A/N: After Eve appeared/reappeared for that brief flash in 'Wesen Nacht', I read an interview with the writers that said Trubel shot Juliette with arrows not dipped in poison, but coated in a tranquilizer/sedative of some type. This is confirmed in 'Eve of Destruction' when Trubel says that Juliette was still alive when HW took her in S5E1. While I do find Eve's character interesting in the current storyline, in my opinion, Juliette needed to/wanted to die in 'Cry Havoc'. I truly do believe she wanted to die, first because she told Nick to do it and didn't fight him when he was choking her, and secondly Eve in 'A Reptile Dysfunction' says with HW she found a reason to live. In my AU, Nick does kill her and she's thankful he ended her nightmare.

Chapter 24 Nick

This shouldn't have happen! Nick told himself as he watched Juliette's casket being lowered into the ground. Rosalee had been shocked and grieved when she found out that Juliette was dead and that Nick had to be the one to do it. "I guess what I'm really mourning is the old Juliette. I always hoped we would find a way to change her back, but after how she tried to kill Monroe, tried to kill you Nick, and did kill your mother, there was really no going back. This just seems so final," Rosalee had said tearfully. Now as they all stood at her gravesite, Nick felt alone with the heavy burden of responsibility and true knowledge of her death. As out of place as she would have been at this gathering, Nick wished Adalind was by his side. She stayed at home with Kelly stating it wouldn't be right for her to attend and Nick had to agree, but that didn't keep him from feeling a need for her.

At the final moment before the casket disappeared from view, Nick's vision changed to a Christmas party where he stood with Juliette, smiling and happy as they held each other under mistletoe. "I love you," he told her which increased her dimpled smile.

"I love you, too, " she returned with her smile reaching her eyes...

Guilt washed over him and shock paralyzed him as his mind returned to the cemetery. He had remembered the old Juliette and the old Nick, how he felt at that moment, yet it was like being in someone else's body. Looking around, he couldn't find the courage to say anything to those around him that remembered Juliette all along and were dealing with their own grief. Despite what he had just experienced, Nick realized there was only person he wanted to share his flashback with, that was Adalind. She had understood how Nick felt when he told her the night Kelly was born about Juliette's death. Nick knew she would understand how he could recall a moment but still not relate to the person he used to be and that's what he needed. Nick couldn't handle demands to remember more or to embrace the man he used to be, because that Nick was gone. He would never be the same, not after so much had happened. Taking a deep breath, he paid his respects and gave Monroe and Rosalee a hug, then headed home.

Feeling worn and heavy from life, Nick let out a long breath. He still didn't know where Trubel was since the ambush Chavez and him had walked into. Nick hoped the younger Grimm was okay. Chavez was no longer available to help him find the answers and he had no other leads. Nick remembered the last words Chavez spoke to him that were so similar to what Trubel was trying to tell him before she was taken. 'It's war.'

Sighing at so much happening in the last few days, all he wanted to do when he walked in the house was see Kelly and talk to Adalind. She was walking around lightly bouncing the baby when she spotted Nick's face and stopped. He must have had his strain written all over his expression because Adalind came right up to him and asked, "How was it?"

Looking down at Kelly who slept in her arms, Nick replied, "I'll tell you in a minute, but let me have him for a second and put him down for his nap." Lifting his tiny son into his arms, Nick realized no matter how it all happened or what memories came back to him, this was what was important. He was a father. Then looking up into Adalind's eyes, Nick saw her concern and wrapped an arm around her in a small hug. Kelly was in deep slumber so Nick laid him in the bassinet they kept in the living room and turned to Adalind. "I want to talk to you," he said taking both of her hands. "I remembered something today at the cemetery. A memory about Juliette and I at a Christmas party." Adalind took a quick inhale and Nick read trepidation in her eyes before she looked away.

"If you want me to find another place to live, I can try, but I'll need some time," she responded not meeting his eyes. "Please, Nick all I ask is don't take Kelly from me."

"Oh Adalind," Nick said with a sigh drawing her into his arms. "I'm not expecting you to move out, and I most definitely will never take Kelly from you. I promise," he stressed lifting up her face to look at him. Her vivid azure eyes were brimming unshed tears and she tried to turn away from him, but Nick held her gaze. Desire surged in him to wipe all those tears from her eyes, then as he lost himself a bit in that moment, desire of another sort filled him. His lips sought hers. At first Adalind was stiff and unresponsive, but as he began to kiss her with more need, she returned his kiss and his touch. Adalind's unsure hands reached up weaving through his hair. That broke open a dam of passion, while Nick clutched her to him trying to be aware of her body's recovery from the surgery.

Breaking apart reluctantly, Adalind asked, "If you remember Juliette, why don't you despise me after everything?" Her eyes were searching his face trying to find the answer to this enigma.

"First of all," Nick stated tucking a hair behind her ear and placing a light kiss below that ear, "I'm not that same man and I never will be. Too much has changed for me to ever go back. Second, you are not responsible for everyone else's choices. The happy woman in my memory was not the Juliette I killed, there was no going back for her either." He finished with sorrow. Adalind ran her hand over his face as Nick said, "This family's my life, you are my life now."