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 23
Tim carried Damian as well as pulled his suitcase. Samantha was behind him dragging a new suitcase as well as Damian's, a look of determination and hope on her face. She was leaving one life and entering another. Tim would see to it through Oracle that Samantha's immigration status would go through without difficulty.
Bruce looked up to see his sons and two women approaching the plane. Alfred would follow with the rest of the luggage.
"So, Dad, how soon can we get this crate off the ground?" Jason asked as he approached with Sasha on his arm.
"Will 15 minutes be soon enough? All that luggage has to be stowed."
"Did you tell Bruce about Damian?" Dick quietly asked Tim as he approached.
"Not yet. I will. I wanted to wait till we're in the air, but maybe I'll tell him sooner, just as soon as we're settled on the plane. I need to work on those forms for Samantha as well."
"Okay just make sure to tell him before Damian calls him Daddy. That is really going to freak him out."
"Yeah, it would freak me out as well." Damian had fallen asleep on Tim's shoulder. Tim needed to put him down in a seat, but he wasn't letting go so easily.
"He really is hanging onto you," said Dick. 'Man getting taken from Tim like that must have freaked him out.'
"Yeah, tell me about it. I don't think I clung as much as he's doing."
"You haven't. Maybe if you place him down, pry his hands away, and then give him his cat."
"I'll try. Come on Damian, I need to put you in a seat. You need to let go. I have your cat."
"Nooo," Damian whined, protesting, but he let go anyway and relaxed.
"Don't worry, I'll sit right next to you. I have to talk to Father." Tim decided to use the formal word since Damian would use it. As Damian relaxed Tim laid him down on the seat and handed him his cat. 'Hopefully, what I said earlier will turn out to be more truth than fiction and the cat will protect him,' Tim thought. He looked over his shoulder at Samantha. "Go ahead and sit anywhere, Samantha. Bruce and Alfred usually will sit up front and pilot the plane. I'm going to need to talk to Bruce before then." Tim went over to talk to Bruce as he rechecked the flight schedule.
"I see Damian has been clinging to you."
Tim should have known Bruce would notice everything. He even might suspect, but he wants to hear things to confirm his suspicions. It was always Bruce's way.
"Yeah, he has," Tim replied. "I think both of us being kidnapped really shook Damian up. I need to talk to you about Damian."
"What about him?" Bruce asked as he checked the instruments to prepare for take off.
"I think what he went through has caused him to lose not only his confidence, but he's acting younger than he is," Tim explained. "It's as if he's trying to bury what happened to him. He told me he doesn't think he can be Robin any more."
"That is serious," Bruce commented. "I'll look into it when we get home. I don't like the idea of bringing in a psychologist, but if Damian doesn't snap out of this within a week of coming home, maybe Leslie can recommend someone who would be discreet."
"That's a big risk."
"I know, but you and Damian weren't in your night work gear when this happened. We may have to. Better get seated and buckled. As soon as Alfred stows the rest of the luggage, we're taking off.
Samantha didn't know what to do. Damian ran to her and climbed into her lap crying from a nightmare. "Oh Damian, it's okay. No one is going to hurt you." Samantha rubbed his back in soothing circles.
Tim went back to the seat and found Damian sitting with Samantha. 'He must have woken up to find that I was gone,' Tim thought. "Damian, see I'm back." Tim sat down holding Damian's stuffed cat in his hands. 'I want my annoying brother back. This is heart breaking. I feel like this is my fault.' A couple of tears slipped down Tim's cheek.
"Tim, What's wrong?" Samantha reached out with her hand to grasp his.
"I feel like this is my fault somehow. You don't know Damian the way we do. This isn't like him. And your home, your parents . . ." Tim was crying freely now. "Devlin did it, because of me. Because he wanted to use me. And my brother . . . " Tim shook his head. "He may never be the same again."
"I know he's a strong individual. I can feel it every time I hold him. He's very arrogant and head strong." Samantha pulled Tim closer to her. "My mother always told me things happen for a reason. If this reason was to give me another life then so be it. I know I've lost two important people in my life, but I can't look back now. I can start a new life. I have you now."
"How do you know? I mean how do you know that Damian is headstrong? You didn't meet him before this happened."
"I don't know," Samantha shrugged her shoulders. "I've been able to read people since I was little." Samantha noticed something odd about Tim. 'He has a weird aura around him. It looks fractured really.'
"Samantha, were your parents special, psychic. Did you ever have dreams that come true?" asked Tim.
"Both of my parents were actually." Samantha remembered them doing readings and people coming back thanking them for the things that had come to them. "My father would have strange dreams. My mother could read tea leaves."
"I sometimes have dreams in regards to my family," Tim confessed.
"They come true right? It happens to me sometimes, but I never know when they happen. Maybe that's why I was so keen on meeting you. I remember your eyes from a dream I had."
"You dreamed about me?" Tim was surprised. Then he remembered about a dream he had just one week ago. 'It couldn't be. Could she be the one that I saw in my dream? I feel this connection with her, but that's way too fast.' Tim thought. He had to find out. "About a week ago, before we came here I had a dream and there was a girl in the dream. I couldn't see her face. She had this glow about her. And I remember feeling a connection. I never told anyone about that dream."
Samantha watched as his aura swirled around slowly, but it picked up a bit. "Are you nervous?"
"Um . . . Yeah, I guess I am. I'm trying to decide something."
"What is it?" Samantha smiled.
"Remember when I asked if you were a Succubus?"
"Yes, why would you ask that?" Samantha knew of a succubus. She was a close friend of hers, but she left when Samantha was still young.
"I was . . . Seduced by one . . . She nearly killed me. She drained my life force."
"Really?" Samantha became thoughtful. 'Could that be the reason why his aura looks a bit pale?'
Tim didn't tell her that she took on the form of an old girlfriend. It was painful enough remembering it. "Ironically, we came to the Bahamas so I could recover from that along with Bronchitis. I got it soon after. I think because I was weakened so badly from that creature. I guess I'm still recovering."
"You're going to heal fine, Tim."
"You know, I believe you."
Samantha smiled. She liked the way he made her feel, important. She looked down at the ten year old in her lap.
"He seems to have fallen asleep," Tim said, looking over at Damian.
"He has." Samantha cuddled Damian closer.
Seeing the way Damian has taken to her Tim suddenly realize what Damian was looking for. 'Damian was looking for a mother. He's looking for the kind of Mother he never had. He's behaving like a child because he's never had the childhood he deserved.' Tim kneeled down and stroked his hair. 'Oh Dami, are you doing this because you've been hurt or are you doing this so you can know what it means to really be a child? I'm proud of you Damian, but please don't let them win. You're stronger than that.'
Tim's eyes started to droop soon after. Since their escape, he only had a few hours of sleep. He'd been running on pure adrenaline. With the drone of the engines, Tim was soon falling asleep. He was too tired to even climb back into his seat. He rested a hand on Damian's back and his head against the seat and let the darkness take him.
"Tim?" Samantha looked to see that Tim had fallen asleep. She shifted Damian in her arms and sighed. 'Maybe this will be a good start for me. I'm scared, only 17 with no parents and heading to a new place. I haven't seen anything but the islands. What if Tim's family doesn't accept me?'
Bruce came back to check on Damian and found Tim asleep next to him on the floor. "Asleep on the floor I see."
"Yeah," Samantha said nervously. She wasn't sure how she was going to be received by this man. He was so intimidating in appearance.
Bruce bend down and picked Tim up. He placed him on a nearby seat that could recline. "He's still working on exhaustion. Looks like it caught up to him. He'll have to recover the rest of the way at home."
"He looked very tired when I first met him. I'm surprised he didn't pass out sooner."
"Tim is resilient, but he can also work himself too hard. I want to thank you for helping him."
Samantha blushed at Bruce's words. "We actually helped each other."
"Tim can't resist helping an innocent. It's in his nature."
'Innocent. I'm not that innocent,' Samantha thought. 'I've done some things I'm not proud of. I wonder if he would still accept me if he knew.'
Bruce was watching her face. She had a pensive look, almost troubled. That look was sometimes mirrored on Tim's face he realized. "When Tim wakes up, he can begin working on your citizenship papers."
"Thank you."
"What are you going to do while in Gotham? Have you finished your education?" Bruce asked.
"I want to go back to High School. I was barely in high school when Devlin took me away from my parents. I was a freshman. I managed to take some high school courses in secret."
"You could get your GED."
"Could I? I really would like to be a nurse. I want to help heal people."
"If that is what you want, we can discuss how you can do that once we return."
"You mean you'll help me?" Samantha questioned.
"Yes," Bruce answered. "I can be your sponsor since you're considered a minor in Gotham. You are going to need a guardian until you turn 20 years old."
"I don't know what to say."
"Just do your best. Now, I need to go check with our pilot. He needs relieving. As soon as Tim wakes up he can get started on those papers."
Samantha watched Bruce go to the front of the plane, her head spinning. She really was starting a new life. Devlin couldn't touch her any more. The one thing she wished, however was to have said goodbye to her parents one more time.
Continues with Part 24