Hello Everyone - sorry for the shorter update, but we are working on closing on our new house AND our old house, and it has been stressful, not to mention time consuming! We're also leaving for a week today, so I wasn't going to be able to update for another week if I didn't today, so I wanted to give you what I had, even if it was shorter than I would like.

I know I have said this before, but things SHOULD be calming down soon, so I should have more time to write soon, so the posts should go back to being longer, and weekly!

Thanks as always for sticking with me, reviewing, faving and following :)

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Hank arrived on scene and after a shake of his head, accompanied by a deep sigh, he had helped Sean and Monroe start to load the baron and Eric into the trunk of Monroe's car. It was a tight fit, but no one was overly concerned with the comfort of the two men. Greater care was taken when Hank looked down at the frighteningly still body of his partner. Sensing his concern, Adalind tentatively placed a hand on his arm.

"It's just the toxin giving him the appearance of death," Adalind soothed. Hank looked at her hand on his arm, and after a moment, pulled it away, straightening his shoulders.

"I know," Hank replied, his voice a little rougher than usual, "I'm just still not used to all of this…..stuff."

Hank swept his arms around him, but Adalind knew that he wasn't just referring to their current circumstances, but to all the wesen madness in general.

"Thank you for helping," Adalind said lamely. She still wasn't sure how to talk to Hank, their shared history just too awkward to sidestep.

"He's my partner," Hank responded, finally meeting her eyes, "I would do anything for him."

They held each other's gaze for a moment, understanding passing between them. Then the moment passed and Adalind cleared her throat.

"Well. Monroe pulled Nick's car around, so if you don't mind…." her voice trailed off as Hank nodded and carefully lifted Nick. Adalind was tempted to use some of her newfound power to move Nick to the car, but she could see that it meant something to Hank to be able to help his partner, so she followed them quietly down to the car. Hank placed him gently in the car and Adalind gave him a small smile.

"I'll help the captain move those other hundjagers into the plane and then we will meet you guys at the cabin…" Hank's words halted as Adalind turned from him and with a simple flick of her hand moved both bodies into the plane, closing the door behind them.

"Seriously, you couldn't have mentioned that little maneuver before we hauled the prince and his toxin spewing friend?" Monroe griped, and Adalind gave him a half smile.

"I didn't want to diminish your feeling of usefulness," Adalind replied, and Monroe snorted.

"Well next time, feel free," Monroe replied, "my ego isn't that sensitive."

"That, and I kinda forgot," Adalind shrugged, "I've only had my powers back for an hour. Not to mention, they seem to be a bit different."

"Which is why we need to get you to Henrietta," Sean said, walking up behind her.

Adalind sighed, then said, "I told you, I'm not leaving Nick."

"You don't know what you're deal with," Sean said, and Adalind could see the vein start to pulse in his forehead as he tried to remain calm, "this toxin takes hours to work its way through the victims system. What can you possibly do for him right now?"

Adalind turned away, chewing her bottom lip. She knew that Sean had a point. There wasn't much she could do for Nick in his present condition. But she was hesitant to go see Henrietta for another reason - she was afraid to know what the return of her powers actually meant. The last thing that she wanted was to go back to the way she was. What if that was what Henrietta told her would happen?

"I think you will be happy with what she has to say," Sean said, seeming to know what she was thinking.

"Fine," Adalind said, shoving her arms into her jacket. She turned to Rosalee, "please call me if anything changes. I won't be gone long."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Rosalee asked, putting a hand on her arm, "Monroe has Hank to help him if you need me."

"No, it's fine," Adalind gave her a weak smile, "I'll feel better knowing you're with him."

"Okay," Rosalee gave her arm a squeeze before letting go, "and try not to worry. I have plenty of the antidote."

"Good," Adalind took a deep breath and turned back to Sean, "one hour, and then I want to be back with Nick."

"Of course," Sean said gesturing with his arm towards his car, "I just want to do what I can to help."

Adalind narrowed her eyes at him, "why?"

"I feel guilty about what happened to you….to us," Sean said, and Adalind had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at him, "I just want to help you get back what you lost."

"What about your little friend over there," Adalind nodded in the general direction of where Juliette was standing, off to the side, watching, but not offering to help. Sensing eyes on her, she looked up sharply.

"Oh, well….," Sean stammered, and Adalind could tell she had caught him off guard, "I can call her a car…."

"No way," Juliette said, glaring angrily at him, "no way you're leaving me when you are going to talk to your hexenbiest friend. I have questions for her, too."

Adalind raised a brow at Sean, watching with interest how he would react to Juliette's demands.

"Fine," Sean finally answered, his face tightening with tension, "let's just go."

Adalind huffed out a sigh, and turned to walk toward Sean's car. Tonight was just getting better and better.

%%%%%

"I wish Adalind was here," Monroe said, his voice strained for the exertion of carrying dead weight, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I LOVE hauling around the prince of...wherever the hell he is from, but that little hand flippy thing she did would have come in handy. My back is killing me."

Rosalee gave him a wan smile as she helped him lay the prince down on the bed that was in the hidden basement of the cabin. They secured his legs and arms to the bed.

"I hope those ropes can hold a zombie," Monroe said, eyeing them skeptically.

"They only need to hold him long enough for me to get the antidote in him," Rosalee assured him, "then he will revert to normal, and we'll have no problem restraining him."

"You make it sound so simple," Monroe replied with a shake of his head, "yet it never ends up being that simple."

"Well, maybe we are due for some good luck," Rosalee responded, then sighed, "now where are we going to put the baron."

They both looked down at the baron, still laying on the floor where Hank had dropped him before he went back upstairs to stay with Nick. Hank hadn't exactly been gentle with the baron, not that Monroe blamed him.

Monroe looked around the small room, finally focusing in on a wide, tall metal pipe.

"Think that will hold him?" Monroe asked Rosalee, and she frowned skeptically.

"Well, like I said, it just needs to hold them long enough to administer the antidote," Rosalee shrugged, "so lets do it."

They dragged the baron close to the pole, wrapping his arms and legs around it before securing them with a rope.

"Well, lets just hope that holds," Rosalee said, wiping her hands on her jeans, "Ready to head upstairs?"

"Absolutely," Monroe said with a shudder, "this place is giving me the creeps, and that was before we added the not-quite undead to the decor."

They headed up the stairs, securing the basement access in the floor with a heavy duty lock before covering it with the rug. As they stood up, Rosalee nudged Monroe in the ribs and gestured with her head to where Hank was sitting next to Nick, a worried look on his face.

"I've been so mad at him for not telling me what was going on, and for whatever it is he has going on with Adalind," Hank said quietly, not looking up at them, "I never really thought about how hard this is for him, or what he was going through. How many risks he was taking."

"Look, don't beat yourself up, man," Monroe responded, "this is a lot to take in. I mean, Nick was pretty angry at everyone at first, too. No one blames you for not being one hundred percent on board with what is going on."

"He's my partner," Hank replied sullenly, "I should have trusted him more."

"You did, that's why you're still here," Rosalee soothed, "why you are in this room. There aren't many people who would have stuck around."

"I guess," Hank said begrudgingly, "but from now on, I'm going to be better. I let all that nonsense with Adalind and the captain cloud my judgment. I'm all in."

"Well, that's good to hear," Monroe sighed, "because when these guys start to wake up, we're going to have our hands full."

"What do you need me to do?" Hank asked, finally raising his head and looking at them, a steely resolve in his eyes.

"Let me ask you this," Monroe asked slowly, pulling out a large syringe-like cylinder with three thick needles sticking out of the end, "Have you ever used a piqure-gigantesque before?"

%%%%%

Adalind sat in stony silence in the backseat of Sean's car. She had held her tongue (and apparently her powers) when Juliette had swept past her and took the passenger seat in the front. Not that she had wanted to sit next to Sean, but still….

She refrained from sighing heavily as Juliette questioned Sean relentlessly about Henrietta, and whether she would be able to tell Juliette how to gain the power of hexenbiest.

"Why do you want to be a hexenbiest?" Adalind asked, finally breaking her silence as exasperation gripped her, "it's awful. You have something inside you that you have to either learn to control, or let control you, and believe me, if they control you, you aren't a particularly nice person."

"I don't want to be a victim anymore," Juliette responded in a clipped voice, "I want to be the one with the power."

"But that's the thing," Adalind said, "you have the power, but your controlled by your darkest emotions. Learning to regulate that isn't easy for a hexenbiest that has lived with it their whole life. What makes you think you even have a chance at harnessing that power without losing yourself completely?"

Juliette's lip drew together in a tight line, but she didn't reply to Adalind, instead turning her head and gazing out the window.

"And you," Adalind directed her anger at Sean, "how could you promise her such a thing, knowing the risks and what it would do to her? Are you that desperate to have a hexenbiest in your life again that you would just sacrifice someone to get what you want?"

"Actually, what I was thinking was that if I didn't give her what she wanted, then my brother would," Sean replied angrily, "and seeing how much both Juliette and my brother hate you, I figured you might not want them teaming up for world domination."

"Right," Adalind snorted, "like you did it all for my benefit."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Sean said evenly, "But you have an important role to play in whatever is happening right now, so I am not willing to sacrifice you…..yet."

"How kind," Adalind replied sarcastically, "just playing the odds again, right?"

Sean didn't bother answering her, and they all spent the rest of the car ride in silence, Adalind stewing in the back as tried to think about anything but the fact that she was becoming a hexenbiest again. Tears started to sting her eyes, and she shook her head, not allowing herself to descend into sadness. No, if she was a hexenbiest again, she would deal with it. She would go back to her grandparents' house and have her grandmother teach her how to be like her. It would be fine.

She snorted to herself. Except that she was in love with a Grimm. A Grimm that would not appreciate having a hexenbiest, no matter how reformed, for a girlfriend. She needed to find a way out of this. She straightened as they pulled up in front of Henrietta's familiar house, taking a deep breath. She hoped the woman had some answers for her.

"How are you going to explain her?" Adalind asked Sean, nodding toward Juliette as they all got out of the car.

"She's a...friend," Sean responded carefully.

"Some friend," Adalind replied under her breath as they made their way up the front steps.

The door, as expected, opened before they had made it all the way to the porch.

"Well, this is an interesting group," Henrietta said with her mysterious smile, and Adalind sighed.

"I have a problem," Adalind said, stepping close to the other woman. Henrietta turned her penetrating gaze on her, the other woman's eyes going wide, her lips parted slightly.

"My God, it actually happened, didn't it?," Henrietta's eyes swung to Sean, and he merely nodded, and she turned her attention back to Adalind, "Please, my dear, come in. I must know everything."

"Wait a minute," Adalind replied, pulling her arm away as Henrietta tried to guide her inside, "you know about this to? You both knew this could happen, but nobody thought to tell me?"

"Well, I wanted to tell you," Henrietta replied, her tone so apologetic that Adalind almost believed her, "that's why I told you to stay with the Grimm, to try and be with him. I was hoping it would happen, and it has!"

"So it was just you that wanted to keep me in the dark," Adalind turned a dark gaze on Sean, "I'll remember that."

"Let's be honest, Adalind," Sean held up a placating hand, "the idea that Nick would fall in love with you was absolutely ridiculous."

"Yet here we are," Adalind replied, spreading her hands out in front of her.

"Shut up, both of you!" Juliette shouted, "I am sick of your bickering. I came here for information, and I intend to get it!"

"And just who are you?," Henrietta had turned with interest to look at Juliette.

"This is my friend, Juliette," Sean responded, eyeing Juliette warily.

"More than friends, I think," Henrietta continued to eye Juliette, "an interesting choice for you, Sean. She's not your usual type."

"Well, considering his usual type is this bitch, I would say that it's an upgrade," Juliette responded with a flick of her head at Adalind, and Henrietta threw her head back and laughed.

"Perhaps I judged you to early," Henrietta responded, then she picked up a lock of Juliette's hair, letting it run through her fingers as she continued to look at her thoughtfully. Finally she dropped the hair and looked to Sean, and then back to Juliette, before saying, almost to herself, "Is it possible….."
"Can we get back to the reason we're here," Adalind interrupted with an irritated sigh, "you can talk about their love connection - which is disgusting, by the way - later."

Henrietta seemed to take a moment, but she turned her focus back to Adalind.

"Yes, of course, you're right, Adalind," Henrietta responded, "what has happened to you is groundbreaking. Please, all of you, come inside."

"Groundbreaking or not, I want it gone," Adalind said as she walked into Henrietta's living room, "How do I get rid of this….whatever it is."

"Get rid of it?" Henrietta was stunned, "Adalind, you have been given an amazing gift, an opportunity to change the way the wesen world exists."

"What?" Adalind asked, hating the high pitch of her voice, "what are you talking about?"

"You're the one the prophecy spoke of," Henrietta said with a smile, "you're the White Witch."

%%%%%

"He seems to be getting a little twitchy," Hank said, his voice worried as he looked down at Nick, then up at Rosalee, "is that normal?"

"I don't know," Rosalee responded, furrowing her brow. She looked to Monroe, "Can you check the other two? See if they are doing anything similar?"

"Sure thing," Monroe made his way downstairs and Rosalee turned her attention back to Nick.

"I don't like his color," Rosalee said, putting a hand on Nick's cheek, "to be honest, I've never seen anyone in this condition, but still…"

They sat in worried silence for Monroe to return, turning expectantly as he walked back into the living room.

"Nope," Monroe said with a shake of his head, "no twitching down there. Still dead."

"I wonder if this is effecting him differently because he is a Grimm," Rosalee tapped her mouth with her finger, trying to work her mind around what was happening.

"Well, that would be in line with our luck," Monroe sighed.

Their eyes were drawn back to Nick, as he started twitching again, this time the tremors lasting longer as he started to emit low moans.

"I don't like this," Monroe said leaning closer. Nick's hand suddenly shot up and gripped Monroe's arm, "nope, definitely don't like this. Little help here, guys."

Rosalee and Hank moved to the opposite side of Nick and worked to disengage his hand from Monroe's arm. It took all their strength, as well as Monroe's persistent pulling, to remove Nick's hand.

"What the hell?!" Hank asked, pushing back to his feet, "why is he so strong?"

"I'm not sure," Monroe said slowly, "but I have to say…..I'm starting to get a little worried."

Suddenly, Nick's eyes flickered open. They were red rimmed and wild, taking in his surroundings, but not seeming to recognize anything he was seeing.

"Maybe we should have restrained him," Monroe whispered, fear lacing his words as his eyes stayed on Nick, "because I don't think this is going to end well."