Piper held her head in her hands and moaned. "God this is all giving me a headache. Why can't it all just be over?" She slammed her fist on the table and looked up at Alex who was hovering over her at the kitchen bar.

"I don't know about you Pipes, but I'm ready for a vacation. Can we just disappear? I mean you did it once and it worked out pretty good."

Piper sat up and glared at Alex. "Not funny Al. Not funny. But a vacation does sound great."

Alex chuckled. "Anyhow, I'm headed out to the house. I know Lorna is working on decorating the main house while Tom is finishing the rough touches on the carriage house."

"I will just let you do that. I need to drop by and approve the final website layout and some various random things." Piper pulled herself to her feet and kissed her girlfriend on the cheek. "Take the dogs?"

Alex rolled her eyes. "You mean the heathens? Sure. Peep, Choc - let's go." When they both came running, Alex scoffed. "Oh, so NOW you understand me." She snapped on their leashes and loaded them into her Jeep.


When she pulled up to the property at the lake, Alex was relieved to see TJ and Suzie playing outside. Alex unclipped the dogs' leashes as she lifted the dogs to the ground. Choc and Peep made a beeline for their favorite playmates. Alex waved at the kids and made her way into the main house.

"Lorna!" Alex called out, listening for noise that might indicate where she might find the decorator.

The high-pitched accented voice came drifting down from upstairs. "Up here Alex."

Alex bound up the stairs, taking in the sights. She found Lorna in the two room Donovan suite, hanging pictures of various generations of Donovans and photos of older buildings in a much younger town. "This is really coming together Lorna. I love what you've done with the spaces."

Lorna beamed at Alex's praises. "Why thank you Alex. I'm so excited about how everything is turning out."

Alex returned Lorna's smile. "I rearranged some of the furniture downstairs before I came up. I think it flows better and gives it a homier feel."

The grin fell from Lorna's face. "You did what Alex? You can't do that. The layouts were carefully planned out and everything is placed for a reason."

"But I think it looks better this way." Alex's confusion seemed genuine.

Lorna brushed passed Alex and whooshed down the stairs. "Alex. No! Just no! Please just put things back. I can't have you messing with my design. Yous guys hired me to make this place look its best. Please just trust me." Alex followed Lorna down the stairs with a sullen look on her face as she began to put things back in their original positions.

"Please don't get upset Lorna. I just want to help."

Lorna seemed exasperated. "I can tell you how to help Alex. The project deadline is two weeks away. How about you let me work? Take your girlfriend on a nice vacation or something where you won't be tempted to come over here and change things. Go now - shoosh!" Lorna made a brushing motion with her hands indicating Alex should leave.

Alex's eyes grew wide. "Really? You are kicking me out?"

"I love you Alex but yes." Lorna gently led Alex to the door. "Go, relax, you are way too uptight." Lorna's voice became bright again. "Then I can get some work done!"


Alex grumbled as she walked down the stairs and went over to the carriage house. Tom's crew was diligently working on key aspects of that design and it appeared as though it was about time for the interior touches such as paint, cabinets, etc. She caught Tom's attention and he climbed down from his ladder.

"Why so sullen Alex?" Tom laughed as he pulled down his mask. He knew Alex could pout better than both his kids combined.

"Well I think Lorna just kicked me off the property until it's done."

Tom chuckled. "What did you do, mess with her design?" Alex nodded. "I made the mistake of doing that once. Boy I'll never do that again. So you have been banned, eh? Maybe that's a good thing. You and Piper never seem to take any time for yourselves and there's no telling when you might have time to once this place opens up. Never can tell what direction it will take."

"You think so?" Alex looked up at Tom who nodded. "I have a problem though. It seems as though I have these two dogs living with me." She looked at him hopefully.

Tom threw his head back and laughed. "I'm sure the kids would love to watch them. Just drop their stuff off at the house. And Alex, everything will be okay here. It's only two weeks."

"I guess this means Piper and I are going on vacation. Thanks Tom."


After a few minutes of searching, Alex found TJ and Suzie with the dogs down by the lake. When TJ saw Alex, he began to pout. "It's time for them to go already?" He threw his arms around Choc's neck and buried his face in her fur. "We just got started."

Alex knelt next to TJ, placing her arm on his back. "Hey TJ. What would you say about you and Suzie taking care of the brats for Piper and me for a few weeks?"

TJ lifted his head, flashing a gap toothed grin. "Seriously Alex?"

"Seriously TJ. Suzie what do you think? I'll pay you $5 per day to take care of the girls."

TJ was nodding his head furiously when his sister piped up. "$5 each Alex and you have yourself a deal."

Alex laughed at the precocious child and agreed to her terms. "Okay Suzie, $5 each, per day. But you have to take care of them, feed them, walk them, and play with them. Not your parents or the deal is off. Okay?" Both kids agreed. "Great. How about you keep them now and we will bring their stuff by before we leave."

Alex left the happy children and returned to her Jeep.


Piper had made headway at the web designer's office. They had settled on a final design which he would have up within the week so that it would be live a week prior to the grand opening. She arranged for him to go take pictures of the house and each suite. There would be a booking calendar and a reservation form directly on the site to make things as simple as possible for people interested in staying at the bed and breakfast.

When she returned home, she was pleased to see Alex was home. However, when Piper opened the door, she was shocked to not be greeted by the two balls of fur that normally gleefully attacked her. The house seemed silent. "Al? Are you home?"

Alex's voice sounded from their bedroom. "Up here Pipes."

"Where are the girls?" Piper asked as she made her way up the stairs. As she turned to walk into the bedroom, she saw two carry-on sized suitcases laying open on the bed. "Uhhhh Alex, what's going on?"

"The dogs are with the kids. And we are going on vacation."

"What? What about the house?"

"Lorna kicked me off the project. I think I was getting in her way. She doesn't want to see either of us until the grand opening."

Piper laughed as she sat down on the bed. "Oh my. What did you do Al?"

Alex looked sheepish. "I might have moved some furniture, suggesting it improved the flow."

"You didn't!" Alex nodded. "No wonder she kicked you out. Two weeks, huh? Plans?"

"Yes! I miss Blue. We have that awesome house in Key West and haven't been back. So I think I need to go give my Blue some lovin'."

Piper began to pull clothes out of drawers to pack her bag. She knew of Alex's love of old Mustangs and that love extended to other old cars, so she started to make mental plans for another surprise for Alex.


After their arrival in the small island, the pair took a taxi to their house. Piper had called ahead to a service to have the windows opened to air out the house, things cleaned, and the kitchen stocked with fresh food. She did not want to waste any of their time with such mundane tasks. Since she had liquidated many of the monies she had spent time wisely investing and squirreling away, Piper decided that it was well within her right to spend it. She had finally overcome her survivor's guilt and rightly so.

Because the house was in tip top shape upon arrival, most of the afternoon and evening was spent driving Blue around the island. Alex had already made plans later in the week for a full day of driving up US-1 all the way to Key Largo, two and a half hours each way. Being outdoors in this manner was so much freedom compared to being cooped up in the café or stressing about the bed and breakfast.

Piper was left to planning beach days along with the special surprise she had for Alex. There were multiple beaches on the island and she planned a day for them to visit each one, either packing a picnic lunch or dining at a nearby eatery. The two women simply relaxed in the heat of the sun without a care in the world. Piper even convinced Alex to leave the cell phones at the house on their beach days.


"Alex."

"Out here Pipes." Alex was having her usual morning coffee on the deck.

"Hey babe." Piper wrapped her arms around Alex, kissing her on the back of her neck. "I need you to pack a bag."

Alex put her coffee on the side table and craned her head around so she could see Piper. "I do not want to go into Miami Piper. It's so calm here and relaxing. We are on island time."

Piper raised her eyebrows. "Al."

Alex frowned in return. "Seriously Pipes? Where are we going? Can you at least tell me that much?"

Piper shook her head as she kissed Alex again. "Nope. Pack for one night. Just use my bag on the bed. Be ready to leave in 15 minutes. This isn't up for discussion."

Alex grumbled as she drained her coffee and went to pack a bag.

Alex was cutting it close but walked out of the house with a few minutes to spare. As she turned to lock the house, she caught sight of Piper standing by a taxi. "Can't we just take Blue?" Piper was silent and motioned Alex to get in the back of the taxi. "Seriously Piper? Why are you being all James Bond and secretive about this?"

Piper pulled Alex over to her and gave her a long kiss. "You'll need this." She slapped Alex's passport into her hand.

Alex gave up asking questions on their short drive and sat sullen against her side of the taxi. Her interest peaked when the taxi pulled up to the main dock, and Piper exited the car after she paid the driver. Piper still was silent but grabbed Alex's hand and guided her down to one of the slips to a private charter boat. A younger man stood at the entrance and greeted Piper. "Ms. Chapman. Good to see you again." He turned to Alex. "And I presume you are Ms. Vause. Welcome." Turning back to Piper he asked. "Do you have all of your paperwork?" She handed him a folder and assured him it was all in order. "We each have our passports which I was told need to stay on our persons." He nodded and allowed them to board.

Once on board, he introduced the crew and gave them a quick tour. "The trip should not take more than two hours. We'll be underway shortly."

Alex and Piper settled on the shaded deck. One of the crew brought them pina coladas and a tray of freshly cut fruit. Alex leaned forward to spear a chuck of pineapple with her toothpick. "So Piper. Where are we off to on this mysterious trip? You know, the Minnow was only supposed to be on a two-hour tour, too, and looked what happened to them." Alex laughed at her own joke.

"Very funny Alex. Patience."


A few drinks later and a few hours in open water, Alex looked out and could see land in the distance. As she watched, more details came into view. Her confusion mounted as what she could see did not match anything she was thinking. Art deco buildings matched the Miami South Beach scene, but the place seemed far too small to be a major city like Miami. And then she saw the cars. Every single car was a prime condition classic American car. She spotted a mint green 1952 Cadillac along with a quintessential soft yellow 1957 Chevy Bel Air four-door sedan.

As the captain pulled up to the dock, all of the things Alex saw made sense. The sign read, "Bienvenidos a Habana, Cuba!"


A/N: So I didn't mean to take this long of a break after S4. I'm ashamed! I suppose I stumbled onto a bit of a writing block so just finally made myself sit down and choke out a chapter. I have a few ideas of where I want to take things back in Donovan and some specific guests that will stay in the B&B. But if you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know what you'd like to see. My other fics normally peter out at this point and I'm determined to make this one longer!