Sorry for the delay - life has been crazy these past couple weeks! I got this up as quickly as I could, so I apologize in advance for any editing mistakes :)
Thanks again and again for all the reviews, favs, and follows - they inspire me more than you know!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
"Seriously, what is it with you and killing," Nick asked, shaking his head as he looked down at her.
"It's kind of a hexenbiest thing," Adalind said, wrinkling her nose, "sex and killing, that's what we do. I guess I should work on some alternate options."
"It would be a refreshing change of pace," Nick responded with a shrug, "Just the killing part, though."
"I suppose I don't really think we should kill my mother," Adalind said, then added, "maybe we can just de-hex her, like you did with me."
"You want me to try and get my blood in your mother," Nick asked, his face indicating how incredulous he thought the suggestion was, "I don't think that's a good idea."
"You're right," Adalind said slowly, "I don't think I could handle it if you suddenly had uncontrollable desire for my mother."
"I wonder how that would work," Nick replied, his face suddenly thoughtful, "maybe since it already happened with you, it wouldn't happen with another hexenbiest."
"I don't think I want to find out," Adalind said, then perked up, "Wait! Maybe your mom could do it!"
"I wonder how THAT would work," Nick responded with a horrified look.
"I don't want to think about it," Adalind sighed, "But we need to find her so we can find out what spell she put on Juliette."
"And if we can't find her?" Nick asked.
"Well, we can try and find the cat," Adalind answered, "then Rosalee should be able to help us run a test that would tell us what toxin was used."
"And if we can't find the cat?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Adalind said, "but first things first, we need to try and find the cat."
"And how do you propose we do that?" Nick asked.
"You up for a little B and E?" Adalind asked with a small grin, "because I am pretty sure I know where the cat is."
"I can try and track down your mother," Renard said, walking up behind them and Nick turned to look at him.
"And why would you do that?" Nick was immediately suspicious of any help from his Captain.
"Because I know her, know how her mind works," Renard answered, and Nick noticed Adalind roll her eyes, but Renard ignored her "and like it or not, if she is a threat to you, then she is a threat to me, too."
"If you plan on catching her, you better move quick," Hank said, coming in from the dining room, "I had Wu run her name, and it looks like she is on a plane out of Portland first thing in the morning, and there is no return flight."
"Where is she headed?" Renard asked with narrowed eyes.
"Vienna," Hank replied.
Renard didn't reply, merely picked up his coat and walked toward the door, turning back just before opening the door, his eyes meeting Adalind's, and then Nick's.
"I'll try and keep her alive," Renard said quietly, "but no promises."
They all stared at the door for a moment after Rendard had closed it behind him.
"So, he just said he might kill someone," Hank started slowly, then continued, "and we just let him go."
"I don't like it either," Nick responded, trying to reassure his partner, "but this other world…..our rules just don't always apply the same way. There are going to be things we will never be able to explain, much less prove. Takes some getting used to."
"You can say that again," Hank replied with a shake of his head, "Is there anything else you need tonight?"
"No, you can head home," Nick replied, "thanks for your help."
After Hank left, Adalind turned to him and shook her head, her smile holding a hint of irony.
"Alone at last," Adalind said, "you know, except for your ex-girlfriend tranquilized on the couch and your undead mother in your basement."
Nick snorted a laugh, and then turned at the sound of his mother joining them in the living room.
"You have an interesting group of friends," Kelly said, glancing at Juliette on the couch.
"And she hasn't even met Monroe and Rosalee yet," Adalind said quietly under her breath, and Nick gave her a stern look, "sorry."
"So this is your ex-girlfriend?" Kelly asked, and Nick nodded, "and she's under the spell of a hexenbiest, who is…." she turned to Adalind, "your mother?"
"Yeah, that about sums it up," Adalind replied with a tight smile.
"I don't think so," Kelly said, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Adalind, her gaze running up and down, "you say you aren't a hexenbiest, but how is that possible?"
"I think I'll let you field that one," Adalind said to Nick.
"She was a hexenbiest," Nick said, and at his mother's arched brow, he continued, "I killed her hexenbiest spirit."
"Really?" Kelly's impressed tone made Nick feel simultaneously embarrassed and proud.
"Yeah, Adalind gave Hank the Le mort pour l'amour, so I had to break the spell," Nick shrugged, "Didn't really have a choice."
"But then you let her live," Kelly's eyes flicked to Adalind, and then back to Nick, "why?"
"Because I try to avoid killing people, if possible," Nick said sarcastically, "you may not have heard, what with being dead for the last twenty years or so, but I'm a cop. A homicide cop to be even more specific, so I try to avoid it, if possible."
"Interesting," Kelly responded, and he shifted uncomfortably under her stare, "and why is she here?"
"That's a little more complicated," Nick responded, turning to Adalind, "You want to answer that one?"
"Not really," Adalind answered, but Nick gave her a pleading a look and she sighed and looked at Kelly, "Fine. After Nick killed the hexenbiest, a spell was cast. It was just a simple desire spell, but for two people who hated each other, it was a very unwelcome side effect. And the only way to break it was for one of us to die…..or sleep together."
"And you still didn't kill her?" Kelly asked Nick incredulously.
"No!" Nick was getting frustrated, "Killing people is a last resort for me! Even people I don't like!"
"Took me awhile to get used to that, too," Adalind said to Kelly, "Not what you normally hear from a Grimm, is it?"
Kelly shook her head, "no, it's not."
"Long story short, Adalind and I both had some preconceived notions about each other," Nick said, "we talked, she helped me with a few wesen related issues, and we're learning to trust each other."
"You can't trust her," Kelly said, not bothering to hide her feelings from Adalind.
"That's interesting coming from the woman who has been lying to me since I was twelve," Nick said angrily, "Adalind has spent the last few weeks helping me understand the wesen world, something you should have been doing my entire life."
Kelly looked taken aback for a moment, but then nodded her head, "You're right."
"So you can stay, and accept that there is a former hexenbiest who is a part of my life," Nick said pointedly, "or you can leave, and we can both keep pretending that you're dead."
"Nick…" Adalind put a hand on his arm, and her gaze was worried, but he shook his head.
"No," he said looking at her, "you have done more to help me understand being a Grimm than she ever did….or my Aunt Marie, if we are being honest about the situation. Neither one of them prepared me in any way for any of this."
"They were trying to protect you," Adalind soothed, but he was sick of that excuse.
"All of their protection left me vulnerable," Nick replied harshly, "and people were almost killed because I didn't understand."
"We always hoped that I didn't pass the Grimm gene to you," his mother's eyes pleaded with him to understand.
"Well, it did," Nick said, and he held his mother's stare for a moment. He felt some of his anger leech out of him as he remembered her singing him to sleep at night, reading him stories, and taking him to the zoo. He softened for a moment before reverting back to his angry state. It was easier to only deal with that emotion. He could sort through his other feeling later.
Adalind cleared her throat uncomfortably and he realized that the silence had grown awkward. Which meant that at any moment Adalind would start babbling to fill the void.
"We need to get that cat," Nick turned to Adalind just as she was opening her mouth, stopping her before the waterfall of words could start. She shut her mouth and nodded.
"Right," she replied, rocking back on her heels a bit, "the cat."
"How can I help," his mother asked, and Nick hesitated only a moment before answering.
"I need you to stay with Juliette," Nick replied, "so I hope you have more tranquilizer."
%%%%%
Sean entered Catherine's house soundlessly, using the key that she had given him previously. He drew his weapon as he followed the sound of a woman humming in the kitchen.
"Sean, darling," Catherine called in a lilting voice from the other room, "there is no reason for you to have that weapon out. Aren't we friends? Very good friends?"
"I thought we were," Sean replied, stepping into the kitchen, gun raised, "but then you decided to pull this last trick, so now, I'm not sure whose team you're playing for."
"You didn't expect me to just step aside while my daughter became that Grimm's whore, did you?" Catherine turned and looked at him, her eyes blazing, "after everything he did, do you really blame me for a bit of payback?"
"You should stay out of things that you don't understand," Sean snarled at her.
"Well, maybe you played a little too freely with my emotions," Catherine said with mock hurt, "and with my daughters heart. Maybe you should have been a little more open about what was going on. Then maybe neither one of us would have gotten so...confused."
"You knew exactly what you were doing," Sean said angrily through gritted teeth.
"Why do you care anyway," Catherine spat, "what does Juliette Silverton mean to you."
"Because she ties the Grimm here, to Portland, and to me," Sean said, his voice suddenly deadly calm, "if she dies, he could quit the force, he could leave, and I have put too much time and effort into him to allow that to happen."
Catherine regarded him for a moment, then a patronizing smile tilted the corner of her mouth, "You think the Grimm and Juliette are still together, don't you?"
"Why wouldn't they be?" Sean questioned, although a sense of dread started building in his gut.
"Maybe because he has found a soft spot for my daughter now that she is a useless human," Catherine replied, "some men find that appealing, and she is still a lovely girl, even without her powers."
"But he was only with her to break the spell….." Sean responded, shaking his head.
"That's how it started, I'm sure," Catherine replied, "but I've been watching them. The Grimm's girlfriend hasn't been to his house in weeks, other than to collect some personal belongings, and only when he's not there. And Adalind has been staying there all this time….."
Catherine let tie implications of her words hang in the air as Sean tried to process the new information that she had revealed to him.
"So," Catherine added after a few moments of silence, "if you want to curry favor with the Grimm, maybe you should start being a bit nicer to Adalind."
"Nick has mentioned that, too," Renard said thoughtfully, then added, "I never imagined that he would leave Juliette."
"Well, perhaps it won't be permanent break up," Catherine said with a cryptic smile, "maybe we can convince Juliette to fight for her man."
Sean's head snapped up, "Why, what did you do to her?"
Catherine shrugged, "Let's just say I whisper in her ear what I want, and she does it."
"Are you kidding me?" Sean's mouth dropped open, "How did you manage that?"
"I'm very talented," Catherine replied, taking a step toward him, "so, maybe we can be friends again….we both want the same thing. My daughter away from your Grimm. All it will take is a whisper in Dr. Silverton's ear, and she'll do whatever I say. From what I hear, your Grimm likes a damsel in distress. Maybe she desperately needs him to take care of her."
Sean looked down at her as she stepped even closer, running a hand up his chest, a wicked smile on her mouth, "Just say the word, Sean, and we can both have what we want."
"I thought you were headed to Vienna," Sean said, his feet rooted to the ground as she continued to run her hands up his chest.
"Well, I don't suppose I would need to go to Vienna to find a prince," Catherine responded, "if I still have one here."
%%%%%
Adalind rubbed her hands together, then blew into them, trying to keep warm against the cold Portland night. She wished she had brought gloves with her, but she hadn't known they would be out in the middle of the night, breaking into a veterinary hospital when she packed. A girl can't pack for every eventuality.
"How's it going with that lock?" she asked, looking down at the back of Nick's head as he worked the lockpick.
"For the third time, it's going just fine," Nick replied, with a frustrated sigh, "my fingers are just cold."
"You want me to help?" Adalind asked, hovering just over him, bouncing on her feet to keep warm.
"I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that you can pick a lock," Nick said, before they both heard a loud click, and he looked up at her with a grin of satisfaction.
"Well, I've never had to do it without magic before," Adalind admitted as they stepped into the dark office. Nick quickly stepped to the blinking alarm on the wall and keyed in the code.
"I'm glad they haven't changed that," Nick said with a relieved smile, he turned and looked around the outer office, "where do you think they keep the animals."
"In the back," Adalind said, and Nick flicked on a flashlight. They moved quietly through one exam room, finding the entrance to the backroom where cages lined the wall.
"How do you know the cat will be here," Nick asked as he looked at the cages, "and which cat it is?"
Adalind shrugged, "Just a hunch. I'm guessing my mother told her that the cat was sick to get an appointment. If they couldn't figure out what was wrong, they likely kept the cat for tests. And believe me, there was no way they were figuring out what was wrong with that cat."
"Looks like the name of the owners are on each cage…" Nick said, before stopping in front of a cage, "you were right, here she is…..Majique?"
"Such an original name," Adalind said rolling her eyes before stepping closer, "You're going to need to be careful, that cat probably still has the toxin in its system."
Nick took a step closer, and the cat hissed and clawed, rattling the cage.
"Well, that's definitely the right cat," Adalind said sarcastically. Looking around, she added, "there has to be a cat carrier in here or something that we can get her out of here in."
She found an empty duffle bag under a table and held it out to Nick.
"How am I supposed to get the cat into that," Nick said eyeing the bag, then the screeching cat.
Adalind looked around and then smiled, grabbing a small bag off the table, "Treats!"
Nick sighed, and held out his hand, "Okay, let's get this over with."
"Maybe I should do it," Adalind said hesitantly, "the cat will be able to sense your anxiety."
"Be my guest," Nick said standing and brushing his hands off on his legs, "You have more experience with these kinds of things anyway, I suppose."
Adalind shook her head as she squatted next to the cat's cage, "Nope, never used a cat to deliver a toxin or potion before, but when you think about it, it's a pretty ingenious way to do it, especially to a veterinarian."
"Do I hear a hint of pride in your voice?" Nick asked.
"Maybe," Adalind sighed, "she is still my mom, and while she sucks at it, she's the only one I got."
"Well, she didn't let you think she was dead for 20 years," Nick replied with an edge, "So even on a night when your mother poisoned a woman to try and get her to rip your throat out, you still don't have me beat in the terrible mom department."
"She was trying to protect you…," Adalind said, and he looked at her in disbelief, "Just don't write her off without talking to her a little more, ok?" She turned her attention back to the cat, and Nick sighed, silently acknowledging that Adalind was right.
While Nick watched, Adalind tossed a couple of treats in the bag, then pulled the opening of the bag over the cage door and opened it slowly. The cat eyed her warily for a moment, then started purring and climbed into the bag. Adalind quickly zipped up the bag, then held it away from her as the cat started scrambling to try and get out.
"Let's get this thing to Rosalee," Adalind said, "I'm not sure how long this bag will hold."
"Maybe we should put the cat in the trunk?" Nick said, keeping his distance from the bag.
Adalind nodded, "And drive fast."
%%%%%
Monroe hung up the phone and looked over at Rosalee, a puzzled look on his face.
"That was Nick," Monroe said, "he asked us to meet him at the Spice Shop, like, now."
"Why?" Rosalee asked, as she cuddled back down into the bed, "Can't it wait until morning?"
"Apparently not," Monroe replied, "there was something about a cat in a duffle bag, and Juliette passed out on his couch. To be honest, I couldn't hear much because Adalind was telling him to slow down because a dead cat would be useless."
Rosalee looked at him in disbelief, and Monroe shrugged, "that's all I got. You want me to call him back, tell him we can't come?"
"No," Rosalee said slowly, getting up and pulling on her jeans, "now I really want to know what's going on."
%%%%%
"You told me to drive fast!" Nick argued as he popped the trunk. Adalind gave him a stern look before looking at the duffle bag, which was now suspiciously still on the floor of the trunk. Adalind picked up an ice scraper and used it to poke at the bag. The cat stirred, and they both took a step back.
"Okay, so the cat is not dead," Adalind said, relieved, "Now we just need to get her inside."
Nick picked up the bag, carefully holding it away from his body as the cat started to squirm against the confines of the bag.
"Maybe we should have brought some of that tranquilizer with us," Nick said as he struggled with the bag.
"No, we made the right decision leaving it all with your mom," Adalind said emphatically, "if Juliette wakes up, we don't want your mom relying on her baser instincts. You might end up with a dead ex-girlfriend problem."
"Which would just be the perfect ending to this perfect day," Nick said sarcastically.
"Well, maybe we can finish that shower later," Adalind said with a smile, then it faded slightly, "although, with your mom at your place, I think I may head back to my place."
"With my mom at my place, I might head back to your place, too," Nick said with a tight smile.
"Well, you're always welcome," Adalind replied with a wink, before opening the shop door for him so he could wrestle his squirming bundle through the doorway.
"Please tell me that is just a cat in there," Monroe said as he spotted the bag in Nick's hand.
"It is," Nick responded, setting the bag on the table, "but that's not particularly reassuring in this case."
"Why?' Monroe asked, eyeing the squirming bag with a certain suspicion.
"The cat's been given...something," Adalind explained, "and then the cat scratched Juliette and so she has the same…..something."
"Can you guys help us figure out what that 'something' is?" Nick looked from Monroe to Rosalee.
"I think so," Rosalee said slowly, "but it may take some time. Where is Juliette now?"
Adalind and Nick exchanged a quick glance before Nick answered.
"She's at my place," Nick replied, deciding not to complicate matters by explaining his mother's inexplicable return from the dead, at least for the time being, "We tranquilized her for now, but I don't know how long that will last."
"What was she doing that you needed to tranquilize her?" Rosalee asked, wide-eyed.
"She was angry," Nick said, shaking his head at the memory, "really, really angry. Mostly at Adalind, a little bit at me."
"She wanted to rip my throat out," Adalind added conversationally.
"Why would someone give Juliette a toxin that would make her hate Adalind," Monroe asked.
"My mother," Adalind replied with disgust, "I guess she didn't approve of my new friend."
"Well, that's not really surprising, I suppose," Monroe said with a slow nod, "and hexenbiests aren't really known for their communications skills, are they."
"No, they aren't" Adalind replied, "but their payback is legendary."
They all looked at the duffle bag as it squirmed across the table.
"Poor cat," Monroe said, taking a step closer, then back again as a loud hiss emerged from the closed bag.
"We'll run a few tests," Rosalee said, "go ahead home and take care of Juliette and we'll call you when we know what's going on."
"Thanks guys," Nick said with a relieved sigh, then turned to Adalind, "you ready to go?"
"I was thinking I should go home," Adalind said, shifting uncomfortably under his gaze, "you have a lot going on at your place."
Nick regarded for a moment, then said, "I would feel better knowing you were safe, at least until we know where your mother is."
"I don't know…." Adalind looked uncertain, and Nick reached out a hand for hers. She took it, somewhat reluctantly, and he gave her a small smile.
"With everything else, please don't make me worry about you, too," Nick stopped short of telling her that her presence helped him deal with the emotional turmoil he was dealing with, that he needed her with him. He wasn't quite ready to admit how important she had become to him.
"Okay, but at some point…." Adalind replied before trailing off.
"Yeah, I know, at some point you'll have to go home," Nick said with an ironic smile, "who would have thought I would be sorry to see you go."
"Nobody," Monroe answered, and they all looked at him and he shrugged, "just sayin' "
%%%%%
An hour later, Monroe and Rosalee looked down at the sleeping cat.
"Cats don't, like, um, play possum, do they?" Monroe asked Rosalee nervously.
"Not with what I gave it," Rosalee replied with confidence.
"Okay," Monroe gently picked up the sleeping cat, "Ready."
"Bring me the cat," Rosalee said, putting a bowl on the table.
Monroe brought the cat to Rosalee and watched as she put one of the cat's paws in the bowl, then pulled it back out.
"What's supposed to happen?" Monroe asked as they both looked down at the cat.
"If it turns yellow, I'll have a good idea of what the toxin was that infected Juliette," Rosalee responded, "but if it turns green, there's still a chance we can help her. Blue would be pretty bad, though."
"Hey," Monroe said, his eyebrows rising, "what about red?"
Rosalee's jaw dropped and then she looked at Monroe, "We have to talk to Nick now."
%%%%%
Nick sat at the dining room table with his mother while Adalind was tucked under a blanket on the couch. Whether she was actually asleep, or just avoiding the awkwardness, was unclear, but Nick appreciated that she had stayed close to him. Juliette was safely locked away in the guest bedroom, so even if she woke up, at least she would be contained.
"Where have you been for 18 years?" Nick asked, trying to keep his voice level and calm.
"More places than I care to remember" his mother answered vaguely.
"Why don't you try?" Nick's reply came out more harshly than he intended, and his mother sighed.
"I went after those responsible for killing your father and my friend."
"For 18 years?" Nick shook his head in disbelief, then stood and started to pace.
"I had no idea how long it would take or where it would lead or how many times I'd be misled and deceived," Her voice was pleading with him to understand as she continued, "when I learned about the Dragon's Tongue, that they were after the coins, I knew there was more at stake than just finding the killers. I had to deal with the royal families who are trying to regain the control they had in the last century. A lot of the turmoil in the world today is instigated by their agents."
"Like the Verrat." Nick nodded in understanding.
"You're learning. That's good" his mother smiled, "I wish I could have been the one who taught you."
"Luckily I had Adalind to tell me about the royals," Nick said, turning his head and glancing at Adalind's sleeping form on the couch.
"When I learned that a Grimm had the coins, I was hoping it wasn't you," his mother replied, ignoring his comment, "But they led me to you, and that's all that matters."
"What about the coins?" Nick asked, turning his attention back to his mother.
"They've already taken up too much of our lives." she replied honestly, "They need to be destroyed. The sooner you give them to me, the better. It's the only way I can protect you now."
A knock interrupted the awkward moment, and Nick sighed and rubbed his eyes as he wondered what fresh hell was at his front door.
"Stay back," Nick said as his mother hid in the kitchen.
Nick opened the door and Monroe and Rosalee burst in, rousing Adalind from her sleep on the couch.
"Hey guys," Adalind said with a yawn.
"Hey, we tried to call, but….dude," Monroe looked at the wreckage in his front hall from his fight with Kimura, "what the hell happened here?"
"Remember the guy looking for the coins? Kimura?" Nick said.
Yeah, I remember….wait, is he still here?" Monroe asked, sniffing the air as he woged into his blutbad form, "I can smell him….no wait, not a him. That's a her."
Kelly Burkhardt came running in from the kitchen, and the others watched in horror as she attacked Monroe. Rosalee woged, and Adalind rushed over, but Nick pushed her back before pulling his mother off Monroe.
"Stop!" Nick yelled as his mother tried to lunge out of his arms, "No! Stop it, DO NOT hurt him!"
His mother stopped struggling long enough to look at him in confusion.
"His name is Monroe," Nick said calmly.
"He's a blutbad," his mother shouted, as she struggled once more to get free.
"Yeah, and Rosalee over there is a fuchsbau," Nick replied, maintaining his calm, "and they're both my friends."
"Who the hell is this bitch?" Monroe yelled, retracting back to his human form.
"She's my mother," Nick replied with a sigh.
"Dude…." Monroe said, wild eyed, "you told me she was...I mean, isn't she supposed to be, like, not so alive?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Nick replied.
"I don't believe what I'm hearing," Kelly said through gritted teeth, Nick still holding her back, "are you friends with them?"
"And we're friends with him," Rosalee said, addressing Kelly for the first time.
They all stared at each other for several seconds before Kelly sagged against Nick, seemingly accepting what they were saying.
"I can't believe this….a blutbad, a fuchsbau," Kelly looked over at Adalind in derision, "some sort of reformed former hexenbiest."
"Yeah, it took a little getting used to for us, too, you know,"' Monroe commented.
"I don't like it," Kelly said to Nick.
"You don't have to like it," Nick replied with a shrug, "but just like with Adalind, you can either accept it, or move on. We all have to make choices in life."
Nick let go of his mother and turned back to his friends.
"Did you find out what's going in with Juliette?" Nick asked
"I think so," Rosalee replied slowly, still looking at Kelly with a wary eye, "we think it is a spell known as the seele dichtungsmittel."
"Literally translated it means 'soul sealant'," Monroe provided, "which makes some sense, because the spell itself works a sort of mind control over the person that it is administered to. Eliminates the free will that person has."
"So what she is doing as it my mother's behest," Adalind said with a shake of her head, the added, "I hope she's not expecting a mother's day gift this year."
"How do we fix it?" Nick asked.
Monroe and Rosalee exchanged glances and then looked back at Nick.
"We're not really sure…" Rosalee said, "this stuff is not commonly used, and is frowned upon, even by hexenbiests, so it may take some time to figure it out. But we will figure it out."
"We need to figure it out quick," Nick said sarcastically, as a loud crash sounded upstairs, "because I think Sleeping Beauty is awake."