The Tagger: Life Lessons
"Peralta how's your report going." Emily pushed some papers and trash away so she could sit down. Making sure to keep an eye on him not fully trusting him yet with the report.
"Sorry, this is taking so long. Still writing up my report." Peralta continued typing, not really bothered she was checking up on him. "Pretty detailed."
"Hey, Gina, can you look up what the humidity was about an hour ago and also what moon cycle we're in?" Not taking his eyes from the screen, he asked the administrator.
"No, sorry." Gina also didn't remove her eyes from her phone. "Don't feel like it, no."
"Thanks, Gina." Emily flicked his ear. "Ouch, police brutality."
"Stop, mucking around, and finish the report." She shook her head. "Do you already know the kid's name?"
"I was just getting to it. When you interrupted me." Jake turned to the teenager who quickly turned his head back to Jake, almost getting caught staring at Emily. "What's your name?"
"My name is banana fartman, MD." The kid smugly stated.
"I don't believe you. Just tell me who you are." Jake tried in a calmer voice. "I need to fill this thing out perfectly, so she and my boss will get off my back."
The kid only smiled in return.
"Kid, don't make this more difficult than it has to be, I already have enough trouble with my colleague's puberty." Emily massaged her leg, hoping this wouldn't take long, still feeling cramped from sitting in the car all day.
This got the kid to laugh.
"You find it funny don't you." Jake tried again. "Are you a minor? How old are you?"
" I'm 610." The teenager answered. "I'm a Highlander. I've got a lot of experience." He winked at Emily, showing what he meant by those words.
She was impressed, the kid had balls, he was stupid but he had balls.
"Okay, you know what? I'm gonna put that in there." Peralta was trying to beat the kid at his own game, with no effect. "And then you're gonna be tried as an adult highlander. And they're gonna cut your head off."
DeWitt jumped from the desk making her way to stand in front of the boy. "Why won't you tell us your name. The sooner we have it, the sooner you can leave." She even put on her kindest smile. The blood rose to the teenager's head, making him look like a tomato, all flustered.
Still, he had so much to learn.
Boyle skipped to Gina's desk. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your psychic friend's predictions about the drug case were wrong, which means all of her predictions are wrong." He gloated in her face.
"Mm-mm. No way." Gina shook her head. "She's never wrong."
"We found the cocaine behind a green hamper." Boyle could keep the smugness from dripping in his voice. "Never said green or the letter H."
" Mm-hmm, she said blue and yellow Charles." She started to break his statement down. "I don't know if there's any kindergarteners present, but those two colors combined make green. She also mentioned the letters L and B and another name for a hamper is?"
"Lady bin?" Boyle guessed. "Laundry basket." He finally realized. He could see the whole world crumble before his eyes again realizing, the psychic spoke the truth.
"Oh, little boo-boo. Can you go be depressed over there?" She mocked him, waving him away. "You're bumming out my whole area."
"Baby, I've got some bad news." Emily could hear Terry on the phone, probably telling his wife about the minivan. "Someone painted a giant penis on our minivan. No, you cannot have an SUV now. Those things roll, baby. They roll!"
Hearing him argue she still felt bad that she couldn't stop the kid, now named Trevor Podolski, from vandalizing the minivan. She was here only one day, and she was already responsible for damaging her superiors car. What an amazing start.
Learning the kid's name they had bigger problems on their hands, she recognized the name. "Your dad is Commissioner Podolski, isn't he?" She asked the kid.
At those words she could see the recognition in Jake's face, getting a solemn look, realizing what that meant.
"I'm not sure how things work here, but does that mean that your careers are in my hands?" Trevor asked with a smug edge.
"you know what?" Jake smiled. "Yes."
Moving his eyes away from Podolski, he looked to her for guidance. Having no idea how to handle the situation.
"20,2 Kilos." Santiago was currently weighing their drugs bust, while Diaz and Boyle wrote the numbers down. "I feel like we could round up to 21." It was not like anyone was going to care about the extra couple of grams. And it would look good on her record when she finally got the chance to do the test to become a sergeant.
"Or we could round down to 20, take the extra 0.2, sell it to our friends." Gina proposed. The detectives looked at her, questioning if she was being serious or just joking. She just laughed at their looks, not really making her trustworthy to stay alone with the drugs.
"I'll call the D.A." Santiago started calling the shots. "Rosa, you log this in. Charles, maybe watch Gina."
Gina just chuckled looking at Charles like he was a silly man. Santiago left the room, to make the call. Leaving the others alone.
"So what are you doing tonight?" Diaz asked Boyle ignoring, Gina.
"Nothing." Boyle immediately answered. "What about you are doing tonight?"
"Nothing," Diaz answered back continuing to log the cocaine.
This was his golden chance he couldn't waste it. He just needed to ask her out, it wasn't that hard she was a lady and he was a guy. Jake is a guy and he asks ladies out every day. Just be like Jake, just be like Jake. His thought process was broken by Gina holding up Carlene's business card, whispering. "Carlene."
And just like that, his courage was gone. "Whelp, I hope you find something to do." He just needed a good excuse to get out of the room. "I'm gonna pee. That's what I'm doing tonight." The words barely left his mouth and he already realized, it sounded so wrong. "No." Without further saying anything, afraid he would make it worse he left the room. Getting weird looks from Rosa and Gina.
"Deputy commissioner's son, huh?" Holt commented on the revelation. If she was alone on the case Emily knew what she would do. She wasn't, so she would listen to what her partner wanted to do and decide from there. Seeing the turmoil on his face she decided it was for the best to bring the problem to the Captain, ask him what he thought. For all the complaining, she saw that Peralta still respected Holt and would take advice more from him then he would from her. "His decision to target cop cars makes a lot more sense now."
"We gotta let him walk, right?" The uncertainness could be heard in his voice.
"He defaced nine police vehicles, and you caught him red-handed," Holt commented on his statement. "Why would you let him walk?"
"Captain, I did all the work on this perfectly." Emily coughed at Jake's word.
"I mean, we did all the work on this perfectly." Jake corrected himself. "I mean, my report has over 25 pages of meticulous research, diagrams, and maps. I even put an "about the author" section on the back." Jake proudly showed his report. "we did everything you asked of us, but this is above our pay grade. You gotta make a decision."
Holt took the report from Jake, flipping through the pages, seeing first hand Peralta put work into it. "DeWitt, as the superior officer, what are your thoughts on the case."
"I would arrest him." She answered. "Still I would preferer for Peralta to decide what he wants to do, and see from there."
Holt gave an appreciative nod to Emily, turning his head back to Jake. "You heard your superior officer, It's your call. I told you to do every part of your job, and making this decision is part of your job."
"Yeah, but you two think I should process him." Jake sighed.
Emily and Holt confirmed that by giving a nod and an mm-hmm.
"Well, if we do, the deputy commissioner could ruin our careers, and I'll end up on the streets selling my beautiful body for a can of beans," Jake argued. "While she'll probably end up in a freak show." This got him an ear flick and glare from Emily.
"Mm-hmm." Holt just confirmed again ignore their antics.
"Has anyone ever told you you look exactly like a statue?" Jake asked.
"Yes."
"Man, you were totally right about the cocaine, and you were also right about Rosa." Boyle was sitting in the break room, declaring his defeat, acknowledging that Carlene was right. How could he have been so stupid to think he ever had a chance with Rosa.
"Who's Rosa?" Carlene asked, not understanding who Charles was talking about.
"The woman I" Boyle started to explain.
"The woman who doesn't love him back." Gina interrupted him.
"Oh." Carlene finally understood what the silly man was going on about.
"Yes, that woman."
"You know, it can be a burden to always know what's gonna happen in the future." Charles didn't feel like going through Carlene's lecture now, wanting to stand up she pushed him back down into the chair. "Don't get out of the chair. I just had a vision of you leaving this chair and getting seriously injured."
"Oh, my God." Could his day get any worse?
"I should probably wheel you back to your desk." Gina offered, starting to push his chair.
"That is a great idea."
"Wheel you off a bridge." Gina laughed. "I'm kidding."
While wheeling him back, she couldn't help herself from singing. "Oh, you're alone Uh-oh, you're alone for life "
Leaving the captain's office, Emily didn't get the chance to discuss the problem with Peralta who immediately called the other detectives together for a meeting.
"So here are my options." Jake started to explain. "One, I process Podolski's kid, he fires me, and I spend the rest of my career as a Detective, third grade, which is literally pathetic. No offense, Hitchcock."
"None taken." Hitchcock agreed with Peralta's statement.
"Option two, I let him walk, and I spend the rest of my life with DeWitt as my babysitter. Again no offense." This time addressed to her.
"Insult taken, and duly noted for later." She answered.
"Honestly, when I think about spending the rest of my life with a babysitter, she's kind of a cute blonde named Erica, and she always has pizza money and lets me stay up as late as I want." Jake started to fantasize.
"If you ever think about me like that, I'll kick your ass so bad you'll wish for a nurse called Erica." DeWitt glared at him. "Understood."
Jake looked a little bit afraid, scared of the woman's threat. Most of the room hoped they would never get on her bad side, while Diaz looked impressed at her.
"Anyway, the point is Holt and my partner care more about whether I do my job right" doing air quotes at the last part. "Than whether I have a job at all. So I'm taking suggestions."
"I say piss off Holt, so we get to watch your career end right in front of us." Santiago smiled at the prospect of working without Jake's foolishness.
"Okay, thank you for that, Santiago." Jake drew a stripe under the 'Don't arrest' Column drawn on the whiteboard. "And I'm also going to put your phone number on every urinal in Rikers."
"Don't arrest him. Just smack him. Hard." Diaz suggested, "With a phone book on a body part no one can see, you know what I'm saying?"
"So you're suggesting police brutality?"
"Ha, ha, I guess so, yeah," She laughed. "Why?" her attitude made a one-eighty getting all serious.
"Hey, Scully," Jake called out at the detective just passing by the room.
"Yeah?"
"You want this collar? Paperwork's all done, and it's perfect." Peralta tried to convince Scully.
"The Podolski kid? Are you kidding?" Scully asked. "I just gave him my lunch."
"Okay." There went his plan to shove it to someone else.
"Boyle, what do you think?" He turned to his best friend, who was still sitting in his chair. Haven't left it since Carlene told he was going to hurt himself once he stood up.
" I don't know, man. I'm lost. The universe is a cruel and vexing puzzle." He stated.
"All right, I'm gonna put you down for bummer." Peralta wrote a new column down, with the name bummer at the top. "And you can hang out in that category all by yourself."
At that moment Gina entered the room, greeting everyone in her high pitched voice. "Hey, everyone. Hey, Jake, there is a very sexy, angry official here, deputy commissioner Podolski. He's asking for you. Very angry. Elderly, sexy, furious."
"Well, my career is over," Jake stated in defeat. Getting a cough from the back of the room.
"Well, our career is over." He corrected himself. "See you at the bottom, Hitchcock. No offense."
"No, none taken."
Peralta started to make his way over to the deputy commissioner, only for DeWitt to catch up with him. "Let me do the talking." With those words she took charge.
"Deputy Commissioner." She greeted the man.
"Where's my son?" Podolski didn't even give them the respect to look at them, continuing to read his papers.
" He is at Peralta's desk." She answered respectfully.
"If I may add, he is enjoying a nice glass of bubbly water and some chocolate I was saving for a special occasion." Peralta came in between the two. Getting a glare from DeWitt, showing it wasn't the moment for his funny quips.
To make things worse Santiago joined in. "Hey, Peralta, when you're done, can you help me wrap up this massive cocaine bust I just pulled off? Thanks." Slapping his shoulder in a playful manner, not noticing the angry look Emily was giving the both of them. "Oh, deputy commissioner didn't .."
Before she could be finished she was stopped by Emily. "Amy don't you have better things to do than to interfere in our case."
She gave a surprised, and apologetic look at Emily. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Pointing back behind her she started slowly walking backward. "I better go."
With Amy gone, the deputy commissioner started walking over to his son the two detectives in tow. "Trevor, what'd you do this time?"
"Nothing." Trevor defended himself
"There you have it. He said he did nothing." Father Podolski stated while Trevor started to take his stuff.
"Sir, we caught him red-handed painting a dick on our car." Emily challenged the man, not intimidated by his status. "Are you insinuating I'm lying?"
Podolski moved in front of her, looking into her eyes. "I'm saying maybe it's a possibility you made a mistake."
"In my 6-year career I made plenty mistakes, I'm not going to deny that." She moved a little closer keeping her eyes on him, standing a little straighter and wider. "But I'm pretty sure this wasn't one of them."
Peralta was quiet for once, having a smile on his face, admitting he was slightly impressed at the way she wasn't backing down from the man.
"You might not understand this, but Trevor is a special kid," Podolski argued, his son smiling at the praise he was getting. "He makes straight "A"s. He's going to Duke next year. Lacrosse scholarship. Sometimes, boys just need to be boys."
"I fully agree boys need to be boys," She agreed. "Only your boy did thousands of dollars worth of property damage, to police vehicles."
"Look, I think we can all agree that I'm ordering you to let this slide because nothing happened." Podolski didn't back down. He wouldn't be told what to do by a low-rank detective, who thought she was a bigshot. "This is officially out of your hands."
She was fighting to keep herself calm, and not slam handcuffs around the kid. Still, she wasn't alone in this case as long as Peralta didn't want to arrest him she wouldn't do it.
"Would you actually mind just checking out my report?" For once she was happy Peralta came in between, not trusting herself. " It's pretty thorough, and I spent over an hour on fonts. Kinda snazzy," He gave Podolski his report.
"Oh, thank you. I'll get right to it." Jake smiled hoping he could convince the deputy to do the right thing. "Trevor, let's go." On his way out he threw the report in Terry's garbage bin.
Leaving an annoyed Peralta and DeWitt behind.
"Choo." Boyle was rolling through the bullpen on his new mode of transportation. Still afraid to leave his chair he was trying to make the best of it. Sliding to the fridge he opened it to finally enjoy a pudding cup. "Yes."
"What's up with the chair?" Diaz asked, getting enough of Charles rolling through the building.
"Um, Carlene predicted if I get out of this chair, I'd get badly hurt, so I'm not chancing it," Boyle explained his predicament. "Oh, man. There's no pudding cups left."
Without warning, Diaz hit Charles in the arm. "Ah! What'd you do that for?" He started the sore spot already feeling a bruise come up.
"There. Now you're hurt in this chair." She was tired of Carlene filling Boyle's head with nonsense. "You can get hurt anywhere, Boyle. And if you do, it won't be because some shoe salesman predicted it."
He still wasn't sure, Carlene's previous predictions were correct. Until Rosa said five magical words, blowing away all the doubt he still had. "You make your own destiny." She left Boyle alone in the kitchen with a smile on his face.
"Well, we don't have to worry about Podolski's son anymore. The case is officially out of my hands." Peralta slammed the report down on the captain's desk, followed by the DeWitt. "No charges filed."
"Why is there yogurt on this?" Holt took the yogurt smeared report in his hands.
"The deputy commissioner threw my report in Terry's trash can, and he'd been eating yogurt earlier," Jake explained
"Terry loves yogurt." Holt and DeWitt said in unison.
Peralta still didn't look happy with the outcome. "Peralta is this what you really want," Emily asked in a serious tone. "Do you really want to let him go like that?" Holt looked at Peralta also wanting to know the answer.
"Of course not." Jake started to get irritated only thinking about how the kid was walking away without consequences. "I called six precincts about this kid. He's been brought in a dozen times. Theft, vandalism, drunken disorderly, but he's never been processed. His daddy comes in and bails him out every time. He's a lucky little jerk."
"No, I wouldn't say he was lucky. I feel bad for this kid." Holt explained. "I mean, what kind of father cares so little for his son that he lets him get away with everything?"
DeWitt could only agree with the captain's statement, having seen her fair share of kids who went through life without consequences, only for it to catch up to them later in life when they least expected it.
"Well, he's someone else's problem now." Holt continued. "Like you said, it's out of your hands."
"All right, I see what you're trying to do, but it's not gonna work." Jake protested. "I'm not going to arrest him."
Emily started getting her keys from her pocket, walking back to her desk putting on her jacket. Making it to the wooden gate she held it open, letting Peralta through followed by the Captain. "I'm going to arrest him!"
The three of them entered the elevator, she couldn't stop herself from smiling. "Why are you smiling, we're probably going to lose our jobs, who knows maybe we even get Court-martialed," Peralta asked while the elevator started going down.
"I'm just so happy that my little rookie is finally growing up." She even wiped a fake tear away.
"Ha ha very funny, let's see if you still laugh while we are in prison, being manhandled by our new daddies."
The chase was on, they took the first police car they could find, ironically it was one of the cars vandalized by Trevor. Speeding through the streets, ignoring the traffic lights, all that with a dick painted on the side of the car. The three of them couldn't care less as long as they still could catch up with the Podolski's.
"There they are." Holt pointed out at the SUV belonging to the deputy commissioner. Putting on the sirens, Podolski moved to the side.
"What is this? You can't do this." Podolski exited the car, angry at the sight of Peralta and DeWitt. "Get that thing outta here."
Peralta looked at Emily waiting for her to take charge. "You have the honor." She gestured that he could take the lead.
"Excuse me, sir." Jake moved to Trevor, cuffing his hands behind his back. "Trevor Podolski, you're under arrest for vandalism and destruction of property."
Trevor couldn't believe his ears, this never happened. The people his dad threatened just let him go and they never dared to arrest him again. "What dad!"
"What are you doing?" Podolski asked, "I told you to back off, Peralta."
"First off, the name's Santiago, Detective Amy Santiago." The captain and Emily could only sigh at his statement. "Second, I'm arresting your son, which, as I say it aloud, seems like an unwise choice.," He looked back to Holt and DeWitt giving them a nod, wanting to convey that he was still going through with the arrests. Whatever the consequences. "But it's the one I'm making."
"Once again, my name is Amy Santiago." He shouted aloud making sure the bystanders could hear it.
"You're being stupid, Peralta. Don't be stupid." Podolski tried to scare Peralta into releasing his son. "I can make your and her life miserable" He motioned to DeWitt. Showing he hadn't forgotten about her.
"Commissioner, please don't talk to my Detectives in that Tone." Holt interfered not liking the way the man was talking to his detectives. "If you have a complaint, you can take it up with me."
"You just made yourself a very powerful enemy, Holt." Podolski threatened. "I'm gonna be watching you, all of you, like a hawk."
"You're gonna have to try a little harder if you wanna scare me." Holt wasn't going to be intimidated. "I've been an openly gay cop since 1987, so you're not the first superior officer to threaten me. You know how I'm still standing here? 'Cause I do my job, and I do it right." With that Holt walked away leaving a speechless Podolski behind.
"Damn, son!" Jake couldn't keep himself from saying it, impressed by the burn his captain delivered to the commissioner.
"Don't say, son." Holt stopped Jake, while Emily flicked him in the ear.
"Sorry." Jake apologized while rubbing his ear, DeWitt escorted the teenager back to the vehicle. "Deputy Commissioner, if you wanna pick Trevor up, he'll be at the nine-nine." Stepping in Jake couldn't stop himself from insulting the kid. "Let's go, fartman."
Back at the precinct, Peralta was finalizing the report on The tagger case. Making sure everything was in order, and Trevor would receive the punishment he deserved.
While DeWitt was arranging her desk, making sure everything stood where it should. Terry even helped her set up her computer, by lifting up the desk so she could reach the computer cables. She would never deny, that she was impressed by the sergeant's showcase of strength.
When Santiago started walking over, getting her attention by clearing her throat. "I wanted to apologize for earlier today, I shouldn't have done it. It was totally unprofessional and childish."
"Don't sweat it. It's not like I am going to report you or anything." Emily waved her apology away. "I have seen people say much worse things in front of much more important people. At the end of the day, everything worked out. Just make sure it doesn't happen again."
"Yes sir, I'll make sure of it." Santiago saluted, "I'll make sure it won't happen again, and if I do you are welcome to correct me anytime you want. Goodnight Sir." She even moved her head a little down.
Emily couldn't really grasp what just happened. "Did she just call me sir." She turned to Terry who had followed the whole conversation.
"Santiago likes to have authority figures in her life." He threw her an apologetic look. "It looks like she sees you as a role model."
"Still, she knows I have the same rank." Terry just raised his shoulders at the statement. "Strange woman."
"DeWitt, would you come to my office please." the captain called her over.
Entering the room, he gestured at a chair, for her to take a seat. "Before you go home, I would like to have a reflection about your first day here in the 99. What are your thoughts, don't be afraid to be blunt I can handle it."
"I can only talk about Peralta, I don't really have met the others yet." She started to explain. "Jake, Is immature, brash, filthy and unprofessional." She honestly stated.
"Go on."
"But, If you look past all that, he's an amazing detective. I have read his report, for all the extra unnecessary parts it contained, it was a textbook example of how a report should be. He showed initiative to do more than just his job, by working out a disguise, backstory, and outfit. It was useless for this case, still, we could deploy his talent in cases more suited for that line of thought. And last not but least he showed he wanted to do the right thing, even if he was going to lose his job. So I would say with a couple of corrections he would be a perfect detective."
"You keep on impressing me," Holt said in his stoic way. "One thing was not clear to me. Why did you wait for Peralta to decided to arrest him? You were the superior officer, you should have taken charge. We could have avoided the threat of Podolski, why didn't you make the decision?"
"Jake needed to learn, that life isn't easy, that you sometimes need to make tough calls." She explained. "Like I needed to make the call if I would arrest the kid, avoid all the problems and Peralta wouldn't have learned anything. Or let Peralta decide and get threatened to lose my job.
For the first time today she saw a glimpse of a smile on Holt's face, it was like seeing a unicorn for the first time. As fast as it came it was gone. "You keep on impressing me, DeWitt. I heard from your previous captains that you were impressive, but I had never expected this." She couldn't keep herself from smiling at his praise. "Still, they never could convince you to stay. I like a challenge, I'll find some way to keep you here longer than a year. Make the 99 your new home."
"I wish you good luck, Sir."
"Oh, I'll think about it." Holt leaned back in his chair, already bringing up plans to convince her. "That's enough for today, have a nice evening."
"To you too sir," she said goodbye to Holt leaving the office. Passing Jake's desk.
"And that's done. One report finished. " Jake stretched. "Deputy Commissioner Podolski won't like it when he sees the bill."
"He could always sell his son's artwork.." Emily joked taking her jacket ready to leave. "I know a couple of artists who would pay for the more risque art,"
"If you know, some artists who love to make risque art, I'm always available," Jake called after her.
Calling the elevator Jake and Terry joined her. "Do you want to grab something to drink," Jake asked. "We're going to Shaw's bar."
"Yeah sure, why not." She grabbed a packet of cigarettes from her pocket, putting one in her mouth, ready to light once they left the building. "I only need to make a call first."
"Carlene was wrong, Gina." Charles gloated in her face, happy he got a shot with Rosa. And the way she told him he needed to make his own destiny meant she cared about him, only increasing his chances. "Rosa said it herself I'm in charge of my own destiny. That means she wants me to make a move."
"Mm, but Carlene was also right," Gina argued back. "You did get hurt 'cause Rosa punched you. And the fact that Rosa punched you means she does not like you."
"No, no, she punched me to prove Carlene wrong." Charles wasn't going to let Gina confuse him again.
"Move." Rosa entered the room, barking Charles to get out of the way.
"Oh, wait, I take it back." Gina sarcastically said. "She definitely is into you. So much chemistry."
"I know, it's crazy." Boyle tried to not show that the doubt was coming back.
"All right, let's get this meeting started." Holt took charge of the meeting this time.
"I'm not late." A voice shouted from a tent, positioned in a corner of the meeting room. DeWitt could only sigh already knowing who would come up with something like that. "I'm here."
Jake opened the tent, stepping right out of bed still dressed in his pajamas. Taking a look at his grass green watch making sure he was on time. "Right on time."
"You're out of uniform, Peralta." The captain stated the obvious
"Baby steps, Captain. Baby steps."
A/N
So with this, we finished the second episode. We got the first steps in Jake and Emily's friendship. For the next chapters, we'll see more how dynamics with the rest of the team, will be.
Dracarys007: Nice to hear you love it. I was just going to post the next chapter when I read your review. For the next chapters, it depends on how much time I have.
So for everyone who reads this story and wants me to continue, please leave a review behind so I know you like it, don't like it, just let me know. Want me to explain something, just leave a review behind or PM me.
