"Why are we even looking into this?" Nick asked curiously. "I mean, this isn't exactly a crime – hell, it's the exact opposite of a crime."

"I don't even understand people sometimes," Wu replied, shaking his head in disgust as he took in their latest case. "Last I checked, we're supposed to be homicide, and they put the two of you – and by extension, me – on this? It's not like we're overstaffed or there aren't any murders waiting to be staffed." Before Nick could reply, he walked off to talk to one of the- witnesses? Victims? Nick wasn't really sure what to call them – all he knew was that Wu was still muttering angrily as he disappeared.

"While I'm not usually one to say these words, I have to admit I agree with Wu," Hank said from behind Nick. He cast a doubtful eye on the- well, calling it a crime scene wasn't exactly appropriate. "Why on earth would the brass think that we should be the ones investigating this? In fact, why did they think it should be investigated at all?"

"I don't know, maybe it's their twisted idea of a day off?" Nick suggested. "If we were white collar, this would at least make sense – just about every homeless person they spoke to has found twenty-five dollars in whatever footwear they own. That does sound a bit suspicious, but it really has nothing to do with homicide."

"Exactly!" Hank exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air as though that would help explain their orders a bit better. "There aren't any bodies around, now are there?"

And just like Wu, he stalked off to talk to nearest person, muttering under his breath, sounding irritated at the world in general.

Nick watched his disappearing back with a grin on his face. He very much doubted that either Hank or Wu would be particularly pleased with being called similar. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised if they decided to team up to get back at him. For all that they were colleagues and friends, they prided themselves on being as different from each other as it was possible to be.

It was then that he heard the sound. It was too soft for anyone else to hear – hell, had this case come their way before his meeting with that Jinnamuru Xunte, he doubted he would have been able to either. But his enhanced senses were now extremely useful to his job.

A quick glance around the area told him that everyone else was busy with other things, mainly interviewing some of the affected members of the homeless community. That left only him – but with his extra training thanks to Monroe, he doubted that there would be a problem.

After all, even if a wesen was involved, it probably wasn't very antagonistic, given the nature of the incidents.

Carefully trailing the source of the noise, he followed it into an out-of-the-way alley, maybe five minutes or so from where Hank, Wu and the others were. It was there that he noticed a young man, who couldn't have been more than twenty-five, bending down to slip something into what looked to be a pair of tattered shoes.

Before he could say anything, he noticed the transformation of the man's face, something he would never get used – it was one thing knowing what a person was going to woge into, but when confronted by a new wesen altogether, his mind tended to revert back to shock and horror he had felt when he had seen that first Hexenbiest.

In woge, the boy's ears had lengthened, his face becoming more angular, and loathe as Nick was to think it, beautiful. Before he could move out of his momentary shock, the nimbly ran off, vanishing before Nick even had the time to blink.

He groaned. Suddenly, he knew why he and Hank had been assigned this case – it was a wesen related one.

Hank was not going to be happy.

"Wait, describe him again," Rosalee said, grabbing the platter of vegetables from Juliette. "I think I know what you saw."

Nick complied in between bites of food. The five of them – Monroe, Rosalee, Juliette, Hank and him – were at Monroe and Rosalee's house for dinner, something that seemed to have become a tradition for them every time Hank and he had to deal with a wesen related case.

"From what you're describing, I think you might have seen a Ljósálfr," Rosalee said after Nick had finished his description. "Light elves from Viking mythology," she continued to explain, "They're often seen to be the basis for Sinterklaas – that's Santa Claus in the Low Countries, you know, the Netherlands, Belgium, parts of Germany and the like. Anyways, there's a feast celebrating Sinteklaas, and tradition has it that people put money in the shoes of the needy to help them out during the holidays. That's what evolved to putting gifts in the shoes of children for Christmas – which is another long story, trust me," she said.

For a few moments, there was silence as Rosalee concentrated on her meal. "Anyway, the point of this is that the light elves are the basis for the story," she continued. "Unlike the story, they tend to spread the wealth all throughout the winter, travelling from place to place to do it. They're rare, almost as rare Glühenvolk, so I'm surprised you actually managed to see one."

"That is…actually very interesting," Hank commented after a few moments of stunned silence. Rosalee blushed under the surprised looks that everyone was throwing her.

"My dad used to read me stories when I was a kid," she explained. "He'd tell me about all these wesen that barely anyone knew about, and I used to love them. It was like a secret. Seems I've retained some of it after all."

"So, what are you two going to do about it?" Juliette asked suddenly, turning to look at Hank and Nick.

"No clue," Nick admitted. "I don't suppose you know how these Ljósálfar finance their operations, do you?" he asked, directing his question to Rosalee.

"Well, legend has it that they're patronised by Freyr, who's the Norse go of fertility, and he's who they get the money from…so basically, no."

"So what you've got is a case that cannot be solved," Monroe commented. "Well, not unless you want to try and reveal the wesen world to the public, in which case you'll probably be sent to the asylum…"

Hank and Nick glanced at each other. They had been partners long enough that they could almost read each other's minds when it came to cases, and Monroe was right. Of course, there was also that other thing that had happened a few days ago…

"We'll let the Captain handle it," Nick said triumphantly. "I'm sure he's been expecting it ever since the incident with the paperwork, so he's not going to be surprised."

"Besides, he shouldn't have assigned it to us in the first place," Hank grumbled. "I'll call it a silent protest."

As Monroe gaped at their decision – challenging the Prince of Portland wasn't something he could get his head around, even if he had dealt with him during the treatment for him and Juliette – and Juliette and Rosalee laughed at their decision, Nick and Hank both smirked mischievously. The next day was undoubtedly going to be…entertaining, to say the least.

So...the bit about Sinterklaas basically being a way to help the poor is taken from Wikipedia - I happened to come across it, and really couldn't help but twisting it to suit the purposes of Grimm.
The Ljósálfar are Norse light-elves - I chose them because a) they're from the same part of the world as Sinterklaas and b) common relationship between Santa and elves in popular culture. Plus I couldn't figure out how to describe a "Santa woge" :P

Also, the bit about getting back at Renard is a reference to 'Paperwork' (Chap 7) of this collection.

I hope you guys liked it! As always, please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)