A New Start.
Amy had been acting strange all week. Jake, being Jake, constantly thought that he was doing something wrong, or that it was her time of the month, so he showered her with chocolates, flowers and sanitary products. As much as she loved all the attention, she was at her wits end and even the smell of chocolate made her feel sick. She desperately wanted to tell her husband to stop; but knew she would have to tell him the real reason why. As she returned to her desk after a meeting, she noticed a small red bag sitting in the centre of it. She half smiled, half sighed, knowing exactly who it was from and began to guess what it would be this time. If it was chocolate, she knew two people who would be more than happy to take it. As she opened the bag, this time it was a new gift. A small teddy bear holding a heart. She felt nauseous, unsure of if it was because she was pregnant, or the pure cheesiness of the gift. But hey, at least it wasn't something with a strong smell for once. As she pulled the bear out of the bag and placed it on the desk, she saw the edge of a plaid shirt which she was more than familiar with now.
"I know it's cheesy but I saw the amount of chocolate that you've palmed off to Scully and Hitchcock and I think I've bought all of the flowers in New York."
Jake had perched himself on the corner of her desk. She smiled at him.
"It's disgustingly cheesy. But I love it."
She leant up to kiss him. "Anyway, apart from wanting to see your amazing wife, what are you doing here?"
"I left my house keys back at our place"
"You idiot"
A uniformed officer signalled for Amy to come over. As she got up, she told him where he could find her keys and that she'd see him at home later.
As she left to talk to an officer, Jake began searching her bag to find her keys when he comes across a pregnancy test. His heart stops for a brief second and so does everything around them. He quickly snaps back to reality, pockets the new item without looking at the result, find the keys and makes his way back to their place.
A few hours later Amy returned home to find Jake not in his usual position in front of the TV. She didn't think too much of this and in the back of her mind, thought that this might be another cute gesturer to make her feel better.
"Babe I'm home"
"I'm in the dining room"
Amy placed her bag on the sofa and made her way to the dining room where she found Jake. The table was beautifully decorated and he'd even bought out the fancy candles. But the thing that stood out to her the most was the cloche, which was crudely made out of tin foil, covering one of their nicest dishes (A wedding gift from Kevin and Holt).
"What's all this?"
"Just come sit down. For a few days you've been acting a little odd. I thought you might have been having a bad period or work was getting you down, hence all of the gifts, but now I know the real reason" He lifted up the cloche to reveal a positive pregnancy test sitting in the middle of the dish. Amy could see that his eyes were beginning to tear up as a huge smile spread across his face. He reached his hand out across the table and she reached hers out and took it.
"I was trying to find the right time to tell you and I'm sorry I didn't let you know as soon as I did."
"You didn't have to make this some huge reveal. I couldn't care less how you told me. All I care about is that we're going to be parents and that this kid already has the greatest, most caring mom in the world. "
Amy couldn't help but cry. She stood up and walked round to her husband, sat on his lap and the two just held each other surrounded by this bliss for hours. They only unwrapped themselves from each other when Amy had a sudden urge to throw up. All through Amy's vomiting, all Jake could think was 'I'm going to be a dad'. An exciting, yet nervous thought.
The drive to work the next day was an odd one. Amy was feeling rather nauseous so Jake was driving as slowly as he could without angering the New York traffic, or his wife. His pregnant wife. Last night the two had agreed that they wouldn't tell the rest of the precinct till it's confirmed that everything is hunky dory and that Amy is 100% pregnant, which they both had no doubt that she was. As soon as the car was safely parked, Amy flung the door open and threw up directly onto the car park floor. God, he loved her. She had a scan scheduled for a week's time so they only had to cover everything up for a week which should be easy. But when you work for the NYPD surrounded by some of the smartest people on the force, it's a task easier said than done. And thanks to a rather prolific gang, there was a bust going on that day which required both the detectives and Amy's uniformed officers to attended, including Amy herself. As much as she wanted to call in sick and to not risk anything happening to her and the baby, she knew skipping this would bring up lots of red flags.
"You sure you want to do this?"
"Jake I have to. And besides, I won't be in the action, I'll stay at the back, monitoring everything"
"Be safe, ok."
"Ok. I love you".
"I love you too".
Amy had spoken too soon. Standing outside of the warehouse in downtown Brooklyn, Charles was sniffing around her like a dog. Normally, this was usual Charles behaviour; but Amy was worried that the jig would be up. And to top it all off, she was fronting one of the breech teams. It wouldn't have been too bad except when out of nowhere one of the thugs came hurtling towards her, knocking her onto the floor. As he lifted a fist to punch her in the stomach, not thinking, she covered her face with her hands and screamed "I'm pregnant". This was enough to make the thug stop, giving her enough time to kick him straight in the balls, sending him to the floor. She swiftly got up, pinned him down and cuffed him, all whilst a stunned Charles silently looked on. As she pulled him up and marched towards the door, she knew exactly what Charles was going to say.
"YOU'RE PREGNANT"
"Ugh no Charles. I was thinking of a way to distract him and that was the first thing that popped into my head".
There was clear disappointment in Charles' voice.
"Shame on you Amy! Shame!"
As they walked away from the scene, Amy was just glad she dodged the Charles bullet and glad that her secret was safe for just a few more days.
"So much for staying back from the action".
"I'm just glad you're both ok and Charles believed your story".
"Well we don't know if everything's going to be ok just yet".
"Ames you need to stop worrying. And we don't have that long left to wait. Well, I hope so. I've nearly finished all the mazes in this magazine".
Amy shook her head as she watched her husband gleefully start a new maze. She was also impressed by how quickly he had gotten through most of the puzzles since they'd only been waiting in the gynaecologists for about 10 minutes. The door to the office swung open.
"Amy Peralta-Santiago, the doctor will see you now".
Amy had to practically tear Jake away from the puzzle he had almost finished, but the prospect of finding out that their baby was safe and well was more enticing than finally finding out which route Dora had to take to find the map. Stepping into the office bought on a whole array of emotions for the both of them but the most overwhelming one was excitement. As Amy slid herself onto the chair, Jake decided that from this point on, he would never let go of her and that this was truly the start of a whole new chapter. As soon as the doctor walked into the room, time went weird for Jake. It wasn't slow, it wasn't fast but it wasn't normal. This temporal shift was shattered by a sound he'd never forget. A heartbeat. A small, powerful heartbeat. Jake was never one to be over-emotional; but he couldn't help smile and cry as he gripped Amy's hand even tighter and stared intently at the screen, seeing this small white blob float on the screen. That was a baby. Their baby. Their baby who was healthy and already had the best support system despite only the two people knowing of their existence. This baby was safe, and would always be safe.
"So, how are we going to tell the precinct?".
Jake didn't reply immediately. He was too busy staring lovingly at the ultrasound in his hands.
"Earth to Jake".
"Sorry. What did you say?".
"How are we going to tell the precinct?".
"Well, it's going to have to be flashy. I don't think Charles would ever forgive us if we didn't do some big reveal".
"Oh no. I won't have Charles tracking my every move and trying to feed me weird pregnancy foods".
The sarcasm in her voice was overwhelming. They both knew that the biggest hurdle during this stage in their life was going to be Charles over-obsessing over everything. They were also pretty sure he would be there for the birth, in the room. However, they didn't have time to plan an elaborate reveal as it was time to work. But Jake had a great idea.
"Hey other sarge. What are you doing here?".
Amy jumped a little as Rosa spoke to her. Since becoming sergeant for the uniformed officers, Amy rarely popped into her old briefing room but she decided that she wanted to do it more. So much had happened in this room over the years, but she was sure that this would be the best memory to come out of it.
"Oh hey. It was getting a little noisy downstairs. Here was the quietest place to do paperwork. So, how's everything going?".
"Fine".
Silence followed. That was clearly all Amy was going to get out of Rosa today. Luckily the odd silence didn't last long as the rest of the detectives trickled into the briefing room. When Jake stepped in, the two exchanged a knowing look as he took his place at the podium.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen"
"Peralta, it's the morning. Please treat this briefing professionally".
"Sorry captain. Uh ok well this is a new perp that's recently come under my radar. They seem to pop up every 9 months or so and their target seems to be women. According to some sources, they sell their victims this drink that makes them vomit and feel all bloated and give them swollen ankles and other shit like that. Although we don't have a proper photo of the perp, there have been some sketches of what they could look like".
Jake clicked onto the next slide, bringing up a picture of the ultrasound.
"Wait, that's not it".
He clicked again, zooming the picture out to reveal 'Santiago-Peralta' underneath the image. Charles stood up, sending the chair crashing into the table behind them.
"Ok, this should be the correct one".
He clicked the slide one last time, showing a picture of Amy and Jake smiling as they hold up the ultrasound. And on cue, Charles collapsed onto the floor. Amy made her way to Jakes side as the room clapped and congratulated them. It wasn't as elaborate as the Halloween proposal, but this felt so much more satisfying and very on brand for the two of them.
"Congratulations to the both of you. I am sure that you will both make excellent parents. I am very proud".
Jake had hugged his dad before, but nothing felt quite as good as shaking Holt's hand.
"Don't buy anything. We have so much stuff from the twins and Ava that we could give to you. Terry loves love and he also loves what love can make".
"That's dope you guys. Your kid is going to be dope".
"Scully and I can babysit".
"That's a kind offer but no thanks. We don't want our kid to be scarred for life". Those words literally spilt out of Amy's mouth as soon as Hitchcock had opened his. Then focused shifted to Charles who hadn't moved since he collapsed. Jake and Amy knew that they needed some one-on-one time with him, so whilst he was still passed out, they ushered everyone else out of the room.
When Charles came to, he thought he had died and gone to heaven as he saw Jake and Amy leaning over him.
"Are you two pulling a prank on me?"
"No we're not. Amy is most definitely pregnant".
"And it is most definitely Jake's baby".
Tears started to pour out of Charles as he tightly hugged the two of them.
"Also if I'm not the Godfather, I will murder the both of you".
The Peralta-Santiago's knew that gender reveals were dumb and slightly hetero-normative; but Amy had cried several times when watching compilations, so they made the decision to do their own. They didn't want to focus on colours as again, hetero-normative, so they decided to do theirs with a police twist. Although they knew the gender, the squad didn't.
"Why have you bought us down to the gun range? And why are there balloons instead of silhouettes?"
"Well I'm glad you asked Captain. Y'see Amy got a little emotional lately and decided that she wanted to do a gender reveal which is kinda stupid and shouldn't come down to pink equals girl and blue equals boy so we decided to reveal the gender in a more, policey way".
"Policey is not a real word".
"Ah but it has given you some anger to shoot the balloons to find out what we're having!"
Jake gently took the hand of his wife who was equally excited as he was. The nine-nine was about to have a new family member and they both knew their reaction would be ten times greater than that of their own parents. Holt, Terry, Rosa and Charles all lined up, guns at the ready. One by one, they shot at the balloons revealing the words 'WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!'. As predicted, Charles fainted. Just like he fainted when they announced the pregnancy, asked him to be godfather, told him that if anything happened to the two of them, they'd want him to look after their child and now at the gender reveal.
"You owe me an hour's foot rub".
Jake wasn't sure why Amy had remembered this, since they were watching an episode of 'Law and Order', in fact, he had forgotten himself why he owed his wife such a thing.
"Huh".
"You owe me a foot rub since I guessed how everyone would react to the reveal".
"Ah damn. Well you are an amazing detective for predicting that Holt would shake our hands, Terry would cry, Rosa would punch me on the arm and say 'dope' and Charles would faint. Present your swollen feet to me m'lady".
"It's my ankles that swell Jake. It's been 6 months. You should know this by now ".
"Either way, I would rub your feet without a bet if you asked. Speaking of cute gestures"
Gently removing Amy's legs from his lap, he disappeared into their bedroom. Amy sat herself up, looking puzzled and upset that her foot rub hadn't begun yet. A few moments later he emerged holding a large box, neatly wrapped with a bow on top and held it in front of Amy.
"Jake the baby doesn't need any more clothes, or shoes. She already has enough, especially after the box of stuff Rosa knitted for us. And the multitude of onesies from Gina with 'Gina' written on them".
"Nope. It's nothing for the baby. It's something for you. Open it".
Amy gingerly (with a hint of suspicion) took the parcel from her husband's hands. Her current prediction, given the huge smile on his face, was that it was a Die Hard themed mobile for the crib. Carefully unwrapping the paper Santiago style, tears began to well in her eyes as she saw the words 'HOME FOOT SPA' on the side of the box.
"Jake you shouldn't have".
"As much as I love rubbing your feet, there will be a time when you need it and I won't be here. So, I got you the next best thing".
"Babe it's perfect and so thoughtful. Although you do still owe me a foot rub".
At that moment, they both thought that they were married to the most perfect person in the world.
First, he turned his phone onto vibrate. That didn't stop his heart from entering his mouth every time it buzzed. Then he turned it on silent, but the anxiety just increased. Amy was two days away from her due date and being a half Santiago child, he had a gut feeling that their daughter would be early. The fact that his phone was on silent was a slight blessing in disguise as so far, no one had discovered his hiding place. Despite working with some of New York's finest detectives (with the exception of Hitchcock and Scully), they were terrible at hide and seek. Hidden in a tepee in the playroom, Jake could freely check his phone without Holt confiscating it, or Charles offering him a back rub every 5 seconds. Then the door opened. Keeping as still as he could, he was hoping it wasn't a child or worse, one of the squad. He almost jumped out of his skin as Terry pulled back the doors to Jake's hiding space.
"Heeeeyyyyyyy Sarge. What brings you here"?
"Jake what are you doing? Why are you hiding in the tepee? You have work to do".
"Uhh I'm just chilling. On my lunch break. Kicking it back, taking it easy, lunch stylz".
Terry gave Jake 'the look'. Giving a deep sigh, checking his phone one last time, he decided to tell Terry the truth. Over the years the two had worked together, they'd shared some pretty intimate and personal stuff, but Jake knew he could always trust in and confide in Terry.
"I'm scared. I'm scared that something's going to happen to either Amy or the baby or both. I'm scared that I won't be a good father and I'll end up like my own dad. I'm scared that everything will change for the worst. I really don't want to screw this up. I love Amy and I love our daughter but I can't stop feeling scared".
Terry got down to Jakes level and placed a gentle hand on his leg.
"I know exactly how you feel. Before the twins were born, I was thinking the exact same thoughts you are now. I shat so many bricks you could've built a mansion. And yeah, there are times when you're going to feel like you're failing as a parent. But I know you and you will be nothing like your dad. You're kind, your strong and I know you and Amy are going to raise a badass, intelligent daughter and you're both going to be excellent parents. And hey, if anything does happen between you and Amy, I know you've matured enough to sort things out without hurting anyone. You've got this Jake."
Jake felt tears trickle down his cheeks. Deep down he knew all this and Amy had told him how good of a father he would be multiple times; but it took listening to a seasoned father reassure him to calm him down. Without hesitating or speaking, Jake gave Terry the longest hug he had ever had with another man and for a while, he forgot about looking at his phone.
Terry stood up and held out a hand to Jake, helping him out of the tepee.
"Thanks Terry. I really needed to hear that".
"Hey no problem man. Anytime. You're going to be an excellent dad".
As Terry left, leaving Jake to process his emotions, Jake was relieved to see that the only message he had received from his wife was a picture of her using her belly as a tray whilst her feet soaked in the home foot spa. Chuckling, he put his phone away and walked back into the precinct.
As Jake got into bed, Terry's words still fresh in his head, he turned to face his wife, head deep in a birthing binder and smiled.
"Oh I heard that Terry calmed you down earlier. I thought that his wise words would finally get to you".
"Who told you"?
"Gina".
"But, Gina wasn't even in today".
"She must have robot ears. Or the fact that she was in the middle of a call with Terry who forgot to hang up and she heard the whole thing".
"Oh Terry you beautiful muscular oaf".
Suddenly Amy winced in pain as she gripped Jakes arm so tightly, that when she removed her hand, there was a lovely red hand-shaped mark in its place.
"Babe you ok"?
"Yep, I'm fine. She's lively tonight".
"You sure it wasn't a contraction"?
"Nope. Like I said, she's just lively tonight".
Jake went back to scrolling through his phone, keeping a close eye on his wife. A few pain-free minutes later, Amy suddenly felt some pressure down below, followed by a wet sensation, as if she just peed herself. Being heavily pregnant and having done that several times in the past, she immediately brushed it off as another 'accident' but it was far from that.
"Jake"
"Yes babe"?
"I think my water just broke".
Amy had never seen her husband move so fast in her life as she watched him whip the sheets from off the bed and run to the washer, grab the birth bag and go into full panic mode.
"Babe we don't need to go just yet. Just like the binder said, we need to wait until my contractions are 8 minutes apart".
"I know I know I know I know. I just want to make sure we're all set to go. Where are your delivery clothes"?
10 hours of labour and their beautiful, perfect daughter arrived. When the two were finally left by themselves as a family for the first time ever, they spent an hour just staring at her perfect face and listing each feature that looked like them.
"I just want to stay in this moment forever".
"But we have to tell the squad".
"Let me sleep first. I have just spent 10 hours pushing a human out of me. A perfect, adorable human".
And with that, she was asleep; but Jake couldn't. He lay there on the bed next to Amy as he watched the two most important women in his life sleep. All until his stomach decided he needed food. Silently sliding off the bed, he kissed Amy on the forehead, then his daughter and left to get snacks. As he made his way to the closest vending machine, he stopped in his tracks. Slumped in various waiting room chairs were the squad. After the initial 'she's gone into labour' text, they had all dropped everything that they were doing and camped out in the waiting room. Smiling and snackless, he returned back to his family. His family. He couldn't stop smiling at that phrase.
"Ok Jake, send the text and then time how long it takes for them to enter".
"Now my precious little sweetie bean, you're about meet your new family. These people are weird in all their little ways and can be overbearing at times; but they will protect you at all costs and love you with all their might".
Jake pulled out his phone and sent the most important text he had ever sent in his life.
'Are you ready to meet the newest member of the 99?'
No less than 10 seconds later and the door lightly swung open as the squad quietly bundled into the room.
"Guys, I'd like you all to meet Charlotte Rey Peralta-Santiago".
Amy almost choked with tears as she said those words, holding up her hour's old daughter to the squad. Much to everyone's surprise, Charles didn't faint, although he was in-audible through all the tears.
"Hey Rosa, want to hold her"?
Rosa rarely cried; but as Amy passed Charlotte over to her, she couldn't help but let a few tears role escape as she stared at the sleeping infant in her arms.
"She's dope. Congrats you guys".
Next it was Terry's turn.
"She's perfect. Terry loves babies, especially when it's their friend's baby".
Then Gina.
"Are you sure she's yours Amy? She wasn't born wearing a pantsuit and a ponytail. Nah but being serious, she's great you guys. You did good".
As Gina went to pass Charlotte to Charles, Jake stopped her.
"Actually Gina, we'd like to speak to Holt and Boyle privately".
"Oh god, this is bad. Something bad has happened. You're…. you're all moving away! How dare you break my heart like this!"
"Charles buddy calm down. This is good news I promise. Amy, would you like to do the honours"?
"So as well as you both being godparents, we wanted to thank you in another way. So we named her after the two men who have supported us through everything and have helped us both grow as people".
"She's named Charlotte, after you Charles and her middle name Rey, after you sir".
With one arm safely wrapped round her daughter, Amy had her spare hand on the call button in case Charles went into permanent shock after learning the news; but he didn't. He was surprisingly calm. It was Holt who broke the silent first.
"May I hold her"?
As soon as she was in his arms, an instant, unbreakable bond was formed. Charlotte stirred from her sleep; and Raymond Holt, the stoic, robot captain who hated to show emotion, melted.
"I am so incredibly proud of the two of you and deeply honoured. I will graciously treasure this moment forever. Charlotte Rey, you have two amazing parents to look after you and all the support you are ever going to come across. Welcome".
As Holt passed Charlotte back to Amy, there wasn't a dry eye in the room (with the exception of Charlotte who was looking a little confused).
"Thank you, Sir. She's lucky to have you as a Godfather".
"Charles buddy, you want to hold her"?
Charles silently walked over to Amy as she gently placed Charlotte in his arms. He just stood there, staring at her inquisitive face.
"Hi, I'm your uncle Charles. I helped get your mom and dad together so technically you have me to thank for your existence. But another thing about your mom and dad? They're the best people I know. Whatever you need, they'll give it to you. They'll move mountains for you and if they get stuck, you'll have a whole other family to help them and you. My god you guys, you did it. I'm in love and I'm so so so so so so so so so so proud of you".
Charles' statement began to trail off as he passed her back to Amy and burst into tears.
"Once I've calmed down, be prepared for a full-on photoshoot".
Once Holt and Charles had said their final goodbyes, Jake, Amy and Charlotte were left alone.
"We have a daughter. A perfect, beautiful daughter. We did it Jake".
"I love you so much".
Charlotte gurgled in agreement.
"I love you too".
"And I love this family. Our family".