Honestly, I'm still not quite understanding how this happened. How I hadn't noticed or realized before today…it was obvious really, the eyes were a huge definite, the same eyes as my mother's from what I can remember. The way he was always checking on me during a case, even if it was just for updates, I wonder if it was hereditary? To hide things from each other in my family? Probably, seeing as how my late parents and aunt-may they rest in peace-were part of a special bloodline descended from the Grimm brothers. That my mother, aunt and I are Grimm's, able to see things that other's cannot, to see underneath the underneath(1), the truth behind truths(2.)
I can still remember how hysterical I got when the truth was presented to me.
I stared blankly at the T.V. screen, my favorite episode of Psych playing on the DVD player, "Nine Lives" A faint smile grew on my lips as Lassie(3) was pushing Shawn out of the crime scene of the first victim, before my trail of thoughts from before entered my mind. Shutting my eyes, the memory replayed itself in my head as I took another swig of my Dr. Pepper.
I was in the trailer-surprise, surprise-as I was looking through a chest I found stashed away in the farthest corner of the trailer. To my non-sarcastic surprise I found huge, thick, leather bound books, thinking they were more creatures I sat on the floor beside the chest and opened the first page, only to find something else entirely. A photo album. I blinked in surprise and stared at the two figures in the picture.
It was a photo of my mother and aunt when they were little girls, most likely between the ages of eight and twelve, not much younger than me when I lost my parents.
My aunt looked different, long thick wavy dark brown, almost black hair, falling in gentle waves just past her shoulders. She had a soft smile and an innocent look in her eyes, meaning this was before they discovered their heritage, I thought. Marie had on a knee length pink dress with long sleeves ending at her tiny wrists, a darker pink sash tied around her waist, she wore white flats and her hair had been pulled into two low pig tails. Her round face made her look so sweet and innocent.
My mother had on the same dress, only it was blue with a dark blue sash and her sleeves were actually spaghetti straps, another thing I always had in common with my mother, we both loved spaghetti straps, no matter the season. Her long milk chocolate brown hair had been left down, her bangs falling into a pair of wide innocent green eyes, freckles dusted her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. It added to her sweet persona.
I bit my bottom lip as I lightly dragged my fingers down on their images, before quickly turning the pages. I was surprised by the different pictures I found of my mother and aunt as I looked through their life's histories. It wasn't until I got to when they were in their early adult pictures that I found something strange. A man with dark brown hair that was not my father, was in a picture with my mother and aunt.
Marie was sitting on the edge of the fountain, mother stood behind her younger sister, bent forward, her hands braced flatly on Marie's shoulders, as she gave the camera a huge, tooth filled grin, winking one eye. Though, that's not what caught my attention. The young man from before was sitting at Marie's feet, though he had his hand covering his face so I couldn't identify him. Licking my lips I turned the page, marking that photo with a finger and was shocked to find the man in more pictures, only this time he was shaking hands with my father. The picture was taken at an angle that I, once again, could not see his face.
Huffing my cheeks I searched the rest of the album for the mysterious man that knew my parents and aunt, but each time he hid his face, or was angled in a way that it didn't capture his features. The only thing of the man's profile I knew for certain was that he had dark brown hair and had a very tall and proud stature.
I sighed and grabbed the last photo album, there were only three. One for my aunt and mother, the other for my father and I wasn't surprised to see that a lot of my looks I got from dad. His black hair, his blue grey eyes, his cheeky grin and that mischievous glint in his eyes that also showed deep unhidden amusement from whatever was happening around him at the time.
In the third album, I was surprised. The first picture was of my mother in a hospital bed with dad sitting beside her, holding a small bundle between them, and I couldn't keep the grin off my face when I saw it was our first family picture. I thought Marie got rid of all of all my family pictures? I wondered curiously, after mom and dad died, Marie thought it would ease my pain if she got rid of any evidence of my parentage, which I think only made it worse as the years went by. Tears welled in my eyes as I looked through family photos, but what really caught me off guard was the mysterious man was in a lot of them during my toddler days.
In the picture, I'm sitting in the man's lap and I can just make out some of his features…I bit my bottom lip again, chewing mercilessly on it as I attempted to make out the man's identity.
"Come on, come one…show me who you are…" I whispered, begging to know who this man is. Sighing, I put my detective skills to work once again and tried to find any way to distinguish the man. My eyes landed on a screen door, it was a glass door and I smiled as I focused my eyes on the image, trying to make out the features…
…My heart stopped.
I shook my head as I leaned my back against the wall behind me, lightly bonking my head, tears filling my eyes, and when I blinked, they fell down my cheeks like two waterfalls cascading down my round cheeks like the Niagara Falls. My eyelids fluttered as I struggled to stand up and stared at the photo in disbelief. How could he…? That man…
Gritting my teeth, my eyes blazed as I stormed out the trailer, locking it and headed to my jeep and started it, I pushed so hard on the gas pedal that the tires screeched on the road before heading to the station. My body shook in rage, my heart pounding a million miles an hour against my rib cage, begging to be freed from it's bone prison.
"Who let the dogs out? Who? Who?(x4) When the party was nice, nice was the party. Pumpin' heya yippie yi oh, and everyone havin' a ball hiho yippie yi oh. I tell the fellas start the name calling yippie yi oh and the girls just come to the call-" normally, hearing Monroe's ring tone would make me grin stupidly and dance to it, but I wasn't in the mood to act like myself and picked it up,
"What Monroe? I'm driving?" I spoke a little too harshly, silence before my fiancées warm voice filled my ears,
"Nikki, what's wrong?" he asked softly, I shook in rage, trying not to throw the phone out the window,
"I think…I'm going to kill my boss" and with that, I snapped my phone shut and tossed my cell none too gently on the car seat beside me and drove faster than I should be, seeing as how I'm a detective and all.
Pulling into my usual spot, I threw my car door open and slammed it shut harshly, making it almost shake and practically ran into the Portland Police Station.
"Hey Nikki, I didn't know you were working today" Hank's voice filled my ears, I glared icily at him and my partner stepped back, nearly flinching,
"Uh, Nikki, you want to tell me what's wrong? Did you and Monroe get into a fight?" I shook my head no and told him I had business to take care of.
Turning on my heel, I headed straight to Captain Renard's office, I noted happily that he was alone and threw the door open and slammed it shut, catching the attention of not only my Captain, but the entire force. Grabbing the picture from my back pocket I threw on his desk and pointed at the mysterious man's reflection.
"May I ask why you decided to storm into my office Detective?" the older man asked cautiously, glaring as darkly as I could, I flipped the picture and showed him the neatly written handwriting that no doubtable had been my mother's handwriting. It said; Nikki and her Uncle Sean Renard.
"What does it mean by that?" I demanded. Renard sighed deeply and stood, walking cautiously to me, as if I were a wounded animal, or worse, an animal on the defensive, which I probably was.
"Nikki, let me explain, please" he said softly, calmly, I swallowed and nodded curtly,
"Fine, explain away Uncle" I sneered, taking a seat. Renard sat at his desk again and held the picture between his fingers.
"I need you to know this Nikki, I didn't even know I was related to your mother and aunt until the accident" I raised an eyebrow, the one in New York? How the hell did he not-
"It was a different accident, not the one that took your parents" I remained silent,
"Your mother and I were driving home from the movies when a drunk driver hit us, your mother got the worst of the injuries since the driver hit her door. Your mother lost too much blood by the time we got to the hospital, your wasn't there and I was the only one there with her at the time, so I volunteered to see if I matched her, I did. I thought it was a coincidence, until the doctors pulled us aside and said that, our blood types were matched to closely and…well…the doctor said it worked because my blood work showed I had to be of immediate blood relation to have worked as quickly as it did" Renard paused in his explanation. I sat there, my anger slowly being replaced by my curiosity, damn, Monroe's right, I am just like the cat, but then again, satisfaction did bring it back.
"As it turns out, my father and your grandmother, Layla and Marie's mother had a love affair, and I was the end result. After I was born, my father took me in and I honestly never knew I had sisters until I met them on accident when I was visiting some friends here in Portland. After that…I made an effort to know them more, Marie never trusted me, saying I was going to turn my back on her and our sister, but I swore an oat to protect them, and their children, should they have any" as he said that last part, he met my eyes and my grey ones widened. I swallowed as I wondered what he meant by that.
"Is that why…you had me transferred to be under your command when I first got out of the academy? You knew this whole time? And you didn't bother to clue me in?" my voice was getting louder with each new question I threw at him. He just sat there calmly, taking every accusation, not once backing down from his cool and calm position against my anger filled one.
"Nikki, you need to listen, I didn't tell you because I thought it would protect you more. I have made many enemies during my lifetime and if they ever, ever found out I had a niece, I'm not even going to explain to you the things that could happen to you should they know you had prior knowledge to our blood relations" I just sat numbly, praying to whatever spirit guide or whatever that was watching over me make this go away, but I knew it wouldn't, because life's a bitch and her sister karma is a whore(4)
Captain Renard stood and walked over to where I was sitting before kneeling before me, I looked up, surprised when he gently ran his thumb under my eyes, he continued to wipe my tears away before giving me a soft, sad smile.
"Little One, I won't ask for forgiveness, but I will ask you to think this over, carefully. Would you like me to call Monroe?" I shook my head softly, somehow feeling better, he stood and offered me his hand. Timidly, I took it and was surprised at how easily he was able to lift me up, as if I didn't weigh anything.
"Alright, take the next few days off and try to think calmly and relax. But I expect you to come in refreshed and lighthearted on Monday alright?" he asked, his voice turning expectant, I looked up at him and gave him a small smile, I nodded. He gave me a smile a parent would give to their child, putting his hand on my shoulder he walked me out of his office.
Without looking back, I walked out of the station as confidently as I could, knowing I was going to be pestered nonstop by Hank and Monroe when I got home.
Sighing, I turned the T.V. off and headed upstairs to mine and Monroe's room. Crawling into bed, I felt my fiancée's well muscled arms wrap around my waist and pull me so my back was pressed to his chest, he buried his face in the crook of my neck,
"Finally you come up, I thought I was going to have to go down there and get you" he growled lightly. Chuckling lightly, I turned in his arms and nuzzled closer as possible to him, relishing his warmth and love.
"I was just thinking" I whispered, he held me tighter and pulled the blankets over us,
"Well, stop thinking and sleep. We've got the next few days to ourselves and I won't let anything ruin our time together" I grinned and did as he commanded, after all, I've got till Monday.
1-Underneath the Underneath was an expression Kakashi used from the anime Naruto as part of the bell test in the beginning of the series.
2- In the anime Full Metal Alchemist, there is a scene where a man named Dr. Marcoh tells Ed that what he will discover is only the Truth behind Truths.
3- Lassie is the nickname Shawn and Gus call Detective Lassiter from the show Psych.
4-This was a request by DragoonShana. I'm sorry it took me so long to make this request! I got sidetracked, like I normally do with every day things, and then when I did I didn't know what to write and somehow this came out. I hope it's up to your satisfaction. I haven't written a Grimm FF in awhile so I don't know if I made any of the character's OOC from how I normally write. Anyways, Please review because what is the point of writing and posting these stories/oneshots if I don't hear what you guys have to say? Please though, no hate mail because I will not respond to it, just so you know. If you do respond nicely I will give you all virtual pineapple shortcake! ^.^