Monroe was a little nervous on the way to pick up Rosalee. Holly did seem in a better mood and she looked really nice in a dressy turquoise top. He hoped this meant that she wanted to make a good impression on Rosalee today which would lower his stress level considerably.

He saw Rosalee standing outside her shop, closing up. She saw his car and smiled. Monroe blushed and Holly took that moment to smirk at her dad.

"Okay, kiddo, you ready to try again?" he asked her as Rosalee came to the car.

Holly nodded.

"Hi!" Rosalee beamed at them as she got in the front seat.

"Hey!" Monroe said, smiling as he pulled out.

"How are you doing, Holly?" she asked turning in her seat to look at Holly.

Monroe breathed a sigh of relief when Holly answered politely, "I'm great. How are you Miss Calvert?"

Rosalee tried not to chuckle, "I'm doing well, and you can call me Rosalee."

"Okay." Holly shrugged. She was doing her best not to shift, and it was extremely hard not to. She was still very annoyed at this woman, but she could see the adoration in her dad's eyes when he looked at her, so she decided to give it a shot for his sake. Hey, if he put up with Roddy, she might as well put up with this chick.

"So Holly," Rosalee said from the front seat, "your dad tells me that you dance."

Holly nodded, looking out the window.

"I actually danced for about 9 years growing up." Rosalee said. Holly looked dumbfounded.

"I didn't know that." Monroe commented.

"Ballet and Pointe for about six years. I considered being professional, but…things got in the way." She admitted.

"My friend Nina is in Pointe." Holly said, "She's a very nemo person because of it."

"Emo." Monroe corrected. Holly growled at him. Rosalee did her best not to laugh. She'd heard Holly still mixed up words, especially expressions.

"That could be why I stopped dancing." Rosalee chuckled, "It could be pretty stressful and dramatic."

"Are you?" Holly asked.

"Am I what?"

"Stressful and dramatic?" Holly asked innocently.

"Okay ladies, we're here." Monroe announced, quickly, as he parked the car at a small Italian Bistro. He loved their pastas here. And Italian was Holly's favorite so he figured she'd at least be happy and easy to work with while she ate good food, hopefully.

They ended up getting a small booth near the back. Holly sat next to her dad.

After they had ordered, Holly was still debating if she liked this woman.

"I hear you saved my dad." Holly blurted out. She might as well get to the bottom of everything. She had a date with Roddy tonight and she wanted to know she could trust this woman and like her at the same time.

Rosalee nodded shyly, smiling, "I just knocked a guy out with a brick. Nothing special."

"Hey, it saved my life so I'm not complaining." Monroe said.

"I hear you saved your dad too." Rosalee said.

Holly nearly choked on her drink. She had nearly forgotten that. She rubbed a hand in her hair, remembering how long it used to be. Come to think of it, that Tangled movie did have a character with long hair….

"She did." Monroe said, proudly, "Used her hair, too!"

"Really? How did you do that?" Rosalee asked.

"My hair used to be like Rapunzel's in Tangled." Holly said, "I would use it like a…loose?"

"noose." Her dad corrected. Holly nodded.

Rosalee's eyes widened, "your hair must have been really long."

"Yeah, but it's short now." Holly shrugged.

"Did it feel weird getting it cut?"

Holly could remember the first time her mother chopped off her hair. She practically shoved her into the chair then give her a disgusting look. She remembered her mother grabbing a fistful of her hair and painfully cut it off. Holly remembered crying and trying to struggle, she was so confused at the time, thinking her mother was happy to see her. Her mother threatened her with the scissors and Holly felt a disconnect when her cut hair lay on the floor. Sure it was heavy and could get real annoying, but it was a big part of her survival and she suddenly felt…vulnerable without it. That was the moment when Holly was beginning to understand her mother was dangerous.

"Holly?" she heard her dad's gentle voice break through her memory. She realized her eyes had turned red. She quickly blinked and tried not to cry. She glared at Rosalee, as though blaming her for bringing up that memory. She quickly got up and left the table.

"Holly?" her dad called. Holly ignored him and went to the bathroom.

Monroe was about to get up when Rosalee stopped him, "Don't, she needs a few minutes."

Monroe nodded.

"I'm sorry I probably sparked a bad memory." Rosalee apologized, looking towards Holly forlornly.

"No, you couldn't have known. She still doesn't tell me a lot of what happened to her." Monroe said sadly.

Rosalee smiled reassuringly, "You're doing a good job with her Monroe, I can tell."

"Thanks, sometimes I feel like a failure, though." He admitted.

Rosalee touched his hand, "Trust me, as far as parents go, you get the gold star award. Not many guys would take in a girl like Holly."

Monroe had to chuckle. He imagined Nick taking her in and attempting to raise her. God that would be a disaster. Then he thought sadly of how he almost lost her to the foster system. God knows where Holly would be.

"She got lucky." Rosalee said, as though reading his mind. Monroe smiled at her and Holly came back. Monroe did not like the look in her eyes when she glared at Rosalee. Without looking at her dad, she announced angrily, "Roddy's picking me up early. I think I need to go."

"Holly, come on, you promised to give it a shot." Monroe groaned.

Rosalee looked upset, but nodded and smiled at her, "Maybe some other time you and I could have some girl time."

Holly glared harder, "Thanks, but no thanks. The last time I had girl time with a woman she carved the word 'BITCH' into my stomach." She turned quickly and left.

Monroe growled and got up to follow Holly, but Rosalee stopped him, "Monroe, don't. Give her some time. She's not used to this. And she's right. That was callous of me."

"How was that callous?" Monroe asked her, angry at Holly's behavior.

"I knew she had a bad mother. I should have chosen my words more carefully."

Monroe sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

She smiled at him, "Tell you what, we'll call her a little later, see if she's okay. Give her a minute to calm down."

"I'm sorry; I was hoping this lunch date would go a lot better." Monroe said sadly.

"It's okay, maybe we can try again some other time."

"I'd like to make it up to you somehow." Monroe admitted.

"If you want, we can go out later." Rosalee smiled, a little hopeful

Monroe perked up, "Can I take you out to dinner?" He wanted to punch himself in embarrassment. Way to be blunt, idiot! He was relieved when her face lit up and she nodded.

….

Shultz hated Oregon. It was cold, it was smelly, and, it affected his allergies, not to mention, the food sucked. He had a hard time not going back to Germany where things made more sense. But he knew if this is what it took to be a Reaper at long last, then he would do it.

It had taken a week but he finally managed to get as much information on the Blutbad that he could find without drawing attention to himself. He had used every means necessary to get this man's life in front of him on his laptop. He sipped coffee as he went through his notes and this man disgusted him more and more every time he read.

Apparently, Ed Monroe was a Weider Blutbad, coming from a long line of violent Blutbads. He was a clockmaker by trade and was very educated, however, isolated. Not only was he associated with a Grimm, he was apparently working with a Fuchsbau. He also adopted some feral little brat months ago. Apparently he isn't much of a fighter, according to a witness at a Lowen Game, but he did manage to rip someone's arm off.

But the most irritating thing about this Blutbad was that even after a Reaper threat, he had the gall to continue his association with the Grimm, practically mocking the Reaper Society. Shultz wanted to teach this bastard a lesson. But before he could do that, he needed information about the Grimm. And the best way to get information out of a Blutbad is not by violence or by force. No, the best way is to use their young.

….

Nick was just coming into the Bistro, he'd seen Monroe's car parked out front. He bumped into Holly and was surprised that she seemed upset.

"Hey Holly, you okay?" he asked.

"Bite you!" she yelled walking past him and walking down the street. Nick had to shake his head in confusion, and then walked inside. He found Monroe and Rosalee at a booth talking. He didn't want to interrupt them, but he wanted to make sure Monroe knew his daughter was wandering the streets of Portland in a rage.

"Hey Monroe, Rosalee." He smiled.

"Hey Nick!" Rosalee said.

"Monroe, Holly's-"

"I know." He said, a little miffed, "I'll have a talk with her later. Roddy's getting her." He grunted.

Nick nodded, and then sat down next to Rosalee. Monroe looked a little annoyed with this, "Can I help you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

It was then that Nick had the craziest idea. What better way to help Monroe and Rosalee with their relationship than offer a double date.

"Juliette and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night, did you guys want to double?" he asked.

Rosalee and Monroe exchanged smiles.

"Sure." Rosalee said happily.

"Sounds good." Monroe said, "Where we going?"

"Let's do that new Asian Cuisine at 7." Nick said.

"Great!" Monroe said, smiling at Nick, who winked at him.

"See you then." Nick said getting up, and then realized he came to find Monroe for another reason entirely, he quickly turned around and sat back down.

"Did you need something else?" Rosalee laughed. Monroe was getting annoyed again.

"Yes, actually." Nick started, "I'm working a case involving some odd deaths. The corpses were dried out and withered away as though years have gone by, but the victims were alive and were seen only 2 days before their deaths, according to witnesses."

"That's weird." Monroe said, "Hope it's not a Spinnetod again." He shuddered.

"No, I checked. Their insides were intact."

Rosalee and Monroe both shrugged.

"I've never heard of that." Rosalee admitted.

Nick nodded, "Thought I'd check."

"I'll keep you posted if I find anything." Monroe told him.

"Thanks." Nick said, getting up, and then smiled, "See you both tomorrow night." He winked again at Monroe and left.

…..

Holly was storming down the street. She didn't realize she was running until she hit the woods. She stopped and sat down on a boulder on a pathway. Oh great, now she had no clue where she was. She counted her blessings, if she wasn't a feral Blutbad, she'd be completely lost by now. It only took her a minute to sniff out civilization then head for it. She called Roddy and told him where she was.

Because of his new job, Roddy had been able to buy a car. It was a piece of junk, but Monroe and Nick had helped him fix it up. He found Holly on the edge of the woods near a playground. She looked upset. He parked the car and got out to go to her. He sat down next to her and realized she'd been crying.

"You wanna talk about it?" he asked, holding her hand. She smiled at him.

"It's just my mom." She said, sadly. Roddy nodded. He knew she still thought about what happened to her. How could anyone forget that? When she'd been passed out at the hospital, he'd seen her stomach. He knew it embarrassed her, so he didn't talk about it.

"How was the lunch?" he asked her. She burst into tears. He put his hand on her shoulder and let her cry, "That bad, huh?"

"No, I just can't believe my dad likes somebody. I'm just so scared she's gonna be my mom all over again!" she sobbed, "That when dad leaves me for her, or just ignores me, I'll get hurt again. I'm scared he won't believe me if she hurts me!"

Roddy took a breath and let her calm down, "Holly, not everybody is like your mom. My mom was amazing." He tried not to choke.

"What was she like?" Holly asked him tearfully.

Roddy smiled, "She had an incredible voice that could just…make all your fears go away. She was beautiful and her eyes lit up when she told you ghost stories or memories from her past. Even when the cancer hit her, she never lost that glow." He wiped his eyes, "She was genuinely kind and always made me and my dad smile on the worst days."

Holly hugged him, "I wish I'd had your mom."

"Well if you'd done that, we'd be brother and sister and that isn't gonna fly." Roddy laughed. Holly giggled and shuddered, "True."

"Besides, you got a great dad out of it."

"For now." Holly snorted, wiping her face with her sleeve. Roddy wished he carried tissues with him; so instead, he used the shirt he was wearing. Both laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

"Hey, he's not gonna abandon you, trust me. He barely lets me take you out." Roddy chuckled.

"Yeah, and when you do, he threatens you." Holly laughed.

Roddy chuckled. He had a feeling Monroe was gonna strike back hard after the Rapunzel thing, so he had to be on his guard. Sure enough, his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Roddy?" Monroe asked on the other line.

"Hi Mr. Monroe, what's up?" Roddy asked.

"Is Holly with you? Is she okay?" Monroe asked him.

"Yeah, she's fine now." Roddy reassured him.

"Thanks, just checking. Remember, curfew is 10:30 on the dot." He reminded him.

"No problem." Roddy said.

"And Roddy?" Monroe asked.

"Yeah?"

"If you still wanted to be sick in the woods, I can gladly make that happen."