a/n: Well here it is, the final part! I'm a little excited to get this one up because its got a much more optimistic and generally positive feeling. Which is so much nicer to write after such dark broody chapters. Thank you to all my wonderful guest reviewers who i can't thank or respond to in person, you've said some really nice things about this story. I have no idea when the next one-shot will make an appearance as i haven't written it but these two fuel my mind something fierce so i'm sure it won't take too long.

'Til it's Gone - Part 5

He couldn't stop touching her. Whether it was a soft hand pressed to the small of her back or a tight grip on her hand, some part of him had to be touching her. It was a small mercy she seemed to need to touch him just as much. The reassurance that she was alive and safe was something he wasn't sure how to let go of.

From that moment when she'd dropped to the ground and he'd put an arrow through the man sneaking up behind her he hadn't been more than a few steps away from her. She'd been right by his side, hand clutching his jacket tightly as he and Hank cleared the building. She been right there in his arms when Trubel called the final all clear and they could finally stop fighting and for just a moment be.

Nick wasn't sure he'd ever held her so tight. He was sure he was never letting her go. The way she breathed his name into his chest, arms gripping the front of his jacket so tightly, it was as though she were afraid he would just disappear. He'd wrapped his arms around her and held her close enough it was a wonder she could still breathe.

For long moments that was all they did. Around them the house and grounds were filled with dead or unconscious wesen, both of them were soaked in blood that wasn't theirs and bleeding from wounds that were, but there was nothing he wanted to or needed to do more in those moments than hold her.

'Are you okay?' he whispered into her hair.

'You came for me.'

Nick didn't like the genuine surprise in her words but he supposed he couldn't really blame her. 'Yes,' he said simply. It wasn't a declaration, maybe it should have been, but right in that moment it was enough.

But they couldn't stand there holding each other forever, as much as they'd both like to, and eventually Nick had to pull away. He took his first proper look at her in the well-lit yard, scrutinising every bump and bruise to reassure himself that she was okay. She was doing the same to him, she'd been locked up and held against her will for days and she was making sure he was okay.

'Kelly?' she asked.

'Safe,' Nick assured her. 'He's with Rosalee.'

She nodded, reaching for him again and he took her hand. For the moment it was just the two of them. Trubel and Wu had gone back for the cars, Hank was busy calling it in and Monroe was on the phone to Rosalee assuring his wife they were all okay and they'd found Adalind.

'I was so scared,' Adalind told him. 'When they took me, that something would happen to Kelly.'

Nick squeezed her hand tightly, using their laced fingers to tug her back into his arms. 'It didn't,' he reminded her. 'Kelly's safe and so are you, you didn't even need me to come rescue you.'

Adalind made a sound that was part laugh part sob. 'I always need you.'

'Probably a god thing,' Nick's own words were choked with emotion. 'I was a mess without you.'

He let Hank and Wu handle the uniforms when they arrived, let them deal with CSU and Renard. He stayed with Adalind as a paramedic checked her over and declared she was battered and bruised and a little dehydrated but she would be fine after some bed rest and a nice hot shower.

The idea of a shower made Adalind moan and Nick grinned. 'I have blood in my hair,' she complained. 'I feel disgusting.'

'You're still beautiful to me.' His easy words took her by surprise, especially because they were said in front of people he worked with, but he wanted her to see how much he meant them, he needed her to understand how serious he was about her. When he finally did tell her exactly how he felt he wanted the evidence to back it up so she couldn't just write it off like she had been – and with good reason. Because why should she believe he meant everything he said when he was always so hot and cold?

'I just want to go home and shower and hold Kelly and sleep,' she told him. 'Can I go home?' she asked the paramedic who nodded.

'You might want to check in with your GP in a few days, just to make sure, but everything looks okay to me,' the woman said with a smile. 'Just make sure she gets lots of fluids and she takes it easy,' she added to Nick.

He nodded and helped Adalind back to her feet and out of the back of the ambulance. 'Someone's going to want to take your statement but I could probably put it off until tomorrow.'

Adalind shook her head. 'I just want to get it over with.'

He understood how she felt and so he once more laced his fingers through hers and led her across the front yard to where Pogue was standing with Hank getting a better idea of what had happened. Monroe had left with Trubel before anyone could see them and start asking questions.

'I'll just take a quick statement for now Ms Schade but I'd like you to come down and give a full statement in a couple of days.'

Resigned to making an appearance at the station, Adalind gave them a brief account of everything that had happened to her over the last four days. Nick was glad for the contact of their hands because it reassured him that despite everything she'd ben through she was standing there beside him able to give a statement.

'I don't really remember the accident,' she told Pogue and therefore Nick and Hank. 'I think they kept me drugged the first couple of days and then when I woke up I didn't know where I was and I didn't recognise anyone I saw. It took me ages to figure out how to get out of the basement and when I finally did Nick was already here.'

Pogue asked a few more questions and tried to get as many details as possible but without an understanding of wesen there just wasn't more to tell. If they'd really kept her locked up the whole time, and Nick definitely believed they had, then Adalind wasn't going to be able to give them any more information than she'd given Detective Pogue, it was just her escape that would be different.

They'd all pretty much agreed to the story that most of the guards had been dead when they arrived and that the few who weren't were responsible for all the blood and chaos. Nick wasn't sure Pogue bought the story, especially not after the last case he'd worked with Hank had made him suspicious of their conduct, but it was a lot easier to explain than Adalind systematically slaughtering and subduing her captors with her powers (and occasionally her bare hands) as she tried to get away.

It was a couple more hours of questions and driving before Adalind finally got to have a shower. When she emerged clean and dressed in warm fluffy pyjamas and another set of fuzzy socks he had Kelly waiting to meet her. Rosalee and Monroe had dropped him off while she'd been scrubbing, although Rosalee had wanted to stay, she'd understood it was late and that for one night Nick just needed it to be the three of them.

The moment Adalind closed her arms around Kelly was when she started to cry.

He helped her dry her hair while she held Kelly tight enough that if he hadn't been just as happy to see his mom he might have complained. Adalind didn't say a word as he finished off her hair and combed out the last of the tangles, he didn't really expect her to. She would talk when she was ready; right now all she needed was to know she was home and safe with Kelly in her arms.

He helped her into bed, tugging off her stupid socks and then crawled in beside her. With Kelly safely nestled between them Nick felt calm for the first time in days. For the first time since he'd realised Adalind was gone the weight on his chest had lifted and he could finally breathe easily.

Adalind lay on her side facing him, her face pressed close against Kelly, and he slipped down the bed to mirror her position. He lifted one hand and gently brushed hair away from her face. She opened her eyes and looked at him and he felt that lump form in his throat again.

'I don't ever want to lose you,' he whispered, not at all surprised to find his voice thick with tears he would never let fall. The look she gave him in response made his stomach lurch with guilt. She looked so surprised by his words, so full of wonder that he was even saying them, that he wished he could go back in time and kick the Nick of just a few months ago.

He would spend the rest of his life proving to her the truth of his words if he had to.

'I love you,' she told him and though the words didn't look any easier for her to say than they had the first time, she still said them with a level of ease he envied.

'Adalind,' he breathed her name on a sigh, he wanted to say it back, wanted to tell her the million different things he'd come to realise since she'd been gone but lying there with their son between them he knew it wasn't the right time. He didn't want the words tainted by his fear, didn't want her brushing them off as an attempt to make her feel safe and secure after everything she'd been through.

No, when Nick finally told her he needed her to know he was saying the words because he wanted to, because he needed to, not because they were what she wanted to hear.

'Thank you for coming for me,' she told him, cutting off any attempt he might have made to give her some sort of response.

This Nick could at least respond to with complete honesty. 'I will always come for you.'

He lay there stroking a hand gently up and down her side until she finally drifted off. It didn't take long before he followed and for the first time in days his sleep was deep and dreamless.

He woke before Adalind. Between them Kelly lay awake just watching his mother as though he was afraid she would disappear. How much of what had happened did he understand? He'd missed Adalind just as much as Nick had but did he see her back now and know she wasn't going to be taken away again?

'She's not going anywhere,' he told his son, rubbing his belly. 'I'm not going to let anyone take her from us ever again.'

He thought his words might wake her but Adalind slept on. He thought about getting up, about getting dressed and all the things he probably should have been doing but he didn't. Work and the rest of the world could just wait. Today… today he was going to hide away with his family and enjoy the fact that Adalind was alive and safe.

He did have to get up at one point to change Kelly and grab a bottle but he slipped back into bed before Adalind could wake and find them gone. He wasn't sure how she managed to sleep through the sound of Kelly noisily slurping away right in her ear but the sight made him smile and for the first time he found himself reaching for his phone to capture the moment.

It was the first time he'd ever really felt like he wanted to or that he could, but this was his family, as screwed up as their pasts were and as unbelievable as the relationship they had was, this was the family Nick had always wanted and he was going to do everything he could to keep it.

Adalind slept well into the afternoon and although Nick got up occasionally to tend to Kelly's needs (and a few of his own), Nick was content to lie in bed and wait for her to wake. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a lazy day and he found himself hoping there would be more like it in the future.

He sent texts to Monroe and Rosalee, to Hank, Wu and Trubel (she'd given him a new number that actually worked) and one to Bud letting everyone know Adalind was okay and that they would see everyone tomorrow.

When Adalind finally did wake, he was reading to Kelly from the first Harry Potter book. 'Don't you think he's a bit young for that?' she murmured.

He paused his reading and turned his head to look at her. 'I'm not reading the scary bits aloud,' he whispered. 'Is this your copy or mine?' he asked, flipping to look at the cover, the banality of their conversation was oddly soothing.

'Yours,' she replied, 'I'm pretty sure mines still in the storage locker.'

Amused that she'd kept her childhood copies of Harry Potter in with all of her hexenbiest stuff he told her what he'd found out about her mother's estate while she'd be gone which led to telling her about having to buy a new car which somehow tumbled into a conversation about new furniture which finally had Adalind asking the question she'd been much too tired to ask the night (morning? It had been pretty late when they'd finally gotten home) before.

'What happened to our wall?'

'I threw a chair at it,' Nick admitted sheepishly.

Adalind raised her eyebrow but pointed out, 'A chair wouldn't have caused such a big hole.'

'No,' Nick admitted. 'But throwing the chair felt really good so I hit it a few more times. Some of the bricks were loose and then I discovered there's a whole other loft on the other side of the wall, it must sit over the loading area next door.'

'Another loft?'

Nick nodded, now that he wasn't attacking the thing with a sledgehammer fuelled by rage, he was actually quite excited by the discovery. 'This place was only ever supposed to be temporary, there isn't really room for Kelly to have his own space when he gets older but, well, I'm pretty sure we could turn the loft next door into a couple of bedrooms, maybe even create an office space for when – if – you decide to go back to work.' He paused before adding the best part. 'There's another bathroom over there.'

She'd been looking a bit dubious about his plans until he mentioned the second bathroom. It hadn't been much of a problem since they'd become more confortable sharing the small space but Kelly would grow up one day and he would definitely need his own bathroom. If Meisner ever gave him more information on Diana's whereabouts then she would need a space of her own too.

He hadn't really asked about the packing and loading areas of the attached warehouse. It had been part of the factory and he'd been happy enough with the knowledge that nobody would be coming to use the space. Once he'd seen the loft he hadn't felt the need to ask about it. The loft had everything they'd needed at the time; it was functional, secure and came with a potential escape route and a surprisingly good view.

At the time he hadn't needed anything more but now, thinking about a future with Adalind, Nick could see the need for more space and he liked the idea of getting it right where they were. They were safe here, away from the people who wanted to hurt them. Isn't that what Eve had said, that Kelly and Diana would need a safe home?

Standing in the makeshift doorway, with her moments later, Nick could see that Adalind saw the potential in the space as well. It would take a lot of work and it wouldn't be easy, not when they would have to do it all themselves (with the occasional help from their friends) but it would be worth it.

And standing there, looking at a vision of his future gave Nick the perfect opening to tell Adalind what he'd realised while she'd been gone.

'I know I've told you this before,' he began, 'but I want you to understand. When I think about the future you're not just in it, Adalind, you're it. I don't know how we got here, not really, not when we should hate each other and be trying to kill each other, but I know that even though everything says we shouldn't work, we do. I may not know how to say it so that you'll believe me, not after everything we've done to each other – I don't know how you can say it – but I do love you and this,' he gestured at the mostly open empty space, 'this is how I see my future.'

He stepped through the rough doorway and pointed to one end that at the moment was just kind of an alcove. 'That's Kelly's room.' He walked to the other side where he could already imagine walls going up and dividing the space. 'This? This could be Diana's.' He gestured around him. Whoever had originally started the conversion on these two spaces had obviously never gotten further than sectioning the area off from the warehouse below and that worked in their favour. 'They can fight over the bathroom and here,' he gestured widely. 'This could be a study or even another bedroom.' He wasn't quite ready to bring up the possibility of more children in their future but he wanted her to know that it was something they could talk about.

At some point, Adalind had started to cry. The way she was looking at him made him feel twelve feet tall and like he could do anything. He wasn't sure what it was exactly that had stated her tears but they were happy tears and he was okay with that.

'I want this future with you,' he reiterated firmly, crossing the room to take her hands and draw her into the new space. 'I want you, Adalind, and everything that comes with that. The good and the bad.'

He watched her walk through the space and remembered the expression on her face when he'd first shown her the loft. She'd been so sceptical and unimpressed with his choice but she'd come to love the space – he'd actually gotten her to admit that once. This time, looking around this space there was no wariness, no hesitation, just as he had, Adalind was looking at this space and seeing the potential future.

'It'll take a lot of work,' she murmured, turning back to look at him. 'I think there might be something living in the bathroom.'

Nick laughed, moving to slide his arm around her waist and tugged her close. 'It'll be worth it.'

For a long time he stood there with her, looking around the second loft and thinking about what they could do with it. He wasn't even really sure how they'd make it work, what did he really know about building walls and running cabling for power through a building? That didn't mean he wouldn't learn (well, maybe he'd leave some of it to a professional, there must be someone they could trust – he'd find someone).

It was Adalind who finally broke the silence. 'We're going to need a garden on the roof.'

That was not at all what he was expecting. 'What?'

'I know there's not much space up there but our kids are going to need some fresh air occasionally.'

'That's what parks are for,' he pointed out and then, because standing there talking about something as silly and normal as a space for Kelly and any potential future siblings to play was exactly what he needed after the last four days, he leant down and captured her lips in a kiss.

'What was that for?' she wondered, slightly breathless.

'I wanted to.' He smiled and then grinned. 'Let's get some food and then I'll tell you about getting to punch Renard in the face.'

He slipped away from her and headed back toward the misshapen doorway and the kitchen.

'You what?' she called after him.

'Yep!' he confirmed, sticking his head back through the doorway. 'And I had a really strange conversation with Eve, too.'

Adalind tilted her head and frowned. 'Aren't all conversations with Eve strange?' But she followed him back into the loft and took a seat at the counter while he started putting together a meal.

Nick didn't know when she'd be ready to tell him everything about her time with Black Claw but he was happy to let her take comfort in listening to him talk while he put together some sandwiches. Besides, he kind of thought she'd appreciate hearing about him punching Renard and the knowledge that Eve seemed to think Diana would become part of their lives.

At least, he hoped that's what she'd been implying when she'd said they'd both need a safe place. Diana would always be a part of Adalind's life and although he felt guilty (really, really guilty) for his part in taking her away, that wasn't the only reason he was so willing to look for her. Diana was important to Adalind and so she was important to Nick. And what about Kelly? Didn't he deserve to know his sister? Didn't they both deserve a chance to have a relationship?

He tried to make the afternoon and evening as normal as possible for Adalind. He didn't want to highlight what had happened to her but he also didn't want to ignore it. He wasn't used to making things better for her, he didn't know the right steps to make it easier. He didn't know what Black Claw had done to her but he did know that Adalind was strong. She'd been held against her will before, she'd made deals and she'd fought to save herself. It wasn't that she was used to this kind of thing it was just that like him, she didn't have a normal view of the world.

She got scared sometimes, and given what she'd been through he didn't blame her, but she was frankly the bravest person he knew and so he didn't know if he was supposed to hold her and talk to her or just ignore the whole thing.

Juliette would have wanted the comfort, she would have wanted to know she was safe and she'd want to talk about what happened. Even if it weren't with him, she'd have talked to one of her friends. She'd have wanted to make sense of what had happened to her and the things she'd done to protect herself.

With Adalind, Nick had no idea. He'd held her when she'd reached for him (he'd like to think that his touch helped) but she also hadn't talked about it. After she'd given Pogue her statement it was as though she was done talking about it.

It wasn't an unfamiliar attitude, he tended to just brush these things aside but he wasn't sure if that was the nature of a Grimm and the work he did or a normal reaction.

In the end, he just asked her. They were back in bed, this time it was actually to sleep and not just because it was warm and they were being lazy, and because most of their important conversations seemed to start there, he broached the topic with blunt honesty.

'Are you okay? Should I being doing something? It feels like I haven't done enough.'

He was lying on his back fiddling with the ends of her hair as she rested her head on his chest and so she had to lift her head slightly to look at him. When she started talking her words were quiet and he'd have been worried about that if her eyes hadn't been looking at him with something he'd like to label as wonder but that didn't exactly make sense.

'They didn't hurt me. Not really,' she added when his eyes raked over her scrapes and bruises disbelievingly. 'Most of this happened when I was trying to escape. They gave me food and water and actually let me use the bathroom so that's already way better than when Viktor locked me in the dudgeon.'

If her words were supposed to comfort him or offer some sort of explanation he wasn't sure she'd succeeded. He did know that if he ever saw Viktor again he'd do a lot more than punch the Royal in the face. He'd seen where Adalind had spent her first nights, felt what she'd been feeling when she'd first been trapped there, the reminder just served to make him angry, it didn't reassure him that she was okay after this new experience.

Adalind shrugged. 'I'm okay, Nick,' she told him. 'Oh, there'll be nightmares but it wasn't being locked away that scared me, it was not knowing Kelly was safe.'

He supposed that made sense. She was a lot stronger than most people gave her credit for and so he'd accept her words now, believe her when she said she was okay and simply hold her when she reached for him.

And he'd take it as a good sign that he was worried enough about how to help her that he'd actually asked.

That didn't mean he wasn't relieved to know that while he went back to work the next day, she was planning to spend the day with Rosalee. He'd come out of the bathroom, fresh from the shower to find she'd already talked to their friend and plans had been made. The fact that she didn't have a car meant that either he'd have to take her or Rosalee would have to come and get her. Either way, she wouldn't be driving alone for a while and that eased some of the fear that seemed to have taken up permanent residence in his chest.

'I'd like to come in to work with you,' Adalind said, she kept her gaze down as she changed Kelly but Nick didn't think it was because she was genuinely absorbed by the task. He got the feeling she didn't want him to see her expression. 'That way I can give my proper statement and then Rosalee can come and get me or if you're not busy you could maybe drop me off at the Spice Shop.'

She looked up at him and there wasn't fear like he was expecting, it was concern. About him. Adalind didn't want him worrying about her, didn't want him thinking about the accident while he was at work. She was genuinely concerned about how he would feel with her out of his sight.

The thought blew him away and the words were out of his mouth before he had a chance to filter them. 'Assuming we're both not dead, I'm going to ask you to marry me in six months.'

Adalind dropped the bottle of baby powder she'd just picked up, sending a cloud of fine white powder into the air. She was frozen, staring at him as though she was absolutely sure she'd just imagined those words. He was frozen as well. Sure he'd been thinking about it, thinking about it wasn't actually doing it but, well, she was worried about him. She'd been attacked, dragged – literally – kicking and shouting from her car and locked in a cell for four days and now that she was back where she felt safe she was worried about him.

That was just so Adalind, so very much the woman she was becoming that he couldn't not say the words.

How was it that she turned him into such a mess? It was like, when it came to Adalind, Nick's brain went on vacation. And it had always been like that. Every encounter between them had always been emotionally driven. They'd always been reckless – when they hated each other and when they loved – but it was like when it came to Adalind heart overrode mind in every matter.

God, he'd dismissed the threat of Black Claw and threatened to kill a lot of people. He'd tortured someone just to find her. He'd observed once that if anyone took Kelly from them they'd possibly burn Portland to the ground trying to find him, and given the way he'd been behaving, he honestly could see that happening. Given much longer, he might have destroyed a decent chunk of it to find Adalind.

And wow was that unhealthy.

Adalind found her voice first – didn't she always? 'Nick,' but she floundered. 'What?'

He crossed the space between them, not even caring that he'd just stepped in a pile of baby powder that he'd probably end up tracking all through the loft which would have her yelling at him to clean it up. He reached up, took her face in his hands and kissed her.

Kissed her like he was sure he'd never kissed anyone in his life. He needed her to know, to understand that he was serious. That he was equally terrified of this thing they had and excited. Excited because as reckless and destructive, as unhealthy and all consuming as their relationship was becoming, it was very them.

They never did anything half way, why should their future be any different?

He'd have happily stood there in the middle of a mess of baby powder and kissed her for hours but Kelly took exception to lying in the middle of the change table naked and so he had to take a step back. He had to take a deep breath and let her go.

'I meant that,' he told her. 'And I would happily spend all day proving it to you but I really do have to go to work.'

Adalind still seemed dazed but Kelly made another sound of protest and she snapped out of it. 'Nick,' she murmured, gaze once more focused on Kelly. 'In six months, when you ask me, I'm going to say yes.'