Just gotta say, thanks for the reviews, they shocked me (at their speed and number) and encouraged me (hence the new chapter). I love being in a populated fandom. (Not necessarily popular, but that doesn't hurt...usually.)

Oh, also, sorry about the title change and any ensuing confusion. With how this chapter and my plans were going, it felt much more appropriate.

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That smell: like someone had given sunshine a dark and musky undertone mixed with something strong that shot through his senses like a jolt of electricity. Eddie was sitting in his room trying to gather and calm himself, and that heady scent slipped in and slapped him in the face and tried to wrest his control away.

What was Nick doing in there? Eddie had a few ideas, but none of them were remotely helpful. In fact, contemplating reasons made the situation worse. Eddie growled a bit as he got up. Against his will, he moved towards the bathroom. Once he got closer, he heard restrained noises of pleasure. God, Nick was jacking off. In Eddie's shower.

Why? He had to know, or at least suspect that Eddie would smell it, wouldn't he? Or was he hoping the water would dull it? Speaking of which, why wasn't the water helping to mitigate the scent? Fuck!

Eddie knocked on the door. "Nick?"

A short gasping subdued cry came from Nick, and Eddie shuddered and felt himself starting to shift. "Um, is something wrong?" Eddie asked, painfully aware that there was relatively little separating him and Nick. A door and shower curtain. Even if Nick had locked the door (which Eddie was guessing he hadn't, due to his current display of lack of sense) he would have no trouble breaking the lock, or even the door. A shower curtain was a laughable obstacle, not really deserving of the name.

"No, just...early in the morning. Getting things taken care of to get ready." Nick replied, sounding distinctly embarrassed.

"Of course, just...very distracting." Eddie said, feeling equally uncomfortable as Nick sounded.

There was a pause where Nick just panted so quietly any human would have missed it. "Should I stop?"

Eddie groaned, loud enough for Nick to hear. "No, you um...finish up, I'll be downstairs."

He didn't wait for a reply, just headed downstairs in a hurry. He went out the door to his yard, and he quickly opened his vice-like pants and relieved himself almost embarrassingly swiftly against his fence. He didn't care that any other blutbaden who might pass by would know from the scent that he was having a mating crisis. He just didn't want Nick to know, or see, what he did to Eddie.

He couldn't scare Nick away. He was the best thing that ever happened to Eddie. And having to return to the tedious lonely life of a reformed blutbad after having Nick would be nothing but a slow death with crushing despair and clawing darkness.

When Nick reluctantly arrived downstairs in the kitchen for breakfast, Eddie had scrambled eggs made, and some toast and jam were waiting on the counter. Eddie looked at Nick, a little relieved and a little disappointed that the Grimm at least had the sense not to wander around in a towel. He was wearing a grey t-shirt and comfortable-fit jeans. The overall effect was a relaxed casual look, like Nick was perfectly at ease. Like he belonged in Eddie's home. Like he was perfectly fine living in close quarters with Eddie. Stupid Grimm. Eddie wished he could be so relaxed.

"Eggs?" Eddie said, offering Nick a plate.

Nick took the plate and smiled. "Thanks, Eddie."

Eddie opened the drawer right next to where he was leaning on the counter and pulled out a fork and handed that to Nick as well. Nick nodded and they ate in an awkward silence for a bit. Eddie wasn't going to bring the shower thing up. Talking about it would be very difficult at best, and he wasn't all that eager to test his control again so soon. The rigorous lifestyle that had armed him with steely control for all these years was flattening like wet paper in the face of this new force.

"Eddie, I-I'm sorry about earlier. I wasn't really thinking about it." Nick said, focusing intently on the yellow squishiness on his plate.

"It's just something I'll have to get used to." Eddie said, studying Nick's posture. Nick was fidgeting, shifting, clearly uneasy with addressing this. "A subtle warning would be helpful, though. That caught me off my guard."

"Warning?" Nick glanced up at him and blushed. "Damn, that's really awkward. I'm sorry for making you go through all this, Eddie, I just want to be sure you're safe."

"It's fine. You're worth it." Eddie said with certainty. It might have sounded odd, and could be interpreted different ways, but Eddie hadn't screened the comment before he said it.

"I am?" Nick asked. God, if he didn't stop blushing, Eddie was going to have to give him something to blush about.

"Of course. I'd go through more than this to keep you." Eddie's mouth was really not checking with his brain. He hastened to add, "I mean, I haven't had a house guest since...Hap." That thought helped to ground him. Eddie wouldn't let Nick be like Hap. Nick would be absolutely safe here.

"It's been longer than that since I've had a regular friend. You're a lot of important things to me, Nick." Fuck! Even though that wasn't a blaring declaration of love, he could tell from body language that his words had made Nick nervous. "I wanted you to know you aren't just a Grimm ally. You are my friend."

The warm smile that Nick gave him made Eddie soften inside like a marshmallow in a microwave. It would seem his soft spot for Nick was his whole freaking body. That's a big soft weakness. But Nick was definitely worth it.

"I can't say you're my only friend, but as odd as it may sound, I think you have become my closest friend." Nick told him. He seemed to think, and added, "Maybe it doesn't sound so odd. You're the only one who I can tell everything to. Everyone else gets the edited version of things."

"A blutbad being bosom buddies with a Grimm. No, nothing odd there, officer." Eddie joked.

"Does it really matter?" Nick asked quietly. "We aren't defined by our titles or classifications. You're peaceable. So am I. Apparently this is not normal for a Grimm or a blutbad. And so you're not a blutbad. You're Eddie, who happens to be a wieder-blutbad."

"No." Eddie replied in the same subdued tone. "I guess it doesn't matter."

And that admission had him wanting to jump Nick. His hands shook as he took Nick's dishes and put them and his own in the dishwasher. He started loading the other dishes in to try and distract himself. "Help yourself to the toast."

"Fanks." Nick said around a mouthful of toast and strawberry jam. He swallowed and said, "Sorry I didn't wait. I was starving."

"It's fine. How do you expect to stay here if you don't voluntarily get food?" Eddie asked.

A silence stretched between them, and Eddie ran out of dishes to busy himself with. "Have you changed your bandages yet today?" Nick asked him.

"Not yet."

"Come on, I'll grab your kit. You go sit down in the living room." Nick moved towards the first floor bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit, and Eddie moved to the couch.

He was puzzled. Nick smelled good right now, very good, but it was still just normal Nick. Was it normal for humans' arousal to trigger such a strong scent that elicited a very powerful reaction? He knew how blutbaden dealt with their own kind...but not this. This was new.

'Of course it's new!' he scolded himself. 'Even if other blutbaden fell in love with humans, they would be shunned and not keen to speak or educate about it. And no blutbad would have ever fallen in love with a Grimm.'

"I think we'll have to get you a bigger kit soon, just in case." Nick said, bringing it in and sitting close to Eddie on the couch. His thigh was pressed against Eddie's, and Eddie reigned in the sudden urge to slide his hand along that thigh, slide it in and up. Would Nick's breath hitch, or would he groan?

'Dammit, Monroe, keep it together!'

Thankfully, Nick took Eddie's arm that was itching to take mutinous action and rolled up Eddie's sleeve. He cut through the gauze of the old bandage and set it aside. As he gently wiped off the dried blood and sterilized the wound with alcohol wipes, Eddie closed his eyes and focused on how Nick's fingers felt on his arm.

Then he tried desperately to think of something else. While Eddie had a mental panic, Nick started wrapping a new bandage more lightly around the cut. He secured the end with some medical tape and said, "Done. I figured you would want a little more air on it. It's not really bleeding badly, and it will be good for its healing."

"Thanks, Nick." Eddie said. "So, what did you have planned to do today? I know you go back to work tomorrow."

"I figured I'd just spend time with you. So what are you doing?" Nick asked.

'Writhing in horror at the amount of control I need that I don't possess.' Eddie thought. 'Thinking about molesting and sexually assaulting you, right before you kill me to defend yourself, or in possible disgust or outrage.'

Eddie knew that Nick wouldn't do that unless Eddie was really out of control. But Eddie also didn't want to bet on what he'd do to Nick if he lost it. And he'd never want to hurt Nick, nor mentally and emotionally traumatize him.

"I was just going to watch some TV. Not quite up to a lot of vigorous activity." Eddie shrugged.

"Cool." Nick said, grabbing the remote and turning the TV on. "Anything in particular?"

"There's a Charlie Chan marathon on TMC that I was going to take a look at." Eddie said, distracted by the fact that Nick had not shifted away from him at all.

"Charlie Chan?" Nick wondered.

"Oh, come on! You're a detective, don't you watch detective movies? Charlie Chan, a Chinese-American detective; started as books, ended as a lot of black and white movies. I find them very interesting." Eddie shrugged. He was doubting that his interest in the movies would surpass his interest about Nick in close proximity, but maybe it would help.

"Well, I guess if nothing else, I'll get a better idea of what you like." Nick said, and he flipped to TMC.

"It's not super-bloody action movies, and that makes it even better for a wieder-blutbad."

"Ah." Nick said. "Is this it?"

Eddie watched for a moment. "Nope. I guess the marathon is on in the afternoon or evening."

"So random TV or different activity?" Nick asked.

This hanging out with Nick thing had felt weird, at first, but now it felt so very right, more right than it should, since the Reapers would have him believe it was wrong. God help him, but Nick made being a wieder-blutbad far more rewarding than it had been before.

"Maybe since you're staying a while, you could come grocery shopping with me." Eddie suggested. They hadn't discussed the length of Nick's stay, but Eddie was assuming indefinitely.

"Sure." Nick said with an easy smile. Then he paused for thought. "Is there anything I should know about grocery shopping with you?"

Eddie sighed. "Nick, you're an idiot. You're over-thinking this. It's no big deal, I can even walk through the meat section, usually, because that stuff is usually well-packaged."

"And if it's an unusual day?" Nick wondered.

"Well, today I'll have my own personal Grimm to keep me in line. In a non-lethal way, of course."

"Of course." Nick agreed amiably.

(-)

Nick lightly kicked the door shut behind him as he followed Eddie in with their groceries. "That lady in front of us was really stupid. And irate." the Grimm said, making his way with the bags into the kitchen.

"How many times did the cashier explain?" Eddie asked.

"At least four. The sign by the grapes said $1.87 per pound. Not per bag. Sometimes I'm ashamed to be human." Nick opined with a sigh.

"I would be too." Eddie agreed.

They started putting the groceries away, and Eddie couldn't stop thinking how everything was so easy with Nick. While simultaneously being frustrating and impossible. Living with him felt easy, discounting having to fight off the urges he got to pin Nick to various surfaces and do a number of very nice things to him.

The wolfish part of his nature was starting to indicate some unsettling things regarding his feelings towards Nick. He didn't just want to fuck the Grimm; his need went deeper than that. He wanted to make Nick his mate. But how the hell would a blutbad mate a Grimm? That just wasn't how things were!

Eddie glanced at Nick as he stretched to put some pasta on a high shelf in the pantry. He needed to figure these things out before he snapped. "Hey, I think I'm going to go on a run before dinner."

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This last part is a rewrite, taking the third chapter in an entirely different direction. I hope this helps to fix the feelings I was having that this chapter went wrong, and it mostly has. Thanks to my reviewers who helped me figure it out and fix it. ^_^