Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

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PNWgal
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Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by PNWgal »

I blame Liana for this one-shot - the plot bunnies agreed with her that I had to write this.

Many thanks to GuardianAngel for reading, and helping me tweak parts of this.


Usual disclaimers apply.



SALVATION IN SUFFERING




Josef's brow creased as he frowned at Mick's open door.

You must really be in a world of hurt, boyo. You're never that lax with your security.

His grip tightened on the neck of the bottle in his hand as he swept into the apartment, leading with his nose.

Blood and silver. Pain and shame. Tears and tenderness.

Undeath. Life.

Human.


There'd been a human in Mick's apartment? Josef inhaled deeper. A female, judging by the estrogen in the air. He saw her shock and her barely contained horror. He felt her concern and acceptance.

He growled at her new-found knowledge.

He took in the scene as he walked further into Mick's apartment. The discarded blood bags, scattered over the table nestled against the sofa back. The rag on the floor, a pink stain spreading from underneath it. The smear of vampire blood on the wall where Mick must have leaned against it. He closed his eyes and watched the recent past flicker behind his lids, his growls growing louder.

Mick stumbling into the apartment. Mick fumbling with a blood bag, desperately trying to draw blood through a thin tube. A pretty blonde woman barging into his apartment - that damned nosy reporter, Beth Turner. Mick pleading with her to leave. The Turner woman's horror as she came around the corner.

Oh my God...what are you?

I'm a vampire.


After he got the silver out of Mick, he was going to kill him for being so damn careless. Then he was going to hunt down that pretty reporter and silence the threat from that quarter once and for all.

Wait. More images came, along with a healthy dose of confusion on Josef's part. The reporter hadn't run screaming from the apartment. Neither had she called that online rag that employed her with the hottest story of the year, which would have earned her an immediate meeting with St. Peter at the Gates of heaven. Josef would have taken great pleasure in scheduling that appointment personally.

No, she'd stayed. And...had tried to help.

He saw the woman kneeling in front of Mick, gently cleaning the blood off his chin. Her helping Mick to the couch.

Mick's tears at her kindness. Her concern at his condition. His urgency. Her stubbornness. His fear of what would happen to the reporter if Josef should arrive before she left.

What the hell happened here?

Mick was going to give him an explanation if he had to beat it out of him.

"Josef?" Mick's weak call snapped Josef out of his reverie. He set the bottle on the table amongst the discarded blood bags and rounded the corner. He buried his alarm underneath a sneer as he looked down at Mick.

The younger vampire was sprawled on the sofa. His face was gray, his silver eyes hooded and dull. His body spasmed from the insidious poison the silver was snaking through his veins. Blood slowly oozed through the holes in Mick's shirt and jacket. Josef could only imagine what the skin underneath looked like.

"You look like hell - I can't believe you let a human get the drop on you, " Josef commented. Alarm edged into panic when Mick simply closed his eyes and groaned.

"Help now," Mick rasped. "Bitch later."

"Come on, buddy," Josef helped Mick to his feet and slung his arm around Mick's waist. "Try not to get blood on me - this is Marc Jacobs."

Mick grimaced in pain as Josef half-dragged, half-carried him into the kitchen and deposited him on a bar stool. "Where do you keep your kit?" he asked as Mick slumped over the counter.

"Under the sink. Black case."

Josef knelt and rooted around until he found what he was looking for. When he stood and set the case on the counter, Mick was trying without much success to shrug out of his coat. Josef could almost taste Mick's pain as he struggled to get his bad shoulder to cooperate. He grabbed a pair of large scissors out of the case and laid a hand on Mick's arm.

"Hold up, Mick. Let's do this the easy way. I hope you're not terribly attached to this coat." Mick stilled as Josef first cut off the ruined coat, then the shirt underneath. The bloody fabric was plastered to the small round wounds on Mick's back, and he winced as Josef gently eased the fabric off his skin.

"Holy God." Josef never got used to seeing the damage silver could do to a vampire. The skin around each pellet hole was rapidly turning deep purple. Thin black tentacles of poison crept outward from around each hole as the silver spread its damage through Mick's body. The blood that leaked from the tiny holes was thick and dark.

"Ok, buddy - lean forward and brace yourself. This is going to hurt." Josef reached in the kit and pulled out a scalpel and steel forceps as Mick leaned his crossed arms on the counter and dropped his head on them. Josef hesitated before making the first cut.

"Do you want a bullet to bite?"

Mick glared weakly over his good shoulder. "Will you just get on with it?"

"Such a brave little soldier. Hold still."

Mick's upper body tensed as he prepared himself for Josef's onslaught. The only sounds for the next twenty minutes were Mick's agonized groans and the plink of silver pellets as Josef dropped them into a glass jar.

"Just...one...more," Josef grunted as he braced his free hand on Mick's shoulder and dug around with the forceps. The last pellet was deep and Mick gripped the counter until the marble cracked under his hands, his knuckles white, as Josef probed the wound. "I can't...get it..."

"Josef--GOD!!" Mick's anguished shout cut Josef to the quick. He set the bloody forceps on the counter and picked up the scalpel.

"Goddamn it - I'm going to have to open you up farther." Josef squeezed the sweat-slicked skin under his hand. "I'm sorry, my friend."

"Just do it," Mick ground out between clenched teeth. Josef sliced the skin open and, spreading the cut, eased the forceps into the widened wound. "There you are, " he muttered as he grasped the last tiny pellet and pulled it free. "Got it!"

Mick slumped forward, exhausted. Josef made quick work of cleaning up the utensils and putting away the case, then grabbed a glass and filled it from the bottle he had brought.

"I have blood," Mick mumbled as he accepted the glass and drank deeply.

"This is fresh, courtesy of my girls. You'll heal faster with this than if you drink that swill Guillermo peddles." As Mick drank, Josef watched the wounds close up and heal.

"Can I assume Mr. Spaulding has left this earth for good this time?"

Mick held out his glass for Josef to refill. "Yeah. He's dead."

"Did you enjoy killing him?"

"I didn't kill him. Beth did."

"Beth?" Josef's brows lifted. The human? A grudging respect wound its way through his contempt. "You mean the tenacious Ms. Turner, the human reporter to which you've so cavalierly revealed your secret. OUR secret." Josef's tone was light, but Mick caught the undercurrent of anger.

"Josef..."

"Quiet, Mick." Josef's expression brooked no argument. "Our Community has worked very hard to hide in plain sight and has already weathered a very recent threat of exposure, no thanks to Ms. Turner. Your carelessness has further exacerbated an already tenuous situation and once again, this reporter is in the thick of it."

Mick got up and swung his arms in a slow circle, rolling the tightness out of his fully-healed shoulder. Good as new. "It's not like I planned this, Josef."

The thin thread of Josef's patience snapped with an almost audible twang. "That most certainly is not the point," he snapped. "Are you walking through your life with your eyes closed these days? You got lucky 25 years ago, when that filth Spaulding went up for murder. You should have ended him the second he walked out of prison, but you let him fill you full of silver instead." He slammed his fist on the counter. "If that wasn't bad enough, you let another human discover your Secret - a REPORTER, for sweet Christ's sake! What the hell is the matter with you?"

Mick rubbed absently at his shoulder, blaming the ache spreading through him on his recent injury. "What do you want me to tell you?"

"I want you to tell me what's got you so damn distracted that you've risked exposure to the humans - risked ALL of us." The truth dawned on Josef when Mick ran a hair through his hair and refused to meet the older vampire's gaze. "Goddamn it...it's that girl, isn't it? You've got a jones for that reporter!" Josef threw up his hands. "After two decades of swearing off fresh, you chase after the one set of veins you should never even consider tapping."

"It's not like that, Josef," Mick said quietly.

"You don't want her blood? Then you must want to fu--"

"Finish that sentence and I'll kill you where you stand." Fury darkened Mick's features as his hands clenched unwittingly into fists. "I don't want...I don't want that from her." Naw, I don't want anything from her except to feel her, warm and soft, in my arms again. I don't want to make her feel safe and I don't want her to accept a part of me even I can't face. I sure don't want her to love me.

"What is it, then?" Josef demanded to know. "Humans are food, nothing more. What is so special about this woman?"

Mick sat down heavily on the blood-stained sofa. He rested his elbows on his thighs and stared at the floor, fingers linked between his spread knees. "I killed Coraline for her."

Josef's face went slack with shock. "Beth Turner is THAT little girl? How do you know this?" When Mick didn't answer, an awful truth began to wind its way through Josef's gut. "I asked you a question, Mick. How. Do. You. Know?"

Josef knew the answer even before Mick forced his gaze upward. "I've been keeping tabs on her ever since that night," Mick admitted.

"You mean you've been stalking her." Josef counted to ten. When that didn't quell the urge to rip Mick's throat out, he counted again. "All these years, Mick! You could have been discovered. What if her mother had seen you? How would you have explained the fact that you haven't aged since the night you brought her daughter back?"

"I stayed out of sight. I had to watch over her," Mick insisted when Josef bared his fangs. "I was responsible for her. I was the reason Coraline took her! She'd been through hell because of me and I..." Mick stopped, remembering. A terrified little girl in a white nightgown. Two monsters snarling and fighting. The fire.

"I couldn't let it go, Josef." Mick knew Josef would never understand why he had felt so compelled to watch over Beth. The way she had looked at him when he brought her out of that fire--she had made him feel like he could be more than the monster that had put her in danger. The trust in that little girl's eyes had not only made him want to be more than a slave to his vampire, she made him want to be a better man. Beth embodied everything he'd lost when he was Turned - his humanity, the love he thought he'd won, the chance to have a family. Watching over her was a balm to wounds he'd carried for decades.

Josef forced himself to calm down and felt his fangs slide back up into his gums. Sitting down next to Mick on the sofa, he laid a cool hand on his friend's shoulder. "There's nothing to be gained by telling you what a monumental mistake it was to stay involved with Ms. Turner - no one can punish you harder than you can punish yourself. However, that doesn't solve our problem. She knows what you are and she's going to have questions. "

"She won't be back," Mick muttered.

"I'm not so sure about that, my friend. This one's proving to be stubborn." Josef gave Mick's shoulder a squeeze, then rose from his seat. "I'm going to leave this in your dubiously capable hands. But hear this, Mick." The command in Josef's voice brought Mick's gaze to the elder's face. "You handle this or I will - and I guarantee you won't like my methods."

"I'll make sure she keeps quiet."

"Be sure that you do. Good night, Mick."

Mick sighed and watched Josef shut the door behind him. If Beth didn't come to him, he would have to go to her and make sure she understood how crucial it was to keep what she'd seen to herself. Her life, at Josef's hands, depended on it.

He was going to see Beth again, despite the danger to both of them. He ignored the twinge of anticipation he felt and headed for a much-needed shower.
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by francis »

Ouch, that was painful for Mick. Not only the bullets, but Josef really telling him what he thinks of his little stunt.
You did this very well, PNWgal. It's the way I wanted it to read, but couldn't write it myself.
And the way Josef got his information and handled this is so much in character. He has doubts about Beth, but can see her determination and is constantly surprised by her behaviour. He trusts Mick even when Mick messed up twice now, with LeeJay and with little Beth. But still secrecy is paramount for him.
This was great also because Beth is like a third character here, even when she's not there. You handled this so well, interesting, great dialogue and great visuals. I can almost see this filmed. I wished it was.
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by RangerCM »

Couldn't wait to open this and read it the moment I saw who the author was!

This is wonderful. I'm sure this is exactly the way it happened. :groupwave:
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by coco »

Fabulous PNW :clapping:

I loved this exploration of the Mick/Josef dynamic during quite a tense time for them both :)
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by kareng »

PNWgal,
Great job. I always wanted someone to write how Joseph found out about Beth. I was glad you were the one to do it because I knew it would be as close to real as it was. You did good.
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by Misfit »

Oh wow, PNWgal. :clapping:

I've always thought that Beth would never have walked out and left Mick injured and in pain no matter how much he begged. And Josef's reaction and response to her presence was perfect. A human, and even worse, a reporter new privy to the secret? I'm surprised, actually, that he only gave a warning, albeit a stern one.

Nicely done on removing the silver buckshot, my back is still twitching... ouch. :notworthy:
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by Moonlightsonata »

Great story. I could really see Josef in this. Thank you.
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by lynnrxgal »

Watching over her was a balm to wounds he'd carried for decades
Oh I just love that sentence! :thanks: Loved it all, PNW!
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by darkstarrising »

A perfect bookend to 'Suffer Not Silently'.....this one being the honest, sometimes harsh interaction between Mick and Josef after Beth leaves...

this is so lyrical, so sensual
Blood and silver. Pain and shame. Tears and tenderness.

Undeath. Life.

Human.
and Josef now knows that there is more here than just a shot-up friend. But the visual description of Mick's condition is what shifts Josef's curiosity to concern
The younger vampire was sprawled on the sofa. His face was gray, his silver eyes hooded and dull. His body spasmed from the insidious poison the silver was snaking through his veins. Blood slowly oozed through the holes in Mick's shirt and jacket. Josef could only imagine what the skin underneath looked like.
Your Josef goes through so many emotions here, acting both as a friend and a leader, one who has the responsibility of protecting the vamp community. A responsibility that not even his friendship with Mick can get in the way of.

Josef tries to make a case for 'dealing with' Beth and can't understand Mick's reluctance,
"It's not like that, Josef," Mick said quietly.

"You don't want her blood? Then you must want to fu--"

"Finish that sentence and I'll kill you where you stand." Fury darkened Mick's features as his hands clenched unwittingly into fists. "I don't want...I don't want that from her." Naw, I don't want anything from her except to feel her, warm and soft, in my arms again. I don't want to make her feel safe and I don't want her to accept a part of me even I can't face. I sure don't want her to love me.
When he does finally understand, he gives Mick an painful ultimatum
"I'm going to leave this in your dubiously capable hands. But hear this, Mick." The command in Josef's voice brought Mick's gaze to the elder's face. "You handle this or I will - and I guarantee you won't like my methods."
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by wpgrace »

Oh how perfect, Pgal... Mick had to have told Josef at some point about his jones for Beth... and Josef surely wouldn't understand... but he gives Mick some leeway cause he loves him. What a miserable night for Mick... tho I like the idea of his twinge of anticipation at seeing her again. And now you've totally set it up for her to come knocking on his door in a day or two...

You are so good to us, to fill in these blanks like this. Those blanks drive us all crazy... but this is, as I said, perfect. Sigh.
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by GuardianAngel »

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing this scene. This is one of those scenes that I could not believe they did not incorporate into the show. Josef's reaction to finding out who Beth is and that Mick has been watching her all these years is one that should not be missed. And we didn't have to with you writing it, Pgal. I love Mick's vulnerability and your Josef is spot on.
"Do you want a bullet to bite?"
ROTFLMAO! Gets me every time!
He was going to see Beth again, despite the danger to both of them.
Of course he is. And just as Josef predicted, she is too stubborn to stay away. Stubborn and curious. Next scene we have her showing up at his door and this scene segues into that one seamlessly.

Brava!
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by janicevictoria »

Yay, a new fic from PNWgal! :cheering: This was absolutely brilliant and a great 'fill in the blanks' story. I love the dialogue between Mick and Josef and Mick's admission of watching Beth grow up from afar. Love this line:
Beth embodied everything he'd lost when he was Turned
Wonderful stuff :thumbs:
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by mitzie »

Great story! I could see it happening just this way with Josef and Mick. Very realistic!!! Well-done!!!! :yahoo: :yahoo: :clapping: :clapping: :clapping: :gasp: :Mickangel: :yahoo: :yahoo: :seesaw: :worship: :clapping: :clapping: :yahoo: :clapping: :thud: :thud: :thud: :thud: :notworthy: :hearts:

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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by allegrita »

Wow... this is a really wonderful follow-up. I could see and hear Josef and Mick as you described them! Beautifully done, PNWgal, and so vividly brought to life. I love reading your stuff, it just leaps off the screen.
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Re: Salvation in Suffering - PG-13

Post by Liana »

Hehe, you did it!! :cheering:
I was wondering when I'd get to read it...
You did perfect!!! I think that's exactly how Josef would have reacted!
In NSTAV he "asked" Mick to take care of the nosy blond reporter, and she didn't even know the big secret back then...
You know, it was very interesting to observe the progress in relationship between Josef and Beth... from actually wanting to permanently get rid of her, then curiosity (like in AD - the way Josef was looking at her the whole time was hilarious, though in the beginning of the episode when he mentioned the happy hour, he was talking about her with a bit of disregard :snicker: ),... then he even encouraged Mick to try make things work with Beth, then I believe he found a new respect for her after the Click... very interesting progress! I think Beth surprised him a lot, mere human! :snicker:

Again, loved this story very much!! When Josef was digging out bullets from Mick, I was cringing...
And his burst when he found out Mick has been "stalking" her all these years was very much like Josef...
He should have seen those pictures in the file... :snicker:
Thank you for this story!! :rose:
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