The first time Monroe was approached by a Bauerschwein, it was bright and sunny and in his own yard. The man said Monroe would pay if he didn't stop what he was doing, Monroe punched him in the mouth and warned him not to come back, and that was that. He hadn't stopped to ask what the warning was about. He didn't care what they thought he was doing wrong, he just cared about them staying away from him and Nick. The second time wasn't quite as simple.

It all happened far too fast for him to be able to really tell the story of what went on. Monroe had simply been walking downtown, enjoying the warm weather and grabbing a cup of coffee, when he was attacked and everything blurred together.

There were shouts and guns pressed to his back and hands pushing and pulling him into an alley and down a manhole. A sewer. He had been dragged into a god damn sewer, like something out of a horror movie. He hit the ground hard with a groan of pain, immediately trying to get his feet and figure out what was going on.

At least half a dozen, maybe more, men were surrounding him, all Bauerschwein. He hadn't noticed at first, being taken by surprise like that, but he could smell it now, although all of their faces were hidden behind ski masks.

"What's going on?" Monroe yelled over the noise, holding his hands out in defense.

"Don't think we don't know what you've done!" One of them snapped.

"Associating with a Grimm!" Another explained.

"Does he know what you are?", "Are you using him to go after us?", and other such questions filled the air before the Bauerschwein who seemed to be in charge yelled for silence.

"Listen, there must be some kind of misunderstanding here, I have no idea what you're all talking about." Monroe would never deny knowing Nick to a normal person, he was head over heels for the guy and always willing to talk about it, but to a group of Bauerschwein who were always looking to take down a Blutbad, he could lie.

"Don't play dumb with me. You let that scumbag sleep in your bed," the apparent ringleader hissed with absolute disgust.

Monroe lashed out at that, fully woged before he even reached the first Bauerschwein. He went for the man's throat, not even thinking about the fact that he was the smallest of the group and probably rather young. He felt flesh against his teeth and then he was yanked backwards, thrown onto the ground again.

Monroe could easily win a fight against one Bauerschwein, maybe two, but six? He didn't stand a chance. They were all on him at once, punching and kicking every inch of his body as they yelled all kinds of insults and profanity; not only towards him, but towards Nick as well. Monroe tried to protect himself but there was nothing he could do, lying on the ground unprotected. Even when he tried to block their blows, they had no problem hitting his arms just as hard as they would hit anything else. One of them kicked him straight in the mouth, filling it with blood as he groaned in pain and tried desperately to roll over. Monroe was in so much pain that he didn't think he could handle any more, when the guns were pulled on him again. He heard the shots and felt a sharp pain in multiple spots on his abdomen.

"You've earned this for what you've done." Finally, thankfully, they all stopped hitting him, and climbed back up the manhole into the alley above.

Once he was alone, Monroe frantically ran his hands down his front to find where the bullets had entered him: one in his stomach and two in his chest. His labored breathing wasn't quite painful yet, but it was certainly uncomfortable. Due to the pressure in his head, the faint thump of his heart, and the blood flowing steadily out of him, Monroe figured he didn't have much time. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his phone, which had somehow avoided the bullets. He should have called 911, he knew that, there was still a chance to be saved, but he didn't. Instead he dialed Nick's cell phone number.

"Hey baby, what's up?" Nick answered after the third ring. 'Baby' certainly wasn't Monroe's favorite pet name, but he wasn't going to complain like he did other times.

"Nick," Monroe responded quietly as a test of his voice, not sure that it would even work.

"Are you okay?"

"I...yeah. Yeah, everything's fine. Just calling to see how your day's going."

"t's going alright. We're slow at work, so Hank and I are just hanging out right now. He says hi, by the way." Hank raised an eyebrow sarcastically at Nick, as he hadn't really said anything at all.

"As long as you're enjoying your time." Monroe held the phone away from his mouth for a second, letting out one of the first shaky breaths that actually caused him pain.

"Hey, I get off in a few hours, what do you want for dinner? I can just pick something up on my way home and we can watch a movie or something. Does Chinese sound good to you?"

"That sounds great, Nick."

"I can't wait to see you tonight. It feels like he haven't really been together in a long time."

"Yeah, I-I know, I miss being with you like that," Monroe replied when he realized that Nick was talking about sleeping together. No wonder he wanted to have an easy dinner.

"Well when I finish up here, I'm all yours," Nick said with a smile.

"I can't wait. Listen, Nick, I've gotta go. But I love you, okay? I love you so much." Monroe pressed one hand to the holes in his chest, the pain increasing immensely with every second.

"I love you too. Are you sure everything's alright?"

"Absolutely. I love you."

"I love you...see you in a little while."

Nick hung up his phone, which was the only way it was ended on Monroe's end; he wasn't strong enough to hang up. Once Nick was gone he started shaking, tears streaming down his face as he fought for air through lungs filling with blood. His heart was hardly beating and the pain was too much as he cried "Nick, Nick", with every last ounce of his being.

The second time he was approached by Bauerschwein, a light rain was falling from the sky. They didn't leave space for a third.