Disclaimer: I don't own the rights of any characters from Moonlight. The quotes at the end come from episode 16.

No More Hiding

As I hit my head against the wall trying not to break down, I could hear Beth in her apartment crying. Obviously, she didn't like her decision any better than I did. If I had a heart to break, it sounded like she had just broken both of ours.

I knew that rationally I should let her go. She was willing to walk away, but I wasn't. Not now that I'd finally gotten over myself, finally gotten past the fact that I'm a vamp and she's human. I couldn't walk away now. I had never wanted to, but now it would be impossible.

This case had made all of our progress go sideways. From her catching me tasting Simone's blood to her walking in when we were making plans to release Emma. I saw the look in her eyes each time. She was jealous or suspicious, which might be a good thing in some situations, but not in ours. Ours was based, needed to be based, on trust. Vampire and human? Yeah, we had to have the trust there.

There were so many things about my world that I'd have to explain. Was she ready for it? I don't know if I'm ready for it. I can't imagine that she would be. Not all of it, not all at once. I've had 55 years to deal with this mess and I still have issues getting my head around some of it.

Vamp and human, human and vamp. Damn what a mess this was. But Josef… Josef who had been the one to really teach me the rules had always said vamps and humans couldn't work. Yet within the past month he had proven that he had broken that belief at least once and was perilously close to breaking it again if he hadn't already. Since he had introduced Beth and I to Sarah, he had been encouraging me to step up and make something happen between the two of us.

Beth has been through so much in her life. How many times had she almost been killed because of me? How many times have I rescued her? That didn't really matter though, did it? She always bounced back, always took it all in stride. Could she take all of this? All of my baggage?

Hell, why was I even thinking this way?

I walked over to her door and knocked. I don't know what I was thinking specifically except that I wasn't going to let it end like this. After she didn't answer the second knock, I just walked in. What? I knew she hadn't locked it and even if she had, it wouldn't have taken much to open it anyway.

"You want to know what Emma and Jackson made me realize? That you were right. You were right all along. This isn't about being a vampire or a human, this is about us and how we feel about one another. Right here, right now." I didn't try to hide my emotions. In our relationship I'd hidden them for too long and now she needed to see them; I needed to show her that I wanted her, needed her.

I could tell that her mood had shifted slightly, but her next question surprised me. Why would she want to know what she was wearing the night at the fountain? Whatever, I obviously had the right answer since she turned to me at that point, curiosity and amazement seeping out her pores.

"How can you remember that?" Nope, she definitely didn't expect me to remember that.

"Because, I love you."

I don't know if I had ever actually said the words to her before, but I didn't even have to think about them. I had been in love with her for so long and so much that I think it was more just a verbalization of something we both knew.

When she came back to me, kissed me, I knew that we had made it past one hurdle but there would be a lot to get through. We both had questions, some with brutal answers, and we both had secrets, but I was through with hiding from her anymore. I loved her, more than anything else in the world. I wasn't going to lose her now because one of us was afraid.

10 Aug 2010

A/N: Thoughts and constructive criticism is always welcomed. I would especially like to know if I caught Mick's voice right. I've never done a fanfic in first person, but the muse insisted on this one.