I do not own Rookie Blue or any of the characters.
Set after the Proposal. AU after series 4 - Andy stayed with Nick instead of getting back together with Sam and now they are married. Andy/Nick.
Please read and review :)
Chapter 12: Cars.
It was now April. Andy and Nick had been married for 4 months and they had been trying to conceive a baby about a month, with no luck yet, but they both knew that these things took time, so neither of them were worried and trying to conceive was a great deal of fun for the young, married couple. Their shifts were very rarely synched, but they always did their best to make time together.
Andy was thrilled to find out that Tracey and her boyfriend were planning on moving in together; it was Tracey's second chance at happiness and it was the same for her boyfriend, who had lost his wife. Leo and his child were very close, which helped the situation, and both of the children were very happy with the idea of their changing living situations.
It was one of the rare shifts which Andy and Nick shared; Andy was partnered with Chloe and Nick was with Oliver. As usual, Chloe talked non-stop, mostly telling Andy about her relationship with Dove and how she didn't want to marry him because of her failed marriage with her ex-husband, but Dove wanted to marry her. She asked for Andy's advice, but Andy just listened, because she had no idea what to say to her friend and partner. She thought that her husband was far better at listening to Chloe than she was.
Nick and Oliver were called to the scene of a car accident and Oliver was glad to be with Nick today, because he and his girlfriend had broken up and he knew that the young man would not ask any questions. As soon as they arrived at the scene of the accident, the two cars were destroyed to such an extent that Nick felt sick; in the Army, he had seen and done many brutal things, but, for some reason, car accidents were always the worst thing. It was what had taken his parents away from him when he'd been 12, but he blinked and fought against the sickness, not wanting Oliver to see how affected he was by it. He knew that the older man was kind and would ask questions and he did not want to answer them. He also knew that, after serving in Afghanistan, it should be something he was over, but he knew that would never happen.
Following Oliver closely, they walked over to the ambulance. There were 2 dead bodies and a little girl sitting in the back of the ambulance. She was crying and shaking and Nick immediately wanted to comfort her, but he and Oliver had to find out what had happened first. There was another man who was alive and, even without talking to him, Nick knew that he was the man who had caused this accident.
Oliver sighed and asked, "What's going on here?"
The paramedic told that the man who had caught Nick's eye had been driving over the speed limit, as well as being beyond drunk and his car had had Mr. and Mrs. Wilson's car, killing them both on impact. Their 10-year-old daughter was the survivor of the accident. Her name was Riley. Nick swallowed against the lump in his throat; this was all too familiar, too much like the accident which had killed his parents and paralysed his brother.
Looking over at Riley, Oliver whispered, more to himself than to Nick, "Wow. She's about the age of my youngest." He inhaled a deep breath and Nick knew that the older man was struggling with this, too, because he was a parent of three daughters. "Okay, Collins, I'm gonna take this guy back to the station. You go to the hospital with the girl."
Nick sighed and followed orders. Riley was still crying, so Nick stayed with her in the ambulance. She didn't talk and Nick knew that nothing that he could say would make the little girl any happier now. He had been where she was now.
Once they were at the hospital, Nick sat down in the chair next to Riley's bed and offered her a teddy he had bought at the shop. The little girl eyed it, then started to cry. With her head in the teddy, she said, "Mummy and Daddy have gone to Heaven, haven't they?"
Nick nodded sadly. "Yes, they have, but I know that they would be so pleased you're okay. My name's Nick. What are you going to call the teddy?"
Riley looked at him, then at the teddy. "I'll call him Nicky." She paused, then added, "My Grams will be here soon. I want Mummy and Daddy!" She hid her face in the teddy and started to cry again, crying for her parents who had been taken from her. She was only 10.
Nick's heart broke as he watched this, until he finally swallowed another lump in his throat and said, "Riley, can I tell you a secret?" He paused and waited until the little girl's eyes were on him before he continued, "When I was 12, my parents were killed in a car accident. They were killed by a drunk driver."
With this piece of sad information, Riley's eyes widened, then she murmured, "I'm sorry. Who looked after you? Did your Grams look after you?"
"No. I went into foster care." Nick sighed, then moved closer to the bed and said, "Riley, the point is, I've been where you are now. It's okay to be sad. I'm still sad when I think about my parents. But they'd be so happy to know you're okay and they'd want you to be happy, wouldn't they?"
"Are they watching me from Heaven?"
Nick smiled slightly, then touched the teddy's foot and moved it around, which made Riley laugh.
When Nick arrived back at the station, as soon as Riley's Grams had turned up, he almost ran to the toilet and vomited into the toilet, then closed the door with his feet as he started to cry. Seeing that car accident, seeing and speaking to Riley, had brought back all of those memories, of a time when he had lost his parents and been forced to go into foster care. Finally, he pulled himself together, wiping his face with cold water and a paper towel and he looked into the mirror and told himself that his mum and dad wouldn't have wanted that reaction. It had been a life-time ago, he had been 12, but that still didn't seem to lessen this pain.
He was surprised when Oliver came over to him and asked him what was wrong. There was genuine concern in the older man's face, so Nick said, "The car accident- my parents were killed in a car accident when I was 12." There was no need to say anything else, but he knew that Oliver understood why he was acting the way he was.
After Andy and Chloe had responded to a call, they returned to the station and Andy went to the breakroom, to find some food. She was surprised to see Nick sitting there, totally silent and still, staring into space. "Nick, are you okay?" Her husband just nodded curtly, but Andy could see the pain in his eyes and she wondered what was wrong.
Nick rubbed his eyes, before he forced a smile, then turned to face her and said, "Andy, I'm fine. I'll see you tonight. Love you." He cupped her face with his hands and kissed her and Andy kissed him back, but she could still feel his sadness and it was worrying her. He saw the worried look in her eyes and forced a smile, "No need to worry about me. We can talk later."
Before she had a chance to think about it, she and Chloe were called to a domestic disturbance, so they left the station. Andy was worried, because she had no idea what was wrong with Nick; she had never seen him sitting there, so still and looking so fragile and sad and she wanted her shift to be over, so that she could go home with her husband. On the way to the domestic, she texted Nick saying, 'Meet you outside the men's' locker room after shift. Stay safe x' and she was very surprised that Nick just sent her a kiss in response. Either he was distracted by work, which she knew was possible, but she still had never seen him that sad. Nick was always so open and honest about his feelings with her, so why he was being so short with her and telling her not to worry when there was clearly something wrong?
It was early evening by the time Andy and Chloe returned to Division-15 and Andy texted Nick to tell him that she was back, before she went to change into her clothes and put on her engagement ring. Chloe kept talking to her as they changed and had showers. Normally, Andy would have gone with her to The Penny, but when she saw that her husband had not replied to her, so left her friend and went to the men's locker room. This was where she had agreed to meet Nick, but he was not there. She was glad to see Oliver. "Oliver, have you seen Nick?"
There was a silence, then the older man replied, "Yeah. Nick had a tough day today." Andy raised an eyebrow, so he continued, "There was a car crash and a kid was left orphaned. She was only 10. Nick took it really hard. He's gone home." Oliver paused, then said, "He's a good guy and a great cop. But this really got to him and, if anyone can help him, it's you."
Knowing how her husband's mind worked, Andy went to the graveyard where his parents were buried and she saw him, standing there, in total silence. She walked over to him quietly and wrapped her arms around him, to give him comfort. He didn't say anything and she didn't ask him to, until they were home and lying in bed together.
"Seeing that car accident and that little girl brought it all back. I was asleep when it happened, so I don't remember the accident itself. Until I woke up in the hospital and Finn told me Mum and Dad were dead. That was it. They were gone." Nick paused, then whispered, letting his tears run out of his eyes, "I still miss them! Why did that drunk driver have to be on the road that night? I-I think I just have to accept it's always going to be there, but they'd want me to be happy. They'd love you, Andy. I'm sorry about how I acted earlier."
Andy cupped his face with her hands and told him, in a firm, but loving voice, "You don't have to apologise. I don't expect you to be happy all the time. What you went through as a kid, losing your parents like that, was traumatic and I'm amazed you turned out so well. I'm your wife, Nick, and we're together through everything. I have my insecurities, God knows. We're only human."
There was a long silence, then Nick leaned closer to her and kissed her before pulling her close and whispering he loved her and Andy closed her eyes and lay beside him, wanting to be close to him, too. Losing his parents had been such a damaging and tragic pain, one that would always be there, but he talked about it and it was what made him into who he was today and, no matter what, Andy was going to love him for the rest of her life. They were both human.