Drifting In Shadows, Waiting For The Storm

5.

Eight days after the shooting Nick was released from the hospital.

There had been an emergency throughout the first night when he had started bleeding internally again, when he had been rushed off into surgery once more. Then he had fought his way back to consciousness.

After he had been transferred out of his two-day stay in the Intensive Care Unit, Nick had spent another two days trying to get his muddled brains together, and had finally been able to tell apart the faces of his visitors.

And he had had visitors every day, starting with his partner Hank, then the other guys from the precinct, and even their captain had dropped by once.

And that had been a weird moment. Nick hadn't been really awake and when he had tried to focus on Renard, weird images had kept overlapping. Not like seeing a creature at all. A few more blinks and the other man had come into focus; Nick had blamed the painkillers.

Who hadn't shown up was Juliette.

He should have expected it. The cracks in their relationship had only gotten bigger and bigger. The Grimm was getting between them without her even knowing it. She had been out of town, actually out of state. She had looked into a large veterinary clinic, into employment options, and then had stayed with her parents.

Nick had known about the offer for a while, had known she was putting off the decision because of him, them, and now...

That should have been his first clue. Well, no, not really the first. The first should have been their difficulties after Aunt Marie's death.

They had talked over the phone. For a long, long time. She had told him about the job offer, the chance to be part of the clinic. She had told him about moving, about maybe staying with her parents until she had a new place. Nick had known then and there that it was over. Not with a bang or a whimper, more like a slow death that had finally ended it all.

Hank had been shocked when he had told him that they had separated; over the phone. Juliette was gone from his life and it had been over so fast... As if Aunt Marie had known it; orchestrated it. She had told him that this couldn't continue, but back then Nick hadn't known what was going on. Juliette had accused him of not fighting for their relationship, then apologized and cried some more.

But she was right. Nick hadn't fought.

Being a cop was one thing; being a Grimm... it was so much more and so much more secretive. She didn't know, she couldn't understand, and Nick couldn't tell her.

So they had separated; on equal terms. She had accepted Nick wouldn't fight to keep her, and Nick had accepted that Juliette couldn't be part of this life. In the nine days away she had cleared out her things from the house - which was in his name - and had moved; out of town, out of the state, away from the west coast.

He tried not to think about it.

Clari had been at the hospital a few times and she had listened when he had talked. She had nodded, but she hadn't really commented. Just once.

"If you had the chance now, would you tell her?"

"No."

And that was that. Nick knew he would never want his girlfriend to live the danger a Grimm found himself in.

Maybe Grimms were meant to be alone.