Toothless (PG-13)

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HotMicks
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Toothless (PG-13)

Post by HotMicks »

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Rating: PG-13 (adult themes)

Characters: Mick and Beth

Author's Note: This takes place after the beach picnic in Fated to Pretend, altering the timeline slightly to squeeze in a couple more days before Maureen is killed, with the rest of FTP remaining in tact, I believe. The only difference would have been that Mo’s call would have come later in the week, not when Beth got home from the beach. I imagined this being the day after the beach picnic, and obviously before the rooftop picnic. Truth be told, if I had my way, Mo would have never been killed off. I was always ticked at this whole storyline and didn’t like that Maureen’s murder ultimately just served to set in motion Beth’s exit from Buzzwire. I really liked her being a reporter and I didn’t like where they were going with the whole Talbot thing. So there you have it. But I think this is still within canon — just a few extra scenes.

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It was late in the day and she was tired, so Beth couldn’t quite pin down what was making her feel uncomfortable. She looked around the waiting room, tapping into her reporter’s instinct for observation.

The well worn magazines, the antiseptic vinyl furniture, the industrial tissue boxes, the harsh florescent lighting… nothing seemed unusual for a dentist’s office.

Except for the patients. Well, one patient in particular. The little girl with cornrows sitting two chairs over was staring at Beth with a broad, toothless smile that was nevertheless very white against her dark skin.

Beth smiled back at her, wondering why she seemed to be sitting alone. Just when she was about to ask her, the girl blurted out her current status as children have done for hundreds of years without the need for Facebook or Twitter.

“I’m getting a London bridge. You know, like the one that’s falling down — but Dr. Sanchez said mine is s’posed to last forever.” All her “S”s sounded like “TH”s and were accompanied by copious amounts of spit.

Beth continued smiling at her as she tried to inconspicuously wipe the spit off her arm. A bridge? Why would she need a bridge? The girl couldn’t have been more than six or seven. Surely her missing front teeth would soon be replaced with the adult versions. And why was she sitting by herself? Who leaves a young child alone these days?

She glanced around again at the three other people in the waiting room. No one seemed to be keeping an eye on the girl, who was still staring intently at her.

“Hi, I’m Beth. Are you here all by yourself?”

“No. Mommy’s in there.” She balled up her fist and stuck out her index finger, the light reflecting off the grape glitter polish on her tiny fingernails. Just then a striking, well dressed woman appeared from the rest room, returning a lipstick tube to her purse as she sat down next to the girl.

“Leave the nice lady alone, Kalela.”

The woman looked at Beth with an apologetic smile. She set her purse down and picked up a children’s magazine, flipping through the pages quickly to get a sense of what was inside.

Again the reporter in Beth couldn’t help but notice the details, like how the bright red lipstick screamed against the woman’s blond hair and fair complexion. She looked to be about 40, but could probably pass for 30 under better lighting.

Beth shifted back in her seat, crossing her legs and smoothing her skirt as she looked over at the girl. “Kalela? That’s a pretty name.”

“It’s a dance.”

“Is that so?”

The woman spoke up to clarify as she handed the magazine to the child. “It’s a tribal dance from the Copperbelt. In Zambia… her native land.”

Beth didn’t think anything of it — families come in all shapes and sizes and colors these days — until the dental assistant came to the doorway and called Kalela’s name.

As they passed her on the way to the exam rooms, the girl put her hand on Beth’s knee and leaned in. Her tongue poked through the gap between her teeth as she stared at the Band-Aid covering Beth’s ring finger — she had cut it on a thorn while throwing out one of the flower arrangements she received after Josh’s funeral. The girl looked up at Beth before closing her eyes and sweeping her nose through the air.

“You smell good.”

A year ago, Beth would have thought her mind was playing tricks on her, but now there was no mistaking a scenting. She saw the girl’s eyes change for a split second, then realized her hand was rather cool on her knee.

The woman quickly grabbed the girl’s arm and pulled her toward the hallway.

Beth sat, as frozen as a popsicle. She didn’t move a muscle until the hygienist came to get her for her cleaning. As they walked down the hallway, she tried to spy the girl in the passing exam rooms, but the practice was so large they must have been in the other wing. She never saw them again.


**************************************************


Mick finished whipping the potatoes and checked the broiler to see how the steaks were coming along, deciding to close the door for the final few minutes to make sure they heated through. He looked at his watch and took the salad bowl out of the refrigerator. Grabbing the wine bottle, he opened it and eased the dark liquid into the decanter. He heard the door buzzer just as he was placing the wine and salad on the table. He hoped she was impressed that he managed dinner all on his own, despite being out of practice.

He had been temporarily sidetracked by Josh’s death and Coraline’s offer of the cure, but he thought long and hard about what Beth said at the beach yesterday. She had surprised him, and his only reply had been a sheepish grin before she abruptly changed the subject. Nevertheless, now that she had given him an opening, he was going to “do something about it” as Josef had needled him to do. He was going to tell her how he felt tonight.

He went to the door to greet her, but as soon as the latch released, she rushed past him, shrugging out of her jacket.

“You’re never going to believe what I saw today. I still can’t believe it.”

He walked up to her and clasped her hand. “Really? Not even a polite peck on the cheek?”

“What? Oh.” Still focused on her outburst, she gave him a courtesy lip touch, then realized they weren’t really at that stage of the relationship yet. “Honestly, Mick, I think I’m still in shock.”

That didn’t sound good. He wished he had his vampire senses as he scanned her up and down looking for any signs of injury.

“Here, sit down. What’s wrong? Are you okay?” He took her wrist and held her arm out, turning it for further inspection.

“What?” She finally noticed what he was doing. “Oh, yeah. I’m not hurt or anything.”

His brows relaxed and the creases between them disappeared. He dropped her arm but held onto her hand, pulling her with him as he sat in the tan leather chair and motioned for her to sit in the other. She draped her arms on the armrests and he put his hand over hers.

“Tell me what’s got you so worked up, then.”

“I was at the dentist today — “

“Well, okay, but I’d have never pegged you as someone who has a dental phobia.” He smiled over at her.

“No. No. I was waiting in the reception area and there was this little girl there, maybe six or seven. Mick, she was a vampire!”

“What?” She could swear the color drained out of his face.

“I know!”

They were interrupted by the piercing chirps of the smoke detector. Mick jumped up and ran to the kitchen, choking on a blast of smoke as he opened the oven door. Waving his arm in front of his face and tilting his head away as he squinted, he grabbed a tray off the counter with his other hand and began fanning the smoke away.

Grumbling to himself, he looked around for something to hit the smoke detector with. “This would be no problem if I were a vampire.”

He walked over and grabbed the fireplace poker, then went back to the kitchen and lined it up before pushing to stop the ear-splitting alarm.

“You really know how to make a dinner date memorable.” She walked up to him and rubbed his arm sympathetically.

“I guess I’d better learn how to work the oven, right?”

He grabbed a towel and took the burnt steaks out to lay them on the cook top, setting off the alarm again. Lifting her up, he asked her to retrieve the smoke detector from the ceiling. He set her back down and took it from her, removing the battery.

She tried to smooth over the obvious dent in his ego. “We could order in. What do you think? Chinese?”

“With mashed potatoes and salad?”

“You could save those for tomorrow and get some sausages — or try your hand at the steaks again.” She smiled up at him, noting his cheeks looked a bit flushed.

“Well, let’s figure something out because I want to hear more about this girl at the dentist’s office.”

“Oh. Yeah.” She shuddered. “Taipan?”

“Okaaay… but you have to promise me no kung pao. It makes you too feisty and I want you to be able to focus on what you saw today.”

“How about shrimp wonton soup… is that tame enough?”

“Yeah, just get on the phone already, okay?”

“Can I at least get some BBQ pork?”

He grimaced at the thought of that combination. “Whatever.”

“And those string beans.”

She leaned on the counter as she dialed and placed the order, while he cleaned up the kitchen and put away the food.


**************************************************


Mick grabbed the decanter and wine glasses off the dining room table and set them on the coffee table, motioning to the couch for Beth to sit first. She poured two glasses, filling hers to the brim and nearly finishing it in one gulp, then refilling it immediately.

“Take it easy or you’re going to have a bad hangover tomorrow.” He sat down beside her and grabbed his glass off the table.

“A bad hangover would be more comforting than this feeling.”

“And what is ‘this feeling’ exactly?”

“Dread? Déjà vu? Destiny? I don’t know — do you have a dictionary on that bookshelf? All I can think about is how that could be me. Can you imagine being stuck at that age forever?”

“No, I can’t. She’s probably seen things no child should see. She can take in a lot of information, but her brain’s not developed enough to process such things. It never will be.”

He set his glass down and did the same with hers before pulling her into his arms. He wrapped her in a tight embrace and kissed the top of her head. “Why don’t you back up and start from the beginning.”

She recalled all the details for him, as if reciting from her pronto pad.

“Kelela, huh?”

“Yeah, do you know them?” She hadn’t considered that.

“No, but that doesn’t mean anything. There’s so many of us here that I don’t know everyone.”

“Well, you’d definitely remember them if you’d met them.”

“No doubt. I’ll get in touch with Josef later and make sure he has." He looked down at her and rolled his eyes. "He likes to be aware of every subject in his kingdom.”

He rubbed her arm. “Now, let’s get back to these feelings of yours — I’m really sorry you’re having to relive this whole nightmare.”

“I was just so stunned. Those eyes…“ She shuddered again. “Such a tiny, fragile face — it was just so… unnatural. How could somebody do that to a child, Mick?”

She looked up at him, desperately hoping he’d have an answer that actually made some kind of sense.

“It’s an abomination, that’s what it is.”

His jaw clenched as he frowned and took hold of her hands. He raised them to his mouth and held them together as he kissed them and looked into her anguished eyes. He didn’t know what to say to get that heartbreaking look off her face, so he just said what he kept hearing over and over in his head.

“I’m so sorry.”

She closed her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb and kissed one eyelid, then the other before pulling her closer and whispering in her ear.

“I wish I could make this all go away.”

She collapsed against him, sobbing, as shock finally gave way to grief and she mourned all the possible futures Kalela would never know. He cried with her, gripping her tightly and rocking back and forth to try to comfort her. They clung to each other even after their tears subsided, as if the embrace were a life raft for their shipwrecked emotions. They each flashed back to that horrible night with Coraline, reliving it from their different perspectives. She peered up from the floor at the man with the soft eyes who saved her from the scary lady. He saw the monster who seemed determined to violate every sacred law of God and Gaia.

He was grateful, at least, that Coraline was gone and Beth wouldn’t have to face her after this. As if reading his mind, she continued talking her way through the nightmare.

“I thought I was putting this behind me, but seeing that girl today brought it all right back to the surface — how close I came to being like her. All I can see is Coraline’s face hovering over me, smiling down at me with this big Joker grin like she’d just won me in some auction.”

He bit his bottom lip and looked away in shame, unable to bear his role in driving Coraline to such desperate measures. She put her hand on his cheek and pulled him back to face her.

“I don’t blame you, Mick. At all. I blame her.”

“But she did it to try to get me back.”

“She’s sick. It has nothing to do with you, okay? Did you ever give her any reason to believe — ” He took a breath as if he were going to speak, but she put her hand on his heart and cut him off. “No, I was just being rhetorical. I know you, Mick. You would never. This was all her. If anything, I’m lucky it was you. Any other vampire wouldn’t have done what you did to save me, a human.”

Actually, most vampires find it abhorrent to turn a child, community rules or not. He looked at her in amazement, wondering what he did to deserve such a pass for nearly destroying her life.

The street buzzer heralded the arrival of their dinner, so he squeezed her in his arms, then held her chin as he kissed her forehead.

“I’ll be right back.”

He paid for the food and set it on the dining room table, then joined her again on the couch. She had finished another glass of wine and was reaching for the decanter.

He put his hand on her arm and looked into her eyes. “Don’t do that. Let’s talk this out — you’ve spent too many years already trying to blot it out.”

She pulled her arm back and he took her hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb. “Tell me what you’re thinking right now.”

“Why did I get a guardian angel and she didn’t?” The tears welled up in her eyes again, and her pain and guilt nearly crushed him.

“I don’t know, Beth, honestly — but I thank God every day that I was able to stop it from happening to you.”

“Even though — ”

“Even though.” He lifted her chin. “Look at me — terrible things happen out there every day. You know that, you’re a crime reporter. But — human or vampire — I will always do my best to keep you safe, to protect you. You mean more to me than my own life.”

He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her. She put her hand around his neck, clutching him to her as she returned his increasing passion. He finally pulled away, searching her eyes to see if she understood what he was trying to say, even though he was too afraid to actually utter the words stuck in his throat.

She thought he was second guessing whether the kiss was appropriate, so she pulled him in again and gave him a kiss that left no doubt she was feeling every bit of love and passion he was giving her. She pulled back and reached up, brushing his cheek near his still healing cut.

“You really are my guardian angel, aren’t you?”

He swept the hair away from her face. “I’m no angel, Beth. Don’t put me on a pedestal.”

“You’re my angel, Mick. I don't care what you’ve done in the past, you’re a good man now and that’s all that matters to me.”

It made no difference how hard he tried to cling to his years-long belief that she could only see him as a monster. She always proved him wrong.

“Have we thoroughly exorcised your demons?” He looked into her eyes, hoping he’d see the answer he’d wanted every day for the past 22 years.

“They’re toothless.”

* THE END *
~ Hot Mick's Mistress of Chill
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francis
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Re: Toothless (PG-13)

Post by francis »

This is a great story. I am sure this was quite a shock for both of them. I wonder why the Cleaners or Josef did let this happen. It must be hard to keep a child vampire hidden, children grow up and children can't keep secrets. They must move around a lot.

I watched Interview with a Vampire years ago and don't remember much, but I remember that cruel grin on Claudias face. That face was the thing that shocked me the most in that movie.
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cassysj
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Re: Toothless (PG-13)

Post by cassysj »

This is amazing. How horrible to be trapped in the body of a child for an eternity. I wonder how many decades, centuries she's seen. Is Josef aware of them or are they just passing thru? The dentist must work for the tribe in some manner or be a vampire themselves. Would the Cleaners terminate her if they found out? It opens a world full of questions.
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MickLifeCrisis
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Re: Toothless (PG-13)

Post by MickLifeCrisis »

Wow... what a story. Very interesting to me Mick's comment about how the little girl's mind would always stay at a child's level. I would have expected her to be able to grow and learn and become educated, but just remain in a child's body.

Beth needed to face her past and this was the catalyst. Oh, and Mick's trouble with the smoke alarm made me smile! :laugh:

This is just an amazing story, HM! Thank you!
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allegrita
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Re: Toothless (PG-13)

Post by allegrita »

Ooh, I love this story--especially because it raises so many questions! My mind keeps racing about that little girl. Who turned her, and why? How/why did she lose her front teeth and her fangs? Was she some sort of war casualty? Did her "mother" have her teeth extracted?! Or was it done in Zambia? Yikes. And how did she come to her adopted mother?? I'd love to find out what Josef knows about it, too. :chin:

The whole issue of vampire children is so difficult. Besides the obvious moral issue, there are the logistics, as francis alluded to. It would be almost impossible for a vampire child to stay in one place more than a few months, a year at the most. What a difficult existence. :sigh:

And aside from those questions, there's the effect on our dear characters. Poor Beth! Seeing that little girl must have brought back so many terrible, repressed memories. :chair: And poor Mick, being sucked right back into guilt and a feeling of responsibility for her suffering. :Mickangel: I'm so glad Mick talked Beth into talking it out rather than just trying to cram all her emotions back into that compartment. I think it helped him, too. And I'm so glad he's determined to show her how he feels. He made a very good beginning here, even though he did ruin the steaks. :snicker: But hey, that was really Beth's doing--no wonder he forgot the steaks after she dropped that bombshell! :eek2:

I thought it was very "Bethish" to use the term "toothless" as she did. She's the type to turn a horrible, scary thing into some sort of joke, to try to take away its power.

This is really wonderful, HotMicks! :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:
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librarian_7
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Re: Toothless (PG-13)

Post by librarian_7 »

Nice one! I did automatically assume that the girl was probably turned far away from L.A.

Good story, and I think you have Beth, in particular, nailed. I can easily visualize her in this. And poor Mortal Mick, burning the steaks! :snicker:
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Re: Toothless (PG-13)

Post by Lucy »

What Beth has seen and experienced cannot be washed away..... :heart: Every cold hand, every icy stare will provoke deeply buried thoughts.... WOW, you really brought this to 'life'! :wave:
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