Disclaimer
Despite my best efforts to use the Force (property of Disney, formerly George Lucas), the sands of time (rights owned by Ubisoft), and even what I found written in The Standard Book of Spells; Grade Seven (as created by the illustrious JKRowling) to alter the very fabrics of creation… I still don't own Grimm (blasted NBC and their immunity to supernatural intervention!).
Shout-outs
Thank you so much for all of you who have supported this story so far with your comments, follows, and/or favourites! This chapter is dedicated to 'Olivia,' maxiefae, D Squirrel, Yaz-Haruno, Guardians of Courage, zamjill, tchutchu94, chakra213, byie, CS Copenhagen, and ThisMortalCoil.
So far…
Mia, a member of one of the seven Royal families, has arrived in Portland seemingly with the intent to kill Monroe and capture Detective Nick Burkhardt. Said detective is suffering from some serious sexual frustration, a situation not helped by the fact that he is living with the object of his desires, and has started to find his mind wandering towards sex at inopportune moments. Monroe is preparing for a nice sit down meal with Rosalee. Monroe's ex, Angelina, has survived an attempted rape (you go girl!) which had the odd downside of getting her an unwanted new job: to kill Monroe.
…~oOo~…
Chapter Two – Uncomfortable Reunion
Sitting at the table across from Sean Renard is always a test of ones nerves and composure, the man was quite literally the embodiment of confidence. To make matters worse, he had almost limitless patience (why do you think his family is so annoyed with him over the Grimm?) and was not above throwing his weight (both political and physical) around.
However, Mia had one advantage… Renard had no idea why she was in Portland, and that would infuriate him to no end; he was fiercely protective of his city.
"So," he started, having finished with the pleasantries and ready to get down to the matter at hand, "what was Tokyo about?"
"Family business," she replied simply.
"As in none of mine?" he questioned, calling her on her evasion.
"We have no secrets," her tone laced with only the slightest trace of irony.
He simply looked at her, a small smile gracing his face.
"Well, maybe a few. Let's just say that a certain foreign minister needed convincing that putting my family first was in his best interests."
"Politics," he muttered with false exasperation.
"You know," she paused to take a sip of wine, "your family is none too pleased with your behaviour of late. Something about a Grimm. And a key." The last was given with an intense and meaningful look.
"If Eric thinks that I'll allow his interference in this matter then he has another thing coming," Sean replied firmly.
"Is that why you killed your cousin?" she asked.
"He left me no other options," was the calm reply.
"And what about the Nuckelavee that was sent here?"
"I'm surprised you know about that," he said, although his body language told her that he was anything but. "As it happens, I had nothing to do with it; his body was found washed up not long ago. Forensic examination could find no leads but suggests that the man was killed by a blow to the head with a blunt object, most likely a hammer."
"You think your Grimm did it?"
"I think that the families should stay out of my business."
"But what about the key?"
"As I said," he graced her with a chilling smile, "my business."
…~oOo~…
Angelina pulled up on the sidewalk outside 418 Ravensview Drive, her head darting from side to side as she checked to make sure she could neither see nor smell any trace of Monroe's pet Grimm. The last thing she needed right now was that idiot Burkhardt to show up and attempt an arrest.
Satisfied that there was no Grimm in the immediate vicinity, she marched purposefully up to the door and with a flair of her Blutbad strength she slammed her shoulder into said door, swinging it open.
"We need to talk," she declared as she sighted him on the sofa. Noticing he had a companion she made an amendment, "and she needs to leave." The derision for Monroe's choice in female company was evident in her voice.
"Angelina?" he asked confusedly, jumping up from the sofa and leaving a disgruntled woman sitting there, eyes flicking between the two Bludbaden. "What are you-"
"I said we need to talk," she advanced menacingly, "now!"
"And just who are you meant to be?" piped up the sofa girl, clearly disgruntled at the woman entering her –Is he her boyfriend? – entering Monroe's home. Not to mention her blatant frustration at having her maybe boyfriend jump away from her as soon as another woman entered the room.
"Right back at you, sunshine," Angelina growled down at the smaller woman. Sniffing the air, she detected a fox-like scent permeating the room.
"A Fuchsbau, really?" she asked Monroe in exasperation.
"Don't you talk about Rosalee like that!" Monroe retorted, incensed at the slight against the woman who it appeared increasingly likely was in a relationship with the male Blutbad.
"Rosalee?" Angelina snapped back, "what a dainty little name for a dainty little creature. Not scared you'll break her in bed?"
"Enough!" shouted out the Fuchsbau in question, her voice surprisingly powerful for someone so small. "I don't know who you are, or why you're here. But I will not sit here and be discussed like some sort of whore."
"Rosalee," Monroe moved over to her, pulling the irate woman into a protective and comforting hug. "You know I'd never think of you like that."
"Oh for God's sake!" groaned Angelina, "Can we stop the lovey-dovey nonsense. Monroe, I need to tell you something important."
Monroe looked up to her, his eyes darting to her stomach as his face drained of colour. "You're not… p-pregnant, are you?" his voice quivered as his arms fell limply to his side.
The voices of the two women present were of an equal volume following his question, Rosalee's shrieked "What?!" clashing horribly against Angelina's howled "Are you saying I'm fat?!"
The next moment saw Rosalee diving out of the way as an enraged Angelina Woged and launched herself straight at the still pallid Monroe. The action seemed to startle the man out of his horror as he was forced to Woge himself in order to put up a passable defence against the raging Blutbad on top of him.
It was only when Rosalee Woged and tried to pull Angelina off Monroe that things finally calmed down. Angelina had easily brushed the Fuchsbau aside, but the distraction had given Monroe the opportunity he needed to gain his feet and pin Angelina's arms to her side.
"Ok," he panted, "so you're not pregnant. I wasn't calling you fat. I just assumed that only something like that would be serious enough for you to risk coming back here to talk to me about."
"We haven't been together in months, Monroe, MONTHS, if I was pregnant I'd be the size of a house by now!" she let out another growl of frustration as she changed her features back to human (the others having already done so). "Besides, when you hear the reason I'm here you'll wish I was pregnant."
"So why are you here then?" Rosalee asked, eager to move the conversation away from Monroe's past sex life.
"I really need to talk to Monroe about this, alone," she pleaded, putting as much emphasis on the last word as she could.
"Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of Rosalee," Monroe said definitively.
"Fine," Angelina replied before shrugging off his grasp and grabbing a bottle of wine from a nearby table. "I've been hired to kill you."
The response was immediate, the colour once again drained from Monroe's face while Rosalee Woged and growled threateningly at the much more dangerous canine Wesen. Angelina, on the other hand, simply pulled out the dossier she had been given by the Königschlange and tossed it to her former lover.
"What the hell?!" Monroe managed to splutter as he read the file. "Why does someone want me dead?" after a moments further thought he added, "Who could want me dead?"
"A Königschlange," Angelina replied, noticing as Monroe winced at her pronouncement. "And I don't know why, only that I'm getting paid twenty five thousand dollars to do it."
"And you didn't turn him down?" Monroe asked, suddenly wary of the woman in front of him.
"So he could hire someone else? Don't be an idiot," she spat back. "I thought you would want to know about this."
"I want more than to know. I want to know how the hell you got this job in the first place!" he bellowed out, he was getting angrier by the second. Some Wesen get scared when they're threatened, they want to run or hide. Not Blutbaden; when someone threatens them, their instinct is to tear a hole in its neck.
"It's a long and mostly irrelevant story," she waved him off, "all that matters is that they had a gun to my head and told me to take the job or die."
"Wait, there's more than one of them?" Rosalee interrupted.
"Yeah," Angelina replied, "he had a couple of Skalengeck with him. Well, only one now, but that doesn't matter."
"Angelina," Monroe said, drawing everyone's attention back to him, "did anyone tell you why they want me dead?"
"No," she sighed, "all they said was that I have twenty four hours to deliver your body to them. I thought I'd come over here and help you pack."
Monroe took a fortifying breath and straightened his back, lifting his chin up in an expression of pride, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna find out who this guy is."
"You don't have time to start digging around into your past!" Angelina cried out as Monroe went over to his phone. "You need to leave."
"No, I'm calling Nick," Monroe stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Angelina hit him.
"You are not calling the Grimm," she said, pointing her finger right at his face, her voice quivering slightly.
"He's a cop, Angelina," Monroe persisted, punching in the number, "he does this all the time."
"He also wants to put me in prison for a couple of Bauerschwein deaths, in case you've forgotten," she countered.
"This has nothing to do with you!" Monroe replied, "This is my life we're talking about!"
"Well good luck then," Angelina spat, as she went to move past him, "I'm getting out of here."
"No you're not!" Monroe caught her by the arm as Rosalee went and closed the door. "You're the one who saw them. You've gotta tell Nick what they look like."
"I'm not telling that Grimm a God-damn thing!" she shouted right in his face.
"Then why did you come here? If not to help! Why not just do the job and take the verdammt money?"
Angelina growled and pushed him back, her eyes flashing red, "Maybe I will!"
Monroe's eyes flashed too as the two squared off, growing menacingly at one another.
"Oh for God's sake!" Rosalee pushed past the two growling Blutbaden and grabbed the phone. Hitting the call button, she had to wait for a while before Nick answered.
"Hey Nick," she said into the microphone, "it's Rosalee, would you be able to come over to Monroe's? It's kind of urgent."
The two Blutbaden exchanged a look, one glancing at the other in fear, the other with a sense of triumph.
"Yes it's important. Yes, now!" Rosalee's said angrily down the phone. "Fine, see you in five minutes."
Slamming the phone down, she turned to the two other Wesen, "He's on his way."
…~oOo~…
Somewhere along a quiet road, not too far from the precinct, officers Martin Granger and William Burns were doing a routine patrol in their police car when they saw a man waving frantically at them from the side of the road.
Once Granger had pulled over, Burns winded the window down and leant out towards the man.
"What's the problem?" he asked the obviously distressed man.
"I'm so glad you're here," the man started to babel, he had a slight Germanic accent but otherwise spoke perfectly good English, "I was just walking home from work when that man jumped me. Started hitting me, I thought he was going to kill me right there and then. But I couldn't let him do it, you understand?"
"Calm down, calm down," Burns said reassuringly as he and Granger got out of the car, "just tell me what's the situation, leave the how and why for later."
"Sure," the man seemed slightly relieved at that. "He's over here," he lead them over to a man lying on the floor, "I hit him on the side of the head and he went down like a ton of bricks."
Granger checked the downed man's pulse, "He's alive, we should call an ambulance and get you down to the station for a statement-"
The sound of Granger's voice prevented either of the officers from hearing the stealthy approach of two other men. By the time they realised anyone else was with them, it was already too late.
Wulfram and Markus, the Hundjägers, snapped the necks of the two police officers with ease and swiftly stripped and changed into the officer's clothes, the darkness keeping them hidden from any prying eyes.
"Why is it always me on the floor?" asked Dave the Hexenbiest as he picked himself up off the ground.
"Because you're English," answered Sieghard with a smirk, the nervousness having vanished completely from his voice, replaced with a tone of easy confidence. "You two," he nodded to the Hundjägers, now dressed as officers, "call in that you're bringing two witnesses from a mugging up to the station."
As the two dog-like Wesen went into the car to use the radio, Sieghard and Dave bundled the naked bodies of the two officers into the trunk of the police car.
…~oOo~…
Nick was not in the best of moods as he pulled up outside Monroe's house, his meal with Juliette had been going well. She had seemed to be genuinely interested in getting to know him again and for the first time in what felt like forever, he truly felt like things might go back to the way they were. Then Rosalee had had to call and ruin everything.
Fair enough, Juliette had said he should go, make sure everything was ok. But still, couldn't he just be left alone with her for just one night, was that too much to ask?
Seeing a bike parked outside Monroe's house, Nick let out a sigh, if Monroe was going through some sort of midlife crisis then there was absolutely no reason for the Blutbad to drag him into this. What was he doing having a midlife crisis anyway? He's not even that old!
Walking up to the door, Nick knocked and called out to the Blutbad inside.
"Hey Nick," Monroe said upon opening the door, he looked nervous, like really nervous. "Sorry 'bout calling you out when you're doubtless busy. But you see… I have a bit of a problem."
"What's the problem, Monroe?" Nick sighed, still annoyed at having to cut his time with Juliette short. Now that he had gotten to spend some time with her, he'd realised just how hard it had been on him; with her being there but yet him being unable to tell or show her how he feels for fear of scaring her off, Unable to let her know just how deep his love for her goes.
"Well, there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just come out and say it," the Blutbad rocked backwards and forwards on his feet, as if trying to work himself up to say something really difficult. "Someone's trying to kill me."
"Someone's trying to what?" Nick asked, dumfounded.
"Kill me, yeah," Monroe seemed to deflate at having to repeat it.
"How do you know?" Nick switched from confused friend (albeit grouchy friend) to 'detective Nick Burkhardt, Grimm extraordinaire,' in a second, "have you received a death threat? Phone calls, letters, anything?"
"Well not exactly," Monroe's nervousness seemed to increase, "it was more personal."
"Did someone threaten you face to face?" Nick asked, genuinely concerned for the welfare of his friend.
"In a manner of speaking, yeah," Monroe said, making little sense and confusing the hell out of Nick, "You see the person who was hired to kill me, and I think you'll agree, this shows real character; this person actually told me that they were being offered twenty five thousand dollars to kill me."
As Monroe was talking, Nick heard a commotion down the hall and what sounded like Rosalee's voice saying "don't go in there."
"For God's sake, Monroe, tell him," none other than Angelina Lasser had just stepped into the room. In a heartbeat Nick's gun was in his hand, aimed straight at the fugitive Blutbad. "So you remember me, I'm touched."
"Put your hands behind your back," he said as he tried to move around the suddenly obstructive Monroe, "you're under arrest."
"Wait, Nick!" Monroe made sure he remained between the two as Rosalee placed a restraining hand on the Woging female Blutbad's shoulder. "She came here, she didn't have to do that. She told me about some guy who wants me dead."
Monroe's hands were clasped in front of him, his eyes wide and pleading, begging Nick not to do anything to Angelina, "I don't have anyone else to turn to. She didn't even want me to call you, but I said you'd overlook this little thing in her past and help us."
"By little thing you mean the murder of two innocent people!" Nick retorted.
"Details!" Monroe shouted back, "The thing is that there's like twenty three hours left before she's supposed to kill me. And I'd rather that not happen, regardless of whether or not she's wanted for murder."
"Nick," Rosalee butted in, as usual in these bizarre situations she was displaying a sort of calm authority, "If we don't work with Angelina then they'll just get someone else to come after Monroe, someone who will kill him. Don't waste this chance."
For a few seconds he just stared straight at the woman down the barrel of his pistol. Then, with a frustrated sigh, he holstered his weapon and looked away.
"Who wants him dead?" he asked once he regained his composure.
"A Königschlange," she replied. Stepping up so that she was next to Monroe, Rosalee swiftly inserted herself between the two.
"You got a name?" Nick asked exasperatedly.
"If I did we wouldn't have called you," she stated plainly, a slight hint of derision in her voice.
It was at that point that Rosalee's phone rang, her face draining of all colour acted as a cue for Monroe to detach himself from the conversation going on between Nick and Angelina (after all, it's not like they were discussing someone ordering a hit on him or anything like that…) so that he could comfort his clearly distressed-
Wait a second, Nick thought to himself, putting two and two together, are Monroe and Rosalee dating now?
The Grimm and the Blutbad just stood there for a moment, sizing each other up. During their staring/glaring match, Nick couldn't help but notice just how attractive Angelina actually was, her pale, well sculpted features and flowing, light auburn hair perfectly complimenting a flawless figure-
Enough of that, Burkhardt! Nick mentally screamed at himself. Giving his head a vigorous shake to clear the mental dust bunnies that had seemingly accumulated there he resolved to never look at Angelina Lasser again.
"So when did this guy hire you?" he asked in an attempt to relieve himself of the sudden awkwardness that had overcome him. He positioned himself to look at the door, to make it seem like he was waiting for Monroe instead of staring at the murdering sexopath… psychopath even!
"Tonight," she responded flippantly.
"How did he find you?" Nick asked, his mind half on the matter at hand, half once again thinking about how long it had been since he'd had sex. Honestly, the thought to himself disgustedly, it's like being a randy, sexually frustrated teenager all over again!
"Let's see, I killed the guy he hired before me," she started, causing Nick to glance back at her, appalled that she had killed yet another person.
Damn it! He thought as he caught himself breaking the promise he had made to himself only moments before. To be honest it had been a stupid promise.
"So he decided that I'd do nicely and gave the job to me," she continued, finishing with an ironic smirk.
"Wait," Nick wanted to clarify something here, "you killed someone else tonight?"
"He was trying to rape me!" she practically shouted out, "he didn't exactly leave me with much of a choice." Clearly the memory was not something she wanted being brought up, least of all by the Grimm intent on sticking her in jail. Although prison isn't the only place Nick would like to stick her… Damn it again!
"So you've killed what, three people now?" Nick asked, trying hard to distance his mind from the thoughts of doing anything to her other than handcuffing the femme fatale Blutbad (thankfully Nick wasn't into anything kinky, so the idea of handcuffing her held no sexual connotations) and taking her down to the precinct.
"Three that you know of," she replied, somewhat threateningly, somewhat jokily.
Just as Nick was about to respond, Monroe and Rosalee returned to the room. The Fuchsbau had her coat on and seemed ready to leave.
"Rosie's mum just called," Monroe filled them in, "she's got to leave, family emergency and what not."
"Thanks for having me round Eddie," the small woman said to Monroe as she headed to the door, "I had a great time." With that she leaned up and kissed him on the corner of the mouth and went out of the door.
All was quiet for a few moments after the door closed before Nick and Angelina simultaneously spoke. "Eddie?" from Nick and "Rosie?" from Angelina, both of them sounded a mix of confused and slightly horrified (neither being into pet names).
"Well, yeah," Monroe shuffled about a bit, embarrassed by the incredulous stares he was receiving from the other two, "Rosie's a natural abbreviation of Rosalee and Eddie sounds a hell of a lot better than Edmund."
"Wait," Nick started, "your name's Edmund?"
"Well, yeah," the Blutbad shuffled uncomfortably, "why else would I want people to call me Monroe?"
"Point taken," Nick aquiested.
"Sounds like the name of some snivelling kid," Angelina put in, a wicked smirk on her face. Nick guessed that it was an on-going joke from when they were younger, Angelina probably knowing Monroe's first name from their time spent together.
"Didn't know you read, Angelina," Monroe replied happily, his smile indicating that Nick's hunch was correct. "Besides, it just means I'll be a hero later on."
"Alright, alright," Nick interrupted, deciding to break up the nostalgia-fest. "Monroe, did you know that she's killed someone else tonight?" he jabbed his thumb towards Angelina to emphasise the question.
The mood instantly became more sombre (as it should be when you have people hired to kill you) as Monroe considered his answer, "She killed the guy who was going to kill me. That's how she got the job, kinda by default."
"This doesn't fill me with confidence," Nick said sardonically.
"She has a phone from the guys," Monroe continued, beckoning for Angelina to hand over the phone.
Nick suddenly found his personal space far too full of attractive Blutbad. While he was fighting valiantly not to think about the fact that he found her attractive he couldn't help but notice that she actually smelled kind of nice (not like wet dog at all!), she had a sort of earthy scent that made him think of open forests and fresh air. Oh, and some sort of perfume he couldn't place, that too.
"They're gonna contact me tomorrow night and tell me where to deliver Monroe's body," she said as she handed Nick the device.
After a quick examination Nick made a frustrating discover, which he shared with the two Blutbaden, "It's a pre-paid, I can't trace it."
"Damn it!" Monroe cursed, "But can you see why we need you? I don't know who it is, she doesn't know who it is, and I don't even know who I pissed off to deserve this!"
"Well you must have pissed someone off at some point," Nick reasoned, "Right now, we need to get you some place safe to wait this out." He turned his attention to Angelina (focus on the task at hand ridding his mind of any untoward thoughts) "And I need you to show me where you met these guys."
"And how do I know you won't arrest me as soon as we're out the door?" she shot back, clearly still worried about the idea of prison.
"Because that wouldn't serve any purpose in helping Monroe," he fired back just as quickly, "for now I'm not interested in bringing you in. I'm just here to help a friend."
After a brief pause to glare up at him, Angelina informed him that she had met the various reptilian Wesen at or near the End Up Bar, which was a few miles north of where they were now.
"Well I'm glad you two are able to set aside your differences for me," Monroe said, trying to ease the tension, "I'm actually kind of touched."
"Don't be," Angelina rebuked him, "it's not over yet."
…~oOo~…
A.N. Ok everyone, I hope you're enjoying how this is panning out so far. Rest assured that there is more where that came from.
I wouldn't be at all upset if you were to drop a review before calling it a night ;-)
