Full Circle - Beth's Story, Chapter 3
On with the third chapter in the installment...
[x]Title: Full Circle - Beth’s Story
[x]Author: Galaxy451
[x]Rating: This chapter - PG-13
[x]Warning:
[x]Pairing: Mick/Beth, Jo/Beth
[x]Genre: General
[x]Spoilers:N/A
[x]Summary:The year is 2014. Jacqui Kostan (aka Beth Turner) is now a vampire, and she tells the tale of what happened in the years post Sonata, beginning from after the door closed......
Meanwhile, in the present time, little does she know, but things are about to come full circle....
[x]Disclaimer: Not my property, unfortunately. All rights belong to.... whomever they belong!
Previous chapters:- Chapter 1 Chapter 2
Full Circle - Beth’s Story
Chapter 3
We spent the rest of the evening talking into the small hours, filling each other in on the small insignificant details of our lives, from childhood memories to teenage angst, and everything in between. I was fascinated to hear about Mick’s early years, growing up in the 1920s and 30s. It seemed strange to hear him talk about things I’d only ever heard from the mouths of old people, when he barely looks older than I do. He didn’t talk much about the war, preferring to keep to happier topics, but he told me all about how he came to came to be in a band with several of his former army buddies, his love for music, and how he still very much missed that part of his life.
I told him about the music I loved as a teenager, my first crushes, how I got interested in journalism, and he listened with interest, laughing out loud at my “Goth” vampire wanna-be phase. “No such thing as vampires” he chuckled. He tilted my chin, studying me, “I can’t imagine you as a Goth.”
“Trust me, it wasn’t pretty, but at least it didn’t last long” I replied, thanking goodness it appeared he’d missed that embarrassing stage of my youth.
Finally, when my eyes began to droop, and the sky began to lighten outside, he apologised for keeping me up all night - like I would have had it any other way! - kissed me goodbye, and made ready to leave, promising to call me later in the afternoon. Then he took hold of my hand, raising it to his lips and placing a gentle kiss against my fingers.
Reluctantly letting go of his hand I leaned against the door frame, watching him, still facing me, as he backed around the corner, smiling a last goodbye as he went. Only then did I step back into my apartment and close the door softly behind me...
I come back to myself like waking from a dream, my eyes adjusting quickly to the now dark office. I get up and walk over to the window, drawing the blinds fully back now that it’s dark, enjoying the light from the newly risen moon, now hanging low in the sky, a huge orange orb, fat and swollen on the night horizon. There might have been a lot of disadvantages to being a vampire, but enhanced night sight was not one of them. I see everything in sharp detail, small movements catching my eye, and the colours….. that was the biggest surprise of them all. Seeing colours in the dark for the first time had astounded and amazed me. The first time I opened my eyes after being turned, I was bombarded with a myriad dazzling colours, all appearing to shimmer and shine with a vivacity and sparkle I had never thought possible. Overwhelming in the daytime - I had soon learned the value of a quality pair of sunglasses - at night, our superior vision literally made night seem like day.
I stand at the window for a long time, gazing at the moon, and letting thoughts of today run through my head. I know I’m in still in shock, so much has transpired in the space of a few short days, and I’m struggling to cope with the emotional overload of it all.
Thoughts of Josef trickle into my mind then, and I quickly push them away before I can succumb to the pain that thinking of him brings.
Briskly turning from the window, I make my way back over to the desk and flick the switch on my computer. I havn’t checked my e-mail for over a week, and now seems as good a time as any. I start to trawl through the numerous messages, most of it junk mail that I delete without a glance, but one catches my attention. It’s from Helena, Josef’s PA, dated three days ago, and it’s simply entitled “Call Me - Urgent”. A phone number is listed in the body of the e-mail, but that’s all, no other indication of what it’s concerning.
Punching in the number on my office phone, I listen to it ring, impatiently tapping my pen on the desk. Five times it rings, before switching over to voicemail, and I leave a short message. “Hey Helena, it’s Jacqui. I just got your message; call me back as soon as you can please.”, before disconnecting the call. Wondering if she had tried to reach me on my cell phone, I delve into my purse and check my calls. Sure enough there are four missed calls all from Helena, received over the past 4 days. Damn! My phone has been switched off for nearly a week.
I try her at the number listed on my cell, but it goes straight to voicemail without even ringing. I leave another message, thoughtfully placing the phone back in my purse, wondering what it could be that she might want to speak to me about so urgently.
As I ponder the odd message, I catch sight of the photograph on my desk, and my thoughts float back to Mick St. John, and those heady first days when we first began our relationship proper...
The phonecall had come right when he said it would. I practically dived at it in an as uncool a display of eagerness as I think I’ve ever exhibited. Just as well he wasn’t there to see it.
We made arrangements for dinner at my favourite restaurant. The meal was excellent, but it saddened me that Mick couldn’t share in the experience, although he assured me he got pleasure out of just watching me eat. We shared a bottle of wine, and I was glad that at least that was one luxury he hadn’t had to give up. Afterward, he drove us to the beach, and we sat on the sand, me cuddled up against him with his coat around my shoulders, and his arms hugging me tight. We listened to the sound of the waves lapping at the shore, and watched the moonlight playing on the water; simply enjoying each other’s company.
“I think the beach is even more beautiful at night”, I said, “if a bit cold.” as I snuggled deeper into the crook of Mick’s arm.
He was silent for a few moments, I guess thinking back to the brief time he spent as a mortal, and the fleeting moments we had not so long ago shared on this very same stretch of beach, before he had given up his mortality to save me.
“Yes, it is.” he nodded, smiling a crooked, and somewhat sad, smile.
I squeezed his hand, and he hugged me tighter to him.
In the days that followed we were both kept pretty busy with work, me at the D.A.’s office and Mick following a lead that had come up on a case he’d been working on involving a missing girl. We set a date for Friday night. Mick had invited Josef and Simone over as well, and was planning on cooking a meal for Simone and I. When I expressed some doubt at the idea of vampire catering , he assured me that his culinary skills, although slightly rusty from disuse, were up to the task, and not to worry about a thing.
Friday afternoon I managed to sneak a couple of hours away from my desk, on the pretence of some investigative research on a couple of names I’d been looking into. Ben had me working on a special project that he wasn’t telling me much about, but which I was determined to get to the bottom of, my curious nature unable to endure being kept in the dark for long.
The lingerie store was my first stop, where I managed to pick up a couple of sets of matching bra and panties that I hoped looked sufficiently alluring, but at the same time, not too indecent. I then trawled just about every boutique in the vicinity in search of the perfect dress, and ended up making a mad dash back to the first store I went into, only to buy the first dress I tried on. A simple, black, lace trimmed jersey dress, it hugged my hips and clung in all the right places. I stashed my purchases in the car before hastening back to my desk to finish typing up my report.
When I was finally able to extricate myself from the office, I hurried home with my new purchases, and rushed to get ready. Praying that nothing was going to go wrong this time, at last I stood in front of the mirror, fussing with my hair and making some last minute adjustments before heading out.
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To be continued….
. Chapter 4