CHAPTER NINE

WOGE

Lena felt at ease, at home, for one of the first times since moving to Portland, at dinner with Monroe and Rosalee, and Nick, at the engaged couples' house talking about wedding plans.

"We want to find someplace quiet and secluded," Rosalee was saying with a small smile.

"Where, in the woods?" Lena asked.

Rosalee blushed and nodded. "It's sort of a tradition."

"On both sides," Monroe added.

"My parents were married in the cascades."

"The mountains?" Lena asked in wonder.

"Yeah, from what I hear, it wasn't too bad of a hike," she said.

"My parents got married next to a waterfall," Monroe said as he refilled their glasses of wine. "My dad likes to joke he couldn't hear the vows."

"Not all waterfalls are too loud," Lena commented, remembering her own ceremony.

Rosalee smiled at her friend, "Yeah, yours looked really beautiful. Thank you for sharing your album with me."

Lena waved her off, "It was actually really nice to be able to remember the good times with someone. I think it helped me more than it helped you get wedding ideas for yourself."

Rosalee smiled and sipped her wine. "Anyway, we're thinking somewhere up on mount hood."

"Don't worry, somewhere we can drive," Monroe assured them.

"That sounds like it'll be really beautiful and so romantic," Lena gushed. "And don't forget to come to us if you need any help at all."

Monroe and Rosalee shared a look at her words. Monroe cleared his throat and said, "Well, that actually kind of brings us to the ulterior motive for tonight." He turned to Nick, putting his arm around Rosalee and saying, "I want to thank you for changing my life, because if it hadn't been for you, I never would have met Rosalee, and for that, I am truly grateful."

"Me too," Rosalee said, smiling softly.

"So..." Monroe built up into his serious question. "Will you pay for the wedding?" The table laughed at him, Rosalee joking chastising her fiancé. He chuckled and said, "Sorry, just... I was kidding. Um, but seriously, I want you to be my best man. No pressure, you don't have to answer right away."

Nick was floored, letting out a breathy laugh as he asked, "Really, for sure?"

Monroe nodded, certain. "Well, dude, you brought us together. I mean, you are kind of the responsible party here."

Nick chuckled again, "Then I'd be honored."

They had started to lift their glasses to cheers the best man but Rosalee stopped them, "Hold on, we're not done." She looked to Lena, "I have to have my sister as the matron of honor, but… I would really love it, if you would stand up with me too. As my bridesmaid."

Touched tears welled in Lena's eyes as she met Rosalee's eyes, "Are—are you sure? I mean, I know I'm still new here…"

Rosalee quickly cut her off, gently, "You are family to us. And not just because of Freddy. I really want you up there with us."

Lena swiped a tear that began to fall from her eye, smiling widely. Nick reached over to squeeze her hand when he saw how emotional she was getting. Monroe was smiling at her and mouthing, 'say yes' from across the table. She was thankful for the show of support.

"Of course, I will," she whispered. "I would love to."

"To the bride and groom," Nick cheered.

The next morning, Lena was packing her work bag to go to a check-up appointment with a woman about ready to pop, already three days past her due date. She sipped her tea and cleaned up her plate of breakfast when a tired looking Nick wandered into the kitchen.

"Hey, you don't look like you got any sleep," she commented, gesturing to the coffee she'd started brewing for him.

He quietly poured himself a cup and sipped it. "I feel like I didn't sleep at all. I had a nightmare about Monroe and Rosalee's wedding."

"What?" Lena gaped. "Are you that nervous about being best man? How bad could it have been?"

"Well, it wasn't bad, not at first. It was a beautiful ceremony, until one of the little kids woged and saw me and started screaming, and then the parents woged, and they saw me and attacked, and I had to kill them." He sighed. "Yeah, and it was pretty much downhill from there. Last thing I remember, I beheaded Monroe's grandma..."

"Nick, it was a dream," she tried to comfort him. He looked pretty shaken.

"But what if it's not?" he asked her, setting his mug down and leaning against the counter. "What if this is a premonition? I mean, all of this could really happen. If I'm Monroe's best man, I'm gonna be standing right up there. People are gonna be looking right at me. I don't think I can do it. Somebody could die."

"You're right that's all a possibility," she told him diplomatically. "But I don't think any of us can see the future, Nick. I think you have very legitimate concerns and your dream was a result of them."

Nick absently crossed his arms. "What should I do?"

"Talk to Monroe," Lena suggested. "Tell him what you're worried about and see what he thinks. I doubt it didn't occur to him before he asked you. But, if neither of you can come up with a solution, then you may have to tell him that as much as you want to be his best man, you can't take the risk."

Nick sighed and took her words in stride. "Yeah, I think you're right. Thank you."

Lena shrugged as she washed her mug. "You've been a sounding board for me plenty of times."

"What do you have today?" he asked, noticing her bag on the table.

"A mother at the end of her trimester," Lena said wryly. "We're going to talk about natural ways to induce labor if she gets too overdue. But it's only been a few days. She's just frustrated."

"I think any pregnant woman would be," Nick chuckled.

"Oh, yeah," Lena agreed, going to grab her bag. "I'm gonna stop by the shop afterwards to get more of that tea Rosalee gave me for my hotflashes too."

"Are those happening more often?" Nick asked, concerned.

"On and off," she admitted. "Never more than once a day, but I would like to just avoid having them when I'm with a patient."

"I wish I could do something," Nick admitted. He didn't like not being able to help her with this part of being wesen. Only another wesen could.

"You do enough," Lena assured him. "I'll see you later."

"Have fun at work," Nick called after her as she left.

After fielding question after question from her patient – no, don't use castor oil just yet, yes, sex and walking may work, yes, if you don't go into labor within the next two weeks, we'll try acupuncture – Lena finally made her way to the spice shop.

"If this woman doesn't give birth soon, she's going to drive me crazy," Lena idly complained to Rosalee as she made her more tea. She was already getting more questions via text from said patient she had just left. "I may outsource some herbal remedies I've studied here."

"We have plenty at the shop," Rosalee said. "How are the hotflashes?"

"Not often," Lena said honestly. "More so it feels like a tension headache and then a hotflash."

"Does this tea help?" Rosalee asked.

"Yeah," Lena nodded. "For the most part. Sometimes I also take tyllenol. I also sometimes feel a little itchy, like on my head. Did you ever feel like that?"

Rosalee nodded, remembering her first woge. "Yeah, like the wesen is scratching to get out. I think you're getting closer."

"Hopefully we'll be able to tell what the other half is once and for all," Lena mused.

Monroe made his way into the store then, "Hey Lena!"

"Hey, Monroe," Lena greeted back. "How's the world of clock repairing?"

"Just got a new one from Liechtenstein," he said, jolly. "Really excited to dig into that one. How's… midwifery?"

"Today, it's frustrating," she sighed. "But it's still better than being on the ambulance."

"I hear ya," Monroe nodded. "Even if I can't relate."

Lena chuckled, "Both are stressful. I just have better hours and more freedom now."

"More freedom sounds good," he cheered.

The bell jingled again as Nick and Hank walked in.

"Nick, Hank," Rosalee greeted. "Something tells me you're not here for herbal remedies."

Nick shook his head, "Nope. We have a case that I'm sure will concern you all."

They all convened in the work room as Nick and Hank brought the rest of them up to speed. Two girls had been killed in their home after attending a carnival where wesen woged in front of people.

"A wesen carnival? Wow," Monroe marveled.

"In Sellwood park. Ever been to one?" Nick asked.

"No," Monroe answered. "It's not something the community is particularly proud of, but they still exist."

"They aren't as common as they used to be, but it goes all the way back to Rome, from Circus Maximus to P.T. Barnum," Rosalee said, frowning at the practice. "Long history of wesen exploitation. Forcing wesen from all over the world to woge for the cheap thrill of a paying audience."

"Which is offensive on so many levels," Monroe added.

"Well, the council doesn't have a problem with that?" Nick asked.

"The performers present it as one big magic trick, so it technically doesn't go against the code of Swabia," Rosalee explained, "but in situations like this, it's recommended that local wesen perform a sort of intervention."

"Intervention for what?" Lena asked.

"The real danger isn't the exploitation of wesen. It's the Umkippen," Rosalee said.

Hank was baffled by the words wesen had for things. "Oom-what?"

"Umkippen," Monroe repeated. "Essentially..." he sighed, "if we force ourselves to woge over and over again, the wesen side can, like, take over. Leaving us at the mercy of our primal urges, which is a little problematic for civilized society."

"If someone in this show is suffering from the Umkippen, they are a ticking time bomb," Rosalee warned.

"And they could've killed the two victims," Nick guessed.

"Absolutely."

"Why do you think it was one of these performers?" Monroe asked.

"They got pretty tight-lipped when we started asking," Hank said.

"The Blutbad seemed a little more worked up than the others," Nick added. "Now, if someone did have this Umkippen, would you be able tell?"

"Eventually, yeah," Monroe said. "Look, when there's not a shred of humanity left, it's pretty obvious. And in the meantime, it's a pretty intense struggle."

Nick grimaced. "Could there be a pattern of violent behavior?"

"Yes," Rosalee nodded.

"We gotta get to the precinct and do some background checks," Nick said, sharing a look with Hank.

"Thank you."

"You got it," Monroe said as they left.

"I'm going to get back to the house too and have some of this amazing tea," Lena said. "Call me if anything comes up with this stuff, would you?"

"Of course," Rosalee agreed, walking her out. When she returned, she gave her fiancé a look, "We should check that place out."

"What?" Monroe frowned. "No, I... why? I hate carnivals, they give me the creeps."

"But we would be able to tell if someone is suffering from the Umkippen. If they are, they need our help," she insisted.

"Even if they've killed somebody?"

She faltered. "Then we tell Nick."

"Well, okay, why don't we just bring Nick with us, at least?" he suggested.

She gave him a look. "Uh, because he's a Grimm. It would only make things worse."

Monroe sighed. "Fine."

"What?" Lena shouted into her phone after answering Monroe's call. "She landed herself in the show? I'm coming there."

"You don't have to do that, it could get hairy," Monroe told her.

"I don't care," she insisted. "I can't just sit on the sidelines while she's in danger. I'll be there soon. Call Nick."

"I already did, they're almost here, but the show's about to start like right now, you're not gonna make it in time."

Lena could feel panic starting to well in her. She needed to be there for her friends. To help them. They were danger. But Monroe was right, she wouldn't have time. She couldn't see that her eyes were glowing again, but a gust of wind began to whir around her, coming from nowhere. No window was open. It swirled around her like a twister and suddenly, she wasn't in the house anymore, but standing in front of Monroe outside the carnival tent.

Monroe gaped at her, having never seen anything like a woman appeared in a tornado before. "What…"

"I don't know," Lena squeaked. "But right now, Rosalee needs us, let's go."

Monroe led her into the tent, and they took seats just as the show was starting.

"What you're about to see will live in your fear for years, for this is no nightmare, and truth truly is stranger than fiction."

Lena grimaced at the look of the man running the show. He looked like the cardinal villain. Bald, goatee, dark eyes and face and dressed in a steampunk lion tamer outfit. She wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be a lion wesen.

"Oh, my God," Monroe whispered as they saw Rosalee standing on stage dressed up in some aqua tutu outfit, looking nervous. There were two other wesen standing with her, and a large cage covered in black fabric at the right.

"Behold Damien, the last dragon of God's green earth, whose ferocious nature proves that we are lucky they did not devour us all," the boss, Hedig, said, turning to crack his whip at the man standing next to the cage.

Lena's eyes widened as he woged in a dragon-like creature with horns and green scaly skin and let out a burst of fire from his gullet, awing the audience that just clapped at the trick.

"Witness Ivan, vile Ivan, who crushes skulls and breaks bones with his bare hands," Hedig said, cracking his whip at the man in the middle.

The large hulk of a man woged into this ogre like creature that let out a big growl and picked up two – hopefully fake – skulls from the stand next to him and smashed them together before turning back. That earned another round of applause.

"The beautiful Rosalee, who proves that beauty is but skin deep and that a beast resides within us all," Hedig gestured to Rosalee, now in the spotlight, and cracked his whip at her.

"She's not really going to…" Lena trailed off as Rosalee hesitated.

"Show us. Rosalee," Hedig repeated.

She was just about to turn her head and woge when a loud growl erupted from the rumbling covered cage.

"Max, this is not your cue," they could hear Hedig hiss. But it made no difference as Max, the blutbad, fully woged and angry, scratched the cover away from his cage and growled at the audience behind his bars. "But every so often, something appears that is so vicious, so terrible, it cannot be tamed. For this beast... this beast..."

Max broke out of his cage, crouching onto the ground with a growl. The crowd gasped and started to scream, not knowing if this was part of the show.

"Back! Get back!" Hedig shouted at Max. Max just snarled. Hedig pulled out a gun – Nick had told them it was filled with blanks – and made a show of shooting Max. But it had no effect.

People started to panic and flee the tent. Monroe pulled Lena up to her feet with him. "I don't think that's part of the show."

"Max, stop!" Hedig shouted again.

They could hear a woman – the one Rosalee replaced – crying from the back, "Max! Oh, my God, no!"

"Max, stop!"

Max zeroed in on Rosalee, the object of his anger, and charged for her. Lena watched as Monroe quickly woged and tackled Max to the ground.

"Monroe!" Rosalee cried.

Monroe and Max started swiping at each other, growling viciously.

Lena was about to intervene when Nick and Hank ran into the tent.

"Move!"

"Nick!" Lena cried.

Hedig had been ready to flee, but upon the excitement woged – confirming Lena's suspicions, he was a lowen. He saw Nick and roared, "Grimm!"

Lena tried to stop him from getting away as he went to run. But he swiped at her arm with a clawed hand and nicked her shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

"You go! I got her!" she heard Hank shout. Probably telling Nick to go after Hedig. "Lena, are you all right?"

She barely heard Hank as he crouched over her to check her injury. She felt hot all over, and this building pressure in her head that threatened to pop. Everything in her felt on edge, like something animal was scratching to get out of the surface.

Meanwhile, Monroe was wailing on Max on the ground until Rosalee came over to pull him back. "Monroe, stop! Now, stop! Stop, he's sick." Monroe backed off, woging back to human.

Rosalee grasped his shoulder, "We have to help him."

Max violently woged back into himself and gasped when he saw the tent, "Oh, my God. What happened? What did I do?"

"It's okay. You're gonna be okay," Rosalee assured him.

"Um, Monroe, Rosalee!" Hank called their attention. They twisted around to see Hank bent over a crouching and panting Lena. "I think something's happening to Lena. Is she…?"

Monroe and Rosalee shared a look, both thinking the same thing. "Stay with him," Rosalee told her fiancé before rushing to Lena's side.

Lena was heaving, like she wanted to get sick. Her skin was flush and sweaty, growing paler. Rosalee thought she saw claws forming in her fingers as she dug them into the ground.

"Hank, stay back," Rosalee ushered the cop away. "Lena… just breathe. It's going to be okay. Don't fight it."

Lena whined as the pressure built up, she could barely hear Rosalee's words. She was trying to breathe but it was just so hard. She felt a growl build in her chest and then whatever was itching under her skin stopped as it broke through.

Rosalee stared at the peculiar sight in front of her. Lena's eyes were glowing amber as always, and her ears grew out and pointed like a fuchsbau. But she didn't have fur. There was the color of white and brown fur just under her skin, but it didn't come out. Her skin did turn a deadly looking shade of pale – almost translucent. But her teeth looked barely sharpened. All in all, she barely looked different from before. But from the slight growling sounds she was making; they both knew this was her full woge.

"Rose…" Lena whimpered, her head in sharp pain. "It hurts…"

"Just take deep breaths," Rosalee coached her soothingly. "Let me find something to show you what you look like. That helps."

"Here," Hank offered up his phone, pulling up the camera.

Rosalee quietly took and urged Lena to look up so she could take a picture and show her. Lena frowned at the photo Rosalee was showing her. It didn't look like a fuchsbau was supposed to look like. But she also saw no signs of white hair or rotting corpse-like features. Did this mean she wasn't half-hexenbiest after all?

"I still can't tell what your mother must have been," Rosalee echoed her thoughts. "But she wasn't a hexenbeist."

"You thought…" Hank muttered. But he let it slide.

"Now breathe," Rosalee whispered to her. "It helps to imagine yourself how you want to look, feel it happening, keep calm."

Lena stared at the photo of what she currently looked like and tried to imagine those features morphing back into her own. She felt a slight itching and burning in her face, but it gradually lessened until her face just felt that tingling feeling like a limb falling asleep.

By Rosalee's smile, she knew she had woged back. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," Lena sighed.

"Come on," Hank said, helping her up off the floor. "Let's find Nick and get out of here." His hand gingerly checked the scratches on her arm, blood staining the fleece sweater she wore underneath the tears in the fabric. "Maybe we should get that checked out."

"I can take care of it at Nick's house," Lena assured him. "They're not deep enough for stitches, I'll just have to clean them."

"Okay."

Rosalee and Monroe took care of Max as Hank took Lena to find Nick. They found him ushering people away from the hall of mirrors. He saw Hank supporting a rough looking Lena and waved them over. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Lena said quietly, voice feeling hoarse.

"What happened here?" Hank asked.

"Well, we can't arrest Hedig because somehow he was burned alive in the hall of mirrors," Nick said, leaving little interpretation for what they knew had to have happened.

"That's one way to close a case," Hank breathed.

Nick took in Lena again and checked the scratches on her shoulder, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll clean them when I get back, it's not an emergency," Lena said.

"You shouldn't have gotten in front of Hedig," Nick lightly chastised her. "He could have done a lot worse."

"I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry," she murmured.

"It doesn't matter now as long as you're okay," Nick said, keeping hold on her arm.

"Nick, she woged," Hank told his partner.

Nick's eyes widened, "Fully? Did you see?"

"More than that," Hank said. Lena blushed as he pulled out his phone to show Nick the picture Rosalee had taken.

Nick peered at it, "I sort of see the fuchsbau, but I can't tell if there are any hexenbeist features."

"Rosalee said there wasn't," Lena said. "So, we have no idea what my mom was."

Nick could tell that her eyes were drooping a bit. "Woging really took it out of you, huh?"

Lena sighed and nodded.

"Why don't I handle things here and you go on and get her home?" Hank suggested. He looked down to Lena, "Where'd you park your car?"

Lena's eyes widened as she just remembered how she'd gotten to the carnival in the first place. "I didn't drive here."

"What?" Hank asked. "How'd you get here?"

Lena shook her head, "I don't know. Monroe called me after he called you and I was adamant in coming to help but he said the show was already starting and I just started to panic. I got scared for Rosalee and all of the sudden this wind came out of nowhere and then I was just in front of Monroe. I don't know what it looked like to him, but we didn't have time to think about it with everything going on."

"That's probably your biggest clue to whatever your mom was," Hank said.

"Yeah, we'll look into it," Nick promised.

"I'll just hitch a ride back with one of the uniforms," Hank suggested. "You get her home and make sure she takes care of that wound."

"She is still here," Lena grumbled half-heartedly.

"Let's get home," Nick said, gently putting his arm around her shoulders and guiding her to where Hank had parked in front of the entrance.

Lena nodded off on the car ride home, and Nick practically had to carry her to her bed. He even cleaned her shoulder himself before pulling the blanket over her.

"Thank you…" she whispered, eyes drooling closed.

Before he could think about it, Nick leaned down to lay a kiss on her cheek with a whispered, "Goodnight," and went to his own room.