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.

[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!"

[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]

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!"

[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?"

[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.

[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."

[that_oldsaying]

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

Okay, you could.

But Alluka would be sad.

[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!

[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 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.

[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?"

[tigerundercover]

"It really doesn't," Raven said, looking around. "We've already gotten a bunch of snow this year on the mountain, and it still managed to sneak up on me. This feels more like . . . July."

[that_oldsaying]

Nobody at all!

"One moment!" she said, carefully setting her bag down, so that it stayed flat the whole time. Then she, with a gleeful laugh, flung herself at Kathy. "I missed you, happy birthday!"

[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."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Right?" Kathy asked. "Time is just flying super-fast. Is this what adulthood feels like? I don't like it."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I've missed you too!" she said, giving Alluka a happy squeeze. She loosened her arms for a moment, then squeezed again. "That hug's for you, Nanika," she said, not wanting to leave Alluka's sister out.

[vdistinctive]

Eliot chuckled. "Yeah, if our boat was any bigger, we'd probably end up with a whole pack of 'em ourselves. All of 'em named Megabyte."

[tigerundercover]

"You should come out to the mountains with me and Misfit sometime," Raven said. "Time loses all meaning out there, it's just day and night and changing seasons."

[that_oldsaying]

"She says thank you," Alluka shared, bouncing a little on her toes once the hugs were over. "And she's happy you thought of her!"

Most people did tend to leave her out of things. She was glad her big sister hadn't.

[spin_kick_snap]

Hard to ignore the entity that had, you know, brought her back to life and all. She might not always be visible, but that didn't mean she wasn't there.

"So come tell me all about how training is going," Kathy said. "There's chocolate fondue and I'll pretend it's healthy if you eat it with fruit."

Compromise.

[that_oldsaying]

It was a good compromise!

"Yes, okay," she said, "but, but don't you want your presents?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"And lo, the real reason you all decided to stay on the boat is revealed," Kathy said with a soft chuckle.