A/N: I was late to the B99 party but I'm just really glad to be here. I've been relying on fanfiction to tide me over until Season 7 starts, and I wanted to contribute something to this wonderful fandom. This is the first work I've written in years (I used to write and beta for the HP fandom). Hopefully I haven't gotten too rusty. Enjoy!
Chapter 1 Note: This chapter starts with missing scenes from "The Beachouse" and from "The Defense Rests". The rest of it follows the Season 2 timeline up to "Detective Dave Majors" but is not "Johnny and Dora"-compliant. Some lines are quoted directly from the episodes.
Amy lay down on the carpet, trying to figure out how the ceiling and floor seemed to be spinning in opposite directions, and why anyone would want a house built that way.
"Ames."
"Ginaaaa. You got to see the sasquatch. Was it everything you dreamt?"
"It was the stuff drumps are made of. Now let's sit you up, and drink this entire glass of water."
Amy took the glass and paused. "You're taking care of me."
"Just 'cause I know you won't remember it."
"No, you like me. Six-Drink Amy is your friend. And she's gonna be very sick right now."
Amy crawled to the bathroom. Gina, letting out an audible sigh, followed closely behind and leaned against the doorframe. Moments later, Amy still hadn't hurled and declared it a false alarm. She sat on the floor, her cheek against the bathtub, letting the cool tiles offset the heat in her face and body.
"Too bad, I was kinda hoping you would throw up so we could get you back down to Amy Dancepants or even Pervert Amy and you wouldn't be such a bummer."
Amy shook her head. "Can't promise I wouldn't be just as sad."
"Why are so down anyway, sasquatch? Not asking because I actually care, but I see the potential for intrigue here."
"I've been thinking... maybe breaking up with Teddy was a mistake."
"What? That man is so much more boring than you are, and I didn't even think that was humanly possible."
"I don't know. It was so weird like, he was so… ideal . We fit together perfectly, but there was just no spark between us. And now I'll never find someone as responsible and stable, or as organised, or as time-conscientious and who actually likes me for being anal-retentive."
"Amy, Amy, Amy. Being too similar is why you guys didn't work! You need someone to balance you out. The yang to your yin. I mean, the only reason I can't be with celebrities is I will always end up outshining them."
"That's the only reason?" Amy said, raising her eyebrows.
"Oh, for sure."
Amy squinted. "So, I should go for someone messy and immature and is always late and is in crushing debt?"
Despite her state, Amy cursed herself for adding that last bit. It narrowed the choices too specifically.
Gina crouched down and reached over to pat Amy's head. "And who has already told you he likes you after years of being immersed in your analness."
Amy blinked. This was coming from Gina, Jake's oldest and closest friend.
"Could you please get it together, I've watched you guys disgustingly pine for each other for months and it's really getting old."
"I wouldn't put it that way."
"Uh-huh, well you don't notice the look on his face whenever you talked about Mr. Boring."
Amy knew she had missed her chance with Jake and she only had herself to blame. Jake had confessed his feelings for her – twice – and though she had felt something for him too, she had chosen to stay with Teddy. Stable, dependable, mature Teddy. And now it was too late. "I'm with someone, nothing's gonna happen." Those words would haunt her for the rest of her days.
"Gina, he's with someone now. He has obviously moved on. And he's happy. Sophia's smart, fun, nice, sooo pretty and just… generally amazing. They're perfect for each other." As she said this, she couldn't help thinking about how Sophia had genuinely tried to help her avoid that painful breakup with Teddy.
Gina sighed at Amy's pitiful form. "Okay, again, I will say this because you probably won't remember it. You know Jake, he likes to keep busy in that department. But he has never had a serious relationship because he hasn't found the person he really wants."
Amy mulled this over, which was difficult given the amount of alcohol in her system. She thought of Jake joking that his worst date was a fifty-way tie. But Jake had been seeing Sophia for a little over two months, and she couldn't remember Jake dating anyone for more than two weeks.
"Listen, I've known Jake since we were nine. He has never acted the same way with anyone else as he does when he's around you."
Amy managed to sit up despite her state. "You really think so?"
"Honey, you're talking to Gina Linetti." Gina widened her eyes for emphasis as she dramatically whispered, "I know so."
Two weeks after the Dog Party at Boyle's beach house, Amy struggled to push thoughts of Teddy to the far recesses of her mind. It was quite difficult given that Teddy had been texting multiple times a day, telling her that he missed her, or asking if she wanted to meet up and talk things through.
Thankfully, work kept her busy. She threw herself into every single case, arresting perps left and right, at one point even breaking Jake's precinct record. This would have set a usually competitive Jake off, if he hadn't been so distracted in the past few days.
And a very distracted Jake tapped on his phone screen for the fifth time that minute.
"Jake, are you playing Kwazy Cupcakes again? I thought you still had to process that perp you arrested this morning?"
"I think Sophia's been avoiding me," he mumbled, not looking up from his phone. "She hasn't replied to my texts and she keeps cancelling our dates." Just then, his eyes brightened like when he has one of is epiphanies during a case. "I know, I'll pay her a surprise visit at work! That's a romantic gesture."
"Uh-huh."
"Hey Amy, would you do me a favour and come with me so we could pretend we're there for work and it wouldn't look suspicious? Please?"
"I – uh…" Jake looked expectantly at Amy with his stupid adorable grin. On one hand, Amy would hate to disappoint him, but on the other hand, she would rather be buried alive than watch Jake make a romantic gesture for his girlfriend whom he adores while Amy still had feelings for him and felt miserable just listening to him talk about her. Now she knew how Jake must have felt when she'd talk about her romantic weekends with Teddy. "Sorry, Jake, I have a witness coming in in half an hour," she lied.
"Okay, good luck with that. I'll ask Terry." Jake shot up and practically ran to Terry's desk. When she was sure he wasn't looking, Amy made her way to the evidence lock-up. Leaning against the wall, she cursed herself for not being a good friend. Jake was always there for her when she needed it, and he would always be willing to do stupid things for her as a favour, like inviting her boyfriend for a romantic getaway to make her happy, even if it had resulted in a disastrous breakup. Well, it was the thought that counted.
She missed being friends with Jake. They were still on good terms now, but part of her knew that she couldn't totally enjoy Jake's company because she felt hurt whenever Sophia would come up. Well, that wasn't Jake's fault. Amy had held on to hope that Jake still had feelings for her, but despite what Gina had said (which Amy did end up remembering after all), it looked like Jake had truly moved on.
Amy smacked herself in the forehead. Jake's friendship was one of the things she cherished most. It made them a wonderful team. She would just have to face the painful reality that they would just stay friends, and she would do everything in her power to protect that friendship, even if it meant helping Jake with his Sophia problems. After all, the Neustadter incident almost broke Jake and Sophia up, too, and Amy had yet to make it up to Jake for that fiasco. She marched back to her desk to tell Jake that her fake witness had rescheduled and she could accompany him after all, but Jake and Terry had already left.
So much for her big friendship gesture. If only she had attended a seminar on how to be a good friend to someone she had feelings for…
Then it hit her. Sophia was avoiding Jake for some reason. There was some sort of conflict between them, and she knew just how to help them. She opened a drawer and brought out a thick binder labelled "CONFLICT RESOLUTION".
Jake and Terry didn't return that afternoon. Good thing Amy got to practice her conflict resolution on Gina, Charles, and Lynn, and it had worked out fine. She was almost confident that she could make it work for Jake and Sophia as well. The problem was, it had gotten late and Jake and Terry still hadn't returned to the precinct. Amy decided to join the others at Shaw's and offer to help Jake the next day.
Ten minutes into Gina's discussion of her vision for the Boyle-Linetti wedding, Amy tried to calendar the date and realised that she only had her work phone in her purse.
"Oh, shoot, I forgot my personal phone in my desk. Be right back, you guys."
She slid out of the booth and walked back to the precinct. Just then, Sophia hastily exited the lobby. What was Sophia doing there? Maybe she and Jake had made up and Amy's conflict resolution skills wouldn't be needed after all. Amy walked up to say hello when a breathless Jake bounded up to Sophia, and Amy, being a mature and respectable person, hid behind one of the patrol cars. It sounded like Jake and Sophia were arguing about something. Amy's conscience told her to tune it out and give them privacy, but temptation got the better of her and she listened in.
"Look, Jake, you're fun, okay? And we've only been dating for three months. It's just not that serious," she heard Sophia say.
"Well, it's kind of serious to me. I've accidentally said 'I love you' like four times already," Jake responded. Amy covered her mouth and tried to steady her breathing.
"I know, I just… don't think I accidentally love you back."
There was a light pause. Amy's heart ached and threatened to jump right out of her chest at the same time.
"It's just so much work," Sophia added.
"That's work I'm willing to do," Jake pleaded.
"I'm not. I'm sorry."
Amy heard footsteps walking away from the precinct, which she assumed were Sophia's. Seconds later, Jake made his way back inside the building. Amy ran back to Shaw's without grabbing her phone. There was no way she could face Jake after that.
Gina was definitely wrong about the extent of Jake's feelings for Sophia. Not only was he serious about her, he had professed love , multiple times. Jake was willing to put in so much effort to make the relationship work and this was Jake, who hated any form of responsibility or doing adult things in general. Amy rejoined the others at the booth but stayed quiet. Fortunately, Gina was still rattling off wedding plans, and wouldn't need anyone's input for hours.
Jake later joined the squad at Shaw's, looking dejected and broken. He sat with Captain Holt and the Terry at the bar. Once Charles started describing his horrific wedding with Eleanor, Amy excused herself from the booth again and ordered more shots at the bar. She sensed someone slide into the seat next to her and she saw that it was Jake.
"Hey," he said.
"Hey, partner." Amy downed another shot.
"Whoa, what's up with you?" asked Jake.
"I'm celebrating. I got to help Charles and Gina with a family thing by applying my mean conflict resolution skillz."
"Generally people who are celebrating look happy." Jake nodded at the empty shot glasses. "How many have you had?"
"Hmm… six, I think."
"Oh, and Six-Drink Amy is… Sad Amy. I guess that tracks."
Amy shrugged. 'Sad Amy' could be the title of her biography, really.
"Well, Sad Amy, you have found a friend tonight. Sophia broke up with me."
"Ouch. I'm sorry, Jake."
"Yeah, she said our work was incompatible, and our lives are incompatible."
Amy didn't know what to say. Sure, a defense attorney and a cop wouldn't make the best pair – actually, it could really be a terrible pair, but they could have made it work if they had both tried. After all, Teddy and Amy were both cops but the relationship imploded just the same. Arguably, it was worse that Amy had dated a cop because there was always the possibility of awkward run-ins or getting teamed up for a case in the future. At least Jake wouldn't be in the same situation with Sophia, as they were naturally always on opposite sides.
She squeezed Jake's shoulder gently and handed him a shot glass. They clinked their glasses together and remained silent for the rest of the night. Rosa would have been so damn proud.
Over the next couple of days and weeks, Amy got to see a new version of her partner: Heartbroken Jake Peralta. He only had a fraction of his usual energy and kept checking his phone for what Amy presumed were messages from Sophia. This was by far Amy's least favourite version of Jake; it was even worse than when Jake had broken the mirror in the interrogation room and blamed it on her. Each of them tried different ways of cheering Jake up. Rosa let him be bad cop during interrogations, Holt and Terry gave him the weirdest cases, and Charles took Jake out for pizza instead of the usual hotdog stand lunch. To Amy's dismay, none of it seemed enough to bring the old Jake back, and they eventually ran out of interesting cases to distract Jake with.
Even the case that he and Amy worked with Detective Dave Majors didn't seem to be enough to get him completely back on track, despite it being an impressive solve for Jake – not to mention he seemed to get along really well with Detective Majors. Plus, Amy sensed some form of awkwardness between them after their case with Majors, and she wished that she could figure out a way to get their old dynamic back. She shuddered at the thought of how messy things could have gotten if she and Jake had tried dating and it hadn't worked out.
Captain Holt assigned Amy and Jake to investigate a case of multiple burglaries at a hotel where the victims all seemed to be attendees of a technology summit. The items stolen were mostly gadgets and test units of products yet to be launched, and no cash was taken. They met Chistopher Grayson, the event chairman, a middle-aged man with prematurely thinning hair, and who desperately wanted to keep the burglaries under wraps. He had agreed to provide a list of all the people working on the event but wasn't too helpful beyond that.
Unfortunately, it looked like they would have to do door duty among the summit attendees, and Amy knew Jake hated door duty. Strangely, he didn't complain about it, which only reaffirmed that the old Jake was still down and under. An hour of knocking later, Jake rapped on door 307. "Hi, I'm Detective Peralta and this is my partner, Detective –"
"Amy Santiago!" said the occupant, a familiar-looking, tall and passably handsome man with slicked-back hair wearing an expensive-looking suit, as he opened the door in full and stepped out.
"Ricky? Ricky Rodriguez?" said Amy, leaning in for a hug. "Oh my god, I haven't seen you since…"
"Graduation, probably, since you never attend the reunions." said Ricky, flashing a small smile.
"Jake, this is Enrique Rodriguez, we were classmates in high school."
"Oh, pleased to meet you, Mr. Rodriguez." Jake shook hands with the taller man.
"Please, call me Ricky," he said to Jake.
"And you can call me, Amy's Boss." Jake joked, wagging his eyebrows. Ricky laughed as Amy punched Jake in the arm. "I mean, Jake," Jake said, rubbing his arm.
"So, detectives, what brings you here?" asked Ricky.
Amy posed her pen against her notepad. "We're investigating a series of burglaries that have happened at this hotel this week. We think it might be connected to the tech summit since all the victims so far are listed as attendees. Would you happen to have noticed anything strange during your stay here?"
"Oh, well, actually, I did notice something weird when I was registering for the event, but I'm due to join the panel on sustainable technology in five minutes. Is there a way I could talk to you guys later?"
"Sure, you can come down to the precinct this evening and give us your statement."
"Okay, cool. It was great seeing you again, Amy. And nice meeting you, Jake." Ricky shook hands with both of them and handed him his business card which read, "Ricky Rodriguez, Founder, Halls of Hope" before walking towards the conference room.
"Sooo what's up with you and that guy? Bit of a high school romance? Puppy love?" Jake teased.
Amy scrunched her nose. "No, it was nothing like that. Student relationships weren't allowed at the Sacred Heart. The two of us were always at the top of the class so the teachers loved pairing us up for everything. We were co-editors of the school paper, debate partners, leads in the school play…"
"And by 'leads in the school play', I assume you mean you two played Mary and Joseph at every Nativity play for four years?"
"No!"
Jake raised his eyebrows.
"Okay, yes, but we only did the Nativity story for three years. On our senior year, they finally allowed us to do choose a different play, as long as it didn't involve romance, hugging, or touching of any sort. We ended up doing a pantomime. It was really weird."
"Ha! Three years of Blessed Virgin Amy! This is great!" He cracked a wide smile and laughed a rich, roaring laugh. He laughed so hard he ran out of breath.
"Shut up, Peralta," Amy rolled her eyes and suppressed a smile. Jake hadn't smiled or laughed like that since the breakup, and Amy was happy that he was happy – even if it was at her expense.
The rest of door duty didn't prove helpful, as most of the attendees had already gone to different breakout groups for the summit. They tried asking around in the different conference rooms, to no avail. They decided to head back to the precinct.