A/N: We're closing on our new house one week from yesterday, then we move next Thurs and Friday so it will probably be two weeks before I'll be able to update again. Thanks for still following :-)!
Chapter 9 Nick
Muffled voices swirled around the room while he was in agony. What happened to his head?! This was worse than one of those stupid episodes he'd had during his college days when he had drunk himself into a stupor only to wake the next morning hating life. Slowly, the voices become clearer, as the fog of pain lifted somewhat, but not enough that opening his eyes seemed like a good idea.
Eve was speaking. Nick knew that voice all too well to doubt his memory. He took a deep breath as those years he idolized Juliette came back to him with sharp poignancy. He had been callow and naive about being a Grimm, and more so about their relationship. Nick had tried so hard to please Juliette, his ideal, that he never stopped to ask himself if she thought the same of him. If Nick had stayed normal, would Juliette have been satisfied with him? Was it only the Grimm that drove a stake between the two of them and their happiness? That's what he'd always believed, yet after his very unexpected happy life with Adalind, Nick began to doubt it.
With Juliette, his infatuation had him pandering after her smile, her approval, and her acceptance. He was always worried that he might step wrong or that she would be displeased like when he brought Trubel home the first time. That night Juliette had not been happy as if one Grimm was too much to endure, now there were two of them. Nick felt himself grow angry simply from the memory. However, the thought of Adalind in comparison made his anger dissolve. Now with Adalind, he had gone out of his way to displease her and handled her very roughly as a Grimm and as a cop. Fully a man, that's how Adalind made him feel whether she was his enemy or his lover. In that moment, Nick knew his heart. He was no longer the eager boy he had been with Juliette. He was all man and Grimm now, thanks to Adalind.
He almost opened his eyes to look for her, until he heard what Eve said next, "His son is safe and that's all that really matters."
"He won't be happy," it was Rosalee who spoke then. "They're a family, I've seen them together."
"A family? With a hexenbiest?" Eve asked quietly. What did all mean? Nick tried to figure out this puzzle but his son started to cry and that snapped his eyes open, bringing the pain back as he attempted to sit up.
"Nick, you're awake," Rosalee looked at him with concern as Kelly reached for his father. He squinted slightly but smiled to reassure her as he took Kelly into his arms, savoring the contact. It had been torture being apart from his small son, his baby. It hit him in his gut, a realization. Nick felt sick that Adalind had experienced that aching hole that their actions, however well meaning, had caused her and not just for a few days but for years. "Are you okay?" Rosalee's question snapped Nick out of his guilt.
"Yeah. My head's just killing me," he responded. He spotted Eve watching him closely but other than those two, no one else was in the room. Where was Adalind, Trubel, Hank, or Wu? "Where is everybody?" he inquired.
"Hank and Wu are on guard," Rosalee dropped her eyes as she spoke, which meant something was happening.
Panic had him breathing a little faster as Nick demanded, "What happened?"
"Diana seems to be jealous of you. You apparently threaten Sean's position in her ideal life," Eve cooly conveyed. "When you hugged Adalind, Diana hit you in that back of the head with one of those wooden shutters and knocked you unconscious," she continued indicating the window.
Nick tentatively reached up and felt the back of his head swelling plus what felt like stitches. "I had to put three stitches in to close the gash. Luckily I brought supplies from the spice shop. I didn't know who might need some help," Rosalee explained.
"That doesn't answer my question," he observed pinning them with a stare. "Where are Adalind and Diana?"
"Kelly and you aren't safe around that little girl with more power than any adult could handle, let alone a two-year-old," Eve said still meeting his look, but Rosalee put her hand up and ran it through her hair. Nick did not like where this was going.
"Tell me," he replied sharply and his head smarted with the exertion.
"Trubel and Adalind are taking Diana back to Sean," Eve stated with some compassion.
Gripping Kelly, Nick flew to his feet, "She did what?!" He reeled a bit and Rosalee immediately reached for Kelly but Nick clasped him tighter and stabilized himself on a nearby table. A wave of nausea threaten to make him empty the contents of his stomach on the spot, but he swallowed and held his composure. "Adalind will not lose her daughter again!"
"No, I don't believe she will," Eve simply stated.
"Eve," Rosalee called in what seemed like a warning.
"What do you mean?" Nick addressed the hexenbiest.
"I'm not sure Adalind means to return… or that Diana will let her go if she should try to leave again," now there definitely was compassion in Eve's voice.
"How do you know this? You could be mistaken," Nick refused to accept what he was hearing.
"When you were unconscious, Adalind and I spoke about what dangers there were involving you and Kelly around her daughter. I heard her make a deal with Diana to keep you two safe..."
"You did?!" Nick cut Eve off. His voice raised as he closed in on her, the familiar face of his once long time girlfriend no longer having the same spell over him. "What gives you right?! Seriously, when you betrayed me multiple times and my mother to her death, you stopped having the right to have any say in my life!" He was shouting, mere inches from her.
Finally, at his last words, Eve took a shaky breath and looked away. "I thought your son was your main concern and he's safe here with us," she said in a small voice.
"My main concern?" he wouldn't let her off that easy. Nick said harshly. "While you were betraying me, Adalind was having my child, the child of her enemy. She could have terminated him but she chose peace with me instead. What do you know of being a mother? I know what it's like to lose a mine… Twice, and I would never want that for my son!"
Eve looked confused and lost, mouth slightly agape with emotion. She softly responded, "I... I didn't understand. I didn't know." She shook her head with disbelief.
"Know what?" he asked firmly, but her answer was halted by Monroe and Alexander's returned.
As the three of them filed out of the bedroom, the tension couldn't be ignored. "Did… we miss something?" Monroe had that 'What now?' look on his face.
"Adalind and Diana are gone," Nick answered in clipped tones. "Trubel took them back to Renard after Diana threw a little tantrum about my place in her mother's life." His voice was dripping with bitterness.
"What?!" Monroe exclaimed.
"I had to give him three stitches after Diana cracked his head open with a shutter," Rosalee filled in the story.
Monroe quickly came over to the Grimm's side, "Are you alright, man?"
"I'll live."
With a glance down at Kelly, who was whimpering with his father's foul mood, Monroe sighed, "At least Adalind had the heart to leave Kelly with you." That fact did little to soothe Nick and, in fact, made his resolve to bring Adalind back even firmer.
"This is not over," Nick practically growled. "I'm not having her give up one more child!"
Abruptly they all turned as the door squeaked open. Everyone in the room, except himself, Woged. In walked Trubel with a look of confusion, "What?"
There was an exhale in unison and the Wesen reverted to normal. Kelly cried as Nick came up to the younger Grimm demanding, "Where's Adalind?"
"She's with her daughter," Trubel stated. Nick glared at her. "Look, she did what she thought was right, plus I gave her a burner phone. She's planning on feeding us intel from the inside."
"How could you?" he pleaded.
"It was her choice, Nick, and after what Diana did to you I agreed," Trubel replied with her emotion and distress plainly showing.
He marched away from her fuming, "How come everyone thinks they know how to live my life for me?!"
Rosalee gently spoke as she walked to Nick's side and put a hand on his shoulder, "Adalind made this sacrifice for you and your son, for your safety."
"I know I'm not as personally invested as the rest of you and that very fact might allow me a clearer perspective," Alexander started in his eloquent way, "but this may have been a poor decision. The hexenbiest child is uniquely gifted and may be the factor that will tip the scales in this war."
Nick locked eyes with Rosalee. Almost as a big sister, Rosalee knew him well, and he saw her slightly nod as he stated, "I want them back!"
