Always Listen to Amy

Jake entered his apartment to find Amy reading on the couch. She looked so happy. She always did whenever she was reading. 'Hey,' he said as he sat on the couch.

'Hey,' Amy replied as she gave him a peck. 'Why'd you have to go to the precinct so early on a Saturday?' she asked.

'Well, you know how Holt is going to a conference for three days?'

'Yeah.'

'He wanted to assign me a case before he left.'

'Ooh, and what was it?'

'Hitchhiking murderer, already killed people in twenty six states.'

'Holy crap! Well, we're not giving anyone a lift. Not until you solve this case, at least.'

Jake laughed slightly. 'Okay,' he said.

'Good. Still, I missed you not being here for most of the morning.'

'Yeah, well I'm here now.'

'Wait, so you don't need to work on the case today?'

'Well, I could if I wanted to but Holt said I could start from Monday.'

'Oh, thank God!' Amy said as she rested her head on her husband's shoulder, 'We've not had a Saturday to ourselves for so long.'

'I know. So what do you wanna do?'

'Well, to be honest, I need to get my dress for David's wedding at around three from the drycleaner's…'

'Ugh, Ames, I don't want to go get your dress for your brother's wedding in our first Saturday in nearly two months,' Jake groaned.

'Hey, let me finish! We can then go look at some houses, just the two of us. And we can go have dinner someplace nice.'

'That sounds really good,' Jake said as he kissed the top of his wife's head. He then placed his hand on the small baby bump protruding from Amy's belly. He did this absentmindedly ever since they got to know they were being a family of three about a month ago.

'Yeah, but that's at three and it's just past ten,' Amy said as she looked at her watch.

'Hmm… true. So, what do you wanna do till then?'

'Well, I just started this book and I really wanna finish it.'

'Oh,' said Jake. He was expecting some other suggestion.

'Oh, you wanted to do something we both could,' Amy said as she finally realized. 'Well we could watch a movie or – '

'Hey, Ames, it's okay. If you wanna read, I have no problem.'

'You sure?'

'Absolutely. I mean, who am I to stop you from doing something you love?'

Amy smiled at him. He was just so perfect, always keeping her happy. 'Thanks, Babe,' she said as she gave him another peck.

'Plus, I can do some reading myself,' Jake said as he took out a case file from his bag.

'Okay, if you ever want some help, your sergeant's right here.'

'Sure.'

As Amy returned to her book, Jake started reading the file.

Jake's Mind:

Okay, let's start cracking down on this case. John Williams, the hitchhiking murderer, was last seen twelve days ago in Jefferson City, Missouri. Hmm… okay. Missouri to New York… Kinda weird. Okay, never mind. Never uses the same murder weapon in two consecutive murders. Used a penknife on his last victim, who was found two days ago. So we can rule any penknife murders out for the next victim.

Hmm… penknife. That's so weird. I mean, why call it that? If something's a 'penknife', then shouldn't it be half pen and half knife? I mean 'armchair' I can understand – it's a chair that's got arms. But a penknife isn't a pen with a knife, neither is it a knife with a pen. Huh… it's so weird. Woah! Even ice cream is like that. It's not half ice, half cream and it's also not cream with ice. Why come up with these names? Why? But ice cream is good. So, I suppose we can let that one slide. Hey, then we can let the penknife slide too. One case solved!

Okay, back to the actual case. So this guy came from Missouri and is now in New York. Hey, wait! We don't know how he got here! We don't have his flight information! Oh, my God! How'd he get in New York from Missouri in the space of two days? I need someone's help.

Oh, your brilliant wife is right there. But wait, she's reading a book. She loves reading. Listen, Jake, you are NOT going to disturb Amy when she's reading. But, I mean, she is your sergeant. Plus, she loves her work. She won't mind. Ugh, this sucks! I just wanna sleep. Staying up till two when having to report in at eight was not a good idea. But Rick and Morty is such a good show. I should've listened to Amy. Listen, Jake, you will ALWAYS listen to Amy, ALWAYS.

Reality:

'Jake? Babe? You okay?' Amy asked as she reached for her husband's hand.

'Um… yeah. I'm good,' Jake replied.

'Are you sure? I think you're tired. You went to bed at two and you had to get up at seven. Five hours are not enough, Jake.'

'No, that's not the problem. I just don't understand the case.'

'What part?' Amy asked as she took the file from his hands and started going through it.

'Well, I get that he came from Missouri. But how did he get her in New York from Missouri in two days? How do we have no records of his flight?'

'Jake, he didn't fly into New York.'

'No, but he arrived here two days ago. So, it had to be via flight.'

'No, Jake, he didn't arrive here two days ago. He arrived here twelve days ago.'

'What? But his last victim's body was found two days ago.'

'Yeah, but that doesn't mean he arrived two days ago. He could've killed his victim days ago and they only found the body a couple days ago.'

'Oh,' said Jake as he realized how obvious it was. 'But then how are there no transport records of how he came in New York?'

'Babe, he's called the hitchhiking murderer. It's obvious he hitchhiked into New York.'

'Of course,' Jake said as he rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe he forgot that.

'Jake, you have to sleep. Look just for an hour at least.'

'No, Ames, I'm fine.'

Amy sighed. 'Okay, fine,' she said as she returned to her book.

Jake could tell she was a bit disappointed. Then he remembered something. Literally, two minutes ago, he told himself that he'd always listen to Amy. 'Okay,' he said, 'I'll take a nap.'

Just as he got up to go to their bedroom, Amy called him, 'Jake!'

'What?'

'We both know how difficult it is for the both of us find it difficult to fall asleep without each other. So…' she stretched her feet onto the coffee table, '…you can sleep here.'

Jake smiled. He made his way back to the couch and lay his head on Amy's lap. She began stroking his hair while she read her book. Jake was facing her belly, where their baby was now about a month old. He thought of how this child would one day find himself in the comfiest and safest place where he lay his head right now, Amy's lap. He softly kissed the baby bump. This caused Amy to stop running her hand through his hair, but only for a few seconds, after which, the stroking resumed. Although he wasn't looking up, Jake knew Amy was smiling. And, as he dreamt of their family and smiled in his sleep, Amy thought he couldn't look any more adorable.