Leaving New York

As the cab pulled away Beth felt the tears trail down her cheeks. She hated seeing the hurt and disappointment on Mick's face, but she hated herself even more for having put it there!

He had seemed so alive as they had left Josef. Almost like a little boy who had just been given a new toy. She knew that Mick felt relieved to find that his best friend, Josef, had actually fallen in love once… and with a mortal no less. To Mick that was a gift, it was as if Josef had given his approval of the feelings she and Mick had for each other, the feelings that neither of them had yet been brave enough to admit, but that everyone else seemed to know was there.

She knew she had crushed that happiness with the mention of Josh. She really should have just told Mick that she needed some time to think, but no, she had to bring up her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. Mick had been the gentleman, all understanding and gallant, telling her that it was fine and all that, but she had seen his hopes fall. She knew that she had broken his heart and that killed her! When she had touched his hand through the cab's window just before it drove away she could feel the connection, the pure electricity between them, she had come very close to jumping out of the cab and kissing Mick right there, but she didn't. She still needed time to sort things out and she knew that jumping into things with Mick before she had things in order would only hurt them both in the long run.

So much had happened over the past few days. She had stabbed Coraline, Mick's used to be vampire, ex-wife… who was now very much human… Josef had been murdered and she and Mick had gotten into an argument about her doing the story on the explosion that had caused his death… she had felt terrible about those events immediately and had went to Mick's apartment to make things right with him, he had found her sitting in the floor outside his door. They had both apologized and Mick had broken down and leaned on her for support… it felt so good to have him trust her so much. After this little incident, they had both needed a drink, so they had headed into Mick's apartment only to find Josef, very much alive and sitting at Mick's desk… they were both shocked! The 3 of them had began working immediately to find out who would want Josef dead, this had lead them to New York and to Sara. Sara, who Josef had fallen in love with and who he had tried to turn… but something had went wrong and she was in a forever coma. Josef's love for her hadn't dimmed in the 55 years since it had happened, you could hear the love in his voice when he was telling them about her, you could see it in his eyes when he looked at her. Yet Josef lived his life as a playboy of sorts… Beth now knew that this was just a cover-up for the pain. Her respect for Josef had grown immensely that day, she had seen a man who had seemed to be so heartless become a man with a heart as big as the universe… he truly loved Sara and he had cared for her all these years, hoping against hope for a cure of some sort, so that they could be together forever. Beth believed that if a cure was out there for Sara, Josef would keep on until he found it.

What had bothered Beth more than anything wasn't the fact that Sara seemed to be in a coma that she would never come out of, but it was the pain she had seen on Josef's face. She had no doubts that he loved Sara, nor did she think he regretted all the years he had taken care of her, but the hurt on his face as he saw his love lying there because of something he had done to her was heart wrenching.

As she headed into the hotel to gather her things, her mind traveled back to earlier that day as she had sat on a New York park bench with Mick and read Sara's diary aloud as he had listened.

Beth had seen herself in Sara; she had loved Josef unconditionally. She didn't care what he was or that he drank blood to stay alive, no, all she cared about was the fact that he loved her and she loved him, and she wanted to be with him forever. As she had read Sara's words Beth felt she was speaking the desires of her own heart. It was as if Sara had written what Beth had been thinking and feeling over the past month. As Beth read Sara's last diary entry to Mick she had been shaken because as she read aloud the three little words that she later learned had changed Sara's fate, she read them as if she were telling Mick herself, "I am ready." As she looked up, Mick had been looking at her, but he quickly turned away… it was almost like he knew her thoughts, that she was thinking how much she wanted him to know that she was ready to be turned, but he wouldn't look her in the eye, it would have bared each of their souls too much!

When they had tracked down Josef and seen Sara lying there Beth had been stunned. She knew it had affected Mick also, maybe more so than her. He was not only shocked by the fact that Sara was there, in a coma, but he seemed more stunned by the simple fact that Josef had loved so deeply and he had never known.

Still thinking over the day's events, Beth headed out to catch a cab to the airport. On the ride her mind wandered to Mick. She wondered if he had went on to see the sites of New York without her or if maybe he had went back to talk to Josef. She wasn't sure, but it saddened her to think of Mick there alone when she could have been with him.

She moved through the airport still thinking of Mick, of his warm smile, the sadness she had put in his eyes and how she had known from their first meeting… or really it was their second since he had saved her as a child… that he was a very special man.

So much had happened, she had felt that she and Mick were growing closer until Coraline had come back into the picture; Mick had been different since then, especially since she had stabbed her. She didn't know how Coraline's reappearance was going to figure into their relationship, but she felt that she & Mick were still closer than ever… that was up until she had brought up Josh and drove off in the cab without him!

She felt sure Mick didn't love Coraline as he once had, yet she had been his wife, so they were connected to some point. Josef had said that if Coraline was back she was back for Mick. Maybe she had noticed that Mick was finally happy because he was spending time with Beth and that's why she had decided to come back and try to lay claim on him again. However, Mick's interest in Coraline seemed to be more for the cure she seemed to have found for vampirism than it was in Coraline herself. Either way, Beth was not going to let her hurt Mick again… and she was going to pay for what she had done to her as a child!

Of course, Beth had her own baggage to take care of in Josh. Their conversation before she had left for New York had not been good and she knew she needed to officially end things with him. As she found her seat on the plane she vowed that that would be her first order of business when she landed in L.A. She wanted to take care of that unfinished business so that she would be ready to talk to Mick when he returned. She wanted him to know that she loved him and that, like Sara had told Josef, she wanted to be like him so that she could spend forever with him.

Beth smiled to herself as the thought of Forever with Mick crossed her mind. She would gladly give everything she had to feel his embrace for just a day, but to have forever with him would be a dream come true! She intended to keep on pushing until Mick saw things her way… he would eventually give in to her.

Just as soon as she saw Josh and broke up with him she was going to Mick's apartment to wait for him to return from New York. She would camp out in front of his door so that she would be there when he walked in if she had to. And if Coraline tried to stop her or to keep them apart she would regret it! She would fight for Mick, it didn't matter whether she was human or vampire, if Coraline tried to get in the way of her being with Mick she would kill her, whatever it took! She would fight for the man she loved… she didn't care what he was, she loved him more than she had ever loved anyone and they would be together, that was the vow she made to herself… and to Mick!