The rest of the weekend passed without incident. Trubel and Nick resumed their uneasy truce, walking on eggshells around one another, setting Adalind's teeth on edge. Trubel occupied herself with keeping her distance from both Adalind and Nick, although she appeared to bond with Kelly, spending a few moments throughout the day playing with him, much to his delight, and Nick busied himself with the homicide that had occurred on Friday. He was also preoccupied with developing a strategy to help safe-guard Adalind and Kelly as much as possible and though he was still distant, Adalind left him to it, accepting that it was his way of working through his anxiety.
She missed his easy touches, though, and with Trubel living with them again, they both seemed to revert a bit to the behavior they exhibited at times around those who knew their complicated history; companionable but not too familiar. She wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and lose herself for a few moments. Despite her remarks to the contrary, she was unnerved, too, about the impending deception she would be undertaking. She felt a weekend spent in Nick's arms would go a long way in calming her, but other than Sunday night when they were in bed, there hadn't really been any alone time.
She found him staring up at the ceiling when she finally came to bed, pulling his eyes away to watch her undress. He rolled on his side as though she was making a big production out of it, and she smiled a bit self-consciously at all the attention.
Well, she had wanted it, hadn't she? She finally struck a ridiculous pose, and said, "Like what you see?" Nick made a motion for her to turn around, and she completed a 360 degree turn, staring back at him expectantly.
"It's all right, I guess," he said, and she ripped the pillow out from under him and hit him with it. He smiled unrepentantly, and resumed his fascination with the ceiling, but Adalind caught him sneaking a few peeks as she finished with her nightly routine.
She flopped down right beside him on the bed, hair spilling over him as she narrowly missed crashing her head against his. "What is so fascinating about our ceilings?" She asked, trying to see if she could tell what held the appeal. Nick looked over at her, and then paused to brush her hair out of his face so he could see her.
"Huh?"
"Our ceilings. What's so interesting about them that you're staring at them all the time lately?"
"Nothing, just thinking."
"About?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to cast any more pall over their weekend than what they had already had.
"You," Nick said after a moment.
"I didn't realize I occupied so much real estate in Nick Burkhardt's mind. Am I naked in these thoughts?" she teased, hoping to keep the conversation light.
"Usually," he replied.
She rolled on her side to face him with her head propped up. "And what am I doing naked in these thoughts?" she asked. Nick lifted his hand to brush down the side of her face and didn't answer right away, letting his fingers sift through her hair before dropping his hand beside him. "Vacuuming," he said.
She rolled her eyes. "I had no idea I was missing the chance to fulfill a secret fantasy of yours. I'll try to remember that next time I'm cleaning cheerios off the floor." Nick offered up the ghost of a smile and looked up again.
"You need to make him think we're together as mostly a business arrangement for you. Me thinking Kelly is my child benefits you by keeping you protected but you have no real romantic interest in me, and are looking for a way out if one presents itself," Nick said, and Adalind looked at him. So much for keeping it light. "If he thinks you're looking for a way out he might be more willing to dangle himself, and what the uprising is planning on doing, out there more."
She nodded with a sigh, getting back to business. "You know I used to actually look forward to this kind of stuff as a challenge, but gotta say, not looking forward to this at all. It's been nice to just be a mom, and domestic, you know, instead of manipulating someone, or being the one manipulated," she added, thinking of Sean, her mom, Eric, Viktor…the list was long.
"It's not too late to back out of it."
She glanced at Nick. "Yeah, it is. I don't want to live wondering where the next shot is coming from."
"Then you probably shouldn't be involved with me."
She gave him a look. "Too late for that," she said.
Nick smirked a little. "Too irresistible?" he said, trying for the levity of earlier.
"Hardly. I got knocked up and this is my punishment."
"That's your own fault," Nick said, but without the heat the observation deserved.
"Forced to live with the father of my baby, who turned out to be a really great guy. For a Grimm."
"You think I'm great. You like me?" he said, and Adalind flushed a little and rolled her eyes.
"No," she said. He grinned. "I don't!" she insisted.
"It's not good to lie, especially to those you like."
"God, living with you is impossible," Adalind said. "You know, you're really barely likeable."
"Oh, you liked me the other night," he said in sultry voice, tugging the collar of her shirt down with a finger and she smacked his hand.
"Well, you do have your uses, I suppose," Adalind replied primly.
"Glad to be of service," Nick said dryly, and she smiled. He grinned back slightly, rolling on his side to stare into her eyes more closely. She wanted him to touch her, to make her ache with want like he did Friday night, but she stayed on her side of the bed, watching him and waiting.
"It'll be okay, Nick," Adalind said, and his face dimmed.
"You'll have to convince me of that," he replied darkly, rolling onto his back again.
"I might be willing to do that," she said, leaning over him, tugging on one of the drawstrings of his boxers and he turned his head back to her, pupils large in the darkness. "But you have to promise me something first."
"What's that?"
"You need to trust me. I can do this Nick. I used to pretty good at it, you know," she said tugging at the other drawstring.
"I know. That doesn't exactly help me sleep better at night."
"What do you mean?"
"Hank, Renard…me."
"I don't plan on sleeping with Louis, Nick, if that's what you're worried about."
"I never even—what? That's on the table?" Nick asked, alarmed.
Whoops. Apparently that wasn't what he was referring to. "No," she hurried to assure. "He creeps me the hell out."
"I'm not sure I can handle this," Nick muttered.
"I promise, yours is the only body I want naked next to mine."
"Oh, god-Adalind!" Nick closed his eyes. "Not what I want to be thinking right now."
"Your naked body? Trust me, there are worse things to imagine." Adalind replied looking him over lasciviously.
"No, your naked body with…some other guy. You know what? Can we just change the subject?"
"You brought it up," she said, and Nick glared at her.
She tugged affectionately at a dark brown lock of hair, and he winced. She bent over him and pressed a kiss against his mouth, and felt him respond. She sighed into his mouth, enjoying the feel of his hands on her ribs, at the back of her neck.
"You have nothing to worry about. You'll be pleased to know you've ruined me for other men," she said.
"Good," he replied quietly, barest hint of a smile, enfolding her in his arms, pressing his weight against her.
%%%%%%%
The next morning saw most of the occupants in the loft in making a concerted effort to be in much better humor. Nick was already dressed for work in grey jeans and coordinating sweater with a teal T-shirt underneath. He bustled about in the kitchen, fixing breakfast for him and Kelly, who was seated in his high chair supervising, when Adalind came out of the bedroom also already dressed for a change. Maybe she would get the hang of this working mom thing, yet, she thought.
"Morning," Nick said, looking up from where he was trying to convince Kelly to sample the pears he placed before him. Kelly turned his head too, and smiled in greeting at his mother, and she changed course to drop a kiss on his head, and made a decision to do the same for his father, except she lingered to long and Nick moved his head enough where it fell on their lips. He brought a hand up to her cheek and kissed her soundly before releasing her.
"Morning," she replied, thinking of an hour well spent with him last night.
"Sleep well?" Nick asked, and Adalind thought he knew damn well that she had. He had been uncommonly thorough last night, perhaps trying to make up for his reaction. Now who was fishing for compliments?
"I guess," she said noncommittally, trying to hide the smile on her face with her coffee cup. "You?"
Two could play this game.
"Yeah, I suppose," but he couldn't quite hide the small smile that appeared, either.
"Ugh. Gross. You guys are worse than two moony teenagers," Trubel said when she saw them, appearing from the study. She was the only not dressed, wearing some pajama pants and a shirt from Nick she had borrowed or appropriated from Nick, Adalind wasn't sure. He lost more clothing to the women living with him than he probably he realized.
"Well since this is our home, I think we can be as moony as we want to be," Nick retorted, wrapping an arm around Adalind's neck and planting a kiss on her head. She wondered if he was still irritated with Trubel and her perceived involvement in this scheme by him.
"Seriously. Get a room."
"Seriously? We got a room, it's called the whole loft."
"Nick," Adalind said and Nick just shook his head, but he turned his attention back to Kelly. "What do you plan on doing today," she asked Trubel.
"I've got some stuff to check out."
"Stuff?" he piped up, and Adalind shot him a warning look, but he missed it since he never looked up from what he was doing. Adalind glanced at Trubel with a look of apology and Trubel shook her head slightly in response.
"They want me to look into some of this faction that Louis may be a part of. Now that we have a name, I can start digging into it a bit more."
"Ugh, that means I've got to start my end of this deception, doesn't it," Adalind said, and sighed inwardly. Well, there went all the goodwill in the room. Nick continued to ignore them mostly, although Adalind thought she detected a tightening of his jaw. "Well, I guess I'll be chatting up Louis today," she said unenthusiastically, "and presenting the Abermeier/Schmidt contracts to their board of directors."
"Sounds exciting," Trubel said sarcastically.
"And I guess I'll just be doing my usual, catching bad guys," Nick said taking away the bowl once Kelly had finished. He dropped it in the sink and took a last sip of his coffee. "Be careful," he added to Adalind, pausing to give her another kiss before depositing his mug in the sink. "I'll see you both tonight."
%%%%%%%
"Whoa," Rosalee said when she saw Adalind. "What happened to you?"
"I've been up all night preparing a case and cleaning up baby barf."
"Is Kelly okay?"
"He's got a stomach virus, and his dad was on a case. He just got home from work as I was leaving."
Adalind had spent the last five weeks ingratiating herself with Louis, juggling her caseload, and caring for Kelly, who seemed to pick up every bug that went around in his daycare. This was the third time he had been sick since he started, the first two minor ailments, but this time he must have picked up a stomach bug. Nick had been called out late last night to a homicide, and he had spent the entire night securing the scene and investigating. He had not been pleased to finally get home to find out he had to care for his sick son, but she could make the statement about his demeanor in general ever since she had signed on to help H.W. find out information from Louis. Adalind couldn't afford to take any time off, and Trubel was nowhere to be found so she had kissed Nick goodbye with a look of apology and headed to work.
She was spending her lunch today with Rosalee, having needed the break from Louis' cloying behavior and Nick's simmering resentment, among other things.
Rosalee waved Adalind in, and she entered the spice shop gratefully. "Let me fix you something,"
Rosalee offered, and Adalind said, "If it will magically remove the bags under my eyes and the scent of baby puke from following me everywhere, I'll take it."
"It should help you feel less tired," Rosalee said.
"Good enough."
Adalind took a seat at the counter and watched Rosalee prepare her tea. Monroe appeared from the basement with several boxes and said hello.
"How's Nick?"
"Probably wishing he was sleeping," she said, but she didn't have much sympathy for him She had wished for the same thing all night long.
Monroe looked at her questioningly.
"Kelly has some sort of stomach virus. He's been up most of the night barfing."
"Ew," Monroe said.
"Nick was up all night with a homicide and he took over when I had to leave for work."
"How are you doing?" Rosalee asked.
Adalind sighed. Where to begin. "Where to begin?" she said out loud. "Work is crazy, and I mean, that's before you even factor this whole thing with Louis in. I come home and I work some more. I have no time with Kelly, because every waking moment it seems like I'm always playing catchup on something. I barely see Nick anymore, unless we're coming and going. I mean ten minutes in the morning, maybe fifteen minutes at night. And then there is the whole deception thing with Louis and that's been hard, too.
"I didn't think being a double agent would be so hard. You know, I mean the last time I played both sides I didn't really feel like it was so exhausting."
"Is that because you had no soul?" Monroe asked.
Adalind and Rosalee gave him a dirty look.
"Ha," Adalind replied. "No. Well, maybe," she amended. Last time she had played both sides she didn't care about anyone on either side.
"And I never realized how disruptive Nick's work is," Adalind remarked after moment.
"The cases?"
"The cases. The Grimm stuff. It pervades everything, although I guess he can't really help it. I mean, I guess I should have realized it, but before I was just taking care of Kelly, and it was kind of nice to have it to break up the monotony, but Trubel's staying with us again, and between stepping around her—"
"Stepping around?" she asked, and Adalind groaned.
"It's complicated."
"Are you and Trubel not getting along?"
"Not exactly. I mean, we were never buddies or anything, and we get along okay, but it's very apparent we're all trying to be nice to each other for Nick's sake, which is funny, since I don't think Trubel and Nick are talking much unless it's Wesen/Grimm stuff, and I know that's because of me."
"Why you?"
"I, uh, Trubel knows how I feel about Nick and I'm not sure she approves."
"How you feel about Nick?"
"Yeah, you know…that I'minlovewithhimabitmaybe"
"I'm sorry?"
Adalind sighed and glared at Rosalee. "That I'm in love with him," she said louder.
Rosalee smiled. "I knew it."
"Yes, well, so does Trubel."
"Does Nick?"
Adalind ran her fingers over the edge of the counter. "Maybe."
"Maybe?" Rosalee said.
"Probably."
"Probably?"
"Yes, I think he knows it," Adalind replied.
"You think?"
"I mean I may have said the words "love" around him."
"'Around him'? Did you actually say the words "I love you" to Nick?"
"I mean, those exact words?"
"Argh, Adalind!"
"I mean, not those exact words, but I may have told him I fell in love with my baby's father, I mean, it's practically the same thing!"
"It is not practically the same."
"Well, it's close. And Nick seemed to understand what I meant."
"I'm beginning to think you two deserve each other."
Rosalee took a seat across from Adalind, two mugs of tea between them. They listened to Monroe stock shelves.
"You told me about the threat with Louis and uprising thing, but you never told me about the party? How did it go?"
"It was okay, I mean, Nick was a big hit. Everybody seemed to love him."
"Nick said everyone thought you two were married," Monroe cut in, overhearing.
"Ugh, yes. I don't know why everybody always thinks that. I think they finally realize we're just living together and raising a baby. He told you about the party?" Adalind asked him.
"Yeah," Monroe said. "Why?"
Adalind wondered what else he had said to Monroe. "Anyway we had a good time," she finished, thinking of the evening spent after the party.
"Mmm-hmm," Rosalee said with a knowing look at Adalind's face. "See, I knew it would be good for you."
"Hey, Nick and Juliette were engaged?" Adalind asked. "I never knew that."
"No, I don't think they were," Rosalee said. "Why do you say that?"
"Because he said the first time he ever saw me he was coming out of a jewelry store. I mean, the implication was he was picking up a ring."
"No I don't think they were ever officially engaged." Monroe cut in, and both women turned to look at him.
"I mean, Nick asked her, but she told him no," Monroe added. "He had just found out all that stuff about him being a Grimm, so he put off asking her, and then it just kept piling on, and she thought he was keeping stuff from her, so when he finally did get around to asking…she turned him down. She wanted to wait, and then it just…they never…well, you know, it just never worked out for them."
"Wow," Rosalee said, and Adalind nodded. Turned him down? She heard the clock chime in the store and she glanced at her watch.
"Ugh. I have to get back."
"We'll do it again soon," Rosalee promised.
"Okay," she gave Rosalee a quick hug and waved. "Bye Monroe!"
%%%%%%%
She was still pondering in what dimension that it would be acceptable to turn down a marriage proposal from Nick Burkhardt when she returned to work.
Not that she ever expected one from Nick. If they lasted together the seventeen years it would take until Kelly reached adulthood she would be happy. She highly doubted they would ever be Mr. and Mrs. Burkhardt, not that she wanted that, per se…it's just…
What? Was she really going to have some where are we going conversation to the father of the baby she tricked into having sex with her and then practically begged to help raise it. He was doing more than enough.
Anyway, that he had asked and Juliette had said no, it was just…surprising, that was all.
"Adalind!" and Adalind was pulled from her musings on matrimony by the sound of Louis' voice. Ugh. She plastered on a smile and turned.
"Louis," she said coyly.
"I hope you didn't have to spend your lunch answering to the whims of your Grimm," he said. Over the course of the last few weeks, Adalind had carefully dropped tidbits of information that would suggest that in exchange for protection from Nick for her and her child, that she was basically, well, at Nick's beck and call. She had told Louis he had been heartbroken when his girlfriend had been changed into a hexenbiest (true) and that after a while he had basically needed a warm body to get him through the cold nights (he hadn't ever refused her, she supposed), and she felt compelled to oblige him after everything he did to keep Kelly safe, but she really couldn't stand him (totally a lie). As long as the Grimm was willing to provide protection for her and her child, she was willing to offer him comfort and companionship.
Nick had scoffed, a little too loudly, she thought, at her suggestion as being farfetched, but so far Louis seemed to be buying it. And honestly she had offered herself up for less.
Which wasn't really anything to be proud of.
"No, just needed some air," she said.
"I have a proposition for you," he said. "A way out of your predicament."
