Finn was a trooper. He spent four days in the neo-natal ward before being given the all-clear to come home. Four days had been just enough time for the squad to pull off a complete renovation and moved in all of Jake's things. Amy had devised a 40-step plan sorted into shift patterns, even rota-ed sleep schedules and bathroom breaks. Only she could corral this bunch of misfits and pull off the impossible.
It was mid-day, Jake was signing the discharge paperwork when his mother brought Finn over, all strapped into his car seat. He stopped mid-stroke; a huge sense of relief overwhelmed him. The doctors had been worried that Finn would fail the car seat test, but smashed their expectations on the first try. Even at a few days old, his son was making him proud. "You ready honey?" Karen asked, holding her grandson carefully.
"Just a sec." He replied.
"I'll go ahead and put Finn in the car." She added, stroking her son on the shoulder as she moved on. Car seats had changed greatly from the last time she'd used one. Luckily the store she bought it from were able to show her exactly how to secure the seat to the chair. Her grandson was the single most precious thing in her life and over the last few months she'd taken first aid classes, joined child nutrition groups, and even started to put money into a savings account.
Karen was also involved in getting the apartment ready but was collectively elected to pick Jake up from the hospital after trying to cleanse the apartment with sage rather than help power wash the carpet. So, once Finn was safely secure and happily sleeping, she called ahead, giving the squad their due notice that the family were on the move.
"Attention everybody!" Amy yelled. The officers they could spare today; Rosa and Boyle stopped what they were doing. "Grandma has left the coop. I repeat, Grandma has left the coop. This is not a drill. Diaz, make sure all those groceries are put away, Boyle, why are the curtains still not on the rail? Do you want Jake to come home to this mess?" Her voice raised and finger pointed accusatorily.
"If only the Sarge was-" Amy cut him off with a deathly glare. "I'll do better." He retreated.
"Yes, you will." Her tone implied no room for anything other than absolute perfection. Amy ran round the apartment, checking the minor details were up to scratch; that the towels were neatly folded, the mirror in the bathroom was polished, the bed was properly made and tucked, among other tiny details. She had just enough time to adjust the angle of a cushion on the sofa when Boyle made the signal.
"K-kaw, k-kaw!" He crowed. The signal meant that the two had pulled up into the parking space observable from the window.
"Everybody, places!" She called enthusiastically.
Jake looked around, he recognised the apartment building and the parking lot, the last time he was here was to receive deliveries two weeks ago. He had every intention of going back before the baby was born, to build the furniture and to make the apartment liveable. Fatigue and frequent Braxton hicks stripped him of all his motivation. "What are we doing here?" He asked.
"I don't have a crib set up, so we need to pick up a few bits we might need." She lied. "I don't know what you want to take back with us, so I need you to come with me." Her rouse believable, not for a passing moment did anybody consider asking Boyle to orchestrate this part of the plan. "It'll only take a minute." She said, wary of how fragile her son was.
"Oh God, what do we need?" He added, his unpreparedness coming down on him like a ton of bricks. He shook off his existential crisis and unbuckled his son. He carried the car seat through the lobby and into the elevator, looking down every few seconds to check that Finn was still sound asleep. He had hoped that the first time Finn was carried through these halls would be more meaningful, that he was brining Finn home for good. It was sentimental drivel as Finn wouldn't be able to recall this memory, but it still made Jake slightly emotional.
Karen rummaged through her handbag for the keys to the apartment door, she had successfully pulled it off.
Behind the door, Amy gave a final and authoritative 'shush', reminding everyone to stay silent. The keys rattled in the door and Boyle couldn't help but relieve a small giddy giggle. He was far too excited.
As Karen opened the door Jake spoke, "you smell that? Almost like paint." He sniffed. Karen entered the threshold opening the door wide for her son to walk through unencumbered. "The walls..." He noticed. The smell of paint had originated from inside the apartment. The walls were no longer an off, dirty cream, but a fresh magnolia. The carpet cleaned, barely discernible from the patchy gross flooring that was oddly crunchy. He oddly felt bad for walking the hall with his shoes on. "What's going on here? Is this really the apartment? I'm not sure about Finn being an accomplice to his first felony at four days old."
"Do you remember where you left everything?" She stayed in character.
"I'm pretty sure I left everything in a big pile on the floor over there." Jake replied, looking around the apartment suspiciously. Perhaps it was his tired brain running at -10 miles an hour, but it was taking far long to process what was happening. As he looked around, piecing things together, he last remembered leaning various bits up against the walls and all over the floor. He played into his own curiosity following the hall to the living room at the end.
He took the last few steps slowly, unsure as to what surprises awaited through the doorway. His heart racing, the anticipation building to what he hoped would not be utter heartbreak. He peeked round and the first thing he saw was a banner taped to the wall, it read; 'It's a boy!'. Blue balloons scattered around the room, some floating and more forming a sea at his feet.
A cannon response came from each corner of the room, Amy popped out from behind the door, Rosa from the breakfast bar, and Boyle threw back the curtains. "Surprise!" They each cheered.
An immediate cry from the infant in the car seat erupted, in hindsight the volume probably hadn't been appropriate, but everyone had been too excited for that level of thought. "I should have known. I can't believe you did all this."
"It was a team effort really. Even Capitan Holt was here helping to paint the walls." Amy smiled. "I'm glad you like it; we didn't have a lot of time and this was all we could do before you came home." She began.
"No, it's perfect." Tears stung his eyes. He scrunched his face and rubbed his temples with his free hand. He knew that it was a safe space should he chose to cry, but he was afraid that if he did, he wouldn't be able to stop. "I can't promise you it'll look the same a week from now." The others laughed.
"Don't worry, we've all volunteered to donate some of our free time. I'll come over and cook a few nights a week, Rosa said she'll help with grocery shopping, Hitchcock offered to contact his black-market breastmilk guy so I pepper sprayed him." Boyle relayed flashing a weekly agenda. "We're all here for you Jakey."
"The rest of the squad is stopping by later for a home-baby -coming party." Rosa announced. "Baby themed games and a mimosa bottle drinking contest. It's gonna be dope."
"Noice." He applauded. "I think, 'wahhhh!' might be baby for, 'feed me, I'm hungry'." Jake set the car seat down on the sofa and unstrapped Finn. He scooped his son up into his arms and rocked him gently.
"My heart is melting." Boyle cooed.
"Let me, you should finish looking around." Karen offered, extending her arms. Jake carefully transferred Finn into the arms of his waiting grandma. "He'll still be here when you get back." She added, cutting through Jake's unease.
"I suppose the Sarge would have wanted to show you the nursery, since he put it all together, but you're going to see it anyway. So, I might as well take you on the grand tour." She invited. "Shall we?" she led the way to the first closed door, "the bathroom. We scrubbed all the taps and plug-holes. You'd be surprised at how lemon juice and bicarbonate of soda brings out the white in the tiles."
Jake pulled back the shower curtain, inspecting the tub, "I could definitely use a hot bath in this bad boy."
"We found a grey towel in the bottom of one of the boxes. It was oddly wet and dry at the same time. It smelt like Skully's feet so we threw it in the trash." Amy opened the airing cupboard, "so we bought you some new ones."
"Good call, good call." He hadn't bought towels, ever. That lonely grey towel was one he took from his Grandma's apartment; how old it was is a complete mystery.
"Next is your room, we assumed that you would want the bigger room? Double bed, wardrobe, drawers...all of the furniture from your old apartment. The only thing we did in here was put fresh sheets on the bed. I know that you've just had a baby and all, but bed sheets need to be washed every two weeks."
"I'm going to be real with you, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I've had clean sheets." He proclaimed proudly. "I definitely can't make any promises."
"At least you're honest." Short of changing the linen herself once a fortnight, she would just have to trust Jake would clean them if they got too dirty. "Saved the best till last." She said, arching down the door handle. "We didn't know what you wanted to do with the nursery, so the Sarge used the stencils from Cagney and Lace's room to decorate." Dancing across the walls were an array of stars and clouds, and central was a Teddy bear napping on a waning crescent moon.
"Even if I had gotten round to it, no way would it look this good." He said, awestruck by how much effort had gone into making his apartment a home. It was evident that he'd underestimated how important his friendship meant. It was hard not to keep people at an arm's length when he was so pained by his past.
"Oh, and I almost forgot." She switched off the light, "glow in the dark stickers!"
"Does Terry have any more of those stickers? Enough to," he coughed nonchalantly, "cover the entire apartment?" Amy laughed a little, knowing that whilst that sounded like sarcasm, Jake was likely dead serious.
"I knew you'd like them." She smiled. "They're a lot brighter in the dark, but you get the gist."
"I love it, all of it." The ambient light in the room and the two of them surrounded by stars set a romantic atmosphere that trapped them both. It was awkward and innocent, the two stood staring at each other. Jake blamed this suffocating crush on Amy, on his wild pregnancy hormones. He hid his feelings under a blanket of sarcasm, but every time he caught her gaze, his heart would race. Like a pubescent teenager with butterflies in his stomach, even the thought of her smile made him nauseous. It was odd, Amy was just his friend, and dating Teddy. Inappropriate was an understatement she was tragically off limits and no matter how selfish he wanted to be; her happiness was pivotal. He just preyed that once this period of his life was over and things returned to normal, he would begin to feel better.
Having said all that, it was moments like this which conflicted him the most. Moments where if he didn't know any better, Amy was looking back at him with the same admiration. Perhaps that was just the sparkles in her eyes and her caring face.
A piercing cry echoed around the apartment, "parenthood awaits." As much as he wanted their time to last forever, his delusions came second to the needs of his son.