Beth knew that she was being kept out of the loop. She knew it, and she hated it. She frowned as she picked her way through the crowded street on her way to BuzzWire with the intention of finally clearing what remained of her things, eyebrows puckered in irritation both at herself and the two vampires she shared most of her life with. It had taken her far too long, getting around to shut the door on the journalism for good. Life was now heading toward civilian investigations with ADA Ben Talbot. And things were never boring.

Still, there was little to be done about it. Time and again she had told both Mick and Josef that she deserved to be aware of what was going on. But the vampires, being both male and exotic in nature, believed they knew better than she. That they knew her better than she knew herself. Of course they didn't, and yet they continued to trickle only pieces of the truth back to her.

And now they had run off at a moment's notice, rushed away to be at Sarah's bedside, leaving her, a somewhat defenceless human, alone where all manner of things could go wrong. Beth wasn't exactly sure how she felt about that, but she definitely felt something. It fell slightly short of jealousy, but it was more than irritation.

Not that she needed two vampires to look after her anyway. She was a grown woman, and she'd made it this far without them. Except that wasn't true, and Beth begrudgingly admitted to herself that she was missing Mick terribly, even if they weren't talking to one another. He had been there, in the background, hiding in the shadows for her entire life. She had thought, when he had finally stepped into the proverbial sunlight and revealed his identity, that she'd discovered what was already a lifelong companion. How wrong she was.

Instead of heading off into the horizon, the setting sun mapping out the road that lay ahead of them, Beth and Mick had been intermittently at one another's throats, always arguing about something the other had done wrong. And somewhere in all of that, they had believed they loved one another.

In the midst of her epiphany, Beth realised that being with Mick had never felt like the right thing to do. It had felt like the expected thing to do. As though it was the next step, a part of some bigger plan, when in reality it was unnecessary, and it had only caused pain. She no longer felt angry about the way Mick had broken things off between the two one them; he had, in effect, been saving them both from a darker fate.

As she dropped her bag into the chair next to her desk Beth paused, glancing over the partition at the workspace to the right. It had been empty for weeks; it's last occupant had been fired for getting a little too involved in her role as celebrity columnist. When the third restraining order had been filed, BuzzWire could no longer plead ignorance, and they'd had to take action. And since then the desk had been gathering dust. Until today.

Now, there was movement. The dust had been cleaned away, and in its place was a cardboard box filled with a stranger's belongings that was oddly parallel to the one that was situated on her own desk, holding her own things. For now, the owner of the other box was nowhere to be seen, and Beth presumed that he or she was talking in the office with the editor about their newest assignment. Whatever kind of assignment that was.

She resolved to wait, settling back in her chair and killing some time that she would have otherwise spent waiting for Mick to call with some half-truth news. It would also give her something to occupy her mind, which had been trained firmly on Mick and the threat that the pictures posed above the three of them. At least they were all in this together, each one with as much at stake as the other if it transpired that blackmail was on the cards. Well, except Josef. Josef had Sarah to lose. Beth and Mick had already lost the people they had truly loved.

The editor's door swung open and Beth craned her neck to get a look at whoever was inside, though she needn't have bothered. Emerging swiftly from behind the frosted glass came a man, early thirties with a confident smile and a strong handshake, she noticed, as he bid the boss goodbye. He turned and made his way across the floor, returning friendly greetings with a wave of his hand and an inclination of the head as he passed each desk. Already Beth could tell that he was well liked by everyone he knew. And she wanted to know his secrets. She felt a pang as she realised that she would probably never get to work with the man.

She was allowed a brief smile as the newcomer approached his desk, but he didn't offer a name with it. Beth decided that she wasn't going to offer hers, either. Instead, she sat back in her seat once more, rifling through her drawers while the stranger pottered around, rearranging photographs and pens.

This continued for ten minutes, and Beth was just about to give in and make conversation with the man when she spotted her chance. Glancing at the frown on his face, she poked her head over the partition, pointing at the top left hand drawer of the desk.

"You have to grab the handle and put some pressure on the top when you pull." She said helpfully. He inclined his head once more in her direction and she thought for a moment that was all she was going to get out of him. Not even a thank you.

"That's useful." He answered eventually, his voice carefully neutral. That intrigued her. "Know any other tricks?"

"A few, actually." Beth sidled around the partition to pick up the wireless computer mouse. "You have to recalibrate this every time you turn the monitor on, for some reason. And sometimes the phone doesn't quite connect at this end. But apart from that, you're usually fine." She smiled at him in apology, and extended her hand. "I'm Beth, by the way."

"David," he replied. "Just moved here from Chicago." He waved an elbow at the box on her desk as they shook hands. "You shipping out or moving in?"

As she'd expected, the handshake was firm but not overbearingly so. Every movement he made intrigued her all the more. She looked into his face once more, properly this time, committing his features to memory. This close, she could see that David had kind eyes; a warm chocolate brown which, combined with that set of perfect teeth, made his whole demeanour more appealing. She warned herself to not be taken in by the wealth of charisma he seemed to possess.

"Nice place, Chicago." Beth turned away again, as though whatever she had been writing previously was more important than the conversation now. "And I'm shipping out. BuzzWire just isn't the place for me anymore. What are you going to be doing here?"

"I'm a photographer." David picked up a camera and waved it under Beth's nose. She glanced at it and bent to heave the box underneath her arm so that is was balanced precariously on her hip.

"That's cool. It was nice meeting you." Beth replied as she turned to leave, even more saddened that she wasn't going to be able to work with David now that she had actually struck up conversation with him. He raised his hand in a gesture of goodbye as she walked down the hallway.

It was only one she began to wrestle with the front door did she realise that David had come with her. He smiled as he held it open and she ducked under his arm and onto the street.

"Would you like to go to dinner sometime? I'll need someone to teach me all the little quirks of the trade." He chuckled as he spoke, a soft dry sound that reminded Beth a little of Mick when he was laughing but didn't want to be noticed. She hoped that she wasn't going to continue to compare this poor unassuming man to an immortal vampire and decided to give him a chance.

"Sure. I'd love to."

Hello guys, I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been doing exams and working and stuff- real life has been very inconvenient and getting in the way. I hope you like this chapter, I'm trying to keep Beth more involved from now on. If you have any critiques at all, even tiny ones, don't hesitate to share, I'd love to make the story better for you!

Thanks,

Charlotte. x