Unexpected Meeting

Beth had come to expect the unexpected when she walked in the door to Mick's apartment. After all, normal wasn't having a vampire boyfriend. And in fairness, it was usually Josef who usually brought the trouble and dumped it on Mick's doorstep. But it would still be nice to receive some sort of advance warning.

Mick had given her a key and the code to the alarm, but she knew that had never been something Josef required to get in. So when she had let herself in knowing that Mick was probably sleeping, she had not expected to walk in on Josef having breakfast with Marilyn Monroe in Mick's kitchen.

"I don't suppose you brought breakfast with you Josef." It was no wonder Josef was so wealthy when he helped himself to other vampire's food.

"Moring Beth. How are you?" Cheekily Josef kissed Beth's cheek before taking a seat. "There's coffee if you want some."

"Did you make it?" Vampires had no sense of taste for mortal food and drink so the coffee could end up being ridiculously strong or so weak that it was basically just brown water. Mick had made a note of how Beth had set up the coffee machine so the coffee was drinkable for her.

"No, the machine was going when we arrived." He seemed to remember his manners. "Marilyn, this is Beth. Beth, Marilyn."

"Pleasure to meet you." Marilyn gave her a dazzling smile. "How do you and Josef know each other?"

"Through Mick." She assumed Marilyn knew Mick. Why else would she be in his kitchen? It was only then that it struck her that she wasn't remotely phased by Marilyn Monroe sitting in her boyfriend's kitchen.

"That's so interesting." Marilyn was practically sparkling.

"Morning Babe." Mick strolled into the kitchen as Beth was pouring herself a coffee. "I hope you're going to restock my fridge Josef." He kissed Beth and slapped Josef on the back. Then he saw Marilyn. "Is it President's weekend already?"

"No, but we have a new President to swear in so I thought I'd visit Josef before heading to Washington." Of course. Why wouldn't Marilyn Monroe want to see a new President sworn in?

"And you're in my kitchen, why?" Mick put his arms around Beth's waist so she was leaning back against his chest. He wished Josef wouldn't bring other vampires into his home without warning. He never knew how strange the vampires were going to react around Beth.

"Josef said he knew a great place to eat." Marilyn was paying way too much attention to Beth when she said that.

"Beth's not on the menu. She's my girlfriend." Josef really needed to explain himself better. Mick knew Josef liked to eat at his place because the fridge was always stocked even though he preferred his blood fresh.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Marilyn's sparkle faded slightly. "How does that even work?" Mick had become used to these sort of questions.

"We take each day as it comes." He couldn't believe how relaxed Beth was being about this.

This completely confused Marilyn. Of course Josef found this highly entertaining. "See, I told you this was a great place to eat. Dinner and a performance."

"So glad you're enjoying yourself Josef. Restock my fridge. We're going out." The best thing he could do when Josef put him in some of these situations was remove Beth from the middle of it. "Nice meeting you Marilyn."

Josef waved that he had heard him and went back to his breakfast. Marilyn was still openly curious. It wasn't until he shut the door behind him that he noticed Beth's expression. "What's wrong?"

"So you've never met Marilyn before?" Beth had been hanging around vampires too long if she thought Marilyn Monroe in his kitchen was normal.

"No, but Josef has brought Elvis by before." Maybe it wasn't so hard to believe. It was time to have a talk to Josef about boundaries.

"Interesting." Beth shrugged it off. "Where are we going?"

Mick chuckled to himself. "Somewhere that you can eat breakfast in peace." He guessed everyone had their own version of normal. Apparently this would be theirs.