A/N: This chapter is a bit short, but really really sweet. And I think it's the perfect transition between the living hell of the past chapters, and what's to come. Plus two chapters in a row is kind of my way of redeeming myself for my terrible updating skills.
In replies to my wonderful comments:
To 1monster2: well, in the coming chapters, I may "beat up characters every five sentences" hohoho just you wait
To Randomsfanfic: Yes ma'am. I'm gonna keep on writing! ^_^
To 111: I plan to end the story in several more chapters, true. But I may write a short afterstory too, so I don't know if that'd count as a chapter or not~
Please enjoy.
"You guys better get over here right now." Wu said over the phone, "Ashley Rodriguez was just murdered in her shop."
"What?" Nick and Hank exclaimed in shock. "We're coming right away."
They immediately got out of their chairs, threw on their jackets, and were out of the precinct and into their cars- zooming down the road with the sirens blaring.
They pulled up in front of the shop, yellow tape already blocking the crime scene. Four or five patrol cars were parked randomly with their lights still on, and several paramedics were urgently carrying out stretchers holding two injured police officers.
Nick and Hank both took out their badges as they walked past the yellow tape and entered the scene. The door to the shop was left open and inside was a total mess. The bench Trubel and Nick had sat on an hour ago had been thrown against the wall . Bullet holes riddled the walls and there was blood everywhere. Coat racks had been knocked down and various clothing items lay strewn across the floor- ripped, shot, and bloodied beyond use.
Forensics were all over the room- taking samples of blood, bullets, splinters, broken glass, anything they could find. Nick and Hank walked past them all until they found Wu. He was kneeling in the changing room, one of the doors was open and Ashley'd body lay on the floor, face-up. Nick put his hand to his eyes and sighed. Wu looked up and then stood to greet him and Hank.
If Nick and Hank had thought that the rest of the shop was a mess, the changing room was in tatters. Blood sprayed all across the room, and two dead officers lay in the doorway. More bulletholes were found in the doorways and the stalls, and there was a mirror that had been smashed to pieces. Glass littered the ground over pools of blood like pieces of driftwood in a river.
"We've got ourselves a true serial killer out here." Wu said grimly, "We'd set twelve officers up guarding the shop, all of them heavily armed, and this guy-thing-whatever the hell this murderer is, somehow managed to get past it all. And ten of them were killed."
"Ten of them? Of our officers?" Hank asked, shocked, "All killed by one person?"
"Apparently." Wu replied. "We'd set up security cameras and he immediately shot them all. As if he'd already known where they were placed. We've sent them in to try to resurrect the footage."
"Have we got a match on the suspect yet? Any DNA, blood, anything?" Nick asked half heartedly.
"Nothing yet. The guy was really careful. Must have had gloves on or something to protect his hands. We haven't found any fingerprints, and none of the blood in here belongs to anyone but Mrs. Rodriguez and our officers'." Wu said.
Nick, Hank, and Wu stood a silent vigil as the forensics came in and took photos of the Ashley.
[ *TIME SKIP-4 HOURS LATER*] [*SCENE JUMP-MONROE AND ROSALEE'S HOUSE*]
"Juliette? Hi, it's me. I can't tell you why right now, but you and Trubel have to leave the house. Now. Go to Monroe and Rosalee's house. Sorry, I don't have time to explain. I'll be there in a couple hours. Lock the doors and the windows and stay there." Nick said over the phone.
Juliette opened her mouth to reply, but the phone went dead immediately. She sighed and stood up and walked up the stairs and to Trubel's room. She peeked in to see the young Grimm fast asleep on her bed.
This is the life of a Grimm, and Nick's not even one anymore! She thought to herself as she walked into the room and shook Trubel slightly. She awoke with a start before calming after realizing it was only Juliette.
"We gotta go." She announced. "Nick just called, told me to take you with me to Monroe and Rosalee's. Said he didn't have time to explain, and just to do it."
Trubel, confused and disoriented after just waking up, wordlessly got out of bed, grabbed her machete, and followed Juliette out the door.
{ GRIMM }
Monroe, Rosalee, and Juliette all sat at the table quietly discussing things. Trubel lay on the couch fast asleep again until the quiet was suddenly interrupted by a ring at the door. Monroe quickly got up and unlocked and opened the door to find Nick and Hank standing there.
"Hey. How's Trubel?" Was Nick's immediate question.
"What? Oh, she's fine. Asleep. Totally out of it." Monroe replied, "The doors are locked, the windows are locked, and Rosalee's been keeping an eye out for anyone outside- but so far nothing's happened. But dude, just how long does Trubel need to recover? You only took a couple of days."
"She was hurt a lot worse than I was." Nick replied. "Thank you so much by the way for doing this for us. I didn't even know if you guys were even going to be here or not, I just told Juliette to get Trubel here as fast as I could without even checking in with you first."
"Hey no need for apologies, man." Monroe said as he welcomed the two men into his house, "Rosalee closed the Spice Shop today because we haven't been getting a lot of business since...you know, the whole Siegbarste thing. News travels fast."
Nick nodded as Juliette came up to him, and the two shared a brief kiss before they all headed towards the table. Rosalee had woken Trubel, and she too joined them as they all sat down.
Once everyone was seated, Nick spoke announced the bad news. "Ashley Rodriguez was found murdered at her shop four hours ago. She was killed by a stab wound to the neck with a chunk of broken glass."
Rosalee gasped and put her hands over her mouth, Monroe put his arms around her in support yet his eyes held an equal amount of shock, Juliette's mouth dropped open, and Trubel just sat there with her eyes wide in disbelief.
"Ashley! We used to go to her shop to buy clothes!" Rosalee exclaimed, "She was one of the nicest ladies I'd ever met!"
"And the damn best tempered Coyotl I'd ever met!" Monroe added, "Oh my god, I just can't believe she's dead…"
"We're assuming the same monster that put Trubel into this situation is responsible for this." Hank said, " But not only did he kill Mrs. Rodriguez, he also took down ten of our officers in the process."
"This is horrible… Trubel what're you going to do?" Juliette asked, addressing the elephant in the room quietly.
Trubel was silent for a moment, her eyes dark as she thought. "I...I'm gonna leave Portland." She announced.
"What?!" Came the simultaneous reply from all five of the people standing in the room.
"You can't leave." Nick said firmly as he stood up, "There's no stopping this guy. He is going to track you down, and he's going to kill you. And I'm not letting that happen."
"You can't stop me, Nick! You're human, remember?" Trubel snapped as she stood up to face Nick, "I can't stay here BECAUSE he'll do EXACTLY that! He'll find me, and kill me, and if I'm with you guys- he'll kill you all too! I told you this back when I was first in the hospital, and it's still true! You're all in danger just by me being here!"
"Trubel..wait, we can-" Rosalee began.
"NO, YOU CAN'T." Trubel cut in, "You can't do anything! Didn't you hear a word Nick just said? Ten officers were killed by this guy! TEN ARMED OFFICERS! Nick, Hank, Monroe, Rosalee, a whole police force...nobody can hold this guy! I've got no choice but to leave! Or he'll kill everyone!" At this point Trubel's eyes were beginning to water, but she didn't care. She didn't care if she looked weak. She didn't care if she died, even. All she cared about was making sure the people she loved didn't get hurt.
"And...and..It's probably best if I get out of here as soon as I-" Her words were cut off as arms enveloped her and she was suddenly caught in a tight hug by Nick.
"I told you, I don't care." He said, "Remember what I said back at the shop? Remember how I lied that you were my sister? Well Trubel, you are a sister to me. Even if I can't see them anymore, you've risked your life for our investigations, you've gotten to know me and Juliette and Monroe and Rosalee, and we all care about you. You're part of our family now."
Trubel felt more arms on her as Juliette and Hank joined in, wrapping themselves around the two Grimms. Hank murmured, "It's true. You're one of us now."
Trubel felt her eyes begin to water again, but this time a different feeling started in her chest. It wasn't pain anymore, it was warm...and tingly. And it only flared more as Monroe and Rosalee walked over and joined in, making their hug one big circle of arms and smiles.
"Don't worry, Trubel. It doesn't matter if he comes after you. We'll all be waiting. And even if he manages to take out a cop, an ex-Grimm, a Blutbad, a Fuchsbau, and a true Grimm- we'll all fight for you. And even if he manages to kill us all, we'll go down fighting."
"I couldn't agree more." Monroe said, "Even if you scared the crap out of me the first time we met, now you're part of us."
"You're part of me, Monroe, Rosalee, Nick and Hank." Juliette added, "And we're never letting you go."
"You're one of us, Trubel. You're family."
A/N: I can't emphasize enough on how much I loved this family back when it was still together (*cough,cough* before Juliette went insane) and I hope I brought back some of the love that I believe the characters have for one another. Even if they never let it out in words. Please review. Next chapter to be posted soon! I promise.
