Disclaimer: I don't own Grimm; I only own Charlotte and her family/friends.

Chapter 10

Charlotte had only just gotten her laundry folded and put away when there was banging on the door. She jumped for a second but headed downstairs. She tried not to trip on her oversized sweatpants as she got downstairs. She wondered who would be coming so late in the day.

"Hold on, I'm coming keep your pants on," she said. She opened the door and was surprised to see Nick standing there like he'd seen a ghost.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"No not really," he said walking inside the house.

"Would you like to come in? Oh sure Charlotte that would be nice," she said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry but I just needed to see you," he said.

"Okay what happened? Did you guys found out who that person was?"

"Charlotte you better sit down," Nick said.

This wasn't good. Charlotte looked him with a confused look as she sat down on the couch. She crossed her arms over her chest and crossed her legs.

"Go on," she said.

"What we found at the crime scene was a camera. We had the pictures printed out and what we saw was-"

"Look I don't mean to be rude or a bitch but if you came here to tell me you guys found naked pictures in that camera, then I really don't want to hear it, so it must've been a waste of a trip coming here," she said, getting up from her spot.

"Charlotte."

"What?" she called from the hallway.

"Some of those pictures were you. Whoever it was taking them, was stalking you and the other victims," he said.

Nick heard silence after that. He got up from his spot and went into the small hallway to find Charlotte standing by the kitchen counter. Her hands were grasping on to them tight. She looked up at him and he could tell that she was shocked.

"What kind of pictures?" she asked.

"In town, following you from the grocery store to coming out of the police station, to walking in town at night," he replied. "I'm so sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" she said. "You didn't do anything wrong."

He was close to saying 'I know' but stopped. She was right to that point. He didn't do anything wrong with the pictures incident. He knows all too well on how these types of murders worked. What he didn't know that the effects of the crimes. Nick had been a little too close to the case not mainly because of what creature would be doing this, but the fact that a girl he's gotten to know so far was in danger and he wished he'd do something about it.

"Was there anything else?"

"I'm sorry?" he said.

"Was there anything else that came to light about the case?" Charlotte asked.

"None so far," he replied.

Charlotte could nod as she started to make some coffee. She tried to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall, but she found it a little impossible to do so. She tossed the bag of coffee to the side as she hunched over the counter trying to make the crying stop. The next thing she knew, she felt a hand turning her around and arms wrapping around her. She didn't need to know that it was Nick who was holding her as he tried his best to comfort her.

"This isn't happening. It can't. Why?" she cried as she held on to him.

"I don't know but I'm not going to let anything happen to anyone else, especially you," Nick said.

"How?"

"I don't know but I'm going to find a way," he said.

Charlotte pulled back a bit looking up at Nick. Here she was, standing in her own kitchen in Nick's arms. This felt right to her for some reason unknown. Maybe it was because she needed that comfort or it was probably she felt some sort of feelings towards the detective.

Whoa, me falling for Nick? So not happening and besides, doesn't he still have feelings for his ex? She thought to herself.

"I'm sorry for that," she said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"Don't be," he said. "And like I said, nothing's going to happen to you."

"I just hope you're right," she said.

Before Nick could say anything else, his phone beeped meaning he'd gotten a text. He saw that Monroe had texted him about what he found and needed to see him right away.

"I'm sorry I have to meet up with Monroe," he said.

"Do you think he might've found something since he's a private investigator and all?" she asked.

"Probably, um if you don't mind, can I come back here and keep you company for awhile?" he asked.

"That's fine," she said.

They walked towards the door quietly. Before Nick made it through the threshold, Charlotte's voice rang out.

"I need to say something about the night of the break in," she said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah I know this might be a shocker but the person whoever was that came in my house, it was female," she said.

"How did you know that?" Nick asked.

"Let's just say that when you're taking bath and fall asleep, sometimes I guess the dreams take you back to the scene of a crime," Charlotte replied.

"This is what I found so far from what you told me from your girlfriend," Monroe said as Nick scrolled through the books in his Aunt Marie's trailer that evening.

"Charlotte's not my girlfriend," he said.

"Right so from what I found, you're dealing with Klaustriech, they're like cats only more vicious than any other normal cat," Monroe explained. "They like to be around women…"

"That's why most of the victims' are women," Nick said.

"Exactly however, you've heard of Alice in Wonderland? Whoever is a Klaustriech is probably joined in some small cult that is going after women with blonde hair and whoever wears blue. They want their Alice but whenever it not them, they kill them," Monroe pointed out.

"What I don't get is how Charlotte is mixed into this. She only told me that whoever it was that broke into her house was a female," Nick said. "I don't get how a Klaustriech is mixed into this."

"Maybe the intruder was working for them," Monroe replied. "It could be something."

Nick didn't know what to say. His mind kept thinking back to Charlotte, the scene outside the coffee house, her face, and then the moment inside her house. He couldn't stop picturing her eyes as they held unshed tears and he wanted to protect her more than anything.

"You're crazy for her, aren't you? And I'm not talking about psychotic crazy," Monroe asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Nick said.

"There's no use in denying it," he replied. "I mean it's somehow a good thing of you moving on from Juliette no offense, but how do you think Charlotte will react when I tell her what I do?"

"That my friend, I wish I could tell you. But you better tell her before its too late," he said.

Nick looked up quizzically at Monroe. He wanted to know what he meant by that but didn't dare to ask. He knew that he needed to tell Charlotte. Hell, Hank and Alex doesn't know he's a Grimm. He remembered telling Juliette about his new life and looked how that turned out.

"I got to go," Nick said.

"Back to Charlotte?" Monroe asked.

"Probably, I don't know," he replied.

It wasn't until when he left Monroe's house he took the drive back to Charlotte's. He didn't know why but he felt that he should be there for her.

Her eyes were dried by the time she finished her dinner. She tried to make herself eat and it only worked for awhile. Right now, she was trying to work on her article. The meeting for voting on the final two layouts was tomorrow and she wanted to be prepared but she can't.

She heard the knock on the door and she got up, knowing who it would be but she still took precaution. She opened the door and to no surprise Nick was on her deck. She let him in and offered some coffee which he took.

"What is all of that?" Nick asked, gesturing the work lying on the coffee table.

"Oh that's just work stuff for tomorrow. I only have a meeting about which layout design to use for a special we're running," she replied.

"What's it about?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"I'm going to find out when it becomes public so might as well tell me," he replied.

"Fine," Charlotte said, "It's about serial killers. My boss had some weird idea about running a special about them since well, you know…"

"Yeah," Nick said.

"I really didn't want to do it but what choice do I have?" she said.

"Well, have you written anything so far?"

"I usually don't let people read anything until it's done. I guess you might call it a perfectionist," she admitted shyly.

"There isn't anything wrong with that. Tell me, how come you're a shy person?"

"What makes you think I'm shy? Wait a minute don't even answer that," she said. "I don't know. Ever since my parents' divorce I just became quiet. No one didn't want anything to do with me except my brother, cousins, and a few friends."

"Do you even talk to your dad?" Nick asked.

"Once in awhile if I'm lucky," she replied. "I always thought that my parents' marriage was a happy one. I never thought they would have problems that were bad. I guess the saying does go."

"What's that?"

"No one's perfect," she replied.

"That I would have to agree with you," he said.

Charlotte and Nick then talked about their lives and she felt at ease for some reason. She wounded up putting her laptop back in her office and decided to just settle in and put in a movie with Nick. She was worried at first when she thought that it would be a date but she assured herself that it was only two friends just hanging out. They barely hang out and the one time they did, she found the body and well; the pieces led up to tonight.

"Are you sure you don't mind? I don't even know if you have work tomorrow," she said.

"I do, it's not like I'll arrive late," he replied.

"I don't know how your job works," she protested.

The movie was popped in and the both of them got comfortable. It wasn't until sometime later both of them fell asleep.

Nick woke up later on. He could see the time on the DVD player that it was near two in the morning and he had to be at work in the morning but it wasn't until a little bit later. He looked over and saw Charlotte sleeping on the couch.

He smiled at the sight as he got up from his spot and carefully trying not to wake her, picked up Charlotte and brought her upstairs to her room. It didn't take him long to find her room since it was the second door on the left.

He placed her down on the bed and covered her up with a blanket. Nick sat and stared at her. He pushed some of her hair out of her face and cupped it. He wished he could stay but he wanted to be there at work to see if they found anything.

Looking around for a short minute; he found a piece of paper and wrote Charlotte a quick note and placed it on her nightstand.

Nick took one last look at her before placing a kiss on her forehead, silently promising to see her hopefully tomorrow.

A/n: Well, how's that for a long chapter? I know it seemed like that but I wanted these two to just you know hangout. Will these two realize their feelings for each other? Time will tell soon enough.

Next few chapters, things are going to get tense! I hope you guys stick around for that!

Leave me your thoughts! They make me happy and we got two more months left until season 2 comes back! I'm keeping my sanity. For now.

Until then,
Spike