Moonlightaholics

Wow gang!

Kelly, Mitzie, coco, and wpgrace; just wow!

Thank you all so much for the lovely comments. That you take the time to comment means a great deal to me. Thank you.

I loved the early episodes, the whole concept of discovery and trust. I am delighted that each of you felt that here.

Hi Moonshadow. Your story comes hightly recommended...I can see why.
I loved this sentence...

Josef rose from his chair as Beth entered the room, a lifetime of training would never be erased.

So simple yet offers so much about Josef.

This passage is quite lovely...

Dropping her hair she turned gracefully towards him. Looking so warm and alive, every fiber of him wanted to answer the invitation waiting on her lips. Softly, so that very softly that a normal human couldn’t have heard it, she whispered. “This is the real me…” smiled to herself and stepped away and turned in a soft swirl, knowing that he would have heard it.

Love this admission from Mick...

I kept telling her, it’s the drug. Which one of us I was trying to convince, I still don’t know for sure.

This says it all...and it's all that really matters...

She knew she held in her arms the one man who had touched her soul.

Lovely story Moonshadow. Thank you.

Raven,

Thank you so much for that! I appreciate you taking the time to comment!

MS

I cannot believe that this is the first time I've read this piece. What an absolute jewel!

Your tender, languid prose painted a picture of two people slowly, slowly falling in love. Each look, each touch was chronicled with reverence. So beautiful. I could see them so clearly.

And a question. What was in the vial that Beth gave Mick?

Hey Moonshadow, I'm not sure how I missed this before but I'm so glad I found it. Nothing warms up a cold winter day--12 here--like a good romantic love story. You captured their wonderful 'getting to know you' early relationship just perfectly. How glad I am that you wrote this and help keep all our ML 'what could have been' fantasies alive. Look forward to more of your work!

Read it again, and it still captivates me. I love the slow building up to their relationship. You do a wonderful job
writing all of them, and I hope for more of this beauty in the future!

Lovely. Just lovely.

I thought the argument between Beth and Josh in the beginning was an important statement. Their relationship is deteriorating and they are not on the same page. Beth chafes. It makes me wonder if she would be more accomodating to Josh if Mick wasn't in the picture or if Josh's need for a more 'ordinary' girlfriend would have done them in. We know that with Mick in the picture it's a done deal.

“Thank you,” both men responded a bit surprised and taken aback. Looking at the gifts, each fell silent. Thinking about how long it had been since they had given or received gifts. Beth could tell that now it was they who were caught off balance.

You could just about taste the tension in this scene. Perfectly done!

Mick was curious; he hadn’t expected to see Beth at all this holiday season. Josh had been very obvious when he mentioned to Mick that tickets for both of them to go to Boston, were a surprise for Beth. Yet, here she was. Privately, he was in turns both glad and torn. Boston is where he knew that Beth should have been, not here with them.

The ever torn Mick. He wants Beth to be happy with Josh but he wants her for himself. She's better off without him but he wants her with him. It's always up to Beth to persue him.

Taking the chain in his hand he stepped behind her and fastened the lock. His fingertips couldn’t help but brush against her neck where her hair was swept away. Beth’s head was slightly tipped to the left and he leaned into her scent, savoring it like she had done with the wine earlier that evening.

It thrills me the way he steals these moments. Like they are forbidden and wrong but he HAS to have them.

“Instead you have spent the evening talking with two old men,” Mick started to banter with her. Better lighten the mood he thought. How do I tell her that I don’t think it would be a good idea, when he noticed the tear glistening in the corner of her eye. “Alright,” Mick replied.

It makes my heart melt how he cannot deny her. Of course, it's what HE really wants too.

While he was lost in thought, searching for something to say, Mick realized that Beth had fallen asleep there against his chest. Mick sat, listening to her heartbeat and watching her sleep. He liked to just listen to her, to cherish every breath that flowed in and out of her. As she stirred he caught her goblet, set it on the floor beside the sofa, and wrapped an arm across her chest, embracing her lightly.

I had to clutch my chest reading this. So bittersweet. This is exactly what he wants but believes it to be fleeting, temporary. It hurts so good.

The moment was broken when they reached her door. Beth fumbled with her keys, dropping them and they bumped awkwardly, trying desperately to recover the moment. Mick finally had them in hand, unlocked her door, handed the keys to Beth and turned to go, when the sound of her voice stopped him.

This moment was defining for me. Because as much as they are in sync with each other they can be glaringly out of sync. It's like when they aren't thinking to hard about it, it works naturally for them. But when they are thinking about it they are all thumbs.

“You aren’t going to even say, goodbye?” Beth asked.

In one sweeping step he wrapped his arms about her, pulling her close. Every time she says that word, a place in my heart dies, he thought. As Beth raised her face towards his, Mick knew that this kiss would fill that ache.

That left me with an ache as well. Beth has been in his life for 22 yrs. She has pretty much BEEN his life. What will he do without her?

I can't stress how happy I am that this was chose for the discussion. I'd have missed it otherwise and that would have been a real shame.


AN: How did Beth get Josef's middle name?

I was lead here by the Coffee House and I'm pleased. I'm not much of a Mick/Beth reader but I like this little peek of the start of something and the holidays a time when most of us feel sentimental.

I also enjoy Josef as the perfect gentleman and host.

Cassysj, G.A., Fleur, Norsmyth, and Starbuck's J,

Thank you all for reading and re-reading this story! I am tickled pink that you have enjoyed it. G.A. I figured that Beth is an investigative journalist. She knows how to find information, even things folks would like to keep hidden. Norsmyth, I'm sorry you have such cold weather, hang in there warmer weather has got to arrive sometime.

SJ... the vial... any guesses?

Thank you all again!
MS

I was also lead here by the coffee house, and I really loved this story. my heart is definitly beating for Mick/Beth and your story made it beating even a little bit faster than usual! Very nice! Thanks for sharing this story!

This was absolutely divine.

It has such a gentle loving aura about it, this story. I love the unspoken in this story... little things are left for us to think about and fill in and their care for one another is so obvious. I really, really loved this Moon Shadow.

ETA: I'm also a Coffee House reader.

Thanks to The Coffee House, I have found this wonderful story...I am with Raven and Guardian Angel on this, and think back to the time after Sleeping Beauty - where Mick and Beth were psychologically -- and this story, everything about it, its nuance and subtleties and angst, is dead on. Really enjoyed reading it.

MoonShadow, I was also brought to your story via the Coffee House. Thank you to the panel for selecting such wonderful stories! This one is a real gem, capturing amazingly well the feel of the early episodes.

You depicted Mick's and Josef's relationship in only a few words. I love what Josef says:

“It’s not her I’m worried about Mick. It’s you my friend.”

Josef said nearly the same thing to Mick in FtP. These two men take turns caring for each other, trading the dominant role depending on the need. They are so much more than friends. They are family in the best sense of the word.

Your story did a wonderful job of showing how Beth unknowingly takes advantage of Mick's iron self restraint. Although she begins their evening together feeling unsure of herself, unsure of her reception, she soon feels completely comfortable with Mick. Indeed, she feels so safe with him that she simply invites herself to spend the night in his bed. Knowing that he'll protect her (even from himself), as he always has. She doesn't seem aware of what it costs him. I saw this over and over on the show, and your story captures it beautifully. Of course, Beth is also capable of great sacrifice for Mick's sake; but it's his strength, his self control, his protectiveness that shape Beth's perception of him.

I loved GA's comment about how out of sync Mick and Beth can be when they try too hard to think about their relationship. During the moments when they're just "being," they work perfectly together, but when they're reminded of the realities, when they start to try to put their relationship into the real world, then that ease just disappears--and they are all thumbs, as GA so eloquently says.

I loved the fact that you had Beth say "right here, right now" in this story. Why does that phrase resonate so well? I'm curious--I assume that you wrote this story before Sonata. Was that phrase in it before, or did you add it after the episode? It works perfectly here.

Oh--and the vial? It's her blood, isn't it? A wonderful tip of the hat to NSTAV and to Fever, two huge turning points in their relationship.

Alle--I can answer one question. This was written before Love Lasts Forever, even, because I'd already read it long before that.

Lucky

Moonshadow,
This is beautiful. You set the pace of the story so well. It remains gentle and credible throughout and still pulls the reader in. Also, I like the way you show the intereactions between friends influencing the development of the romantic relationship.
This piece is classic, subtle beauty. Thank you for taking the time to create it.