I don't own Moonlight or any of its characters, themes, or concepts. A few of the later characters will be mine, the ones you don't remember seeing before.

This is my first attempt at writing, so please read and review.

Chapter 1

6 p.m.

Mick's phone rang just as he shut down his computer and rubbed his strained eyes. Being human, as wondrous as it was, did not automatically come with a vacation from work, or an easy way to get used to being awake more during the day. There were still missing persons and cheating spouses to be tracked down, crimes that the authorities had given up on, and time spent avoiding Josef until Coraline's cure wore off. He sighed as he reached for his cell, thinking his latest client was calling back with yet another item forgotten in the previous three calls.

"Mick St. John," he answered, trying to be professional and suppress his irritation.

"Mick? It's me." Beth's voice immediately stopped him in his tracks. He had not heard from her in over a week… since Josh died and he had stupidly told Beth that he would never have turned her if she had been the one bleeding to death instead of Josh. Mick was still regretting that every minute of the day and night. Promising her eternal life if she were dying certainly would not have been something he could have said, but to leave her in the middle of her grief with the impression that he cared so little for her ate at his conscience. That, and the idea that in such a moment of weakness, he could see himself turning her out of selfishness, ignoring the monster she would become just so he could still be near her.

"Are you there, Mick?" Her voice snapped him out of his guilty remembrance.

"Yeah, Beth, I'm here. How are you holding up?" Mick asked cautiously.

"Better. Look, I'm sorry I haven't returned your calls. I wanted to make it up to you. Are you still, um, human? Or are you…" She seemed hesitant, as if avoiding using the word "vampire".

He smiled. There were times like this when she sounded so innocent. "Yes, I'm still human for now. Do you have a story? My PI skills aren't quite as good as they were, since I don't have the vampire sense of smell right now, but I'm sure…"

Beth cut him off. "No, no story. I just wondered if you wanted to have dinner? I made roast beef and I got a loaf of fresh bread from the bakery down the street, and..." She stopped herself. "I'm sorry, you probably have things to do, cases to work on." Beth was giving him an out, a way to say no gracefully. But he didn't want to say no, he always wanted to say yes where Beth was concerned.

"I'd love to, Beth, I just finished with work for the night, I mean day," Mick corrected himself. Do you want me to pick you up from the office?"

The sigh of relief from Beth was audible even without his vampire hearing. Mick wondered why she seemed nervous, but then he remembered the only other meal they had shared involved him drinking her blood in a sleazy motel bathroom in the desert. But now that he was human he was hoping for a second chance at eating with her, rather than, well, eating her.

Beth's voice sounded relieved and a little happier. "Actually I was thinking we might have a picnic. I know it's still a little early for you, but it is so nice outside it seems a shame to be stuck inside, and maybe we can enjoy the sun for a while." Mick imagined her smiling as she said that, but then felt guilty that he had been keeping her from the daylight world. "Maybe we could meet at the little park down the street from my place. There's a nice grassy area in front of the pond. Half an hour?"

"I'll be there." Herds of wild elephants couldn't keep me away. His stomach rumbled loudly, something he had forgotten about being human. As a vampire, thoughts of blood and the consuming hunger from his entire body had let him know he needed to feed, but this simple growling of his stomach made Mick smile. Being human for him had recaptured the wonderment he usually attributed to children, and the joy at new discoveries that had nothing to do with body counts and fresh blood.

Mick grabbed his brown leather jacket and headed for the door. As he drove through the streets of L.A. he could not keep his mind off of Beth. "Maybe she's forgiven me," he thought over and over again, but then that darker part of his psyche reminded him: Monsters don't get forgiveness.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he parked the car halfway between Beth's apartment and the park, he saw Beth passing under a nearby streetlight, carrying old-fashioned picnic basket in one hand and a folded blanket in the other hand. With the sunlight in her long loose hair and the sundress baring her smooth shoulders, she was so beautiful it made his chest hurt just to look at her. He promised himself he'd remember how she looked at this moment for the rest of his life. Snapping back to the presents and remembering his manners he stepped out of his car and briskly walked up to her.

"May I take those for you?" Mick asked Beth with a smile.

"Be my guest," Beth responded. She looked happy to see him Mick thought, even though he was rather surprised at the about-face in her attitude for him. Just a week ago she was telling him to get out of her apartment so she could cry in peace, but now as he moved towards her to take the picnic basket and blanket from her, she kissed him on the cheek, lingering for just a second longer than what would be considered casual. Just as stunned this time as the last and only time she kissed him, Mick searched her eyes for some clue as to what was really going on inside that beautiful head of hers. Beth suddenly seemed nervous again and looked down at the picnic basket, as if ensuring she had handed it securely over to Mick before starting to walk, but she held the blanket clutched to her chest.

Mick was glad the park was fairly close, because the aromas coming from the basket made him realize he was starving. The familiarity of the smells reminded him of his childhood family dinners and the sense of normalcy and the blissful ignorance of youth that went along with home, something he never thought he'd be able to enjoy in Beth's presence. Because usually I'm the monster of childhood nightmares, Mick thought,but not today.

The rest of the walk they spent making polite small talk about work and how nice it was to be out in the daylight without worrying about Mick wilting like the delicate flower he normally was. As they reached a quiet spot by the pond and spread out the blanket Mick told Beth what he knew of the cure, including its temporary nature and unknown duration. Mick tried to play the sensitive modern man and assemble his own food, but Beth would have none of it. As Beth spread out the food containers, she seemed to enjoy Mick's anticipation as she piled on steaming roast beef, roasted potatoes, fresh bread, and a thick wedge of cheese. A glass of red wine was also handed over and Mick took a sip, enjoying the subtleties of its flavor much like he had previously enjoyed fresh blood, but without the guilt.

They ate in relative silence for a few minutes, mostly since Mick's mouth wasn't empty long enough to talk at any point, but his appreciative moans let Beth know he was certainly enjoying the meal. As he was helping himself to seconds, Mick asked, "Did you make the roast beef and potatoes yourself? I never pictured you as the Susie Homemaker type." Mick refilled Beth's wine glass and his own. He cautiously noted that Beth had only picked at her food, which was different that the other occasions he had seen her eat. She's not over Josh. She still feels guilty about encouraging him to pursue the case that got him killed, and likely won't ever forgive me for not making him into a killer like me.

Beth giggled. "My grandmother made sure I knew how to cook three different meals that would ensure I could get myself a respectable husband. Her theory was that by the third time a man came over for dinner he was hooked, and after that you didn't have to worry about a lack of cooking skills. So I have my three meals." Beth paused for a sip of her wine. "She also liked to say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and she insisted I learn how to cook so I wouldn't end up a spinster like her sister."

"I don't think you have to worry about that," Mick said between mouthfuls. "You're beautiful, successful, and you never give up… so I imagine just one meal would be all it would take." Mick suddenly realized he said that out loud, too close to Josh's death (who surely would have been acceptable to her grandmother) so he went back to eating and trying to avoid Beth's eyes. Mick did notice, however, that she seemed more nervous again, but was trying to hide it by making herself busy packing up her dishes and clearing up her side of the blanket.

She then lay down on her side, propped up on her elbow, drinking her wine slowly. "I'm glad you're enjoying it." The light from the setting sun behind her made her hair glow, as Mick always though the hair of an angel would in such light. She looked beautiful and vulnerable, lying there just a few feet from him. He found his eyes wandering over her body, wishing that his life had been different, that it had been Beth he had met in the 50's, and not Coraline. That he had asked Beth to marry him and be with him on their wedding night, so he would have awakened to the sight of her in his arms every morning, instead of his empty freezer every night. The fact that he was human now changed little for him when it came to Beth, because he knew the "cure" that Coraline gave him would wear off soon and he would return to the blood drinking monster he really was. And as wonderful as this temporary reprieve was, it was just a waking dream; a dream he had to control just as tightly as his vampire hunger, or he'd end up just adding to the hurt Beth already had to deal with. Being with her while he was a vampire could never happen because he'd never risk hurting her physically, or risk reducing her in his mind to a source of blood. He also could not be with her during this time as a human or he'd risk hurting her emotionally when the cure wore off and his fifty-five year long nightmare became reality again. But Mick could fantasize she was his, that he was kissing her as she stretched out on the blanket beneath him, her skin soft and warm under his touch, her small moans of pleasure just for him.

"Mick? Mick?" The Reality Beth was talking to him now. The Beth he couldn't ever have.

"Sorry. I must have been day dreaming." He set his plate off to the side and lay down on the blanket next to her, on his back, watching the colors change in the sky.

"What were you daydreaming about, hmm?" She was teasing him now, as if she had already guessed.

"How wonderful it would be to do this every evening." The best lies are always closest to the truth, he told himself.

Beth rolled back onto her side, then moved closer to him. She looked as if she were trying to suppress the nerves or the sorrow again, and she somewhat succeeded.

"Anything else you would like to be doing every evening?" she asked, slowly closing the gap between them as she raised herself up on her arms and brought her lips down to his for a gentle but not chaste kiss. Mick could not help himself. He was a man after all, and he was being kissed by the gorgeous woman that haunted his thoughts and dreams. Mick kissed her back, passionately, his tongue licking her lips lightly, asking her to allow him entry to her mouth. She suddenly relaxed against him and her tongue licked his lips and their kiss deepened. Her mouth tasted of wine and something sweet that was just Beth. Mick thought he might never get enough of that taste. His hands tentatively stroked her shoulders, brings small moans of desire from her, moans that made him harder than he had ever been in his years as a human. He rolled Beth onto her back to continue his exploration of her mouth, stroking his hand gently down her side, just barely grazing the side of her breast.

Someone loudly clearing their throat next to their blanket intruded on the perfect moment, and Mick and Beth pulled back from each other slightly to stare up into the face of a stern-looking officer of the law. Beth sat up and made sure the policeman couldn't see down her dress given his obvious height advantage. Mick was quick to take over and deal with the issue.

The officer couldn't help but smirking at these two adults getting caught like some teenagers necking in a parked car. "You two need to take that elsewhere, like to a room. There's a nice respectable hotel about two blocks west of here if you'd like, but I have to ask you to keep it family-friendly here in the park." Beth was blushing furiously, which made Mick smile even more.

"Of course officer, we understand, and sorry about that. We must have just forgotten where we were for a moment. We'll just pack up our things and be on our way," Mick promised. Once the officer was gone, Mick laughed like he hadn't been able to since before the War.

Beth's cheeks became an even darker shade of red. Mick turned to her, "I feel like a teenager again, getting caught kissing the homecoming queen behind the bleachers in high school." Then the realization of what just happened, and what he just said dawned on him. He suddenly felt ill, like he had just encouraged a lost puppy to follow him home so he could beat it to death. A moment of awkward silence followed.

"Beth," Mick started solemnly.

She seemed to sense his change in mood and the light faded from her eyes. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss, she told herself. There is no more opportunity for ignorance, but maybe I can at least pretend to be blissful. "Let's get this stuff packed up, the sun's almost down anyway." Beth neatly packed away all of her picnic supplies and Mick folded the blanket.

The sun had gone down and the moon was just starting to rise as they walked back towards Beth's apartment. Beth shivered slightly. The sundress that tempted Mick so effectively during the daylight was now proving to be not warm enough for the evening walk as the breeze picked up. Mick noticed she seemed to be cold, and he stopped and took off his jacket, placing it around her shoulders.

Beth inhaled deeply, loving the smell of the leather and the smell of Mick enveloping her. Mick noticed the slight glimmer of hope in her eyes. There was no more comforting scent in the world to her, because she remembered it from when he rescued her all those years ago. It was the scent of strength, safety, and security. Beth pulled it more securely around her, feeling warmer from the heat of Mick's body that the jacket retained.

At least a hundred times during the walk home Mick had tried to talk to her about what just happened, to tell her it was wonderful, but a mistake that they could not repeat. He just couldn't get the words out, didn't know what to say, and then he finally admitted he really just didn't want to see any more hurt in Beth's eyes. She was walking next to him, looking like she was the one day dreaming now. A happy daydream. Mick decided to let her enjoy her dream for a little longer, before he had to shatter it. How could she make him so happy and so miserable at the same time? How could she be so close to him so often but separated by an immense chasm that would always keep them apart? At least until he was able to locate Coraline and find a way to be permanently human.

Before they knew it, they were standing outside of Beth's door. As Beth tried to find the right key, Mick noticed that her hands were shaking. Mick's hand closed around hers and steadied her while the lock turned. Beth closed her eyes and savored the feel of him that close to her again. She knew it would not last. She knew that Mick's self-hatred was already winning the battle with his desire for her, and the moment suddenly became awkward.

As they entered Beth's apartment and Mick draped the blanket over the back of the couch, Beth took the basked from him and moved towards the kitchen. Mick looked around the apartment quickly, out of habit more than anything, and he noticed she had five messages on her answering machine, and her cell phone was turned off and placed next to the phone, which was odd as she normally always had the cell with her. Mick followed her cautiously into the kitchen.

He couldn't look right at her while he did this. Never had he wanted to hurt her, but it seemed that is all he knew how to do, no matter how he tried. "Beth, I..."

She stiffened immediately. It was the tone of voice that was always followed by some explanation of how they could not be together, or how relationships between vampires and humans are "inadvisable", or how much of a monster Mick was, all the while trying to convince her she shouldn't want him. But she did want him, tonight more than ever.

"Don't, Mick. Don't say it, please. I know you won't be human for long, and I don't care. I know what vampires can do, and I love you anyway." She couldn't look at him because he'd see the tears in her eyes. Beth Turner, the fearless pursuer of serial killers in the name of internet news, was crying over the second man to try to leave her in a little over a week. Josh left her involuntarily, but Beth knew Mick probably would chose to go in spite of her objection. His sense of self-loathing was his ever-present armor, and he used it to keep her away. She shook her head at the irony. The one man in her life that had wanted to be with her more than anything she didn't want, and the one man she wanted desperately was someone she couldn't have.

Mick no longer knew what to do. There would be no rational, journalistic analysis of the facts or risks to personal safety tonight. Beth's emotions were obviously raw and she was hurting. Mick hated that he could think of no way for this to end without causing her even more pain. But putting a stop to it tonight may spare her the even worse hurt when the compound wore off and he was a full vampire once more. And a danger to her. God he loved her with every ounce of his being, but it seemed all he could do was hurt her.

Mick slowly approached. Beth was still standing by the counter, a half unloaded picnic basket sitting open in front of her. He could see that beneath his leather jacket her shoulders were shaking quietly. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around. She wouldn't look at him; she just stepped into his embrace and rested her head against his chest while she cried. Mick wanted nothing more than to tell everything would be ok, but he couldn't lie to her. So he said nothing while he held her.

She looked up at him finally, and kissed him on the lips. This time, however, Mick did not return the kiss. Beth's eyes pleaded with him as she said, "please stay with me tonight Mick."

Now she's just twisting the stake in my heart even more, Mick thought to himself, but he knew he deserved it for allowing this to go on as long as it had and not putting a stop to the flirting soon after he realized she was interested. He just closed his eyes and struggled with his control.

"I want to, I really do, more than you know, but I can't Beth. We'll both regret it later when I stop being human. There is no more compound, no more cure. Until I can find or make more…"

She stepped back from him and her face suddenly became hard, somber. She met his gaze with and icy stare. "Get out," Beth said quietly but firmly.

"Beth, I'm so sorry." God, now he felt sick to his stomach. He'd never seen that blank look on her face before, and it frightened him.

"Get out," she said again. A calm, even tone of voice behind a now unreadable mask.

Mick just walked out the door and shut it quietly behind him. He hated himself now as a human more than he ever did as a vamp.