A/N: Hello? Is anyone still there? Anyone still interested in this terrifically long series? I suppose, even if you haven't read my other fics for "Moonlight," you won't be too lost if you choose to start with this one, but you're more than welcome to go back to the beginning and read the first installment, "Behind Closed Doors." I would love for you to give this one a try anyway, even if you are new to my writing.

A little background/reminder of what's been going on in my post-series world:

This story takes place about two and a half years after the show ended. Josef and Simone are married, and Simone is a vampire. Mick and Beth are engaged, and Beth has also been turned. Beth now has the gift of reading auras (I promise it isn't as silly as it sounds) and is able to discern people's true emotions and honesty. So, that's where we are in a nutshell. Now, on with the show…

Till Death Do Us Part—Sort Of

MICK

"So we've set the date," I told Josef, while reclining on his office couch, swirling his twelve-year-old scotch around in my glass. He stood at his bar, pouring his own drink, adding a liberal shot of B neg.

"Finally getting those his and hers trapezes, eh?"

I shook my head in amusement. "Unlike some people, Beth and I don't need extra accoutrements in the bedroom to enhance our sex lives. No, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm talking about setting our wedding date."

"Too bad," Josef lamented dryly. "About the trapezes, I mean. Keep an open mind though, Mick. After a hundred years of marriage you might decide you need them."

"Gee, thanks. So, do you even care when you need to show up, or what?"

Josef settled himself in the chair across from me, taking a drink with a small smile.

"Sure, why not? If you tell me it's on Valentine's Day, though, I might lose my lunch—and she was delicious."

At my stricken expression, he laughed.

"No way," he said. "Already starting off your marriage with a cliché. Not a good sign, Mick."

"The most romantic day of the year, Josef," I said defensively. "Hey, you got married on New Year's Eve, for God's sake."

His laughter faded as we looked at each other, commiserating as only two whipped men can.

"So, when and where exactly will these nuptials be?" He asked me seriously.

I almost didn't want to tell him. "Valentine's Day at midnight. On the beach."

This time, he only shook his head. "Barefoot?" he asked, cringing in trepidation.

"Yeah," I said sheepishly, downing the rest of my scotch. "Please say you'll still be my best man, or I just might find the nearest stake and end it all."

He sighed. "Sure, of course. Honored to do it. On one condition."

A guy should always be wary about Josef Kostan's "conditions."

"Sure," I heard myself saying. "What is it?"

"I want free rein for the bachelor party."

"Absolutely not," I said.

"Come on, Mick. After the lame-ass party you threw for me, you owe me. I appreciated the thought and all, but a manly fishing trip on my yacht with no women wasn't exactly what I wanted for my last days of freedom. And I'm still finding glass from when that bastard Logan broke the windshield. It's payback time, my friend."

I sighed, knowing he was right. Truth be told, the estrogen-free bachelor party I'd thrown him had been more for my own benefit, my own self-preservation so Beth wouldn't be mad I'd been cavorting with freshies.

"Okay, but no—"

"Ah, ah, ah—" He chided, wagging a finger. "Free rein. No exceptions."

"Fine," I conceded with a sigh, resigned to my fate. "So, what's it gonna be? Freshies? Strippers? Freshie strippers?"

"You leave that to me. I promise it will be much more exciting than fishing for something we can't actually eat." He waggled his eyebrows comically.

I closed my eyes with a moan, covering my face with one hand. Why did I feel like I'd just made a deal with the devil?

BETH

"You know he's going to want to throw Mick a big party," Simone told me, after I'd shared the news of our impending wedding day. "Complete with freshies."

"I trust Mick," I said, meaning it.

"How about Josef?" Simone knew her husband, all right. She smiled, sipping her dinner through a straw. We were sitting outside by the pool, enjoying the coolness of the late January evening. Mick was at Josef's office asking him to be his best man, so I'd come over to see Simone and enlist her as matron of honor. She'd happily accepted.

"I really don't think you can trust Josef to keep Mick out of trouble," she continued.

"Why? You think he could force Mick to do something he didn't want to do? You and Josef are okay about using freshies, but you know Mick and I aren't into that—nothing personal. Besides, I don't see how you can drink another man's blood and not get…well, turned on, for lack of a better description."

Simone laughed. Had I still been human, I'm sure I'd be blushing a million shades of red right now. "Of course it can be a turn-on, especially if the guy you're drinking is hot. That's why Josef and I have the best sex right after partaking of live donors. That's what I'm saying though, Beth, about this bachelor party. Let Mick have his fresh drinks, then you stay nearby to ensure the only real fun he has is with you."

"You're suggesting we crash their party? Didn't we try that already? If you remember correctly, when we barged in on their poker game I almost had a knock-down-drag-out with a skanky freshie. Mick was pretty pissed off with me."

"Yeah," Simone said in fond remembrance of our pre-vampire Lucy and Ethel days, "but as I recall that night ended quite well…for all of us."

Strip poker was quite an aphrodisiac—how well I remembered too. I'd like to think Mick and I had built up enough trust by now that petty jealousies were beneath us. We were about to be married; we'd gone through a lot to get to the level of trust we'd reached. I hated to think we'd be taking a step backwards if I acted like I didn't have faith in him.

"No, I don't think it's a good idea," I said with finality. "And I don't want a party either, Simone. I think I got that out of my system with your bachelorette party."

"You sure?" she asked, but I think she was relieved. As a newly turned vampire, she'd almost killed the male stripper at the club I'd taken her to for her party.

I smiled. "Yeah."

"Well, thank God. Unless you'd like to sew the last of your wild oats before settling for an eternity of stable and boring Mick St. John." Her tongue was firmly in her cheek with that remark. She knew damn well Mick was an amazing catch; I was about to be the luckiest vampire alive, existing-well, you know what I mean.

"If Mick St. John is what some would consider boring, I'm resigned to being bored silly for the rest of eternity."

Simone laughed. "I'll certainly never know what it's like to be bored," she said, referring of course to her unpredictable husband. "Some days though, boring would be a relief."

"I can only imagine," I said wryly. We grinned at each other knowingly.

"Well, now that that's settled, don't you think we need to have a more serious discussion. Say, about wedding dresses…?"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Later that night, I lay sated in my fiancé's arms, his face buried in my neck as he held me tightly to his body.

"Well, that was an unexpected pleasure," I sighed happily, my hands in the short curls at his nape. His hair had nearly grown back to its pre-lost-bet-to-Josef length of a few months before, and I was happy to have something to hold onto in the midst of passionate moments, like the one minutes before. He'd been waiting for me outside my apartment when I got back from Simone's, and I could tell by his aura he wasn't in the mood to do much talking.

"I take it your visit with Josef went well," I said in amusement.

Mick shook his head slightly. "I suppose. It's hard to say sometimes exactly what happened in a meeting with Josef."

I laughed softly. "Bachelor party plans?"

He slid his head down to rest on my breast. "Something like that."

"What does that mean?"

"There will be supposedly be some kind of party, but with Josef in charge, I'm actually scared out of my wits, to tell you the truth."

"Well, no matter what he does for or to you, I trust you, Mick. Josef? Not so much. But let him have his fun or we'll never hear the end of it."

"You know, I thought I was the one who was supposed to have fun. Why does it feel like he's about to throw the bachelor party of his dreams?"

I chuckled, then shivered a little as he kissed the side of my naked breast.

"Poor Mick," I said, my fingers playing idly with his curls.

"It's worse than that," he pouted at my unsympathetic tone.

"Poor, poor Mick…whatever can I do to make it better?"

I could feel his burgeoning hardness against my thigh.

"I guess I just need to take my mind off it for awhile," he whispered before taking the tip of my breast into his mouth.

"I'd be more than happy to help you with that," I said on a tremulous sigh.

TBC

A/N: Okay, so there's chapter one. I hope you liked it and want more! Please log in and let me know. Coming up, the bachelor party from Hell. Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration…