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.
Chapter 13: Nightmares.
Please read and review :)
Andy and Nick had only been asleep for about an hour when Andy was woken by her husband, who was trapped in a nightmare. He was moving around, shouting and crying and it was a child-like cry. Andy had never seen him like this before, but she knew that it was because of the car accident he and Oliver had attended. Quickly and as gently as possible, she left bed to go to his side and she knelt down, saying in a stern voice, "Nick, wake up! Nick, it's me, Andy! You need to wake up! Nick Collins, wake up!"
With a sudden jolt, Nick cried out and woke up. For a couple of seconds, it took his eyes time to adjust before he started crying again and whispered, "Andy, I'm so sorry!" He inhaled deep breaths in order to steady his breathing and Andy did the same, to give him support.
Sitting down on the bed in front of him, Andy told him, "It's fine. Do you want to talk about it?"
Nick ran his hands across his face and through his hair and he whispered, "I don't even remember the accident. I was asleep, but I keep seeing it." He paused, then looked into his wife's eyes and said, "Thank you for waking me up and for being there. I-I don't want to go back to sleep. Andy, can you just hold me?" He kissed her feverishly. He needed her and he wanted her to be close.
Without replying, Andy went back to her side of the bed and, as soon as Nick was lying down, she rested her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him and he did the same, wanting to hold her close. She closed her eyes, then murmured, "I'm here, Nick. I'm not going anywhere. You're the best man I've ever known and your parents would be so proud of you. You're so brave and loyal and I'm so proud to be married to you."
Holding her close, Nick whispered, "I was so angry when they died, because I was all alone. Seeing Riley brought those feelings back. No kid should ever have to lose their parent on the same day." He opened his eyes, then closed them to fight against the tears. With his free hand, he reached out for a photo on his bedside table. It was him, his parents and Finn, taken a couple of weeks before they had been killed on that fateful night. Andy opened her eyes and looked at the picture and she smiled at how cute Nick had been at 12, but neither of them spoke, because there was nothing to say. It was just a pain, a loss, that was so deep that it would always be there and Andy thought that her husband was amazing, because of how much he embraced life. She wished that she could take away Nick's pain, but it also made him who he was now and it had been a part of him for so many years. He talked about it and he talked about his parents and she was sure that that helped and they both closed their eyes and held each other close.
An hour later, Nick had managed to fall back to sleep, but Andy hadn't and she was glad, because, in his nightmare, Nick started to cry again. She woke him up and he went straight to the bathroom and vomited into the toilet and then he stayed in there, looking in the mirror, fighting back the tears. He felt as if he was 12 again. After a while, after giving him space, Andy went in and he pulled her into a tight hug and told her that he loved her. He hugged her for ages, before they finally went back to bed and Andy was relieved when he had no more nightmares that night.