Moonlightaholics

He moved fast, coming again to the bedside of his beloved, taking in her white hair and lined face, the shallow rise and fall of her chest. He knew it was almost time, almost time for them to say a last goodbye. He cursed himself for the decision they’d made, long ago, to let her age, naturally, and come to this final end. She was right, she had been right, all those years ago. She could be, even now, the same vibrant young woman she had been in 1955. Maybe he was a coward. Maybe he should have taken the chance.

Amazing how this could have been Mick and Beth some decades from now, considering his feeling for turning somebody. And also , amazing how these rather different in their mentalities vampires have so much in common and how often their (not so) parallel universes cross. I wonder if Beth would still leave Mick alone in NY after this meeting...

He clasped her hand, taking some comfort from the faint pressure of her hand on his.

So much pain saying goodbye to the ones you love, and how often this should happen in a vampire long lifetime..

I admit that in the series Sarah made me look at Josef in a totally different way; keeping her human on his decision in this story brings a little of ...Mick in him and I love him even more..

Thanks, AussieJo.

And, ah, maggatha, I see Josef is starting to exert his considerable charms on you...we predicted it would happen eventually!

(And if you REALLY want to learn to love Josef, go to Lilly's office, and read "Point of Origin." Seriously.)

Lucky

Oh, man.....you smacked him both ways.....
Poor, poor Josef.
Great alternative......what a patron for Mick to follow.

Yikes. I'm sure it would have been Josef, and not Mick, who took care of Martan if this had happened right at that terrible moment.

Interesting that Josef denied his natural instincts for love.. and that it was Mick, of all people, raising the notion of turning. Perhaps he just knows Josef too well ever to conceive that Josef would have passed up the chance for immortal love.

Lucky

It is interesting how a small change of a circumstance results in such an elemental shift from that point forward.

This would have changed so much!!!

Jenna

Such a sad story. In some ways less sad than what really happened because he has decades of memories but he will have centuries of regret.

Having to live with our decisions can turn out so many ways I love your alternative view on SB.

Poignant and romantic and beautiful.

I happened on this story today, and I remembered how much I loved it. What an amazing alternate view of Josef and Sarah.

I keep coming back to this one. I wonder if Lucky ever told Trevor that she had written this wonderful twist of Sleeping Beauty? She did such a great job of keeping her version parallel to the original. It's fascinating to see such a (dare I say?) human incarnation of Josef. My opinion of Josef changed a lot after I watched the original; I would have been blown away by this version.