i keep wondering how this short glimpse turned into a multi chapter story lol
Sorry for the delays between chapters and sorry if this one doesn't flow like it should. my brain stopped focusing half way through. thanks or the continued likes and follows, wouldn't keep writing if there weren't people willing to read :)
Nick paused for a second at the sight of his friend. Monroe looked the same. Nick wasn't sure what he was expecting but it didn't seem like a year had passed since being face to face with his friend. Monroe was the first friend he made in the Wesen community, and lucky for Nick, he didn't run away at the thought of helping a Grimm. Monroe didn't run away when his own life was in danger and he didn't run after Black Claw made their intentions clear. Nick wouldn't have blamed him if he had.
Monroe had a family to think about, a wife and a daughter that needed him to be there. They'd thought about leaving. In one of those brief calls that allowed them to keep abreast of what was going on in each other's life, Monroe shared his thoughts about leaving Portland behind. Like Jack, Monroe was thinking about what was best for his family. Nick didn't know what advice to give his friend; he could only express the debts to which he would be willing to go to protect his own family. Monroe would be just the same, there was no doubt about that.
In the end it was Rosalee who made the decision to stay. She ran before, from places and people that she no longer wanted to be associated with, but she was done running. They made a life in Portland. If it wasn't for that city she would never have met Monroe or Nick and Adalind or Bud; all the people that had become her family. For Rosalee family had taken on a whole new significance and that staying put. Apparently Nick's exile didn't count as leaving; he was just biding his time until he could return, with Adalind and the kids in tow.
Nick stood at Monroe's door wondering if he had made the right decision. He was risking a lot to be in the place that he was but there'd been a pull that he was not willing, or foolish enough, to ignore. Adalind wasn't comfortable with the idea but she went along with it because she knew Nick (he was starting to recognize that she knew him better than anyone); there was no deterring him once he set his mind to something. Nick kissed his kids and his girl goodnight then made the trek to Portland, knowing that he was risking being arrested and having to come face to face with Portland's new Major. Actually the last part Nick was looking forward to.
"Monroe." His eyes had gone wide at the sight before him and Nick found it slightly amusing.
"Nick." Monroe shook his head as if to clear his vision. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Can I come in?"
The shocked look continued to dominate Monroe's features. "Yeah, Yeah, I just…I can't believe you're here."
Nick took a step forward an indication for his friend to step back and allow him entry into his house but instead of moving backwards Monroe closed the gap between them and engulfed Nick in a hug. The gesture caught Nick by surprise but he recovered quickly and returned the expression. "It's really good to see you." He'd missed his friend more than he could say.
Monroe released Nick and finally stepped aside to allow him entry. "Everyone is here." Guess he came on a good night. "Hey guys, you might want to look this way." Monroe closed the door and stood behind Nick as all three heads turned at his words.
Nick looked at the faces in the room and felt like he was home. He registered the shocked expressions that turned into disbelief, then acceptance before transforming into joy. The group was on their feet and exchanging hugs before Nick could even say a word. They smiled and greeted each other like family and Nick got the chance to meet their new member, April Rose Monroe.
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Adalind couldn't sleep. She'd developed a bad habit of not being able to relax enough for sleep when Nick wasn't around. It started from their days living together in the loft, trying to figure out how to stop hating each other and actually get along for the sake of their new born son. Needless to say, they figured it out. Kelly brought them together in a very unexpected way and Adalind found herself falling in love with the last man on earth that she wanted to be in love with. It was all water under the bridge. She laid awake, slightly annoyed with herself that she had become so dependent on Nick's presence.
Nick's decision to go to Portland came after a second meeting with Jack. Adalind didn't have all the details of what was revealed but she recognized Nick's determined face as soon as he walked through the door. It's the same look Kelly had when he wanted something and there was nothing Nick or Adalind could do to change his mind. Adalind didn't know much except that it was enough to make Nick risk his freedom for a face to face meeting with his friends.
Adalind was use to not knowing much when it came to Nick's life as a Grimm. There were things he didn't tell her, he used coded conversations with the others on the phone so she would have no idea what they were referring to. He didn't trust her all the way and she couldn't blame him. She was a Hexenbeist and he was a Grimm. She tried to kill his aunt. She ruined his life with Juliette. She left with his son and joined Sean (doesn't matter that she was doing it to get to Diana). Adalind wouldn't trust anyone with that track record. She knew it. It never bothered her until then. Until Nick risked everything and she had no clear reason for it.
Nick had his life before she wreaked havoc on it. He had strong ties to his friends and they were his allies in whatever mission he was tackling. Adalind helped out a few times but she was never a part of the group. Nick didn't seek her out to discuss Wesen problems or issues with the uprising; she was more of a last resort when he had no idea where else to turn. Nick loved her, he told her that and she believed it, but Adalind was relegated to a certain part of Nick's life and he did not seem comfortable with the two mixing.
Adalind wasn't angry with Nick. She understood it. She registered the excitement on Nick's face when he came home; once again he was Nicholas Burkhardt, Portland's Grimm/detective. It was obvious that he was happy to be given a task beyond picking up a list of groceries from the store. But Nick going to Portland was not a good thing; Adalind felt like their lives were about to be turned upside down. Not that they had much of a life now; but the kids were safe and doing well and that was the most important thing.
Adalind's brain would not allow her to relax so she gave up trying to sleep and sat upright in their bad. Her body was not in agreement with the movement and she felt the bile rising to the back of her throat. A few deep breaths allowed her to stave it off; saving a trip to the bathroom to release what was left of her dinner. She continued to breathe as she rested her head against the headboard. She never got sick with Kelly, but this one was sending her running to the bathroom at the most unexpected times. She touched her stomach as she breathed and tried not to think about what would happen next with their little family.
The Portland trip made her nervous in ways that she had not been willing to express to Nick. He made the decision to go before he even got home and there was no point in trying to dissuade him. Nick obviously needed that trip, so it was not a good time to tell him that she didn't agree with him going and it wasn't a good time to tell him that he was going to be a dad again.
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When all the greetings and recap of the past year was complete Nick finally had the opportunity to tell them why he was there. In all honesty he could have relayed the information over the phone but it wasn't the same. They worked better when they could be together and pour over the information directly in front of them. They'd cultivated this team in the years since Nick discovered he was a Grimm. It started with him and Monroe and them Hank, followed by Rosalee and Wu. Juliette had been a part of it at one point. But there was no need for him to dwell on how things had turned out on that front. They worked well together. These people where the first ones he would call if he needed help; there were plenty of times when he had to pick up the phone.
Nick took a map from his jacket pocket and placed it on Monroe and Rosalee's dining room table. It was a map of Oregon and the surrounding areas, showing all the cities and the towns. Jack provided him with valuable information that indicated that Black Claw was a lot more active than they thought.
"All these read marks are places where Black Claw recruiting has taken place." The red marks had been placed there for dramatic effect because if you connect the dots, they formed two perfect circles around the city of Portland, a large circle and a smaller one within the large circle. "Jack remembered this information from the map in his brother's office." Nick couldn't be more grateful to the guy.
"Holy shit." Wu expressed what they were all thinking.
"We've been thinking that they were quiet, biding their time, but they've been in full swing all along, we just had no idea." Monroe looked at Nick with concern.
"What are you thinking?" Hank looked at his old partner and could see the wheels spinning.
"Something big is coming." They had to find a way to figure out what that something was. "Renard is smart and strategic. He knows how to use people to get what he wants." Nick had seen evidence of that.
"Could the circle be preparation for some kind of ritual? We've seen a few of those before?" Wu looked to Rosalee.
"It could be the beginning of one. I'll have to do some research but you may not be far off on this. If it is a ritual, it's something huge to require this much maneuvering. This isn't just a lets' make it rain situation." Rosalee continued to focus on the map, on all the places that Nick had marked in red. There were dangerous things in the wesen world, things that she had never encountered or heard of. Renard was a Zieberbeist, at least half of one, they were the most powerful type of wesen. Power like that could pull on supernatural forces in ways that other wesen could not. Nick was right, something big was coming.
"Nick, do you still have the stick? Have you figured out anything else about it?" The question from Monroe threw him but Nick recovered quickly.
"No. Nothing new on that." He'd been keeping it hidden in the old garage along with his truck. " Have you heard anything from Trubel or Eve?" There were nays all around. He knew she would have a good reason for staying away; Trubel was always chasing down her own leads. Hopefully she would eventually turn up with helpful information or even just to touch base with everyone. Trubel was a part of their family. Eve's position remained in question.
Everything remained uncertain but they had been in that position before.
They all looked at each other. In the last year they had received no helpful information on Renard. He was playing the role of Major very well and his approval rating was through the roof. People loved him and that made him even more dangerous.
"If Renard is pulling the strings, then we need to find some way to get close to him." Renard managed to expand Black Claw without any of them knowing, Nick had to find a way to get to that guy. The war had started with him still in the dark.
"What about Adalind?" Everyone looked at Wu with surprise.
"No." That was all Nick was willing to offer on that subject. "What about the new Captain, could he be a connection?"
"The guy is smooth." Hank reported. "Careful. I've never seen him with the Renard outside of his first week on the job, but I don't trust him." At the mention of the new captain Hank remembered his conservation from earlier, the very reason he was at Monroe and Rosalee's house. "Speaking of the new captain, he wanted to extend an olive branch." Nick looked on with curiosity. Besides the guy being Adalind's brother, Nick knew nothing next to nothing about him.
"We should probably sit down for this. I'll make some tea." Rosalee left for the kitchen.
"What's going on?" Monroe, Hank and Wu looked at each other before Hank continued to relay his conversation with the captain.
Nick sat in disbelief at Hank's words. "What?"
"My thought exactly." Monroe commented as he took a seat as well.
All four sat around the table; the map still open in front of them, a stark reminder of how little they knew about that Black Claw was planning.
"Nick it's all true. Those were the words relayed by our captain."
"The charges were definitely dropped." Wu explained about his friend who discovered the information.
"He's seriously offering my job back?" There was no denying the spark of something in Nick's eyes. Hope maybe. "What is the agenda? I'm sure that guy knows about me and Adalind, his relationship to her can't be a coincidence. So why do all that?"
"Maybe it wasn't him, maybe it was Renard?" Hank offered. "He could be pulling all the strings."
"But why drop the charges?" Munroe asked
"There is no doubt that he's been looking for me and Adalind." Nick recalled Monroe and Rosalee's report of their encounter with Renard shortly after Nick and Adalind left Portland with the kids. "He hasn't been able to find us, so why not make us think it was okay for us to return. He's trying to be clever." Nick thought about Renard's strategy and he couldn't fault the guy for trying everything. Whatever reason he had behind seeking Diana she was still his daughter and Nick was his enemy. The first rule of war is to keep your enemies close. This was Renard's attempt at keeping him close. But maybe it could work both ways; if Nick was in Portland he had a better chance of finding out what Renard was up to. If Nick was right under his nose maybe the guy would be more likely to make a mistake and reveal the hand he was playing with.
Monroe looked at his friend with concern. "Nick are you seriously considering taking him up on his offer?"
Nick looked around the room at all their faces. Rosalee reentered and for a moment they are all distracted by the offering of tea but there is no doubt that the question remains forefront in their minds.
"So what are you going to do?" Rosalee breaks the silence with her question.
Hiding was against his nature, but it kept him and his family safe. If he moved back to Portland he would expose them to Renard and everything he had behind him. If he was honest with himself he would say that having to pretend that he was someone else was starting to get to him. He liked being Nicholas Burkhardt, his life was crazy but it was his without the worry of saying he wrong thing or giving someone the indication that he was not who he said he was.
Renard having any access to Diana would be a bad thing. Renard coming after him wouldn't help anyone either. They were offering Nick his old life back but at what cause. Nick didn't know if he was willing to risk the people he loved for a sense of purpose. Was he addicted to playing the hero? All heads were turned his way, waiting for him to give a reply.
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Adalind continued to struggle to find rest. She looked in on the kids and followed Nick's little perimeter check before making a cup of tea and taking it back to bed with her. She missed having tea with Rosalee and talking about things that had to do with regular life, like how both Nick and Monroe forget to put the toilet seat down. You would think from years living with Juliette Nick would have learned to curb that habit. Juliette.
She hadn't thought much about Juliette but Adalind always felt a lingering of her in the air around them. Nick would start to make a reference to a memory but he would stop because she was usually tangled up with it. He never said her name, not on purpose. Juliette didn't matter now. Juliette was gone; transformed into Eve and Adalind had to acknowledge that there was a part of her that was glad for it. She wasn't sure she would have Nick if Juliette was still around, if she hadn't hurt Nick the way she did. The death of his mother, in Nick's mind, outweighed everything Adalind had done to him. Plus they had Kelly, the most adorable child in the world, who somehow caused enemies to become … lovers.
There was lingering insecurities about her place in Nick's life. In the past year, that did not go away simply because they were forced to be each other's company twenty four seven. Adalind loved him and he said he loved her so that's what she was keeping as the focus. If that changes, then she would have to deal with it when the time comes. Until then, they were sharing a life together. Juliette, or even the memories of her, didn't matter now. Nick was hers. He belonged to Adalind as much as she belonged to him.
Nick called. The phone rang as she finished the last bit her tea and settled deeper into the bed. She didn't think he would; he was so focused when he left that he wasn't sure he would remember. But Nick knew her well and he knew she wouldn't be able to sleep, not when he wasn't beside her. So he called. The conversation was short; they always kept the conversations short out of fear that they would be tracked. He was staying at Monroe and Rosalee's for the night. Adalind assured him that everything was good on her end. He told her who was there when he arrived, that Bud showed up too and sent his greetings. He planned on returning tomorrow, he wasn't sure about the time, but he would be back tomorrow.
Adalind heard everything he said and all the things that he didn't. There was a lot that he was leaving out of the conversation and it worried her because she heard it all in his voice. He was home and he didn't want to leave; the way he said everyone's name, the soft pause when he talked about returning tomorrow, made it glaringly obvious and Nicholas Burkhardt was right where he wanted to be.
She didn't doubt his devotion to their family; he wanted that too. The challenge would be could he have both. Could he be the big bad Grimm who didn't run from the people trying to hurt him while still being the family man? His aunt Marie and his mother had warned him about playing both roles. Adalind could hear the conflict in his voice and she was scared of the choice he would have to make.
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Nick pulls into the drive way and he can already see an excited Kelly standing by the screen door, eagerly waiting for his daddy to get out of the car and pick him up. It was their little ritual that got played out every time Nick returned home. Nick loved it. Kelly was his family, along with Adalind and Diana; they were the only family he had left. Growing up he didn't have much of a family and for a long time he pictured starting his own with Juliette. He'd been so excited about marrying her but she'd turned him down with good reason. The life of a Grimm was too dangerous to add a wife and children to the mix. His parents are dead because of it and his childhood spent with his aunt wasn't ideal. He didn't want that for Kelly or Diana.
Nick got out of the car and ran to the door to engulf his son in a huge hug and made him squeal with delight. It's the best part of every day and he couldn't imagine going without it. Diana and Kelly dominated his attention for a good hour and he loved it. There isn't much to report on but they turn tiny stories into big ones and Nick lapped it up with excitement. They look like a normal family and for a second he tricked himself into believing he could have it all.
Adalind joined in the greeting with a quick kiss on his lips but he recognized the questions in her eyes and her tight grip on his jacket before reluctantly letting him go. They needed to talk but it had to wait until the kids were satisfied. There was a part of Nick and wanted to delay the conversation until he next day, when he had another night to think about things. But he didn't delay longer than necessary. When his fatherly duties were fulfilled he sought her out. She was sitting around their dining room table, waiting for him. In his experience dining table conversations, when there was no food present on the table, was often not a good thing. He remembered some tough conversations with Juliette around their table. But this was him and Adalind and a lot was different now.
"The kids decided they wanted to color pictures." He smiled and she gave a nod.
"How was Portland?" there was no beating around the bush with her
"Interesting." He recapped seeing everyone for the first time in months and holding April for the first time. He shared about Wu's coping with Lycanthropia and Hank's report on what was happening in his life. It was a lot of words but they carried little substance in a moment pregnant with questions.
Adalind listened to Nick talk about the people that played a big part in his life and she tried to be patient but eventually her curiosity won out. "Nick?" her eyes met his and knew it was time to stop pretending that there weren't other important things on his mind.
"Renard dropped the charges." He relayed Hank's description of a conversation with the new captain.
"Are you going to take him up on the offer?" there was a lump in her throat when she asked the question, not because she was afraid of the answer, but because she could tell that he wanted that life back. Dropping the charges was a just a way for Sean and Michael to get to Nick. Michael didn't have a compassionate bone in his body; the guy did nothing without an ulterior motive.
"There are things that are happening. Black Claw, the resistance, all of it is moving forward and …" He paused, not sure how to say the words.
"You need to be there."
"Yes." Nick's eyes were on hers the entire time and they don't waver. He made his decision to return to Portland while he was driving back to his family. It was the necessary thing to do. As a Grimm he needed to fight against the forces out for power; it was a charge placed on him the very first day he could see Wesen as they were. "I need to do this. Renard and Black Claw are not going to stop until they have accomplished their plan. I can't let that happen."
"I know." There was a scream building inside her head but she couldn't let it out. The beist inside her wanted to lash out at him for making the decision that scared her. "You should be there. They need you and you need to stop whatever Sean has planned." She needed him too. The kids needed him. But it wasn't the time to be selfish; Adalind had done that enough. So many decisions, from the time she set out to get pregnant with Diana, were based on her selfish desires. Those decisions created tough situations for everyone. It was her turn to give something up.
"Adalind. I'm not making this decision lightly. I know this affects all of us." He'd spent the whole drive thinking about the danger he would be outing them in. It would be a challenge to find a safe place for them to live. Nick didn't think going back to the loft was a good idea, besides it wasn't big enough for the four them. He would need to find somewhere else and ensure that the best security measures were put in place. Renard may know where there are but Nick wouldn't make it easy for him to get to them.
"Nick. It's fine. You made the right call." There was truth in her eyes but also a sadness that told him he was breaking her heart. Nick had never seen that before on Adalind and the fact that he was the cause of it, hurt him more than he realized. "You should go back to Portland. I'll stay here with the kids."
to be continued...