Becoming Grimm (Sean Renard) {1}

2. Bears Will Be Bears

"She looked into the window, and then peeped through the keyhole; seeing nobody in the house, she lifted the latch."
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I slowly wake up to see Dr. Rose approaching my bed. She checks my vitals before noticing I'm awake.
"Ahh, Miss Burkhardt, you're awake. You've made your bruised ribs slightly worse, and your minor concussion became a major concussion. You will not be out in the field for awhile, I will clear you when I deem you well enough. For now Miss Burkhardt get some rest."
"Dr. Rose, my brother, was attacked in Marie's room. Are they both okay?" I ask.
"Your aunt is not stable as of yet. Your brother is getting checked by another doctor. I'll have him see you when he's done." Dr. Rose says calmly before leaving the room. The door opens before Dr. Rose can shut it and I watch Captain Renard walk into my room.
"Captain." I greet them quietly.
"Angela, How are you?" The captain questions looking at me.
"I apparently made the bruising on my ribs worse and made my concussion from minor to major concussion. I'm currently confined to this room for now. But I'll get better."
"Good, because as of this moment you're not to come in for the rest of the week. Get rest and heal." The captain says sternly before turning to leave.
"Thank you." I mutter as the captain shuts the door behind him. I lean back in bed before turning to glance out the window. For several minutes I do nothing but stare out of the window.
"Angela." My brother softly calls from the doorway. I turn to see that while I was thinking, Hank and Nick came into my room.
"Hey Nick, Hank. How are you?" I greet them both.
"I heard that your ribs are bruised worse than they were, and have a slightly worse concussion." Nick says, stepping forward.
"I'll be fine, Nick." I say softly.
"You better be fine, Angela, you had us worried there for a minute." Hank says, stepping forward to give me some flowers.
"Aww Hank, you didn't need to get me flowers, I'm not that hurt." I say.
"Hey Angela, you're like my little sister, I have to get you something." He says before placing the vase and flowers on my bedside table.
"Thanks Hank." I smile, reaching out and hugging him before he can step back.
"You're welcome." Hanks smiles softly.
"I'm going to get the woman who did this. We have the tapes at the precinct." Nick assures me before gently hugging me.
"Yeah, we should get going and watch those." Hanks says walking out.
"Angela, the captain has cops guarding you and Marie." Nick says before shutting my door and leaving me in silence. I fall asleep before 10:00 that night. I'm woken several random times throughout the night.
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I wake in the morning at 7:45 a.m. Shortly around noon Dr. Rose comes in and checks on me.
"Afternoon Miss Burkhardt, your aunt is awake and wishes to see you. Your brother is coming to visit her now." She says before helping me up and escorting me to a hallway to wait for Nick, Nick joins us a few minutes later.
"She's very weak, but I realize you may not have much time. I'll be right outside. Dr. Rose says letting Nick help me to Marie's bedside.
Nick and I stand next to Marie before Nick gently leans down to Marie. I lean down on the other side of the bed as we hold Marie's hands.
"We were afraid we'd lost you." Nick says.
"Not yet."
"You're all we have left. I don't want this to happen." Nick says softly.
"I know. But you'll be alright if you have each other." She says softly.
"I don't feel like I'm gonna be alright. I'm still trying to make sense of everything. If you hadn't been here I would have lost my mind. And I'm not sure I haven't." Nick rants softly.
"Don't doubt yourself." Marie scolds softly.
"We've already seen so much." I mutter softly glancing over at Nick.
"And you'll see more. You both have a responsibility that you cannot ignore."
"I couldn't ignore it, even if I tried it." Nick says.
"We won't ignore it, we'll do our best to help." I say softly.
"You have to hunt down the bad ones. Just like your ancestors did. There's a reason that you're a cop, both of you, you have an ability and you must use it, no matter what happens to me." Marie says.
"I'll go get a doctor."
"No." Marie states firmly.
"The reapers followed me here. That means there could be more."
"How many are there?" Nick questions.
"Nobody knows. They're a secret organization dedicated to killing us."
"You mean Grimms?" I ask softly.
"There are more like us?" Nick questions quickly.
"Yes. But I don't have contact with them."
"What about the things we've been seeing? How many more of those are there?"
"There are more in the books than I've ever seen. You must not let the trailer be found. They don't know it exists. I hope I haven't done more harm than good by coming to you." Marie says before she gasps for air and the machines starts beeping.
"Let her rest. You can come back later." Dr. Rose says before leading us out of the room.
"Nick, I'm going to sign out. Dr. Rose gave me permission to leave the hospital. I just am stuck on desk duty for a week. I am not allowed back to work for the rest of the week so if you need help, call me. I can do research at the trailer and look at these books finally." I say before leaving the area to sign out myself.
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My phone rings at 6:03 a.m. On Wednesday morning. I answer my cell phone as I stand at the stove making me some oatmeal.
"Burkhardt." I say answering my cell.
"Angela, do you wanna see the trailer?" Nick questions.
"Yeah, where's Juliette?" I ask.
"She went to work early. She's operating on a bulldog at 7:00."
"I'll be over in 35 minutes, I'm going to eat and then I'll be over." I answer.
"Okay come to the trailer." Nick says before hanging up without a goodbye. Sighing, I set my phone down gently before turning off the stove. I reach up and grab my bowl from the cupboards and pour my oatmeal in the bowl.
I slowly sit down on the dining table and eat my oatmeal. After several minutes of eating I'm finished with my oatmeal. I set my bowl in the sink before heading to my door making sure to grab a sweater and my purse. I walk down to the parking lot, I open my blue 2010 Ford Mustang. Sliding into the driver's seat I check to make sure I have my phone and notebook before starting my car and heading to Nick's.
Nick's house is only 22 minutes from my apartment, so I pull onto Nick's street. I park my car out front before climbing out and walking to Marie's trailer. I walk into the trailer to see Nick walking towards a cabinet.
"Hey Nick. I'm here." I say as Nick swiftly turns around to see me.
"Dammit, Angela you scared the hell out of me." Nick exclaims panicked.
"Sorry. So this is the trailer and those are all the books." I say looking at a nearby shelf full of books.
"Yeah, those are all the books." He says. Nick opens a cabinet at the back of the trailer, he looks around before grabbing a bear-like claw item before showing it to me.
"I saw one of these at a house that was broken into." Nick says.
"What am I supposed to do about it? I'm not suppose to work for another four days." I say before stepping up and looking at the item.
"Well that Blutbad seems to like you so I was thinking maybe you can get him to help me." He says smiling at me.
"I'll try." I say sighing before walking to the car.
"Thank you." He says, calling out to me before following me to my car.
I pull up outside of Monroe's house, I shut off my car as Nick races up to knock on his door. I follow slowly behind him as Monroe opens the door.
"We need to talk." Nick states firmly.
"Not at 6:30 in the morning we don't." He says before trying to close his door.
Nick pushes through Monroe's door, before I slowly follow after him.
"This is important." Nick says walking through the door.
"Oh, well, come on in, then. Have a cup of coffee. Bagel? Cream cheese?" He asks sarcastically.
"I'm sorry Monroe, Nick gets something in his head and he has to do it, so I thought I'd run interference." I say.
"First I wanna thank you for helping me out with the kidnapping." Nick says.
"A gift basket would've been nice. How long is this gonna take? I'm right in the middle of my Pilates, man." Monroe states.
"Nick and I were wondering if you ever seen one of these?" I ask motioning for Nick to hand over the bag. Nick hands Monroe the bag, Monroe reaches in and grabs the item by one of the claws.
"Not up close, thank god." Monroe says before bringing it up to his face and sniffing at it.
"I think Jagerbars use these for disemboweling. Now I'm hungry." Monroe says before handing the claw and paper bag back to Nick.
"Sure you don't want a bagel? I'm gonna French press some coffee, too. Guatemalan Highlands. Craft-Roasted. Very robust." Monroe asks.
"I'll take a cup of coffee and sure I'll take a bagel." I say before Nick can say anything.
"What do you know about Jagerbars?" Nick asks quickly.
"What am I, your personal Grimmopedia?" Monroe asks.
"No you're a Blutbad, and I'm assuming that Blutbad know about jagerbaden." Nick asks, as I chuckle at the way jagerbaden sound.
"It's just Jagerbars." Monroe states.
"You see them like we see them, right?" Nick asks.
"Yes."
"Nick is trying to say that we want to be able to handle ourselves but we need to know a little bit more information about Jagerbars and what we're dealing with. So can you please help us?" I ask.
"Okay, right there. Don't even compare the two. We don't rummage like they do. How'd you run across a Jagerbar anyway?" Monroe asks.
"Look, I'm working on a case and I saw a kid turn into one." Nick says.
"Where did you get the claw?"
"No, our aunt had it."
"Oh, right, her again. Aunt Marie, right? Yeah. I couldn't sleep the last two nights thinking good old Aunt Marie was going to cut off my head and stick it on a lamp post. That's how my great grandma ended up, you know." Monroe says opening the refrigerator to grab some items I wasn't really paying attention to.
"Hey, she's still in the hospital." Nick firmly says.
"Oh, sorry. Umm they use those claws in the Roh-Hatz." Monroe states before turning to the counter.
"Roh-Hatz?" Nick questions.
"It's like a Bar Mitzvah for bears, you know. A Jäger Bar Mitzvah. It's a very physical thing. A lot of pounding of chests and like, wailing. But who wails anymore? Supposed to connect with the primitive beast in all of us. And believe me. I do mean all of us." He says pouring three cups of coffee and handing one to Nick and I. I take a drink of the coffee and lean against the shelves watching my brother talk about the Jagerbars.
"So what do they do?" Nick asks.
"It's all about the chase."
"Wait, what chase?" I question leaning forward.
"The Roh-Hatz, you know. Caveman mumbo jumbo. Let's get some beers and barbecue and be stupid. I mean I like to camp as much as the next guy, you know, maybe once a year. You want plain or onion?" Monroe asks.
"I gotta go." Nick says setting down the coffee cup without even taking one sip.
"Oh, well. Thanks for stopping by." Monroe says watching Nick walk towards the door.
"Nick, take my car back to your house and do what you have to, but I'm staying here." I say tossing my keys to Nick in the doorway before walking back into the kitchen.
"I'll take an onion." I tell Monroe.
"You're staying?" He questions tilting his head.
"I can leave if you want me too." I state shifting restlessly from foot to foot.
"No, no I wouldn't dream of making you leave. I was just thinking you'd join your brother on his case."
"Ahh, well I'm meant to be on leave for my injuries so I'm not to return till Monday which is two days away. So I'd thought since Nick obviously just barges in that I'd might as well try to make up for Nick's rudeness." I say accepting the bagel from Monroe.
"You were injured?"
"Oh yeah, I bruised a few ribs and I have a concussion, my aunt was attacked at Nick's house and then later on, I made my injuries worse when I was attacked in her hospital room. So the Captain and the Doctor both ordered me to take the week off and get rest. Seeing as I don't really have any friends outside of work and that Nick is harassing you about all of this Grimm stuff. That I would get to know you and help you deal with my brother. Besides I trust you and both Nick and I are new to this whole Grimm thing so I'd thought that you'd help us, and Nick isn't the best at seeking help. He demands it more and isn't very polite about it all. So Monroe I wanted to say the coffee and the bagel are delicious. And thanks for dealing with Nick, he can be quite the persistent person when looking for answers he wants. I have a notebook that I'm working on filling with information on the people we meet. Can you maybe tell me a little about Jagerbars." I say pulling my notebook out of my purse.
"Of course, I can." He motions me to his couches.
I sit on his couch as he tells me everything again as I write it all down. I spend an hour talking about Jagerbars, before we start to talk about what he does when not helping Nick and I.
"I should get going, my brother will most likely need help." I say standing up and heading towards the door.
"Angela, thanks for talking to me about other things besides everything Grimm related."
"You're welcome. Besides I liked spending this time getting to know you and feeling semi-normal while dealing with seeing things many others can't see." I say gently hugging Monroe. He stiffens a little as I hug him, I pull back quickly.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't thinking. I just..."
"Whoa, whoa. Relax, it's okay." He assures before gently hugging me back.
"I should really get going." I say blushing before running out the door and down the street towards Nick's house.
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