CHAPTER 3 – The First Distortion(3)
"Rise and shine!"
The next morning, Adalind was awakened by Kelly's loud and energetic voice.
Opening her eyes, she was at first disoriented. Were the things that happened the night before real? Did she truly been thrown into a timeline where her life is romantically tied with Nick Burkhardt? They were more likely just a dream. An output of her life's stresses.
However, clearing her foggy vision paired with Kelly's voice calling out for them, she realized that there's nothing made up of everything that transpired last night especially when she also saw Nick Burkhardt slowly rousing awake on the couch beside the bed.
"Time for breakfast. Let's go."
Believing it's still too early, Adalind glanced to the clock. Discovering that it's only 7AM, she complained. "Hey, it's still early." She wanted to sleep more.
"Yeah, but we have lives outside dealing with the two of you," Kelly said. "So it's either you have your queries before my parents leave or you can wait till later tonight."
"Can't they just call it leave today?" It was Nick who had asked.
"Can't do. Dad has a very important meeting with the Secretary of Defense while Mom probably has some clients to attend. Just to let you guys know, my parent's careers aren't actually as light as the ones you two have anymore."
"Why? What are our jobs now?" Again, it was Nick who asked.
"On the surface, Dad is Portland PD's Chief of Police. Covertly, he's a Consultant for the Government especially to their covert agencies like the Hadrian Wall. Mom, on the other hand is Portland's DA. She also has her own Law Firm."
Hearing Kelly's narrative, Adalind's mouth widely gaped. "I'm the DA?"
"Chief of Police, Government Consultant?" So was Nick.
"Not yet but yeah," Kelly replied. "Anyway, breakfast now. Chop chop." And then he exits the room.
She and Nick momentarily glanced to each other and then followed Kelly. However, when they arrived to the kitchen, the only thing that greets them was Diana. Her arms folded above her chest. Her mood a little foul. The table is completely barren.
"Hey, where's the food?" Kelly asked.
"Mom said she asked you to refill the supplies because I'm going home." Diana glared at Kelly. "Then, why is it that my kitchen is empty?"
"Uhmm…" Kelly scratched his head and laugh uncomfortably. "I forgot."
Diana clenched her teeth as her glare to her brother intensifies. "Mom's right. You're goofing around too much with your girlfriend."
"It's quality time," Kelly argued. "And she knows a lot about Wesens too. She helps me with my training especially when Dad doesn't have the time."
"Yeah yeah fine." Diana rolled her eyes. "But we don't have food here. We'll have to go to the other one."
When Kelly leads the way again for them as he follows Diana, Nick asked, "Where are we going now and what happened back there?"
"The house has two kitchens," Kelly answered then explained, "Diana is studying Law but she's also a Professional Chef. Two years ago, she won a national cooking contest so Dad gifted her with her own kitchen which is near our rooms. I was supposed to refill her supplies since she's coming home but as you can see, I forgot to do it."
"Ahhhhhh!" Five minutes later. They passed through the living room and opened the door of the house's other kitchen. As the first one to enter, Diana suddenly screamed.
Jerked by the sudden scream, Adalind's attention immediately focused on whatever Diana saw in front of them. And her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets.
On the dining table, her future-self had her butt firmly pinned onto its edge. Her top had been long ripped apart, revealing her twin peaks. Meanwhile, an alpha male stood in front of her, also topless and is feasting on her flesh.
This alpha male is naturally future Nick Burkhardt.
"Oh my god!" Their children simultaneously exclaimed.
"Whoa!" They jumped like cats whose tails were stepped on. They scrambled to arrange themselves. Her future-self tried and miserably failed to cover her bust with her ripped clothing.
"What are you all doing here!?" Future Adalind screamed. Her cheeks deep red especially when she saw that she and Nick were also there. Her husband's frame had long shielded her bareness from their gazes after he picked his shirt from the floor and handed it over to her.
"Seriously you two, on the food," Diana said with disgust.
"Oh God, this is going to sting," Kelly disgustingly remarked too. "Diana, give me something that can make me unsee that."
"I'll drink one too!"
"All of you get out!" Future Nick growled and without any argument, they left and closed the kitchen's door.
A few minutes later after that commotion, Nick, Adalind, and their future kids are finally inside the kitchen, eating the meal Diana prepared.
"Are they always like that?" Nick asked Kelly. Until now, he still couldn't shake that image out of his head and he probably never would.
"Well, let's just say that you'll find it odd that I don't have a dozen more siblings."
At this same time, after rushing to their bedroom to arrange their clothings, their future selves returned and joined them.
"Sorry about that." Future Adalind said.
"Just hold back a little, please," Diana reprimanded. "As you might have noticed already, there are more people staying in this house right now."
Adalind blushed and embarrassingly smiled.
At that moment, Nick's future-self's phone rings. "Hello…Okay, I'll be there." Hanging up, he said to Adalind, "The Secretary of Defense is here. I have to go."
"Alright." His wife nodded.
He then kissed and embraced her. "I'll be home by lunch. We'll figure something out by then. For now," he looked at him and Adalind. "Just help them with everything they needed."
"We'll take care of it, Dad." Diana assured.
With a final look at them, 2031 Nick Burkhardt left.
"I still have some time," sitting at the head of the table, future Adalind said. "So Nick, Adalind, last night, my husband and I had a talk. For all the questions plaguing you right now. About us, about our children, and our lives now. Just ask, I'll answer all of it."
"Why you?" Nick immediately asked. "Why did I, he, marry you? What happened between me and Juliette?" Nick had been agitating to ask these questions. He badly wanted some answers.
And what he got are these harsh answers. First, he cheated on Juliette with Adalind and second, she dumped Juliette for Adalind. However, it wasn't Adalind who imparted these answers. It was his future son, Kelly. And though Older Adalind and Diana clarified that those are simply the harsh and extremely shortened version of what actually happened, the mentioned were the cores of what transpired that lead to his relationship and marriage with Adalind.
"Seriously!?" The younger Adalind exclaimed. Finding it extremely amusing. "And you're saying that he'd also done it out of his own freewill. No spells or potions involved?"
Older Adalind and her two kids nodded halfheartedly. "There were some tricks involved of course but for the most part, yeah. No one forced him."
"Wow, I must be very charming," Adalind looked at Nick.
"Dad said that for starters, you're better in bed," Diana said.
"Diana!?" Older Adalind exclaimed, scolding her daughter.
"Alright! All of you! Stop!" Nick exclaimed.
Adalind laughed but the Older Adalind scolded her too. "Stop that, you're being silly."
"Well, I'm pissed at him," Adalind argued. "Wouldn't hurt tormenting him a little."
"Pissed? Is it because he took your powers?" Older Adalind then woged and it wasn't just a small woge but the full one given that Adalind who became a normal human now will not be able to see it if she didn't. This shocked both Nick and Adalind. The Adalind of this period is still a Hexenbeist, implying that at some point, she regained her powers.
"I-I," Adalind stuttered. "I got it back?"
The Older Adalind then retracted back to her human form. "In a bloody way but yes." She said then continued, "But here's the thing, a few years from where you're from, you wouldn't hesitate to get rid of this power for him," she glanced at Nick. "And that remains true until now."
"And he's fine with that?" Adalind asked, glancing from the Older Adalind to him then back.
"Oh please!" Diana abruptly scoffed before Older Adalind could reply. "They're having sex with her in full woge!"
"WHAT!?" He and Adalind simultaneously exclaimed to Diana's comment. In fact, it wasn't just them who were shock knowing that fact. Even the Older Adalind – "DIANA!?" – is shock to find out that Diana actually knows about it.
"Unfortunately seen it once. It was in the old house. I was four. They thought I was sleeping."
"You saw that!?" Older Adalind exclaimed, a cry muffled by her palms that she now cover to her face due to sheer embarrassment. "Oh my god!"
"It's an 'ew' because it was my parents that are involved," Kelly commented abruptly after Diana's revelation. "But I can relate. The full woging during the 'ah' times despite the less savory view were very satisfying."
"What is he talking about?" Nick asked.
Diana explained. "He took a lot of from you plus influence of Oedipus Complex. All the girls he'd dated including his current girlfriend are all Hexenbeister."
"Well, that worked out just fine." Kelly said to her and their Mom the moment the younger selves of his parents left the kitchen to look around right after that embarrassing sharing of info.
"With that, Dad of 2011 won't be asking questions for a while," Diana agreed.
"You did go overboard I little there though, Di," Kelly added and their mother glared at her.
Diana ignored them.
Twisting the facts of their family history for a little bit to make it very embarrassing for the 2011 versions of their parents was all planned out from the very beginning by their parents themselves.
They have two reasons. First was to spare both of them especially the 2011 Nick Burkhardt of the premature heartache regarding his mother and his ex-girlfriend Juliette especially that the truth was he witnessed losing them both in the same night, while for the second reason, it was meant for her little brother's, Kelly's, sake.
Here's the thing: Kelly's girlfriend is Eve. The reborn-identity of Juliette, their Dad's ex.
This might look and sound very awful but it's actually not the scenario that those who knew their story but haven't seen them for a long time would immediately interpret.
No. Kelly is not dating a woman who looked old enough to be his mother, though chronologically she's as old as theirs parents. But it was due to a special series of circumstances that chasing Eve and then dating her becomes possible for her younger brother.
After their return from the Mirror dimension 14 years ago, Eve disappeared to resume her work for the Hadrian's Wall along with their Aunt Trubel but unknown to them, she had also started to act as the Burkhardt Family's protector from the shadows. During those earlier years, Kelly was oblivious of her existence and her former relationship with their Dad. He'd seen her during his infant and toddler years but he was still too young to remember.
But then when he first saw her during his 10th birthday when she decided to pay them a visit, Kelly developed an instant crush on her. Initially, they dismissed this as mere effect of Oedipus Complex given that Eve is also a Hexenbeist like their Mom, not to mention that Eve's appearance, the same appearance of Juliette was Nick Burkhardt's type, a preference in women Kelly had most likely got from him.
However, the succeeding years turned out to be otherwise. Turning 14 when his hormones fully kicked in, his feelings for her graduated from a simple crush. He became obsessed with her. Still, things remain discreet between them, Kelly remain discreet towards her, a part which is due to her history with their parents including the fact that she should have been Kelly's mother if it was actually her with their Dad in that room that afternoon of their Uncle Monroe and Aunt Rosalee's wedding
Or so they thought.
They interpreted it all wrong. As it turns out, Kelly could not care less of who Eve is or who she used to be or if his father used to have a relationship with her, he would still have pounced at her regardless.
It was actually the gap in their age. As long as Eve is a middle-aged woman pushing to her 50s, she will always look at Kelly as a kid, as the son she would have and Kelly knew this.
So when that incident happened that removed the main inhibition, Kelly didn't waste a single second and finally chased after her.
It was when Eve was on a mission against a serial killer Wesen later identified to be the supposedly extinct Wesen called Cronosian. And because it was believed to be extinct, no one among the modern Grimms and Kehrseite-Schlich-Kennen knew a thing about it. The archives from their Dad's family have information but its retrieval came late and Eve was already deep in the mission.
Turns out, a Cronosian is a Wesen that eats time from living beings. But that 'time' they eat is not the time a living being is still about to spend like their remaining longevity. Instead, what they eat is the time one person had spent. This is the reason why they'd gone extinct in the first place. Kehrseites and Wesens that became aware of this hunted them down to have their youths retained unaware that the more time a Cronosian eat, the more they lose their sanity.
The Cronosian in Eve's mission was a result of a foolish Kehrseite who had turned the poor guy into his own fountain of youth. It backfired after years of repeated usage and the Cronosian turned insane and went into a rampage.
Eve alongside Trubel managed to eliminate the rampaging Wesen but during the process, Eve was bitten and more than 30 years of her spent life was eaten. When it was all over, she reverted to her 16 year old self but still with all of her powers as a Hexenbeist and the memories of her nearly 50 years of life.
Their parents and their family friends found this very awkward, seeing her in that age. But for Kelly, whose obsession towards her was growing at a terrifying pace each day, it was the long-awaited opportunity.
The reason for inhibition was gone.
Since then he started to woo her, chase her, dismissing her, his parents, and everyone else's including Eve's disgust and disapprovals. He didn't care. Especially when his effort was actually resulting to Eve's walls to crumble bit by bit. That he's actually winning her.
Still, Eve remained firm that romance no longer fancy her especially if it's coming from her former self's ex-boyfriend's son above all.
But she severely underestimated her brother. He is not just Nick Burkhardt's son. He's also the spawn of Adalind Schade and he got a lot of the dark temperament of the Schade's side. Most does not know, even their parents, how Kelly succeeded into having Eve but Diana knew. Eve told her.
Similar onto how Nick Burkhardt and Adalind Schade's romance began, it all started with a Schade forcing its self into the unwilling side.
They fought. Kelly forcing his kisses and embraces to her while Eve resisted, fighting him back with all she got. Unfortunately, not only was her brother revealed himself to be stronger than her but her resistance against his feeling were all inferior to a half-hearted. By merely the third time, Kelly succeeded into embracing her, all of her walls crumbled and she surrendered to him.
It was a night of intense passion as Eve told her. She said that he brother had brought her to heights she never knew existed and it trapped her, making her extremely dependent.
Since then, those two had been inseparable and Kelly is quite a possessive type – another bad side of the gene he got from being a Schade – and hated it a lot when other men eyed his girl. And that will include the 2011 version of their Dad who is still in love with Juliette. They didn't want 2011 Nick Burkhardt to unintentionally push a button and upset Kelly. They all know how bad it goes whenever that happened.
Suddenly…
*RINGTONE!*
…Kelly's phone rang. And responding to this, Kelly jumped off the kitchen counter where he sat and motioned to rush to the front door. "Eve's here!" Kelly announced enthusiastically. "I'm going now. Bye Mom, bye Di."
"Hey babe!" Kelly said as he jumped to Eve's her car and leaned forward to kiss her.
"Down boy!" Eve reprimanded, breaking their kiss when he began to pull her closer to him and run his hands all over her front.
"Oh come on," he groaned and tried to kiss her again.
"Stop it young man. You're almost late for school and later today, you're going home early. No staying at my place."
"But…" Kelly tried to argue.
"No!" She stopped him. "Your Mom called me repeatedly last night and she's starting to get pissed with you nearly living in my place. Remember, they're barely tolerating that you're with me and I don't want to push them to the point where they won't anymore."
Kelly rolled his eyes and pulled away from her, "Fine. There's stuff to do at home anyway and Diana might need some help."
Eve breathed deeply, her expression softened and a smile curved from her lips. She held Kelly's hand and asked, "Want to talk about it?"
Kelly nodded. The car revved to life and Kelly explained the crazy thing that transpired last night as they drove off.
Back to the Burkhardt Mansion, Older Adalind finally left for some of her clients. Leaving only him, Adalind and Diana who's busy cooking in the kitchen. Then an hour later, Rosalee arrived and along with her was Monroe.
"Monroe!" Nick immediately greeted them.
"Nick?" Monroe gaped, checking his appearance from head to toe. "No no," he shook his head. "You're not our Nick but wow, so it's really true. From the past eh?"
"Yeah, unfortunately," he replied softly.
"I have to say, I missed that hair," he chuckled and then gave attention next to Adalind. "And you…uhm…I'm not gonna comment with you right now."
Adalind scowled at him.
"So what's up?" Monroe returned his attention to Nick. "Any plans yet?"
Nick gave a quick glance to Adalind before replying, "Nothing for now."
Monroe noticed this and leaned forward to say softly to him. "Dude, it might not look like it now but she's a great wife and an outstanding mother. You have no idea, at least not yet, how happy she makes you."
"Seeing how my future self is with her, I can completely agree," Nick grimly implied.
"Oh, Rosalee told me what happened last night," Monroe said apologetically. "Sorry about that, dude. He's just overly protective when it comes to his family. 'A silent tiger will be mistaken as a cat' he strongly believes of that now."
"Shoot first and ask questions never. Is that it?"
"Hmm…yeah, sort of like that."
Nick gave a bitter smile then changed the subject. "Enough about that," he said. "How about you? Heard you and Rosalee got married and have three kids now."
"Yeah, yeah, we got married…"
The rest of the morning expired with Nick listening to future Monroe's stories. He's still the same, he talks a lot, giving him no leeway to ask anything related to him. About things he doesn't know yet. But then, taken from what he was told this morning, he didn't dare to do so. He fears that he might hear something he might not like again. Knowing the future is actually scary. He knows that now. Therefore, the entirety of the conversation was purely about Monroe and his family.
Then, keeping his promise during his morning departure, his future self returned for lunch and his wife is with him.
"Hey Roe, how's it going?" Future Nick greeted to Monroe. Older Adalind is right behind him.
"It's great man." Monroe replied. "It's kind of fun telling these two the stories of my life their future selves had actually witnessed themselves."
"Everything great so far?" Future Nick asked.
"Yeah, yeah. Totally!"
Future Nick nodded.
"By the way, why don't you and Rosalee stay for lunch," Older Adalind proposed. "Diana is cooking for us."
"Hell yes!" Monroe exclaimed. "I'm not gonna decline the cooking of a Professional. Can the triplets come too? I'm gonna call my Mom to bring them."
"That would be wonderful," said the Older Adalind.
"But before that," Monroe suddenly said, looking both at Nick and his future self. "I think it's a good idea for the two of you to finally have a talk."
"We're going there later," Nick replied, giving a quick glance to his past self.
"Dude," Monroe whispered then sort of dragged him away before saying softly. "I mean talk to him now. I mean, he's kind of freaked out about you. Alright, I know about the plan of dragging this out and sending them back before they could ask more questions. Diana told me. But, he thinks you harbor some great hatred towards him and you know, he's confused why."
"Alright, alright, I get it."
Returning to them, Nick said to the past version of his self, "Follow me, I'm gonna show you something."
Nick immediately turned and walked towards the door connecting to the house's archive and Beist Lab. Completely unconcerned whether his past self will follow him or not.
He did though. And with just the two of them inside the lab, Nick went to a safe behind a portrait and retrieved a tennis ball-sized, pearl-like, sphere. He's overly hesitant of handing it over to him, entrusting it to him. But he truly want to convey to him, make him understand why he acts this way towards him then doing this is necessary.
"What's this?" He asked when he handed the sphere to him.
"Press it against your forehead," he ordered, "and you'll find out."
His past self did and sphere began to emit a golden glow.
The moment Nick did what his future self ordered, the sphere flashed a blinding golden glow and the next moment, Nick saw several events shared between him and Adalind. However, these events are alien to him and the weirder part, judging from his and Adalind's ages in these scenes, they both appear to be in their teen and young adult years.
The season looked like to be during a summer. And though he doesn't remember such events, he's aware which stage of his life it was. It was during his 22nd year, which means that Adalind is around 18.
It was on a beach, he was working as a part-time lifeguard when he first saw the teenage Adalind in her two-piece bikini. There was immediately an attraction at first sight and it didn't take long before he made the first step and ask her out.
From then, it was a tale of blossoming love. They were together always to the point that they were nearly inseparable.
"What are you doing?" Adalind woke up with only the blanket wrapped around her body. They'd just spent a night of lovemaking and she woke up finding him sitting at the end of bed with his sketchbook at hand.
"Sorry," Nick said, smiling shyly to her. "I couldn't stop myself and started drawing you. I hope you don't mind."
She crawled over to him and looked at the nearly finished sketching of her. "Why apologize?" She teased. "You already did more than just look." And then lean closer to press her lips against his.
Everything fades to black after that last scene and Nick's consciousness opened to find himself once again back inside the Beist Lab.
"What was that?" Panting, he immediately asked to his future self.
"Your memories. Adalind's too. From 27 years ago. The real first time that you two met."
"Wha-what? I don't understand."
"The eye-contact back then in front of the coffee shop wasn't the first. You met her 7 years earlier. She loved you, gave you everything, and in return you promised to cherish her for the rest of your life. However, she was a Hexenbeist and you were a potential Grimm with a notorious Grimm for an Aunt. Aunt Marie thought it was too dangerous. Even if you didn't become a Grimm, being associated with a Hexenbeist, a Wesen, will make you an easy target against her. So she commissioned the help of another Hexenbeist to extract away your and Adalind's memories, to make you two forget each other, and put it inside that Memory Orb you're holding."
His future self's revelation extremely shocked Nick. He knew and loved Adalind way before he even meet Juliette? That's just crazy!
"When I realized how much I love Adalind, I started to resent you. That part of my life who wasted his days hating her when he was supposed to be protecting her, understanding her. And that Memory Orb arriving in my front door with Aunt Marie's will and confession just made it worse. I failed her." Future Nick growled, his eyes turning red. "You failed her. And for that, there will always be a part of me who will never stop hating you."
Nick suddenly felt that he could not breathe. His head start to spun. "Was-was that all. Was that all there is in here."
Future Nick shook his head. "The content of the Memory Orb can only be unlocked by the purity of your Grimm bloodline. You aren't there yet." He explained. "And I supposed since it only took you a minute that you only seen up to your first night together."
"How far…" he stuttered. "How far did we go?"
"We were supposed to get married that day when Aunt Marie took her away from me."
