Title: Taking Chances- Chapter 11: Kiss from a Rose Author: Bubukittypuck
Archived: Here of course, Fictionpress, and my laptop
Summary: Marguerite's first person perspective on the relationship she has or does not have with Josef. She is freshie to Josef's donor.
Rating: It ranges from PG-13 to M later on.
Pairings: OC/Josef
Feedback: Review please though do not flame.
Characters: Josef, Marguerite, Beth, Mick, and any other characters inhabiting Los Angeles.
Beta's: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight or the characters, though I do wish Moonlight does come back. For now, writing fanfics seems to stem the need to hunt down Jason Dohring and bring him back to my bedroom. I do not own the right to Nair though I wish the company could make it less sticky and perfumier. Plus Saran Wrap is not a patent I hold but it does come in handy when I need to cover up a dish and send it off on its way. I used two lyrics of Taking Chances by Celion Dion to which I based this whole fanfiction off of. What if Josef took a chance in wanting to love again Chippendale I love but I do not own nor the Coolpix but I wish I owned Ashton Kutcher. I do not own Hostel and I respect Eli Roth. If I ever met him in person, I would ask him to put me in his next movies, whether I am the one being killed or the one who kills. He is a genius and I adore him.

Josef stared down at the photograph of Sarah and himself. He was so happy in the picture with her. She had her arms wrapped around him and both of their faces were to the lens. Quickly, his eyes flickered over his own expression in the image. Such serene features he had on his face.

Now his eyes focused on the second photography. The second photograph revealed Marguerite and him in the picture. In Marguerite's old apartment, the picture had been taken after he caught her with the stacks of porn videos. After the explanation as to why there were more than twenty X-rated movies on her coffee table and even on pause on her television, Marguerite had invited him to stay and watch a movie with her. No, not the skin flicks but a new horror movie she bought earlier in the week.

In the picture, she stuck her tongue out towards the camera lens and he was laughing. Of course, Marguerite had to poke and tell various dirty jokes to get him to even hand out a half smile but she succeeded in cracking him up. Upon closer inspection, Josef noticed he had created laugh lines in the shot and he touched the image of himself. Using his own fingertips, Josef examined where there should have been the laugh lines in his face but all he felt was smooth skin.

After the picture developed, he had taken it away from her. Not even in the hands of a trusted friend could evidence of his young appearance be revealed in any form of photographs, films, even portraits. It would be hard to explain to others why there were several photographs of his "grandfather" in the early twenties who he resembled accurately. No one would believe he inherited every facial and physical attributes of 'ancestors'.

"Josef, we should get to it. The people are waiting for you to get the ball rolling," Mick replied, donned in a black suit for this sad event. Mick tried to keep himself from feeling much but it was hard not too by glancing around him. There were flowers placed all over and people wondered what would happen next after this.

Nodding to Mick, Josef sighed and let his hands take a hold of both pictures. Somehow, he fell for two women but only one held his heart. "I will never forget you," he whispered as he placed one of the pictures face down on the mahogany desk. The other snapshot went into his inner breast pocket where he rubbed his hand over his heart and the picture in his jacket. Closing his eyes, he took a human breath, not that he needed it and headed out to greet the hundreds of people here for this ceremony.

With all his might, Josef tried to keep his eyes straight ahead but hearing stifled sniffles and choked sobs moved his attention towards the first front row of pews. Marguerite's mother dabbed at her eyes, wiping away the smeared mascara and found comfort in Iris's arm wrapped around her. Iris fought back tears as well, her eyes glimmering as she held onto Stephen, her fiancée's hand.

The priest, a man in his early forties stepped forward with the bible in his hands. "Let us start," the father spoke aloud, the microphone attached to his robes permitting his words to reach even the tardy attendants in the back of the Roman Catholic Church.

Josef closed his eyes and he held his hands at his sides, actually praying for strength. The music started up and the doors in the back opened up. Marguerite's nephew, Jesus Jr. aka Chewy, walked through the double doors. In his four year old hands, he held a white pillow and on top of the pillow laid two silver rings.

Behind Chewy, Juley, Marguerite's favorite niece had in her hands a basket of flowers. Both children were dressed in immaculate outfits and both started to walk one behind the other towards the altar. Chewy kept yelling for people snap more pictures of him and even stopped in front of the priest and asked him to hold the rings so he could be free to pose for the cameras. People laughed and his mother, Marguerite's cousin, Lita, scurried over and tugged him by the collar towards the second row pew.

Juley played the part of flower girl well, throwing rose, camellia and blossom petals over the ground. She smiled at everyone and glanced back at the bride to be. "Gurro (Juley and the De La Cruz's nickname for Marguerite)," she screamed as she crooked her finger at her aunt to start walking. Everyone shook their heads in amusement and turned to gaze upon the radiant bride.

Dressed in an ivory wedding gown with a bouquet of arranged flowers in her hands, Marguerite turned to glance at her father. Her father cleared his throat several times and he opened his mouth to speak but she stopped him. "I love him Papi but I love you more. You will always be here," she whispered, touching her heart with her hand.

Cristobal, her father smiled and nodded in agreement. He was glad to see his daughter having found a man who would cherish and love her as much as he did. Looping her arm through his own, he started to walk his oldest daughter down the aisle. His baby had grown up.

My god. I am walking down the aisle with my pop who is going to give me away. Going to give me away to become Josef's bride. Josef, who I love dearly. Who loves me dearly back as well. As we made the slow but steady procession down the long Church aisle, my mind went back to the events leading up to this.

Last night, after James had stabbed me in the stomach, I thought death waited me. When Josef kissed me and held me in his arms, I was ready to go. What better way to head to heaven, hell, or in between than to at least be kissed by my Prince Charming before expiring? When the gift of immortality presented itself by Josef's hand, I accepted it with every fiber of my being. Better to live and stay with everyone than to leave behind friends and family who would forever mourn my death.

Hell, I could not put my parents through that. For my father to learn of my death, his heart would not be able to take it. A daughter lost because of the choice I made those many months ago to become Josef's freshie and then attacked as a result of my connection to Josef would tear him apart. Any solution to death far outweighed the disappointment of my failure to protect myself from danger.

Several minutes after darkness had enveloped me a searing heat started in my stomach and rippled out. I opened my mouth to release a silent scream but the sweet taste of wine splashed itself onto my tongue. Opening my mouth further to catch the stream of wine, I licked and drank down the precious liquid. My hands reached up to make the liquid come out faster. When my hands clasped a wrist, quickly, my eyes shot open. When I opened them, the sight before me revealed where the delicious drink had come from. Josef's slashed wrist.

Josef had leaned over me with his slit wrist, the drops of blood hitting my open mouth and tongue. Remotely, I was not repulsed by the blood but hungered for more.

"Easy now," Josef whispered as I suckled and latched my mouth onto his wrist. Deep pulls were made on his wrist and the rapturous nectar flowed past my lips faster and made my body even hotter.

"That is enough," Mick whispered as he grabbed my shoulder. I hissed and pulled away from Mick's touch and Josef's wrist. Rapidly, I blinked my eyes and took in the sights before me. Without the need of the night vision goggles, if I were human all I would ever see was black blobs that made up a person, the sounds of the ocean, and the stars/Moon in the sky. Now, I saw everything with such clearness, the sky could have been illuminated by illuminating moon stretched out over the sky.

Even the night sounds came in a rush to my ears. The ocean though several hundred yards away from me, the splashing and swirling of the mist and saltwater jammed itself into my ears. Splish! Splash! Whoosh! The many sounds of the ocean letting me know it welcomed me into this new life. "Is that?," I answered as I heard the sounds of a couple getting down and dirty a half a mile away from the secluded part of the beach.

Iris and Stephen nodded, smirking to themselves. "We heard them doing a few other things back in their car parked next to the mini-van. The flexibility the chika had in the Benz amazed me. Made me a bit jealous too, Stephen when we get home," Iris started as she whispered a few suggestions into his ear. Hells, bells, I heard what she wanted to do to him and I had to cover my ears, muttering an old lullaby to dull out her naughty comments.

As soon as everyone found I was walking around fine, all went to tidy up the beach. The cleaners went to work on removing the bodies and any tangible evidence of there ever being a massacre in the first place. Had to hand it to them, if the cleaners could remove the small bits of sand stained with blood and then switch it with their own, the cleaners held my highest respect.

Hell, even the warehouse where James and his group kept me captive was cleaned up. The computers were trashed and the hard drive swiped clean with magnets but not before the cleaners and Josef had several copies of whatever was on the computers. James was not the only person who had a group of men out to annihilate the vampire community. Josef and the others guessed James and his crew were part of a complex organization with the sole purpose to rid the vampire community.

"You cannot be serious? Vampire hunters? Well, call me Dick Cheney and shoot me in the face," Iris joked though by her face expression she was not pleased to hear of hunters. She was still getting used to the fact of who she was as a vampire but to find out there were organizations out there to wipe out her and those she cared about, including me, well she transformed into a hell raiser.

"Nice one, honey, but I would hate to ruin your face and then the label would get on my ass for shooting off their client before a photo shoot for you next album. So, maybe I can hit you with a water pistol instead, how about that?," Stephen answered back, a smirk dancing on his lips.

Iris smacked Stephen's arm but entwined her fingers with his own. God, I was envious of them. In their eyes there was love and commitment to one another. Rarely, a vampire couple stayed together and usually had an open relationship but the way the two held on to one another, clearly no one else would get in between them.

Mick, Beth, Iris, and Stephen went to 'check' on the cleaners' process, which left me alone with Josef at the edge of the waves coming in and out from the ocean. I looked across the vast ocean and honed in on a fishing boat several miles out at sea and smiled to myself. Josef watched over me as I searched myself for any knife scars on my arm and stomach. Only mark I had was a nasty purple bruise where the knife went into my abdomen.

"It will disappear in a ten minutes, maybe less. The blood needs a a little bit of time before everything is up one hundred percent," he whispered, laying his hand over my stomach. I placed my own hand over his and we looked at one another.

"I almost--"

"I love--"

"What?," we asked in unison. Both of us laughed and glanced away. Josef shocked me once again by getting on one damn knee.

"Josef..."

"Let me get this out. I love you. There. Somehow you took my heart and me for surprise. I thought I would never love again..."

"Please, do not do this if you are trying to save face," I answered. I could not handle it. If he was trying to save his ass or make good on the lavish wedding my family and friends would attend, then he could shove his chivalry up his ass.

Josef growled and pulled me down on my knees by my wrists."Listen to me! Sarah cannot compare to you. Ever. I loved her once but I loved her like a childhood crush. It was the first time I opened my heart and I never thought I could open it again. You cracked the safe and you my heart locked away in the safe. I want you, just you and no one else. Sarah is in the past but you are my future. Please, give me the honor to make up for wasting the last few months fighting these feelings, please?"

His lips were upon mine and arms wrapped around each other. My hands held onto his shoulder and realized he was not going to leave at the drop of the hat. If he meant his words, he would use his actions to showcase it. He had, Josef had gotten on his knees in the damn sand and proposed marriage to me again, this time for the love they both shared.

"Josef," I answered, pulling my lips away from him. Our foreheads pressed against one another as we let the shivers and shudders pass through our bodies. Licking my lips, I gave him my answer. "Yes, but you better make me the happiest vampress or I am so going to kick your ass."

"Oh, I will, come back to the house and I will gladly make you happy."

"Don't think so. Can't see the bride starting...now," I replied, blowing a raspberry and ran from him. He growled in amusement and chased after me but my dear sister stopped him.

"Bad luck to see the bride in the twenty-four hours before you are going to marry her. You can wait a few more hours."

"Once I marry her, I promise never to put a time-limit on how much I can love her."

"Can I get that writing?"

"Iris, you can tattoo that on my ass because I am going to marry your sister."

And he was. Josef was going to marry me in the next hour.

In front of the priest and Josef, my father removed his arm from my own, took my hand and placed it in Josef's waiting hand. My father leaned in close so only Josef could have heard but everyone in the place who was non-human heard and whispered, "You keep my daughter happy. Harm her and you will regret it. Dearly, you understand?"

The non-humans smiled to themselves and I had to stop myself from pinching my father into behaving myself but what was the fun in that. De La Cruzs' no matter the sex or age walked to the beat of their own drums. My father would forever march to his own tune and I was not going to stop his music.

A short nod from Josef towards my father and it was enough evidence for my father. He walked away and sat down to my elated mother who had managed to control the water works. Though her camera came out of her purse and she started clicking off pictures. For now, Josef and I had no worry for the cameras. In fact, we wanted the whole world to know about our love.

The priest made a sign of the cross and everyone did the same as well. To Josef and Marguerite it was a funny gesture considering Marguerite had fallen off of the Roman Catholic bandwagon a long time ago. Oh, she let the rest of her family and friends keep their beliefs and faiths, she had no problem with leaving them that. For her, she found herself looking at karma and reincarnation for her perspective. With karma, whatever a person sent out whether it was good or bad came back to them three-fold.

Marguerite became involve as Josef's freshie. As a result of her employment as freshie, she came under attack by James in three points. First, she had fought Deacon for her survival, ending up in the hospital. Second, proposed only to wean out who the murders were and squash them. Last karma handed over Marguerite's kidnapped/death.

But Karma gave her a good three fold gift inserted in between the consequences for being Josef's freshie. Karma had given an incentive for Josef and Marguerite to become closer. Second, he put himself at risk to save her from James. Last, but certainly not least his feelings were revealed not only through making her his second 'offspring' but proposed a real marriage to her.

Sitting on the bench with a rope of flowers placed around the happy couple, the priest finally started in on the vows. "We are gathered here today to witness the coming together of two people, Marguerite Elisabeta Valgaz De La Cruz and Josef Kostan, whose hearts and spirits are entwined as one. They now desire to profess before the entire world their intention henceforth to walk the road of life together.

To these two young people, this marriage signifies the birth of a new spirit, a spirit which is a part of each of us, yet not of any one of us alone. This "birth of spirit" reminds us of summer, the season when all life is reborn and looms again. It is appropriate, therefore, that this wedding of Marguerite Elisabeta Valgaz De La Cruz and Josef Kostan be in the summer, and that it be under the open sky, where we are close to the earth and to the unity of life, the totality of living things of which we are part."

Both Marguerite and Josef listened to the priests words and took everything to heart. There was the morphing of two lives into one and their spirits meshing into a whole and together one. Glancing at Josef, Marguerite blushed deeply and looked at the engagement ring on her finger. Soon, a wedding ring accompanies the engagement one for the rest of her immortal life. The priest continued with his spiel to the couple in love and to the attendants at the wedding.

"The beliefs and thoughts about love which motivate these two people are perhaps best expressed in the words of poet Kahlil Gibran:

You were born to be together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in your silent memory.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heaven dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bondage of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup, but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread, but eat not of the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone, though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping,
For only the hand of life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together,
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in shadow."

Finally, the priest glanced towards Chewy and his mother who held the rings on a satin pillow. Motioning for them to come forward, the priest reached over and grabbed the white gold diamond ring meant for Josef's left hand and handed it over to Marguerite. Marguerite took the ring and sighed happily. The end was almost near to this ceremony and she could shout from the rooftops that she was married to the man she adored and loved.

"Do you Marguerite Elisabeta Valgaz De La Cruz, knowing this man's love for you and returning it, realizing his strengths and learning from them, recognizing his weaknesses and helping him to overcome them, take Josef Kostan to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Staring into Josef's eyes, Marguerite own glimmered with unshed tears. "I do," she whispered as she placed the silver ring on his finger.

God, she would love this man until the ends of time. However, for her family and friends most of them would see them love each other until death came to take them from Marguerite's life. Marguerite hoped to bring several members of her family over to her side but remembered her mother's helpful advice: To those who choose how to lead their lives, let them go but to those who need help to be led keep them near. Wise words coming from her mother. Still, Marguerite and her sister, Iris, would find it hard and heartbreaking once the hands of time started to show in their friends and families faces. It had become an issue both women talked over and wondered how to go about revealing to their family about their conditions. The only person who had an inkling was their curandero grandmother who eyed them with a twinkle in her eyes and asked if the girls had enough of red 'wine' to get them through the day.

"Speak up dear, what is your answer?," the humble priest asked, cocking his head close to Marguerite's ear.

"Yes! Yes! I do want to take Josef as my husband!," she shouted out and smiled. The church rang out with hoots and hollers. Everyone was pleased to see these two together. Marguerite's curandera grandmother was right after all.

A man cloaked in darkness would find his way to Marguerite, the keeper of light. There the two would combine and live anew with the two halves finally a whole.

Turning in the direction of where her elderly grandmother sat down, Marguerite winked at her. Patria Consuelo winked back at her granddaughter and nodded in approval of this union. Hopefully, soon she would get one of her other granddaughter's to give her great- grandbabies since Iris and Marguerite were out of the running. She smiled to herself and wiped a tear off of her finger.

With an approving nod, the priest replied, "Place the ring on his finger." Sliding the ring on Josef's left hand, she smiled and patted it. Taking his hand, she kissed it and winked up at him. Heat and love flared brightly in his eyes and she keeping the fire in his eyes for a long time to come.

Another nod of his head and the priest received the second white-gold wedding ring and handed it over to Josef. Marguerite held out her left hand and smiled as the priest repeated the vows again this time to Josef. "Do you Josef Kostan, knowing this woman's love for you and returning it, realizing her strengths and learning form them, recognizing her weaknesses and helping her to overcome them, take Marguerite Elisabeta Valgaz De La Cruz to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Josef smirked and winked at her. "Of course, why do you think I am here for? A funeral? Please, I am here to make sure she does not run off with Gerard Butler or someone less cute than me." The first few pews who heard his joke laughed and the priest frowned a bit but there was a ghost of a smile on the man of the cloth's face.

"Place the ring on her finger. Let these rings serve as locks–not binding you together–but as keys, unlocking the secrets of your hearts for each other to know, and thus bringing you closer together forever.

And now Marguerite Elisabeta Valgas De La Cruz-Kostan and Josef Kostan, seeking the fulfillment of love and marriage, find again that the poet Gibran speaks for them:

"Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks to another day of loving.
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home eventide with gratitude, and then sleep with a prayer
For the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips."

Closing the bible, the priest made the sign of the cross, told everyone to stand out of their pews and announced, "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

And that is what Josef did. He reached for his new bride, grabbed a hold of her and stole the very breath from her body and sucked it into his own. Arms wrapped around each other and showed what a real movie kiss should be all about. Blushing deeply, Marguerite gripped Josef's hand as he ran with her down the aisle and out of the doors. Everyone settled in the pews looked on in confusion and others in amusement. Out in the Los Angeles sun, a limo waited by the curb and Josef kept pulling Marguerite along.

"Get in," Josef replied, opening the door for her. Marguerite looked back at the gathering crowed and shouted for everyone to head on over to the house for the reception. Everyone hooted and shouted, happy that is was time to partying and drinking in honor of a happily married couple.

When the door shut behind Josef, he went in to rip the veil from Marguerite's face and kissed her with everything he had in him. Which was a lot since he had almost lost her three times. The first of the attack she went through in her old apartment. Second where she was kidnapped and last when she almost lost her life to warn him of a bat with nails heading towards his face. Now, she was here and he would do everything to make sure she stayed by his side.

"So, Mr. Kostan, what do you think about your life at this moment?," she asked, smiling at the chance she managed to get to talk after the salacious kiss he gave her.

"Couldn't get any better."

"And all because you took a chance."

"Taking chances, the best thing anybody could do. I love you, Marguerite."

"I love you too, Josef and well, how about taking a chance on children?," Marguerite curiously asked.

"Kids? You cannot have kids even though I would love to see little Mar-mar's running around asking to be spoiled."

"I did not say it was me, but it would be nice to see little Josef hissing at being forced to wear a mini pin-striped suit. The children part is towards Phantom. Seems he knocked up your next door neighbor's dog. The owners doesn't want the dog or the babies since the puppies would be mutts. So how about it, got room for a couple more?"

"Hell, going to take another chance and hope it will work itself out," he answered, leaning over to kiss her again. He would never get sick and tired of kissing his bride, his wife, his immortal mate.

"Again, taking chances, best thing we could have ever done," she replied and took the hand of her husband and immortal lover, Josef Kostan. For now, she wondered what the future held for the two of them but she could bet there would be another new chapter to get ready for. The organization James had been part of was just a link in a bigger company who wanted vampires out and wanted to know the formular for immortality. Everyone was on their toes and Marguerite had a feeling it would not be the last time she had a run in with a vampire hunter again.

"We are here at the reception. The first dance just to let you know is Kiss from a Rose and it hits just how you and I are," Josef commented as he stepped out of the car, his hand held out to pull her out.

Taking his hand, Marguerite smiled. Taking chances. Yes, that is what life was all about. Jumping off of the edge and never knowing if there was solid ground below. Hell, she jumped off and into love with Josef, never realizing he would jump into loving her as well. With every day, she would thank the sky and the earth below for this moment in time and hold onto it with every fiber of being. She took a chance with Josef and taking chances certainly paid off.

The end...or just the beginning?

There we go ladies and gentleman. The end or the beginning of a new story with Marguerite and Josef? Just because female vampires cannot have children does not mean it is over. You never know if there is a surrogate mother or even adoption is an option for the lovely couple. Just know this is not the end of Marguerite and Josef Kostan's relationship. Sorry for the very late reply. Got caught into my month vacation and involved in sleeping in and partying. Hope you enjoy this and let me know what you thought about this whole story. Let me know what you even thought about Marguerite, good, bad, love her, hate her? Review! I love reviews.