Hey y'all. Yknow one of these years i'll update a story regularly. Hopefully 2023 is that year. Please leave a review - I'm determined to finish this story whether or not anyone else is reading it, but it's still nice to know if someone else is.
Hope you're having a rockin new year!
Bradley was cramming for a test. Books lay about his apartment, various sticky notes, 3x5 cards, highlighters. He was sitting at the counter, coffee in hand, reading through a book on New York State property laws.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
His phone was ringing. He finished reading the sentence he was on then reached for his phone.
Sabrina was calling.
He smiled, always glad to hear from his girlfriend.
He answered "Hey you"
On the other end of the phone Sabrina was still in the library with all her family and two fairy princes. She did her best to sound like this was just a normal conversation not that she was in the middle of a fairy tale investigation.
"Uh, hey Bradley."
Puck raised an eyebrow and mouthed 'Bradley?'
Sabrina's cheeks turned red. Why was it so embarrassing to have a conversation with your boyfriend while your family and two faries (one of whom was your first kiss and the guy you were married to in an alternate timeline) were in the room. Oh yeah, no that's a valid reason for awkwardness she realized.
Okay change of plans then.
"Are you free right now? Let's meet up, I need a study break. It'll be good to talk. Just the two of us." she said with a pointed look at the group.
"Okay great….Yeah at our spot…How about in like 30 minutes?...Okay perfect see you then…"
She ended the phone call and turned back to the group. "Alright," she started "I am going to go meet up with Bradley-" Puck sniggered at the name but Sabrina continued as if she didn't notice "And you can all stay here and keep researching." she finished matter-of-factly. With that she turned on her heel and headed out the library doors.
"Well all right then." said Daphne with a hint of sass for her sister.
"Um," started Mustardseed, "Should someone go after her?"
The rest of the Grimms kind of shrugged, she could handle it. She wasn't the little girl who was sneaking off on her own. She was older and had proven herself on the last few cases they'd worked as a family that she would stay in touch and come back with any theories. They knew who she was with, and what she was investigating; there was no need to step on her toes.
"Oh, she'll be fine." Veronica said, waving her hand.
"Fine?" asked Puck, incredulously, "This is Grimm we're talking about. She'll be far from fine in minutes. Probably already fell through a manhole in the street or been sucked up inside the candy machines at the M&M store in Times Square - I've seen that happen before!"
"Honestly Puck she's - wait, did you get stuck in the M&M tubes?" Daphne asked laughing.
"No!" He responded defensively at the same time Mustardseed said "Twice."
Daphne and Basil fell into fits of laughter. "Do you think you could put me inside one?!" asked Basil excited at the possibility of all that candy.
"No." Said Henry and Veronica in unison.
"You know what," Puck said, puffing up his chest, "I'm not gonna stand around here all day and be made fun of. I'm a King. I don't have to put up with you losers, I'm outta here."
He left the library. Daphne and Veronica gave each other a knowing look, but didn't say anything. Everyone went back to their research.
Sabrina had just stepped outside Faerie and into Central Park. She got her bearings - the portal through the Hans Christen Andersen statue always made her a little dizzy - and headed on her way.
About a minute later Puck stepped out too, intent on following her. This was of course for her safety and not at all out of his curiosity to meet this Bradley guy. He made sure to stay far enough behind Sabrina that she wouldn't notice. But, as he followed her into the subway a little too close he noticed she was getting sloppy. He didn't have to be nearly as careful as he was expecting to. Sure she would have noticed someone tailing her much more than anyone else walking down the street, but she'd definitely lost her touch. He would gloat about that later. A few stops later he peered down the cars and saw her hop off the train. He followed.
Sabrina walked into the coffee shop that was her and Bradley's spot.
"We have a spot?" she'd asked the first time he said to meet at their spot. It made her smile. Having a spot was the sort of thing that felt like people in a real and serious relationship would do. The sort of thing real normal people in the regular world do.
Their spot was a coffee shop that used to be a diner. It had that Americana 50s diner look and feel but most of what they served was advanced coffee orders from hipster baristas.
She walked through the door and spotted Bradley already at a booth. He waved her over. She sat down across from him where there was already a flat white with an extra shot of espresso waiting for her. Bradley knew her drink order.
"Thank you." She said taking a sip of the drink.
"Of course." He replied. "So what's up? We haven't talked since your birthday."
She put her drink down. "Yeah, sorry about that, uhm..my family came into town for a surprise visit."
"Oh that's nice. Are they still in town?"
"Yeah we've been going around catching up with old family friends that live in the city. People I don't really see ever, but cause they're in town, y'know…"
"For sure."
A silence fell over them as Sabrina tried to figure out how to ask where he got the necklace while sounding totally casual and Bradley tried to figure out how to ask if he could meet his girlfriends family while sounding totally casual.
"So-" "I wa-"
"You go ahead"
"No you go first'"
"Well" started Bradley "I'm sure they're super busy but if your family has some time. Or maybe if you are all going to dinner or something. Maybe then I could-"
"I see you're an opposite side of the booth sort of couple" interrupted Puck, "I'm more of a same side kind of guy myself." He said as he sat down next to Sabrina. He reached for her coffee but she swatted his hand away.
"What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" She asked him through clenched teeth.
Bradley was getting out of his seat "Hey man, what's your problem?"
Sabrina sighed and gestured for him to sit back down. "It's fine Brad, he's one of our family friends."
"Oh, I'm so sorry" Bradley addressed Puck, "It's just, y'know there's all sorts of creeps in this town."
"Yeah you gotta keep an eye out. Never know when someone could be following you." Puck replied as Sabrina quietly seethed, realizing he had been tailing her without her noticing. It seemed the Queen of Sneaks had been dethroned after all these years.
Bradley extended a hand out to Puck. "I'm Bradley Johnson."
Instead of shaking his hand Puck did a sideways high five. "Robin Goodfellow."
Sabrina rolled her eyes.
"So, Grimm," Puck started, reaching for her coffee. "Did you solve our little mystery?" She slapped his hand away from her cup.
"Well Goodfellow, I only got here about ten seconds before you interrupted so no. Not quite yet."
"I gave you like, a full minute."
"Oh an entire minute? Well in that time of course I got all the info I needed. Let's go."
"I could've gotten all the info in that time."
"Oh really?"
Bradley stared awkwardly at the two, not sure how, or if he should jump into the conversation.
"Yeah, really. I would've tortured it out of him."
"Oh puhlease. You could not run a successful torture chamber if you tried."
"I have tried!"
"And failed?"
Bradley cleared his throat as loudly and unsubtly as possible. It worked.
"Oh, babe," Sabrina said to Bradley, causing Puck to wince at the petname, "I am so sorry."
Bradley reached a hand across the table to hold Sabrina's. "It's okay. I've just well I've never seen you so…quippy."
Sabrina was finally speechless. Bradley smiled softly at her, trying to be reassuring.
"It sounds like there's something you want to talk about? You don't have to torture it out of me." He laughed. "Please don't torture me, actually." He said a little more seriously.
Puck shrugged in a we'll see fashion which did not instill confidence in Bradley.
"I was wondering about my birthday gift." Sabrina untucked the necklace from her shirt. "Why did you get this particular necklace for me? Why get me pixie dust?"
Bradley smiled at her. "Well, because you're Sabrina Grimm, you love fairy tales."
Puck burst out laughing, but Sabrina furrowed her brow. "What makes you say that?" she asked.
"You have so many fairy tales on your bookshelf. It's like mostly fairytales and then law books. Actually wait no, fairy tales, then Shakespeare, then law books."
"Shakespeare?" Puck asked
"Shut up." Sabrina replied.
He smiled "You read Midsummer Night, didn't you?"
She pursed her lips.
He reached for her coffee and she didn't swat his hand away. He'd won this one.
He laughed and took a sip as Bradley continued.
"You have all these fairy tales. And you always know about the real stories. Like if someone brings up a disney version you jump in with corrections about the 'actual fairytale'. I got it for you cause…you're a Grimm."
Sabrina sighed.
"Because I'm a Grimm. And this is what we do." she said mostly to herself.
"Though I have to be honest, I didn't think up the idea entirely by myself. I got an email, it was some ad mailing list sort of thing, but it was for gift ideas and the necklace was on there. I thought of you, and bought it."
Sabrina perked up. That was a definite lead. "Do you still have that email?"
"Maybe?"
"Please find it and send it to me. And also all the other information about the purchase and tracking and everything please."
"Do you not like it? Cause that's okay, I can return it. I just…I just thought-"
"No, it's perfect! I am…uh…I need the information because…" She tried to think of a good reason she would want this info that didn't involve missing Fae and Everafters and immortals declaring war and et cetera et cetera.
Puck came in with the excuse "She wants to get a matching one for Daphne."
"Yes. That's right. And I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to think the gift was less special if I got another one."
"Oh, sweetheart." Said Bradley (inducing another wince from Puck) "I think it's great you like it so much you want to get one for your sister. If you want I can just order another and then I could meet her and give it to her myself?"
"No I'd really rather you just send me the links." Sabrina replied quickly. She was too caught up in the search for Kaschey that she didn't realize she had also turned down his request to meet her family.
"Oh," said Bradley disappointed, but he quickly recovered with a smile "Yeah I'll send it right over."
He pulled out his phone and with a few taps had forwarded the information.
Sabrina's phone pinged. "Got it, thanks." she stood up, grabbed her coffee, kissed Bradley on the cheek and walked out of the shop.
Bradley was left a little stunned.
"Should I be worried?" he asked Puck.
"About her?" Puck flashed a grin "Always."