A/N: Lorelei and her friends start packing while Nick and Hank investigate a series of brutal murders.
Things seemed to be working out for Lorelei. Gail had called her back the next day, letting her know that she good to work from home for the next couple of months. The big bosses were still deciding about paid maternity leave; however, Gail said it sounded like they were leaning towards it. Lorelei had also heard back from her college friends, who were eager to help out. Melody put her hand up to be Molly's dog walker; she had to drive past Lorelei's building to get to school anyway. Lorelei also had plans to have the others come over the next Saturday to have what had been designated a 'Packing Party'. They'd bring the packing material as long as Lorelei supplied the food. Lorelei had emailed her professors, who were understanding of her situation and as they weren't learning any new course material, gave the ok for her to miss class. Sean was happy to hear that Lorelei would be taking it easy and that the people in her life were helping.
One night Lorelei headed over to Monroe's and Rosalee's to have dinner with the gang. She let them know about her health issues and there was a consensus that Lorelei should focus more on her health and less on wesen related stuff. Lorelei also shared the news that the baby was a girl which was a cause for celebration. As evening progressed, the conversation shifted towards a case Nick and Hank were working on. They were trying to figure out what had brutally killed two robbers. And of course, photos ended up getting passed around.
"No dog did this." Juliette commented while looking at the photos.
"How can you tell?" Hank asked.
"Usually when a dog or coyote or wolf bites down and attacks, it'll shake the victim, and you'd see more tearing in the wounds."
"Who wants my caprese?" Rosale asked, coming over with the caprese salad she had made.
"Me." Nick answered, and Rosalee dished some onto his plate.
"Definitely not a blutbad." Monroe added, handing some photos back to Hank, while accepting the others from Juliette. "FYI, too much general mangling. We're more of a throat first, ask questions later wesen." He started looking through the ones Juliette had handed to it. "Plus, yeah, there's no signs of going after the legs first to cripple the prey." Hank gave him a look. "Sorry, victim. Which is what a canine would do, so yeah, you're probably right. We're dealing with a wesen and a powerful one."
"You don't know what kind of wesen you're dealing with?" Rosalee asked as she handed Monroe the bottle of wine.
"It's sort of part hundjäger part dämonfeuer." Nick answered.
Lorelei saw Rosalee and Monroe exchanged a look. "Sounds like a…"
"Höllentier." Monroe finished for Rosalee, filling her glass up.
"Exactly what I was thinking." Rosalee confirmed. "Biggish eyes, snoutish, broodish, neanderthal, ass, basically a jerkwad."
"That's him." Hank confirmed.
Monroe nodded. "Because a höllentier, could definitely do that." He said, gesturing to the photos.
"What does höllentier mean?" Juliette asked. "Is it German?"
"Basically, it means beast from hell." Monroe replied, after considering it for a moment. "They actually have a really ancient lineage, all the way back to the Egyptians."
Rosalee looked at Nick. "How did he react to you?"
"He didn't seem to care all that much." Nick said, before taking a sip of his wine.
"Definitely a höllentier then." Rosalee said, exchanging another look with Monroe.
Lorelei had finished eating and reached forward to place her plate on the coffee table in front of her, before leaning back as Juliette asked Nick "This wesen wasn't afraid of you?"
Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulder and sat back. "He didn't appear to be."
"Your basic höllentier's too stupid to know what to be afraid of. Which is why the Egyptians used to entomb them with their pharaoh's." Monroe told them with a slight chuckle. "They thought it was a promotion, til, you know, they buried them alive."
"Uh, can somebody you please pass the…uh, what do you call them?" Hank asked.
"The artichokes or the edamame tabbouleh?" Rosalee asked him.
"Uh, both." Hank replied.
"So, where is the höllentier now?" Juliette asked as she handed both bowls over to Hank.
Hank took the bowls from Juliette. "Ah, we've got him locked up."
Monroe laughed. "Hey, you put a farrow in there with him, he'll stay forever." He did get a bit of a weird look from the rest, although Rosalee did laugh as well. Lorelei rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying."
A couple of nights later, Sean and Lorelei were getting ready for bed. Well, Sean was, Lorelei was starting at him in surprise, unable to believe what he had just told her. "You're telling me a tiny, 77-year-old Hispanic woman is responsible for those brutal murders? She's El Cucuy?"
Sean nodded, spitting out the toothpaste in his mouth. "We were just as surprised."
"And you had to let her go?" Lorelei asked him, as he rinsed his mouth out and dried it on his towel. She returned to brushing her own teeth.
"Yeah. She was right. No one would believe us. The DA's not going to press charges against a senior citizen for four homicides. Especially ones as brutal as these ones were." Sean said, as Lorelei finished up with her teeth and they returned to the bedroom.
"That is true. It's just crazy though. And she has no remorse?"
"Not even a little."
Lorelei walked to her side of the bed, pulling the covers down before sliding in. "And you mentioned she appears to be moving on."
Sean joined her in bed. "Yeah, said she had done what she came here to do. She'll be someone else's problem."
Lorelei leaned over to turn off the overhead light. As she settled back Sean pulled Lorelei towards him and laid back, allowing her to rest her head against his shoulder, her hand resting on his chest and their legs entangled.
"Your friends are still coming tomorrow for that, what did you call it? A packing party?"
"That's what Melody called it. And yeah. I have no doubt it will become a competition to see who can pack the most. Katie and her cousin Daniel are pretty competitive. They can and will turn anything into a competition."
"And you'll be taking it easy?"
"I will be. We'll probably also move what we can upstairs. I'd like to be moved in by next week. Then I can spend my summer vacation relaxing as much as possible."
"I do like that plan." Sean told her, pressing a kiss to the crown on her head. "Now, sleep, you have a long day tomorrow."
Surprisingly, with the exception of some of her clothes, kitchen stuff, Molly and Daisy's stuff, and her school stuff, Lorelei's friends were able to move almost everything up to Sean's apartment in one day. As expected, Katie and Daniel had turned it into a competition. They had definitely packed more than the others. Katie had also brought over all the stuff the eisbibers had left at her parents and Uncle Bud's house. Sean arrived at Lorelei's apartment to find her in the living room, going through the gifts, talking note of who gave what so she could send out thank you cards.
"What's all this?" He asked as he joined Lorelei on the couch.
"Presents from the eisbibers. Lots of baby related stuff, gift cards, and look at this." Lorelei held up a beautiful hand made quilt. "Nick and Juliette received one similar last year."
Sean admired the quilt. "It certainly is beautiful." He said. "How did your packing party go?"
"Really well, almost everything is packed and sitting upstairs, waiting to be unpacked. I only have a few more things to go."
"And you took it easy?"
"I did. Even if I wanted to do anything, my friends wouldn't let me. I got questioned when I got up to go to the bathroom."
"I'm glad your friends are looking out for you."
Lorelei smiled, sinking back into the couch cushions. "They are. They're good friends. Drive me nuts sometimes, but still good."
Sean smiled. "What do you feel like for dinner?"
Lorelei thought about it for a moment. "You know what I'm really craving. Lasagna, but not just any lasagna, the one from Giovanni's. Ooh, and the mozzarella sticks. And their cannoli's."
Sean tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Alright. I'll go get dinner. Why don't you have a nice relaxing bath."
"I like that plan."