Chapter Three

It wasn't the most comfortable of car rides. Both Trubel and Samantha were rather nervous about the whole thing. Sam couldn't help but notice Trubel's knee bouncing up and down nervously.

Trubel's mind had once again been spiraling out of control imagining all the problems that could come up from a Wesen going out on a date with a Grimm, further still, the complications that could arise from a Wesen being in full-blown relationship with a Grimm. She kept reminding herself of Nick and how, so far, he's had a successful relationship with a Hexenbiest. She was so deep in thought that when Sam spoke it caused Trubel to jump a little. Sam said, "Maybe this wasn't a good idea. I can turn the car around if you're not feeling up to it."

Trubel immediately felt terrible that she had made Sam think she didn't want to be there with her. She did her best to clean it up when she replied, "No.. no.. it's fine. I'm just nervous is all. Which, if I'm being honest is kind of weird for me. I don't get nervous."

Sam nodded, "That doesn't surprise me. I don't think there's a reason to be nervous, but, I'm nervous too. I guess that's a good thing. It just shows that maybe we care what each other is thinking."

Trubel chose to keep quiet about the real reason she was nervous, which had nothing to do with what Samantha was thinking, but instead, she was worried that someone may take issue with them being out together and that Sam could end up getting hurt.

Trubel put her hands on her own knees and squeezed. She reminded herself that Samantha had just made a very public endorsement of a Grimm. That action alone had the possibility of putting a target on her back. Perhaps Samantha would be in even more danger if Trubel wasn't with her. Trubel's eyes widened as the realization hit her that she and Nick should have planned better to keep Samantha safe after the Wesen Council proposal. That there could be Wesen making arrangements to hurt her or hurt those who volunteered to be on the Council at any moment. She should call Nick. She should-

"We're here." Samantha put the car in park and took the key from the ignition. The dome light came on and Trubel realized that once again she had been spiraling and had no idea that Sam had pulled them into the parking lot of one of those chain family restaurants. Trubel let out an exhale and she steeled herself to open the passenger door when Sam reached over and placed her hand on Trubel's and said, "It's going to be okay."

Trubel nodded and said, "I'm sorry, I'm just..."

"A little nervous," Sam finished for her, "I know. Come on. Let's get some food."

As they made their way into the restaurant and Sam requested of the hostess that they get an isolated table, Trubel continued to look around for any potential threats, but found none. More than once she glanced back over her shoulders to make sure they weren't being followed.

When they were seated and sitting across from one another, it was then, glancing into Samantha's eyes as they made small talk, looking over their menus, deciding what they wanted to eat, that Trubel was finally able to feel a modicum of comfort, to relax and let her guard down. If not completely, at least a little.

After the server had taken their orders and left the table Sam said, "Thank you for coming out with me."

Trubel, not knowing how best to reply simply said, "No problem."

Sam smiled. Witnessing Trubel struggle with social niceties was actually fairly endearing. However, she chose to try to ease some of Trubel's anxiety by choosing a topic to discuss that Trubel would likely be comfortable with. She said, "I noticed Nick introduced you as his daughter tonight. Has the adoption changed your relationship much?"

Trubel bobbed her head around a little signaling both yes and no, "It's hard to say. That was the first time we'd been in a setting where an introduction was necessary. Most everyone we're around already knows. I think he's just more comfortable with it now, you know? Like, before, he was always very protective of me, but before the adoption I think maybe he'd guard those feelings a bit. Afraid that he'd overstep, make things awkward or uncomfortable. Now he just kinda owns it."

Samantha leaned forward a bit in her seat as she asked, "Is that good?"

Trubel smiled. It was so genuine that Samantha couldn't help but smile herself. Trubel replied, "Yeah. It is good. When I broke my ankle he insisted I stay at his place until I could walk again. It's hard to describe, but I don't like relying on people like that, but not with Nick. He's one of the very few people who I feel I can call on for help and he'll do it without making me feel bad or guilty. How I grew up, if someone helped you, that meant that you owed them. It took a while, but eventually I was able to let go of that mentality with him."

Trubel took her leather jacket off and sat it on the seat next to her. Samantha hoped that it meant that Trubel was becoming more relaxed and comfortable. Samantha said, "I think the two of you are very lucky to have found each other."

Trubel didn't reply but nodded her head. She didn't want the conversation to be only about her, so she asked, "Has your family been okay with you being friends with Nick? And me for that matter?"

Samantha tilted her head, "I actually haven't really told them about you. When I first met Nick he asked me not to tell people that he's a Grimm. I know Adalind said that was likely more for my benefit than for his. And my family only know Nick is a Grimm out of necessity. If he hadn't been there to save all our lives, they likely still wouldn't know. So I felt I should talk to you about it first before I mentioned that you're a Grimm to anyone I know. Respect your privacy and all that."

Trubel shrugged her shoulders and said, "I think after tonight, it's all kinda moot anyway. A Wesen Council in Portland is likely to make some waves. Or at the very least, word will get around that I'm a Grimm and that you know me. But you didn't answer my question about your family."

Samantha rubbed at her chin and replied, "So far, so good. My Great Aunt Ruthie thinks it's awesome. My cousins and other family members seemed to react somewhat positively. It's surprising, given that according to my mother, her parents had been killed by a Grimm. But it's difficult to ignore the whole life-saving thing that Nick did. Did you see the article that my Aunt Ruthie had written about Nick?"

Trubel shook her head, "I'd heard about it from Monroe, but I didn't see it."

Samantha leaned back, crossed her arms and said, "She keeps pestering me about wanting to do an actual interview with Nick. He doesn't want to do it and I don't blame him. I stopped asking weeks ago."

Trubel asked, "How could she write an interview with him and make it interesting since she can't mention anything about him being a Grimm or about Wesen or anything?"

Samantha nodded her understanding, "Well, she had used some turns of phrase in the previous article that Wesen recognized and I think she was hoping to do the same if she had gotten the interview. I don't know. To non-Wesen, I'm sure the interview would be pretty lame."

Samantha felt they'd discussed Nick quite enough and asked, "Are you feeling less nervous now?"

Trubel hadn't realized it, but she was feeling better and said so. The server brought their meals out and the two of them talked and got to know one another better as they ate. Trubel wasn't sure where things would go in the long term with Samantha but didn't feel as apprehensive about it. For now, she was grateful for the company. After they'd finished their meals, they continued the conversation for a while. When finally they felt they'd taken up enough of their server's time, Samantha paid for their meal and drove Trubel back to her parked motorcycle.

They both got out of the car and Samantha asked, "Do you mind if I ask what you're doing tomorrow?"

Trubel replied, "I am babysitting. The triplets."

Samantha said, "It's so nice of you to do that for Monroe and Rosalee."

Trubel shook her head, "They're family."

Samantha couldn't help but smile and said, "No adoption paperwork needed for that one, huh?"

Trubel shrugged in response.

Samantha took a step closer to Trubel, grasping the sleeve of her leather jacket in Samantha's fingers, she asked, "Would you like some company while you babysit? I can stop over."

Trubel leaned forward as she said, "Company would be good." She smiled as she added, "Help with the triplets would be good, too."

Samantha chuckled and said, "Fine. I can help with the babysitting. What time?"

Adalind had woken up in the middle of the night. It felt like she'd been dreaming, but of what, she couldn't recall.

She sat up in bed and glanced through the window to see the moon high in the sky. Kelly was asleep. Nick was laying on his back next to her. She stared at him for a short time. The moonlight washed over him, giving his skin a kind of eerie glow. Her mind began thinking back to how she'd first met Nick. A random chance encounter on the street when Nick had seen a Woged face for the first time and Adalind had seen her first Grimm. They technically met a second time when she'd tried to murder his aunt at Sean Renard's order. But their first real meeting was when she had been in danger of being killed by a Mellifer, a bee type Wesen. Nick had been forced to help save her life.

Nick had threatened to allow the Mellifer to kill her, but Nick being Nick, couldn't allow such a thing to happen. It was a hollow threat.

Later, she hatched a plan to use magic to force Nick's partner Hank to fall in love with her. The spell she chose would eventually kill Hank unless she got what she wanted. A key, now useless, that Nick had come into possession of. When they confronted one another about Hank's life and the key, Nick had challenged Adalind to settle their differences violently and Adalind was all too happy to oblige. Nick had bested her by tricking her into biting his lip and she consumed just enough of his blood to lose her Hexenbiest abilities. Shortly after, she was cast out by her mother for having lost.

She hated him so much for what he'd done to her. Now, here he was, laying on the bed next to her like none of it had happened. Completely prone to anything she might want to do to him. She looked down at his neck and it occurred to her how easy it would be to climb on top and choke the life out of him. To get revenge for the misery he'd put her through. Anger began building inside of her. Anger at him for what he'd done to her and anger at herself for sharing a bed with him. She clenched her fists and lost control as she Woged. Her teeth involuntarily clacked together as her face took on the appearance of a dried up corpse. The noise was enough to wake Nick.

He looked around but everything was a blur. He rubbed at his eyes as he sat up. He could feel her body next to his as he asked, "What's wrong?"

She had managed to relax, having willed her Woge away, she responded, "Nothing, Nick. You can go back to sleep. I think I just had a bad dream."

He laid back down and motioned for her to lay with him. He pulled her in close and she placed her head on his chest. Once they were comfortable it didn't take long for Nick to fall asleep again. Adalind, however, took a bit longer as she wondered to herself why she was so angry today. Maybe it was something she ate.

That morning, Rosalee and Monroe were doing what Monroe had been dreading for months. They were moving all of his clocks, his desk and his clock fixing tools to the spice shop. As their triplets have gotten older, they've begun crawling around and with it being only a matter of time before they are able to walk and get into things that they shouldn't get into, it became necessary to move his sensitive possessions to a safe location. Since Monroe and Rosalee were alternating between them who ran the Spice shop day-to-day, it made the most sense to move all of those sensitive possessions to the storage room there. He could work on fixing clocks and watches during the shop's downtime.

The two of them spent a couple of hours trying to find the best places to store the clocks, hanging some of them, squeezing his desk between all the other storage bins and shelving, and lastly, restoring all his tools back to their proper places. When, finally, it appeared all the things were in their proper places, the two of them stood upright and gazed upon their work. They glanced at each other and Monroe nodded his head to imply, 'We're done.' But then his eyes widened and he slapped his chest at his breast pocket and then fished out a wedding ring. He carefully leaned over and hung it on a nail that was jutting out of the inside wall of his desk. A nail he had specifically put there for the purpose of holding that wedding ring.

The ring had belonged to a man whom Monroe had known for a very short time before a fanatical group called the Wesenrein had put the man to death. His name was Terry. In the moments before members of the Wesenrein dragged him away to impale him and set fire to his corpse, he'd given Monroe his wedding ring and asked Monroe to find his wife. He had never known Terry's last name or Terry's wife's name. So, he'd held onto the wedding ring for a few years. Monroe had nearly died that day himself. If not for Nick and the rest of their inner circle, he and his good friend Bud Wurstner would both likely have been murdered and burned as well.

Monroe had struggled a lot with the memories of that day. When Rosalee realized the significance of the ring, she leaned her body against her husband's and rested the back of her head on his shoulder. She asked, "When was the last time you tried finding his wife?"

Monroe was ashamed to admit, "Months."

Rosalee didn't remove her head from his shoulder but turned so she could look up at him as she said, "Have you asked Nick for help?"

Monroe put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him as he said, "I've thought about it. It's difficult to bring up, you know? It's a day I'd rather forget, but I still have nightmares about it. Plus, I have to admit, if I did find his wife, I don't know what I would say to her. It's more than a little intimidating."

Rosalee turned her body to face Monroe and wrapped her arms around him as she said, "I'm sure you'll think of something. Please ask Nick if he can help you find her. I think you could use the closure. I know I could. Call him."

Monroe backed away from Rosalee and said, "I'll call him." Rosalee fixed a demanding glare at him and he relented, "Fine, I'll call him now."

He took out his phone and called Nick. While he was waiting for Nick to answer, Rosalee went around the storeroom, moving things here and there in an attempt to make less clutter and free more space for Monroe to work on his clock and watch repair.

When Nick answered his phone he had only just gotten to his desk with a fresh cup of coffee. Monroe closed his eyes as he said, "Hey, Nick." Before he could say what it was he was calling for his voice caught in his throat and his eyes welled up a bit. This was going to be harder than he thought it would be. He wiped at his eyes and did his best to continue on. He exhaled through his mouth and said, "I have a favor to ask. You remember that whole thing with the Wesenrein?" He chided himself, because of course Nick remembers it, "There was that guy who was murdered. His first name was Terry. I need to speak with his wife. Were you ever able to locate her?"

Nick could hear in Monroe's voice how difficult it was to broach the subject at all, so Nick took great care in taking the request seriously but he also couldn't provide that information to Monroe on a whim. The contact information for the spouse of a murder victim is highly confidential. There are few people he trusted as much as Monroe, but the spouse could very easily get very upset at her information being shared. He didn't want to ask why Monroe wanted the information, so he phrased it as non-specifically as he could, "Was there something you needed to discuss with her?"

Nick would have simply accepted a yes or a no to the question and left it at that, but Monroe elaborated as best he could when he said, "I have something here that belonged to Terry. I just wanted to make sure she got it."

Nick had no idea what it was that Monroe had in his possession and knew the topic was incredibly sensitive. He took a deep breath and said, "I'll have to look back in our files. If I can locate her information, I'll reach out to her first, let her know to expect your call?"

Monroe hadn't been expecting Nick to take the lead in calling her first. The weight he could feel pressing onto his chest eased somewhat as he said, "Thank you." He felt like he should say more but couldn't bring himself to add anything other than asking Nick to text him when was able to reach her.

Monroe disconnected the call and he was hit with another wave of emotion. He steadied himself and wiped at his eyes again. He thought to himself that the real reason he'd been putting this off for so long was that he hadn't been ready to confront his feelings and the memories of the day he had been put on 'trial' for having married his wife. The Wesenrein,a group of fanatical Wesen, felt that mixed marriages were an abomination and any Blutbad that married someone that wasn't also Blutbad should be put to death.

Rosalee came up behind Monroe and put her arms around his waist and squeezed in what she hoped was a comforting hug.