O Fortuna
Chapter 6
Family matters.

The end of S5e02, closing the gap to S5e03.

I never bought the whole "Nick's house is listed day one, then, magically sold and they move out day two, straight into the new home." Yeah, that's never how it works. So... Here we go.

-/-/-/-/-/-

Kelly was crying, Nick hadn't been home since who knows when, Adalind couldn't smell anything besides baby poop and spit up, and the phone kept ringing.

Now the washing machine was dead and she was through all the burp clothes, dish rags, and paper towels. Next stop bath towels. And, oh, by the way, Kelly was wearing the very last diaper in the whole house.

She was bouncing him on her hip, warming a bottle, when her head bobbed. Her eyes fluttered open at a strange buzz. The microwave crackled and popped. Sparks blew out the back. A flame danced up the side and licked the cabinet. She grabbed the first thing at hand, a slimy, spit-up filled dish towel, and flapped sour milk vomit all over the burning cabinet to the cacophony of phone ringing and baby crying.

She had been trying to call Rosalee for the last three hours, but she couldn't, because the phone just kept ringing and ringing and ringing.

More crying, more phone ringing. Every single time Kelly stopped crying, the phone started ringing again, and again, and again, making him start crying again.

Nick burst in the door, marching straight up to her, phone in his hand. "Adalind! I've been trying to call you!"

"You and your damned phone!" She snatched the implement of her torture, threw it in the sink, shoved the baby into his arms, and stormed out the door.

She was rushing down the sidewalk, just past the mailbox, when the sound of Kelly crying brought her to her knees, right there on the neighbor's steps.

Everything came pouring out. No sleep, trying to keep house for Nick, endless washing, cleaning, baby poop and spit up, and she couldn't even remember the last time she ate. She had been steeling herself with the legend of her college days' heroism, working day and night to maintain her 4.0 gpa in Analytical Chemistry, and then again in Law school, but the constant, endless siege finally broke her. Then Nick started calling and calling and calling. She literally had no idea what day it was or how old Kelly even was.

The cool breeze, that didn't stink of baby poop, wafted past her face, rustling the leaves in a world beautifully devoid of phones ringing. She sat on the curbstone with tears washing the spit up off her face while Nick's voice echoed over the baby crying.

Something was shaking her shoulder. The buzzing turned into Rosalee's voice. Her body slumped sideways, her head bobbed, and she wiped the drool off her mouth and chin.

She shot bolt upright. "My baby!" She was craning, reaching, struggling. It was happening again. Her baby was gone! Her black ringed eyes focused into a tunnel and she grabbed Rosalee, "My baby! Where's my baby?"

Nick's voice buzzed. Her tunnel vision focused again. She snatched Kelly out of his arms and pressed kisses into his fat cheeks. "My baby, my baby." She turned and marched back towards the house, crying.

She was halfway up Nick's front steps when her head bobbed and her eyes fluttered. She sagged into Rosalee's shoulder. A voice buzzed in her ears. She mumbled something, but Rosalee's eyebrows quirked. She mumbled something else, and started crying.

Rosalee herded her towards her car. "Come on, you can stay with Monroe and I for as long as you need to."

Nick started to argue, but Rosalee crossed her arms. "Seriously? You haven't been here in ten days? What do you think this is?"

"But..."

"But what? You haven't been here in ten days! Is Renard that important? Look at Adalind. She just fell asleep standing up. She can't even make sentences. The least you could have done is told me."

Rosalee pushed her hands into her hips and Nick wilted. He disappeared to the Landcruiser, and his empty shell returned, holding the baby seat. He finished clipping it into Rosalee's Fiat, then rubbed both hands through his greasy hair. He kissed Kelly's cheeks, buckled him in, and wiped across his red-rimmed eyes.

A tear rolled down his nose. "Look, Adalind, I'm sorry..."

He slumped down on the curb and pressed his face into his hands.

Rosalee packed her into the Fiat. She looked back as they drove off. He was still sitting there on the curb, face pressed into his hands.

-/-/-/-/-/-

Cold. Chills. Adalind's head bobbed, sending water up her nose. She gasped and coughed, trying to force her eyes to focus through the mud in her brain.

White, square tiles. A toilet. A bath tub. I'm in a bath tub full of cold water. This isn't Nick's bathroom. Where am I?

Think.

Rosalee's house?

Kelly. Where's Kelly?

Why aren't you worried?

He came with me. Rosalee has Kelly. Here.

How did I get here?

She tried to remember, but came up blank.

Fake fruity perfume. She touched her hair. Shampoo? Was I washing my hair?

Cold water swirled down the drain as the hot shower sheeted over her skin, washing away the goosebumps with the soap in her hair.

She padded downstairs, following the rich, savory scent, and found Monroe, Rosalee, and Kelly in the kitchen. He herded her to the dinner table. She passed Adalind a plate, then tilted her head at Monroe and mouthed, Nick promised.

Monroe grinned as she stuffed her mouth. "So, what do you think? Vegan beet sausage."

"It's really good."

"I also made a spicy batch, if you want to try some."

Rosalee wrinkled her nose. "Made? That implies on purpose... He just won't admit he tripped and spilled all the Serrano and Thai peppers into the first batch."

Monroe laughed. "I may have put all the seeds in."

Adalind's face brightened. "Sure."

Monroe's eyes twinkled and Rosalee gasped as she dug in.

"Wow, this is really good. Smoked habanero?"

"Yep. That's not just the starvation talking? You like it?"

"Yeah. It's great, You put black truffles into this didn't you?"

Monroe's eyes glittered.

Rosalee's eyebrows quirked. "Black truffles? Ok, Mister, spill the beans."

"I was making it, and Nick called about a case. The one about the Alpe? I guess, I cut up an entire second batch of peppers, and added it. Then I got a call about this antique Gallet presentation chronograph. Remember the one with the solid gold case and the second hand that wouldn't move?"

Rosalee gave him a blank look. He waited a minute and shrugged. "Well, apparently, I roasted another whole batch of peppers and added it."

Adalind chuckled "It has a really nice balance of savory flavors with just enough smoke and a touch of sweetness. I bet Kelly would like this."

Rosalee's eyes nearly popped out of her head as Adalind dipped some of the juice and wiped it on Kelly's lips. She cleared her chair and was running for the Epi-pen when Kelly licked his lips and giggled.

"See, he likes it. Once Nick and I move out, do you think you could make me a batch if I buy the ingredients? I could go for more Habanero and some ghost peppers too."

Rosalee gawked and Monroe was speechless.

"What?"

They continued talking through their arrangements. Rosalee was friendly but firm with Rule One: Ask for help.

That was hard, because she had been more or less self-sufficient since middle school. And also because she knew the truth. This was an effort to keep Nick here, to anchor him to Portland. So be it, she would repay them by giving him a reason to stay. And, there was the other thing... Diana. Nick was still her only path to get her daughter back.

That night, they scratched out a quick baby schedule on the white board. Monroe was always up early, so he took 4:00AM to 8:00AM, to give Adalind some sleep. 6:30PM was Kelly's bath and then bed. After dinner, Rosalee would give her a break from 7:00PM to 10:00PM.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Dreaming of sleep turned into reality of sleep. Four straight hours was literally the best thing she had ever experienced. Actual food, and a bath were pure, unadulterated gold.

House Rule Number Two: Tell the truth. She owed them that, so she laid it on the table.

She explained her agreement with The Royals, the plans to kidnap Nick's mother and send him on a wild goose chase ending with Nick being the hero. Somehow, those plans went off the rails. Kenneth murdered Nick's mother, sending him on a genocidal bender that resulted in everybody but The King and Diana dead. She had been waiting for them to pick her up, per the plan, but nothing. She tried calling, but all the phone numbers were disconnected. She had even tried to get the king, but to no avail. The look on Monroe and Rosalee's faces said they already knew, but they needed her honesty to establish trust. Point taken.

She was going to lay it all on the table for Nick, but he stumbled in, red eyed and stinking of adrenaline, Skalengek, Hundjager, and stale coffee, like he hadn't caught a single minute of sleep since.. Well, a while. He only managed to make it halfway through dinner before being called away on a case.

Rosalee was visibly flustered. Monroe had smoke coming out of his ears. She, on the other hand, totally understood. That was his job. She was the one intruding into his life. He hadn't asked for any of this, the love of his life murdered and being thrust into an instant family with his sworn enemy.

"Look, I'm the problem here, not Nick. I'm sorry I dragged you two into the middle of my mess. I'll sort out a real job as soon as Kelly sleeps through the night. I'll get a place in town and be out of your hair."

Monroe spoke up first. "No, it's Nick. He's been dreaming of a family as long as I've known him. Losing his parents was a big deal, and then finding out that his mother abandoned him. You guys may not make it, I mean, it's not like this is some crazy fairytale where everything is awesome, right? But if he won't step up to the plate for his actual son..."

Rosalee nodded.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

It was hours before dawn when Monroe released her from the couch and sent her up to bed. Kelly started to fuss, so she headed back down, and found Monroe cradling the baby. "It's ok, I got this. You get some sleep."

She started to protest, but he shooed her away. She wandered back up the stairs and slumped onto the bed. Her eyes were drifting shut when the hallway night light reflected a gold flicker off the old book laying on the bedside table. She cringed, "You again? I'm sorry. I'll be out as soon as I can."

Heavy sleep turned into dreams. Really weird, vivid dreams.

She got up with the alarm and took over with her baby.

Monroe passed her a cup of his exquisite coffee that was so good, she felt guilty about gulping it down and asking for a second. "Is everything ok? You were talking in your sleep."

"Yeah, why?"

"It was Hebrew."

"That doesn't make any sense. I don't know any Hebrew."

"Now that's interesting, because you were reciting the story of Tamar and Judah, except with a lot more detail... In Hebrew."

Adalind's face went blank.

"You know, the bible story."

Still blank

"Tamar is the only Hexenbiest in the bible."

Adalind's ears perked. "A Hexenbiest, in the bible?"

"Sure, why not."

Monroe explained the story and Adalind's face turned white. It was exactly the same as in her dream. "Wouldn't a Hexenbiest be evil or cursed?"

"What happened in your dream."

"She had a happy life after they resolved the whole burn her to death thing and the babies paternity."

"Yep, that's the one."

"That's weird. I thought Hexenbiests... You know... Were supposed to burn in hell."

"I guess not all of them. The bible doesn't attribute any of the evil to her, even when she disguised herself as a prostitute and got pregnant by her father in law."

"That's weird, I wondered what that was all about?"

"The child had to come through her."

"It had to come through her? A Hexenbiest?"

"Yep."

"Ok, Monroe, you know a lot about bible stuff. Can I show you something."

She had him find that story, then he slid the bible into her hands. Fire coursed through her body. Sweat beads hissed and crackled on her forehead. Her skin flushed as heat shimmered off. "Wow, that is exactly the same as my dream."

"Um, question. Are you, like, on fire?"

"Hexenbiests and bibles don't really get along. The weird part, is that I'm on fire, but I don't actually burn."

"So that's real? I thought it was just some sort of crazy legend, like silver bullets and werewolves, which is stupid, because it turns out that regular bullets work just fine on us, I mean, assuming they don't break up on impact... They didn't understand Lead alloys, or copper jackets, and bullets tended to be so brittle that they exploded on impact..."

"When I was little, my mother and I visited the house of a Hexenbiest. There was a bible laying in the middle of her charred remains."

A goofy grin crossed Monroe's face. He passed her a damp washcloth. It let out a loud crack and a puff of steam when her hand closed around it. Within a second, black smoke billowed out and then flames. She dumped the handful of smoldering ash in the sink, then passed the bible back while he sat there, staring at her.

"So, how does one go about figuring that out."

"At Bud's house... I sort of had an... Experience."

"So, your skin, hair, and clothes didn't get burned... You don't even smell like smoke... Like..."

She gave him a blank look.

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego? The fiery furnace?"

"The deal with king pitching the guys into a furnace? Yeah, like that, except electronics don't fare nearly as well. It melted my cellphone at Bud's and then burned up a sensor at the hospital."

Monroe laughed. "That was you? Rosalee told me you caught on fire at the hospital, but you didn't get burned."

"That's when I read that story. She passed me the bible and it melted a bunch of sensors. She said you went through it in Sunday school, but it didn't make any sense to her."

Monroe's eyes glittered at the prospect of sharing more arcane facts. "You know, that story isn't about what people think. It's not about how being extra good earns you favor before the almighty. It's actually about how do we respond when..."

He frowned as Kelly's crying cut him off mid-sentence.

"Sorry, baby calls." And with that, Adalind shifted gears. The business of motherhood offered neither quarter, nor time off for good behavior.

-/-/-/-/-/-

The next day after dinner, Bart and Alice were on a video call, making faces and silly noises at Kelly, who was giggling and reaching towards the screen.

Rosalee plopped down next to Adalind at the kitchen table. "Watch this."

She woged, sprouting the sleek coat of orange and white fur, short snout, and pointy ears of her Fuchsbau form. Kelly giggled and grabbed a handful of fur on Rosalee's cheek. She retracted back into her human form and Kelly frowned, patting her cheek for the fur that was no longer there. She transformed again. He brushed his fingers through her silky fur and laughed.

Bart's eyebrows quirked. "Look at that! The kid can see Wesen. Let's see what he thinks about a Bludbad."

With that, he transformed, revealing the bright red eyes, stern face, pointy ears, and square beard of his Bludbad form. Kelly giggled and reached, patting the computer screen. Bart retracted back into his human form, revealing blue eyes, a square jaw, and no beard. "Will you look at that. He can see me through the computer. His eyes don't turn black. I wonder what he will be."

Adalind rubbed the baby's back. "Oh, he's all Grimm."

Rosalee chuckled. "Except he likes spicy food, like Adalind. You should have seen his face when he tasted the juice from Monroe's extra hot sausage."

The scent of blood, sweat, adrenaline, and stale coffee escorted Nick in the door. He leaned on the counter, behind Rosalee, looking on through bloodshot eyes. "You let him taste that stuff? I can't even smell it without my eyes burning."

Bart exchanged smalltalk with Nick and then got to business. "Hey, I'm sorry the whole Dad thing isn't working out. We talked it over before you got here. Alice will fly out a week from Friday and get Adalind and the kid. She'll stay with us until she can get things sorted out to go back into Legal work."

Nick went silent as Adalind bounced Kelly. "It's so nice of you guys to do this for us. You know you don't have to. He should be sleeping through the night in a couple months, then I'll talk to my college friend. She's a partner at a firm in Rochester, New York."

"And your legal credentials?"

"All good. I passed The Bar in New York before I moved back to Oregon. I still have a license there."

Nick rubbed his hands across his face and through his hair. Bart's tone shifted fatherly, "Nick, I'm sure you gave it your best. Not everybody is cut out for being a Dad. I mean, look at Monroe."

Nick stammered as all the color drained out of his face. Rosalee darted away, and once out of the camera frame, grimaced, crossed her arms, and flashed her eyes fiery yellow.

Alice's eyes glittered. "It's been so long since we've had a baby in the house, and Kelly is such a dear. This will be so exciting."

Nick stood like a stone, hunched over the counter, glassy eyed, staring at his hands. Adalind carried Kelly upstairs for a bath. The merest whisper dribbled out of his mouth. "What time should I...?"

Rosalee put away the laptop and washed the last coffee cups after the call. "Nick, it's not a problem. We'll take care of this."

"You... shouldn't have to do this. He's my son."

"It's fine. We understand. It will only be a week and a half, and then he will be out of your hair. Anyway, it's seven. Baby time." With that, Rosalee disappeared up the stairs.

Monroe came out of the kitchen with a stack of baby clothes. "So, what's this latest case about?"

"Huh? Hey, can I stay with you guys tonight? It's that house. I thought it would be fine, but every time I walk in the door. Juliette is laying there, dying, in my arms, and then I see my mom's head in that box, people storming in with guns.. I smell her perfume in the bedroom. The closet is full of her clothes. The bed sheets, her hair spray, her cayenne pepper kombucha in the fridge, everything."

"Where are you staying?"

"Mostly, in my car, but I caught a shower the other day at the precinct. I tried to go home again yesterday, for a shower and some clothes. I couldn't make myself go upstairs. I just stood there, staring at the spot where Juliet died. I can barely close my eyes."

"Do you need to stay here, until you can get rid of the house?"

"Yeah, if you and Rosalee are ok with that, and Adalind too, I guess. I haven't exactly been part of this parent process. I don't want to lose my son, and if Adalind goes to live with your parents... Vermont is like three thousand miles from here."

Monroe nodded. "I'm going to tell you the same thing we told Adalind. Rule one. You have to ask for help."

An hour later, Kelly was sleeping in the bassinet and they had a little "Family pow wow." Adalind offered Nick the guest bed, so she could stay close to Kelly in the living room, but he refused and took the couch.

She heaved a sigh of relief. A single mother with two illegitimate children by two absentee fathers? Oh, and never mind how you got yourself knocked up... Yeah.

Three months in Victor's dungeon had given her perspective. Even at it's worst, being worn out in Nick's house with a broken washing machine was paradise compared to the month she spent chained to a stone floor, eating rats that she lured out of their holes by playing dead. The whole family thing might not work out, but it wouldn't be her lack of effort.

Twenty minutes later, Rosalee marched downstairs and dumped all her birth control pills in the trash, while muttering, "Monroe will be a better father than Bart ever was."

Adalind clicked through her teeth. I've got to give Bart credit. He's good.

Rosalee seemed different around Kelly after that call. She got a wistful look when snuggling and playing with him, and especially when she saw Monroe playing with the baby. She chuckled to herself. It won't be long.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Her eyes flickered open to shivers and goosebumps. Cold bath water, again? Rosalee is an angel sent straight from heaven.

She rinsed off in the warm shower, fixed her hair, and then enjoyed a blissful hour's nap while waiting for the evening shift alarm.

Her return downstairs found Rosalee coaching Nick through fixing bottles, burping, and diaper duty.

A cheerful, bouncing baby wiggled, reaching for Mom the instant she walked in. She played kissy and practiced his sitting up, while humming a song. "Hey, why don't you take the guest bedroom. Kelly has his days and nights mixed up. We'll probably be up for a while."

"No, I want to be part of this." Nick explained the situation with the house, and why he had not returned.

"When I found out about my mother, I never wanted to see her house again. You know, I've never even been down that street since then. If you want, I'll dig up the name of the real estate agent and lawyer that handled it for me."

Nick nodded.

"I took a bath on her house. It was hard to even give one away in 2013. They say the market is a little better now, but it may he hard to sell with the broken windows and... Are those bullet holes? First question, is the house in your name, or is there anyone else on the deed or the note?"

"Just me. I bought her out last year."

They talked through the selling process then jotted down a punch list and a timeline. Get a cleaning service to give it a good once over. Bud and Arnold would then go through it and make all the necessary repairs. A real estate agent and the house staging folks would prep it for sale and list it. It was a tall order, but with focused effort, the house could be on the market in four weeks.

He closed his eyes and exhaled, like a ten thousand pound weight was coming off his chest.

It was 2:30AM when Kelly finished breast feeding and snuggled into her chest for a nap. They had been sitting on the couch, passing him back and forth until Nick slumped over, mid sentence.

Her eyes fluttered at Monroe's 4:00AM alarm. She found herself nestled into the crook of Nick's shoulder, with his arm around her and Kelly snuggled into her chest. She shifted to get up. The sleeping Grimm mumbled something and softly kissed her neck. She paused for a moment, closing her eyes.

Wishful thinking.

She rubbed his leg and his arm released. She exhaled, long and slow, then laid Kelly into his bassinet, pulled a blanket over Nick, traded baby duty with Monroe, and headed upstairs to the guest bedroom.

That afternoon, Rosalee and herself retrieved a stack of Nick's clothes, his shaving bag, and shampoo. The house looked exactly like it had when she left, Rosalee had to pinch her nose to ward off the stink of stale baby laundry and burnt spit up as they raked the dirty laundry into trash bags and gave the kitchen a quick once over.

That night, Nick talked Bart and Alice into postponing their trip to collect Adalind and Kelly, at least until they had given the parenting thing a proper go.

And speaking of... Rosalee and Monroe were worried about Nick's lack of action on the home front.

Irony never gave Adalind a break. She was the only one in the house without a day job, so she volunteered to honcho the sale the house of the man she had now spent a total of four actual days with, and was taken aback when he agreed. The only line she drew was deciding what to do with his stuff, and especially Juliette's. Rosalee talked him into donating her things to the Humane Society thrift store. Everything of his, except the guitar, the computer, and his guns went into storage. Bud and Arnold soon had all the repairs done, the house was staged, and on the market four weeks later, right on schedule.

-/-/-/-/-/-

Nick's friends that weren't outright terrified by Hexenbiests barely trusted her any further than they could throw her. Her reputation as a lawyer, on the other hand, preceded her.

Free legal help from a bona-fide lawyer was too good to resist. Rosalee took her up and she quickly sorted out a number of nasty snarls including a new asbestos regulation, two proposed zoning changes, and a restroom ordinance that threatened to close the spice shop, as well as securing payment from the City of Portland for the Zombie antidote, the yellow plague treatments, and the Chupacabra.

Next up, she helped Hank sort out the remaining loose ends from the death of his father, as well as evicting a deadbeat tenant in the other half of his duplex.

Wu had an apartment office manager harassing him because he was a cop and a bunch of debt collectors who wouldn't quit because "Andrew Wu" was the first Wu in the phone book.

Then came Bud. He had dozens of mechanics liens to prepare, as well as a multitude of customer purchase orders and small contracts to review. Then, there were the unpaid bills from the School District for emergency work on the elementary school's air conditioners and lunchroom refrigerators. Bud's wife, Phoebe, was having trouble with tenants in two rental properties she owned. Arnold had issues with a couple cranky general contractors who didn't like paying their subs, and the Eisbeibers had a contract renewal for their lodge.

Monroe still hadn't been paid for the restoration of the Centennial clock and had a bunch of legal issues from Angelina and Hap's estate. Then, there was Nick's ten acres out in the country where he had kept the trailer. He had not wanted it in his name, but the legal filings weren't done correctly. Easy peasy for a lawyer like herself.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Adalind needed more time talking to adults, so she started helping Rosalee at the spice shop. She volunteered to take care of ordering, inventory, stocking, and whatever else that normally kept Rosalee there until late at night, including the books whenever Rosalee wanted her to.

Then came the day... Rosalee asked her to prepare a simple allergy remedy.

How difficult could this be? I mean, my bachelor's degree is in Chemistry. It's not like I haven't done labs before.

She found the correct volume and opened it to the page. She located all the ingredients and laid them out. She prepared the mortar and pestel, vials, and scale, and then froze. Her fingers trembled and her lips quivered when she touched the rim of the open jar. She just stood there, shaking.

"Is everything ok?"

"It's not right. I can't do it."

"It looks like everything is ready. All you have to do is follow the recipe."

"The last time I did that, I ended up pregnant... And the time before, I almost killed Hank, lost my powers, and got disowned by my mother."

"Oh... What about the suppressant?"

"You made that for me, remember. I barely even touched the ingredients. My mother ended up dead because of that memory potion I gave Juliette. Juliette got turned into a Hexenbiest because of me. I ruined Nick's life and got his mother killed."

A single tear dripped off Adalind's cheek, opening the floodgates. "I could have had my daughter back, but instead, I got three months in a dungeon. I spent a whole month chained to a stone floor, eating rats. Why did my entire life have to burn to ash in a giant dumpster fire before I could learn to be decent."

Adalind folded as Rosalee wrapped her in a hug. "I guess people like us... We have to take the hard road. I'm sorry I asked you to prepare remedies. I didn't know you weren't comfortable doing it."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Monroe and Rosalee's one-year wedding anniversary was coming, and on that day, Kelly would be three months and two days old.

Adalind had an idea. She played shipping clerk, boxing, and prepping all the outbound packages so Rosalee and Monroe didn't have to spend three hours every night on that.

Saturday came. They gave Rosalee and Monroe their first glorious weekend of doing nothing business or case related since their honeymoon, and then capped it off with a mini wedding cake Adalind baked. Chocolate with raspberry filling, home made vegan butter cream frosting, and a single white candle. Rosalee's eyes went gooey every time Kelly licked a dab of frosting off his lips and giggled.

Two weeks later, she hit a new personal milestone, three months and five days with the same man. Granted, they were no closer to officially being "A thing"... But she had slept in his shoulder, with his arm around her, every night for three months. He had raging nightmares whenever he wasn't holding her, so that definitely counted.

Maybe Nick didn't know, but she didn't care. He was the one who made a point to come back, talk her out of leaving, then stuff himself smack in the middle of baby life, when he could have taken the guest bedroom, upstairs. It was a record that eluded her since her "Summer of Hell," the summer after her Freshman year when she took eighteen credit hours and dated a grad student. Not even her "relationship" with Sean lasted that long, if you could call it that, he never did.

Being chained to the metal ring did wonders for ripping the layers of delusions away. Sean had never been after a relationship, simply attorney/client privilege. Neither had Eric or Victor. Like a fool, she made herself an easy mark, and they exploited that willingness. The most glaring warning sign should have been her mother pimping her out to Sean, insisting that she prostitute herself and sleep with Hank, but there were so many others. That's all she had ever been to them - a cheap whore in an expensive suit.

This seemed different. They were taking the time to get to know her, and letting her get to know them. Relationships were important to them, but they also lived in reality. Maybe it wouldn't work out, but not because of them.

-/-/-/-/-/-

Four months in, Kelly was still up and down during the night. Night after night, he laughed and smiled at Mom's quiet lullabies sung to Dad's guitar. Dad was sound asleep when the baby finished breastfeeding and finally conked out in her arms. He was snuggled into her chest as her head drifted back into Nick's shoulder. His arm wrapped around her, his cheek pressed into the top of her head, and exhaustion overtook her, like it did every night.

Tomorrow was the moving day at Nick's house, and then close the following Monday. It was going to be the first day he had been inside the house since he moved in with them.

The 4:00AM alarm buzzed. She scrubbed her eyes and rubbed Nick's arm, and there Monroe stood, at the bottom of the stairs wearing a goofy grin. She rubbed Nick's chest. He pressed a kiss into her neck, mumbled something, shifted, and his breathing resumed it's slow rhythm. She put a finger over her lips, nestled Kelly into his bassinet, and pulled a blanket over Nick. She herded him into the kitchen, and whispered, "It's not what it looks like, we're just so wiped out. I don't think he even knows we're falling asleep like that. Please don't say anything."

Monroe's wink wasn't what she expected.

"You knew, didn't you. Rosalee too?"

He nodded. "You guys do this every night. Your smell is all over him in the mornings."

"It just feels like... I don't know... Maybe? There's a chance. You know, a family."

Monroe nodded. "Are you ready to move into the new place?"

She let a long, slow breath trickle out, then brushed her fingers through her hair and let a flicker of a smile past her lips. "I guess. Yes and no. Nick says he had to find a place that didn't remind him of Juliette or the old house. He was so worried about anybody finding it, he had me set up a corporation to own the place, as well as that land outside town. He's closing next week, but I've never seen it. You?"

Monroe shook his head.

"You don't know how much I have appreciated everything you and Rosalee have done. All the extra help, talking to adults, the food, and especially the chance to sleep and get a bath. I'll be fine. We'll just take it one day at a time. I know you guys are ready to get your house back."

Monroe nodded. "You know, I always wanted kids, but Rosalee didn't."

"I think she may have changed her mind."

Monroe grinned and slurped his coffee.