Disclaimer: The following is an adaptation of episode 8, season 1 of Moonlight. I do not own these characters. Credit for dialogue and plot from the show goes to their respective authors.

Author's Note: As always, thank you to all who read. I love to get feedback so please leave a review. It will help me with future chapters.

Also just wanted to let everyone know, I reposted a new, expanded version of chapter 1 of this story on Oct 5, 2012. If you think you read the first chapter before then, I'd also love to hear people's thoughts on the new version.

Thanks!

The common cliché about vampires is that they're monsters. I know it's what Mick believes. He's told me it's how he sees himself. I disagree with him on this point, but I don't think he's capable of hearing me when I say so. After meeting Lola, I won't argue with him about one thing, vampires can be monsters. But then again, I'm guessing many of them were that way before they were turned.

Being a monster is not unique or exclusive to vampires, far from it. Humans have learned to capitalize on that title as far back as our existence can be documented. My career as a crime reporter has brought me into close contact with mortal examples of cruelty and evil over and over. This week however proved an exceptional case.

Donovan Shepherd was a multiple murderer, a charismatic cult leader who had slaughtered six victims and landed on death row. The hour of his execution had come. I was not going to weep any tears over his passing.

I went to the prison expecting to report on Donovan Shepherd's death. What I didn't expect was to be so affected by something else I witnessed there, the strength of one of his would be victims.

Audrey Pell was a ten year old girl the night of Shepherd's rampage. She had hid in a closet and witnessed his crimes. Among the victims were her parents. Shepherd had orphaned her, and yet she was still strong enough to testify against him. If it weren't for her courage, he might not have been convicted.

I was surprised at my strong reaction to Audrey. The haunted look in her eyes made me want to reach out and give her my hand to hold on to. I approached her at the prison and she let me sit with her during the execution. When it was all over, I invited her back to my apartment to take a rest.

Thank God I did. I don't want to think what would have happened if she gone on her way that night all alone.

Beth unlocked her apartment and ushered her guest inside. Once safely behind the closed door, Audrey offered, once again, to call a friend. Beth could see by the pinched expression on her face that she felt guilty putting Beth to any trouble. She could also see, however, that Audrey was exhausted and the last thing she needed was to go off into the city in search of someone else to help her.

Beth insisted it was fine. She wanted Audrey here. She felt better being able to offer some comfort to Audrey, small though it may be. With a relieved shake of the head Audrey accepted her entreaties.

Beth gave her smile and told Audrey to make herself at home before heading toward the bedroom to change. She hadn't gone far when she heard Audrey answer her cell phone, only to register the sound of the phone clattering to the apartment floor a moment later.

"Audrey, are you okay?" Beth called, jogging back to the living room.

Audrey shook as she walked toward the window overlooking the street. When she got close enough, Beth could see the girl's chest heaving as she struggled to suck in a deep breath.

"Shepherd. Beth, I saw him!" Audrey couldn't pull her eyes off of the sidewalk below. "He was out there!"

Beth's pulse accelerated in alarm. Who did she say was out there? She went to the windows, moving the blinds to get a better look. The street was empty.

A short while and many calming words later Beth and Audrey were seated on Beth's couch.

Audrey was convinced of what she'd seen. Her voice was panicked. "Donovan Shepherd was out there," she repeated. Her eyes latched onto Beth's, pleading. "You believe me, right?"

It wasn't that Beth hadn't seen stranger things than a supposedly dead man walking around; she had seen plenty along those lines. In this case on the other hand, the prison execution had looked pretty damn final. "Audrey, we saw him die." Beth tried to reason with her. "Look, you got an untraceable phone call from some idiot who freaked you out." But Audrey began shaking her head before Beth had finished.

"No," Audrey insisted. "He said the exact words he used 14 years ago. 'Hello, sweetheart. I see you.'" Her voice wavered and she looked away for a moment before turning back. "I never told anyone he said that to me, not even at the trial." She drew her eyebrows together in concentration. "That means it had to be him, right?"

"Maybe not," Beth cautioned. "You've heard of post-traumatic stress, right?"

Hurt flashed across Audrey's face and she shook her head. "Oh, it's not my imagination."

Beth saw her expression and hurried to explain. "No, I'm not saying it is." She was trying to proceed without upsetting Audrey. "But maybe seeing Shepherd at the execution brought back memories and made you hear those things?"

Now she had Audrey's complete attention. Her look was serious and she regarded Beth closely. "You sound like you know something about it."

It was Beth's turn to feel uncomfortable. She knew she should tell Audrey what had drawn Beth to her at the prison. Her eyes jumped away then back to Audrey. "Well, we have more in common than you think," Beth started. "I was kidnapped when I was 4." Audrey's eyes widened in surprise at Beth's statement. "I don't remember much, not faces," she plunged ahead. "But I… I do have dreams...and flashes. Sometimes they can seem very real."

"So you keep reliving your past?"

Beth threw her eyes to the ceiling and let out a short puff of breath that sound like a bitter laugh. "More like I block it out." She caught herself and looked back at Audrey in apology. "It's the only way I can keep sane," she explained.

Audrey met her eyes as if she understood. "I just... I want to feel safe."

Beth nodded her head and gave Audrey a sympathetic look in return.

There's only one person I know to turn to, would want to turn to, under Audrey's circumstances. True, things are admittedly a little… uncertain between us right now. Not that anything is wrong per se, as far as I know, he isn't even aware of my emotional confusion. But I do know there is something going on with us, I'm just having trouble defining what that is. Today though isn't about me or my feelings. If Audrey has some of Shepherd's family coming after her, then we need Mick's help.

Beth and Audrey followed Mick through his office door. Mick gave Beth a small quick smile before turning his attention to Audrey. She could feel the corner of her mouth turn up automatically in response. She shot a look over to Audrey before turning back to Mick and explaining the reason for their visit. She was afraid that someone, albeit not Shepherd, was following Audrey and might try to hurt her, one of Shepherd's self-proclaimed family that had held vigil outside the prison.

Audrey conceded there had been a variety of harassing phone calls over the years. She was adamant, though, that no one had followed her home before. Audrey's voice shook as she spoke and it struck Beth with a twinge of pain to her stomach. Audrey was so frightened and by all appearances had been for a very long time. It must have hit Mick the same way as he reached out and put his hand on Audrey's shoulder, steading her and promising to investigate for them.

Audrey's cell phone rang and she answered it with an apology, moving to the adjacent room and leaving Beth and Mick alone in his office.

Beth continued to stare off in the direction of Audrey's exit. "She's going to stay with me tonight until we know what's going on." She could feel Mick's eyes as he turned his head to study her.

"She's really gotten under your skin, hasn't she?"

"Yeah..." She swallowed thickly and nodded her head. "There's something in her eyes. It's like she hasn't had a decent night's sleep for 14 years." She glanced up at him. "I could have been her, you know, after the kidnapping."

His eyes were on her face, warm but with a serious expression. "You're a survivor, Beth."

Her gaze flicked toward Audrey then back again to Mick, registering his demeanor. "Yeah, but it's ironic," she continued, exhaling a breath. "Audrey's demon was in prison, and she never felt safe. The police never found the woman who took me, but somehow I always felt safe."

Mick blinked and she could see something flash through his eyes before he looked away from her, changing the subject. "So about tonight… I can park outside your house, keep an eye out. I am a night person, after all."

She gave him a gentle smile and shook her head. "No, I'll be okay."

"Okay." He nodded back at her. "I'm gonna start online, check out Shepherd's 'family'."

After Mick agreed to take a look at anyone that might threaten Audrey and leaving his apartment, the rest of the day was uneventful. We hung out at my apartment watching movies. As much as she has on her mind, my interaction with Mick evidently did not escape Audrey's notice, asking if anything was going on between us.

I refrained from saying what I was thinking, which was hell if I know. She, of course, assumed that the extra toothbrush in the bathroom belonged to Mick. It then became my turn to explain about Josh, my actual boyfriend, as opposed to Mick my…. Yeah… don't know what to call him.

Nothing like trying to explain the mess I've made of my love life to an almost total stranger when it comes to making me feel ridiculous. And Audrey doesn't even know the half of it… as far as she knows I'm just torn between two humans. I wish it were that simple.

Although as it turns out, given that Audrey was being stalked by a psychotic mass murder's cult members, avoiding Mick by telling him not to sit outside my apartment was a mistake. While I left Audrey alone to go to my office at Buzzwire, one of Shepherd's family members broke in. Whether their intention was to just scare Audrey, or do much more than that I don't know. Thankfully for her, something had brought Mick to my apartment regardless and he stopped the guy. I sincerely hoped that the attacker's resulting broken bones, courtesy of Mick, would serve as deterrent to anyone that wanted to mess with her.

That might have been enough if it were just Shepherd's family we were dealing with, but there again I was wrong.

The next morning Audrey and I went to the office of the District Attorney that prosecuted Shepherd. D.A. Quinlan kept mug shots of Shepherd's family. Audrey was going to look through the pictures and try to identify the man she'd seen outside my apartment.

We were standing in the hallway as the D.A.'s assistant opened his door, took one look inside and started screaming. Since Audrey left the prison yesterday, several individuals have obviously been trying to scare her. Unfortunately for the D.A., he'd fared worse in this regard than she had. His office had been wrecked and the words "No Forgiveness" were written on the wall in blood.

Audrey started hyperventilating and backed away. She was convinced that Shepherd was back, and nothing I said could make her believe otherwise. I held onto her as she sobbed.

At the moment I wish I didn't know that dead men could rise from their grave and terrorize the living. It's probably time I start considering that Audrey could be right about Shepherd.

Beth was pacing across the floor of Buzzwire's lobby when Mick burst through the front doors.

"What did you get? You said on the phone you found something on Shepherd?" She left aside the preamble and started on her questions.

Mick nodded at her. "Yeah, I got a copy of his taped memoirs. I was listening to them when you called. What do the cops think?" They started down the hallway toward Beth's desk.

"Shepherd's fingerprints were on the bloody knife, but the cops assumed they were old, preserved from the original crime," she told him.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure. Listen to this." Mick stopped them in the hallway and pulled a small tape player out of his jacket pocket. "Shepherd's memoirs were mostly messianic ramblings, but a couple of days before the execution, everything changed."

The eerie specter of Shepherd's voice came out of the tiny speaker as Mick hit the play button. "Like Saul on the road to Damascus, I've seen the light and been given a choice. Death is just a horizon, and I will rise like the sun." Beth eyes popped wide and she met Mick's gaze. Her heart was racing in her chest. "Blood is the key to death's locked door."

Mick stopped the playback, silencing Shepherd's voice. "Blood is the key? Is that about…" She couldn't finish her thought.

"Yeah, becoming a vampire. I didn't even consider it." Mick practically growled in agitation. "I mean, a vamp couldn't survive long in prison. There's constant supervision, there's no access to blood."

Okay, so maybe there was hope. "So it's not possible?"

Mick shook his head. "It is possible" he corrected her, "if it happened right before the execution."

She could feel the muscles of her body tense at his words and she exhaled a breath in frustration. "So how do you start a manhunt for a dead man?"

"You verify the "dead" part," he told her, hurrying off down the hallway, back the way they'd come. Beth didn't follow him, standing motionless watching Mick's retreating form.

Shepherd had been dangerous as a human. She didn't want to think of the damage he could do as a vampire.

Mick made a visit to the prison morgue and verified that Shepherd was missing. Regrettably, he did find a dead body taking Shepherd's place, D.A. Quinlan. After that discovery Mick insisted that Audrey come to stay at his apartment. It is much safer than my place, so I was grateful for the invitation.

I've been to Mick's apartment many times, but this was the first occasion he's left me there without him. He didn't look terribly comfortable as he let us in and showed us around. The prospect of Audrey wandering through the apartment unsupervised seemed to make him especially nervous. He gave me multiple warnings about all the areas to keep her away from. Under other conditions it would have been almost funny.

What I found less amusing was the arsenal of weaponry he unpacked to take along on his hunt for Shepherd. He opened a box and removed multiple stakes of various sizes. He left behind a large knife, but somehow that wasn't comforting. I managed to put on a brave face for Audrey, and gave Mick a quick smile when he left.

Beth hung up her cell phone. Mick had just called and informed her that Shepherd had definitely been turned vamp right before his execution. It was captured on the closed circuit security cameras covering Shepherd's cell. You just had to know what you were witnessing.

Beth closed her eyes and tried to compose her thoughts. She felt only a little better when she opened them. She wasn't sure if Mick's being out there tracking this lunatic made her feel better or worse. After all, Mick was the best chance they had for capturing Shepherd. She was having some difficulty not worrying about Mick's safety though. Images of Shepherd getting the jump on Mick kept plaguing her. She needed a distraction and went to check on Audrey.

Audrey sat on a chair near the television. The remote control was in her hand and she was flipping channels.

"Every news channel's got Mr. Quinlan's murder," she informed Beth with a hint of sadness.

Beth sat down nearby. "I'm sorry. I know you guys were friends."

"We weren't friends, exactly," Audrey corrected her. "He was just kind to me after Shepherd killed my parents." She reached her hand out, pressing the button on the remote to turn off the TV.

"You were so brave to testify."

"Yeah, I testified. It still didn't get Shepherd out of my head." Audrey put down the remote and she knotted her fingers together, wringing them in a nervous gesture. "Even now, it's like... it's like I have some horrible connection with him."

"You need to break that tie, or he'll never go away," Beth told her.

"Is that what you did when you said you learned how to block out what happened to you?"

Beth cocked her head to one side, thinking of how to answer. "Uh, sort of," she responded. "but I've...I also had something to grab onto. Someone." Her voice caught a little as the memory washed over her. "The man who rescued me, he was fearless. It was terrifying, but as long as I was in his arms, I knew I was safe."

Audrey's eyes were rapt, watching her. "Who was it?"

"Well...when I was little, I would call him my guardian angel." Beth could feel a small smile crossing her face. "When I was a teenager, I used to picture whoever I had a crush on. You know, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr."

"And all I got was a 60-year-old balding therapist named Bob," Audrey laughed and Beth joined her. "Doesn't quite seem fair."

"Well, now you have Mick on your side."

"I feel safe with him."

Beth smiled at her again. Her heart skittered in her chest. Memories of being carried, strong arms wrapping around her, taking her away from the scary woman, taking her home to her mother. Her head had rested on his shoulder and she could smell his aftershave. Why did the memory of that embrace feel so familiar all of a sudden?

It couldn't be… could it? Why wouldn't he tell me?

Beth waited several hours till Audrey had fallen asleep on the couch before going into Mick's office. She told herself that she just wanted to use the computer.

He only told me not to let Audrey in the office right?

Uh-huh, sure, that was exactly what he meant.

Her steps were tentative as she entered the room. Running her eyes around the small space, she spotted a shirt that Mick had left draped over the back of a chair. With slow steps, she walked over to it. Her hand closed around the fabric almost of its own accord. She lifted the fabric to her nose and shut her eyes, inhaling and absorbing his scent. Her pulse sped up and she felt lightheaded. His smell was unmistakable.

Her hand drifted down and she dropped the shirt. She opened her eyes and they landed on the bank of filing cabinets against the far side of the room. Shooting a quick look over her shoulder, she crossed to them and found the drawer dated from the early eighties, the dates covering the time period during which she'd been kidnapped. Her hand trembled as she pulled it open.

Inside were manila file folders, each marked with a label bearing a name. She flipped through the folders till her eyes landed on the correct one. Her chest tightened. Beth Turner…. there was file here with her name. She took care pulling it out and lifted the cover to reveal its contents.

She let out a short gasp of shock. Pictures….photographs… lots of photographs. She dropped to her knees on the office floor. Her whole body was shaking by now. One by one she laid the photos out in front of her.

Spread out before her was a panorama of her life. In the earliest photo she was a small child, probably around the time of her kidnapping she guessed. Moving on, there were pictures capturing her childhood, her teenage years. Many of the photos were family snapshots where she was smiling and looking at the camera. A few however, some of the more recent ones it looked like, she hadn't been aware her picture was being taken.

He's been watching me? My whole life…. my whole life…. Where did he get these?

She sat back and took a deep breath, trying to control the tremors coursing through her. Her stomach seized and cramped. It felt like the room was spinning.

Why didn't you tell me?

She stayed, wide eyed, on the floor, bombarded by scenes from the recurring nightmare of her kidnapping. The dream had been with her for as long as she could remember, only this time she wanted to see it, didn't want it to go away. What did the arms holding her feel like? Whose arms were they? What did he smell like? She willed the image of his face to materialize before her, the face of the man who had carried her away. It was shimmering before her, just out of reach, but wouldn't resolve.

I recognized you the night we met at the fountain. I was right.

She sat there, frozen, long enough to gather a small measure of composure. Once she had recovered somewhat, she collected the photos and placed them back in the file folder. She hadn't gotten up from her position when her cell phone began to ring. It was Mick's number.

She stared at the display and let the phone ring twice before answering it.

"Hi." Her whole body hurt. Her voice was quiet.

"Beth, what's wrong?" Mick's voice rose in alarm. She guessed he had read her tone.

She was silent and didn't immediately answer him. I don't even know where to start on that question. But now was not the time for this conversation. "Nothing," she replied instead.

Mick informed her quickly that Shepherd had killed again, an old friend of his. Shepherd appeared to be intent on tying up loose ends and it would make sense to assume Audrey was on that list.

Beth's heart started hammering in her chest. Mick told her not to leave the apartment. He would be home in ten minutes. She agreed and hung up the phone.

With some difficulty Beth got up and walked over behind Mick's desk, sitting down in the chair.

Psychotic killer vampire coming after us, Mick's hiding things from me….what to worry about first? She propped her elbows on the desk and folded her hands together as if praying. Closing her eyes, she rested her forehead on her fingertips.

Beth wasn't sure how much time had passed when the sound of Audrey's footsteps interrupted her thoughts. Her head popped up.

"Sorry." Audrey said, pausing at the entrance to the office. "What are you doing?"

Beth looked back at her. "Oh… uh… nothing." Beth reached over, picking up her cell phone and moving it to cover her name, visible on the manila file folder sitting out in plain view. "I was just looking for something."

"So you and Mick," Audrey entered the room. "I know you say you've only known him a few months, but it seems like you've known each other forever." Audrey smiled a little.

Beth's brow furrowed a little. "Why do you say that?"

Audrey shrugged, looking around the room, away from Beth. "I don't know, the way he looks at you. Can't explain it."

Beth exhaled through her nose. "Someone needs to," she muttered under her breath.

Audrey turned back to her, confusion darkening her features. "Hmm?"

"Nothing." Beth shook her head and tried to appear relaxed, even though she was anything but.

"Where is he?" Audrey asked. "Have you talked to him?"

It was a good question. How long had it been since he'd called? Longer than ten minutes she thought. She fought back the small wave of fear that threatened to take over and told Audrey that he was on his way but she'd call him again.

Fifteen minutes later, when she was still calling him and he wasn't answering, it was getting much harder to ignore the nagging sensation that something was wrong.

She dialed his number again, and they could hear a cell phone start to ring in the hallway outside the apartment.

"Sounds like he's back," Audrey told her looking over at the door.

Beth hurried toward the small panel that displayed the view from the camera covering the area outside the apartment entrance.

What is that?

It took a few seconds for her to process the picture on the screen. There was a ringing cell phone but it was lying on the floor beyond the door. She watched it ring a few times before she hung up her own phone. The phone on the screen also went dark.

A short stab of panic hit her chest. It was Mick's phone but he didn't have it.

"Is it him?" Audrey's voice came from behind her.

"Stay there." Beth whispered to her.

Beth reached out to the view panel and hit the button that would pivot the camera and give her a better look at what was in the hallway. Her heartbeat accelerated as she did so. The picture slowly moved over till a man's face came into view, Shepherd's face.

Beth eyes flew wide and she let out a short cry of surprise.

Shepherd was looking up at the camera with a menacing smile. "Audrey?"

Beth whirled around raced toward Audrey, seizing her hand and dragging her into the office. She shoved her down behind Mick's desk.

"It's him, isn't it?" Audrey's question came out in a sharp frightened burst. Beth didn't answer her, but crept over to door that led from the office to the exterior hallway. She put her ear against the wall, trying to get a sense of what Shepherd was doing out there.

She heard a rustle of fabric and banging on the glass from behind her at the office windows. Spinning in that direction, she saw Shepherd perched on the ledge outside. He beat his fists on the glass and screeched Audrey's name.

Audrey let out a piercing scream, staring horrified up at Shepherd, not moving.

He glared down at her, taunting. "Audrey!" he howled her name and hit the glass again.

Beth reached Audrey and grabbed her by the shoulders pulling her away from the desk. They ran out of the office, back into the apartment and up the stairs toward the second level. As they moved Beth dialed 911.

"Did he go up or down?" Audrey cried through hysterical breaths.

"I don't know," Beth said, panting now herself, she pulled Audrey to a stop halfway up the stairs.

A voice came on the line. "There's someone trying to break in," she shouted at the operator.

Audrey screamed again as the sound of shattering glass filled the room and Beth looked up to see Shepherd flying down from the skylight in the ceiling.

"Go!" she commanded Audrey, pushing her in the direction of the apartment's upper level.

Beth darted down the stairs in the opposite direction, trying to distract Shepherd and give Audrey a chance to hide. She was halfway across the living room when Shepherd caught up to her and grabbed her around the waist. He jerked her toward him and seized her face with one hand, his fingers clawing into her cheeks, his mouth only inches from her own. She tried to pull away in revulsion, but he was too strong for her.

"Where's Audrey?" he snarled.

When she didn't answer him, he roared at her and threw her across the room. She slid along the floor and her head slammed into the wall. She lay there stunned, her head throbbing and felt blood start to flow from her temple. She managed to turn and look back toward Shepherd.

Shepherd had stopped in his tracks. He inhaled a deep breath. "Hmm... blood." He drew out the word. He had shut his eyes and when he opened them they had turned to the tell-tale icy blue of a vampire. His fangs were just barely visible. He looked down at Beth. "You don't seem surprised to see me alive."

Beth got to her feet and started circling sideways to her left. Out of the corner of one eye she could see a shard of wood from the frame of the broken skylight. She kept going in that direction.

She met Shepherd's eyes. "I know what you are."

Beth leapt forward to capture the piece of wood with her right hand. She caught up the stake and let her momentum carry her to Shepherd, aiming it at his heart. Her reflexes however weren't fast enough to get to the vampire and Shepherd was able to close his fingers around her wrist and twist her arm back away from him.

Beth grimaced as Shepherd kept twisting her arm. It felt like her shoulder was going to break.

"If you know what I am, why are you fighting when you should be begging?" He sneered at her before twisting his face into a scowl. His voice became menacing. "Where is she?"

Beth reared her head back and spit at him in response. Shepherd only laughed and produced a switch blade knife from his pocket. He waved the knife in front of her nose. She squeezed her eyes shut so she felt rather than saw the knife swipe inches from her throat. She opened her eyes and saw Shepherd flying sideways through the room, colliding with a bookcase built into the wall.

Standing behind him was Mick in full vampire mode. "Get out," he ordered her. She turned and fled up the stairs toward Audrey.

Once on the second level she found Audrey crouched and trembling in the closet. She seized Audrey's hand and started dragging her toward the stairs, telling her they were making a run for the elevator. They bolted down and across the apartment toward the exit. Beth could see Mick and Shepherd grappling with each other in front of the freestanding fireplace at the center of the room.

She and Audrey burst out of the apartment door and sped down the hallway. When they had reached the elevator, Beth banged violently on the button to call it. She shot a frightened glance toward the apartment, praying that Mick would be the one to come out.

The elevator doors opened. They hurried inside and Beth started to repeatedly punch the close button. Her heart thundered in her ears. The doors started to roll shut, but just before they had closed Shepherd's face appeared in the gap, grasping each side with long fingers. Audrey whimpered and Beth put her arms around her, trying to shield her.

The doors creaked as Shepherd tried to force them open. He smirked at them through the narrow space between the doors. "Hello, sweetheart, I see you," he drawled.

"Hey!" Beth could hear Mick's voice from behind Shepherd. She only got a quick glimpse of a very big knife slicing through the air. Shepherd released the doors and they rolled shut.

The world is full of monsters, both human and otherwise. Tonight Mick protected me from one of them. He's saved me more than once over the last few months. How many people would have died if Mick hadn't killed Shepherd? How many monsters has he taken off of the streets, and how much pain could they have inflicted if he hadn't?

It's like he's driven to help people, but why? What happened in his past that he feels like he needs to do this?

All of my life I've felt safe. I could latch on to the strength of the man who saved me and took me home to my mother. He made me believe that despite the horrors of the world, despite the dangers lurking like the woman who ripped me from my bed in the night, there was good in the world. I always believed that if there were monsters, there were angels too.

Turns out I did have an angel watching over me all these years, almost my whole life. And now I have the chance to finally thank him. That, and try to convince him to see what I see… he is not a monster.

Beth could see Mick standing on the apartment balcony staring out over the city lights. A faint hint of deep red and orange on the distant horizon was a forerunner of dawn. His back was toward her and his hands were propped on the wall. He didn't turn as she approached him.

"How is she?" he asked when she'd gotten close enough. His voice was soft.

"Sleeping," she answered him.

"What did you tell her?" He wasn't making eye contact, continuing to look away.

"As long as Shepherd's gone for good she doesn't need an explanation," Beth told him. She took a deep breath before continuing, keeping her eyes on his face. "But I do. I know who saved me when I was a little girl."

At her words Mick closed his eyes and lowered his head toward his chest. There was a brief silence. "I think you've known for a while," he eventually managed to say.

"Maybe I have," she responded.

"What else do you know?" He asked the question without moving or opening his eyes.

"That he had to kill a woman he cared about."

His head swung up as if the statement hurt. She could see the muscles in his jaw clenching and unclenching. "Maybe he would have done that anyway."

"Maybe." She was struggling to speak as her throat threatened to close up. "But that night he did it to save me."

He spun to face her. "How was I supposed to tell you?" He threw out one hand in a frustrated gesture and his voice wavered, thick with emotion.

"Why did you hide it?" Without taking her gaze off of him, she lifted the file folder in her left hand and placed it hand between them on the balcony wall. "Made me think it was my imagination?"

Mick's eyes locked on the folder. He reached his hand out toward the file, stopping just short of touching it. "You have every right to be angry."

Beth shook her head, choking down the tears that threatened to boil up her throat. Her eyes grew wet regardless. "I'm not angry," she told him. He looked back at her, surprise playing across his features. "I found my guardian angel." Her voice caught and Mick let out a small, sad laugh at her choice of words despite himself. She could see his eyes shimmer. She brushed a tear off her cheek with a swipe of her hand. "I just wished...I just wish he'd talk to me."

Mick nodded and swallowed a few times, meeting her eyes. "First I murder my wife, and then I stalk you. It just gets better and better, huh?"

"No," she corrected him quickly. She kept her eyes on his face, trying to convey the warmth she felt inside with her gaze. "I could've lived my life in fear, but somehow I always felt safe. And now I know why."

She could feel the warmth of sunrise on the back of her neck as the yellow light of dawn flooded the balcony. Mick blinked a few times and jerked his hand up to shield his eyes from the harsh rays. The heat of the sun felt good to her, but all that mattered right now was how much it was hurting him.

He was still watching her with drawn features. "Now you know why it can never work." His voice was firm and despairing.

She didn't let her eyes move off of his face, keeping her tone equally certain but hopeful. "All I know is ever since I met you I've stopped using the word 'never.'"

There was so much hurt and fear reflected on his face. Her eyes shifted briefly to his raised hand. Her heart raced in her chest. She lifted her right hand to place it over Mick's, helping to block out the light. He stood motionless at her touch. Taking a few steps forward, she moved closer to him, letting her left hand come to rest on his chest. She lifted her head and pressed her lips against his cheek in a soft kiss. She let her mouth linger on his cool skin for a moment, wanting him to know her heart, wanting him to know how much she felt for him, not just right now, but always.

When she stepped away from him, his eyes were closed and stayed that way for a few seconds. As they floated open they met hers, damp and filled with turmoil. He held her stare for only a moment longer, before backing away and brushing past her to leave the balcony, his hand still raised against the sun.

She could only watch as he walked away.