Nick had never thought he would engage in helping to kidnap a child. True he was rescuing her from a ruthless man who saw the baby as a means to an end, but while Renard had always intended them to steal the baby back he had technically given her to Victor and that made what they had done illegal. Or did it? Nick wasn't actually sure anymore. The fact they had done all of this without Adalind's knowledge or consent was definitely illegal though. And more significantly it was immoral too.
Nick had never thought he would want to put a newborn in the arms of a violent woman who had personally tried to kill him, and his aunt, had poisoned two of his friends, and left his girlfriend in a coma.
Nick had never thought he would empathize with Adalind Schade, but here he was doing just that.
She had looked so broken when she realized the baby was gone. Even more than when he had taken her powers. The entire experience left him queasy. He hoped they had made the right decision, but he kept wondering if listening to Renard was the right thing to do…
Nick was trying to relax with Juliette at home. The past few days had been wild and disturbing. The Grimm felt he had to find some way to settle his emotions. Grabbing some wine the detective sat down on the couch as his girlfriend approached sitting next to him and having him pour her a glass.
"I'm not sure I should be saying this but I actually feel sorry for her." Juliette mused, swirling the wine in her glass. Clearly Juliette's mind was on the same thing as his. "Adalind?" he asked even though he knew who his girlfriend was talking about. "I don't have a problem with you feeling sorry for her. I feel sorry for her. I feel like crap about this whole thing in fact." He sighed and added, "I'm not entirely sure she'd make a great mother though." Juliette nodded emphatically, "Definitely! I can't see her as a nurturer. She'd be an awful mother!"
But Nick wasn't so confident. Sure, he had said it, but it was at least partially an attempt to assuage his own guilt. He didn't have any reason to believe Adalind would make a good mother. But honestly, he had no objective reason to believe she would make a bad one either. And it wasn't his place to determine it either. The fact that while Juliette felt pity for the witch but seemed to be unbothered by their actions left him a little troubled. But the Grimm supposed the redhead had plenty of reason for her animosity.
'"I wonder where they are." Who they were needed no clarification. Using a drink of wine to clear the lump in his throat Nick engaged the vet in conversation regarding where his mother and the baby were and what they would do, probably move around constantly so no one could determine their location. Similarly to his own childhood with his aunt Marie.
"Nick," Juliette commented. "This baby isn't going to be anything like you."
"This baby isn't going to be like anybody."
Juliette began to ask if Adalind's baby was truly as exceptional as his mother believed, but before he could think of a reply there was a knock on the door. Juliette began to rise but Nick stopped her, needing to get up and do something, even if it was just answering the door.
He rather wished he hadn't when he looked through the window to find Adalind on the other side. His girlfriend asked who it was only to express surprise at their visitor's identity. Nick, however, was not surprised. He hadn't anticipated the hexenbiest coming to them for help but somehow it felt inevitable as soon as he saw her there.
Although he was somewhat impressed she had the bravery to come to him after everything they had put each other through. The Grimm supposed the aid they had given her, however reluctant, went a long way toward gaining her trust. Or maybe she simply had nowhere else to turn.
Clearly apprehensive the witch still quickly asked the Grimm and his girlfriend for help. Insisting Renard had given the baby to Victor and she needed them to help her get her daughter back.
With each word Nick's unease grew. Previous interactions with this woman had not left him with a good, or even a mildly bad impression of her. He had no reason to believe she would be a good mother either; he could simply dismiss her reaction as fury her daughter/bargaining chip had been stolen from her too.
Yet…yet he couldn't help but cringe.
Adalind was frantic. She was close to loosing it completely. She spoke so fast it was hard to make out her words, as if each second spent on speaking was another second not being used to find the child and therefore had to be eliminated.
She insisted she didn't care that his mother had killed hers, that he needed to get his mother out of jail so she could assist in finding the baby. Saying over and over and over how she needed to find her baby.
When he told her the police had released his mother (of course they had, the whole thing had been a set up) Adalind only showed excitement and hope.
"Is she here?" the new mother spun around the room as if expecting to suddenly see Kelly Burkhardt materialize. "I have to talk to her!"
Instead of the elder Grimm spontaneously appearing Juliette, rather harshly threw out, "She left."
"What? No! When?"
"Right after they let her go," Nick softly said. He walked closer to Adalind "She didn't want to stick around considering what had happened."
Looking at his (former?) nemesis face crumple the Grimm once again felt that spike of guilt lance his heart. She weakly murmured "Oh…ok." Before attempting to rally once more, "then you have to get her back. She'll help me."
Attempting to end the whole encounter Nick firmly told her "Adalind there's one thing you have to understand about my mom, when she leaves she's gone."
"Then you have to find her!"
"She doesn't tell anyone where she goes. And she's really good at not being found." Nick really hoped she would give up and leave. The guilt was gnawing away at him and her desperation only made it worse; the guilt combined with his antipathy toward the woman was quickly making him angry. Nick didn't like the reservations in his gut and could feel himself beginning to lash out. But he knew no matter how evil this hexenbiest could be she didn't deserve that. Not now.
Of course the hexenbiest didn't let the matter go and only demanded he help her instead.
Compassion in her voice Juliette tried to diffuse the situation by softly reminding Adalind the royals wouldn't keep the baby in Portland now that they had her.
But Adalind wasn't about to respond to any sympathy. Woging she screamed out "I'm not giving up my baby!"
Now it was Nick's turn to try to calm the witch down. He moved between Adalind and his girlfriend, who had jumped back frightened at the sight of the hexenbiest's decaying visage. "There's nothing we can do Adalind." He stated.
"Well I'm not doing nothing!"
The new mother made to storm out of the house. Nick studied her retreating back. At first all he could see was her fury, but then a small tremor in her shoulders, no doubt from holding back a sob, met his eyes.
It was too much.
"Wait! Adalind wait!"
Both women turned to him with identical expressions of confusion. It might have been funny under other circumstances. He was surprised Juliette didn't realize what he was doing though. He had fought long and hard with Renard regarding the modified plan.
Adalind walked back toward him uncertainty in every muscle while she unsuccessfully attempted to keep her face blank despite the renewed hope sparking in her blue eyes. Nick knew then he was doing the right thing.
"Victor doesn't have your baby."
"What?" she appeared genuinely stuptified.
The Grimm sighed, running a hand threw his hair and glanced at Juliette for support. Instead seeing the exact opposite on her face momentarily threw him.
"Please…whatever you know…please please tell me." Adalind's voice, full of tremors and despair, cut through his shock at Juliette's disapproval.
Nick took a deep breath, looking his erstwhile foe in the eye. "We disguised ourselves as the resistance and took her from Victor before he could leave the country. My mother has her now. She'll be able to go into hiding with the baby with no one the wiser."
"Does Sean know about this?" Adalind asked in a small voice. Nick internally winced once again. The betrayal on her face clear; no doubt she would rather believe Renard capable of handing over the child without her consent for all of their safety than purposely lying and manipulating her again.
"It was his idea. Sort of."
Fury returning to her countenance the witch stalked forward "What do you mean it was sort of his idea?"
Now that he had committed to this course of action Nick's own anger and frustration had melted from his body and he did not react to the possible threat despite Juliette stiffening next to him with every movement the blonde made. However, Nick knew her anger wasn't directed at them now.
Taking a breath to begin explaining the plan Juliette instead jumped in, "Adalind, I need to talk to Nick for a moment."
Nick thought the other woman must be too shocked at Juliette's action to respond, he only let himself be dragged away by the redhead due to his own surprise.
"What are you thinking telling her this?" the woman demanded in an angry whisper. "Telling her will only make things worse and put us in danger! Who knows how she will retaliate now!"
"How she'll retaliate now? Why would she retaliate against us now? If she found out and we did not tell her, then she would retaliate against us. Or perhaps if she was manipulated into thinking it was the only way to get the baby back and she remains as desperate as she seems now. Or even if we didn't help her with what she thinks is the truth. But telling her? No she won't retaliate now. I've dealt with Adalind for a few years by this point and I've learned a bit about who she is. And she is someone who holds grudges yes, but not without reason. And telling her what we know, will not make her retaliate against us.
"Besides she deserves to know. And my mother can take care of herself against one hexenbiest; it would take a small army to bring her down! And mom thought the baby would need help from a hexenbiest to learn how to deal with her powers as she grows up anyway."
Before Juliette could say anything else, and Nick honestly did not know if whatever she might say would be pro or con his current course, he walked back to the agitated blonde and began to explain.
"When we began realizing just how powerful your baby would be, how special she was we all knew we had to do something to keep her safe from the royals, and my mother and Rosalee, who know the most about the resistance thought she would be better away from them too. Away from all of the different pressures these groups would put on her. Raised in a loving environment to be herself, so she could choose who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do with her powers when she grew up. My mother is convinced if she continues to be fought over and raised only with an eye toward her powers she will let them consume her, and not learn how to be a person first before a weapon. That she will use her powers for everything and not think about the consequences, how they affect others, how they affect her, or who she could be even if she didn't have powers."
Nick saw that last point really hit home with Adalind as she winced when he said the baby needed to know who she would be without her powers. The re-powered witch truly seemed to understand their reasoning and be fully contemplating her daughter's future, perhaps for the first time.
"Okay," the new mother replied. "I get all of that, I agree with all of that, but why take her away from me?"
Nick took a deep breath and began, "Because the royals would be looking at, and for, you. The baby is a baby, no really knows what she looks like, and my mother is virtually unknown to these people, with plenty of experience in hiding. And like I said she's really good at not being found."
Adalind nodded, wetted her lips, and spoke again, seeming to be struggling to remain composed. "I can understand that too. I still think I could find a way to be with them, maybe not right away, but later." Here the woman started to become distressed yet again. "And how can your mother teach my baby to use her powers responsibly if she can't teach them at all. A vague idea from Grimm books and fighting other hexenbiests could not prepare her to instruct Diana in her developing powers!" the blonde witch seemed momentarily overtaken by her emotions, her voice picking up again and waving her hands wildly through the air before she calmed down and addressed the detective once more. "You still haven't told me how this is Sean's sort of idea either."
Nick carefully filed the baby, Diana's, name away. To give himself a moment before he betrayed Renard's trust. He was becoming more and more convinced the captain's plan was wrong and he was still more than a little uncertain of the half Zauberbiest, having plenty of reasons to doubt the man. Yet, the fact remained he was still betraying him. And it did not sit well with the detective.
"Nick how was this Sean's idea?" Adalind stalked toward him causing Juliette to move as though she would strike out at the blonde if she moved again. Nick subtly shifted to separate the women again and attempted to answer.
"Well…"
"Well what?" Adalind spat. Juliette jumped a little but Nick remained cool.
Adalind was livid but desperate too, the Grimm felt much of his unease with revealing the captain's secret wash away.
"The original plan my mother came up with was to take the baby, you said Diana right? She was going to take Diana to a safe location and contact you, through me, several months later. She knew the royals would be looking at you so she thought you could put on a show. Pleading with them, trying to bargain to get your daughter back, looking for her frantically. That sort of thing. It would divert some of their attention; help to lead their investigations in the wrong place and it would make them more certain the resistance had her. After time had passed you could disappear, rendezvous with my mother and the royals none the wiser. The two of you would raise the baby and the royals none the wiser."
Adalind's small voice escaped her, "and Sean?"
Nick once again took a soothing breath before speaking. "Renard did not think you should be included in the plans, not right away, not at all. He said you would not be capable of acting well enough to fool the royals that you were missing your daughter for one thing. For another he did not believe any amount of arguments would convince you and we were running out of time. And he did not think you…well…he didn't think you…"
"It's okay, he didn't think I should be the one raising her did he? He thought I wasn't suitable."
"No he didn't. He said you were unstable." The once again guilt filled man stated.
Now it was Adalind's turn to sigh. She still looked so defeated. "And none of you have ever had any reason to think otherwise."
"No." Nick knew the statement was rhetorical and he did not want to cause her more pain but for some reason it came out. Not as an accusation though. More like an explanation. A plea for forgiveness.
The blonde shook her hair and looked back up at Nick. "I suppose no one remembers that I was working for Sean initially? That he manipulated me, even coerced me and my mother into doing his dirty work? That he was the one who ordered me to kill your aunt, and later hired assassins to kill her after removing police protection? To seduce Hank, even telling me to use the obsession spell when he didn't respond to normal seduction, Yes, I'll admit that when Sean kicked me to the curb I went more than a little overboard in my revenge. And I involved innocents—" here the hexenbiest turned to look at an irate Juliette "and I'll never be able to make up for that no matter how much I regret it, and I do, now more than ever. All I wanted was for the man I loved to reciprocate. And when he did not I wanted to hurt him. I thought that the obsession I created with that spell would mean he would never gain your trust and all of his work, my work, over the past year would be gone.
"But Sean gets a free pass! And I loose my daughter because her father couldn't care less about me, or her. He could keep her under his purview to be called upon when he wants and once again I was useless. Never mind what I feel about her. I don't matter. Diana doesn't matter to him either!"
Adalind was sobbing now, she sank to her knees and briefly woged. Nick didn't even experience his customary revulsion upon seeing the hexenbiest form, he only saw a grieving mother who had been misjudged.
She had collapsed in on herself. Shaking and clutching her legs, rocking and crying. The woman looked so small. He knew she was physically petite, but this was a different kind of smallness. Adalind looked like she had lost all of herself.
"I'm sorry Adalind. You're right, we should never have agreed to it without your consent. No matter our history it was wrong."
She nodded a little but continued sobbing. Juliette's antipathy seemed to fade and she went and grabbed a box of tissues for the other woman. As Adalind regained control of herself she sniffled, "I should never have gone to Sean for help. I should never have thought Diana would change anything for him. I hoped we could be a family. That he could love us both. But all Diana was to him was another chess piece on the board in his power games with his family. He doesn't care about the royals versus the resistance; all he cares about is getting the most power and maybe revenge on his family. I should have known that just like the rest of the royals he would only see our baby as a source of power for her position as a royal heir and any possible abilities she might inherit. Not as his child. I never should have gone to him." The last was a whisper. So small did she seem ever her voice lost it's power.
Juliette looked at Adalind with sympathy once again. "Did you try to get pregnant by him because a part of you wanted him to love you and your baby?"
Adalind looked up at Juliette in surprise. She clearly had never analyzed her decision so deeply before. But a thoughtful look overtook her face and she gave a small nod.
"Maybe you're right." A new determination settled on her face then and she stood up looking steadfast on her feet. "You might be right, but I'm not going to fall for it again. Sean doesn't care about anyone but himself, and maybe his mother, he doesn't even care about his daughter. He never made any mention of any contact with her himself did he?" Nick was momentarily startled at the abrupt attention Adalind sent his way but nodded. "No, Renard never gave any indication he had any interest in hearing from or about your daughter." Adalind nodded to herself again. "No he wouldn't. Well, I wont fall into that trap again! I'm done with Sean Renard. I'll do what your mother suggested. I'll put on a show for the ages. The royals will truly think I am looking for Diana. And I'll make sure to make the man who betrayed us life hell!"
She squared her shoulders and locked gazes with Nick. "Thank you for telling me the truth. I'll do what I can to stick around while I'm playing my role.
"Please let Kelly know I'm in on the plan and would like to make arrangements to meet her when my performance is complete.
"I can never repay you. You've given me my baby back. And my self too I think. If you ever need help, just ask I'll be there."
Nick should have been astonished by the offer, but somehow he knew the pieces had shifted irrevocably. He had no idea what Adalind Schade might become to him in the future, but now she was not, and would never be again, his enemy.
"I'll remember that. And Adalind, know, the same goes for you too."
The hexenbiest smiled at him then. A true unaffected smile. A smile that left the Grimm with no doubt he had done the right thing before she turned on her heel and walked out the door.
Before she could get far Nick found his tongue repeating his earlier words.
"Wait! Adalind wait!"
She stopped and met his eyes.
"Good luck."
Adalind offered a final nod of understanding and strode away.
Nick watched at the door as her figure became smaller but now there was no defeat in that smallness, but power instead.
Things were different now.