A/N: Sorry it took me so long to post this – what with out-of-town trips and preparing-our-house-to-sell stress. Hopefully, I’ll have the next couple of chapters finished, edited, beta’d, and posted without too much fuss. :)

Many thanks to embitca for her insight on the name/location of the restaurant mentioned in the show that I’m using in this fic – without her help, I would’ve had it ALL wrong! And *smooches* to htbthomas for the beta!! :D

Enjoy!

- - - - - - -

Link to Prologue, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2

- - - - - - -

Chapter 3: Back to Life

“When did you realize you were in love with me?” Beth wondered as dawn approached. She was lying against Mick’s chest and he was propped up on a pillow against the headboard. They’d been talking about everything in between spending all night getting physically acquainted.

“Hm,” Mick murmured and stopped tickling her arm. “When you kissed me the first time.”

She slapped a hand over her face in embarrassment, trying to hold back her laugh. “Ugh, I was so bold that night. What was wrong with me?”

“I don’t know. You tell me,” he teased.

She chuckled, recalling that special evening that had ended so much differently than either of them had planned. “Actually, I know what it was,” she then realized. “When I fed you,” she paused, almost as if she didn’t want to confess it, “it was…exhilarating.”

“It was?”

She moaned, closing her eyes as she recalled that day. “They say that there’s a fine line between pleasure and pain – I experienced it that day.”

He hugged her tighter. “I felt differently after that too.”

“You did? How?”

Mick’s voice was quiet and serious. “Scared. I was afraid…”

“Of what?” she craned her neck to see his face.

“That I would eventually hurt you or turn you, even if it wasn’t what you wanted.”

“I don’t think you would’ve ever done that,” she comforted.

His face flinched in disagreement. “I wanted to that day, and that’s what scared me.”

She slid her hand up his chest and neck to his face and guided his chin toward her. “But you didn’t, and that’s what matters.” She took a contented breath and let it out. “I came by that night…” she started.

“I know,” he let her in on that secret. “I was here. In fact, I was already on my way to the door when you knocked.”

She smirked knowingly. “I thought you were home,” she snuggled back against him, “and you just didn’t want to answer.”

“I could feel you that night, even through the door,” he told her. “It was different than any time before that.”

She took in a breath and let it out in contentment. “I love that we had that kind of connection.” She changed the subject slightly, “Do you think that we still do?”

“We have so much more now, Beth,” Mick reminded her, kissing the side of her head. “We have this.”

She tilted her head back to receive his now-familiar kiss when her cell phone rang. Groaning, she rolled away from him and retrieved it from the floor beside the bed, pushing the button to answer. “Hello?” she greeted, and had to fight the pleasurable sensation of Mick’s hand on her bare waist and his lips on her shoulder as he scooted close behind her.

It was her boss, Maureen – or “Mo” as she was known to her masses – and she was asking for Beth to come in. To her credit, Beth fought to keep from having to, reminding Mo that she was off until Monday, since she was “grieving” Josh, but eventually, she conceded. “Give me about an hour,” she pleaded and her boss agreed.

She hung up the phone and dropped her arm to the bed, sighing. “I have to go in.”

“I heard.”

“Will you be mad if I go?”

“No,” he promised, kissing her shoulder once more. “Actually, it’ll give me a chance to return some phone calls I’ve been avoiding.”

“Okay,” she said, feeling a little better as she rolled to her back and stretched out underneath him. “I do have some time…” she teased, slipping her arms around his neck. “How about a shower?”

She knew when he slowly grinned that he wasn’t going to turn down that offer.

- - - - - - -

A permanent smile was plastered on Beth’s face as she walked from her car to the BuzzWire offices, and she even caught herself starting to hum. But when she reached for the outer door with her left hand and saw her ring, she knew she didn’t want to have to explain her impromptu marriage to her colleagues just yet. Call it silliness, but she liked being able to share that secret just with Mick, at least for now.

Slipping the ring off her finger with a little struggle, she put it on her right hand’s ring finger where it wouldn’t attract as much attention. She was again wearing her engagement earrings as another more subtle reminder of her new committed relationship; and outwardly, she was prepared to face her coworkers. But the smile might’ve given her away, she knew, so she took a deep breath and put on her typical professional expression as she opened the door and stepped inside.

Mo accosted her before she even reached her desk and handed her a copy of a police report. Beth scanned the page and then wrenched her face. “You called me in to investigate your run-of-the-mill drive-by shooting?”

“Ah, I knew you’d say that,” Mo proclaimed, holding up one finger. Then she revealed, “But I thought the M.O. sounded familiar, so I called one of our sister stations. A similar sixties-style Thunderbird was involved in a shooting in Seattle a few months ago.”

Beth’s eyes widened. “You think those same shooters are in L.A.?”

She nodded. “Matches the vehicle’s description from this morning, plus, the Seattle shooters were never apprehended.”

Sighing, Beth could taste the story there and knew she couldn’t walk away from it, no matter how much she would’ve preferred running back to Mick’s – her new – apartment and spending the day in bed. “Okay, I’ll look into a bit more and see if there are any other locations they might’ve been.”

“That’s my girl,” Mo grinned and walked away.

- - - - - - -

Mick sighed as he went into his office, now having to spend the second day of his honeymoon alone. But it was his own fault – being spontaneous, not planning ahead, and getting wrapped up in the moment – not that he would trade what he had with Beth now for anything in the world. He was happy and alive and so was she, and that was plenty good enough.

And he hadn’t been lying about the things he needed to get done while she was gone. There were at least two phone calls he’d been avoiding – one to collect money due him, and the other, to dispute an overcharged fee for some equipment he’d rented while on a case. When he checked his phone, he discovered a new call and possibly a new case, but he made sure to get the difficult calls out of the way first before moving on to the next one.

The new case was an intriguing one, if nothing else. His potential client, John Wyler, wanted a security system installed in his house and home office, since he’d been burglarized a few times. Wyler also wanted Mick to test the system by trying to break in himself. It was at times like this he wished he did still have his vampire abilities, as it would prove that no human could get in unwanted. But no. He could do just as good a job as a mortal, and he’d do his best to prove it.

Setting an appointment to meet with Wyler just after noon and check out his home to give him an estimate and suggestions for the type of security system he might need, Mick decided to spend the rest of the morning hours working out, since he’d been neglecting fitness more and more since he became human. Now knowing that his body would only get worse, he knew he had to take better care of it than that.

He got up from his desk and emptied his pockets, setting his cell phone down, when he realized that he might miss Beth if she tried to call…and he was suddenly struck with an idea. Picking up his phone, he called his cell…and changed his outgoing message.

- - - - - - -

Ten A.M. rolled around and Beth stretched, realizing she hadn’t gotten up from her desk even once since she sat down to start her investigation. She made a quick trip to the restroom just for a break, and on her way back, pulled her cell phone from her pocket, dialing her newlywed husband’s personal cell phone. She got his answering service and heard his voice: “Hey, honey. I figured you’d be the only one to call me today, so I thought I’d leave you this message in case I wasn’t able to answer the phone. If you think you’ve gotten this message by mistake, you probably have. This is just for the woman I love, my bride.” Beth could practically hear his smile and it was infectious. “I was wondering if you could take a break and have a late lunch with me today. Leave me a message to let me know. I love you.” And then the phone clicked off and beeped.

Beth ducked into the empty conference room to reply. “Hey,” her voice was soft. “I liked that message.” She couldn’t stop smiling. “But that was a little risky, don’t you think? I mean, I know most of your calls go through your office, but what if Josef or Guillermo or one of your other friends calls you?”

She changed the subject, “Anyway, I would love to have lunch with you, but, unfortunately, I don’t think I could get away. How about dinner instead? We could go to Musso’s.” She turned slightly away from the door. “I’ll talk to you soon. I love you,” she whispered into the phone and hung it up, slipping it back into her pocket. Again, she had to restrain her smile to get back to work.

She remembered the way his face had lit up when he talked about that restaurant and knew it had to be one of his favorites – if not the only one. She wanted to share a meal with him there, now that they finally had the chance.

- - - - - - -

Fresh from a cold shower to cool down after his workout, Mick jogged down the stairs to his office, buttoning his shirt on the way. The light on his phone was blinking, so he stopped to check his messages, discovering that the first was from Josef, sarcastically asking if he’d dialed the wrong Mick. Chuckling, he knew he had to call his friend as soon as possible, but when he then heard Beth’s message about meeting for dinner, his priorities changed.

He called her immediately, only slightly disappointed that he got her service instead. Playing phone tag was only sometimes annoying, but with her, it seemed like fun. He grinned all the way through leaving his message, mostly stunned by her restaurant suggestion.

His need to speak to Beth temporarily out of the way, he then called Josef, and had to explain what had led them to their spontaneous decision to elope and not tell anyone. But Josef still complained, “Damn, after all these years of being your friend, I thought I’d earned the right to be your best man, or at least, a witness to your wedding.”

“I’m sorry, Josef – I swear we didn’t do it intentionally. We just weren’t thinking about anything except…getting married.” He chuckled. “Man, can you believe it?”

“Not really,” Josef deadpanned. “Then again, I didn’t think you’d ever get married again after your last experience.”

“It’s a completely different set of circumstances.”

“I’ll say. Now you’re just two regular humans living ‘the dream’.” He spoke the words with almost a tone of distaste. “Planning on getting the house with the white picket fence around it to keep the dog in the yard?”

Mick snorted. “You’re just not going to let this go, are you?”

“No. Why should I? I am hurt, my friend,” Josef proclaimed, but Mick could just picture him with a hand on his chest, overacting the feigned emotion.

“Right,” Mick chortled, disbelieving his friend’s protests. “Is there a reason why you called before?”

“Yeah, but…it can wait. I’ll give you a few days to think about the importance of the real friends in your life.” Mick grinned and shook his head, but Josef wondered, “Are you two going to have a honeymoon?”

“We haven’t really planned one, and it might be difficult to get away now since we both have work. I don’t know. Why?”

“I’m just curious as to how long I need to leave you alone.”

“Well,” Mick realized, “I know one thing: Beth and I would love to have you over for a visit as soon as possible, so don’t worry about that. How’s…tomorrow night?”

“Alright,” he conceded. “If I have to accept this, I guess it’s only fair that I play nice.”

Mick knew Josef had been nothing but nice to Beth since the day he’d met her, so there was no worry there. Still, he pretended that it would mean a lot to him if he did, so Josef agreed. They said their goodbyes, cementing plans for the next evening, and hung up, with Mick happy in the knowledge that he had at least one friend that would be around for all eternity.

- - - - - - -

Two hours later, Beth returned to her desk after a meeting with Mo to discuss where she was on the story, only to find that she had several new messages on her phone. Delighted to see that at least one of them was from Mick, she listened to it with anticipation, wondering just how he would surprise her next. “Musso’s?” he said without even a greeting. “How in the world did you remember that? Even though I didn’t think it was possible, Beth, I think I love you more because you suggested that place.

“Yes, I would love to have dinner with you at Musso’s. I’ll make the reservations and since I assume you’ll be working until the very last minute, I’ll meet you there. Seven o’clock?”

She saved the message and hung up, staring with girlish glee at her phone. “Seven, it is,” she thought out loud, vowing that come hell or high water, she would get this story put to bed in time for her to leave to make that dinner meeting. Then she sighed when she realized that lunch would have to be a risky sandwich from the break room’s vending machine or a quick trip across the street to the deli. She chose the latter option and realized she might just be able to find an overeager intern willing enough to run that errand for her. Finding one, her lunch problem was solved and she had more time to get her work done to achieve her dinnertime goal.

By six o’clock, she’d done her report, alerting the public to be on the lookout for the tan Thunderbird, as the occupants were wanted in five related shootings over the past six months in various cities. She promised more information as it was available, and ended her report, quickly passing off her microphone and getting compliments from her boss for a job well done. But she didn’t dawdle; with apologetic excuses, she hurried to her desk for her purse, and rushed to her car to make it to her old apartment to change and then to the restaurant in time for dinner.

- - - - - - -

“So, I’ll get started first thing tomorrow?” Mick concluded, trying to end the meeting with Wyler so that he could make his dinner date with his bride. They walked together through the front door and on to the front sidewalk, finalizing the plans. Mr. Wyler seemed to be a worthy client, and had already paid a deposit on the work Mick was to do, and Mick was just thrilled to have an easy job to start out his new mortal life.

They were just shaking hands when they heard the squeal of tires, and turned to see a light-colored, old-style car come speeding up the road. Mick’s eyes furrowed but he didn’t think much about it until he saw the dark tinted window roll down halfway and the end of a rifle appeared. Within a split second, he yelled for Wyler to get down and dove to cover his client, and shots were fired all at once. It didn’t seem like it had all really happened until it was over and the sounds of the car were long gone.

His eyes closed and feeling pain in his back, Mick struggled to his feet, grimacing. He panicked a little when he saw blood on Mr. Wyler’s shirt. “Are you hurt?” he asked, panting for breath.

Wyler shook his head, his eyes wide. He pointed to Mick’s chest. “I-I-I think you are, though.”

Looking down at his own body, Mick’s chest suddenly constricted in shock. His shirt was soaked in blood, with a hole right above his left nipple, where his heart rested beneath his ribs. There was so much blood, in fact, that he had to assume that he’d actually been unconscious for at least a couple of minutes. But how could that be possible?

One touch to his back revealed the horrible truth when he drew back bloody fingertips. Touching his chest and finding that the through-and-through wound was no longer bleeding profusely told him the whole story. And being able to hear and see Wyler’s pulse and feeling thirstily drawn to it cemented the inevitable. He was a vampire again.

“No,” he murmured in disbelief. And then anger took over. “No! NO!!” Not now, not YET! It couldn’t be happening – he must be dreaming. But that didn’t explain how he could feel his body getting colder, how the setting sun was beginning to hurt the way it used to, or how every sound was amplified a thousand fold. There was no denying it, no matter how hard he tried.

Panicked and afraid of what other humans would think, especially this man who was still laying on the ground, staring up at him in fear, Mick did the only thing he knew how to do with his fifty years of experience: he ran.

- - - - - - -

Link to Chapter 4!!