Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of this work of fiction, and no profit, monetary or otherwise, is being made through the writing of this.
A/N: Written in response to Adalind and Nick's kiss on, "Zerstroer Shrugged" and the desire to write something for the first day of NaNoWrimo's Summer Camp and to someone who asked for more Nick and Adalind. I don't write a lot of non-slash pairings, but I am partial to this one. This is short and drabbly.
It's the end of the world, and the only thing on Nick's mind is Adalind, which is both crazy and amazing at the same time. There was a time when he'd hated her, and, arguably he'd had every reason to hate her. She'd ruined the life that he'd had planned. She'd ruined a lot of things, a lot of lives, and, up until recently, she'd regretted none of it.
Some would call it Fate, what had happened to Nick's parents. Being orphaned. Becoming a cop. His aunt's death leading to his awakening as a Grimm. Juliette's transmogrification, leaving Eve in place of the woman who'd once held the key to Nick's heart. Adalind stealing that key and twisting it, like a knife, in Nick's heart. Everything that had come after that, including the impending end of the world.
In a manner of speaking, Juliette's dead. Nick can accept that now. He'll never stop loving her, the memory of her, but that doesn't mean he can never love again, that he should never love again.
As he's facing the end of the world, it isn't the lost Juliette, their love grown cold; his son; or even his best friends that he's thinking of, but the lingering taste, the tingling spark, of Adalind's lips on his as they'd kissed, desperate with the passion that comes when one is certain of death.
Their fates - whoever'd penned them - had, up until that point in time, been - at least in Nick's mind, and heart - unfettered and uncertain. With that kiss, though, Nick finally understood what Fate was, and how Fate could take two separate lives and entwine them together, making them one, for eternity.
Even if that eternity is short-lived, Nick doesn't doubt Fate's certainty. Not anymore. Even if Fate is proving itself to be a world class ass, not giving him - any of them - enough time.
Nick's heart throbs with the memory of that fated kiss, and, even if the world does end, if he, and everyone he loves, dies, the kiss will remain etched forever in his soul, and Adalind will be forever his, and he forever hers.