"Juliette! Have you seen that big spoon? I can't find it! The spaghetti is almost ready!"
"I don't know, maybe in the sink? I used it for the sausage!" She answered loudly from the dining room, not that I needed the loudly part, since a lot had changed since the zombie's night, but… well old habits die hard. I turned around to look for the damn spoon in the sink, finally finding it under a pan when someone nocked in the door several times.
"I got it! Are we waiting for somebody?"
"Not that I know of!" I raised a brow for the question, mystery visitors, nhummy delicious right before dinner! I rolled my eyes when I heard the door open and a pair of loud steps filled my ears.
"Ham… May I ask who are you?" I turned off the fire of the spaghetti and reached the hall in a few seconds, two women were standing right in the middle of the room obliviously both damp with rain water, I just let my mouth open slightly when the woman finally took off the hood.
"Mom?" She smiled softly.
"Your mom? Kelly! It's a pleasure to finally meet you!" Juliette jumped a little with a big smile.
"Juliette, it's great to see that you are wake." Turning to me she smiles and fix a lock behind my ear. "Nickie you look beautiful!" I hugged her before looking who was the other person, my eyes wide with realization.
"Crap!" Adalind looked at me wide eyed.
"You brought Adalind here?" I raised my voice looking to the blonde woman, Juliette tried to jump her right away, for what I managed to hold her, looking to the baby in Adalind's arms.
"Adalind? The Hexenbiest that put Juliette in a coma? I had no idea they were the same person! Tavitian called me to take her and the child out of Europe safe! I didn't have time to get names! I would never bring her here if I knew Nick! You know that!" My mom tried softly to calm me down, what really worked for once, and started pacing around the room.
"She is going to kill me!" Adalind yelled from across the room still looking like a deer cough in the lights, I frowned at her.
"Yea! I'm gonna kill you, and hide the baby in a shoe box!" I crossed my arms "Because that sound perfect!"
She got a little red in the cheeks even if she still was kind of pissed, just when Adalind was going to talk, the lights and the whole house started to shake, even the spoon in the table and a pair of portraits were affected.
"And that was the baby"
I looked to my mom with disbelief and then turned to Adalind who was looking concerned to the baby in her arms.
"She's is hungry, I didn't have the chance to feed her." She moved the baby around in the blanket and I couldn't resist than to help her, that is it Nick, don't need to trust, but still a baby is in the middle.
"She is cold, the blanket is wet." I looked to Juliette and she nodded right away, I turned again to Adalind and walked right to her (and she took a step back holding the baby to her chest). " Oh please, it's a baby, I would never hurt a baby! Listen to me, you are going to do what I say, I don't like you and I don't trust you, but you have I child that depends on you, and is going to get sick if she don't get warmed up right now." I turned my back to her and headed to the stairs.
"Follow me." And then I left leaving the three women behind and going to Juliette's bathroom, breathing hard I looked myself in the mirror watching my black curls fall softly on my shoulders and my own greyish eyes staring back, deep in though I didn't hear Adalind getting in the bedroom.
"Why are you helping me?" I turned my eyes to her in the mirror and turned to look at her, turning the warm water of the shower on in the bath I said softly, smiling a little.
"Because you have a baby," seeing her disbelief I continued, "and no baby should be without their mother at such a young age" reaching my arms to her I took the baby carefully, resting her in the bed I started unwrapping her from the cold blanket and taking the now wet clothes off the baby. "How old is she?"
Adalind tensed a little when I looked at her. "I-I'm not sure, ten days probably"
I nodded a bit taking the small smart baby to the bathroom with Adalind in my back, when I put her in the warm water of the tub, which had only little water, the lights turned blue for a moment before the baby smiled at me moving her legs in the water happily.
"She is very smart," Adalind smiled a little from the corner of my eyes, looking proud of her baby "Does she have a name?" Adalind stayed quiet for a while watching me quickly give the girl a shower before wrapping the still smiling girl in a towel and heading to the bed, where a fluffy onesie, fortunately dry and warm, sat on the bed.
"N-no, there were too many trying to kill us, that I didn't have the time to think about it" she answered when I finished, I nodded.
"I know how that is," she looked at me without understanding. "Can you hand me that blanket?" she turned around to get the pretty green blanket, and I smiled back at the girl in my arms, which was still smiling at me, Adalind put the green thing in the bed with practice, and I laid the baby in the middle of the thing quickly wrapping the baby and reaching her to Adalind.
"Feed her, before she gets upset again" I turned around and went down stairs, looking for my mom with a pout. "Really mom?" she just smiled and hugged me.
"I'm sorry Nickie, but I had nowhere to go, we weren't heading here before, but someone discovered where we were and it was the only safe place I could think, the royals cannot get to that baby, nor the resistance, depending in how she is raised she can do great things, for good or bad depends only on how they raise her, look at you, can you imagine if we had raised you how Marie and I were raised?" I hugged my mom again smiling at her, with gratitude.
"I know mom, and I thank you, Aunt Marie and Dad for doing everything you both could for me, and for who I am now.. " with a loud sound all the windows and the door opened hitting the frames hardly.
"Adalind." We said in a hurry, before my mom and I started to run to the bedroom, with Juliette right behind us.
"She left her baby! What kind of mother is she?!" Juliette yelled reaching for the baby in the bed turning around with the child in her arms, I put my head out of the window seeing nothing. "Ahn.. Nick." I looked to Juliette which was currently holding a pillow. "oh"
"Well for that I wasn't waiting" my mom said merrily, I looked at her frowning.
"Where would she go?" Juliette asked now behind us while we headed down stairs.
"The truck!"
I hugged Juliette kissing her cheeks and tying my hair in a ponytail, grabbing my coat I waved to her. "See you tomorrow Julie!"
"Good luck Nick!... And Kelly" She screamed from the door frame my mom waved and lead me to where the truck was parked.
"So, you stole a car in Oregon? Did you kill the driver?" my mom shoot me a dirty look.
"Why I would do that? Of course not."
"Just checking, then it must have been stated to the PD" I said. " But it still would take too long to find her."
"Well the Lauffer said she used to work to some Renardi… Reynard or something."
"Sean Renard?" I said, my mouth dry and my eyes getting subtly wet.
"Yes! Do you know him?" I nodded.
"Yes, he is my Captain." My mom looked at me with wide eyes.
"Oh" She squinted a little. "But there is something else, isn't it?"
I swallowed and nodded.
"And he is my husband," she stopped to a halt looking at me with disbelief "and he is my child's father" her jaw dropped. "and he is the royal in Portland, and a Zauberbiest."
"Nicole! What were you thinking?! You are married to a wesen?" I cringed.
"What should I do? I love him!" she closed her eyes and breathed.
"And the key?" I continued walking to my car, mom right behind me.
"He got the key."
"And did you get it back?"
"He gave me it back… With a proposal ring, and told me what he was, I got so mad, you have no idea, I punched him in the face a couple of times, we fought I said I hate you some times… you know he looked so hurt, and I love him so much, and I just couldn't…"
"I understand, does he deserve all this trust?" she looked puzzled.
"Yes he does, and I'm pretty sure Adalind is heading there."
We didn't speak for the rest of the ride
Putting the baby in the crib after a bottle with full of milk enough to calm him for a few hours was the easiest part of the night, apparently, listening to his quiet breaths and puffs I turned around smiling, closing the door behind me, and heading to the living room, I picked a glass of whiskey in the table, and sat in front of the gigantic window, watching Portland and stroking a thumb in my wedding ring, lost in thoughts, finally getting some rest.
And, of course, that was the moment the concierge called.
"Sir, there is a woman here who want to talk to you, her name is Adalind Schade." I stopped to breath right away.
"Let her up" I said quietly, for a moment happy for Nick not being here tonight.
I looked around, and picking up the baby stuff that still was around from earlier I walked to the nursery checking the baby room and closing the window and the curtains, I left the room once again when the bell sound started.
"Adalind." She looked a little bit rough in the edges, with a bundle in her arms, something in my heart shrank. "How is she?" I asked still looking to the green blanket, Adalind passed by the door and into the apartment like she used to do.
"Better than I am." She joked turning to me looking satisfied, safe place, if he had to guess why. "Do you want to hold her?" Adalind reached the bundle to me carefully, and for the first time looking to the girl's face I smiled, feeling that tiny little thing taking the only part of my world that was left into her small hands, and felling the heartbeat against my hand. "Hey, say hi to your Daddy." Adalind giggled beside me watching the girl wave her hands around, with trained practice I rearranged her in one arm, stroking a finger by her face lightly.
Adalind headed to the kitchen opening the fridge with ease and starting to dig around.
"I'm starving" she started "haven't eat since this morning, telling the truth I haven't eaten well for a month, unless you count a rabbit on a stick"
"How was the birth? Was it difficult?" I asked remembering the despair that took place when my boy was born, how I though that I would lose… stopping the train of thought to which I was driving, I watched Adalind bite some of the cookies from the package.
"You mean besides I though I was going to explode and die? What do you think?" She bit the cheese in her hand again. "That is not the matter, what matters now is what we are going to do now."
I looked up at her with an arched brow.
"Well, the person who took me out of the Europe just happens to be Nicole's Burkhardt mom" my mouth fell open before I could school my face again. "And she took me to the Silverton and Nicole's house, which means that now I have two Grimm on my back, and a lot more of the Verrat, and Viktor. We had a couple of good times in that plane, don't get me wrong, but she is a Grimm and I'm a Hexenbiest, you know were that usually goes."
He just handed the sleppy baby back to Adalind.
"As long as you are here stay away from the windows the fewer people know about you being here the better." The baby cried and Adalind rocked her shushing the baby to sleep again. "How did you get here any way?"
"In a plane." Adalind snorted.
"I don't mean to Portland, I mean here, in my place."
"In a truck."
"And where did you get a truck?"
"Nick's mom stole it, when we landed. That is when she got me to Nick's place" he choose wisely not to correct that.
The bell rang trough the apartment and I closed my eyes hoping that it wasn't who I thought it was.
"Sir Mrs. Burkhardt is here, she is going up."
"Thank you for the warning, Alonzo"
"You're welcome, Sir."
"Nick is here?" Adalind panicked. "She is not alone!"
"Nick knows you are here, where else would you go? I can't keep her from coming up."
"If she tries to take my baby…"
"Our baby."
She started slowly again.
"If she tries to take our baby" she frowned "kill her."
The Zauberbiest roared angrily at the thought, pushing against his control, trying to get to Adalind, he felt the woge trying to emerge.
"I'm not killing anybody!" he roared at Adalind, who took a step back scared.