Everything Else.
Words:
514
Couple:
Andy McNally and Nick Collins.
TV Show:
Rookie Blue.
Disclaimer:
All characters you recognize do not belong to me. Direct quotes used are from 4x06
AU 4x06
Established Andy/Nick.

When he gets back into the squad car, Andy moans at the smell of coffee wafting in with him. They'd slept in, barely making it in time to Parade, and being called in by Frank had made them later for getting out on patrol. This being said, no coffee had been consumed since about midday the day before, and that knowledge made Andy feel caffeine deprived.

"So have you figured out what the deal with the cheese-puffs is?" Andy asks taking a sip from the warm cup in her hands.
"The mac-and-cheese thing or just cheese-puffs in general?"
"In general."
Nick shrugs, placing his own coffee in the middle console before reaching back for his seatbelt, "They're her comfort food or something. She's always loved them, a bit obsessed actually."
"Maybe she's sorry?" she suggests, "Feels bad for being a bit of a dick?"

The officer beside her chuckles, shaking his head as she takes another sip from the take-away cup. They're silent, and Andy finds herself cocking her head to the side and frowning.

"You okay?"
"Yeah, it's just weird that Chris left like that," she shrugs.
"I always kinda liked Diaz," Nick tells her.
Andy turns to him, eyebrows knitted together in confusion, "Didn't you two have a huge feud over Gail last year?"
"Which I won, thus, I always liked Diaz."
"Oh well, congratulations, what a prize," Andy scoffs, taking another sip.

Nick goes quiet, and she hears him turn in her direction. She can almost feel some deformed version of smugness radiating off of him, and she knew her reaction had just gotten her thrown in the deep-end.

"Jealous are we Andy?" he asks playfully, "You just seem a little tense."
"Oh, do I? Well I'll have you know that I've never felt better," Andy smiles, looking at him from the corner of her eye.
"Yeah?"
"Seriously, I dunno, I just feel happy, calm even," Andy stops, pointing out the windscreen suddenly, "Man on hood! Look man on hood!"

Before she leaves, she finds him and pulls him into a spare interview room. She doesn't say anything, just takes a shuddering breath in, and keeps a hold firmly on his elbows, and Nick lets her stand like this until it's too much to bare. Moving closer to her, he envelopes her waist with his arms and pulls her tightly against him.

He understands that despite not showing it, the case was effecting her just as much as it was effecting Sam Swarek, and she could only take so much before she could break.

"You're okay," he murmurs, lips close to her ear as she wounds her arms around him, "You're going to be okay. Gail is okay, you are okay, Swarek is okay."
"He didn't deserve it," she whispers, grip tightening on him for just a moment.
"Traci is okay," he continues, trying to ignore the fragile voice leaving her, "You are okay, Gail is okay, Swarek is okay, Traci is okay."

She nods against him, and he holds her there, not pulling away until her shaky breathing stops.

So there won't be another chapter for this episode, but it will be addressed later in another chapter. Maybe next chapter, but I'm not too sure. It's just that this episode was really hard to deal with man. Jerry was my favourite and I cried for like three weeks after he died, I was so freaking emotionally invested in him. Like you have no idea.

That, and I'm trying to find a way to explain Nick being at the interview. Or if we should just forget that all together. Maybe. I don't know.

And now to return to listening to Taylor Swift and staring at a half-written word-document because I'm stuck. Ugh. Maybe I'll do homework, because yanno. That's important.

Thank you!

All mistakes are mine.

Review?