I'm Sorry

Chapter One: Good Morning

Nick looked again at Trubel who was staring at him with a curious expression and still clearly in a lot of pain.

"I'm going to trust you," he said hesitantly and begrudgingly. He sighed and very carefully helped her up. A saddened and guilty expression shaped Trubel's features, but Nick was too busy to make much of it. He moved next to her and put her free arm around his shoulder.

Nick led her to one of the bar stools as she protested, saying things along the lines of, "I don't need help" and, "Seriously, Nick, I'm fine, get off" through gritted teeth.

Eventually, they limped their way over to the nearest stools. The small trip seemed to be too much for Trubel who panted harder and gripped her side so tightly that Nick thought she would give herself bruises. Nick's expression grew more horrified as Trubel looked up at him with a look he had rarely if ever, seen her give. She appeared almost helpless, but Nick decided that apologetic was a better word for it in order to comfort himself.

She looked away from him, clearly ashamed of herself, and said, "Nick, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." Her voice cracked.

That killed him.

"It's okay, Trubel," he soothed. Trubel must have felt horrible. She couldn't even look at him. He put his hand on her shoulder which was enough to get her attention. He said very confidently after she turned her gaze up to him, "You don't ever need to be sorry."

Again she felt guilty but couldn't tell him why. She woke him up, was always making his life more difficult with every move she made, and now she was keeping secrets from him. Secrets about Juliette. Secrets that had made her lie to him. But, in all honesty, what was it that she could tell him, anyway? She hardly knew more than him, and sometimes she even questioned if she knew what she thought she knew. One thing was for sure. He trusted her. She was feeling like a traitor, and weak, which definitely helped absolutely nothing.

Trubel didn't let any of her emotions betray her by revealing themselves on her face, and Nick watched with a concerned expression as he tried to figure out what she was thinking. After a few seconds that felt like a few hours, he couldn't stop himself from asking, "What happened?"

Trubel didn't answer right away, so Nick added, "I thought you were okay. I mean, you didn't seem like you were feeling great, but I thought you were recovering."

"Nick, I am okay," she answered and continued, "I just fell. That's it."

"Well, what were you doing? I thought you were asleep."

"I was," Trubel admitted. "But I got hungry."

Nick cracked an uneasy smile and playfully rolled his eyes in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Of course you did," he said in a low voice.

Trubel was encouraged by his attempts and continued. "I was going to try to make a sandwich. I figured a PB and J wouldn't burn the house down." Trubel was the one to smile nervously this time.

Nick's mind flashed back to a time when everything in his life had seemed to be falling into place. He was a Grimm who hoped to soon be happily engaged to the most amazing, beautiful, and accepting woman in the world. Juliette loved him and he loved her which was something neither one of them was able to forget about as they arrived home from Rosalee and Monroe's pre-wedding dinner. That is until they smelled the smoke and ran inside to keep Trubel's grease fire from burning down the whole house. Juliette used to be the most real thing to him in those days, not to mention that Trubel was safe at home with him rather than running all over the globe killing people at the request of the government. He began to remember how much he missed those days and began to wish that...