Affection Beached *PG* (SEQUEL:Life's a Beach/Ch.Chall#139)

[Lucy]

Rated PG
This fic contains portions of The Little Mermaid, By Hans Christian Andersen, (1836) I have italicized those words.
I do not own ML or The Little Mermaid
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The night Beth found the photos, those periodic images capturing her from her early childhood; she hadn't given each of those points in time any thought. There in the morning's sunrise she and Mick had spoken candid words and her gentle confrontation prodded more of his questions.

She knew his pain at hiding his truth. She felt the raw emotions when he said, "Now you know why it can never work"

What else could she say other than, "All I know is ever since I met you I've stopped using the word never". There he was, this undead monster as he had called himself, shielding the rising sun from his face. All she could do was oblique that savage sunrise and take a liberty. She sealed words with a kiss, lightly brushing his cheek, not asking for an embrace or a returned caress. The day filled with "work" her brittle minutia of BuzzWire, getting Audrey settled and finally at the end of a very long period of upheaval getting bathed and fed and rested.

There, spanking clean and wrapped in chenille and slippers she brewed a cup of chamomile tea and sat in silence. Her eyes spied the book, tucked next to her high school yearbooks. Seeing her lavishly illustrated Little Mermaid yet too tired to read she decided to enjoy the limpid watercolor images. Holding the book she inhaled, expecting the scent of old paper yet it seemed to bear the salt water scent of the day her Mom read it to her. She secretly smiled, if they could scent Teddy Bears perhaps they "sea-scented" this book?

Holding it in her lap she nestled back into the sofa, remembering the teak lounger facing the sun, her Mom's voice as she patiently read between her inquisitive questions. Then the book fell open to where they had stopped for, what was it? Ah…had they gone for snow cones?

The hotel's post card kept the place where she remembered her Mom asking if the story was too serious. Beth sighed, what was more serious than protecting a young woman from a marauding fledgling vampire? She had survived these past few days, what was a fable compared to her life?

Beth smiled at the thought of a mermaid's grand ball and mused at the sound of trumpets below the water. Beth sipped the cooling tea in between reading aloud to herself.

"I know what you want," said the sea witch; "it is very stupid of you, but you shall have your way, and it will bring you to sorrow, my pretty princess. You want to get rid of your fish's tail, and to have two supports instead of it, like human beings on earth, so that the young prince may fall in love with you, and that you may have an immortal soul." And then the witch laughed so loud and disgustingly, that the toad and the snakes fell to the ground, and lay there wriggling about. "You are but just in time," said the witch; "for after sunrise to-morrow I should not be able to help you till the end of another year. I will prepare a draught for you, with which you must swim to land tomorrow before sunrise, and sit down on the shore and drink it. Your tail will then disappear, and shrink up into what mankind calls legs, and you will feel great pain, as if a sword were passing through you. But all who see you will say that you are the prettiest little human being they ever saw. You will still have the same floating gracefulness of movement, and no dancer will ever tread so lightly; but at every step you take it will feel as if you were treading upon sharp knives, and that the blood must flow. If you will bear all this, I will help you."

Well that didn't sound like the Disney movie at all Beth grimaced at the thought of any tradeoff. If you could have your greatest wish granted, how great would be the cost?

"Yes, I will," said the little princess in a trembling voice, as she thought of the prince and the immortal soul.

"But think again," said the witch; "for when once your shape has become like a human being, you can no more be a mermaid. You will never return through the water to your sisters, or to your father's palace again; and if you do not win the love of the prince, so that he is willing to forget his father and mother for your sake, and to love you with his whole soul, and allow the priest to join your hands that you may be man and wife, then you will never have an immortal soul. The first morning after he marries another your heart will break, and you will become foam on the crest of the waves."

"I will do it," said the little mermaid, and she became pale as death.

Beth found she was holding her breath at the sea witch's offer. She knew that Mick hadn't plied a deal like this, he simply went to bed a happily married mad and in his words, "Woke up a monster". But what if she were given the choice? Would she leave her pastel life for the vivid immortality she felt on B.C.?

"But I must be paid also," said the witch, "and it is not a trifle that I ask. You have the sweetest voice of any who dwell here in the depths of the sea, and you believe that you will be able to charm the prince with it also, but this voice you must give to me; the best thing you possess will I have for the price of my draught. My own blood must be mixed with it, that it may be as sharp as a two-edged sword."

"But if you take away my voice," said the little mermaid, "what is left for me?"

"Your beautiful form, your graceful walk, and your expressive eyes; surely with these you can enchain a man's heart. Well, have you lost your courage? Put out your little tongue that I may cut it off as my payment; then you shall have the powerful draught."

"It shall be," said the little mermaid.

Beth's breath caught, hadn't Coraline effectively silenced Mick? Hadn't she torn him from his friends, his family, everything that was true and sure for him? She gnarled on her thumbnail, dropping the book to her lap.

Beth's brows knitted as she debated whether Mick could accept what she had told him. How did Mick feel about the word "never"? Certainly they had grown closer in the past weeks but his rebuffing her advances under the influence of BC, was it a sign of his 40's era manners or was he immune to her? With this recent re-emergence of a woman that looked like Coraline, had Morgan woken something in his undead heart?

Beth couldn't put the book down as she read about the party for the Prince.

How had it been for that fated mermaid to watch the singers all the while knowing her voice was sweeter and clearer?

What was it like to give up something forever?
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TBC.

[francis]

Oh this is so awesome. I love that bittersweet Story. We had a book of Grimm's and a book of HC Andersen, and I loved them all. But this Story is by far my favorite.
Your comparison of Mick and the Little Mermaid is so Fitting. I love how Beth starts to see him in a new light, sees his condition as a horrible curse and that he gave up so much for love, but failed. Will she be his angel that draws him from the depths of despair? I hope you continue soon.

[GuardianAngel]

No, HC Andersen's Little Mermaid is not the sweet Disney version. That poor, forlorn mermaid has her heart broken and becomes foam on the sea. So tragic a tale but one of my favorites. I saw it as a cautionary tale - never give up all you are for someone else.

Mick had much taken from him when he was Turned. Like the Little Mermaid, he does kind of lose his voice and definitely loses his family. All for love. But even worse, he had not given them willingly. He had not voluntarily traded. Maybe the universal balance is that he might, indeed wind up with love at the end. Immortality working in his favor.

I think that moment on the balcony was a real eye-opener for Beth. A real taste of how much Mick loathed himself and what he was. Also, it probably gave her a glimpse into his thoughts. He'd obviously thought about things 'working' between them.

[Lucy]

Oh this is so awesome. I love that bittersweet Story. We had a book of Grimm's and a book of HC Andersen, and I loved them all. But this Story is by far my favorite.
Your comparison of Mick and the Little Mermaid is so Fitting. I love how Beth starts to see him in a new light, sees his condition as a horrible curse and that he gave up so much for love, but failed. Will she be his angel that draws him from the depths of despair? I hope you continue soon.

I can't believe I had this just sitting on my laptop.....I had gotten this far and -zip- forgotten I had written it. I am outlining where I want this to go.....so I hope to not take too long.

[Lucy]

No, HC Andersen's Little Mermaid is not the sweet Disney version. That poor, forlorn mermaid has her heart broken and becomes foam on the sea. So tragic a tale but one of my favorites. I saw it as a cautionary tale - never give up all you are for someone else.

Mick had much taken from him when he was Turned. Like the Little Mermaid, he does kind of lose his voice and definitely loses his family. All for love. But even worse, he had not given them willingly. He had not voluntarily traded. Maybe the universal balance is that he might, indeed wind up with love at the end. Immortality working in his favor.

I think that moment on the balcony was a real eye-opener for Beth. A real taste of how much Mick loathed himself and what he was. Also, it probably gave her a glimpse into his thoughts. He'd obviously thought about things 'working' between them.

And if the dear vampire was thinking about thing.....the sands could shift to give him a nudge..... It has been a favorite of mine since Hallmark Hall of Fame did a presentation of the story.

[Shadow]

Oh, lovely. I adore how Beth's thoughts go straight to Mick as she reads....and no doubt this is the first time she has reread this story since meeting Mick. So interesting how she thought of Mick as being silenced upon his turning, when he was cut away forever from his old life. She seems to be finally realising just how much Mick actually has lost. Love the last line. And so appropriate for this to follow 12:04, after Beth saw that picture of herself on the beach!

[Lucy]

Oh, lovely. I adore how Beth's thoughts go straight to Mick as she reads....and no doubt this is the first time she has reread this story since meeting Mick. So interesting how she thought of Mick as being silenced upon his turning, when he was cut away forever from his old life. She seems to be finally realising just how much Mick actually has lost. Love the last line. And so appropriate for this to follow 12:04, after Beth saw that picture of herself on the beach!

Thanks, Shadow-
I knew when I wrote 'Life's a Beach' for Champagne Challenge #139 that I would have to follow up with more....

[BlueEyedMonster]

This is so poignant. Beth seems to finally understand what Mick lost when he was turned and the conflict he has about her after all these years.

I can not wait for more thank you Lucy for revisiting this gem of a story.

[Lucy]

This is so poignant. Beth seems to finally understand what Mick lost when he was turned and the conflict he has about her after all these years.

I can not wait for more thank you Lucy for revisiting this gem of a story.

This next morsel might be a slow arrival....I am juggling the glider story and this one ---- and want to keep clear lines between the two....I am inspired to write when I know people are open to reading!