Adalind gasped "Oh my god" She closed the curtain in a hurry and ran to the door as quickly as possible to unlock it. She hadn't noticed Diana's eyes stopped glowing purple yet.

She held Diana close but open the door as she saw him standing there, laboring almost. Her eyes were wide with shock, she truly didn't expect to ever see him again. At least not breathing.

"Nick," She said in almost a breath.

He was grimacing at first but gave her a kind smile. "Hey"

"I thought you were dead." Her eyes were still wide and her mouth remained parted open, trembling at times. It didn't take long for her to notice that he wasn't in the best of shape at all though. "Oh my..." She saw his face was bruised and just saying bruised was understating it.

She saw how he was leaning against the door frame and how cold he looked. His skin looked a growing unhealthy shade of pale. She could see little scratches on his neck like he was cut by glass and almost everything he wearing looked beaten down. She looked down and ignored the things he had in his hands.

Her panic rose up to an extreme degree when she saw he wrapped his leg but all of the dried blood was what spooked her. "Come in come in!" She stepped aside and walked with him as she saw the severe limp he was sporting. She closed the door with her mind, never even looking back as she followed him to the table he was placing the stuff he brought down.

She was going to speak again until she saw what he was doing. He was taking a bag of what smelled like burgers and something else out of a baby carriage. A baby carriage! That sat next to a damn pizza box! She screamed those two things in her twice in disbelief. Her mouth parted open to speak but no words came out at all. She didn't even know what to say at first.

How are you alive?! What is all this?! So many questions came to her mind but she only ended up asking one. "Are you okay?" She said it kind of loud and exasperated but it still came out sweetly.

"Loosely speaking." He turned around to face her now as he finished unpacking. "I would have come sooner but I wanted to pick up a few things first." He didn't expect to see that much worry in her eyes at all though.

He watched her face blur in his vision for a moment. Blood loss was starting to really take effect now. "I'm going to need your help." He said to her and she almost was taken aback. He asked as if he regretted having to bother her with it. Was he kidding?! The least she could do was help him with whatever he needed.

"What is it?" She asked but then she saw his eyes look a little glaze for a moment and she looked down. "You've been shot!" She exclaimed, panic rising once again. She saw it earlier but now she realized it was worse.

"More than once." She shot a look up to his eyes once again and he tried to smile at her through his grimace as he brought his hand up to unzip his jacket. Pulling the hood off and she felt saddened by how battered his face truly looked now that she saw all of it.

He grunted a little as he brought the zipper down.

The jacket flailed open and she saw the discomfort he was in and she couldn't just stand there and watch. "Wait wait," She said abruptly. She placed Diana in the baby carriage softly, she would ask about all of that later.

She picked it up now and she motioned for Nick to head into the spare bedroom. No way they would go to the other bedroom where all hell broke loose last time. He nodded his head to her and limped off in that direction and she followed near. Placing the carrier with Diana in it on the table. She wanted her close but not in the distance to see all of this.

Nick limped into the room heavily but slowly. Sitting down on the bed.

She made a silly face at Diana to make sure she was okay and Diana laughed so Adalind took that as a sign she could leave her there for now. She walked over to stand in front of Nick. Beginning to pull his jacket slowly down his arms.

"What happened to the murderous blade that was stuck in the door the last time we were here?" He asked as he shifted in discomfort from his ribs aching. She didn't answer yet as she took in the new image of him. His shirt, if you can still call it that, was wrecked and ruined.

She saw the blood has soaked the right shoulder sleeve of his shirt completely. It was so much dried-up blood it clung to his skin.

The shirt in general didn't help with the image either. All of the rips in it and the fact it was covered in gravel, stains of blood, dirt along with powder-like stuff. He must have been thrown into a wall she realized. She remembered she didn't answer the question he asked and she looked up to meet his eyes that were gazing back at her. She didn't even hear what he asked to be honest, she was so caught up in him.

"What?" She asked again.

He chuckled a little. "The blade. From when we first came here. What happened to it?"

She shook her head in understanding. "I just pulled it out of the door and put it back in the book. Well, more like I pulled it out and it went flying itself back into the book but I locked the chest."

Nick nodded. "It's not going to come back for another visit, is it? Been stabbed enough for the day."

"Umm, I figured we probably shouldn't go anywhere near the room in general." Adalind said as she signaled she was going to be taking his shirt off now. He raised his arms with no problem but the right one he kept a little lower.

She has a feeling it's probably screaming in pain right now and he was just putting up a tough face. But then again, he has a high threshold for pain so maybe it was bothering him but not to the point to be expressing discomfort unless he had to do sudden movements.

For some reason, they both fell silent as they just kept staring at each other. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable though. Kind of like they are in their own moment.

She gripped a handful of the hems of his shirt now and slowly pulled it up, revealing his beaten and bruised ribs inch by inch. She dropped the shirt on the floor as she squatted down slowly. Eye contact still locked onto each other.

Her eyes begin to move down to look at his ribs. His abs really were pulsing, probably from the strain to breathe with ribs this bad.

Nick watched her, watch how her face grew this sorrowful look to it as she looked at his midsection. "Does it hurt?" She asked so quietly it came out so soothing and sweet on Nick's ears. She looked up at him too, waiting for the answer.

"I think they're bruised." He answered.

She had an almost pity-filled look on her face. Adalind wasn't sure why but her hand came up from her side. Slowly inching its way closer to his ribs and she gently placed her fingertips on them.

A feathery-like touch, letting her fingers rub down from the top of his abdomen. Barely touching him but gentle enough for it to be so soothing and Nick felt every single muscle in his body relax. Like built tension was released up and down his body.

His eyes closed at her touch.

It's like the perfect amount he needed. Not too much, not too little. It was perfect. Just soft.

"I should have helped." He heard her say.

He opened his eyes and saw she was still staring at his ribs, still doing that beautiful feeling, finger rub thing he was enjoying so much right now. "You are right now." He said endearingly. That caused her to look up.

Her eyes looked to the right of his body. Seeing the bullet wound. She hopes it wasn't still in there because she can patch it up sure. But to take it out though? That's a whole different ball game, she wasn't a surgeon.

"Is it still in there?" She asked, the kindness in her voice still evident as she stood.

He looked up at her. "No, they both went through."

She nodded her head. "I'll be back." She said but took off her jacket and left it in there before exiting. She went to the kitchen and let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, leaning against the counter as well.

That felt so intense so suddenly.

"What the hell." She said to herself, craning her head up. She didn't know what that was or why it felt like that but it was so weird.

Weird in the most beautiful way though. She couldn't even explain it.

She took another deep breath, trying to regain composure. No time to waste too much though, technically he was bleeding out on the bed right now. She grabbed a small bucket she remembered seeing in one of the cabinets under the sink, she filled it up with water. Now grabbing a small washcloth and the gauze bandages she had seen him place down earlier.

"Well, that made sense now." She thought to herself as she grabbed them and headed back towards him. She bent down to set the bucket down on the floor on his right side and as she came back up, her face was close to his for a moment and they both lingered on each other for a second.

They both cleared their throats though, trying to see past that moment.

Can you um..." She cleared her throat once again. "Turn a little, So I can..." She doesn't know why she was being all weird now.

Nick looked like he wasn't doing much better. Like he was lagging behind. "Huh? Oh right." He turned towards his left a little so she could sit behind him and attend to the stab wound on his back first.

She let out another breath. Kind of like a 'here we go' kind of breath.

She sat down and grabbed the now-wet washcloth out of the bucket and let the water soak out of it back into the bucket before she used it. Wiping around the wound so it would be clean for the gauze bandages. She didn't do it fast either.

She took her time, wiping slowly around it. She was glad a question popped up in her head though. "Did you see Sean there at any point?" She asked as she finish wiping one side of it.

"Yeah, I did." He answered. "I shot him." He added on.

Adalind was a little surprised to hear that honestly. She didn't particularly care, but Sean usually weaseled his way out of everything. "You killed him?"

Before Nick could answer though, the house began to shake. The lights flickered and then the shaking began to become more rapid. Adalind was confused and scared for a moment but Nick knows exactly what or shall he say Who was doing that. He looked forward at where Adalind put Diana and despite all the shaking, he could see her, those eyes glowing a pulsating purple.

Adalind must have figured it out too because he could feel she was staring forward now too.

"No, I didn't." He said quite sternly, eyes staring right into Diana's. He didn't say a word more but kept watching her, his facial expression shifting to more unfazed than the confused one he had when the house first started shaking.

A few more seconds after he said it, the house all of a sudden stopped shaking and the lights stop flickering.

Nick started realizing that his questions early on if Diana understood what was going on or not have been answered. Maybe not all of it but she understands enough. He kept staring at Diana.

"Probably a good thing." Adalind said as her mouth hung open slightly, staring at Diana as well who was giving Nick a pretty cold look for a baby.

"Yeah." Nick said to her statement, still staring at Diana. "I shot him in the foot."

Bang!

Renard growled in pain as he crumpled to the floor. Holding the base of his foot. "What the Hell!" He bellowed in rage.

Nick still had his gun aimed at him. "That way Viktor won't question why you came back in one piece...and because it makes me feel better." Nick said to him as Renard was breathing out heavily, face filled with anger and some pain.

"Might as well kill me then." Renard hissed.

"I thought you were confident I wouldn't."

"You're the one still pointing the gun." Renard said as his rage subsided to more anticipation of what was about to happen. His brows furrowed at the possibility of Nick pulling the trigger but aimed at his head this time.

Nick tuned him out now. He could kill him right now. Avenge so many of the bothering things he has done and most likely will do in the future. But then Nick thought about how this wasn't about him or what he wanted.

This was about Diana.

He lowered the gun, still never breaking his glaring eye contact at him. Renard let out a small sigh of relief.

The room remained quiet once again. Only filled by loud exhaling from Renard who was still affected by being shot. Nick looked at him a while longer, wondering in his mind if he would end up regretting this decision, which he almost assuredly will.

Nick turned around now and limped his way out. Gun still being held in his hand, almost like he still felt like he should change his mind again. But he continued limping away to the car.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Adalind asked. She finished cleaning the wound and now prepared to put the bandage on it.

Nick sighed. "If he can deal with Viktor like he claims he will now. That would be better for all of us in this room right now." He started. He leaned his head down and turned it toward her direction behind him slightly. "And...despite everything he has done up until this point..." He looked back forward at Diana. "He may not deserve a second chance at being a father, but she deserves a chance to have one."

Adalind thought that was really sweet. Just summed up who Nick was, but part of her has to admit that she wishes he killed him. She didn't know if that was wrong to think or not but Sean has shown her time and time again that when push came to shove, he won't be shoved but will step to the side and think of a way out best for himself first.

Everything else is second, third, fourth, or fifth. Who cares, either way, he was putting himself first even over his own daughter he has already shown that. But Nick was right, Diana deserves to have a father in her life, and she will have to stomach the fact it is Sean.

Easier said now than it will be later though, she already can tell.

She was glad to have Diana but damn she was upset at herself for forever creating a link between her and Sean now. Why did it have to be her child? Anything else but that.

"I guess this is karma." She said as she held one of the bandages down.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked.

"The only reason I wanted a baby was just to get my powers back, I didn't care about anything else." She let out a sigh. "Until I had her." Her voice cracked as she said it.

Nick digested the information before speaking. "In this world of ours, everybody has done a lot of things they aren't proud of." Nick thought about some of the things he has done over time. Thought about Monroe and how he had a past, Rosalee as well. "It's what you decide to make yourself after you've done whatever it is that you did is what you should judge yourself off of."

He thought about how he changed after some of the mistakes he made in his couple of years of being in this new world. How Monroe use to be out for blood but turned Vegan to better himself and stop killing.

How Rosalee was with some bad people and a drug addict but was strong enough to take herself out of that situation one day and rebuild her life.

And now Adalind. He was a part of a lot of the bad she has done yet now she was risking her life for her child and is making a conscious effort to be a better person. She finished applying the gauze and bandages and let him know he can turn around back straight now.

Now he sat straight forward, both feet on the floor still, while she moved her left leg to be crossed under her on the bed and her right foot was still on the floor. "How do you think I should judge myself then?" She didn't really expect an answer, not even looking at him when she asked but rubbing her finger over the bandage to make sure it was sticking on even though she already knew it was.

Why was she always allowing herself to be so vulnerable around him? She use to think it was because of the Diana situation making her not so headstrong but now she wasn't so sure.

He turned his head to look at her and could tell she saw him staring but wasn't looking on purpose. "That's up to you." He said at first but kept staring at her. "But in my opinion and coming from someone who use to hate you..." He paused for a moment to stare at her face more, she still wasn't looking at him but he could tell his answer was going to hold weight on her.

Did she value his opinion that much now?

He decided to lighten the mood though. "It's under different circumstances, and you & I are having some fun." He had a little smirk on his cheeks and she laughed a little.

"You remember that huh?" She was looking at him now and while her laugh faded, her smile did not.

"It's hard to forget anything in this world we live in. Nothing ever really settles."

"Right. You just settle things...Violently." She had a fake dubious, playful look on her face and he laughed a little at that. Her bringing that up did remind him of something he meant to say before though.

"About that. I'm sorry about the..." He waved his hand awkwardly towards her lips. "Whole...forced...kissing thing." He finally said.

Her brows furrowed. "What kiss?"

His furrowed back at her. "In the ruins."

"That was NOT a kiss."

"How are two people's lips touching not a kiss?" He asked in some disbelief, a smile on his face but not too evident.

"Because lips touching doesn't make it a kiss. There was no...interlocking."

"You don't have to interlock for it to be a kiss."

A grin began growing on her face more at this conversation. "True. Good thing it wasn't a kiss."

"Fine what would you call it then?" He questioned, eyebrows arching up in amusement.

"I don't know. Two lips saying hello?"

He let out a puff of laughter at that. "Two lips saying hello?" He repeated incredulously. She laughed at how his voice said it. "Theirs no interlocking when you kiss someone on the cheek." He said smugly, thinking he had her on that one.

"Yes but you didn't kiss my cheek, you put your lips onto mine."

"So you admit it was a kiss!"

"No no, I never said kiss, I said lips onto mine."

He nodded his head in humor at her constant denying of this. "Right right, and no interlocking too?" He asked but he was setting her up for something.

"Yes exactly." She said and she had this very sultry smirk now.

"So when you bit me, was that no interlocking too?" He had his own smirk now.

"I nibbled." She countered. He was so taken aback that his head jolted backward in disbelief.

"Nibbled?! Nibbled!" She laughed again at how incredulous his voice went.

"Yes nibbled." She spoke with a giggle.

"You didn't nibble like a rat with cheese, you bit like a Blutbad on a Bauerschwein." His voice still contained disbelief in it and it kept making her laugh every time. She hunched over for a second from laughing before speaking.

"It was an over-exaggerated nibble." She said as if he was being ridiculous. She knows she bit him, but this was just fun to her.

Nick's face still was smiling but more grinning now. His mouth hung open somewhat. "Over exaggerated nib-" He didn't finish what he was saying, he was more of repeating it at how ridiculous it sounded but he let out his first bit of laughter this time.

As both their laughing settled and the moment passed. Nick looked at her once again. "I really am sorry about that. Didn't feel right with myself about that moment." Nick knows why he did but the forcing himself on her part kind of always bothered him about that, whether she was evil or not.

She looked back up at him. "It's okay. I put a spell on your best friend and slept with him. I can't be too upset." Nick gave her an accepting nod and then the room fell silent once again.

Nick did have another thought come to him though. "Did you manage to contact Meisner?" He asked her suddenly.

"I did! We have to hold out for a couple of days apparently. Think you'll be okay?" She asked as she began getting ready to patch up his bullet shoulder wound. His injuries were what she was referring to as well when she asked that.

"I'll be fine."

She began wiping at the dried blood around his bullet wound in the shoulder. "Was the wait always a part of the plan?"

He winced a little at the slight sting in his shoulder from her having to rub it then let out a sigh. "Not exactly."

'What do you mean?"

"It was after I left you at Monroe and Rosalee's when you fell asleep" He began.

Nick closed the door and took a deep, long breath. Letting the cold air hit his lungs.

He shook his head at the fact he had just carried Adalind up to bed. "So weird" He said to himself. Walking towards his car to go handle the things he planned to.

He pulled out his car keys and began walking around to the driver's side of his car. As he got there, a figure in a hood popped out from behind it and walked up. Nick was about to draw his gun but it didn't take him long to know who that was.

"Mom." He addressed her.

She pulled her hood off. "Nicky." She gave him one of her smiles. Which wasn't much but her smiling at anything meant a lot.

"Where have you been?" Nick asked her. She had been gone for a while after being released. He knew she probably was going after the person who called the police on her in the first place. Something that didn't take him long to figure out himself.

"I was going to hurt your police captain. I know he's the one who called the police on me. Just couldn't figure out why then I did."

"He gave Diana to the Royals." Nick said to her.

"I know. I tried to go stop them from getting on the plane but I got there too late."

"So that's where you've been." Nick said as he lowered his hand that was holding his car keys, taking a few steps in her direction. She had a lingering blink of her eyes as she nodded her head slowly at him. The small things she did Nick always liked because she wouldn't do them for anybody else but him.

"That child can't grow up in that castle Nick." She said firmly.

"I know. I'm going to help Adalind get her back."

She looked a little taken aback by that. "Really?"

Nick thought about telling her the real reason he wanted to help besides the whole 'baby has to grow up normal' thing but if he told her that, it would hurt her and Nick wasn't trying to do that. Him wanting to help so the baby doesn't grow up as he did.

"Yeah. She came by asking for help and I agreed."

"You're going to do it alone?" The concern grew in her tone.

"If I have to." He stated simply.

"You won't." She reassured him. Her saying that really did feel good to him. "What's your plan?"

"Haven't had a chance to think of much of one. Just was going to get fake passports so we can go there quietly then figure out from there." He knows that wasn't good but he only had a short notice to come up with much of anything.

"You can't just walk in. They'll kill you or worse."

'Worse?" He questioned.

"They believe you have valuable intel on a lot of things they want." She didn't need to elaborate for him to catch on to what she was saying.

"Well, if you have any ideas, I'm listening."

She didn't say a word to that one. "You need a way into the castle." A voice called from a distance and Nick quickly drew his gun and Kelly took a ready-to-fight stance. Nick kept aiming it but as the man walked around the car.

"I knew you were following me a little while ago." Kelly said to him as the man walked up, hands in his jacket pockets.

"You know this guy?" Nick asked her.

"Work partners." She said simply to him. "Thought you were staying in Vienna."

"I was. Then duty called." He said as he finished walking up now.

"From?" Kelly questioned.

"From a need-to-know basis." He said to her and Kelly scoffed in amusement.

"My kind of answer. Nick this is Martin Meisner." She nodded towards Nick now. "This is my son."

Meisner nodded to him. "Grimm as well I assume. Carries himself like one." Nick lowered his gun but his brows were furrowed in confusion.

"If you have an idea of how to get into the castle. By all means, say it." Kelly decided to get back on to the topic at hand.

"Not really. But that's the only way you will be able to get her back now. They won't move her, not at her current age. They'll want to keep her locked in that castle as much as possible to poison her mind to their beliefs and customs."

"If Renard can, find a way to make a deal and survive. Then I know we can." Nick said.

"At this point, it would be easier if you could just be him but that isn't possible. Other than that, I don't have anything that isn't suicide." Meisner said and looked at them both, wondering who would speak first.

Kelly wasn't looking at anything or anyone but staring off into the distance. "There is a way." She turned towards Nick. "And you'll need her help."

Nick didn't have to think long or guess who she meant by 'her'. "What is it?" He asked and Meisner looked intrigued himself.

"So that's how you found out about the Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester" She said as she was still wiping away some dried blood around the bullet hole in his shoulder.

"We really need to come up with a shorter name for that."

"Trust me, there are far more longer and difficult ones to pronounce than that one." She began the finishing touches on wiping away the dried blood. "Wait but how did you know to get my mother's hat?" She asked then all of a sudden another thought popped into her mind. "I just remembered my mother's hat is still in the hotel room." She sounded a little disappointed.

"Actually..." Nick tapped her hand that was still attending to cleaning up his injuries, letting her know he was about to move. He leaned down to pick up his jacket that was on the floor and Adalind's brows furrowed.

He reached into the pocket with his left hand and pulled out something that was rolled up. He handed it to her. She took it tentatively. Not because she thought it was something to hurt her but just because she was wondering what it was.

She put the washcloth back into the bucket and rubbed her hand on her pants a couple of times to dry them up faster then unrolled what was revealed to be her mother's hat. Well, her hat now. She looked up at him in astonishment.

"You got it?" Her voice sounded so full of amazement but to Nick, it really wasn't that big of a deal but judging by her reaction, the hat must hold some meaning to her.

"It was under the bed and I remembered it falling under there while I was, a little busy as you know."

She kept looking at it, holding it from the bottom with her right hand and at the top with her left. "Does it mean something to you?" He asked her. She glanced at him for a moment then went back to looking at the hat.

"Not really...Well kind of"

Her features softened. "When I was a kid, my mother almost was never proud of me or anything I ever did. She didn't like or care about much of anything I did actually." She looked back to Nick to meet his eyes. "But she would train me in how to do or make some potions."

Adalind looked back down at the hat again. A reminiscent smile grew on her face. "I always found the spells and making potions part of being a Hexenbiest easier than other things. So I would usually impress her by how fast I could cook something up." She laughed a little. "I didn't care about that part though, it was the look on her face. She never ever looked proud of me, basically at all. But those moments, she would."

Adalind let out another reminiscent laugh as she thought about it more. She looked back at him. "Then there was this very complicated spell to make which required this hat and I still manage to do it pretty easily." She rubbed the hat a little with her thumb as she stared back at it. "She had that look on her face again but that was the only time she ever truly showed me any true affection."

"And then she said I've never been more proud to call you my daughter." She looked back up at Nick while her lips parted open with her smile. "She gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead." Nick didn't say a word the whole time he listened to her open up, he could tell she never really told anyone that story before judging by how new she acted like it was to say out loud.

He loved watching her look that happy though. He was also glad to hear her mother gave her at least some good memories to call back on.

"So the hat doesn't really matter, It just helps remind me that she..." She stopped speaking. Her eyes grew a little sad. "That she loved me. Honestly couldn't always tell and this helped. It's weird I know" She shook her head.

Nick placed his hand over hers and she stilled as he did. Both of them stared at the action and she looked back up once again to meet his eyes but slowly. "I understand." Nick wasn't the best when it came to words but he knew she didn't really want him to say much. She just needed to be listened to and understood. He understood that feeling almost as deep as her.

"Thank you." She said quite softly. They both looked down and realized she had clasped his hands so now they were holding. They both felt a nervousness rush through them.

She cleared her throat. "So um, how did..." She swallowed to clear her throat once again. "How did you say you guys found it again?" Her voice came out a little too high-pitched for her liking but anything to change the subject.

"Right!" Nick wishes he didn't almost yell that. We uh..." He cleared his throat. "My mother said that she knows it was needed and one thing led to another and we figured your mother would have one. Just wouldn't know where she kept it." He took another pause before speaking and she began putting gauze on his bullet wound now. "We were going to ask you but I didn't trust you at the time."

Nick thought maybe she be hurt by that but she went a whole other direction with it. "What about now?" As she asked he didn't think too much of it at first until the thought started dawning on him.

Because he did. Which he didn't expect at all. Maybe not fully yet but he trusted her a lot more than a lot of people in his life right now. "I do." He said but he still was shocked the words came out. He arrived in Vienna hating her and now everything was completely different. "Do you?" His question caused her to stop applying gauze and a very similar look he just had, appeared on her face.

"I do too...Guess I never really thought about it until now."

Nick nodded his head slightly. "Me neither." They both just shrugged it off though and he continued. "Well, then we figured maybe she kept it in her storage since I remember Wu telling me about it when they brought my mother in earlier. So I called him and asked him to give me the address. I went, while my mother went to go have a conversation with Renard."

Adalind scoffed. "That definitely went quietly."

Nick raised his eyebrows for a moment in agreement with her. "So much to the point my mother had a bruise on her face and he had several as we saw earlier."

Adalind finished applying the last bandage on his shoulder now. "Shit! That was today?! So much has happened that feels like days ago now."

"No arguments here." Nick agreed with that for sure. It's been some long days even for him and he was a cop. "But then that's when it took me some time to search through everything but I found it. Kind of wish we did ask you though because then we would have known that there was a book we were going to need." Adalind was rubbing the bandage she just applied down on him, she wasn't sure why she was still doing it though. It clearly was on tight.

"I guess it all worked out in the end. Wouldn't have ended up coming here if we already had the book." She said.

"True but we still wouldn't have had the ingredients for you to make it. So we still would have."

Adalind nodded her head. "Almost sounds like fate."

"You didn't strike me as the fate type." He said to her.

"Oh I'm not but after this week, fate's all I got." She said and he chuckled a little.

He continued now. "My mother and I met up again & she had a suit and a Ziploc bag of hair."

"Which explains the suit and how you got the hair then." Adalind was glad he was telling her because she genuinely was wondering how some things he had set up came to be. "Where did Meisner go?"

Nick let out a breath. "What he's still doing now and that's trying to get us a way out of here. He said he was making headway and he be as quick as he possibly could."

Adalind sighed. "Yet, still isn't fast enough, unfortunately."

Nick nodded in agreement once again. "That's when I ended up calling Hank and went to go see...Juliette." Adalind doesn't know why she hates that name more than she ever has before. Like her heart twitched in annoyance at it.

"Why'd you call Hank?" She asked. She didn't want to hear about Juliette yet. She doesn't know why it's bothering her way more than usual now.

"I'll have to tell you a little later...as for the Juliette portion. Remember when I told you I went to go see her but she wasn't there?" She nodded her eyes to let him know she was following. "Well, when I picked my mother up from Renard's, on the drive back, I thought I saw her car pass by mine but I didn't see it in time. So I just assumed that was me subconsciously telling myself to go talk with her."

Adalind thought about when Renard said he slept with her and how Nick said when he went to go see her at their house she wasn't there. It all made sense even more now. "But as you know when I went home, she wasn't there." He continued and she could hear hurt in his voice. She wasn't sure if he knew that she already knew about what Juliette did but she knows he'll talk about it when he was ready to actually do that.

They both shared that characterization of not liking vulnerability, so she knows when and when not to push it. She was surprised at herself for how much she could read him now. Well, emotionally read him.

He cleared his throat. "Then, I went to go get you clothes, and well you know the rest from there."

"Yes and speaking of clothes, take your pants off." She said to him nonchalantly and he stared at her like she was insane but he also appeared to have a slight blush too. He looked down at them and then figured out why she said that.

"Oh" He said a little flustered and embarrassed. She needed to tend to his leg shot wound now. He unbuttoned his pants and Adalind had not turned around yet. He gave her a pointed look at her 'peeking'.

She turned around quickly, she truly did forget that time. She balled up her lips to muffle her laugh that she was trying to hold. "Alright." He said and she turned around slowly for some reason.

She saw that he was sitting on the bed now with his back against the headboard, his left wounded leg was completely straight and on the bed while his right foot was on the floor. He also grabbed a sheet and covered himself. Adalind found it amusing though.

Those boxers still couldn't hide it even after him becoming Renard probably stretched them out huh? Impressive she joked to herself mentally. She walked over and began to fix up his leg now though.

Surprisingly it didn't take as long as the others and Nick was glad. Yes, she was mending an injury for him but her hands constantly rubbing his thigh was driving him crazy. She was putting the bandage on now and she was going up his thigh very gently, yet so firmly.

Her touch was incredible and he wish she would stop now because he wasn't trying to accidentally show her just how amazing and excited it was making him feel. She had her right hand on the outside of his thigh to hold it while her left hand kept rubbing the inside.

She hadn't noticed the horrified look on his face at all either.

This must be what they mean by beautiful pain he joked to himself mentally.

All of a sudden though, the lights went out all over the house and it didn't feel out of the ordinary either. They were cascaded in the dark now but neither of them had any panic. "Why do you think that happened? I know it wasn't Diana, she fell asleep a few minutes ago." Adalind said to him in the darkness. She was still rubbing the bandage down too.

"No not Diana. Just think it's hard to pay the electric bill when you are a dead woman." Nick said and Adalind made a noise in agreeing. She forgot about the whole Frau Pech thing. That actually probably was why. She has been dead for a while now. "Adalind..."

"Yeah?"

"Could you stop rubbing my leg like that while we are in the dark, in a bed...while I'm half naked." She was glad he couldn't see her face because she for sure had a dumb look cross on it. Not that she was complaining about any of that but it probably is a little weird because well that is pretty intimate.

"...Sure." She said slowly.

Nick was glad, he could finally settle down now. All parts of him...All.

A scent caught his nose though. "I think Diana could use that diaper change now." He scrunched up his nose and Adalind chuckled. "Yeah, she's been needing one for a little bit now."

"You change the diaper and I find us some light?" Nick asked.

"Sounds like a plan." Adalind said cheerfully.

AN: I know that was more of a fluffy chapter than much progress in the story but I hope everybody enjoys it! Thank you for all of the reviews.

Rix1998 Thank you for your concern and well wishes! Means a lot seriously. I'm all better now thankfully! Hehe wasn't a headshot though...yet maybe. Hope you enjoyed the Nadalind though and a part of me had that same idea too where he would arrive on the doorstop in zombie form for a second that would cause a little scare but I didn't end up going with it but you never know!

Helga I'm glad you noticed that! I was trying to really show how Nick is calm and collected along with his detective mindset to think out situations.

Moon cat Yes! I always thought Meisner could have been more mysterious than he was!

I plan on replying to all reviews after this chapter! This is the last chapter I wrote with only one eye so everything should be better and back to normal now. I enjoyed everybody's reviews and analyses even if I didn't reply to all of them! Inspires me more when I read them.