And here is the next installment. :) It didn't take as long as usual for me to get this written so hopefully that's a good sign as far as how the rest of the fic will go. Thank you to those whom have reviewed - I really appreciate the feedback!

And now, on to the story!

Part IV – Watching Over Nick

Aubrey sat beside her patient's bedside, watching him intently for signs of pain or consciousness. The ride to Renard's place had been swift; the man himself had only remained awake long enough to tell her where to take them before he gave into exhaustion. She'd allowed a private smile to cross her face as she'd peered into the backseat to spy on the two men. The King had his left arm stretched out just enough to place a hand onto the Grimm, who had remained tightly secured and unconscious throughout the entire trip; his touch was light but she could feel the possessiveness coming from him.

Though the pairing was an unusual one to say the least, Aubrey was glad that her protector and friend had found someone that not only made him happy but matched him in every single aspect. The Grimm may not seem very dominant or powerful but Aubrey, and every Wesen he came up against knew differently. Beneath his friendly and caring exterior was a man who could kill you if he saw the need for it. Granted, it was rare for this particular Grimm to actually deem it necessary to kill, something that was both a weakness and a strength, but the mere idea of it was enough to keep most Wesen off his back and those that didn't see the need usually ended up in jail or dinner for one of the Hexenbiests. Nick Burkhardt helped balance the king in ways no one else ever could and for that, Aubrey was grateful.

As soon as they'd gotten into the apartment, Renard and Aubrey had placed Nick onto the bed and slid him off the backboard so that Aubrey could finish her examination. There were still things she couldn't do, such as get X-rays of the broken fingers and the potentially broken hand and ankle, so after much arguing with Renard, she called in an associate who had a portable X-ray machine in their car.

While her associate took the X-rays, Aubrey attended to the king's shoulder; it was healing already but it still required a few stitches and rest. Getting Renard to allow her to put the stitches in, instead of letting him watch her associate like a hawk, had been a challenge but Aubrey's stubbornness and her reminder of her warning while at the cottage made him yield. Her reminder, however, had also served to remind him that he wanted to have a talk with her about challenging his authority. The talk hadn't been what she had expected; he'd admitted that she was right, that he had to defer to her, but he requested that next time she wait until they were in private before she challenged him because the next time, he wouldn't be so calm about it.

After the talk, the tension that had been between them since they'd left the cottage had disappeared, leaving only a comfortable and friendly silence. Once she was finished with his shoulder, she coaxed him into lying on the couch and getting some rest while she attended to Nick. Renard had of course argued firmly against it but Aubrey wasn't having any of his excuses. She'd told him that he couldn't do anything more for the Grimm tonight so he might as well rest so that she could. Unable to argue with her logic and no longer able to deny his body's demand for sleep, Renard had settled onto the couch with a couple of spare pillows supporting his head and cushioning his shoulder.

With the help of the films, Aubrey was able to correctly set his fingers back in place and was able to comfortably diagnose his hand and ankle injury. She'd also stitched the deepest slash and wrapped his ribs. The lighter slash hadn't needed much attention other than antibiotic ointment and bandaging. Now Nick was lying supported by several pillows with a couple more under his right ankle, an IV inserted into his left arm supplying him with fluids and a catheter inserted until he was more mobile. Now all Aubrey could do was wait.

Honey brown eyes roamed over the half naked form of her patient, spotting and identifying each injury as they roamed. Disgust roiled through her gut at what the Reapers had done to the man. He had a concussion which would cause a headache for a few days, three broken and three more bruised and cracked ribs, over fifty stitches in his chest and stomach, four broken fingers and one broken thumb, all on the same hand, tissue damage to his hand and chipped scaphoid and capitate bones (somehow the scythe had managed to just miss both bones), a badly sprained ankle, and bruising to his entire body.

The injuries by themselves could be temporarily debilitating but when combined, needless to say that this particular Grimm wasn't going to be going anywhere for a good three weeks. The stitching to his chest and stomach should heal pretty quickly but the scythe had cut deeply enough to resemble the first half of a major surgery; he would need weeks to recover and regain his strength back before he'd be allowed back to work. His fingers and hand would need some serious physical therapy as well as his ankle. Aubrey didn't envy Renard the pleasure of dealing with an immobile and restricted Grimm.

As a breed, Grimms were generally a very active group; they hated to be injured because usually they were hurt so badly it would be a spell before they could move freely again. Though she didn't personally know the detective she had to guess he was going to be a very grumpy patient.

"Any change?" a familiar voice quietly asked. Aubrey lifted her head up, turning her attention from her patient to her friend.

Sean Renard stood just inside the doorway in his usual suit and tie. The clothes were wrinkled from him sleeping in them, lending a disheveled appearance to the normally crisp man. Aubrey was pleased to see that his left arm still remained in the sling, not that she would have done anything if it hadn't been since she wasn't really up to an argument right now. The concern and caring in his eyes was also great to see; somehow it made him appear more human. She knew that Renard took great pains to appear something more than human, almost coming off as God-like, so him showing the opposite was welcome.

"No," she answered with a sigh. "Not that I would expect there to be. With the medication I have him on he should sleep soundly until tomorrow at least."

Aubrey's assuring smile faltered just a little when she saw something flash in the other man's eyes. It was a mixture of anger and warning, as though he were warning her against drugging the Grimm but she wasn't about to listen – the man would be in a great deal of pain for the first week; there was no way she was going to not give him relief for it.

"I see," Renard answered evenly, though suspicion was still in his eyes. He turned his head to look down at his lover and Aubrey took the opportunity to step closer to him and place a gentle hand on his arm.

"He'll be alright," she began, speaking softly as though she were talking to a frightened animal. She knew he knew that, she'd already given him the list of injuries and prognosis, but it seemed like it needed to be stated again.

When he didn't look at her, she continued, "I know that he's vulnerable," Renard's head snapped to face her, green eyes growing dark orange in a silent threat, "but I won't harm him. I am his doctor; it's my job to get him healthy again. I'm not going to do anything that might jeopardize that including refuse pain relief."

Sean now turned his entire body towards her, his posture defensive even with the injured arm. "I never asked you to."

"Not outright, no," Aubrey conceded with a friendly smile. "But I saw the anger in your eyes when I told you that I'd drugged him. I know you didn't like it and I understand why. But he is safe here with you and me and he will be hurting. His body has gone through a lot of trauma and it needs the restful sleep to heal. He won't get that without the help of modern medicine."

The orange in Renard's eyes faded back to his normal, hard green. He released a sigh that spoke volumes to her. He knew that she would defend Nick with her life if the need arose but he was tired, and more than likely in a bit of pain himself, and his protective side was out in full force, causing him to doubt her and everyone else.

Aubrey paused for a moment before she spoke again. "You should sleep," she said, clearly stating the obvious. She nodded her head towards the king-size bed where Nick lay, "That bed is big enough for the two of you,"

"Won't I hurt him?"

The innocence in the question almost made her giggle. To think that the all-powerful Regnant, the man who caused fear to strike in most beings' hearts, was so afraid of causing his friend pain was almost beautiful to her. She had to refrain from pulling the man into a bear hug.

"Unfortunately, the best side for you to lie on is his right and since I know that your shoulder's still hurting you, I know that you won't be up to lying on top of it. So, the most you'll be able to do is lay close to him, nothing more. Basically? No, you won't hurt him."

"You could have just said no, you know," Renard pouted.

Aubrey giggled a little. "I suppose I could have. But, what's the fun of that?" She waited for him to smile back at her before she patted his arm. "Go on, get some rest. I'll be close if either of you need me."

She walked out of the room, giving Renard the allusion of privacy while she waited for him to get settled. When she heard two sets of snores coming from the room, she walked back in, smiling when she noticed the stubborn idiot was lying partially supported on his stomach so that he could wrap an arm around the Grimm's torso. She pulled up a comfy spot in an armchair and curled into it, lightly sleeping as she waited for one of her patients to wake.

When Nick woke it was to sun shining brightly through the closest window. Too brightly according to his head which began to pound fiercely the moment his eyes opened. He groaned as a headache he didn't even know existed cranked up a few hundred notches.

Where was he? This definitely wasn't his room or his bed. Did he get drunk and crash at Monroe's for the night? No, that wouldn't explain the sun either. The only other place he knew of that had this much sun first thing in the morning was Sean's, which was fine but it didn't explain the headache. Normally he wouldn't go over to Sean's if he had been out drinking or anything so why was he here?

Through the haze of pain and something else Nick couldn't identify, brief flashes of the previous day began appearing before his eyes. It made his head hurt worse but at least it meant that he remembered what had happened and why he was at Sean's. Nick knew that Sean had a protective side to him and therefore it didn't surprise him that the man had brought him to his house rather than Nick's.

"It's okay to open your eyes now. I've closed the blinds and pulled the curtains," a soft female voice cooed. He felt cold hands grab his wrist and hold it, feeling his pulse before pulling away.

Hesitantly, Nick did as he was instructed and reopened his eyes. True to her word, the woman had indeed made it so the room was in darkness. He looked around the room, looking for a familiar face before focusing on the woman that sat to his left.

"Hello handsome," she greeted warmly. Her smile faded and she shook her head so that her true form showed through. Nick's eyes widened, his body too weak to give any other response, and she changed back. "I just wanted to let you know who I was right off the bat," she said with a wink. "My name is Aubrey. I'm your doctor. Captain Renard called me in when he found you. If you have a problem with who or what I am, however, I am more than willing to find you a new caregiver, though I'm not sure Renard would be."

Nick studied the woman for a few, shallow breaths. She seemed friendly enough and though she was a Hexenbiest, she wouldn't be here if Sean believed her to be a danger. He closed his eyes, hoping to calm the migraine and take a deep breath. The breath ended up being shallower than he'd wanted but the immense pain that shot through his side when he tried to go deeper stopped him instantly.

"No, it's fine," he said in a strained breath.

"Well, if you change your mind, let me know," she said with yet another smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Good, as long as I don't move, breathe, or think."

Aubrey gave a courteous laugh but he could tell that she didn't mean it. There was a frown mixed with concern in her honey eyes. "Is the medicine wearing off?"

Nick gave a shrug before gasping at the unexpected pain with the action. He didn't remember hurting his shoulders.

"You're going to be very sore for a while," Aubrey explained after seeing his reaction and confusion. "I'm assuming your muscles aren't used to swinging a scythe around and into three people, let alone when you're already weakened. That coupled with the damage done to your torso, it's going to painful to shrug for a bit." She bit her bottom lip in thought then said, "Now, I would love to give you some more pain medicine but since I know you'll fall back asleep once I do, I need to perform some checks beforehand. Okay?"

"Do I get a choice?" Nick countered weakly.

She gave him a sympathetic smile, "Unfortunately, no."

Not wanting to be rude, Nick just nodded his assent for her to continue with her tests. She checked his pupils and memory, causing agony to stab through his skull. He groaned but answered her questions, even asking a couple of his own.

"Where's the Captain?" he asked though he suspected he already knew. She peeled the bandaging away from his chest to inspect the stitching for signs of infection. He ground his teeth as she gently pressed down on the tender flesh around the string.

"He had to go into the station," she answered matter of factly. They both knew that Sean couldn't take the day off because Nick was injured; it would be too suspicious. "I'm assuming no one knows about the two of you yet?"

"No, we thought it would be seen as a conflict of interest." She placed the bandage back over the wound, not bothering to press down on the taped edges, and moved to grab her medical bag.

"It probably would be; whether it actually is or not is a different matter entirely," she answered honestly but seemingly indifferently. She pulled out a jar of cream that smelled like lanolin mixed with rubbing alcohol and placed it on the bed. "There's a little bit of inflammation around the stitches so I'm going to put some antibiotic ointment on top of it," she explained patiently. "This means that I'll need you to sit up for me for a bit while I unwrap your ribs; I'll need to get to the entire wound to ensure it doesn't become infected. Would it be alright if I called someone in to help?"

Knowing how weak he felt, Nick didn't even bother asking why he needed help. Instead, he nodded, leaning his head back into the soft pillows behind him while he waited for the "help" to return. He figured it would probably be another Hexenbiest, something that Nick wasn't overly crazy about, but he knew it didn't really matter in the end. His mouth dropped open slightly when he saw a familiar, scraggly face enter the room.

"Hey Nick," Monroe greeted with an uneasy smile, "I see you've gotten yourself beaten up again."

Nick chuckled weakly at the attempted joke, pausing in pain before he retorted, "Yeah but this time you should see the other guys."

Aubrey and Monroe moved over to the left side of the bed where Aubrey placed a tray with some supplies on the bedside table. She smiled at their gentle banter but never actually looked at the two of them as she began preparing pre-taped gauze bandages and gloves.

"Yeah, I heard about that. I got to say man, I'm a little impressed, and frightened but mostly impressed. I always knew you had it in you." Monroe looked at Aubrey for instructions, his discomfort with the situation clear on his face. "So, what do you need me to do?"

Aubrey turned to face the pair of them, compassion in her eyes. "I'll need you to sit behind him and hold him upright while I unwrap his side."

"You don't need me to lift him or anything?" Monroe asked, obviously unable to hide his surprise.

"No, I can do that. With the damage done from the scythe, he won't have the muscle strength to hold himself up, so that's what you're here for."

"You mean other than added protection," Monroe added.

"Are you here as a guard dog?" Nick asked, unable to stop himself from teasing the Blutbad.

The glare Monroe threw him made Nick smile. "You may be injured but you won't always be," the Blutbad lightly threatened. The smile in his eyes diminished the threat somewhat which Nick suspected is the only thing that melted the glare Doctor Aubrey was giving him.

"Ready?" she asked, stopping them from saying any more.

Monroe sighed apprehensively. Nick felt for his friend. He understood that a sick or injured person was very appetizing to a half-starved-for-blood Blutbad and this particular Blutbad didn't tend to trust himself in those situations. Add to the fact that it was a friend and a Grimm that was injured and the unease increased tenfold. Nick desperately wanted to tell Monroe that he didn't have to help, that he could do it on his own but he knew it would be a lie and would make things infinitely harder on everyone involved.

Blood-red seeped into Monroe's eyes as he stared down at the droplets of blood coming from the stitched wound on Nick's stomach and chest but it faded as quickly as it had come and he answered, "Yeah, I think so."

"Okay, I'm going to begin to raise you up," Aubrey warned Nick in an exhale. He felt her cold hands on his skin, an oddly comforting feeling given that it seemed to soothe pain a bit. She looked over her shoulder at Monroe, telling him to wait until she had Nick upright before he sat down then she began to lift.

White-hot pain seared through his stomach, chest, and side, burrowing until it hit bone. Nick couldn't stop neither the cry that escaped his lips as she began nor the slight trickle of tears that trickled through his tightly clenched eyes as she continued. Only when the back of his head came to lean on a soft flannel shirt and he was allowed to lean against a strong, warm body did he feel like he could try and breathe again.

He felt Monroe shift a bit as though to get comfortable. Nick let out a small gasp as his body was jostled in the process and he felt the Blutbad freeze. Nick could feel Monroe's heartbeat through his back and where there was once a slow, steady rhythm a jive now seemed to play.

"It's fine," Nick assured his friend, understanding that the rapid heart rate was from worry and fear. And he meant it one hundred percent. None of this was Monroe's fault; he had no reason to feel guilty.

"Alright, now you just lay there and let Mr. Monroe and I do the work."

"That shouldn't be hard," Monroe scoffed, the snort vibrating briefly through the back of Nick's shoulders. "That's what he usually does."

"Hey," Nick objected, a little offended by the suggestion.

"From what I hear, Mr. Monroe, you tend to dive into helping Nick wholeheartedly and manage to get yourself into plenty of trouble in the process." Aubrey paused in her unwrapping to give Nick a teasing smile then continued with her work.

"I'll have you know that I have had to come to the rescue more than he has," Monroe countered.

"What?" Nick argued for the sake of arguing. He knew that he owed Monroe more than Monroe could think of owing him but the light banter felt good and it helped to fill the silence so he kept going.

"Dude, you're at like ten that you owe me."

"Ten?"

"Yeah, you have the kidnapped girl, information at six in the morning and interrupting my Pilates, guarding your aunt, sniffing out the queen bee, hanging out in a bar to watch that Ziegvolk-"

"Hey, you enjoyed that and I covered your drinks," Nick gasped as he felt cold gel touch his skin and he looked down to find that Aubrey had begun spreading the ointment over the stitches. She'd started at a spot just below the waistline of his pants and was slowly working her way up to his shoulder.

Monroe seemed to take no notice of the interruptions and continued with his list, "-talking to that Reinegen kid, helping you bring in that missing girl-"

"She was a young Blutdbad! Who else better to go than you? Plus, you volunteered to go with me; I was willing to go without you."

"-killing the Siegbarste so he didn't kill your partner, getting beaten up because of you-"

"Oh come on, I suggested I stop asking you for help so that that wouldn't happen again, you can't hold that one against me," Nick argued loudly before shrinking back against Monroe with a grimace that the Blutbad couldn't see. The loudness of his voice was enough to make his head rebel and give an especially hard pound. It made him wish his head would just fall off, at least that way it wouldn't hurt.

"-helping you with the Geiers, need I go on?"

Aubrey cleared her throat, an amused smile on her face. "Gentleman," she chided in a motherly fashion, "I'm not sure this is doing Mr. Burkhardt's head any favors so why don't we try to keep the noise down to little more than a whisper, okay?"

Nick felt Monroe try to bend over his shoulder so that he could look at Nick's face but when it didn't work, he merely sighed guiltily, "Sorry Nick."

"It's fine," Nick said, repeating his words from earlier and throwing the doctor in front of him an exasperated glare. The woman cocked her head to the side then looked behind him at his friend then back at Nick. She gave him a nod saying she understood and would try not to make him feel guilty(er) again. He smiled at her, grateful that she understood what he was trying to say.

He grimaced as his heartbeat brought another throb of pain throughout his body and he saw Aubrey smile at him sympathetically.

"I'm almost done," she soothed while making sure her every touch was as gentle as her voice. "I just need to replace the gauze and re-wrap your side then I can give you some relief and let you rest."

"You mean he hasn't had a new dose of medication?" Monroe inquired sounding surprised while Aubrey placed the gauze over the stitches and began wrapping Nick's ribs.. "Dude!'

"It's not a big deal," Nick said, grimacing as he moved to try and make the re-wrapping process easier.

"Either way it doesn't matter," Aubrey said evenly, though her eyes conveyed her apology. "Mr. Monroe, you may get off the bed and lower him back down. I'm finished."

The ruffle of his hair told Nick that Monroe had nodded then he was being moved again. The pain was the same as before but it felt muffled. Wrinkling his brows in confusion, he looked at Aubrey with a question of why in his eyes. She smiled and held up an empty syringe that had apparently held pain medication in it.

"I inserted it just before you two had finished arguing. It needed some time to circulate through your system which is why you didn't feel the effects until now," she explained as she carried the needle over to the tray. "Now, do you need anything before we go?"

Nick shook his head, unable to think of anything. His entire body felt as though it was floating and his head felt like he was drunk. There was a deep throbbing feeling coming from his ankle but his mind couldn't seem to focus on it long enough to distinguish that it actually hurt.

Aubrey nodded. "I'll bring some ice in for your ankle; it will help with the swelling and a cold cloth for your head which will help with the migraine," she informed as she grabbed the tray. Nick yawned as she bustled and when she turned back around she had a soft smile on her face. "Get some rest. You should feel a bit better when you wake up again."

"See you later, man," Monroe said before retreating into the living room.

Nick lay in Sean's bed simply allowing his mind to wander and his head to swim. He was grateful for all that Sean had done for him, even getting Monroe to come and stay with him while he was gone. But he hoped he'd feel well enough to talk to Sean when he woke up again because he and the Regnant definitely had things they needed to discuss.

TBC