This is my first B99 fic. I hope you'll like it :)
No Place Like Home
- Jake -
"Melanie Hawkins was the most honorable cop I ever worked with," Langdon says, completely unaffected by the stone-cold lie he's telling in court. "The only reason I'm here is because of that man, Jake Peralta," he points directly at Jake and Jake immediately knows that however bad their case looked until now, it's gonna look a whole lot worse in the next few seconds, "he offered me 300.000$ to lie and say that she set them up."
Scandalized gasps fill the courtroom and Jake knows that he and Rosa are screwed. And as if he's not already feeling horrible enough for bringing in Langdon as a witness in the first place, Jake can see Hawkins blowing a smug kiss in their direction.
"Okay, okay, this is bad, this is really bad, but just remember: we are not going to jail, we didn't do it, we are innocent," Jake says hastily in an attempt to calm down Rosa (and himself). This is not exactly how they planned this whole surprise witness thing to go down (although it certainly ended up being a complete surprise). And yes, it does look bad for Rosa and him and yes, they clearly underestimated Hawkins, but for all the panic that's bubbling up inside him right now, Jake also is still holding on to his belief, his conviction, that there is no way he and Rosa could actually (for realz) end up in jail – that's just not how the world works. That is, until his most basic belief in justice is crushed by four simple words:
"Guilty. On all charges."
Jake wakes up with a start, breathing heavily. 15 years in prison. For a crime he never committed. For trying to do the right thing – bringing down a dirty cop. The mere thought is enough to send shivers down his spine, his heart hammering painfully against his ribs. His mind is racing in panic, making it impossible for him to form a coherent thought. Only one word stands out against the messy, endless flow of thoughts – Amy.
Instinctively, Jake turns to his right – to be greeted with Amy's smiling face. This familiar sight finally brings Jake back to reality.
"Hey, babe," he whispers softly, tracing the well-known curve of Amy's lips on the photograph that is taped next to his cot, before rolling back onto his back.
Right. Because his nightmare is the reality he's living in right now.
Jake knows that the squad is pulling out all the stops to get him and Rosa out of prison (he's seen the dark circles under the eyes of every squad member that has visited him so far), but he can't help but wonder if that is going to be enough... He immediately feels bad for thinking like that, doubting his friends, his family, but he's here, stuck in prison for an indefinite amount of time (he doesn't even want to consider the possibility of actually spending the very definite amount of time he's supposed to spend in here) and he supposes that he can't be faulted for being a little pessimistic every now and then. Jake's eyes trail back to the photo of Amy. Being separated from her (again!) is definitely the worst part... well, that and being surrounded by criminals (although he isn't sure if that is any worse than being in Florida... it's probably equally awful.) They had barely spent a year together before being torn apart again. At least he gets to see Amy once in a while during visiting hours (which are always too short and always end on the depressing note that she has to go home without him.) Amy puts on a brave face for him, just as he does for her, but he can tell that she's just as miserable as he is and he hates that he is the reason for that, that there is nothing he can do about it.
Remembering that he's supposed to be sleeping, Jake turns back to his right side, looking at the happy, smiling Amy from the before-prison-days.
"Sorry, babe."
- Amy -
"Guilty. On all charges."
The lady with the "JUROR 7" tag on her blazer announces the Jury's verdict and just like that, Amy's whole world is falling apart. Gina's hand flies up to her shoulder, and on any other day Amy would be absolutely exhilarated that Gina is showing her support for her so openly – but not this time. She barely registers Gina's hand trailing down her arm before she becomes completely numb, too busy grappling with the meaning of that dreaded word, guilty, and its implications – for her and Jake, for Rosa, the whole squad... Amy is still in a total daze, deaf to anything going on around her but the sound of blood rushing in her ears, when, from the corner of her eye, she notices Rosa sinking down onto her chair, defeated.
'It just can't be,' Amy tries telling herself, 'can't be.' She suddenly becomes aware that she's been shaking her head unconsciously the whole time and slowly resurfaces to reality. Her eyes flit over to Jake who is still standing, with his back to her. He seems to be muttering something under his breath and Amy strains her ears – only to hear a frantic string of "coolcoolcool"s coming from Jake, with each and every "cool" sounding more desperate than the one before. Despite the numbness of the shock that has taken over her body and which she still hasn't been able to shake off completely, Amy can very distinctly feel her heart crack when she hears Jake's final, absolutely helpless "cool."
Amy jerks awake, her eyes flying wide open. On instinct, her hand flies to the space next to her, reaching for Jake – only to find it empty. Amy glances over to her left – and actually seeing the cold, vacant spot just hurts her heart even more. She should know this side of her – their – bed is empty. Because it wasn't just a bad dream. Jake is in prison while she is lying in the bed that used to be hers and became theirs, lying on the very mattress that he bought just for her. Amy can feel fresh tears welling up in her eyes, blurring the view of her ceiling and – and her life calendar. A sudden flash of sadness and pain and anger has her sit up, the tears falling freely now. Before she knows what she's even doing, Amy finds herself ripping off the carefully filled in calendar, scraps of paper flying all over the place – it's not like she's going to need this stupid thing anyways, she isn't planning on doing anything besides figuring out how to free Jake and Rosa. And she won't rest until both of them are finally back home, reunited with the squad (until Jake is finally back home with her.) Soon enough, there is nothing left to tear apart – the bed, floor and nightstands now littered with paper shavings – and just as suddenly as this burst of rage has come about, it dissipates, leaving Amy with an empty feeling in her stomach, an empty space in bed and with her life in shreds.
- Jake and Amy -
The day Jake and Rosa are finally acquitted and released from prison passes like a blur to both Jake and Amy. The one thing that stands out most from everything going on that day is that overabundance of pure, overwhelming happiness.
The whole squad celebrates together and it's the first time in months that their family feels whole again, a moment each and every squad member has worked towards ever since that fateful, first verdict multiple months ago. There are tears of joy, laughter and plenty of hugs going around (even Rosa begrudgingly tolerates the hugs Charles and Amy pull her into, grouchily telling them that this is the only hug each of them are going to get in their entire lifetime – Jake is not the only one who notices the small smile Rosa is suppressing the whole time.) And when Holt promises to have them reinstated as soon as possible, to get them back in the Nine-Nine if Jake and Rosa want to come back – he straight up gets tackled by Jake, while Rosa just nods stoically and wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her leather jacket, muttering something about "allergies".
Much, much later that day, Jake and Amy find themselves sharing a bed, their bed, again, finally back at their home (and for Amy, the word 'home' has never been less tied to a certain place than it is now after spending way too many, awful months at the apartment that had never felt as much like home as it does now, with Jake right by her side.) After hours of talking (and other things that don't require that much talking), they are cuddled up together; Amy's head is tucked under Jake's chin, a hand resting on his chest, his heart beating steadily underneath her fingers. Jake has buried his nose in her hair, taking in that sweet, floral scent of hers that he missed so much (so very different from the gross, bleak smell of prison.)
Amy has taken a few days off – the endless hours she had spent working on Jake and Rosa's case are now finally paying off in more ways than one – and in a silent agreement her and Jake have decided to spend every waking (and sleeping) hour of these days together. The events of today and the stress of the past months have left both of them utterly exhausted, but also completely content.
And for the first time in months, neither Jake nor Amy dread the sleep that is about to claim them nor the morning hours that are to follow – for this time they know that when they are going to awake, they will be home.
Fin.