Josef turned off the engine of the most non-descript vehicle he had in his collection and pocketed the keys. With both hands needlessly on the steering wheel, he stared out the window at the concrete wall of Mick's parking garage.

After 410 years, Josef Kostan was no stranger to disappointment, to loss, and hundreds of people if not more had hated him through the centuries; so much so that he'd long since stopped wanting anything too much or getting too close to anyone. Mick had somehow broken through the barriers the elder vampire had erected decades before he'd even been born. Josef had never quite figured out how he'd done it, but he was thankful for it. Until the past few decades, he'd never known what it had been like to have a true friend. It was refreshing to say the least.

And now that friend hated him, and would likely hate him even more before the day was out, Josef was certain.

Nevertheless, Mick was still his friend and Josef wanted him to be happy. Right now, he most certainly was NOT. After speaking to Beth the night before, they'd decided something had to happen to force Mick to make a decision of some sort. He either needed to go back to the life he thought he knew, or find some way to force his memories to return. Waiting patiently was no longer an option for any of them and while neither Beth nor Josef were exactly rooting for option number one, if that was what Mick chose to do, they would have no choice but to let him do it, though of course, Josef would never be far away. They couldn't stand in the way of his happiness, they loved him that much, and Josef couldn't stand to have Mick hate him anymore then he already did.

Finally, Josef exited the car, locked it, and made his way to elevator and up to Mick's apartment. During that short trip, he tried not to think about the worst that could happen – never getting his friend back – but simply tried to concentrate on helping him. Today felt like the most important day of his very long life. He knew this was his last chance to help the most important person that he'd ever had in his life.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Beth answered the door. The fact that something had made Mick let her stay had given both of them hope. SOMETHING inside Mick remembered her. That was part of what they hoped to tap into.

"Hello Beth."

"Josef," she said, relief still evident in her voice even though she would have seen him in the security monitor. "I'm so glad you're here." She stepped aside to allow him to enter. "Please, come in."

As he stepped passed her, across the threshold into the apartment, his eyes never left her. He studied her, trying to figure out if there was something wrong. He couldn't sense anything; at least, nothing more than had been coming from her since this whole ordeal started. In fact, there seemed to be a small part of her that seemed… relaxed. Even still, he asked "is everything alright?"

She nodded as she closed the door and took a moment to look toward the stairs, as if making sure they were still alone. He couldn't blame her, Mick would not be happy when he found out she'd let Josef in; even invited him over. It was best if they could finish their conversation before that happened. "Yeah, everything's fine. In fact, he's really been opening up to me the last couple of days."

If their plan didn't work, Beth would lose everything. Again. Josef took two steps to stand in front of her, looked down at her and with the slightest of smiles on his face, placed a hand on her cheek. "It's going to be okay, Beth." There was no way to know if he'd be able to keep the promise; they were both painfully aware of that, but she covered his hand with her own and returned his smile. Mick may have been opening up to her more in the last couple of days, but Josef and Beth had been getting closer as well, since he'd gone missing. He'd never met a woman – especially a human – quite like the Beth that was being revealed to him.

That was the moment Mick chose to come down the stairs. Josef could feel the anger rolling off him in waves as he raced down the remainder of the stairs and across the space to where Josef and Beth stood. The vampire didn't stop Mick from pushing him against the door in a choke hold. It wasn't as if the human could hurt him. It was still so strange to refer to Mick as 'human' no matter how much the younger man may have wanted that to be true in the past.

"Mick!" Beth tried to pull his arm away from Josef's throat. Mick whipped his head around, scowling at her.

"What the hell is he doing here?"

"Mick, please… he just wants to help."

Mick did let go then, turning his whole body toward the blond. Josef remained where he was for the moment, though still poised to step in if Mick's anger took the better of him. Josef knew – well, hoped anyway – that the old Mick was still in control enough that he wouldn't hurt Beth, but he wasn't about to take the chance. In the end, it wasn't needed and Josef simply waited for Beth to convince Mick to let him help.

"Help? Ha!" There was nothing pleasant about that laugh, or the smile on his face. "I think he's 'helped' enough already." Shaking his head, Mick stalked away from them and ran his hand through his hair.

She took a step toward him and repeated her plea. "Mick, please…" Though the other man's back was still to him, Josef could see his body slowly release its tension as he surrendered to her plea.

Yes, their Mick was definitely still in there, somewhere. There was still hope that they'd be able to pull him back to the surface.

VvvV

The drive into Hollywood from Mick's building seemed to take an eternity – and Josef knew a thing or two about that. Mick was silent the entire ride, starting out the window. Josef could easily feel his anger, and even his wonder. This was, after all, the first time he'd really been able to take in his surroundings and things look all the more real – and, no doubt, strange – when you are travelling along the street, rather than staring out from the roof of a building over a dozen stories tall. Almost at their destination, he now felt the recognition come from Mick at the sight of houses that he remembered being around Coraline's house. Mick turned to him.

"What are we doing?"

Josef chose to answer his question with one of his own. "If this is all something you made up in your mind, how do you explain the fact that Coraline is alive? I didn't kill her; she's alive and she hasn't even come to you. You saw what I did to her. There's no way any human could have lived through that."

Mick looked at Josef, mouth agape, as if the man had two heads. "Of course she's dead. There's no way, as much as I wish there was, that she could possibly have lived through what YOU did to her. If she is a live that would be…" That would be 'what'? Mick wasn't even sure anymore. "At the very least, she would be recovering from her wounds."

Just then, Josef stopped the car and Mick scowled. This was the last place he wanted to be; their home… so many good memories, all overshadowed by a few horrific ones.

"You're wrong, Mick." Josef pulled out a pair of binoculars and handed them to his friend. He could plainly see Coraline standing in the middle of the living room, talking and laughing with Cynthia. "Look."

Mick looked at Josef, at the binoculars in his hand, and then out the window to the glass house he knew so well. He didn't want to, but something made him slowly raise them to his eyes. He watched in disbelief as Coraline – who was suppose to be dead – stood with Cynthia in the living room chatting. He saw his wife give out a hearty laugh at something her friend had said, then effortlessly bend to gather some magazines from the coffee table and set them neatly on a shelf.

He lowered the binoculars, but continued to stare at the house. He wondered how this could be possible; aloud, he said "it's a trick."

Josef didn't bother to say anything. Even as Mick inspected the binoculars, the vampire could feel that he didn't believe that it was a trick… as much as he no doubt wanted to. He repeated his earlier questions.

"If this were something you dreamed up; if this were all in your head, how is this possible? If you were going to dream that she were alive, why wouldn't you also dream that she made herself known to you? Why wouldn't you have given yourself some kind of closure? If this is real, if everything Beth and I have told you is true, how else do you explain how she lived through that fight and healed so quickly other than her being something more than human; a vampire?"

"You knew. You knew she was alive. Why didn't you say something… if we're such good 'friends'?"

Josef didn't reply. What could he say? Instead, he put the car back in drive and pulled away, heading back to Mick's place.

"What are you doing? I have to see her!" Mick clawed at the door handle, but the car was locked. Josef ignored his protests, instead, finally, focusing on his earlier questions.

"Yes, I knew she was alive. Her body was gone by the time I returned to the house that night and your doctor, and the research I found at his office, explained how it had happened. The good doctor IS dead though, that I made sure of. Just be happy I didn't do the same to Coraline."

"And just how does someone kill a 'vampire'?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Whether Mick really did want to know, or was simply humoring him, Josef didn't know, but he couldn't trust his friend right now – and that just about WAS enough to kill him – so he wasn't about to give Mick any ideas on how to take him out. Mick just rolled his eyes at him. Josef couldn't be happier to see it.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Mick wasn't talking about methods of vampire execution anymore.

"What are you talking about, Mick? I just did." In truth, Josef had been tracking Coraline for days. He knew she would be with Cynthia – the two women were practically attached at the hip, after all. But neither of them had been at the Hardwick Hotel when he'd gone there, no doubt having moved when they realized Josef had gotten to their partner. They'd turned up at the house the day before and Josef was certain someone had been watching Mick's building and whoever it was always pulled away when he approached.

Knowing he wasn't going to get anything else out of the other man, Mick tossed the binoculars into the small back seat, slumped into his own seat and went back to staring out the window.