Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight. Or Jane Goodall! (Just in case. lol.)
A/N: Just in case anyone has noticed, I have no idea why I write Josef and Mick in third person perspective, but Beth in first person. It just comes out best that way, somehow. I hope it doesn't throw anyone off too badly. I've caught myself switching back and forth a couple times and have had to go back and correct things a time or two, so if I missed anything, I'm terribly sorry and feel free to let me know if you catch it. Enjoy!
I know Beth's p.o.v. has been deemed by most to be the least favorite during this fic, but since she's one of the three main characters of the show and a big part of Mick's life ( and part of the secondary plot line) I feel obligated to include her occassionally in more than just passing mentions. Also, to those that have had valid complaints about the issue: I really do like Beth Turner's character in the show and I'm aware that in this fic I'm not portraying her in a very good light. But for some reason, that's just how it seems to happen the minute I begin from her perspective.
This is a relatively short chapter, just a little requisit Beth interaction and Mick's dream sequence- mostly for the purpose of setting the stage, so to speak.
Thank you, thank you for all the kind reviews. They mean so much to me. The last chapter seemed to be a big hit, I had no idea everyone would like it so much, but I'm glad you did. I hope I can keep the rest of the story up to expectations. I'll sure be trying!
Beth
"So how'd it go? Did you find the girl?" I asked Mick as I settled on the couch next to him. He'd been out of town for a couple days on a job, and he'd just called me to let me know he was back. I'd headed straight over, a little suprised at my eagerness to see him. But I'd been out of town myself for a day or two before he'd had to leave, so we hadn't seen each other since that stressful night of our argument, though we had talked on the phone a couple times.
"Yeah," he sighed as he scooched over to give me more room as I settled next to him. "I found her. She was with her boyfriend, like I'd thought, and she was being used as his punching bag, just like I'd been afraid of. But he didn't take her by force, so there wasn't much I could do. She was there willingly. She wanted to be with him, even the way he was treating her."
I just shook my head. I could never tolerate letting someone treat me like that. "I just don't understand women like that. Why put up with it?"
"She's more girl than woman. Barely nineteen. Looks a lot younger. Not that you could tell under the bruising on her face."
"Did you let her father know what was going on?"
"Yeah. He beat me there. I informed him before I left of what I suspected and that I thought I knew where she was. He called me a little while before I even got into the city, asking me to meet him at a local fast food place."
"He really cares about her," I said softly. I don't really remember my own father, and that was a relationship I regret missing out on.
"Yeah, he does. I sure hope he can help her, because she had nothing to say to me. I gave the little creep she was with a warning about how to treat a lady, but I don't think he has the sense to listen."
"Well," I said, wanting to change the subject to something more pleasant, "at least you
know how to treat a lady." I settled against him comfortably, perilously close to snuggling.
He let his arm fall from the back of the couch to around me and held me close. He was sitting in the corner of the sofa and I was sitting next to him, but half sideways so that I was leaned back against his side and chest. I love sitting like this with him. It always makes me feel safe, the comfortable feeling of Mick at my back and his arm around me. Unfortunately, besides a kiss or two, this is about as intimate as we've ever gotten.
And just like all good things must be, our us time was interrupted. There was a knock on the door, and even as I hoped that Mick would ignore it, he was sqirming out from under me.
"I'd better open it," he explained apologetically. "It's Josef, and if I don't open it, he'll just let himself in."
I sighed in irritation. Josef. Big deal. That guy was way to cocky if you ask me. Vampire or not.
"Hey, Josef," Mick said as he opened the door. He was smiling, seemingly pleased to see the other vampire. I couldn't help being a little miffed that Mick didn't seem to have a problem at the two of us having been interrupted. Not that I had thought anything was going to happen, but we haven't had much of a chance lately to just relax and spend time together. Mick seems to always have a reason to run off, usually to see Josef.
But on the upside, my curiosity about what had been going on with Mick is still full force, despite my promise to him. And now here's Josef. Just the chance I've been waiting for to observe them together.
That's me, the Jane Goodallof vampires.
--
Mick
As usual, Josef's timing left something to be desired, but other than that, Mick was glad to see him. And he'd actually been expecting him. Mick had known Josef would know he was back in town. He'd been suprised exactly how big Josef's presence was in his mind. He hadn't realised how strong it was until it was barely there, until he'd had to go out of town. The further away Mick got, the dimmer his awareness of the older vampire became. The link was still there, barely humming, but the awareness of him being nearby diminished the further away from him Mick got. And suprisingly, he'd missed it. It had felt like a void that penetrated Mick's mind, and he'd felt another emotion that was still hard to explain, but the best description he could come up with was 'homesick', only much more severe. In fact, he'd almost turned back around, but decided that if this is what it was going to be like every time they had any great distance between them, then he'd better get used to it now.
But he'd been glad to get back, and the closer he got the stronger Josef's aura in his mind got, and he'd known the very moment that Josef had felt his return. And now, here he was, just a few hours later, at Mick's door.
"Hey, Josef," Mick said, smiling, glad to see him.
"Mick," Josef greeted in his usual abrupt way, walking through the doorway. He noticed Beth's presence and leaned around Mick to see her on the couch behind him, the looked back at Mick. "I was expecting you to come to me as soon as you got back." The silent 'like we'd agreed' was present in his tone.
"I just got back, Josef," Mick explained. Josef raised an eyebrow and Mick hastily amended his last statement lest Josef think he was trying to excuse himself with an untruth. "A couple hours ago. I just got back a couple hours ago."
"You've been gone over forty-eight hours. How you holding up?"
Mick glanced over at Beth, curious as to what she might be thinking about this, then back at Josef. "I'm okay, for now, Josef. I was going to head over in a couple of hours."
"You're starting to get a little edgy. I can feel it."
"It's not too bad right now. Really. I'll be over soon."
Josef paused a second, and Mick thought he would insist, or at least decide to stay here for awhile, but then he reluctantly agreed, acknowledging Mick's hints that he'd like some time alone with Beth. Mick smile his thanks at him, knowing that Josef continually worried that Mick would fall back into his old habit of stalling or putting off the time he needed with Josef to calm the fledgeling seperation anxiety. Or begin fighting it again.
"But not too late, Mick, and bring a change of clothes so you can stay the night and tomorrow," Josef named his stipulation, almost daring Mick to protest.
"Okay," Mick promised, knowing better than to push Josef's good graces.
"I'll see you later then. Enjoy," he added with a smirk, and he wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively.
"Josef!" Mick hissed as they moved toward the door. Mick quickly glanced over to make sure Beth hadn't noticed.
Josef just laughed at his friend's indignant protest. "Have a good evening, Miss Turner," Josef called to Beth suavely, then gave Mick another sly smirk as he left.
Mick shook his head at the other vampire's antics as he returned to the couch. "Sorry about that," he apologised to Beth as he reclaimed his seat.
"That's okay," she said, but she sounded irritated. "Josef's bad timing isn't your fault."
Mick settleled back against the couch and put his arm around her as before. He tried to reclaim the position they'd been in before the interruption, but instead of leaning back against him as she had before, Beth turned to face him on the couch, folding one leg up on the cushions indian-style but keeping the other foot on the floor.
"So, what was that all about?" she asked.
"What? Josef? He was just...welcoming me back. He hasn't seen me in a couple days."
"Yeah, but...he seemed upset that you didn't come see him first thing. Isn't that a little wierd? He was never like that before, was he? I mean, not that I ever noticed."
"He was just checking up on me. He does that sometimes. He worries."
"Hmmm," she hummed doubtfully.
"What?"
"Nothing, just...I don't know. You guys seem different, is all. Especially you, and especially when Josef's around. And what's up with him wanting you to stay over at his place for the night?"
"Nothing. Just...vampire stuff," he hedged truthfully. He knew she hated that phrase, but it was the best way to explain away things she had no need to know.
She glared at him, but he did his best to ignore it. "Really, Beth, it's all okay. And you promised you'd give up trying to get stuff out of me. Remember?"
She crossed her arms in a huff and leaned back against the couch. "Fine," she said shortly.
"Beth? Let's not fight," he asked softly and leaned forward and kissed her temple. "Okay?" he reached up and ran a knuckle across her cheek tenderly.
Success! A little smile worked itself loose and she looked up at him and sighed. "Okay. I'm sorry. I did promise. Now, where were we?"
Mick smiled down at her, but he couldn't help but wonder how much longer he could keep her out of that part of his life.
--
It was two days later that the dreams started. Two in particular that kept returning recurringly. In the first dream, he's always doing something ordinary. Taking a walk, driving, out with Beth, hanging out with Josef. Just the normal everyday type stuff he does every night. But there always comes a point when he suddenly knows he's being watched. That heavy feeling of someone's eyes on him. But no matter how hard he searches he can never discover the watcher. And the feeling just gets stronger and stronger as the nightmare progresses, and he peers into shadows and hidden corners and before long the alarm turns into a terror that he cannot control. And now, instead of searching, he's fleeing. Running for his life, for more than his life, an unseen pursuer behind, knowing that if the thing he is so terrified of catches up to him, there will be more than death. The horrors visited upon him will make him wish for death.
At the beginning that was always where the nightmare ended, with Mick jolting awake in terror, shaking from fear.
But after the first week, the nightmare changed a little, just the end. He began to see whom he thought to be the terrifying watcher. No matter where he was in the dream when it began, he always ended up in his own home, in his freezer. In the dream, he would awake with the knowledge that some terrible force was nearby. He would open the freezer and climb out. He would cautiously creep from the bedroom and out onto the stairs, down the stairs, and into the living room. He would instinctively turn toward the balcony, shaking with fear but unable to do anything else. The world beyond the glass doors would be dark, regardless of whatever time of day it was suppossed to be. He would move toward the glass, silently begging himself to stop but unable to, until he came to within a few feet of his own reflection. Then he would stop and wait.
And instantly, against the darkness, a form would appear immediately on the other side of the glass, a face, barely an arm's length away from Mick. Perfectly superimposed on the other side of Mick's own reflection, so that he was seeing it through his own face, was the countenance of the powerful Malcolm, his inner cruelty no longer concealed but turning his appearance monstrous. And there was a sickly green glow to the eyes, evidence of everything evil in a soul.
And that was the point at which Mick would awake with a cry. It would always take himself several minutes to calm himself, but the memory of the dream would follow him all night and turn into dread as the night turned into dawn, at the knowledge that he couldn't put sleep off too long. But the worst part, the most disturbing aspect of the nightmare that followed him all through his waking hours, was the fact that he could never quite remember who's eyes were actually,emitting the evil green hue. It always seemed, after he awoke, that the terrifying visage had come from his own reflection rather than Malcolm's countenance behind it.
But as terrifying as that nightmare was, it was the second he began to have that disturbed him the most.
In that dream, he couldn't find Josef. He would search everywhere he knew, feeling a crippling sense of loss, calling his name, searching, searching everywhere. And finally, everytime, he would find himself in the middle of a deep woods, and there would Josef be. But it seemed to be a different Josef than his, with an expression of cruelty on his face stronger than any he had ever worn in life.
Mick's dream-self would be approach, relieved to have found him, only to be stopped by Josef's raised hand.
"I couldn't find you, Josef," he would explain everytime.
And Josef's reply was always the same as well. "Because I didn't want you to. I'm cutting you loose, Mick."
"What do you mean?"
"You're free. I don't want you anymore."
"Can you do that?" was asked with unbearable fear.
"Apparently so," was answered with a cruel twist of Josef's lips.
"But I need you, Josef."
"That's your problem, isn't it?"
"That's not only what I mean. I need you. I don't think I could bear eternity without you."
"Well I don't need you, Mick. I was pushed into this, remember? I didn't pick you." Josef turned to leave.
"No! Josef, please don't leave me!"
Josef turned back, crueler than ever. He tskd. "You're so needy. You're completely different than me, Mick. I have standards, you know. Whatever gave you the idea you could ever meet them? I want the perfect childe, and that's certainly not you. You can barely manage to be a decent vampire. I have an image to protect, you know."
"I can change, Josef." Mick's dream-self would plead.
Josef shook his head and sighed in mock regret. "Not possible. And to think I thought I was proud of you. You're such a disappointment, Mick."
"I can do better. I promise. I can be what you want."
Josef would just shake his head. "You could never be what I want." He turned to go.
As always, Mick's dream image intercepted Josef's retreat. He dropped to his knees in supplication. "Please, Josef. You're my best friend. My father, my brother. Sire. Give me another chance. I can be good, I can be whatever you want. Please don't leave me." He was sobbing his pleas now.
Josef just looked down at his kneeling form derisively. He would lean close to Mick's face and speak softly and slowly, but with hate. "I don't want you anymore, Mick."
Then he would straighten up. He would lift one expensively-shod foot and place it against Mick's chest, giving him a hard shove with his foot, knocking Mick into the dirt and leaves before turning and walking away. His image would fade away after a few steps.
It happened exactly the same every time, and whenever Mick woke from this dream he was siezed with a crippling fear that was so totally different from the terror of his other chronic nightmare, but in many ways more powerful. It was an exaggerated version of his real-life inner fears, and he couldn't help but be terrified that it might be a portent of things to come.
Between the two chronically recurring nightmares, Mick began to fear the pull of sleep. He began to seek Josef out almost constantly for the craved feeling of security that he so needed and was always found with the older vampire, but always refusing to tell him what had Mick so insecure. Even during his waking hours, both nightmares- and what they might mean- consumed his thoughts, and the waning of night with it's first light of dawn began to breed a feeling of dread in Mick at the knowledge that soon he would have to give into the need for sleep.
For anyone that doesn't know this, Jane Goodall is a primate expert that devoted her life to learning about chimps and apes by trying to live among them and observing them close up.
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