Chapter Three

Monroe spent the day away and had puttered around the house later that night, continuously watching the snatches of sunset he could see through the window as he had walked past. He had been working on a clock, finishing it, actually. One of his mechanicals from the bedroom had all, of a sudden, slowed down two days ago; he heard it late at night when the ticking of the hands didn't seem so constant. He'd found out that night that the clock needed to be oiled again, and he chided himself for forgetting the task that he had to perform every two years. He'd had this clock for a long time now. He didn't want it to wear out prematurely.

Now, he had gotten everything put back in its proper place, including the clock on the wall. There had been this empty space on the wall for the past two days and it had driven him to the point where he couldn't sleep. He liked routines. He liked things where they should be. He didn't like change.

At the moment present moment, he was sprawled out on the bed, attention directed towards the small television in his room. It was just past nine-thirty at night, and he was all but ready to fall asleep over reruns of The Brady Bunch. The gentle ticking of the clock that had been absent for two days was lulling him to sleep faster than he would have liked, but he wasn't complaining.

It was somewhere in between getting lost in nearly unheard dialogue and the calming ticking of the clock that Monroe felt himself dozing.

Tick. Tock.

Tick. Tock.

Tick. Tock...

The ringing of his phone brutally ripped away that serene moment.

Monroe jumped, groaned, and swore all within five seconds of each other, hauling himself out of bed as he crossed the hardwood floor. He scooped his recently discarded jeans off the floor, drew his phone out, and all but stormed the three feet back to his bed.

"What?" he barked as he accepted the call, pressing the phone to his ear. His greeting came out harsher than he had expected, gruffer than he could have wanted, but who else would be calling him this late at night?

"Monroe! I have great news!"

He groaned again, burying his face into his pillow to stifle it. He was a very dedicated person. He was dedicated to routines, and just as much, he was dedicated to sleep. Even though it was still his own fault that he was awake at this time, he liked to be in bed no later than eight-thirty and have the television off by eight-forty-five. And even though it was his own fault that he was still awake at this time of night, Nick had no right, absolutely no right, to call this late, acting all happy-go-fucking-lucky because of-

Wait.

When had Nick been happy go lucky? He hadn't been happy at all when he'd left his house. Monroe had seriously been concerned for the Grimm's mental state when he'd left his house earlier this morning.

"What happened?"

He was voicing the same question from the night before, but there was no dead-tired Nick at his doorway, smelling of depression and exhaustion; there was no ginger tea or water bottles or warm blankets or waking up to find the Grimm half passed out on his couch. There wasn't sadness, only an eagerness that spoke of cheerful things. There wasn't anything that related the occurrence to last night except the question itself.

"Juliette! She, I mean we- we made up!"

Nick was that little naïve Grimm again. He trusted too easily and he believed too quickly. Give him a break-up, he would break down. Give him a make-up and he would fall back into his little happy routine as if nothing had ever happened. It wasn't really... good.

"You did?"

"She said something about overexaggerating and how she was sorry, and..." There was some static; Monroe believed it was Nick's happy little sigh. "I'm just glad things are alright again."

"Yeah... That's great." He tried to put a bit more feeling into his words, and must have managed, because Nick didn't demand to know what was wrong.

The whole idea didn't sit well with Monroe. Awhile ago now, Nick had told him how his Aunt had said breaking up with Juliette would be beneficial to them both. And Monroe had immediately agreed with Nick's Aunt, surprisingly enough. A relationship between a Wesen and a Grimm was taboo, but heard of. A relationship between a Grimm and a human was taboo and unheard of. It wouldn't end well. Monroe knew it couldn't end well.

"Life is so complicated, Monroe," Nick muttered suddenly, but it was with that air of exuberance that someone has when they have just gotten something that they want. And, perhaps, he sounded just the slightest bit wondering.

"Life likes to try and... trip us up," Monroe replied carefully, picking his words before he said them out loud. He was desperate to get the warning across, to say that what Nick was doing now was for the worse.

But, who was he to say? Shouldn't he just have been happy that Nick had gotten back together with his girlfriend? That's what friends did, right; supported each other no matter how stupid the choice was.

Monroe was sadly uneducated in friendship.

"That it does. But anyway, I figured I should tell you since you were so good to me last night... I wanted to say thanks again."

Monroe sighed wearily, rubbing his eyes. "Oh yeah, it's fine. But when something else goes wrong, I don't want you on my doorstep at three in the morning again, alright? At least wait until six!"

Nick laughed lightly, and Monroe could almost hear that the Grimm had already forgotten about the mental pain that he had gone through the night before. "It won't happen again."

Where Monroe was uneducated in friendship, Nick was uneducated in the ways of life.

"But if it does..."

"Then I'll wait until six a.m. before I knock on your door, Monroe. I got it. I wouldn't want to disturb your beauty sleep again," Nick joked.

Monroe grimaced, and not because of Nick's beauty sleep joke.

The Grimm just didn't get it. He just didn't...

Monroe opened his mouth to say something before he snapped it shut again. No. This was not his business. He did not have a say in this. He just had to keep his opinions to himself.

"Good," he replied instead, half unaware of the word spewing from his mouth in a lame attempt to roll with the humour.

There was silence, then, for a stretch of time, tense for Monroe, blissful for Nick.

Monroe was the one who broke it. "So, are you going to tell her...?"

"Hm?"

"Well, if you're staying with her-" even though you and I both know that you shouldn't "-I can only assume you plan on telling her the truth... if you think she can handle it. Or believe it. Or both."

"She doesn't need to know... Well, not right now. We just made up; I don't want to go spewing this Grimm stuff while she's still a little sore."

That's precisely why you should. That way, she has the worst all at once, Monroe thought to himself, but, as he was practicing this term of so-called friendship, he didn't say it. "So, soon?"

"Yeah. When the time's right, I'll just be able to- Oh, gotta go. Thanks again, Monroe. I'll talk to you soon."

What Monroe got through the sudden end of the phone was, one, talk to you soon probably meant I'll stop by your house tomorrow without invitation, and, two, When the time's right probably meant The time will never be right.

Monroe sighed and pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes wearily. He was worrying about Nick's affairs more than Nick was worrying about them. It wasn't fair... It just wasn't fair.

He placed his phone on the top of the headboard and switched the television off before settling himself into the blankets. It was Nick's life. Nick could be the only one to run it. Monroe would only keep his mouth shut and go along for the ride.

But, for now, his only immediate plan was to catch some sleep.

There wasn't much left to say in this chapter, namely because the only form of communication came through a phone call. But I hoped you liked it nonetheless. Thanks again for all of those who joined me for the ride of Sleepy and I hope you enjoyed it. The one thing I have to ask is, if you put this story on alert or favourites, please take the time to now review it, even if it's one word that describes your feelings on this story. Thank you.