Tina was in paradise. She was in the Caribbean.
But of course the paradise had to be ruined.
She gripped Newt's hand tightly as they wove through the crowd, trying to lose Grindelwald's spies off their trail, and she was grateful she had brought sunglasses for both of them.
"Are they still following us?" she asked, as they continued to walk through the crowd.
"You know they are," Newt murmured back.
"Just checking," she said absentmindedly. "How are we going to make it out of this one?"
"Well," he said, looking at the ground. "I've still got my case. We can crawl in if necessary, but I don't think that's smart. Anyone could find it, and in this case I mean whoever is following us."
"What I want to know is why?" Tina mumbled. "You're famous- that isn't worth an attack."
"You're an auror?" he guessed, but they both shook their heads.
"I'm hunted, but not as far as the Caribbean," she said. "How'd they even find out we came here? The only way they would know that is if they-" she stopped walking.
"What?" Newt said, holding both of her hands. "Tina? Tina talk to me," he pleaded.
"What if they captured Queenie?" Tina got out. At first the thought seemed to intrigue Newt, but then he shook his head. "No, I don't think so. They have to be spying on us."
"That does make more sense," she admitted. Then another thought hit her. "Hey, ever wonder how we got to the Caribbean so fast?"
Newt paused. "Well, you got me there," he said slowly. "Maybe those spies aren't so hypothetical," he worried.
"The real problem is who they're working for," she muttered, and they ducked into a place to stay.
The woman at the desk looked up at them. Her eyes widened, and she started to say something, but Newt held a wad of No-Maj money. "Don't say a word, and you can keep the change." She nodded, and gave them their room key.
"Aw, now I miss Alex," Tina teased. "I wanted to hear about how lucky I am to be traveling with the famous N-"
"Alex will be missed," Newt said with mock regret in his voice, cutting her off to avoid the whole "Newt Scamander is famous" conversation. He opened the door, and they quickly rushed in, locking it. Newt put an extra protection spell on the lock and the door, and Tina closed the windows and put the curtains all the way down.
"I feel like we're on the run, like in the movies I've watched with Queenie," Tina said, somehow excited even though, once again, she was probably on the verge of dying.
"We are on the run," she heard Newt mutter.
"Hey," she said, walking over. "I'm getting used to it. And it kind of makes our lives more adventurous, don't you think?"
Newt still looked uneasy. "I don't feel good about you being hunted because of me," he said.
She was about to respond when she realized he wasn't going to listen to a word she said. She came closer and tilted her head against his forehead.
"Please?" she asked quietly.
He rolled his eyes at her, but started to leaning in closer when there was a knock on the door. Newt sighed and reluctantly got up, looked through the glass hole, and then opened the door.
"Yes?" he asked, opening the door just a smidge.
"Mail for a...Newt Scamander?" he gave it to Newt.
"Alright, thank you, that'll be all-" Newt was eager to shut the door when suddenly the squawk of a bird filled the hallway.
"Mercy Lewis, why-" He didn't even finish. He looked too annoyed at how their luck was going today. Tina knew exactly how he felt.
"Woah!" the mailman yelled, ducking as the owl swooped towards the door and landed on Tina's shoulder.
"Is that yours?" he asked uncertainly.
"Oh, um yes," Tina stammered. "Sorry about that, thanks, bye!" and she quickly shut the door.
She rested her back against the door and ripped the envelope of the letter. "It's from Queenie!" she exclaimed.
She made sure that no one was outside the doors, so it wouldn't distract people if it was Queenie starting to yell at her again.
She opened the letter and closed her eyes, ready to cringe, but she found it wasn't animated at all. It was just ink. She felt the paper, confused. She didn't even remember the last time they hadn't used animated letters. She started to read, and she felt the color draining from her face.
"Tina?" Newt was immediately by her. "What is it?"
She looked at Newt, and she knew that he wouldn't let her travel with him anymore if she let him read the letter from Queenie. She smiled at him. "Jacob and Queenie are coming to the Caribbean!" she said, feeling herself force away her panic rising, quickly building by the second.
He frowned. "Oh," he said. "And you're sure there was nothing else in the letter?"
"Nope," she said firmly. He raised his eyebrow at her, but seemed to let it go for now. But he still looked sad.
Now she was confused again. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," he said quickly. "I guess I just thought this trip was going to be the two of us together- but I love Jacob and Queenie, they're like family, and-"
"Yeah, me too," she said, smiling as she sat down. "Well, let's spend the day doing whatever we want together," she suggested. "I mean, we are in the Caribbean."
He slowly started to smile. "Sounds perfect," he said, slowly leaning toward her.
She smiled, looking down, happy that she had distracted him. She settled into the familiar position of her arms around his neck, and breathed him in. He pulled her closer. "Don't you think for a second I've forgotten," he murmured, kissing her on the forehead.
She sighed. "There's nothing-"
He pulled back. "I'm finding out what's in that letter."
That was it. She needed to distract him more. She quickly grabbed his hand. "Come on, we're going out!"
He shook his head. "Tina-"
"Off to explore the Caribbean! Go change!"
She rushed into the bathroom and shut the door, breathing hard. Panicking thoughts were swirling in her mind. Grindelwald was hunting her down.
Then her fear melted away as anger settled in. "Oh no," she said out loud, looking at her reflection. "There is no way Grindelwald is going to ruin this."
She pulled out her suitcase and saw an outfit hidden in her clothing section obviously by Queenie. She took it out, examining it.
"Never thought I'd be saying this," she muttered. "But I'm oddly grateful for Queenie secretly packing half my suitcase."
***
Leta paced, waiting for the two men to come back with the happy couple. She needed Newt and Tina broken up and captured- seeing them so happy together was making her sick.
They finally walked in. "Where have you two been?" She asked angrily. They scowled.
"You know, we have names," the taller man said. The other nodded in agreement.
"You know, I really don't care," she said. "But fine, I guess I can't call you idiots forever. Even if you both act like them constantly."
They ignored the comment. "I'm Alexander Meadows," the taller one said.
"Mason," the built one said.
"Well you already know who I am," Leta said. "Okay, we've all except me gotten close to them and gained their trust. This should be easy-"
"Erm, I already broke it," Mason said.
She turned to Alex. "Have you?"
"Nope," he said. She nodded. "Good. You go and get them here on false pretenses and then Mason and I will make sure this place is locked completely with magic."
They both nodded. Alex apparated out of the hut, and Leta turned reluctantly to Mason.
"Okay. Let's get this place ready."
***
Newt was internally panicking. He needed to find out what was in that letter. He wasn't sure what it was about, but the way that the color had left her face- he had never seen that before, even when she talked about Credence. He had only seen her face like that once- when they were captured by Grindelwald back in New York.
So, he figured something in it was about Grindelwald.
Tina sprang out of the bathroom, where she obviously was trying to distract him by outdoing herself. Which happened to be working.
He sighed. "Tina, this needs to sto-"
She walked out and he forgot what he was saying. She wore a short, romper-like dress that was white and flowed down to her knees. Her hair was in its natural wavy state, and her eyes sparkled. He never thought he'd stop being amazed at how naturally beautiful she was.
"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" Tina asked, and handed him his suitcase full of creatures. "Come on. I put on a decent outfit. Don't make me regret it."
He was still unable to form a sentence. "Oh, well, you see, I-"
"I say walk on the beach, how does that sound?" she asked. He nodded wordlessly. She smiled. "Alright, let's go!" she said, and she tried to drag him out the door before he could disagree but he stopped her.
"Merlin, let me kiss you," he said softly as he kissed her. It was brief and very sweet. Then he pulled back and sighed. "Alright. We can go," he allowed.
They walked out onto the sunny beach, and enjoyed the beautiful view. The sun started to set, and they stopped and watched it begin to descend.
"So," Tina said, looking down at their intertwined hands. "Are you okay?"
"I'd be better if you told me what was in that letter," he said. "But yes. I'd say I rather enjoyed today."
She smiled. "Sorry for distracting you."
He allowed a smile. "Well, I wouldn't say I hated it," he admitted. She blushed and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. He couldn't stop staring at her. Then he made a split decision.
He knew he would never love anyone more than Tina. He knew that fact more than anything. He loved her, and he was pretty sure that she loved him, though he didn't have a clue why. And he wanted her to himself. He didn't want anyone to get in the way anymore. No more distractions.
He turned to her. "Tina, open your purse."
She looked down, confused. "Okay," she said. She got out her purse and reached around until pulled out the first copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
"My own copy," she said, smiling. "Thank you."
He shook his head, grinning. "Tina, that's not it. Open it."
She looked down and started to open it curiously. His heart started beating faster until she put a finger to his lips.
"We're being watched again," she said. "Be very still." They simultaneously pulled their wands out slowly.
"You're sure," Newt asked softly, keeping his eyes on the sand, as not to show that he knew someone was watching.
"Positive," she said, doing the same as she looked out to the ocean calmly. Then she leaned forward.
"I see them," Newt muttered.
"Quick, kiss me," she said.
He looked at her and saw she wasn't kidding. He knew better than to hesitate. He took her face in his hands and gently kissed her.
"Okay," she said, looking back in relief. "Public displays of attraction make people look away," she explained, pulling away. "Come on. We have to move."
Newt started to break into a run with Tina, determined that she would not get hurt again because of him. They ran into the town, desperate to get back into their room when they ran smack into Jacob and Queenie.
"Ow!" the Goldstein sisters said at the same time. They both rubbed their heads, and then realized it was their sister.
"Tina!" Queenie said happily, hugging her.
Newt looked at Jacob. "Jacob," he grinned.
Jacob stepped forward, smiling as they briefly embraced. "How's your honeymoon goin?"
"It's not a honeymoon," he muttered. Jacob laughed. "For now," Jacob said.
Newt looked at Tina, happily prattling away to Queenie. She wasn't listening. He sighed. "Actually, I just trie-"
"Wait!" Queenie yelped. "I just forgot why we were running!" She turned to Tina again, and gestured for the four of them get closer together.
"We were being chased," Queenie said softly.
"So were we," Tina said slowly. The four of them looked at each other slowly, and turned around. The entire crowd of people that were there a couple of minutes ago were gone, and replaced by 6 wizards circling them.
"I'm terribly sorry about this," Newt mumbled. "It's sort of my fault we're all being hunted to death."
"Well," Queenie shrugged. "This should be fun."
They all were still until Newt pulled out his Swooping Evil and let it loose. Then everyone started attacking. Flashes of spells lit up the evening, as the sun set faster and faster.
Newt was proud of how well he was doing against them, considering he hadn't practiced in a while until he heard a scream. He recognized it from Queenie.
"Queenie!" Tina shouted. She threw herself in front of the spell and deflected it with her wand, but not before it ricocheted into one of the buildings that started to crash down.
"No!" Newt yelled. He saw one of the masked wizards pull Tina away and started running. He apparated to where they were and punched him in the throat. The man fell to the ground, but shot Newt with a spell. Newt deflected and shot a paralyzing spell. The man got up and deflected it.
He saw Tina creeping up from behind him, her purse in her hand and her wand in the other. Newt slowly backed away from the man. The man raised his arm to cast another spell.
"Who are you?" Newt asked quickly, trying to buy time.
He smiled. "Funny you should ask." He slid his mask off, and Newt recognized him from the ship.
"No," Newt said, shocked. "Alex? But you were so-"
"Yeah, I wouldn't trust everyone you meet," Alex said. Then he whipped around and touched a Portkey, disappearing into the night.
***
Grindelwald was on his way to the Caribbean. He had been awaiting this day, the day that he could steal all of Scamander's creatures, kill him.
Suddenly, the air got warmer and after a flash of light, Alexander Meadows walked in.
"Ah," Grindelwald said. "Have you got what I need?"
Alex grimaced. "Scamander didn't have his case on him," Alex said. "But I did get this."
He held out Tina's purse. Grindelwald summoned it with his wand, examining it with a levitation spell.
"Hmm," he said thoughtfully. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," he repeated from the cover. He flipped it open with a wave of his wand and saw the back had writing on it. He grabbed the book.
"Oh, how sweet," Grindelwald said, smiling. "Someone was planning to pop the question soon." With one more wave of his wand, the writing changed.
"That's better," he said, satisfied. "Now get this back discretely to Ms. Goldstein," he ordered Alex. "We wouldn't want her to miss her book."