TITLE: Living Proof

SERIES: Fate Lines

SPOILERS: Bad Teeth

AUTHOR: Macx

DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belongs to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)

FEEDBACK: Loved

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Author's Note: This was too good to pass up, even for my universe. I took some of the information given on Nick's mother and used it to fit into this AU (which branched off from the canon line a while ago). I'm not following the Season 2 storyline for obvious reasons! If you're looking for some plot points from the latest episodes you'll be disappointed. I just picked what I could use :)

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His emotions were in upheaval, everything was coming down around him, and Nick Burkhardt was trying to stay afloat in everything that came at him with the force of a nuclear explosion.

His mother was alive.

It had all been a lie.

Someone else had died in her place.

She had disappeared from everyone's radar and had remained an unknown factor for eighteen years.

His mind tried to wrap itself around that fact.

Eighteen years! No one… not a single person… had known she was alive. And she had still worked as a Grimm, had spread fear and terror and misery through the wesen world, trying to find the killers of her husband and her best friend, who had taken her place that fateful night.

Nick couldn't deal with it. He couldn't… couldn't think about her hiding so long, never contacting Marie or later him.

It felt like abandonment all over again.

Still they had talked. Like two strangers, not like mother and son. She had told him about the seven Royal Families, about the Verrat, about everything that had led to her being top of their hit list. Two Grimms and their teenage son.

She had been entrusted with the coins of Zakynthos, a relic so madly sought-after that bodies littered the path of everyone trying to find them. Kelly Burkhardt had paid for her duty, had lost everything, because she had been betrayed. She didn't know by whom.

It was like a fairy tale, like a strange movie that reminded Nick of a life he might have had before his world had shattered at the age of twelve.

It didn't feel like anything he knew.

Kelly in turn had tried to catch up with his life, but her expression had turned cold and dark and downright terrifying when Nick had slowly eased her into his world.

With a blutbad as his best friend.

A jagerbar who had taught him so much and who he considered a good friend, too.

With eisbiber who had close to adopted him into their clan.

With wesen neighbors who were looking out for him, had his back despite being natural prey and not predators.

And a regnant who ruled Portland and who was his partner; in more ways than just one.

The verbal sparring fight that had ensued out of that had Nick step back and finally shake off the shock of seeing his mother.

She didn't approve.

She never would.

He wasn't the Grimm she would have raised.

But no one had raised him into this world! No one had told him about his possible heritage! Nick had fallen into this nightmare with barely a warning and all Marie had been able to do was give him a little advise to kill the bad ones. And the key to the trailer. After that… Nick had been completely on his own, trusting his gut, trusting Monroe, and later Renrad.

He was different, catch-and-release Sean had called him, and he was proud of how he handled matters. He wouldn't kill if he didn't have. He took no pleasure from the abject terror his presence inflicted on some wesen, and he always, always tried to reason first.

It was just him.

He wouldn't lose that.

"You don't know the rules of this world, Nick!" Kelly argued.

"Of course I don't!" Nick shot back furiously. "Because I had no one to ask! I had only gruesome visions and nightmarish books. But I know enough."

"Taught to you by a wesen? A regnant?!"

"And a jagerbar and a wieder-blutbad and a fuchsbau and so many more! I read the books Aunt Marie left me! I know there are bad things out there, but not every wesen is a night terror waiting to tear someone's heart or throat out! Monroe is reformed…"

She snorted. Nick glared.

"He had ample opportunity to take me out. He didn't. He actually risked his life more than once to save mine! I owe him a lot."

"You can't trust a blutbad, Nick!"

"Why not?" he demanded. "Because some old books tell me they are all evil?"

"They are predators without conscience! They kill and maim and spread death!"

"He's a wieder!"

"Once a blutbad, always a blutbad! You can't trust any of them!"

"I trust a friend. My best friend, mom! I trust all of them!"

She turned and walked a few paces, then shook her head. "Why did Marie do this?" she asked.

"She did what she thought was best. And it worked."

"You are bound to a wesen, Nick!"

"I'm partnered with Sean Renard," he corrected her, teeth gritted.

"He is part of the Royal Families!"

"I know his so-called family. I know his affiliations. I know him, mom! I really do!"

She shook her head again. "Maybe not as well as you think you do. Nick, you can never trust a wesen not to betray you!"

Anger swamped the still lingering confusion. He knew his and Renard's roles in this, knew how much power he had over the older man. He had seen it when their differences a few months back and made him shield himself. Renard had suffered, but he had waited, had had to wait because it was the mate's decision. A regnant was unable to force their mate into anything.

It had never been clearer than back then.

"You know nothing about what happened in the last eighteen years! Nothing at all! You had your own crusade and left me here to deal with what and who I am! You have no right to tell me anything about my own instincts and gut feelings! I survived on my own, without help, without any kind of preparation as to what being a Grimm entails. I survived, mom! And I owe it to a lot of people, who happen to be wesen!"

Her dark eyes were filled with the pain of being reminded of her loss, her deceit, and an anger that was hard to pinpoint.

"Just because you never trusted any of them…" Nick broke off, clearly choking on emotions. "Aunt Marie was engaged to a steinadler!" he finally blurted.

Kelly briefly closed her eyes. "Engaged," she murmured. "Yes. I knew him."

"So you know not all of them are evil!"

"I haven't trusted in eighteen years, Nick."

"And now you can't even trust me?!"

Her expression shifted, pain and longing and an ancient distrust of anything wesen rose. Nick curled his fingers into fists.

"Right," he snarled.

"Nick…"

"No!" he interrupted. "No! This is my life! I'm not the Grimm they get told about in their nightmarish tales!"

"No, you are not," she said softly.

Nick scrubbed a hand over his face, through his hair. He was trembling a little.

"I'm not going to change into a nightmare either," he added, voice softer. "Never."

His mother was silent, clearly still shocked about most of what she had found, what she hadn't expected.

"I can see that," she finally said.

Nick refused to be baited. "Why did you come back now?" he asked.

"The coins," his mother said.

Yes, the coins. He had dealt with them; he had spread them everywhere and hidden them. No one could destroy them, but keeping three together was too dangerous.

Nick told her that.

Kelly's features froze and darkened. "Where did you hide them, Nick? They need to be destroyed."

"I thought no one could destroy them."

"The forge where they were created can destroy them," his mother said.

"And you want them to take them there?"

"Yes."

Nick hesitated.

"You know how much evil they cause! We are the only ones mostly immune to their influence!"

"I know, mom. I saw the results."

He had seen the death. He had seen the naked hunger in the eyes of those lusting after them. He had seen the change in Farley Kolt, a man his aunt had loved and who had fallen under their siren song. He had witnessed it with Renard, who had suddenly felt their power as teasing caresses over his mind and soul. He had listened to their whispers and he had tried to follow their call.

She looked slightly pinched. "Do you still know where they are?"

"Two, yes. The other was tossed and lost."

Kelly exhaled sharply. "Two are better than none. One alone isn't as powerful. If the Families get their hands on them… They want to rule the world. The coins would give them the edge they need."

"So you want to look for the two and destroy them."

"Yes."

"I didn't really draw up any plans…"

She smiled a little. "I'll find them. Tell me where you hid them."

Nick hesitated. Then, "I can come with you."

"And it would lead your Guardian to them."

He grimaced. Sean would easily fall for the coins again; he just knew it.

"Nick, where are they?"

So he told her. Three very different places, one impossible to really get to, but his mother's expression was determined.

When Nick turned back from getting them both a soda, Kelly was gone.

The young Grimm stood in the silent kitchen, confused, angry, feeling abandoned and betrayed in one, emotions raging all over the place.

tbc...