Notes:

I know what I said in the previous chapter notes, please ignore that last bit. The opening of this chapter was written specifically for this chapter because of the dual POV. I've discovered that what I write for Adalind doesn't always work for Nick and vice versa, so I reworked the chapter and yes, this too grew too long but I did my best to be economical with my word count. I'm not sure how people feel about long-winded chapters. I know I can get carried away (like 14000) and thus I don't want to lose people under a whole mountain of words when a fraction of that can still get the point across. Again, thanks for taking to time to read my little attempt to keep Nadalind alive, your comments are well appreciated.

*/*/*

Nick's eyes flew open at the faintest creak from the shuttered windows. He quickly surveyed their surroundings, making certain that nothing…no one hid behind the creeping shadows blanketing the loft's bedroom. He pricked his ears to listen to every sound besides that of Adalind and Kelly's slow breathing. For a moment he allowed himself to relax, they were alive and safe with him.

He heard a small voice in the back of his heard bemoaning his paranoia. That he was overreacting, even Adalind had tried to brush off some of the danger barking at their heels for his benefit but nothing could sway Nick to relax, not for one second. To say that he slept soundly would have been the understatement of the millennium. How dared he sleep after the horror he saw at the courthouse?

Nick and Adalind's life together has not been an easy one, but they did their best to push through past ghosts, malicious Royals and other potential threats looming over them, they would get through this latest challenge, whatever obstacle was Vera Fischer, just as they did everything else before her.

When his aunt commissioned him just days after he received his sight, he had wished for a lot more than to "hunt the bad ones". By her own words, she wanted to tell him more, at first he assumed it was about the keys to the lost treasure, but could there had been a lot more to it than that? There was so much he didn't know about who and what he was, there had to be more to just hunting wesen like they were sport. Vera Fischer had to know that at least, he could not allow any Grimm to make sport of his family, not just Adalind and Kelly but Monroe and Rosalee, even good old Bud.

He considered the possibility of reasoning with her, to make her see things his way but first he had to catch her before she made good on her plan to kill those closest to him. Nick looked down at Adalind as she slept soundly, her head resting well above his heart, if he could freeze this moment forever he would but the real world beckoned him to get up with the rising sun slipping through the cracks on the openings.

Gingerly, Nick slipped from beneath Adalind, not wanting to wake her from her much needed rest. He hoped a hot shower would beat away the weariness weighing him down since he left the spice shop the night before. Hunting a random serial killer was so much easier to deal with than a killer targeting his loved ones.

"Mmm…Nick?"

"Shh…go back to sleep. It's all right." He said with a kiss to her temple. Her lack of conscious movement was the incentive he needed to pull away to his sleeping son only a few feet away. Satisfied, he hauled himself to the bathroom.

Nick braced himself against the wall with his outstretched arms as a hot torrent beat against his taut shoulders and down his front and back. It was welcome reprieve from his spiralling thoughts of the possible future. So lost in his head he missed detecting an intruder until a pair of petit arms encircled his chest, causing him to jump with surprise.

"Is there room for two?" asked Adalind.

"Always," he said, wrapping his arms over hers. "I thought you were sleeping."

"You know I can't sleep unless you're by my side." She kissed his back, lingering over the skin that was tighter than normal, scars he'd earned for years of being a cop as well as Grimm. Nick closed his eyes, enjoying her ministrations.

"I need you…." She said, her hand broke loose from behind his and cascaded down his torso down to his shaft that had long stood erect with expectation. His whole body shook when she took him firmly in her hand, with deliberate strokes that elicited a heavy sigh from between his parted lips.

Nick turned on his heels, drawing her close against his chest, carefully so his towering stature wouldn't pull them both down in the old, tiny claw footed bathtub. He leaned over Adalind until their lips entangled in a feverish dance of yearning and relief while his hand went on its own expedition over all her sensitive spot and until it reached its final destination that made Adalind moan with desire.

Yes, he needed her too. Nick lifted Adalind off her feet, leaned her against the sweaty tiled wall and entered her in one swift stroke.

*/*/*

"This is a terrible plan." He said over feeding Kelly his breakfast the morning after.

Nick actually couldn't believe she'd ever suggest something so reckless. She may as well walk into the tornado's path and invite destruction upon her head. He liked to think himself a progressive specimen of the twenty-first century but his instincts belied idea when in an instant, he longed for the Adalind that curled up against his chest for security.

Nick took a deep breath to brace against the sharp reasoning of her lawyer mind. He wanted to call his friend to tell him "thank you very much" but he doubted Monroe would pick up on the sarcasm, or maybe he would but he wouldn't care since the danger of hunting wesen alongside Nick over the years has made him complacent. However, if Monroe was complacent to the danger they faced it was Nick's fault for encouraging it, especially with him always dragging his best friends to places where he should not.

He was the cop and they were just civilians. He was the Grimm and they were just wesen. He was tasked with stopping bad wesen that endangered the lives of both wesen and Kehrseite, it was not his job to endanger their lives by bringing them into the mess he faced every single day, and now Adalind was following suite….

"How so?" She said. "We have a problem and this is one way to solve a mystery…it's not like it will involve much, just you rocking up to work playing the ever diligent detective from Central Precinct investigating a crime of murder. You've done it before and it all worked out."

"Yeah, that's because there was an actual crime involving your firm that brought me to your offices, not now, plus what happened to keeping me away from that awful place so they wouldn't connect us together?"

"Nick, you're doing what detectives do, everyone knows what's been happening all over Portland, no one is going to suspect anything personal between us."

"…Other than the person who already knows and is feeding information to Vera."

"At this stage, we actually don't know for certain if there's a spy—"

"There is and I'm surprised you're even considering going to work today, if ever." He said, irritated by the thought.

"I have to and we kind of had this conversation before, why I have to keep working there, unless you can whoosh away my contract with your magic stick…can you?"

He glared at her. Her blasé tone had the opposite effect on him, making him more frustrated.

"I didn't think so," she said. "Look, if we carry on as normal, we maintain the element of surprise and hopefully, you'll be that much closer to catching your man…woman."

"No." he said adamantly but he knew he was fighting a losing battle with her. "It's dangerous. You may as well invite Vera herself to lunch."

"No, of course not…but it's not entirely a terrible idea…." She mumbled into her cup of coffee hoping he didn't hear that last part.

Wrong.

"Over my dead body!" he practically growled in her direction.

"It's just a thought, of course I'd never do that, but Nick we can't just sit and wait for Vera to decide to stop playing games and actually come after one of us, you can't be in all place at once. It's better to draw her out, on your terms."

"What if she sees right through this charade and escalates her attacks regardless. The last thing we want to back her into a corner prematurely. She's an unpredictable Grimm right now. It's not like we all operate as per manual. I've already broken some kind of code because of the company I keep. I won't put you at risk."

"You're not. Remember that little act I put on last year with regards to Kenneth?"

"It's not the same thing."

"You still trusted me then. Trust me now."

His brow creased more than usual.

"Adalind, I just got you back, I'm not ready to lose you again…."

She moved around the table to hug him from behind, "…And you won't." She said rather confidently.

He leaned his head to the side so he could look into her beautiful blue eyes. "Just promise me that whatever you do, if I'm not with around you'll at least be careful."

"I will." She said. She gently kissed his lips and then let him go, taking her seat across from his to finish her breakfast of rye toast, avo and scrambled eggs.

"Can I at least ask that you not be alone if and when you cross paths again with this Grimm?"

"I can't promise you anything but I will try."

Nick released a defeated sigh.

*/*/*

Nick sauntered through the automated glass double doors opening into Adalind's law firm. His lax and easy posture didn't betray the tumult raging within him. Someone in this office was a threat to his family and he was helpless to do anything about it…for now. Within these walls was spy, someone that would lead him to his target.

The thought of Adalind being this close to a killer wrecked his senses, though one would never guess from the calm way Nick carried himself. Instead of playing detective for her lawyer colleagues, he rather wanted to whisk her and Kelly into him arms, walk out this cursed building and never look but Adalind did make a point. Up until yesterday he had no suspect and his only way to trace her was through whoever fed Vera information from inside B.R.&A. All he had to do was to put on a show and someone, likely, her P.A. would bite, and the Grimm was as good as caught.

He walked up to the reception desk making certain his gun and badge were on full display in case anyone didn't know already who he was.

"Good morning, I'm here to see one of your associates, Ms Schade?"

"I'm sorry but do you have an appointment?" The young woman with a heart-shaped face and rimless glasses perched precariously over the ridge of her nose replied.

"It's police business, I don't need to make one." He said sternly.

"Please have a seat while I confirm her availability."

He continued to stand at the desk and waited as she spoke on the receiver. Her face had turned a pretty shade of pink but her creased brow showed her annoyance at his insolence. Too bad for her, Nick didn't care what she thought.

"Hi Sandy, there's a detective at the front desk, he wants to see Ms Schade…alright; I will let him know…. Thanks." She dropped the receiver and with a pout turned to him with an air of superiority, which would have made Nick laugh had he not been in a funk since that morning. "I'm sorry Detective but Ms Schade is currently indisposed at the moment. Perhaps if you made an app—"

"Screw that, I guess I'll just find my way," he cut her off and pushed past her protestations.

"Excuse me, sir—I mean detective, you cannot just walk in here, you are not allowed—" he heard her shout from behind him but he kept walking, determined to reach Adalind's office. He didn't know where it was but he was certain he'd find it, even if it meant opening every frosted glass door in his path. Thankfully, he didn't have to as a variant of attorneys stuck their speckled eyes outside their doors drawn to the raucous he'd caused marching down the expensive hallway.

Adalind would love this, he thought dryly.

A woman with fiery red hair rushed out from behind her desk to stand between him and what he assumed was Adalind's office door, Sandy, he assumed while looking her up and down.

"I'm sorry detective but you cannot be here." She said a little flustered.

"Ma'am I'd ask you to step aside before I cite you for obstructing a police investigation."

Adalind stepped out of her office. "What is going on here?" She said, in a temper befitting a lawyer that earned well about six figures a year. For a second he forgot himself as he stared at her face with a minimal of make up to hide her beauty. He saw the corner of her lips lift by a fraction, obviously enjoying herself.

"Ms Schade…." he said sombrely.

"Yes…."

"Can we talk?"

"Have you made an appointment?" she asked with a disinterested look.

In another time, her dismissive nature would have inflamed him and not in a sexual way.

"I have some questions for you regarding your uh…." He paused and looked at the two women between them plus a few curios bystanders, "Do you want to do this out here, or can we step inside your office so we can talk more privately?"

She feigned an exasperated sigh and stepped to the side to let him pass through the door. She turned to Sandy and told her to hold her calls unless it was urgent, "In fact, wait ten minutes and then call me out for an important meeting with one of the partners." She said to the side but she knew Nick heard every single word she said.

He gave her a pointed look when she entered the office and closed the door behind her. It was larger than he'd expected; the style very much minimalistic, sterile except for the splash of colour that was Kelly's corner, beside Adalind's large wooden desk.

There were some frame photographs next to her computer screen; he imagined they were all of Kelly with none of him. The thought angered him for some reason, not against Adalind but the wretchedness of their situation. Nothing said "no one in this office could ever know about them" than his fiancé being unable to display a single image of him on her desk.

Nick turned away from her desk to face Adalind. She gave him a playful but sexy smile. He wasn't sure whether she was apologising or trying to seduce him, maybe it was both. She stepped up to him and planted a quick peck across his lips, catching him completely by surprise, all things considered. After a quick look over, she wiped the residual smudge of lipstick off his lips just to be safe.

"Now detective, how can I help you?" she said a little too loud.

"Ms Schade, I have a few questions for you concerning your whereabouts three days ago?" he said after a few missteps as he tried to gather his thoughts to what had brought him into her firm.

Nick barely started with his "question" when Adalind's desk phone interrupted him mid speech.

"Yes Sandy…no the detective will not be having any coffee. He's not staying long…no, thank you…." Adalind put down the receiver but didn't connect properly, leaving the line open between her and her assistant.

"What is this about, detective? As you can see I'm rather busy." She said in an affected tone.

"Really?" he mouthed silently at her.

"Sorry, Hon." She responded likewise, apologetically. Nick stared down at the phone, waiting for a signal that they were finally alone in Adalind's office, with no one eavesdropping on their conversation. It never came. Nick wasn't sure whether to be disappointed or excited that Adalind was right. All he knew for certain was that it didn't look good for Sandy.

"Where were you this past Tuesday?" He asked her again but quickly scribbled something on her note pad. "This is ridiculous." It said.

"I know but how else are you going to find Vera, unless you discover her contact. I was here at my office working."

"All day?"

"Maybe if you told me what this was about I'd be more forthcoming."

"Da-Da!" squealed Kelly from his playpen. He stood on his pudgy little legs and lifted his arms towards his father. Blood immediately drained from Nick's face, at his son's exuberance at seeing him at his mom's office.

Adalind dropped a rolodex to the floor, "Dammit!" she cried out instantly hoping to mask what had just happened.

"This is why this is a terrible plan, I shouldn't have come here. We don't even know for sure she's listening in. Answer my question please…we can either do this here or at the station. Which is more comfortable for you?" he said curtly. "Or it's worse, she is listening and Kelly just sold us out." Unable to resist holding his son, Nick lifted him up into his arms and rocked him back and forth hoping it will keep him quiet, and temper much of his enthusiasm.

"Well, I was working and then I met up a friend and an acquaintance for lunch at the Merlot Express. I wouldn't worry too much about that, I don't believe Sandy has any idea about us. It's highly probable the flow of information is one way. To Vera."

"You know that doesn't actually make me feel better and you don't know for sure that they don't know about us. At what time and I am going to need their names to corroborate."

"Sandy has never seen you before today, how could she know about us? I'm certain Vera is the one siphoning details of my movements, I doubt she'd sharing what she may already know about us with Sandy for her to share with my bosses. Are you going to ask me what I had for lunch…dessert as well?" she said sarcastically.

"Don't be smart with me." He said.

"If they even suspected something…Berman is a flake but Rautbort…he would have acted on it already." She quickly scribbled. Her handwritten growing more indecipherable with every stroke.

The shrill of Adalind's phone cut through the air once more, making Adalind to jump unexpectedly.

After a few more rings, she finally answered. "Yes Sandy, what is it?" she spoke into the receiver. "I'm kind of busy at the moment, I cannot speak with her. Please take a message." She said and then hung up.

"I take it that's my cue to leave?" he wrote for her.

"Almost…. Lunch was around 1:30PM and it was with Rosalee Calvert and Vera Fischer. I can give you Rosalee's number; unfortunately, I do not have a contact for Vera…. Hand me Kelly, Sandy will be coming in any second now," she wrote before flipping the note pad upside down. He did accordingly, much to Kelly's displeasure, which he quickly got over once he was secure in his mother's arms. Nick stepped several feet away from the desk and pulled out his own note pad from his back pocket for good measure.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Ms Schade but it's about the call from the realtor. Ms Vance says your meeting at 11:30 at the Saffron Boutique on 9th Avenue down town on is still on. She has several interested parties to run by you. Shall I confirm your appointment?" asked Sandy rather curiously.

"Yes Sandy, that will do just fine, thank you." She then turned to Nick, "Are we done here?" She said as she turned to Nick.

"…For now, I will be in touch if I have more questions."

"Here's the number you asked for…the bait is set, let's see if she bites…love U." She handed her scribbled note to Nick. He quickly glanced at it and stuffed it in his pocket and bid the two ladies a good day while silently praying Kelly wouldn't notice his quick exit and call out to him for his daily goodbye kiss.

Dread suddenly filled Nick with every heavy step he took out of that office as he left Adalind and Kelly to an unknown fate. He offered up an uncharacteristic silent prayer for both mother and child and hoped she was correct that Sandy could not have heard Kelly's babbling and also about the disconnect between Vera and B.R.&A.

*/*/*

He spent most of the early afternoon distracted. He'd joined his partner following every lead they came across. It would have been productive on his end, if not for the fact that he kept checking the time, repeating question Hank had already asked of potential witnesses. Hank was kind enough to let it slide until eventually the frustration got to him.

"Man I know that this is not easy for you but I need your head in the game."

"Huh…I'm sorry." He apologised.

"Let's do what we do best to catch this killer and put an end to this nightmare."

Nick felt terrible for letting Hank do all the heavy lifting but how could he not, when his mind was elsewhere, 9th Avenue to be exact. It was almost midday and he hadn't heard anything from Adalind. He'd quashed every desperate yearning to call and hear her voice. Renard, to his surprise, had even offered Nick some time off the minute he was appraised of new information, the possible connection to Adalind but Nick was loathe to sit this one out.

"Aright ma'am, can you please tell us if there was anyone beside Mr Jefferies who could want to do Ms Sanchez any harm?" asked Hank of the old lady that occupied the second half of the semi-attached.

"Well young man, I cannot be certain. It's not lady-like to spread gossip on your neighbours but she had more than one gentleman caller. I at least heard her call one of these here callers Simon."

Mrs Durandt, did anyone want or have a reason to want to hurt the victim?" Asked Nick.

Hank threw Nick a dirty look.

"About Simon…does he have a last name?" Hank engaged the elderly witness once more.

"I'm sorry young man. I do not know. My ears don't work so well these days. I never hear unless someone speaks up proper."

"By any chance can you describe this Mr Simon? What he Caucasian, Black or Latino ma'am?"

"No, I've never seen him before."

"Alright, thank you kindly ma'am. Now you have yourself a lovely day. Don't be shy to call if you remember any more."

"I will." She said and closed the door behind her.

"Do I need to do this alone because I don't mind, I can handle this while you—"

"No, it's fine." He told Hank.

Hank didn't buy it.

"Actually, it's not." He finally admitted.

They made their way to their patrol car where Nick outline Adalind's outrageous plan to lure Vera out into the open.

"No surprise there. Look, I can't begin to assume I know what you're going through, I don't but I'm here for you, however you need me. Maybe Renard was right. Take some time off to do what you need to do…." He said; the inference not lost on Nick. "…And I'll do what I need to do on my side."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, it's better this way, or else Adalind is going to be the one to worry for your safety." He said sarcastically.

Hank dropped Nick on 9th Avenue two blocks away from the Indian restaurant Adalind met with the realtor before returning to the Precinct. Nick had no plan, nothing beyond making finding Adalind. He canvassed the street, scanning every face, something told him he'd know Vera the instant he laid eyes on her. His intensity attracted a few woges from frightened wesen but he kept going until he got to the restaurant, stifling his own agitation.

He looked down at his watch; it was almost 1pm on the dot. He wasn't sure what to expect. Maybe the morning charade at the office was for nothing and Adalind's P.A. wasn't a mole, or maybe she was and Vera had gotten to Adalind long before her meeting with the realtor. The thing with serial killers is the escalation of the crimes, either through growing too cocky or because the net was closing in around them. Nick wasn't sure where his killer fit in; he simply hated the idea of Adalind making herself a target before they knew anything about whom they were chasing.

He entered through the open door and the hostess greeted him at the door asking if he'd made a reservation, to which he denied. "I'm looking for one of your patrons," he said, flashing his badge and gun in her face.

Her demeanour changed swiftly from ease to stiffened wariness as she stepped aside and allowed Nick to pass through. Instead of walking through, he went to the bar instead, choosing a spot that gave him a vantage point of the whole dining area in the reflection on the mirror, while keeping his face from view. If Adalind was still there, he didn't want to cause unnecessary drama and if Vera showed up as she had suspected he didn't want to scare her off before he could make his move.

He spotted Adalind in the corner of his eye. He saw only the back of her head but he recognised the short sleeved, mauve silk blouse she wore for the office that morning, the one Kelly nearly ruined with his daily morning projectile as Nick fed him his breakfast. Nick leaned back to her a better view of her companion. He couldn't make out a face but a sway of long dark hair caught his attention. His heart began to race wildly.

"Maybe it's the realtor," he told himself. He rebuked his negligence for not asking Adalind the description of the person in charge renting out her house.

Nick leaned further back on his stool until the woman's face was well within his sight. He'd barely taken in her features before their eyes locked and a knowing passed between the two of them, as if they'd known one another for years although they'd met before that moment. Nick perceived a furious storm behind her dark eyes that prompted him to his feet as he quickly made his way to their table.

Vera Fischer!

He intentionally stood right behind Adalind, looming over her protectively to drive home a message to the other Grimm and cleared his throat, making her turn to face him.

"Nick!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Wh—what are you doing here?"

He turned his gaze from Vera toward Adalind, "I was in the neighbourhood, working a case. You don't mind if I join you two?" he said, stressing every syllable as he took his seat.

"No, not at all," said the other woman as she schooled her face to mask the emotions brewing behind her sharp gaze.

"I'm sorry, we've never met…."

"Uh—where are my manners, Nick this is Vera Fischer, the…woman I was telling you about. Vera, this is Nick, he's my uh…son's father."

"I'm her fiancé." They both spoke at the same time. Nick stretched out his hand for Vera to shake.

"Fiancé? Wow, I had no idea. Adalind never said anything about—" she said, her voice now uncertain as she placed her hand in his in greeting. "I'm glad to finally put a face to the name," she said, the wind knocked from her confidence. Nick knew she was lying. He saw it in her eyes but she couldn't break character. He saw the wheels turning in her head as she tried to find her footing, she clearly had not expected him to show up, let alone reveal the extent of his relationship with Adalind.

He passed his eyes over at his fiancé and she was just as bewildered as Vera was at his presence. He should have warned Adalind but there was no time for that. He saw his chance and took it, now they would wade the waters together.

"Yeah, it's recent but long overdue." He said as he studied Vera.

Her back had stiffened. Her voice was clipped, her knuckles, whiter that the bleached table cloth strewn over the wooden table.

"I'm so…happy for you," she chirped but her face rippled slightly with displeasure, as if collapsing from all the weight of pretending.

"Adalind tells me you're a cop."

"Yeah, a detective."

"It can't be easy, doing what you, especially with a serial killer on the loose."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that, she will be caught soon enough."

"She?" Vera perked up a bit and asked rather eagerly."

"Excuse me?" said Nick acting confused.

"You said 'she' will be caught, I thought it was a 'he', at least that's what all the papers say."

"Oh, I must have misspoke." He said in a hushed tone that implied he didn't make a mistake. "I meant 'he' will be caught soon enough. The killer is growing careless, especially with the last victim happening so quickly after the last and in such a public setting with so many witnesses." He was looking at her dead in the eyes when he said the last. He wanted her to know he was on to her.

Vera looked down at her wrist and feigned surprise at the time. "Adalind, as always, it was a pleasure running into you but I am late for an appointment of my own. Till next time?" she said as she gathered her handbag off the empty chair and rose to her feet.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear but honestly Vera, we need to stop meeting like this. Give me your card and we can organise something instead of leaving it to chance, plus I have I want to invest some money…for our son's future."

Vera rummaged through her bag as if looking for something, "I'm sorry," she said. "I must have run out."

Adalind and Nick both looked at one another knowingly.

"Oh, no worries, here's mine," said Adalind. "Call me on this number and I will save your contact so we can talk sharp." Adalind handed Vera her card but Nick was doubtful Vera would actually use it. He'd played his hand, so he expected Vera to retreat, to regroup before she could make her next move.

Vera bid her goodbyes and scurried away like a rat after the lights came on.

Adalind turned her attention back to Nick, "What the hell was that?"

Shocked at her blunt tone, "I could ask you the same." He said, his own temper rising suddenly. "What happened to you not being alone with that woman?"

"I wasn't."

"Well, you could have fooled me," he said turning his head as if scanning the whole restaurant to drive his point. "Let's see…a few waiters, an accountant at the back, an elderly couple in the corner, another couple barely out of middle school two tables away and forgive me if I don't put any stock in the four 'Roid juicers in the table outside, to stand between you and a homicidal Grimm."

"Nothing happened, we were just talking."

"Adalind!" He said her name, irate because she took the whole thing rather lightly.

"Nick!" she said irritably. "Like I said, we were just talking. Everything was going well until you dropped a bomb on her. I didn't realise we were telling the world about us."

"Since a Grimm showed up in town and started killing people to send me a message."

"About that, Vera is not a Grimm."

"Come again?" Now he was confused.

"Vera is no Grimm. I think I have been around one long enough to smell one." She said without a hint of sarcasm. "She looks like a duck, walks like a duck but honks like a goose, if you catch my drift."

"I do not." He said. His patience past the point of return.

"I didn't exactly come here unprepared. I may have been out of the game for too long and I am not the strongest Hexenbiest around, but I'm as wily as they come and know my way around a zaubertrank blindfolded. Two words…Verfluchte Zwillingsschwester. Vera, if that's really her name, is a Hexenbiest wearing a Grimm skin."