Chapter 10: The Deliberation
Nick was not sure how much he slept, but it couldn't have been more than half an hour. It wasn't so much that Jacob was crying. In fact, the newborn had been sleeping contently next to his mother all this time. What kept Nick up was every little noise his super hearing picked up. With every rustle or creak, Nick would listen for a footstep, a breath or any sign of human or Wesen lurking near.
"Keep your eyes open," Chavez had said, and these words were now on repeat in his head. "I couldn't possibly protect them alone," thought Nick. "I'd have to ally with somebody, to make sure Jacob is monitored at all times. Especially since Adalind had lost her powers." For a brief second, Nick considered exploring the possibility of having Adalind reinstate them, but he shook off the thought immediately. He was not excited about the prospect of living with a Hexenbiest, or having his son raised by one. He quite liked Adalind the way she was. Well, maybe like was still too strong a word, but at least he felt at ease around her now.
Actually, for the most part, Nick did not know how he felt about anything these days. Ever since the gruesome discovery of his mother's head, he had been walking through life in a haze, looking at everything through a dark filter, which made every interaction and experience leaden, weighing him down, down, down until he felt nothing. Numb. That feeling would, however, be interrupted by sudden spikes of rage that clawed at this throat, only to give way to guilt that wrenched his stomach, which in turn converged into despair that pressed relentlessly on his chest, crushing his ribcage and milking the air out of his lungs until he physically gasped for breath. But there had been moments of reprieve, like the night Adalind pulled him close in his bed, the sound of Jacob's heartbeat, and the first time he held his son. It felt like a betrayal to Juliette to acknowledge the fact that Adalind was part of the only good in his life at the moment. But then, hadn't Juliette betrayed him? His mother? Their love?
Nick went over to the small fridge where Monroe kept his favorite german beers and opened a bottle. He couldn't afford to be consumed by his grief anymore. He had more important things to think about, like finding an ally to protect his son. Historically, Grimms were the freelance police in the Wesen world and alliances had always fallen into the "brief and convenient" category. Grimms' only loyalty was to the safety of humankind. As a Grimm, he did not care to join forces with any Wesen resistance. But as a father, especially one of a half-Zauberbiest, Nick knew he had to choose a side.
In his mind, Nick began to run through the conversation he had with the gang right before Adalind went into labor. Nick was told that Chavez worked with the Laufer, who were fed up by the lawlessness of the royals and wanted to neutralize them by wiping out their Wesen army. As far as Monroe and Rosalee knew, the Laufers preferred to leave the dynamics of the existing Wesen - human world order the same.
The Reformistisch was originally part of the Laufer movement, but due to increasingly differing worldviews, broke apart a few years back. The Reformistisch was more extreme, advocating the overturn of the the Gesetzbuch Ehrenkodex, i.e. "outing" the Wesen community to the humans. This faction saw the current state of affairs to be a repression of the Wesen community. They envisioned a world where Wesen could openly be themselves, and co-exist harmoniously with humans. This group's efforts were mainly focused on developing a more sophisticated Wesen Council, establishing clear regulations, boundaries and appropriate enforcement capacity to maintain the order of a new Wesen-human paradigm.
Lastly, there was the Freiheit, the most troubling development in the resistance. This radical group believed in an inherent superiority of Wesens over humans. Unlike the level-headed Reformistisch, the Freiheits did not plan on changing the legal or regulatory infrastructure of the world to liberate the Wesen. Instead, there was every indication that the group intended to do so via sheer force. The group were rallying around this one personality named Bunt, a Löwen who was calling for a complete eradication of the royal families as their first step towards world domination. As far as Nick was concerned, this faction had to be eliminated. Fast.
If he were to stay true to the primal objective of a Grimm—to protect humans from unruly Wesen—then joining the Laufer was the only option that made sense. What Chavez said was true, they did have common enemies. The King may be dead, but Victor was still very much alive. And he was just as eager as Chavez to retrieve Diana, to continue with his mother's mission—to raise her as a force of good in this world. He would also need the Laufer's help to squelch the Freiheit insurgency.
Nick walked back over to the couch, where Adalind and their son were still slumbering. He picked up his cellphone and made his call.