Jake was numb, his mind was struggling to process what was happening, he saw images in front of him and nominally understood what was happening, but he could barely speak ad was afraid to think of the what ifs in their current situation. A small bomb had gone off, placed in Amy's New York Times, an anger surged deep in him now, he stopped focusing on what might be and thought of what he could do, but his thoughts of revenge were interrupted.

"Mr. Peralta," Jake looked up and saw the surgeon approach him, a middle aged woman with reddish hair, "your wife is out of surgery, we were able to remove all fragments, there was some internal bleeding that we had difficulty stopping, once that was stopped, we did some tests on her brain function, everything seems fine, but we won't know for sure until she is awake."

"She, she will live though, she is going to make it?"

"Yes, the blast knocked her back and gave her a concussion and some nasty bruising, but the fragments from the explosion were minimal in comparison with what the M.E. told us happened in the previous attacks. Your wife is lucky to be alive."

Jake managed a thank you and numbly nodded when he was told he would be allowed to see her soon, but his mind focused more on the term lucky, lucky, my ass, he thought. He was unlucky, he had suffered so much, but now, now it was Amy who paid again, his heart felt heavy, so heavy, his mind was so cloudy, he struggled to think clearly.

"Peralta," Jake looked up and saw Captain Holt and Terry, "We are sorry we have taken so long to get here, we had to set up a search for Matthew Langdon, we have some intel that he is still close by, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Diaz and Boyle are leading two different teams. How is Amy?"

Jake was appreciative that Holt used her first name, normally he would say Sergeant or Santiago, but at this time, she was just Amy, his wife, his injured wife.

"She is out of surgery, she should be fine, the blast didn't do as much damage as the other blasts, so she is lucky according to the doctor, but I feel the opposite, I did this to her."

Terry finally spoke, his face straining to keep the hint of a smile to stay positive for Jake, "Listen man, you have had terrible luck, you have always done your job, when you saw a dirty cop, you did your job, you did what every good cop would do, no one could know how this would all go down. This is a case of bad luck and bad people, you are a good cop, a great cop, and you can't blame yourself, Terry hates to see you like this."

"Thanks Terry, but I'd feel a lot better if I could just make sure that Langdon was stopped, for good. His false testimony put me in prison, which resulted in attempts on my family, and now he himself has tried to kill Ames, I can't, I just can't, I want to do things that would not make me a good cop, so I'll shut up."

There was momentary silence as Captain Holt considered Peralta in his gaze, "Peralta, I think I might know where Langdon is, the intel was only partially correct. Make sure Carmen is with someone that can watch her for a while, we can end this. Do you want to come? If you want to stay with Amy, I understand, that is your primary concern."

"I don't know how long she'll be out, she just got out of surgery. What do you mean, just us, look for him?"

"Diaz and Boyle are under instructions to bring him in, alive if possible, our mission would be different. You know this is not my normal way to operate, but this man has challenged the nine-nine and must learn what happens to those who do not respect human life."

An awkward silence followed as Jake's brain tried desperately to comprehend that this was Holt suggesting extreme action. "Count Terry in, this dick has to go, no more loose ends, this needs to end, and then others might be sent a message."

Jake normally would have smiled at this, but he was trying to ease his conscience for knowing he was about to leave Amy at the hospital, but this is what he wanted, for good or for bad, this is what he wanted.

"Let's go." Holt and Terry nodded and the three men exited the hospital and made their way through the parking structure to the police van Holt and Terry had driven there. The three of them suited up in body armor and loaded their weapons in silence.

"Jeffords, drive us to the warehouse where Hawkins' team was running their former operations."

"But sir, they have already searched that place."

"Yes, but if I recall, there was a seedy bar next to it, where Peralta and Diaz were conned, and there are several apartments above it. No one has searched those, and Langdon was seen in that area. My instincts keep telling me that he must be there."

Terry nodded and Jake just stared ahead. Within ten minutes the van pulled up in an alley behind the warehouse, the three of them exited the van, weapons drawn, and the captain motioned them to the bar, Terry kicked the door open, Holt made a sign for the few people inside to be silent, Jake walked to the bartender and spoke quietly but pointedly, "Where is Langdon, you do not want to lie to us, that man has tried to kill me and almost killed my wife, if you stand in my way, you will become a number, and not one you want to be."

The bartender swallowed hard and pointed to the ceiling, "He's in the apartment, right above us, there is a stairway in the back."

Jake saw the bartender's cell phone on the counter and took it and put it in his pocket, then removed the knife from his holster and cut the landline cord, he then motioned for Terry to follow him and for Holt to go to the fire escape. Jake and Terry silently climbed the stairs and Terry kicked open the door, Langdon was on the bed, he dove for his gun, before he was able to grab it shots were fired, but not from Jake or Terry, Holt stood outside the window, on the terrace of the fire escape, his gun still drawn.

"Very good men, he is done. Excuse me for taking the shot, but you taking the shot could be questioned Peralta, I wanted it to be me, they will question me far less."

"Thank you, captain, thanks Terry, I wish I felt better, but I just need to get back to the hospital now."

The captain radioed for back up, and then ordered Terry to take Jake to the hospital. As Jake entered the hospital, he realized that while he had taken off his weapons, he was still in some of the body armor. He quickly removed it and placed it on a chair by the entrance. He walked up to the desk and asked where his wife was, he was then lead to a room on the third floor. Amy was again hooked up to IVs and machines, his heart dropped, he hated this sight, more than anything.

Jake was tired of thinking, Langdon was dead, but he felt no better. He sat down next to his wife and cried. He fell asleep at some point and was surprised when he was woken up by Amy.

"Jake, babe, wake up."

Jake sat up and looked at his wife, she was awake, she at least knew it was him, he smiled, it would a lot to do anything to her intellect, "Ames, I'm so, I'm just so sor—"

"Don't apologize, don't be sorry, I made a stupid mistake and grabbed the damn paper."

"Ames, who puts a bomb in the times, I'm just—I'm glad you're better now, I don't know that I'd say okay, this is far from okay. Langdon is dead, Terry, the captain and I acted on the captain's hunch, and the captain shot him as he was reaching for a gun."

"Jake, I'm sorry this has happened, don't beat yourself up, I feel like crap right now, but the doctor was here, I didn't wake you up until he was gone. He opened my eyes to check my pupils and I woke up, I was groggy, but quickly recovered and he told me everything. He seems sure that the worst is behind us."

Jake wept again, his mind was focused on Charles' words, it's too much, it's just too much. He sighed a deep sigh of relief, reached out and took his Amy's hand and pressed it to his face, Amy smiled at him, her Jake, the man who normally acted rashly and quickly, the same man who used to say noice at every serious emotional moment was now displaying real emotions, and was her rock.

Within a few hours, Amy's family and many from the nine-nine congregated at the hospital. Amy's mom brought Carmen in the room, Jake hugged her so tightly the first time he held her after the incident that she fussed for a few seconds before he made faces at her so she would smile. "Look, Carmen, mommy's okay, she's going to be okay. Say hi to mommy." Carmen moved her arms up and down and smiled and made what definitely sounded like happy sounds to her mom.

The next morning, Jake woke up in the chair next to Amy, who was already awake reading the New Yorker magazine, he smiled, she was okay. He must have been staring, "Jake, what are you staring at?"

"I'm still taking it in that you're okay, Ames, worst days ever, just the worst."

"I knew you'd say that, but just remember, this didn't happen because of a current case, it was something from the past, they targeted our home, this won't happen again."

"Can you prove that, a lot of this shouldn't have happened, I used to think I wanted to be John McClane, but this is crazy, I've been living that life, and it aint good, Ames, it aint good."

"That might be the most mature thing you've ever said."

"My mom should be bringing Carmen over at nine, the doctor said if everything looked good you could come home today."

"Speaking of which, how is our house, after the bomb?"

"I haven't been home, but Charles scared the crap out of your parents when they got there because he had a crew cleaning and repairing, I guess it looks great, and your dad even added it was cleaner than normal, no offense."

"Taken, he always questions my cleaning."

"He is the one person more type A than you, so that figures."

"Jake, are you okay?"

"I'm getting there. You know I worry about our family, I wonder if we are doing the right thing, but Langdon could have come after us if we quit and worked for Shaw, or if we moved elsewhere, I don't like it, but I think there isn't much we can do to change it."

"Well, I've been thinking this morning, the official protocol for an attack like the one on me is that I can have up to two months paid leave, and if my spouse works for the NYPD, they can also have up to two months off. I don't want to take that much time, but a week to heal, then two weeks, you, Carmen, and I in Hawaii. I've wanted to go, and getting out of the house would do us good."

"Really, you have a near death experience and now Hawaii, I mean I should shut my big fat mouth and just go to Hawaii."

"There you go, Pineapples."