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They are wet, cold, tired, dirty and out of ammunition. Miles from anywhere, back up was called two hours ago, but still no sign.
At least they got their quarry.
Nick stares at his Captain and his best friend, Monroe.
“I’m getting this feeling of déjà vu.”
Renard grimaces, they have indeed. Only last time it was just the two of them, and they wound up in Nick’s trailer cuddled up under a mountain of quilts. A slightly inconvenient little fact that Sean hasn’t been able to get out of his head ever since.
Monroe has an anxious look on his face. “Do you think they will try again?”
Renard stares down at the jagerbar that took an alarming number of bullets to die and shrugs. He’d driven this particular creature out once before, and he knows that his cousin sent it. “No doubt.”
He spares a glance for his soaked and filthy clothing, none of it really retrievable. He’s wesen, he’s tough, and he’s starting to shiver, so Nick, human, smaller than Renard therefore less actual reserves to draw on, must be freezing.
He can tell Monroe is pissed off, but unharmed, and he doesn’t feel the cold quite like Nick does.
Sean turns to his Grimm. “We need shelter.” Nick nods, the surge of adrenaline that got him through their ferocious encounter is fading away, and to Renard’s alarm he’s starting to look quite grey around the edges.
Monroe gestures, “the road’s that way.” Renard turns towards the direction of safety and takes a step.
There’s a horrified yelp from Monroe that has him spinning back around. Nick’s crumpling up, and Monroe barely manages to catch him.
Sean reaches them just as Monroe pulls a hand back from Nick.
Red with Nick’s blood.
There’s a very brief flare of answering scarlet in the Blutbad’s eyes, replaced by horror and actual fear. “Nick.” He tries to rouse the young Grimm, realizing that the detective has lost consciousness.
A shiver of fear runs through Sean then. His Nick is injured. There’s still no sign of back up, and when he grasps at his cell, there’s no service. He knows the trailer isn’t all that far, he steps forward to scoop Nick into his arms, ignoring the various twinges from his own minor injuries.
“I’ll get him to the trailer, you get help.”
Monroe pulls himself together, “just get him there.” He takes off then, and Sean concentrates on putting one foot in front of the other, and getting Nick, who’s a deadweight, somewhere dry and reasonably warm.
It feels like he’s been walking forever, Nick hasn’t stirred, and Sean’s doing his best to shield his Grimm from the driving rain, by his calculations it’s taken about fifteen minutes so far.
If anything it gets wetter, and Sean stops to strip his overcoat off, it’s soaked and useless to him, but if it provides even a touch more warmth for his injured Nick, he doesn’t need it. The suit is a write-off, as is his shirt, tie and probably all the way through to his underwear, at least he’s wearing boots. If any of it will help Nick, Sean would gladly walk naked the rest of the way.
He’s so concentrated on watching his footing on the soaked ground, he doesn’t even notice when Nick slowly comes around.
“Sean.” Nick sounds groggy, and his teeth are chattering hard.
“Sssshhhh.” Renard hoists him a little closer to his chest, and Nick moves his head forward until it’s resting against Sean’s neck. “Nearly there.” Sean soothes his injured boyfriend.
“I’m sorry,” Nick slurs a little, he’s shivering quite hard now.
“Nothing to be sorry about.” Sean can actually see the trailer now. “Hold on Nicky.” They’ve been together a while now, and whilst it might not be a total secret, Sean doesn’t use terms of endearment in front of the rest of the precinct. They keep it strictly professional. That’s why the higher ups have left his relationship with his young detective alone.
But there’s no one else around, and Sean needs Nick to hold on.
It’s awkward fumbling Nick’s key out of his pocket, while holding the Grimm up against him with one arm, and trying to open the door left handed from a slightly difficult position. Then the door’s open, and he swings Nick up into his arms again.
It’s dry, and reasonably comfortable inside, but no one could ever accuse Aunt Marie’s trailer of being cosy.
Sean carefully strips Nick of his filthy, wet things, shrugs off his own clothes and lifts Nick onto the small daybed under the window. They each have a change of clothes there, so do Monroe and Hank. But Sean’s more concerned about breaking out the first aid kit, to do more than pull on his sweat pants and help Nick into his.
Nick’s side is badly bruised, but it’s the puncture wound that’s worrying Sean. It looks like it’s just through the meat, and hasn’t hit anything vital, but it’s still bleeding albeit sluggishly, and Nick moans in pain when Sean puts pressure on it.
Sean does a patch job, and gets Nick into a tee-shirt; then he goes around the trailer pulling every blanket and every quilt that has been stored in it.
He covers Nick gently, and then slips in beside him, drawing the younger man into his embrace.
Despite the pain in his side, Nick burrows in to his boyfriend’s reassuringly warm body.
The wound is nasty, but not as bad as it could have been, so Sean smiles as Nick cuddles up close. Simple things like love and affection are still something comparatively new to the Captain. He’s used to political maneuvering and people having private agendas.
There isn’t much in the way of supplies in the trailer, but Sean finds enough to make tea to warm them both up. He helps Nick sit up, and supports him while Nick drinks a little of the tea. Nick falls back to sleep midway through the process, leaving Sean cradling his young Grimm in his arms.
Which is exactly how Hank finds them when he knocks on the trailer door ten minutes later.
Hank knows about Nick and Sean, but there’s knowing and then there’s public acknowledgement. Hank says nothing, he’s glad for Nick and the Captain, something about their relationship keeps them balanced and happy, and Hank’s all for it.
“Nick Burkhardt, trouble magnet extraordinaire!”
Sean smiles a little ruefully at that, and gently rouses Nick.
“Time to go.”
A couple of hours later, Nick’s wound has been assessed, cleaned and dressed, and he’s installed in a bed, Sean takes the hard plastic chair and settles in for a long wait.
At some point during the rain-soaked trudge Sean’s reached the conclusion that it’s time to acknowledge their relationship in public. He’s claiming his place by Nick’s side.