A Grimm History

Tag to S2E21 The Waking Dead

Bit of a missing scene/speculation as to the history behind Grimms. I figured since Juliette was asking about Nick being Wesen that maybe she would ask more about what a Grimm is/does and that might set everyone around thinking. Inspired by Grimm, obviously, and by LittleBounce's work "A Life Less Grimm". Begins after Juliette has suggested they all have a drink after she has seen them all woge. Picks up at the end with the EPISODE dialogue and would thus continue as normal episode from there. A HUGE giant wonderful thank you to LittleBounce for the great beta as well. Any remaining mistakes are mine.

A GRIMM HISTORY

Rosalee poured the whiskey into each of the glasses as the four in the Spice Shop settled their nerves. They stood in silence for a while, just letting the day's events sink in. The golden light of the shop felt cozy despite all that had happened. Juliette was still a bit wide-eyed and confused but radiated strength. Bud continued muttering to himself about how he had never woged completely in front of a human by accident, wringing his hands like it was the only thing keeping him tethered to sanity.

"So, how are you doing? Still ok?" Monroe asked Juliette.

"I'm not sure. I think so. It's just, I'm still confused a bit about Nick's whole Grimm thing. I mean…he wasn't like that when we first met, and you said he's not Wesen and you know he's a Grimm, and…we haven't really discussed that part yet…" her voice trailed off.

"We don't know anything. I mean, not really. Shouldn't we…, he wouldn't…, Bud pleaded; he was almost hyperventilating yet again at the thought of giving Juliette a Wesen point of view on Grimms. "I think…, confrontation isn't my strong point and if he knew what we said to her before HE'D said something to her, at least, what she wants us to say to her about him, and besides we don't really know because it's the first Grimm in a long time. Think about it guys!" The idea of a woge in front of her had been more than he'd been willing to deal with, this was just over the edge and it showed. His face was flushed a bit red and his hand clenched his glass while he paced back and forth, gesturing wildly with his free arm.

"Bud, calm down!" Rosalee leaned on the shop's counter, carefully avoiding knocking over the receipts, books, and other odds and ends still resting on it. They had interrupted her during regular business hours and the shop was a bit cluttered. "Juliette, it's true, we aren't exactly experts on Grimms, they are pretty rare compared to Wesen in general-, although there are some rare species of Wesen-, but we can tell you what we've heard and what we know now from Nick." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts and took another sip of her drink before proceeding, the strong liquid burning down her throat and into her stomach, fortifying her nerve. "There have been rumors that Grimms inherit their abilities when a family member dies, that their gaze instantly makes a Wesen relive their worst moments in life, that they communicate psychically with one another to help each other in the hunt for Wesen…, but these are all just legends without anything to back them up and since not many Grimms were ever really around…"

Monroe picked up the thread, "They became fact mixed with fantasy. Now that I think about it, the Grimms probably encouraged all the rumors and stories. I mean, the Grimms are like OUR bogeyman. Stay away or else they'll chop off your head!" He grinned sheepishly, "Until I met Nick, I believed them. I mean, not completely, I wasn't like running in terror from him but I did figure since his Aunt was in a coma that was why he was suddenly seeing Blutbaden and Hexenbiest. Now we know from Nick that they inherit it all and they never know who will get the sight and who won't or when it will even strike."

"I think I'm gonna need another drink." Bud looked into his already drained glass and tipped the final dregs into his mouth.

"But how do you know he's a Grimm?" she questioned further, her eyes probing the trio in front of her, eyeing them carefully as if waiting to see if their appearance changed at all again. It was fascinating and a bit terrifying, but she knew she had to stay strong, she'd wanted this, after all. Nick had wanted this for her.

Bud's eyes grew more desperate as he shoved the empty glass under the Fuchsbau's nose, hand shaking slightly. "Yep, definitely going to need that drink, Rosalee!"

She laughed a bit and poured the Eisbiber a bit more, putting her hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, Bud. Nick'll be all right with this and Juliette is fine. The questions are a good thing."

"If you say so." He shrugged and turned his gaze back to the human in front of him, who was practically trying to drag the information out of them, her face determined.

"Well?" Juliette pressed further and Monroe winced a bit because he knew the most about Nick, having known him for the longest as a Grimm.

"Ok, ok, there are a few…things…that Wesen can do to know that a Grimm is a Grimm and not just a, you know, normal human. I don't think we've really made it clear but Nick can see us when we DON'T want to be seen- the small woges that come with intense emotions, not the ones we just did for you so you could see. So, when we see that he can see, just that slightest look in his eyes, that's pretty much the most obvious way. And let me tell you, it's a pretty scary experience!" He thought back to when he'd first sighted the Grimm almost two years ago now, standing outside of his mailbox scenting the air. Then, later, confirming it by busting out of his window and startling the newbie looking for answers. "The other bit, and I really haven't mentioned this to Nick, but- well, he's never asked, mind you so it's not like I've really kept it from him—but…, we can smell them."

"Smell them?" Juliette asked faintly, considering all that she had been told today, this really didn't register high on her radar as weird, at least, not anymore. She thought she now officially had a new definition of weird. This is crazy! They SMELL Grimms? You've already accepted Wesen and Grimms, why is smelling so weird? You're a vet! Lots of animals smell things that people can't.

"Well, all people have a scent which is their own and connected to their biology and DNA and this scent is based on their particular combination of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins and Wesen notice them even better than humans so we can tell…"

"Rosalee," Monroe interrupted, "I love it when you talk all science-y but I think that she just needs to know that Grimms smell different. But since they're so rare, a lot of us don't know that's what we're smelling. Until we see that he sees us, anyway. Then it's sorta major freak out time."

She smiled bravely, thinking for a moment that she was going to regret requesting this, "Umm, I can't believe I'm going to ask," the red-head twisted her fingers together before diving right in, "what's it smell like?"

Bud moaned a bit and started rocking back and forth on his heels, seemingly overwhelmed by her barrage of questions, wogeing a bit, unbeknownst to Juliette. When she didn't respond he smiled a bit to himself, happy that at least NOW he had some control back over his woge.

"It's not exactly pleasant, let me tell you. Although, I remember this one time at our family reunion my great, great Uncle on my mother's side decided to bring a bunch of dead eichhörnchen schwänze as a necklace. That was pretty bad too." Monroe chuckled at the memory until Rosalee's dark stare caught his eye and he remembered he'd quieted her lesson in scents and his smile faltered a bit. He cleared his throat, "Ahm, but that's not important. Basically it's a pretty even mix of rage, fear, and dominance."

"Sounds, um, unpleasant and intimidating."

"Yeah, the whole thing's pretty intense. That's why I was in a hurry to leave you guys' house that time when I was working on the fridge. It's not every day that you see a Grimm. Well, I suppose you DO see a Grimm every day since you live with him. But then you didn't know he was a Grimm. And now we see a Grimm a lot because we're friends with him and we know he's a Grimm but normally, you wouldn't. I mean, I went my whole LIFE without seeing one and didn't think they existed anymore. Which they do, because he's here, but he wasn't before so I didn't know. Anyway, I had to leave your home because I thought he was gonna decapitate me and when I told my buddies they didn't believe me that there really was a Grimm. But there was. And now you know." Bud let out a gasp of air and rubbed his hand through his receding hairline, having delivered his whole little speech in one rambling run on sentence and was still shocked that he'd talked at all.

Juliette smiled warmly at all her new and unusual friends. She was starting to feel lucky to be a part of all this and knew that even though the world was a lot more complex then she'd known, it was still a world with caring people. Correction, she thought, with caring Wesen. "You know, I have to thank you guys for doing this. I know it's not easy for you to trust me with all this, but Nick knew that the only way I could believe was to have it explained and to actually see it. I can't believe how long I pushed him away without my memories so I'd like to… make it up to him. Find out everything so he doesn't have to play the patient teacher with me regarding his, well, 'heritage', I guess you'd call it. So…I'd like to learn more about what Nick can do and where his family…ability…comes from, so I think we should go to the trailer and read up, tell fact from fantasy, like you said before, Monroe."

The Spice Shop was quiet as this bombshell dropped into the room. Luckily Bud was by a bookshelf because he went from green to pale to completely white and dropped onto it as if all his strength had been taken from him, head bowed down. He'd never been to Nick's "Grimm" trailer, although he knew about it from Monroe and Rosalee and even Nick himself.

"Uhh, are you sure that's what you want to do? We sorta dropped a lot on you as it is, anymore and your head might explode," Monroe went to go lean on the counter next to Rosalee and kept missing it until he looked down and carefully placed his sweatered elbow on the wooden surface.

"We can wait a bit, since Bud looks like he's going to pass out at any moment anyway, but soon. I don't want to be the last person to know things. I'm not being left out of it now. Thanks again, guys. I'll call you soon, ok?" She smiled, a bit wobbly, unsure of what to say then walked quickly out of the Spice Shop, leaving the Wesen a bit perplexed as to what to do next.

"Call Nick?" Monroe asked, looking at Rosalee, eyebrows raised.

She nodded. "Call Nick."

Monroe dialed and heard Nick answer, "Monroe."

"Busy?"

"Trailer," came the terse response.

"Isn't that apropos. Hey uh, do you have time to stop by the Spice Shop? We have something sorta important to go over with you."

"I'm with Hank." The unasked question hung in the air.

"All the better."

"Alright, we'll be there as soon as we're done here."

"Ok, we'll…see you then."