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.
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Chapter 14: Shot.
It had taken Nick a couple of weeks to steady himself after the car accident, a little girl, Riley, losing her parents in the same way that he had, but Andy had supported him. He had started to see a councillor and that was helping with the nightmares. Nick had also talked to his brother, which hadn't really helped either of them, but he was still glad that they had a connection, how ever lose it was. He had taken Andy to his parents' grave and talked to them and Andy had joined in, wanting her husband to feel happy about doing it, if it helped him to deal with the trauma.
Oliver, of course, had been supportive, but Nick was surprised about Chris's support after the past couple of weeks; he and the young man had never seen eye-to-eye, but the other officer had seen his behaviour on the day of the accident and had been concerned. Nick had told him before that his parents had died when he was a kid, but with no details and Chris had pieced it together. It had made him admire the former soldier, knowing how hard responding to that accident must have been for him.
It was a Saturday night, one of the worst shifts of the week and both Andy and Nick were on that night shift, and it was always known for being the worst in the entire week, besides when there were games on, and, in this case, there were two rival teams playing in the city, which was almost a grantee of trouble.
At 7, both Andy and Nick arrived at the station, and, before going to their respective locker rooms, they promised to see each other later and kissed quickly, before going their separate ways. As soon as Nick was changed, he was pulled into the Detectives' office, to work with Tracey and Swarek on a case, and Andy went with Chris, Chloe, Dove and Oliver to police the rival crowds, which, by this time, were sure to be building.
Andy and the others arrived at the park where the game was taking place and, already, tensions between the two teams could be seen. They had all dealt with crowds like this before, but Andy knew that Dove was always slightly more nervous, since shooting a teenage boy a couple of years ago. In a way, she was glad that her husband was not there, because he always wanted to protect her, just as she always did for him.
They stationed themselves at the outside of the gates, so that, hopefully, they could deal with the rival teams as they were leaving the stadium, hopefully, meaning that there would be far less trouble than if they were not there. The tension between the rival groups was being expressed in just words, until there was a sudden sound of a gun-shot. Immediately, Andy and Chris ran towards the sound, whilst the others secured the area. There were people running around, screaming, but Andy and Chris saw the gunman. His victim was lying on the ground, crying. It was a child and Chris called for back-up and an ambulance.
Holding her on gun, Andy shouted, "Put the gun down! Put it down and no-one else has to get hurt!" She knew that Chris was by her side, with his weapon also out. When there was no response, she repeated, "Put the gun down! There is no need for this kind of violence!"
The man just looked at her and smiled in a very evil way, before he started to turn his gun back to the child, but before he had the chance to shoot the child again, Andy pulled the trigger and he fell to the floor, dead. There was more screaming and Chris went to check on the child, who was still crying and Andy could hear the sirens coming closer. She knew that she had done the right thing, but she had still killed someone.
At Division-15, Tracey had received word that an officer needed to be brought into the station for questioning, surrounding the circumstances of a civilian's death. The child was already on the way to the hospital, but the gunman had been killed and Internal Affairs needed to ensure that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the officer.
Sam and Nick overheard this conversation, so as soon as Tracey was off the phone, Sam asked, "Nash, what happened? Who was the officer?"
Tracey sighed and glanced at her best friend's husband before she replied, "It's all a bit vague at the moment, but a man shot a child and an officer shot him before he did the same thing to the child."
"Which officer?" Sam demanded to know, but Nick already knew and he knew what the process was in cases like this and he knew that his wife would be doubting herself now, not questioning if she had done the right thing, but because she had taken another person's life. He heard Tracey confirm that it was Andy, then Swarek said, "Right, we're going there now!"
Looking the older man in the eye, Nick said, "Swarek, you being there would only make Andy feel even worse than she already does. If she sees you, she'll be thinking about what else she could have done and you and I both know that won't help her." His tone was firm; there was no room for debate and even Sa recognised that and nodded his head, resigned. Tracey watched the scene in silence. She agreed with Nick and she knew that, deep down, the younger man probably didn't like the older man still being in love with his wife.
Meanwhile, Andy still felt as if she were in a daze. Chloe and Chris were talking to her, trying to tell her it was alright, but she wasn't really listening. The one she wanted to talk to was Dove, but he was processing the scene. She knew what was going to happen now, that I.A would need to speak to her. She had done the right thing; he she hadn't shot that man, the child would be dead and she knew that, when she had the chance to speak to Nick about it, he would tell her the exact same thing, but he had been in the Army. It was different.
The process of being interview by Internal Affairs was a very long and hard one, not helped by Andy's mental and physical exhaustion. She glanced at her watch and it was almost 5 in the morning, but she was relieved to hear that the child was recovering. She was cleared of everything and told that she could go home, but have a couple of days off.
Grateful, Andy left the interview room and walked towards the women's' lockers and was surprised to see Sam there. "McNally, you okay?"
She could see the concern in his dark eyes, so she nodded and said, "I am, thanks. Why are you here, Sam?"
Sam chuckled and looked shifty before he replied, "Er, Collins went home to change so I told him I'd wait to see if you got out. He wants you to be okay. So do I." Sam had never expressed himself well and Andy knew that there was something he wasn't saying, but that wasn't her concern anymore and she wanted to change and go home. Go home to her husband. He ran his hand through his hair, then mumbled, "Night, McNally."
After having a quick shower to take the hours of interviews off her, Andy changed back into her clothes, put on her engagement ring and left the locker room. She was not very surprised to find her husband standing outside, in his jeans and a blue jumper, waiting for her. He walked over to her and hugged her before he asked, "Are you okay?"
Andy bit her lip, then kissed her husband, then just whispered, "Let's go home." She looked at Nick and she knew that he could see all of the emotions in her eyes. She was going to cry and she wanted to do it at home, in private, with her husband. Nick knew her, in some ways, better than she knew herself, so he just nodded and they walked to his truck.
On the way home, Andy said nothing; she just looked out of the window, staring at the city at this early time in the morning and Nick was totally quiet, too, wanting her to feel comfortable and waiting until she was ready.
As soon as they were both inside of their flat, Andy sucked in a shaky breath and walked over to the sofa, where she sat and closed her eyes, trying to fight off the tears. Her whole body was shaking. The adrenaline had worn off now and the reality of taking someone's life was sinking into her mind. Nick kneeled in front of her, taking hold of her hands and making soothing noises. "Nick, I-I killed someone. It was right. But he had might have had a family."
Rubbing her hands against his own, Nick whispered, "Andy, you did the right thing. You saved a child's life."
Andy's tear-filled eyes looked into his and nodded, before the tears exploded and she sobbed, so Nick moved onto the sofa and held her in his arms as she cried. Andy didn't regret what she had done, but that didn't make it any easier. She and Nick sat on the sofa for hours as Andy cried and he comforted her. They were lucky to have found each other and, now Andy needed him, just as he had needed her after the accident and neither of them were going to ever let the other one go.