a/n: This story has been my life for a year (almost to the day!) and it would not have been possible without your amazing and continued support. I won't say this is goodbye forever because this fandom is way too amazing for that but I need to focus on my original novel for a while and I also need to finish the Harry Potter story I left hanging.

Thank you for the amazing reviews, the continued encouragements and the favourites and follows!

Necessary Sins – Epilogue

A year ago, the only thing cluttering his desk was work. He'd never been the kind of man to fill his workspace with photo
s of loved ones, mostly because for a long time he hadn't really felt like he had a family to display, to show off. He'd had that one photo of Juliette for a while but there'd been an incident involving a witness, some flailing limbs and some projectile vomit and the frame with her photo had been a casualty.

He'd never bothered to replace it. Probably should have taken that as a sign, looking back. Now though, his desk was a mess of photos, artwork and home to at least two mugs that proclaimed him to be an awesome dad and a fabulous husband. He had three photos at any given time showing Adalind and the kids, one with his mom playing with her grandkids and even one of him asleep with both Diana and Nate sprawled on top of him. Diana insisted on bringing in new artwork for him to display at least once a week and so there was a good portion of Hank's desk (and Wu's too for that matter) that were slowly being taken over by the colourful scribblings of a mostly three-year-old (they were calling it three now, there'd been some assessment from a wesen paediatrician so that was what they'd settled on).

Nick loved everything about it. For the first time in his life he truly felt like he had the family he'd always dreamed about, the life he'd always pictured for himself. And that included being knee deep in wesen drama, 4AM feeds and sleepless nights with explosive diapers and ear infections (surprisingly, that last one was his mother – she had not been pleasant) and everything that came with being a parent in a perfectly normal household – because honestly, the definition of normal was fluid even if you weren't a Grimm married to a hexenbiest.

'Oh, the look is back,' Wu observed. 'Should I come back?'

'What look?' Nick asked coming out of his thoughts to look at Wu who had just approached his desk, iPad in hand.

'It's your Happily Married Family Man look,' Wu explained. 'It's vaguely nauseating.'

Nick snorted. 'I do not have a look.'

'Hank,' Wu implored, looking over at Nick's partner. 'Help me out, does Nick have a look?'

'Glazed eyes, dreamy smile?' Hank asked. 'Yeah, he's got a look.'

Nick rolled his eyes. 'Did you get something?' he asked Wu, effectively putting an end to the conversation because he would never admit it, but yeah, he has a look.

'Registration for the shot gun we found in Tallman's car,' Wu explained giving him a look that let Nick know Wu knew exactly what he was doing but it didn't change the fact that they all knew there was a look. 'Belongs to Tallman's sister-in-law but she reported it stolen three months ago.'

'And it ended up in her brother-in-law's car?' Hank wasn't exactly surprised by the news, more by the stupidity of some people.

'Three months, though?' Nick said. 'That's a long time to be planning this.'

Wu shrugged. 'The whole thing probably would have gone off without a hitch if security hadn't gotten sick and been in the wrong corridor.'

'Yeah,' Hank agreed. 'Can't imagine they were planning on killing the guy from the beginning. The other two were really freaked when they learned Tallman shot the guard.'

Nick shook his head and was about to suggest they go and collect Tallman's sister-in-law when Renard stuck his head out of his office and called him in. Renard didn't wait to see if Nick was responding to his summons, he just turned and went back into his office. Nick exchanged a glance with Hank and Wu before he got up and headed into Renard's office.

Things between him and the Captain had been strained in the beginning and while Nick would like to think some of the tension had bled away now that Renard was a firm part of Diana's life there were still moments when it became apparent Renard was jealous of Nick's place in their daughter's life. Renard might have helped create Diana but Nick was the first man she'd ever called "daddy", the first father she'd ever known and that didn't sit well with Renard. Nick didn't blame him, he just wasn't sure there was anything he could do about it.

Renard's desk wasn't as cluttered as Nick's but it was now home to a picture of Diana and a single drawing. There'd been some questioning looks around the precinct when people had started to notice Nick and Renard had pictures of the same kid but no one had out right asked about it and Nick thought Wu or Hank might have had a quiet word with some of the officers because the looks had died down and everyone now seemed to know that Nick was married to Renard's ex and they weren't making a thing of it.

In fact, because he was so used to the mess of clutter his desk had become it took Nick a moment to realise that not only was Renard's desk tidy but it was too tidy. There were piles of neatly stacked reports missing, his laptop was packed away and, when he glanced over his shoulder, Nick realised the small liquor cabinet was empty.

'What's going on?' Nick asked, which wasn't what he'd intended to say but he was suddenly suspicious of his summons.

Renard motioned for him to take a seat and leant back in his own chair. 'I've been offered a job.'

That was not at all what Nick was expecting. 'A job?'

Renard nodded. 'My father reached out to me and offered me a position working with the Royal families to rebuild after Black Claw.'

Nick's eyebrows shot up. He'd always been under the impression Renard wasn't welcome amongst the Royals, though come to think of it, Adalind might have said something about it being the King's wife who'd originally threatened Renard's life. They hadn't seemed to have much issue with Diana before she was born, they'd certainly been fighting for control of her. That did suggest the issue was with Renard in particular and not bastard children.

'There have been a lot of changes within the Royal families these last years. My father thinks it's time I join the family business.'

A part of Nick wanted to seek clarification on just what the family business was and whether or not Renard was using the word business as a euphemism but he refrained. Mostly because he wasn't sure he wanted to know. There'd been a lot less trying to kill him since they'd joined forces to bring down Black Claw, Nick would almost say he and the Royals were on good terms. Well, as good as things could be between a Grimm and the Royal families. Most of the trouble they caused happened in Europe and that made it the problem of the Wesen Council and other Grimms, Nick had enough on his plate dealing with Portland.

'It's a good opportunity,' Renard said and then he added, 'It might be the best way to protect Diana if she ever regains her powers,' as though he needed to justify his choices with Nick.

'You're taking the job.'

Renard nodded.

'You're not taking Diana.' It was a statement not a question, there was no way in hell, Nick was letting that happen and Adalind was much more likely to kill Renard than even entertain it as an option.

Renard shook his head. 'I spent my earliest years around the Royals, I don't want that for her.'

Nick wanted to believe that was the biggest sign of all that Renard had changed since meeting his daughter but he thought it more likely his mother knew all about this job offer and had been there with cautious words and advice. Elizabeth loved Diana, doted on her like any grandmother should, Nick couldn't imagine she'd want the constant running and power struggles for Diana, she'd hidden Renard so well to avoid most of that, not just to keep him alive.

'I still want holidays,' Renard said.

'You won't be able to have weekends now,' Nick pointed out. 'And I'm not sure Adalind's going to agree to sending her to Vienna for Christmas.'

'I know,' Renard said. 'I'll come home for holidays. Perhaps when she's older we can reconsider.'

Nick nodded slowly but he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Renard was moving, leaving the country and he wasn't taking Diana with him, was actually acknowledging that staying with Nick and Adalind was best for her. There had to be a catch.

'There's no catch?' Adalind asked that night, toothbrush in one hand as she looked at him incredulously.

'Apparently not,' Nick replied, taking the toothpaste tube from her other hand.

'He's just leaving?'

'Yep,' Nick confirmed. 'At the end of the week. We're meeting our new captain tomorrow.'

Adalind met his eyes in the mirror and shook her head. 'I don't like it. I mean, I love that he's not going to be here, that the most we'll have to deal with him is holidays and Skype calls but this is so wrong. We're never this lucky.'

'I know,' Nick agreed. 'I want to know what the Royals have planned. As much as I'm sure Renard wants to believe his father is reaching out, I doubt the King has ever done anything so altruistic in his life.'

Adalind nodded, clearly on the same page. 'Have you heard from Trubel yet?' she asked, changing the subject to one that was filled with a lot less political dangers but still slightly murky.

Nick shook his head. 'Josh got an email yesterday, said she was in Vancouver looking into that Grimm stash tied to the Dobrini family up there but he hasn't heard whether or not she found anything yet.'

'Do you think she will?'

'I don't know. There are still fifteen keys missing that we know about, could be more. More maps, more treasure. We're talking centuries of Grimm paranoia here.'

'What about hat hexenbiest treasure?'

Nick shrugged. 'I don't know.'

They stood side by side brushing their teeth and contemplating what Renard's move could mean, what the Royals might be up to and whether or not Trubel was having any luck locating the new Grimm treasure stashes they'd learned about. There were too many unknowns, too many questions and concerns and Nick didn't know if they needed the answers, if they'd ever get the answers or if they were questions he even needed the answers to. (Which was exactly as confusing as it sounded.) There was every chance the Royals would keep to themselves, that they'd leave him and his family alone – for the most part. They'd never truly be free of them when Diana was, for all intents and purposes, one of them.

It just seemed highly unlikely. Whether he'd intended it or not Nick and his friends had become major players in the wesen world. They controlled more secrets than they'd ever realised, had more contacts in the wesen world than any one Grimm had ever had before. They were moving up in the wesen world and Nick just couldn't see the Royals sitting back and letting that happen.

There was something coming, something big, but Nick was still unsure whether or not he and his family were about to be swept up in its wake.

Shattering his thoughts, Diana started screaming which set Nate off. He and Adalind rinsed their mouths quickly, dropped their brushes in the cup on the sink and responded to the noise. He took Diana, Adalind went to sort out Nate and Nick couldn't help thinking that no matter what happened, no matter what came their way, they would always have this moment.

World changing conversations over the bathroom sink with toothbrushes in hand and kids demanding attention. That was the life Nick had found for himself and he wouldn't change it for the world.