"Hello?" Piper asked with urgency, slamming the door shut behind her. She leaned against it for a moment and took in a deep breath. Determined, she pushed away her tears and looked around.

"Hey. What can I get you?" a relaxed, husky feminine voice called from the soft shadows surrounding the fireplace.

Piper had expected whoever was in charge to be sitting behind the front desk rather than relax at the back. Her tall host unfolded herself from the tangle of cushions where she had apparently been reading and walked casually to the reception area. It was surely a trick of the eye, but the fire appeared to dim as she walked away from it.

The cop car slowly pulled into the gas station. Piper's pulse quickened.

"Well, uh… can I… can I get a margarita?" she wanted alcohol NOW. Her perhaps – hopefully – irrationally shot nerves were in dire need of calming.

"In this weather?" the host asked with a lopsided grin.

Piper had to admit the woman's calm manner reassured her, as much as that was possible given everything. She was alone at night in a foreign country middle of nowhere (always worse than a native country middle of nowhere), tailgated by some creepy middle aged man who folded his ball squeezers and thought government approved weed could kill.

Piper shrugged, turning half her attention back to the very patient woman. Outside, the cop car moved at a snail's pace. A shiver went through her when the vehicle momentarily stopped in front of the lodge.

"Perfect weather to dream of sitting on a hot beach somewhere," she said, distracted. She heard the brunette chuckle. Piper had managed to perch on a stool, trying to compose herself and calm her fidgeting hands.

The cop car picked up speed and finally rolled back out on the road. When she turned her head she saw the brunette watch her speculatively as she sprinkled salt on the rim of the glass.

"Here's your beach drink," she smirked, pushing the glass towards Piper.

"Thanks," Piper replied, smiling back. She finished half the cocktail in one long, thirsty swig.

"Old man Healy giving you trouble?" the woman asked, motioning with her head towards the coffee table by the fire. Piper picked her drink and followed.

"What? No. Not really. It's just…" she trailed off as she took her seat opposite the host, preferring to look around.

The place was cozy, she thought now that she felt a bit more relaxed: unpretentious log cabin, with a small bar that doubled as reception. A log fire crackled at the other end of the room and the scents emanating from a fresh pot of coffee (in a black rooster tea cozy) on the square table rather pleasantly tickled Piper's nostrils. The wall giving onto the road had two windows, edged by black curtains – that gave Piper pause – not yet pulled. The opposite wall was covered in books. There were only four (black) booths by the windows and two comfy looking (black) leather couches between the fire and the wall of books. She sat back against the surprisingly comfy couch and took a smaller sip of her cocktail, allowing the relaxing fire to warm up her cheeks and thaw her recent anxiety somewhat. Maybe after enough alcohol she could start to imagine this was a trendy wine bar in a medium-sized prairie town.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Healy's not gonna come in here," the brunette continued with quiet confidence.

"Oh?" Piper gauged the other woman's face but couldn't glean anything. Pale cheeks remained calm as the brunette pushed her (black) glasses to the top of her head (to give Piper a better view of her not unpleasant face? Piper dismissed the thought. Clearly she was just trying to be reassuring). "Well, he was being a bit…"

"Creepy," the brunette chuckled.

"Well, yea. I mean, he was initially friendly… sort of… Is he really a cop?"

"Yea. He's the local chief." The woman used both her hands to cradle her coffee mug. Piper found it kinda cute.

She smiled, looking into her drink. There was just a bit left at the bottom so she drank it up.

"Want another one?"

"No. I think… I think I'm gonna go," Piper said quietly, flicking her eyes at the road. The snow was falling so heavily now that it was hard to see past the gas pumps. But she was pretty sure Healy's cop car wasn't around any longer. Unless he was driving without his lights on… Fucking hell, Piper, stop!

"Not to add to your creeps for the day but I wouldn't suggest getting back on the road tonight."

Piper narrowed her eyes. The brunette had been speaking with nonchalance even if she was evidently aware of Healy's odd behavior. Piper wasn't sure how to feel about this.

"Why's that?"

"Big storm out there. It's supposed to continue snowing like that for at least 12 more hours."

"What do you suggest?"

"Getting a room," the brunette playfully winked towards the reception area.

"You would, wouldn't you?" Piper chuckled, holding her host's eyes for a rather fun moment. She hadn't quite expected this incipient banter. Maybe she could stay a little longer here, pretend she was in that trendy (women only perhaps?) wine bar. It was pleasant. And quiet. And… really fucking secluded. "I don't see any other customers."

"Look, I'm not gonna stop you from leaving if you really must get back out there," the brunette said casually, turning in her seat and picking two mugs from a shelf behind her. She proceeded to fill them with coffee, "but that toy car you're driving is not gonna get you anywhere fast in this weather. And you might panic trying to find your way back once you get stuck."

Piper bristled but accepted the coffee pushed her way without a second thought. She sat back, giving her host a look infused with all the confidence she had at the moment.

"Do you think I'm some damsel in distress?"

She sipped her coffee casually, enjoying the warmth that spread through her tense body. The brunette laughed. It was low and soft and maybe even a bit worried. Maybe. Piper found her confusing.

"Out there, dressed like this and driving that car – yea, you are."

"Listen," Piper frowned, placing the mug on the coffee table with a thud, secretly enjoying the woman's wince, "I've been on this sorry ass road for like 3 hours now. How much farther can the interstate be?" She didn't like it when the brunette frowned. "What?"

"The interstate? Kootenay Highway, you mean."

"Whatever. You know what I mean. I want back on it. Obviously. Why else would I be here in the first place?!"

"Well, you're gonna have to turn back. This is a private road. It ends on someone's property."

"That's not what the highway patrol told me," Piper replied with irritation. "He said the road loops right back onto the interstate," she enunciated slowly, underlining each of her words with a punch of her index against the rough wood of the coffee table.

"Highway," the brunette smirked, calmly taking a sip of her coffee and snaking an arm around the knees she had pulled onto the couch.

"Whatever. That's what he told me. And now you're saying he lied to me?"

The brunette shrugged, watching Piper get infuriated. The blonde wouldn't swear by it, but she had a feeling her host was enjoying herself.

"What? God, you're so frustrating!"

"I'm not saying he lied. All I'm saying is you're on a private road that does not meet with the highway if you keep going in the direction you're currently headed."

"But…" Piper waved her hand dismissively. The people here were clearly pigheaded. Fucking backroad hillbillies. "Ok, thanks for the cocktail and the coffee. I'm going to take my chances on the road."

The brunette shrugged again. She returned her attention to the novel she had left facing down on the arm of the couch. Piper watched her in dismay.

"How much for the drinks and the gas?"

"On the house," the other woman lifted her eyes at her. There was no mischief or amusement in them now, just a sort of cool… Piper wouldn't go as far as to call it "affection", but something akin to it that a stranger may feel for you. "You're really not having the time of your life today, so…"

Piper was really exhausted by everything that had happened so far. She was in no mood to be pitied.

"I mean it."

"Leave whatever you're comfortable with."

Piper gave her a look. Was the damn woman trying to make her life easier or harder? Piper couldn't quite tell. She pulled out her wallet.

"Shit!"

The expletive caused her host to lift her eyes from the book again, one questioning eyebrow up.

"I only have US currency on me…"

"So leave USD, then," the woman laughed, unperturbed.

Piper threw a $20 on the coffee table and made her way out of the lodge, slamming the door in her wake. She was immediately assaulted by howling winds creeping inside her unzipped jacket. Sharp pins of icy snow pricked at her face and neck.

She ran to her car, yanked the door open and took refuge inside. Her lips expelled a long, hissing sigh. For a moment there she wanted to turn back and bid goodbye to the woman. Instead, she decided the brunette had been a cunt and her coffee mediocre, so she could stick that $20 in her charity jar of an ass. A rather sexy ass but that was beside the fucking point. The margarita had been acceptable, at least.

"Motherfuck," she mumbled under her breath, noticing all the car windows had been obscured by the accumulated snow. She stuck the key in the ignition and turned. Nothing. She turned it again. Nothing. "MOTHERFUCKER!" She shouted, beating the driving wheel with her hands. "Stupid motherfucking spillage and fucking backwards hillbillies piece of shit Canadian blizzard rental!" she added for good measure, still beating the driving wheel, until her hands started to hurt. She stopped for a moment to gather her breath and noticed a small laceration on her left hand. "Great, now I'm fucking bleeding."

She opened her door and used her sleeve to push the snow off the windscreen. The lodge's black curtains had been pulled now but there was still a trickle of light spilling out. She noticed with a scoff that the "Vacancies" sign had been turned off.

"Did she get a visit from like the Holy fucking Spirit while my back was turned?"

She waited a few long moments in the car, trying to recompose herself. She didn't want to go back in and give that stupid, exasperating woman the satisfaction she just knew the smirking brunette would flaunt at her. But what was she gonna do? Sleep in her car? The fucking engine wasn't turning on, so the temperature was bound to drop. And she really didn't have anything warm, since Cal had taken all her luggage. She was supposed to see Polly and Pete and Larry right about now. Which reminded her, she should be calling Polly to give her the wonderful update. On cue, her phone came to life.

"Hey, Pol," she answered with more enthusiasm than she really felt.

"Hey, loser, where the hell are you? When I got nothing from you we decided to go on out for dinner. Gimme a shout when you get here so I can come grab you. I got you steak. I figured after all that dri –"

"Pol."

"What? You love steak."

"It's not about the steak. My car broke down."

"Piper! Stop shitting me. Where are you? Tell me you're around the corner."

"No, I'm not fucking with you. My car broke down somewhere called Black Lake."

"Black Lake? Never heard of it."

"Well, I'm not surprised. It's as Podunk as it gets. Apparently I'm on a private road."

"Well, go knock on the door or something. Or maybe don't. You never know. Oh, Piper…!"

She knew this would happen if she told the truth. Polly would start worrying. She took a deep breath and put on her consoling tone.

"Hey, hey, Pol, it's ok. I'm actually at a lodge."

"OK? Just stay the night and we'll talk in the morning. See if you can get someone to look at your car. Or should we come pick you? I know, we'll look up Black Lake online and come pick you up in the morning. Make an adventure out of it," Polly sounded a lot better now.

"We could do that, if the guys are up for it."

"Of course they're up for it. We want you here, Pipe. You're half the fun!"

"All right, Polly."

Piper's reply was cut short as the lights of a vehicle appeared from the thick blanket of stormy darkness. She was ecstatic for a moment, hoping her nightmare was over. She had opened her mouth to tell Polly the good news when she recognized the car slowly edging off the road: Healy's fucking cop car. "Shit," Piper mumbled under her breath, an icy shiver shaking her body.

"What was that, Piper?"

"Nothing, nothing," Piper whispered. "I gotta go. Love you. Call you in the morning, all right?"

She ended the call, laying low in her seat, hoping Healy had not seen her. A few moments later she overheard the engine purring closer and closer. Without further ado, she edged the door open and broke into a mad dash. It took her two long strides to reach the – now locked! – lodge entrance. Fuck! Shit! She groaned inwardly. She threw away any decorum and started frantically banging.

"Open the fucking door!" she shouted. A gust of wind slapped her face with icy snow.

Heartbeat on overdrive, she stole a glance behind her. Healy had stopped his car right next to hers and was now slowly walking towards her, casting frowning glances at the lodge's windows. It was most likely her feverish imagination but she thought his eyes like… glowed. And not from any source of light, either.

The door sprung open. Piper unceremoniously pushed the smirking brunette aside and ran all the way to the furthest corner of the room. She buried herself in a pile of cushions, still warm and exotically fragrant from their lengthy contact with her host's body. Piper breathed heavily, clutching the cushions. Her eyes were glued to the door as if demons from hell were going to burst through any moment now.

"Hello again," the woman grinned in amusement, slowly closing the door. "So I guess you changed your mind in the end?"

"Not willingly," Piper mumbled, the beating of her heart slowing a little as she overheard a car engine disappear in the distance. She straightened her legs, changing her position on the couch to something less frightened looking. There was no need to appear any more pathetic to her host than she had so far. The woman sat down by the fire and poured more coffee for the both of them. "Thanks," Piper nodded, grabbing onto her mug across the cushions she was still cradling. Maybe the coffee wasn't quite as mediocre as she'd initially thought.

"Costa Rican. The coffee, I mean," the woman smiled.

Piper shook her head.

"How did you know I was thinking about the coffee?"

"What else were you going to think about as you drank it?"

"That fucking creep outside, for instance," Piper blurted. She blushed and took another sip to cover it. "I mean…"

"Well, don't feel bad about it. Healy is a creep."

"Why does he keep circling?"

"He's also a cop," the woman scoffed. "That's what they do, especially in bad weather."

"Doesn't he have like a family to go home to? Especially in bad weather?"

"Nope. Who the fuck would want him?" the woman grinned, flashing a nice set of teeth.

Piper nodded.

"Why did you turn off the "Vacancies" sign?"

"That's out of the left field," the brunette crossed her arms over her chest, watching Piper with sparkling eyes.

Piper shrugged, idly noticing just how green her host's eyes were. She ignored it, annoyance spilling to the surface.

"It felt like you were trying to get rid of me."

"Did it? I'm sorry. It was basically my way of announcing to the world that I was turning in for the night. It's not like I was expecting any more customers."

"Do you live on your own?"

The woman nodded briskly. Piper took it to mean she didn't care to expand on the subject. They were quiet for a few moments, each drinking their coffee. The brunette had returned to her book. Piper stretched her legs in front of the fire, enjoying the scent of evergreen strangely mixing with Costa Rican coffee and the exotic scent of her hosts' cushions. The country quiet, only broken by the satisfying pops of burning wood and the occasional howl of wind outside, slowly eased her inner tension. She closed her eyes and dozed for a while.

A very loud growl from her stomach snapped her back to reality. The woman – Piper had forgotten about her – lifted her eyes and grinned.

"I'm sorry," Piper said, looking mortified. She placed a hand over her noisy stomach. "Is it too late to ask for food? I mean… maybe you don't even serve food to customers…"

"No, it's definitely not too late," the woman replied, glancing at Piper's phone on the table. It flashed 20:45. She got up and Piper followed her, a bit too quick. She saw stars and almost bumped into the brunette. "What would you like?"

"Uh, I'm assuming Chinese or pizza is out of question…"

"Chinese, yea, but I got frozen pizza if you're not too pretentious?"

Piper sighed. If her host shopped at the small convenience store she'd stopped at earlier, she probably had some nasty ass preservative laden concoction in the fridge that regular Piper wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole…

"I don't think I'm in a position to be pretentious," Piper's lips curled with a tired smile.

"All right, go sit back down and I'll stick a pizza in the oven."

Piper had curled up among the cushions and tugged a green blanket over her body. By the time her host returned she was on the brink of dozing off again. Through sleepy eyes she watched the fire do that thing again: puff up as if in greeting when the brunette came closer. People here were a bit funny, that was certain, so it was prudent to keep the good will alive, Piper thought as she sat up, enhancing the smile on her lip a bit.

"You know, I want to apologize for earlier. I think I was a bit short with you where you've been really kind to me. So let's start over. I'm Piper." She held out her hand over the coffee table. The other woman smiled and closed her fingers around Piper's.

"Alex."

Piper was startled by the coldness of Alex's hand but its softness eased her mind. The brunette wasn't so bad, after all. She'd sheltered her, gave her coffee and even made her a cocktail. To top it all, she was somehow able to keep Creepy Healy at arm's length. Pretty much all Piper could hope for, considering the circumstances.

Alex let out a soft chuckle, her eyes flickering with an intense light Piper hadn't seen before but was quite taken by.

"What?" she sleepily asked. There was a story behind those green eyes and she was this close to learning it.

"You've bled all over my hand."

The remark broke Piper out of the reverie in which she was slowly losing herself.

"Oh… god, sorry. I hurt my hand in the car…" Piper retracted her hand and wrapped it in her sleeve, trying to wipe the excess blood. It was just a trickle but a steady one. "I sort of got mad."

"You did? Why?"

"It fucking broke down on me. Stupid rental. And then Healy returned so I ran back here."

"Give it to me," Alex cupped her hands as if she was trying to catch water.

"Why?"

"I wanna show you a fun trick." Piper frowned, unsure if she should smile of refuse. "Come on, it won't hurt."

"Okay."

A bit self-consciously, Piper lowered her still bleeding hand in Alex's. The brunette closed her cool ones over it and held Piper's eyes with one of her little smirks.

"Keep looking at me."

"Why?"

"Because otherwise the trick won't work."

Piper complied, aware of a kind of superficial sizzle going on between Alex's palms. Her cheeks colored a bit as green eyes restarted spinning their incomprehensible tale. The room around her seemed to disappear in a soft, fragrant cloud of light green cotton candy while her body lost all its material consistency. Piper urgently needed to re-establish her connection to some sort of meaning.

"Are you secretly cooking my hand?" she joked nervously as she shifted her eyes to Alex's long and nimble fingers.

"Yes. I'm going to turn it into a perfectly grilled pork chop."

On cue, the fire crackled and puffed up behind them.

Piper was still ensconced among the exotic scented cushions. The fragrance seemed stronger now that Alex had held her injured hand for hours (ok, it was only about 5 minutes but it felt like a – rather pleasant – eternity). She was in a state she recognized well: the drowsiness that came after a heavier bottle of wine, the kind where you're at peace with the universe and even feel acquainted with its more mysterious workings. The thought of Creepy Healy was present, but only as a persistent but muffled buzzing at the periphery of her unhindered state. There were also misty thoughts about her trio of friends finishing a meal in Lake Louise. Though seen as from the wrong end of binoculars, they appeared so clear in Piper's mind that she was confident their night was going on just fine without her. She frowned for a moment as the thought registered but let go of it just as easily.

"Hey, Nick? Where are you?"

Piper remembered that right after fixing her pork chop hand, Alex promised her she would try to get a mechanic friend to check up on her stupid rental. And that's what she was doing now, having a speakerphone conversation with said friend. Piper amused herself trying to imagine "Nick" from the loud and brash disembodied voice that was slowly dissipating whatever spell in which Alex had had the room wrapped up.

"Have you tried looking out the window for a change? I know you're a bookworm hermit who could live for months on canned beans and coffee but even you might've noticed there's a fucking blizzard raging outside."

"I may have noticed something, yes," Alex chuckled from her comfortable spot by the puffed up fire. "Too much white; I thought I needed new glasses."

"You probably do. You barely ever notice my handsome presence anymore," Nick let out a ribald laugh on the other end of the line. Piper was surprised at Alex's affectionate smile.

"You're out plowing, then?"

"Yep. Got a big gig from the city. I'll be at it for the foreseeable future."

Piper watched the brunette frown slightly. Right now, she saw Nicky as a tall, muscular woman with large, square hands smeared with grease. An unfiltered cigarette hung loosely from the corner of her mouth and she had a bottle of the modern equivalent of moonshine inside her back pocket. The image made her giggle softly.

"Are you...?"

"Relax," Nicky drawled, "I've got everything under control. You know how being extra busy works all my excess energy out."

"Lucky you. So that means you won't be able to drop by and look at a car?"

"Heeeey! You actually bought a car, Vause?"

"I have a guest."

"Well, I'll be! Male? Female? No, let me guess: female. Otherwise you wouldn't give a fuck about their well-being."

Piper lifted her eyebrows at this. Alex waved a placating hand, which she promptly stuck in her hair.

"How about you answer my question for once?"

Nick laughed on the other end.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Vause, but the answer is no tonight. I could, though, send in Tricia." Piper perked up at the name but was confused by Alex's frown. She'd taken her glasses off and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Then she put her glasses back on.

"Uh…"

"I know, I know, you two don't see eye to eye but I'll explain the situation to her. You know she's actually got a big heart."

"And she'd do anything for you."

"That's what I'm banking on. So I'll send her in the morning. Tell your guest there won't be any plows coming your way until then, anyway. Good night and don't do anything I wouldn't do to that nice guest of yours, all right?"

Alex chuckled and ended the call. She placed the phone on the coffee table and turned to Piper, still grinning with the mischievous light in her eye. The blonde felt a giddy stir in her chest.

"What?"

"There is very little Nicky wouldn't do to a beautiful woman."

Piper squirmed but not because she was uncomfortable with the turn their conversation had taken. No. Rather because… the implication echoed something inside her. Something she hadn't felt in ages. She took in a deep breath.

Alex lifted a long, thin index. Her smile was amiable, eyes perfectly calm.

"But you heard her, I'm a hermit bookworm so I'm just gonna go back to my book."

The blonde scoffed.

"Can I trust you?"

"You have no choice."

Oops, there was a bit more delay than I wanted in posting this. I was stricken with a bad case of "should this be chapter 2 or should I insert more stuff about the investigation before I relax things?" Eventually I figured we all want Vauseman to meet already and the rest can wait a bit longer.