Chapter 9 Juliette

Fleeing out of the familiar front door of her home for the past five years, a deep sadness settled over her at the same time as a debilitating pain gripped her stomach making her crumple where she stood on the porch. Juliette found herself muffling her groans so Nick wouldn't hear her. He couldn't understand why she was leaving so quickly. It wasn't only her fear of reverting back to her real self that had her running so fast from the man she loved. It was frightening this need. She needed Nick, had to have him. Nick was hers! Yet, she had just made the man she couldn't live without turn to another woman. It didn't matter that Juliette knew differently, Nick didn't.

At first when Hank introduced her, Juliette had some real reservations if she could do this, but as the time passed she was reminded of the dates they had shared when Nick made her fall in love with him. Staying in character on the outside, on the inside Juliette became anchored to him even further. When they had walked out together and she put her arms around him, it was all Juliette looking up at him craving his touch. She had been without it for weeks and her desire was fervent. He hesitated which had her torn between hope that he thought of her real self and a burning need for him at that moment, unwilling to let him leave. Somewhere reason was alarmed when he did kiss her, but her body shoved reason away with want. There was no further need to pretend. Her response to him was absolutely genuine. Their encounter was charged and thoroughly satisfying. Juliette was liberated from her usual reserve with the knowledge of being in guise. She was more aggressive, demanding her own pleasure and giving as good as she got.

However when their heat had cooled, Juliette was alarmed by the fact that he seemed to want her to stay. No, he wanted Adalind to stay, she had to choke down.

"I need to use the restroom," she had conveniently excused herself. In the bathroom she sent for a cab to meet her at the corner. After returning to their room, she gathered her things quickly.

"Do you have to go right away?" Nick asked in a sexy voice intimating he'd like a second round. Juliette's heart clenched and sudden tears threatened to flood her eyes.

With a slight sniff she faced him, "I don't want to get too involved with you at the moment. Seems like you're still getting over that relationship you were involved in last we met," she tried to redirect his attention to their life together.

"That's not true. I don't even remember her," he responded to her own agony. Then turning she fled faster when he called after her, "Wait, Adalind."

Slamming the door with her exit, Juliette let those tears fall. It was at that moment, the pain had overwhelmed her. Panting with the intensity, she remained in a fetal position there on the floor of the porch till it passed. She finally got up fearing Nick would pursue her, and made for the corner as she got a text that the taxi was a minute away. Halfway down the street, the pain returned blindingly as Juliette gripped a nearby fence post for support. Somehow she made it into the waiting cab and gave the man Monroe and Rosalee's address, as she viewed her normal face in the review mirror.

When she entered their door, she escaped the questions and looks they both seemed to have by flying upstairs to the guest room where she was staying. Flinging herself onto the bed, sobs racked her body. Her one hope was that with his returning Grimm powers, Nick's memory would heal as well. He would recall all the horrid things Adalind had done and their own love of nearly six years. Nick would figure out her deception, but Juliette relied on his reason to know she had done it for his own good. What had seemed her only option just yesterday, threatened to be her undoing after she had committed the act. What if he couldn't forgive her or, with a wild panicked reaction she faced her worst fear, that even with his powers he couldn't remember. Something savage rose within her and she almost snarled to herself, Nick would NOT belong to anyone else! Adalind's face came to mind and a red haze of fury had Juliette beating the bed with all that was within her.

The next couple of days, Juliette lived like one haunted. She was alternatively teary-eyed and furious as she waited for Nick's reaction. The following night Monroe had helped Nick and Hank track down a group of Phansigars, who Rosalee said were like a Skalengeck and a kimono dragon. There was a flurry of activity when they all came back to Monroe's place. Nick's face was white and drawn, so that Juliette had to swallow her fear that he would hate her when it registered what she had done. Coming out of his shock after a bit, he demanded information about what he had seen and how it happened. Everyone was somewhat tongue-tied when Nick asked fiercely, "What were those creatures? You saw them right?" He desperately intreated Monroe who nodded reassuringly. "I thought I was losing my mind," Nick expressed with a bewildered look.

"That's why I showed you a Woge that first day at the hospital. At least you had some knowledge before your powers returned. It didn't seem to diminish your ability to take care of those guys," Monroe carefully encouraged Nick.

"I thought all those stories you guys were telling me had to be exaggeration, even you Hank," Nick pointed out to his partner. Then something seem to dawn on Nick. "I thought I've been cursed and couldn't see these things anymore. How did this happen?" Nick asked no one in particular. Everyone once again dropped eyes to the floor with Monroe stealing glances at her. She couldn't confess, not yet. There was no sign that he remembered her, and Juliette depended on his memory of their love to override his anger at her trick. So Monroe diverted his attention planning to take him to the trailer for information, which Nick demanded to do that very night, if possible.

When they had left, Rosalee turned to her with a sad smile. "You're going to have to tell him, Juliette," she gently pointed out.

"I know. I'm just hoping he'll remember me first. Our history, our love would go a long way towards him forgiving me," she replied pathetically.

"You have to make your own decisions, honey, but he should know. If you love him, and I know you do, you owe him that," Rosalee continued in her clear-eyed honest fashion. At times like this, Juliette envied the Fuchsbau's courage.

After a pitiful night of no sleep, she came downstairs to Rosalee having coffee in the kitchen. Juliette asked, "Aren't you guys ever going to go on your honeymoon?"

Rosalee hadn't completely forgotten their subject from last night, Juliette could see, but her friend seemed to drop it replying, "You couldn't really imagine we'd leave Nick in this condition, do you? Monroe wouldn't even hear of it. Don't worry we'll take it when things settle down." Abruptly Juliette suffered one of those increasingly frequent bouts of painful nausea that plagued her since she had slept with Nick as Adalind. "What's wrong," Rosalee inquired with concern.

"It's just a stomach ache. I've had it off and on since that night with Nick," Juliette replied.

"Maybe you should take a pregnancy test," Rosalee suggested with a tentative smile. Oh no, that's all she needed with her life in upheaval. What if she got pregnant as Adalind? The horror that possibility conjured was more than she could voice. All Juliette could do was nod her understanding.