Title: The Other Side of Morning

Fandom: Moonlight

Genre: Romance/Drama

Rating: T to M

Pairings: Mick/Beth, Josef/Sarah

Spoilers: through 1X10 "Sleeping Beauty"

Summery: AU after 1X10. Beth heads to the bank not knowing she was about to walk into a hostage situation that would forever change her life.

Disclaimer: all I own is a stuffed unicorn…please don't sue and take my unicorn away…/sniffle/

AN: hey lookie an update! thanks to all the reviewers and a special thanks to LoneTread for being my supercool Beta!

Chapter 2: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

"There's a lot to be said for self-delusionment when it comes to matters of the heart."

--Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider

It's odd what people think about when they're afraid they are about to die. It involves a lot of wishing they were anywhere else or waking up to find it was just a bad dream followed by reflections on all the things they wished they had done but never did for one reason or another. It was the latter stage Beth was in now, and she was surprised at how many of the wish-I-could-have-dones involved Mick. Okay, maybe not completely surprised, but there were certainly more than she expected and a lot less involving Josh. She was certain there was a revelation in that but she was too busy being terrified to examine it closely at the moment. The revelation could wait until later; right now, she was concentrating on the list of things she was going to do if she made it out of here alive. Lists were good. Lists were calming.

She could hear the muttered conversations of her captors, the wailing of the toddler, and the shrill ringing of the phone. Beth tried to block it all out. Somewhere in the back of her mind the stray thought that Mo would probably kill her for not getting as many details as possible flickered but Beth ignored it. All she could do was try to fight the panic that threatened to overwhelm her. Being held captive was bringing back the childhood terror of her kidnapping at Coraline's hands. List, Beth, concentrate on the list.

1. Kiss Mick.

2. Fly to Hawaii.

3. Take swing dancing lessons.

4. Kiss Mick.

5. Travel though Europe.

6. Collect a rain check on that night in New York with Mick.

7. Break up with Josh.

8. Kiss Mick.

9. Get a dog….or maybe just a fish.

10. Kiss Mick.

Beth felt it was a pretty good list, all in all. Never again would she skip her New Year's resolutions, just as long as she got out of here. Her mind instinctively shied away form the alternative. She would get out of here. Mick wouldn't let her die in here and Beth held fast to that belief. It would be what got her through the grueling hours to come.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when one of the robbers finally answered the phone. They had cut the lights to prevent snipers from getting a clear shot, and with her face pressed into the cool marble of the floor Beth had no way to judge the passage of time. The cries of the frightened child broke Beth's heart but she was fairly certain that all it did to the robbers was irritate them and with the police outside there was already enough stress to set them off. It was the leader who answered the phone. He had stuck close to the teller -- and the money -- leaving his companions to watch over the rest of the hostages.

He picked up the receiver with a short jerky movement that betrayed his fraying temper. "Yes?" he snapped into the phone, sounding more irritated than Beth knew he wanted to.

"I want a car, and passports for three people. I want out of the country without being harassed by the police," he said after a pause during which whoever was on the other end had spoken. "Do it or we start killing hostages. You have one hour," and he hung up the phone.

"Shut that damn kid up!" he snapped to his companions.

Beth heard the mother trying to calm the crying little boy while the others tried to mute their own whimpers of fear. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on something calming. Mick would know something was wrong. Her would save her.

Mick felt the spike in Beth's heart rate as the negotiator turned to Josh and it was all he could do to keep from busting in there, secrecy and consequences be damned. He closed his eyes to steady himself as the negotiator relayed the robber's message to Josh.

"There's no way we can get all that in an hour," Josh said.

"I realize that but we have them talking now, so believe it or not this is a good sign," the negotiator replied.

"A good sign?" Mick countered. "They hung up on you." He was trying hard to remain reasonable but the sound of Beth's racing heart made that nearly impossible.

"He's right, Mick, you have them talking now," a new voice agreed.

Mick turned in shock to see Josef, impeccably dressed as always, walking up.

"How did you get in here?" Josh snapped, startled and confused.

"Does it matter?" Josef dismissed the question. "Money talks -- especially in these situations."

"That and you're poker buddies with the Director of the LA branch of the FBI," Mick added dryly. He was very surprised to see Josef here -- not that he didn't want his best friend's support, but Josef wasn't one to get his hands dirty for no reason and that made Mick uneasy.

Josef acknowledged his statement with a lazy smile. "Indeed. This being within the FBI's jurisdiction and all." That was his way of getting the fact that he wasn't leaving across.

Josh gave them both a sour look and the negotiator -- an agent himself -- eyed Josef speculatively.

"Just don't get in the way," Josh ordered tersely before picking up his own phone to see what demands could or could not be met.

Mick turned to his friend, eyebrow raised in expectation. "Why are you here, Josef?"

"Please, with an explanation like 'she's at the bank' you didn't think I'd be the least bit curious as to what had you all worked up?" Josef asked.

"You tell me," Mick stated blandly.

"I'm simply here to offer my support -- such as it is," Josef replied, sounding far too sincere.

Mick wasn't fooled in the least. There was something that Josef wasn't telling him, he could see it in the guarded and, dare he say it, almost sympathetic way Josef was looking at him. There was something the older vampire knew -- and it wasn't good.

Mick looked away angrily. "Right, Josef, when you're ready to actually be useful, let me know."

Josef smirked, unruffled. "Hmmm, someone's touchy," he remarked.

Mick ignored him, concentrating on the panicked beat of Beth's very alive heart to keep him steady, but he remained keenly aware of the all too serious eyes on his back, a seriousness that all Josef's bravado couldn't cover. Finally Josef broke the silence between them.

"What will you do, my friend, if she cannot be saved?" Josef asked, quiet enough that only Mick would pick up on it.

Mick whirled. "What?" he asked, sharply.

Josef eyed him steadily. "Sometimes you can't save everyone. Even you aren't Superman, despite whatever misguided sense of altruism you may have. So I ask you, what will you do if she can't be saved?"

"That's not an option, Josef!" Mick growled. "I will save her!"

Josef looked at him with pity in his eyes as his friend turned away from him again.

The phone had rung -- and been answered -- several times in the last few minutes. The conversations were brief but Beth got the gist of it. The negotiator wanted some of the hostages before they agreed to the demands. Beth was beginning to think past her own fear for now and she knew that the two children were not making things easier on any of them. She thought perhaps she could convince the robbers to let them go -- get rid of an annoyance on their end. The children would be safe and they could use it as a good-will gesture.

"Let the kids go," Beth said quietly, but clearly. Three guns swung in her direction and she had to fight back another wave of panic.

"What?" The leader finally moved away from the teller and stalked over to Beth, yanking her to her knees by her hair.

She let out a small yelp of shock and pain but spoke again. "Let the kids and their mom go, you don't need that many hostages."

"She's right, and that damn brat's annoying as all hell," one of the others snapped.

"Shut up!" the leader ordered. He leaned closer and Beth tried not to shrink away. "What's in it for me?" he asked.

"Like he said, you get rid of an annoyance and it will build good-will with the negotiator," Beth replied.

"Oh? And how would a girl like you know that?"

"I know a lot of cops," Beth hedged. She knew better than to give up too much personal information but the safety of those kids mattered more.

The leader eyed her for a moment more then shoved her back to the floor. Beth's chin struck the marble floor and spots danced in front of her eyes. Over the ringing in her ears she heard the leader giving instructions to the mother and the kids, telling them to pass another message along to the police. She laid there, stunned, and prayed that help would find the rest of them soon.

"Are you alright?" It was the twitchy young man who had been in front of Beth in line.

"I think so," Beth whispered back, still a little dazed.

"That was very brave of you," he replied.

She smiled weakly. "Stupid is probably closer to it."

"Do you really know a lot of cops?" the man asked.

"My boyfriend is a DA, and I know a lot of the LAPD officers," Beth replied.

"You really think they can get us out of here, then?"

"Someone will," she said, thinking of Mick. "I know it."

"Someone's coming out!" Mick said, spotting movement in the dark before the police could.

SWAT leveled their guns at the doors as they opened. A terrified-looking woman and her two kids stumbled out, hands up and blinking in the harsh glare of the sun.

"Don't shoot! They're hostages," Mick said before Josh could give the order.

A couple of SWAT agents moved forward and pulled the trio away while the others covered the movement. Josh sent an annoyed look Mick's way before taking charge of the three.

"Are any of you hurt?" Josh asked.

The woman shook her head, clutching her children tight to her sides. "He said to say that…" she choked back a hiccupping sob, "that we're a good-will gesture and if their demands aren't met in two hours the only way the others a-are coming out is on a g-gurney," and with that she broke down entirely.

A rookie agent came forward to take care of her.

"Find out how many are inside if you can," Josh instructed him. "We need as much information as possible."

Josef watched the scene dispassionately. He'd seen far worse before. His concern was for Mick. The younger vampire was pacing agitatedly, pausing only to close his eyes and get a better fix on what Josef assumed was Beth's heartbeat. He knew how terrified his friend really was, he could smell it, and he knew exactly the sort of internal struggle that was going on in Mick's mind. Despite his flat out assertions that hewas going to save Beth, Josef knew that he was contemplating the alternative.

Josef was aware that every fiber of Mick's being balked at the idea of Beth's death, but he also knew that the idea of Turning her was equally repulsive to him. He understood how Mick felt about the reporter; his every action betrayed the love for her that he refused to speak aloud. Josef knew what it was like to look into someone's eyes and be lost, to love someone so completely that the very thought of their death caused physical pain.

He had known that Mick would eventually be faced with the same choice he had been; Turn her or watch her wither and die while your soul died with her.

…And vampires are nothing if not survivors…

Mick glanced at Josef, who was watching him still. There was a haunted look in his eyes now, the look of some remembered wound that still ached deeply, and Mick was certain he was thinking of Sarah. Learning about her had certainly come as a shock but it had explained the unhappiness Josef had displayed about Beth far better than his worries about Beth spilling their secret did.

But Josef's presence here still did not add up. There was something the vampire was continuing to keep to himself. Mick didn't believe for a second that he had come down here simply to inform him of a possibility that he had already contemplated, and Mick was less than happy that Josef was refusing to come right out and say it. Unhappy, and on edge, because whatever it was, Mick was certain he wouldn't like hearing it.

Another sharp elevation in Beth's heart rate had him turning back to the bank in an instant, trying to see what had caused it, but so far no one seemed to have moved. He took a half-step toward the entrance only to have Josef's hand clamp firmly down on his shoulder.

"Don't," the older vampire warned him softly.

Mick shook him off angrily. "Don't try and give me orders, Josef! I'm not one of your lackeys."

Josef was unimpressed. "No, but you're letting emotion cloud your judgment and that won't help you or Beth."

"What aren't you telling me, Josef?"

"Nothing." They both knew Josef was lying and Mick turned away in disgust.

"Leave me alone," he said, moving away from his friend.

Josef watched him sadly. Mick didn't want to know why he had come. Josef had glimpsed the future -- he was one of the few who could -- and all he had seen was death. Beth would not leave the bank alive no matter what Mick did.

"You don't want to know," Josef said finally.

Mick turned back with a pained look. He knew he didn't want to know, but he had to hear it anyway. "Please, just tell me, Josef."

Josef glanced around to make sure Josh and the others were busy before turning back to Mick. "She won't make it out of there alive. I Saw it." There was no way to blunt the words.

Mick's jaw tightened. "You could be wrong. All you see is possible futures."

Josef shook his head. "It doesn't work that way. I see possible futures, yes, several at once, and all of them -- every one, Mick -- end in her death.

"I can't lose her Josef," Mick said desperately. His eyes begged Josef to help him.

"Her death is inevitable," Josef said, more gently than most would believe him capable of, "but it doesn't have to be permanent."

Mick recoiled in horror. "NO! No, I won't do that to her, Josef! I won't Turn her."

"Then she dies," Josef said more harshly than he wanted to.

Mick shook his head. "There has to be another way."

Josef just watched him silently. There wasn't -- they both knew it. All he could do now was hope that Mick's love for Beth, and a vampire's instinct to avoid pain, would win out over his own self-loathing. For Mick's sake, for Beth's sake, and for his own; Josef wasn't really in the market for a new best friend.

AN: okay so that's chapter 2. Feedback?

/whimpers/ don't hurt me! I know I'm being awful, but things will get better…eventually…maybe…