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 27
Samantha woke up from her nap and Tim was right beside her. He had his arms around her shoulders and her head was resting on his chest. Taking one of her hands Samantha started to rub his chest to wake him up.
"Hmmmmmm" Tim could feel Samantha rubbing his chest. Tim hugged her tighter.
Samantha giggle. "We need to get up."
"Hmmmmm do I have to? I'm comfortable."
"Well, wouldn't Alfred want us down for dinner?" Samantha continued to rub Tim's chest.
The mention of dinner Tim's stomach gave out a loud growl. He looked down at his stomach. "Traiter."
Samantha leaned up to give him a kiss. The kiss she gave him would get a different kind of hunger started if he didn't get up.
"Hmmm I don't think we need to get up right now." She kissed his neck
"What time is it?"
Samantha looked over at the clock* it's five.
"Oh shoot! Alfred expects us down for dinner at six."
Samantha sat up. "We have to head down now?"
"Well, not quite. But when we have dinner in the dining room, he wants us to be dressed and punctual. And because you are new to the Manor, he wants it to be a little more formal. That means suit jackets and ties."
"Oh." Samantha had never heard of being formal at a dinner. There were a lot of new things she was going have to learn.
"It will only be for tonight," Tim reassured her, seeing the dismayed look on her face. "Breakfast he'll probably do something special there too. You don't have to get dressed up. You'll love Alfred's cooking. I'm still trying to get back to my normal weight. Luckily, my appetite's come back."
"Well, this isn't my right size either. I was a bit thicker than this. I lost a lot of weight dealing with Devlin. I hope Alfred's cooking will help me gain it back, too."
Tim gave her a puzzled look. "You look fine to me. I need to gain back lost muscle. We have a gym and an indoor lap pool." The mentioning of Devlin brought their problem back to for forefront of Tim's mind. 'I may have to check to see if Devlin is in Gotham. We'll have to take care of that man later.'
"I'll need to use those when I get comfortable here," Samantha said. She felt so small in the large house. 'You could fit my whole village in this place, but everyone is now gone.'
"You'll do fine and it won't take long to get to know the place." Tim looked up at the clock. Fifteen minutes had gone by. "I better get a shower."
"Can I join you? I promise to behave," Samantha teased.
Tim blushed. "Um . . . You'll have to come with me across the hall."
Samantha smiled. She liked the way Tim blushed when she teased him. "It's okay. I can shower here, that is if there is one in here . . . Is there?"
"Tim showed her which door led to a private bath. Samantha nodded and got up to grab a new dress as well as a bra and panties.
"Towels are in the bathroom?" She asked,
"Yup. Alfred keeps all the bathrooms supplied, even the guest rooms." Tim replied.
Samantha opened the door to the bathroom. It was bigger than the room they stayed in with Devlin. "You know what, I'll shower here."
"Okay, see you in a bit." Tim gave her a quick kiss then dashed across the hall to shower and change. He was actually glad for the escape. The thought of taking a shower with her was causing him to have a slight problem. If he had joined her, they would have missed dinner entirely. 'I'll take a cold shower.' Tim went into his room, stripped down quickly and went into his bathroom, started the water and climbed in. The shower felt great. Not quite as nice as the rain showers at the resort, but it got the job done. While he washed up he started to think about how he was going to patrol and find out whether Devlin was in Gotham. He came out of the shower and wrapped a towel around himself and headed back into the bedroom to dress. He noticed something sitting on his desk. It was a new laptop. He opened it to discover his old hard rive had been placed inside as well as a brand new second hard drive. 'How did this get here?' There was also a sheet of paper with dates listed. 'Testing dates?' He sat down to begin exploring, checking the website and the location. He looked at the time. 'Oh shoot I have barely ten minutes to get dressed. This always happens when I get involved on the computer.'
Tim threw on a pair black socks, slacks, and a white shirt. He grabbed a tie from the rack and started putting it on. 'I can never get my tie right when I'm in a hurry.' He then combed his hair and grabbed his dinner jacket. He had just a few minutes to spare. He went across and knocked on Samantha's door as Damian was emerging from his room. He continued to mess with his tie, trying to straighten it.
Damian came out of his room tying his tie. He was in a regular dress shirt, slacks and his red chucks. He looked over to see Tim fussing with his tie and getting frustrated in the process. "Drake, what are you doing?"
"Trying to get my tie straightened while waiting for Samantha. Here see if you can fix it."
Damian rolled his eyes at him. Going over to Tim, he undid the tie and retied it the right way straightening out his collar. "There. I'll see you down at dinner."
"Thanks," Tim said. 'I guess I'm a little nervous waiting for Samantha to appear.'
Samantha finished dressing, putting on her mother's jewelry and slipping on a black pair of flats and headed out the door to see Tim waiting for her.
"Ready?" Tim took her hand and walked her down the stairs. He heard voices as they drew closer to the dining room. Dick was there with Barbara as well as Jason and Sasha. Jason had an annoyed look on his face as if he had been interrupted in the middle of something. Damian was all ready seated by Bruce. They were the last to enter. Everyone turned to look at them.
Bruce spied Tim as he came in with this radiant girl on his arm. He could see now that she was very thin. What she wore before had hidden that fact. Even so, Tim was beaming beside her. "Before taking your seats, first a small introduction. Barbara Gordon, this is Samantha Clark, the newest addition to Gotham and US citizenship."
'She must be the ally that Tim had mentioned in his email. She's a very lovely girl.' Barbara thought. "Citizenship?" she asked to cover up her own thoughts.
"Yeah, we discovered she has duel citizenship. Her father was a US national. Bruce, we'll have to contact Lex Corps to see if she's entitled to any benefits that her father might have had."
"Good idea, Tim. Shall we sit down?"
Samantha took a seat next to Tim across from Jason. She felt nervous in such a strange place. She was also getting that vibe again from Sasha, while every one else was calm and collected.
Tim noticed Sasha staring at Samantha. She had a frown on her face. 'What was going on with her? I will have to talk with her privately.'
Samantha lowered my eyes from the scrutiny that the woman was giving her from across the table.
Seeing that everyone was seated, Alfred began serving the first course.
Barbara couldn't help notice that the atmosphere was somewhat subdued. Usually there was constant chatter from everyone, talking about the previous mission. That obviously couldn't happen since this new person didn't know their identities yet. So, he decided to ask a few questions to get to know this new girl. "So, Samantha, tell me something about yourself. These boys may know you, but I'm new."
"Well...what would you like to know?" Samantha offered.
"Well . . . What are your plans for the future?" Barbara asked.
"I would like to finish my education and become a pediatrician. I helped out the village doctor a lot and I'm very good with children."
"That's wonderfu. I know Tim has been trying to work with kids to stay out of gangs with his Neon Knights program through the Wayne Foundation."
"Yes, he told me all about it," Samantha remarked.
'I just hope she doesn't break Tim's heart. There is something about her that feels strange," Sasha thought. 'Like that Succubus. I may need to keep an eye on her.'
Samantha was becoming uncomfortable under Sasha's staring. She decided to focus on every one's aura. She noticed that every one had a small tear; everyone, but Jason. When she got to him, Samantha noticed that he had two. One of them look shredded. How was it that he had two auras?
Sasha stared down at her plate. She wasn't feeling very hungry, at least not for what Alfred was serving. The greens did not look appetizing to her when normally she loved a good salad. Jason could not help but notice she wasn't eating.
"Hey, are you okay?" Jason whispered to her.
"Just not very hungry I guess," Sash said. To be honest, she was feeling down right sick. 'I'll be right back. I've been feeling like this since this morning despite our love making. That seemed to appease it.' Sasha went into the hall bathroom away from the dining room and threw up. 'I must be coming down with so a bug.'
'I'm worried for her,' Jason thought, though he tried not to show it. 'She wasn't like that in the morning.'
After Sasha was done she washed her face and straightened herself up. When she returned, Alfred had removed the greens and replaced it with a steak with small potatoes. That looked more appetizing.
"Feeling better?" Jason asked.
"Yes." Sasha tore into her steak as if it was her last meal.
Jason watched with wide eyes as Sasha devoured her steak. "Sasha...sweetie slow down...please."
"Hugh? Oh, sorry. I couldn't help myself." Sasha looked down at my plate." 'What's wrong with me? I don't usually devour meat like that.'
"Are you sure you're okay?" Jason was studying Sasha's face.
Sasha shook my head slightly. She really wasn't sure. Strange things were happening and she couldn't explain why.
"Okay, I'm going to take a few more bites and we can head back upstairs."
Samantha looked at Sasha's aura. It was swirling at her belly. "Sasha, are you getting sick?"
"How do you know?"
Samantha looked at Tim and mouthed, "Should I tell her?"
"I think you should if it might help her," Tim nodded.
"I can see your aura. It's doing something weird at your core."
"My aura? Are you some kind of psychic? I - I'm a little uncomfortable with psychics. I don't know why. Just a feeling. I'm not certain where it comes from. Maybe my unknown past."
"Oh, uh, I don't think I'm that much of a psychic. I can only see aura's and heal people."
"You're a healer?' Sasha asked. "Maybe you could heal whatever's wrong with me. I haven't felt myself since last night. This morning I felt strange. I'm sorry Jason. I didn't tell you."
Samantha stood up from her chair and walked over to Sasha "Can you turn your chair around?"
"Yes." Sasha moved her chair where it was parallel with the table.
Samantha sat on her knees in front of Sasha and placed one of her hands above Sasha's belly and focused the energy in her hands. An eerie light glowed around Samanta's fingers. Then two more colors appeared before her eyes and she gasped.
Sasha became alarmed. "What's wrong? I'm not sick am I?
Samantha shook her head. "I can't heal you. It would go against everything you and Jason are trying for. You aren't sick."
"What do you mean? You can't heal me. Please tell me."
"Sasha, your pregnant."
Sasha's eyes grew wide. "I . . . I thought . . . The Doctor said I would need . . . Oh, Samantha." Sasha hugged her.
"It's fine. You're going to have two beautiful babies."
Jason mouth fell open/ He didn't know whether to jump for joy or pass out.
This calls for a toast," Bruce announced. "Alfred, bring some wine. None for you," Bruce pointed to Tim, Samantha, and Damian and referring to those who were under age and pregnant.
"I'm going to be an Uncle again," Tim said, beaming. "Wait, Samantha, did you say babies right, twins?"
"Yes twins," Samantha answered.
"This is wonderful, we'll have to have a baby shower."
"You two have to get married first," Bruce said.
"Yes! I get to be an uncle to two babies!" Dick exclaimed. "Wait, Samantha can you tell the sexes of the babies or do you have to wait?"
"I don't know," Samantha replied.
"No wonder I've been feeling so protective," Sasha said. "And I thought it was because of Tim and Damian."
"You're just being a mother."
Jason picked Sasha up out of her chair. "We're calling it a night. Thanks Samantha!" Jason walked out of the dining room and up the stairs.
"Wait, what about the toast?" Tim called.
"It can wait," Bruce said. "I have some other important news to share. Tim, I take it you found the laptop?"
"Yeah. I also found a sheet listing testing dates?"
"Dick, why don't you tell Tim what all that is about."
"We were thinking about having you test out of high school," Dick stated. "That is, if you want."
"Really?" Tim's eyes went wide at that news.
"Yes," Bruce concurred then added, "You'll have to study hard. Technically we're still on vacation, but if you wish, you can study here at home and test during spring break. You'll have to test for each of the core classes."
"Bruce, this is fantastic. I mean thanks, Dad. What about Samantha?"
"We'll test to see what grade level she's at and if she wishes, she can test as well, and that way we can get her started on her other classes for becoming a pediatrician, if she wants."
"I'd love too!" Samantha blurted out.
"And I can help you prepare," Tim said.
"Well, it looks like we have a lot of good news all around," Barbara added. 'I wish I had some good news, too.'
Continues with Part 28