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Leonard McCoy's parents died in a car crash when he was twelve years old. David and Eleanora had been on their way to a movie when the car caught fire, trapping both of the McCoys inside and burning them beyond recognition. Care of Leo fell to David's sister Sarah, and she did her best to raise her nephew on a librarian's salary while keeping him safe from the dangers in the world that he didn't yet know about.The death of the McCoys had been marked as a possible arson, and the Portland detectives had spent months investigating, but no conclusive evidence had arisen. Seeing his aunt crying from the news, the then-twelve year old Leo swore to himself that he would find whoever had done this when he was an adult. He knew he was destined to be a cop in that moment.
James T. Kirk was a fuchsbau. He had been born and raised in Portland by a single mother after his father was killed by a Grimm on the day of Jim’s birth. Jim swore then that if he ever met a Grimm, he would kill them for what had happened to his father. George was the owner of small, private airfield, and he had never harmed anyone.
Jim had been walking home from his job at the garage near his house when he witnessed the car accident that left one driver dead and the other paralyzed. The cops first on the scene asked him to stay so they could take a statement, and Jim found himself being interviewed by a rather attractive brunet in uniform, who introduced himself as Officer McCoy. McCoy passed over his phone number with a request to call if Jim remembered anything else, anytime.
Jim had called the next night and asked Officer McCoy to meet him to discuss a few more details. The officer was understandably upset upon discovering that Jim did not, in fact, have any new information and merely needed an excuse to meet for coffee. He had grudgingly introduced himself as Leo, complaining that all he could feel was the cold in his bones. Jim had gleefully nicknamed him, and that was when Leo realized that he might like Jim as much as Jim appeared to like him.
They dated for a year before Jim announced that he knew Leo's lease was going to be up soon and that the now-detective should move into his too-large home now that his mother was no longer living with him. Leo had protested that he was a detective and could afford his own place, but Jim had worn him down and Leo soon found himself carrying boxes of his possessions from his Jeep into Jim's living room. They had been happy for the past 18 months, and Leo had actually just bought a ring that only his partner Hikaru Sulu knew about. He was trying to find the right moment to ask, and was thinking about taking Jim up to the cabin they had rented last summer on the lake that sparkled the same color as Jim's eyes. That all changed when Aunt Sarah returned for a visit in October, when Leo was working a particularly difficult case. Leo hadn't talked to her in years, not since he left for the Academy, and he didn't realize how sick she'd gotten until he found her in the kitchen with Jim, emaciated and a bandanna wound around her head.
“Why didn’t you tell me your aunt was coming to town?” Jim asked when he cornered Leo under the pretense of helping get more coffee. “She’s wonderful.”
“I didn’t know,” Leo replied honestly. “I haven’t talked to her in ages. I don’t even know how she got our address.”
Jim leaned over to peck Leo on the lips. “I love hearing you saying that. Our address.”
Leo smiled and kissed Jim again. “I love saying it.” He smacked Jim on the ass before toting the mugs back into the kitchen.
Sarah gratefully accepted the mug and smiled. “Jim, dear, I hate to be a bother, but would you mind if I stole Leo for a moment? I need to show him something.”
“Oh, of course,” Jim said, moving towards the door. “Not a problem. I’ll be upstairs, Leo.”
Sarah took her nephew outside and pressed a small... Something in his hand. “It’s a key,” she explained, urging him to unfold it.
“To what?”
“This,” Sarah said, pressing her hand flat against the door of a trailer hitched to the back of her car. “Leonard, there are things in this world that are not human. They’re dangerous, and it’s our job to protect people from them.”
“You’re a librarian,” Leo said, raising an eyebrow. “What exactly do you protect against?”
Sarah sighed. “Leo, by now, your gift will have arisen. I’m the preceding Grimm, and it’s almost my time to die. Have you seen anything weird recently?”
Leo thought back to the previous day, when he had bought the ring and saw a woman whose features distorted horribly for just a second when he looked at her full on. “I... Yeah, I guess I have.”
Sarah’s mouth formed a grim line. “Leo, everything will be explained in this trailer. People like us, we’re called Grimms. We have to protect the world from the unknown. Your parents were Grimms as well. The gift passes down in families, and it arises in adulthood as parents reach old age or die. Yours didn’t because I was your parent figure, but I’m dying, Leo. It’s your time now.”
Leo shook his head desperately. “No, Aunt Sarah, don’t say that. You’ll be fine, I know it.”
“He’s here,” she whispered as Leo clutched at her hands. “Leo, you will be wonderful. I believe in you.”
A gunshot rang through the night as she released her nephew and took a single step down the street. The detective saw a lone suited figure standing in the road, and pulled his pistol out, calling for the shooter to put his hands up. The assailant turned back the way he came from, and Leo emptied his gun into the air before turning to find his aunt gasping for breath on the ground.
“Do your duty, Leo,” she rasped before sliding into unconsciousness.
The paramedics arrived before she died, and she was taken to the ICU. Jim held Leo for the entire time they were waiting in the hospital, until he was finally allowed in, at 5 in the morning.
“It’ll be okay, Leo,” Jim promised, squeezing the detective’s hand. “I’ll be right here for you.”
For just a second, Leo thought he may have seen Jim transform. For just a second, he thought he saw fur on Jim’s face, darker than his blond hair. He convinced himself it was his imagination.
For just a second, Jim thought he had felt someone see him woge, but the only person around was Leo, and he had only woged for a second. Not even a full second. He convinced himself that he had imagined it.
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It wasn’t until they were safely home in bed, both having gotten the day off from work, when Leo finally repeated his aunt’s message.
“Jim?” he wound his fingers into his boyfriend’s.
“Yeah, Bones?”
“Do you think there’s a possibility of there being... Not-human things on Earth?”
Jim paused. “I think anything could happen, Bones. Like aliens?”
Leo shook his head and frowned. “No. It was just something that my aunt said. Speaking of, I need to move that trailer she left me soon.”
Jim pressed a kiss to Leo’s hair. “Get some sleep, baby, and we’ll figure it out in a while.
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Leo slid out of bed and snuck into the trailer when Jim finally fell asleep, going out in his pajamas and a pair of loafers left by the door, wielding a flashlight in case it was dark inside.
He found a note from Aunt Sarah on a table in the middle of the room, and he sat down to read it.
Leo-
I realize how insane this must sound, but you are a Grimm. As in, a descendant from the Brothers, Wilhelm and Jakob. The creatures they wrote about in their stories are not fictional, they’re real. The original stories were written as ways to learn to control and defeat the creatures. The beings of this world are called wesen (pronounced vesen in English), and there are hundreds of different kinds. They are all described in the journals in this trailer, which also contain your ancestor’s notes on how they defeated each one. There are weapons and potions of sorts in this trailer as well, but you must know how to use them before using. Most wesen breeds are violent and will lash out at you, but some are peaceful. Being a cop is a good profession for a Grimm- it’s also why your mother was one. Explaining it as a librarian is a little harder. I wish you the best of luck, Leonard.
I love you,
Aunt Sarah
His eyes were drawn to the back, where the writing was scratched out. He squinted, trying to read it, but soon gave up and began flipping through the journals on the table. He found detailed descriptions of wesen and drawings to accompany the words, and was impressed with the quality of the images.
He was so absorbed in reading the books that he didn’t realize how much time had passed or that the door had been pulled open and Jim was standing in the doorway.
“You’re a Grimm,” the blond said quietly, and Leo nearly fell out of his chair.
“What?”
“A Grimm,” Jim repeated. “You are, aren’t you?”
“I don’t even know, kid. How do you know?”
Jim responded by woging again, his face filling with light brown hair and his eyes darkening to green.
Leo really did fall out of his chair this time. “What?” he asked from the floor, and Jim changed back.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Bones. I promise. But.... I need some time to process this.”
“Wait,” Leo called, standing up and brushing his sweatpants off. “Jim, what are you?”
“I’m a fuchsbau,” Jim said, and his eyes met Leo’s. “And a Grimm killed my father the day I was born.”
“Oh, God, Jim,” Leo breathed, stepping towards his boyfriend. “I am so sorry.”
“It wasn’t you who killed him,” Jim mumbled. “He never hurt anyone.”
“Help me with it, then,” Leo pleaded, his hazel eyes staring into Jim’s clear blue. “Help me be a better Grimm than my ancestors. Help me be a just Grimm and a good cop. Help me, darlin’.”
Jim nodded wordlessly and allowed himself to be pulled into Leo’s arms. He was sure he was the only wesen that could say he was living with a Grimm. And in love with said Grimm.