Part 13

Henry just sat there with a smile on his face. Not the smirk, not the "I am Henry, Duke of Richmond" etc. Just the smile. He couldn't speak, didn't want to, he just wanted to replay "Yes" over and over in is head. Less than an hour ago, his heart was breaking while he was talking to the parents of the dead children. Now it was whole again, and she was the reason.

"Well, great! Now that I've said it out loud, you're dumbstruck." Vicki was trying to sound annoyed, but she was smiling too. "See, the way it works is, I say yes and you respond accordingly." She waved her fingers at him, "So respond already." And she punched him in the arm, thinking, Great, I'm back in grade five with Darrel McCormack.

Henry rubbed his arm, even though it didn't really hurt, "I apologize, my lady. I am dumbstruck. I was afraid you'd say no, and frankly, thought you would, so I was prepared for the worst."

"And they call me a pessimist."

"Not pessimist, pragmatist." He shook his head in amazement, "Now that the best has happened, I have no words, except," Henry jumped up and raised his arms and said, "Sweet Jesu, thank you!"

She knew Henry was religious, and although she didn't not believe in God, she wasn't sure she did either. "Don't you think you're thanking the wrong person?"

"No! A miracle has occurred, and the appropriate thanks must be given. Victoria Nelson, private investigator, loves me."

"I wouldn't call it a miracle, Henry." She sounded slightly offended. "I've been in love before."

"I would. For the past year, I've been trying to convince you we could beat the odds, that we could work. And you've said no, again and again. I knew you wanted me as much as I wanted you, but you resisted everything. I'd almost given up, until we vanquished Norman and I knew you really did want to be with me. Even after we made love the other night, I wasn't sure."

"Wait. You almost gave up?"

"Well, yes."

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Stop the parrot act." She really was beginning to be a little annoyed. "Yes, why? Am I that hard to live with?"

"No! I just thought maybe I was wrong, that no matter how much I wanted us to be, that you didn't. Even though I could scent your desire for me, I could've been wrong." He shrugged, "It would have been the first time in centuries, but it has happened."

"Humble is just not a word in your lexicon is it?" She spoke to him like she explaining something to someone who was a little slow. "Henry, you know by now, I have to make the decision. It has to be my choice, otherwise I second guess everything I think after. I could've given into you that first night. God knows I wanted to. I felt the electricity, but can you blame me for having doubts? Remember, half blind mortal pi, immortal vampire. I'll die, you'll live forever. Maybe we will beat the odds, maybe we won't. But I have enough faith in us now, in you, to believe that we can. I want to try, Henry. That's all I can promise. To try." She stood up.

"That's all I ask. We will beat the odds, Victoria. Even if my powers of persuasion don't work on you, I know you'll see that. You are Victoria Nelson, Private Investigator, after all."

She laughed, "Yes, I am, aren't I."

Henry leaned in, sliding his arm around her waist, pulling her into him. As his lips reached hers, he said, "Yes, you are. You are my private investigator. So investigate all you want." They were kissing, both wondering if Coreen was still upstairs and how hard it would be to get rid of her, when they heard a car come around the corner. They turned to see it pulling up to the front of the building, barely slowing down before they heard the brakes squeal. Henry said quietly, "Celluci." Vicki wasn't so quiet. "Oh, shit. That didn't take long." The door on the driver's side flew open and Mike got out of the car. The anger flowed off of him with such force it displaced the air. He started speaking in a tone that left no doubt how he felt, but at least he wasn't yelling. "What the fuck do the two of you think you're playing at? I told you not to go to the Sheehan's and not half an hour ago I get a call. From Them. About the kids. Now they want to see them. Why would you do that? Do you care that little about my opinion that you would go behind my back and do something I specifically asked you not to? Dammit, Vicki." Mike had never raised his voice, but the calm, quiet tone was worse than if he had been yelling. "If you do anything else on this case without my prior approval, I swear to you, I will have you both thrown in a jail cell with a nice easterly view." Since they knew that last part was for Henry's benefit, he approached Mike with a look on his face that stopped Mike in his quiet tirade. "We did what needed to be done, Detective." The words were clipped, succinct, royal. "I'm sorry if that puts a crimp in your ego, but those people deserved to know. They'll be at peace now, no matter what happens next. You need to focus on proving who did this, and not on being a jealous ass who's just made a spectacle of himself on a public street. Now, do you want to know what we've found out about the owner of the building, or do you want to continue to make a fool of yourself for everyone to see."

Henry wasn't using his vampire voice, just the royal one, something for which Vicki was grateful. She was angry at being spoken to like a recalcitrant child, but she let him do the talking, afraid if she opened her mouth, it would just make things worse.

Whoa!, Vicki Nelson thinking before she opens her mouth. That's a first. And once Mike found out about Henry and her, worse wouldn't even come close to an adjective that would cover it.

Part 14

Mike stood there for a minute, shaking, his breathing finally slowing down, and started to speak again, this time a little less angry. Henry's I am royalty, you will listen voice always affected him in a way that disconcerted him, but he couldn't seem to defy it. "This discussion isn't over, but we'll table it for now. What did you find out?"

Vicki took a deep breath, thanking God that Celluci's temper had been brought to heel. She really wasn't up for a fight after the Sheehan's. "We found out that the owner of building also owned two others and he had them insured for twice their value. Arson liked him for it, but couldn't prove anything, so the insurance paid out, and Mr. Grimm bought a little shack for over half a million on Valecrest. Coreen's checking into his finances now."

Mike sighed and said, "That's all well and good, but how do we prove he did this, Vicki? The case is almost two years old."

"We do what you and I are good at. We start with his financials. Then we start checking on his friends and associates. Circumstantial evidence says he set fire to the Fox building, as well as the other two. It's been two years since this happened, yes, so he's probably feeling a little more comfortable about the whole getting caught thing. Maybe we can use that. Maybe we just have to turn that into evidence that will send him to prison." She shrugged, "Or the three of us can go to Mr. Grimm and beat the crap out of him until he confesses." That brought a smile to Vicki's face, "Yeah, finally a plan I can work with! Likin' that."

Henry and Mike just stood there and stared at her.

"What?"

Mike couldn't help it, even when he was so mad at her he thought his head would explode, she still made him laugh, "As much fun as that would be for you, Vic, beating confessions out of suspects kind of defeats the whole process of making sure he actually goes to prison."

"Damn. I never get to have any fun."

"Tell you what." Henry stood there smiling at her. His Victoria was definitely one of a kind. "When we find the evidence to send Grimm to prison, I'll clear out the breakables at my place and you can try to beat me up. That would be more of a challenge for you anyway. How's that sound?"

"Promise?"

"Promise." Henry crossed his heart and his up hand, palm out.

Mike watched the exchange between Henry and Vicki and realized that in a micro second, everything had changed.

Vicki was in love.

With Henry.

With the vampire bastard son of a long dead king. With a man who should have been dead himself centuries ago. The anger rose again, and this time he didn't try to stop it, or even rein it in. He just looked at them, turned on his heel and got back in the car without saying a word. As he pulled away, he heard Vicki say, "Oh Crap." With a heavy sigh, she turned to Henry, "Well, this is not going to be pretty." As much as he wanted to, he couldn't disagree with her, "No, I don't imagine it will. Should we go after him?" Vicki shook her head, "No, we need to give him some room. Let him work through what just happened. I'll call him tomorrow...later today…whatever."

"I'm sorry."

"For..?"

"If I hadn't said anything, he might not have noticed." He knew that was a lie. The love he had for this mortal radiated from him, and he couldn't seem to control it. It just … was.

Vicki interrupted his train of thought, "Henry, that's a crock. He's a cop, he's trained to be observant. The only way he could not have noticed would've been if he'd dropped dead before he got here."

"There's a thought." He knew what was coming.

"Henry!" Indignation on her face.

"Sorry." Mock regret on his.

They went upstairs and Coreen was pacing around. "How did it go? Mike called here a few minutes ago. I heard him downstairs. Are you okay? Is he?"

"Coreen, I can't answer all those questions at the same time, and I have no idea how you manage to ask them at the same time." She took a deep breath and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "I'm getting a migraine."

Henry took up the story, "It was pretty rough at the Sheehan's, but I think I managed to keep them calm enough to get through all this with a minimum of trauma."

"Mike was having a ginormous fit over the phone about the two of you going over there. I could hear the tires squealing while he was talking. How mad is he?"

"I don't think mad actually covers it." Vicki shook her head. "Livid, furious, apoplectic, one of those."

"He'll calm down Vicki, he just needs a little time." Henry wasn't sure whose guilt he was trying to assuage, his or hers.

"Calm down from which? Us talking to the Sheehans or us?"

"Both. Hopefully."

"Shit." Resignation laced her tone. "We need to get back on topic. Coreen, what else have you found out about our friend Mr. Grimm?"

"Not much. He's kept a pretty low profile since he bought that house. He goes out to dinner, donates to the OPD benevolence fund and, if you can believe it, the opera and the museum."

Vicki took off her glasses and scrubbed at her face, "I don't have the first clue how we're going to nail him for this."

Henry stood behind her, kneading her stiff shoulders, "We'll find a way. I know we will."

"Hey!" Coreen was looking at a news item on the internet, "It says here he'll be at the new exhibit opening at the museum tomorrow night."

Vicki turned around with a wicked little grin on her face, "Well Prince, you up for a little b & e tomorrow night?"

He shrugged, "The couple that breaks and enters together, stays together."

"We're a couple?"

"You're a couple?" Coreen's mouth hung open.

Henry couldn't keep the pride out of his voice, "We're a couple."

"Oh. Ok." Vicki's head just kind of nodded.

Coreen picked her jaw up off the floor, "Like I said before, Thank God, I couldn't take much more." She yawned. "I have questions, but it's late. If I promise to come in early tomorrow and scope the floor plans for Grimm's house can I go home now?"

"Sure. As long as we get those plans by 8 pm, we're good. Maybe we can find something in his house he would rather no one know about."

tbc