A/N: A fun, short fic in which I imagine how I want Nick and Diana to meet. It includes SPOILERS for last season. Also, this is set a year after Diana is taken and Nick has his powers back, but he may not be exactly as he was.

Deedee stopped in her tracks when she saw him. There he was. The boy from her locket, but different, older. There was stubble, and his eyes were a deeper blue than she'd ever imagined. The tiny picture didn't do him justice.

The necklace always made her mom sad, whenever her eyes lingered on it around her neck. She understood; in a way she ached for the boy she only had a tiny picture of. She never thought that face could be more alluring, but when she finally saw him in real life, it was, he was. But…he was too young to be him.

She'd had the necklace for as long as she could remember. She'd gaze into it when she was feeling out of place or small. Somehow, he made it okay. She clutched it after nightmares and had spent hours poring over it, wondering who he could possibly be, who he could be to her. She'd longed to know him for so long and her mother would never tell her, but that only served to strengthen her adoration of the trinket.

He was too young, he didn't look the 20 years of her life she'd had the locket, plus his age in the picture. She'd kept it her entire life, always nestled against the flesh of her chest. She wanted absurdly to pull it out in her delight and compare the two faces.

Yet it was him. She knew it in her heart without checking. That meant he was different, like her. She'd been following the trail of the latest wesen to attack her, and she'd somehow come across this man. It could be that he was a target, as well. Maybe he even had some answers.

And he was leaving a police station! Maybe he could help her find her mother.

She strode for him, her heart pounding and a light sheen of sweat appearing. She ran so eagerly she didn't pay attention and she stumbled into his arms. "Hi," she said awkwardly.

Bemused, he helped her steady herself. "Hello. Do you need any help, miss?"

"Yes," she panted, unwilling to let go of the forearms she'd grabbed to straighten herself.

She took a deep breath. "My mother is missing. Sometimes she leaves, but she always, always, stays in contact and this time I haven't heard from her in weeks. It's really unlike her. There have been a lot of people after us recently and I'm worried."

The man put his hands on hers and pulled them from her death grip on his forearms. "Slow down. What's your name?"

"Deedee," Diana said nervously.

She could have smacked herself. Her mom was the only one who called her that. She probably seemed like a little, foolish girl.

He put a hand on her shoulder and started to urge her along. "Hey there, Deedee. My name is Nick. Why don't I take you into the station and you can file a report?"

She refused to go along in his grip. Nick's grip. "No, it has to be you." She insisted as she looked at him dead on. "Please help me, Nick." She sighed at seeing his face so close. She'd seen it so many times, but never in this detail. It just felt right when she looked at him.

Just then, something slammed into her back, throwing her against Nick.

He spared a startled expression for her as he caught her, but then tugged her aside and focused on whoever was behind her. In the flash that she had seen his face she almost staggered. His eyes were soul-deep, black and bottomless. Breathtaking. She sunk to the ground, a little weak after seeing them. She saw the shining badge clearly against his black shirt and jacket.

Diana groaned and turned to see another Raub-kondor. Damn, this was the second attack in as many days. She was really getting tired of these bounty hunters.

She was about to stand and defend herself when Nick threw a roundhouse kick to the bird Wesen, cracking its beak.

It flew at him with outstretched talons and Nick's hands shot out faster than Diana could even imagine to wrap around its neck. Without thinking, he snapped the Wesen's neck.

Diana's mouth dropped. "What was that?"

He looked at her, his eyes still alert from the attack, but now a delightful blue. "Ma'am, please remain calm. I'm an officer…" He held out a placating hand.

Diana rolled her eyes. "You mean you're a Grimm?"

He seemed shocked. "How did you-?"

"I need your help." Diana told him, her eyes now lost in his. She smiled. "But for now, I think you should take care of this body. I'll find you later."

"Wait!" He called after her, but he did not pursue, thinking that she was right. He needed to do something about the body.

She watched him from a tree as he walked back into the station and came out with another man, this one taller and more severe.

Diana was baffled by this entire situation. She'd met the boy – man – that she'd dreamed of meeting all her life. Then he'd turned out to be like her mom and killed one of her attackers.

And now it looked like him and his friend were hiding the body like it wasn't their first. Instead of being freaked out, she sighed, remembering how great her mother had been at this, too. Where could she be?


Nick ended up leaving work hours later than he'd planned. Dinner with Juliette was now a laughable dream, and he hadn't found time to call her. Not that he'd know how to explain if he did. It had taken him a year to get her to even talk to him and she'd never forgive him for what happened with Adalind if he couldn't even make time to have dinner with her.

He looked at the scratch marks on his hand from the Raub-Kondor. If known mercenary Wesen were after him again, the royal family could be up to something new. Maybe they hadn't gotten the memo. He was a Grimm again. It had been a long and painful process, but Renard had helped him through it. He rubbed the healing scratch. He'd expressed his concern with the captain and he'd promised to check with his contacts in Europe to see if anything new turned up.

That could have gone a very different way, especially when that strange girl was with him. She might have been Wesen. It would explain her reluctance to go to any other cops, and maybe his reputation as a Grimm not to be feared by Wesen was finally starting to get out.

"You should get that checked out," a sweet voice at his side said.

Nick jumped, not hearing the strange girl, even with hearing that's been much better of late. "Deedee, where did you go?"

"I've been hanging around," she said evasively.

She was small, delicate looking, with pale skin and platinum blond hair, but he wasn't going to let her appearance distract him. "How do you know I'm a Grimm?"

"I was trained by a Grimm." Deedee said. She seemed impatient. "My mother. And now she's missing. Are you starting to get why I'm worried?"

Nick heaved a long-suffering breath. "Start from the beginning. I need to know everything, but…any chance this can wait?" Nick winced at the thought of Juliette waiting for him.

"Seriously? My mom is missing, possibly a victim of what just attacked us, and you…want to put it off until tomorrow?" Diana's voice was shrill and incredulous. Maybe he wasn't the person she'd always imagined he would be.

Nick saw the look on her face and his resolve melted. He'd just have to try and explain this to Juliette. "I don't know what I can do…but I'll do everything I can to help."

His sincerity softened her voice. "Thank you. If I wanted just any cop, I'd march back to the station and I'd get a detective. It needs to be you. Only you'll understand what is really going on."

His eyes narrowed at her. "What do you know about me? How did you find me? Does this have anything to do with the attack earlier?"

"I think he was after me. I tracked one that attacked me a few days ago to this location, but this guy was different. It's been like this for as long as I can remember, one after another. And now my mom is missing. So, please, help me."

"I don't know how much I can do, but of course I'll try."

"Thank you!" She threw her arms around him without reserve.

After a few shocked seconds, Nick hugged her back.

She pulled away with a grin, but the moment was ruined when she spotted something behind them. "Incoming," she breathed.

He turned and tried to block her, but there were at least three coming at them in the dark. And he soon saw that she could hold her own.

She gave a roundhouse kick to the closest one before slamming her fist into his jaw with a mean uppercut and realizing they weren't as serious a threat as they could have been.

Nick took on his own attacker and heard her call out, "Human!" He softened his blows only a little. He blocked a fist headed for his temple and threw a right hook to knock the big guy out.

When he looked at Deedee to make sure she was okay, he found she was already checking the pockets of the two unconscious men before her. He hadn't even seen the third guy.

"No ID's!" She told him, panting and grinning.

"You really were trained," Nick said, a little impressed, as he let out a shaky breath and tried to control the adrenaline rush that had his heart thundering. Ever since he'd become a Grimm again, he found it was much harder to control and contain himself.

She stood suddenly and stalked over to him. "Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet." She promised as she grabbed the back of his neck and forced her lips on his.

Nick didn't move for a few seconds as her soft lips mashed against his. His hands went to her shoulders.

There were reasons-reasons he shouldn't do this. But the longer he could feel her against him – her whole body – the less he could think. He gripped her tiny frame against his and the thought of letting go became ludicrous. There was only Deedee—

Juliette. Nick remembered and pushed the girl away. He wiped at his lips with his hands, maybe his fingers lingered a little too long at first, but remained unable to wipe away the phantom memory of her lips and taste.

He locked eyes to tell her that they couldn't ever do that again when he saw her eyes. They were a luminous purple.

"Sorry. Happens when I get excited." She looked away and blinked as if trying to clear them.

Nick didn't mention that they'd been fine after both attacks. In fact, it was only a distant thought in his head that his kiss could excite this woman more than a life-threatening attack. He had bigger things on his mind. "Deedee," he said. "What does that stand for?"

She smiled. "Diana."

Nick's hand itched to touch his lips again, but he settled for running it across his eyes. "And your mom's name?"

"Kelly Smith," she said, her words hesitant now as she gave him a suspicious look at his odd reaction to her name. "Will you really help me?"

"This isn't possible," he told her. "How old are you?"

"20," Diana answered, irritated.

Nick saw her mom in her then. And he realized she moved just like her dad in a fight.

"I don't know what's going on," he told her. "But I'm going to find out."

She wanted to tell him that she didn't understand either, but she had a feeling he knew something she didn't.

"I'll explain more once we get to my house. It's not safe to be out in the open." He looked at her to make sure that was acceptable. Nick would understand a young girl's reluctance to get into a car with a stranger. Even if the girl had just kissed him passionately. She rolled her eyes and Nick hadn't known that was a yes until she was opening the door of his car. Instead of asking her how she knew which was his, he got in and drove off.

Diana fidgeted and made strange faces at the silence and hoped he couldn't see her in the dark of the car. She decided that she wouldn't speak to him until he told her the truth. Even if she couldn't stop thinking about his lips and his stubble.

Things didn't get better once they arrived at the house. Neither of them talked as he lead her to the couch and stayed standing. Finally, he met her eyes, but his voice still failed him. How was he even going to start?