AN: Okay, there's no Grimm eppy this week? What?! Say it ain't so.
Meanwhile three little words I missed continue to thwart me. Argh. (We may just go with it).
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"Wow, I see you went all out." He couldn't be sure, but he thought there might be a hint of sarcasm in her statement. "Hoping I'll be bestowing a little gratitude tonight, are we?"
"What? You think I have ulterior motives?"
"I know you have ulterior motives but I can't figure out if it's just to get my mind off work, whatever's going on at H.W. that you don't want to tell me, or if you're just really hoping I'm so thankful for this diversion that I'll just fall at your feet once we're home. I feel like if this were just about sex you wouldn't have went with Taglianos."
"Wow, here, you want my knife to cut me better?" he asked, and she gave him a look and a brief smirk. "We could have stayed in. No wonder I hardly ever take you anywhere," Nick commented, smiling when the waitress came to their table.
Taglianos was an Italian family restaurant, on the eastern edge of Portland Proper. It was moderately priced, and had a decent menu, and it also appealed to families, and since Kelly was riding along with them tonight, Nick had chosen it and not something more spectacular had they been alone. He had also never had to arrest anyone in, outside, or around it, deal with any Wesen issues related to it, or do anything else other than enjoy the food the handful of times he had eaten here before, twice with his old patrol partner, and once with a woman he had taken here on a date when he had been a newly anointed officer, recently graduated from the academy, a couple of years before he met Juliette.
Given Adalind's reaction to the place maybe he shouldn't had been so quick to blame the failure of that relationship on too different philosophies.
"Sorry," Adalind said, when the waitress left with their drink order, and Nick raised his eyebrows in response, but kept his eyes focused on the menu.
"This is really very nice, and I know we don't get to go out much with everything that's usually going on. I didn't mean to sound ungrateful," she said, and Nick bit down a smile. He laid his menu on the table and felt Adalind's hand glide over his. "Nick," she said.
"So, you're saying you are appreciative? If only I could believe it. Maybe…if there was some way you could show your appreciation. Later of course, when we're alone."
"Honestly," Adalind said, smacking the back of his hand and pulling her arm away. "On second thought, may I see that knife," she smiled beatifically, and Nick returned the grin.
"Nope, my feelings are hurt. Last time I do anything nice for you." They both looked at Kelly, sitting at the head of their booth in a high chair when he jabbered something loudly.
"How did you find this place anyway? It's kind of off the beaten path for you isn't it?"
"My patrol partner when I first joined the police force showed me it. His wife was Italian. Her family owned it at that time, but I think it's changed hands since then. We ate here a few times."
Adalind nodded. "What were you like back then?" she asked and Nick glanced up at her in surprise. "As the newly minted Officer Burkhardt? You don't talk much about your past."
He looked at Kelly, watching him chew on a piece of breadstick. That was because it seemed like his life was divided up into three sections. His life before he was a Grimm, his life with Juliette, and his life after. Adalind was front and center in his life after. Juliette was a difficult subject between them, and she knew a portion of that history anyway, had shaped a fair amount of it. He had never really thought she was all that interested in anything that came before then. He thought back to his early days with the force and snorted.
"What was I like? Young," Nick said, and meant it in more than just his age. It seemed like a lifetime ago. Someone else's lifetime, so disjointed he was now from the young man then. Adalind smiled and leaned forward, and he teased Kelly with another bite of bread before Kelly gave him a cheeky grin and popped it in his mouth.
"I think I was twenty-three? I had just finished college like a year before and joined the academy a week after my graduation. I was as fresh-faced and idealistic as they come," he said, reflecting. What that young man would say if he could see his older self now. He sobered a little, wondering if he would be appalled at his future self as he felt he would be. So far in so many ways from the officer who had sworn to uphold the law, protect and serve its citizens. He still protected and served for the most part, but he had broken so many laws, so many things he would have thought impossible when he was swearing his oaths. The younger him would have probably burned the older him's badge. Definitely would have arrested him for…how many murders now? Assault. There were some B & E's dotted in there, too. Could imagine the younger him reading his rights, almost breathless with adrenaline and excitement for taking someone like he was now off the streets.
Yes, there were somewhat mitigating factors. He was a Grimm fighting Wesen. Still, he wasn't sure if that gave him carte blanche for everything he had done from the moment he realized that to the present.
"Hey," Adalind broke in. "Why the face?" He looked up into her crystalline blue eyes, soft and compassionate, and was reminded how startling it was how much he loved her. She was a surprising bright spot in the here and now, one his younger self would have only seen as a pretty girl way out of his league. He wondered if he would have had the bravado then to have had approached her. She, as a young lawyer—probably not even a law student then—probably wouldn't have given him the time of day or maybe she would have laughed, entertained the idea of him, knowing it would never go anywhere. He wondered if maybe she would have said yes if he had asked her out then.
"Just thinking…not sure if the younger me would approve of the older me now."
"A lot has happened. I'm sure the younger you would cut the older you some slack, knowing some of that."
"I don't know. Maybe," he said.
"Sooo…the young Officer Burkhardt was a straight-laced, do-gooder, huh? Helped old ladies cross the street? Cited people for jaywalking? I don't know. He doesn't really sound that different from the Detective Burkhardt we all know and love."
Nick smiled a little. "Sort of. Maybe he wasn't that bad. Or that good."
"Hmm…I sort of like the Detective Burkhardt when he's a little naughty," Adalind said with a smirk, and he leaned back in his booth, trying to maintain his cool, but his lips twitched when she winked at him.
She was definitely right. Christ, given everything he had had thrown at him and dealt with his younger self's head probably would have exploded at this point. What did that kid know?
"I hadn't noticed," Nick said, looking at Kelly when he said something in his baby speak. Adalind grinned wider.
"I'll be sure to be louder voicing my approval next time you are," Adalind said, and Nick felt one side of his mouth curl into a smile despite his efforts to remain unaffected.
"You're plenty loud now, don't worry."
"Really. Doesn't seem like you mind," Adalind replied.
He didn't. Loved when she was loud and breathless and begging him to make her come undone. Officer Burkhardt might have the edge with ethical and moral fortitude, but Detective Burkhardt was burying him in the ground in the sexcapades and sexual satisfaction department. Certainly he had more fun now in the sack than he had then, and he had thought he was having plenty of fun back then just getting to have sex, so that showed what he knew. Recalled he hadn't closed the deal with the other girl he had taken here all those years ago.
"I used to spend hours on stuff, little stuff, basic things that would just grab my attention or hit me the wrong way. I'd research them and then bug whatever detective or higher ranking officer had the case until it panned out and they solved it and made an arrest."
He glanced up, noting she was watching him, her chin propped up on her hand, one elbow on the table, smiling.
"My old patrol partner when I first started used to get so annoyed. He was five years from retirement and just wanted to ride out the rest of his time in peace. I think he was glad to be rid of me when I finally was promoted to my own car."
"So when did you meet Hank? When you made detective?"
"I knew of Hank, but we never worked much together. He had been a detective for about five years when the Captain partnered us."
"So was the young Officer Burkhardt all work and no play? What did you do for fun and excitement? You didn't know about Wesen and Grimms. You said your aunt had never told you."
No, he hadn't. At twenty-three he had already moved eight times in the eleven years his Aunt Marie had had custody of him, most of it before he had turned nineteen. That was when he had landed in Oregon. He had never had many close friends until he came to Portland. He had moved constantly in his adolescence and school was difficult if next to impossible to build and maintain lasting friendships, and he stood out like a sore thumb, both the new kid and the orphan. There had only been one brief period where they had remained in one spot for any length of time, and that had been when he was fifteen.
It had been difficult, but it had always seemed like an adventure, his Aunt Marie, a bookish, quiet woman with a mischievous glint in her eye who had borne the responsibility of being saddled with her sister's grief-stricken boy, treated him like she was her own and he had clung to her, the only family he had remaining, welcoming a diversion from the looks and the treatment he received as the boy with no parents.
By the time he arrived in Oregon, he had been roughly on his own for almost a year, aimlessly drifting despite being tired of wandering the country and wanting to set up roots, but clueless as to what he wanted to do in life. She had suggested more than once taking a few courses at the community college and finally, more to appease her and get her off his back than anything else, he had enrolled and been taken by surprise how much he enjoyed it. She had kept up the subtle (and at times, not so subtle) encouragement and Nick had continued his education until that fateful day in the quad when an officer from the Portland P.D. had struck up a conversation with him and set him on the path to his present day career.
"I kept busy."
"Mm-hmm. Officer Burkhardt a heartbreaker, was he?"
"No," he said smiling.
"Uh-huh. You mean to tell me you didn't use those boyishly handsome good looks to devastating effect?"
"'Fraid not. Officer Burkhardt had many cold and lonely nights."
"Hm. Seems Detective Burkhardt learned how to lay on the charm sometime between then and now."
"Ha. Yes, women just started falling into my lap. I think it was when I made detective and got out of uniform. I looked like a dork in uniform. A twelve-year-old dork."
She widened her smile. "Oh, now I have to see a picture."
"I'm pretty sure I burned all evidence of that," Nick said, taking a bite of his breadstick. Actually, his police academy graduation photo was in storage, as was a god-awful picture of him in uniform for a newspaper article where he had received a commendation. Juliette had teased him mercilessly when she had seen it, and he had borne it good-naturedly because he had loved her smile and to see her laugh. He spent a year in uniform after he met her before he was promoted to detective.
"I'm sure the station has copies or records. The academy surely does," she replied and he glanced up with a warning look and she laughed a little and took a sip of her drink. "It can't be that bad."
"Believe me when I say I'm protecting our relationship by saying you should never, ever, look for those photos."
"If you're thinking I'm going to be disappointed, fear not. I'm completely impressed by Detective Burkhardt's considerable skills. A photo isn't going to sway me from him."
"It might be best not to risk it."
%%%%%%%%%
This was what happened when you were involved with a beautiful woman. They made you do stupid things. They made you stupid, period.
"Oh my god," Adalind said, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Okay, you saw it," Nick said, grabbing her arm and attempting to pull her away.
"Look at you!" she said, wriggling out of his grasp. He put his hands on his hips and glanced back at Kelly, who was wandering around one of the study cubicles.
"You don't look like you're twelve," she said, biting back a smile. "Sixteen…maybe fifteen at the youngest."
"Okay," he said, grabbing for her again, and this time she let him get a hold of her. She wrapped her arms around him and looked down at the Portland Police Academy yearbook photo of one Cadet Burkhardt, aged twenty-two.
"Are you happy?" he asked.
"You don't even know," she managed, trying not to laugh. He gave her a look and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, and Nick reflected it had been her considerable charms that had brought them here despite his better judgment. Or Nick was just a sucker.
Wouldn't be the first time she had suckered him either, with her pouty lips and the promise of something more.
She pulled away with a grin and turned back to the yearbook photo. "You look so…innocent." She said.
"Naïve. Naïve is the word you're looking for," Nick replied, catching sight of the top of Kelly's head as he went around the study cubicles the next row over, before wandering back towards his parents.
"That sweet face. I feel almost bad, knowing I've taken ruthless advantage of it, time and time again."
"Yes, I notice it never stopped you."
"Thank goodness, huh? Think what you'd be missing if it did."
"Well, you know what they say. Payback is a bitch," Nick replied.
"Looking to dish out a little tonight, are you?"
"If you're not careful," he said, "So I'd watch it."
She grinned and kissed him again and picked up the book. "Oh my god, what happened to your hair! Did they buzz it all off? I don't think I've ever seen your ears stick out that much!"
Nick snatched the book away and closed it with a snap. She bit back another smile and stared at him expectantly.
"All right, we went to the police library. You've had your kicks. It's time to go home."
"Can we buy a copy of this?" she asked, trying to reach for it but he jerked it out of her way and held it behind him above his head.
She moved again, but Nick used his other hand to block her attempt. She glared, and then lurched for it, Nick neatly evading her, taking advantage of her position to kiss her hotly. She tried again, and Nick did the same, enjoying this exchange more than he should have. He thought she would try another go at it, but she just pressed close against his body and kissed him long and deep, sliding her fingers through his hair, and opening her mouth under his, Nick getting drawn into it, feeling the need to run his hands over her when she tried suddenly for the yearbook again. He had half been expecting it, and avoided her hand again.
She relented for a moment, another wide smile, clearly enjoying this exercise a little, too, and Nick had the temptation to spin her around and spank her with it. Problem was they'd both probably like it too much. His mind flashed on bending her over the desk and having his way with her, but they were in a public place for one, albeit late at night and there weren't very many people around; and two, Kelly was with them.
He glanced around in alarm, reminded he hadn't seen or heard Kelly in the last minute or so. "Where's Kelly?"
She sobered immediately and looked around as well, calling out his name in a sharp voice, while Nick used his Grimm hearing to try to isolate his son's voice. He heard something, and knelt down and looked under the cubicles and found his son, four rows over on the floor, underneath one of the study chairs.
"Kelly," Nick said, and Kelly spotted him and grinned, the same wide smile Nick had just seen on his mother, and Nick breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at Adalind when he felt her bend down beside him and she, too, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Kell-bell, come over here to mommy," and Kelly shook his head and got to his feet. Nick moved too, caught sight of his son's light brown hair again as he stood. He heard Kelly laugh, obviously thinking this was a game, and Nick went one way and Adalind went the other to come behind her son.
His son's laughter intensified, and Nick was reminded they were in a library, granted the police one, but there were a couple of officers and a few cadets studying nearby. Kelly caught sight of him, and turned the other way, and was captured by Adalind who hefted him in her arms with a "Gotcha!"
She grinned at Nick, the love and affection in her eyes as she regarded her family, and Nick felt his heart twist in his chest at the look.