Moonlight doesn't belong to me. It's just a place I go to play.

xxxxxxxxxx

Mick wakes up and hopes Beth is doing better today. He thinks back to Josef's solution to their problem. He thanks the heavens that this time he had enough sense to shut the hell up and follow Josef's lead. He hopes that Beth doesn't regret it.

Mick gets up and gets dressed. He senses that Beth is waking up. He goes downstairs to have some breakfast and wait for her.

Beth wakes up and out of habit reaches out for Josef. She senses Mick and gulps back a tear as she remembers where she is. She takes a deep breath and tries to get herself together. She examines her feelings for Mick and knows she loves him, but she misses Josef so much. She needs to deal with it and not let it overwhelm her.

Beth gets up and she realizes Mick must have brought her up here last night after she fell asleep on the couch. She spots her luggage in the corner. She grabs some sweats to put on and realizes they are an old pair she swiped from Josef some time ago. She sits in the middle of the bed, hugging the sweats and starts to cry again. Quickly, she picks up a t-shirt and, a pair of shorts as she heads for the shower. She turns on the water, strips down and gets in. She sits at the bottom of the shower hugging her knees and cries until she doesn't have any tears left.

Mick senses the pain she's in and shakes his head. If this doesn't start to get better in the next few days, he's taking her back to Josef, no matter what she says. He can't stand seeing her like this. He loves her too much to put her through this, no matter what they all agreed to.

She gets out, dries off and gets dressed. She goes back to the bedroom and there is a glass of AB negative sitting on the nightstand, waiting for her. She smells the glass, it's nice and fresh, not morgue blood at all She realizes she's very hungry and drinks it up. Beth looks in the mirror and shakes her head. It's a good thing she's a vamp; the puffiness under her eyes from crying is almost gone. She takes a deep breath and heads downstairs.

Mick sees her coming and pours her another glass of AB negative. He's betting that she's picked up that habit from Josef. He doesn't say a word, hands her the glass. She smiles at him. "No more morgue blood?"

"No, fresh bottled is all I'm getting these days. Hope you like it. I figured you've picked up Josef's AB negative habit."

Beth laughs. "I'm not all that picky." she smiles ruefully. "It does have to be fresh, but beyond that I'm fine with whatever you get for yourself."

Mick nods. "Ok, I'll remember that. When you're done with that, I have something to show you. It's sort of a surprise for you."

Beth cocks her head at him. She shrugs and downs the blood. "Done."

Mick takes her hand and leads her back upstairs. Beth stops at the top and looks around. "Something is different. The configuration has changed or something."

Mick nods and leads her to a closed door. "Open it."

She does and smiles as she realizes he's had an office added for her. "Ahhhh, you didn't have to do this for me."

He sees the mile-wide smile on her face and knows he did the right thing. "You're right. I didn't have to do it, but I wanted to, for you." He looks at her tenderly and then grins back at her. "Besides, maybe it will keep you from commandeering the desk in my office."

She swats at him and laughs. "How did you do this? It doesn't seem like any other rooms are smaller."

Mick shrugs. "The magic of owning the building and having the whole floor to yourself; you can add room as you need them."

"That's right. I'd forgotten that you, we, have this whole floor to ourselves." She leans over and kisses him on the cheek and gives him a small hug. "Thank you. I love it."

Mick wants to give her as much emotional space as she needs as well. "I'll be downstairs if you need anything." He turns to leave and feels her hand on his arm. He stops and turns back to her. "I do love you."

He squeezes her hand. "I know and I love you too. Now go check out your office and see what you need for it. We can go out later and get whatever you want." Beth watches him go down the stairs.

Beth sits in her new office and looks around. Space, her own space and it feels nice. She's going to have to take the time to get some things to make it hers. She knows she left some pictures here of her and Mick when she went to live with Josef. She'll have to ask Mick if he has them around somewhere. She'd like to have them on her desk. She starts to make a list of odds and ends she's going to need.

Mick hears her up in her office, setting up her laptop and moving things around. He's glad he did this for her. He knows how much she liked having her own office at Josef's. He reaches out and senses that she's a little calmer than she was this morning. Maybe this will give her something to take her mind off Josef.

Xxxxxxxx

They've gotten back from shopping for picture frames and office supplies. Mick thinks over his idea of taking Beth over to Jenny's. He smiles. Funny, the same woman who he gave up drinking direct for, now had him back on tap.

Beth goes over to the fridge and pours them a tall glass of A positive. She knows him, and he has something on his mind. "Ok, spit it out." It's the only thing she can think to say to him.

He looks at the glass in his hand.

She laughs "Not that. Whatever it is that is running around in the back of your head. I know you have something on your mind."

Mick snorts. "Ok, I was wondering if you have ever fed from a freshie other than Josef's girls?"

Beth shakes her head. "Nope, just the girls. Why?"

"I know a place… I have this friend… her name is Jenny."

Beth narrows her eyes and lets out a low growl and Mick is surprised. "Ok, what happened? Did you and Jenny have a run in?"

Beth shakes her head. "Never met the woman in my life, but she was mean to Josef. I don't have any desire to go anywhere near her if she's mean to either of you."

Mick looks at her quizzically. "Jenny was mean to Josef? They're friends, despite the rivalry. Was this about a freshie they were both trying to get?"

Beth shakes her head. "No, it was about you."

Mick realizes that like Victoria, Jenny must have decided that the mess he made had been Josef's fault. Josef, stupidly, told Beth. "Beth, you'd like Jenny, if you gave her a chance."

Beth shakes her head. "No. I wouldn't put up with that if someone treated you that way, and I won't let her treat Josef that way either. You guys are too good to me for that. It works both ways." She crosses her arms, and as far as she is concerned it is final.

Mick shakes his head. He can't blame her. It seems that protecting each other is what they do best. He sighs. Maybe if he can get Jenny to apologize to Josef and get Josef to tell Beth. Mick thinks he might go visit Jenny on his own and find out what the hell she said to Josef.

He would like to take Beth to see Jenny. He's always thought they would get along now that Beth is a vamp. It would be good for her to have friends besides him and Josef and Josef's girls.

Xxxxxxx

Beth decides to get to work. She still has a job to do. She needs to edit out the vamp stuff but there should still be something she can write about Castillo. She wants to find a way to put a crimp in is operation. She is going over all the old material she gathered on Castillo's drug and gun running the last time. She wants them; she wants the whole mess of them either vamp dead or in jail.

At least now she understands why it was so hard to get a handle on Castillo, but she was able to pick off some of his men. Damn vamp paranoia. It makes her mad to think he used her to weed out those men that were still loyal to the Tejada family. She can't believe he used her like that, and she didn't see what was happening. Damn

From what her contacts had said his marriage to Tejada's daughter, Elaina had been arranged. Lorenzo Castillo was a big deal gunrunner in his country. He started at the bottom as a gang leader and worked his way up to be the top guy moving guns and ammo all over South America. Which is why it's so hard to understand how he miscalculated his approach to her and was so stupid when he faced Josef. She needs to remember to ask Mick about that.

Tejada was interested in branching out. He arranged the marriage of Elaina to Lorenzo as a sign of good faith. Beth shakes her head at what Tejada was willing to do to his daughter for power. She was glad Tejada was dead.

From what Beth could find out, Lorenzo showed up one evening with a priest in tow and the wedding had commenced. The next day Tejada was killed. Lorenzo stepped into the vacuum and became the leader of the operation here. No one has seen any sign of the bride or groom since the wedding, until he showed up at the party.

Castillo is giving all his orders from the shadows. He hasn't been seen in public in all that time, is it because of his paranoia or is he planning something? If, with her help he had weeded out all the old guard did that mean that the rest were human or vamp or both?

Beth thinks about the young girl who was swept up into this world, now married to a vampire. She wonders how much her father knew or cared to know about his prospective son-in-law. Maybe Castillo hasn't been seen is because he is spending time with Elaina after turning her. Did he pull a Coraline and turn his new partner on their wedding night? Beth sure would like to talk to Elaina, she is sure that Elaina could be a fountain of information.

She is reviewing her contacts and trying to see who might be willing to help her for this go around. She is so absorbed in her musings that she doesn't realize Mick is looking over her shoulder reading her notes. She senses some distress from him and looks up.

"Now, I know, that your mother must have been, she must have taught you it was impolite to read over someone's shoulder." Beth doesn't need to look at him to know that's what he's doing.

Mick nods his head in agreement and then kisses the top of her head. "You're right, but my dad also taught me to protect the woman I love by any means possible. That includes trying to find out what kind of trouble she's likely to get herself into."

Mick pulls her up from her desk and leads her to the couch. "Beth? No going out on your own. Gather all the information you want from home or take me along."

Beth looks at him innocently enough. "That's all I'm doing. I'm gathering information and trying to see who is still in his organization that might be of use to that end."

"Is this still about Josh? Tejada is dead and he was the one who ordered it." Mick looks down. "I never told you, but I was the one that killed Tejada."

Beth snorts. "I know that I was terrible to you when Josh died. I didn't talk to you for a while because I was so angry at the way I treated Josh. Even I could figure out what happened to Tejada. Yes, I guess it's still about Josh. Maybe if I'd been as loyal to him as I am to you and Josef, he might not have died wondering if I still loved him."

"Beth, he knew you loved him. He was going to ask you to marry him."

"I wish I thought that was true. I think he was going to ask me to marry him as a last-ditch effort to keep me from slipping away. He knew even then that's what I was doing. I was slipping away to you. Even then I loved you. I didn't know how much. This is my vendetta. This guy is as bad as Tejada or worse because he's one of ours, and now he may be teaming up with Coraline." She looks down at her hands. "It's my distraction. I need this right now. You and Josef are working your sources and I want to work mine."

Mick sighs. Unlike Josef he knows the folly of trying to stop her. "I'm not going to try to stop you. I want your word that you will let me know every day what you have found and what you have planned. If you need help, that's fine, we'll work it out, but promise to keep me in the loop. If you are leaving to meet with contacts, I will go with you." She doesn't say anything. Mick reaches out and puts his arm around her and pulls her back against him. He puts a hand under her chin and makes her look up at him. "Beth, promise me or I will shadow you day and night and you know I can. This is dangerous, I don't want you hurt."

"That's blackmail." Mick doesn't hear the warning signs of anger in her voice. He's forgotten already that just over a year later she can still be a little volatile with her temper.

"You're damn right, now promise me. I'm trying to meet you halfway here."

"Making me take you to protect me is not meeting me halfway. As usual with you and Josef, it's your way or no way. I wouldn't mind so much if you guys wouldn't make such a big deal about it. It's irritating. Like I'm so helpless. How about if I deal with the human elements on my own and take you to help with the vamp variety?"

Mick scowls at her. "Please, for now, please let's do this together. If it were anyone except Coraline I'd agree, but she really has it in for you."

Beth knows he's right. "Ok, this time, but the next time we have some big bad enemy we renegotiate this agreement."

Mick nods. "As long as we are on the same page about Coraline."

xxxxxx

Josef comes down the stairs with a small carry-on bag in his hand. Robert looks at him questioningly. "Where you headed?"

"Vegas. The weekend is finally here, and I noticed the date. There is a car show along the strip. There is a special exhibit of concept cars that I'd like to see. I think it's good timing to get away for a few days."

Robert nods. "Not a bad idea. See you when you get back."

Josef heads out the door and throws the bag in on the passenger's seat. He guns the Ferrari and drives for the desert.

All Josef hears is the roar of the engine as he pushes the peddle to the floor. He watches the gauges and shifts up to the next gear. He knows if he can go fast enough. If he can get to the top end of what his car will do, he will have to forget everything, but what is right in front of him- tunnel vision. Everything else will fade away for a bit, and she won't be in every pore of his body making him ache. He smiles to himself, the need for speed.

He admits; one good thing about living this long is getting to drive cars like this. He loves the roar of the engine and the world rushing by. After four hundred years, few things are as exhilarating as driving this fast. He doesn't do this often, but now and then, he needs to let loose and do something incredibly dangerous and stupid. No one knows he does this. Not Mick, not Robert and certainly not Beth. He smiles as he thinks about her. She'd stake him to keep him from doing something this crazy. He misses her so much. It's going to be a long year.

Josef doesn't see the cacti rushing by the window. He doesn't see the sand, tumbleweeds or the gophers.

He doesn't see one particular gopher, and this one is about to make his life miserable. He thinks back and figures when he made roadkill out of the gopher the Ferrari was redlining at 170 mph.

The Ferrari jumps and he can feel it spin through the air. All that comes to his mind is "Shit, well dumb ass, your luck finally ran out." He rides out the spin, waiting for the inevitable bang when it finally comes back to Earth. Gravity is a bitch. While he knows this was a stupid exercise, he is thankful that he wasn't in complete idiot mode. This car was built for racing. It has an enforced cage for the driver and a way to get out if lands upside down. It also has a fuel system that keeps fire to a minimum and from reaching the driver. With any luck, he won't be trapped in a flaming car without any way to get out.

Later, Ryder will dub this Josef's "Wile E. Coyote" moment.

xxxxxx

Comments are always welcome.