Nick smiled as he arrived at the hospital. Monroe's call had shown that he had made the right decision to ask the Blutbad to watch over Marie for a while. And he certainly knew that he owed him in some way. As he entered the halls to go to Marie's room, his phone rang and the name 'Monroe' was spelled in white letters across the screen.
"Nick, we have to talk it's about your aunt," Monroe said
"Oh and thanks again for protecting her Monroe. It means a lot to me and I'll be sure to stay a-" Nick began, but was cut off as he saw Marie struggling with a man dressed as a priest before she promptly stabbed him in the chest with a scalpel. He dropped the phone, and ran forward to pull the man off of his aunt as Marie slowly fell to the ground. "Aunt Marie!"
"Nick, I'm sorry," she said before panting, "There are things *pant* you need to *pant*know."
"Sh, it's okay, don't talk! You'll be alright!" Nick said, tearing up. "I need some help!" he called through the hospital. "Anyone, please!"
Marie was going, her eyes becoming glazed as her lids fell over them. But she still had some important words. "Nick! Listen to *pant* me… that *pant* girl…" she then went limp and cold in Nick's arms.
The doctors then deemed it a good time to finally appear, but it was too late. Marie was gone. They attempted to get her away from Nick, finally succeeding and leaving him alone on his knees with the body of the fake priest behind him. He didn't realize he'd been crying until a hand found itself on his shoulder and he turned to see a nurse behind him with a sympathetic look on her face.
"I'm sorry Mr. Burkhardt," she said, handing him his phone. Monroe's name was gone from the screen, signaling that the nurse had hung up.
Monroe couldn't believe it. The fight had been large, as he could hear everything from the minute the phone was dropped. He never thought he'd meet a Grimm, much less hear one cry. It was, life changing.
"Excuse me? Who is this?" a female voice came over the line
"Um, this is Monroe. Is Nick there? Is he okay?" Monroe asked.
"Mr. Burkhardt is in shock at the moment. Would you like to speak with him?"
"Uh- No. It's fine," he said, hanging up on the Nurse before she could say anything else.
About a week later, pretty late at night, Maria sat on the couch watching a random episode of 'How I Met Your Mother'. Not many things had changed. Monroe had been working on a large grandfather clock when she got home, so she settled for the rerun once she was done with her homework, part of her wishing that life was really like this back in New York. Then, she heard a phone ring before abruptly stopping. A few minutes later she also heard Monroe get up, a chair fall over, some glass shattering and a muffled curse before a clutter of noises came from the closed door of his work room. Though, when the door opened less than a minute later, it appeared clean and untouched.
"Hey Maria," Monroe said, slightly limping. "I'm going out somewhere, and its Friday so feel free to stay up until when ever, okay?"
"Where are you going?" she asked, poking her head over the sofa.
"Oh, I'm a meeting a client and picking up another clock," he lied poorly. "Bye!"
And then her uncle left, picking up a piece of paper he'd dropped with an address on it, not before she could read it. Maria was going to find out what exactly was going on.
It was pretty late and dark in the paper mill where Monroe had driven. In front of them was Nick Monroe considered calling out when Nick whirled around. Monroe stuck his hands up in sort of surrender.
"Whoa! Easy there 5-O! You called me, remember?" Monroe said as Nick turned around and calmed his breath as much as he could. "Don't you have a partner for this?" he said.
"Of course because if I told him that my two main suspects turned into bees, he'd completely understand," Nick said with a grin.
"Lucky me!" Monroe said sarcastically with an eye roll as Nick began walking forward and Monroe decided to break the silence saying "So, Mellifers huh?"
"Yea they had something to do with a murder on a Portland street car," Nick explained.
"Murder? Not really their shtick," Monroe commented.
"Well bees bite don't they?" Nick asked.
"Yea, but only when-"
"Threatened, I know," Nick said, tired, giving the impression that he'd heard it many times before. "But I read in a book that they also have something to do with 'Balancing the Eco-tone' what's that mean?"
"That's just some fancy-pants mumbo-jumbo for saying their like gossips you know? Like, creature community's switchboard," Monroe explained, rolling his eyes.
"Or social media," Nick commented.
"And when a Mellifer sends out a message, it definitely means that something sketchy is going on somewhere," Monroe explained further.
"Well Hank and I were attacked by a swarm of bees earlier if that's sketchy enough for ya," Nick said. He stooped down to examine a pair of foot prints saying "We were following two guys who turned out to be Mellifers. And they met a woman."
"Yea? And?" he said after a long pause. "What? Do you think I know everything about every creature out there?" Monroe asked sarcastically.
"I don't need you for what you know I need your nose," Nick said.
"Oh I get it, so little Timmy's stuck in a well and you need Lassie to come find him? Boy you really know how to butter a guy up for favor," Monroe said, considering going home.
"I got a bottle of '78 Bordo in my truck," Nick said matter-of-factly.
"I might be able to catch a scent," Monroe said, obviously having caved in.
"But you said Mellifers delivered messages. What kind of message is it when they murder an innocent woman?" Nick asked, scowling down the footprint trail.
Maybe she wasn't so innocent," was all Monroe had to say.
Maria ran through the forest. Her legs and lungs both screaming. But she was determined. Her uncle's car was parked outside of the building that the address had led her to. A paper mill. She reasoned about her scent and luck struck when she found a mistletoe bush. She dove into the leaves and made sure to grab a few leaves for extra assurance before finally entering the mill. She slunk inside and was careful as she followed her uncle's scent through the mill, so as not to make noise. Suddenly, she heard a small shout and followed it. She slowed down and decided that more care should be taken as she recognized Nick's voice along with her uncle's.
The first distinctive thing she could hear was her uncle saying "Mellifers only have one natural enemy."
"Hexenbiest," Nick answered quickly. What's that? Maria wondered, Some sort of Wesen?
"Well look at you! Hitting the books!" Monroe said. When she could hear him taking a large sniff of the area, she thought that she was caught. "I am definitely getting a female scent here… Undeniable."
She stayed absolutely still and silent and thanked the mistletoe as Nick said "You're that sure?"
"No, her perfume. It's called 'Undeniable'," Monroe said, causing a small snort of laughter to escape Maria, unnoticed under the sound of the two men climbing the stairs. Monroe sped up then.
"Hey wait up!" Nick called in protest to the Blutbad's acceleration.
"Don't you dare say heel!" Monroe yelled back down, causing Maria to chuckle a bit once more.
When they'd gone on the second floor, Maria climbed halfway up the staircase so that she could hear.
"But, they didn't come in here," Nick's voice came, "We saw them leave the mill."
"Hey!" Monroe said sternly "The nose knows. I am getting a big time wiffer in here. Maybe she left something behind… Oh yea. Scent's real strong. She could come back at some point. But, I have to get-" Then, Maria made the mistake of placing her foot on a creaky place on a step. "Did you hear that?"
"No, what?" Nick asked, but Maria knew the answer to what he'd heard. She flew down the stairs as she could hear footsteps behind her and ran through the mill at top speed, dropping a single leaf. She stopped behind some machines and calmed her breathing so that she couldn't be heard. The footsteps slowed as she could hear them bickering quietly about what to do."Let's split up," Nick said. "You go that way and I'll go this way."
Maria crouched down and scurried quietly away. She hurried through the canisters and machines, being careful of her surroundings. Every footstep as quiet as she could make it. Then, she ran into a dead end.
"Just come out with your hands up," Nick's voice came from just around the corner.
Just when she thought she was caught, she noticed a large box with foam peanuts inside. She shoved out a few peanuts and made room for her to sit before closing the box and pushing the peanuts to the top. When she had just finished the task, it took her a minute to wonder why a paper mill would need foam peanuts to ship paper of all things before she heard footsteps and stilled her breathing once more.
"Nick, did you see something?" Monroe's voice called.
"I thought so, but it's a dead end," the Grimm said. Monroe walked over to Nick. It was indeed a dead end. But then he noticed the box and scattered foam peanuts around it. "Monroe," Nick said, pointing to the box. They walked over to it. The tape seal was broken and the box was folded closed. Nick pried it open to find more peanuts.
Monroe, however, was the one to stick his hand in and find an arm. He was a bit gentler when he pulled this one, however, and found Maria on the other end with foam peanuts falling from her hair.
"Hey Uncle Monroe. Fancy meeting you here," she said, trying to joke around a bit. But her uncle's hard glare told her that it wasn't going to work.
"Did you chase my car here?!" Monroe asked as they were driving back to his house.
"No, you dropped the address on the ground, so I just went to the address," Maria said, as if it protected her from all wrong. This of course, as she knew it wouldn't, did not work.
"Maria, that could have been dangerous," Monroe lectured as he looked from the road for a second.
"I know but, I just wanted to know what was going on," Maria defended.
"Well, why didn't you just ask me what was going on? Would that have been so hard?" Monroe asked.
"I did ask, and you said you had a client you were going to meet a client. Remember?" Maria said.
Monroe was now shocked at himself as he stuttered "Yea, but, that's because- well… okay. I lied. But you still shouldn't have followed me! I guess that asking me wouldn't have gotten you the answer, but you still could have gotten hurt! I just, I don't know what to do."
"Let me help! Please. I have just as good of a nose and reflexes! Sure I'm not as strong but, I can handle myself!" Maria said.
"No, it's dangerous! I'm not just going to go let you help with a police investigation at age fourteen! I wouldn't even be doing this if it wasn't for the safety of others!"
"He offered you wine, I heard it. And the bottle is in the backseat."
"Yea, but, the wine was just to get me to demine myself for the sake of others!" Monroe excused hopelessly, knowing that it wasn't going to get him anywhere. "Besides, it's not like it's entirely my decision. If Nick asks for your help next time, I'll let you go for it, okay?"
Maria looked a bit skeptical at first, but then she said "Fine."