A/N: This picks up immediately post-Free

Bobby POV

A lie is most easily believed when sandwiched between two truths.

"Captain, I need to take some time. My aunt in Minnesota is having some health issues. A week ought to do it," I said on a Thursday.

And then a day later.

"Captain, I'd like to take a week of vacation time. I've been putting off doing some work to my apartment for quite a while now. Besides, if Bobby's going to be off next week, then it's really better if we're just gone at the same time," Alex said.

Two days later, we were packed and ready to go. We jumped through the hoops necessary to take our weapons with us. Alex didn't like to go anywhere without hers and me, well, let's face it. I have a propensity to find trouble. Or rather, it tends to find me.

I've been to many places all around the world, but I'd never been to Mexico, or more specifically, the Riviera Maya. And even if I had, I'd certainly never been with Alex, so that made this a completely new experience.

And what an experience it was. I wasn't a lay-on-the-beach kind of guy, and Alex knew that, so instead we spent our days exploring the Yucatan Peninsula. The area is steeped in history, and I couldn't resist. Alex was a good sport about it all. In fact, I'd say she enjoyed learning about the culture as much as I did. We walked hand in hand through the ruins of Chichen Itza and Tulum, and we shopped at the market in the streets of Playa Del Carmen.

But much as I enjoyed the days, the nights were even better. Warm breeze blowing in from the Caribbean Sea, Alex dressed in little flowing sundresses, the two of us together on a hammock on the beach…we were about as far from being New York detectives as we could possibly be. And the strange thing was, I was perfectly fine with that.

In fact, the day before we were due to fly home, I realized that I just wasn't ready to go back. Some might say this was no surprise considering we were on vacation in a tropical paradise. But for me, it was a huge surprise. I'd never spent five days in a row not even thinking about work.

So while Alex was organizing her clothes back into her suitcase, I was making use of the laptop. I had an idea.

"Hey, honey," I began. Yeah, I called her honey. She liked it, and I liked it. And it would be tough not using it at 1PP, but I would manage.

"What are you concocting," she asked playfully. She knew me far too well.

"I was thinking…" I stopped when she laughed out loud.

"When are you not thinking?" I got up from the computer and grabbed her from behind and started tickling her.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I wasn't thinking at all about an hour ago when you were doing that thing with your tongue…"

"Bobby!" She swatted at me and I let her go.

"Anyway," I began again with great fanfare. "We have a layover in Miami. What if we just get off there, and rent a car and take a few days to drive home?"

That took her completely by surprise, but I could tell she liked the idea.

"Drive from Miami? That'll take awhile."

"It's about twenty hours. I figured we could take an extra three or four days, drive up I-95. We're not due back to work until Monday anyway." It was Friday. If I planned correctly, we would leave Miami on Saturday, and get home on Tuesday or Wednesday.

"So we go back on Thursday instead?" she asked.

"One of us. If we're going to ask for more time, then we can't ask for the same amount. That would look suspicious. You've got more days banked than I do. I'll go back Thursday and you go back the next Monday."

Alex grinned at me and put her arms around my neck.

"See, there are advantages to being with a genius. You come up with some of the best ideas."

"There's more where that came from," I said huskily, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist. "How about if we get up early to watch the sunrise. Maybe find an isolated hammock somewhere…"

So our last morning in Mexico was spent making love on the beach while the sun played dark pink and purple across the early morning sky. It was a moment that will be forever etched in my mind. In fact, it was so good that then I started to panic. It was too good. Something bad was going to happen. My life just didn't work this way.

"You're allowed to have a good life, Bobby," Alex told me as we flew over the Gulf of Mexico. She had sensed the change in my mood.

"I know," I said unconvincingly. She sighed and held my hand a little tighter.

"Don't you think, with all the crap you've been through your entire life, that you're due? And I mean due for more than just a week of happiness?"

"That's true," I admitted with a wry grin. "I'm probably good for at least another few days."

Alex smiled at me and patted my leg.

"That's right. So let's rent some kind of convertible, and visit every little-known historical site we can find all the way back to New York." I smiled back at her and shook off my sense of foreboding.

"Good plan. You know, in St Augustine there's a national monument called Castillo de San Marcos. The Spanish built it to stake their claim on the New World in 1565, but then they realized…"

"Bobby," she interrupted softly.

"Yeah?"

"We'll go check it out. And anywhere else you want to stop, okay?" I pulled her hand up to my lips and kissed the knuckles. I had never imagined that being in love would feel this good.

Five hours later, we were in our rented Mustang convertible, whizzing our way up Highway One. We had decided to follow the coast through most of Florida before cutting over to I-95 near Jacksonville, which was where we stayed that first night. Then on Sunday, we made it up to Richmond, Virginia. That was where Alex called Ross. I had already called before we left Mexico, so he knew to not expect me until Thursday.

"Captain. I need to take another week, if that's okay," she said. She was wearing a huge grin and nothing else. I picked up her foot and started kissing along the arch. I heard her suck in a breath.

"Oh really? Bobby's not coming back until Thursday? No, I haven't talked with him." I set down one foot and mouthed 'liar' to her before I picked up the other. She motioned wildly for me to stop, but I didn't.

"No, I…um…I just uh…" She swatted at me again to stop my mouth's progress up her calf, but I was enjoying seeing her squirm.

"No, I'm fine, Captain. I just got distracted for a minute there. No, I just got involved in a project here that's taking longer than I anticipated." I was now up to her knee and moving onto her thigh, so I figured she was going to wrap up the conversation quickly. I was right.

"Yes, sir, so if it's okay with you…great. Okay. See you next Monday." She slammed her phone closed and threw it to the floor.

"That was just wrong," she chastised me.

"So you want me to stop?"

"Not now, no!" she laughed. "Now, you damn well better finish what you started."

We were staying at the Jefferson Hotel in the heart of downtown Richmond. It was a beautiful place, and I was glad that we had opted to come straight through the city rather than take the bypass. So an hour or so after Alex's phone call to Ross, we got cleaned up and ready to find some dinner. I raised an eyebrow at Alex when I saw her pull her holstered weapon out of her suitcase.

"We're in downtown Richmond," she said simply. "Its murder rate is six times that of the national average."

"And you say I know weird facts."

"Well, you do," she insisted as she clipped on the holster to the waistband of her perfectly-fitting jeans. "Who else knows that there's a cotton museum in Bishopville, SC?"

"I'm sure all the fine citizens of Bishopville know about it," I countered good-naturedly. But I also followed her lead and got out my weapon as well. If Alex was concerned about safety, then who was I to argue?

We decided to walk since it was a nice night and we were properly armed. We held hands and strolled slowly.

"We should spend the night in Baltimore tomorrow," Alex suggested. "I've never stayed at the Inner Harbor before."

"Sounds good to me. Then we can drive on home Tuesday. Some of us have to work on Thursday."

"Hey, this looks like a good place," Alex said suddenly as we passed a little café. And it did look nice. It wasn't commercialized or overly crowded. It actually reminded me of our usual hangouts in New York.

We went into the diner and found a booth.

"So?" I asked once we were seated.

"An elderly couple in the back booth on the right, three teenage boys at the counter, and a young couple in a booth about half-way down," Alex said promptly. It was a game we'd started in Mexico. The cop-observation instinct never went away.

"Okay, but what kind of shirts are the boys wearing?" I challenged.

"T.J.H.S." she replied with a grin. "Thomas Jefferson High School, I'm guessing?"

"You're good."

The bell on the diner's door rang, and I looked up to see who was coming in. Two men, dressed in jeans and leather, with hair slicked back. They looked like New York thugs.

"Alex," I began as my internal alarm started ringing. And then the men pulled out shotguns.

"Everybody down on the ground!"

TBC...