways? There's no use for me after this."

"That's not true. Your testimony along with mine can help put Devlin behind bars."

"Okay," Samantha agreed. 'Can I stay by his side?'

Tim could tell Samantha was nervous. 'How long had it been since she'd seen her parents?' he wondered. He tried to put her at ease "It's okay. They don't know you're coming so this will be a surprise for them, too." Tim guided the boat closer to the docks leading to the village. It was just a couple days ago that Bruce mentioned he walked to the village. 'I better dock the boat.' As they approached the dock, Tim leapt out and did a flip. He hadn't done one in a long time, but it came natural to him. 'As if my body was telling me it was ready to begin the next stages of my retraining.'

Samantha watched as Tim flipped out of the boat. 'Such a show off,' she thought. 'Now, why would I think that? I don't even know him. We've only known each other for maybe a day. But I feel so . . . so comfortable with him . . . as if . . . as if . . . Sammie, don't get your hopes up. He's probably got a girlfriend back home.'

Tim was tying the boat when he spied two men coming his way. They were carrying guns and they weren't villagers. "Toss me the pole."

Samantha tossed the pole to Tim. She observed how he got himself ready to fight. Remembering when he used the pole as a weapon on Devlin's escort, her eyes grew even wider as she watched Tim take out two guards much larger than him.

The guards rushed down the dock at Tim pulling their guns in position. Tim raced to meet them in turn, flipped over their heads, and brought the staff down on the furthest one. He landed and turned bringing the staff up to block and to strike at one of the two men.

Samantha couldn't help but watch Tim. 'He looks so graceful, like a bird in flight. He took both of them on, with no problem.'

Tim swept the feet out from under one guy and struck him in the chin and knocked him out. The other fired his gun and Tim felt the bullet graze his arm. He immediately went into action; knocking the gun from the man's hand with his makeshift staff and sweeping the staff back around to send it up against the man's head to knock him out as well.

"I've only been to the Village once. I was led there by Devlin's men on a path through the jungle from the resort. Do you know which direction it is from here? This boat dock looks like it might have been set up by a private residence or maybe even those drug runners."

"Yes I do, but I wish to take care of your business first," Samantha said. "We need to find your family."

"Don't worry about me right now. My family can take care of themselves. Your family needs you, too. Let's go there first."

Sammie started off in a direction completely opposite of the resort. "The village isn't far from here. Just about half a mile."

Tim didn't question her judgment. It was possible they had been moved, but knowing Bruce he would have worked out a plan.

'A short cut," Samantha tried to remember. "There was a short cut to the village." Samantha looked around and found the trail, pushing the branches down and out she started to make her way through the trees.

'Where's she going?' Since Tim didn't have an opportunity to explore, he had no idea where they were going. He had to trust her.

Samantha remembered there was a waterfall near by. She walked towards the sound. The crystal clear water reminded her that they were almost there. She started to get excited. 'I've never been back at the village in the three years she had been with Devlin. She started to run through letting the branches from trees and leaves brush against her, heading toward the center of the island.

Tim heard the sound of a waterfall. 'Was this the same waterfall that when we went to find Damian? If it is, then the Village must have been somewhere on the other side.'

After passing further north and east of the waterfall, there was a clearing up ahead where the village rested. She could see the structures through the trees. Samantha's heart sped up. 'Maybe every one is still there. My family could be waiting there for me.' As she got closer, Samantha stopped dead in her tracks. 'Nothing . . . there's nothing, no voices, no music, no sound at all, just the birds.' As she approached, she saw the reason why. She almost sank down to her knees, but she needed to know. She raced to the one building that she remembered and it was there she nearly broke down.

Tim followed her through the Village. His heart sank as he remembered Devlin's last words. 'He did it. He really did it.' The stench of death was everywhere. The village had been destroyed. Every man and woman had been cut down. Tim moved forward to stare at the bodies. It was not new to him. He saw adults buried in rubble, riddled with bullets, but no children. The children were gone? Tim spotted a road sign that had been knocked down. Welcome to Fortune Island. It was the same island. How could they destroy a village and have no one notice? It didn't make any sense.

As Samantha moved through the village ahead of Tim, she went through the bodies, scanning each one closely. She didn't recognize anyone so she ended up going into one of the huts. Well, part of one. She stepped over bodies and pushed parts of the fallen hut out of the way. There were two bodies underneath holding hands, huddled together. They were her parents. She could tell by the rings on their fingers, and the necklace around her mother's neck.

Tim followed Samantha and watched as she entered a partially standing hut. He could see her pause then kneel down. Her body was shaking. 'She must have found them,' Tim swallowed the lump in his throat. It reminded him of the time when he found his father with Captain Boomerang lying dead nearby. His father had a boomerang sticking out of his chest. He then saw Samantha reach down and remove something from each person. Then she returned from the hut.

"Those were your parents," Tim stated.

Samantha slipped the two rings around the necklace and secured it around my neck. "Yes," She didn't know what to say. Her anger seethed inside. She wanted to kill Devlin now. He destroyed her life and she wasn't going to get that back.

"There's nothing more we can do here. We better head to the resort. My family may need my help."

Sammie didn't say anything. She just started walking.

Tim could feel the anger and the hate coming off her. 'She could kill the next person she meets. That anger is going need redirecting,' he thought. 'Hate isn't going to bring them back, and revenge will not bring them back either.'

Samantha understood death perfectly. "Nothing is bringing them back. I could get my revenge and bring peace to myself."

"No, you couldn't."

"How would you know," Samantha bit back.

"Because I've been there. Bruce Wayne adopted me, but he isn't my real Dad. Both my parents were murdered. My father, I heard his death over a phone. There is no peace. You live it every day, unless it can be channeled, redirected to do good."

"How do you suppose I do that Tim Wayne?"

"By fighting, and I don't mean killing; seeing that justice is done. Working with young people so they don't get involved with the wrong people, that's what I try to do, in certain ways. In others . . . It's complicated."

Samantha just shook her head and continued to walk. 'I need to grieve, silently. He doesn't understand.'

They walked the rest of the way in silence, each in their own thoughts.

'I wonder if I should talk to Bruce. She's going to need time to grieve.'

One of Samantha's hands clutched onto the rings around her neck. The tears fell heavily down her cheeks.

After about an hour of walking, they came in sight of the resort. There was someone standing on the roof, someone with a cape. Tim recognized who it was. 'I don't believe it. Stephanie?' He spotted a couple more capes. They were looking the other way. "Hey we're in luck. Looks like everything's okay."

Samantha nodded her head slowly. She could see someone standing on the roof and they were wearing some kind of costume.

Tim did a whistle that only Batgirl would know and waved. She bent down and called to someone. In moments as they drew closer several people came running toward them, one of them on crutches.

"TIM! Oh my god, TIM!" Sasha raced down the beach when she spotted Tim.

"Tim!" Dick tried to run, but the crutches were only allowing him to move so fast. He spotted the girl following behind Tim. 'Who's that girl with him?'

"Sasha, Dick, Jason, where's Damian and Alfred?"

"You little scamp, you escaped, and just when Bruce came up with a plan to rescue you," Jason stated.

Bruce encircled Tim in my arms. "We were coming to find you . . . Someone sabotaged the plane. Alfred is working on it. The Birds of Prey arrived about three hours ago. They made short work of the other men. How did you escape?"

"Oh . . . I'm sorry . . . This is Samantha. She helped me escape. Bruce . . . Dad . . . They killed not only her parents, they destroyed the village."

"What? How?" Bruce demanded. "We would have heard gunfire."

"They had to have used silencers. They took the children too. Can she come with us? She has no one. Please."

Samantha lagged back so she could give Tim's family space.

The pleading look in Tim's eyes told Bruce much. To leave the girl here alone to fend for herself would be cruel. 'I can see the same look in her eyes that had been in mine, that had been in three of my son's eyes,' he thought. "Very well. What happened to your arm?" Bruce rubbed his thumb just below the mark he spotted on Tim's left arm.

"It's nothing a bullet grazed me."

"Better have Alfred take care of that. Don't want to get it infected."

"Sure. Can we get something to eat . . . I haven't eaten since I was kidnapped and I'm starving." Tim held out his hand for Samantha. "It's okay, you're coming with us."

Samantha stared at Tim's hand then reached out for it. She was scared. She felt like they kept looking at her.

"Tim, why don't you take Samantha is it? Why don't you two get something to eat. I have to see Alfred at the airfield and help him with the plane. Damian will be glad see you."

'There's more of them,' Samantha thought. 'I miss my family.' She couldn't stop the tears.

As Samantha grabbed Tim's hand, he gave it a squeeze and for the first time, Tim could see that she was slightly older than him, and a scared teenage girl. All the maturity had left her face. He also saw the tears streaming down and stepped up and gave her a hug. "It's all right. It will be okay." Tim looked into her face and wiped away her tears. "Just don't let my brother Dick see you, he's a hug-a-holic. He's the one on crutches."

Samantha tried to hold in the sob. She just ended up coughing a little. "I need to lay down." Her energy was starting to wane from all the excitement and fear running from Devlin and his men.

"Come on . . . I'll take you to a place where you can have some privacy . . . Though I don't really know if you can. They smashed in my door."

Tim led Samantha to a boardwalk area where there was a collection of five hut-like structures. One of them had a broken door. "Will you stay with me?"

Tim led Samantha to the room that had been his. "I could bring us both something to eat. I think Bruce would like to talk to me later."

"Okay." Samantha stared around the room. Some things were broken but it looks like the room had been cleaned.

"I'll see about getting a room with a door," Tim blushed. "Wouldn't want to be disturbed . . ." Tim left and went to the dining hall and grabbed a couple of plates. He spied one of the workers through the kitchen. The person's face nodded toward him. Tim wasn't quite sure what it was about, until he remembered the Village being destroyed. Some of the workers here at the resort probably had families that had been killed by Devlin's men. 'I guess they're grateful to be here instead of at the Village.' Tim piled food onto both plates. Alfred would be either appalled or pleased that he was eating. He then went to the front desk and grabbed the key to the room next to Dick's on the other side. That room was empty. Then he headed back to his original room.

Samantha sat on the bed, trying to get comfortable but her wrist started to hurt, again. She was holding her wrist to her chest when Tim walked back into the room.

Tim came in carrying the plates and the new keycards. "Here we go. I hope you're hungry." Tim put the plates down on the small table by the window. He could not help but notice she was holding her wrist. "Let me take a look at that."

Samantha held out her wrist for him to examine.

Tim noticed it was red and puffy. "You might be getting an infection in there. As soon as Alfred and Bruce come back, you better have Alfred look at it.

"Okay," Samantha replied a little quiet.

"Are you feeling okay? You don't look too good." Tim took a bite of his food.

"I'm just exhausted. I think I'm going to eat and then lay down." Samantha took a small bite of food. This was the first time she had eaten all day.

They ate in silence. Tim finished his plate while he noticed Samantha ate only a portion. Her eyes were starting to droop. "Why don't you lie down and get some rest. I'll put out the do not disturb sign . . . What little good that will do with no door. Maybe if you get a nap, we can switch rooms later. I need to brief Bruce on everything anyway." Tim picked up the laptop. Samantha had been carrying it the whole time. "I'll take this to a safe place."

Samantha yawned and lied down on the bed.

Tim covered her with the blankets and gave her a kiss on her forehead. 'I better debrief Bruce. He wasn't going to be pleased with some of it, but I did my best to protect those assets.'

Continues with Part 19