"My first official appointment with the OB/GYN is tomorrow." Adalind told Nick as they prepared their evening meal. "It's the first time we'll get to hear the baby's heartbeat."
"Really!" Nick smiled brightly, excited to hear he would get to listen to his child's heartbeat. "I'll let Hank know I won't be able to be reached during that time."
Adalind nodded and turned back to her task. She didn't want Nick to see how visibly relieved she was that he had confirmed he would be with her.
She had had her doubts. Even though Nick had said he would be there, and had already showed signs of being protective of her and their baby, Adalind still could not help but fear he wouldn't think it important.
She was happy to be wrong.
The waiting room was filled with posters about how fragile babies can be and what happens to women during pregnancy.
Nick had seen posters similar before, but this was the first time they actually applied to his life.
He wasn't sure if he felt more nervous or excited to be getting to hear his and Adalind's baby's heartbeat for the first time.
But he knew he was definitely getting more restless. And it was noticeable by all the other people in the waiting room.
"I take it this is your first?" A woman said to him with a teasing but kind smile on her face.
"Am I that obvious?" Nick asked.
Adalind took his hand and said with a giggle, "You keep shifting in your chair like something's biting you."
"It's ok." The woman assured. "We've all been nervous with our first." She pointed at the man next to her. "This one here nearly jumped out of his own skin on more than one occasion."
The man next to her shrugged. "I kept realizing that I was responsible for the most fragile being in existence. It's both humbling and empowering to realize that there's this little life needing you for its survival. And if you're not careful, if you're not paying attention, that little life can be taken away in an instant." Then his grin was wide and bright as he said, "But there is nothing that compares to the feeling of being called daddy for the first time. That sweet innocent face looking at you like you're the one who makes the sun rise every morning and hangs the moon out at night to chase away the dark."
Nick was really looking forward to that feeling and all the others that came with being a father.
They were finally called back and the nurse when through all the usual routines with Adalind, including taking her blood pressure.
Nick felt his own go down slightly when he heard the nurse say everything looked normal. He was just as protective of Adalind as he was their baby.
After what felt like another eternity of waiting, the doctor came in, propped Adalind in position and put a clear gel all over her belly, smearing it around with the device she would use to pick up the baby's heart.
After a little searching, there it was, clear as day.
"That's our baby's heart." Nick said in breathless awe. Then, listening a little more and growing concerned, he asked. "It's beating really fast, is that normal?"
"It's perfectly normal." The doctor assured him. "Little things always have faster heartbeats. And rightnow your baby is the smallest thing in the world."
Nick and Adalind clutched their hands together, both sets of eyes welling with tears of joy.
Without thinking, he brought her hand up and pressed his lips to her fingers.
"Will you be wanting a recording?" The doctor asked, though she was certain she already knew the answer.
"We can have one?" Nick asked with surprise. He didn't know that was possible.
Adalind smiled at him. "I made sure to find a place where they would be able to give us recordings of everything. When we get to see the baby, we'll get a video disc that we'll be able to watch. As well as pictures of course."
"You amazing." Nick said in wonder, struck by her foresight and intelligence.
Adalind blushed. She loved the way Nick was looking at her. No one had ever looked at her like that before. It felt good to be cherished.
The doctor informed them that she was done and Adalind could get cleaned up.
"Here, let me." Nick insisted. "Just hold up your shirt while I get this stuff off of you."
Adalind did as she was told, rolling her eyes at Nick's insistence on helping her. Though she was also very touched by the behavior as well.
It was later that evening, as Adalind was getting ready for bed, that she saw Nick with his computer and a huge smile on his face.
She felt her heart clench and flutter when she realized her was downloading the the sound of their baby's heartbeat.
Nick wanted to be able to access the ultrasound at anytime, so he made sure to have it stored in the cloud and downloaded to his phone.
While typing up reports at his desk or doing research in the trailer, Nick would sometimes stop, slip in his earbuds and turn on the sound of his babies heart. It had become his favorite song.
"Nick has taken pretty quickly to this father thing." Wu commented after Nick had the sergeant and Hank have a listen.
Everyone noticed how easily Nick accepted potential fatherhood. There was no question in anyone's mind that he will be amazing once the baby came.
"He's already a natural." Rosalee said to Monroe. "The way he's always so attentive to whatever Adalind needs, and always there to give her support. Just the way every man should be."
Monroe could not argue. He could never understand how some men could just act as though the responsibilities of fatherhood were easily shirked off. Choosing to ignore their child's needs completely.
Obviously Nick was not that type of man.
Nick was the type of man who not only handled his responsibilities, but would go above and beyond what was expected.
But there was more than just the baby to worry about.
Something was happening to Nick.
There were moments when he would go completely still and all the color would drain from his face. It was very similar to the way he looked when he was in that zombie state.
Hank noticed Nick do something that would seem completely impossible.
While on a case that ended up involving wesen that resembled mermaids and merman, a case were two young merman wesen were trying to kill people and had tied a teenage girl, also a mermaid wesen underwater, Nick had fought the two young men, save the teenage girl. All while staying underwater far to long for someone with only a set of lungs.
When Nick had emerged from the water, Hank noticed his skin was grey, though it went back to its normal shade, the older detective still questioned how his partner could do what he did and survive.
Hank had not interrogated Nick, of course, and it wasn't like Nick would have had the answers either.
Plus, the younger detective seemed ok, so there didn't really seem a need to worry.
Then one night, as Nick and Adalind laid next to each other, Adalind sensed something was wrong. She looked over and noticed Nick was far too pale and he wasn't breathing. Terrified, she felt for a pulse and found none.
But when Adalind started crying and whimpered Nick's name, he woke up, and appeared as if nothing had happened.
Seeing the tears in her eyes, Nick asked what was wrong.
"You were so still. You weren't breathing and I could feel a pulse. I was so afraid you were dead." She answered in a shaking voice.
Nick pulled her in his arms and soothed her. "I'm ok. See? I'm breathing." He took a deep breath then placed her hand on his chest, over his heart. "And feel that? Beating like a drum."
They settled back into the bed, Adalind still held tightly in Nick's arms. Her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest.
While the two slept soundly through the night without another incident. Adalind insisted Nick get a full physical from a doctor.
All though she enjoyed the view of Nick running on a treadmill, completely shirtless, Adalind felt concern grow when she noticed Nick's heart rate never went up.
The doctor assured them everything was normal, but both Nick and Adalind new that everything was not normal and that whatever was happening with him had to be wesen related.
She insisted Nick allow her and Rosalee to fully examine him the wesen way.
"He changed the color he was when he was in that primal state." Adalind said. "I'm willing to bet my hexenbiest that it has something to do with that chemical the cracher de mortel sprayed on him."
"The problem is, Nick is a grimm and we don't exactly have a lot of information to go on about them. All we know is that they aren't always affected by things the way humans and wesen are." Rosalee explained.
"I know." Adalind said softly. Tears started to form in her eyes as she looked at Nick and confessed, "It scared me when I couldn't hear your heartbeat. We just started to be able to hear our baby's. I don't want yours to grow silent."
Nick took her in his arms. "I'm ok right now. Whatever is happening, I think it's making me a more powerful grimm. Whatever happens, we'll deal with it."
Nick is so confident that Adalind believes him and relaxes. She just stood there a moment longer, listening to the beating of his heart.