Chapter Text
Seven months, nineteen days, and three hours. That was how long it had been since Nick had disappeared. Renard had sighed as he made his way into the precinct, passing by several cops. Wu had given him a greeting before heading out on patrol. After several weeks any leads to Nick's whereabouts had dried up and like so many cases beforehand, the trail had gone cold. Every so often, they'd receive an anonymous tip, or someone would call in on a sighting. And it'd be all hands-on deck, but as always, the new leads were dead ends and the sightings were hoaxes.
It had gotten to the point that none of the officers believed them anymore, but because it was Nick they still treated any lead and sighting as legit, opening themselves up to disappointment after disappointment. Life in general went on, though Renard had to admit crime had gotten worse in Portland. He couldn't help but to think some of the recent dead would have been alive had Nick been there to stop these wesen. With his abilities, he was able to stop a lot of wesen from adding to their body count.
But now that he was no longer on the payroll, it took his officers (almost all of them human), twice as long or longer to figure out who was killing these people and bring them in. That's if they figured it at all. He knew how frustrated Hank was. He knew about the wesen world, but there was no way for him to prove any of his hunches without Nick. And after a couple weeks, Renard had assigned Pogue as his temporary replacement partner, which didn't help Hank any. And then after a month being temporary partners, Pogue had become his new permanent partner. Hank wasn't happy, but he accepted his new reality.
Though deep down, Hank hadn't given up hope on finding Nick alive. He hadn't either. In fact, he didn't realize just how much of a haze he'd been in, how hard it had taken him to get up in the morning, to keep breathing during the day, until he reached his office. The sheer amount of effort it took him now to go to work every morning. It was a punch to the gut, but in a good way. In a way that had broken loose the stranglehold of uncertainty that had been slowly smothering him, allowing him to breathe once more.
"Oh." Wu had awkwardly smiled as he came back around, leaning just a fraction into Renard's doorway, "I forgot to tell you a Mr. Mize-ner?-" Wu spoke slowly, making sure he was pronouncing that right, before continuing. "Has been waiting in your office for the past forty minutes."
"Thanks, Sargent. I noticed."
Wu gave another grin, this one a little tighter, and then left the captain to it. Renard closed and locked his door, shut his blinds to prying eyes, then he cleared his throat nervously, while he debated if he should even take his jacket off. When he started to, Miesner's comforting accent fell over him. "I wouldn't."
"We've got somewhere to be?"
"Nice to see you too, Sean."
Neither one had seen or heard from the other in quite some time, so Renard did offer up a nod and controlled smile. However, both men were the type that got straight down to business and Miesner got into that zone when he clapped the front of his thighs. Renard caught on to the shift, and he crossed his arms, "What brings you by? Eric still up to his old schemes?"
As unlikely as that was, Eric had pretty much lost all interest in his neck of the woods after Nick went missing. And the resistance, as well as his contacts in the royal court had all told him the same thing. That Eric and the royal family was not behind it. Eric had been just as stumped over where the Grimm was as everyone else. However, Miesner usually called him, and it usually was only about news dealing with one or the other. And since he lost the Grimm, the resistance hadn't been asking him for many favors. He was slightly surprised to see him in Portland in person. But if he was there in person, then it had to be something important.
"Straight to business." Miesner stood up from his chair, looking as serious and even a bit somber, as ever. "I found your Burkhardt."
"What?" Sean almost couldn't believe what he was hearing, even though he trusted Miesner. Miesner's intel had to be sound, otherwise he wouldn't be there in person if he didn't have something, he still couldn't believe it. "What did you say?"
"Your Burkhardt." Miesner repeated. "I found him, but we've got to move fast on this one."
"Move fast?"
"Yes, Sean. The wesen group I took him from were not happy that I took him. We've been dodging and running from them for the better part of two months now."
Renard blinked as he was assessing this information. "Do they know he's in Portland?"
"I can't say with any certainty, but if they don't it's only a matter of time. I brought him home, only because I'd run out of options. There's too many wesen in the resistance, I couldn't trust one of them might be part of the group, or for one of them to leak where Nicholas was. I was hoping you might have a place to hide him."
Renard curled his arms further around his tan jacket. "You needed some allies. Some help." He still didn't think it was possible after all this time to have Nick back in Portland, he kept expecting to find his body come floating up in the water or lying dead in the woods somewhere. He trusted Miesner, with his life and now he was trusting him with Nick's. "If you think he's in danger, then we should head out now." Miesner had stood up and grabbed him around his arm, stopping him from leaving. "What are you doing? You told me we have to act fast on this."
"And we do. I just needed to warn you. What he's endured.... He's not the same Nicholas that you remember."
"He's a Grimm."
Miesner scoffed, "Typical wesen attitude. Him being a Grimm doesn't keep him protected from physical or emotional trauma." He shook his head, "Let's just go."
He moved past Sean and back into the precinct. Sean was following behind him when his voice broke out. "Hank, you're with me."
Hank had been sitting at his desk, looking up a partial plate, from a possible murder that morning. Pogue was beside him, giving him extra information from the witness statement, at least from Renard's vantage point, but he couldn't hear what the two of them were discussing.
"What's up, Captain?" Hank asked, pushing his chair back and grabbing his coat that was hanging off the back.
Pogue was grabbing for his own, but Sean shook his head, "Just Griffin for now, Pogue. I'll let you know if and when I need more men on this."
Pogue frowned, sitting heavily back in his chair.
"Hey, keep working on the plate, and narrow down all the small makes with yellow cars. I know she wasn't positive what brand it was, but maybe we'll get lucky. I'll be back as soon as I can." Hank clapped a hand on his partners shoulder and then joined the captain and the other man he was with. He had picked up on the silence between them, and he lowered his voice, so he'd be keeping their conversation a little more private. "What's going on?"
"Not here." Miesner spoke, gazing around in paranoia.
Renard didn't think his precinct would betray Nick; they loved him and wanted him back almost as much as Nick's friends did. However, that didn't account for leaks, and he deferred to Miesner's judgment. Besides, he wanted to make sure Miesner actually had Nick and that his detective was alive, before he turned this into some big spectacle. And if Miesner was correct, if the group responsible for his disappearance was still after him, then keeping this all under wraps would be the safest option for Nick. At Griffin's silent confusion, Renard figured Hank would be less hostile if he made introductions.
"Hank, this is Miesner. Miesner, Hank. He's an old friend and I trust him with my life." Hank's posture wasn't as rigid, though he did not appreciate Miesner's intensity.
Miesner sighed as he left out the front doors, "There's no time for this. We'll talk later."