/ / / 14 \ \ \

Nick woke early the next morning and showered and dressed as quietly as he could. When he made it down to the kitchen his mother was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee between her hands.

"There's more in the pot," she said with a smile.

"Morning, Mum," Nick said and poured himself some coffee.

"Early start?" Kelly asked as Nick made himself toast and decided to take just a little more time for breakfast this morning.

Nick nodded. "I wanted to stop and pick up some coffee that doesn't taste like tar and water."

"For your partner?"

"Hank," Nick said. "I wish you could meet him but you're still wanted over what happened with Wu."

"Maybe next time I'm in town," she said with a smile. "I'll try not to attack any of your colleagues."

Nick looked up sharply. "You're going to come back?"

Kelly smiled softly. "I have missed you over the last nineteen years; of course I will be back."

Nick couldn't have controlled the smile that took over his face if he'd even wanted to. They chatted about nothing important while Nick finished his breakfast. He said his goodbyes and left.

Instead of turning left towards the coffee shop and the station he went right and towards Elly who should have finished her pilates by the time he got there, he stopped for pastries just in case.

Elly's door opened as he started walking up to the stairs. Her hair was damp and she smelt of raspberries so she'd obviously had enough time to shower after she finished her exercise.

"Morning Nick, is one of those a custard danish?"

Nick smiled and handed her the box. "Morning, El."

"What's brought you here so early?"

"I need you to help me convince my mother that the Coins of Zakynthos left Portland and are somewhere far, far away."

Elly closed her eyes and swore. "Why do you only come to me with the crazy plans at 6am? Come into the kitchen I've made some coffee and am baking a pie."

"It's 6am and you're making a pie?"

"Roddy and Holly are coming over later this morning for a practice session."

Nick smiled and wished he could make it – it felt like forever since he had heard Roddy play. "Say hello to them both for me."

"I will," Elly said and began to pour out two cups of coffee. "Why are you going to trick your mother into leaving town?"

Nick nodded. "We had a talk last night, we talked about dad and Grimms and her regent."

"What did she say about regents?"

"That they should be allowed to control your life," Nick said with a scoff. "She would do whatever her regent asked her too and she wants me to do the same with Renard."

Elly sat down across from him at the kitchen table. "So you talked to Renard?"

"We had one of those conversations where we didn't actually talk about anything."

Elly frowned at him. "Either it's early or that made no sense."

Nick laughed. "I never called him a regent and he never admitted it but I made it clear that I am not going to change how I do Grimm business."

"And," Elly said. "You're mum isn't happy about that plan?"

"She thinks I should be in my regent's pocket and she sees nothing wrong with that. She needs to go after those coins somewhere else before she works out I have them."

"Are you sure you want her to leave?"

Nick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "She told me that Grimms live longer if they work for a regent."

Elly nodded.

"She thinks that that makes it okay, that just because her regent was able to pull her out of that crash and that I was already with Aunt Marie it was okay that she left me to think she was dead. I was twelve!" Nick didn't realise his voice had risen until the end and he knew he needed to calm down; none of this was Elly's fault but now that he'd started he didn't know how to stop. "I asked her, I asked her if she would stop a Wesen who was hurting people if her regent told her not to and she didn't say anything. You kept telling me that I don't act like normal Grimms but it didn't hit me until this, she is so completely and utterly uncaring about the lives Wesen have, she only cares about what they are. Her regent, who she works for, would have killed me. I was twelve and they would have killed me because she didn't do what they wanted. All these years she has been out there working for her regent and I had no idea, how could she do that?"

Elly stood up and pulled him into a hug. "I don't know, Nick."

Nick pulled away from her not really wanting to be comforted at the moment. "I don't trust her regent and I'm not sure I trust her either so I think I need to move her focus on the coins away from Portland."

Elly smiled and pulled away. "I have to finish this pie. Then we will work out how to convince her that the coins left Portland. Okay?"

"Thank you, Elly."

Elly walked over to the pot and stirred the fruit before tossing something into the bubbling mixture and turned it off. She went back to her dough rolling it out and laying it into a pie dish. He sat back and watched her work, there was always something comforting in watching her cook. Marie had never been a great cook, she kept them fed and healthy but nothing like he remembered his father being. He would create amazing things in the kitchen and he'd taught Nick some of it before he'd died. Nick had always sat in there though, their tiny kitchen was warm and his dad would explain what he was doing as he made things, he'd never measure correctly just take a guess and it always seemed to work for him. Sitting in Elly's kitchen reminded him forcibly of then, of watching his father cook and create and the joy on his face while his family ate. His mother wasn't the same as he remembered from back then and he would never know how much of it was the false memories of a twelve year old and how much of it was the life she had led since then. A large part of him, a part he was trying to ignore, was wondering if he had pushed aside the memories that had been less than rosy. Regardless of anything else, he didn't trust her enough to give her those coins – he had seen what they could do and he wouldn't give them to anyone.

Hank called just as Elly slid the pie into the oven and Nick had to leave before he and Elly had come up with anything but they had a lead on the suspect and for now that was more important.

/ / /

Short but I'm getting there...