A/N: So, I'm probably not going to write a fic this weekend, too much school stuff going on.

And the worst thing is, I have a full day (0930-1730) lab this coming Saturday! :(

...which, given the timezone I'm from, I will not be able to watch the Grimm episode as it is being aired. T_T

Anyway, lil bit about this fic- It contains references to 1.02 , 1.03, 2.05, 2.07, 2.08, 2.10

Doubting Nick 2 : Going Off the Rails

It was ten at night when Monroe decided to practice cello and, as it is with most other times, he was interrupted by a knock on the door. He's pretty certain it's not Nick because he can't smell him and usually he can smell him from a mile away. It's all thanks to Nick's constant infringement of his privacy that his scent has been permanently imprinted on his olfactory system. So, imagine his surprise when he found Hank at his door.

"Oh, hi Hank!" greeted Monroe, "Nick didn't come with you?"

"Nope, it's just me" Hank replied, making his way into Monroe's house, very much like the way Nick always does. Monroe thought that maybe it's a cop thing but don't cops usually have to ask something like 'can we come in and ask (insert name) a few questions about (insert case)'?

"So, what up?"

"I couldn't think of anyone else to talk to..." Hank started. He had recently acquired information that the whole Grimm-Wesen collaboration has been going on for a while and asked, "You and Nick are quite tight right? -You were his other partner".

"Well, not initially" Monroe responded, thinking about the '78 Bordeaux he got for sniffing out the Mellifer, "He bribed me into it but yeah, you can say that."

"I know he is a Grimm and all but I realized that he is becoming more...violent. Was he always like that?" Hank wondered. For all these years that he has been working with Nick, he never seemed like the type to use excessive force. He was the one who would observe, read and infer while Hank would corner, intimidate and interrogate- Passive and active detective work, they were good like that.

"Hmm, actually, that's a fair question." Monroe pondered for a moment and continued, "Grimms have always been known to be quite brutal in their methods but I gotta admit, Nick is as good as they come with regards to being nice. I would even go as far as to say that he's one of a kind," he observed.

"Right..." Hank remarked, not entirely convinced. "Maybe it's just me, but it's pretty disturbing to see him beating the daylights out of our suspects and that is not very nice. Also, did you know he tried to shoot one with a crossbow?!" he asked, his voice raising up a pitch.

"Oh right, the truth serum. I agree that the crossbow isn't the most effective mode of delivery but given the nature of interaction between Nick and his perp, a syringe is probably a worse idea considering how easily it breaks." Monroe commented.

"That wasn't what I meant" Hank retorted. What he was concerned about is Nick was using less than ethical means to extort information but Monroe didn't get it and neither did Nick when he called him out on it. Apparently, he was functioning on a different wavelength than the both of them.

Monroe must have caught his frustration and offered his opinion, "Erm... Hank, have you considered that maybe he didn't want to lie to you anymore? That maybe he's letting his inner Grimm out for you to see?"

"I've never thought of it like that" Hank said, surprised at this alternate perspective.

"Let me put it in another way" Monroe thought for a while before continuing, "You have had a case involving Lowens before right?"

"Yes" Hank replied, wondering where Monroe was going with this.

"What do you know about them?"

"Nick says that they are aggressive, competitive and prone to violence," Hank stated, listing off whatever he remembered from what his partner had told him before.

"Yea, you see, all Wesen species have their own personality traits. I don't know whether or not Nick realizes this, but Grimms do too." Monroe revealed.

"I'm guessing that includes excessive use of force?" Hank asked, recalling the time couple of months ago where one of the guy they've arrested lodged a complaint against Nick for punching him in the face, repeatedly.

"Well, not just that." Monroe answered and explained, "From what I've been told or what I can tell from Nick and his family, Grimms are natural born profilers, gifted fighters and have this hyper-awareness that borderline on paranoia."

"His family?- Oh, his Aunt" Hank clearly remembered Nick telling him that his parents died when he was twelve and that he lived with his aunt every since up till he entered the Police Academy. 'Huh, so Aunt Marie was a Grimm, sure didn't look like it' Hank thought. The first and last time he saw her was when she was dying from cancer.

"Yep, Aunt Marie. She was scary. Back then, when I helped Nick watch over her at the hospital, I had nightmares of Aunt Marie cutting off my head and sticking it on a lamppost. The woman was basically comatose when she choked me from her own hospital bed!" Monroe shivered. Even so, she wasn't as scary as Nick's mom, but he wasn't going to mention this little fact because he's pretty sure Nick wouldn't want people knowing that his mother is still alive, let alone still carrying on the tradition of dispatching- It's bad press for Nick.

The more Hank listened to Monroe, the more similarities he found between Nick and Monroe's description. He recalled the time when Nick first brought him to the trailer and how he drove in circles and other random places before reaching, then scanned his surroundings before actually unlocking the unpowered vehicle. Heck, there was even a time when he wished Nick were his partner when he met his third wife because he had such good instincts for people.

"Okay, what you said about Grimms sound rather much like Nick. I mean, in spite of all these, he's essentially still the same person right? It's just... there are some moments that I don't even recognize him at all!". Hank exclaimed. Back when they were working on the vigilante murders, he didn't actually think that Nick killed the guy in the basement despite finding him over his dead body, but what he couldn't believe was that Nick thought it was fine to hurt the guy -with medieval weapons no less- to get information.

"You know that Nick has only been a Grimm for a little over a year right?" Monroe stated.

"Yep, he said that he only inherited the ability recently and that males come into it late" Hank replied.

"You remember the little Drang-zorn girl who went on a murder rampage because she matured a little too early and couldn't control her emotions?" Monroe asked.

Hank nodded. How could he forget? It was such a twisted case! Who would suspect a nine year old to be the perpetrator? Everyone was shocked when the truth was revealed. Thank god Nick had wesen contacts to arrange for someone to keep an eye on little April at juvie.

"Likewise, Nick is also slowly coming into his 'Grimm-ness' and sometimes he gets carried away" Monroe shared and added, "That's why I think that it is a good idea for you to be 'in the know' to prevent him from doing stupid things".

"I'm beginning to get that too," Hank acknowledged. He hopes it's enough to keep Nick away from trouble but he seems to attract them - And that is most definitely a Grimm thing.

"But all in all, I think he's still alright- Unless something bad happen." Monroe said.

"Like Juliette?" Hank offered.

"Juliette? I thought Nick and her were getting along just fine" Monroe remarked, astonished that there was anything was wrong with that budding relationship. Just a few weeks ago, Nick was going on about how Juliette was warming up to him and now it seems that things have changed. 'What happened?' Monroe thought.

"Haven't you heard? They had a fight." Hank divulged.

"Oh god, that's awful. How's Nick holding up?" Monroe asked, feeling bad for his friend. Before the whole Adalind cat scratch incident, Nick and Juliette were the most stable couple he has ever known, not that he has many friends, but still...

"He's been on edge, reckless, sleep deprived...doing 'stupid things' which led me to your house in the first place" Hank admitted. "I'm worried that one day he might snap and go terminator," he added.

"It's not likely, but I'll talk to him about it" Monroe assured Hank. An unstable Grimm is no good for anyone but then again, Nick isn't the typical Grimm, he wasn't raised that way. Besides, since he has known the guy, Nick has never done things that Monroe didn't agree with.

So, he's pretty sure that Hank was overreacting - well, quite sure.

-END-