A Delicate Balance chapter 2--PG-13
Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 10:15 pm
Episode: Loosely based after Episode 1.12 hopefully, also following the events of Moonshadow’s “Holidays” (with permission)
Pairing: Mick and Beth
Rating: PG13 Occasional language
Spoilers: None really! pure fiction
Beta Thank You: Moonshadow, VASusieQ18
Summary: Nothing happens by chance
A/N: An oldie, but a goodie...and hopefully a nice Valentine for the Mick/Beth shippers out there.
A Delicate Balance
Chapter 2
The office was getting darker, but Mick didn’t move. He’d spent hours last night after seeing Beth to her car, driving around the city he loved, the top down on his convertible, feeling the night breezes, thinking.
What the hell was he doing? Had he lost what was left of his mind? He’d been torn for some time, thinking that he couldn’t decide whether it was better to send Beth away, go back to watching from afar—safer for both of us, he’d thought—and try to regain the precarious peace he’d found in being alone. Was it better to do that, with the sure knowledge that she’d be deeply hurt by what she could only see as his abandonment of her, not to mention what it would do to him? Or would it be better to keep her close, give her what happiness she could find with him, knowing that his own pain would be all the deeper when she eventually left him? He had made a promise to himself, long ago, that if it was needed, he would die for her. Question was, could he live for her?
Mick knew that he could take the pain. He was no great fan of pain, physical or emotional, and he’d had a lot of practice surviving the former and avoiding the latter, these last 50 years. Still, he’d come to no real decision when night fell, and Beth came knocking at his door.
Usually he met her at the door, welcomed her with a smile and a touch. Tonight he pulled out the electronic key, and buzzed her in.
“Mick, what’s wrong? Why are the lights off?” she asked. “Are you all right?”
So natural, her first concern is my well-being. “I’m fine,” he replied, rising from his desk. “Just thinking.”
“Oh. But everything’s okay?”
“Yes.” He felt the need, as he often did these days, to fold her in his arms, to take refuge from the world in her embrace. At first, Mick resisted the impulse. He feared that in his vulnerability, he would awaken the demon sleeping fitfully in its chains. Then he thought, no, that’s not what I’m looking for right now. Comfort, just a little comfort. That’s all. It only took a few steps to close the space between them, and she slipped naturally into her place against his shoulder.
Beth was pleased, if a little surprised. Mick usually seemed to avoid hugs. And she was even more surprised when, after he wrapped himself around her, he dropped his head onto her shoulder. That was truly unusual. They stood quietly for a few minutes, neither wanting to break the contact, the unspoken communion of their hearts. Finally, without moving, Beth spoke. “Tell me what’s wrong, Mick. Whatever it is,”—providing it’s not another one of those “it’ll never work between us” speeches—“we’ll deal with it together.”
“Hey,” he replied, voice muffled against her shoulder, “can’t a vampire just need a hug, once in a while?”
Beth recognized an evasion when she heard one, but she could live with that one. “Hugs,” Beth said, deliberately putting a little tartness in her voice, “are not in short supply around here, Mick St. John.” She tightened her arms a little for emphasis. “All you have to do is reach out.” That got her a short laugh, and maybe she just thought there was a sniff.
Mick stepped back, and in the darkness maybe Beth was imagining a shine of moisture in his eyes. “You look beautiful this evening,” he said.
She smiled at him, knowing he needed to be poked a little when he was in one of his melancholy moods. “As compared to all the other nights?”
The laugh this time actually sounded amused. “That was uncalled for, Beth.”
Beth moved to turn on a few lights. While she was not looking directly at him, she ventured, “Is this about that wedding invitation thing? Because it’s no big deal, you know. I can go by myself. Or skip the whole thing—I haven’t seen Jenny for five years.”
This, Mick thought, is the perfect opportunity to say no. He found he couldn’t do it. He should have known it would be impossible to deny her something she wanted. It seemed like such a trivial, harmless request.
“Would I have to dress up?” he asked. “It’s, uh, it’s been awhile since--” Since 1952, in fact. Not that that was the social event of the season. Sure, Coraline had worn a white lace dress, a veil, the whole nine yards. Mick remembered that very clearly. The ceremony was pretty much blanked out in his mind, overtaken by events that in retrospect were more important.
His mind was snapped back to the present when Beth giggled. “What you normally wear would be just fine, Mr. Perpetual Coolness.”
Pairing: Mick and Beth
Rating: PG13 Occasional language
Spoilers: None really! pure fiction
Beta Thank You: Moonshadow, VASusieQ18
Summary: Nothing happens by chance
A/N: An oldie, but a goodie...and hopefully a nice Valentine for the Mick/Beth shippers out there.
A Delicate Balance
Chapter 2
The office was getting darker, but Mick didn’t move. He’d spent hours last night after seeing Beth to her car, driving around the city he loved, the top down on his convertible, feeling the night breezes, thinking.
What the hell was he doing? Had he lost what was left of his mind? He’d been torn for some time, thinking that he couldn’t decide whether it was better to send Beth away, go back to watching from afar—safer for both of us, he’d thought—and try to regain the precarious peace he’d found in being alone. Was it better to do that, with the sure knowledge that she’d be deeply hurt by what she could only see as his abandonment of her, not to mention what it would do to him? Or would it be better to keep her close, give her what happiness she could find with him, knowing that his own pain would be all the deeper when she eventually left him? He had made a promise to himself, long ago, that if it was needed, he would die for her. Question was, could he live for her?
Mick knew that he could take the pain. He was no great fan of pain, physical or emotional, and he’d had a lot of practice surviving the former and avoiding the latter, these last 50 years. Still, he’d come to no real decision when night fell, and Beth came knocking at his door.
Usually he met her at the door, welcomed her with a smile and a touch. Tonight he pulled out the electronic key, and buzzed her in.
“Mick, what’s wrong? Why are the lights off?” she asked. “Are you all right?”
So natural, her first concern is my well-being. “I’m fine,” he replied, rising from his desk. “Just thinking.”
“Oh. But everything’s okay?”
“Yes.” He felt the need, as he often did these days, to fold her in his arms, to take refuge from the world in her embrace. At first, Mick resisted the impulse. He feared that in his vulnerability, he would awaken the demon sleeping fitfully in its chains. Then he thought, no, that’s not what I’m looking for right now. Comfort, just a little comfort. That’s all. It only took a few steps to close the space between them, and she slipped naturally into her place against his shoulder.
Beth was pleased, if a little surprised. Mick usually seemed to avoid hugs. And she was even more surprised when, after he wrapped himself around her, he dropped his head onto her shoulder. That was truly unusual. They stood quietly for a few minutes, neither wanting to break the contact, the unspoken communion of their hearts. Finally, without moving, Beth spoke. “Tell me what’s wrong, Mick. Whatever it is,”—providing it’s not another one of those “it’ll never work between us” speeches—“we’ll deal with it together.”
“Hey,” he replied, voice muffled against her shoulder, “can’t a vampire just need a hug, once in a while?”
Beth recognized an evasion when she heard one, but she could live with that one. “Hugs,” Beth said, deliberately putting a little tartness in her voice, “are not in short supply around here, Mick St. John.” She tightened her arms a little for emphasis. “All you have to do is reach out.” That got her a short laugh, and maybe she just thought there was a sniff.
Mick stepped back, and in the darkness maybe Beth was imagining a shine of moisture in his eyes. “You look beautiful this evening,” he said.
She smiled at him, knowing he needed to be poked a little when he was in one of his melancholy moods. “As compared to all the other nights?”
The laugh this time actually sounded amused. “That was uncalled for, Beth.”
Beth moved to turn on a few lights. While she was not looking directly at him, she ventured, “Is this about that wedding invitation thing? Because it’s no big deal, you know. I can go by myself. Or skip the whole thing—I haven’t seen Jenny for five years.”
This, Mick thought, is the perfect opportunity to say no. He found he couldn’t do it. He should have known it would be impossible to deny her something she wanted. It seemed like such a trivial, harmless request.
“Would I have to dress up?” he asked. “It’s, uh, it’s been awhile since--” Since 1952, in fact. Not that that was the social event of the season. Sure, Coraline had worn a white lace dress, a veil, the whole nine yards. Mick remembered that very clearly. The ceremony was pretty much blanked out in his mind, overtaken by events that in retrospect were more important.
His mind was snapped back to the present when Beth giggled. “What you normally wear would be just fine, Mr. Perpetual Coolness.”
Love it!!!! 
Now I've heard everything. Your Beth handles him beautifully.
