Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read and review this story. And for all of you who have been waiting for the more intimate moments between our heroes, you won't have much longer to wait. - Laurelin

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The Cleaner was all too happy to personally escort Josef, Mick, and Beth to their waiting aircraft and see them safely inside. Getting the three off them out of her country was top on her list of priorities. During the ride to the airport, Josef had agreed that they'd caused enough trouble and would be on their way forthwith. As they exited the limo on the tarmac, there were muttered words between the vinyl-clad redhead and Mick, but Beth was too sleepy to care what they were saying. She just wanted to finish her transfusion and IV fluids, have a post-donation snack, and take a really long nap. Honestly, she doubted she needed the transfusion, but Josef and Mick had insisted, the Cleaner had reluctantly agreed, and it didn't seem worth the effort to argue with three vampires when it came to matters of blood.

Having Josef for a friend definitely had its benefits, Beth decided when she laid down on the soft bed in the aft bedroom of the plane. She wasn't sure if she would ever be able to fly commercial again. Mick tucked her in with a kiss on her forehead and another over the pulse in her neck, making her wish she had more energy at the moment. She'd been anemic on more than one occasion since going to bed with her vampires, and she had been happy to help Josef's body heal. She just wished it had taken the hurt from his eyes as well. Josef's guilt was understandable, if Josef was some other vampire entirely. He had taken more than he would have in a normal feeding, but her life was not in danger, and he let go the third time Mick yelled at him to stop. Not bad for a very hungry vamp, and the Josef she remembered should have just made a sarcastic comment and thanked her for the feast. Some part of her wished he had taken too much and she could be done being fussed over every time one of them sank fang into her, but the way she imagined her turning had nothing to do with a windswept rock and a smoldering pile of vampire ash. It had everything to do with candlelight and the two men she loved.

As she closed her eyes, she heard Mick nicely talk Josef into taking the first shift in the freezer, and she knew somehow that they were all going to be okay. The thought of having Josef back in their lives make her smile as she drifted off to sleep, unwilling to fight the pull any longer. She dreamt of the first time Josef had bitten her, how she'd responded to him so easily, and how that simple act gave her the courage and desire to ask both men to introduce her to the pleasures of sex with vampires. The only regret she harbored was that she didn't realize what was happening to Josef before he got it in his head that he had to leave.

A cool hand on her cheek and the sound of her name woke her. "Beth?" Josef's quiet voice was barely audible over the hum of the engines. "You were dreaming."

It took her a moment to realize she was awake and Josef was really there, sitting on the edge of the bed with her. "Oh, sorry. I guess I was talking in my sleep again. I was dreaming about you, actually."

He looked away from her eyes and found a quick distraction. "Your IV is finished. Hold still and I'll take it out." Without waiting for her answer, he took her hand gently and peeled the tape back, using just enough of his power so she wouldn't feel any pain.

Josef smelled like soap and shaving cream and there were still tiny beads of water in his hair from the shower. Yet another private jet convenience she never wanted to miss again. After he pulled the IV out and covered the site with a bandage, he carefully avoided her eyes, as if somehow being this close to her made him uncomfortable. The IV supplies were being thrown into the trash as he said, "do you want something to eat? I can have the crew…"

"Josef, please stay," Beth said quietly, feeling the emotional distance that Josef was deliberately creating materialize between them. "Stay with me. I missed you." Taking his hand she gently pulled him back towards her and the bed. It would be impossible to force him, well, at least while she was still human, but she hoped he would want to come to her without arm wrestling him for the privilege.

Somewhat reluctantly Josef sat down on the edge of the bed, as if he was being cautious about touching her, but he did his best to give a reassuring smile. It was less that successful.

"Please don't leave me again," Beth implored in a hoarse whisper. "Stay with me, and Mick. He can share, Josef, and he loves you like a brother."

Josef stared intently at the delicate gold and emerald ring on Beth's right hand, rubbing his fingers lightly over it, almost meditatively. "I can't say I feel mere brotherly affection for you, though." His eyes finally met hers and she became aware that most of what she had known as Josef's personality before had been a façade, and he wasn't acting anymore. There simply was no longer a point in trying to cover up what he was feeling, what was eating him up inside. Looking into his eyes was like looking at a huge gaping wound.

Beth sat up and wrapped her arms around him, as tightly as she could without hurting herself, and after a moment kissed his neck where there would have been a pulse had he been human. "Good, because I wasn't feeling quite so sister-like about you either." She felt his small shiver, how her touch affected him so quickly, but he pulled away right after.

"I, ah… should go. I have a lot of phone calls to make," he tried separate his hand from hers but she held on tightly enough that Josef was going to have to hurt her to remove the hand. He sighed and gave up, going back to rubbing the ring he'd given her. "Beth," he said as he visibly tried to put himself back together, "you are marrying my best friend. I care about both of you enough that I will not ruin this for you. Marriages are for two people, not three, as much as I desperately want to bribe all of Congress to make polyandry legal." His attempt at covering with humor only made Beth want to hold him more.

"I'm not asking you to marry me, Josef. I'm asking you to turn me. Not tonight, not here, but in a month or two, when we are all ready." Beth's fingers brushed away the tear at the corner of Josef's eye. It took him a moment to understand what she was really saying, and what it meant.

"But Mick was going to be your sire. He told me that he was going to turn you after you were married." The silver was clearly having some nasty side effects he'd never experienced before.

"Did he tell you that, really? I would have thought he'd said that I was waiting until after the wedding to be turned, not that he was going to do it personally. I was fine with the idea of him turning me last night in case you needed all of my blood, but it's you I want to be my sire. We were waiting on the wedding until we found you, and therefore the turning."

"But you are marrying Mick. To… to spend your considerable lifespan with him, not me," he said, as if her request was too good to be true and he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Beth smiled. "Yes, I am going to marry Mick. But that doesn't mean that I don't love you too. I do love you, Josef. Mick explained to me that the bond between a sire and their child is just as strong, if not stronger than any human ceremony. It's why he couldn't leave Coraline for so long; she holds some power over him through their bond. While we wouldn't exactly be the model of the American family, I'm thinking that vampires don't have much need for current society norms anyway. Am I right? I don't see you with the picket fence, a dog, and a Susie Homemaker wife who fixes you freshies for dinner. Why shouldn't we be able to have our cake and eat it too?"

Josef sat still with a blank look on his face for another minute, as if thinking, or as Beth thought, maybe too stunned to think.

"You love me?" he finally asked, incredulous.

"Of course I do, Josef. Now I realize that your last marriage might not have uh… ended well, but perhaps this arrangement will be more to your liking."

"But you've seen Sara, what can happen if…" Why he was making excuses he wasn't sure.

"Sara was an unfortunate accident, that won't happen with me, okay? And I promise to do my best to let you go when Sara wakes up. I would never come between you two, ever." Beth kissed his cheek lightly.

"Wait, you want me to turn you?" He looked at his ring on her finger before looking up again.

Beth moved so that she was more directly in front of Josef, so there was nowhere to look but her face. "Josef? I always pictured you as a little bit smarter than this. Haven't you been paying attention to what I've said? I love you, Josef, and I want you to turn me, and share me with Mick. I'm certain I'll be able to keep up with both of you in the bedroom once I'm a vampire, and…"

Josef didn't let her finish. His hands caressed her face, his thumbs stroking her cheeks as his mouth found hers, tentatively, softly. He'd heard all he needed to hear, and the relief was overwhelming. This beautiful, sexy, determined, giving woman wanted him, was in love with him, and there was no way he was going to let her go. Honestly, he admitted to himself that he'd do anything to have even one more night with her, much less eternity. He could share her with Mick if that's what she wanted, and Mick consented.

The thought of Mick snapped him back to reality and he released Beth's lips reluctantly. "Why would Mick be okay with all of this when he could just keep you all to himself?"

"Because every time I look at her, Josef," Mick's voice behind him startled Josef, "I can't understand why every man who sees her doesn't love her as much as I do. You're the one man who does. Why should I deny you happiness, and Beth the happiness you give her? It will work out. I'll marry her, you sire her, and we'll live happily ever after until she gets tired of us. We can even move to San Francisco if anyone we know in L.A. has a problem with our alternative lifestyle." Mick winked at them both, and Josef smiled for the first time in two years.