A/N: Thanks for your patience and loyality. And a huige special thanks again to MerlynPyndragon for her awesome work as a beta!
Nick was a little frustrated. Looking in the mirror he had to confess he never looked better, his clothes sharper and his haircut, together with a shave, neater. He never had a custom suit before, or a silk tie. His suit back in Portland had been bought when he still was in LA, and he was lucky it still fit.
But underneath the clothes, the styled hair and the clean shave he still looked a little pale, his eyes hollow. Not as long as two weeks ago was when he saw his face in the window for the first time since he was shipped from Portland, but he was still not as healthy as he usually looked. The light suntan that always laid on his cheekbones and his nose was completely gone now, and, despite that he just had a clean shave, there was a slide five o'clock shadow on his cheeks and his jaw.
No, he didn't look too healthy, not to someone who knew him. To strangers he would look okay but not to himself.
The door handle was pressed down. He saw it in the mirror and turned around, thinking it was now time for getting into the car.
Bodyguard for Eric, this was absolutely ridiculous! Eric didn't trust him, he didn't trust the Royal. He would be there tonight, yes, but the security bullshit was nonsense! Tonight he was ordered to prove his loyalty, to kill Adalind. And still Nick had the warning of the dying Klaus in his ears: "As long as you haven't killed an innocent, Eric doesn't have any real control over you."
Adalind was everything but innocent in Nick's eyes, but he understood what Klaus had meant. He killed the Wesen part of Adalind back in Portland. That meant she was all human now. For Wesen that might be considered "innocent". To kill her now would push him under Eric's thumb. And he could only hope the plan Christian had set up to free him would commence before he was forced to murder Adalind – as much as he would probably enjoy it ...
The door opened and Nick saw Christian entering the room.
"We don't have much time," Nick was greeted.
"I know. I'm waiting here before going to the car," he answered.
Christian sighed. "I'd hoped to be there tonight but Eric just gave me work to do," he said and went to the small table near the two chairs, the only furniture besides the mirror in this room. "So I will give you the things you need now."
"Alright." Nick followed the little man and saw Christian pull an envelope from under his injured arm and, after opening it, shaking the contents onto the table: a passport, a small bundle of money and a folded map.
Nick recognized the emblem on the passport and startled. "Canadian?" he asked.
Christian gave the passport to him. "The best I could do in this short amount of time," he said. "And to the most of us Canadians and Americans sound the same."
Nick nodded and received the money, strange banknotes with foreign drawings on them. Euros. This wasn't the first time he had ever held this money, but the first time dealing with it.
Christian also gave the map to him and looked a little lost then. "You have to hide all those things very well," he said.
Nick smiled and nodded. "I will." He kneeled down and opened his shoes to put in one the money, in the other the map and, with a little force, finally also the passport. He shuffled all of them into both of his shoes before he finally put them on again, lucky that those shoes weren't custom made like the suit.
Christian watched this with raised eyebrows but didn't say a word.
After Nick came to his feet again he moved a little. The shoes felt weird now, more filled and a little slippery maybe, but he could get used to it.
Christian looked down at his feet. "Will that work?" he asked, full of scepticism.
"Tell me another place and I will try. It will work." Nick smiled.
Christian nodded and pulled a cellphone out of a trousers pocket. "This is a prepaid. Shouldn't be traceable but don't overuse it. It's only for emergencies." He gave the phone to Nick, who stared at it as if he was seeing a cellphone for the first time in his life.
His heart started to quicken pace.
A cellphone! Suddenly he felt the urgent need to call Juliette, to hear how she was. But he fought this down and thought for a moment, before he hid the cellphone between his trousers and the belt underneath the jacket. Shouldn't be visible there, he hoped.
Christian nodded.
"And how this will work now?" Nick asked.
"At the opera you will meet your travel companion," Christian told him. "Dirk, a good friend of mine, is working at the house. He will meet you two behind the stage and hand you the keys to a car. The car should be parked opposite to the stage door. If there's no space Dirk will tell you."
Nick frowned. "How I will be able to recognize this other person I will be teamed up with?" he asked.
Christian bit his lips for a moment, then he nodded. "She's blond, blue eyes, very attractive. I told her to wear a black gown tonight, and she will carry a little bigger bag as we had to change some plans and give the other stuff to her. You two will meet, as I said, behind the stage at the end of the first act." He hesitated for a moment, obviously listening for any noises outside before he explained: "The female lead will start to sing the last aria at the end of first act. It's pretty easy to recognize. If you are unsure, ask Eric, he knows La Traviata by heart and would probably think you will enjoy the show more than he might think you would. Use an excuse to leave and go straight to the stage entrance. It's left from Eric's usual place, you cannot miss it. There, Dirk will meet you and your partner, hand over the keys to the car and give you two clothes to change. You have to hurry. Eric might be distracted by the performance, but after the song is over he will notice and immediately start to search for you. By then you will have to have left the building. It's possible that there will be Hundjaegers outside, so, so be careful. As long as you two are in Vienna, you are in danger. The flight to Marrakesh is booked for tomorrow night. That's doable, so don't worry too much about that. In Marrakesh there are other tickets under your new names for a flight Teneriffa, Miami."
Nick startled again. "Why first Marrakesh?" he asked. "I wanted to ask you that for a while now."
Christian sighed and listened again for a second. "Because there are only three ways out from Europe to US: the usual route would be from Frankfurt in Germany with a stop in London. That's impossible to manage under these circumstances. The other way would mean also from Frankfurt into Asia. And the Dragon's Tongue is only awaiting to get their hands on a Grimm. They also partly are working together with the European Royal families, so the chance is high that you would be recognized and captured again. Marrakesh is necessary to bring you out of here. And the plane always needs a refill somewhere. So, Teneriffa was the best bet I could get for you."
Nick nodded. "Understood. What about the borders? We need to drive to Italy, right?"
"There are no closed borders on the continent anymore, at least not that way. Mostly the stations aren't active anymore nowadays. The passport you need for the flight. But, as long as you don't draw attention to you two, there shouldn't be a problem. Do you know how to use a route planner? I remember the car will have one."
Nick nodded. "I know."
Christian smiled nervously.
Nick smiled back and gave the other man his hand. "Thank you for your help," he said. "And I hope this won't put you in danger."
Christian's smile moved a little. Again he reached his hand into his pocket and pulled ... a small little something out of it. Nick forgot to breathe for a moment after Christian opened his hand and offered him a small metallic object he knew too well.
"This could raise a lot of havoc and danger. But I think you deserve it more."
Hesitantly Nick took it and stared on it before he held it by one of its wings and opened it. A small key came in sight.
Nick looked into Christian's face. "Is this ... ?"
"That's the one the Renards got from one of the first Key Grimm, yes. It's usually with the king, always with the king. So I was surprised to find it in Eric's safe."
The inside of Nick's mouth was dry.
The key. It looked mostly like the one he got from Aunt Marie more than two years ago. But he could see the imprints were different. There were other lines and other tiny signs he couldn't remember from the one he inherited.
"This will put you in mortal danger," he whispered. "If Eric finds out ..."
"He won't. He trusts me. And even if he did find out, I'm always ready to go," Christian told him. "Take it with you and use it wisely."
Nick still couldn't believe it. "You've done so much for me. I don't know how to thank you." He looked up.
Christian smiled again. "Be successful and get home to your fiance," he said. "That will do it."
Nick nodded and put the small key into the pocket of his trousers when he heard footsteps coming up.
"Good luck, Nick. You are really an extraordinary Grimm. It was an honor to meet you." Christian went to the back door and slipped outside the moment the other door opened and the Severin cousins came in.
"Time for your grand entrance, Shorty!"
Still a little smile lifted the corner of Nick's mouth when he followed the order and left the room – and hopefully this castle forever.
Juliette took a deep breath after she left Nick's truck. The air smelled so much different here, deep inside the woods and far away from Portland.
"It's nice here," Rosalee said from the other side of the truck.
Juliette nodded and looked up. Sunbeams were glittering through the trees, turned the illuminated spots into bright colors. Birds were singing, and somewhere not too far away a woodpecker was hammering. Insects hummed lazily in the early afternoon.
The blockhouse they had stopped at looked older and much smaller now, Juliette realized. Moss was growing on the trunks and the ceiling, the tiny windows dark. The small playground at one end of the house looked abadoned, the old swing creaking with every breath of wind. The wooden seesaw seemed it would not survive the next pair of children riding it. A rusted caroussel leaned askew in the dirty sand.
When she had been here for the last time? Juliette frowned, remembering how much fun she'd had as a child, swinging and chasing and playing hide and seek here. There were always other kids around back then, as well as the little sensation in the stomach caused by the deep, dark and dangerous woods only was a stone's throw away.
"It was ..." she whispered, feeling melancholic.
The door to the blockhouse opened and a bearded old man came out, staring at the unsuspected guests, obviously not knowing what to do now.
"We've closed for business," he called.
Juliette nodded. "I see that," she answered. "But I thought it worth a try, Jim." She put on her best smile.
The man blinked at her. Lifting his Stetson he scratched his temple for a moment before his face lit up in a smile. "Is that Lil'Julie?" he asked. "My, girl, look at you! You are a grown woman now!"
Juliette walked over to him and got a hug from him. "It's good to see you, Jim. I wasn't sure if you were still around," she said.
Rosalee hesitantly came closer, head cocked she looked at the old man closely.
"And who is this?" Jim wanted to know after he set Juliette free. He offered Rosalee his hand. "Anyway, a friend of our little Julie is a friend of mine."
"That's Jim Cunnings. He's a friend of my Uncle Norman," Juliette told the Fuchsbau. "Jim, meet my friend Rosalee Calvert."
"Mister Cunnings," Rosalee smiled.
Jim shook his head. "No one calls me a Mister out here. I'm Jim, plain and simple."
Rosalee smiled brightly. "Very well, Jim. I'm Rosalee then."
Juliette felt a weight falling from her heart. She wasn't entirely sure how much longer she'd be able to see Jim. Not so much because of his obviously bankrupt business but more because of his age. He was old when she was a child, and now ...
"Well then, come on in," he invited them and took the lead. "Be careful with your heads. The entrance is a little small."
Juliette remembered. She had had a lot of fun back then because every adult sooner or later knocked his head at the entrance. Yes, that was funny back then, and it surely hasn't changed a bit.
The interior of the blockhouse was still the same, only aged a lot. Tables and the benches were all made from wood, the windows seemed a lot smaller on the inside than they were on the outside. Paintings on the wooden walls, the old counter riddled with dusty glasses and bottles.
"Not so much changed in here," Juliette said.
Jim smiled with a sad look. "It's been a while now since I closed the restaurant. The shop I ran occasionally for the few people out here. They don't have a lot of other possibilities, you know? Time's changing, and unfortunately this change isn't good at all for small businesses."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Rosalee said. "I'm running a little shop myself in Portland. Took it over from my brother. But without my regular costumers I wouldn't make it either."
Juliette looked astonished at Rosalee after this confession. She didn't know that the SpiceShop wasn't running as good as she thought. On the other hand, didn't Monroe mention something similar a while ago?
Jim led them to a table near the counter and told them to sit down. "A drink?" he asked.
"A tea, please," Juliette ordered, and Rosalee nodded. "For me too, please."
Jim grinned down at them and left them using a small door behind the counter.
"Why are we here?" Rosalee asked lowly.
"Because if anyone knows where my uncle is, it is Jim," Juliette answered. "My grandparents had a cabin in the woods. My uncle inherited it."
Rosalee nodded. "That was your guess. You think your uncle is at the cabin."
Juliette smiled dryly. "Yes. But unfortunately I will first check how he is. The last time I met Uncle Norman he was desperately trying to keep his mind straight. Well, now we know why." She sighed.
Maybe it really was because she had known about Wesen and Grimm before this started, but she still wondered why she was able to take this new development into her life so easily. To be true, she worried much more about the child than she worried about her becoming a Grimm. She hopefully knew what she would have be dealing with now, maybe that was the difference. All the time she spent during the past months learning at Nick's trailer, knowing that some of her friends were Wesen.
Juliette didn't want to imagine how it must have felt for Uncle Norman – probably! Not knowing what happened to him, everyone around him telling him that his mind was affected by something they couldn't explain. Juliette wondered where he found the trunk with the weapons and the books.
Jim returned from the kitchen, carrying a tray with three cups, one filled with black coffee, and at the sides of the other two dangled teabag strings. Jim put a cup in front of everyone before he sat down in front of his.
"So, what is going on, Julie?" he asked. "Why you are here?"
"I have to talk to Norman," Juliette answered, now very serious. "And this isn't that easy. I don't know what he thinks of me or if he would even accept me at the cabin."
"Not to mention that you first have to make sure, right?" Jim smiled and blinked at Rosalee. "I'm too old, Rosalee. Maybe I'm a little gruffy sometimes but people here know me."
"I would never think of something different," Rosalee answered with a smile. "As I've said, I know how that works. Grew up in a small business."
"That's good." Jim nodded and sipped. Putting the cup back on the table he stared for a moment into the black surface of the coffee before he said, "Norman is better nowadays. Not good enough to really keep up with the rest of humanity but he's content now. Lives out there in the woods, hunting for a living. Sometimes he comes to get stuff he cannot grow or kill himself. The last time he was with a girl, think they live together out there. Norman mentioned her parents were dead and she didn't know where to go."
Juliette frowned.
A girl? What girl?
"So he sort of adopted her?" Rosalee asked. "That's a pretty nice gesture."
"Well, she's definitely too young to be anything else for him. Don't know how old, she looks like a late teen," Jim explained. "Norman's better since he met her. I think he has a reason now to keep himself together not like before." He closed his mouth and looked at Rosalee again.
"Do you know where he found that girl?" Juliette asked.
Jim nodded. "Actually yes. I found her in here one morning," he explained. "Think she thought this place was abandoned and broke in. Norman came here to buy a new fishing line. Somehow he and the girl were connected the very first moment they saw each other."
Juliette and Rosalee exchanged a confused look.
"Why didn't you call the police?" Rosalee asked.
"Because the girl was panicking. I swear, I never saw someone in a more desolate state than her that morning! And I've seen a lot of crazy people. Norman had an influence on her, found the right words to calm her down. As I've said, there was a connection between them from the very first moment. I doubt that there's more between them, Norman's too old and the girl too young."
"So, you know her?" Juliette asked.
"I know she came here, and I think she's from the east coast. Her accent sounds a lot like that. Do I know more? No. I don't call the police for desperate people who are only searching a place to sleep and something to eat. And she's a lot better now since she's together with Norman. Think they are both stabilizing each other. Cannot be wrong then."
"Well, that's a little unorthodox," Juliette said slowly.
A sharp little pain went through her heart. She had always felt close to Norman, as a kindred spirit. She couldn't stand him at the mental institution, which was why she never visited him there. But she also always hoped that he would try to stay in contact with her, that he would visit her and Nick in Portland, that he would be there when she needed him. To find out now that he seemed to avoid any family member and lived together with a surrogate daughter hurt.
"Who could not wish him well?" Jim asked. "After how the family treated him. No wonder he broke contact with your mother. I was confused about you. I always thought you two were pretty close."
"We were," Juliette nodded. "I don't know. After I went to school to become a vet I was pretty much buried in the books. I don't know what happened. Never met him again, I always thought he still had a little contact with my Mom but ..." She shook her head.
Jim frowned and glanced at Rosalee. "So, you never broke with him? I thought Norman had told me," he asked then.
Juliette startled. "I would never break with him! He was the reason why I wanted to become a doctor. Well, okay, not in the human fielt in the end but ... what did he tell you?"
A bad feeling was growing in her stomach.
What if her mother had intervended? What if she had told Norman lies? Heck, she told lies, because Juliette never broke with her uncle!
"He didn't say anything," Jim answered. "But he avoids talking about you at all. That's why I thought there was a fallout between you two maybe."
"There never was."
Rosalee sipped from her tea but listened.
"Mom and I aren't the best anymore," Juliette tried to explain. "After Dad died I pretty much lost contact with her. She let me believe Norman was dead. I just found out about him alive. That's the reason why we came."
Jim raised his eyebrows. "That's a story you should tell Norman then." He shook his head in disbelief. "Your mum, eh? Ya, she always was that way. But I never thought she would go that far. What a ..." He stopped himself and ended the swear by clearing of his throat. "Look, girls, I can try to contact Norman on radio. If his radio is repaired by now. But I cannot guarantee ..."
Juliette stood up. "No, that's enough. Thank you for the tea and the information."
Rosalee followed her, still silent.
Jim looked up to both of them. "Be careful when you really want to go to the cabin. And ... don't wait another fifteen years to visit again."
"I will come in regularly, I swear." Juliette smiled and turned around, leaving the closed restaurant.
"Do you think your mother told your uncle a lie?" Rosalee asked after they left and went up to the truck.
"I do! And I hope we will be able to get over it." Juliette felt a deep and dark anger coming from her very core.
This would be a lot more work than she'd expected it to be ...
