a/n: My god, I can't believe we've finally reached this point. The last proper chapter, just an epilogue to go. I cannot thank you enough for sticking with me for this incredible journey, for all of the reviews, the favourites and follows, the PMs and questions and the absolutely amazing support.

This chapter is for you.

Necessary Sins – Chapter 41

Bonaparte's power slammed into him sending him crashing back into the tunnel wall and his shot went wide. Not wide enough to miss, not entirely, but enough that the bullet grazed the side of Bonaparte's neck. Bonaparte seemed more surprised by his decision to shoot without first exchanging words than he did about the graze itself. He eyed Nick as though rethinking all he'd assumed about the Portland Grimm.

Nick, for his part, was pinned to the wall, struggling to breathe around the fresh ache in all his ribs. As much as they'd planned on finding and taking down Bonaparte, there'd always been that underlying question of just how they were going to manage it. Pinned to the wall, unable to move, Nick was considering the real possibility that they weren't. Especially when Monroe lunged forward with a snarl only to end up pinned right beside Nick. The movement had been almost casual from Bonaparte, a lazy flick of the wrist and Monroe was pinned, teeth gnashing in a snarl but unable to do anything about it.

'You surprise me.' Bonaparte took a crisp white handkerchief from his breast pocket and dabbed at his neck as he spoke. His tone was conversational, not conveying any of the surprise he was speaking of. His expression had closed off too, the open emotion wiped clean like chalk from a slate.

'How?' Nick gasped out.

'From all I have heard of the Portland Grimm I did not expect you to shoot before we discussed your options.'

'What options?' This time his words were more of a wheeze, he wasn't sure that was much of an improvement.

'It seems pointless, does it not, to fight when you could join me? Are you not, at heart, a member of the wesen community?'

Nick hadn't ever thought of it that way, he supposed he was a member of the wesen community, he was their law enforcement as much as he was a normal cop. That didn't mean he was buying what Bonaparte was trying to sell.

'I'm not someone you can control,' Nick ground out. 'I'd be no use to you.' As soon as he said the words, he regretted them, if he was no use to Bonaparte then there was no reason to keep him alive and he very much wanted to be alive.

'No?' Bonaparte examined the blood staining the handkerchief before pocketing it, his gaze lifting to Nick's, a smile playing on his lips. It wasn't a friendly smile, it was the kind of smile that scared Henrietta even now. 'Perhaps. You do want something from me, do you not? As I want something from you.'

This confused Nick, Monroe too, judging by what Nick could see of his friend's expression out of the corner of his eye. 'I don't want anything from you.'

Bonaparte smiled indulgently, 'No?' He raised his right hand and curled the fingers, turning his wrist in a half circle. Immediately Monroe cried out. 'I think we're beyond lies, Detective Burkhardt, don't you?'

If there was something Nick could have said to stop Bonaparte from hurting Monroe he'd have said it, the problem was, he genuinely had no idea what Bonaparte was talking about. They didn't want anything from him, unless you counted his death and the end of Black Claw and the secret society funding it.

'What do you want?' Nick demanded with as much force as he could muster, still pinned to the wall by a pressure that was slowly but surely turning those bruised ribs into fractured ones. If they kept this up, Nick was sure one of his ribs would puncture something important.

'You know what I want,' Bonaparte reminded him. 'Black Claw will succeed in taking wesen to their rightful place among the people.'

Monroe snorted. It must have hurt him a lot to do it and his apparent insolence was rewarded with another twist of Bonaparte's hand. 'You…don't…want that,' he choked out.

'I assure you, I have worked very hard to bring wesen the recognition and power they deserve.'

'Liar,' Nick said and his tone was conversational, not mocking or inciting. He was starting to see spots and the edge of his vision was blurring. 'You couldn't care less,' he wheezed. 'You're not here looking for something because you want Black Claw to win, it,' he broke off and sucked in a breath, 'that doesn't benefit you at all.'

'On the contrary,' Bonaparte informed him. 'I very much want Black Claw to succeed.'

'Lose…business,' Monroe pointed out. 'Money.'

Bonaparte waved his hand carelessly and, whether it was intentional or not, Monroe cried out in pain again. 'I have plenty of money, what I do not have enough of is power.'

Nick wanted to roll his eyes and in doing so discovered that he could move the fingers still wrapped tightly around his gun. It wasn't much good to him just yet, he'd only shoot Monroe if he managed to pull the trigger, but if he could break away from Bonaparte's control enough to bring his hand up he might be able to get a shot off in the zauberbiest's direction. That might be enough to distract him long enough to release his hold on Nick and Monroe. The best way to do it, was to keep the man talking.

'This whole thing, all the deaths and the chaos is for power?' Nick wasn't sure if he was surprised or disgusted – probably both.

'I am not sure a Grimm such as yourself would understand.' Bonaparte seemed to consider something. 'Though it is not, as far as I am aware, in the nature of a Grimm to become friends with wesen.' He canted his head toward Monroe. 'Perhaps you do seek power, there is power in the relationships you have built.'

Nick wasn't sure he could respond to that. It was such a twisted way to look at the friendships he'd made. Yes, there was power in those relationships he'd made with the wesen community but it was the friendship he valued not the power it gave him. The power Bonaparte talked about wasn't the kind he could wield but the kind that protected him, that gave him something to fight for. Nick wasn't sure Bonaparte would ever understand that, he wasn't sure if he even managed to adequately explain it, that the zauberbiest would be able to see the difference.

Nick didn't seek power, he didn't want it, the power he gained wasn't even his alone, it was theirs. It wasn't even power, not really, it was strength, strength from friendships, from the knowledge that they would risk a great deal to help each other, to save each other. If that was the kind of power Bonaparte sought he'd be looking for a long time. He didn't seem like the kind of man who knew how to play well with others.

Nick moved another finger.

'I don't want power,' Nick managed to grind out. 'Just to stop you.'

Bonaparte laughed and it wasn't a nice sound, it did contain genuine humour though, which was possibly worse. 'You cannot stop me; you waste both of our time trying.'

Nick managed to move his whole hand, just a twitch but it was a start. 'I will stop you but I want to know one thing before I do, what is it you think I want from you?'

This time Bonaparte seemed to believe him. He tilted his head, studying Nick thoughtfully. The intense gaze made Nick's skin crawl and he was afraid to try any movement with Bonaparte scrutinising him so closely. The wait, while Bonaparte searched his expression and his body language for some hint of whatever he was looking for, was excruciating. The pain from his ribs had grown to a burning hot flame and he could hear Monroe's ragged breathing as he struggled to stay conscious through his own pain.

It occurred to Nick that Rosalee was going to be incredibly mad to learn he'd gotten Monroe injured further. Of course, in order to be mad at him they had to get out of this maze of an underground structure alive.

The fact that it seemed to be costing Bonaparte nothing to hold them both in place only made things worse. He didn't seem to be tiring, didn't even seem to be truly focused on using his power to pin them to the wall. It was an afterthought, a subconscious act, and that alone should have been terrifying. He'd believed Henrietta when she'd said Bonaparte was powerful but he hadn't understood just how powerful until now.

And then Nick felt it, he could move his hand, he wasn't sure how or why but he wasn't about to question it. There was no time to aim, no time for finesse, not with Bonaparte still studying him like a bug under a microscope. The zauberbiest didn't seem to be finding what he was looking for in Nick's expression but Nick was done waiting to find out what would happen when Bonaparte finally realised Nick had no value.

He jerked his wrist and squeezed the trigger. His aim was terrible, the bullet didn't come close to hitting Bonaparte, skimming his side and barely ruffling his suit before it embedded in the opposite wall. That wasn't the point though, in the moment the gun went off, Bonaparte flinched and he lost that subconscious control over both Nick and Monroe.

Monroe went low, aiming to tackle the man at the knees but he stepped casually aside and Monroe, weak and in pain, ploughed passed him. Which suited Nick just fine, he couldn't use his gun without risking hitting Monroe but he lunged forward, both arms outstretched and shoved Bonaparte. The man stumbled back but he didn't fall and Nick, in his weakened state, struggled to keep his balance and strike out again with his foot.

Bonaparte merely stepped aside, moving back into open corridor and straightened out his suit. 'Really, Detective, I see no need for such violence. You will give me what I want, I will give you what you desire and we will both leave here without further injury.'

Apparently, whatever he'd seen while studying Nick hadn't convinced him Nick wanted nothing from him. Nick didn't bother dignifying that with a response. He swung at Bonaparte but missed when Bonaparte glided out of the way, neatly avoiding Nick's blow and Monroe who swung an elbow at him.

He was moving too slow, Nick knew that, his injuries were putting him at a disadvantage, more so than Bonaparte's power already did. He wasn't going to defeat Bonaparte with brute force as he'd done so many of the assassins Black Claw, HW and the Royals had sent after him. For a moment (a really small moment) he wished Adalind were by his side instead of Monroe, he wished she were there to counter Bonaparte's moves, to reason or bargain with him the way he was sure only a hexenbiest could.

But Adalind wasn't and Nick didn't see them getting away from Bonaparte any time soon, not unless he could figure out what it was the man thought he wanted from him and what it was Bonaparte wanted that he thought they had. It could be any one of the treasures they'd already found or something they'd yet to discover. There really was no way of knowing, not without asking, not without somehow making Bonaparte think he'd succeeded in wearing Nick down.

With no other immediate plan forming, Nick grabbed Monroe's arm and eased his friend back into the dead end with him. 'What do you want from me?'

Bonaparte smiled. 'Ready to negotiate?'

'I'm not ready to die down here.'

This time Bonaparte nodded. 'A wise choice. You have a map in your possession, one that shows the location of an item of power for zauberbiests and hexenbiests long thought lost. You will hand it over and I will give you the book you have been searching for.'

Unaware he'd been searching for a book, especially one Bonaparte apparently had, Nick kept his face blank. It helped that as far as he was aware he didn't have a map in his possession that lead to a secret hexenbiest treasure. At least, if he did, he didn't know about it.

He wondered how long Bonaparte would keep him alive once he realised Nick and Monroe knew nothing about a map. Not unless it was one of the maps made from keys that he'd yet to put together. And if that was the case then Bonaparte was out of luck, even if Nick had been stupid enough to even consider handing something so apparently powerful over to Bonaparte – and he wasn't that stupid – he didn't think he had enough keys to put together a single map, just fragments of different maps.

He wondered if he could keep Bonaparte talking long enough for the zauberbiest to let slip what this book he was supposedly after was about.

'I'm not going to hand over the map,' Nick warned and his voice wasn't nearly as strong or as forceful as he was aiming for given the amount of pain lacing each of his words. He was sure that if he tried to take a step closer to Bonaparte in the intersection of hallways that he'd fall flat on his face. Bones were trying to knit themselves back together, something he'd never felt before and it was frankly the least pleasant sensation Nick had ever experienced.

'The item has no value to you,' Bonaparte dismissed and Nick found that strange. Did Bonaparte not know he was married to a hexenbiest? At this point, Nick thought everyone knew but if he did know then wouldn't he have realised that a lost hexenbiest treasure would be of plenty interest to Nick?

Well, if Bonaparte wasn't up on the recent events in his life he wasn't about to bring him up to speed. He was happy to keep Adalind as far from Bonaparte as possible. That didn't make his lack of knowledge easy to swallow. It made Nick feel like he was missing something.

'And how do you know this book you have is something I want?' Nick demanded (he sounded angrier this time and less painfilled so that was a bonus).

Bonaparte smiled like he'd caught Nick exactly where he wanted him. It was unsettling to say the least, Nick felt like he was missing several important clues to make this conversation go his way. On the upside, he was pretty sure Bonaparte had gotten some wires crossed too, so he supposed that put them on even footing.

He just didn't like the idea that someone else must have given Bonaparte the wrong information. If he was lucky, and this wasn't something he ever thought he'd consider, Kenneth had managed to feed some bogus information to Black Claw to help draw out Bonaparte.

Of course, then Bonaparte withdrew a small cloth-wrapped book from his other pocket and held it up as though that proved everything. Nick hadn't expected there to be an actual book and he only allowed his eyes a second to dart to the book before they focused back on Bonaparte's face. He didn't know what that book was but now he wanted it. If Bonaparte thought it was something Nick would fight for then, unfortunately, Nick was starting to feel like he should be fighting for it.

It seemed like the time for conversation was over. Nick lunged forward as though to grab the book but a soft sound drew him up short. He didn't have time to wonder what it was, whether or not there was someone else down in the underground building helping Bonaparte, he was just grateful he'd aborted his lunge at the last moment.

In doing so, he successfully avoided being speared on the end of the sword that suddenly sprouted from Bonaparte's chest. Blood burst from the zauberbiest's mouth in a cough as the sword was pulled swiftly out again and he tumbled forward. Nick easily snatched the cloth-wrapped book from his still aloft hand as he fell, revealing Renard, sword in hand, looking down at Bonaparte with distaste.

'Thanks,' Nick said, not sure the word was exactly appropriate but feeling the sentiment was what counted.

Renard nodded.

'How did you know we were here?' Monroe wheezed.

'Rosalee sent me,' Renard replied. 'Your phones aren't working down here.' He looked to Nick. 'She had to take Adalind to the hospital.'

Nick, who had been crouching beside Bonaparte's body checking his pockets for anything else that might be of interest, looked up sharply. 'The baby?'

'Not here yet,' Renard informed him and there was a distinct lack of frostiness in Renard's tone, like he'd finally come to terms with Nick and Adalind having a kid together.

Nick looked around the gloomy hallways of the maze. 'Any idea what the quickest way out of here is?'

All three of them looked around. When they'd entered the underground maze, Nick hadn't been expecting twisted corridors, dead ends and constant doubling back. Under normal circumstances he had a pretty good sense of direction, he just didn't think that stood up to underground passageways that were literally a maze when his mind was on other things and he didn't have time to properly explore.

In the end, Monroe led the way, following Renard's path back the best he could by scent with Renard helping where he could. Not one of them wanted to spend more time down there than necessary, though Renard did comment that they'd need to find a better way to navigate than Monroe's nose when they came down to remove Bonaparte's body and search for anything Grimm related.

Nick pointedly failed to bring up the hexenbiest treasure Bonaparte had apparently been searching for. He'd wait to tell Adalind about that one and see what she wanted to do with the news. Maybe she'd have some idea of what Bonaparte was looking for.

Even with Monroe's nose and Renard's fairly solid memory of how he'd gotten to them, it still took them half an hour to navigate their way outside. By the time they reached the surface, Nick was itching to get to the hospital, desperate not to miss the birth of his son. As soon as he set foot on damp grass his phone started beeping, message after message coming in now that he was in contact with a cell tower again.

He didn't bother checking any of the messages but phoned Rosalee. The phone barely rang once before she was picking it up. 'Nick! Thank god! Are you okay? Is Monroe? We're at the hospital, you need to get here fast, I don't think it's going to be much longer.'

'I'm fine, Monroe is mostly fine, how's Adalind?' As he spoke he had a silent conversation with Renard in which the Captain motioned that he would make arrangements to deal with Bonaparte's body.

Nick didn't need to be told twice, he and Monroe made for his car at as fast a pace as Monroe could manage, wheezing as he was. He might have broken a few traffic laws getting to the hospital but he knew people, he could smooth that over if anything came of it.

While he drove like he was in hot pursuit of a suspect, Monroe carefully checked through the messages on their phones. There were dozens of messages from Rosalee and half as many from Adalind all demanding to know where the two of them were and to hurry and get to the hospital as fast as possible. Monroe skimmed through those, checking for any messages from Trubel or any of the others they had out dealing with the secret society.

There weren't as many as Nick was hoping for. Henrietta had left two messages, the first confirming safe arrival and contact, the second that she had easily killed her target and would make arrangements to return home shortly. Nick had come to respect Henrietta after all she had done for his family and was relieved to learn she was alive and well.

There were seven messages from Kenneth, one of which advised Nick he had been feeding misinformation to Black Claw, another which hastily added that he'd just learned that some of that misinformation had been successful and three more messages which covered the death of his own target, the unfortunate discovery of three other people linked to the society in the building and their subsequent deaths.

The last message from Kenneth felt more like a threat and mentioned the Royals would remain in Austria to gather their remaining power and rebuild their little empire. The threat came when Kenneth's message ended with the suggestion he'd be in touch.

Frankly, Nick didn't want anything more to do with the Royals but he didn't see the King letting go of Diana any time soon.

There were a couple of messages from Renard telling them his own search had been fruitless but that he'd received word from his mother that her target had been eliminated and that she was taking her time pilfering anything of value from her target's collection. It seemed a little cold to rob them after killing them but Nick couldn't argue keeping powerful books and objects out of the hands of the society's family members wasn't a bad idea.

Buried amongst all those messages was a single message from his mother letting him know she'd arrived safe and acquired her target. Nothing after that and no messages from Trubel or Josh, just two from Bud, trying his own luck getting hold of Nick and three from Hank and two from Wu explaining they'd caught their real estate developer and were starting on the properties Renard had given them to search.

Hank and Wu were the only ones who didn't sound too concerned, though it sounded like they'd hit on another stash of books and weapons at the second property they looked at.

It was a lot of to take in but it filled the drive to the hospital with something other than nervous energy and that was probably the only reason Nick didn't break more laws getting to the hospital.

He had to leave Monroe in the emergency room before he made his way up to maternity. He found Rosalee pacing in front of the nurse's station and she practically pounced on him the moment she saw him. 'Nick!'

'Am I too late?'

Rosalee shook her head. 'I think you're just in time.' She looked over his shoulder as though expecting to see Monroe. 'Where's Monroe?'

Nick winced. 'Downstairs in emergency, we ran into Bonaparte.'

Rosalee's eyes widened. 'Is he…?

Nick nodded. 'Bonaparte's dead.'

Rosalee breathed out a sigh of releif, 'Good.'

For a moment, they just stood there looking at each other before they both seemed to realise they had better places to be. Rosalee stepped forward, grabbed Nick in a quick hug and then pointed him in the direction of Adalind's room before she darted away to the elevator to find Monroe.

Nick didn't glance back to watch her go, he did have somewhere he needed to be, after all.

Adalind looked up when he burst into the room (probably a little more dramatically than was strictly necessary) and the smile she shot him was filled with relief. She reached for him as he approached the bed and he took her hand, leaning down to kiss her forehead. She looked exhausted, face pressed into the pillows on the bed as she leaned over something that looked like a giant peanut.

The hand that was grabbing his suddenly tightened and she cried out in pain, her other hand clenching around the bed sheets. 'You're here,' she breathed once the contraction had passed, slumping face first into the bed. 'Help me up.'

He did as she asked, helping her move until she was standing beside the bed in front of him. Both of her hands went up to rest on his shoulders and her head slumped forward onto his chest. 'Where's Diana?' he asked because he didn't think asking her if she was okay was the greatest choice he could make right then.

'With Bud,' she told him. 'His wife and kids are away so he's staying at the loft with her.'

Nick nodded. Every other person they'd normally have had on babysitting duty was scattered across the globe trying to take down the secret society. He had no idea if they were succeeding, if killing the members as they had would truly break the society and the hold they had on Black Claw. He didn't want to check his phone to see if new messages had come in from his mother or Trubel. He didn't want to know what was happening to them in case it was something he had to worry about. Right now, he was exactly where he needed to be, his mind on exactly what it needed to be on. He could worry about the society and the rest of his mother and friends once the baby was born and he knew Adalind and his son were okay.

Adalind's hands tightened on his shoulders and she cried out again. 'Midwife!' she hissed through the pain and Nick blindly reached for the bed, grabbing the remote to push the call button.

A short, round, grey haired woman entered the room moments later and smiled when she saw him. 'You must be Nick, I'm Grace. Glad you got here on time!' she turned to Adalind with a firm expression. 'Adalind, I need you to get on the bed for me, honey, on your knees so we can see how close this little guy is to entering the world.'

The answer was close. Really close. After that everything seemed to slow down and move really fast at the same time. Like moments would freeze and then time would speed up and suddenly everything would be frozen again. He followed Grace's instructions as best he could, soothing Adalind as much as he could, given there was a person making its way out of her.

Hearing Adalind in so much pain made time crawl but the moments in between, the midwife instructing her to push, to relax, the moments when she declared she could see the head, that the shoulders were coming and the baby had turned just like he should, they went by so fast.

In a blink, there was a slightly blue shocked looking baby being placed in Adalind's arms as Nick helped ease her back down onto the bed. Time froze and all he could do was stare down at his son nestled against Adalind's chest under the old shirt she was wearing. Skin to skin contact keeping baby warm, establishing a moment of peace.

He cut the cord, remembered kissing Adalind and taking her hand as they stared down at the tiny baby they'd created. He remembered having conversations with the midwife with an OB doctor but he couldn't remember what they were about. All he remembered clearly about that moment was that his son was alive and well and he was here.

'He's beautiful,' Adalind breathed.

Nick smiled, brushing sweaty strands of hair from her face. 'He is.'

'He looks like you.'

Nick laughed. Given that right at that moment their son still looked like a wrinkly and slimy alien creature he wasn't sure what to make of that but he supposed he got what Adalind was seeing. There was already a wisp of dark hair on his head, features that could one day grow to resemble his own. He imagined what their son might one day look like, a little version of him, a stark contrast to Diana who was already growing to be the spitting image of Adalind.

Eventually, the midwife eased him out of Adalind's grasp so they could weigh him, test his reflexes and so on. Nick took the opportunity to slip outside the room and message Rosalee to let her know he was here with all of his ten perfect little fingers and ten tiny little toes. She messaged him back immediately with a "congratulations!" and a note that she'd be up to visit as soon as they were ready for visitors. It wasn't like she had far to go, she was still down in emergency waiting on some x-rays for Monroe.

He thought about checking his other messages, there were a dozen new ones now, but instead he pocketed his phone and went back to his wife and son.

Hours later, Adalind was asleep in bed and Nick was cradling his son in his arms. He was sure he hadn't stopped smiling since the little guy had been born but Nick didn't think anyone would blame him for his new father grin. He glanced at the bed and his expression softened. Freshly showered and in a pair of clean pyjamas, Adalind was deep asleep. He was content to sit there, holding his son in his arms and watch over her until she woke.

He would spend the rest of his life watching over her and the family they had created together.

He glanced down again at the baby in his arms and found big eyes staring up at him sleepily. Nick smiled, 'You, Nate Kelly Burkhardt, have the best mom in the world, the best big sister who already loves you-'

'And the best dad,' Adalind murmured sleepily from the bed.

'Sorry,' Nick whispered, 'I didn't mean to wake you.'

Adalind shook her head. 'It's this bed, it really not comfortable.'

'Tomorrow night you'll be home in your own bed.'

'Thank god.'

Nick got to his feet, moving to Adalind's side so he could gently place their son in her arms. 'I can't believe we did this,' he whispered.

'Who'd have thought, right?' Adalind smiled. 'A Grimm and a hexenbiest?'

'Yeah,' Nick agreed. 'A Grimm and a hexenbiest.'