41Title: Dangerous Miracles (3 of ?)
Author: Lindyrb
Rating: R (or T or whatever rating!)
Pairing: Mick/Beth
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: CBS owns Moonlight. They've got all the neat stuff (like Alex's phone number...)
AN: OK…..obviously hell has frozen over and pigs are soaring thru the skies because YES, I've started writing again and will continue until "Dangerous Miracles" is finished (although it will only be a chapter every week or so). If you haven't read "Moonlight to Dawn" and "Blood Feud" (the first two parts of this trilogy), I'd encourage you to do so (or go back and refresh your memory)…or this story will be rather confusing!
From last chapter:
Mick chuckled and slid one hand down the back of her jeans and cupped her right cheek. "Then I guess we better make sure I'm tired enough to sleep really soundly."
Beth pressed herself against Mick's growing bulge, causing him to moan and rock against her. Reaching up, she sensuously licked his neck, drawing him toward the stairs.
"I think we can arrange that."
Part 3:
Mick drifted up from the depths of sleep and became conscious of two things: one, that there was a pleasant, warm weight draped over his right side, and two, his stomach was grumbling and growling, demanding to be fed. This last sensation jolted him fully awake, reminding him of the events of the previous evening.
It had been both wonderful and different to make love to Beth last night as a fully human man. With no fear of vamping out, he hadn't had to worry about hurting her. Instead, they had been just a man and woman, in love and making love.
Brushing a light kiss across Beth's forehead, he regretfully disentangled himself from the satiated sleeping blonde and slipped out of the bed, padding across the room to the master bath. After a quick pit stop, he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and turned to head downstairs.
"Mmm….where are you going?" Beth yawned and arched her back, the sheet slipping down to her waist revealing a very enticing view.
Mick looked hungrily at the beautiful woman in his bed and had turned back to her when his stomach angrily growled a reminder. Beth sat up suddenly and laughed, "I forgot! You must be starving."
She scurried out of bed and quickly pulled on panties and an oversized t-shirt. With a wide smile, she brushed past Mick, leading him down the stairs. Quickly moving about the kitchen, she started pulling ingredients out of the fridge and cooking utensils from their storage spots. Bewildered, Mick stood at the entrance to the kitchen and watched as Beth whirled from place to place.
"Okay, eggs, mushrooms….ooh, we have bell peppers! Hmm…I know there's some ham left in here someplace. Salsa. Toaster plugged in. Mmm….strawberry jelly!" Spinning around to face Mick, Beth bounced up and down in excitement. "I've never gotten to cook breakfast for you! I mean, last time you were human, I wasn't really around that much, so I thought I'd fix you an omelet. You like omelets, don't you?" she asked.
Mick grinned at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, I like omelets. I don't think I've had one in more than 50 years, so it sounds really great." He looked at the pile of ingredients she had assembled on the counter. "Can I help?"
"Sure," she nodded, pointing at the vegetables on the cutting board. "You can chop those."
Mick picked up a small knife from the counter and haphazardly stabbed into the top of a bell pepper. Beth rolled her eyes and quickly moved to rescue the poor pepper.
"Here," she said, showing him how to slice the pepper into strips. "Just remove the stem and core, then slice along the length of the pepper."
Mick looked down at the woman beside him. How did I get so lucky? She's beautiful. Intelligent. Sexy. And mine! He slid behind her and enveloped her in his presence, sliding his hands down her arms until his hands covered hers – one on the knife, the other on the hapless pepper.
"Mick!" Beth weakly chastised the unusually warm chest behind her, warm lips on her neck.
"I heard you," whispered Mick. "Start at the top, then stroke along the length…"
Beth felt her breath catch in her throat as she felt his firm ridge pressing against her. Licking her lips she abandoned the pepper and knife and pressed back against the solid wall of sex behind her. She was rewarded with a deep moan as Mick loosened his grasp on her arms and, shoving the t-shirt out of the way, grasped her hips firmly and trapped her against the counter.
Suddenly, the raucous tones of Viva la Vida by Coldplay blared from Beth's phone on the counter. Beth giggled as Mick growled his displeasure. Slipping out of his embrace she giggled as she answered the phone; even as a human he growled!
Beth chatted for a moment with the caterer, confirming that she and Mick would be at their office as scheduled. Hanging up, she smiled as she quickly moved back to the abandoned ingredients on the counter, sprayed the pan and began tossing in the chopped ham and mushrooms she had already prepared.
Within ten minutes, Mick was digging into a hot fluffy omelet, groaning in appreciation as the combination of flavors exploded in his mouth. He nodded his thanks as Beth slipped two slices of buttered wheat toast on his plate and refilled his orange juice glass for a third time.
Finally cleaning the last of the egg from his plate with a remnant of crust, Mick pushed himself away from the table and sighed in contentment. Across from him, Beth nibbled on a bagel and grinned.
"Had enough?"
A lazy smile spread across Mick's face. "More than enough," he nodded. Getting up, he carried his plate and glass to the sink and glanced back over his shoulder to where Beth sat watching him.
'You're a really good cook, Hon," he grinned. "I guess that's one of your talents I didn't have an opportunity to appreciate before now."
"Wow!" she smiled, "if you're that excited about a basic omelet, wait till you try my Double Chunk Fudge Brownies."
"Brownies?" Mick's eyes opened wide and he licked his lips. "You can make brownies? I didn't get around to trying any last time I was human, but they always look so good. " He gestured excitedly, crossing to where she sat at the table. "Could you make some now? I'll go get whatever you need from the store."
Beth burst into laughter at the sight before her. He reminded her of a little boy as he bounced from foot to foot, eyes wide with anticipation. Standing up, she gave him a quick hug and kiss.
"I promise I'll make you brownies later tonight," Beth assured him, "but right now we need to go see the caterer about the reception." Seeing his disappointment, she patted his arm. "I think you'll like it, though. They'll have lots of different foods to sample."
Mick perked up, "Maybe they'll have brownies!" As Beth's laughter followed her to the stairs, he trailed behind her.
"Could we swing through Krispy Kreme on the way? I never did get to try one of those…"
Dr. Carl Ross slipped on a freshly laundered lab coat and checked the assembled equipment for a third time that day. He had sent his researchers – all humans – on a "field research" trip that day that had suddenly become critical about 24 hours earlier. Right after he'd gotten a phone call from Josef Kostan.
He'd been shocked to get a call from Kostan himself and had told the powerful vamp that of course he'd be glad to help him in whatever way he could. When he'd heard the shocking details of the situation, he assured Kostan immediately that he would personally handle all the testing and deliver the results to Kostan as soon as possible.
The Cure. He had heard, of course, about St. John's recent experience with the botanical paste given to him by his ex-wife. It had been one of the worst-kept secrets in the local vampire community and while it had been the subject of much gossip among the tribe's members, it had represented much more to Ross. Because unlike most vampires, he had known about the existence of The Cure for many years.
Ross was a research scientist specializing in hematology and bloodborne disorders. The clinic he managed and its partner division in upstate New York were both owned by United BioResearch Associates, part of an international medical research trust owned entirely by a consortium of vampires including Ross himself. He had been a simple village doctor in his native Italy when he'd been turned in the late 1800's. It seems a beautiful young accident victim hadn't been nearly as dead as he thought she was. One minute he'd been inspecting the body and the next he'd been ushered into the world of the undead.
Always a pragmatist, it didn't take him long to decide to focus his time and energy on medical research, not only for the benefit of humans but to better understand all the unanswered questions about vampire physiology. He soon narrowed his research to the emerging field of hematology and quickly developed a reputation as a dedicated scientist. Members of the vampire community approached him, offering to help fund his research efforts and by the time WWI threatened to envelope all of Europe, Ross had half a dozen small research clinics from Italy to Sweden.
It was during that early part of the twentieth century that he'd been approached by a very powerful and wealthy family of vampires who had wanted him to discretely work on a project for them. The Duvals had informed him of the existence of The Cure and made it very clear that knowledge of the substance was not to be shared with anyone for any reason. As the political climate began to change in the late 1930's, Ross chose to relocate his research efforts to the United States where he was less likely to be disturbed by the upheaval of war. Backed by a generous investment from the Duvals, Ross set up the clinics in New York and Los Angeles to provide himself with two locations and he relocated from one to the other every fifteen years or so. His name changed each time, but the focus of the work remained constant. Through the years, while the Duval's project remained active, Ross also made breakthroughs in various areas of research such as coagulants and anti-coagulants, anemia and even hemophilia.
He's been disappointed that he hadn't had a chance to examine St. John while he'd been under the effects of the cure. The amounts of the substance he'd been given for study had been too small to actually try out on a vampire subject but Ross was sure that he'd be able to learn much from a vamp currently under the influence of the botanical. When Kostan called yesterday, he'd been thrilled at this second chance.
His initial reaction had been to inform the Duvals of this opportunity but something had stopped him. Partly it was because Kostan had told him this was entirely confidential and while the Duvals were also powerful, they were in Europe and Kostan was in his own backyard.
But something else bothered him. Through the years, he'd realized the Duvals were unscrupulous, immoral and lacked any sense of humanity. On the other hand, while Kostan was known to be a ruthless businessman, Ross knew he'd founded a college, built wings on hospitals, and had a reputation for being a fair and considerate employer. In addition, St. John had fought hard to break away from the Duval influence and their showdown in front of the Council, resulting in Coraline being banished to France permanently had become general knowledge. And now, he was getting married to a human.
Finally, he couldn't help but wonder – if the Duvals were the sole owners of The Cure, and he was fairly sure he was the only researcher they had working on the project, who had injected St. John? Someone, somewhere not only knew about The Cure, but had managed to synthesize it and convert it to liquid form. In other words, somebody was even further along in their research than he was.
No, while Ross knew he was walking a dangerously narrow path, he decided to keep this information to himself for now. He glanced once more at the sterile packed syringes on the tray and checked his watch. St. John would be here in less than an hour.
Four hours and several thousand calories after breakfast, Mick guided the Benz north on the 101 Freeway through the canyons of the Conejo Valley. Next to him, Beth looked up from the directions on her iPhone.
"We go past Westlake Village and exit at Lynn Road," she noted. "It's a beautiful drive, but it's a ways out of Los Angeles."
"Josef mentioned that this doctor's more a researcher than a normal doctor," Mick said with a shrug. "Evidently he set up this clinic long before Thousand Oaks became a suburb of LA. He probably wanted to stay out of the public eye like any normal vamp."
"In other words, he doesn't have a Facebook page?" she teased.
"You and Josef aren't going to let that go," he replied dryly. "I logged on to update some info last week and found out that Josef had Logan upgrade it. Colors and links and all kinds of stuff. Not that I mind Logan being the administrator, but now I have to go through him to even make changes on my own site. He's afraid I might mess up his work."
Beth grinned, "Hmmm…I bet it wouldn't take much to get him to add some music to the site. Maybe something like Secret Agent Man!"
"You do realize Logan took over as admin on your Facebook page too, don't you?" he replied and was rewarded by her wide eyed look of horror.
Fifteen minutes later, Mick escorted Beth into a nondescript glass and stucco building and into a standard medical office suite with United BioResearch Associates on the door. Almost immediately, they were greeted by Dr. Ross who seemed somewhat surprised to see Beth but was friendly and welcoming to them both. He escorted them back to his private office which had an exam room attached. Directing Mick to get changed into a gown, he invited Beth to sit down and tell him what she knew of the situation.
Beth explained what had happened the day before and how quickly the change had occurred. Ross asked her about Mick's first experience and she'd explained that they hadn't been together at that point – that she'd only talked to him for a few minutes the day after the change then not again until they'd had a picnic at the beach a week later. Less than 24 hours after that, he'd been re-turned by Josef.
Ross jotted down notes as she spoke, then left Beth with a couple magazines while he reentered the exam room where Mick waited. Twenty minutes later, he returned while Mick changed.
"All that we have left now," Dr. Ross explained, "are the blood tests. I'll do those as soon as Mick is changed."
"Dr. Ross," Beth ventured, "Mick and I still need to get our blood tests done for our marriage license, and I thought that since he's human right now, and you're doing blood tests on him anyway…could you do mine while you're at it?"
The doctor nodded and smiled, "Certainly. It would be my pleasure"
Less than half an hour later, Mick and Beth were back in the car and headed south. Suddenly from Beth's purse came the muffled notes of Money, Money, Money.
"Hey, Josef," Beth answered, glancing over to catch Mick's smirk. "Yes, everything went very smoothly. Dr. Ross was great." She listened for a moment then nodded, "Sure, we can stop by. We're about 20 minutes away. Okay!"
Dropping the phone back in the purse, she turned to Mick and shrugged. "We've been 'summoned'. Josef said he'd explain when we got there - something about treachery and deceipt." Beth laughed, "He sounded excited, like he does when he's planning a poker night for you guys."
Mick chuffed in response. "As far as Josef's concerned, there's not much difference. To him, they're both just games." He reached over and squeezed Beth's hand. "The only difference is that this time I hope he remembers that I'm playing with a handicap."
Beth gave his hand a gentle squeeze and settled back into the leather seat. I hope he remembers too, because this time the stakes could be Mick's life.
TBC…