Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight or any of its characters.
Rated: G
Characters: Little Beth and her mother
ETA: I was in such a rush to post this last night I forgot to thank my beta and idea bouncer, PNWgal!
Thanks, babe! 
Thumps in the Night
After half an hour of tossing and turning, Carol Turner got out of bed and tiptoed down the hall. Quietly opening her young daughter’s bedroom door, she slipped inside and stared down at the peacefully sleeping child.
How can she sleep so easily? I’m still a bundle of nerves.
After little Beth’s miraculous return, Carol had had her sleep with her. It was as much for her own comfort as for Beth’s. But after a week Beth asked to sleep in her own bed again, assuring her mother she was fine. Those first nights, Carol would check on Beth before heading to her own room and then willing herself to stay there. Tonight, unable to stand it any longer, she had come into Beth’s room. She lifted the covers slightly and just as she began to crawl in next to Beth, she heard a soft thud outside. Heart racing, she rushed to the window and peered out between the curtains. All was as it should be; nothing was stirring. Glancing around one last time, she went back to Beth’s bed and snuggled in next to her. She was soon fast asleep.
The scenario repeated itself whenever Carol decided to sleep next to Beth. If she merely bent over and kissed her sweet girl’s forehead, she heard nothing. If she pulled back the covers to climb inside, she heard the mysterious thump outside. Yet no matter how fast she got to the window, nor how bright the moon, she never saw a thing. Once, when she only pulled the covers up higher around Beth’s shoulders, she heard a second thump just as she stepped out of Beth’s door into the hallway. Alarmed, she ran back in to look out the window. As usual, all was quiet.
After that, the mysterious noise occurred only if Carol actually got into Beth’s bed. She couldn’t imagine what it could be.
As the nights passed uneventfully and her comfort returned, Carol began sleeping in Beth’s bed less and less. However, exactly one month after Beth had been kidnapped, Carol’s anxiety came back. That night she was unable to sleep and went back to Beth’s bedroom. As she began to climb into her daughter’s bed, Beth sleepily said, “It’s okay, Mommy. You don’t have to sleep with me. Thumper comes when you aren’t here.”
Carol leaned up on one elbow and looked down at Beth. “What did you say?” But Beth was fast asleep.
MLMLMLML
“What would you like for breakfast?” Carol asked the following morning.
“Snap, crackle, pop!” Beth said enthusiastically. Her mother smiled as she poured Rice Krispies into a bowl and watched Beth listen when she poured on the milk.
“Beth honey,” Carol began. “Last night you mumbled in your sleep that Thumper comes at night. What do you mean by that?”
“It’s a thumping noise. Like a bump in the night,” Beth said matter-of-factly as she ate her cereal.
Carol was alarmed. “You hear a bump every night?” Beth nodded. “Does it scare you?”
“Uh-uh,” Beth said through a mouthful of Rice Krispies as she shook her head. She swallowed and looked at her mother. “I heard it the first night I went back to my room. But it wasn’t a scary noise at all. It made me feel warm and cozy.”
Carol stared at Beth, astonished. “Warm and cozy?”
“Uh-huh. But when you come sleep with me, it goes away.”
She actually sounds disappointed, Carol thought.
“Do you know what makes the noise? Is it an animal?”
Little Beth shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know it’s not scary and it makes me feel safe. I call it Thumper, you know – like in the Bambie movie. ‘Cuz that’s the noise it makes.” She took a gulp of her orange juice.
“Well then I guess you’re a lucky girl to have your very own Thumper,” Carol said. She smiled at her daughter and thought, if it helps her to sleep peacefully at night, who am I to argue?
MLMLMLML
That night Carol quietly entered Beth’s room. She walked directly to the window, peeked out the curtain and whispered into the dark, “Thank you, Thumper, whatever you are. But I’ve got it tonight.” She turned and climbed into Beth’s bed, adjusting the covers over the both of them. Then she listened.
Out on the roof, Mick smiled to himself as he deftly leapt down to the ground, landing with a soft thump. The little blond girl would be safe in her mother’s arms this night.
Upstairs, Carol Turner smiled as she pulled her little Beth close to her side.
The End.
This is so warmly 'embracing'!
I've got to agree with Fleur, though... if Beth ever talks about her childhood friend Thumper when Josef is around to hear, Mick will never (EVER!) hear the end of it. 
This cracked me up! I never even gave it a thought, but boy are you right! 
Thank you Fleur, Lucy, Francis and Allegrita for reading and commenting! Yes, leave it to MLC to write a warm and fuzzy Halloween story about scary bumps in the night. 
(I neglected to mention her in the notes at the beginning, but I fixed that now.)
