Antigua, Saturday Night

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's kotatsu had died an undignified death and the repair (something about proper voltage) was complicated enough to require several days of work. Faced with a girlfriend sad about the cold and, more importantly, faced with a girlfriend's frigid feet, Dante had made the executive decision that they needed a tropical vacation. Immediately. So last week, he'd basically shoved the entire household through a portal that opened to a small island in the Caribbean, complete with blue ocean, white sand, and an all-inclusive menu that contained more fruity booze cocktails than actual food items.

The week had been fun, in a lazy, let's-not-do-anything way, which had also had the side benefit of short-circuiting Kathy's "Christmas Crazy." She'd sprawled in the sun and read trashy novels and swam in the ocean and practiced her Spanish without a care. In fact, she'd lost track of the date until they were talking about returning home tomorrow and she realized that, oh shit, today was her birthday. (And also Dante's, but they didn't talk about that.)

A quick conversation with the resort, some handwavy phone calls to invite guests, and more fairy lights than a grown woman should really need and their little villa was turned into a tropical wonderland birthday party.

[Open! If you think you'd get a phone call (for either Kathy or Dante), you did! Dante modded with permission. No OCD]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

"More food is here," Dante announced, dropping several things he'd gotten from the snacks stand on the table. There was a lot of pineapple involved.

"Fuck, I might eat all of this myself."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You can, but you have to promise to replace it if you do," Kathy said, from where she was pouring an entire bottle of rum into a yet another pineapple. "I started the grill, so the coals should be nice and hot when everybody gets here."

Kathy had managed to work herself up to eating fish recently and was still celebrating that accomplishment. But there were plenty of different cuts of beef and pork as well as big portobello mushroom caps to grill as well.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante grinned. "So I can't throw meat on it yet?" he asked. "Pleaaase?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Are you volunteering to man the grill all night then?" Kathy teased. "You're not allowed to just throw your meat on there - not dirty - and then run off with it when it's done."

[that_oldsaying]

"Dante!" If you thought you were getting out of a hug, Dante, well...

Okay, you could.

But Alluka would be sad.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Alluka!"

She was enthusiastically getting that hug, no worries! A big one, his arms around her tight.

[that_oldsaying]

She laughed, hugging back as tightly as she could.

"I missed you," she said happily.

[spin_kick_snap]

As the party was wrapping up and the last of the people were heading to the portal, Kathy sought Dante out again, flinging herself into his arms without warning and focusing on her breathing.

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante blinked, but his arms closed around her by instinct and habit. "Kathy?" he asked, hugging her close.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Just--just gimme a minute," she mumbled. "Just need to steady myself."

And that was what Dante did best. Steadied her.

[tigerundercover]

Misfit required a minimum two week warning of anything remotely social, so Raven arrived on her own through a last minute portal.

"Kathy! Happy birthday!"

[spin_kick_snap]

Yo, Misfit, that was entirely real.

"Raven!" Kathy ditched the drunken pineapple to fling herself at her best friend for a giant, squeezy hug. "You made it!"

[tigerundercover]

"I did! The nearest portal was in Gettysburg, so I had to fly all the way there, and my arms are legitimately tired." She grinned and hugged back just the same though. "Look at you, all last minute tropical birthday planning."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was pretty sure half the reason Dante had chosen this island was because the drinking age was sixteen, making twenty-one pretty much a complete non-event.

"I sorta lost track of the days here," Kathy admitted. They'd clearly been here awhile, as evidenced by the soft glow of the tan on her shoulder and the little burn on her nose. "It barely feels like Christmas," never mind my birthday. But then I saw the date and wanted to do something..."

Like summon her friends and loved ones to a tropical island for a few hours. Totally normal.

[vdistinctive]

Married life apparently suited Eliot quite well, judging by the relaxed set of his shoulders and his broad smile as he arrived despite the default icon. "Where's the birthday girl, then? We got catching up to do."

As if they weren't talking all the time on the phone anyway.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Dad!" Kathy beamed up at him from behind the grill, wearing a 'Kiss the chef' apron. She was really only poking the coals to make sure they were evenly spread, but it made her feel cool. Though the grill was hastily getting ignored in favor of going over for a big hug from Eliot. "How're you? And Parker? And Hardison? And the Philippines?"

[vdistinctive]

Far be it for Eliot to disobey an apron; he pressed a kiss to the top of her head as he hugged back. "Fantastic on all fronts. They said to say 'hi'. Parker's knee deep in planning to steal all the local street dogs, so they're a bit busy."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy gave him a big squeeze, inhaling deeply. There was something about being wrapped in Eliot's arms that just made her feel safe. "See, if I didn't think I'd get too attached and piss Anders and Dante off by coming home with four more, I'd go help," she said. "...Ronin might also have an opinion on that, come to think of it."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante... was not gonna go talk to Kathy's dad. That felt like a real good way to get a dadly lecture or something.

He was going to raise his glass in greeting to the guy on his way to the grill, though. Just ignoring Eliot would be weird.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot nodded back. "Dante. How's it going?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dammit. See, that's why he'd always told Kathy politeness was for suckers.

Not that you could tell by the easy way Dante turned, flashing Eliot a grin. "Doin' pretty good," he said. Totally not his birthday. "Thanks for coming, I know Kathy's excited."

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka was actually on the ball this year! She already had presents picked out for both Kathy's birthday and for Christmas and, really, had just been dithering about what happened if she wasn't invited to either but then--

Saved!

"Kathy, Kathy, Kathy!" And she'd have bounced over for a hug but, well, she had a bag with presents in it and she didn't want to ruin it, so she was being Very Careful.

[spin_kick_snap]

Alluka? Not invited? Preposterous.

Kathy had already lost one little sister. She wasn't going to lose another.

"'Luka!" Kathy said, doing some bouncing of her own over to where Alluka was lugging her sack over. "Wait, is this my little sister Alluka, or did someone replace her with one of Santa's elves when I wasn't looking?"

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka giggled, a beaming smile lighting up her face.

"It's both!" she insisted since that was the best answer.

Science fact!

[spin_kick_snap]

And nobody could argue with science!

"Well hey there, Alluka-elf," Kathy said, opening her arms. "How 'bout a hug for me, huh?"