I'm sorry for the long wait, hopefully the next update won't be so long in coming.
I scrapped this chapter a lot of times before finally coming up with something I could sort of like. I'm not entirely happy, buti's moving in the direction I ned it to, so for now that's enough.

If you recognised the first part of this chapter you might want to reread chapter 12 as I replaced the chapter a while ago because I wasn't happy with it.

Please enjoy.

Chapter 13

"So what now?" Hank asked.

It had been four days since they had reunited Monroe with his uncle, and the days were ticking down that Monroe would no longer be in Nick's home, and under his protection. He'd gone back to Captain Renard, but with nothing more to offer than his own gut feeling that both the fire and the explosion were connected, and deliberate, he had known it would be a long shot.

There was so much of this case that he just didn't know, and it had been dark the night of the fire, and Monroe was a child who had just seen his house go up in flames, and his family killed, he knew only that there had been someone there, and with no evidence of that, save for a traumatised (or so the social worker tried to have Nick believe) boy. They had effectively nothing.

"We have no evidence except for a witness who only smelt an intruder Nick. We're going to need more than that to do anything else with this." Hank continued, echoing Nick's thoughts.

"I know that." Nick almost snapped, managing to hold back the bitter sound to the words. They'd been in the trailer for hours, searching for anything that might help them crack this case, but they'd gotten nowhere.

Juliette had called and told them to get back for dinner. Hap had had Monroe for the day, and was bringing him back and staying for food. So while they waited for the two Blutbad to arrive, he and Hank had fallen back to discussing the case.

Nick found himself assailed with a sudden burst of energy, unable to sit still while he waited and jumped to his feet. "He's not going to be safe with his uncle. Neither of them are going to be safe until we find out who's out to kill their family and why."

"Nick," Hank said reasonably. "We don't know if that's even the case." He held up a hand to forestall any arguments. "No, hear me out. I've been going along with your theory so far, but there's a lot of holes in it. And we can't base our conclusions on a children's story, a smell of some unknown Wesen creature, and a feud that's been going on for hundreds of years that we can't directly link to either fire. I'm not saying the kid didn't smell something. I'm not even saying that someone didn't set the fire, or start the explosion. I'm just saying that we can't focus only on your theory."

Nick ran his fingers through his hair, annoyed because he knew it was true. He had nothing to go on except wild theories and a gut feeling that something was going to happen if he let Monroe out of his sight for too long.

"We need something concrete before we can even start to convince the captain." Hank pressed. "So if you have something, I'd love to hear it."

Nick shook his head. "You know I don't."

"So why aren't you looking for the evidence you need?" Juliette asked suddenly, drawing their attention from the kitchen. She frowned at both of them, and Nick felt unaccountably like he'd disappointed her somehow. "Have you gone to look at the crime scene? Have you done forensics?"

Nick sat down, dumbstruck. Why was it suddenly so hard to think like a cop?

"Nick," Juliette said, making her way across to him, putting a hand on his arm. "I know this is confusing, and with Marie's death, and the funeral. I know things aren't making total sense yet. I know that. And I know Hank's still coming to terms with this whole thing. So am I. And I know it's easy to get caught up in the…" she struggled for the words before giving up. "It's too easy to get caught up in it, now that we know. But if you want to protect Monroe from whatever you think is out there, you're going to have to find out what that is first." Her voice gentled, and Nick was able to look at her finally. "So start from the beginning, take it piece by piece. We're all letting it overwhelm us."

"We can't see the wood for the trees huh?" Hank asked.

Juliette gave a laugh. "Something like that."

Nick took a deep breath, and did his very best to look at the whole situation logically. Like he would have if Monroe had been a normal kid, who had witnessed something that night. As if Wesen did not exist at all. It was hard, to let go of that knowledge now that he did know it, but he tried.

"We can't get a sketch of the person." He said at last. "Because Monroe didn't actually see them.

"And too much time has passed since the fire for whatever smell the kid picked up to still be there, so taking dogs up to look for a scent won't work." Hank pointed out.

"So if the crime scene's a bust then its people we look at."

"Well, if it is directed at the family itself like we think, and if Hap is to be believed, then there's nobody out there with grudges against either Bart or Rolf, so if someone killed them, it might have been to send a message to either Hap or Angelina?" Hank suggested. "Maybe one of them has done something, owes money or something, or got involved with the wrong sort of people."

"Maybe." Nick agreed. "We'll need to talk with Hap again; hopefully he'll be able to help us get in touch with Angelina as well." He caught the pleased look on Juliette's face out of the corner of his eye and uncaring that Hank was there; he leaned across and kissed her. "I love you." He whispered.

She smiled at him. "I know."

xoxox

They didn't mention the case over dinner, though Nick did ask Hap to come down to the station the following day to go over some things.

Monroe chattered on cheerfully about what he and Hap had done that day, showing off the new watch Hap had bought for him. It was an old watch, something that wouldn't have looked out of place about 50 years ago, and yet somehow looked perfectly normal around the wrist of a nine year old boy.

Monroe was very pleased with it, probably more so than if he'd been bought a new toy, not that Hap hadn't been lavishing him with those anyway, including a complete set of fairy tales. Nick had leafed through one in curiosity when Monroe had left it out one morning, and had shut it again not long after, the contents more than a little disturbing for him.

Hap was unrepentant about the whole thing and Nick could only trust that he knew what Monroe could handle, because Nick was currently rethinking all previous assumptions on what might be considered too much for a Blutbad child.

Dinner went well, and when it was done, Hap gave Monroe another of his bone crushing hugs before he left, promising he'd be at the station early in the morning. Juliette had seen him to the door, having taken a huge liking to the man, leaving Nick to usher Monroe upstairs to bed, because it was getting late.

"I'm going to be leaving soon aren't I?" Monroe said suddenly. "To live with Uncle Hap."

Nick stopped at the door, having just been about to leave, and turned back. "Yeah." He leaned against the door. He waited for the boy to say more, glad that it was Monroe's nature to talk; otherwise it would have been a long wait.

"I tried to explain to the social worker. But she isn't one of us, so I don't think she understood."

"Tried to explain what?" Nick asked, confused.

Monroe didn't look at him, just fidgeted with his new watch, which was when Nick knew this was very serious, because normally his lack of knowledge over anything prompted a far too adorable exasperated look. "Monroe." He prompted, moving away from the door when Monroe still didn't answer.

"Uncle Hap is fun." Monroe said. "And he buys me stuff, and takes me to cool places. But…" he trailed off unhappily.

Nick cast a glance towards the door, but he could still hear Juliette talking with Hap so he knew there was not going to be any rescue from there. It didn't stop him hoping though, because he could have used Juliette right now. "But?" he said, sitting on the bed beside him.

"But…" Monroe began again taking a deep breath. "He's not… not…"

Monroe gave a sudden growl, clearly annoyed that he couldn't complete the thought, whatever it was. "Never mind." He said suddenly.

Nick couldn't think of what to say to make it better. He thought he knew what Monroe was trying to say, but there was no way to reply that wouldn't be getting hopes up on all sides. He mentioned it to Juliette later, who gave him a fond smile and a kiss before promising she'd talk with Monroe in the morning.

Nick couldn't help but think she knew something more than he did, which was unsettling, and entirely unfair. But he would hold his own consul for now. He had other things to worry about, top priority of which was making sure Monroe stayed safe.