Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own Moonlight, anything that occurs in this fanfic from the show, or any of its characters. I do, however, own this plot. Yayz!

AN: Sorry for the recent lack of updates…I got seriously backed up with several homework assignments, to the point where I've had to pull quite a few all-nighters. By the grace of God, however, there is such a thing as snow days. To my extreme delight, Ontario was recently pounded with one hell of a snowstorm, and I was left with an entire day to kill. I should be working on a major assignment right now, but I decided that first I owed it to my amazing readers, who have waited so patiently, (or maybe not so patiently) to update. Besides, it's waaay too early in the morning to do any work. So here it finally is, and thank you again for being such awesome readers!

Mick and Rory had been waiting silently in the waiting room for the past four hours. Mick had been surprised to find that, upon entering the doors of the hospital, his cell phone went off. It was the hospital trying to contact him. Beth had recently changed her emergency contacts list, so that Mick was now at the top. This made Mick feel even worse about the whole situation.

It had been four hours since Beth had been wheeled into emergency surgery to repair her punctured caroted artery. There had been little time for explanations concerning what had happened, so, thankfully, Rory did not have to try to explain. Upon wheeling her into the OR, the surgeon had remarked that it was extremely lucky Beth had gotten there in time. A few seconds more and she would have been beyond saving.

So there sat Rory and Mick, neither talking or even looking at one another. Each was lost in their own thoughts. They didn't know whether to interpret the extensive time it was taking them to do the surgery as a good sign or a bad one. Rory couldn't help blaming herself. Jeff had attacked Beth because of her. Clearly, he had been stalking her for a while now. If she had just gone to her apartment alone, or asked Mick to come with her instead, this wouldn't have happened. If she hadn't panicked and froze, she might have been able to stop him from attacking Beth. Jeff had been after her. It was all her fault.

Mick sat in the seat beside her, staring at his own hands, also lost in thought. There was a part of him that wanted to blame Rory, who had marched into the picture and brought with her this vampiric creep, but he didn't. He couldn't. It wasn't her fault. There was no way she could have predicted the danger that lay waiting for her to return to her apartment. And besides, he was the one that had suggested that Beth accompany her. So, as usual when something bad happened to Beth, it was his fault. It had been his fault when Coraline had kidnapped her as a child. It had been his fault when he had bitten her, despite the fact that she was a willing participant. It had been his fault every time she'd put herself in danger during an investigation which had unwittingly led her deeper into the vampiric underworld. It was his fault now, when she hung somewhere between life and death. He had sent her. It was all his fault.

Growing tired of waiting, Mick stood up and began to pace the waiting room area. He strained with his vampiric ear to try to make out the sound of Beth's heartbeat. It was, however, impossible. There were simply far too many people, too many heartbeats, to be able to definitively distinguish hers. He felt helpless for the first time in as long as he could remember. Being a vampire meant that he could do just about anything. But he could do nothing when it came to Beth's life. Her fate lay in the hands of others for the first time since that fateful night when he'd rescued her from Coraline, and it drove him insane knowing that there was nothing for him to do but to sit back and watch as she fought for her very life.

Realizing that Mick was lost in his own thoughts and knowing that he wouldn't notice the fact that she had gone for a long time, Rory snuck out. She couldn't stand waiting around, especially because she felt infinitely guilty about the whole situation. She couldn't help but think that Mick blamed her, and she couldn't blame him for it. She blamed herself. She walked quickly and quietly out of the waiting room and, with one last glance back at Mick, who continued to pace the floor, a distracted expression on his face, she left. As soon as she was around the corner and out of the sight of prying eyes, Rory set off running at super-speed. She had no idea where she was going, and, quite frankly, she didn't care. She just picked a direction and started running. She ran for a while, not wanting to slow down or stop, because running freed her mind. She was escaping it all, if only for a short while. It began to rain, and as she rushed along the feeling of the pouring rain on her face was amazing. She had never experienced rain like this before. With her vampire-heightened senses, she took note of every cool drop hitting her body, mentally tracing its path over her own skin. She felt, for the first time since yesterday morning, almost at peace.

She finally came to a stop when she reached the Hollywood sign. She wasn't exactly sure how long she'd been running or how far she'd run, but she did know that she had come a long way. She climbed up to the first "O" and sat inside of if, her legs hanging over the edge. She had always been terrified of heights, but secretly being up high had always thrilled her. Not to mention, being a vampire meant that if she fell, she couldn't get hurt. She sat there, the night wind gently blowing in her face, and instantly everything that had happened came flooding to the forefront of her mind. She sat there in the rain, thinking, for a long time…

Mick looked up at the clock to see that it read 3:30 a.m. It had been five hours since Beth had been wheeled into surgery. He heard footsteps coming up behind him and turned to see the doctor who had wheeled Beth into surgery. Concerned, and clearly showing his concern in his face, he quickly approached the doctor. Mick couldn't quite read the doctor's expression, and Mick was unable to sense any indicative emotion.

"Mick St. John?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah," Mick said breathlessly, "Is Beth okay?"

"There was some difficulty during the procedure," The doctor said. Mick's breath caught in his chest. "but she came through it alright." Mick breathed out a sigh, relief coursing through him, making him realize how utterly exhausted he was.

"Can I see her?" He asked immediately.

"She's in recovery. She's just coming out of anesthetic. You were the first person she asked for."

Mick turned to go back to Rory and tell her what the surgeon had said. It was only then that he noticed she was gone. He looked wildly around the waiting room and soon realized that she wasn't there. He breathed a heavy sigh, cursing himself for having let her out of his sight, but resigned himself to the fact that if she wanted to run off, he couldn't stop her. Turning back to the surgeon, Mick followed him into the recovery room where Beth was waiting for him…

Beth opened her eyes, unsure of where she was and how she'd gotten there. She had blacked out shortly after Mick had shown up. The only thing she remembered having happened before everything had gone black was lying face-down on the floor, Mick turning her over, and the tormented, terrified look in his eyes as he stared into hers.

She realized that she was in a bed. A warm bed with white sheets and bars on either side. The walls of the room were a pale blue. She reached up to feel a thick, heavy bandage on the left side of her neck, and realized when se did so that she had an IV line was sticking out of the back of her hand. She realized that there was also another slightly higher up on her arm. The first contained a clear liquid, while the second contained a thick, dark, red fluid. She realized immediately that it was a bag of blood. She was being given a blood transfusion. After about ten minutes of taking in her surroundings, a doctor entered the room. He was pleased to see that she was awake.

"Mick St. John." She said weakly, "Can I see Mick St. John?"

The doctor agreed and hurried out of the room. Beth sat for a few minutes waiting, all the while remembering more and more of what had happened earlier that night. She remembered the attack, the look of insanity gleaming in her attacker's eye. She remembered the terrifying look of his face, white eyes and elongated canine teeth. She wasn't scared of Mick when his face changed, when he showed his vampiric side. Her attacker had been terrifying. But then, she trusted Mick. She always had. He protected her, was her guardian angel. Tonight had been no different when he had come to her rescue.

The doctor came back into the room, followed by Mick. Beth noted that he looked terrified, barely concealing his concern. "Hey," Beth said weakly, as Mick sat down in the chair beside the bed.

"Hey." Mick replied, pasting on a fake smile that Beth saw right through. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I just had my neck sliced open, oddly enough." She replied. Her sarcasm had its intended effect, for Mick was smiling in earnest now. "Have you been waiting here all this time?" She asked, on a more serious note.

"Well…" Mick began but, looking in her eyes, opted for the truth. "Yeah."

Beth smiled and, remembering Rory, asked, "So how's Rory doing? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine." Mick said. "She was here for a while too, but she ran off somewhere while I was distracted." He said, "I think she blames herself."

"She shouldn't." Beth said, slightly distressed.

"No, you're right." Mick said, looking down at the floor and feeling ashamed. "It was my fault."

Beth felt her heart break for him. She hated to see him like this. She raised the back of her hospital bed with the remote so that she was sitting upright. She reached out with her right hand and placed in on the side of his face, stroking it before placing it under his chin and raising his face so that his eyes met hers. "It's not your fault, either. You need to stop blaming yourself for everything bad that happens to me."

"But I asked you to go." He said, looking at her with sad, ashamed eyes.

"Mick, I wanted to go. You didn't twist my arm behind my back and force me. You didn't know what was going to happen-"

"But I should have!" Mick said somewhat forcefully, standing up. "I put you in danger without thinking. I..I-" he stopped, unable to finish. He couldn't admit it. He couldn't say it, not simply for his own sake, but for hers as well. It would only complicate matters.

"You…what?" Beth asked. Her breath had caught in her chest at what he had begun to say. She needed him to finish, needed to hear it. Mick looked into her eyes, cursing himself the moment he did so because he couldn't deny the pleading look in her brilliant blue eyes that begged him to continue.

"I almost lost you." He said weakly, sinking into the chair once more. Beth, mustering up what little strength she had within her, leaned forward, took his face in both hands, and kissed him, letting forth all of the pent-up passion within her. For a moment, Mick resisted, but then became caught up in the passion and no longer denied her. After a moment, he broke away, whispering "I don't deserve you," before he was once more caught in a passionate kiss from Beth.

AN: Okay, so I thought that, because you have all waited so patiently, you deserve a little reward for your efforts. Thus, I added in a Mick/Beth moment. I actually must say that I've taken this story in a completely different direction than I originally intended, but as I write things as they come to me, such things are par for the course. Well, I hope you've all enjoyed, and I'll try to update more often, though I can't promise anything. Now, I must grudgingly begin to write my English paper (due tomorrow). Thanks for all the amazing support, and as an extra thank-you, no evil cliffie! (For this chapter, anyway) laughs evilly, then runs and hides. Oh and, wink wink, nudge nudge, it may help me to update if I get some awesome reviews. Again, thank you so much for reading and for your continued support. Oh, and I fixed an error in chapter three. Mick hasn't been a vampire for 85 years, he's been alive for 85 years. My mistake!

Luvz, Cat.