A/N: This is going to be a collection of what I hope will be 25 fics by the time it's done, both drabbles and short one-shots. It will focus on a whole host of characters, including some of the really minor ones. I hope you like it!

The problem with being a Grimm with a conscience, he mused, was that there were undoubtedly some wesen who would have preferred that he didn't have one at all. And the problem with being him was that he inevitably ended up in the parts of Portland that were populated by said wesen.

He had been on the trail on a suspect – a human suspect, for once – in a murder investigation when he'd been led here. Unfortunately for him, he was right in the middle of mellifer territory – and by the looks he was getting from windows, they still hadn't forgiven him about their queen.

It had been a long day – he'd been on the trail all day, and to top it all off, Nick hadn't yet managed to catch a sight of him. All he wanted was a place to rest for some time before returning home.

In most other parts of the city, it wouldn't have been a problem – there were usually a couple of eisbieber families around who were happy to give him something to eat and drink and a place to rest. But the mellifers protected their territory just as fiercely as bees protected their hive, and there were no friendly wesen here to help him out.

He started to trudge back towards his car, preparing himself for a long drive back to Monroe's, where he was meeting Monroe and Rosalee for dinner. At least, that was what he planned to do – when he heard the softest whisper possible.

Turning towards the sound, he saw that the source of the sound was a young woman from one of the houses he had thought were owned by the mellifers. At that moment, he was sure that she was a regular human – there was no chance that one of the bee wesen would be helping him – until he noticed her woge for a second before returning to human form.

It was enough to make him curious, and despite the voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Monroe telling him not to, he found himself approaching her.

"Come in quickly," she whispered urgently once he came within earshot, "Before one of the others sees you."

Only when he was inside the house and she had locked the door that she relaxed. It was then that Nick noticed that all the curtains on the windows facing the street were drawn, preventing anyone from looking in.

"Just wait here for a second," she murmured, turning around and making her way towards what Nick assumed was her kitchen.

She came out holding two glasses. Handing one to Nick, she said, "It's apple cider. You looked tired outside – this will do you some good."

Nick was slowly finding the woman in front of him more interesting by the second. "Why are you helping me?" he asked curiously, taking a sip from the glass she handed him. She was right – it was good. "I thought the mellifers wanted nothing to do with me."

"They don't," she replied, "But I'm not really a part of the hive, so the new queen can't control my actions."

"What do you mean?"

"Mellifer society works almost identical to bee society – we have one queen, and a whole host of worker bees. The queen is the only female mellifer who is part of the hive – the wives of the worker bees are humans, or other wesen, and the same goes for any daughter. But once in a while, there will a new female mellifer born – the new queen."

"So you're the new queen?" he asked. "I thought that when that happens, it's the new queen who keeps the hive, and the old one leaves with a few worker bees to find a new hive."

"That's where mellifer society differs," she replied. "It's the new queen that needs to find a new hive – she's given a few of the worker bees born in her generation to help her find her new territory, but the old queen keeps control over most of the original hive."

"But still, I would have expected you to hold the same grudge as the hive I met does."

"The hive is the queen's responsibility," the woman explained. "The old hive had no choice but to turn against you – if they hadn't done so, the queen would have looked weak. But in doing so, she's turned many of Portland's wesen against the mellifer hive."

Nick opened his mouth to question her words, but before he could, she continued. "I don't think you realise it, Grimm, but you have earned the loyalty of many different wesen since you became Portland's Grimm. In turning away from you, the hive found that these wesen turned away from them. Honey sales are down significantly since that happened, and selling honey is an integral of how mellifers make their livelihood. I don't plan on letting that happen to my hive."

"Won't you be leaving Portland? I thought the city was all the territory of the hive I met – they just keep to this area."

"No, the length and breadth of the territory is this part of Portland. I'm free to claim another part, as long as it isn't too close to the old hive. And I don't particularly want to leave this city. Besides, you were just doing your job that day. If Mellischwuler Wincroft had been careful and stayed out of your radar, you would never have been forced to turn against her. That's a mistake I don't plan on making anytime soon."

He supposed it was too much to ask that the mellifers make peace with the idea of never killing hexenbiest again – but at least this time, he had advance warning of what could happen if the witch-like wesen ever returned to Portland.

"Once the new hive is ready, I'll be sure to let you know," the woman murmured. "You will be welcome there whenever you wish to visit, Grimm, I promise you this. And if you ever need any help, just remember that you can call upon Ramona Spinella."

Regardless of whatever Ramona was planning, it still made him happy to know that he hadn't earned the hatred of all the mellifer because of the last time he had encountered them. It gave him hope for his relationships with the other wesen who hated him, like the bauerschwine.

Maybe, he mused, there was still hope that he could be the Grimm he wanted to be without alienating most of the relatively harmless wesen that called Portland home. Whatever the case might be, he was thankful that he met the young queen when he did – she had given him both a place to rest and a restoration of his hopes, things he had badly needed.

What had seemed like hours wasted fruitlessly chasing his suspect had turned into a day that hadn't been as bad as he had thought it was. He had met Ramona at what he was sure Monroe would call the best possible time when Nick told him the story – after all, there was no better to have his hopes returned to him than at the start of winter and the Christmas season.

I hope you guys liked it! As always, please don't forget to drop a review on your way out :)