Note:

Some of what I have written in this chapter regarding wesen physiology is my own understanding of this verse, it's not strictly canon, the show ended so long ago, and I don't remember if it was ever fleshed out. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 7

Nick felt sick to his stomach listening to Adalind's wild plan. He was livid. How could she remain so calm with the nightmare that was her law firm? The fact that she wanted to dive head first into the unknown with a Zauberbiest possibly breathing down her neck, made Nick want to shake some sense back into her. She'd rendered him useless, a position so foreign to him it left a bitter metallic taste in his mouth.

He detested that office and everything it stood for so much, he wanted to punch a Dickfellig or something equally hard like a brick wall until his skin broke and blood flowed. Maybe then, the physical pain would numb whatever alien rage coursed in his veins. What was he going to do, march into B.R.&A. and do what exactly, demand she pack her things and leave, ask them to stop putting her in dangerous situations with dangerous criminals, or worse, wesen more powerful than the Hexenbiest?

He cursed the situation in which they both found themselves. He knew Adalind wasn't a helpless waif, waiting for him to ride in and save the day and Nick wasn't a Neanderthal, wanting the woman he loved barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, but it didn't mean he was okay with any of it. She'd tied his hand firmly behind his back, essentially claiming a Grimm couldn't save the day when it was all he knew to do.

When she first told him that she'd wanted to return to work, so she could lighten his burden taking care of both her and Kelly, he'd wanted to protest, but Nick bit his tongue, it wasn't his place to voice his concerns. With everything still unresolved between them, it wasn't his place even there in that restaurant.

With her mind resolved, Adalind gave him the money to purchase the books while she'd be en route to Germany. She intended to put on her "best performance of her life" with Monroe's uncle for her firm's benefit, giving weight to her subterfuge. To say he wasn't happy with her scheme was an understatement of the century. "If we don't do this, we walk straight into Conrad Bonaparte's hands, and I'd die a million deaths before I let him get his hands on Kelly," she professed emphatically.

"Okay, no more talks of you dying from this point forward." He told her uncomfortably, feeling a sharp pain in his chest at the candid way she spoke. Nick wasn't ready for that to happen, not by a long while, several decades at the least but he didn't share that particular thought with her.

"I know it's hard for you to imagine but it's going to work, Nick. I'm sure of it." She tried to reassure him. "Bonaparte already knows you, the Portland Grimm but apparently nothing else more than that and so we have to use that to our advantage. Nobody other than our friends and Renard knows about us and Kelly. B.R.&A. didn't know of our connection or else they wouldn't have hired me back as quickly as they did. No wesen wants it known to the whole community they liaise with a known Grimm, no matter how forward thinking and a breaker of tradition that Grimm appears, it's bad for business."

"So I am bad for you?" He said, interrupting her speech, which she no doubt prepared in order to sway him to her way of thinking.

"What-no, no, that's not what I meant. You are the best thing that's ever happened to us," she quickly corrected herself, "…To me." she added, a little shyly as she lowered her gaze from his eyes to the table content.

If easing his mind was her intention, she failed miserably, "I know what it is you're trying to do."

"Is it working?" she asked pointedly.

"Did it work when I went to Germany with Monroe?"

"Nope, but I let you go anyway because I knew you had to do it."

He didn't see that coming, his past actions used against him so proficiently.

Nick remembered their one and only night together. Adalind had confessed her love to him and they'd made love nearly all night long, they couldn't get enough of the other. She'd been convinced he'd run afoul of dark forces bent on his destruction on his quest to the Black Forest and had wanted him to know the depth of her feelings for him, should she never see him again. He'd tried to dismiss her feelings regarding his mission. She was right to worry back then but he couldn't think like that now knowing the shoe was now on the other foot.

Nick wished they were in a more private setting, away from prying eyes, where he could wrap her tightly in his arms, but sitting there in Giorgio's in broad daylight, he knew he couldn't. He had to content with a discreet handhold and hope his voice conveyed much of what he couldn't say, at least not yet. Now, more than ever, they needed to keep a physical distance whenever they were out in public. It was already too much of a risk to have met at the restaurant as they did, now that he knew her true situation at work. Though she wore her mask well, he knew working with Bonaparte unsettled her. She'd never admit to being afraid and still she wanted to be the one to protect him against the powerful Zauberbiest.

It was rather ironic of the two of them to find themselves in a repeat of history but with their roles reversed. An image of Adalind lying in a pool of blood flashed for a split of a second across his mind and Nick brushed it away with the blinking of an eye but he couldn't erase it completely from his consciousness. It actually caused him a physical, stabbing pain in his chest.

"Don't worry so much, I'll be back before you know it. We…can talk then…about…us…." She said, her voice too low, as though she insinuated much more than just 'talking' taking place between them upon her return, it set a blazing flame to his bones instantly. He couldn't miss the twinkle in her eye as she watched him behind her long lashes, eliciting thoughts too provocative for their public setting. He wanted her way too much for his own good. He knew it and for the first time, embraced it wholeheartedly. Never in his wildest imagination did he think Adalind Schade would have such an effect on his mind, body and heart…his whole and entire being.

Nick forced his thoughts to safer terrain as he watched her silently, memorising the way her skin radiated despite the low, artificial light above their table…too beautiful, the contour of her smile warmer than the sun; she had him under her spell, and the thought bothered him none at all. Gone was the Nick who couldn't admit to himself his weakness for the petite blonde Biest. Nick wasn't even embarrassed any more by how much he really wanted to get lost in those pretty blue eyes for all of eternity but first, she needed to come back to him before forever could begin.

Adalind looked down at her wristwatch. She winced and he grimaced, their short respite in the midst of ensuing chaos was over.

"I have to go, before they start to wonder where I've disappeared to," she said much to his disappointment.

"And…I have to at least return with Kelly…to keep up appearances and maybe after today, he'll never have to set foot or stroller in that place ever again."

"I know…I'd rather neither of you set foot in that place ever again." He said with resignation. He called for their bill, which he paid in cash, it was best not to leave a money trail if they could help it. Adalind then bundled Kelly back into his stroller and pause before Nick, "See you later. Say goodbye to Dada, Kel."

"Goodbye Champ, watch over your mom for me. I'll see you tonight. As for you," he said, taking her hand in his, "Please be careful," he added fervently which made her blush profusely under his gaze.

"I…I will. I will see you later, at the loft to drop him off. Don't come by the house." She said and left him standing in the middle of the restaurant. He sunk back into his chair, realising that not only could he not walk her back to her car, he needed to wait a little longer, he didn't know which ghosts…or was it monsters that lurked behind every corner wherever she and his son went. Nick felt the weight of powerlessness drag him down with the ticking of the clock at the far distance wall.

No, he decided.

As he sat there, he realised he couldn't simply do nothing. He could and would protect her somehow. It might not be typical to his way of doing things, but the more he thought about this craziness with the Grimm books, the more he realised she'd given him an opening. She would not leave Portland with nothing but her wits and courage for strength. The plan took root in his mind and Nick hoped his actions this side of the Atlantic Ocean would still render her safe from every potential threat she faced. Nick couldn't confront those threats physically but he would make sure Bonaparte never gets to looks twice at her again after today.

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"She actually gave you the money, all of it?" Monroe asked incredulously with a dash of "I told you so," for good measure.

"Yes, but don't gloat just yet."

"What are you talking about, we should be celebrating," said the Blutbad, unable to contain his glee.

"…Celebrating? What are we celebrating? Hi Honey. Hi Nick." Rosalee said as she entered the siting room.

"We are not celebrating anything," countered Nick in a huff.

"Nick is being a sour puss, Adalind gave him the money we needed to buy the books from Onkel Felix and he's acting like someone took the jam out of his doughnut."

"We got the money? That's definitely something to celebrate." Rosalee chimed in, much to Nick's chagrin.

"There'd be nothing to celebrate if I use this money and buy every single one of those books." He interjected soberly.

Monroe and Rosalee looked confused. "I don't understand," said his friend.

"It's what I've been trying to tell you but you're not listening to me. I didn't ask Adalind for the money. I didn't even know she knew I needed it. She surprised me."

"If you didn't tell her about the books, then who did?"

"Her new client, though he's not new to the firm. His name is Conrad Bonaparte, a full Zauberbiest and apparently, he's been on our trail since Felix came into possession of the books and connected me to you and now Adalind and my son could potentially be in his crosshairs. They definitely will be if I buy all of those books."

"A Zauberbiest…oh, those are rare, and very dangerous. That's not good Nick, said Rosalee.

"I know."

"No you really don't. According to Adalind, Hexenbiests are emotional beings, the deeper they feel, the more power they wield but there's a weakness built in, their dependence on those with power, like Royals for instance. Zaubers are the opposite; their power is at its zenith when their emotions are shut off, making them subject to no one but themselves and their insatiable quest for true power, control; the longer they live, the stronger they become, much like any wesen for that matter but that's not really the whole picture.

"I'm sure you would have noticed over the years, there's a sort of hierarchy in the wesen world, typical animalistic traits, like with your lions versus antelopes etc.; standard raw power stuff. The Wesen Council strictly monitors the happening of regular wesen activities but due to how rare full Zauberbiests are…I mean you could go centuries without ever hearing or seeing one."

"I thought that's what wesen said about Grimm," said Nick.

"That's hyperbolic, something we grow up wanting to believe because who wants to come face to face with the Decapitare? Anyway, outside of that hierarchy I mentioned, there's technically a second, governed not by who gets to eat who, but rather who gets to sit the throne of power over the rest."

"You make it sound like it's some kind of Game of Thrones."

"Maybe it is. All I know is, Biests, Royals and Grimm among others, some stuff is probably more legend than fact sit at the very top tier of the hierarchy fighting for power and control from one age to the next. Have you ever heard of Zerstörer?"

"No, what id he?" he asked but wasn't so eager for a history lesson when he had pressing matters.

"Maybe he's an ancient Zauberbiest, or maybe the first Grimm or both, legend doesn't say. The only documented stuff about him is from a children's nursery rhyme in one of these old books I got from Onkel Felix."

"The point is none of the above have animalistic features like the rest of us wesen. You occupy both worlds but while the first is fixed and natural, the chain never gets broken, the latter is more fluid, depending on which history books you reed. My grandmother used to say it was cyclical, much like farming, you knew when to sow seeds, when to expect a harvest by watching the weather. For wesen to flourish, it was important to watch the 'seasons' of who was top of that food chain, if you know what I mean. Wesen life under Grimm is different to when Royal have absolute power and I don't even want to know what it is like under Zerstörer."

"So what happens when a Zauberbiest comes to power?"

"Nothing good, I can guarantee it. They don't like sharing power and everyone that stands in his way is not only fodder but they are in for a lot of pain."

Damn it.

"I kind of got it when Adalind decided she didn't want Kelly to be with her at the office, after forcing Berman to allow it."

"So what gives? I thought buying the books would ensure they didn't fall into the hands of people like this Bonaparte fella. Isn't that the goal, other than restocking your Grimm journals?"

"It is but not if it means putting Adalind's life (and Kelly) in danger. She's leaving for Leipzig tomorrow, to negotiate with your uncle on behalf of Bonaparte. She believes if I buy the books now, she can negotiate in with Felix in 'good faith' only to 'discover' he's made the sale to the Portland Grimm, then she'll return home with her bosses and client none the wiser that she'd acquired the books right from under their nose."

"So you're thinking since Bonaparte already knows you, it won't be long till he makes the connection back to Adalind, that she played him?"

"He knows much more than that. He knows I am your uncle's first choice and that Felix has delayed making the sale because we asked him for more time to get the money. On my own, it would have taken me to the end of the month before I could come up with the whole $100,000. Now if he got wind that I suddenly made the purchase, just when he sent a Hexenbiest to Germany sway Felix over to his side…it's too clean to go unnoticed. Anyone would put 2 and 2 together."

"So what do we do now, we can't just sit and do nothing, I don't want anything happening to my uncle." Monroe grew tense suddenly.

"I didn't say we weren't going to do anything. Adalind told me the Zauberbiest doesn't actually care about the journals; he's only interested in one book, a Grimm genealogy book."

"The book with the massive 'G' on the cover, the one Onkel Felix couldn't open?"

"…Yeah. Apparently, there are names and maybe even addresses of every single Grimm in the world, whether or not they've received their sight. That's nformation in the hands of Bonaparte is priceless and that's the book we're after. I don't need a hundred grand for just one book. We take that one out of play, leaving the rest in the field—"

"So even if Bonaparte knows you have it, it won't appear as though Adalind tipped you off when she threw us a lifeline with all of that money?"

"Exactly, I will focus his attention on me, instead of the Hexenbiest who did everything he asked and an appraiser who has a Grimm or two ready to defend him at the first sign of trouble. I already talked with Trubel, she's been in Europe this whole time and now she's on her way to Germany as we speak.

"With the Grim book firmly secured and out of contention, I have a feeling Bonaparte will not want to waste his money on the other books anyway as they hold very little value to wesen, especially one as powerful as him."

Nick explained to them the deeper reason for so much subterfuge, the full nature of the Grimm Book and the consequences of it falling into the wrong hands, what had compelled Adalind to take the steps she did, Kelly.

"So this has to work and it will." He said.

"Oh Nick, I hope you're right."

"Me too…I have to be or else I'll have to employ plan 'C' and grab my machete and go hunting for a rare Zauberbiest, I don't care who or what he is.

Monroe exclaimed with some excitement at the thought of Nick going all Grimm on his enemies.

"Monroe, let's call your uncle before it gets too late in Leipzig with the time difference."

"You know he's expecting us to buy all twenty books, he may not like this."

"Well, he's gonna have to. It's not just my son and Adalind's life on the line. Felix can't afford to play hardball, to protect everyone we love. No more wasting time, let's get me that book." Nick needn't say anymore before Monroe rang up his uncle from his mother's side of the family.

It took them nearly an hour haggling with the antiquarian for just one book, without giving him too much information other than a promise that the rest of the money would come soon. They didn't want to alarm him and endanger him anymore than he already was. He begrudgingly agreed to sell them the Grimm book in a huff. Regarding the rest, Felix made a curt statement declaring he would not wait for them to come up with the rest of the money to purchase the rest of the books as per the courts that ordered the settling of Nebosja's estate, but Nick wasn't worried about that ever happening and thus he made the transaction.

"Alright, we got it but what do we do now?" Monroe asked Nick.

"Now we call Trubel, I will transfer what's left of the money and she'll be in standby for when Bonaparte realises he's missed his chance and turns down the other books. She will handle the rest and Adalind can come home safe."

"That's a lot exchanging of hands for so much money. First Adalind, then you and now Trubel…."

"At this stage it's necessary. None of this can ever be traced back to us, especially to Adalind. She still has to go back and work for these people after all of this is over."

"And you're okay with that?"

"Of course he isn't," Rosalee added matter of fact.

"I'm not but let's deal with one problem at a time. If all goes according to plan, we will all get everything we want."

"Except for Bonaparte," chimed Monroe.

"Yeah, except for Bonaparte."

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