Fic: Just a Dream (Law and Order UK, Matt/Alesha)
Title: Just a Dream
Author: helsinkibaby
Fandom: Law and Order UK
Pairing: Matt/Alesha
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: For Deal and AU from there.
Word Count: 514
Notes: For the writers choice “script” challenge. I do like the tenuous links!
This can’t be happening.
That’s the only thought in Alesha’s head, going around and around as the world goes mad around her, as she presses herself against the railings and stares at Matt lying on the ground. Ronnie is beside him, frantically pressing his hands against Matt’s chest, calling for someone, anyone, to help. Meanwhile, blood flows freely out of the two bullet wounds in Matt’s chest, his hands scrabble for purchase on the ground as he stares straight ahead of him.
This wasn’t supposed to be happening.
They had plans. Walk Kaden to police protection. Make sure he was safe. Go to the jeweller’s, collect the ring they’d picked out two weeks ago, the one that was getting sized because she had tiny little hands that Matt loved to tease her about. They were going to go to their favourite restaurant, have champagne and an early night before going into work tomorrow and telling everyone that not only were they an item, but that they were engaged.
They had plans, and this wasn’t in the script.
Somehow, she finds her way to Matt’s side, takes his hand - and it’s cold, why is it cold when Matt’s hands are always warm? - in hers. She can’t speak past the lump in her throat but he looks at her anyway and she swears she sees a flicker of recognition in his eyes.
He opens his mouth as if to speak, but blood emerges instead of words and then his hand goes limp in hers...
>*<*>*<
Alesha wakes with a start, sits bolt upright in bed, heart beating as if she’s just run a marathon, her breath harsh and ragged in her ears. Closing her eyes tightly, she tries to tell herself it was just a dream, clenches her fists in the duvet and tries to slow her breathing.
Beside her, there is movement and the bedside light clicks on. Turning, she sees Matt’s blue eyes staring at her, worry written all over his face, hastily replaced by knowing. “The dream again?”
She nods, swallows hard. “Sorry,” she says, and he chuckles without humour.
“Not your fault,” he says, pulling her into his arms. Her fingers find the scars on his chest, and she thinks back to that awful day, how hard the surgeons worked to save his life, how it had been nothing short of a miracle. He can’t remember any of it, his memory stopping at congratulating Ronnie on becoming a granddad, and she envies him that. She can’t stop remembering it, and after a bad day, she relives it in her nightmares.
He takes her fingers in his, moves them away from the scars, lets his fingers find the two rings on her left hand, rubs them carefully. “It was just a dream,” he tells her quietly. “Go back to sleep.”
She tries, closing her eyes and burying her head in his chest, losing herself in the scent of him, reminding herself that he’s here, that it truly was just a bad dream.
He’s here, and so is she, and that’s all that matters.
Author: helsinkibaby
Fandom: Law and Order UK
Pairing: Matt/Alesha
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Spoilers: For Deal and AU from there.
Word Count: 514
Notes: For the writers choice “script” challenge. I do like the tenuous links!
This can’t be happening.
That’s the only thought in Alesha’s head, going around and around as the world goes mad around her, as she presses herself against the railings and stares at Matt lying on the ground. Ronnie is beside him, frantically pressing his hands against Matt’s chest, calling for someone, anyone, to help. Meanwhile, blood flows freely out of the two bullet wounds in Matt’s chest, his hands scrabble for purchase on the ground as he stares straight ahead of him.
This wasn’t supposed to be happening.
They had plans. Walk Kaden to police protection. Make sure he was safe. Go to the jeweller’s, collect the ring they’d picked out two weeks ago, the one that was getting sized because she had tiny little hands that Matt loved to tease her about. They were going to go to their favourite restaurant, have champagne and an early night before going into work tomorrow and telling everyone that not only were they an item, but that they were engaged.
They had plans, and this wasn’t in the script.
Somehow, she finds her way to Matt’s side, takes his hand - and it’s cold, why is it cold when Matt’s hands are always warm? - in hers. She can’t speak past the lump in her throat but he looks at her anyway and she swears she sees a flicker of recognition in his eyes.
He opens his mouth as if to speak, but blood emerges instead of words and then his hand goes limp in hers...
>*<*>*<
Alesha wakes with a start, sits bolt upright in bed, heart beating as if she’s just run a marathon, her breath harsh and ragged in her ears. Closing her eyes tightly, she tries to tell herself it was just a dream, clenches her fists in the duvet and tries to slow her breathing.
Beside her, there is movement and the bedside light clicks on. Turning, she sees Matt’s blue eyes staring at her, worry written all over his face, hastily replaced by knowing. “The dream again?”
She nods, swallows hard. “Sorry,” she says, and he chuckles without humour.
“Not your fault,” he says, pulling her into his arms. Her fingers find the scars on his chest, and she thinks back to that awful day, how hard the surgeons worked to save his life, how it had been nothing short of a miracle. He can’t remember any of it, his memory stopping at congratulating Ronnie on becoming a granddad, and she envies him that. She can’t stop remembering it, and after a bad day, she relives it in her nightmares.
He takes her fingers in his, moves them away from the scars, lets his fingers find the two rings on her left hand, rubs them carefully. “It was just a dream,” he tells her quietly. “Go back to sleep.”
She tries, closing her eyes and burying her head in his chest, losing herself in the scent of him, reminding herself that he’s here, that it truly was just a bad dream.
He’s here, and so is she, and that’s all that matters.