A/N- I'm trying my hand at both of these fandoms for the first time. I'm publishing this as a one-shot, but if there is enough interest, I might turn it into a full-fledged story. So if you want more, you know what you gotta do, right? Uh huh, that's right...Reviews! (the dreaded 'r' word, I know) Still, would love to hear from ya!

Spoilers- none that I know of.

Rating it M for language to be safe.

Takes place in L.A. sometime before Logan moves to Neptune and before Mick reunites with Beth.

Josef Kostan hated children.

He hates them with an intentional fury and an irrational dread. There is something so completely uncomfortable about children and that made him want to break and tear into things and damn the consequences.

Josef hated being uncomfortable.

So why, in all his fury and gall, was he seemingly imprisoned by a pair of brown eyes set wide in the small, lean face of a lanky, frail boy halfway across a crowded room. Was it just because this was possibly the only child he had ever seen at one of these tedious and self-serving Hollywood charity events that was really more like a gathering of vultures circling the next soon-to-be victim of the Hollywood machine? Or was there something else there? Like the way the kid, who had to be only 10 or 11 or 7 or 3 for all he knows or cares, held his jaw and set his hands at his side like he just didn't give a shit about anyone in this room. Josef could emphasize with that. Hell, he was only here at this snooze fest because Mick had dragged him along, again, to go after a mark and he knew Josef could get easily get him into one of these shindigs, because, damn it, he was rich!

Josef twirls the subpar scotch in his glass for the 1000th time that night and wishes it held something else. Something a little thicker and headier. Something a little bit redder in color. He raised it to his lips, but doesn't drink. His eyes continue to track the boy.

The kid had moved away from the center of the party and was leaning unenthusiastically against a large window overlooking a predictably manicured yard. His small body twitches and jerks with boredom until a waiter carrying a tray of champagne drifts by him. Suddenly, a glass is in his small hands and he's eagerly throwing back the drink like a 40-year old alcoholic.

Josef stops the slight twitching at the corner of his mouth almost as soon as it begins.

The drink finished, the kid continues to play with the glass, twirling it through his hands and watching the crowd only for the arrival of the next drink-laden waiter. His eyes are wide and full of knowing. Hell, most adults Josef meets couldn't convey that level of world-wariness and arrogance at the same time. It was an expression he was eerily comfortable with.

Josef chuckles and looks down at his own tumbler.

"Hey, where have you been?" Mick asks, popping up beside him in a heated rush.

Josef turns and shrugs slightly, "Should I tell you about my time as a sheep herder in the Alps or how about getting laid by seven geishas in the emperor's own summer palace?"

Mick raises an eyebrow, clearly not amused. "What?"

Josef sucks in a breath, mostly out of habit. "Did you find your..." he waves his hands about apathetically, "...guy? Does this mean we can return the handlebars to their original upright position and exit this roller coaster of extreme delight?"

"No, he hasn't shown up yet. But my contact told he should be here soon. Unfortunately, that means-"

Josef puts a hand up to stop him. "Don't say it. If you say that it, that will make it come true." He turns to Mick, locking eyes. "If he is not here soon, and by soon, I mean like last year, I will kill him myself."

Mick smiles lightly and nods. "I may just let you."

At that moment, Josef's gaze slips and returns to the kid who had apparently found another drink to replace the champagne he had emptied. Unfortunately, Mick notices the slip.

"Who the hell brings a kid to one of these things?" He growls, scanning the immediate area for signs of a watchful parent. "Is he getting crocked? I bet he's not even in his teens yet." The irritation in his voice is unmistakable. Mick definitely did not hate children.

Josef turned to reply, but Mick was already gone, slipping through the crowd in the same manner he arrived. Joseph lifts his glass again, and then lowers it down, slightly puzzled over that exact thing.

Unfortunately, he also makes the mistake of looking up. At the same exact time as the kid.

For a 400-year old vampire, not much really shook Josef anymore. Sure, things were occasionally shocking and tragic, but that sort of foundation-rocking, soul-searing terror just didn't happen to him. Until now.

Looking into the boy's eyes is like opening a gate unto a sun-dazzled field after spending a lifetime in the darkness. Memories and emotions he hadn't known he possessed wash over him like a tsunami, pulling him apart and pushing him under. He's looking at a mirror of his former self, his former human self, and it makes him wish for things he never even knew he wished for.

Who the fuck is this kid?

"Echolls," Mick huffs. "Smug-ass bastard brings his kid to the party and ditches him." It takes Josef several seconds to even register what he had just been told. Mick hitches his thumb towards the center of the crowded ballroom where a crowd was gathered around a tall, well-built Hollywood cliché of a man. "Fucking actors," Mick seethes and shakes his head. "He brings his wife and kids with him to all this stuff so he can show what a great and loving family man he is. Meanwhile, little Logan over there is off on a bender," he flips his thumb forward and then points to where a young, dark-haired teenage girl was wrapping herself up around a guy old enough to be her grandfather, "and precious Trina is looking for her next producer-slash-dealer-slash-boyfriend."

"Ah, Mick, I didn't know you watched the Hallmark movie of the week," Josef laughs, patting his arm. Anything to get the feelings under control and locked back into their lead-lined box.

Mick brushes off his hand and rolls his shoulders. "I just..." Stopping himself, he closes his eyes as the anger surging through him threatens to overtake his control. It doesn't take long though before he calms and the anger is contained. "Kids shouldn't have to suffer for the sins of their parents, you know." He says quietly.

Josef agrees but thinks that most kids do nothing but suffer for the sins of the parent. It's just the way of the world. Still, it bothers him more than he's willing to admit. Especially now.

"You gonna do something about it?" Josef hears himself ask.

Mick looks at him curiously, not sure what his angle is. "Maybe."

Suddenly, Mick's phone chirps and he looks down at the text. "He's here. I'll signal you when I've got what I need from him, or if I need you to step in." Like smoke, Mick evaporates into the jungle throng of people.

By now, the kid has a new glass and his posture against the wall is unsteady and slipping slightly.

A woman, in an elegant backless blue cocktail dress approaches the boy. "There you are! What are you doing? I told you to stay with me." She says, clearly annoyed. In a softer voice, she adds, "you know he wanted us to stay close tonight." Bending down to his eye level, she runs a finger over his cheek in a gesture both tender and patronizing.

For the first time, the kid's eyes soften to a warm cocoa of longing and hopefulness. It only lasts a second, as his gaze darts off towards the man in the center of the room. "I'm sorry, Mom. I just...couldn't." His voice hitches and breaks. It's the first time Josef has heard him speak and a little tiny ember in his cold heart roars into a sudden bonfire. He quickly finds the fire extinguisher and quenches it before it can do any further damage.

The woman sighs, her shoulders sag, and she drops her hand from his cheek. "I know," she replies. "Stay here and be good. Don't make a scene." There is a heavy, unbroken silence between them. She quickly checks over her shoulder and stands up. "He's pretty preoccupied tonight anyway. Hopefully he won't notice." She seems to say this more to herself than the kid. She turns to him one last time, completely oblivious to the way his eyes are slightly hazy and his body can't seem to find balance. "Don't get into trouble." She warns and slides back into the crowd.

Josef thinks he might just hate her more than a little. It bothers him immensely.

The boy however, watches her go with that same soft, pleading look. He doesn't seem bothered by the coldness of her manner, only by the fact that she is no longer there. Not long after, he lets his gaze drift back to the floor, and he finishes the rest of the drink in his hand, not with gusto, but like its something disgusting but necessary.

Josef has a sudden, desperate urge to rush to the boy's side and comfort him.

Where had that come from?

Josef clears his head by scanning the room for Mick. He's still far away, tailing his mark and Josef prays he'll nail the guy so they can leave this place like it's on fire and never, ever have to think about it again. Not for the first time, he knows he needs a real drink. He throws back the scotch and winces. It's fouler than his mood.

From the corner of his eye, he sees yet another woman approaching the boy. She's wearing a dress so tight, her chest looks as if it might completely slip free of its own free will, which he supposes, was probably her intention. She smiles at the boy as if she's the shark and he's the chum. Kneeling down, so that the errant cleavage is right in front of his watery gaze, she coos, "Well, hello, little boy."

Logan looks up and raises an eyebrow, fighting to uncross his eyes. "Hello," he answers coldly.

"Are you here with your mommy and daddy?" The way her tongue juts out on the word 'daddy' makes Josef realizes that she knows exactly who this kid is. And who he belongs to. She runs a red lacquered finger tip up his arm and over his chest.

He turns away, not wanting to answer, but she runs the finger up under his chin and lifts it to her. "Yes," he squeaks and looks away, but not all that surprised at her actions.

She chuckles softly, leaning into his ear, "Well, I see where you get all your good looks. Your father is quite the charmer. I bet you must take after him."

In a move so quick that not even Josef can see it, he turns on her, fixing her in a stone-cold glare. "Yes, he's very fond of snakes." The words are slurred, but the intention is not.

She tightens her grip on his arm and a look of pain flashes across his face.

Before he can register what he's doing, Josef is at the boy's side, pulling the blonde away. "Hey," he snips, "the line for the wretched coke-whore's bathroom has finally cleared. I think you really should get freshened up. You look absolutely awful."

Like a caged lion, she bares her teeth, "What did you say?"

"I think I called you a 45-year old pedophile trying to go for the 15-year old skank look. Really," he flips over the spaghetti strap of her dress and smiles, "you should never wear red, it only makes you look even trampier. I think perhaps you should stick with a VD green. Much more your color."

Her eyes narrow, and she is ready for a fight. Fortunately, so is Josef. And he knows who will win.

One look from him is all it takes. One look at the beast he keeps locked away most days and only lets out to play when he's feeling particularly nasty. Her face turns to ashen white and she rushes through the crowd, nearly toppling people in her haste to get away from the monster he knows he truly is.

Josef can feel the boy watching him at his side, but he refuses to look down. Looking at him would be admitting that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't hate children as much as he thought he did. Well, maybe he didn't hate this kid. Maybe because this kid was just too damn much like him to hate. And maybe, he felt something else about this kid that he didn't and couldn't admit. Not yet. Maybe never.

As he begins to walk away, he hears Logan struggle out a weak, "thanks," before sliding down the wall and passing out.

Josef doesn't turn around. He just keeps going.

And maybe, that's for the best. Well, that's what he tells himself anyway.