Nick took Adalind's powers without knowing all the consequences. Now they have to figure out how to deal with their new reality….together. Can Nick see the beauty within the (former) biest. An A/U what-if story.

A/N I always loved the idea of the Nick and Adalind (Nadalind) pairing, pretty much since the first season, so I was thrilled that it happened on the show. BUT, I did miss some of the initial love/hate chemistry that they had throughout those first few seasons - so, this is my attempt to change history a bit so we can see Nadalind come together a bit earlier, where Adalind is still at the height of her feistiness, and Nick is still a bit unsure about his Grimm-ness. And while I love the idea of baby Kelly, I really wanted to look at Nadalind working together without a baby to keep Adalind at home all the time. I always thought they would make a kick ass team if they were working on the same side.

I have changed the timeline a bit on the Monroe/Rosalee relationship, mainly because I didn't want to deal with bringing them together. So, even though this takes place post S1E17, Monrosalee is already in full swing. Everything else should progress along a similar timeline, although some things will obviously need to change in the alternate reality. While I have rewatched some of seasons 1-4 (and all of 5-6), I can't guarantee that I get everything right ;)

An evil witch turned me into a monster and only the love of someone willing to accept me as I was, could transform me to my true self

CHAPTER ONE

"Nick, I think I found something…." Nick's head snapped up at the sound of Rosalee's voice. They had been searching for answers for hours. His blood was pounding in his ears, and a restless energy refused to be shaken – nothing relieving the seemingly constant ache that thrummed through his entire body.

He looked to Rosalee in relief, but that relief turned to apprehension as he noted the look of agitation on her face.

"What is it?" Nick asked, his voice wary

"There may have been something that we overlooked when you shared your blood with Adalind," Rosalee began, then she hesitated, took a deep breath, and continued, "It is possible that we have created a connection between you and Adalind, one that can only be relieved with….."

Rosalee trailed off, and Nick closed his eyes in frustration, his brow furrowing as he contemplated what he already knew to be true.

"Go ahead and say it, Rosalee," Nick said on a sigh.

"Can only be relieved with…being with her." Rosalee finished, wincing.

"Would have been nice to have this information a bit earlier," Nick said, mostly to himself.

"I know, and I am sorry, but this information was buried deep in this book," Rosalee hurried to continue, "Apparently both Grimms and hexenbiests tried to hide this information – the joining of a Grimm and a Hexenbiest is apparently quite powerful, their souls naturally adversarial, but also naturally mated,"

Rosalee looked thoughtful for a minute before continuing, "I suppose it makes a weird kind of sense, hexenbiests are the most human-like of all wesen. And they have knowledge and talents, even without their powers, that would be invaluable to a Grimm.….." she trailed off as Nick looked at her, mouth agape, "Anyway, because of this…intense connection, Grimms and hexenbiests generally try to avoid close contact, neither one wanting to admit to the possibility of an alliance, especially since the only way to achieve this would be for the hexenbiest to submit to the Grimm and lose their power. The underlying differences seem too great to overcome. But with the hexenbiest spirit removed….."

Rosalee trailed off as she watched Nick's face change from frustration to astonishment.

"Rosalee, are you trying to tell me that Adalind is my soulmate?" Nick couldn't keep the incredulous laughter from breaking forth.

Rosalee eyed him worriedly, but pressed on.

"Well, that's one way to put it, although perhaps a bit over-dramatic – the link between you existed naturally, you a Grimm and Adalind a hexenbiest. You just happened to aggravate the situation by sharing your blood with her. Once you removed her power, you removed the last barrier – she is no longer your enemy and now, for reasons beyond my limited understanding, you long for her." Rosalee whispered the last words, worried about Nick's reaction to the news.

"Well that's just great." Nick said, barely controlling his raging emotions. Then he picked up the closest glass and threw it against the wall.

%%%%%

"What if she gets her powers back? Would that sever this…connection?" Monroe was desperately searching for another answer as he watched his friend from the corner of his eye. Nick had ensconced himself in a dark corner in the back of the spice shop, a bottle of whiskey his only companion.

"The process of regaining those powers can be quite difficult," Rosalee began, a finger tapping her chin thoughtfully, "and even then there is no guarantee that it would work. The information on this subject is very slim…this was always meant to be a well-guarded secret. Hexenbiests are exactly the most social of wesen. They stay to themselves for the most part, keeping their own counsel when it comes to a lot of their history and lore."

"Maybe I should just screw her and get it over with," Nick slurred loudly from his corner of the room. Rosalee and Monroe turned to him with raised eyebrows and he grinned sheepishly, "Sorry, must be the whiskey talking."

He took another long pull from the bottle.

"I mean, it wouldn't be that much of a hardship," he continued, suddenly thoughtful, "She's beautiful, charming, when she wants to be…good kisser…not afraid of a little biting."

Rosalee and Monroe continued regarding him warily.

"Sorry, please continue…" Nick trailed off again, taking another drink. He retreated further into the corner, and Monroe and Rosalee turned back towards each other.

"What are we going to do about him?" Monroe whispered uneasily, "We can't just let him stay drunk indefinitely."

"Maybe we let it slide for now…." Rosalee answered, compassion edging her words, "until we can find an answer for him…..even if it's an answer that he doesn't want."

%%%%%

Nick felt himself slide into oblivion, but the relief he sought would not come. Only images of her. Coming to him, slowly undressing as he watched with starving eyes. His hands reached for her, but she was always just out of his grasp, a seductive smile playing across her lips as she let her silk blouse slide gently from her shoulders, revealing herself to his hungry eyes.

"Adalind…." He breathed reverently, trying to walk towards her, but his feet seemed fused to the ground. She was getting further away,and his heart lurched to his throat, his fear of losing her so real, so visceral, that it drew a strangled cry from his throat.

A sudden shaking brought him awake and his eyes opened and focused on Monroe – the look of concern from his friend brought him slowly back to reality.

"You ok, man?" Monroe asked, "You seemed…distressed."

Nick felt a little more than distressed. His emotions felt raw, at the surface, and unshed tears seemed to cling to his eyes.

"I don't know…understand…." Nick tried to put it in words, but his thoughts jumbled and he couldn't seem to articulate his thoughts.

Monroe was growing more concerned by the minute. He looked over his shoulder to where Rosalee was standing, concerned etched on her face, as well.

"We need to fix this…..soon."

%%%%%

Adalind woke with a start, a thin sheen of sweat covering her entire body as she came back to herself after waking from a dream…..a dream of him.

"Nick…" whispered in the darkness, it was a plea, but for what? She had seen him in her dreams, she was trying to walk towards him as his hands reached for her, but her forward steps seemed to propel her in the opposite direction. He didn't move toward her, but instead seemed to be trapped where he stood. His eyes held a banked fire of desire, which thrilled her, spurred her to make the flame leap. She had let her shirt fall first, watched the fire come to life as he called for her to come to him. But she couldn't – the yearning and desire overcoming her until she jolted back to the present, a jumble of raw nerves and emotions.

Her hands fisted in the sheets of her bed as her body demanded a release that she knew wasn't coming. Frustration mounted as she keened for the touch of a lover she knew she would never have.

%%%%%

"What did you give him?" Monroe asked Rosalee as they walked downstairs after depositing Nick in the guest room.

"Just a little concoction that will help him sleep," Rosalee answered, weariness entering her tone. "I'm hoping a little sleep will help him clear his mind a bit….but we still don't have a solution to this problem. And it's not like we can send him home until we know how to fix this….."

Rosalee trailed off and looked at Monroe expectantly. He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation.

"I called Juliette, told her Nick worked late on a case here with me and was too exhausted to drive home."

"That's relatively close to the truth…..not like we can tell Juliette the whole truth, is it…."

"Well yeah, I don't think telling her that Nick is overcome with desire for another woman would go over so well, all things considered," Monroe sighed and closed his eyes, "I wish Nick had told her about being a Grimm. He is never going to be able to make her understand this."

"Maybe he won't have to," Rosalee said hopefully, "maybe we will find the answer before anything else happens."

"Is that even possible at this point?" Monroe asked, "I feel like we have exhausted every book in the trailer and spice shop. Where else could we find answers?"

Rosalee sighed, "I have a few books in the basement I can still look at, but to be honest, I'm not hopeful. A friendly neighborhood hexenbiest would be nice."

Monroe snorted a laugh, "Good luck with that. Adalind was the only hexenbiest we even knew about, and we haven't even met her. And I think we can safely say she's probably not in overly 'friendly' mood, considering her current circumstances."

"Ya, its pretty unlikely that she would help even if we could find her," Rosalee replied with a sigh, "Anyway, I think we've done what we can for now. We'll look at it with fresh eyes in the morning. Let's go to bed."

"You're staying the night?" Monroe's mood went from contemplative to expectant, as he gave her a smile.

"I think it's for the best if I'm here in case anything else happens with Nick," Rosalee responded reasonably, before offering a smile of her own, "not to mention, I could use the company."

She walked upstairs, Monroe following quickly behind her.

%%%%%

When Nick woke the next morning, he felt a little better. His body was still battered with need, but the feeling had grown slightly more subtle….or perhaps he was just learning to live with this new reality. It was hard to say, really.

He made his way downstairs and was present enough to give Monroe and Rosalee an embarrassed smile. He poured himself a cup of coffee, forgoing cream and sugar in favor of a strong restorative.

"How'd you sleep, buddy?" Monroe asked cautiously.

"Not too bad, considering," Nick answered, his brain slowly catching up with the rest of him. He glanced at Rosalee with an accusatory smile, "what did you give me?"

"Nothing special, just something that we give to people who…have a lot on their minds," Rosalee answered kindly, "Oh! And don't worry, we called Juliette and let her know that you were spending the night."

Nick winced at Juliette's name. Things had not been great between them since this whole Grimm thing took over. He couldn't imagine that THIS would make that any smoother. Not to mention that the thought of sharing a house, much less a bed, had become decidedly less appealing in the last 24 hours. The fuzzy "where do we go from here" conversation was becoming clearer in his mind, and the unfortunate reality was that he was going to have to end things with Juliette sooner rather than later. Once that had been accomplished, he could proceed with fixing…..whatever this was.

"I have to go break it off with Juliette," Nick said hurriedly, getting up and starting to move with purpose towards the door.

"Now wait a minute, man, do you really want to do that…it could just be whatever you got going on right now making you do crazy things," Monroe grabbed Nick's arm before he could open the door. "Don't do something that you may regret later."

"To be honest with you guys, I have been thinking about it a lot lately," Nick said wearily. "I can't pull someone so wholly unconnected with these…problems…into all this drama. She will never understand. Can't ever understand. And I don't have the strength, or the heart, to lie to her. Not anymore. She deserves better than this."

Nick opened the door and with a final smile of thanks, walked out into the morning sun.

%%%%%

Adalind pulled her weary body from her bed and made her way slowly to the bathroom. She hadn't slept well, but tossed and turned. Closing her eyes had meant facing Nick in her dreams…..staying awake made her face the fact that she was no longer a hexenbiest. Neither situation left her ready to face the day.

She stepped into the shower and tried to wash away the feelings warring inside her – losing her hexenbiest spirit had opened a floodgate of emotions, making her feel things she didn't understand. Sympathy, empathy, guilt…not to mention the cruel sucker punch that was her unrelenting desire for the Grimm that was responsible for all these feelings coming to the surface.

She sighed and turned off the shower – she wondered if she should try talking to her mother and Sean again about what had happened, but quickly thought better of it. They would do nothing but rant at her incompetence in handling the Grimm, and to be perfectly honest, she didn't have it in her to beg their forgiveness. They had helped get her into the situation, manipulating her to get what they needed without thought to the potential consequences that awaited her.

So, no – she would go to work, act normal….try and play this out until she could figure out what she needed to do. She could head to the spice and tea shop across town and talk to Freddie, see if he had heard of anything like this…maybe she would have to take a long lunch and see what she could find out.

%%%%%

Nick opened the door to his house slowly, half hoping to find that Juliette had already left for work. Unfortunately, luck had not been on his side for the better part of a year, and today was no different.

Juliette was sitting at the table, eating her usual breakfast. She looked up as he entered the dining room, but turned her attention back to her phone.

"Nice of you to come home," she said sarcastically, without looking up.

"Ya, sorry about that," Nick replied sheepishly, running an agitated hand through his hair, "things got a bit…out of hand last night. I didn't want to come in late and wake you."

Juliette looked up again, cocking her head and giving him a cold stare, "That has never stopped you from coming home before. Why don't you try the truth for once?"

Nick hesitated. The truth? That could be tricky…..

"I can tell from your pause that you're trying to formulate your version of the truth, "Juliette snapped, standing suddenly and walking toward him with purpose, "so let me just save you a little trouble. Either you tell me the truth RIGHT NOW about what happened last night, or this is over."

She was standing almost toe to toe with him, and he could feel the anger radiate off her body as she glared at him.

"Juliette, I don't want to lie to you, but the truth in this circumstance…." Nick trailed off, rubbing his hand against the back of his neck, and Juliette shook her head in disbelief.

"I think you owe it to me, whatever it is," Her anger was still real, but there was a desperation in her voice as well.

Nick looked at her for a long moment, tried to remember what it had felt like to have an uncomplicated relationship with an ordinary human…..and he suddenly realized that there was no going back. Juliette had no idea what his life was now, who he was, what he was going to be forced to become. He had thought that he would be able to hide it from her, or at the very least share it with her without involving her in the madness, but the real madness was trying to live this double life, constantly hiding things from the woman that he supposedly loved.

"Juliette…." His voice was pleading, "I can't…..I can't tell you, or explain this…." He ran a hand over his face roughly, "I just can't."

"Is it another woman?" Juliette asked, her voice quavering with hurt, most of the anger having left her.

Nick couldn't help the hysterical burst of laughter that came from his mouth and Juliette gaped at him, incredulous.

"I'm sorry…it's just that, well yes, it involves a woman, but not in the way you think…."Nick trailed off, and then continued, his voice firm, "It's complicated, Juliette, and I wish I could tell you, explain it, but I can't."

Nick realized he had put it off long enough, and drew a steadying breath before taking a step towards her and putting both hands on her shoulders.

"I want you to know that I love you, Juliette, and I never planned for my life to take this direction, but it has, and I can't ask you to continue being with me and trusting me when there are parts of me that I will never be able to share with you," Nick got the words out as quickly as possible, trying to minimize the impact of the words. If he was honest with himself, he would say that his relief was palpable, but he stayed focused on the woman before him, the woman that he had once thought he would marry.

"I can't believe you're doing this to me," Juliette stared at him blankly, unshed tears glistening in her eyes, "After everything, it's just over….."

Juliette walked away from him then, moving towards the front door, grabbing her purse along the way.

"Juliette…." Nick started after her, but she put up a hand to stop him where he was.

"Just stop, I need to figure out where I am going and what I'm doing…." She looked over her shoulder at him and opened the front door, "I'll let you know when I will be here to get my stuff." She closed the door softly, and just like that she was gone.

%%%%%

Adalind realized that it was Saturday only after she arrived at her firm and noticed that the parking garage was only half full. She sat in her car for a moment and debated going inside and working on a few simple motions to try and get her mind off her rather large problems.

Resting her head against her steering wheel, she conceded to herself that it was unwise to ignore such large issues – losing her hexenbiest self, not getting the key from the Grimm, not being able to stop thinking about the Grimm…..

Her mother and Sean had made it very clear last night that she no longer had any value to them …it was possible even her firm, which largely catered to the wesen community, would put her aside once they realized that she was no longer a hexenbiest. She hoped that her outstanding record and legal mind would make up for it, but after the disastrous scene last night with those that supposedly loved her, she was no longer sure of anything.

Putting her car back in gear, she backed out of her spot and headed back onto the street – she needed answers more than she needed anything else, so she made her way across town to hopefully find the answers that she needed.

%%%%%

Rosalee was getting a headache from looking through the mountain of books that she had unearthed in the basement of the spice shop. Nothing she had found was at all helpful to Nick's situation. She slammed another book shut and started coughing as puff of dust rose into the air.

"Lovely," she muttered to herself, wiping the dust from her nose. She sighed as she heard the bell from the shop ring. Normally she loved her job, but today she was exhausted from her sleepless night. She plastered a bright smile on her face and stepped out of the backroom. A pretty blonde stood at the counter, and Rosalee could sense the tension surrounding her.

"How can I help you?" Rosalee asked kindly, her natural empathy already overshadowing any earlier frustration.

The blonde met her eyes and then frowned slightly, "Oh…I didn't know anyone else worked here," she said awkwardly, her eyes darting behind Rosalee expectantly, "Is Freddie here?"

"Oh, I'm Freddie's sister, Rosalee…..I hate to have to tell you this, but my brother passed away," Rosalee answered, "I've taken over the shop, though, and I have a lot of experience with…unique issues that affect our…community." Rosalee was probing lightly to determine if she was dealing with a wesen and looked at the blonde expectantly.

At her words, the blonde inexplicably burst into tears.

"I…..WAS part of our community," she said between sobs, "But I'm not anymore."

Rosalee took a moment to process what the woman had said, and then took a step back in horror, "OH. MY. GOD! You're Nick's hexenbiest!"

%%%%%

Adalind's shock stymied her tears, and she started to slowly walk backwards.

"How?" The single word fell from her mouth as Rosalee continued to gape at her.

"Um, well, Nick is a friend of mine…." Rosalee's words trailed off at Adalind's incredulous look.

"You're friends…with the Grimm," Adalind would have laughed if she wasn't so scared, "You run a shop that specializes in helping wesen…and you're friends…..with the Grimm."

Adalind's eyes start darting around the shop, suddenly suspicious of every shadow and cabinet in the place. Never knew when a Grimm would jump out at you….

"Nobody is going to hurt you here," Rosalee put her hands in mock surrender, "I'll even try and help you if I can, although I am not sure I should after what happened to Hank and Wu."

"Are you serious?" Adalind had the same incredulous look on her face, and the fear had given way completely to disbelief, "You know he's a Grimm, right? You know, executioners born and bred to kill people like you and me…especially me, but I am sure they have taken a Fuchsbau out here and there, too. Everything I have been doing has been to try and keep the Grimm under control!"

Rosalee noticed that the look Adalind was now giving her was one of almost betrayal. She had to admit to herself that the friendship she and Monroe had cultivated with Nick was at best unconventional…and at worst totally against the nature of the wesen world.

"It's…..complicated," Rosalee said defensively, crossing her arms. She and Adalind stared at each other for a few beats, and then Rosalee finally dropped her arms and continued, "Look, Nick is…different. He doesn't kill indiscriminately, he actually listens and tries to understand the underlying issues before make a decision."

"For which he gets to act as judge, jury and executioner," Adalind replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "You can see how comforted I am by that thought, especially now that I am pretty much incapable of defending myself against him."

"But he wouldn't hurt you now! Especially now that you aren't, you know, what you were." Rosalee assured her quickly.

"But don't you see…..I am losing everything!" Adalind cried, "My mother disowned me, my…kinda…sorta… boyfriend left me, I work for a wesen law firm, so I have no idea if they will want me to continue…everything I was, I'm not anymore. I am nothing."

Adalind started to cry again and Rosalee's natural instinct was to comfort her. She walked to Adalind and pulled her into a hug and let her cry everything out.

And that is exactly how Nick found them when he walked into the shop five minutes later.