Based on a prompt on Tumblr, asking for Jake and Amy taking care of Gina's baby :)
"Ameees, how do I get her to stop crying?!"
Jake, an infant in his arms, sighs as he paces back and forth once more in his living-room, gently rocking the little girl stuck against his chest as an (unsuccessful) attempt to calm her down.
"I don't know, babe," his fiancée's voice comes from the kitchen, rather desperate. "Just… talk to her? I read in a book it usually works. Otherwise hold on, I'm almost done with her bottle here."
It's been like this for the past thirteen minutes and twenty-one seconds – Gina's daughter whining, despite all the things they tried to make her stop. Even Amy's notorious skills at shushing didn't seem to work on her here.
A situation that is almost making them regret agreeing on taking care of her during their shared day-off – even though, to be exact, they didn't quite chose to do it in the first place anyway – were more like forced to.
Indeed, Holt's assistant came to their apartment in the morning without further notice, and put the few-months old in her oldest friend's arms, along with all the stuff she'd need in Amy's hands. She didn't leave a lot of explanations when she left soon after that, other than a quick "can you look after her, I've got important things to do today, thanks guys, bye."
Yet everything was going well, in the beginning, they have to admit that. The Enigma, as her parents (weirdly) called her, was showing to be the adorable baby, giving them happy smiles and playing with Amy's newly-cut hair, truly melting their hearts as wife-and-husband-to-be shared tender, knowing looks to one another.
One day they turn would come.
But now, it's like the monster has awoken, and is unstoppable.
That's why, in one last hopeless move, even though she wasn't supposed to eat before at least one more hour, Amy left her fiancé and the infant alone a few minutes ago to prepare a bottle for her, really wishing it's what she needs to calm down. She has no idea what they'll do if it's not what she's been crying for. They've already put in practice all that was written in the books she's been reading about taking care of a child.
(Not that she's been reading a lot of them lately.)
(Or maybe she did.)
(Just out of pure curiosity, you know. Nothing more than just that.)
(Who is she kidding, though. Of course she's been reading about the topic to be ready when time comes for Jake and her to extend this little family the both of them created together.)
(That's the logical step after marriage, after all, right?)
(So better start early. Just in case.)
She's so busy correcting her own rambling thoughts, patiently waiting for the milk to boil, then to eventually cool down a little so that she can give it to the infant right away when she's back in the living-room, she doesn't notice immediately that everything around her has suddenly become quiet. There's no more echoes of cries in the apartment, nor can she hear Jake's footsteps pacing on the floor.
"Babe?" she asks, confused, and a bit worried, as she finally realises how calm everything is around her now, but no answer comes back to her.
She rushes outside the kitchen then, and stops still in her tracks at the picture that presents itself to her eyes. Jake is there, seated on the couch with the baby carefully laid in his arms as he's telling her a story, and she seems to listen to his voice with a wild interest.
He's so concentrated in his tale, he doesn't hear the woman coming his way.
She doesn't bother calling him again though, simply watches him, arms crossed on her chest and a tender rictus appearing on her face as he goes on with his explanations.
"And then, I told her to take a better look at the belt, and that's when she saw it. The inscription. I made 'Amy Santiago, will you marry me?' engraved on it. Pretty clever, right?"
His pride is easily recognisable in his tone, which makes Amy laugh, as a rush of happy feelings starts coursing through her veins, memories of the night he proposed to her coming back to her mind in flashes. The Enigma must like the idea too, because she giggles as well, no trace of tears or discontentment anymore visible on her face.
As for Jake, he's literally glowing as he stares at his friend's daughter with pure bliss in his brown orbs.
The sight melts his fiancée's heart even a bit more – who would have thought this man could be that great with kids?!
"What did you do to her?" she finally goes out of her reverie, and makes herself known as she slowly approaches them. For the first time Jake turns his attention from The Enigma to the love of his life, startled to see her there at first, but then he just grins wildly when he answers her.
"What you told me to do," he shrugs, as if it were obvious to everyone. "I talked to her. Shared some stories. It didn't do much at first, and I ran out of ideas, so thought about telling her about my favourite tale."
"Which is…?" Amy trails off, even though she knows the answer already (she's heard him telling it, after all).
"Our own, of course," he says what she was waiting to hear. "Especially the part where you said 'yes' to share the rest of your life with me. And it looks like this little one agrees with me."
He points out at the infant on his lap, amused, and they both see her watching them with big, interested eyes, going from one of the adults to the other. She is way more relaxed than before, indeed.
"Well," Amy playfully answers as she takes a seat next to her fiancé on the couch, "I think she wants to hear it one more time, right, baby?" she tenderly rubs the young girl's belly, and she giggles once more at the touch.
"If the lady insists," Jake gives Amy a knowing glance, perfectly aware she is in fact the one who wants to hear about it. But before he starts his story again, he takes the time to make himself more comfortable, putting his free arm around the woman's shoulders to pull her close, then repeats what he's just related a few minutes ago.
"Once upon a time, a very clever Detective got a very clever idea…"
(When Gina comes back to the apartment in the evening, she's welcomed by the snores of the three of them on the couch, Amy's head now laying completely on the crook of Jake's shoulder, and the bottle she had in her hand long forgotten as she and The Enigma quickly fell asleep to the sound of her fiancé recalling the best night of her life, this moment when he popped the question she'd been waiting for for so long.)
(And a bit more than a year later, when Amy announces her pregnancy to her colleagues and they all reunite at Shaw's to celebrate with beers and champagne (and only water for her, of course), Jake's hand resting gently on top of her own on her belly, never taking it away, Gina is the first to react.
"I'm definitively the one who put the idea of having kids into their minds," she proudly tells the members of their squad. "Remember that time I asked you to take care of my baby? It was all part of a plan."
Obviously, Charles disagrees with that. According to him, he is the one who put the idea to their minds, with all the times he's talked them into that for the past years.)
(Actually, only they are the ones who decided that all of their own, when a few months back, as they were doing groceries at the mall, a little girl suddenly took Amy's arm, and called her mommy.
Surprised at first, they soon found themselves smiling broadly at each other as they were searching for the real child's mother, learning more in the process about this young girl who wouldn't want to let Amy go until they finally spotted her parents. They didn't have to say it to understand what they were both thinking inside then, when they finally parted ways with the family, and little Sarah, as she was called, happily waved to them.
Mommy sounded good on Amy. And they were sure it'd be the same for daddy Jake.)