Title: A Friend in Need

A/N: Spoiler for 1x01 and 1x02

All Mick could think about was getting through his apartment door. He needed to…desperately. His vampire hunger and his need to heal rapidly from the shot gun wounds drove him down the hall and through his door…he needed blood.

Finally, he got a hold of the first pouch of blood he found, tore it open and began to drink from it. The blood flowed down his throat and he felt it slowly revive him. Suddenly, the unexpected happened…Beth walked through the door.

He panicked. He didn’t have enough strength to stand up or to turn back to his normal self. The question of what was he going to do kept running through his head. He heard her move further into his apartment.

Once she got closer she looked down at him “I keep dreaming about you….why?” she asked. She wanted to know more about that night….more about….him. ‘Why is he keeping secrets from me?' she thought, ‘What does he have to hide?’

“Don’t look at me,” he pleaded, but she continued to gaze down at him. He took his chance to turn away from her.

A moment of suspense hung in the air as she back-tracked her steps and looked at his limping body. She could see him clearly now. Blood dripping down his chin and down his shirt, “Oh my god…” she couldn’t comprehend what she saw.

He looked up and they both looked at each other intently. She was the first to blink, “What are you?” she breathed out, a part of her wanted to run away, but at the same time her heart went out to him.

He cringed at that question…what was he? As if he were some anomaly or what he dreaded most…a monster, “I’m a vampire,” he confessed and the suspense began to die down. Beth’s mind began to connect things about Mick that she couldn’t figure out before. ‘It all makes sense now,’ she said to herself.

She had to do something. Beth started to move towards the door and he closed his eyes in disappointment and shame. He knew she would run away…’Why stop her?’ he thought. He heard the door close, but he still felt a presence. He opened his eyes and found her standing by the closed door.

She then moved to his windows and started closing his shades. He watched her move from one side of the apartment to the other and a part of him felt comfort at her actions.

Afterwards, she grabbed a hand towel from the stove handle, moved to the kitchen sink, and dampened it. He heard her footsteps come closer and all he could do was look down to the floor. From the corner of his eye he saw her right hand grab his and she started pulling him up.

Beth placed his left arm around her shoulders and wrapped her right arm around his waist. She guided him towards his couch and helped him sit down. She sat next to him and grabbed the damp towel from the coffee table where she had left it. She then proceeded to wipe his face…wipe away the blood, the grime from the floor, and the fallen tears of his confession.

After she cleaned up his face, she stood up to find the pouch of blood that he left behind on the floor. She picked it up and brought it to him. Before handing it back, she cleaned up the pouch with the towel. Beth turned to him, left hand on the pouch and right hand holding the tube. She held the tube to him and nodded for him to take it and drink…And he did.

He drank two bags before he started healing and his fangs retracted. Once he was done, she sighed and looked straight at him, “I know what you’re thinking. Why am I doing this? Why haven’t I run off and made a report about it?” He looked at her with his chocolate brown eyes, having subdued his vampire hunger.

“You saved me Mick…twice…and you saved Julia. And you saved others that I don’t know about…yet,” she paused and smiled. She then took his hand in hers and continued, “Even though I haven’t known you for long, I feel like I’ve known you for ages.”

She tightened her grip and he returned it. He finally spoke, his voice hoarse and tiresome, “Thank you.” They gazed at one another for a bit longer before Beth broke contact.

She looked over to the empty bags of blood and smiled, “I’m A positive you know,” she looked over to him, “but don’t you get any ideas,” she laughed.

He chuckled at her comment and then he glanced down at his hand intertwined with hers. He tugged at it and she turned her head to look at him, “Thank you for understanding.”

She tilted her head to the side a bit, “Don’t forget, I audited a class that dealt with vampires…I’m a fast learner.”

This time he laughed and Beth knew that she hadn’t befriended a monster, but a man who had needed a friend.