A/N: Thanks again for reading and the review. And very, very special thanks to Merlyn Pyndragon for all her hard work :).

Eric couldn't await to finally make it back to his castle. The knowledge that his new toy was sick, and that this sickness was partly his fault, made him nervous. If Nick had told him the truth, there shouldn't be any anymore problems, and he already had parts of the spell in his system. But that did precious little to calm Eric's unrest.

Some things hadn't gone the way Eric planned since he gave the order to trap Nick and bring him over here. Nick himself was almost unpredictable in some ways. He was more powerful, his will harder, his mind sharper than Eric had expected. Not that especially his intelligence was a problem, more the opposite. The funny thing was that Nick, as intelligent and smart as he may be, had not one single clue what was going to happen to him after he started eating. It was kind of cute how innocent this special Grimm was.

Special ... that was also the other news. The Grimm's girlfriend pregnant with the child of said Grimm. It was so alluring simply thinking about bringing her here too. A baby, a potencial Grimm itself. And Nick had shown with this pregnancy that he was fertile. If his gene prooves to be dominant it would be very welcome.

Probably it would be better, also for Eric as the owner of the Portland Grimm now, to have Nick's growing family around. It would chain Nick to him, bind him to Austria as long as his girlfriend and the child were here. Maybe he would also change his mind completely about himself acting like a Grimm when he would realized that his own little family was on the stake. Besides that, Nick and Juliette could produce more possible Grimm. True, they would be half bloods, but better that than nothing.

The problem was that Eric didn't know about any side effects to the zombification. It could end up ugly if the Baron would spat at said girlfriend while she was pregnant because of the child. It was possible, and Eric would start a detailed research about this, that she could loose the child. And that was surely not what he had in mind for either of them.

So he had to figure out what to do now. And, to be honest, he couldn't stand this alluring offer, he needed this girlfriend. The longer he thought about it, the more this was clear. He could awaken the dark side of the Grimm but he couldn't change his loyalty. For that he needed a special argument. And this argument would be his soon-to-be family. Eric had already learned that Nick becomes exceedingly protective - nay, aggressive - when it came to defending his lady. A chivalrous knight.

Eric frowned.

Didn't he have a picture of her somewhere? She wouldn't be only for his new Grimm, oh no, she could also be for the Royal's own interest. After she arrives, he would finally be rid of Adalind. He could use a little distraction.

"Eric, I'm sorry, I am late," a voice said, poking him back to reality.

Eric blinked and looked up, into the face of his cousin Vlad. "I am surprised you called me, especially in so short a notice," he said. "What news have you that I haven't already collected? Any update on my dear father?"
Vlad stared down at him. Those water-blue eyes looked really confused at Eric's words.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little out of my mind right now." Eric smiled and pointed at the chair on the other side of the table. "Have a seat and let us talk."

Vlad still didn't look too excited at the invitation, but finally did what his cousin told him and sat down. "I think I know who owns the new Grimm now," he said, leaning over the table. "Are you still interested?"

So?

Eric lifted an eyebrow. "What Grimm?" he asked.

"The Grimm in the USA," Vlad told him. "You remember? The one your father already told you to bring over here."

Eric shrugged. "I've heard somewhere a while ago he had disappeared. Well, maybe all the rumours about him weren't more than only hollow words and he got killed. It's been a while now ..."

"He's alive and in a hideout in St Petersburg." Vlad closed his mouth. His eyes seemed to jump out of their sockets the next moment. "I did say that aloud, right?"

Eric leaned back. "You did. And I'm not interested."

Vlad stared at him. "Seriously? It's a Grimm! We will need every Grimm we can get for the time coming for us."

Eric shrugged again. "I don't see that happening. We have the Hunderjaegern. They are doing their jobs more effectively than most others."

"That's nonsense and you know that. What about your bodyguards and those for Miss Adalind?" Vlad wanted to know.

"You can offer to me whatever you want. I'm not buying anything."

Vlad looked shocked. And suddenly an alarm in Eric's head began to ring.

"Did you say your brother has a Grimm?"

That was impossible. The family Renard had lists and spies all over the world. The moment a Grimm awoke the family knew. And if not because of the spies watching out for very possible candidat, it was because Royals could sense when something in this world changed. And the awakening of a Grimm surely changed the world.

Vlad nodded. "Nicolaus has a Grimm in his castle near St Petersburg. I know for sure," he repeated.

Eric frowned.

Vlad was an idiot, plain and simple. Then again, somehow everyone in this family was an idiot. Only his own mother, Sean and his mother, and Eric himself were clever enough to do what every one of them had to do. Sean was devious enough to hide his own plans over a long period of time ever since he had been forced to show his cards two years ago. For Eric, his half brother was a serious adversary. Worthy? Time would tell. But he was dangerous, the main reason Eric had to whisk Nick away from him.

So, where the hell did Nikolaus get a Grimm from? IF he had a Grimm, by the way.

Eric stared at his cousin for a long time.

Vlad wasn't intelligent enough to peel an apple without help. It was easy to make him believe in something. On the other hand, nowadays there was only a handful of Grimm left, and the Reapers were still doing their best to kill the remaining ones. To capture a Grimm was nearly the same than saving him from an early death. And most Grimm nowadays were one of two: degenerated or thin blooded. A strong and healthy Grimm like Nick was a rare and valuable exception.

So, if Nikolaus really had a Grimm, where did he get him from? Did he even have a Grimm? That was something Eric could only ponder about.

Still Vlad was looking at him with a nervous shimmer in his eyes.

Damn, Nick and his girlfriend distracted him more than it was good for him right now!

One wrong step, one wrong act and he would be fortunate to end up in a Lowen arena. Most likely he would get killed in a much more horrible fashion than in hand to hand combat, though.

If Nikolaus really had a Grimm, he must have stolen this Grimm from another family or, in the best case, had kidnapped him from the street. If the last was the truth, this could be a huge problem. Eric always tried to keep everything as quiet as possible. The last thing he needed was a bunch of humans tearing his property apart because of missing persons or some of the other stuff he did. If Nikolaus had somehow managed to get a Grimm, they needed the insurance that this Grimm wasn't owned by someone else or had a family. Where relatives were around things always turn a little tricky. It was Eric's luck that Sean was too much of a coward to really go public about the loss of his Grimm detective.

"How do you know?" Eric asked finally.

Vlad grinned. "Well, he told me," he answered.

Eric frowned. "Who?"

"My brother, who else?" Vlad's grin seemed to grow. "You are going to do something, right?"

Eric stared at his cousin for a while.

So Nikolaus had told Vlad about him being a Grimm keeper. Nikolaus wasn't exactly known for his honesty. On the other hand, could Eric risk to ignore this information?

Damn, he wanted to go back to his castle, to watch over Nick and hope he would get better as fast as possible. The last thing he needed right now was police on his porch after one of his cousins blabbed a boatload of bullshit.

"But you never saw this Grimm, right?" Eric continued.

Vlad shook his head.

Seeing would mean, in this case, believing. So, what to do now?

Usually he would have cancelled all his meetings, called for the plane and marched right up to Nikolaus to find out the truth. Impossible with a sick Grimm in one of his cells.

"What about you?" Eric finally asked.

"What about me?" Vlad repeated.

"Would you look after what your brother is trying to do?" Eric wanted to know.

And Vlad's smile was back again. "Of course I would!"

But he still had a bad feeling, Eric had to confess after he gave his permission to his staff to bring his cousin everywhere ...

Monroe felt so helpless, it made him angry. He wanted to help Rosalee, to heal her. But he knew he wouldn't be able to restrain her when she finally woke up. No matter if this was necessary or not, he couldn't hurt her; he loved her way too much to be able to.

The night was over now, the street outside the shop awakening to daily life. Monroe could hear this but he stuck with Rosalee, who was still lying there, unconscious and looking like she was dead. He couldn't leave her alone.

Juliette and Renard had gone into the storefront and closed the door behind themselves. Surely they had to discuss something. Monroe negated that they still had feelings for each other. Especially now that Juliette was so focused on Nick and the baby, too preoccupied to think twice about the tall and attractive man. The fatal spell Adalind put on her was broken now, thanks to Rosalee.

Rosalee ...

Monroe wanted so badly to help her, but he also knew he wouldn't be able to hurt her as was needed to treat her. And he had no idea who could do this job for him.

Wu, who was sitting on the armchair near the divan, looked thoughtfully at him. "You love her?"

Monroe nodded. "We had already begun planning our wedding," he said in a hoarse voice. With one finger, he touched Rosalee's pale, clammy cheek.

True, Juliette knew a lot more now than she did two months ago. Monroe was surprised how much she had learned in this short time. She must have spent a lot of time at the trailer! Also true, she was a vet, a doctor. She knew what she was doing. Before he and Rosalee had started to plan their life together, while they were still trying to treat the zombies, Juliette spent a lot of time here, mixing the treatment. He remembered how Rosalee was relieved when Juliette also began to mix treatments for her costumers.

But what now? Who would treat Rosalee?

"That's pretty serious," Wu said.

Monroe smiled. "It was love at first sight," he explained.

"Don't believe in that." Wu shrugged and leaned back. "So, you are a Wesen, and Nick is a Grimm and should hunt you. Instead you two became friends?"

"Well, it wasn't exactly planned to suddenly have a Grimm as a roommate," Monroe answered and looked up. "But Nick can be very convincing. And ... well, I learned that he trusted me and he needed help when the Grimm inside him awoke."

"That was when he suspected you as the kidnapper of the little girl?" Wu wanted to know.

"That was how we met," Monroe corrected, "how we became friends ... That was about the time when Nick was in the hospital."

Wu nodded. "I remember that. And I assume it was nothing usual that beat Nick into the hospital last year, right?"

Monroe smiled dryly.

"And you are right, Nick knows exactly how to manipulate others. I don't think it's a bad thing," Wu continued.

"It isn't. Not always," Monroe knew and began to grin. "But beware! If you offer him a finger, he will take the whole hand, as my cousin always says."

"Is that a saying? Sounds different," Wu asked.

Monroe nodded. "It's from Europe."

Europe. And Nick most likely in Europe. Monroe wished he had taught his friend a little German.

What would happen now? To all of them, not only to Nick.

Monroe had the overwhelming feeling the end of the world was near. True, it wasn't the first time his love was in danger, heck no! One of the reasons why he broke up with Angelina was because she was pure trouble and he cared too much about her. To loose Angelina last year was another hit with the hammer that brought him to the ground again.

No one was really safe ...

"Do you know how this is possible?" Wu asked.

Monroe blinked and looked up again, trying to get back to the point he lost the conversation.

"What?" he finally asked.

Wu shrugged. "The changing thing. I mean, when you change like ... ?"

"No, I don't know. Juliette told us that in our genes there is a link to animal DNA and that this would most likely be the reason why we can woge."

Wu raised both eyebrows, "You can what?"

Monroe was still holding Rosalee's lifeless hand. "Woge. That's what we call the change. It's German for ... well, changing."

"Does it hurt?" Wu asked. "I mean, in movies it depends. Sometimes the werewolves are in pain when they are changing, other times they barely notice it."

"It depends, but usually we go through some pain," Monroe knew. "But some Wesen woge without even feeling it. Maybe it's the adrenaline in their veins as the change happens during strong emotions."

"But not always?"

Monroe was surprised how easy the officer took this revelation. He had thought of much more trouble and probably tears and screaming before he finally understood the truth ...

"Not always," Monroe agreed.

"And what is a Royal?" Wu leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. He really seemed interested in every explanation.

"A Royal is a Royal," Monroe answered. "In ancient times they controlled the Wesen, sometimes also with the help from the Grimm. Sometime later they were allies, Grimm and Royals. Nowadays it's more ... Well, many, many Wesen fled over the ocean to be safe from the Royals. North America was mostly Royal-free. Later the first Hundjaegers came and with them the influence of the Royal families. But so far I know there never has been too much."

Wu nodded thoughtfully again. "And these Royal are ... ?"

"That's not known. Not to the average Wesen. Only Royals and their families know what Royals are. As far as Nick had told me, Royals seem to fight pretty good, nearly as good as a Grimm. And Nick is good in fighting hand to hand."

"Did he fight the captain?" Wu smirked a little.

"That was the day after he moved out of Juliette's and came to stay with me. The captain took something from Nick and he met him to get it back. Then they fought."

Wu grinned after a moment. "I think I remember. Both weren't too fond of the other afterwards, and Renard had a black eye."

"Well, most likely Nick was the one who gave him that black eye." Monroe mirrored the grin.

Nick, as small as he was, fighting Renard, the tall man, was an interesting scene to imagine. Especially after what Nick had told him about it.

"But since then, Nick went a lot to the captain's office," Wu said. "How does that fit?"

Monroe shrugged. "They formed an alliance. Probably it was because of all this," he answered.

And now the door to the shop opened again and a pale Juliette entered the room, followed by the tall and handsome Captain Renard.

Monroe kept his silence, only looking at her.

Something was different, only he didn't know what.

"Have you come to a conclusion?" Wu asked.

Juliette went to the table where Rosalee mixed her treatments and nodded. "We did," she answered.

Renard looked from one to the other. "We will watch here in different shifts," he said. "Wu, are you good with this? Do you think you could hold back Rosalee long enough for someone else to treat her?"

Wu blinked and exchanged a look with Monroe. "Will she be like the ones at the container yard?"
"Very likely, yes," Monroe said, feeling his heart bleed again.

Only two days ago his little life was perfect, or nearly perfect. Rosalee and he had planned their wedding, and every one of them was pretty successful in their own personal business. True, losing Nick had hurt like a bullet to the gut, but since Juliette showed up at his door, things were getting worse again.

"Are you in with me?" Wu asked, nodding at Monroe. "I'll hold her and you can treat her."

Now it was Monroe who blinked. "Excuse me?"

"That would be really great," Juliette said with a smile. "I wanted to do my shifts with Sean."

"Maybe we should bring Hank into this and keep you out of it intirely," Renard suggested.

"Hank isn't interested in any Wesen stuff," Monroe said, shaking his head.

"What? Since when?" Renard stared at him in surprise. "Are you sure?"

Monroe nodded. "I am. He told me when he made this decision."

The Royal didn't seem too pleased with this news. Sorrowful, he turned to Juliette. "We talked about this. You should stay out of it."

"I won't." Juliette didn't turn around. "Rosalee is my friend. She and Monroe did a lot for me during the months I had lost my memory. It's only fair to watch over her now."

"You will risk the life of your child!"

"A child that should not exist! To me this looks like this child wants to be born. I will be careful."

The door to the shop opened. The little bell started to ring.

"Did no one lock the door behind you?" Monroe stood up, only hesitantly. He didn't want to leave Rosalee's side. But there was a costumer in the shop, maybe he or she needed help immediately.

He opened the door again and jumped when he saw who had just come in.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, surprised.

Hank turned around to him. "I need help."