He takes his first class shortly after their wedding.

They're at Amy's parents' when the thought of learning occurs to him, celebrating their union with her whole family (which has officially become his too, now) the way they should have on the D-Day. He's sitting on the sofa with one arm around her shoulders and his free hand holding a glass of champagne when two of her aunts take a seat next to them and interrupt their quiet conversation.

One of the two older ladies grabs Amy's hands, squeezing them in hers and starts talking. Jake can tell from the tone of her voice and the way his wife's face softens with every new word she lets out that she's saying something nice and sweet but he couldn't tell what it is exactly. Because she's speaking Spanish; a language he unfortunately doesn't speak himself.

He did pick up a few words throughout the years – mostly curses, which Amy sometimes lets out under her breath when she's tired and frustrated as well as a few words of love he's caught her whispering against his skin when she thinks he's asleep and can't hear her anyways. He adores the melody of it, especially coming from her mouth.

There's this one lullaby he knows as well, from the many times she sang it to him after he came back from prison and used to wake up in the middle of the night all sweaty and panicking from another nightmare. She would hum it to him while holding him tight and softly stroking his hair until he eventually fell back to sleep in her safe arms, lulled by the soothing sound of her voice.

But that's all he knows, and it's clearly not enough to follow a conversation in the language. He's used to this kind of situations by now; used to being left behind from time to time during family gatherings with the Santiagos. Even though usually, it happens when her parents want to judge him or her brothers want to tease him.

Which doesn't seem to be the case here. And for once, Jake wishes he could understand what this woman is saying so that he could get all flustered by her words as well.

That's why he makes the mental note he's finally gonna start learning. For realz this time.

Because he already meant to do it in the past, when he was about to meet Victor Santiago for the very first time. He thought he could impress him this way. He dutifully downloaded Duolingo, meaning to use the app every night before bed, but ended up barely ever opening it. It wasn't his fault if it was right beside Kwazy Cupcakes on his phone – the game was far more appealing than the little green owl.

(He ended up deleting it altogether after a few weeks, annoyed by its passive-aggressive notifications guilting him about not using it enough.)

This time though, if he's gonna do this he's gonna do it right. He's gonna go through with it. He's gonna take classes.

As in, go back to school and all that stuff he thought he was done with forever.

(Damn, he really loves Amy that much.)

He's a Santiago now – better live up to the name.

Jake doesn't tell Amy right away. He knows she'd be absolutely thrilled to help him learn Spanish and really, it'd be more fun that way, but he wants it to be a surprise. He wants to see the look on her face when her family says something in the language and for once he doesn't have to ask for her to translate – better even, he can answer them.

She's gonna be so stunned and proud of him. Probably a little horny as well.

(Hopefully a little horny as well.)

(He doesn't think about it at the time, but when the time comes for them to have children, he'll definitely be happy to have learnt the language so that he can help raise their daughter – and her future siblings – to be bilingual as well.)

He's coming home from his 9th lesson when he finds Amy asleep on the couch with a small blanket draped over her body and some Netflix documentary playing on the TV. The sight of her, so adorably curled up with head comfortably lying against a pillow, instantly brings a fond smile to his face. He quickly takes off his shoes and jacket and hurries to her side, crouching in front of her.

There's a strand of her hair hiding part of her face; he gently places it back behind her ear then presses a soft kiss at the top of her head.

"Hola, mi amor," he whispers softly, his mind still thinking in Spanish after the class he just took – although he's still in the early process of learning and thus doesn't know that many words just yet. He takes advantage of his wife being asleep to keep practising a little. For once, he can be the one saying words of love to Amy when she can't hear him and not the other way around.

He brings a hand to her cheek, stroking it with his thumb. She reacts to the touch with a small satisfied hum that makes him smile and settles further into the couch.

"Lo estas todo," Jake remembers this sweet sentence his professor used as an example to show him the difference between the verbs 'ser' and 'estar'.

(It's one of the rules he has the hardest time to understand, if he's being honest.)

"It's 'eres'." Amy's voice is so low at first, barely a mumble under her breath, Jake almost thinks he imagined it. But then she opens her eyes, wide and watching him curiously. "Jake? Were you speaking Spanish?" She startles up, suddenly wide awake.

Dammit, he thinks. He was sure she was deep in her sleep.

"No! Why would I speak Spanish? You know I can't speak Spanish!" Jake tries to deny it, on the defensive, but the look his wife gives him in return tells him she's not buying it at all. He sighs, defeated. "Okay, maybe I was speaking Spanish. And maybe I wasn't out with Charles tonight either…" He decides to completely come clean now that she caught him – there's no need to lie anymore.

Amy frowns.

"Where were you, then?"

Jake lets out another sigh.

"It was supposed to be a surprise. But I've been trying to learn Spanish lately. Been going to night classes and stuff."

"Oh, mama…" Amy's eyes instantly light up – she's surprised indeed, but that's not it; they're also shining with adoration and… some lust, even. "You are?!"

He rolls his eyes in mockery, chuckling at her reaction.

(Seems like the news definitely makes her horny.)

"Yep. Actually, I got my first grade today." Jake is quick to play along, talking in a suggestive voice and raising his eyebrows as he speaks. "And not to brag, but I did pretty well. Wanna look at it with me and help correct my mistakes?"

She makes another little squealing noise, staring right into his eyes with still the same glint in hers – although intensified now. "You're the love of my life. You know that, right?!" she blurts it all out so suddenly.

It makes Jake laugh (although inside, his heart does nothing but melt – she is his, too) as he takes her answer as a yes.