Twenty Six

For the first time in three years Jake's birthday fell on a weekend and happily coincided with his mom's cruise meaning he got to spend it with Amy lounging around rather than working and then being forced to eat an entire birthday cake at his mom's later on.

When Amy asked why he didn't want any presents he showed her a clip from Seinfeld in which George explained how birthdays were relationship killers. While Amy didn't take it very seriously Jake considered Seinfeld to be his own moral guide and was adamant she shouldn't get him anything.

Not that that stopped her from coming up with a couple of ideas.

In the morning she purposely didn't make a big deal out of his birthday. The fact that Jake wasn't big on celebrating his birthday's really surprised her, she imagined he'd have been one of those people who would love a huge party and people being nice to him all day.

She had originally thought about throwing him a surprise party until a conversation two weeks ago.

"No."

"Really, you don't like surprise parties?" Of course Amy had let the cat out of the bag.

"I hate surprise parties. They're hostile. You go into a dark room and have people jump out and shout things at you. Who came up with that?"

"O-kay."

And that was the death of that plan.

They went out for lunch to Sal's and when they got back to her apartment she gave him the first inkling of what she had in store for later.

She pulled a cake out of the fridge and topped it with some candles before setting it in front of him.

"Make a wish."

"You didn't bake this right?" She pouted, restraining herself from punching him as it was his birthday.

"Because I love your cooking. Honestly I could eat your food morning noon and night." He said hastily.

She sat down next to him and put her hand on his knee. "Nice try, and for the record the only contribution I made to this cake was sticking the candles in and lighting them. Besides given what I have planned for tonight the last thing you want is food poisoning." She said jokingly.

"Why what have you got planned for tonight?"

"The wax is dripping on the cake."

"Oh shit." He said and blew it out. "I forgot to make a wish."

"What would you have wished for?"

"Can't tell you that it won't come true."

"You just said you didn't make a wish!"

"A man can dream." He said smiling at her scowling face.

She stood up to get a knife and cut two slices.

"So what are we doing tonight exactly?"

"A man can be patient." Amy replied pointing the knife at him before sliding his plate over. "Now stop talking and eat your cake."

"Yes ma'am."

They had taken a pile of cards from Jake's apartment (although Amy would argue it was technically Gina's apartment) with them and by the afternoon Jake finally sat down to open them. He must only have given the birthday related lectures to her as he had a pretty large pile stacked in front of him. The guys from the precinct had also passed on cards to Amy and she got up to go grab them from her purse.

When she came back she found Jake looking at something.

"Is that a letter?" She asked and sat down next to him.

He didn't answer so she leant into his shoulder to read the name.

"Jake. Who is this?" It was only signed off with the initial M.

He passed her a picture and she immediately spotted Jake who must have only been about two beaming up at her. He was snuggled close to his mother who was in the forefront of the photo but in the background was a man whose smile looked much more forced, a man who looked curiously like Jake.

"It's from my dad."

Jake passed the letter to her and stood up running his hands through his hair before going into the kitchen. Amy could hear some kind of drink being poured.

Scanning through the letter it appeared Jake's father had come back to the city and wanted to meet him and potentially his mother if she agreed. He said he wanted to explain everything that had happened and hopefully get to know Jake. It appeared the cause for his sudden reappearance was him making his way through the twelve steps. Apparently making amends with people you've wronged was one of them.

He came back through and set his glass on the table. For once she didn't tell him to use a coaster.

"Jake?" She said rubbing his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah." He said taking the letter off her. "Yeah I'm fine." He folded it up and put it on the table before taking her hand.

"Are you gonna meet him?" She asked cautiously. Jake had always been sensitive about his father.

"No. I'll tell my mum about the letter though. Never know she might want to meet him."

"Okay – well she gets back on Monday right?"

"Yep. I'm meeting her at the station."

"Did you want me to go with you?"

He squeezed her hand. "She'd like that."

"Jake, are you sure you're okay."

"Yeah – let's not let it ruin the day." He said leaning back.

"Okay." She turned to press a kiss to his cheek.

"So do I get to find out about my surprise now?"

"Actually you already have plans." She said biting her lip. "I tried to stop them but they were adamant."

"Stop who?" He said cautiously.

"Charles – apparently everyone from the precinct is coming over to kidnap you for a drink."

He grimaced. "They just made us go out for a drink."

"Actually I'm not going."

"What? No fair."

She smiled coyly at him. "I told you – I have a surprise. You'll enjoy it." She said rubbing his arm with her free hand.

About an hour later the gang knocked on the door and Rosa half dragged Jake out while Amy stood in the doorway waving goodbye.

He had to begrudgingly admit that he rather enjoyed himself. Even Holt made an appearance. By this point he had all but forced the letter from his dad into the back of his mind.

Remembering Amy's specific instructions not to get home until after eleven Jake frequently checked his watch his curiosity definitely getting the better of him.

At ten Rosa surprisingly dropped out claiming she had "Stuff."

By quarter to eleven Jake pried himself from Gina who was totally blotto by this point passing her over to Charles who swore to take her home.

Using the key Amy had given him he let himself into the dim apartment lighted by a few scattered candles.

"Amy?"

The bedroom door opened and the first thing Jake saw was a hot red shoe. His eyes trailed up her stockings and over the black lingerie she had put on.

Amy smiled as he felt his eyes rake over her body and leaned into the door frame and ran her hand through her curled hair eventually letting her arm rest above her head.

"Happy Birthday."

And no that is not the end of Jake's dad. I thought I better come up with a storyline for Jake as most of them have been pretty Amy centric and the idea just came to me this afternoon. Oh and the reference about surprise parties comes from a speech by Mark Sloan on Grey's Anatomy (which you should YouTube because it's funny), the Seinfeld episode I'm referencing is The Deal and how I imagine Amy looks at the end is exactly how Yvonne Strahovski looks in Chuck Versus the Zoom (YouTube: Chuck Cracked Like An Egg).