I do not own Rookie Blue or any of the characters.

AU after series 4 finale - Andy stayed with Nick instead of getting back together with Sam and now they are married. Established Andy/Nick.

I know this is cliché, but I saw the episode 'Fragments' and wanted to include it in my story and I was also inspired by the Rookie Blue fanfiction 10 Seconds.

Please read and review :).

Chapter 22: Fragments.

The 8-month marker of Andy and Nick's wedding arrived: August, and with it a flow of even finer whether and, even though the two of them had been trying to conceive for 5 months now, Andy was still not pregnant, but she told herself to be more like her husband. She had shared her concerns with Tracey and her best friend had listened to her, but had, ultimately, said that same thing as Nick.

The negative side of the hot weather was that it increased the level of time, which meant that Division-15 were far busier than they were in the colder months, including more murders, which meant that Sam and Tracey had more work that usual. Andy had had the unfortunate pleasure of being paired with Marlo for a whole shift, but the two women had acted professionally, and Marlo trusted Andy. The two did have a tentative friendship and Marlo loved nothing more than talking to Mya and Andy was always more than willing to listen, because she was very fond of Mya. The one thing that hurt Andy during her time with Marlo was that the other woman mentioned, in a kind way, that she had expected there to be a Collins baby in the making by now, but she must have seen the look in Andy's eyes, because she changed the subject. For that, Andy was grateful. She knew that Chloe was Nick's best friend and she liked the other woman socially, but she did not like being partnered with, especially with the drama in Chloe- and Dove-land. Like Nick, she didn't understand why they didn't just talk to each other?

Both Andy and Nick arrived at 8, for the start of the day-shift, but there was already a sense of panic at the station, because one of there had been two bomb attacks in the last hour. They both changed quickly into their uniforms, Andy took off her engagement ring, and went straight to the Parade room, where most people were gathered. Frank walked into the room and told everyone that, indeed, there had been two separate bombs, at two separate places, both of which had taken heavy civilian casualties and each of them had to do their best to ensure that any other bombs were found and no-one else was harmed, injured or killed. Frank assigned them to go in pairs, to be with their partner and, under normal circumstances, he would not have advised that husband and wife work together, but this was not normal, so he did not mind when Andy and Nick partnered up, and they had always worked well together. Andy had a quick word with Chloe, then saw that Chris and Dove were leaving the station, so she went back to the Detectives' office, where Nick was talking to Tracey about the location of the second bomb, thinking that another one might be quite close to where the previous one had been. There clearly was a pattern in these attacks and Andy, Nick, Sam and Tracey were talking about this pattern, trying to work out where the next attack was going to be, because, one thing that was for sure, whomever was behind this was not finished.

As soon as Sam and Tracey narrowed down to a location, Andy and Nick left and made their way to the squad car, but, before they went in, for some reason unknown to him, Nick walked over to his wife and embraced her in a passionate kiss before he whispered, "I love you, Andy."

Andy was slightly taken aback by the PDA as well as how serious and scared Nick was, but she kissed him back and whispered back, "I love you, too. And we're going to be fine. Now, let's go, Officer Collins." She kissed him again, looking into his eyes, seeing the stress that was in his eyes.

In the car, on the way to the location of the second bomb, Nick started to talk. "Andy, when I was in the Army, I had to fear of dying. I had no family, no one who would miss me and that made me a good soldier, but I don't feel that way anymore, because I have you." For a second, he looked over to her side of the car and their eyes connected for a second, before he focused his eyes back on the road.

Nodding, Andy responded, "I know, Nick." She paused, then asked, "What is it about these bombs that's made you so spooked? You actually look scared. I've never seen you like this before."

Nick dug his hands into the wheel, with the leather of his gloves making a sound against it, as he murmured, "In Afghanistan, I saw how much damage bombs can cause. I never really expected it here."

"Well, I've got your back, partner." Andy joked, hoping to make her husband smile. He only had a small smile. This was clearly making him think about Afghanistan and she knew that several of his friends had been killed by bombs over there and she prepared herself for his nightmares that night.

Andy and Nick arrived at the second location. It was a garage in a neighbourhood and the destruction from the second bomb was already clear. Andy and Nick ran into the garage and, almost instantly, Nick detected the sound of a timer. The bomb was strapped to the bottom of a car, just like the previous bomb had been. Andy looked at it. The timer was moving. 7 minutes. As Nick examined the bomb more closely, Andy called into her radio, "This is McNally. We need to bomb squad sent to our location. Immediately. There are under 7 minutes on the timer."

The response, very quickly, came that the bomb squad would take over 7 minutes to arrive there and Andy looked at her husband, unsure of what to do next. Luckily, Nick's military training came into good use as he stood up after looking at the bomb. "Okay, here's what we're going to do: I'm going to see if I can take the charge out and if I can't do that, I'll find something to insulate the charge. I'll call the bomb squad." He took his phone out, then continued, "Andy, you close the door on your way out, that way, if the bomb goes go off, it will be contained and then you go to make sure there are no civilians close-by, just in case."

Andy just stared at her husband, before she said, "What? No! I'm not leaving you and not going to close those doors, with you still in here!"

"Andy, the doors need to be closed to protect other people! I have experience with this and you need to be as far away from here, in case I fail!" Nick was shouting now, because he was so stressed by the situation. He wanted his wife away from here.

Glaring at her husband, Andy shouted back, "If this does go off, I'm not going to live with myself if I left you here! You're my husband and I'm not leaving you! I'm not going anywhere. I'm your wife!" Before Nick had a chance to respond, she ran over to the doors and closed the door, so that they were both in there. Looking at the shocked look on her husband's face, she talked into her radio, asking for Chris and Dove, who were close by, to clear any civilians.

For the next 2 minutes, husband and wife were silent as Nick tried to detach the detonator, under the instructions of the bomb squad, but when it was clear that that was not going to work, Andy started to tear up rubber to insulate the charge and passed it to her husband.

Keeping his eyes focused on what he was doing, Nick said, "Andy, open the door and get out before this thing goes off!" Frank had already given them both an order to leave, but Nick didn't want to risk the bomb hurting anyone else and Andy was not going to leave her husband's side.

In the same tone of voice, Andy responded, "Nick, I'm not going anywhere." She could see the red timer ticking away and she looked down at her wedding ring as she whispered, "Now I understand how you were feeling before."

Nick had done all that he could to secure the detonator, so he left the car and stood next to Andy. There was no time to open the door to leave. Andy found that she had tears in her eyes as whispered, "When we said those vows at our wedding till death do us part, I didn't think it would happen like this."

"Me either, but there's no-one I'd rather be with." The timer was clicking, closer and closer to the end.

Andy wrapped her arms around Nick, wanting to hold him close, wanting to be close to him if this was the end. They looked into each other's eyes and kissed passionately, as if they were saying goodbye to each other. "I love you so much, Nick Collins. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me and you've always been there for me, no matter what. You're the best husband and partner I could have asked for."

"And you're the most magical thing to have ever happened to me, Andy Collins, and the best choice I ever made was to fall in love with you. I've had the best years with you and the best 8 months of marriage." Nick looked into her eyes and wiped away her tears before they shared a passionate kiss, before Andy jumped to the floor and Nick covered her body with his, using his body as a shield, to protect her, holding hands, as the bomb went off and there was nothing for either of them, but darkness.