"Why have you been acting so weird these past few days?" Amy asked, catching up to Jake in the break room.

It was Thursday, and her partner had been acting a little... off since the beginning of the week. She had no clue what the precipitating moment was that had set him off. Well, maybe she did, but she didn't know why it set him off. They might have had a particularly close scrape with a drug dealer that Monday morning, but they'd faced worse together. Amy had almost been shot, and Jake came away with some cuts and bruises, but nothing too bad. Sure, it bothered her, but she definitely wasn't letting on. She didn't care that she was almost shot. She had guns pulled on her all the time, but after that incident, he began looking at her funny. Not a ha-ha funny, but a weird funny with a look that she didn't have a word for. She wondered if he had been hit on the head too hard or something, but he brushed her off every time she asked about him. She realized that he was hiding something from her, and that's when she really began to worry. She kept trying to poke and prod him to check if he had broken any bones or had received any organ damage, but each time he looked at her as if she was crazy. But every interaction with him, there was something in his eyes. He was almost cautious with her, and it was freaking her out. This wasn't the Jake she knew, so something had to be very wrong.

He tried to walk past her after she asked her question, but Amy blocked the doorway. He was all packed up and ready to go, just stopping to refill his cup of coffee for the ride home, so she took him by surprise. When he realized that he had no way out of her trap for him, he sighed.

"I haven't been acting weird."

"Don't deny it. You've been hiding something." She said. Then her tone softened a bit "Seriously, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I just... realized some things," he answered, trying to keep things as vague as possible. He was still watching her cautiously, and made steady eye contact. It reminded her of when she learned that people don't break eye contact when they're lying to you, unlike what common sense would dictate. When you're talking normally, your eyes flit around every so often, but now Jake was just staring at her. It was like he was just daring her to question him.

"Like what?" Amy asked, folding her hands over her chest and cocking her hip, miming getting comfortable to let him know that she would stand there all night if she had to. She could tell he was considering his options, telling her or not telling her whatever he was thinking, and when he opened his mouth she hoped it was the former.

"Things."

Amy frowned, clearly displeased. Jake ran a hand through his hair and began again.

"I just... don't want you getting hurt. More than usual. More than I should just being your partner. I like you, Amy. I really, really like you. I just... didn't realize how much."

She was frozen to the spot as Jake approached her. He kissed her for all of two seconds, not even giving her a chance to respond. He took one look at her shocked face and pulled back.

"Good night, Amy," he said, and she let him past with no further trouble.

"Night," she whispered.

Amy laid awake that night running through everything in her head. Jake liked her. He kinda told her so before, but it was always wrapped up in a joke. He always joked about liking girls, and when his comments were focused on her, she always thought he was just teasing. Sometimes she pretended that he wasn't joking when he made those comments, but she just discounted it as a stupid fantasy. She still didn't half believe it, but that day was the most serious she had ever seen him. She hated that she had just let him leave. He did kinda spring it on her all of the sudden, but she was a detective, she was supposed to be able to think on her feet. But she could never think normally when it came to Jake. Nothing was ever normal when it came to Jake.

She resolved the next morning that she would tell him exactly how she felt.

Amy arrived at work Friday morning earlier than usual. She was a nervous wreck waiting for Jake to show up. The day before when he confessed to her there was almost no one at the precinct that late. But since it would be morning when he came in, the whole place was abuzz. They wouldn't have much privacy, definitely not enough for her to say what she needed to say. She mapped out all of the places she could take him to in her mind, the evidence locker, the file room, lost and found, on the roof, anywhere she could think of to get the two of them alone. She watched the elevator like a hawk when it came to his usual time for signing in. 9:00. The time came and past with no appearance from him. She didn't see it as that big of a deal, as he was late most of the time. But then an hour passed. She texted him with no answer. After two hours, she approached captain Holt. She reasoned she could show enough concern without tipping the captain off on yesterday's events. Jake was her partner. She was supposed to look after him. At least that's what she told herself.

"He called in sick at 5 this morning, a feat for even a well Peralta. He assured me he was receiving proper treatment and a regimen of antibiotics from his physician. This is the first sick day he's taken in the time I've come to know him. You might considering checking and making sure he isn't... dying." He said the words distastefully and dismissed her.

Amy left Holt's office seething. That bastard! She had taught him that trick! Calling in early in the morning so it sounded like your throat was sore (a trick that she only used in the most desperate of situations). He would never have called in sick so early otherwise, even if he was up all night. He did everything last minute at work as a form of protest. And Jake hadn't even seen a doctor in years! She had to practically drag him in handcuffs to one 3 years back when he had pneumonia and could barely breathe.

She texted him throughout the day, letting him know exactly what she though of his little "sick day". None of her messages got a reply. She knew he was just ignoring her on purpose. She was gonna kill him.

After Amy clocked out she went straight to his apartment and banged on his door. She could hear someone set down something glass as quietly as they could, but they (or rather he) failed in his endeavor since she could hear him.

She got out her cell phone and dialed his number to hear his god awful ringtone of 'My humps' play through the door. It got a few seconds in when the sound was suddenly muffled by Jake obviously trying to smother it with something to deaden the noise. She guessed he didn't want to skip her call and make her suspicious, but he also hadn't considered that it was her at the door.

She banged again. "Jake, you coward! I know you're in there! Open the damn door!"

In the silence that followed, she could practically hear him deliberating and weighing whether or not it was worth it to follow her order.

She was just about to pound again when she heard his deadbolt unlock and him turn the nob.

He looked out at her with heavy lidded eyes and spoke with a practiced hoarse voice "Hey Ames-"

"And don't you dare even pretend to be sick." she pushed past him and he reluctantly shut the door. "You're hiding from me," she stated.

"Whaaat?" he rasped. "I really am so sick I can't-"

"Stop lying to me or I will arrest you for lying to a police officer" she said, completely serious.

He scrunched his face up at the absurdity of her statement. "What? You can't arrest me. I'm a police officer too." then he realized that he had dropped his sick act for a moment and Amy smirked.

He coughed "I mean-" he started in his sick voice again, but stopped when he realized the jig was up. "What do you want?" he asked as if she had done something wrong. The absolute nerve.

"To talk."

"Then talk," he told her. She had had it with his terse replies, acting like he had something to be mad at her for. She was the only one in the situation with the right to be angry.

"You're so stupid! You didn't even give me the chance to say anything!"

"There's nothing to say." His voice was clipped.

"Ugh!" she moaned, throwing her hands up. "I can't believe you are such an idiot!" She stepped closer with an accusatory finger pointed at him. "You are the worst! All this time you joke about everything and then when you say you might be the slightest bit interested in me and not just making fun of me, you don't even give me the chance to say anything before you run away! You run away and hide out and ignore me! You're awful!" Every word had a bite to it, each more menacing than the one that came before it. She kept walking towards him and he kept backing away until his back was pressed against a wall. He looked around worriedly for a chance to escape, but as she was practically in his face at the moment, it was way too close for him to possibly get away. So he just looked at her.

"You are the worst detective I know! You always say you're so great, and after all this time, you can't even tell that all I want to do is-" she raised her hand halfway through her rant, and he scrunched his eyes, steeling himself for a slap. He kept this eyes closed even when the slap was a few seconds late. He flinched when her hand connected with his cheek, before he noticed that it was an incredibly soft touch, practically a caress. His eyes were still screwed shut when she kissed him.

Jake was a bit slow to respond, but eventually began to kiss her back. His hands were still at his side, though she wished more than anything that he would wrap his arms around her and hold her. When she pulled back, he had a look of utter confusion as he let out a breath.

"And that was...?" he waited for her to fill in the answer.

"What I was going to do this morning before you called in sick."

He still seemed a little shell shocked, but she couldn't blame him. She was feeling the same after the first time he kissed her. It was good to know the feeling was mutual.

"I thought you were gonna slap me." Jake peered at her suspiciously, as if at any moment she would change her mind. He really was a total idiot if he thought that was going to happen.

"I still can, if you want," she offered only half joking.

"No, no. I like this much better."

He still wasn't moving towards her, so Amy knew she would have to pick up the slack. She went in for the kiss again, and this time her partner was more than willing. She tangled her hands in his hair as her teeth tugged at his bottom lip.

"Hold me," she ordered, which he gladly followed. His hands snaked across her torso, moving to her back to pull her closer, even though he was sure it was impossible for her ever to be close enough. He trailed his lips along her jaw and down her neck, which she tilted to grant him better access.

"How long were you planning on hiding?" Amy breathed.

"I was hoping I could face you on Monday. If I couldn't, you would not believe how many sick days I have saved up. Did you know they're roll over?" he paused his assault on her throat to give her a lop sided grin that she absolutely loved.

"Aren't you glad you let me in?" She asked, smiling.

"Very."

Jake grabbed her hand and led her to his bedroom so they could finish what they started.

AN: Yay~ another one shot out. It's a little longer than my average, and I wrote 9/10 of it at 3 am, so hopefully there aren't any mistakes. Please do tell if you enjoyed it :)