(A/N)- My Florida Man Flying Graysons agenda rears its head again, lol.

Disclaimer: Noooooope!

RobStar Week 2022, Day 6 - Tropical

The salty ocean breeze was pleasantly cool today.

Dick shifted in the canvas pool chair, stretching his arms over his head to wake himself up. His body started drooping back down into a lazy, contented stupor almost immediately though, the warm air soothing him.

To his right, Kory lounged in her own chair, sunglasses and sunhat shading her eyes. She peeked up at the scampering pair of children running across the sand and screaming in delight, raising her voice.

"Mari? Jake? Please do not roughhouse," she called loudly in concern, seeing their little boy wrestling with his sister, his arms around her middle.

Both children broke apart with an apologetic, "Yes mommy!", separating but continuing to chase each other around the stretch of beach that made up their backyard.

Dick leaned back into his chair, his eyes tracing the wooden steps up to their house. It was nearing lunchtime; maybe he should fire up the grill and make them all seafood shishkebabs. He knew they had some shrimp in the meat freezer that needed to be used up.

Grinning, he pulled himself out of his seat, standing up and drinking in the sight of his gorgeous sunbathing wife for a self-indulgent moment.

"I'm gonna go start lunch," he told her. "You want anything?"

Kory stirred and pulled down the sunglasses shading her brilliant emerald eyes. "Perhaps some fried calamari?" she suggested shyly. "I have been craving it all day."

Dick sent a probing, concerned look towards her stomach. "You're not pregnant again, are you?" he asked, remembering her insatiable desire for squid all throughout her pregnancy with Jake.

She laughed, a bright, musical sound. "No," she assured him. "But I have been missing the fried Ribfrek snacks they used to make on Tamaran." She shook her head, a somberness touching her smile. "The native populations have still not returned to sustainable levels," she lamented, a bit wistful.

He nodded, choosing not to comment. He knew Kory missed Tamaran horribly, knew the planet was still slowly recovering from the scars of war, had yet to return to its former tropical glory.

Here, in the Florida Keys, he could still give her a semblance of the home she remembered.

"Fried calamari coming right up," he promised, beginning to take the long set of wooden steps up the hill to their white-painted house.

-TT-

While he was up on their porch, bustling in and out of the kitchen to set supplies out by the grill, he decided to break into the liquor cabinet and surprise Kory with a drink.

It was a potent fruity concoction—half the ingredients were Tamaranian, painstakingly imported—and Dick mixed each bit carefully, balancing sweet and sour flavors until he'd shaken up a pretty pastel yellow liquid that he poured into a tall flute glass for her.

He finished up the seafood skewers, sprinkling salt and spicy Tamaranian pepper flakes on them for flavor, then brought the tray down, carefully balancing the drinks on one edge.

Kory gasped in delight when he set the tray down, eagerly leaning up and grabbing the delicate flute, taking a long sip and then sighing in contentment.

"Robin..." she breathed, still using her favorite pet name for him, and he felt a thrill crawl under his skin. Kory opened her eyes and beamed warmly at him, blissful, grateful, as happy as he'd ever seen her. "You spoil me too much," she said.

He grinned, pleased to have made her happy, and set the tray down on the little table between the pool chairs. "Hey!" he called down to the scampering children on the sand. "Come get lunch!"

Both youngsters immediately began trotting up the beach towards them, entering the shade of the ferny palm trees, each of them grabbing up a skewer and garbling appreciatively around thick mouthfuls towards their father.

He smiled as he watched their children scarf down, heart as warm as the wind that whispered through the leafy palms, murmuring quiet contentment with every gentle wave and rustle.

If Tamaran had been like this, he thought, he would have gladly fought to preserve her too.

Dick sat himself back down in a seat as he picked up a skewer and enjoyed the pleasant summer day.