Much of her bravado dissipated upon her plane's touchdown on the tarmac. Adalind had truly passed the point of no return. Rautbort had given her strict instruction to keep him well apprised of everything concerning her scheduled appointment with Monroe's uncle, whilst remaining incommunicado with Nick during the whole of her trip to Germany. She felt much like a spy, a double agent of sorts but perhaps without the necessary skills to pull it off efficiently. It had been a while since she was in the game.

In the past, she had tried to fool too many people and it often backfired on her, one such a time was with Kenneth. He'd seen right through her ruse and practically set an angry Hexenbiest Juliette after her just for fun. There was nothing fun about having a stone statue nearly dropped on her head back then any more than jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire just to keep her employees from discovering the truth, but someone had to do it. She told Nick as much the night before leaving Portland.

She had come by the loft to drop of Kelly and instead walked into one more reason she was crazy for accepting this assignment and should have instead tendered in her resignation the instant she knew what Bonaparte was. Nick had cooked her an intimate dinner, a Piccata with a bottle of Chardonnay. Every time she walked into that loft, a wash of memories always overwhelmed her to the point she never wanted to leave but that night, Nick had made it infinitely more so.

She hadn't planned to stay past dinner, yet he'd managed to sway her with just a look. Nick had a way with her that sometimes fried all of her senses, had he asked her to stay the night, Adalind was convinced wild horses could not drag her away. As if the cosmos had sensed her ever-growing weakness for the Grimm, Hank crashed the evening to bring his suspended partner the still unsolved case files needing his attention. She was literally saved by the bell, much to her relief…and great disappointment that there was no repeat of their previous "one night before a trip to Germany" ardent enactment.

*/*/*

Hardly an hour since arriving in Leipzig and already Adalind had a foreboding feeling in the pit of her stomach as if she was being watched from the shadows. At least once or twice, she turned to look behind her just to put her mind at ease but saw nobody conspicuous following her. Maybe she was being overly caution and thus imagined danger where there was none, just relax, she thought in an attempt to calm her fraught nerves but it didn't help and only walking through the hotel doors did she manage to breathe a sigh of relief but only briefly.

After she checked in at her hotel, she had herself a long and hot shower with the intention to take a long nap afterwards, to fight off her jetlag. She would not be able to check in with the office for several hours yet but there was the matter of Bonaparte's connection that she expected to meet her at the airport. The fact that he hadn't made any contact with her since she arrived was the least of Adalind's concerns. It honestly was the furthest thing from her mind at that point, as she waged a battle within, using every ounce of will power she had to ignore the itching in her fingers to dial Nick's number, or send him an email just to let him know she'd arrived safely.

Adalind huffed angrily at herself. She really needed to find herself a new job because the paranoia that she was being watched was getting out of hand, she rebuked herself.

Her head barely hit the pillow before a side, connecting door she hadn't noticed before opened and a dark man crossed the threshold. Instinctively, Adalind tried to force the door shut with her powers but the man woged and his solid frame held the door in check, "Nuh-uh Ms Schade," he rebuked her with a finger. He was a half-Zauberbiest, Just what she needed. "You're late."

"Who the heck are you?" She asked angrily as she quickly covered herself protectively in a soft hotel gown, which had lain across her bed, putting as much distance between herself and the intruding man.

"I'm your…associate for the duration of this business transaction. The name's Anselmo Baledin. I work for Mr Bonaparte."

He meant he was her shadow, in case she stepped out of line and the very last thing she wanted.

"Pleased to meet you, now could you kindly get out of my room?"

"First we have to get through what's expected of you tomorrow."

"I already know what I am supposed to do; I do not need a chaperone."

"Well, think of me as insurance. Mr Bonaparte has the utter most confidence you'll succeed, from what Harrison Berman says about you. He can't sing your praises enough. I'm just here to make your job a little easier."

"Forgive me but that sounds more like you don't trust me. If that's the case, then why am I even here?"

"Mr Bonaparte has his own reasons; that's all you need to know for now." He said as he sat in one of the only two seats available in the hotel room.

That sent a chill down her spine, what were these reasons? Into what mess had Adalind gotten herself?

Baledin pulled out a folder from his briefcase, much like the one she brought from her office but instead of pictures of Grimm books, a dossier on the dead Grimm, this particular file had detailed information on Felix Dietrich. Her companion outlined the contents on the table between them, which comprised of Dietrich's whole background, his career, his medical history down to his allergy to cashew nuts, friends, family, and everyone ever connected to him. She even saw a picture of Nick and Monroe taken in what she recognised as Stuttgart Airport in German, assuming it was during that trip to the Black Forest. Adalind stood very still, resisting the urge to grab the photo from the midst of the others and run her finger across the Grimm's face, not the kind of first impressions a Hexenbiest should be making, she thought wryly.

"What is all this?" She asked, feigning indifference.

"The better you know your target, the better you'll perform."

Adalind's blood ran cold. If they did a background check on the antiquarian, how far would they have to dig before they came to her and Kelly? They were already playing six degrees to the Grimm without even knowing it.

"Perform? I'm not a show pony." She declared huffily. Her abrasive manner, antagonistic towards her companion, it was both an act as much as it was genuine.

"You are working for Bonaparte and he expects results. He is not a man who easily gives away his trust, so I suggest you put your injured sensibilities aside and focus."

Now more than ever she wished she had half the skill as Henrietta to coax people to do what she desired, without making a hash of it. She'd make Baledin spill everything he had on Conrad Bonaparte and this supposed interest he had in her, and he wouldn't know she'd tempered with his agency.

Adalind took her seat and began studying Felix Dietrich's life. The whole spectacle was futile. She could have told him it took more than peeping invasively into someone personal life in order to manipulate successfully into thinking an external thought or an action originated with them but that would be counterproductive to her to her ultimate goal.

At the very least, she knew there was more to this trip than just getting a Grimm Book; Bonaparte had something grander at play. Someone with as much power and as many connections as she assumed he had could have acquired the books much sooner than this, and perhaps with Monroe's uncle long dead. However, she didn't want to think about that, what that could mean for her if she failed. She was in some sort of elaborate game and sensed the stakes were astronomically high, if only she had all the cards on the table. Adalind hoped Bonaparte was as lacking in that regard, whatever his true endgame was. Adalind suspected it was something sinister.

"Fine, the sooner we get through this, the sooner I can rest." She said testily, "You do want me fresh and well rested for tomorrow." She said, hoping he got the hint she wanted to be alone.

She spent up to almost one whole hour under Baledin's intense scrutiny. He quizzed her on all she'd learnt about Felix but it seemed closer to an interrogation on her and her skill for the job, a complete waste of time if he knew what she was truly capable of in terms of her skillset. Most wesen made this mistake about Hexenbiests, the assumption that they could do anything because magic. The wide array of magic available didn't necessarily mean they could do it all, not without serious study and that took time, something she didn't have. Therefore, nothing of what took place in that hotel room was relevant to what she'd been tasked but Adalind indulged him, hoping to get rid of him sooner rather than later.

Once upon a time, she could have whipped together a potion in record time and be done with this whole charade. It's what she was good at, "good" being a relative term considering the far-reaching consequences of such magic. If Bonaparte had requested a spell, a potion, something in her wheelhouse and if she hadn't gone through the life changing transformation with the birth of her children or fallen in love with a man that actually inspired her to be better, she would have easily jumped at the chance to do as told. In fact, she would have gone above and beyond because he was a full Zauberbiest with power and influence rivalling even the Royals and to any Hexenbiest that was more than enough to bind oneself to such for all eternity. She cringed at the unbidden thought.

Thankfully, that Adalind was long and thoroughly dead, despite the Hexenbiest still within. Every so often, she'd wake very early in the morning to perform some sort of examination on herself…a sort of physical where she'd exercise her abilities. She'd measure them in relation to her predominating thoughts, a welling up of emotions, good, and bad, without any outside distractions, just to see what had changed inside and what had remained. Something was certainly different about her and she couldn't pinpoint to the reason why. She didn't think B.R.&A. would appreciate this bit of a revelation concerning her change of character, but personally, she was rather relieved, grateful she was no longer the same person as before.

Finally, Baledin seemed satisfied with her and made a silent exit through the same door he'd entered her room. She moved to lock the door behind him and found the key missing but that wasn't a problem for her. Adalind forced the door locked, making as big of a scene as she could, in case the half-Zauberbiest didn't get the message she didn't appreciate the intrusion of her personal space without her consent.

*/*/*

The meeting with Dietrich had taken an unexpected turn. Adalind hadn't known what to expect going into the meeting with the elderly Blutbad, she certainly didn't expect to find seventeen of the twenty books still available for purchase. Her first impression was that something terrible had happened to Nick, or else he would have bought all of the books. He needed every single one of them after he'd lost so many to the fire. Her more terrifying thought was that had happen to her precious son and the thought almost broke her.

She couldn't afford think that way, especially in front of Bonaparte's operative stalking he every move, keeping his dark beady eyes on her at all time since they entered Felix's shop. She still had a part to play and she wouldn't disappoint.

As for Dietrich, from the moment they'd entered the book collector's shop, he had resisted her attempts at negotiating, citing his distance for the Zauberbiest. Bonaparte's reputation clearly preceded him and Adalind couldn't blame the old man, she felt the same. She knew Bonaparte wasn't interested in the rest of the journals, while she was more than happy to walk away empty handed, it was not an option, she needed to make a spectacle of the meeting, for the benefit of fooling her employers or risk her son's life, and that was not an option.

At first, she had leaned heavily on her skills as a lawyer, to talk the old man into seeing things her way, trying to sell Bonaparte as some fervent collector of rare books who was willing to pay any exorbitant amount for the Nebosja collection. He never bit. Baledin, who'd remained much like Adalind's shadow all morning, dark and silent, eventually made his presence felt and had pushed for her to do what she'd been hired to do.

If Dietrich had been stubborn, Adalind's Biest had grown equally obstinate as she sought a way around forcefully manipulating Monroe's uncle, nothing truly invasive, with long lasting effects, a consequence of tempering with someone's mind often entails. Since regaining her abilities, the number of times Adalind used them against others was limited at best, almost non-existent. She'd sometimes wondered if her six-month stint as a human had altered her emotionally, creating a mental barrier that made her recoil at the thought of hexing someone. Her desire to use her powers had not only dwindled, she had even wished her abilities downright gone for good.

However, that particular morning, she'd felt a conflict of emotions, yes she wanted her powers gone, they were a burden she didn't want anymore, a curse but then again, how could she protect her son from those who'd do him harm if she too was equally helpless? She had to protect him, as well as Nick and now Felix, all the while playing the part of a loyal employee who still craved power and prestige willing to do anything for her boss. If she wasn't careful, that was too many plates in the air, one mistake, they could all come crashing hard around her.

It was then that Dietrich relented and allowed them to see the remaining books, at a reduced price to account for the sold three. A lanky man, possibly in his early twenties had entered the shop through a side door carrying on his scrawny little back a large heavy wooden chest. He'd set it by the long wooden table at the Blutbad's instruction before disappearing again through the same door, without saying a word.

Adalind had held her breath as Felix laid the books one at a time, across the table for their perusal.

"It's not here!" She breathed with relief but quickly checked herself as she saw the stormy look behind Baledin's eyes. He saw the same thing but unlike her, he was boiling with fury. When he began to question Dietrich, Adalind knew she needed to wrestle back control and ended up needling Dietrich for information on the buyer, as a means to lure Baledin from strangling the Blutbad for doing what was well within his rights.

"I've got this," she said to her belligerent companion, as she put her hand on his chest as if to push him back, away from Felix. "Herr Dietrich, I'm sure you are aware my client was interested in one particularly book, he was willing to buy the whole collection and getting it off your hands as quickly as possible and it's one the books missing from among these. I'm sure we can still come to an agreement for the rest if you could tell us to whom you've sold this book. All I am asking for is a name." She smiled kindly as she tried to sweeten a deal that more than like had gone bust.

"I'm sorry, Fräulein Schade, that is not customary, giving out that information."

She sensed his hesitation but knew it was fleeting, he'd been on a tight schedule before today so she brought up the matter of the courts needing to settle Nebosja's estate and his whole body became jittery, a ball of nerves and it wouldn't take much to pull the right thread and get what she wanted and relieve that pressure.

"This is waste of time," Baledin barked and woged, laying his hands on Felix's neck to throttle him.

Dietrich's eyes bulged wide as he fearfully read the threat to his life rightly so, woging in response, but with little effect against a half Zauberbiest that was probably half his age and twice his size.

"Back off," she turned to Baledin, staring daggers at him.

It was enough to calm Felix and he transformed to his human features, all the while keeping his eyes on Adalind, "Burkhardt…I sold the book to a Mr Burkhardt in the US," he finally said. Adalind was glad to have not needed her powers but was sorry it took the half-Zauberbiest's threatening demeanour to loosen his tight lips.

With this information, Baledin pulled out his cell phone, stepped a few feet away and dialled what she concluded was his boss' number.

Relieved for the reprieve, Adalind continued her dialogue with the old dealer but the heated telephone conversation happening just behind her drew most of her attention. Bonaparte was furious, he'd lost his prized goal and that meant Kelly was safe but the game wasn't over yet. She knew they wouldn't be satisfied with just a name. Adalind managed to glean more details of the sale, when it happened, which courier Dietrich used to ship the book to Portland.

By the time she finished, Baledin had ended his call and joined them and Adalind presented him with a piece of paper on which she'd written she thought she thought he'd want to know concerning the sale of the book, while short of actually handing it over to him on a silver platter. She hoped to buy Nick more time while Bonaparte and his dog go on a wild goose chase all over Germany trying to track it. "I believe my job here is complete." She said intentionally, hoping it was enough to leave the shop without further incident.

Baledin examined it. Satisfied, he then turned to Monroe's uncle and told him, in no uncertain terms, they would not be dealing with him any longer, he could burn the books for all he cared and walked out of the shop. Felix gasped in horror, Adalind imagined he was more upset at the prospect of old dusty books burning than a half Zauberbiest ripping him to shreds and for some reasons, it make Adalind smile to herself.

She made her apologies and thanked Dietrich for his assistance for which he was confused as light fog began to settle in the corners of his mind, tendrils that wrapped themselves around memories of Baledin that had seared his mind like a hot iron. It'd been over a year since she last used her abilities on someone other than herself, she was glad, at least, to use them for something good. He'd know peace once again though he would not remember their faces once she left his shop. Adalind thought, better that than the other more violent alternative. She couldn't allow any harm to come to Felix, more so as he was Monroe's uncle.

Baledin was waiting for her just as she stepped out into the bright early noon sunshine, his expression a blank slate. "This is where we part ways, as you've said, your job here is complete." He said calmly as if he'd flipped a switch on his emotions.

"What about the—" She made a show of protesting.

"What happens now is no longer your concern. The book is en route to Portland, and nothing here henceforth requires your skills, as a lawyer or a witch. You are free to home, Ms Schade. Goodbye," and with that, he left her on the sidewalk. The more reckless side of her would have demanded more, the more foolish, destructive side of her would have offered another chance to prove herself, to rise in the ranks, but her heart lay elsewhere.

She needed to call Nick and get answers as to what happened to their original plan. He must have had a good reason, she thought. She trusted he knew what he was doing but then she had to warn him about Baledin that he planned to intercept the book before it reached him but she didn't trust that she was finally free of Bonaparte and his minion, not when she still could not shake the sense of being watched.

She cursed being so far away from home. She missed her baby too much and wished she could at least hear Nick's voice tell her it would all be okay, that there was nothing to worry about, maybe then she'd actually believe it. She consoled herself with the thought of seeing them soon.

When she returned to the hotel, the portier informed her of Baledin checking out, fabulous news, but then an envelope from her office had awaited her with additional instructions, terrible news, she sighed, exhausted from earlier. She waited until she was in her room before she opened the letter. She checked the connecting door, just to be sure Baledin had actually left the hotel. She found her key back in the lock and the door locked on both sides of the room, good.

Sadly, that was the extent of Adalind's good fortune. She learnt, from the letter, that her flight back to Portland was no longer for later that afternoon, as originally scheduled. Berman, her other snake of a boss wanted her to run a little errand to Stuttgart much to her dismay, which meant she'd spend a few days more in Germany that's she'd originally hoped. It would become the longest time she'd ever spent away from Kelly; something not only abhorrent to Adalind but also panic inducing, as she'd discovered the first night she spent without her son.

She'd experienced what she could only term as a waking nightmare, akin to her hellish stint in Viktor's dungeon. It had been the toughest two days of her life since she lost Diana. She barely slept a wink from the night she left him at the loft to the moment she picked him up two mornings after. Berman had thrown a fit when she'd cancelled all her meetings that day and called in a sick day that last three days.

Being without Kelly, always made her edgy but over the past several weeks, she'd managed to bottle down most of her anxiety, not wanting Nick to know just how much the separation affected her, if it was hard on her, how much so for Nick? She had sometimes wondered. She could not imagine how he took being away from his son at least five whole days in a week. Adalind was certain she'd go crazy. She most certainly did when she lost her daughter and just like that, Adalind took a tumble down the rabbit hole of despair as a vicious circle of thoughts and a familiar soul-crushing pang stabbed her through the heart.

Diana.

Adalind doubled over as if in physical pain as she collapsed onto the bed. Her anxiety had peaked as guilt swept over her over her Diana. She curled up in a foetal position, giving in to grief as she wondered to her baby girl's whereabouts, like a shadow that would never leave her.

Would she be able to recognise her own daughter after so much time had passed? Did Diana even remember her? Was she alive? On and on the thoughts rang loudly in her head. What if she returned home and found Kelly gone just like Diana and she'd be all alone with no one to love her? Maybe deserved to suffer for all the horrible things she'd done in the past, that no amount of atoning made up for any it.

With those dark thoughts, she cried herself to sleep.

A feint ringing of her cell phone roused back to the world of the living. She opened her heavy eyelids and realised it was late afternoon, judging by the tall shadows in her room. She ignored it. Letting it ring, thinking it was from her office. Maybe they'd give up after a few tries, she thought, physically and emotionally drained but it just kept ringing and ringing relentlessly, the caller clearly as stubborn as she was.

When she finally caved and threw herself off the bed to go fishing through her handbag for the little device, she wanted to chuck it hard against the wall to silence the annoying sound. The caller ID claimed it was an unknown number, which only may her more annoyed.

She answered what turned out to be a video call, "Hello, whoever you are, you got the wrong number!" she said angrily and would have hung up, had it not been for one little word with two syllables that meant the world to her, "Mam-ma." She heard a tiny little voice. Then the most beautiful and chubbiest little face covered the screen.

Kelly!

Hot tears welled up and began to stream furiously down her face as she watched her little angle thousands of miles across the Atlantic.

"Oh Kel…." She wept freely, wishing she could take him into her arms and never let go, not for anything in the world.

"Say hi Mama. Tell her how much you miss her and cannot wait for her to come home," she heard Nick say but his face remained hidden from the camera's view.

"Mam-ma" Kelly called out her name repeatedly through his chew toy.

"Yeah, I miss you too, my darling boy." she cried. The ache in her chest intensified with longing.

"Do you want to show Mama what we did today?" Said Nick excitedly.,

If she could, she would have kissed him right then as if he knew she had needed that call to lift her spirits. Tears of joy and not grief fogged up her eyes as she tried to make out the images playing out before her.

"What have you been up to Kel-bell, do you want to show Mama?" she said encouragingly.

"Is Mama feeling alright?" Nick cut in, she heard the concern in his voice, despite not seeing his face, careful to keep his phone pointed away from him.

"She is now after seeing that gorgeous little face. It's just…it's been a long day and I miss—"

"We miss you too. It hasn't been the same without you…." He said.

There was so much more she wanted to say but Adalind knew she couldn't. "Thank you…for this, the call. I needed it," she said.

"It was the least I could do." He replied.

"Now what is this that you wanted to show me?" she said after about a minute of weighty silence between them, trying to lighten the tone.

"We've got ourselves an artist to rival even the great Picasso and he's not even a year old. We were doing a little arts and craft this morning and he produced this masterpiece. Check it out…." She could hear the joyous laughter in Nick's voice as he held up a brightly painted piece of paper with tiny little multi-coloured palms and fingered squiggles, which made Adalind laugh.

"Oh sweetheart, that is so beautiful," she said. "Mama loves it."

"We're going to have it framed, how much do you think it will go for?"

"Twenty million, at least," She managed to crack a joke.

"What?! I say a hundred and not a penny less. Kelly's a prodigy, just look at him," Nick held the camera on Kelly as he babbled happily in his playpen, reciting all the fun things they did together. Adalind laughed heartily.

"So when are you coming home?"

"Soon," she said hopeful.

*/*/*

Notes:

Apologies for the late update, I have not abandoned this story and intend to finish it. I hope you've enjoyed this update. Please don't be shy with your reviews.