Ten days over two and a half years since I posted the last chapter I give you a new one.
I did think about not posting this until I finished the whole story but I think better when the chapter is posted.
Assuming anyone is still interested in this and going to read it.

/ / / Time \ \ \

Nick stopped at the vegan bakery near the station as soon as he was done with work the next day. He didn't know what to say to Elly about what had happened with Angelo. But he knew he needed to be there for her even if he didn't know what to do. He bought all of the ones he knew she liked and the cashier looked at him with a knowing smile.

"You and Elly have a fight?"

Nick felt a flush at the back of his neck at the knowledge that even the people who worked at a vegan bakery knew that he was in love with Elly when he hadn't. "No, I just don't know what to say so I'm bringing baked goods."

"Then you should get one of our new hints of summer muffins – she loved it when she tried it."

"Thanks," Nick said, adding it to his order.

He spent the short drive to Elly's thinking of things to say when he first arrived but he couldn't think of anything better than 'I'm sorry' so he parked the car and knocked on her door. It took her several minutes to answer – longer than normal and Nick was getting worried, thinking about fishing out his keys to her place and letting himself in to check on her when the door swung open.

"Elly," Nick said, taking in the differences in her and really beginning to worry. Her hair didn't look like it had been brushed that morning – and he could remember her telling him about the importance of personal hygiene and care as part of her routine. She was still in her workout clothes from earlier that morning.

"Come in."

Nick stepped into her house and noted the plate on the table with crumbs and the glass next to it – it wasn't near her normal eating times and Elly was not the type of person who left a plate on the table after she'd eaten. He could hear the TV as well and she had done nothing but complain about daytime TV when she'd been hurt and couldn't do anything but read or watch TV during the day.

"I brought you some pastries," Nick said awkwardly, watching Elly sit back on the couch and throw a blanket over her knees. "I'm sorry I couldn't come by earlier today."

Elly's shoulders rolled and she looked over at him. "You had to work."

"We were working on the scene in the forest."

Elly nodded. "And?"

"And there has been no mention of Angelo or another man being there – it's looking like a gang hit."

"I don't need to know this, Nick."

Nick let out a huff of breath and nodded. "Sorry, I don't know what to say to you, Elly. I'm sorry about Angelo."

"You never liked Angelo."

"But I do respect his desire to keep you alive."

"And he died for me," Elly said. "He didn't need to do that."

"I'm glad he did," Nick admitted, then immediately regretted it. "I didn't mean it like that, El, I just meant-"

"I know exactly what you meant, Nick. You meant his life is worth less than mine because mine is useful to you."

"You're important to me, Elly, it's not that you're useful. You're important to me because you're my best friend."

"Because I help you be a Grimm."

"Because you're you and because you've helped me save so many people."

"Helping you," Elly said, her mouth in a sneer. "Putting my life in danger for you. If I hadn't done that Angelo would still be alive."

"I'm sorry," Nick said, wanting to offer her some form of comfort but he didn't know if it would be welcome at the moment.

"It's not your fault," Elly told him. "It's my fault. It's my fault for thinking that I could just help you and go against generations of tradition, and the Verrat, and the ruling families, and every Blutbaden instinct there is. It's my fault that Angelo is dead."

"It was his choice."

"A choice that I forced him into because I help you."

"Elly," Nick said, trying to work out how to ask if this meant she was just going to stop helping him, or if this was her way of saying that she wasn't going to see him anymore, or if this was just part of the grief. He knew this was part of the grief but he had never, not once, thought that anything could shake her desire to help him and to protect Portland from Wesen who had become criminals. Yet now, he wondered if this was the moment it would all end – if this was when he would have to work alone as a Grimm instead of working with Elly. To be honest, he'd always known that everything was going to end. He just hadn't ever thought it would end now – just after he'd worked out what Elly meant to him.

"I just need some time, Nick, and I need you to not be here."

Nick nodded. "If you need anything, at all, please call me."

Elly nodded and pulled her legs up, tucking them underneath her. Nick out down the bag of pastries and turned to let himself out of the house. He drove home slowly, a pit of worry and loss opening up in his stomach. He was worried that Elly's guilt would test her control and there was nothing that was worth her losing her hold on being Weider.

/ / /