If someone was devastated by the news of Jake and Amy's split-up (other than the ex-couple, of course), it was Charles Boyle.
He'd been rooting for them from Day 1, had seen his best friend's crush develop right in front of his eyes – and Amy's crush as well – and had been over the moon when he'd learned the two had finally found their way to each other after all these years. He'd always been (and still is, to be honest) persuaded they were meant for each other, supposed to die together at an old, old age.
Not to break their romance up only a few months after they started dating, and surely not over reasons as stupid as we don't want to risk for things to fall apart.
They made things fall apart themselves by choosing to stay friends rather than fight for what they had and believe their love would be strong enough.
Which it would have been. Because they're soulmates – Charles sensed it from the moment they met and still knows it's true. Even more so now that they're both single again. The hope that they'll get back together (and stay together this time) is coursing strongly through his veins.
It has had since Jake told him about his breakup with Valerie.
As he goes to the kitchen in search of a sponge after spilling his drink on the floor during a game with Gina, he spots some light coming from outside the window. Intrigued, he looks out and a huge smile comes twitching up the corners of his mouth at the sight in front of him. There stand, in the cold, no other than Jake and Amy themselves, talking alone.
If he can't see the woman's face from where he is, he can still catch a glimpse of his best friend's glowing features in the lights of the hot tub he's currently sitting in.
Charles knows this look and smile painted on his face – it's the look and smile of a man in love. The look and smile he used to wear on his face every day during the months he and Amy dated.
His heart misses a beat in his chest. He knew not everything was lost. He knew they'd find their way back to each other.
His own grin turns into a frown though when he sees Amy turn away from Jake and head toward the door – alone. He doesn't follow her nor seems to stop her from leaving.
No no no no no. This is not how it's supposed to happen.
He was already picturing them coming back to the party room hand-in-hand, announcing to their friends that we're getting back together before exchanging a knowing look and kiss while the whole squad would cheer them up. He can't let them make the mistake of missing out on each other again. It's his duty, as a friend (and future best man), to help them see they belong together.
(At least, that's what his – very – inebriated self makes him believe.)
So, in that moment of urgency and without further thinking, he does the first thing that crosses his mind to prevent Amy from entering the house again: he locks the front door.
"Do you have the key?" He hears her pull down the knob as she tries to open the door – and obviously fails.
"Nope. Why? The door wasn't closed when I came in."
A victorious smile forms on Charles' face as he stays hidden, bend down under the window. He'd lie if he'd say he doesn't feel bad when he catches the anxiety in his colleague's voice when she talks again but he keeps telling himself that he's doing this for a good cause and she'll thank him someday for trapping them and forcing them to deal with each other and their feelings.
The guilt washes off completely by the time he decides to look up again after Amy seems to have left the door's side – he catches his two friends sitting together in the hot tub now and laughing.
He can't hear what they're saying but he doesn't need that to tell they're having a good time; to tell they're definitely falling in love again.
His idea was for sure a good one.
"What are you doing?" A voice he immediately recognizes as Rosa's forces Charles to look away. His friend is standing there with a beer in her hand and a suspicious frown on her face.
"I'm watching the greatest love story unveil in front of me," he says, not the least disturbed by the way she stares at him.
"What?" she pouts. She takes a few uneven steps in his direction – she's clearly just as drunk as he is.
(To be fair, this late at night, on such a gateway weekend, the whole squad is.)
"I locked Jake and Amy out to help them realize they belong together," he explains himself.
Rosa rolls her eyes. "Sounds dumb." Yet she bends down next to him and slightly pushes him to the side. "Move, I want in."
Charles watches her with a slight smile before putting his full attention back on the ex-couple. They discreetly spy on them in complete silence.
"Ugh, they're so boring. Nothing's gonna happen," his friend complains after a while of nothing more than the two seemingly talking together happening in front of their eyes.
Charles doesn't have the time to answer anything because, as if on cue, Jake and Amy seem to close the small gap between them and… be about to kiss ?! The loud squeal that escapes his mouth as the realization hits him is out before he can retain it, quickly followed by an even louder shout of pain when Rosa punches him in the side to make him shush.
"Charles?" he hears his best friend call from outside as he sees him and Amy jerk away from one another before their lips can even do so much as brushing together.
Dammit, he can't help but curse under his breath. They were so close…
"Don't mind us and go back to kissing!" He tries to push them back to one another, hiding under the window. He doesn't dare to look up as silence surrounds them again for a beat, until Amy comes banging at the door and threatens him to open up right now. Oblivious to the sad expression on her face as she passes by him, he hurries outside to ask Jake what happened – excited and hopeful.
He doesn't waste any second and goes straight to the point when he reaches his side. "So, are you guys getting back together?!"
But the other man simply shoves him off. "Not now, Charles." Then starts to go out of the hot tub.
The desperate look on his best friend's face when he passes by him without another word is enough to sober Charles up. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all, he realizes.
I'm my own worst enemy, he can't help but think as he stands outside, alone, for a little while.
Well-determined to make up for not minding his own business the previous night, Charles wakes up early on the next morning to cook some apology breakfast for Jake. He's all alone in the kitchen at first but is quickly joined by his captain, who was out on a walk, then other members of their squad as he makes some of his most delicious pancakes – the kind that has chocolate chips in them.
By the time he's done with his special tray full of Jake's favorite foods for breakfast and a cup of hot chocolate, everyone but he and Amy have come downstairs. If it's not really a surprise for anyone that the male detective would still be in bed past 10 am, it definitely is weird that the woman isn't there with them. Nobody seems to question it, though, and Charles is truly grateful for that.
He's pretty sure whatever reason keeps her in her room this late in the morning is his fault.
Everything is quiet around him as Charles leaves his friends with the extra pancakes he made for them and heads towards the bedrooms. He stops in his tracks in front of Amy's, hesitant to knock on her door and apologize to her as well. He needs to – of course he knows he does, but he also knows that if she hasn't shown up yet, it's probably because she doesn't want to see anyone for now.
So he walks past the room, deciding that he'll deal with his best friend first. The hot chocolate he prepared for him will turn cold otherwise anyway.
Charles is surprised to hear voices coming from the other side of the door as he gets closer to Jake's room. They're muffled at first; he can't recognize what they're saying or even who's talking – whether Jake's on the phone or with an actual person. But then, as he reaches the end of the corridor, it all becomes clear. Jake is here, sure, but so is Amy.
Charles freezes at the sound they make.
He almost leaves, the memory of what his overhearing did the previous night still very vivid in his head. He won't make the same mistake twice. But then he hears a laugh – Amy's hearted laugh – bursting through the air and echoing outside the room, right to his ears. It makes him stop in his tracks again, a huge beam forming on his features while his heart fills with utter happiness.
Then, following the laugh, come some (magical, if you ask Charles) words. While being whispered, they still are clear as day – repeated several times in-between what sounds like small peppered kisses.
"I love you."
It makes Charles smile even more; his heart misses a beat. Maybe he didn't mess anything up after all.
Maybe he doesn't have anything he needs to apologize for – on the contrary, maybe his friends are the ones who need to thank him now.
Not wanting to push his luck too far, though, he quietly starts moving away from the door to leave the couple alone – his job is done, after all. It seems that they are back together now. Unfortunately for him, a fork falls from his tray as he turns around with a little too much enthusiasm. Immediately the sounds from the other side of the door stop and he curses under his breath.
"Charles?!" Jake asks after a beat. Flashes of the previous night come rushing back to his mind.
"Sorry! I wanted to bring you breakfast as an apology for yesterday but… I didn't know you had company." Despite himself, a small grin comes curving up the sides of his mouth with his words. "I'm leaving the tray outside the door," he then adds. But Charles' good mood soon turns into worry when he's met with nothing but silence for a while.
He worries that he broke their moment again. A new burst of laughter eventually rises through the air, though, and it's all he needs to calm down a little.
"Thanks, buddy." He hears Jake answer him in a cheerful voice.
Charles completely relaxes this time and starts leaving for good this time with a grin on his face. He hears the door opening before he's out of the corridor, which makes him turn around. He meets his best friend's eyes, who shoots him a big bright beam – brighter than he's ever seen him smile since he and Amy broke up. "For everything," he adds to his previous thanks with a knowing nod.
Charles only smiles back at him. I knew it, he can't help but think as he walks away, utterly joyful that his friends found their way back to each other.
They deserve to be happy – and he's known for a long time now that they've never been (and will never be) as happy as when they're together.