A.N: NikoSasha again, an AU this time!

Bullet in the Night

"Sasha for god's sake, get your hands off of the cookies!" Nikolo yelled as he saw his wife reach out for the treats he had baked and set aside to cool down less than a minute ago "Those are for Kaya's school sale!"

"Oh come on, I'll only take one!" Sasha argued. Pulling her wife away from the table, Nikolo said: "It never stops at just one with you, so no."

"But- "

"No, Sasha" Nikolo said firmly, making his wife pout. She was so cute when she did that, but Nikolo had learned how to resist it years ago-

…

Damn it.

"…I'll make some for you tomorrow; they'll be ready once you wake up."

Starry eyed, Sasha asks: "Promise?"

"Yeah, I promise" Nikolo says with a sigh "Now get going; Jean's gonna be angry if you're late from work."

"Yeah, I'll go" Sasha said, kissing Nikolo's cheek "Love ya."

"Love you too, but- "he grasped Sasha's hand right before it could touch a cookie "Nice try."

"You're no fun" Sasha said with a laugh, the sound like music to his ears. Shaking his head with a smile, he watched as his law protecting wife went off to her night shift, turning around and blowing a kiss at him at the doorway. Nikolo caught it, watching his smiling wife shut the door. Fortunately, he'd have a day off tomorrow; he could bake the promised cookies while Sasha slept, tired from her shift. Speaking of which, he wondered which flavor he should choose for the cookies…

XXXXX

Nikolo jolted awake as his phone rang. Looking at the clock, he saw it being barely 3 A.M. It wasn't Sasha calling about forgetting her keys, then. Sleepily and slightly annoyed, he answered: "Hello?"

"Nikolo, it's me" thanks to Jean's urgent voice, Nikolo was now wide awake "Sasha's hurt; you need to come to the local hospital right now!"

Nikolo was out of the bed before Jean could even finish. This wasn't the first time Sasha had gotten hurt in the line of duty, but for Jean to cut it so short, for him to sound so frantic… it had to be bad, really bad.

"I'm on my way" he said, hanging up. There was no point in asking for the details; it'd just slow him down. He'd know when he got there.

XXXXX

Arriving at the hospital, Nikolo rushed towards where Sasha was told to be as soon as he got the information. He knew he was in the right place as he saw one of Sasha's colleagues, Floch he thought she'd called him, standing next to a door, looking grim. Noticing him, the redhead nodded in greeting, pointing at the door. Nikolo nodded back hastily, seeing Sasha's closest friends, her two colleagues Jean and Connie, next to a bed. And on the bed was his wife.

"Sasha!" he yelled, paying no mind to the two men as he ran to his wife's side. It was only when he took the woman's hand that he noticed she was not hooked up to any machines, no needles in her arms "Hey…"

"We're so sorry, Nikolo" Jean said, putting a hand on his shoulder "The help came too late."

Nikolo could register the words, but not the meaning.

"What?" he asked, not taking his eyes off of his wife's body "What do you mean? You got her to the hospital…"

"But it was too late" Jean said, squeezing the other man's shoulder "She passed away just a little after the surgery started."

"Wha…?" passed away? But his wife was right here! Laying his other hand on Sasha's shoulder, Nikolo shook her "Hey Sasha, wake up, okay?"

No answer, no reaction.

"Sasha… you wanted to eat those cookies, right? You can have them, you can have them all, so just- "

"She's dead, Nikolo" Connie spoke for the first time "She's gone."

No. No, she couldn't be, not his wife. He couldn't lose her; there was still so much to do, so much life to live. They hadn't even gotten to their first wedding anniversary yet! Sasha couldn't die before it!

"No… no no no god damn it, NO!"

XXXXX

Nikolo woke up with a jolt, sitting up in his bed. Breathing hard, he looked around before finally understanding his surroundings. He was home, at his bedroom. He hadn't been to the hospital; it all had been a dream, a nightmare.

"Sasha?" he asked, but to his horror, his wife wasn't lying next to him. He was about to go in to panic, but soon remembered that the part about Sasha going for a night shift hadn't been a dream. She'd really gone, and was probably still there. And she'd be fine, it had just been a stupid nightmare that-

Nikolo's heart dropped as he heard his phone ring. With a shaking hand, he reached for it to see the caller id. Jean, Jean was calling him. Why would he call him, unless-?

"Oh god no" he mutters, answering the phone as he jumps out of the bed "Jean? What happened, is Sasha okay!? I'll come right over- "

"Honey calm down, it's me. I'm okay" he hears Sasha laugh at the other end of the line "I'm just using Jean's phone 'cause mine… well, I kinda forgot it at home. With my keys, so can you come open the door?"

Nikolo just stands there, having a hard time processing what he was hearing. It was definitely Sasha's voice; she was on the phone and she was okay. She was okay and just calling 'cause she forgot the keys. This was ridiculous, he was ridiculous for getting all worked up like that.

"Nikolo? Are you still there?" Sasha asks "Can you come open the door?"

He can't help himself, his relief getting out in one go as he bursts in to laughing.

"It's not that funny!" Sasha huffs from the other end of the phone "Just come open the damn door or I'm shooting the lock!"

"Don't; you'll get in trouble" Nikolo says as he finally gets himself under control "I'll come right over."

He ends the call, rushing to the door. He knows she's fine, but the dream is still so fresh in his memory that he needs to see her, needs to make sure.

Passing the window, he sees Jean's car on the street, probably waiting until Sasha gets inside. Opening the door, he sees his wife with a sheepish look on her face.

"Hey" she says "Sorry if I woke you- "

He doesn't really think about it, he just goes forward and pulls her in to his embrace, holding her as close as he can. She's there, and she's alright. Everything's okay.

"Nikolo?" she asks out loud, wrapping her own arms around him a little hesitantly "What's wrong, honey?"

"Nothing" he says, holding her a little tighter "Nothing at all, not now that you're here."

"…You aren't usually this sappy" Sasha says after a while, pulling away a little so that she can see his face "Did you have a nightmare or something?"

Nikolo doesn't answer, but he can feel the heat raising to his cheeks as he refuses to meet Sasha's gaze.

"You did!" she confirms with a small laugh, but it dies down as the meaning of his actions sinks in. Her face softening, she hugs him before saying: "You know I'm not going anywhere, right?"

"…Yeah, I know" he says "Sorry."

"It's okay" she says as she pulls away again, but doesn't let go "We should head inside before someone sees us."

"Why? The neighbors see us hugging all the time anyway because you're so clingy" he can't help but tease her, a small smirk on his face. Sasha blushes, huffing: "Yeah well, usually when they do see us hugging, you're actually wearing pants!"

Nikolo blinks before looking down. Oh yeah, he'd been in a hurry, which led him to walking here in his sleepwear: t-shirt and boxers. And it just happened to be those teddy bear boxers Sasha had gotten for him as a joke for Christmas.

"…Yeah, let's head inside" he says, knowing that he's blushing. This time he ignores his wife's laughter, for he knows he had it coming.

They both head for the bedroom, Sasha to sleep and him to get some clothes on. After he's dressed, Nikolo notices that his wife is already sound asleep. She can't fake those snores. Smiling, he goes over to place the blanket properly over his sleeping wife, taking a moment just to appreciate the sight.

"Back to Earth Nikolo" he tells himself as he stretches "You have cookies to make."

A.N: In tumblr this is with the name Bullet in the Night version 2, for in the first version Sasha's death wasn't a dream and I only came up with this ending after publishing it, so I wrote another version. Just saying in case someone thinks this sounds oddly familiar but they remembered Sasha dying instead of surviving.