Authors note: Hello all Jamy shippers, or Peraltiago if you prefer (I like both myself)! This chapter will end on a bit of a cliffhanger, but the next chapter will be set during the same night where this one leaves off. I do not own Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or the characters. Although, I did make up the man named Mason, and a store manager in this chapter. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4

It finally was Friday, Jake only had to make one more day until the weekend. The minutes ticked by slowly, he looked up at the clock every chance he got. He needed a case to keep him occupied, he couldn't stand not having something to solve! Thankfully, Holt called Jake into his office halfway through the day. He assigned him to a new case, to investigate the vandalisms and break-ins that have been occurring at Kings Plaza shopping center.

"Alright I'm on it Captain, Peralta will get to the bottom of this! I'll just ask Santiago to come with me to see if she—." Jake starts to say, but Holt interrupts.

"Actually this case you'll be working with Boyle, Santiago's taking the night off." Holt informs.

Jake looks surprised, and leans against the doorframe. "Really she has plans, what else does she have to do? This case calls for a lot of paperwork; it has her name written all over it!" He exclaimed, feeling disappointed she wouldn't accompany him tonight.

When he did cases with Amy, work was never as dull. Although Boyle was his best friend, he liked spending time with Amy. After the intimate moments they've been having, especially after the stake out, he found it even harder to try to keep his feelings platonic. He wanted more than that; he was starting to think that Amy did too.

"Everybody needs there nights off, Peralta. You're dismissed." Holt gestured to the door, obviously wanting to be done with the conversation.

Jake sighed and walked out the door and shut it behind him. He searched the room for Amy and found her sitting down at her desk. He walked over to her, trying to look as suave as possible.

Amy noticed him standing next to her and laughed, raising an eyebrow. "Ah Jake, what's up? Did you want to borrow my stake out CD, because I couldn't help but notice the other night you beating your head to it, even though you claimed you despise my "old people music."?" Amy joked.

Jake rolled his eyes, but a smile appeared at his lips. "I think you were confused, I was shaking my head at you and you not knowing what real music is!" Jake countered; Amy was about to stick up for her classical music before Jake cut her off again, "Anyway I did not come over to criticize your music choice. I was wondering what you're up to tonight, I heard your taking the night off?" Jake inquired, trying to sound indifferent about the desire of her presence.

Amy took in a breath and looked away from him for a second, which made Jake feel a bit concerned. "Well…I actually have a date tonight." Amy admitted. Grimacing at Jakes hurt demeanor.

After the moments they've been having, Amy hasn't been able to get her mind off of Jake. The way he smiled at her, his ability to piece together cases, or how she felt lighter when he was around. She kept telling herself it was just a phase, a crush that would go away. She figured going on a date was the answer, to put her confusion about him and her feelings to rest.

Jake pursed his lips, crossing his arms. "Wow really, that's just…awesome." He tried to hold in his jealousy, but he couldn't help himself from asking, "What's up with the secrecy, I mean you've told me about your dates before… knowing your past dates, he's probably an ex con, or a man who lives with his mother."

Amy looks curiously at Jake now, and shakes her head in response.

"Oh really, well that's good for you, I guess. It's not Teddy is it?" Jake inquires, but his voice sounding more pained than before.

"No," Amy says, laughing slightly. "It's over between us. My date is actually an artist I met at a museum a couple weeks back that I never called." Amy stated.

Jake nodded his head, walked over to his desk, and sat down.

"Maybe you should've trusted your first instinct…" Jake muttered.

"What was that?" Amy asked with an amused manner.

"Oh! I uh said… maybe if you get bored on your date you can come help me and Boyle on our case tonight."

Amy stared blankly at him for a second; she saw something in his eyes she couldn't place.

"I'll uh, keep that in mind." Amy said awkwardly.

"We'll I'm goanna go brief Boyle on the case, I'll uh…I'll see you later." He said, putting on an overwrought smile, standing up, and walked away.

Amy sighed and put her face into her hands. "It's all going to be ok, I'll go on this date and everything will go back to normal." Amy tried to tell herself. However, as she looked back up at Jake in deep discussion with Charles, she felt a pang in her chest and she knew she was fooling herself.

…

Later that night Jake and Boyle were investigating, looking into the different stores that had been victimized.

"Thank you for telling us all you know, it was very helpful. We should get this case solved in no time. Do you mind if I use one of your computers real quick?" Jake asks the store manager.

"Oh yes, of course! Be my guest." He replied, gesturing to one behind his desk. As he walked out, Jake rapidly sat down at his desk and started searching his computer.

"Uh Jake, what are you doing?" Boyle looks at him curiously, breaking his concentration. "This case is practically solved; all we need to do is find out if the vandalisms were actually done by the guys that got fired from all the stores. Then—wait are you on Facebook?" Boyle asked incredulously.

"Yes Charles, if you must know I'm doing some investigating on who Santiago's date is that she's with this very minute." Boyle rolled his eyes but Jake ignored him. "Aha! I found him! His name is Mason Stevens and his interests include—"Jake started to describe, but Boyle shut off the computer. "Hey! What was that for, it was only goanna take me a minute? He seems like a pretty boring person who only watches the history channel! I mean, how ridiculous is that!"

"Jake, you're the one that's being ridiculous! Amy can go out with whoever she wants, I mean it's not like anybody else is making a move…" Boyle says, raising his eyebrows at him.

"Oh I see what you're saying; you think I'm a chicken for not asking Santiago out!" Jake exclaims, pointing his finger at him. However, Boyle coolly shrugs, smiling slightly. "Well you know what? I could say the same for you about Rosa; I don't see you asking her out!" Jake accuses.

"I have asked her out more times than I remember, when have you asked Amy out on a real date?" Jake opened his mouth to respond, but closed it. "That's what I thought. Come on Jake, let's go get some dinner or something, it'll get your mind off it. Believe me; I understand what you're going through."

Jake apprehensively nods his head, standing up. They made their way out the door, discussing where to eat.

…

"Jake I have to say this is a great pick; this place has the best crab puffs in this part of the city!" Boyle says, excited as they sat at a booth in the corner. Then he looked in front of him, and he spotted that in the distance, there was Amy and her date. He sighed and gave Jake a look. "We didn't come here for the crab puffs did we."

"Well it's a nice plus…" Jake said, peering behind his menu. "Hey how much do you think I have to pay the waiter to spill a drink in his lap?"

Boyle ignores this and pushes his menu down that was hiding his face. "Don't you want her to be happy?"

"Of course I do, it's just…" With me, he almost says, but thinks better of it. "Not with that guy! Who's actually an artist for a living?"

"Leonardo Da Vinci, Picasso, the people that draw for cartoons—." Boyle lists, but Jake interjects.

"First of all, most of those guys are dead. Secondly, artists are crazy! Didn't Da Vinci cut off his hand and send it to his ex? Imagine what he'll do to Santiago!" Jake proclaimed.

"First of all, that was Vincent Van Gogh. Second of all, it was an ear. And thirdly," he says gesturing to Mason. "That guy looks like he chiseled his own jaw!"

Jake makes a disgusted face. "Eww no—wait so you do admit he does cut body parts!" Jake reproached. Boyle just shook his head at him as Jake stood up. "I'm going to go talk to this guy, seems like there's something fishy going on with him."

Before Boyle can object, Jake hastily makes his way over to their table. Amy's eyes widen as she notices Jake pulling up a seat to their table.

"Hey Amy, how crazy is it that we would choose the same restaurant? You must be Mason; I heard that you're quite fond of the history channel." Jake says, with a smile plastered on his face. This makes Mason look confused and raises a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Jake what are you doing here? I thought you were on a case—." Amy asks dumbfounded.

"We'll I was, but we decided to stop by this lovely establishment and try the crab puffs. They are delicious if I say so myself. Say Mason, have you tried them?"

"Actually no, I'm allergic. I'm sorry, are you guys a-thing?" Mason questioned looking between the two.

They both don't know how to answer that question. They gaped at each other, hoping the other would give an answer.

Amy begins to blush and speak up, "Well no, he's...just my partner."

Jake purses his lips and nods, because it's the truth. He couldn't say otherwise. He pushed out laugh to cover up his confliction. "No, were not a-thing. That would be crazy! We drive each other nuts as you can tell," Jake says quickly. He smiles, but it doesn't seem to reach his eyes. "I'm sorry for interrupting Santiago, see you at work!"

Jake slowly arises out of his seat, and walks back to his table without another word.

"How did it go Jake?" Boyle asked. Worried at the saddened look on his face, he tried covering it with a grin.

"Oh, fine. I'm still not sure about Mason though, I mean, he's allergic to crab puffs. Have you ever heard of such a thing?" Jake says, grabbing a crab puff from the plate in front of Boyle.

"Jake, I know it's hard. But you and Amy will get there; I can tell that she likes you too." Charles put a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. Jake considers his words, but decides they're too good to be true.

"Maybe I was wrong… she thinks of me as just a partner, and maybe I am. I do drive her nuts—."

"Really Jake? If that were the case, then why would this be bothering you so much? And why would you guys have been making googley eyes at each other, when she's on a date with somebody else?" Jake still looked down at his plate and stayed silent. "Driving each other nuts is a thing that a lot of great couples have. Like Ross and Rachel!" He pointed out, which made Jake smile and roll his eyes.

Jake turned his gaze back to Santiago, who Mason seemed to be in deep conversation with. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. First, she gave him a questioning look, but then smiled softly. Jake smirked when she looked flustered and turned her focus back to Mason.

Jake also turned back to Boyle, who gave him a knowing look. He sighed and got up, motioning to the door.

"We should probably go and finish this case. Although…Mason does seem like a good suspect, I mean he's an artist, he could do grafftii too!" Jake joked, sounding brighter than before. Charles shook his head laughing, and paid the check.

Jake looked back over at Amy again, who was nodding along to whatever Mr. Chiseled jaw was saying. "How long did it take Ross and Rachel to get together again?" Jake asked gloomily.

"Well, they got together in season two I think, but they broke up. To get back together, it took them till the tenth season." Boyle answered.

"Damn…" Jake said, disheartened as they left. He did not want to wait that long…

Amy looked at the door shutting in the restaurant and found Jake and Boyle to be gone from their table. She frowned as she saw they're car pull away outside the window. She couldn't believe it, but she found herself disappointed. He maturely left them alone, leaving her mind to keep drifting back to him. The hurt look on Jake's face when she told Mason that they were just partners made her grimace. She didn't know what to say, but she did know that what she said wasn't entirely true. She felt more than that about him, more than she could process.

Usually Jake pulls some crazy stunt to get her out of a date, but not this time. When Jake had messed up her dates, it made her irritated. But at the same time, it made her relieved. After whatever date she had got scared away, most of the time he drove her home and they laughed at how bad the date had been. It made her have more fun that the date she had those nights, she had more fun with him than almost anyone…

Mason was a nice guy, but she couldn't lead him on like this. Not when she had feelings for someone else, it wasn't fair to him. "Mason, this has been great. But I—."

"It's your partner, isn't it?" he says, with a telling expression.

"No—yes, I don't know! He's not even here and he's driving me crazy! He's childlike, annoying, and idiotic." Amy explains, starting to smile. "He's also sweet, funny, and an amazing detective-."

"And you're crazy about him," he says, finishing her sentence. Amy jerked her face up, as if his words had struck her.

"I'm really sorry Mason. I was trying to ignore my feelings, you know? But when he showed up here, it made it all the more confusing! Or maybe more clear…" Amy said, starting to stand up. "I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll pay for the dinner. If there's ever an art thief that steals something of yours, I'll be the first on the case!" Mason nodded as she ran quickly out the door.