OK, I'm back, after reading this story several more times, and thinking. A lot.
Ah, Red... you make me weep and love you for it. Every one of your stories moves me, but this one... this one's somehow bigger and more profound. This is the closure, heartrending as it is, that Mick and Coraline deserved, that was stolen from them by the writers' strike and by those last four episodes. He would
not have ignored her suffering. He would have tried to rescue her. And he might very well have failed.
Of course, Josef is there. He's got Mick's back, as you said...and, being Josef, he's keeping an eye on things. But mostly, he's there for Mick as Mick's been there for him. A practical friend--I love that he brings a flask for Mick--and a companion who knows what it's like to have secrets and burdens that are nearly impossible to share. I like the symmetry: when Mick thought Josef was dead, he told Coraline, and she understood his loss. Josef is the companion Mick needs now. He gets it. No need for explanations or excuses: he's just there for Mick. An unconditional friend.
Coraline's punishment is the essence of bitter irony. What more "fitting" torment could her family devise for what they see as a betrayal of their very core, than to turn this vital, consummate vampire into a human--and then torture her to death? And in that horrible scenario, it would be just another level of Hell to allow Mick to rescue her after it's too late--when she can't survive--knowing that he'd have to make the shattering choice as to whether or not to turn her back. And worst of all, she has to break the news to him that, not only does a real Cure exist--but it's been employed to take away his ability to choose. And Coraline, who granted him immortality, now loses hers in his arms. Their relationship has come full circle, and what a tragic circle it is.
But the beauty of this story, the beauty of your vision, is that there's no defeat here, not really. There's love, and sacrifice, and a final, stark acceptance of fault on both sides. There's a release of bitterness, a nurturing and warmth that had eluded them for all those decades.
This is the tipping point:
"They gave me mortality, knowing it would only be…" She paused at the hope sparking again in his tired eyes, "Don't ask me how - even I didn't know about it until it was too late. Take my blood if it'll help you. Take what you want." A brief, weak struggle to push him away.
"That's not what this is about." Neither knew the measure of truth in his words as he held fast. "Coraline, I…" There were no more words, no more miracles, nothing extraordinary, nothing supernatural, just the stark reality of death. "I don't know what to say."
"Just stay."
At first, it seems like that other scene in a hospital room, where Mick seemed blind to everything but the cure--and Coraline is resigned to that, trying to push him away, to keep some semblance of dignity amidst the depths of despair. But Mick has changed since then. He's grown. Finally, it's not about what she took from him or what she can grant him. Death breaks down the barriers between them, and brings out the deepest compassion and the deepest trust. He holds her in that chair by the window, carrying her as far as he can go... and then he lets her go on without him.
And afterward? He thinks back to the night of the fire, when he thought he'd killed her, and realizes the difference. Before, he was still chained to Coraline, even though he thought she was dead. Just as Josef told him--he couldn't let her go. But now, finally, he can set down the burden of his anger and blame. At last, he can grieve for her, for them, for what might have been but never could be.
And finally, he can move on, that anchor of hate and blame left behind, but the love always there with him. He can finally mourn, and heal, and go on living.
Thank you so much for this story.
I agree about Mick and his attitude to vampirism and how his outlook changed. Thanks for the lovely comment.
thank you. 
