Nick couldn't help smiling when he noticed the stuffed fox and wolf toys in Kelly's cot, but even that adorable little detail failed to keep the corners of his mouth turned upwards for long. Aside from his son, Monroe's and Rosalee's friendship was the one good thing left in his life. It used to be the easiest thing, too. That wasn't the case any longer.
Carefully, Nick put down the car seat, watching the little boy drift off to sleep. Yes, his baby was definitely cuter than the captain's, not that he was biased or anything. But there was also another reason why he kept his eyes focused on Kelly. His son's mother had vanished upstairs with Rosalee already, the fuchsbau had brought something from the Spice Shop to help with Adalind's 'post-natal lady issues', which both Nick and Monroe were quite happy to remain unaware of and stay far away from. It was just them two downstairs now. Being alone with Monroe was something Nick had been trying to avoid lately, with all the success rate of a moth in a forest of candles.
"Look, Nick, I gotta be honest.."
The Grimm took a deep breath and turned around. Out of Monroe's mouth, that certainly wasn't his favourite conversation starter. Still, he walked over to his friend.
"I have sort of a bad feeling about this", the clockmaker confessed with the kind of sincerity that gave him adorable little wrinkles around his eyes.
"They're my responsibility."
"I'm not talking about Adalind and Kelly.. okay, I guess I'm kind oftalking about Adalind."
"What about her?"
"Well", Monroe shifted his weight from one foot to the other, lowering his voice and looking decidedly uneasy, "don't you think you're being a little.. um.. maybe a little too lenient with her? After everything she's done to you?"
"How am I supposed to be with her?" Nick quickly dropped his own voice. "She's just had a baby. Mybaby."
"You sure about that?"
"What d'you mean?"
"I mean, I'm not judging, but does she seem like the puritan type to you? You can be a little naive sometimes."
"And you can be a little patronising sometimes."
"Can I?", Monroe pouted. "I'm just saying, you need to be careful before you get all emotionally invested in playing family. Adalind's gonna get her hexenbiest thing back sooner or later, and we both know how that can lead to a Jekyll and Hyde sort of conflict.."
The blutbad gave him a meaningful look. Nick shrugged.
"I'll deal with it when that happens."
"I don't think you realise how dangerous she is."
"Dangerous? She can barely even walk."
"Well, there are other things she might be able to do with her legs that could -"
"Wait a second", Nick interrupted, experiencing a lightbulb moment, "wait a second, are you jealous?"
"What?" The clockmaker flushed. "I'mnotjealouswhyshouldIbejealous?"
"I can think of reasons."
"I'm not jealous", Monroe was eager to point out. "It's not like you owe me anything, Nick. I'm not that deluded."
"No, I certainly don't owe you anything", Nick's voice was almost a whisper now, "given that you're the one who's married. And that we both agreed it was a mistake."
"Mistakes. Plural."
"Whatever."
"You know what else was a mistake?" Monroe managed to sound unabatedly intense even whilst whispering. "Hank getting close to Adalind was a mistake. Remember what happened to him? And to Wu? I just don't want to find you on your hands and knees with your face in the carpet one day."
"You didn't complain last time that happened", Nick grumbled.
Obviously, his brain had gone into stand-by mode for a moment and now Monroe was blinking at him, his face lightening somewhat.
"No", he agreed with the strained expression of someone working hard to suppress a grin. Nick found he had the exact same problem himself.
"But at least you weren'teating the carpet. That's gotta be bad for your digestion."
"I guess so."
They both gave an almost perfectly synchronous chuckle and Nick felt his shoulders relax a little. He sighed, ruffling his hair. They always ended up like this.
"Well, what do you suggest I do with Adalind?" He said simply. "She's feeding Kelly, like, every two hours. I haven't learned to produce milk from my nipples yet."
"No, I know, of course, I'm not saying she shouldn't be here, just please.. don't.."
Monroe fell silent, suddenly out of words, yet his eyes were as expressive as ever. Those eyes were a dark brown paradox, capable of making Nick go soft and hard all at the same time, yes, they could even -
There was a soul-shattering cry.
"Oh God!"
Nick rushed over to the cot. It was safe to say Kelly wasn't asleep anymore. He didn't seem overly cute either right now, screaming with all the impatience of a hungry little goblin.
"Adalind!" Nick shouted in panic. "The baby! You coming?"
"We need a couple more minutes, Nick", came Rosalee's calm voice from upstairs.
"Just take him for a moment", came Adalind's marginally less calm voice from upstairs.
"Right", Nick tugged nervously at the buckles, fumbling the little bundle of joy out of the car seat.
"There, there", he started rocking the baby in his arms, a little awkwardly, "don't cry, food will be here soon."
"Waaaaah!" Kelly opined, not at all impressed.
"What do I do?!" Nick looked helplessly over at Monroe, as if asking where to find the 'mute' button. "What's wrong?!"
"I don't know", Monroe shrugged sympathetically, "want me to -"
"Here!" Nick handed over the tiny but surprisingly vocal parcel. "You try!"
Monroe smiled down at the screeching baby boy in his arms.
"Well, don't you have some lungs on you?"
Unexpectedly, he started humming something Nick did not recognise. It took the Grimm a while to realise it was German.
"Alle meine Entchen, schwimmen auf dem See, schwimmen auf dem See.."
Singing was one of the notably few things that Monroe wasn't utterly great at. And yet, astonishingly, Kelly seemed to be calming down a little more with every round of whatever this whole "Entchen" malarkey was. Soon he was looking at the clockmaker out of big blue eyes, mustering him in perceptive silence.
"What was that?" Nick demanded with a hint of envy – and a truckload of relief.
"Kind of the first thing that came to mind", Monroe kept his smiling gaze on the baby. "My great-uncle used to sing a lot of kids' songs to me."
"Uncle Olaf, is it?"
"Oh, hey, you do actually listen to me sometimes!" Monroe grinned.
"Can't always be helped", Nick muttered. "But how did you dothat."
"Dunno, maybe this little guy likes my voice?"
Who doesn't, Nick thought, but decided to keep it to himself. It was bad enough that he couldn't peel his eyes away from his friend, the glimpses of naturally tanned skin revealed by his carelessly rolled up sleeves and underneath the top buttons left undone on his lightly chequered shirt. On both of his shirts, in fact. Honestly, could Monroe not cover up a little before coming over to his place? Did he have to look so ruggedly handsome, standing there with his new-found accessory? Kelly looked perfectly safe and secure in the blutbad's strong arms, the ones Nick had recently discovered were so gentle too. He looked down, shaking his head.
"I'm surprised you and Rosalee have not had a baby yet.."
"I don't think she's ready", Monroe's tone was pointedly casual but did not quite manage to conceal the bitter notes within. "Maybe she'll never be, with her past and all.."
They both jumped as Rosalee came down the stairs with Adalind at this exact point. Monroe carefully handed over the baby, and then him and Rosalee were saying goodbye, not without the clockmaker giving Nick a last deep look before departing.
"Nick, are you okay?"
The Grimm felt Adalind's hand on his shoulder. He found himself still staring in the direction of the door. Staring after Monroe.
"Yeah, fine."
He carefully shook off the hexenbiest's hand.
"I'm fine."
Monroe would always go home with his wife. Nick was fine with that.
A/N: Please review and let me know how you're liking this idea. :)
