A/N: *smooches* to htbthomas again for the beta! Enjoy!! :D

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Link to Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3

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Chapter 4: Surprise, Surprise

Despite being a Los Angeles native, Beth had visited the ever-popular restaurant frequented mostly by tourists a couple of times as a kid. She remembered her mother as being the one who wanted to go to the “Musso and Frank Grill” because the food was spectacular, just as Mick had said. But she also recalled how her father hated the time spent waiting, and often expressed his opinion that he just didn’t think the food was worth it.

But that didn’t stop her from wanting to sit across a table from the man she loved – just as her mother had – to share the meal that he enjoyed most. She was so excited about it, in fact, as she stood outside the building decorated in the late fifties art deco, she had butterflies in her stomach.

Mick was late. She didn’t think much about it, knowing he probably had to meet with a client and most likely got held over longer than usual. He’d show up soon, or her phone would ring with his sweet, honey-toned, apologetic voice, promising he’d be there as soon as he could; she could just imagine his words of love tickling her ear even through the cellular airwaves.

She started to lose hope as time dragged on. She eventually did try calling him; it went straight to his voicemail and she left a pleasant, not-quite-worried-yet message for him. Ending the call with her love, she scanned the streets for any sign of him or his car.

After almost an hour of waiting, Beth began to pace. This just wasn’t like Mick, not to be on time or call. She’d just decided that calling him again wouldn’t hurt when her phone rang, and she answered in relief, “Hello?”

“Ah, the bride of Frankenstein,” a sardonic voice spoke on the other end of the line. Beth recognized it immediately, but it wasn’t Mick.

“Josef?” She smirked, realizing, “Mick told you?”

“Well, he didn’t have much choice when I called him today and got that message he left for you.”

She chuckled. “Yeah, that was sweet, wasn’t it? But,” she admitted, “I think he knew that might happen.”

“Yeah, and I was a little shocked, but…welcome to the family. You know, sort of.”

“Thanks, Josef,” she responded to his almost audible grin. But then her worry for her husband took over. “Hey, do you know where Mick is?” she quickly asked.

“No,” he replied. “I was just getting ready to ask you the same thing. He’s not answering his phone again.”

“For me either,” she frowned. “You don’t think something’s happened to him, do you?”

“Nah, I wouldn’t worry about Mick. He’s resourceful.”

“Yeah,” she mumbled. “I might usually think the same thing but…we were supposed to meet for dinner almost an hour ago, and he’s not here yet.”

There was a pause and then Josef suggested, “Keep trying him. He’s more likely to answer your phone calls than mine. I’ll…check around.”

“Okay,” she agreed, relieved that she wasn’t alone in this. “If he’s not here by eight, I’m going to go on home and see if I can find something there that might tell me where he is.”

She said goodbye and hung up when her phone rang again. The caller ID revealed that it was her boss. Groaning, she answered reluctantly. “Before you say anything, I have plans that I really can’t break,” she told her.

Mo was almost giddy with new information for Beth. “Oh, you will when you hear this. There’s been another shooting.”

“Where?”

“Here in L.A. Happened less than two hours ago – I want you on it.”

“Mo,” she began to complain, but she stopped her.

“Beth, this is your baby. Besides, I think your friend might be involved, either as a victim, or in the least, as a witness. The intended victim said that he thought your friend had gotten shot, but he wasn’t sure because he fled the scene before the police arrived.”

“Who?” she questioned, feeling like her heart was in her throat. “What friend?”

“That, uh,” she seemed as if she was consulting papers. “Mick something. Here it is, Mick St. John?”

Beth felt the blood drain from her face and for a brief moment, she thought she might faint. But her worry for Mick took over and she gripped the phone even tighter, pressing it hard against her ear. “Was he shot? What did the report say?!”

Mo was unnervingly calm, although taken aback by Beth’s abrupt change of mood from annoyance to desperation. “It just says that he was covered in blood, but it wasn’t the intended victim’s – Mick apparently protected him from getting shot. When he saw all the blood, he just ran. The victim did say that he doesn’t see how he could’ve been shot with the way he ran off, but they’re not sure where the blood came from.”

Hurriedly starting for the parking lot and her car, Beth said, “I’m going to have to call you back, Mo!” and she clicked the phone off without waiting for a reply. She began running as best she could in four-inch heels, digging her keys out of her purse at the same time. As soon as she was behind the wheel, she dialed Mick’s number one more time, willing him to answer. But it was the same sweet message as before, and it was clear he hadn’t had a chance to change it nor was he going to answer her calls. What had happened?!

Driving like a madwoman back to Mick’s apartment, Beth did what she always complained about and scrolled in her incoming calls to phone Josef while she drove. And as soon as he answered, she told him, “Have you found Mick yet?”

“No, why?”

“He might’ve been shot! He ran so I’m on my way to his apartment to look for him.” She pounded the gas pedal, willing her car to move faster. Her heart constricted in fear that Mick might be suffering somewhere alone. “I need your help,” she pleaded with his friend.

“Where was the shooting?” Josef asked. “I’ll go there and see if I can track him.”

She rattled off the location and asked him to hurry. “Please, Josef, don’t let anything happen to him.”

Surprisingly, their usually jovial friend was reassuring, “Beth, I swear I’ll do my best.”

Beth was shaking as she entered Mick’s building and when she noted that the doors were just closing on one elevator and the other was way up in the building, she went straight for the stairwell door. Kicking off her shoes, not once caring that she was leaving behind her favorite pair of designer heels, she ran as fast as she could up the flights to Mick’s floor. She was out of breath and exhausted halfway there, but she made herself push through it, thinking only of Mick.

But he wasn’t in his apartment. Calling out for him in every room, upstairs and down, Beth returned to the living room in defeat. And despite the optimism that she normally clung to, she felt a lump forming in her throat and tears burning her eyes. Whatever the outcome, she knew deep down that the wedded bliss they’d shared for that one night would not be the same again.

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Josef got out of the taxi cab at the address Beth had given him, paid the driver to let him go on his way, and walked slowly toward the entrance, smelling the air. There was blood, all right. Even though it had been washed away, Josef recognized the scent as Mick’s…and human. But the weird thing was that there was the lingering smell of vampire as well, which didn’t make as much sense. Instead of knocking on the door and not being able to get much information out of the human who’d already told what he knew to the police, Josef went with his instincts and followed the scent down the road.

He lost it after a few miles, once he reached the highway. The cascade of smells – from the garbage thrown out of cars to the stench of urine under the bridge to the wind gusts mixing it all together before blowing it away – was just too much to contend with. He’d lost his trail. Now it would be up to Mick to come home and face whatever had happened on his own.

But it was definitely not news he was looking forward to sharing with Beth; if Mick hadn’t already arrived back at his apartment, anyway. But judging by the way he’d run, Josef had an idea that things were back to a normalcy that he hadn’t anticipated so soon. He knew his friend well enough to know that Mick only ran in fear. And what would he have to be afraid of if he had just turned back into the vampire they knew well?

Beth met him at the door, her eyes wide and expectant. Josef could smell the saltiness in the air; she’d been crying, even though she now appeared somewhat calm. But that didn’t stop her from pelting him with questions.

“Any luck? Were you able to track him? Do you have any idea where he might be?”

Josef held up his hands to hush her and explained what he’d done and how far he’d tracked Mick.

“Where could he have gone?” she asked the very thing he wondered himself.

“I don’t know, Beth, but…” He dropped his voice to a more comforting tone to warn her, “If he wasn’t scared of losing you, he’d come home.”

“Why would he lose me?” she questioned with a bewildered expression on her face. That should be the last thing he’d have to worry about.

Josef swallowed, hating being the bearer of bad news. “There was the scent of vampire at the sight of the shooting. Mick’s scent.”

Beth blinked, absorbing the information, feeling those damned tears burning her eyes once more. “You really think he turned back?”

“I think it’s a definite possibility.”

“But why?” her voice cracked. “How? I mean, he would’ve had to die first—” As soon as she spit the words out that had been haunting her mind since she arrived at the apartment and found it empty, it hit her. “Oh god,” she began to sob into her hands. “No. Not yet. He had so very little time…”

Josef reached out and pulled her against his chest, hoping to be of some comfort. He hadn’t wanted to see his friend miss out on his second chance at life either, especially since he’d done the right thing and didn’t waste a moment telling Beth how he felt about her. Of course, he’d gone one step further and married her impetuously, but that was Mick. And now, it looked like it might already be over and Mick was back to his former life as a vampire.

After several minutes, Beth managed to get her crying under control and stood on her own power, drying away her tears with her hands. “Where could he be? I mean, it’s not like I would reject him for being a vampire again. Doesn’t he realize that I still love him?”

“I don’t know,” Josef replied honestly. “But, unfortunately, since we don’t know where he is, we’ll have to wait for him to come to that realization on his own.”

Beth grimaced, and Josef could tell her heart was breaking. He gently held her by the arms and said, “Look. The best thing for you to do right now is go home. Go back to your apartment, go back to work, and just give him some time alone to think. He’ll come around when he’s ready. And when he does, we’ll be here waiting for him.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“He will,” Josef assured her. “Don’t worry.”

Worrying was the one thing she was really good at; at least, that was what she soon discovered about herself when it came to Mick St. John. The first few days were the hardest. She barely dragged her body out of bed and made it to work. After that, she sort of numbly went through her days, one at a time, one project or assignment to the next, in a sort of fog. Nothing else mattered but finding Mick.

She looked for him everywhere, as she drove on the street, walked along the sidewalks, searched the crowds she was reporting in front of, or scanned page after page of internet sites for John Does. For all she knew, he’d been hurt but not killed and turned back. Maybe he was in a coma somewhere. Maybe Josef had been mistaken.

It all came to a climax one night when Beth broke down and called Josef from Mick’s apartment. She’d checked his house every day since the shooting, looked in his freezer and his closet and every corner of his apartment and balcony and roof, hoping that he might be hiding somewhere. She’d even called out to him, letting her voice carry out over the city, assuring him that no matter what, she still loved him, just in case he was out there and was just hiding from her. But he’d never replied. Tonight, she’d given up and had been crying, completely overwhelmed by the blinding truth: Mick was gone, he was most likely a vampire again, and he’d left her for good. And she’d called Josef out of desperation, just needing to hear a friendly voice.

Josef let himself into Mick’s apartment and found Beth with her head in her hands, sitting on the stairs in complete despair. Even though she was dressed well and her hair was groomed, she looked horrible, like she hadn’t slept in days. She didn’t move as Josef came in, but she did glance up and gave a faint half-smile, at least giving as much effort as she could.

“Still no word?” he asked out of habit, since that was the first thing he’d ask whenever they would meet every few days.

Beth shook her head, too tired to even reciprocate and ask him the same.

Slipping his hands into his suit pockets, Josef nodded once. “Yeah. I haven’t heard anything either.”

She blinked teary eyes up at him and said, “It’s been over a month. Six weeks, Josef. How could he just walk away and leave us worrying about him?”

“He probably didn’t think we would worry. I’m sure he just wanted to give you and me both a fresh start by distancing himself. Of course, he also doesn’t realize how much of an ass he is,” he tried joking, and to her credit, Beth did react, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes.

She stared off in the distance. “How could he think I could ever go on without him?”

Josef didn’t have an answer, and truth be told, if he got a hold of his best friend first, he’d probably beat some sense into him. Instead he sat down beside her on the step and turned his attention on her. “Are you getting any rest at all?”

“Some,” she admitted, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’ve lost my job at BuzzWire, so I’m home all the time now.”

Concern creased his forehead. “Why’d you lose your job?”

“Well, Maureen’s been pretty disappointed in my work over the last month; she’d demoted me to research, but felt she had to let me go when I started coming in later and later. I tried to explain about Mick,” her voice faltered a little on his name, “but I couldn’t without revealing more about him than I knew I should.” Their brief marriage was included on that list of no-nos. “It’s probably for the best anyway,” she sniffed. “I’ve been making myself so sick over this, I wake up every morning and just throw up to get it over with.”

Josef’s eyes narrowed, but Beth missed it. “Every morning?” he clarified, and Beth nodded. “For how long?”

“A couple of weeks,” she shrugged. “Why?”

Since sitting down beside her, he’d heard something faint, a rhythmic, slightly faster thump than Beth’s slower, much louder heartbeat. He thought out loud, “My gosh, it’s a baby.”

“What’s a baby?” she stared over at him in confusion, too out of it to be able to piece together even the simplest of riddles.

He was just as puzzled as she was when it dawned on him that she didn’t yet know. His eyes softened and dropped to her stomach and it slowly and painstakingly registered on her face.

“You think I’m having a baby?”

He nodded slightly. “I can hear it.”

“Hear what?”

“The heartbeat.”

Beth’s heart was pounding slightly harder and faster now as she started to panic. And she breathlessly warned, “Josef, don’t joke around about this—”

“I wouldn’t joke about something like this, Beth.”

She stared and didn’t speak for a moment. Then the tears started again. “I’m pregnant?” she whispered, not really asking the question but already knowing it was true. She held her face with her elbows propped up on her knees and cried softly. “Oh, god,” she sniffled, “when I didn’t start this month, I thought it was just stress over Mick’s disappearance.” She hiccupped as she cried. “What am I going to do?”

“Well, you do have options these days…” he began but she was shaking her head.

“I can’t… I can’t deal with this. Not now. Not alone.”

Putting his arm around her shoulders, Josef quietly promised, “You won’t be alone. If you need anything, you know you can just call me.”

Beth leaned into him, unable to hold in her tears, but trying to smile at the same time. “I’m having a baby,” she softly cried. “It’s not exactly the way I wanted it to happen…”

His eyebrows furrowed, he completed her sentence, “But it’s what you want?”

She nodded. “Mick’s baby.” Her crying continued and she leaned into her friend once more. “You have to find him, Josef. He needs to know.”

“I know,” he whispered against her head, still hugging her close.

“Bring him home,” she begged him, “no matter what it takes.”

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♥

Link to Chapter 5!!