He almost didn't believe he was brave enough to say what he had felt for the last few months.
Jake sat in his car outside the precinct with his box of office stuff lying in the passenger seat, trying to process what just happened. He purposely got himself fired because Holt told him to, all because the FBI were investigating Wint themselves and wanted Jake to go undercover for them. Wint's bosses, the Ianucci family, were some tough cookies. Drugs, prostitution, bank robbery, you name it, they were in on it. It would be difficult but Jake knew he could handle it, for the most part. He said yes immediately.
The hard part was saying goodbye to the Nine-Nine. Holt called most of the team into his office to explain Jake's situation. Jake gave a small speech, just to calm everyone's nerves. He already knew Holt wasn't going to give in to his requests anyway. Holt was too much of a creature of habit. Then Jake got to do what he did best – make a commotion for the rest of the precinct, all so his firing seemed real.
After his desk was cleaned off and his locker was emptied, Jake started to get ready to leave, thinking that no one would even bother talking to him because of what just happened. Besides, it seemed like everyone from his shift had cleared out already. But wait! Where was Amy?! He needed to see her again before he started his assignment. It would kill him if he didn't get to talk to her one more time. He rushed out of the Nine-Nine so he could catch her before she left.
Thankfully, Amy hadn't gotten far at all. As soon as Jake called out her name, he knew he had to tell her. What if he never came back? A lump started to form in his throat. For his sake more than Amy's, he cracked a few jokes first, trying to calm his nerves now. The rest of what he said would be engraved in his mind for a long time. And the funny thing was, Amy didn't even say anything about it, just stood there listening, mouth slightly agape. Did it really shock her that much? Everyone else had noticed. Well, except Gina, but she wasn't that observant anyway.
He couldn't bring himself to look back and see if she had left yet, so he started the car and drove home. The FBI had already given him his initial objective, which was to befriend Leo Ianucci at his favorite bar that night. However, he wanted to drop off his stuff first. His thoughts were already collected, so he might as well set them aside and focus on working this case.
It wasn't until later, after crawling into bed at 3 AM, that a drunken idea popped into his head; maybe Amy wasn't shocked that he liked her, but in fact was shocked at how much she really did like him after all. But no, that couldn't be. That would be ridiculous.
…Wait, did that really just happen? Amy was unable to close her mouth, it was open so wide. At least that's how it felt.
She had helped Jake all this past week just so he could go undercover for six months and blurt out his feelings for her in one fell swoop. Great. The undercover part didn't really bother her to begin with, because she knew Jake was the best person for the job, but then he had to go ahead and open his mouth about the other thing, which she was a bit confused about. Amy's thoughts were running all over the place. Why would Jake Peralta like her like that? How come she didn't notice it at all? She was a detective, for crying out loud. Was this going to make things awkward between her and Teddy? Also, Amy couldn't seem to shake this weird feeling of angsty happiness going on in her chest.
It took her a few minutes to realize that she was still standing outside the precinct, right at the scene of the crime. Amy quickly closed her mouth and awkwardly started walking to her car.
So, why did Jake like her? Well, maybe he thought she was funny. Attractive, duh. She was a damn good detective. They worked well together, after he stopped joking around, that is. Maybe he even liked the things she didn't quite like about herself, like having to rely on cigarettes for occasional stress relief or being too much of a people pleaser. Amy smiled a little.
Why was she was oblivious to all of this in the first place then? Could it be that she was enjoying the extra attention but tried to block it out because it came from Jake? A flutter of emotion rang through her. It was very possible. She used to become defensive whenever Jake picked on her, but now it was quite the opposite. It somehow became easier to smile and jokingly shoot another insult back, not thinking anything of it, because how could she fall in love with him anyway? Impossible. He also sometimes hid compliments in the conversation whenever they talked to one another, and most of the time they flew past her. For example, just a day ago he called her a mermaid. Why? Because they're beautiful, that's why. But no, again she had underestimated his words because he just happened to be Jake Peralta.
So that explained some of it. Amy was starting to feel better already, but her throat was still tight…oh, crap. Of course. Jake was going off and putting himself in danger, and she was worried about him! Her partner was leaving for six months of undercover work, who wouldn't feel this way? But it was more than that. The next time she saw him, he could be in a body bag. The thought of it made her sick. Not being able to hear Jake's laugh or one of his sarcastic responses forever again would kill her. How was she going to survive just six months of his silence?
Before she could drag that depressing thought any further, her phone started ringing, pulling her out of her reverie. It was Teddy. Amy quickly hit Ignore on the screen. She couldn't deal with talking to him right now. Well, at least she definitely knew one thing for sure; Teddy wasn't even in the same place as her and it was already awkward. Amy was just ready to get in her car, go home, turn off her phone, eat a pint of ice cream in front of the television, and try to suppress some of this newfound pain before it overtook her completely.
Hey everyone, so this just happens to be my first ever "published" fanfic. I hope you guys like it! I might add on to this story if I can think of a good idea. No promises though.