Who in the hell would come knocking at 6:30 in the morning to bug him? Monroe decided to just keep doing his Pilates. Maybe they'd go away.

Nope. He heard a knock again and sighed. He might as well see who it was. God if it was Regina he'd tear a new one.

He finally got up and grabbed a towel. He opened the door and lo and behold…

"We need to talk." The Grimm, Detective Nick Burkhardt said on his porch.

"Not at 6:30 in the morning we don't." Monroe said, feeling testy. He started to close the door but the damn guy let himself in.

Before he could remark, he heard Josie upstairs wailing for him.

"Great, you woke her up." He grumbled, heading upstairs.

The idiot actually had the audacity to follow him, "You have a kid?" he asked, looking dumbstruck.

"Uh yeah. Weren't you listening to me when I mentioned her?" he said going towards Josie's room.

"I was kinda preoccupied. You know…missing girl. Which, thank you, by the way."

"A gift basket would have been nice." Monroe said as he opened Josie's door. He saw her on her bed crying and reaching for him.

He collected her and held her for a minute.

He looked over at Detective Burkhardt, who was actually grinning at him.

"What?" he asked.

The detective shook his head and continued smiling, "She's cute."

"Thanks." He said and grabbed her favorite stuffed wolf "Luna".

"How old?" Nick asked.

"Five." Monroe said, rocking her.

"I thought she was here." She sobbed quietly.

"Not yet, Josie." He said sadly.

"Who's that?" she asked, suddenly noticing Nick and tensing.

He turned around; holding her in his arms and saw Nick looking around her room.

He was probably admiring all the classy furniture that Monroe had picked out especially for Josie. That or he was staring at all the toys and pink and purple covering the room. He hoped it was the first one. If there was one thing Monroe prided himself on, it was that his daughter had intricate and old-fashioned furniture that made a statement.

"Hi." Nick said, smiling and waving.

"This is Detective Nick Burkhardt." Monroe explained, "Detective, this is my daughter Josephine. But we just call her Josie."

"Hi Josie, nice to meet you." Nick said, extending his hand. Josie stared at him.

"Hungry?" Monroe asked her and she nodded.

He left the room, passing Nick and leading the way downstairs.

"How long is this gonna take? I was right in the middle of my Pilates." Monroe asked him.

Nick suddenly remembered what he was doing there and pulled out the paper bag, stopping Monroe in the hallway.

"You ever see one of these before?" Nick asked.

Monroe put Josie down and took the bag. He stared in shock for a second then recovered, glancing at Josie.

"Hey hun, go pick out your bagel." He said.

Josie walked away and Monroe pulled out what looked to be an intricate carved bear claw thing.

"I've never seen one up close thank God. Jaegarbars use these to disembowel their victims." He said, sniffing it, "Now I'm hungry." He grumbled and shoved the item back in the bag and gave it back to Nick.

"Want a bagel?" he asked.

"No, thank you." Nick said.

He questioned Monroe on Jaegarbars and suddenly noticed Josie was listening to them. He figured she knew and understood what they were talking about.

Halfway through, Nick finally glanced at Josie, who was eating her bagel next to her father. The detective in him wondered if she was actually following along with what was going on or if she was in five-year-old Blutbad la-la land.

After Monroe had explained to Nick about the "Chase" Jaegarbars participate in, he realized what he needed to do, "I got to go. Thanks." He said, putting his coffee down and leaving.

"Oh, thanks for stopping by." Monroe said, and then gave Josie a look, "Newbie." He explained to her, raising his eyebrows.

She giggled, "He's not very smart, is he?"

He chuckled and shook his head, "It is pretty sad when a five-year-old knows more than a detective."

…

5 years earlier

Josie was shooting up like a weed. She was already 8 months old. She was crawling around and babbling. The only thing Monroe worried about was her curiosity, which meant she was getting into things she shouldn't. She was actually attempting to climb the stairs and nearly fell which made Monroe go safety crazy, so he baby-proofed his whole house in one afternoon.

He was working on a clock while she played in her playpen. She would throw things out to try and get his attention.

He used to get bugged by little things, but because he was attending Weider meetings regularly and he was weaning off of meat, he wasn't as testy as he used to be.

He was starting to get into this exercise routine some friends at the meetings introduced him to called Pilates. He always felt great afterwards, making him less likely to run out into the woods for extended periods of time.

The only real thing that bothered him was Angelina. Granted she was incredible with Josie, always holding her and playing with her, but she was always giving Monroe a hard time about going straight.

He felt of all the people who would at least support him it would be her.

A toy ball hit his head, making him lose focus. He glared playfully at Josie who was grinning at him. He knew all the drool was from her teething.

He sighed and finally put down his work and picked her up. She sat on the floor and started trying to get up. He laughed. She'd been squatting for weeks now trying to stand by herself. She could usually do it if she held something, but he could tell she just wanted to stand by herself.

She attempted it and fell on her bottom. She must have bumped her teeth during the impact as she started crying.

Monroe woge'd out of protection and got closer to her. She stopped crying and looked at him. She pet his face with her hands.

"Da Da." She babbled.

He smiled at her and retracted her hands still on his face. He kissed her nose and she giggled. His whiskers always tickled her.

"That's right." He said, picking her up and holding her close.

He heard a knock and realized Regina was ready to pick her up.

He'd been babysitting Josie a lot more lately. Regina had just lost her job to cut backs and she was feeling testy and angry a lot. So Monroe was happy to take Josie off her hands any time. She was his daughter after all.

Sure enough, Regina was there, looking tired but smiling none the less.

"She okay?" she asked, taking Josie from him.

"Yep, she's trying to stand, but just not there yet. She said Da Da." He told her proudly.

"She says that a lot." She laughed and bounced Josie.

Monroe looked over and noticed a man in the passenger seat of the car, "Who's that?" he asked.

She looked over, "Oh, that's Greg. Real nice guy." She said, smiling.

"Is he a Blutad?" Monroe asked.

"Yep." She said proudly, collecting Josie's things, "He's been dying to meet Josie."

Monroe suddenly felt sick to his stomach, "You sure that's a great idea? I mean, she is human."

"I know that, he knows that, but he wants to strengthen the relationship. He has to meet my kid."

Monroe sighed, wishing he could just grab Josie back from Regina, but his meetings had taught him not to assume violence would occur every which way he turned. So he took a breath and watched as the hot shot in the car held his daughter and smiled at her with a toothy grin.

He narrowed his eyes and didn't close the door until they'd left. But even then, his every thought was if Josie was okay.