Another Moonlight McBeth story, people! Sorry for the delay. I wish there were just more hours in the day so that I could write all the time.
Anyway, this takes place right after "Sleeping Beauty". It's Beth's POV as she drives away in that cab. Will she go back to Mick or go back to LA to Josh? What if she doesn't want to be turned anymore? Does she have another solution for Mick and Beth to be together? Drama drama drama! Rated T for some smooching and totally Mick/Beth. Cheers!
Beth Turner sighed as the yellow New York cab drove through the dark snow-sprinkled city streets. The billboards and store fronts flashed by her, blinking like fireflies in the night. Before she could concentrate too long on one sign, it was gone in flicker. All that remained were lightening trails of every rainbow hue that would burn under her eyelids for hours later. New York was a city of life, a city of millions of people – yet at that moment, Beth felt utterly alone.
Idly, she traced the car window next to her. The glass felt cool against her fingertips. She caressed the spot where his hand had touched the glass. The spot where their skin had been separated by a thin layer of glass. Even through the glass she thought she could feel the warm comfort of his palm. If she squinted she could almost see his fingerprints. As her cab took her nearer to the airport and farther away from him, the fingerprints became frozen shadows. Dirty smudges to be forgotten by the dawn when the sun warmed the glass.
There was always a barrier between the two of them – Beth, the human and Mick, the vampire. How could they ever be together as a normal couple? It was like the story of the bird that longed to be with the fish in the sea. One was a predator, the other prey Neither one would survive long in the other's world. Yet, both would die without the other's love. They would spend the rest of eternity circling each other, the lonely bird hovering in the sky while the silent fish swam in circles under the sea. Always, the endless eternal sea would be a barrier between them.
Beth gasped as she blinked back sudden bitter tears. The idea that two lovers could never be together brought such utter sorrow to her heart, she thought it would shatter. Grief gripped her lungs in a vise of pain and she tried to wrench out a breath or two of air. Who was she kidding? Why was she driving away from the man – the only man – that she could ever love?
She wiped at her miserable, salty tears. She knew why she had chosen the cab over Mick's excited invitation to party in town. He had looked so young, so happy, so – human. For once he was the one ready to cross the invisible barrier between them. She had glimpsed a moment of the unknown future in his eyes. She had glimpsed the joy, the happiness, the love – even the pain, the danger, the sorrow. All she had needed to do was to slip her small, white hand into his strong, safe hand and all her dreams and prayers would have been answered. He would have completed her every happiness and desire and dream. Instead, fear had gripped her heart as she fled black into the night like a frightened wildflower – choosing to fly into the wind rather than face the truth in his eyes.
God, why had she even come on this trip to New York? Beth groaned and crossed her arms across her chest in an attempt to squeeze the grief out of her heart. They had flown to New York to save Mick's oldest vampire friend, Josef. A bitter, rich, old man had hired a hit man to kill Josef in an attempt to avenge his daughter's murder. Beth and Mick had put their collective reporter and PI skills to good use and had quickly sniffed out Josef's secret Manhattan apartment. Yet, what lay inside those walls was enough to shake any woman to the core.
Sara. The millionaire's daughter – not dead, but not alive either. Beth couldn't get the image out of her head. The beautiful redhead asleep like the Sleeping Beauty of the fairy tale. It was a like a picture torn out of a child's book. Everything about her was Walt Disney – the perfect skin, the ruby lips, the fiery red hair, the elegant body – except this tale had no happy ending. Sara's Prince Charming had tried to kiss her awake over and over again for fifty years, only she continued to lie as still as stone. She could be a painting on the mantle of any great mansion, except for the breaths her body automatically took every few seconds.
This was the woman Josef had truly loved – this mortal peasant. He had fallen for Sara like every prince in every child's tale. She had fallen for him as well – who wouldn't have loved his rakish charm and Adonis good looks? It was the perfect bedtime fable. She hadn't even been horrified when she finally learned his secret – he was actually a vampire. Instead, she had embraced both Josefs – the beauty and the beast – as one whole man. She was willing to do whatever it took to win her white knight. She was willing to sacrifice her mortal life to become a vampire like him. The two of them then could be together for the rest of eternity. Together they could ride into the sunrise as happy as any fairy tale couple.
Instead, cruel reality had crept into Josef and Sara's romantic tale. He had drained her and turned her…but she never awoke from her coma. He had placed her in a dangerous, frozen purgatory, jailed somewhere between the living and the undead. He could still care for her now, but she was only a shell of the woman she had once been. Unable to die, yet unable to live. A mannequin stored between white designer silk sheets. A shrine to the love he had once tasted ever so briefly.
Beth shook her head fiercely, as the memory suddenly shifted and mutated in her mind. Now it wasn't a redheaded beauty that lay between the white silk sheets, but a small blonde one. Her inquisitive blue eyes were now closed for eternity, her body forever young, but forever chained to a respirator. Josef had morphed into Mick in her mind. Instead of throwing himself into pursuit of money and the vampire lifestyle, Mick would have done the opposite of Josef. He would have become just as hollow and fragile as Beth. He would have become a recluse, a monster with more weight on his back than a hundred King Kongs. Even Atlas would have balked at Mick's weight of the world. He would wonder the streets, never straying too far from the shadows of misery and despair. He would contemplate suicide or a murderous killing spree – anything that ended with his body in an inferno of flames. Yet, he wouldn't be able to quite take the final step. He wouldn't be able to completely let her go.
No!, Beth cried out in her mind. She couldn't – wouldn't do that to Mick. She wouldn't turn him into some awful walking zombie. There was still a human soul inside of his vampire body that she couldn't bear to see destroyed. She wanted desperately to be with him, but not as a vampire. Once she had fantasized about it, but now after seeing Sara's frozen beauty – no way. There had to be a way they could still be together as a couple no matter what barriers lay between them.
A small sob escaped her lips. Now that she was riding away from him, her brain could finally process her emotions. Fear, worry, anguish, despair, confusion, love whirled. Above all love. She loved him. It was as simple a statement as declaring that the sky was blue. She loved him with all of her soul. Beth couldn't stop the pure joy that slipped over her face. She had been falling for him slowly over the past few months, but the truth had teased her. It had refused to jump out of the shadows, and into her brain. Yet, she knew her body craved to be with him every chance she could get. It wasn't until she learned that he had been the one to rescue her from his murderous ex-wife as a child the she finally uncovered the last shadows of her heart. He was the one who had guarded her as she grew over the years. He was the one who had always made her feel safe. Instead of feeling disturbed, she had finally felt the dawning of the world's oldest truth. She was in love with Mick St. John.
Then there had to be a way for them to be together, Beth thought with despair. She refused to believe their story would end as sadly as Josef and Sara's. Now that she knew the truth of her heart, she refused to let Mick go. Josh had been an excuse to run away - away from the truth of her heart. Now she was tired of running, tired of denying her true feelings. She had been living in the land of denial for way too long. No other man could make her feel as whole, content and free as Mick St. John. When she was with him, all the worry of the world vanished behind her. He knew all of her secrets and all of her lies. She could read the aura of his kind, tortured soul. He was more human than any man she had ever met before.
Human. Beth abruptly straightened up, her spine a stiff line of ice under her back. Human. That was the answer. That was the weapon they needed to break the final barrier between them. Beth knew that it was the only thing Mick wanted out of his immortality – a chance to go back and be human again. Beth suddenly knew exactly how he could accomplish that. Since turning her was no longer an option, turning Mick was the only solution to their happiness. She refused to allow them to be the bird in love with the fish in the story. No wall of ocean would swallow them up as they tried to be together.
"Please, I need to go back!" Beth cried, tapping lightly on the glass barrier separating her from the cab driver. He threw an incredulous look over his shoulder at her and shifted his stump of cigar to the other side of his mouth.
"Are you crazy, lady? That's 20 blocks the other way!"
"I don't care," she cried, a grin threatening to break her face. She couldn't help but let her new found joy filter through her. Suddenly the answer to all their problems was only inches away and not miles. There was no way Mick could deny her now. Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to get rid of her that easily. Now that she had learned the truth of her heart she was suddenly fearless. She was in love and no could stop her now.
"I'll pay you – just go back," Beth said eagerly, straining her neck to see the 20 blocks behind them. "I just need to go back to him."
"Lady, a cell phone would be easier," the driver grumbled as he moved into the turn lane.
"I don't care," she said, leaning back into her seat. "I just need to see him again."
It felt like hours until Beth began to recognize the buildings around her. Josef's quiet street was only a few blocks ahead and still Beth had not spotted Mick. She was now tempted to call him, but was afraid he wouldn't take her call. She wanted to surprise him anyway. When she left him on the sidewalk, she could read the anguish and misery on his face. He would want to spend the rest of the night stalking the shadows like a forgotten nightmare monster, shunning all of humanity. Her heart panged with utter pain as she realized that she was the cause of his newfound misery. Yet, her plan would hopefully erase all of that pain. She couldn't want to see one of his trademark Mick St. John grins. She only had to find the bloody vampire first.
Beth peered into the dark alleyways and shadows of the apartment buildings around her. He couldn't have gone far – there! Her heart leapt into her throat as she caught a glimpse of Mick in the stark beam of a street lamp. He walked with his head down, an obvious weight of anguish on his back. Oh, Mick, Beth thought, touching the window beside her.
"Here, here. Stop here," Beth begged as the cigar-chomping cabbie slowed to a stop a few blocks behind Mick. She stuffed a wad of bills at him, not caring that it was double his fee. She slid quickly out of the cab and practically leapt onto the sidewalk. The cold winter air slapped her lightly across the face and swept the breath from her lungs. She felt none of it as she ran down the sidewalk, her scarf trailing behind her. She wanted to scream Mick's name, but was too excited to speak. His vampire senses would probably hear her chasing him long before she reached him anyway.
It was a testament to how depressed Mick must have felt that he didn't hear her until she was only a few feet away from him. Beth saw him whip around with a growl. His fangs and white eyes hissed briefly in the night as he became ready to fight whatever enemy he had thought he had heard chasing after him in the shadows. Beth didn't even flinch as she glimpsed his monster half. As soon as he recognized her, the Vampire Mick morphed back into the Human Mick in a heartbeat. Shock and surprise took control of his face as he watched her running towards him with the world's largest smile on her face.
"Beth? What are you-"
She didn't even stop to answer him, but practically leapt into his outstretched arms. Immediately, she felt herself encircled in the strong protection of his arms. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her head against his chest. Her heart beat wildly inside of her own chest as she fought to catch her breath. He pressed her closer to him and she snuggled deeper into his coat. Was that her body trembling or his? All she could do was close her eyes and soak up every inch of him, as if she had been wondering in the desert for days without water. He was the only oasis she ever needed in life.
Before she was ready, she felt Mick push her gently away from him. He lifted her face in his hands as he furrowed his brow in confusion. His sweet face blurred and wavered before her as tears of joy began to run freely from her eyes.
"What's going on?" Mick cried, rubbing her cheeks dry. "I thought you were on a plane. Is someone after you?"
Immediately, Mick the protector took over and his eyes began to scan the streets around them. Beth fiercely shook her head and reached up to lower his face back to her own.
"Nothing's wrong now, Mick," she whimpered. "God, I'm so sorry I left you. I should have gone with you to dinner. I shouldn't have left you all alone. I'm so sorry."
"It's alright," he soothed, confusion increasing on his face. "I'm alright. We can get you another cab-"
"No, I don't want another cab. I don't want to go back to LA – at least not without you."
Beth heard Mick's breath stop in his throat. His expressive eyes stared at her with the dawning of new hope. It was a hope that she had glimpsed earlier that night when he had first suggested they go out on the town. Instead of fear, she now felt only happiness at that thought of the future. A small smile spread over her face as she gently pushed a few strands of brown hair out of his eyes.
"But what about Josh?" he whispered carefully. She read the thousands of layers of emotion behind his eyes and moved her hand to her cheek. Why hadn't she noticed those layers of love there before? He kept them fiercely hidden from her, but she could now see every multi-hued aura of love for her in his heart.
"I don't love Josh," Beth replied, shaking her head. "I never really have. I guess I've only ever been in love with one man in my life. Only one man as made me feel safe and secure. I've only dreamed of spending the rest of my life with that man – whether he likes it or not."
"Beth –" Mick began and took a terrified step backwards. Beth, as stubborn as ever, took a step closer. She refused to let him fall back into the shadows that he thought he deserved.
"I love you, Mick," she said simply. She let her love for him pore out of every cell in her body. She wanted him to sense her love on every level – human and vampire. "I want to be with you the rest of my life."
"Beth –" Mick began again, but the words died on his tongue. He reached a shaking hand to her cheek as he stared into her wide blue eyes. He seemed to look at her as if seeing her for the first time. He gently caressed her cheek as if she were made of glass. A smile of joy fought to cover his face as he looked at her in wonder.
"You do?" he whispered, his voice barely audible over the crisp, winter chill.
"Yes," she murmured. "Tell me you love me too."
"How could I not?" he whispered. His hand moved shakily through her corn silk hair. Tears glistened in his eyes like the sun glistening off the ocean. Beth smiled and pressed herself closer to him.
"Then tell me. I want to hear it," she breathed. Mick's eyes roved over her face as if reading the volumes of her soul. She wanted him to see her soul – to understand. She wanted him to know it was alright to love her.
"I…love you," he whispered.
Beth felt her heart soar with joy in her chest until her head began to spin dizzily. Grinning broadly, she finally broke through the last obstacle of space between them. She lifted her face to his and met his lips with hers.
At first she felt him stiffen with surprise or fear. She was about to pull away and yell at him to relax when he suddenly came alive. His mouth began to devour her own as he began to kiss her more and more passionately. Beth whimpered with happiness at every deep kiss. It wasn't long before his tongue was eagerly begging for entrance into her mouth. She happily obliged and couldn't suppress a moan of desire as his tongue met hers. She sagged against him as a million waves of emotion battered her small body. Never had she been kissed so thoroughly by a man before. How could one man's kisses make her feel like a lifeless rag doll? He kissed her hungrily as if he had never tasted anything like her before. His mouth held a faint metallic taste of blood, but Beth didn't shy away from it. Instead, she brushed her tongue past his to explore his own mysterious mouth. Her tongue caressed every tooth of his mouth until she found the sharpened points of his vampire fangs. They weren't extended in preparation of a kill, yet she caressed them anyway. She wanted Mick to know that she loved both sides of him – human and vampire.
He shuddered as she ran her tongue over his fangs and then suddenly he broke off the kiss. She stood gasping for air as her body began to miss his touch immediately. His eyes refused to meet hers as he released her from his arms. He took a few steps back, his face again haunted with the shadows of misery and despair. The invisible barrier had again risen between them. Tears of frustration began to pool in Beth's eyes. Damn it! Why couldn't he just accept her love like any other man?
"Mick, no," Beth warned.
"Beth, you know we can't do this," Mick cried harshly. She didn't flinch from his angry tone, but rather took his hand in hers.
"Don't you want to be with me?" she whispered. She watched as pain pinched Mick's face and he covered her hand with his other hand. He brought her hand to his face and tenderly kissed the soft flesh of her palm.
"More than you know," he murmured. "I've been waiting for you all of my life and I only met after I was turned into a vampire."
"Well, I'm not going anywhere."
"But you have to leave me, Beth. It's not safe with me. Weren't you listening to Josef when he told Sara's story?"
Beth flinched at his bitter tone. Anger began to flare inside of her now, causing her cheeks to flush scarlet. The stupid, pigheaded, git! Maybe it was easier loving a man than a vampire after all.
"Of course I was listening. It scared the crap out of me, Mick! Do you know why? It's because I am Sara. I love you and I want to be with you the rest of my life. I would be willing to give up all of this-" She waved at the New York street around them. "-just to be with you."
Mick shook his head as a look of horror overtook his face. He tried to pull his hand away, but Beth stubbornly kept hold of it. "I would never do that to you, Beth. I – I couldn't let you live like that. If you were lost like Sara – I'd – I'd never forgive myself."
"I know," she said, her anger softening. She had experienced that same harsh pain that now flickered through Mick's eyes. She lightly caressed his cheek with the fingertips of her free hand. "I could never do that to you."
"Then this will never work, Beth," he said miserably. "We can be together now, but I'll still have to leave one day. You'll grow older and older and I'll still stay 30 years old. One day you'll die and – I wouldn't be able to handle that. I didn't know what life was before I met you, but when you die–"
Beth's heart broke at the thousand shades of dark emotion that haunted Mick's face. She was a little a taken back by the amount of love she felt from him. He thought leaving her now would be easier than watching her die years from now. Maybe he was right. Yet, would it make them any happier during the time in between? Would life even be worth living without the other? The bird could circle the sky with a new mate, but it would always long for the love of the fish in the sea. Each one would only lead half a life without the other. How was that a better alternative than one lifetime together?
"We'll get to that bridge when we get there," Beth said firmly, brushing away the tears on Mick's cheeks. He looked up at her as if she were speaking in Portuguese.
"Beth, haven't you been listening to me? I'm a vampire and I'm immortal. I can't die like you can. If we're together I'll have to watch you slowly age and die and then I'll be alone for the rest of eternity. And don't look at me like that. There's no goddamn way I'm turning you into what I am either. Not after what happened to Sara."
Beth grinned inwardly. He would have turned her in the end if she had asked him. Shaking her head to clear her mind of vampire fantasies, she stepped closer again to Mick. She took a deep breath. And she thought she had gotten over the hard part by getting him to finally express his real feelings.
"I've got a better idea," she said nervously. Mick frowned as if sensing her nervousness. "You might not like it now, but I think you will in time. We have to go back to Coraline."
"Coarline?" Mick cried. "What does she have to do with this?"
Beth squirmed, knowing how much baggage was between him and his ex-wife. It didn't help things that Beth had tried to kill Coraline the week before in a rage of revenge and jealousy. She never would feel all warm and fuzzy for the woman who had kidnapped her as a child, but if she had found a way to become human again….
"She's found a cure, Mick," Beth said quietly. "She's found a way to be human again. If she's found a cure than we can find one too. I'm willing to keep things as they are for now, but I know it wouldn't last for long." She smiled softly. "I'm not that much of a romantic. But if this is the only way we can be safely together, then let's do it."
"You want me to be human again?" Mick whispered. Wonder made his voice waver.
"I just want you to be happy, Mick. I already see the human in you. I see it every day no matter how hard you try and tell me you're a monster. There's too much love, and kindness in you to be a real monster."
Mick closed his eyes as if blocking out the pain of a thousand suns. Beth frowned and stepped closer still to him. He wasn't going to turn her down now, was he? Beth couldn't bear it if turned her away again. She thought this was what he had wanted. He had been clinging onto his humanity for decades while other vampires like Josef had sacrificed it long ago. How could he turn down the chance to find a cure now?
"Mick?" Beth asked hesitatingly. "I thought this is what you wanted? I thought-"
Before she could speak another word, he swept her into his arms and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was deeper and even more passionate than the one they had shared earlier. He seemed to be telegraphing all his love for her in one swift kiss. Beth felt every drop of his love until her soul trembled with the weight of it. Before she knew it, Mick broke off the kiss, gasping for air and leaving her trembling with shock.
"You don't know how long I've wished to be human again," he whispered, his face pressed into the crook of her neck. Beth could only hold onto him weakly, her speeding heart causing her head to spin. "Ever since I watched you walk through that fountain I've wanted to turn back time. I want to be with you, Beth. I want to marry you, I want to have children with you, I just want you. What are we waiting for?"
"Really?" Beth cried, stepping away from him so she could look at his face. "You're ready to give all this up?"
"Give what up? The life of a vampire? That's not life – that's hell. You're just a leech, a parasite, sucking on the last drops of humanity. I never realized how cursed I was until I met you. You've given me a whole new reason to live, Beth, and I want that."
Beth beamed up at him and didn't miss his answering smile. She loved how one smile could chase away all the guilt and despair he had felt in the last 50 years. This was the right choice after all. They wouldn't have to worry about the 'what-if's' if he was human. It was the only way that the barrier between them would be shattered forever.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Beth cried, grabbing his arm. She pulled him towards the sidewalk and flung out her arm. She waved it at an approaching cab. "If we're lucky we can still make that flight to LA."
"The hard part will be convincing Coraline to give up her secret. She never was one for honesty," Mick said, an edge of bitterness cutting into his voice. Beth shook him back into the present with a quick kiss.
"Let's worry about that later, ok? We still have that long plane ride to LA to worry about."
"What ever shall we talk about?" Mick asked. Beth giggled as a yellow cab pulled up to the sidewalk.
"Oh, I'm sure we'll find something," Beth cried as she pulled Mick into the cab with her.
"The airport," Mick told the driver, never taking his eyes off of Beth.
"I figured as much," the cabbie said. Beth turned to stare at him as cigar smoke swirled around the cab driver's head.
"Did you wait for me?" she asked him, her mouth dropping open in surprise.
"Lady, you paid me double for half a trip. It's the least I can do," he said, pulling into traffic. "By the way, buddy, you better be worth all the trouble. I don't like driving pretty girls to the airport when guys treat them bad."
"Oh, he's worth the trouble," Beth said, smiling into Mick's eyes.
"And I could never stop wanting you," he murmured, bending his head to softly kiss her cheek. It was a move so old-fashioned, and yet so sweet that it made Beth blush from head to toe. Yes, this was the moment in her life in which she would look back and say she was the happiest. X marks the spot. The end. No future happiness could top the joy she felt at that moment. The future was a dark abyss ahead of them and the past was a dark shadow disappearing before the sunlight. Yet, none of it really mattered because they would conquer life together.
"Jeesh," the cabbie grumbled as he noticed Beth and Mick's snuggle. "You guys were more interesting running away from each other."
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As soon as the plane landed in the Los Angles airport, Mick and Beth ran straight towards the hospital. They didn't even bother to stop for a change of clothes. Beth was thrilled by the pure excitement that seemed to be throbbing through Mick's veins. He had been worse than a little kid on the plane ride, constantly moving to stand and walk through the isles. If vampires could really fly, Beth knew he wouldn't have hesitated to strap him to his back if it would get them to LA any faster.
Yet, the minute the pair stepped into Coraline's hospital room, Mick's excitement fell from his body like Kong from the Empire State Building. Beth stood in the doorway next to Mick, her eyes fixed on the empty bed. The sheets and blankets were rumpled and puddled at the end of the mattress. The silence of the heart monitor filled the room as clear IV lines lay scattered on the linoleum like spaghetti.
"Where is she?" Beth asked, her brain too shocked to think. Mick was only a statue by her shoulder. She looked and saw utter horror and despair crease new lines into his handsome face. Beth tried to shake him out of his trance, but Mick wouldn't budge. This new horror worried her deeply. No, it wasn't fair! Coarline couldn't be gone. This was a large metropolitan hospital. The evil bitch had to be around here somewhere.
"Excuse me?" Beth called, stopping a passing doctor in his tracks. "Do you know where Co-Morgan went? We're friends of hers and we just came to visit her again."
"You didn't hear?" the doctor asked incredulously.
"Hear what?" Beth asked warily. The doctor wearily ran a hand through his shaggy blonde hair and then over his goatee. Beth glanced at his name tag – Dr. Robert Weaver.
"I'm sorry that I have to be the one to tell you."
"Is she dead?" Mick asked without turning from Coraline's room. Beth bit her lip as worry washed over her in another wave.
"No, not dead. Just gone. Disappeared," Dr. Klein said with a shrug. "A million cameras in this hospital and not a single one caught her escaping the building. She could be dead out there on some street corner and we'll never know. It's a damn shame too."
Beth opened her mouth to ask another question – even in shock, her reporter skills were still able to kick in. An abrupt trilling filled the air as Klein grabbed for his pager.
"Sorry, I've got some patients to see. If you'll excuse me."
Beth nodded and idly watched the doctor make his way through the busy hospital corridor. When he was out of sight, she slowly walked back up to Mick. He hadn't moved an inch from his spot in the doorway of Coraline's room. Beth hesitantly put her small hand onto his back. He felt as stiff as a marble statue. Worry and fear made her eyes begin to water.
"Mick?" she whispered softly. Her other trembling hand reached up to turn his face towards her. "Mick, where did you go?"
"I guess it was a good idea," he whispered, refusing to meet her eyes. The old Mick was back again – the familiar weight of the world was again on his shoulders. Beth looked down, suddenly weary of the all the setbacks. Life could never be as simple as a fairy tale or fable. No matter how beautiful the pictures were painted or how well the sentences worked together, life was never that perfect. Sleeping princesses didn't always wake up with a kiss and some princes didn't win the girl in the end.
"Mick, please don't give up," Beth said with a sob. She leaned her head against the side of his upper arm. "I'm tired of fighting and pretending. I want to be with you, Mick, no matter what. Please, don't let Coraline turn you into a monster again. Please, don't turn me away again. I don't think I could live with that. Not after New York. Please."
She felt Mick move her until she was wrapped in his arms again.
"But she's gone," he replied, his voice a hollow whisper. "How can I be human again if she's gone?"
"There's got to be a way!" Beth cried, lifting her head to look at him. Tears ran freely down her cheeks, cutting ravines of despair onto her cheeks. "There's got to be someone else we can talk to, something else we can learn. I don't want this to be the end. We can still find a cure. Just don't give up on me, ok? I can't handle that!"
"Shhh," he breathed, kissing her lightly on the forehead. He rubbed her back reassuringly as his haunted eyes bored into her pained blue ones. "You still want to be with me? You still think we can find the cure?"
"Oh, God, yes," she sobbed. "There has to be a way – somehow."
Mick smiled and nodded his head once. "Then we'll find it. Somehow."
"Somehow," Beth sobbed in reply.
She buried her head into his chest again. The cure was out there somewhere. If Corlaine could wrangle it for herself to trick Mick, then Beth and Mick could find it for themselves. It was just out there among the shadows, a few inches out of reach no matter how hard they strained their fingers. They just had to keep reaching for it.
For a moment, Beth felt the soft brush of a bird's feathery wing against her back. For a moment the waters had parted long enough for the bird to touch the smooth back of the fish. A soft caress of love, of hope, of the future. Then the ocean once again swallowed the fish until the bird felt nothing but cold saltwater. Instead of flying towards the shore for the comfort of friends and food, the bird continued to make circles in the air above the sea. Beneath the cruel ocean waters, the fish could see the bird flying above, it's outline blurred by the waves of water. Ignoring the call to swim back home, the fish continued to swim figure eights in the water just below the surface. As before, a barrier of eternal ocean lay between them, forever blocking the path of the two lovers. Yet, perhaps now the layers of water weren't quite as thick or as daunting as they were before. Perhaps there would be more chances for the waves to part long enough for the lovers to touch. Perhaps one day the waves would part forever and both the fish and the bird could finally be together. Until that day, the barrier of water would remain between them, a cruel reminder that not every story had a happy ending.