Ringing In The New - One-shot (PG-13) - ML w/a touch of 3R

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FarCry
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Ringing In The New - One-shot (PG-13) - ML w/a touch of 3R

Post by FarCry »

This is a stand-alone story, meant to be humorous and touching at the same time. Mick plans for the next stage of his life, and confides in Josef, who has recently come to realize that he himself is a work in progress.

Moonlight and its characters are not owned by me. This story is for entertainment purposes only.
PG-13
Additional disclaimer: I did not see the first episode of Three Rivers before I wrote this story, I swear. I was a little shocked to see some similarities (mainly ringtones and Cleveland) between the show and this story, but it was all purely coincidence. Or, maybe I’m psychic! ;)



RINGING IN THE NEW

The muffled tones of “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred chimed from Josef’s cell phone through the pocket of his coat, which lay draped across a chair on the other side of the room. “Mick!” Josef groaned through his teeth, which, for the moment, he was unwilling to extract from the soft flesh of the ebony-haired freshie on his lap. “My name’s Minka...” murmured the ecstatic young woman, before losing consciousness. The ringtone cut off as the call went to voicemail, and Josef relaxed, turning his full attention to finishing his breakfast. He had no intention of letting anything – or anyone – disrupt his nightly routine of a scotch and a cigar while checking the European stock reports. It was almost eleven, and with Minka passed out on the couch, he would have an hour of blissful solitude until his employees began arriving at midnight. If only Beth still worked for BuzzWire – Josef’s guilty pleasure for the past few months had been to switch on her eleven o’clock report while he was lighting up his cigar (naturally, he would never admit that to Mick). He had found it relaxing to watch her – once he’d been sure she was on their side, anyway – and she wasn’t bad to look at, either.

Josef lapped at the wound he had made in his freshie’s neck and went in for the final swill, then furrowed his brow, feeling quite certain he had made Mick’s ringtone the Beck song “Loser”. The sweet taste of the warm blood calmed him and he decided to forget the puzzling ringtone for the moment. In a life filled with several centuries and more headaches than he cared to remember (hey, it wasn’t easy being a vampire – or a boss), Josef had been trying not to let things get to him so much lately. He’d been trying to relax more – to make the inner vampire match the outer. Sometimes he’d even hum the song “Hakuna Matata” to himself. “No worries – no more worries,” he’d think, though a bit tentatively. It was as if his own personal cheerleader had taken up residence in his head, but an uncomfortable cheerleader who had only gotten into cheering recently, and somewhat unwillingly. He had to repeat the “no worries” concept many times to himself, because it wasn’t easy to change one’s temperament overnight. Humor helped, and the word “humor” itself – but especially when combined with “temperament” – usually gave Josef a chuckle. Josef had lived the majority of his life in a time when it was still widely believed that a person’s health, as well as temperament, was determined by how the four humors, or fluids, were balanced within the body. Josef preferred to think of himself as sanguine, but he had to concede that the choleric humor probably described him best. Regardless of how much humor – balanced or unbalanced – he could muster up, the fact remained that with the Legion in the picture again, relocating, and starting over, was something he was going to have to think seriously about, again. He’d done it before, of course – several times – but he’d gotten quite comfortable in this life and wasn’t ready for it to end just yet. And if he was going to keep this life, he was going to have to find a better way of dealing with the stress than demolishing his office on a weekly basis and having every other person who angered him sent to the tar pits.

Mick’s never had to relocate...he’s not going to like it...he loves L.A... A startling realization came on suddenly in the midst of Josef’s reverie – like being hit in the head with a free-falling Roche Bobois couch and matching armchair: he hadn’t given Mick that darn ringtone, yet he had known instantly it was Mick. “Great, either we’ve got a psychic connection, or I’m gay now – ‘...I’m too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hurts...’ – that’s just perfect,” Josef grumbled. But was it really so surprising that he should have a sort of third sense when it came to his best friend? They had, after all, spent many nights together recently, deep in conversation about what the next stage of their lives should be. Mick was concerned about the Legion’s list of names, which included his and Josef’s – and Josef, as calm as he tried to appear, was concerned as well. But some of the other vampires in the area seemed less concerned and seemed to think it was more of a bluff, or even a joke. Josef wasn’t entirely convinced, but he didn’t want to cause Mick more worry than necessary, nor offer him a false sense of security (dammit, why did he have to care so much about this guy?), so he’d given Mick some lame advice about “waiting for a sign” to tell him what to do.

“I’m too sexy for my car...” The ringtone interrupted Josef’s brooding, and this time Josef decided not to ignore it. Sure, he was probably turning into a big softie, but Mick was his best friend, and he probably needed a shoulder to lean on. Of course, if the giant pain that was developing in his neck from caring so much spread to his shoulders, that wasn’t going to be much fun. Josef grabbed the phone from his coat pocket and flipped it open before it could do its little turn on the catwalk. “What’s up?” he asked, trying not to sound too concerned, or too out of breath.
“Thanks for finally picking up,” Mick said sarcastically. “I was beginning to think you didn’t care about me anymore.”
“What do you mean, of course I – what the hell do you want, Mick?”
“Remember what you told me the other night, about waiting for a sign?”
Josef sighed and sat down at his desk. “Mick, I wasn’t exactly serious about that –”
“That was the best advice you’ve ever given me!” Mick cut in exuberantly.
“What are you talking about?”
“I was watching Survivor earlier tonight,” Mick began, “and –”
“Wait, you still watch CBS?” Josef asked incredulously. “I’ve refused to watch that network ever since they canceled The White Shadow.”
“Josef, that was almost thirty years ago. You really don’t let go of your grudges, do you?”
“I’m trying to work on that, but it’s not easy. But enough about me. You were saying?”
“Right, well, one of the tribemates this season is a guy named Mick, and he’s a doctor. He even looks like me a little bit! He’s the smartest, classiest guy out there.”
Josef rolled his eyes. “Okay, and your point is?”
“That’s the sign I was looking for,” Mick explained. “I’m going to become a doctor!”
“In L.A.?” Josef played along.
“No, I’m relocating to Pittsburgh.”
Josef paused, thrumming his fingers on his desk. He wasn’t sure what to say or think. He glanced over at Minka and was glad to see she still appeared to be out cold.
“Josef? Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m here, Mick. Okay, I’ll bite. Why Pittsburgh? Did Blondie get a job reporting from the Steelers’ locker room?”
“Very funny, Josef. No, actually I chose Pittsburgh for a few reasons.”
“Name some. Wait – you’re really serious about this.”
“I am, Josef.”
Josef had originally thought that either Mick was trying to pull a prank on him, or had completely lost his mind – he no longer thought this was the case, but he also didn’t believe Mick had really thought his decision through. Nevertheless, he decided to continue playing along. “But don’t you think a doctor isn’t the best career choice for you?”
“Why’s that? I was a medic, it’s not a huge stretch.”
Josef sighed, got up from his desk and began pacing. “You were human then, Mick. When you saw blood, your first thought wasn’t, ‘Ooh yeah, it’s time for a snack!’ The main idea behind going into the medical profession is to help improve your patients’ quality of life, not to use the quantity of their lives to –”
“Enough, Josef,” Mick warned.
“If you get to know a patient well enough, you might be able to have them over for dinner, but you’re not supposed to have them for dinner,” Josef continued, hardly skipping a beat.
“Are you done?” Josef could almost smell Mick’s exasperation through the phone.
“Maybe,” Josef stifled a laugh, keeping his phone snugly between his ear and shoulder as he poured himself a scotch.
“Honestly, I really don’t know why I need to convince you of anything. I’m already convinced this is the right path for me.” Josef shook his head and set his glass down on his desk.
Mick continued (deluding himself, Josef thought), “Anyway, I’ve already made a career out of helping people as a P.I., been around plenty of blood and live humans, and haven’t had a problem. But I do get your point – a vampire as a doctor is a bit of a contradiction, and I think it’s the last place the Legion would look. That’s why I chose it.”
“Why don’t you become a nurse instead?” Josef snorted. “They really wouldn’t expect that.”
“Do you have to make a joke out of everything?”
“Humor relieves stress. It’s a proven fact. But seriously, why Pittsburgh?”
“Well, for starters, they’ve got a great medical program at the University of Pittsburgh. I plan on taking as many courses as possible online though – vampire visual acuity really comes in handy for that. I finished half the course about malpractice suits this evening already.”
“It’s good to see you’re planning ahead,” Josef teased – a little more gently this time, he hoped – and sat back down at his desk, taking a sip of his scotch. He was beginning to think Mick was really serious about this after all.
“Well, yeah. Plus, Pittsburgh was voted “America’s Most Liveable City” for 2007 by Places Rated Almanac, it’s not nearly as sunny as L.A., and the violent crime rate is twice the national average! That means the police will be too busy with actual criminals to notice anything strange, like when you come to visit.”
“Who’s the strange one here? And what makes you think I’d visit you anyway? Pittsburgh doesn’t even have a professional basketball team! I’ll wait to visit you when you move to Cleveland in a few years. Actually, the sooner the better – I’d really like to see LeBron and Shaq on the court together.”
Mick laughed. “It sounds like I might be able to win you over after all.”
“I don’t know if I’d say that – there’s still time for you to come to your senses – but what are friends for, anyway? And speaking of friends, I was pretty sure we were as close as I’d ever want us to be, so why did you change your ringtone on my phone?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Josef.”
“Well, after you took the cure, I was a little pissed at you – I don’t know if you realized that –”
“Yeah, Josef, I was aware,” Mick interjected.
“Well, I changed your ringtone to “Loser” after you defiled yourself. Now it’s “I’m Too Sexy,” and there’s not enough alcohol in all of Los Angeles that would make me do that. There’s enough for me not to notice you do it, though. I know you think you look pretty good in a tight henley, but really –”
“Well, I hate to tell you this – probably more than you realize,” Mick was chuckling now, “but I’m calling from Beth’s phone. She grabbed mine by mistake when she left this morning. So, the “Sexy” ringtone is the one you’ve got for Beth.”
“Umm, oops...” Josef fumbled for something to say and an awkward silence ensued.
“So, Mick St. John the doctor, huh?”
“Actually, I was thinking I’d better change it, to something that doesn’t seem like me at all. Maybe something Polish or Russian.”
“Good idea,” Josef agreed. “And don’t take anymore online courses until you’ve got your new name.”
“Good point.”
“You know I’m going to miss you, Mick. We’ve had a good life here in the City of Angels.”
“I know. Nothing will ever be quite the same, will it?”
“Definitely not,” Josef sighed. “So, speaking of Beth, how did she take the news? Is she going with you?”
“I haven’t told her yet. I was hoping you could help me with that, since you’ve got more experience with this sort of thing. Relocating, that is – not being caring and compassionate while breaking unpleasant news to women.”
“Right. I’ll do what I can. I’m sure she’ll understand, she’s a smart girl,” Josef said a bit nervously, as he recalled the aftermath of the Dean Foster ordeal.
“Thanks, bro, I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. That’s what friends are for.”
“You know, Josef, if you need more humor in your life, you should really consider watching CBS again. “The Big Bang Theory” is pretty damn funny. It’s my second favorite show right now. I’ll come over Monday evening and we can watch it together.”
“No thanks, Mick,” Josef said with a note of disgust. “I don’t think I’m ready yet. Baby steps, okay?”
“All right,” Mick chuckled. “I’ll be out of town the next couple days, but I can be at your place Sunday night around 9:00, if you’ve got time for me. I mean us. I’ll bring Beth. We can tell her then.”
“Sunday at 9:00, okay. See you then.”
“‘Bye, Josef.”
“Goodbye, Mick.”
Josef flipped the phone closed, set it down and lit up his cigar. He puffed on it for a few seconds, then took another sip of scotch and glanced at the clock. 11:42. Minka was happily snoring away on the couch, so Josef had a few minutes of peace and quiet before it was time to get to work. He walked over to the window and gazed out at the beautiful Los Angeles cityscape and smiled. He felt like a proud father watching his son go off to college. There was no way to know what the future held in store, or what his own life would look like in that future, but right now, it seemed like everything was going to be okay.
Last edited by FarCry on Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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francis
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Re: Ringing In The New - One-shot - ML w/a touch of 3R

Post by francis »

This was fabulous! I giggled through it. :snicker:
Mick's ringtone being actually Beth's, and Mick finding out like this what Josef really thinks about her...
Josef feeling like a father sending a son to college...
Josef's musings about his life...
Mick wanting to become a doctor and starting with malpractice suits...

But this one punched me in a way that I laughed out loud: :rolling:
That means the police will be too busy with actual criminals to notice anything strange, like when you come to visit.”
Very well done!
So, did we get a second season of ML when TR started? It's a nice enough fantasy. Let's pretend Andy is Mick's alter ego. Maybe that's why he's always wearing cute jackets. :laugh:

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Re: Ringing In The New - One-shot - ML w/a touch of 3R

Post by wpgrace »

Aww... that was sweet. I already told Red that I was SURE Mick and Josef were watching 3R and cheering Alex on...
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Re: Ringing In The New - One-shot (PG-13) - ML w/a touch of 3R

Post by jen »

Yes!!

A Moonlight/TR connection.

Wonderful!

This was darling!!

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Re: Ringing In The New - One-shot (PG-13) - ML w/a touch of

Post by jen »

Yes, well...

That didn't last very long.

Nicely done!

Thank you!

Jenna

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Re: Ringing In The New - One-shot (PG-13) - ML w/a touch of

Post by allegrita »

Well, just 'cause TR didn't last long doesn't mean that Mick didn't finish medical school and become a wonderful doctor. Rather than cardiothoracic surgery, I picture Mick working in the Emergency Room. He does like the immediate-help thing... :hearts:
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Re: Ringing In The New - One-shot (PG-13) - ML w/a touch of

Post by jen »

Makes much better sense.

Or Mick would have made a fabulous paramedic, too.

Jenna
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