Work Text:
It was raining in earnest now, and the cold, the wind driving the rain into their faces, was doing nothing for their forward progress. They were both wounded, both tiring fast, and they had to find shelter before things went downhill beyond the point of no return.
Despite Captain Sean Renard’s wesen blood, he was almost the weaker of the two, though he was acutely aware (when he could spare a thought), that his smaller, younger companion, Detective Nick Burkhardt, wasn’t far behind him in the pain and exhaustion stakes.
Of course it was a trap. Of course Nick went for it, because after the losing and regaining of his powers, and all the other crap that Nick Burkhardt had been through, of course there was no way he was going to ignore another threat to Rosalee and Monroe. Of course the Captain was going to follow him, because dammit, Sean Renard was the bastard Prince of Portland, and it was his damn territory.
They’d won, because fighting side by side they could almost read each other’s minds, and damn wasn’t that something strange. They’d won, and the remaining assailants had fled, leaving the one vehicle that didn’t run. Cell service non-existent, miles from home, driving rain…
Nick was slipping on the wet ground, and Sean took half a second to secure his arm more firmly around Nick’s shoulders. Trying very hard not to brush against the painful injuries. Gritted his teeth, ignoring the agonizing twang that was emanating from his own knee and they started forward again.
Nick was shivering and leaning into Sean’s larger frame, “so cold.” He muttered. Sean took heart that the words weren’t slurred, but the chattering of Nick’s teeth was too much.
They needed out of the wind and rain, fast.
They reached a fence, and crawled painfully through, then more woods, and Sean was just wondering if they had cell service yet, because they needed back up, then there was a clearing and he thought he was seeing things.
He’d last seen Nick’s Aunt’s trailer in the storage yard after his aborted search for the keys. Even freezing cold, sore as hell and more than a little woozy from blood loss, Sean recognized how far he had come in his relationship with Nick.
The young Grimm was leading him to his inner sanctum.
Sean swayed, and Nick’s arm settled more firmly around his waist. “Hold on. We’re nearly there.”
Then the door was open, and Sean was almost crawling through, Nick’s hands were tugging at his arm, then everything went a little grey around the edges and seemed to be swirling around.
He woke to the realization that while he could hear a gale howling around them, and the rain was battering at roof and walls, he was warm and dry, the pain from his wounds had receded a little, and he was lying on the bed under the window.
Sean moved a little, just to test a few things out, and yup, he still had a broken rib, and a badly twisted knee that from the heat rolling off it, he wasn’t going to be able to bear any more weight on, he was stiff and sore, and his headache had not improved much, but he was dry… and completely naked.
In bed; and Nick Burkhardt, equally naked, was curled up against Sean, head resting on Sean’s shoulder.
They were beneath several blankets, most of which seemed to be beautifully hand made.
He really didn’t want to move much, mostly because it hurt, but also because the painful pleasure of having Nick Burkhardt voluntarily asleep on Sean’s shoulder was too good to pass up. Very slowly and carefully Sean slipped his arm under Nick’s body, and round his back. A gentle squeeze and the Grimm was cuddling closer.
He checked himself out, and realized that Nick must have gotten a first aid kit from somewhere because each cut and scrape had been carefully tended to, what little he could see of Nick, the young detective had seen to his own cuts and scrapes before crawling into bed with Sean.
His knee was throbbing, but as long as Sean didn’t try standing on it, the pain was less. He could sense no threats around, so he eased back into sleep, holding his Grimm.
Hank Griffin was nearly beside himself by the time he reached the trailer. The sudden disappearance of his partner and his Captain had stressed him almost beyond endurance.
Everything seemed normal as he approached. Very cautiously he opened the door.
There was a pile of dirty, torn, bloody and muddy clothing on the floor, and his partner was in the bed with their boss.
They both looked pretty beat up, but the younger detective was curled up peacefully in his boss’s arms, and both of them were deeply asleep.
Hank was loathe to disturb them, Nick was being held protectively in Sean Renard’s arms, and from the smile on his face, he was happy to be there.
Hank settled in for the wait.