Chapter Summary: In which Jake doesn't buy Amy's explanation because obviously, Analytic Geometry can't be a real thing, and Gina is the only person in the precinct who isn't an idiot.
A/N: Well, here it is, the final chapter! I apologise for any lacking scenes or details, but I kind of like how this turned out. A huge thank you to everyone who has faved and given reviews!
Jake chucked his duffel bag onto the floor and cast his hoodie aside.
Okay, Amy and Ricky were dating now. Well, they had gone on at least one date. It shouldn't have been surprising because they made a good match. Ricky was a nice guy, and Amy had every right to go out with whomever she pleased.
So why was Jake feeling angry? Wait, no, it wasn't anger. He couldn't put a finger on it. It was almost like he felt… betrayed, somehow.
He wished that Amy had told him that she'd started seeing Ricky. But he knew she had no obligation to do that. Sure, she had held Jake's hand, but that shouldn't have been enough to lead him on. Maybe he had made things weird by being all up in Amy's business Saturday and it had spooked her? Whatever it was, he felt that he at least deserved a proper rejection.
He never should have tried to challenge Amy's stupid rule. He opened a bottle of beer and set up a Die Hard marathon on his DVR.
Jake had fallen asleep in the middle of Live Free or Die Hard, and when he woke up the next morning, it was nearing eight o'clock already. He knew that he'd have to scramble to not be too late to work, but he just didn't feel up to it that day. He wasn't ready to see Amy and be reminded of his letdown.
The best thing to do was to wait for the dust (that admittedly, he himself had kicked up) to settle, until he and Amy could go back to their old dynamic. Besides, he had already set up yesterday that he wasn't feeling well, and he hadn't been assigned new cases that week. Captain Holt suspected nothing when Jake called in sick. Shortly after Jake stepped out of the shower, he received a concerned text from Amy. The easy option was to ignore it, but that didn't seem fair to her, so he told her vaguely he was okay.
But then Amy said she was right outside, and Jake panicked. It looked like that rejection was coming sooner than he expected. Be careful what you wish for, dumbass. He put on pyjamas, which was what he would have worn if he were actually sick, and reminded himself to be chill. The mission was to salvage their friendship in the most painless way possible.
He recalled that on his return from going undercover, he told Amy he didn't mean what he said about his having feelings for her. Well, he took it back soon after, but in that brief window, Amy had bought the lie, and it seemed to help normalise things between them. Maybe it would work again now.
He opened the door to see Amy in her usual work attire, with a box of pizza in hand, and a file box on the floor. Case files and pizza – she knew him too well. But recognised that it was a pity party, and he wasn't in the mood to be gracious about it. Thankfully she would have to go back to the precinct by the end of her lunch break.
"What's all this?" he asked, as if he didn't already know.
"Brought you some case files. I know you get bored on your sick days. And Meat Supreme."
Of course she brought his favourite flavour, and from Tony's too. Man, why did she have to make this so hard. Play it cool , he ordered himself. "Thanks. You didn't have to."
"Just making sure you were okay. I care about my peers too you know," Jake felt a flutter in his stomach, but he suppressed it like a pro. "And I wanted to thank you for everything you did last weekend."
There it is. Jake tried to act confused. "What are you talking about?"
"The coffee? 'Cause you knew how tired I'd be?"
"I always bring you coffee," Jake replied, shrugging. For the most part, it was true. But it was usually vending machine coffee, or whatever cafe was nearest where they were.
"Well, it's just… You really went out of your way and all…"
Jake forced himself to appear casual about it. "Oh, it was nothing," he said, waving his hand. "I would've done that for any of my friends."
Amy looked like she was about to say more, and Jake just knew that she was going to drop the rejection bomb any second. But then she did something strange – was that a double tuck ? "Okay then, hope you feel better soon. See you on Monday." All of a sudden, she turned and left. Jake watched her disappear at the end of the corridor before going back inside.
Great, now his agony was prolonged because Amy felt sorry that he was "sick" today and had chosen to postpone officially breaking his heart to Monday.
Jake inspected the contents of the file box. Amy had not only taken it upon herself to go through the chaos of his desk and pick out his active cases, she had also sorted them according to case number. He couldn't help shaking his head at her consistency, and he snorted at the bottle of Orangina that she'd included in the care package. Oh, Amy.
At around five o'clock that afternoon, Jake's phone rang. It was Gina.
"Hey, girl," he answered he as chewed on his fourth slice of Meat Supreme.
"Hey, so Captain Holt wants me to fix a shift sched for checking in on Amy this weekend. You down to go tomorrow afternoon? Rosa's got the morning covered."
Jake set the pizza down and sat up straight. "Gina, what are you talking about? What happened to Amy?"
"Oh yeah, forgot you were out today," Gina said, sounding bored. "I don't really know. Something about getting injured from their drug bust?"
"What – how – Is she in the hospital?"
"Nah, just at her apartment. Rosa says she's fine, someone just needs check in on her and bring food and meds or whatever."
Jake tried to steady his breathing. If Rosa said Amy was okay, he shouldn't be worried, right?
"You still there?" Gina said impatiently.
"Um, yeah."
"So tomorrow afternoon?"
"Sorry, Gina, I don't think I'd be good company for her right now."
He could practically hear Gina straighten up. "Ooh, dish, bruh!" At least she didn't sound bored now.
Jake sighed, "Look, don't tell anyone, but I found out that she just started seeing someone and I'm not cool with it yet."
"What? No she isn't. I would know about it."
"It's a high school classmate of hers. They went out last Wednesday," Jake replied glumly.
"Kiddo, you've got this all wrong. It wasn't a date. It was just a lame mini reunion or something."
"Amy doesn't do reunions, Gina. Anyway, the point is, I'd just be a bummer to hang out with."
"Fine," Gina conceded. "I'll ask the others. Buh-bye."
Jake hung up and pressed his forehead into his palms. Amy had been fine just a couple of hours ago. Now she'd gotten hurt, and he hated that he wasn't there to give backup. He needed reassurance but he couldn't muster the nerve to see her. Sighing, he picked up his phone again to text Rosa.
Friday, 5:15pm
Just heard abt the drug bust, congrats
Friday, 5:18pm
Rosa D.
Thanks, wish you were there. The raid was dope.
Friday, 5:19pm
I bet. Hey hows Amy?
Friday, 5:20pm
Rosa D.
She's OK. Just a few cuts.
Jake breathed a sigh of relief. That didn't sound too bad.
Friday, 5:20pm
Ok thx
Friday, 5:22pm
Rosa D.
Feel better, man.
Jake got another call from Gina on Saturday afternoon. "'Sup," he answered.
"Listen, I know you said you didn't want to take a shift with Amy, but Samantha got us last minute tickets to In the Heights for tonight. So I will do you a favour and let you have my shift."
Jake snorted. "You're doing me a favour?"
"Ugh please please please just take the shift."
Jake rolled his eyes. "Fine, Gina. What does she need?"
"Seriously bruh? You probably know better than I do."
Jake couldn't argue with that. "Enjoy the show."
"Oh I will," Gina replied with a weirdly insinuating tone. "Byeee."
He would just have to bring her some takeout and supplies, and then leave right away. That shouldn't be too hard. There have been way more difficult things in his life. He'd gone undercover for two months in the mafia, for goodness sake. But somehow, the prospect of seeing Amy again, and at a vulnerable time for the both of them, seemed way more terrifying.
Jake stopped by a pharmacy to get painkillers, gauze, and medical tape, and he ordered takeout at the Polish place four blocks away from Amy's apartment. Once he had parked, he looked at the familiar sight of the building's stoop, barely believing that he'd been there just a week earlier, bright-eyed and coffee in tow, hoping that they could somehow take their friendship to the next level.
His feet felt heavier with each step toward Amy's door. Finally, he took a deep breath and knocked. He heard the bolt being undone a moment later and he watched in anticipation as the doorknob turned.
"You can use my data, don't kill me," Amy was saying as she opened the door, then upon seeing him, her eyes widened. "Oh. You're not Gina."
Jake would have loved to respond with something witty but he couldn't. He stared at her, his breath catching. Amy held an ice pack to her face but he could see the bruising and the small cut on her cheek. Her right forearm was heavily bandaged, and it looked like her left arm had a large bandage behind it too.
Perhaps he should have known that when Rosa says someone is "okay", said person may not really be okay by normal standards. After all, Rosa habitually carried knives around and had been buried alive at some point. But this was Amy. In the five years that they'd worked together, he had never seen Amy so badly scarred.
"Oh my god, Ames," he finally managed to say. "What happened?"
"It's not as bad as it looks," she said, giving a tight smile.
The both of them just stood awkwardly by the door for a moment.
"I should maybe set these down," said Jake, motioning to the bags he was carrying.
"Yes, definitely, please do." Amy stepped back to let Jake in. He heard the door close behind him.
"Plates?" he said. Amy tried to reach overhead for the kitchen cabinet and winced. Jake stepped in and gently lowered her hands. Both of them tensed at the touch. "You know what, why don't I just get those."
Amy obliged and busied herself with opening the paper bags that Jake had placed on the counter.
"Pierogies and potato pancakes?" she said, sounding excited.
"And hot chocolate," Jake added proudly, plates in hand and momentarily forgetting that the two of them were at a weird place, relationship-wise.
Dinner was not as awkward as Jake had expected, and it was actually pretty enjoyable. He laughed when Amy began ranting about all the paperwork and processing she had to miss out on, which he knew was her favourite part of every arrest. He asked her to describe how the raid went down, and his jaw clenched when she got to the part where she was attacked by the perp.
"Sorry I wasn't there to help," he said with a voice softer than he'd intended.
"It's not your fault, it happens," she said assuringly.
Jake offered to clean the plates afterwards, which earned a disbelieving look from Amy. "Contrary to popular belief, I do know how to do dishes properly. It's just that washing plates in the traditional manner is boring, so I like to shake things up a bit and sometimes create a foam party in the kitchen." Amy cocked her head as if to say that he just proved her right. "But since I am helping out a disabled citizen today, I will behave and will not destroy the kitchen, I promise."
Amy laughed and shook her head. "Jake, it's okay. You don't have to stay, Gina might be arriving any minute. She should've been here an hour ago."
"Actually she's not coming. She's watching a play tonight," Jake said, already reaching for the bottle of dishwashing liquid without Amy's permission.
"Really? That's weird," Amy said, her eyebrows knitting.
"Look, I'm already doing this, okay. Just sit back and relax, read a book or three."
"Don't make a mess. I'll just change these bandages." Amy walked away, putting her hair up.
Jake was drying his hands with a paper towel when he heard Amy curse from the bathroom. He sprinted over and knocked on the bathroom door. "Hey, you okay in there?"
"I'm fine, it's just... the angle is a little tricky."
He couldn't resist. "Title of your –"
"Jake."
"Sorry, sorry. You sure you don't need help with that?"
"You get squeamish around wounds, Jake."
"True, but I will hold it in out of my deep concern for you... as a friend and colleague."
He heard Amy sigh exasperatedly. "Fine, get in here."
Jake opened the door and saw Amy unsuccessfully trying to remove the bandage behind her left arm, which reached up to her shoulder. He understood that it was difficult because Amy was left-handed, and it probably hurt to move her right arm around too much.
"Okay, I got this," Jake said, gingerly peeling away the medical tape, and trying not to get distracted by how close he was standing to Amy, and how fitted and sheer her clothes were.
Amy handed him a pair of forceps with a cotton ball wedged. He dabbed at the areas around the stitches, and Amy hissed when he neared a spot where the cut was a bit deeper.
"Shit. Sorry, Ames," he said, cringing.
"S'okay," she said. "Thank you for doing this."
Jake placed fresh gauze over the wound as neatly as he could. "All done."
"I have to say, I'm impressed," said Amy as she put the supplies away.
"That's why I do what I do, ma'am," said Jake, falling back into his usual banter with Amy, and feeling relieved that everything seemed normal between them.
Amy chuckled as they walked back to the living room. "Thanks again, Jake. But I'm good for the rest of the evening. You might have somewhere to be."
"I don't," said Jake, taking a seat on Amy's couch, then sensing that he might be being dismissed, he added, "Unless you're expecting someone, in which case, I will be heading out."
"Well, I was expecting Gina, but not anymore." Amy sat down beside him. "Who else would I be expecting?"
"I dunno," Jake said tentatively. Time to get it over with, bud. "Maybe Ricky?"
Amy frowned. "Why would I be expecting Ricky?"
"Because… you're seeing each other?"
Amy stared at him. "We're not seeing each other."
"But… but the email," Jake stammered.
"You are not making sense."
Jake sighed. "It's just… I may have accidentally seen an email that he sent you, saying 'thanks for last night.'"
"Yeah, that was after we had dinner with our Analytic Geometry teacher," Amy said, shrugging.
"Okay, Analytic Geometry can't be a real thing," Jake said, which earned an eye roll from Amy. "But more importantly, he was flirting with you."
Amy was quiet for a moment. "Maybe he was. But I told him I wasn't into him."
Jake couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Really? 'Cause I thought you would be super into him. I mean, he's like, Enrique Iglesias, Elon Musk, and Mother Teresa rolled into one."
Amy bit her lip. "I'm already into in someone else."
Neither of them said anything for a bit, until Jake sighed and broke the tension: "Was it that Analytic Geometry teacher?"
Despite her injury, Amy punched Jake hard in the arm. "It's you, you idiot!"
"Ow! You've got to be kidding me!" Jake clutched his arm, wincing. Then he gasped, "That double-tuck was real!"
"What?" Amy said, eyebrows knitting again. "Look, I tried to tell you yesterday. I was doing the romantic gesture thing that you like doing, but you shut me down with all that 'it was nothing' and 'we're just friends' talk."
"Because I thought you were going to reject me and I was trying to soften the blow! And how was I supposed to know that was a romantic gesture? You brought Orangina," Jake reasoned, still massaging his arm.
"Jake! I just confessed my feelings for you and this is not how I imagined it would happen." Amy crossed her arms and slumped on the couch. Jake couldn't help smiling at how adorable she looked.
"Amy," Jake said, seriously now, "I've wanted us to be more than friends for a while now. But I've been so afraid to try anything because you had that rule against dating cops."
"It was a dumb rule," Amy said sulkily.
Jake stared incredulously at her. "Who are you and what have you done with Amy Santiago?"
"I'm trying something new where I maybe break the rules every now and then. I'll probably have to break a ton if I'm with you," Amy said, smirking and glancing at him sideways. "What do you think?"
Jake grinned. "I think I really want to kiss you right now."
"Well, I think I really look like crap right now," Amy replied with narrowed eyes.
"Then it's the most beautiful crap I have ever laid eyes on," Jake said, leaning towards Amy and tilting her face towards him. Amy's expression softened. Her eyes fluttered shut as Jake closed the gap.
"So, how was In the Heights?" Jake asked Gina as he joined her in the break room on Monday.
"Oh, it's… indescribable, really," she replied, switching the coffeemaker on.
Jake laughed. "It's okay, Gina, we know you didn't really see it." He reached over and gave her a side-hug. "But you did do me a huge favour. Thank you."
Gina shrugged. "I still enjoyed the show, didn't I?"
A/N: I contemplated extending that scene on the couch, but honestly I'm not talented in writing smut (yet? wink wink). I will leave it to your imaginations, fellow shippers. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!
