AN: Have I lost everybody? Or is anyone still enjoying this? We're not even halfway yet...
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It had been nearly a year since Meisner had last stood in the loft. A lot had happened in that year, Adalind reflected, not the least of which was the change in relationship to the man who sat stiffly next to her at the table. She reached over and squeezed his knee, out of sight of Trubel, who leaned against the island, and Meisner who sat across from Nick, but he merely flicked stony eyes to her and then back at Meisner.
"We can use this," Meisner breathed, looking stunned and pleased when Adalind had finished reciting her story for the third time, and Nick's head tilted dangerously.
"We can use you," Meisner said to Adalind, "to find out more information about Louis and the uprising, what they have planned."
"I'm not going to betray Nick," Adalind retorted as Nick exploded. "Absolutely not!"
Meisner merely transferred his gaze from Adalind to Nick. "Surely you can see the opportunity here?" he asked.
"I don't give a fuck," Nick said venomously. "You are not risking my family to get what you want."
"Nick," Adalind said, trying to calm him but he stood up suddenly, the chair creaking loudly behind him as it slid across the floor.
"Well, we would risk somebody else's family, except the uprising isn't interested in them. They're interested in yours." Adalind gave Meisner a look, and rolled her eyes when he shrugged nonplussed.
"Surely you can understand the opportunity here," Meisner said to her, and she debated on telling him she didn't give a fuck either. She was sick of Wesen infighting, and she wasn't convinced either whether the opportunity to grab some more intel was worth risking Kelly's life. She glanced up at Nick, looking as dark and dangerous as the storied Grimms were purported to be, as he paced agitatedly around the loft.
"We need to get her and Kelly someplace safe," Nick said, working out his own solution. "Someplace they can stay until we figure this out and eliminate the threat to them."
"How long is that going to take?" Adalind asked. Given what they had learned from everyone it didn't sound like that was going to be a weekend project.
"I don't know," Nick said, and Meisner glanced and Adalind and then Nick. "But it doesn't matter."
"Uh, it does matter. I have court next week," Adalind said, and Nick stared at her in amazement.
"Are you kidding me?"
"No, Nick I've been working on this merger all month!"
"So what? That's worth your life? Kelly's life?" He spat, and Adalind snapped her mouth shut and glared.
"Of course not, but we don't know what they're going to do, when it's going to happen, and where it's coming from. I can't stay in seclusion forever." She looked at Meisner who was watching her closely. "Maybe Meisner's right," she said, considering his suggestion. "This might be a better way of figuring all that out. We could use this," she ventured, glancing at Meisner. He transferred his gaze to Nick.
"I don't believe this! No. No way," Nick said.
She heard Kelly start to fuss in his room and she stood to go get him.
"You're going to have to find some other way," Nick said to Meisner and Meisner shook his head.
"There isn't one. They're interested in you. We're interested in them. Adalind is the natural go-between in this scenario."
"No, she's not."
She slipped into Kelly's room to find her son standing up in his crib, clenching the rail of his crib. His little face brightened when he saw her. "Mama," he said and she picked him and cradled him in her arms. Outside his room, his father railed against Meisner and Hadrian's Wall. She pressed a kiss against her son's head, cupping her hand over his ear to try to drown out the angry voices.
"Nick, I think Meisner's right," she heard Trubel say, and Nick rounded on her.
"You can't be serious!"
"I know you're worried about Adalind and Kelly—"she heard her say before Nick cut her off. She listened to them argue for a little bit longer, Meisner occasionally joining the fray, trying to be another voice of reason, before placing a kiss on Kelly's head again and rejoining them. Trubel had moved from the kitchen island closer to Nick, who was demonstrating the "us" versus "them" mentality he must be feeling, as he stood alone, opposite Meisner and Trubel.
"I'll do it," she said, but Nick and Trubel were still yelling at each other.
She looked at Meisner, who must have heard her as he was staring back at her, and said it again, louder. "I'll do it."
She moved to stand beside Meisner, and therefore where Nick could see her and said one more time, "Nick! I'll do it," she repeated once he looked at her. He stared at her, much with the same expression that he had Trubel when Trubel had confessed having a good idea what was going on that brought her to them.
"Adalind, you don't know what you're saying," Nick said, and she frowned at him, insulted.
"No, I have a pretty good idea," she replied, trying to keep her voice moderated. It wouldn't do to get him started again; he was only an instance away from exploding again, anyway. "You want me to be like a spy for both sides, right?"
"You won't be safe," Nick said, shaking his head.
"Please, I've done this a hundred times," she said, and stared pointedly at Nick. She had played him too, or tried to, several of those times.
"It's dangerous," he said again, eyes hardening. "You piss off the wrong person and you can pay for it with your life, or Kelly's life," and she swallowed, backing down a little. He wasn't wrong and there were more than just she or Nick to consider. Nick could handle himself, but Kelly…Kelly would be vulnerable. But what was the alternative?
"I know. I don't want anything to happen to Kelly," she said, trying a different tack. "And that's why I think we may need to consider this," she said looking at Meisner and Trubel, both who watched her and Nick quietly.
"No," Nick said firmly. "You're not risking my son," he said again lowly, and Adalind fought a surge of anger.
Kelly began to fuss, perhaps sensing the turmoil in the room.
"Nick," she tried again, but he held up his hand to stop, and she finally lost her temper. "You think I don't care what happens to him? I'm doing this because I care! If I'm involved, we have inside information! We can better protect him! Nick, this kind of stuff I can do in my sleep!"
"Who's going to protect you?" Nick exploded. "If you do this I'm not always going to be able to get to you. You're not a hexenbiest anymore! You're vulnerable, Adalind."
She reeled back, unable to argue the point, taken aback by her own feelings when Nick stated the obvious. No she wasn't a hexenbiest, and she didn't have her powers. She had never regretted that since she had voluntarily given them up before Kelly was born, and it was true that the reason they were even living together in the first place was because she was vulnerable, and she had needed Nick's protection for her and their baby, but she resented the implication she might be helpless. It was one thing to think it yourself, another to have it thrown back at you.
Kelly began to cry, disturbed by his parents' behavior. Nick finally took notice of their son's response and made a concerted effort to calm down a bit, taking a deep breath, and Adalind used it as an opportunity to speak and be heard.
"I understand you're worried. I am, too. They're right Nick. I'm gonna do it."
And whatever tenuous grip on his temper he had managed to get a hold of fled as Nick exploded once more.
"No! Adalind! You're not—" but he cut off abruptly once more when Kelly began to cry in earnest, upset his parents were at odds with one another. Adalind tried to shush him, and Nick took another stab at getting his temper under control.
"I am not," Nick said, with a modicum of control as Adalind soothed their son, "going to risk losing anyone else I love," he said, and Adalind's heart did a flip.
"I know," she managed, "But Meisner and Trubel are right. This way we have more control. I can be an inside man—woman—instead of us having to wonder what's going on."
"They're going to use you, too, you know. They're going to be suspicious that you want to help them. Adalind, it's a risk."
"Then, I'll just have to convince them," she said after a moment.
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Nick had been moody and short the rest of the night. Trubel had given Nick a wide berth, Adalind had tried to leave Trubel be, and Nick apparently didn't want anything to do with either of them, still irritated about the turn of events. It made for an interesting night in the loft.
Trubel had retired to the study a couple of hours ago, and Adalind still sat at the table, trying to work on her case files. Nick had alternated between the main floor of the warehouse where he tinkered with something on his car, and the bedroom where he was now. Adalind had watched him stalk by a few minutes ago and debated on giving up for the night.
A few minutes later she joined him in the bedroom, sliding the double doors shut, Nick looking up from where he was checking his gun. She heard the slide catch and snap into place and he set the safety and set it on the nightstand and he stood from the bed.
"I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight," he said, swiping a pillow from the bed.
"Nick, don't. Please," she caught his wrist and he paused, waiting.
"I'm not going to say I'm sorry for agreeing to do it, because I'm not."
"I know that," he said coolly.
"But I am sorry that it upsets you," she said, and she saw a muscle tic in his cheek. "You don't have to agree with it, but this is the best opportunity to get a read on what's going on."
"So you said," he replied, but he still hadn't moved from her hand.
"I need your support on this." She sighed and grasped his hand with her other one, capturing his wrist between hers and tugging him gently towards her. He resisted and she gave up and went to him.
"Nick," she breathed, pressing against him, wishing for the warmth he had shown last night, but he moved his jaw, still pensive, away from her. She wrapped her arms around him and had never felt so alone in his presence. Even when they had been enemies it had never felt this cold between them. They were always alive in each other's presence, the spark of enmity between them, then later the spark of something else.
"We haven't slept apart since we moved in here," she said, thinking back to when she had awkwardly asked him to spend the night with her to help abate her fears. She heard Nick sigh and felt his chin brush her hair as he moved it over her head.
"There's a first time for everything, I guess," he said, and broke away from her.
"Nick."
"No. Don't. Just don't." he slipped out the door and shut it behind him.
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Adalind crept out into the loft, the sliding door only making one little creak as she slipped through. She tiptoed through the living areas, hesitating when she came to the back of the couch. It was past three in the morning and she hadn't heard any sound in the loft for a couple of hours, and she had listened to Nick restlessly move outside of the bedroom for a good hour before he must have calmed down and went to sleep.
She gave in to her inner demon and risked a peek over the couch, jumping when she met the wide open eyes of Nick's.
"You know this couch isn't really all that comfortable."
"Well, I offered you the bed," Adalind retorted trying to find her footing in the conversation but she was too relieved to have him speaking with her again.
"You're still awake," she observed.
"So are you."
"Yeah, well, I had a fight with the guy I live with. He stormed out of our room," she said. Nick said nothing, and Adalind wished she hadn't brought it up.
"Sounds like an asshole," Nick finally replied. Adalind's heart twisted.
"A little bit," she said and Nick looked at her, "I think he's just worried about me, though."
"He loves you," Nick said, and Adalind's heart started thumping erratically. "He's not always the most rational about the people he cares about."
"Yeah, well," Adalind said around a lump in her throat, "I don't suppose I can fault him for that." Nick looked at her again for a long moment and went back to staring at the ceiling.
"I'm sorry," he said, "For how I reacted. But I'm not sure if I can get behind this plan. This is a huge risk, Adalind, for you and our son. I just can't support something that might have you or him or both taken from me."
"I know. But I think it's riskier to not do it and let the uprising find some other way to come at us." Nick blew a sigh out his cheeks.
"We're never going to see eye to eye on this," he said, and Adalind nodded, disappointed.
"No, probably not," she agreed.
His eyes remained locked on the ceiling, and Adalind's remained locked on Nick's face. "It started with my parents," he said. "I mean, I thought they died, or at least one of them did, in a car accident. Then my Aunt Marie, and my mom, and then Juliette. Everything I ever loved has been taken from me. Aunt Marie, she warned me. Said I needed to give Juliette up, and I never did, and look how that turned out. My mom, though," he said after an awkward silence, "she told me not to do what she did; not to leave the people you love." Adalind drifted closer. "Not sure what I'd do if I lost you or Kelly. Go crazy, probably," he said, almost to himself.
"Nick," she said. "Come to bed," and he flicked his eyes back to her.
"You're going to have to be careful," he said. "Louis...This all didn't just fall in your lap by accident. I don't trust him or anything he says."
"Well, neither do I."
"I don't trust Meisner, either," Nick said, and this wasn't news. Nick had been highly suspicious of Meisner ever since he had met him. "You'll be unprotected when you're at work, so don't let your guard down."
"I know. This isn't my first foray into playing both sides, Nick. We both know I've done it before. Many times. I know how to be convincing." Nick looked at her a long moment and nodded.
"I know," he said softly, getting up from the couch and following her. "I just never personally had so much at stake if it fails."
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