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Cass stretched languidly as the plane landed with a jolt. “Here,” she said, brushing against Stephanie to wake her up from where she slept curled up against the bulkhead of the plane. “Arriving.”
“We’re here, great,” Duke said from Cass’ other side, and took his earbuds out as the plane ground to a halt.
They were hit with a wave of warm humid air, damp enough to feel instantly sticky as they exited the plane. The boys all had frowns on their faces and tension in their bodies, they didn’t seem to have had as nice a time on the plane as Cass.
“There’s a shuttle to the hotel every half hour,” Bruce said, radiating stress and tension with his body. “Collect your belongings and we’ll meet there.”
“Okay, there’s four rooms,” Dick said when they arrived at the hotel, taking charge, and Bruce seemed to stiffen. “Obviously, I’ll be rooming with little D, Cass and Steph can room together, Bruce and Duke can share, which leaves Jason and Tim to share a room.”
Tim looked about to protest, shoulders scrunched up. “Why can’t I room with Duke or Bruce?” he demanded.
Dick shrugged, an easy fluid movement. “Do you really want Bruce to have a nervous breakdown so early on in the trip? And besides, I don’t have anything against Duke right now.”
Tim slumped his shoulders.
Cass felt Stephanie touch her arm. “C’mon Cass, let’s go see the room, this is going to be so much fun.”
Cass smiled. Yes, this adventure was already fun.
--
Rain came down in thick sheets, pooling on the streets in its intensity. Cass watched from the window, transfixed as Steph turned on the room’s television and groaned about the first day of their vacation being ruined by the rain. It was mesmerizing, heavier than she usually saw in Gotham, interspersed with thick cracks of lightening.
“What can we do?” Stephanie whined as she rolled on the bed.
Cass glanced away from the window for a moment. Watching the rain was already so relaxing and entertaining, but perhaps she could also have fun with her siblings…
Tim ran into their room and slammed the door with a crash, dripping wet and breaths coming in short sharp pants that moved his chest. “Can I stay here with you two?” he asked, after struggling to catch his breath.
“Ew, Tim, get out, this is the girl’s room,” Steph shrieked at him and threw a pillow.
Tim dodged the pillow. “Please?” he asked, looking dejected as possible.
Steph looked over at Cass, searching for an answer. “Brother,” Cass said and shrugged.
“Okay, Tim, you can stay for now, but you have to do exactly what we say the whole time,” Steph said with a smirk.
Tim groaned and flopped onto the floor. “Totally worth it.”
After a brief pause, Steph asked, “What did Jason do?”
“Crabs. They put crabs in my bed, Steph.”
“Like from the beach?”
Tim nodded.
That sounded interesting. Cass walked to the other side of the room and opened the door to the hallway. “Crabs,” she said.
-
Damian had his hands on his hips “They need water, Todd, you oaf. While I can appreciate the image of Drake waking up to crabs in his bed, this is unnecessarily cruel. Grayson, I demand you and Todd return these creatures to the beach where you found them.”
“Uh, it’s raining pretty hard now, little D, can it wait?” Dick asked.
“And allow these creatures to needlessly suffer for your comfort? Never.”
“Can’t we just put them in the bathtub?” Jason asked.
“Todd, you imbecile, tap water doesn’t have the correct salinity.”
“I’ll go get some salt from the dining area,” Dick said.
“Can’t crabs live in either fresh or salt water?” Tim piped up nervously from the hallway, looking carefully about the room as if he expected to be ambushed.
Cass bent down to pick one of the crabs from the floor, carefully placing her hands behind the waving claws. She smiled as its legs moved, tickling her fingers.
Dick returned a short time later with two salt shakers and a wide grin. “5-0, little wing,” he whispered as he brushed past Jason.
Jason made an unhappy noise, but he looked pleased, as if he was playing a game that only he knew about.
“Oh, and by the way, there’s a complimentary breakfast buffet included with the hotel stay,” Dick said as he poured the salt shaker contents into the bathtub. “It’s only open for another hour, so we should go eat after we put the crabs in the water.”
They carefully placed the crabs in the bathtub, then headed downstairs as a group for breakfast.
-
“Here,” Steph said, shoving a plate into Cass’ hands. “It’s a breakfast buffet, so eat whatever you want.
And Tim still has to do our bidding, so feel free to make him get you refills.”
Jason stole a waffle from Tim’s plate, then cackled evily when Tim frowned.
“Let me just work the waffle iron all morning,” Tim grumbled.
“That’s a great idea, Tim!” Dick said, and snatched the next waffle from Tim as soon as it finished. “Thanks.”
Tim rolled his eyes. “Anyone else want one?”
“I want two waffles, Drake,” Damian said. His plate was filled with fruit and toast. “You can deliver it to my table.”
“Ooh, I want one!” Stephanie shouted from across the room. “Are there chocolate waffles? Can you make chocolate ones? Maybe if you try adding chocolate syrup to the waffle mixture,” Stephanie mused, going through the complimentary stack of sauces on one of the counters. “Oooh, I found strawberry jam, blueberry jam and chocolate sauce.” Steph hurried back over to where Tim was making waffles. “Let’s make some exciting flavors,” she said, dumping a few of the sauces into the batter mixture.
“They’re just going to burn and get gross,” Jason snarked from the other side of the room.
“Ooh, can I have a strawberry one?” Dick walked back to the waffle iron to hover over Tim’s shoulder.
The hotel staff glared surreptitiously at Tim and Steph, but left them alone to make waffle monstrosities for now.
Bruce Wayne stepped one foot into the dining hall, saw what his kids were doing, and rubbed the side of his forehead. “Let’s just go out to eat this morning,” Bruce grumbled to Duke. “There’s a nice breakfast place not too far from here.”
-
It rained the rest of the day, so they swam in the hotel pool that smelled strongly of chlorine.
Bruce walked to the edge of the pool, still dressed, his lips thinned in displeasure. “Jason,” he said. “I just received a call from housekeeping. They said there were crabs in your bathtub.”
“It’s because Jason put them in my bed!” Tim yelled from across the pool. “He gave me crabs!”
There was silence for a moment across the pool, and Tim turned red and partially submerged himself. Jason, Dick, Steph and Duke all broke out laughing.
Bruce ran a hand down the side of his face. “They have to go. You can’t keep them in your room.”
Jason lifted himself out of the water, and sat on the edge of the pool. “Yeah, I was just waiting for the rain to stop so I could take them back to the beach.”
“If you went and got them in the rain, you can put them back in the rain,” Bruce snapped, then turned around and walked out of the pool area, tension radiating in his body.
Cass felt sorry he didn’t seem to be having a fun time.
“Like father, like son,” Jason muttered to himself under his breath.
-
The rain was lightly drizzling now, almost as if it wanted to stop. It was easy to follow Dick, Jason, and Damian out to the beach, they were too busy shoving each other and arguing to notice Cass following.
“Why am I even the one carrying the bucket the whole time while you two tag uselessly along?” Jason grumbled, switching the sloshing bucket from one hand to the other.
“Obviously I had to oversee their release to make certain the creatures were treated humanely,” Damian said.
“Hey! You’re the one who demanded I help you, since you switched seats with Damian on the plane,” Dick said.
They emptied out the bucket, and Cass watched as the crabs scuttled away across the sand.
The rain was thickening, preparing to get heavy again, and Cass slipped away, still unseen. She waited under a hotel awning listening to the sound of the rain increase to a roar, and watching as her brothers struggled back from the beach. The air smelled fresh after the rain here, not like Gotham, where there was always a putrid undertone, but truly fresh, like plants were happily growing.
-
“Serves them right,” Tim said, as he and Steph took a break in their card game to listen to Jason, Dick, and Damian squelch down the hallway. Cass slipped back into the room without Steph or Tim noticing.
Then they all watched a movie with popcorn, and Steph yawned when it was over, and kicked a still protesting Tim out, telling him he had to sleep in his own room.
-
The next morning, Cass waited beside the door, and slipped out when she heard Jason and Tim’s door open and close. She followed as Jason crossed the road to the beach, staying out of sight. He only paused and glanced around once, then shrugged and continued. It was like a game, to stay out of sight, and Cass was winning.
The clouds were dark and heavy, looming over the ocean as the breeze turned cooler. Jason squatted down in the surf, searching for something in the water.
Cass slipped a few multicolored shells into her pocket, then picked up a smooth stone and threw it into the water, right by Jason’s foot.
Jason jumped and whirled. “What – oh hey Cass, you startled me.”
“Game,” Cass insisted. “Like brothers.”
“Oh, you were pranking me huh?” Jason seemed to consider the situation, then broke into a rare smile. “Well, you definitely got me.”
Cass giggled as Jason made a dramatic face. Then he turned back to the water, watching as a crab scuttled past. “We’d probably have these in Gotham, if the bay wasn’t so polluted.”
Cass nodded and watched the fish move under the clear water, scales glinting in the light.
-
Dick joined them later, yawning and stretching. “So, what’s going in Tim’s bed this morning?” he asked.
“Nice of you to interrupt your beauty’s sleep to join us,” Jason said, and it almost sounded mean, but Cass knew it was probably a joke.
“Aww, it’s going to rain again,” Dick said and pouted as he looked up at a lightening flash jolted from one of the incoming clouds. “I was looking forward to sunbathing every day. We should have gone to California.”
“Would you want to spend six hours on a plane with the whole family?” Jason asked.
“Touché,” Dick muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Hey,” Jason whispered. “Why don’t you prank Dick?” Jason pointed to the crab’s claws, then gestured at Dick’s lower back where his shirt had crept up, exposing the skin.
Cass nodded, then crept over silently and pressed the crab’s claw to Dick’s back, just long enough for it to almost latch on.
Dick shrieked and leaped out of the water, spinning in mid-air, and bringing a hand to his lower back. He scowled angrily, then his expression softened when he saw the crab in Cass’ hands. “Jason, you’re teaching her bad habits.”
“Like brothers,” Cass agreed and giggled.
“Aww man, Bruce is going to murder us when he finds out Cass has been picking up our bad habits.”
Jason shrugged. “It’s not like that’s anything that hasn’t happened to me before.”
Dick looked about to start a lecture on inappropriate jokes, but thunder rumbled, louder and closer than before, and they ran back to the hotel shrieking and laughing.
-
Steph made unhappy sounds from the bed as Cass returned to the room, dripping water across the carpet. “It’s raining again?” she asked. “When are we going to get to play on the beach?”
Cass shrugged, and set her small shell collection on the nightstand.
“Cool!” Steph said leaning over. “I bet you found some nice ones since the beach wasn’t packed with other tourists.”
-
“Hey, Steph, I think we should take little D and Cass Salsa dancing tonight,” Dick said later at breakfast.
“Roberta, Yulisa, and Javier told me where the best clubs are.”
Steph wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t bring any good clubbing clothes, I packed like I was planning on being a beach bum.”
“Yeah, me either,” Dick said, and frowned at the snorting sound Steph made. “Hey, I know, I won the bet with Jason already. I was ahead 35-1 and he gave up.”
Steph dramatically placed her hands over Cass’ ears, but she could still hear, it was just muffled. “You and Jason both are a horrible influence.”
“What? I’m not giving details. Anyway, Jason gave me one of his credit cards as a prize, just for a month, so we could go to the mall and buy whatever you want.”
Steph took her hands off Cass’ ears and clapped. “Yeah! Let’s go shopping on Jason’s credit card.”
-
The mall was lined with palm trees, just like the beach, only they were surrounded by concrete, not sand. They didn’t smell as nice or look as happy as the other palm trees by the beach. Dick and Steph rushed inside the mall, leaving the taxi when the raindrops slowed to a light drizzle. Cass followed, noticing the cracks in the concrete where the roots from the trees tried to grow through.
“Let’s get some food first,” Dick said with a smile. “Order whatever you want.”
They ended up with soft pretzels, cinnamon buns, hot dogs, milkshakes, and bags of candy piled onto one of the food court tables.
“I can’t wait to see Jason’s face when he gets the bill,” Steph remarked with a giggle.
“Oh, this is nothing,” Dick said. “I already ordered a bunch of stuff online and had it shipped to the manor. And Jason made a very generous donation to charity. The limit on the credit card must be over 20,000, I’ll let you know when I hit it.”
Steph gaped. “Remind me to never get into a bet with you. I could never afford that.”
Dick stretched and stood up. “Now, how about shopping for expensive clubbing clothes?”
-
They went to a shoe store first, and Cass stared at the boxes of shoes that lined the shelves with Dick and Steph compared prices, and tried to find the most expensive outrageous shoes they could. Dick found a pair of cowboy boots with sequins that cost more than Stephanie’s monthly rent. Stephanie found a pair of purple high heels, and Cass found a pair of plain flats that fit her feet snugly.
-
Last on the agenda was a clothing store, and Steph found a purple dress with lace on the sides, and a billowing flowing skirt that moved when she walked. “Oh, this’ll be great for dancing,” Steph squealed.
Cass agreed, and touched the soft fabric. “Pretty.”
“Do you want a matching one?” Steph asked. “Let’s see if they have your size.”
Cass nodded. They searched for a few minutes, then soon, Cass was clutching a matching purple flowing dress in her hands.
“Okay, we’re done,” Steph said, grabbing Cass’ arm. “Let’s go see what’s taking Dick so long.”
Dick was still trying on dress shirts in the men’s section, and had an assortment of pants piled up in one corner. “They’re so narrow in the hips, they don’t fit,” he complained.
Steph laughed, a deep rich sound with evil undertones. “That’s what happens when you have a big butt, clothes don’t fit right.”
“Haha,” Dick said. He finally settled on a pair that almost fit right, although he moved as if they were too tight.
“Sir, I’ll need to see your ID for purchases over $1,000,” the cashier said as they checked out.
Dick jolted, a nervous movement so small that the cashier probably hadn’t noticed, and leaned forward, forming a smile. “Well, you see, this is actually my brother’s card, not mine, but you can call him and confirm. Any chance we can take one item off, and buy $999 worth of stuff?”
The cashier raised an eyebrow. “I’ll call the company, then have them use their records to contact the card-holder.”
Steph poked Dick in the back. “Hey, how do we know Jason’s going to back us up?”
Dick turned to then, and his smile was tight, not reaching his eyes. “We just have to hope he’s in a benevolent mood.”
Jason, apparently was not in a benevolent mood, and the cashier snidely informed them that the card had been rejected, and frozen, with potential fraudulent charges under investigation.
Then they had to leave the dresses and shirts in the store, and follow a frowning security guard into a plain white office.
-
“Man, I can’t believe they had mall cops arrest us and put us in mall-jail,” Dick said, leaning forward with his head in his hands.
“You’re lucky you three didn’t end up in actual jail,” Bruce said, striding forwards. “Fortunately, Jason agreed to come along and clear up any confusion.”
“You lied, you said you’d let me use your credit card,” Dick whispered angrily to Jason as they followed Bruce back to the rental car.
“I said you could use it, I didn’t say I’d vouch for you if you were dumb enough to get caught.” Jason said. “Besides, what kind of dumb-ass buys things in person with someone else’s credit card?”
The air in the car was thick with tension as they drove back. “I know this vacation isn’t what you expected,” Bruce said after a while, “I know I’d rather be on a sunny beach too. But please, could you all at least try not to cause so much trouble?”
Dick typed on his phone, then looked up. “Hey, Bruce, could we stop up ahead? Javier said that Cuban coffee place two streets over is great.”
Bruce let his breath out in a sigh that almost sounded anguished. “Dick, I thought you agreed-”
“I want coffee,” Steph said sitting up.
“I’m not sure I should reward bad behavior,” Bruce grumbled.
“Coffee,” Cass said.
“See? Cass wants coffee, we need to stop,” Jason said.
Bruce grumbled but pulled in.
-
They bought coffee and pastries, and sat by the window to watch the rain pour outside. Cass hugged Bruce briefly, and felt him relax just a little.
“Oh, and so the four of you do learn a lesson, no clubs tonight,” Bruce said.
“Aw, man,” Dick said and slumped over the table.
Jason leaned back in his chair and snorted.
-
Dick knocked softly at their door later. “Hey, I called Yulisa, and she agreed to come over and help teach little D and Cass how to Salsa dance in the room here, since technically we can’t go out. But Bruce never said anything about not partying in the room!”
They pushed all the beds and furniture to one side of the room to open up a dance floor.
Yulisa was short, almost as short as Cass, with a nice smile, and Cass enjoyed watching the easy way she moved back and forth to the music as she taught them to dance.
Bruce arrived to put a stop to the party later, when they had too many noise complaints.
--
--
The rain continued every day until their last day of vacation, and the sun finally came out, baking the sand until it was burning hot under their feet. The beach was filled with people and their colorful blankets and umbrellas, and there weren’t any more colorful shells to be found on the sand. But swimming with and splashing her siblings was still a lot of fun.
“Don’t forget, everyone,” Bruce said as they all made their way back to the hotel, exhausted, with Tim, Jason, Bruce, and Steph starting to show the first pink signs of forming sunburn. “Our flight is early tomorrow morning. It’s at 7am, so we have to be packed and ready to go by 5am, in order to have time to drop off the rental car.”
--
At 8:30 am the next morning, they all realized that no one had thought to set an alarm.
Bruce looked resigned and not too surprised. “I think driving back might be a good lesson in punctuality for all of you.” From the renewed tension in his shoulders, it seemed he considered this a lesson for himself as well.